They often say that the best things in life come in threes and that’s hard to disagree with when you take a look at some of the most successful footballing trios over the years. While in terms of football, you might be familiar with famous double acts, such as striking partnerships including SAS (Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton) or managerial duos – Brian Clough and Peter Taylor come to mind; but the world of football isn’t short of a trio or two (or three!) either.
The attacking trio has come to force in recent years as managers across Europe have opted to play the 4-3-3 formation. Jose Mourinho was one of the first bosses in the Premier League to use this formation, with Chelsea still playing the trio of Didier Drogba, Florent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka / Salomon Kalou today, although £50 million man Fernando Torres might have something to say about that!
However, the greatest exponents of the attacking trio are the Spanish giants, Barcelona. Whether he’s in a striking two or three, Lionel Messi will strike fear into any defence, and alongside David Villa and Pedro (formerly Samuel Eto’o and Thierry Henry) Barca have a fearsome attacking line-up. Alongside the front three you of course have the midfield trio too, and you’d be hard pressed to find a better trio of midfielders than Barcelona’s Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets anywhere in the world.
Arsenal’s trio of Robin van Persie, Andrey Arshavin and Theo Walcott can’t be held in the same regard as Messi and co, but this trio of Gunners are still capable of tearing opposition defences apart on their day. The same goes for Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney, Nani and Javier Hernadez when they play in a three, which Sir Alex Ferguson has used sparsely in recent weeks. However, when the forward three is working in harmony and they are all in form, they are ‘simply unstoppable’…
One trio to keep an eye on are Travis Barker, Tinie Tempah and Katie Taylor. Featuring in the latest Lucozade ad ‘Yes’, the Blink 182 drummer Travis , pop star Tinie and Irish boxer Taylor are a formidable trio. Taylor herself has played football for the Irish women’s national team, so she’s pretty handy with the ball at her feet. Watch the three ‘Ts’ do their stuff in the video below, featuring a rework of ‘Simply Unstoppable’ – something that can be attributed to Messi right now…
You can see more of the trio of Travis, Tinie and Taylor at www.facebook.com/lucozade and play the game. Don’t forget to let us know which football trio from past or present are ‘Simply Unstoppable’ too!
Fabregas is playing betetr than any midfielder in the Premier League at the moment’ but he is still not certain of getting a place on the Spanish national side, whereas Lampard and Gerrard have little competition for their places in the Engalnd side what does this tell you?