Each player on a team wears a different number to the others. The primary purpose, or meaning, of the number on the back of a soccer player’s jersey is to identify a specific player. However, many people don’t understand what they mean and why soccer players have to wear a number.

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool used Roberto Firmino as a false 9 to great success, with Sadio Mane and Mo Salah playing on either side.įirmino was essentially a playmaker and acted as the catalyst for virtually all of Liverpool’s attacks.įinally, a flat front three operates the same as any other with two wingers on either side of a center forward.If you’ve ever watched a game of soccer, you’ll have noticed that each player wears a number on their back. The idea is to drag the center backs out of position, leaving space in behind for the wingers to run into. With a false 9, the central striker comes deep, taking up areas in “no man’s land”, which can confuse the opposition. However, when the ball is wide, they should also hit the penalty box looking to get on the end of crosses. Your CAMs should drift into wide areas to stretch the defense and link up with the wingbacks. The CAMs occupy space between the midfield and defensive lines, making them difficult to mark.įrom here, they have multiple attacking angles to create from. More often than not, when you see a 3-4-3, the team plays with two CAMs and a striker.

Flat three with two wingers and a striker.

Two attacking midfielders behind a striker.

The most popular ways to line up your front three are: One of the great things about the 3-4-3 formation is the number of ways that the forwards can line up. Perhaps the biggest threat to a 3-4-3 is on the wings when the wingback is out of position so they must know when to take risks and when to retreat. Out of possession, they must track back, defend wide areas, and cover the back post.

Wingbacks must take chances in the final third and look to hit the byline to get dangerous crosses into the forwards. But, their real utility in offense comes in the form of chance creation. The best wingbacks are strong dribblers and capable of beating a defender 1v1. The team’s width relies on these players and if they do not fulfill their role, the whole team can become unbalanced.īy staying out wide, they afford more space to the central midfielders and front three, enabling more fluid attacking phases. They need to be fast, mobile, and tactically astute to ensure the formation is a success. The wingbacks are the fittest players on the team and it is their responsibility to bomb up and down the pitch for the whole duration of the match. With crosses into the box from the wide forward or the wingback, the opposite wide forward, the central striker, and the attacking midfielder should all make themselves available in the box. The main idea here is to create overloads and open up avenues to the byline for the wingback or number 10 to make dangerous crosses.Īlternatively, they can play quick passes to skip by the defenders and get into the box directly. One of the number 10s can support the wingback, offering link-up passes, dummy runs, overlaps, and underlaps. This stretches the opposition as wide as possible, creating more space for attackers to run into. In possession, the wingbacks should bomb forward, whitening their cleats along the sideline. One of the best ways to break through a tight defense is to spread the ball wide and create from the wings.įortunately, the 3-4-3 allows you to commit numbers to the flanks where you can create high-percentage scoring opportunities. With such an attacking formation, your opponents are likely to retreat into a compact shape, looking to counterattack.

Soccer positions by numbers