By the time the 21st century swung around,
the go-to formation that had reigned supreme throughout the 80s and 90s - the
4-4-2 - had started being superseded by more complex structures on the football field.
Fast forward to the present day, though,
and the 442 is making something of an unlikely re-emergence within the world of football.
Could it be that we’re seeing its return?
It’s impossible to say precisely when the 442 formation materialized as a
credible tactical structure within the world of football.
Its direct ancestor - the 424 formation - has precedents both in Hungary and in Brazil,
and the historian of football tactics, Jonathan Wilson, points out that the 424 shape was “an
inevitable development” given the structures that were being used worldwide at that point in time.
It wasn’t long before the 424 went mainstream. The Brazilian national team used it to win
their first World Cup in 1958 and then again in 1970. But in the early 60s,
Soviet coach Viktor Maslov, made the tweak that turned the 424 into a 442,
dropping the wide players in the front four alongside the two central midfielders.
Part of the enduring popularity of the 442 structure comes from its capacity to divide
up space functionally. At a time where zonal marking systems were gradually replacing the
man-marking systems that had been used, the 442 offers a nice base in which to defend
and also gives scope for a possessional structure which has a lot of flexibility.
The two strikers can push forward onto the opposition centre backs,
providing a threat in the box. The two wide midfielders can push up and isolate
themselves against the opponents full backs, looking to find the strikers in the box with
crosses. And the central midfielders can arrive late to add an additional threat.
It was this set up that led Sir Alex Ferguson to the treble in 1999: Andrew Cole and Dwight
Yorke as a striker partnership serviced by Ryan Giggs and David Beckham on the wings,
with Paul Scholes pushing forward in attack protected by Roy Keane in behind.
But as time went by, the 442 started to fall out of fashion.
In the early 2000s, teams were looking to possess the ball more and the use of two
strikers meant that teams playing the 442 could only field two central midfielders.
Teams who wanted to possess the ball now started to drop one of their strikers deeper so that they
could have an overload against two-man midfields and before long, everyone was adopting the 4231.
Even now, twenty years later, most teams set up with a lone striker.
But that doesn’t mean that the 442 is dead. Of course, there are proponents of the 442 in the
present day: Diego Simeone has made a name for himself playing out of the 442 structure and
Unai Emery has had a lot of success with it too. But there is a form of 442 that is being used
across elite football and you might not even have realised it: and that is the 442 press.
Because although the 442 largely went out of fashion as an in-possession approach,
it never really went away as an out of possession structure.
There are a number of reasons for this: primarily, as we have said,
it offers a really nice shape out of which to defend. It gives good coverage across the pitch.
The two players in the first line can control the opposition back line in
build up, and then behind them, the two banks of four offer good protection.
You can also use the wide midfielder and full back to give you double coverage on
the opposition wide player on either side of the pitch or, if you want,
you can push your winger higher up to press on the opposition full back.
The 442 shape is also easy to segue into from other possessional structures.
For example, in 4231, the number 10 can push up
along the striker and the wide players drop alongside the central midfielders.
Or out of a 433, the wide forwards can drop and one of the 8s can push up alongside the striker.
Both Manchester City and Liverpool have used this sort of out of possession shape in recent seasons.
The 442 structure also lends itself well to midblocking. When teams use a midblock, they
will sit slightly deeper and allow the opposition possession into their own half. But when they hit
a point around the halfway line, they will start to put the opposition under pressure.
The coverage offered by a 442 shape makes it the ideal setup for this sort of approach.
So as the 442 formation became less popular in possession, it never
really went away as an out of possession approach. And in the intervening years,
as out of possession structures have become increasingly important in the modern game,
the 442 has seen something of a renaissance given the sort of flexibility that it offers.
You might not expect to see elite sides playing a 442 formation in possession in the next few
years. But keep an eye out for it when a team loses the ball and you might be surprised.