With training camp just a little over a week old, spectators who took in the free open training sessions at the Marie-Victorin Sports Complex may have notice that new Impact head coach Marco Schällibaum had employed a number of different playing schemes in scrimmages and practice.
The use of four defenders in all these systems is the common denominator, so the bigger questions remain in the midfield.
4-4-2
Using four defenders, four midfielders and two forwards, the 4-4-2 formation was made popular in the 90s and early 2000s. This scheme requires the midfielders to work extremely hard in both offensive and defensive roles. Centrally, one mid would traditionally stay a little further back, as the holding player, shielding the defence, while the other would support the attack, going up field as much as possible. The two wide players are required to run…a lot… playing a supporting role all the way up and down the flank, both offensively and defensively.
READ: Impact looking to add versatile attacking player
Last season, we saw midfielders Patrice Bernier and Collen Warner play the central roles to perfection, where Warner would be the ball winner deeper in the Impact’s territory, allowing Bernier more freedom offensively.
Formation 2013
4-3-3
Although recently made popular by Dutch football, the 4-3-3 (four defenders, three mids and three forwards) is a scheme that was originally developed in Brazil in the early 60s. It’s more of an attacking formation, with the three forwards split across the field to spread out the attack. This style encourages the use of the entire field of play to generate offence. The three midfielders here play close together, moving laterally to support the defence, and have a little less responsibility offensively with the extra attacker on the top line.
That formation was not used by the Impact last season, but the question remains: who would you see in the three forward positions?
4-2-3-1
This formation, widely used by Spanish and German clubs, clogs the middle of the field by having two holding defenders assisting the four on the backline, with three attacking midfielders supporting a lone attacker. When defending, the middle adapts to almost a 4-5-1 style to win the ball back, maintain possession or defend by clogging the middle part of the field. The forward here is used in a more of a supportive role in holding the ball until he gets support from the midfielders or the fullbacks, laying the ball off in order to reposition into a good scoring spot to get the ball back and hopefully a good attempt at goal.
With only two traditional strikers on the team (Nyassi being a hybrid midfielder), the Impact may revert to a system in which it saw some success, including a five-game winning streak in 2012.
Tell us: Based on the schemes used so far in preseason and with the players currently on the roster, what formation do you think the Impact should employ to kick off the 2013 season, on March 2 in Seattle?
