Have United Learned To Love 4-3-3?
Have United now learned to love Sir Alex’s 4-3-3 Euro formation?
The tactic was drowned in jeers as United stuttered during the qualifying stages of this season’s Champions League. As remarked upon within these pages and elsewhere, Rooney on the wing was nonesense, whilst five in the centre was an admission of fear.
It was a simple but compelling truth that United were at their best and played with greater authority when the traditional 4-4-2 was employed. If United and 4-4-2 were like fish and chips, then United and 4-4-3 was a vodka and milk mix - possible but not to the majority taste.
Not anymore. Should United qualify for the Champions League final in Athens, Sir Alex will be able to paper the walls of his luxury Cheshire mansion with the muffled newspaper apologies of doubters who insisted they knew the football manager trade better than one of its most decorated sons. The Ferguson household could be served with hearty breakfasts until the end of the year with the sheer volume of egg to be wiped from the faces of commentators in the media and blogosphere who wrote off United’s chances last August in the most vicious terms.
Sir Alex should enjoy his ‘I told you so’ moment, for it is richly deserved. United’s powerful second half display against Milan was built on a much criticized midfield five. What Sir Alex has proven is that United’s front six now have the confidence to play the system needed to suit the match and the opponent. Instead of one size fits all, the ‘new’ United come made to measure.
Fans can expect to see such variety replace United’s tactical rigidity over the months and years ahead. The long-rumoured £17 million arrival of Owen Hargreaves, gives Fergie the range of midfield quality for which he has been searching this past year. Clearly, the England midfielder comes to play alongside rather than to bury either Michael Carrick or the incomparable Paul Scholes.
Yet, it is unlikely that United will dispense totally with 4-4-2 even for the more demanding tests against the European elite or domestic dust-ups with Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. The system too found its vindication on the European stage in the thrilling quarter final against Roma.
However, the future of 4-4-2 will depend on Sir Alex, or his successor, unearthing a player with the talent and reliability of Ryan Giggs. The Welsh winger’s role in the destruction of Roma will be long remembered. His 60 yard dash and pass for Rooney’s stunning winner against Milan is surely destined to go the same way.
