4-2-4 is incredibly ambitious. Speaking in the traditional sense, you'd need a pair of really strong midfielders in the middle- Vieira and Petit, for instance (although I don't think we ever played 4-2-4 between 97 and 2000)

Nowadays, 4-2-4 is much more likely to transform into 4-4-2 as the paradigm of the game changes. I can't see wingers staying forward and not helping their full-backs for 90 minutes.