The 3-4-3, and the two players who make it work
Field hockey · Formation · 11 of your players
A back three, four across midfield with the wide pair almost on the paint, and three forwards on the halfway line. Attacking by default, and honest about what that costs.
Opens on a field hockey pitch with the shape already drawn. Free, no signup.
The shape as it stands on the pitch
Three defenders sit across the top of your own quarter, close enough together that the two outside backs can each cover half of the centre back's blind side. Above them four midfielders, and the difference between this and every other four is where the outside two stand: about six metres from each sideline, so the pitch is stretched to its full 55 metres before your forwards have touched the ball. The front three start high, near the halfway line, with the centre forward central and both wings holding the width.
Read the numbers again with the ball in your possession and it is not a 3-4-3. Both wide midfielders push, the front three stay, and you have five attackers against most back fours. That is the shape you actually play in; the 3-4-3 is what you look like when the whistle goes.
When it is the right pick
Use it when you are chasing a game, when you are the better side and want to pin them in their own 23, or when their outlet is a long ball to a single striker your centre back can eat. Four in midfield means you rarely lose the middle of the pitch, and the wide midfielders make your circle entries come from the sideline rather than through traffic.
The cost is behind the wide midfielders. When one of them is 40 metres up the pitch and the ball turns over, the corridor between your outside back and the sideline is open, and a good side will find it with one pass. Three at the back only survives if the two central midfielders can be the ones who fill it.
Things to drill
- Recovery, not the run. Draw the wide midfielder going forward, then draw them coming back. The second run is the one nobody practises and the one that saves goals.
- Five in the front line. Animate a circle entry with both wide midfielders arriving and count who is actually in the D when the pass is played.
- The centre back stays. Mark them and do not move them. Every goal against a back three starts with the middle defender getting curious.
Open it in the designer, set the two wide midfielders where your pair really stand, then draw the switch of play you want to see on Saturday.
Also known as
- formation
- back three
- attacking
- field hockey
Shapes to look at next
3-3-3-1
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4-3-3
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Field hockey’s workhorse shape: a back four, three through the middle and a front three holding the width. Drawn defending the goal at the top, with the forwards up on the halfway line.
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5-3-2
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Five across the back with three in midfield and two forwards. The extra defender covers the width of the pitch and lets the outside backs join the attack one at a time.
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Full press (2-3-3-2)
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Pressing high in the opposition half: two on the circle edge forcing the outlet, three behind them, three across midfield and two holding. Ten outfield players — a full press leaves the keeper in your own half, off screen.
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Penalty corner attack
Set piece · 10 players
The injector on the backline 10 m from the post, with the trapper, striker, both slips and both post runners lined up on the edge of the shooting circle — every attacker but the injector has to start outside the circle, and these do. Ten outfield players; the keeper is back in your own half, off screen.
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Penalty corner defence
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The legal defensive set: goalkeeper plus four defenders on the goal line ready to break, and the remaining six beyond the 23 m line where the rules require them. Shown against a full attacking penalty-corner set-up.
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Put the 3-4-3 on a pitch
It opens with the shape already drawn. Move the players your team does differently, drag the runs, and send your squad a link that animates.
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