re: Staying ahead of the curve on tactics

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With that said, I absolutely despise the 3 at the back revolution going on. Some teams can do it and maintain an attractive style of play (Atalanta) but so many teams just use it as a defensive crutch and it's so boring to watch.

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Absolutely

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Being completely honest, I don't know how to coach it either. Not sure if it's just kids at the age I coach but they struggle with the concept of wingbacks, they either stay parked too far back or stay up as wingers. We tried it a couple of times and it just didn't work for me.

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I know nothing about coaching, although I've been looking to find a team to help. I do have some ideas about how to employ a 3 ATB system, but it needs really specific types of players.

The most important thing is spacing between the centerbacks, and what each needs to do in a few situations. The main two are what happens when a wide player can isolate a CB on either wing, or what happens when a player is free in zone 14. If you can drill the offshoots of these situations in a consistent manner, I think you can use the 3 at the back system to your advantage in terms of a purely defensive strategy. I have other ideas which I can elaborate on later.

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I'm hoping the 3 in the back dies out on the international stage, but I'm thinking we'll see it more in the youth ranks because of copy cats. So now the next challenge becomes, how do you attack it? On the youth level, I'm thinking 3 up top with 2 box to box midfielders making runs through the channels would cause some stress. Also pressing high on the center backs.

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The weakness of the 3 ATB system is always what to do with wide players. The massive advantage it does offer currently is to counteract the very popular 5 v 4 strategy Pep made famous, where the midfield would move the ball until an opening arose in the opposition, and you would have 5 players attacking each channel, usually versus 4 defensive players. I'm skeptical you can see any but the highest level teams actually implement that strategy at the youth level, but the 3 at the back system has arisen as a way of counteracting that, as many teams use versions of this system, even teams like England.

You can disrupt the system in other ways, like keeping one winger extremely high, so that your fullback is 1 v 1 versus their wingback, but the wingback now has to make a decision on whether to mark your winger, who doesn't drop that deep defensively, essentially negating the width advantage. In this situation, you will need a midfielder and a CB to work together to contain the opposition wide player, always working to ensure that there is a 3 v 2 advantage on that side of the field, while trying to play the wide player into space as soon as they win the ball.