Thoughts on 3-6-1? 5-4-1? 3-2-2-2-1?

[snolly g]

not sure how to number it, but the formation has:
3 backs
2 defensive central mids
2 attacking central mids
2 wingers
lone striker

know any professional teams that run a similar formation?

what weaknesses are we likely to see in this formation?

[ranova]

not sure how to number it, but the formation has:
3 backs
2 defensive central mids
2 attacking central mids
2 wingers
lone striker

know any professional teams that run a similar formation?

what weaknesses are we likely to see in this formation?

The way you describe it is like a 343 which is used a lot by women's and girl's teams. Like a 352 its weakness is attacks on the flanks. The three backs usually are organized as centerbacks, and don't have the ability to cover wide like a 4-back system. You listed 2 "wingers." If I was attempting to run this system, I might have the wingers be outside mids with responsibility to track back wide. The two CAMs would then become a left attacking and a right attacking mid. (Thinking of it as a formation, switch places in your listing of the wingers with the attacking center mids.) In the men's game this wide midfield responsibility is especially common when facing an opponent using wing-halfs instead of wingers, like in a 442. You don't often see a 3 back system run against opponents using wingers. An exception was the DC United friendly against Real Madrid this week. The DC back line (and 2 holding midfielders) did quite well until the second half when Real put in 3 fresh forwards. The inevitable breakdown happened :)

Why do you see this 343 system used more in youth and women's matches? I would guess its because men are better able to make a 40-50 yard cross to take apart defense on the flanks. Youth and women cannot switch the point of attack so fast, so the defense has more time to adjust, making it harder to exploit the flanks.

[snolly g]

thanks, ranova.

yes, i did mean 2 outside midfielders. still, good observation about exploiting the flanks. my team recently tried this formation, and we did ok. i was one of the outside midfielders. when i subbed out, my replacement didn't track back consistently, and we got killed on the flank.

[striker2019]

Watching Pachuca play this past season, it appeared they played something similar...like 3-2-4-1. At least that's what it looked like when they were in possession. They have great off the ball movement between their central players so it can be extremely effective for getting runs from deep out of the midfield, plus there's always multiple players that can combine to maintain possession or break out of pressure.