The Question: Is the 3-1-4-2 formation on the rise?

Something very odd happened at the end of last week. Historical changes in tactics usually happen incrementally over time: there would be rumours of a side doing something unusual ("and they say the centre-forward plays in midfield …&quot followed by a pivotal game in which that tactical change proves decisive and is accepted as a new phase in football's development (Nandor Hidegkuti picks England apart while scoring three in Hungary's 6-3 win at Wembley in 1953).

More recently, perhaps, with the blanket televisation of football, it's been possible to trace the evolution, but still, there tends to be one moment, one game in which everything snaps into focus (Lionel Messi, for instance, ripping Real Madrid apart from the false nine position).

Last Thursday night, we saw something highly unusual: a 3-1-4-2 from Universidad de Chile as they won the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana away to Liga de Quito (they're likely to revert to orthodox 3-4-3 for Wednesday's second leg). We'd seen 3-3-2-2 and 3-3-1-3 before – usually from Marcelo Bielsa sides – but this, with the wing-backs pushed so high up they were midfielders and the deep-lying midfielder such a holder he was effectively an auxiliary centre-back, was new.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/dec/13/the-question-3-1-4-2-formation-rise