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Some matches just don’t sound right. Maybe it’s just about imaginable that, had things gone a bit otherwise in the 1970s, Malcolm Allison could have been coaching their side beyond the Soviet Bloc for a crack at Valeriy Lobanovskyi’s tactical masterminds, but a match between Dynamo Kyiv and Crystal Palace is still a clash that elicits a double-take. It seems like a mismatch: how can those two clubs possibly be in the same tournament?

However this is the contemporary era. Ukraine is battling conflict, its sides diminished. The English top flight is incredibly wealthy. And the Eagles are coached by one of the rising stars of the continental game. They didn’t just face off on Thursday, but Palace triumphed with a notable ease. It was their third straight win, their 19th consecutive match without loss.

Coaching Speculation and Next Moves

Therefore, because no mid-size club can even just be permitted to enjoy a good run, all the discussion is of which club the Austrian manager might go next. His deal ends at the end of the campaign and he has declined to agree to an renewal. He is fifty-one; if he is planning to take over a top club with the possibility of an long spell in command, he lacks a huge amount of time to secure a move. Could he then be the answer for the Red Devils? He indeed, after all, play the same 3-4-2-1 as Ruben Amorim, just rather more successfully.

Strategic System and Historical Context

This raises the issue of the reason a system that has attracted so much doubt at United works so effectively at Palace. But it’s never just about the formation, nor is it the situation – generally speaking – that one formation is intrinsically better than another. Rather certain tactical shapes, in conjunction with the style they are implemented, emphasize certain aspects of the game. It is, at the minimum, fascinating that since the manager’s Toffees claimed the title in 1962-63 with a W-M, only one side has won the English league title playing with a back three: the Italian’s Blues in the 2016-17 season.

The former Chelsea manager’s team clinched the title in 2016-17 with a back three and effectively two No 10s.

Even that was a bit of a rare occurrence. Chelsea that season had no European football, allowing them fresher than their rivals, and they had squad members who suited the system almost freakishly perfectly.

The French midfielder, with his endurance and reading of the play, is practically two players, and he was functioning at the base of midfield alongside either steadying influence of Cesc Fàbregas or Cesc Fàbregas, among the most penetrating passers the division has known. That offered the platform for the two No 10s: the Belgian wizard, who revelled in his unrestricted position, and Pedro, a expert of the dart into the penalty area. Each of those players was enhanced by their partnership with the teammates.

Systemic Reasons and Strategic Challenges

To an extent, the relative absence of success for the back three, at minimum in terms of winning championships, is cultural. Few sides have won the league using a back three because few sides have adopted a three-at-the-back system. The global tournament victory in the 1960s reified in the national mindset the efficacy of defensive organization with a four defenders.

This remained the standard, nearly without challenge, for the twenty years that followed. But there may additionally be more specific strategic reasons. A back three derives its breadth from the wide players; it may be that the extreme high-energy nature of the English game makes the requirement on those individuals too great to be undertaken consistently.

But the system presents specific challenges. It is stable, offering the trapezoid structure – three central defenders shielded by two holders – that is widely recognised as the most effective way to guard against rival fast breaks. But that is just a single aspect of the match. If they push too far from the protection of the triple defenders, given the common use of setups with a central trio, a pair of midfield players will often be outnumbered without support from elsewhere – unless a single player has the exceptional gifts of Kanté.

The striker celebrates after netting his side’s additional strike against Dynamo Kyiv.

Advantages and Limitations of the System

The inherent stability of that tight defensive block, meanwhile, although an benefit for a side looking to absorb attacks, becomes a possible disadvantage for a side that seek to take the game to the rival. Its greatest strength is simultaneously its greatest flaw. The blockish nature of the system, the way the center is split into defensive players and creators – all defensive mids and attacking mids in current terminology, with zero box-to-box midfielders – means that without a individual to step between lines there is a danger of being read easily; again, Chelsea had the ideal player to do that, the Brazilian defender frequently striding forward from the defense to become an additional midfield option.

Divergent Approaches at Palace and United

Palace aren’t concerned about that. They have the second-lowest ball control of all teams in the Premier League. It’s not their job to have the ball. And that is the primary reason why a direct comparison with United’s difficulties is difficult. United, by tradition and by demand, cannot be the team with the second-lowest possession in the league.

Even if United opted to counterattack against other top sides, the majority of their games will be against opponents who sit deep and could be happy enough with a draw. In the bulk of games there is an onus on them to dominate the play.

Maybe a attacking-minded side can play a three-at-the-back system but it requires extremely specific players – as the Italian coach possessed at Chelsea. The Austrian’s success with it has arrived at Lask and the German clubs, where he has been in a position to have his side defend compactly and break at pace.

Palace have defeated Aston Villa and Aston Villa, because the majority of teams do at the moment, frustrated Chelsea, and ripped Liverpool to pieces on the break. But they’ve also drawn at Selhurst Park to Nottingham Forest and Sunderland, and found it hard to overcome the Norwegian side. Defend deeply against them and they have difficulty for creativity.

Adjustment and Future Scenarios

Could Glasner adapt were he to go