The 9v9 3-4-1, four across the middle
Soccer · Formation · 9 of your players
Three at the back, a flat four across midfield and one striker. The nine-a-side shape coaches ask for by name, because it keeps a spare defender and still puts a player in every lane of the pitch.
Opens on a soccer pitch with the shape already drawn. Free, no signup.
How the shape works
A goalkeeper, a back three on the edge of the box, a midfield four from one touchline to the other and a lone striker near halfway. Drawn on the 9v9 pitch in yards: the centre back on the penalty area line at 14 yards, the outside backs a yard higher, the two central midfielders at 22 yards with the wide pair two yards further up on the touchlines, and the striker at 33 yards, four and a half short of halfway.
It is the 3-3-2 with one striker moved into midfield. The back three is just as solid, the middle of the pitch has two players instead of one, and the wide midfielders own a touchline each from their own box to the opposition's. The price is up front: one striker on their own has to hold the ball up until help arrives.
What it teaches
- Width from midfield. The two wide midfielders are the team's width in attack and its first line in defence. Draw them on the paint when you have the ball and tucked in when you do not, and animate the change.
- Two in the middle who share. One central midfielder goes, the other stays. A young pair will both chase the ball, and a diagram of one run forward and one held position is the picture that fixes it.
- A striker who holds. The ball goes into the lone striker's feet and the midfield runs past. Draw the pass in and the two wide runs off it.
When to use it
It suits a 9v9 team that keeps losing the midfield, or one that concedes on the break and wants the spare defender without giving up the middle. Against a team with two strikers, the back three always has a player over. When you need a goal, push one central midfielder up beside the striker and it becomes the 3-3-2 for the last ten minutes.
Open the 9v9 3-4-1 in the designer and draw the striker's hold-up and the two wide runs off it.
Also known as
- youth soccer
- 9v9
- nine a side
- back three
- small sided
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Put the 9v9 3-4-1 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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