The 9 most 4-4-2 players in Premier League history: Beckham, Giggs, Owen… | OneFootball

Alongside FA Cup replays and Mark Lawrenson, the 4-4-2 formation has gone out of fashion in British football over the past few decades.

Every team across the pyramid used the classic system until the likes of Jose Mourinho, Rafa Benitez and Pep Guardiola introduced more flexibility to the domestic game.

With credit to the Independent’s Adam Clery for the original idea, we’ve identified nine former players who were perfect for the familiar formation.

David Beckham

Beckham was the first player who came to mind, a brilliant winger with a crossing ability more accurate than a Dutchman dissecting your personality defects.

His effectiveness would be blunted in the middle of the park – the 1999 Champions League final hinted at his potential there, but his England ‘quarterback’ role was a short-lived experiment.

And prime Goldenballs didn’t really have the pace to be in a front three.

A player of Beckham’s talent and dedication would probably have made it work, but surely wouldn’t have thrived as he did playing on the right of a four-man midfield.

Ryan Giggs

You don’t become Manchester United’s record appearance maker as a one-trick pony, with Giggs moving into central midfield during the autumn of his career.

But the Welshman was a sensation playing on the left wing, leaving skidmarks on the Old Trafford pitch as he sped past helpless defenders.

Like Beckham, Giggs proved he had the adaptability to thrive in any era.

But modern-day wingers love cutting inside or checking back and feebly passing to a team-mate instead of committing an opponent. Giggs wasn’t about that.

Michael Owen

As Mourinho and Benitez sacrificed a striker to bolster the midfield, modern-day strikers had to become Swiss Army knives capable of performing every function.

This led to the death of the goal poacher, the player who was born on the shoulder of the last defender and relied on knock-downs from an ox-like partner.

Kevin Phillips and Jermain Defoe are both great shouts, but Owen is the prime example of a player who simply doesn’t exist at the top level anymore.

A Ballon d’Or winner in 2001, Owen was picked to score goals and not muddy his shorts with any defensive duties.

Emile Heskey

Heskey was a dynamo during his early days at Leicester, producing something close to a purr from Martin O’Neill.

But he evolved into a battering ram for Liverpool and England, effectively serving as Michael Owen’s butler.

The striker also became a punchline for his patchy goal record, a mean fate for one of football’s nice guys.

Regardless, it would’ve taken a brave manager to play Heskey up front alone. He was born to play 4-4-2.

Teddy Sheringham

Sheringham was a curious case. Not endowed with pace, the striker seemed to rely on his wits alone to become one of the best strikers of his generation.

Millwall, Nottingham Forest, Tottenham, Manchester United, Portsmouth and West Ham were all beneficiaries of Sheringham’s vision and ice-cool finishing.

But the Premier League’s oldest-ever goalscorer falls victim to the Swiss Army knife analogy.

Would he be able to battle two defenders alone, winning headers and holding up the ball? Would you even want him to?

David Bentley

There’s a lot of talk right now about the dullness of Premier League football, overly reliant on set-pieces and physicality.

There were a lot of complaints five years ago too, as Pep Guardiola’s possession style became viewed as overly sterile.

What the people crave is a Premier League team who marry athleticism with technique, capable of handling themselves but also having the confidence to play football.

Few teams did that better than Mark Hughes’ Blackburn Rovers, helped by Bentley producing Goal of the Season contenders from the right of midfield.

Stewart Downing

We’re calling it; Downing is the most 4-4-2 footballer of modern times, as British as milky tea and underlying melancholy.

Yes, he was fine as an inverted winger during his Aston Villa days and thrived as the tip of a diamond midfield at West Ham.

But memories of him committing a defender, beating him and whipping crosses in from the left at Middlesbrough are more vivid in our eyes.

Andy Carroll

Carroll was the Battering Ram 2.0, Heskey for the Geordie Shore generation.

As the Premier League progressed through the 2010s, the big man was regularly called upon to be a sole striker.

But this wasn’t the best use of Carroll, just as scissors aren’t the best utensil for cutting the lawn.

If you transported him back to the 1990s and played him alongside Tony Cottee, the pony-tailed striker would be a Premier League icon.

Ashley Barnes

Seeing Barnes’ disallowed goal for Burnley against Brentford was a shock to the system. Surely he retired six years ago?

It’s almost impossible to picture Barnes without Chris Wood beside him. It’s almost impossible to conceive of Barnes as his own separate entity.

As alluded to above, the striker feels like a relic of a bygone era. The 4-4-2 kamikaze who simply forgot to retire.