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The wide midfielders are often skilful, with pace to burn and a deadly accurate cross. The two strikers, midfield pairing and full-back and wingers each need to have to have a telepathic understanding of their role on the pitch.
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Despite going out of fashion in recent years, 4-4-2 has enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence, mainly thanks to Leicester City in the Premier League and Atletico Madrid in La Liga. This is one of the oldest formations in football.
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Here, we give a coach's guide to the most common, what you'll need to make a success of it, and an example of a team you could study to get it's best version. There are many formations and tactics being employed be various teams, with hundreds of subtle distinctions branching off from them.
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It's the job of the manager to mould the way a team plays, and you only have to take one look at the Elite end of the sport to see differences in the way team’s set-up and play football. The great thing about football is there are a million different ways to play it.
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