Evolution of the front three
The day after Tottenham completed
the loan signing of Gareth Bale from
Real Madrid, Son Heung-min scored
four goals in a 5-2 victory against
Southampton, all of them set up
by Harry Kane. In the space of a
weekend, Spurs offered a vision of
the future and, whileJose Mourinho
may no longer be at the forefront of
tactical development in other regards,
with a very modern front three.
Front threes have existed almost
since football began. Once the 2-3-
became the default formation in the
1870s there was a front three implicit
within it, given the way the inside-
forwards would typically drop deeper,
feeding the wingers and the centre-
forward. That was a process formalised
in the late1920s with the advent of
the W-M (3-2-2-3) in response to
the1925 change to the offside law.
Through the1950s, as one
wing-half dropped deeper and one
inside-forward advanced, W-M
became 4-2-4, a system that both
effectively neutered the traditional
winger by denying him acceleration
room, and allowed a greater flexibility
of attack as full-backs began to
advance. When the front three
returned, it was as a lop-sided variant.
Brazil had won the1958 World Cup
with a 4-2-4 but by1962, when they
won it again, one of their wingers had
dropped deeper to create a 4-3-3.
And for a while, that was the way it
was: the front three consisted of a
strike pairing with a forward high on
one flank. That’s how Nottingham
Forest won the European Cup in
and1980, withJohn Robertson outon the left while the right-sided
midfielder, Martin O’Neill or Archie
Gemmill, tucked in and played
deeper and narrower on the
other side.
But there was also a parallel
tradition that grew up in countries
where a sweeper had becomecommon. Karl Rappan’s Servette were
probably the first to play that way in
the late1930s: from the basic 2-3-5,
one full-back became the sweeper,
with the wing-halves dropping back
to flank the other full-back, leaving
a centre-half in midfield, who was
supported by the retreat of theinside-forwards. It was a broadly
symmetrical system, even if the
inside-left (the10) was often more
creative than the inside-right (the 8).
It’s that understanding of the
4-3-3, one that became common
in Argentina, the Netherlands and
Germany, that dominates the modernTHEWORLD THIS MONTH
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
Jonathan
WILSON
understanding of the formation.
What has changed over the past
half-century, though, is how the
front three now interact.
The idea of inverted wingers,
cutting in onto their stronger foot, is
not new, but for a long time the idea
persisted on the wide players in the
4-3-3 as essentially creators. They
may weigh in with10 goals a season
or so, but their principle job was to
supply the central striker. Recently,
though, that has changed.
Roles have always evolved in
football. Most obviously, the full-back
has gone from being, as the name
suggests, the most defensive
outfielder as he was until the advent
of the back four, to become in the
modern game a source of crosses
and goals, almost a deep-lying winger.
But the idea of what the centre-
forward should be doing and where
goals should be coming from has
shifted radically over the past decade.
A centre-forward doesn’t have to be
a false nine to take on some of the
characteristics of that role.
Liverpool, perhaps, are the most
obvious example. At the beginning
of his career, Roberto Firmino was
a defensive midfielder. His greatestGoal machine...
Aubameyang has
benefitted from
the systemWhat has changed over the past half-century
is how the front three now interact
Switching roles...
Kane turned
provider against
Southampton