Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread - Read Mod Warning in OP 7/1/15

"I seldom play 442. I learned to play with one striker up front when I was a player... When I became manager of St Mirren, I implemented the system... At United we had Hughes and McClair, then Hughes and Cantona, then Cole or Yorke with Sheringham... If you have two up the park, you only have one point of attack, whereas, if you have one guy dropping off, you have two points of attack."
- Sir Alex Ferguson

People see English football as conservative, yet in many ways it has been progessive and trailblazing and probably far more open in some respects than that of other nations... The English game has been very good at importing foreign ideas, but the last area to fall to foreign influence is tactics, where the English 4-4-2 is the system of choice.

442 means that English teams can't tailor their tactics to the players at their disposal. A team may have three of the best central defenders in the world but, because it only knows how to play 442, one ends up either on the bench or out of position... Another negative effect of the 442 is that it does not allow for players with unique gifts or talents. Had Ronaldinho been born English, where would he have played in a 442?

There is another reason why lack of variety is hurting the English game. Teams are so used to facing 4-4-2 that when opponents vary things they struggle. An example of this are Arsenal, whose own 4-4-2 is nominal, as Thierry Henry moves out to the left and Dennis Bergkamp drops off.

"If the opposing right back goes forward, Henry goes into the space behind him and Pires cuts inside. This works very well, which is why I’m sure Arsenal would be happy if everybody stayed 4-4-2. It’s why some teams are starting to change when they face Arsenal. We always keep the right-back position filled. Henry needs space to play. If you give it to him, he destroys you."
- Sir Alex Ferguson, on Arsenal's 442 variant