Football/Soccer Session (Moderate): 11v11 left and right midfielder in possesion positional zones

4-4-2

This guide follows the positional zones for a left or right midfielder in an 11v11 game. There are more formations for 11v11 but we will cover the main formations of 4-4-2, 3-5-2, 4-3-3 & 4-2-3-1.

4-4-2 is historically a very popular formation in brittish football but in recent years has been less popular. When playing 4 in midfield in this formation the roles and responsibilties are very similar to that of a 4 in midfield in a 9v9 game. It is your role to provide the width in ther teams formation to stretch the play. just as in 9v9 you still have a responsibility to get back and defend when your team lose possesion. In possesion the wide midfielders will spend more time in the green channels and around the edge of the box on their side of the pitch.

4-3-3

The 4-3-3 formation uses wingers instead of wide midfielders. The main difference is the wingers have less defensive responsibily in their own area as there are 3 central midfielders. This doesn't mean they have no defensive responsibility. Thier defensive focus would be to press and try and win the ball back as high up the pitch as possible. With a 4-3-3 formation there is loss focus on being rigid in your formation in possesion with more movement and player rotation as there isn't a need to stay in your zone as long as one of the other players assume your role. Agreat example of this are the current Liverpool front 3 of Mane, Sala and frimino or Barcelona's Messi, Greisman and Suarez and Griezmann. The winger is more likely to be direct and cut inside. This is why often the left footed player will play on the right and the right footed player on the left. This makes the play narrow. The team still need width to find space so the modern fullback will provide the width with an overlapping run to be an option to pass and they can cross or act as a diverdsion/dummy run taking the defender away allowing you to drive into the box.