Usual Formations
In the simplest terms:
2 forwards/strikers - main job[s] are to win strike and gain/hold territory for the team
3 midfielders - help the forwards maintain territory/stop opposition attacks/look for attacking opportunities
1 goalie/sweeper - support midfielders/create havoc
forwards struggle to operate when solo as tackling is a very simple operation to perform so a single attacker is easily dispossessed of the puck. three forwards tends to leave an 'extra' forward to one side of significant action and therefore underutilised. so 2 forwards it is. one to do good/bad things for us/against the opposition and another to support close on his/her shoulder
midfielders do a lot of support work - especially on the walls at international level [sadly, it's pretty brutal] and it just makes sense to have one dedicated to each side of the play. and having a centre takes some of the lateral swimming load off these players. also you kind of need a row of 3 somewhere in your formation - it forces other teams to go around you/sideways rather than through the middle [towards your goal].
there's nowhere else for the 6th player to go, so we call them the goalie. they are the fix-it player who helps midfielders on the wall, centres in the middle, digs pucks out of corners. and when the chance arises scorches through the confusion in a rush at the opposition goal.
to use a rugby analogy for those that know the game: forwards are like flankers, midfielders are like tight forwards, centre is a first 5/8 [fly-half for non-kiwi followers of the game] and the goalie is a fullback.
why is 2-3-1 effective?
for nz teams it's effective because pretty much everyone in nz plays it [or a similar form of it in a 2-1-2-1 style] at club level, so we are familiar with it. our national teams assemble frequently for training/instruction - so we rehearse it and refine it to suit the unique team for each competition. for us it's a very structured formation that we have the time to practice. that's a luxury not all teams have. once you have a good solid structure like this, it's easy to maintain, as a team, and all the players develop a good understanding of what is required in any given situation. because we assemble frequently we can keep building parts and determining how to act in new situations.
Q - what if the opposition does this?
A - let's create that situation in training and figure out a solution that combats that.
in general it's effective because attacking play is encouraged and aggressively supported by all 6 players, similarly defense is pursued as aggressively as attack - again by all 6 players. it's a formation that allows 4 players to be close [within reaching distance] to the puck at any time and the other 2 in support roles nearby in case of breakdowns in the structure.
it can also be tuned to whatever each team wants to do by reassigning tasks amongst the players. this year you might want the forwards to be responsible for something, but next year it's the midfielders job and the forwards pick up a task that the midfield did.
it's a formation that can be simply explained, but it needs a lot of time/work to get everyone on the team gelling. it's not something you can assemble a week or 2 before world champs and decide to play.
at it's best it's a fast swimming/big passing formation. at it's worst it gets bogged down on the wall and is a game of attrition. it can handle either and still be effective. which is nice.
best of all it can be effectively played when down to only 5 players and can also be maintained with just 4. at world champs when you are almost certainly going to have a player [or 2] in the bin at some stage during a big game, that's vitally important.
any questions? nb:these will have to be fairly general - anything too in depth will get me into specifics which i might want to keep to myself [competitive advantage and all that - i still have at least 1 more world champs to attend]
2 forwards/strikers - main job[s] are to win strike and gain/hold territory for the team
3 midfielders - help the forwards maintain territory/stop opposition attacks/look for attacking opportunities
1 goalie/sweeper - support midfielders/create havoc
forwards struggle to operate when solo as tackling is a very simple operation to perform so a single attacker is easily dispossessed of the puck. three forwards tends to leave an 'extra' forward to one side of significant action and therefore underutilised. so 2 forwards it is. one to do good/bad things for us/against the opposition and another to support close on his/her shoulder
midfielders do a lot of support work - especially on the walls at international level [sadly, it's pretty brutal] and it just makes sense to have one dedicated to each side of the play. and having a centre takes some of the lateral swimming load off these players. also you kind of need a row of 3 somewhere in your formation - it forces other teams to go around you/sideways rather than through the middle [towards your goal].
there's nowhere else for the 6th player to go, so we call them the goalie. they are the fix-it player who helps midfielders on the wall, centres in the middle, digs pucks out of corners. and when the chance arises scorches through the confusion in a rush at the opposition goal.
to use a rugby analogy for those that know the game: forwards are like flankers, midfielders are like tight forwards, centre is a first 5/8 [fly-half for non-kiwi followers of the game] and the goalie is a fullback.
why is 2-3-1 effective?
for nz teams it's effective because pretty much everyone in nz plays it [or a similar form of it in a 2-1-2-1 style] at club level, so we are familiar with it. our national teams assemble frequently for training/instruction - so we rehearse it and refine it to suit the unique team for each competition. for us it's a very structured formation that we have the time to practice. that's a luxury not all teams have. once you have a good solid structure like this, it's easy to maintain, as a team, and all the players develop a good understanding of what is required in any given situation. because we assemble frequently we can keep building parts and determining how to act in new situations.
Q - what if the opposition does this?
A - let's create that situation in training and figure out a solution that combats that.
in general it's effective because attacking play is encouraged and aggressively supported by all 6 players, similarly defense is pursued as aggressively as attack - again by all 6 players. it's a formation that allows 4 players to be close [within reaching distance] to the puck at any time and the other 2 in support roles nearby in case of breakdowns in the structure.
it can also be tuned to whatever each team wants to do by reassigning tasks amongst the players. this year you might want the forwards to be responsible for something, but next year it's the midfielders job and the forwards pick up a task that the midfield did.
it's a formation that can be simply explained, but it needs a lot of time/work to get everyone on the team gelling. it's not something you can assemble a week or 2 before world champs and decide to play.
at it's best it's a fast swimming/big passing formation. at it's worst it gets bogged down on the wall and is a game of attrition. it can handle either and still be effective. which is nice.
best of all it can be effectively played when down to only 5 players and can also be maintained with just 4. at world champs when you are almost certainly going to have a player [or 2] in the bin at some stage during a big game, that's vitally important.
any questions? nb:these will have to be fairly general - anything too in depth will get me into specifics which i might want to keep to myself [competitive advantage and all that - i still have at least 1 more world champs to attend]
