How to beat 352 Formation
Playing vs. a 3-5-2 Formation
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many teams have started to play three
and five at the back systems to congest
the center and make it difficult for the
opposition to break through by combining
with short passes for this reason it's
important to understand the formation
and how to play against it
pressing a well-organised 352 can feel
as if you're at a numerical disadvantage
on all parts of the pitch the common
problem is pressing with a traditional
flat 442 system since the three center
backs match up well against a formation
that plays with two forwards one of the
center backs is able to drive forward
with the ball which creates the next
problem numerical disadvantages in the
midfield the problem is that the 442
traditionally lines up with two central
midfielders which means that there's
already a mismatch and the center of the
pitch this often results in the midfield
being easily our plate for the direct
pathway into the attacking third
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one solution is to mirror the formation
by also playing a 3-5-2 to have one
spare man at the back a 433 also matches
up relatively well in one-on-one
situations
thus however can turn chaotic if the
opposition are good individually since
the team has to defend with one player
less of anybody is reward or outplayed
the way that a 4-4-2 can defend against
the 3-5-2 despite the numerical
disadvantage in midfield as with
inverted wings or outside midfielders
diego simeone is atletico madrid side
for example play a flat 442 where the
outside midfielder on the opposite side
attacks an extremely narrow to create a
midfield 3 this allows the formation to
compensate for the lack of numbers in
midfield and if one of the two forward
players also comes to help it's even
possible to create a numerical advantage
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the Sun Orthodox tucking in of the
outside midfield players means that they
have more space to cover than in a
typical flat 4-4-2 where the main
focuses on working together with the
four back on their corresponding sides
to cover the outside lanes attacking a
3-5-2 is also a challenge because given
enough time the formation transitions
into a 5 at the back system with 3
central midfield players in front to
protect them one solution is to play
long balls and early crosses to bypass
the midfield completely this can be done
by full backs or even deep-lying
midfielders who are talented with kicks
classic examples being Dani Alves and
Andrea Pirlo for this to work the
outside attackers are required to hold
positions high and wide to pin the wing
bags and prevent them from stacking up
inside their own penalty box of course
playing long balls is not the only
solution and shouldn't be because then a
team is not able to keep possession in
an organized 5-3 to the wing backs will
be hesitant to leave their positions to
put pressure on the ball because coming
up defeats the purpose of having a
compact five-man defence centre Beck's
will also be hesitant to cover for the
wing backs if the ball does get played
into these spaces since that would leave
spaces in front of goal the jobs if the
wing backs is to prevent attackers
entering the zones behind them which
means that the key also lies in how the
wing backs can be pulled out of position
and isolated one possibility is to carry
out the build-up with three players
rather than four to allow more players
to go forward
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a second option is to drag an opposition
sentiment fyodor out of position since
there are only three midfielders to
cover the whole width of the midfield
playing the ball from side to side and
switching the ball eventually creates
gaps between the midfielders these gaps
should be exploited whenever possible
since a player who can receive the ball
behind the midfield line is able to run
at the opposition defense with the ball
the build up with three players at the
back by sending one of the four backs
Ford is also a possibility here whenever
a midfield player comes out of position
to put pressure on the bull spaces open
up for Ford players to come down to
receive the bull and the opposition
center backs will have to make decisions
to either close their man down or stay
in their positions
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