A Detailed Tactical Analysis of a Five at the Back System
Depending on the philosophy of the coach, different teams use the back five set up in different ways. To explain this intriguing system, we will use the examples of Antonio Conte's 5-2-3 at Chelsea. 5-3-2 of Inter Milan and Lazio.
We will also analyze Atalanta and Manchester United's 5-2-1-2 as well as Julian Nagelsmann's RB Leipzig and Hoffenhiem.
The back five set-ups are brilliant to get width high up the pitch without sacrificing men in the middle. Teams can get width in the 4-3-3 or other setups but wing-backs in the back five are very suitable for this task.
You can have a front three or a midfield three and use Wing-backs to supply the width in attack and defence. You can also have a wide backline, with one of the wing-backs can go wide to defend and still maintain a back four in the middle as the other wing-back tucks in.
The few weaknesses of this system will also be explained in this article. Let's look at some examples of different types of back five formations.
Atalanta's Fearless 5-2-1-2
Gian Piero Gasporini's team may play in Serie A but their style is more of a German side than a typical Italian back five sides.
Even though they only have the 12th highest budget in the league but their football is exciting. Atalanta's football is all about fast breaks, man-to-man pressing, positional rotation and counter-pressing.
They have scored 87 goals in 35 matches in all competitions this season, only Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Paris Saint Germain have registered more. Atalanta's most used formation is 5-2-1-2/3-4-1-2 but they occasionally use the 5-2-3 too.
Toloi Palomino Caldara
Hatebor Gosens
De Roon Freuler
Gomez
Ilicic Zapata
The 5-2-1-2 ⬆ becomes 3-2-3-2 in the attacking Phase ⬇
Toloi Palomino Caldara
⏬De Roon
↙Freuler↘
Hatebor Gomez Gosens
Ilicic Zapata
Without the ball, Atalanta defends in a 5-4-1 or 5-3-2. They leave two strikers higher for counter-attacks, however, this varies depending on the opposition.
On the ball, their front three is very flexible. Papu Gomez offers defensive protection and aids in the build-up from his number 10 position in the 5-2-1-2.
The idea in this setup is to have an extra midfielder who can offer defensive cover and a link to the front two for fast transitions. Mario Pasâlic can all fill this role with Gomez playing further up in some games.
Atalanta is extremely dangerous on the counterattack. Gasporini's men are not afraid to engage in one-on-one battles in defence, their high pressure in the mid-block forces turnovers, then Atalanta can overwhelm the opposition defence with numbers and speed of their forwards.
Atalanta's strikers, especially Joseph Ilicic and Gomez like to move into wide channels. They play as inside forwards or offer passing options to midfielders, causing disorganization and confusion in the opponent's defence.
Before the suspension of football, Atalanta's style helped them score 70 league goals in just 24 games.
This is 20 more than Serie A Champions Juventus, 10 more than Lazio and the total includes scoring 7 goals in a game on three occasions.
Atalanta are capable of building attacks from the back with short passes, positional rotation and switching to far side wingback to progress the ball higher. However, they are more dangerous in pressing situations or on the break.
Possession is not an obsession for the Serie A top scorers. If the opposition's pressing is too ferocious, they are not afraid to kick the ball long towards Ilicic or Zapata. If the forwards cannot hold on, Atalanta's pressure can help them win the ball in very dangerous areas.
Seeing seven Atalanta players in-and-around the opponent's penalty box is very common. The offence-first philosophy of Gasporini's team makes them attractive.
They average 20.1 shots per game in Serie A, which is the highest number in the top five European leagues. Having these numbers high also helps in counter-pressing (which is applying immediate pressure after losing the ball).
This style is very appealing but Atalanta are fourth in the league and they have conceded 52 goals in all competitions this season.
Conte's 5-2-3 At Chelsea and 5-3-2 At Inter Milan
It was after a defeat against Arsenal when Antonio Conte ditched his attempt at a back four and used a tried and tested back five from his Juventus days.
The Italian used the 3-4-3/5-2-3 setup. Chelsea's system featured three pure centre-backs, two flying wing-backs, two ball-winning midfielders, two wingers who operated in the half-spaces and a striker.
The Blues won 13 Premier League games in a row and won the league comfortably, despite looking lost while using a back four.
This is How Conte's 5-2-3 would become 3-2-5, to outnumber the opposition defence.
Moses Azpi Luiz Cahill Alonso
Matic Kante
Pedro Costa Hazard
The 5-2-3 ⬆ becomes 3-2-5 in the attacking phase ⬇
Azpi Luiz Cahill
⏬Matic
↙Kante↘
Moses Alonso
Pedro Hazard
Costa
There were three massive reasons for the success of this system. The first reason was that Hazard is more of an inside forward, meaning that he likes to play in the middle and drift around the field rather than always stay wide.
This created space for Alonso from wingback. Pedro or Willian operated on the right wing and would allow Victor Moses (a natural winger) to move forward and outnumber the opposition fullbacks.
Secondly, the work rate of Kante and the class of Matic was crucial. Kante covered the ground and would make forward runs as well, while Matic used his amazing passing ability.
Kante and Matic covered and helped each other magnificently, that's why, even an amazing passer, Cesc Fabregas did not get a lot of game time.
The third reason was that Premier League teams were not used to of facing a back five. All of a Sudden, the defences that were used to facing wingers and strikers were now facing wingbacks as well, which stretched their defence.
Such was Conte's success at Chelsea that, after his tactical switch, 17 out of the other 19 Premier league teams used the back five in the 2016/17 season.
Chelsea's set-up caused many problems to the opposition’s from a tactical point of view. Especially the inside forwards (Hazard and Pedro) were very hard to deal with.
Chelsea basically ended up with a box in midfield. There were many questions for the opposition.
Who should pick up the wingers? Opposition fullbacks couldn’t follow Hazard or Pedro because of the high wingbacks, midfielders could drop but that would mean that Kante and Matic could get free.
Coaches in the Premier League weren’t used to the back five, so it took them some time to adapt. this formation also really played into Chelsea’s strengths at the time.
Reasons For Conte's Struggles In His Second Season At Chelsea
Conte was fired after just two seasons at Chelsea, despite winning the league in his first and the FA Cup in his second season. Chelsea finished outside of the top four in Conte's second season. I
t was actually a formation adjustment that changed things for the Italian. Conte brought in an extra midfielder and moved from a 5-2-3 to a 5-3-2, the formation he is using at Inter Milan this season.
To most casual fans, there is not much of a difference between the 5-2-3 and 5-3-2, but in the latter, you take away a forward and bring in a midfielder.
Conte's conservative move to add an extra midfielder backfired for him at Chelsea. The case against adding a midfielder to a back five setup is that you already have five defenders and two central midfielders, adding another one in place of a forward will hurt your attacking output and threat.
Conte's Inter Milan setup
Godin De Vrij Skrinier
D.Ambrosio Asamoah
Brozovic
Barella Sensi
Lukaku Martinez
Conte's men are pushing Juventus for the Serie A crown but inconsistency is the biggest issue with this Inter team.
There have been extremely impressive performances such as the 3-1 win at Napoli after the winter break and even the 2-1 loss at the Camp Nou was a brilliant performance.
However, In the Champions League, Inter lost 3-2 against Borussia Dortmund, despite leading 2-0 at halftime. They needed an extra-time equaliser against Slavia Prague at the San Siro and lost to Barcelona's half-strength team, which eliminated them from the competition.
In the league, Inter barely landed a punch on Juventus in either of their two meetings this season.
In my humble opinion, adding another forward to the Inter side will turn them into the Chelsea team that beat the Manchester City of Pep Guardiola, Liverpool of Klopp and Pochettino's Tottenham.
Here is how it would look ⬇
Godin De Vrij Skrinier
D.Ambrosio Asamoah
Brozovic Barella
Martinez Lukaku Sanchez
With the 3-4-3/5-2-3, Inter's attacking threat will increase and they can still defend with 8,9 players. Sanchez and Martinez can play as inside forwards, causing the same problems that Conte's Chelsea caused.
Conte has even signed Victor Moses, his wing-back from Chelsea.
Lazio's 532
Just like Inter, Lazio is also using the 5-3-2 system. It sees them field two strikers – Ciro Immobile partnered with J.Correa or Felipe Caicedo – ahead of a midfield three.
Their midfield consists of a deeper midfielder who is supported by the amazing duo of Luis Alberto and Serge Milinkovic-Savic.
A major difference between the 5-3-2 of Inter Milan and Lazio is the positioning of Milinkovic-Savic, who often plays like a deep-lying target man. Savic even makes runs beyond the strikers.
The usual formation of surprise challengers for Serie A looks like this
Radu Acerbi Luiz Felipe
Lazzari Jony
Lucas
Milinkovic-savic Alberto
Correa Immobile
The 5-2-3 ⬆ becomes 3-1-3-3 in the attacking phase ⬇️
Radu Acerbi Felipe
Lucas
Lazzari ↙Alberto↘ Jony
Milinkovic-savic↘
️ Correa Immobile
Like any back five setups, Lazio’s wing-backs offer the width in attack.
Simone Inzaghi's team can either play in a mid-block, leaving ball-possession with the opposition or they can press high to force turnovers, using the energy of their two forwards and midfield duo.
Like any consistent title challenger, Lazio also has a very solid defence – led by the brilliant Francesco Acerbi. Le Aquile has conceded just 21 goals in 24 matches in Serie A.
According to OptaPaolo, since October 2019, Lazio (2.5) is only behind Liverpool (2.9) and PSG (2.7) in points gained per game.
Solskjaer's 5-2-1-2 At Manchester United
The Red Devils have thrived while playing on the break under the Norwegian. Solskjaer's 5-2-1-2 setup
Lindelof Maguire Shaw
Wan Bissaka Williams
Fred Mctominay
Fernandes
Dan James Rashford
This becomes 5-3-2 in the defensive phase as the front two looks to break into the space left by opposition fullbacks. Marcus Rashford's goal against Liverpool this season or United's 3-1 FA Cup win against Arsenal is the perfect example of this strategy.
Another thing Manchester United regularly try is to have one of the forwards drift wide to combine with the wing-back, this pulls the opposition centre-backs wide.
Then, the number 10 tries to make a run into that space. Anthony Martial's goal in the League win at Stamford Bridge was the best example of this plan.
Here is how it looks
Lindelof Maguire Shaw
Fred Mctominay
Wan Bissaka Williams
↙️Fernandes↘️
James Martial
Julian Nagelsmann's Back Five
Although Julian Nagelsmann is using the 'traditional' 3-4-3 at RB Leipzig this season, however, he deployed the 5-1-2-2 very regularly during his time at Hoffenheim.
In the 5-1-2-2, Nagelsmann uses wingbacks as a winger on occasions. This is great for pressing very high up the pitch as Wing-backs can join the attacking midfielders to make it a 3-1-4-2
CB CB CB
DMF
WB AM AM WB
FOR FOR
or join the forwards to make a 3-1-2-4.
CB CB CB
DMF
AM AM
WB FOR FOR WB
This is actually genius from Nagelsmann, how one Formation can change into different setups during the game. Just by positioning the wing-backs a few metres higher, the team can pressure the opposition in different ways.
RB Leipzig has been a pressing obsessed side during their short time in Bundesliga. They used the 4-2-2-2 Setup under Ralf Hasenhutll and in R.Rangnick's one year.
However, under Nagelsmann, Leipzig is becoming a complete side. They can who can win in different ways as they showed against Tottenham Hotspur. Leipzig dominated the ball against Jose Mourinho's team in the first leg and showed their ability on the break in the second leg.
Unai Emery's 5-2-1-2 At Arsenal
Due to Arsenal's struggles in the last two seasons, most People may argue that the 5-2-1-2 used by Emery was a bad setup. But as this article is about the backfive setup, so ignore Arsenal's struggles and focus on the System.
Sokartis Koischlney Monreal
Maitland Niles Iwobi
Guenduezi Torreira
Ozil
Aubamayang Lacazette
The 3-4-1-2 was created out of necessity rather than anything else.
Emery inherited an unbalanced squad from Arsene Wenger, but he figured out a brilliant formation. This system was questioned when Arsenal failed to qualify for the Champions League and after the 4-1 loss in the Europa League final.
However, the system did not fail in the final, Emery's players let him down against Chelsea. Mesut Ozil - the player with the most freedom and responsibility to create - had a forgettable game.
Additionally, both Wing-backs made defensive errors and left wing-back, Sead Kolasinac got into brilliant crossing positions but his delivery was poor.
Emery went with the 5-2-1-2 to fit his two strikers (Lacazette and Aubamayang) and Ozil in one team.
Aaron Ramsey struggled with Injuries all season while Mkhitaryan and Iwobi were average last season. So, Emery used his wing-backs for width, as all three of Ozil, Lacazette and Aubamayang are not natural wide players.
Evidence of the success of this system can be seen when Arsenal beat Serie A's runners up, Napoli with a surprising amount of ease.
The Gunners also scored 7 Goals against Valencia (Copa del Rey winners last season) over two legs in the Europa League.
Kolasinac's terrible crossing and Maitland Niles lacks the defensive awareness cost Arsenal in the Final. The 5-2-1-2 needs the most work from the wing-backs, the number 10 and the front two, but Ozil was extremely disappointing in the final and the strikers struggled to make an impact as well.
We understand that Unai Emery made a lot of mistakes at Arsenal. His back five in the 2-0 loss against Leicester City was disorganized and there is no need to play five defenders at home against a side (Southampton) who were 19th in the league at the time.
However, DO NOT BLAME THE SYSTEM for Arsenal's struggles. Atalanta used this same formation but they are thriving in Serie A and in the Champions. Ironically, Atalanta also scored 8 goals against Valencia in Champions League round of 16 tie.
Other Teams Who Use A Back Five Setup
Mauricio Pochettino frequently used the back five at Tottenham. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has used this formation at Manchester United to get some remarkable results like 3-1 vs PSG, the 1-1 Draw vs Liverpool and when they knocked out Chelsea from the Carabao Cup.
Even FC Barcelona, who almost never move away from their 4-3-3, have used this setup under Luis Enrique and Quique Setien.
Frankfurt used a 5-2-1-2 to reach the Europa League semifinal last season. Jorge Sampoali - before his terrible performance at the 2018 World cup - had built the reputation as one of the better managers in the world at Sevilla and with Chile, he used the back five on a lot of occasions.
Nuno Espirito Santo took Wolves to the FA Cup semifinal and Europa League qualification with his 5-3-2 setup. Last season, Nuno's Side defeated Manchester United (twice) Liverpool, Arsenal and they won twice against Manchester City this season.
Weakness Of The Back Five
Like any other formation, The back five also has some weaknesses. One place to hurt a back five is the space between the Wing-back and centrebacks.
While defending, the wing-back will move out to confront the opposition wide attackers which creates a gap in the backline.
Add Pick
A major disadvantage of a back five and the reason we don't see every team using this setup is that teams can beef up the midfield against this system.
When the opposition deploys three midfielders or the 4-4-2 formation with a diamond midfield, a back five team will lose the midfield battle.
Another problem could occur if the wing-backs do not perform their job properly. The defence could be exposed or lack attacking threat if the wing-back is bad at crossing (like Sead Kolasinac at Arsenal).
The biggest problem could be if the forwards underperform. The forwards have massive responsibility in this setup and if the opposition can nullify them, then the team will suffer big time.
Another weakness arises when one or two defenders move forwards out of the backline, which means that distances between the defenders become bigger.
The defenders would then have to reshuffle again to get closer together, any lapse of concentration can expose the defence badly.
Conclusion
The back five is immensely popular in Serie A and Bundesliga. Due to a couple of teams being slow in possession (like Van Gaal's Manchester United), this formation gets a bad reputation.
However, as Conte demonstrated in his first season at Chelsea, as Quique Setien showed at Real Betis, as Nagelsman is doing it at Leipzig and as Atalanta keep banging in the goals, you can see that this formation can create beautiful, attacking football as well.
As mentioned at the beginning of the article, formations depend heavily on the philosophy of the coach.
Even positioning the wingbacks 5 meter further forwards makes a big difference. How much freedom do the forward have? Does the team press high or just drop into a low block? All this and a few more things will dictate the football a team can play.
A team can be extremely solid in defence with this setup, as the distances between the defenders are shorter, the central defender is able to follow a striker when he drops without leaving too much space.
Opponents have to decide about who presses the wingbacks. The advantage with 5-2-3 is the inside forwards while 5-3-2 has 2 central strikers which can be hard to deal with.
