Why 3–4–1–2 is the best formation for Barcelona.

Hello and welcome to The Barca Hub. In this article, I want to talk about why 3–4–1–2 is the best formation for Barcelona right now. We have seen Koeman change formations throughout this season. He is trying to see where players are most comfortable and where they can make plays upfront to create opportunities to score goals.

The problem with 4–3–3 is that Barcelona keeps their defensive line up high. Our center-backs Pique, Lenglet, Umtiti, and Araujo don’t have enough pace to keep running back and forth throughout the game. This is precisely where the opposition sees an opportunity to counter. Even if Dest and Jordi Alba run back, there aren’t many players around that can stop the counter. Our wall at the back, Ter Stegen, also sees this as a problem. Now let’s say that somehow we stop the counter; with the remaining 3–4 players up ahead, we cannot create plays to break the opposition’s defense.

Now with 3–4–1–2, we can keep 3 defenders back, with one of them staying back at all times. Our wing-backs, Jordi Alba and Sergino Dest, have incredible pace and stamina, allowing them to run back and forth throughout the game. That gives up 2 more payers upfront to help the attack make more plays and create more opportunities for goals. One more benefit of this formation is that, now that our defense is strong, the midfielders don’t need to rush back as much, which helps them stay ahead and make plays for our attack.

I really would like to appreciate Ronald Koeman because of how he understands the team’s shortcomings and immediately makes changes for the following games. We have not lost a single match with the 3–4–1–2 formation this season. I hope Barcelona keeps the formation till the end of the season and gets home the remaining two trophies that we can.