Andrea Pirlo: Should Juventus bring back the 4-3-3 formation?

Why now? Have Juventus not performed well enough to justify their current formation? Why does Andrea Pirlo need a change? Why has it to be 4-3-3 and not 5-3-2 or 5-4-1? — there are loads of question that might have just popped into your head out of nowhere after running an eye over the title.

Andrea Pirlo took over Juventus’ managerial job only a few hours after the Piedmontese club had announced an anticipated departure of the former Napoli and Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri last summer.

Managing the Bianconeri for the last few months, Andrea Pirlo has had guided his side through both pretty encouraging and harsh phrases, where they won the Supercoppa Italiana, progressed to the final of Coppa Italia, and then subsequently got knocked out of the Champions League by losing to Porto in the Round of 16 of the competition. The nine-time successive Scudetto holders are now third in Italy, 12 points adrift of the Serie A table-toppers Inter Milan. You all have witnessed it unfolding and know these anecdotes; there is nothing to exaggerate.

But what you might have overlooked is that Il Maestro, as per the data taken from Statsbomb (via Fbref.com), has experimented with six different formations or six different variables, including 3-4-3 (with Aaron Ramsey playing as the “false 9” right at the tip of the frontline), 3-4-1-2 (with a slightly-advanced attacking midfielder or a “Number 10”), 4-4-1-1 (with a second striker or deep-lying manoeuvre), 3-5-2 (with two full-backs and three centre-halves), and finally, 4-4-2 (with two target men and wide midfielders).

However, the data also records Andrea Pirlo’s clandestine love for the 4-4-2 formation and an inclination towards holding onto a philosophy and footballing conviction that he constituted while preparing his thesis “My Football” for Centro Tecnico Federale di Coverciano.

Andrea Pirlo: a pragmatist?

“Pragmatism” is one of those terms used widely in today’s modern football.

In his dissertation “Maxim of Pragmatism”, Charles Sanders Peirce wrote, pragmatism is “an approach that evaluates theories or beliefs in terms of the success of their practical application” or “dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations.”

In the footballing sense, however, the word is generally utilised to mark a team’s style of play as boring, uninspiring, negative football, anti-football, and so on. Nevertheless, it is a proven and simple route to access top-level success.

Evaluating the deficiencies lied in a team and playing with a system that doesn’t allow the counterparts to expose those weaknesses are the two main mantras of pragmatism in football. The coaches like Sean Dyche, Jose Mourinho, Zinedine Zidane, and Rafa Benitez have accomplished some great milestones while following the core principles of pragmatism.

In all, it is the application and the result that matters over the attractive policies of the game at the end of the day. So, is Andrea Pirlo a pragmatist?

In his autobiography “I Think Therefore I Play”, Pirlo penned, “In military terms, success starts in the zone behind the lines. Put more simply, the team that concedes the fewest goals wins the match.”

Those words have been a true embodiment of Juventus’ playing style under his supervision. An approach that barks “sit tight!” has surely helped Juventus concede the least number of goals (27) this season in Serie A so far and keep their place at the zenith, alongside Inter Milan, as far as their league’s defensive record is concerned.

As shown before, Pirlo has used six different positions, changed his game plans from time to time by judging his opponents at first this season — especially to cover up the Old Lady’s notable vulnerabilities in different aspects and perform well enough to salvage something positive with the tools he has under his possession. And the results are in front of you.

A brief history concerning the innovation of 4-3-3

As we now know the beliefs behind Pirlo’s on-field tactics, we should learn something in regard to the evolution of 4-3-3 before jumping into any sort of considerations as to why it would be useful or not so useful for Juventus.

It all started back then in the final of the 1950 World Cup; a star-studded Brazil team was up against their South American rivals Uruguay. Even though it was the final of a World Cup, hopes were high for the hosts. A sumptuous number of people hoping to see their team triumph and celebrate their victory in the aftermath of the game filled the Maracanã Stadium with jaw-dropping enthusiasm.

Some now believe that the flamboyant attitude towards the match from the home crowd might have brought the curse upon their beloved national side: Brazil lost the game 2-1. While the event was later named as the “Agony of Maracanã” for its grand footballing upset that made the faces painted in Brazilian colours dip in tears on their way back home, the match signalised the inauguration of a steady evolution — the evolution of 4-3-3.

Up until that final game, world football was all about two formations: 3-2-2-3 (the famous “WM” structure) and the more obsolescent 2-3-5 (if-you-score-three-we-will-score-four structure). But in the final, Uruguay boss Juan López Fontana made a tactical tweak. He brought down a full-back to play behind the defence as a libero (a free player designated with the task of making clearances from behind the backline), and two forwards were ordered to join the midfield (a role that we value as “Number 8”). Hence, something new (1-3-3-3) appeared — something that looked almost the same as today’s 4-3-3.

Over the years, that 1-3-3-3 has gone through some radical alterations. However, one of the most significant changes came onto the scene in 1966 — the year England won the World Cup. It was the first time in the rich history of world football that one team went on to use an out-and-out defensive midfielder. The protagonist was England’s Nobby Stiles — understandably, the game’s first dogged midfield destroyer who used to shield the ball while sitting in front of the defence line in a way that no one before him would ever imagine doing.

Over the years, the purpose of the 4-3-3 has changed; it has been broken into various forms; the aspects of pressing and counter-pressing have been added. Ajax, in 1970, made the first step forward, among the European clubs, to adapting to what we today know as 4-3-3. Rinus Michels was quick to realise that he would not go further or accomplish much success with the 4-2-4 formation.

In his world-renowned book “Inverting The Pyramid”, Jonathan Wilson opines, “playing four forwards could make it very hard to regain possession [in the first place.]” As a consequence, the midfield two were deliberately transformed into three, and Ajax reaped the fruits, winning three consecutive European Cup titles and countless domestic achievements. Taking notes from Michels’ book, the Dutch national team followed suit and ended up reaching the final of the 1974 World Cup and ultimately winning the 1988 European Championship.

To name a few, Pep Guardiola would use it during his days at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Luis Enrique’s treble-winning Barcelona team also mastered the 4-3-3 formation perfectly, Liverpool’s 2019-20 Premier League-winning is another team making their claim in this context, and Julen Lopetegui’s Sevilla these days play some easy-on-the-eye football by using the same recipe.

Gallons and gallons of sweat, decades and decades of hard work, and ever-changing conceptions from one manager to another have given birth to this modernised 4-3-3. But the evolution is not finished yet but far from it.

Let’s talk about the pros and cons of the formation…

To quote Albert Einstein, “There is nothing known as ‘Perfect’.” Nothing is perfect in this world, not even the 4-3-3. But, let’s keep the cons aside for the last and focus on the pros. As the structural mapping of 4-3-3 depicts, it initially creates twelve natural triangles — if we include the goalkeeper in the build-up — between the players, forming an ideal passing lane through which one player could easily find a pass or decide to carry the ball himself.

The wide passing lane helps an attack to build via one-touch, two-touch passes. The positioning sense and the fitness remain the keys behind carrying out the plans perfectly in his formation. The presence of three forwards or perhaps two wingers and one central striker does the work easy for the midfielders. The wide forwards or wingers pull down their markers, stretching the pitch for the players playing the role of the number 8s to carry the ball forward or make a darting run towards the box to congest the opposing six-yard box and show some aerial domination. The deliveries from the wingers or the over-lapping full-backs become very crucial then.

The teams inclined to play in the respective 4-3-3 are often exposed to rapid counter-attacks. Henceforth, the success of this formation always relies on the abilities of two box-to-box midfielders. They should be always aware both offensively and defensively. While the full-backs push up (as the sophisticated full-backs do nowadays), midfielders are supposed to cover the wide spaces left behind in their absence. The football played by using the 4-3-3 often attracts the eyes of natural viewers and hence is classified as “beautiful football”.

Over the ages, many teams and managers have attempted to adopt the style yet substantially failed. It might seem easy on the bare eyes but is not that easy to pull off on the field. As mentioned earlier, the teams putting this formation into application leave a lot of space behind the back and become exposed to the rapid counter-attacks. And due to the increased fitness levels of the players in this day and age, there remains absolutely no room for error at the very top level of European football.

The need for a ball-winning defensive midfielder is essential — the technically astute yet physically obscure midfielders don’t stand a chance here. Furthermore, the system demands a high defence-line and a sweeper-keeper to stay close to the back-line or a centre-half pairing with blazing pace.

Teams that have endeavoured to emulate the system in an impeccable manner have often found it hard to deal with the enigmas that emerge for not having the requisite sweeper-keeper and swift-footed centre-backs. The prosperous formula also requires two workhorses in the full-back positions. Lacking robustness could cost a team hard. And last but not the least, the two box-to-box midfielders sitting in front of the number 6 (or a defensive midfielder) need always to be at the very best of their individual games.

Should Juventus bring back the 4-3-3 formation?

And now comes the question we all were eagerly waiting for — should Juventus, Andrea Pirlo bring back the 4-3-3? It is funnily odd that we keep elaborating a formation that Pirlo has never fielded thus far in his Juve tenure.

And even though Juventini would love their team to play free-flowing, nonchalant football via practising the system, Pirlo’s admiration for adjustability and the let-us-know-the-opponents-first aesthetics over the bold attitude that is needed to play 4-3-3 in every single week might never unlock the doors of 4-3-3 for them. Plus, Andrea Pirlo may not even occupy the players anymore that would allow him to modify his system in the near future.

It was Maurizio Sarri who continuously preferred fielding his team in a conventional 4-3-3 formation last season. The shape of the team was very akin to his predecessor Massimiliano Allegri’s 4-3-3, with Rodrigo Bentancur or Miralem Pjanić sitting deep and shielding the defence, Aaron Ramsey and Blaise Matuidi mostly operating as the box-to-box midfielders.

Aging and lacking tenacity in several aspects, the current Juventus squad doesn’t own the instruments that would let them play ninety minutes of high-intensity football every week. And Sarri was wrong to use 4-3-3 back then. He paid the price by getting the sack.

The midfield still remains an unsolved conundrum, with Andrea Pirlo quite accurately favouring a midfield tandem in place of a one-man defensive midfield for the majority of the 2020-21 campaign. And he has so paid the price as the offence has appeared relatively isolated.

Should Juventus want to adopt 4-3-3, they would be needing a sweeper-keeper or a pacey central defender, a defensive midfielder with effective defensive attributes, a set of new wingers as both Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala don’t anymore suit the wing-oriented positions (perhaps it is more accurate for Ronaldo than Dybala) or Federico Chiesa, Dejan Kulusevski, and Federico Bernardeschi are available.