The best club in the world, Real Madrid have won 14 European Cups / Champions League and deploy a 4-3-3
As do Barcelona.
As (primarily) do Man City
And, Liverpool
And, and, and…
The 4-2-3-1 reached its pinnacle between 2008-12 with the Spanish national team.
Jimbob probably did his coaching badges and read the bumf a decade ago when this formation was de rigueur and conquering the world.
4-2-3-1 (history)
Juanma Lillo, a Spanish coach currently working as Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City, is credited with being the first proponent of this system. A largely unknown but nonetheless revolutionary coach, Lillo was a major early influence on Guardiola, having taken charge of his first La Liga club, Salamanca, in 1992, aged just 29. It was here that he began advocating for the 4-2-3-1 shape.
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As I’ve said above… things have moved on since then.
4-3-3 would better suit the ‘calibre’ of player this club employs.
