Borussia Dortmund: Analysing the 3-4-3 system under Lucien Favre

Style of Play

As the shape has changed from a 4-2-3-1 to a 3-4-3, naturally there have been changes in terms of the attacking and defensive methods as well. With the extra defender stepping into the XI instead of a midfielder, BVB are now able to unleash the attacking prowess of wingbacks Hakimi and Guerreiro which in turn allows them to combine with the attacking trio up front.

Piszczek’s transition to a hybrid right-sided center-back role has also helped him turn around the season as over the years, he has declined in terms of pace. It was becoming more and more difficult for him to take care of the right flank all by himself and with Hakimi’s inclusion as an extra wide man, it has turned out to become a more stable situation on the right side of defence.

Here is Dortmund’s passing route taken from when they were playing a 4-2-3-1 compared against their passing route with the latest 3-4-3 (via BetweenThePosts):

As we can see, there are bigger circles with thicker arrow marks in the 3-4-3 between the center-backs and the full-backs.

These pass-maps have a simple concept:
Bigger the circle, more the number of touches
Thicker the arrow marks, more number of passes between the two players

Looking at the pass maps above, it is clear that the tendency to attack through the middle was much higher with the 4-2-3-1 while in the case of 3-4-3 it is more about playing around the opponent’s defensive setup and reaching the center from the wider areas. In the 3-4-3, the role of the central midfielders are merely to act as a channel to switch the focal point of attack from wing to wing and support the wide attackers by overloading the strong side.

With the side centre-backs also pushing up occasionally to combine with the attacking play, Dortmund have been achieving this numerical superiority on the flanks effortlessly.

Numerous goals have been scored from chances created from the wide areas with one combination play in particular which has caught the attention of many: Hakimi, Sancho and Haaland. The speed, trickery and clinical finishing seem to terrorize the opponents on the right flank, making them one of the deadliest trios in Bundesliga today.

Owing to this, Favre’s use of the Zone 14 (which in simple words refers to the area occupied a central attacking midfielder) has also significantly reduced. Here in the image below (via (via BetweenThePosts), we can see Dortmund’s use of the area just outside the penalty area as Paco was playing the striker, supported by Reus playing just behind him as a number 10.

Dortmund fielded their traditional 4-2-3-1 against Augsburg when they completed 46/52 passes from the zone 14 as compared to the game against Eintracht Frankfurt wherein they fielded a 3-4-3, completing just 14/21 passes the entire game.

The examples of the pass-map and the use of Zone-14 are from individual games and one may wonder if it is fair to arrive at conclusions just from one game. However the changes from one game to another in the passing pattern or number of passes in the Zone-14 are minor and the trend has largely been the same with the respective systems, making it safe to conclude.