2016 is the year of the return of the classic 4-4-2 formation & its triumph over the more tactically complex formations such as 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-4-1.
Leicester City & Atletico Madrid, under the leadership of their respective managers, the affable Claudio Ranieri & the fiery Diego Simeone have overcome their more fanciful & much richer rivals by playing old fashioned counter attacking football.
Leicester City's capture of EPL may be regarded as a once in a generation 5000-1 miracle.
Leicester's win is being compared to Brian Clough's 1979-1980 miraculous League & double European Cup win with Nottingham Forest. at the same time however, commentators fail to mention or remember that Clough's triumph possibly had a huge influence in Aston Villa's similar double by 1982. So, this may not be the end of an era of rebellion of classic football tactics vs the modern complex new age methods!
Ranieri & Leicester have achieved their magnificent success by designing & implementing the basic tactics of football very effectively:
- a solid confident goal keeper supported by solid central defenders & full backs who keep the game narrow & do not get pulled to the wings leaving their centre backs exposed.
- In front of the back four, a defensive midfield pairing with good ball distribution ability supported by two more half backs in front of them & then have two fast counter attacking forwards to score most of the goals!
Simeone & Atletico Madrid, can take the lion share of credit as pioneers of the return of 4-4-2. Atletico are of course a much more present day European powerhouse than Leicester City but they have missed out on winning the Spanish La Liga this year.
Nevertheless, although much more regularly criticised for "parking the bus" & playing a boring counter attacking style, Simeone & his team have outclassed the two main favourites for the European crown this year, Barcelona & Bayern & have reached their 2nd Champions League final in three years.This is despite the fact that they have averaged around 30% possession in almost all their crucial domestic & European matches this year!
So, the challenge for the likes of Pep Guardiolla & Luis Enrique is now how to use their possession fancy tiki taka to neutralise the defensive counter attacking minded 4-4-2 of Simeone, Ranieri & all those other coaches who are now closely watching & hoping to emulate them.
It will not be an easy task! Just ask Barcelona, Bayern, Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United…..and the list goes on & on this year as 4-4-2 basks in the glory of a come back!
