People often obsess overformations and forget that it is the personnel and the actions behind the structure that determine whether a formation becomes functional or not.
The numbers on paper are just a base or a reference point.
What matters is how the system breathes, how players interpret their zones, and how the manager manipulatesspace.
Inside them areprinciples of width, depth, and relational spacing.
Athree-at-the-back shape can be expansive, hard to break down or transitional depending on those human decisions.
Oliver Glasner andRuben Amorim both favour a three-at-the-back system, but their executions are completely different.
Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace expands, accelerates, and adapts; Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United compresses, slows, and suffocates.
The same design, the same backbone, but drastically different outcomes.
This analysis will aim to dissect both models, their mechanics, their logic, and their failures.
The 3-4-2-1 Structural Blueprint
Both managers build around a back three, two wing-backs, adouble pivot, and two inside forwards behind acentral striker.
However, Glasner’s 3-4-2-1 is an expanding system, while Ruben Amorim’s is a contracting one.
Oliver Glasner Expansion
Oliver Glasner’s Palace builds through a 3+1 structure with three central defenders plusDean Henderson, who steps into the line as anauxiliary centre-back.
Centre-backsMaxence Lacroix,Marc Guehi, andChris Richards split wide, inviting the press, while Henderson becomes the spare man.
As shown in their home win versus Liverpool, Henderson steps out to create a numerical advantage (as well as making it easier) to build up and find a teammate centrally or out wide (i.e., the wing-backs).
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The wing-backsDaniel Munoz andTyrick Mitchell push high and wide, giving the shape a lateral stretch.
This progression produces a 3-2-5 in possession, with three at the base, a pivot pair connecting centrally, and five across the top line.
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