It was Mike Bassett, England manager, played by Ricky Tomlinson in the 2001 cult classic, who declared his team would be playing ‘four-four-f***ing-two”.
A formation described as ‘antiquated’ by the mockumentary’s narrator, Bassett defiantly goes back to the tried and tested formula after failing with various systems, much to the chagrin of the supporters and journalists following the national team at the World Cup in Brazil.
Twenty years on, and back in the real world, 4-4-2 is often seen as an old-fashioned formation. Now it’s viewed as a dated tactic, looked down on with route one football.
Today, out-of-the-box thinking is in vogue. The more complex and clever a line-up the better.
False nines and trequartistas were unheard of at the turn of the century but are deemed essential positions in the modern game by many. And, looking across Europe, it’s extremely rare for the top clubs to have more than one centre forward in today’s game as 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 dominate.
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Football in 2021 is all about pacy wingers and fluidity in attack.
So, after years in the wilderness, has 4-4-2 been lost for good, never to return to a tactics board again?
Or, could Everton, one of this country’s most historic and traditional clubs, bring the classic formation back?
Well, they should and could well be, at least at Goodison Park this season.
On Saturday, in the second half against Southampton, Blues boss Rafa Benitez deployed two central midfielders, two wingers and two attackers.
It worked as as the team scored three goals and completed a professional comeback to kick the season off with the three points.
However, it’s ages since Evertonians have seen such a set-up. Like every other club, the Toffees ditched 4-4-2 long ago.
David Moyes packed his midfield with a 4-5-1, negating any weaknesses in the middle of the park and creating a solid and hardworking unit.
Roberto Martinez opted for a 4-2-3-1 with James McCarthy and Gareth Barry acting as a strong midfield axis behind Ross Barkley, Kevin Mirallas, Steven Naismith and Romelu Lukaku who were able to alternate positions in the front positions.
Ronald Koeman played a similar, if more structured and disciplined, formation to Martinez while Marco Silva deployed a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 system. Carlo Ancelotti went with a similar formation too, even playing three at the back on occasion.
However, over the last decade, Blues grew restless at the insistence of so many managers to use only one attacker. In too many games, the lone frontman has become isolated and cut off from the team.
With only one outlet up top, build-up play has sometimes been laboured or too pedestrian.
Evertonians want to see fast, front-foot ball, with plenty of crosses being fired into the box and numbers of bodies ready to attack in the area.
The 4-4-2 system suits that ideology and on Saturday, the Toffees played a typically Everton way.
There was movement, there was energy and there was a very clear desire to get the ball to goal as swiftly as possible.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s header, which completed the victory, came from some basic play but it was encouraging to see as Everton haven’t done the fundamentals well in recent times.
Allan headed the ball forward and Richarlison took it down. The Brazilian played it wide and then ran into space. Alex Iwobi played him in and he crossed it for the number nine to find the back of the net. So simple - but so vital to win games of football.
Benitez requires his midfielders to get forward and his wingers to assist and so the 4-4-2 makes perfect sense.
Summer signings Andros Townsend and Demarai Gray can be a constant source out wide, while Richarlison in a central position, as he was after the break, is always going to be dangerous and effective.
The Everton number seven combines well with Calvert-Lewin and, playing in a two, the duo can ensure they give the opposition defence a constant headache for 90 minutes.
Of course, there will be matches, particularly away from home, where Benitez will have to be smart and maybe chuck an extra man in midfield or at the back. Sometimes, Benitez will need to bulk up the centre of the park to stop Everton being overrun.
And in today’s game, there is far more flexibility too - no team plays the same system for the entire 90 minutes.
However, at Goodison Park, with the Grand Old Lady at its atmospheric best and the Gwladys Street sucking the ball into the net, Everton must primarily play 4-4-2.
Who cares what is fashionable? It is a system which plays to the strengths of the current starting XI.
On the concourses at games, the names of Psycho Pat, Tricky Trev and Andy Gray are still sung and that glorious 80s line-up, in that very formation, is seared into the minds of all ages.
It is what supporters have been brought up on - the frantic, urgent, swashbuckling attacks of Howard Kendall’s greatest team - and what they demand to see on matchday.
Even now, with the game wholly different to 40 years ago, that old formation still provides several routes to goal, quickens up the play and, essentially, the crowd feeds off it.
Everton, at home, need to go 4-4-2 in the vast majority of fixtures. Get it forward, get it wide and get it in. Make Goodison roar again.
