Yes this is a favorite bar conversation of mine. 3-5-2 is the best formation for modern football
if your back three can do the job. There are teams that end up with similar numbers of players in similar parts of the pitch when sourced from different formations, so obviously formations are not set in stone in the modern game. But that aside having two strikers carries so many advantages.
I expect more teams will be playing it after we win that fucking CL cup.
Yeap.
I said several times over the years that 352 is probably my favorite formation, followed by the 4312 (ie diamond).
But they're not all the same.
Conte 352 and Inzaghi 352 are different animals.
Conte wanted two runners out wide and two runners in the middle. Ball moved wide or hit a target man in a deeper position to create space and exploit with the runners. Wide back to wide back possession up front was more common than normal (it's a thing for 352s but with Conte it was dictated to be a thing).
Middle guys didn't carry the ball and there was more crossing from deep and wide. The "triangles" were fixed. It was right side striker, right wing back and right central midfielder most often, followed by a left center back, left wing back and left central midfielder.
With Inzaghi you have more freedom in the middle as all the players are expected to be able to play (hence why Lazio had SMS, Parolo and Luis Alberto fielded at the same time, whereas Conte preferred Gagliardini to Eriksen for example)
You see how our center backs are liberated as well in possession and anyone can be anywhere. Thiago Motta has a similar approach with his coaching btw.
There is no target man, middle players are expected to carry the ball until there's an opportunity to move it and there are more players involved in the "triangles" we create on the pitch. Sometimes "rectangles" with an extra option, depending on where we are on the pitch.
Oh, and there's more freedom to shoot now.
10 years of FIF
Nostradamus
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