Is the use of a double pivot in midfield crucial to the modern game?
A lot has been said about the modern game. Some people welcome the concept, whereas others completely disagree and ridicule the idea. No matter what anyone says, football is definitely changing and whether people decide to accept it or not is another problem entirely. Alas, the subject of my piece does intertwine with the idea but rather the tactical side of things more than the politics.
The double pivot in midfield is something that has developed under the noses of football fans because it is a position that is fairly underrated in the modern game despite it’s importance. In this double pivot you have one player that is supposed to sit and protect the back four to let the other player be more adventurous in attack. However, the more attacking player out of the pair is expected to defend as much as he does attack. This creates the popular ‘box-to-box midfielder’ role. In theory, what this double pivot provides is balance in the team which is why this partnership is usually assigned to the 4-2-3-1 formation. It allows the three creative players behind the striker to not worry as much about defending which in turn allows your team to have more energy attacking which can only help the team. What it also does is give the team who have deployed the formation to control the midfield due to the numbers.
Examples
Obviously in order to drive home my point then I must provide successful examples and I can see no better example than Bayern Munich’s Champions League, Bundesliga and the DFB Pokal success. Munich used the 4-2-3-1 formation in almost every game and success followed. The combination of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Javi Martinez was too much for Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final.
You want more examples? Okay then how about Manchester United’s Premier League success? Used the 4-2-3-1 formation a majority of the time with Carrick consistently making up one half of this double pivot.
Not all teams will adopt this formation and use the double pivot but it’s hard to ignore that success can be found using the double pivot. However, you do need to find the right players in order for it to be more of a success.
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