With Spain enjoying a somewhat one-sided 4-0 win against Italy in last night’s European Championship final, much will invariably be made of their 4-6-0 formation, often called the “false nine” in tactical circles, and about how other teams might learn something of it.

In a 4-6-0, the same challenges arise for defenders as I illustrated in my recent article about 4-2-3-1 with regard to deep lying forwards. If a forward is not pressing forwards into the path of the central defenders (or full backs, depending on their position), then it creates a dilemma for the defence.

The defenders can either stand off the withdrawn players, opting to keep their defensive line in order to prevent exploitation, or they can follow the players who are defending deep.

As I illustrated in my earlier article, following deep lying forwards or, in Spain’s case, players who are no further forward than many of the midfield, can create issues for non-mobile defenders.

As a defender, if you drift too far forwards then you have issues with breaking the back line. If you do the opposite, you are allowing the opposition to maintain a passing game in space in front of your goal – not exactly ideal.

It would be easy, and over-simplified to suggest that simply adopting such a stance would result in success for all other teams, just the same as it is foolish to think that all teams can play “the right way” – a la tika-taka football.

Just as every team can’t play the short passing game, so all teams can’t afford to play 4-6-0. The reasoning is straight forward and simple – it comes down to the players.

The players will always be the most critical ingredient in any team as any person who has coached even a kids team will know. Adopting a formation or tactic simply because it works for the very best teams in the world, is not exactly a route to success.

Look at Wigan Athletic. Some have lauded Roberto Martinez’s commitment to “attractive football” as though this philosophy must be the way to play because the best teams do it. What the same people fail to include in their argument is that not all teams are created equal, and that the disparity between the very best teams in the world and the rest of us is incredibly significant.

Spain didn’t win the European Championship because they played 4-6-0, or even because they played tika-taka football per se. They won the tournament because they have the best players, and because they wanted it more.

4-6-0 worked because of that fact, not irrespective of it, as when you look at their team, you don’t have to see strikers to see goals. Goals can come from anywhere in the team whether it is Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta, Fernando Torres, or even goalscorer Jordi Alba. When the talent is that good in your team, then defenders don’t only have issues with tracking deep lying forwards, they have problems working out where the goals are coming from on any level.

Which is fundamentally the opposite of how Aston Villa are currently set up, or have been set up in recent times. When one looks at last season and sees how the club wanted to use Darren Bent as the focus of the attack, then it is evident that most chances will come through him.

If that is indeed the case, then Bent is easily pulled out the game, no matter where he drifts, simply because the team lack attacking threat, especially following the sales of Ashley Young and Stewart Downing.

Some may suggest Gabriel Agbonlahor was and is a threat but when playing out on the wing, a position he has often looked awkward in, then the threat is minimised. Trying to funnel his work into supplying Bent rather than taking his own chances compounds the problem. The solution to opponents is simple – stop Bent and stop Villa.

Some might suggest such an analysis to then mean Villa should look at a “false nine” formation, or that they should try and play 4-6-0, just as many fans have wanted the club to play “the right way”, i.e. in passing, attacking football.

The reality for Villa is that 4-6-0 would look ultimately woeful utilising the current squad. All such a formation would serve to do is neuter any remaining attack focuses simply because Villa do not seem to score goals across the team – Villa are simply without the required talent to make this work.

Look at the very best players in the Premier League. Whether you look at past and present foreign talent such as Cristiano Ronaldo or David Silva, or to the best English players of recent generations such as Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard, you can see that these players score goals and they are not strikers.

What makes them so dangerous and so exciting is that they have added goals to their game. Lampard has in fact scored almost as many goals as Bent and he has always played in teams where the attacking threat has come from strikers in addition to his ability. Teams haven’t had to worry about Lampard as a sole threat – they have had to look at past team mates such as Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka, and Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink.

Villa do not have such a setup. Ask yourself where the goals could have come from last season and wit would have been a struggle, what with Charles N’Zogbia struggling to settle, Gabby struggling with injury and Marc Albrighton suffering with a severe case of second season syndrome.

With the addition of Brett Holman, Stephen Ireland hopefully continuing to improve after promising signs last season, and Charles N’Zogbia hopefully settling in after a quiet first season, there will be far more options where Villa can secure goals.

What it sadly may mean for fan favourite Agbonlahor is that his opportunities may well be limited. Just as the pressure of providing goals may well sit on the shoulders of the 4-2-3-1 formation that the club may well continue to play, so Agbonlahor may well find himself in a limbo state – not prolific enough to displace Bent, and not capable enough in the positions where Ireland, Holman, and N’Zogbia operate.

So next season may well mean less strikers, although probably with the same number nine as last season as Villa look to find the winning formula to cultivate success again in B6. What is certain though is that it will take a long time and a lot of changes in players to even begin to play as Spain did last night, and that the future may well mean much upheaval, though hopefully without too much regression.

The future may well be brighter in Villa Park, but it certainly won’t be in a 4-6-0 formation at any time in the near future.

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