Team Focus: Ajax Should Look Back to Past Formations in Order to Move Forward
1984 is not only a great novel but also the year Johan Cruyff retired as a professional footballer. His decision to go into management forever altered the fortunes of his boyhood club Ajax and other love FC Barcelona – both competitively meeting for a third time on Tuesday – no individual has made a greater impact in both disciplines. Frank de Boer, with the way things are developing, ought to take a leaf out of Cruyff's book and implement a 3-4-3 diamond or 3-1-2-1-3.
Rinus Michels – whose '1-3-3-3' system was the blueprint from which 3-1-2-1-3 derived – once described it as "spectacular but risky". And that's what's missing from the Netherlands’ sole Champions League participant, a sense of vitality. The players seem to be just going through the motions, suffocated in the more rigid 4-3-3, when it is glaringly obvious – looking at the brand of football De Boer champions and the personnel at his disposal – that the Amsterdammers are better off going back to the future by deploying a 3-1-2-1-3.
The problem is getting the best out of his players as well as further advancing their game. This would be one solution and a more realistic one. Given how this line-up is more suited to possession-based football and built for creating passing triangles, their average formation during a game of 2-1-4-3 means a transition shouldn't be too difficult. As mentioned it was originally designed with circulation football in mind –moving the ball from player to player until, as Michels noted, "the right moment" arrived for a goal scoring opportunity. This could take a few passes or many.
For those who preach the 'Ajax school', which De Boer is a guardian of, keeping the ball is everything as retaining possession, if properly executed, conserves energy. Louis van Gaal, another 3-1-2-1-3 aficionado, correctly opined continuous ball circulation doesn't necessarily guarantee victory but what it does is force the opposition to do all the running – becoming tired and vulnerable once winning the ball. In turn this provides an efficient and consistent route to goal as plenty of gaps, and one-on-one situations, appear.
Being a passing fetishist the first question De Boer asks is can you "pass at speed". His team seldom passes more than ten metres during a build-up phase, letting the ball do the running, but even a short pass needs to be the right one; a metre ahead, never into feet to keep circulation flowing. Last season they ticked all the right boxes. When it came to possession (62.6%) and short passes (536) per game they ranked number one. This campaign, regardless of only being nine games in, they're falling below what is expected of them, respectively dropping to fifth (53.1%) and third (435). The philosophy will stay intact so a change of approach is needed.
De Boer, of course, is no stranger to a 3-1-2-1-3. Early into his managerial career he spoke with great enthusiasm about how the system is a personal favourite, even playing it on a few occasions, as it enables whoever using it to dominate the middle third of the pitch and control tempo. Another benefit of a diamond is it will take their positional and pressing game to another level. Covering the entire field, when not in possession it makes the pitch as small as possible, compressing and closing down all spaces.
Despite the annual upheaval those who remain, even if a little inconsistent, have showed an understanding of what De Boer demands compared to when he began. His players, comfortable in multiple positions and roles (example of 'universality'), have demonstrated the wherewithal to interchange positions – and change formations – during a game. The possibilities inside a 3-1-2-1-3 are endless.
Automatically there's better equilibrium. The seduction lies in its symmetry (making for smoother movement off-the-ball) – three defenders being the 'yin' to an attacking trident's 'yang' – each position is linked to a fixed number and in turn each number is associated with several basic tasks: number one (goalkeeper); number two and five (full-backs); number three (sweeper); number four (defender-cum-deep-lying midfielder); number six (controlling playmaker); number eight (floater); number ten (trequartista); number nine (striker) and number seven and eleven (wingers).
The logical sacrifice is dropping a central defender – either Joël Veltman or Niklas Moisander, who both play a key role in constructing from the back, with 63.3 and 68.1 passes per game respectively – for a deep-lying midfielder-cum-defender (e.g. Nick Viergever), unless one is converted (most likely Moisander).
Not playing a natural 'number 10' has inhibited them. They've compensated by utilising two attacking midfielders in a 4-3-3. A diamond would hypothetically reinvigorate their creative ball-players (who all prefer to play through the middle), with Thulani Serero, Davy Klaassen and Lucas Andersen – 0.4, 2.6 and 1.7 key passes per game – playing, for example, as a controlling playmaker, trequartista and floater. 'Mr Versatile' Lasse Schöne could be used as a seven/eleven, eight or ten.
With the fourth anniversary of his appointment forthcoming it would be reasonable for the word legacy to begin to swirl around De Boer’s head. He's done more than any manager in the last decade to re-establish their traditional style – one-touch combination football with defence, midfield and attacking lines playing closer to each other – restoring their fabled system, and playing it on a permanent basis, should be the next phase of Ajax’s evolution.
Why do you think Ajax are struggling to replicate last season's success this time around? Let us know in the comments below
