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4-3-3 Girona

Girona is a team that has wowed and surprised almost everyone this season in terms of their success in La Liga with the Spanish side flying high in 2nd place as time of recording. What makes them so interesting aside from all the points is their style of play. They operate as almost 2 different teams on either side of the pitch which creates some very interesting shapes as well as rotations.

The team looks to setup in a classic 4-3-3 thought that is the most basic thing you’ll see them do. From there both CMs will drift to the right side of the pitch. Leaving the LCM space open for the LB to push into. From there the LCB will shift out to the LB area, the 6 will drop into the backline and the RCB will slide over into the right center channel, while the RB will sit in the wide right channel.

This allows them to have a box created by 5 players on that side of the pitch. This means they almost exclusively build down the right side of the pitch. When they do this, they will look to move the ball into the attacking third of the pitch before switching play to the LW for their player to attack the defense in lots of space.

This means that the players on the left side have very special roles and they do. The LB operates as an Inverted Wingback looking to play in the left half space and driving forward into the final third or even beyond the last line of defenders. He will normally sit around the LCM spot looking to help in buildup before making runs forwards. The LCB also has an interesting role as he has to cover the vacated space left by the LB. He does this by playing almost as a Libero pushing up into the space left and being almost a LCM at times as well as a LB as well. This depends heavily on the location of the LB.

Now the only normal player on this side is the LW. He will stay high and wide looking to offer width as well as an option to carry the ball froward and get crosses in. The only time all 3 do play as their “normal” position is when the team looks to defend in their own half, as they setup as a 4-4-2 low block looking to have both the CB and LB sitting in their natural positions.

This is where issues do start to arise with Girona and their style of play though. The team really struggles to defend this comes from their very aggressive and attacking style and can truly be seen when it comes to how they play in the attacking third.

First though we have to discuss how they get into the final third and that is in their buildup. This is done in a 4-1-3-3 shape. The back 4 is made up of the LCB, GK RCB, and RB. The 6 takes up the roles as a pivot and the LB joins the 2 CMs who shift right in the middle of the pitch. The 2 wingers go as wide as possible and hug the touchline while the ST will sit high up and on the last line of the defense.

This creates the overload on the right that we talked about earlier when they are in possession. This allows Girona many options in buildup as the 6 can drop in and they can look to go short, or they can go long to either the ST who can knock it down for 1 of the 2 CMs or LB or you can even go out wide the RW. When the get this first pass off the next pass is not usually to go in behind or rushed forwards. The team will take their time and look to find passes to pull the opposition onto the where they can either make space for a long switch to the left side or create space in between the lines to allow them to play through bypassing the press. Once the press is bypassed, they look to play the ST in behind.

Now once they are in the final third, they shift into a 3-2-5 shape. The back 3 are made up of the LCB, RCB and RB. While the 2 in front of them are usually the 6 as well as 1 of the other CMs or LB. With either both CMs or just 1 and the LB joining in to create the 5 up front.

They way they look to attack is using the wide triangles created via the winger, the player inside of him and the deeper midfielder. This lets them work the ball around outside looking to either create a crossing opportunity or look to slide a player in with a smart pass where a cutback can be played.

If Girona feel they are not putting enough pressure they can also push even more bodies forward creating a 1-3-6 shape where 6 stays in the second line and is joined by the LCB and RB and the RCB is left on his own in the back. This is a very risky play but also one that has proven very useful for them as they have scored loads of goals this season.

Finally the team does heavily struggle defensively due to the shapes they use in the final third as the team can easily be caught in transition since they only have 1-3 players back at a time.