3-5-2 : The Formation to Go to?

Seeing all the criticisms of Roberto Mancini's tinkering of formations have got me thinking and I must say that I am indeed an advocate of the 3-5-2 formation and it will actually be my favoured formation if I am a manager. Thus, I have come up with a team sheet of players that will fit into my formation and way of playing.



The players of a dream team are of course famous and instead of explaining my choices, I sourced for youtube videos to do the talking for me. All rights belong to the owner and producer of the videos.

GK: Iker Casillas 

LCB: Fabricio Coloccini

CB: Pepe

RCB: Thiago Silva

CDM: Michael Carrick

CM: Yaya Toure

LWB: Philipp Lahm

RWB: Dani Alves

CAM: Lionel Messi

CF: Cristiano Ronaldo

CF: Radamel Falcao


When the team has the ball:


Coloccini and Thiago Silva will have the license to roam forward when they see the need to, with Carrick not needing to advance much as he has a long passing range and can provide cover in case of a counter-attack. Yaya Toure will be a motoring presence to get into the box while Lahm and Alves will provide the width, with Messi providing support to whichever flank holds the ball to overload the opposing defence. The emphasis of the attacks of the team will be lots of movement by the players coupled with short smart passes, passes to penetrate instead of purely passes for ball retention. 

When the team is without the ball:


The keywords for defending will be to stay solid and compact as well as to be hard but fair in the tackles. The main lines of defence will be the 5 defenders while Toure and Carrick will form a defensive duo in the middle of the park. When the opponents attack through the middle, with Toure moving in front to meet the attacker with Carrick moving behind him to provide cover in case the tackle fails. When the attack is down the flanks, the wing-backs will be defending the area with either one of Toure and Carrick providing temporary cover. Further upfield, Messi will be harrassing and occupying the opposing CDM. Lastly, the forwards will move out to the flanks when the opponents are attacking, firstly to provide an outlet for the defenders to clear the ball to after winning it, secondly to deter opposing full backs from advancing too far forward.


Anyone think of obvious flaws in my formation? Do point it out.