Even before the start of this highly contested Premier League season, the talk was all about the managers. This was going to be the “Managers Season”. And how could it not be? Jurgen Klopp, Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, Antonio Conte, Arsene Wenger and Mauricio Pochettino were leading the line and Claudio Ranieri, the silver fox that had caused one of the biggest upsets in the history of European football was in the mix as well. In a league that was usually all about the multi-million pound talent on the pitch, all eyes were suddenly locked on the benches.
However, this show had seemingly picked its leading stars. Pep Guardiola, arguably the best manager in the world, had landed on the blue side of Manchester and with the Special One taking over the Red Devils, it was a clash that would create so much noise, that everyone else would have to be content with a supporting role.
It must come as a little bit of a shock then, that as we near the season’s halfway mark, it’s the Guardiola and Mourinho duo that has had to make due with a place in the chorus line. What must be an even bigger shock is the fact that the main protagonist is not in fact a manager. It’s a system, a tactical set-up. Ladies and gentlemen, may we introduce the 3-4-3.
With Antonio Conte slipping and sliding at the start of the season, his Chelsea side floundering and trying to steady itself after a series of uneven results, the Italian reacted to the rumors that he would be the first high profile manager on the chopping block, by opting for a tactical change that has proven to be nothing short of a masterstroke.
The 3-4-3 is not of course a Conte invention, nor is it a shiny and brand new button on the footballing coat. It is a system that has been used in the past by some particularly high profile and swashbuckling sides (think Walter Mazzarri at Napoli for a start and have a look at some of Marcelo Bielsa’s teams as well), but it is considered to be a formation that requires a very particular set of players and one whose weaknesses can be easily exposed.
Weakness has not been an issue for Conte’s side. Since switching to the system in September, in reaction to Arsenal putting his team to the sword, Chelsea have hardly looked back. The 3-4-3 has unlocked his team’s true potential, solidifying a defence that looked shaky with a back four, allowing Thibaut Courtois more time to breathe between the sticks and putting the verve right back into Eden Hazard who has once more been terrorizing any opposition unlucky enough to mark him. And as for Diego Costa, the onetime Atletico Madrid striker has re-discovered his goal scoring touch and like him or loathe him (and many do), he is finding the net more regularly than any other attacker in the Premier League.
It hasn’t of course gone well for all the Chelsea players. Stalwart Branislav Ivanovic has lost his place in the side, the defensive flanks now the home of Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso, two tireless runners, who provide the width, speed and attacking impetus that Conte’s system needs. In the middle of the park, stylish pass operators like Oscar and more importantly Cesc Fabregas, are tactically too “loose”, dropping down the selection ladder and allowing the resurgent Nemanja Matic and early player-of-the-season contender N’Golo Kante to handle things in a busy midfield.
As long as Chelsea keep firing on all cylinders however, there will be little sympathy for those not able to fit themselves in the system. In fact, so successful has Conte been in implementing the 3-4-3, that teams that Chelsea face are now playing reactively against them, realizing that a formation such as this, that throws up peculiar pitch conundrums – the triangular defensive block, the attacks that when the wing backs support the attacking trio can be overwhelming – needs to be addressed as a standalone problem.
Even Pep Guardiola, who came to Manchester City to make them the team to beat, a team that would dictate play against any opponent, had to mirror Conte’s 3-4-3 during their recent clash, attempting to nullify Moses and Alonso and halt the advance of the rampaging Londoners. He failed, with Chelsea running out 3-1 winners and roaring convincingly that they were hunting the title.
No matter how you look at it, the discussion over the 3-4-3 system, is one of the most interesting topics that the world of football has busied itself with over the last few seasons. Unusual in both style and approach, it echoes of some of the game’s most enduring stories and ideas: the Dutch idea of total football, the Ajax sides of Louis Van Gaal, the fortress-like three man defence, the double pivot concept at the center of the park. It’s not a meat and potatoes system. It’s flamboyant, difficult to implement and successfully decode and it makes for impressive and entertaining football.
It’s a gourmet dish and a highly enjoyable one at that. That man Conte has turned out to be quite the chef. Just no one tell Mourinho that he’s doing it with the same footballing ingredients he used to serve up chopped liver.