Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal revealed last week that 4-3-3 will be his preferred formation in the 2015-16 season.
The Dutchman told the club’s official website of his plans for the new campaign: “More or less 4-3-3. We played that already last season, in the second half of the season, and I have said that is the system I want to use.
“We played in our shape [on tour] and played how we have to play. That’s also where I have been very satisfied.”
The 4-3-3 formation is a very flexible system, and van Gaal certainly has the personnel within his squad to make it work in many different ways.
Here are three different forms of 4-3-3 system that the Red Devils could use this season…
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The Red Devils hit a good run of form towards the end of last season and much of that was down to the presence of Marouane Fellaini in a more advanced position.
In this version of a 4-3-3, the Belgian could be used as the target man and that would allow Wayne Rooney and Memphis Depay to capitalise on the space the former Everton mad would create in the attacking third.
In midfield Juan Mata would be deployed in his favoured no.10 role and would be able to pull he strings knowing the pairing of either Bastian Schweinsteiger, Michael Carrick and Morgan Schneiderlin would provide adequate protection for the central defenders.
In the event David De Gea does join La Liga giants Real Madrid this summer, then Sergio Romero is likely to be the number one keeper.
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Many teams throughout Europe use this version of the 4-3-3, with the wide players acting as inside forwards and this would give Adnan Januzaj a more prominent role in the first-team next season as he could be deployed on the right-wing and Depay, who impressed for PSV Eindhoven last season, on the opposite side.
In midfield the Red Devils are spoilt for choice to fill the anchor man role as Carrick, Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin could all excel in that position and that would allow Mata and Ander Herrera to take up the more attacking roles just in front and perhaps form a partnership similar to that of Xavi and Andres Iniesta.
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This system would allow the trio of Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger and Carrick to start and that would make the Red Devils very difficult to beat especially in the big games and this could appeal to van Gaal, who is hoping to win the Premier League this season.
The only problem with this is the lack of width going forward as Mata and Herrera are likely to stay central to provide support for Rooney in attack and would require a huge effort from the full-backs to get up and down the pitch.
