A fine example of the attacking potential of this system would be the Liverpool side of 2013-14 with Steven Gerrard as the deepest midfielder, the team were able to switch from defence to attack very rapidly due to his passing range and the speed on the counter of players such as Henderson, Coutinho and Sterling. Not only do the two box-to-box midfielders allow for quick transitions, each one of the four man midfield has an attacking role to play, from the orthodox number 10 at the ‘tip’ of the diamond to the deep-lying playmaker at the base. The diamond is also extremely good as an attacking formation. This superiority in numbers means that the team who set up with a diamond often find themselves in control of the middle of the pitch. In the diamond formation, however, this deficiency is reversed, and even overturned, leading to a 4v3 advantage in the midfield. Manchester City’s travails in the Champions’ League are a testament to this whilst they have often been able to overcome their opponents in domestic competition due to the fact they have better players, when these players are amongst opponents of equal ability in Europe, the problems of playing a 2v3 become readily apparent. In the era of the three-man midfield (two of the most used formations in modern football being the 4-2-3-1 and the 4-3-3) a traditional 4-4-2 is often outgunned in the centre. One of the main problems with a typical, flat 4-4-2 formation is the numerical inferiority in the middle of the park. In this article, we’ll look at the upsides to playing a diamond as well as the problems which are often encountered by teams who set up in this fashion. That said, in football, there is always a trade-off no formation is perfect, and the diamond is no exception.

The diamond formation has a large number of strengths, most of which do not exist in the ‘classic’ formation. The differences between the two formations may appear to be small, but actually have a number of wide-ranging consequences which mean the two styles of playing are much further apart than would first seem.

Whilst the traditional 4-4-2 formation has become less common in recent years, the diamond variation is alive and well.

4-4-2 diamond drills