It was a fashion in 2017 and a fad in 2021. The difference now is who is playing the wing-backs — full-backs who were wingers a season ago, and the spacing that comes with them.
The width problem
A back three only works if the wing-backs stay high, and the wing-backs only stay high if the centre-backs can defend the channel alone. Northvale have spent two windows buying exactly that profile.
Why it failed last time
The 2021 version asked wingers to defend and full-backs to cross. This one asks neither. The wide players are attackers with the ball and a five-man line without it, and the transition between the two is rehearsed to the step.
It is not a back three. It is a front five that occasionally retreats.
— Analyst at a Premier Division club
The catch
It costs a midfielder. Every side playing it this season is short in the middle, and the ones with a fit number six are the ones near the top.
