I’m always curious what the current formation trends are throughout Europe. Sure, it often depends on the what the top clubs are doing, and what the top managers are doing, but each league seems to have its own patterns as well. I’m going to do a follow up or two to this article, but for now I’m simply looking at the top six clubs for each of the top five leagues.
I used data from whoscored.com, which admittedly has its limitations, but I’m not going to watch 200+ matches to verify, so it is what it is. At the bottom of each club’s page, whoscored (WS) breaks down each formation the club used in league play, and how many matches they used it. I’m looking big picture here, so I’m okay with the overall data.
I took each potential formation, and rolled up these top six clubs by league, and put this into a table, showing the percentage of matches each formation was played by that league. It’s interesting, to say the least.
I also sorted the formations from left to right, based on overall popularity. As can be seen, the number one formation for top clubs right now, is, you guessed it, the 433. Clubs have on the overall moved to possession-based systems, and the 433 gives a good advantage for this.
Additionally, beyond those first four formations, that’s 80% of what’s being played out there by the top clubs: 433, 4231, 442, 3412. Seems obvious, but it’s nice to verify. Most likely, all of the varietals of these are probably getting lumped in here as well, but these are the root formations to start with, and it all boils down to a few basic tactical questions:
- 1 forward or two?
- 2 mids or three?
- 2 CBs or three?
- Regista, DM, or CAM?
Beyond that, there’s an incredible amount of nuance, inverted wingers, overlapping fullbacks, asymmetry, low/medium/high block, pressing, etc. and that’s the beauty of the sport.
There are some interesting tidbits, though, even when just looking at these basics:
- Ligue 1 seems for some reason to have zero interest in the 433. I’m assuming this is due likely to having a lot of attacking talent, and going with a CAM more frequently.
- La Liga, beyond Barca and Real Madrid, are definitely a 442 league. Again, I’m guessing it’s more attacking talent, but in this case, more forwards, and more LM/RM type players. Spacing, crossing, near/far post runs, etc. That whole ‘beautiful football’ thing.
- In the Buli, Bayern and Dortmund are heavily 4231 clubs this year, whereas Gladbach is almost always 433. Frankfurt is 3412 (and they have two good forwards), Leverkusen is split between 4231 and 433 nearly evenly. RBL is all over the place.
- Similarly, Serie A is kind of all over. Inter and Roma are primarily 4231, Juve is mainly 433 with a little 442, Milan is 433, Napoli is Uncle Carlo’s 442, and Atalanta is mainly a 3412 club.
- The PL is heavily 433 based, with Chelsea being the only top club in all of Europe to use one and only one formation. #NOTSHOCKED . Pool and City are heavily 433, United is primarily 433, Spurs are split between 4321 and 41212, and Arsenal are a 4231 club.
- What’s really interesting with the PL… the clubs seem to get more unsure of their identity as you go down the table:
- Man City – 94.59% is either 433 or 4231
- Liverpool – 91.89% is either 433 or 4231
- Chelsea – 100% is 433 (lol)
- Spurs – 9 different formations. 91.18% comprises 4231, 41212, 3421, 3142, 4321, 352. Injuries, sure. But they almost seem too flexible. Lacking identity IMO. at least 64.71% is spread over only two, the 4231 and 41212.
- Arsenal – 86.49% is five different formations. 4231, 3421, 4312, 442, 343. Two top forwards, and no idea how to use them effectively. 43.24% to 4231, then it’s 18.92% 3421. Too disjointed.
- Man United – Worst of the lot. 88.57% in 5 different formations. But 42.86% as 433, and the next highest is only 17.14% as 4231. Just all over the place.
Needless to say, it definitely seems like each league has its own identity, and within that, the better clubs seem to have better defined identities of who they are, and how they want to play, and that seems to definitely translate into points in the table. Can’t figure it out? Probably not gaining points, either.
