Why so many box midfields recently?

The four man box midfield is currently stylish in Europe

The four man “box” midfield was long a novelty that we occasionally saw in specific situations or as a one-off tactic to counter better possession-oriented sides. For years, we saw clubs experiment with a diamond midfield, but the box was never that common.

But now we are seeing the likes of Xavi’s high-flying Barcelona squad, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal employ a four-man midfield more often than not. These are sides that like to control possession, and have enough of the ball that they can create overload situation where they have a double-pivot and two 8’s simultaneously.

It’s very tough to play against this sort of midfield overload from superior ball-playing sides. However, in theory it should be easier to counter-attack against them because losing possession, will automatically require a change in shape on the fly.

Let’s take a look at some of the 4-man midfields we’ve seen recently.

Barcelona

These sides very rarely start in a four-man midfield. In Barcelona’s setup, you’ll often see a player that starts wide drift into the midfield. Much of the thinking here was when everyone is fit i how to get some combination of Gavi, Frenkie DeJong, Sergi Roberto, Pedri and Sergio Busquets into the team at once. Recent injuries have meant Barca can revert to the more traditional 4-3-3, but no doubt an improvised central four will be back at some point. In fact, Barca’s stroll to the La Liga title this season owes itself largely to Xavi’s creativity tactically with this setup.

Manchester City and Arsenal