Football - The beautiful game

What's the fuss all about? For some reason, a 4-3-3 formation seems to now be synonymous with free-flowing, possession-based, attacking football. Guardiola is probably the poster boy of the modern 4-3-3, with his two most infamous sides implementing the said formation, his Barcelona team (Busquets-Xavi-Iniesta) and his Manchester City team (Fernandinho/Rodri-Silva-De Bruyne). Jürgen Klopp  at Liverpool is also a user of the 4-3-3, with his midfield usually consisting of Fabinho, Henderson and Wijnaldum (with other midfielders stepping into one of those roles as and when required). Manchester United fans seem to be consistently calling for the implementation of this formation, partly due to the strange dismissal of Fred and McTominay's strengths, and partly due to the fetish of wanting to see Pogba and Fernandes in midfield. Fans went wild during the 2021/22 pre-season, when ESPN reported in July that " Solskjaer has told his players he wants to implement a more attacking 4...

Jordan Henderson is one of the most underrated players in the juggernaut that Liverpool Football Club have been over the past few seasons. An exemplary leader on and off the pitch, not only is he passionately in love with the club like Gerrard was, but he is also a truly skilled midfielder. Not known for his roulettes over step -overs though, his game is quite simple. No one, some 6-7 years ago, would have really thought that a stereotypically English midfielder would one day lift the Champions League and the Premier League for the Merseyside club, an accomplishment that even evaded Gerrard. Things changed with the arrival of Jurgen Klopp, and under the German, Henderson found a home as the lone DM or on the right of a midfield three in a 4-3-3 formation, often tasked with covering the space vacated by Trent Alexander-Arnold in the latter role. Two qualities that made the Englishman indispensable to Liverpool the most over the past few seasons were his progressive actions and his long ...