[FM11] Marsupian - The fluid system (very thorough explanation!) 4-2-3-1

Intro

In search of the "the beautiful game" and inspired by the likes of SFraser I started work on a tactic that would bring forward the beautiful side of football and produce those magic moments we all long for when watching a game of football. My second priority was to stay somewhat responsible at the back and possibly win some games. The tactic I made did produce some magic moments but most of all it won me a lot of games and was very decent at the back.

Note: All sliders are left as wizards. This means that when you change any of the team settings the team reacts as they are supposed to react. The only settings changed are: Crossing from mixed for all players except MC's and DC's, roaming yes for wingers, run with ball, through balls and crossing on sometimes for fullbacks, distribution to defender collect for goalkeeper and counter attacking on. The rest is unchanged and will respond as usual. This means that you can easily react to your opposition which you should do if you want to be the best manager out there.

The Tactic

The philosophy is to play fluid football with high creative freedom. The aim is to increase movement and to not mold the player into a machine that does his tasks but to give the player the freedom to do what he wants. I used a 4-2-3-1 formation to create a defensive base of 6 players (the back 4 and the two MC's) from which the front 4 get the creative freedom to do what they please. The two MC's are crucial players because they are responsible for the defense but they also need to support the front 4 with through balls and by recycling possession. So while the back 4 and the front 4 are "only" responsible for defense or offense the two MC play a vital role in both.

Team Instructions

Philosophy: Fluid

Strategy: Standard (can be changed whenever needed)

Playing style:

Passing: Shorter (can be switched to default when playing in heavy weather)

Creative freedom: More expressive

Closing Down: Press More

Tackling: Default

Marking: Default

Crossing: Default

Roaming: Default

Specific Instructions:

Playmaker: Yes (AMC) (If he can't be reached or gets dispossessed to often when receiving a pass change to no)

Counter attack: Yes

Throw ins: Short

Player Roles and Duties

GK: Goalkeeper (Defend)

DL: Fullback (Defend)

DCL: Central Defender (Defend)

DCR: Central Defender (Stopper)

DR: Fullback (Defend)

MCL: Deep Lying Playmaker (Defend)

MCR: Deep Lying Playmaker (Support)

AML: (Advanced Playmaker (Attack)

AMC: (Advanced Playmaker (Support)

AMR: (Advanced Playmaker (Attack)

ST: Advanced Forward (Attack)

Specific player instrucions and explanation of his role in the system

Note: This system thrives on creativity and flair so those are always important attributes for all players except the central defenders.

Furthermore having players with high work rate and off the ball among the front 4 will help immensely in providing passing options.

- Goalkeeper: Your standard goalkeeper with distribution set to "defender collect"

Important attributes:

The usual and maybe a small focus on one on ones and rushing out due to the high defensive line.

- Center Backs: One is on defend and the other is on stopper duty. I did this to create a zig zag with the two CM's who are on defend/support which will hopefully reduce space between defense and midfield. Due to the high creative freedom from the team instructions they won't shy away from playing a bit of football from time to time.

Important attributes:

The usual DC attributes but also pay attention to anticipation, acceleration, agility and pace because of the high defensive line.

- Fullbacks: The fullbacks will get in line with the MC's when in possession to help recycle possession and play the ball forward to the AML/AMR. I put crossing, play through balls and run with ball on sometimes and I put "cross from" on mixed. This way they will add some width when the AML/AMR cut inside and cross from deep. When not in possession they will manmark the opposing winger and hopefully sweep up any through balls behind the D line. If you want to be able to switch to attacking fullbacks on the fly uncheck the sliders and put their duty on automatic. Now when you switch to the attacking strategy your fullbacks will start bombing forward.

Important attributes:

You want solid defensive attributes coupled with anticipation, speed, stamina and workrate and a bit of creativity and the technical abilities to cross from deep and give a decent pass.

- Central Midfielders: These are the two holding midfielders who support the defense and get the front 4 into play. They are wildly important to the success of the tactic because they have the most important task in defense and they need to get the front four into play while they are often found under pressure of the opposing midfield. The reason why they are both set to deep lying playmaker is to force the opponent to close them down creating space for the AMC (and possibly the AML/AMR) in the process. If the MC's don't pose a constant threat to the opposition they could leave them unmarked and unchecked which then deprives the front 4 of space. When they are closed down the opponent leaves space in the midfield for the 3 advanced playmakers. This space is absolutely crucial to getting your 3 most dangerous players into play. On the defensive side they need to pick up any players trying to play between the defense and midfield while also putting pressure on the opposing midfield (together with the AMC) Furthermore they get into the box when any winger tries to put in a cross. One is set to defend and the other to support so they better cover the area between defense. The more technical/creative player should be on support and the more physical/defensive player should go on defend.

Important attributes:

Three things: Strength, Composure, Creativity, Passing, Technique, Marking, Tackling (actually make that everything except shooting, dribbling, and set pieces)

- Wingers: I put them on advanced playmaker so they drop a bit deeper to get loose from their marker and to give them more creative freedom. They don't really have a role (maybe that's why it's called free role) but they do have a general behavior which varies a bit per player. They are told to cut inside, run with ball often, play through balls often, cross often (from mixed) and run from deep sometimes. When they get the ball they will either run for the touchline and whip in a cross or cut inside and go for a through ball or a shot. When a teammate has the ball they will drop deep to get the ball or make a forward run into the box. When not in possession they close down the opposing fullbacks or wingbacks. I put roam from position on yes and cross from mixed to give them more freedom in their actions.

Important atributes:

It doesn't matter whether you play a traditional winger with a deadly cross or an inside forward who cuts inside to make a through ball or take a shot. What want is creativity, flair and technical abilities that pose a serious threat. Also he will get his fair share of clear cut chances so being able to bang them in helps a lot with the score sheet. Ideally you wan't either footed players but single footed players work as well. In this case it doesn't matter which foot is better, when a right footed player plays on the right side he will put in more crosses and when playing on the left side he will cut inside more and play more through balls.

- Playmaker: He plays in the space between defense and midfield created by the striker and the central midfielders. He is put on support to prevent him from making forward runs into the D line but instead stay in the hole from which he can supply the striker and wingers with through balls. He is also the main playmaker and should be ticked as such in the team instructions. In defense he has the important task of closing down the opposing midfield together with one or two of the MC's. He also forms a defensive triangle with the MC's which pushes players who try to walk through the center of the pitch to side. One of the weaknesses of this tactic is that this triangle is quite high up the pitch which sometimes sees players getting the ball inside the triangle instead of in front of it. This is also where a 4-5-1 formation has an advantage over this formation. I haven't changed any of the player instructions.

Important attributes:

The usual playmaker attributes and finishing never hurts because he will find himself in the box plenty of times. Try to get someone with high creativity, flair and off the ball coupled with good passing and technique and first touch.

- Striker: He plays as advanced forward which means he plays of the D line and tries to run onto through balls and get into the box for crosses. When he gets the ball in front of the D line he tries to either run it past the defenders, run wide to put in a cross or give a through ball to players running forward. To my taste he runs wide to often which usually results in him reaching the back line and with a defender next to him preventing him from crossing and then losing the ball quite easily. Maybe playing him as a targetman or poacher would solve this but I have yet to experiment with this. I put crossing on mixed to give him more options (and in the hope he doesn't run blindly to the back line so often but it hasn't helped much). His main job is to create space for the AMC by forcing the D line deeper and to run onto through balls and crosses. (He could be ticked as targetman in the team instructions but haven't tried it yet).

Important attributes:

You can play him as an advanced forward, target man, complete forward or poacher and if you play the False 9/10 variant also as trequartista or deep lying forward so it's really up to you. Special focus should however go to Work Rate and Off The Ball (and maybe stamina). The striker has to work hard to always provide an outlet for the creative players as with one man up front there is sometimes a lack of passing options.

Why this tactic works (or not)

The principle is simple: You get 4 very dangerous players, put them at the front and give them the freedom to do as they please, you get 4 strong defenders who... defend and you get 2 MC's who hold the midfield and provide a threat with through balls. The nitty gritty of it is sadly not so simple. For this tactic to work you need to create enough space for your AMC and AMR/AML and your MC's need to reach them while getting pressured by the opposing midfield. Also the wingers should make enough dangerous forward runs to compensate for having one lone striker up front but also need to drop deep to provide a passing option for the MC's and fullback. On the defensive front this tactic puts a lot of pressure and tries to reduce space by playing with a high D line. This creates a lot of space at the back for through balls and for fast attackers to beat their man.

To prevent myself from putting down an incoherent rant I'll just put down the pro's and con's of this tactic:

Pros:

- Fluid philosophy and creative freedom provide moments of magic and great chances

- Creates space for AMC and AML/AMR

- Two holding midfielders and a defensive back 4 means a solid defense

- Fluid philosophy and counter attack makes catching your opponent on the break often which can provide that vital goal against strong defensive sides.

- Playing a single striker means having a free man in midfield or dragging a DC way out of position.

- Having 5 creative midfielders means the free man is always a threat to the opposition.

- Playing a high defensive line and pressing early means less space for the opposition.

Cons:

- A single striker means not a lot of receivers for through balls so if the wingers don't run from deep often enough you won't score much but if they can't be reached because they run from deep to often you are low on passing options. This can be solved by getting a striker with high work rate and good off the ball so he can always provide a passing option.

- If the opposition plays an AMC and your AMC doesn't pick up one of the central midfielder he could go unchecked (haven't seen it happening often but it could happen)

- Playing a high defensive line means a lot of space behind the defense for through balls

- A lot of creative freedom means giving possession away cheaply quite often (but when you see your central defender taking the ball into the box and sending a screamer at the goalkeeper that makes him almost dive away in fear it's all worth it).

How to tweak this tactic for your team

General instructions

Pressing & defensive line: If you generally play teams better than yours or your defenders are slow setting pressing to default or stand off could really help your defense.

Tackling If you want to get back possession really fast at all cost you could set it to hard. If you often have players sent of or you play opponents that will just dodge and exploit your tackles maybe set it to easy.

Passing: You can set passing to default if you have really good passers or want to play a more direct high tempo style. You can also set it to direct if you want to play a long ball game but this is not really suited to this tactic (maybe a rigid 4-4-2 is a more likely candidate).

Tempo A higher tempo means more bad passes but can easily catch your opponent out of position and goes well with the fluid philosophy and counter attacking. When you waste possession often due to stupid passes try lowering the tempo and maybe set passing back to short).

Player instructions

The wingers: The wingers are the most tweakable. You could play an all out winger here who just gets the ball, beats his man and gets in the cross and it will get you goals. You can also play an inside forward who cuts inside and runs at goal and he too will get you goals. If you play him as a winger you might want to put his wideplay on move into channels but with cut inside he will still often run into at the backline and only cut inside when the opportunity presents itself. I feel cutting inside introduces more variety so I always leave it as is. If you play someone on the wing who is not very pacey and doesn't have high dribble skills you should put run with ball on sometimes which will make him hold onto the ball until he sees an opening or an opportunity to exploit. If you play someone who can't cross or who is far more dangerous cutting inside put crossing on sometimes. If you have a great inside forward (think C. Ronaldo) who goes for the backline too often try reducing his creative freedom. This will make him follow the cut inside instruction more closely. When you play someone who is not great at beating his man and can't really create something out of nothing but knows what to do when presented with a chance try putting him on forward runs often or a higher mentality (or both). You can try almost any instruction with the wingers but one thing I wouldn't do is putting his run from deep on rarely unless you have the other winger on run from deep often/high mentality or when you have your playmaker run from deep (making him secondary striker). If you don't you probably won't have enough players in a goal scoring position. If you find you don't have enough players running on through balls you should try putting one or both of the wingers on inside forward attack or something similar.

Playmaker & Striker: For the playmaker and the striker you have two options.

1. (Standard) You play your striker as an advanced forward/target man (on attack)/poacher/complete forward (on attack) and your playmaker as an advanced playmaker on support (so he wont make runs from deep.

2. (False 9/False 10) You play your striker as a deep lying forward/trequartista and your playmaker as an attacking midfielder on attack (or advanced plamaker on attack as long as he makes forward runs into the box a lot).

With option 1 the striker runs on through balls and pushes the D line deep to create space for the playmaker. With option 2 the striker drops deep and the playmaker (who has now become a second striker) runs past him towards the box. With the second option you won't create any space between the midfield and defense but you could draw defenders out of position to create gaps inside the D line for your AMC. The playmaker & striker can also play off each other and you will often have more players in the box but this can also make the striker and AMC play right next to each other in the same space making them easy to mark and unreachable. With my FC Utrecht game it would depend on what striker played. I played option 1 with Mulenga (fast, strong and good header) and option 2 with Van Wolfswinkel (technical and creative). Then I usually backed Mulenga up with Nijholt (creative and good passer but no finisher) and Van Wolfswinkel with Mertens (great playmaker and great finisher)

You can also try if the striker is easier found when you tell him not to roam.

The MC's: There is not much to change here as this is a vital part to this tactic but you can choose to play them staggered, one on defense the other on support, or flat, both on defense (or maybe even support). You can also put them in the DMC position (I did this a few times with madrid in the beta and it plays almost the same so if you have a bunch of natural DMC's it might be worth it). Furthermore you could choose to split them more directly into a creator/destroyer partnership by playing one as defensive midfielder/ball wining midfielder/anchorman and one as deep lying playmaker (probably on support) but this could maybe stop the opposing midfielder from closing him down and instead mark the playmaker. This is extra bad as the destroyer will most likely not be able to find an opening and be forced to play back to the defenders over and over again. This then leaves the fullback > winger route as the only passing option. If you don't have two midfielders who can defend and create than this could be a good option as the defensive midfielder will probably get closed down should be able to reach a creative player when this happens.

The fullbacks: The fullbacks are set up defensively with "run with ball," "play through balls," and "cross ball" set to sometimes. This will make him behave like a fullback on support when on the ball but with the mentality and marking of a defensive fullback. This fullbacks will get in line with the MC's and in essence do the same job as the MC's (recycle possession, supply the front 4 and defend). If you want to play more attacking than putting the fullbacks on attack is a good option as the MC's will be able to cover for the fullback and the winger will probably cut inside making space for the fullback and they could link up nicely. If you want to be able to switch to attacking fullbacks on the fly uncheck the checked sliders and put their duty on automatic (it will switch to attacking when playing with the attacking or overload strategy and to defend when playing the defensive or contain strategy).

The central defenders: I put the defenders on defend/stopper to pick up AMC's and strikers dropping deep but I haven't done any testing yet on the back four and as such don't know what works best in terms of marking players and covering for each other. If you have defenders capable of playing football (good passing and creativity) you could set play through balls on sometimes which will make them play like ball playing defenders. If you have extremely limited defenders should probably put them on limited defender to counter the high creative freedom from the team instructions.

The goalkeeper

The only thing I can think of is setting the goalkeeper as sweeper keeper which could actually be really effective as this tactic has a high defensive line but I haven't tried it yet.

The formation

This tactic can easily be transformed into a 4-4-2/4-2-4 by changing the AMC into a striker giving you the usual two up front striker partnership. It's probably best to play a creator/scorer as it's most similar to the original tactic but other partnerships might work just as well.

Another option is putting the AMC into the MC line creating a 4-5-1 (you can either drop one of the MC's and play him as DMC or play three flat MC's). You can now play a dedicated anchorman/destroyer with one creative defensive midfielder and one creative advanced midfielder or like the original with two creative defensive midfielders and one advanced midfielder.

How to tweak this tactic for your opponent

When your playmaker can't be reached try the false 9/false 10 (striker dropping deep, playmaker running from deep). This will make the tactic similar to a 4-2-4 creating mostly from the wings and putting two players in the box. This way you will at least get some use out of your playmaker. If your striker can't play the deep lying role or you don't want him dropping deep you could also play him like normal or targetman (probably a better choice) and have the playmaker run from deep (make sure he moves into channels.

When the opponent is trying a lot of through balls in the space behind your defense lower it.

When you play a better opponent (or away or something) you can switch to a defensive strategy.

When your chasing a game or you are way better than your opponent you can switch to attacking strategy. In addition you can play with attacking fullbacks.

If the opponent has a very very dangerous AMC and you have the perfect destroyer/anchorman to take him out of the game (or kick him of the field) you could drop your playmaker into the MC line and then drop one of the MC's to the DMC position. Now you are sure the DMC will pick up the opposing AMC (but be sure to specific mark) and the playmaker will play from a deeper position to keep balance in midfield. You could also drop the MC to DMC without dropping the AMC into the MC position which will give you a straight line (DMC/MC/AMC) but I dont know how well the AMC will pick up the opposing MC.

If you want to prevent your opponent from playing football or you know the reff is very lenient you can set tackling to hard.

Results

With FC Utrecht I have now P6 W5 D1 L0 in the Eredivisie and beat Dortmund (1-1 away and 2-1 home) to get into the groupstage of the eurocup where I beat Besiktas 1-0 at home and drew Liverpool 1-1 away.

Here is my fixture minus all friendlies against nonames:

Aachen 1-1 A (4th friendly still tweaking)

Hertha BSC 2-0 H (6th friendly temporarely stopped tweaking)

Baku 4-0 A (Euro cup 2nd qual.)

RKC 4-2 H

Baku 3-1 H (Euro cup 2nd qual.)

De Graafschap 2-3 H (friendly and first loss, started tweaking again)

FC Nordsjaelland 3-1 A (Euro cup 3rd qual.)

Vitesse 5-3 H (Eredivisie)

FC Nordsjaelland 4-1 H (Euro cup 3rd qual.)

FC Groningen 2-1 A (Eredivisie)

Dortmund 1-1 A (Euro cup 4th qual.)

Feyenoord 3-1 A (Eredivisie)

Dortmund 2-1 H (Euro cup 4th qual. closest match ever with mulenga scoring a sliding finish on a cross with 2 mins left)

Ajax 2-2 A (Eredivisie)

Besiktas 1-0 H (Euro grp)

WHC 7-0 H (Dutch cup rnd 2, played my B team against these nonames and it was a fun watch)

PSV 3-0 A (Eredivisie)

Liverpool 1-1 A (Euro grp, they scored a lucky header from a free kick, I scored one of the most beautiful goals I have ever seen. We were the ones playing football so I just had to go write up this tactic)

De Graafschap 3-0 (Eredivisie)

I'm now 18 for and 6 ag with 6 pld in the Eredivisie.

Download

Download

The tactic is named: The Fluid System Original V1.0

The False 9/False 10 version is named: The Fluid System False 9-10 V1.0

The other two files are training schedules for all the positions (youth and normal). I will probably make a new thread on the training schedules or training in general in the future.

Coming up

More results with different teams (can't wait to play this with Madrid)

More tactics/alternative tactics based on this system including a 4-2-4 and a 4-5-1.

Setpiece instructions

Possibly better tweaked versions.

FAQ

Is this for FM 11.1?

Yes.

Can I use it with lower league teams/bad sides?

As seen in the results I drew liverpool 1-1 with Utrecht so you can win by playing football against better sides. That doesn't mean this tactic will do wonders for lower league or bad teams but it's at least usable and it might actually work really. We will see when I test this tactic with a relegation candidate (I'm open for suggestions).

Do I need to use your training schedules?

No. Everyone wants different things from his players so my schedules may not produce the players you want. Also very little is known about how the slider settings actually influence attribute growth so I only took the schedules SI made (thinking they are the only ones who know how they work) and adapted them to produce the type of players I want. In the future I might make some schedules following SFrasers theory of how training worked in FM10 as I suspect nothing has changed except for switching some attributes to other training areas but whether that theory is still correct or ever was correct is unknown so you might as well take the ones I just made.

Your training schedule sucks, I only see red arrows everywhere!

Whether a player gets better or worse has nothing to do with the training schedule and everything to do with match practice, fitness and the level of football the player plays. The training schedule influences is at what attributes the player gets better or worse (and it only has a minor influence at that). If you see a striker getting better at marking and tackling while dropping in finishing and dribbling you can come to me and tell me my schedule sucks.

Thank you

for reading this huge wall of text.

Please leave comments and tell me what is wrong (or right) with this tactic. You may also just post that you lost all your games and it's rubbish but if you can also tell me what's going wrong that would be great.

Good luck and thanks everyone for posting and contributing to this forum. It was in posts on this forum where I found inspiration for this tactic and got a much better grasp on football tactics in general.

And remember, the tactic is only 10% of the story...

Reserved for future events or something similar.

Thanks for the tactic and the great explanation. Will try it with my MVV squad.

Great description. Have been trying a rigid 4-2-3-1 with Catania which is doing well so far but will try and implement some of your ideas to see if I can get a bit more thrust into the teams play.

Great post. I am playing a slightly different version of a fluid 4-2-3-1, but it's also working really well. Differences between my version and yours and explanation of why:

- I have good DMCs and more attacking FBs, so I have 1-2 of the former and the latter on 'automatic' rather than 'defend'. Getting some good crosses from the byline and a wall of bodies in the middle to compensate. I generally have one defensive mid/ballwinner on 'support' and one deep-lying playmaker on 'support' with mixed FWRs (default is none). Whether I play DMCs or MCs is not only determined by who I've selected but also the oppposition's shape - where do I want my creative player and where do I want my destroyer? Generally I'd try to match my more defensive player against their more creative MC/AMC.

- I have my AMC on advanced playmaker but 'attack' and my STC on deep-lying forward 'support'. I find this links them up better and the AMC gets plenty of goals and assists. Suspect a lot depends on who you have as well as the system abstractly ie the best settings will not be the same for each player.

- I chose 'more direct' passing as I have lots of pacy players and prefer the ball played quickly up into space. Essentially I either score from 2-3 man breakaways or the front 7 completely outpassing the opposition - lots of crosses to the far post as well.

Great stuff, Marsupian. Hugely looking forward to you posting more!

Great post. I am playing a slightly different version of a fluid 4-2-3-1, but it's also working really well. Differences between my version and yours and explanation of why:

- I have good DMCs and more attacking FBs, so I have 1-2 of the former and the latter on 'automatic' rather than 'defend'. Getting some good crosses from the byline and a wall of bodies in the middle to compensate. I generally have one defensive mid/ballwinner on 'support' and one deep-lying playmaker on 'support' with mixed FWRs (default is none). Whether I play DMCs or MCs is not only determined by who I've selected but also the oppposition's shape - where do I want my creative player and where do I want my destroyer? Generally I'd try to match my more defensive player against their more creative MC/AMC.

- I have my AMC on advanced playmaker but 'attack' and my STC on deep-lying forward 'support'. I find this links them up better and the AMC gets plenty of goals and assists. Suspect a lot depends on who you have as well as the system abstractly ie the best settings will not be the same for each player.

- I chose 'more direct' passing as I have lots of pacy players and prefer the ball played quickly up into space. Essentially I either score from 2-3 man breakaways or the front 7 completely outpassing the opposition - lots of crosses to the far post as well.

Playing the playmaker on attack and the STC on a support role is similar to my false 9/10 version but I found that the AMC will often make a forward run at the STC putting them in the space on the field and easily marked out of the game. I will try playing them as advanced playmaker and deep lying forward and see it it works better than how I set them up.

Playing with attacking fullbacks is also something which I haven't tested yet as I am not a huge fan of attacking FB's but I do see the merit in using them especially with how good crosses are in this game and if you have more defensive MC's it can be a great way to add some extra attacking threat from deep. I imagine it won't be too hard to set it up yourself but maybe I'll do some testing in the future and add a new version with attacking full backs.

I'm now playing with the Danish Superliga side Lyngby (media prediction 10th) and also found that the passing was set a bit too short which often stops the MC's and FB's from reaching the attacking players which will result in them passing the ball between them and sometimes losing possession in dangerous positions so I will probably change it to default in the next version. I put it to short at first because I was confident the higher creative freedom would allow my players to play the longer ball when the opportunity presents itself without forcing them to pass into space so often but apparently it didn't work out that well.

I'm really bussy at the moment but I'll try to get the improved version op as soon as possible and until then I would advice everyone to take a good look at the passing behavior of your team and tweak the passing style as needed and also experiment with DMC/MC roles and FB roles and when playing with the attacking AMC and supporting STC experiment with their roles as well.

btw. If your defense gets pulled out of position all the time try putting pressing on normal and then you can increase the defensive line manually if needed (if there is too much space in between your lines).

Thanks for the replies and feedback.

this tactic is very good. I only conceded 13 goals in premier league and set a record points and score more than 100 goals. I created 442 and 451 variation to counter specific opponents.