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Back Three or Back Four, and What Each One Costs
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Show notes
Three or four at the back
Fans argue about formations, coaches think in costs. A back three gives you a spare man and asks everything of your wing-backs. A back four is stable and can leave you short in build-up. Lukas is joined by Fahad Al-Harbi, an assistant coach in the Saudi Pro League, to talk through real decisions, including a match where they switched shape three times.
- The spare man and what you give up for him
- Wing-backs and the fitness bill
- Build-up against a front two versus a front three
- The match that changed shape three times
- Why the team sheet formation is nearly meaningless
Send your tactical questions to the Witspeak channel and Lukas will answer a batch next time.
Transcript
Welcome back to Half Spaces, I am Lukas Berndt. Every weekend someone tells me their club should play a back three, and every weekend I ask, what are you willing to pay for it? Because every shape has a bill. Today I have a guest who pays that bill professionally. Fahad Al-Harbi is an assistant coach in the Saudi Pro League, and a few weeks ago his team changed defensive shape three times in one match, on purpose. We talk about the spare man, what wing-backs really cost you in minute 80, how you build up differently against a front two and a front three, and why the formation printed on the team sheet tells you almost nothing. You are listening on Witspeak Podcasts. Let us go to the whiteboard.
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