Football writer Adrian Clarke looks at key tactical trends in 2024/25, including the most-used formations, a rise in assists from goalkeepers and how teams are producing fewer passes and breaking faster.
Which formations proved most popular?
The season just gone saw Premier League coaches focus most of their attention developing an effective 4-2-3-1 formation.
Thirteen of the division’s 20 teams used it as their primary shape, as we saw a startling 37.8 per cent increase in its usage.
Just two seasons ago at the end of 2022/23 this system was used 261 times, but in the campaign that's just ended, the 4-2-3-1 formation was deployed on 408 occasions.
AFC Bournemouth's Andoni Iraola and Chelsea's Enzo Maresca used this formation in all 38 matches in 2024/25.
They were the only head coaches to stick with the same shape across all 38 league contests.
Formations used - 23/24 and 24/25
| Formation | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|
| 4-2-3-1 | 296 | 408 |
| 3-4-2-1 | 71 | 117 |
| 4-3-3 | 172 | 114 |
| 4-4-2 (classic) | 54 | 20 |
| 4-1-4-1 | - | 27 |
| 4-4-1-1 | 41 | - |
| 3-5-2 | 41 | - |
The usually popular 4-3-3 has gone a little out of style, despite being used by Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe and Tottenham Hotspur's Ange Postecoglou.
There are more head coaches right now who prefer using a double pivot and No 10 in midfield, rather than a sole defensive midfielder flanked by twin box-to-box types.
The biggest climber in terms of formations was 3-4-2-1; a favourite with Crystal Palace's Oliver Glasner, Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim and Wolverhampton Wanderers' Vitor Pereira.
It will be interesting to see if others follow their lead next season.
Managers change their formation
We often associate frequent tactical changes with managers who are searching, often unsuccessfully, for the right formula.
Yet across 2024/25 the coaches who used the most different formations tended to be successful.
Nottingham Forest and Brentford both exceeded expectations by finishing seventh and 10th respectively, but Nuno Espirito Santo and Thomas Frank regularly adapted their shapes, using seven different formations apiece.
Managers' most-used formations
| Manager | No. of different formations |
|---|---|
| Thomas Frank | 7 |
| Nuno Espirito Santo | 7 |
| Fabian Hurzeler | 6 |
| Marco Silva | 6 |
| Russell Martin | 6 |
Brighton & Hove Albion's Fabian Hurzeler and Fulham head coach Marco Silva also enjoyed good campaigns too, by taking a different approach to their system of play.
Creative goalkeepers
Never before have we seen more Premier League assists from goalkeepers.
In response to the tactical trend of committing numbers to press high from goal kicks, several 'keepers have intelligently sensed numerical overloads towards the halfway line that they wanted to exploit.
These longer passes have sometimes punished opponents who left themselves 2v2 or 3v3 at the back.
Could the success of long-range passing from restarts force head coaches to contemplate how many players they send forward to press? Potentially.
Manchester City’s Ederson is the best in the business at clipping accurate long passes over the top for runners, and his four assists this season are an individual top-flight record.
Most assists by goalkeepers 24/25
| Goalkeeper | No. of assists |
|---|---|
| Ederson | 4 |
| Mark Flekken | 2 |
| Bernd Leno | 1 |
| Jordan Pickford | 1 |
| Bart Verbruggen | 1 |
No 'keeper had previously created more than two goals in a single campaign.
When opponents lock on man-to-man when he has the ball, Ederson is good enough to pick out runners from long distance.
Ederson's assist for Marmoush v Newcastle
As you can see from this table below, we have not seen anywhere near this many assists from a goalkeeper for a number of seasons.
Most assists by goalkeepers in a season
| Season | No. of assists |
|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 9 |
| 1992/93 | 8 |
| 2007/08 | 8 |
| 1994/95 | 6 |
| 1996/97 | 6 |
Less dribbling and passing
Players ran with the ball at their feet a lot less than usual in the campaign that has just ended.
A sizeable drop saw 547 fewer completed dribbles recorded than in 2023/24.
The overall tally of 5,943 was the first time it had dipped under 6,000 since way back in 2012/13.
It is difficult to pinpoint exactly why this happened, but it feels as if functional multi-purpose wide attackers (in preference to individuals with a penchant for flair) have enjoyed more game time.
This season’s passing stats also show that head coaches want to get the ball forward a little quicker and more directly than they have in the past.
There was a 5.1 per cent reduction in the number of passes in 2024/25, which equates to 48 fewer passes per 90 minutes compared to the season before.
It is the lowest figure we have seen in eight seasons, pointing towards a shift away from wearing opponents down with long spells of patient distribution.
The importance of counter-attacking is also a factor.
Average number of passes per match - last five seasons
| Season | No. of passes |
|---|---|
| 2020/21 | 945 |
| 2023/24 | 941 |
| 2021/22 | 907 |
| 2022/23 | 905 |
| 2024/25 | 893 |
Fast breaks a feature of Premier League football
None of European football’s major leagues saw as many goals scored from fast breaks in 2024/25.
Shots from fast breaks have been rising steadily across the last five years, and in the season just gone, a total of 513 shots from fast breaks were produced.
It was no surprise to see a record-breaking 112 goals netted from those situations, a steep climb from 302 shots from fast breaks in 2023/24.
Source: Opta via Provision
Liverpool scored a league-high 14 times from fast breaks, with talisman Mohamed Salah netting half of those himself.
Spurs (10) and Arsenal (nine) were just behind, but interestingly, every team in the division scored at least twice from breaks.
It is not easy for the bigger clubs to score in this manner when opponents sit back and defend in low blocks, but when they go in front, it does open up space for them to profit with this tactic.
This is why fast starts are so important to possession-heavy teams who also have the capability to hurt sides on the counter.
Has this level of quality on the break peaked, or is there even more scope for extra goals to be scored this way in 2025/26?
It will be fascinating to see what happens in this increasingly key aspect of the game.
Better crossing
With big centre-forwards such as Chris Wood, Erling Haaland, Alexander Isak and Jean-Philippe Mateta back in fashion, it was perhaps no surprise to see a marked rise in the number of open-play crosses sent into the box.
An impressive 323 extra crosses were delivered in 2024/25 compared to the previous campaign, representing a 3.6 per cent increase.
With so many quality targets to hit, the accuracy of those crosses soared.
A success rate of 22 per cent is the highest figure produced in 19 seasons, since 2005/06.
The value of a pinpoint cross feels at its highest level for many years.
