Soccer: Herbert sticks to tried and true formation

Ricki Herebert will use the 3-4-3 formation that worked against Bahrain in Manama. Photo / Getty Images

Soccer is a simple game. The rulebook is ridiculously thin compared with the tome rugby needs to explain itself to referees, coaches and players.

But when it comes to the line-up, rugby wins hands down. A team's structure is set in stone with an eight forwards/seven backs split and a formation followed almost universally even if these days some of the big boys from the frontrow do fancy themselves as nuisance value by getting out among their fleet-footed teammates.

Soccer is different and sometimes confusing.

Formations of 4-4-2, 3-4-3, 5-3-3, or even 4-3-1-2 are bandied about. While those close to the game can quickly differentiate one from another, plenty can't. The 4-4-2 formation (four defenders, four midfielders and two attackers) has become most common.

All Whites coach Ricki Herbert took a step into the relative unknown for the first-leg World Cup qualifier in Manama, using three defenders, four midfielders and three attackers.

He admits it can be confusing for the uninitiated, but he has three simple aspects which warrant consideration when settling on a formation.

"Before you concern yourself with who plays where and what he/she is being asked to do, you have to go back to the basics," said Herbert.

"First, you must confirm the system you want to play. Then you must employ the right tactics within that system and thirdly ensure the personnel you select have the capabilities of performing the role [and] tactics you want.

"Say I want to employ a 4-4-2 formation, I then think about what tactics I am going to employ. For example, when the goalkeeper has the ball, the instruction might be for him to go [kick] long every time. If he is going to do that, I have to ensure not only do the players know what tactic is being employed, but also how to make best use of the [attacking] opportunity it gives.

"On the other hand, we might decide that when the goalkeeper has the ball, he is to throw, or roll, it to the players nearest him so we can initiate an attack from the back.

"In reality, once the whistle goes it is a case of 'their' tactics versus 'our' tactics. The system is simply a foundation to start a football match."

Herbert said on his return from the first leg of the Asia/Oceania qualifier in Bahrain that if he had stuck to the traditional New Zealand 4-4-2 line-up, the All Whites would not have got the result - 0-0 - they did.

It was, he insisted, a case of horses for courses.

Many felt he took an almighty gamble in discarding the more traditional right and left fullbacks in going for wingback roles with Leo Bertos, normally a wide midfield player, and Tony Lochhead, a more conventional left fullback, asked to fulfil the wingback duties.

Without an experienced and fully capable right fullback at his disposal, it seems Herbert was not prepared to take a risk.

He also pointed out the flexibility he has in selection at the Wellington Phoenix where, in employing a 4-4-2 line-up, he asks Bertos and Daniel to play more conventional old-fashioned roles as right and left wings in the hope of creating width and confusion thus opening up opportunities for strikers Chris Greenacre and Paul Ifill who are expected to take a more central role.

"In another formation we might have three in midfield with one in a holding role and two advancing or, conversely, two holding and one advancing," said Herbert. "It is often a case of mixing and matching to best suit both your team or how you might expect the opposition to play."

Sometimes convention goes out the window especially when a team with the super skills of Brazil is involved.

Theories have long abounded in the Beautiful Game but in the end it comes back to simply scoring more goals than your opponent.

How that is achieved matters little but there are, it seems, ways to give yourself the best chance. Just don't ask Joe Public to always understand how.