Changing your system for the opponent: three coaching approaches

Should you change your system for the opponent or stick to your own? Coaches answer this question in three ways, and the answer also shapes what an analyst looks for in the opponent's matches. I will show you the three approaches and tell you which one I recommend.

Three coaching approaches to the opponent

1. Only your own model

The team has its game model and does not change the system, whatever the opponent does - an example is Antonio Conte and his 3-4-3. "The better the team I am, the less I adapt to the opponent and simply play my own way." At most, something changes because of the opponent's individual players.

2. Your own model with slight adjustments

This is the most common approach and the one I recommend: first our way of playing and our principles, then a slight adjustment where the opponent could have an advantage. Coaches rarely think "you play 4-2-3-1, so I play…" - more often they look at the structures inside the formation. In Napoli - Roma, against five players in the last line, Roma dropped a midfielder to have at least balance there.

3. Changing the system for the opponent

This approach is less common, but it has its logic. If a team always wants to press man to man, its formation depends on how the opponent plays - against 4-3-3 it will be 3-5-2, because two strikers then pick up the two centre-backs. The system changes, but only to carry out the same principles.

Where I start when choosing a system

The question "which formation is the best" has no single answer, because the order is different: first the players you have, then the principles you want to carry out, and only then you lay a formation over them. Without wing-backs who can both attack and defend, playing with a back three will be difficult, even if it fits the opponent on paper.

Adjusting is not a game changer

When I lay one system over another, I am looking for a fraction of a second: "one or two more seconds before the opponent realises what is happening". The opponent will soon adjust, so the mistake I often see is a perfectly planned first action with no continuation, because the players do not feel that moment.

What this changes in opposition analysis

In opposition analysis I also check which of these groups the opponent belongs to, because they are analysing us as well. If they change nothing, it is worth preparing a set move to surprise them - if they change from match to match, I expect a change. Either way, it is worth having a plan B.

🎯 I adjust the formation to the opponent - the principles stay the same.

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