3-4-3, A half a season trick pony?

 This article will look at the incredible feat achieved by Wigan athletic last season in which they narrowly avoiding relegation from the premiership to the championship with a streak that saw them beat Manchester United, Arsenal and Newcastle on their way to survival. Targeted primarily at the switch from 4-4-2 to 3-4-3 and the results achieved against the top clubs from January to the end of the season, that saw them win three and lose three. With the games listed below in chronological order.

 

•          Manchester City; Home; 4-4-2; Loss
•          Tottenham Hotspur; Away; 4-4-2; Loss
•          Chelsea; Away; 3-4-3; Loss
•          Manchester United; Home; 3-4-3; Won
•          Arsenal; Away; 3-4-3; Won
•          Newcastle; Home; 3-4-3; Won

 

 

After the switch to 3-4-3 Wigan’s results were significantly improved and the victories against superior opposition granted them another season in the top flight. They were not the only ones to successfully deploy 3-4-3 to good effect against England's top clubs. Barcelona and Napoli despite losing gave Chelsea an incredibly hard time in their Champions league ties, Chelsea of course were lucky to make it past them and the two Manchester clubs both suffered at different stages against teams which played 3-4-3. Napoli in Manchester City's case and Athletic Bilbao for United.

 

All of these big clubs favour very attacking wingbacks which leaves space down both flanks that can be exploited on the counter-attack. With 3-4-3 being able to leave the two wingers in the space left by the wing backs pushing forwards and still maintain a rigid defensive structure. That gave Wigan and means of scoring without having to control much of the ball. This coupled with Wigan’s defensive third being packed down the middle with the three central defenders and the two central midfielders incisive passing moves were hard to come by in all the games.

 

Against Chelsea, United, Arsenal and Newcastle this was exacerbated by the fact that all of them played a lone striker instead of the front two leaving three versus one at the back, if no support is given to the lone front man. The opposition all played very narrow packing the midfield to control possession and therefore the game. However in this case the lack of width stopped Wigan's opponents calving out any clear-cut chances and Wigan taking the ones they created on the break.

 

The fact that 3-4-3 in the English game is rarely played also goes in Wigan's favour as the teams are unlikely to know an effective way of playing against the system or have played against it from different opponents and therefore have a good idea of how to exploit its weaknesses and limit its strengths. This is where the problem may arise for Wigan in the future as once the larger teams figure out how to play against 3-4-3 then the results will probably swing towards the superior team. This has been nicely demonstrated at the beginning of this season by Wigan's defeats to Chelsea and United. Although like the defeat against Chelsea last season Wigan on a different day could have got something from that particular game.

 

The fact that 3-4-3 is played by a few other clubs means any potential new signings will have to get used to the system and how to play in it. This has probably contributed to Wigan's poor start as the loss of Victor Moses to Chelsea has forced them to revert back to 4-4-2 for now.

 

Should Wigan find themselves in the same situation around January that they were in last year I do not believe that 3-4-3 will provide the same miracle again, through a combination of the loss of personnel and increased tactical awareness on behalf of big and small clubs alike. It will be interesting though to see Wigan try and use 3-4-3 on a more permanent basis as the structure of how their club plays and if it could gain any popularity within the English game in the long run instead of being their wild card when times get tough. The Champions League should provide an interesting insight into how the big clubs will adapt to play against 3-4-3 given their poor record last season with Juventus likely to be the ones who dish out the most punishment to the English clubs should they ignore the lessons of last year.