After Chen Xiaojian wrote 4-4-2, he thought for a while, and then wrote the word "ping" after the number.

Yes, in Chen Xiaojian's eyes, 4-4-2 under normal circumstances is too balanced or mediocre.

Unless you can assemble four top midfielders to form a golden midfield, as Manchester United did, or four no.10s to form a dream quartet like Milan, it will be difficult to win the title 4-4-2.

Just look at the England team, who seem to have developed a perverted confidence in the 4-4-2 formation since their success with the 4-4-2 formation.

While other teams are constantly reinventing and reinventing new formations and new football concepts, England are still clinging to the 4-4-2 formation, always remembering the glory of the past in the book of credit.

England has never lacked talented players and talented midfielders, but whether it is Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, these famous midfielders in world football, their experience in the England national team is hardly successful.

When England fell again and again in the quarter-finals and even in the group stage, 4-4-2 has proven to be no longer in line with the ever-improving world football, and even if there are successes, it will only be a flash in the pan.

Chen Xiaojian wrote another line of numbers under 4-4-2, 4-1-2-1-2, and then wrote six words after the numbers, "small diamond" and "small diamond".

4-1-2-1-2 can actually be considered a variant of the 4-4-2 formation. In the usual 4-4-2 formation, the four defenders form a defensive system, with parallel positions, and the four midfielders are also parallel positions. In the 4-1-2-1-2 game, the parallel position of the four midfielders was changed to a 1-2-1 diamond position while the back four positions remained the same, and because the "2" was different, it became two situations.

When two of the four parallel midfielders push forward and become a midfielder behind the striker, the other central midfielder drags back in front of the defender and becomes a midfielder, leaving the left midfielder and right midfielder unchanged, so that the midfielder is re-formed into a large diamond position.

This formation pays more attention to the wing attack, and if it is equipped with two fast horses on the wing, it can play the wings and play the whirlwind tactic.

On another dimension of Earth, there is a legendary coach known as "Crazy Lee", and it is with this hand that Lee Tongfan swept the world 4-1-2-1-2 and won numerous championships. (Forgive me for my ingress)

Another form of 4-1-2-1-2 is that one of the two central midfielders pushes forward and becomes a forward midfielder, and the other central midfielder drags back to the defender and becomes a midfielder, while the two wing-backs are closed in the middle to become two central midfielders, which is a small diamond position.

The small diamond tactic pays more attention to the middle advancement and short pass penetration.

There has always been a saying in the world of football that "the middle is king".

The "middle is king" here is not only about the team's tactical tilt towards attacking and defending in the middle, but also about the requirements of the players.

In the professional league, as long as the players who can play in the middle of the road, they are all absolute superstars.

The vast majority of teams have a central core, and few have been able to create a playbook centered on the wings. If anything, only the Portuguese team, which is rich in talented wings, can barely be counted as one.

And there is also a problem that if you use a formation like a small diamond, not only will there be top players in the middle, but also because there is no one on the wing, the wing attack will be overly dependent on the back insertion of the two full-backs, which will make the requirements for the side players become higher.

Chen Xiaojian looked at 4-1-2-1-2, thought about it, and then drew a slash on the small diamond shape to cross out the small diamond.

Compared with the high requirements of the small diamond for the player, there is no doubt that the large diamond will be simpler.

Chen Xiaojian wrote another line of numbers in his notebook, 4-2-3-1.

This formation can be counted as a variation of the 4-1-2-1-2 diamond pattern, taking down a striker and then adding a midfielder.

Two midfielders are placed in front of the back four to strengthen the protection of the defence.

There are two main reasons for the adoption of double backs.

The first reason is that when the weak team faces the strong team, this is when the role of the front waist becomes bigger and bigger, and the players on this side cannot do one-on-one restrictions on the opponent's front waist, so there is a double back waist, this arrangement is to strengthen the restriction of the front waist and better defense.

The second reason is that the front waist is protruding in front, but it is deeply limited by the opposing team, unable to make timely balls, organize their own attack, and then be forced to retreat the front midfield position of the core of the organization, withdraw to the back position, and drag the organization.

Because of the emergence of double midfielders, it is difficult to have a single forward player who can organize the team's attack on his own, so it is difficult to see classical strikers like Zidane and Riquelme in modern football.

The decline of the classical midfielder has also led to the emergence of the modern midfielder, and the Brazilian king Kaka is known as the template of the forward midfield of modern football.

Less of a team to organise the attack, more of a central push, individual breakaways, long-range shots.

In modern football, there is often a back-to-back that sweeps the defence and the other back-up organizes.

Superstars such as Andrea Pirlo, Xavi, Schweinsteiger and Michael Carrick are some of the best names who have dragged their backs down.

Pirlo has become one of the "50 people who have changed football" as a midfielder, not because of many honors, but more because Pirlo has changed the definition of the midfield position in world football as a player.

World coach Carlo Ancelotti has also played a huge role in this, and it is under Ancelotti's guidance that Pirlo has grown into an absolute superstar who can be called the number one defender in world football.

And the organization of the back has become a tradition in the Barcelona team, from Pep Guardiola to Xavi, all of them are outstanding superstars under the Barcelona system.

The "3" in front of the double midfielder is usually two wing-forwards or wingers plus a central midfielder or midfielder.

The "3" here is more responsible for the speed of the ball in the front court when attacking. When there are four defenders and two midfielders at the back, more of the attacking responsibility is given to the four players up front.

Finally, there is a strong striker at the front of the team.

A strong striker here needs to have a high level of goalscoring ability, while at the same time being able to make more tactical contributions.

Attract the defense, the fulcrum of the team, drop back to get the ball, and in case you lose the ball, you must also be able to press in the first place.

Didier Drogba, Ibrahimovic and Milito are all such template strikers.

The 4-2-3-1 is now widely used in world football, and Mourinho won the treble with this formation, leading Inter Milan back to the big international era overnight.