4-4-2 And Its Closest Variations. Why Are They So Strong? -- Some Quick Thoughts

[kebess]

THE WEAK SPOTS

The first weak spot of the Classic 4-4-2 formation, is found in the area 2 of the pitch (DM section). Since there's no DM in this formation, a formation can take advantage of this and strengthen its pressing directly through the middle, and use a "free" AMC as a true game maker.
One of those formation is the popular Narrow Diamond (4-1-2-1-2), which has close to the best through the middle pressings in the game (if not the best).
By taking advantage of the AMC (and even the red arrowed DMC) in this manner, the Narrow Diamond, really makes the 4-4-2 DL and DR close to useless, and put almost all the pressure on the 2 DCs, whom eventually do fall under that pressure.

Here's where the first variation of the formation comes into play. In order to prevent this, one can decide to bring in a DMC to exactly counter the opponent's AMC (and arrowed DMC), and rebalance things.
Since the least alteration one can think of, in order to stay as close as possible to the classic 4-4-2, is the removal of one Striker (since the game is really made in the midfield most of the time), it seems logical to allocate that Striker spot to the new DMC, and yield a 4-1-4-1 -- a close "relative" to 4-4-2 thus.

Notice that one can reallocate the Striker's position to a 3rd DC instead of the DMC (5-4-1, another 4-4-2 variation, but less obvious), to have a similar effect, but increase defense (and decrease offense) a bit more in the process.

Yet another weak spot, of the initial 4-4-2, can be found in the AM area of the pitch (area 4).
Against a formation that has 4 Defenders but no DMs, using only 2 STs against it, without AMs, can make one find himself being countered quite a bit, simply because the midfielders passes aren't getting through to the 2 ST, whom are being closely guarded by 4 "die hard" defenders... The easiest way to score then becomes having your midfielders take long shots 25/30 yards away, which will limit your chances if those MFs are weaker than your opponent's defenders and GK. A quick solution is to put red arrows on some of your MFs, in order to cover a bit better the area 4, and facilitate your pressing.
However, an even better solution is simply to have a free AMC in that area to "fully" make the link, between MFs and STs. This is even more effective since the opponent has no DMC to counter him, and thus he'll be free to seal the deal right there.
Again, the best position to reallocate is the 2nd ST for the same reasons as discussed above, and thus yielding a 4-4-1-1, the closest "relative" to classic 4-4-2.

Notice that one can reallocate the ST's position to a 3rd MC instead of the AMC (4-5-1, another 4-4-2 variation, but less obvious), and increase midfield dominance to 100% coverage, and use red arrows to cover as much as possible the area 4.
Which one is the best, is dependent on various factors, like how strong is your opponents own midfield? If he has 4 symmetric MFs there, then a 3rd MC is indeed more interesting in order to conserve the midfield domination. If he has less than 4, then an AMC would be more useful in that case, since you already have the midfield dominance.