How Gerrard’s Christmas tree formation has turned Aston Villa’s form completely on its head – tactical analysis

Following a memorable 1-0 victory against Manchester United at Old Trafford at the end of September, Aston Villa were sitting just four points off the top of the Premier League.

The historic English club had recently lost Jack Grealish to Manchester City in the summer, but Dean Smith’s side looked unphased, punching above their weight yet again. Five weeks later, Smith was relieved of his duties following a run of five consecutive defeats in the league.

There were defensive issues and serious problems regarding the functionality of the midfield as well. Villa already had their man lined up and within four days, Steven Gerrard was announced as the new manager at Villa Park.

Gerrard had an astronomical reputation in England for his illustrious career with Liverpool but also began to make a name for himself as a coach, winning the Scottish Premiership title with Rangers last season and advancing very deep in the UEFA Europa League over the past few campaigns.

His impact at Aston Villa has been prodigious, winning four of his first six games in the league. Only Liverpool and City have picked up more points since he took over, but how, exactly, has he fixed the Villans?

This article will be a tactical analysis of Villa under Gerrard. It will be an analysis of the tactics that the English manager has implemented, particularly focusing on the midfield and wingers.

Christmas tree formation

Throughout Smith’s tenure, Villa predominantly played with a 4-2-3-1, although the 4-1-4-1 and 3-5-2 were deployed on a plethora of occasions too. The 3-5-2 was particularly used by the coach towards the end of his tenure in order to provide more defensive stability to the team.

Unfortunately for Smith, his tactical tweaks were not enough to stabilise the sinking ship.

Gerrard’s preferred formation at Rangers was the 4-3-3 which he used in 70 percent of their matches en route to lifting the SPL title last season.

On arrival at Villa Park, Gerrard automatically switched to a 4-3-2-1, or the ‘Christmas Tree’ formation as it is more commonly referred to in the football stratosphere, which is an unconventional variation of the conventional 4-3-3.

The formation got its name from its resemblance to a Christmas tree, getting narrower and narrower the further up the formation you go. While not inventing the tactical structure, it was Carlo Ancelotti who has been most notorious for using the 4-3-2-1 from his time with Milan.

In a regular 4-3-3 formation, when a team is defending in a medium or low-level block, the wingers tend to drop back and become part of the midfield line, often causing the structure to take the shape of a 4-1-4-1 or a 4-5-1.

With the 4-3-2-1, the wingers tuck inside just behind the centre-forward to defend the inside spaces, leaving the midfielders and fullbacks to defend the wide areas for the most part.