Christmas Tree Formation(4-3-2-1) Explained | Football Tactics

Christmas Tree Formation(4-3-2-1) Explained | Football Tactics

What better way to bring in the Christmas season than by analysing football’s most festive formation: the 4-3-2-1, also known as the Christmas Tree. It’s one of the many variants of popular five-man midfield systems, like 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, though it is quite unconventional.

With three central midfielders who protect the back four, two attacking midfielders are given complete freedom to roam ahead of them. The deployment of two creative players goes against a consensus that they cannot work cohesively in most systems – Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard for England being a notable example.

A lack of natural width is perhaps the most obvious issue for the Christmas tree formation. With essentially five midfielders who operate in central areas, the full-backs are expected to provide almost all the team’s width. Full Backs need to possess the engines to get up and down the flanks for the whole 90 minutes. Moving up the pitch, the lone striker can be easily isolated from the rest of his side and needs strength, a sound first touch and good decision making to be able to link up with the supporting midfielders.
However, with the right players the system has proven to be devastating. France at the 1998 World Cup, a tournament they would go on to win, stared out by lining up in the Christmas Tree. Youri Djorkaeff and Zinedine Zidane, with his supreme skills, had complete freedom to roam, but were only afforded this luxury due to the immense wall they had behind them. In Didier Deschamps, Emmanuel Petit and Christian Karembeu, France had three central midfielders whose primary duty was to hold down the centre of the park and defend.

While that could suggest a degree of rigidity was key to the system’s overall function, it was in fact the fluidity of the system and players involved that propelled France to World Cup glory. Manager Aimet Jacquet gave almost all his players the option to roam forward, starting with the full-backs, who provided crucial width in the system.

Overall, it was a predominantly defensive system with France conceding just two goals in seven games. Jacquet needed a system that could release the attacking artistry of Zinedine Zidane without feeling the effects of his defensive ineptitude, and he got that with the 4-3-2-1.

Another fantastic exponent of the Christmas Tree was AC Milan under Carlo Ancelotti. The Rossoneri lifted their seventh UEFA Champions League trophy using the system.

Starting at the back, Milan were blessed with Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Nesta in front of Brazilian goalkeeper Dida. They had the most enviable of insurance policies, giving full-backs Cafu and Marek Jankulovski licence to bomb up and down the flanks.
In midfield, the shuttling of Massimo Ambrosini - an intelligent, defensively sound player - and Gennaro Gattuso - a fearsome ball-winning midfielder - set the stage for Andrea Pirlo. With both of them either side of him, Pirlo had less of a defensive burden and could focus on linking the midfield to the attack with his stunning range of passing.

Ahead of them were Clarence Seedorf and Kaka, two technical and creative midfielders who were expected to provide width, support the striker and get into the box to finish off moves. Filippo ‘Pippo’ Inzaghi led the line as a lone striker often criticised for his lack of technical skills, but was an incredible goal-poacher.

Again, fluidity was pivotal to the success of the 4-3-2-1 under Carlo Ancelotti.

Overall, it’s seldom to see a 4-3-2-1 used in modern football. The 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 are the more commonly used five-man midfield formations, for reasons such as natural width and balance. The Christmas tree formation can easily be perceived as negative or defensive, though, as we’ve discussed, with the right mix of talent and fluidity, can produce great results.
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Keywords-
AC Milan
Champions League
4-2-3-1
4-3-2-1 Formation
4321
4231
soccer italy serie a
Football Italia
EPL
PL
BPL
Premier League
Christmas Tree Formation
AC MIlan 2007-08 season tactics

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