Sweeper

Lots of the games I watched recently, I've seen teams good (Barca, Utd) and bad (Arsenal obv) be undone at the back by using high lines to become part of their attacking game. So would their be any scope for a sweeper in the modern game? Does any team out there still play with one? Why did they die off?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/sep/22/football-tactics-trends
Jonathan Wilson's argument seems to be that attacking full backs and wide forwards became more important, making a third central defender unnecessary

I wish I could properly contribute to this kind of detailed tactical chat, but anyway ... how would it work? The sweeper couldn't operate behind the back line because then the high line would be pointless, the offside trap being taken out the game. My impression is more that the sweeper effectively moved in front of the back four - Makalele doing basically that job at an earlier stage.

Watching Barcelona the other night did make me think that they were attempting something entirely new though, such was the lack of anything resembling a proper defence and relying on cover to appear ad hoc. It wasn't a sweeper system though - they were more like a cloud of midfielders. 4-6-0 has become 0-10-0 maybe?

As well as Busquets for Barcelona, Luis Enrique played a de facto three at the back against Inter, De Rossi operating just ahead of the CBs with no proper full-backs.

yeah I saw that Roma game against Inter. De Rossi was a third CB who stepped into MF.

http://www.talksport.co.uk/radio/kickoff/blog/2011-09-23/robson-everyone-tells-me-wenger-doesnt-do-any-defensive-coaching

Stewart Robson calling for the end of ridiculously high offside lines and maybe even a call for sweepers to return.