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Although 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 will be Casey’s go to formations this coming season, I think 4-4-2 diamond could be a very interesting option. 4-3-3 should and has to be United’s starting formation, but 4-4-2 diamond is interesting. Here’s a short thread on how that would look like.
Line up:
Tactics:
As you can see from the lineup, Ökvist and Batlle are United’s full backs and their role will be to provide width in attack. Both are attacking minded full backs and with no natural width in the formation they will have to provide that. So, they will bomb forward.
As you can see from the lineup, Ökvist and Batlle are United’s full backs and their role will be to provide width in attack. Both are attacking minded full backs and with no natural width in the formation they will have to provide that. So, they will bomb forward.
Moving on to Galton’s role, she’s not a striker and excels on the wing taking on full backs and getting crosses in hence the arrow out wide. Her starting position will be as a striker, but she will move out wide when United attack and operate as a wide striker and put in crosses.
With Galton moving out wide doing what she does best, there’s space for LJ to move into from her starting position as a no 10. LJ’s role will be as a second striker taking over the ST position from Galton, but also drop deep to receive the ball and drive forward when needed.
When LJ drops deep to receive the ball and then drive forward at defenders, she will look to combine with teammates or get a shot off. However, she also has to make runs into the box and take up good positions to get on the end of crosses from Galton and the full backs to finish.
LJ will be a second striker, dropping deep to get on the ball and be available in the box to score goals. Fuso’s will be the main striker and be a threat utilising her pace and strength with runs in behind the defence. LJ will then be the hold up player as the second striker.
With LJ moving forward to ST from her starting position as a no 10, someone has to occupy the space she has left between defence and midfield. That’s gonna be Toone who’s a great no 10.
Toone has great movement, has a good shot and is a very good combination player. She’s also good at finding dangerous positions in the box which makes her a goal threat. These qualities makes her a great no 10 combining with LJ, playing Fuso through or shooting from range.
For this to ideally work out, it needs someone to find the attackers with passes through the lines, vision and playmaking ability from a little deeper position. This is areas of the game Jackie Groenen excels in.
Groenen is very capable of moving out to the right and combine with Batlle and set her up in good crossing positions. She can also play one-two’s with Toone and LJ or play through balls to Fuso. Her passing and vision is also good enough to switch play out to Galton on the left.
This makes Groenen integral to this team in this formation and is the key for the attack to be fluid, free flowing and lethal. I think it could work out very well and be an option for Casey.
However, this is a very attacking minded formation. I highly doubt Casey will employ this in the coming season, and if she does it will be against the weakest teams, but I think it was very interesting to explore it as a possible option.
