Premier League 2022-23 tactical trends: Defenders in midfield, back fours and through balls (2024)

Just as promised, it was a season like no other.

Record-breaking numbers of sackings, the most goals ever in a Premier League season, and a final-day relegation battle all made for an exciting narrative, but there were also nuanced tactical trends in the 2022-23 season.

Let’s dive in.

Defenders rolling inside and turning the 4-3-3 into 3-2-4-1

Rarely is there a tactical trend so hom*ogeneous across the top teams. Pep Guardiola’s latest tactical innovation for more midfield control involved rolling a defender inside from a 4-3-3 shape to make a 3-2-4-1, creating a box midfield with a double pivot behind two No 10s.

Guardiola tinkered with the personnel for the role: “Over the last few years, left-back has been a position for midfielders,” said Bernardo Silva, who started at left-back in Manchester City’s wins over Aston Villa and, significantly, away to Arsenal, moving up into midfield when City had possession.

Eighteen-year-old academy graduate Rico Lewis fulfilled the role post-World Cup, a “perfect position” for him according to Guardiola, but centre-back John Stones has locked the role down.

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal have done similar, moving left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko inside to build up with a back three and double pivot. ‘Free eights’ Martin Odegaard and Granit Xhaka then push on to make a front five.

And Liverpool ended the season this way too, moving right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold into midfield, in what Jurgen Klopp describes as a “double six” role that “opened up different opportunities for us”.

If previous seasons have all been about overlapping and assisting full-backs, this season saw them increasingly playing in midfield to offer control, allowing more advanced No 10s to roam freely and operate as the creative hubs. There were just 84 full-back assists this season, lower than in each of the past four campaigns (102, 95, 103 and 117, in chronological order).

Elsewhere on The Athletic today…

• Pochettino and Chelsea: What awaits at Stamford Bridge?
• Which Premier League teams were right to sack their manager(s)?
• Manchester City and Manchester United: Friends, neighbours, rivals

Through-ball goals back on the rise

Football really works in cycles.

Last August I wrote on the decline of through balls across Europe, but this season has seen a five-year Premier League-high in terms of through balls attempted and completed, and shots, xG, big chances and goals from through balls.

If your first thought is Erling Haaland then you are thinking about the wrong half of Manchester.

Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United have the most shots (39), big chances (29) and goals (14) from through balls. While Bruno Fernandes is the league’s top creator from these situations, notably targeting the half-spaces with straight passes from deep locations.

These have often been in transition for forward Marcus Rashford, a super-strength in Rashford’s joint-best Premier League scoring season (17 goals).

Goals at home to Arsenal and Leicester are an example of their combination, which has produced six Premier League goals this season, second only to Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne (eight).

Rashford’s four goals from through balls are the most of any player, though he has switched between a left-wing and No 9 role in Ten Hag’s 4-2-3-1, at times racing onto through balls between the centre-backs and on other occasions getting in on the blindside of the right-back.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, De Bruyne follows Fernandes in the through-ball creativity chartsbut his passes have been from more advanced and wider locations, more often against deeper, set defences.

De Bruyne’s assist for Haaland on matchday one against West Ham was the type of goal many expected to see repeated throughout the season, but as teams sat deeper against City, they had to find ways to adapt.

De Bruyne has picked locked defences from an area known as zone 14, the central space directly outside the penalty area which is a key chance-creation zone. He showed this with his assist for Bernardo, dissecting seven Newcastle players and nutmegging Joe Willock.

The decline of the through ball as a chance creation tool in recent seasons was partly attributable — VAR was also a factor — to the improved quality of defensive blocks and sweeper-goalkeepers.

Coaching a press and defensive shape takes time, so the record-breaking number of sackings and managerial turnovers may well have contributed to this. Ultimately, the added fatigue of a winter World Cup has likely led to less coherent defences.

Though recent managerial changes have had positive attacking impacts, too.

Newcastle ranked fourth for through-ball goals (seven), having refined their 4-3-3 attacking under Eddie Howe. Right centre-back Fabian Schar’s long diagonals to Joelinton have created goals at home to Tottenham and away to West Ham. On both occasions, Joelinton rounded the goalkeeper before scoring.

Schar’s assist for the opener against West Ham was more driven, played between the centre-backs.

On both occasions, the defensive line is high, an increasingly common feature among Premier League clubs regardless of league position, which better facilitates through balls than low blocks.

Roberto De Zerbi’s arrival at Brighton saw a switch to a 4-2-3-1 where the inverted wingers Solly March and Kaoru Mitoma made out-to-in runs to attack through balls, with right-winger March scoring carbon-copy goals at home to Crystal Palace…

… and at home to Liverpool.

Five substitutes have a limited impact

There was plenty of pre-season worry that the introduction of five substitutes would be overpowering, particularly for the bigger clubs with deeper squads. That was not entirely the case.

Compared to the 2021-22 season, there was a 40 per cent rise in substitutions and 35 per cent rise in minutes played by substitutes, but just a 7.8 per cent increase in goals and assists by substitutes.

Looking across the league, bottom-placed Southampton made the most substitutions (175), Champions Manchester City the second-fewest (123), with Southampton and relegated Leicester City (both 11) having more goals and assists by substitutes.

As The Athletic’s Mark Carey wrote on the five substitutes rule last August, this Premier League season has followed the trend that there is no correlation between substitutions made and league position.

Back-to-back fours

Wing-back systems and three-man defences had been on the rise over the past decade of the Premier League, peaking in 2020-21 with almost 30 per cent of starting line-ups featuring three centre-backs.

This season, though, that proportion is down to 20.6 per cent, the lowest on record since 2016-17 (18.8 per cent). Six sides lined up with a back four in all 38 of their Premier League games: Arsenal, under Mikel Arteta, and Newcastle, under Howe, have religiously played 4-3-3 shapes, as Liverpool continue to under Klopp, even if they rotate to attack with a back three at times.

Manchester United in Ten Hag’s first season have stuck with a 4-2-3-1 all season, as have Fulham under Marco Silva, attacking in a 4-3-3 with Andreas Pereira and Harrison Reed as ‘free eights’ in advance of No 4 Joao Palhinha.

It is notable that all those sides ended in the top half, as did Aston Villa, finishing seventh under Unai Emery (who replaced the sacked Steven Gerrard in October), attacking in a narrow 4-2-2-2.

Spurs were the only team to predominantly play a back five, in either a 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 iteration, though the likes of Brentford, Nottingham Forest, Chelsea and Bournemouth all frequently switched shapes.

Even though they have attacked with a back three, Arsenal and City have regularly defended in a 4-4-2. The No 10 — Odegaard for Arsenal, De Bruyne for City — moved alongside the No 9 to press and block central passing lanes. “I learnt this season when you play against Bukayo Saka, Vinicius Junior, Gabriel Martinelli or Mohamed Salah, you need proper defenders to win duels one on one,” said Guardiola.

Playing direct against the press

Last season’s trend of high pressing, across the league, has stayed. Similarly, teams are increasingly building up shorter from the goalkeeper — this season saw higher rates of high turnovers and lower rates of goalkeeper pass launches (in open play and at goal kicks) than in the past five seasons.

Though teams, particularly top sides, are increasingly pressing with player-for-player schemes — players are assigned an opponent to mark and track them tightly, which at times means players get dragged out of position, high up the pitch, such that space in behind can be exploited.

There were three goalkeeper assists from these situations. Ederson for Haaland against Brighton is shown below.

From the tactical camera, the impact of the press on Lewis Dunk’s positioning is clear. He has tracked Haaland as he drops deep, meaning Brighton have no defenders in the centre circle, but have blocked City’s routes through. Ederson launches it over the press…

… Haaland runs onto it, goes round Robert Sanchez and opens the scoring.

Jason Steele’s assist for Kaoru Mitoma is similar. Brentford have marked Brighton’s double pivot.

Centre-back Pontus Jansson is way into the Brighton half, with Brentford leaving a two-v-two at the back. Steele goes in behind to Mitoma, who is running out to in.

And he lobs David Raya to equalise.

Even among bottom-half teams, a high line is common. Everton exploited Nottingham Forest’s high line for a late equaliser, with Jordan Pickford bypassing the mid-block to find Demarai Gray.

He kept his composure to curl round Dean Henderson.

“I think it’s (the Premier League) as tactical as any other league in Europe. I think it’s even more. We have a lot of coaches with different styles,” said Southampton interim head coach Ruben Selles.

Even in a season where the majority of the clubs changed their head coach/manager, some multiple times, and a winter World Cup brought disruption and fatigue, we were still treated to one of the most tactically interesting seasons yet.

Roll on 2023-24.

Liam Tharme is one of The Athletic’s Football Tactics Writers, primarily covering Premier League and European football. Prior to joining, he studied for degrees in Football Coaching & Management at UCFB Wembley (Undergraduate), and Sports Performance Analysis at the University of Chichester (Postgraduate). Hailing from Cambridge, Liam spent last season as an academy Performance Analyst at a Premier League club, and will look to deliver detailed technical, tactical, and data-informed analysis. Follow Liam on Twitter @LiamTharmeCoach