I read a great piece on a blog recently about the 4-2-3-1 formation. The article received several comments on how to counter the formation. I was planning on commenting but then ran away with the typing somewhat, so decided to put my thoughts here. The original piece can be found here.
I think you have to be careful when talking about countering an opponents formation. All to often you can be too committed to stopping the opposition playing rather than actually playing yourself. You have to give them as many questions about how to deal with you as they have about how to deal with them. However, I know that wasn't the point of the original post, nor the comments, so here is how I would counter the 4-2-3-1...
First of all, the wide men. You need to research and know what they do when they receive the ball. Are they going to charge down the touchline, heading for the byline to whip in a cross, or are they going to cut inside and run across the defence, aiming to get a shot off. If it's the former, then standard full backs are needed, and they must be told to stick to position. A flat back four is key. They also shouldn't push forward to match the wingers deep position. Maintain your position and wait for them to come to you. Pushing up and pressuring them straight away will result in a good winger easing past you with yards of space and time to pick out the cross. If it's the latter (inside forwards) then you want to be tucking your fullbacks in, almost as if you're playing with four centre backs. Not only does this show the opposition down the outside and onto their weaker foot (inside forwards tend to play on the opposite wing to their favoured foot) but also ensures that when they do cut in, they will be running into traffic, minimising the space with which to work with.
Next up the attacking midfielder. Again it would help to know exactly what sort of role he is playing to help yourself counter against his talents. The most obvious way to deal with him would be to man mark him. Put a defensive midfielder on him with the sole responsibility to stop him from playing. You would effectively lose this player completely in an attacking sense, but if the AMC really is that good, it is a worthwhile sacrifice. You could also play a high defensive line. Moving your defence closer to your midfield restricts the space he has to work with and he can become suffocated very easily. This could be suicidal though, as you are leaving a lot of space behind your back line for a potentially pacy striker to exploit.
A bit further up the field, you don't really want to be matching their DM's one for one. I would play a central 3 in front of their 2, again waiting for them to come to you rather than pushing forward. The majority of the time the DM's will be receiving the ball from the back line, so there's no real need to jump on top of them, depending on the match situation of course. The outer 2 can also track wide if needs be, as the wingers drop deep to collect the ball. Up top I would go with a pair of strikers, with one buzzing around the other in an almost "false nine" role.
Played right, you could dominate the game with your central 3, keeping possession and frustrating the opposition. I'd also be quite confident in dealing with their attacking threat.
Of course though, all of this becomes irrelevant if they have far superior players to yours. It wouldn't work playing this against Liverpool if you were Coventry City.
On a final note, I think it's far more important in modern football to look at each individual player and their respective roles rather than their positions on a pitch. If you know the personal traits of your opposition, it's going to be far easier to deal with them.
Just my thoughts...
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