A 4-2-3-1 variant

The creation of this tactic arose when I decided to play with Arsenal a 4-2-3-1 but wished for the right winger to act as a second striker rather than a traditional winger. Upon greater thought, I realised that the easiest way to implement this would be to place the right winger as a striker. To utilise Walcott's pace, I thought about playing him as a poacher but settled on an Advanced forward, since numerous times I thought that Chamakh and van Persie would be upfront together.

My main aim with this tactic was to create attacking fluidity without conceding excessive amounts, therefore the front four do most of the work offensively, whilst the 2 CMs hold position spraying balls about and offering passing options.

The Positions:

Goalkeeper

Your standard goalkeeper. Will need to be a good shot stopper since, the defense can be stretched at times.

I use Akinfeev and he has been very impressive.

Left Back - wingback support

He is essentially a support player in attack. He provides a few crosses but mainly is an extra passing option.

He needs to be reasonably quick but a defensive fullback would be fine as long has he has a decent passing ability. I use Clichy and he has performed well.

Right Back - wingback support

The right back needs to be excellent physically. He covers the entire right wing and needs the stamina, work rate and speed to be able to do so. He needs to be fairly good defensively since against teams that attack down the wings he can be doubled on but he also needs to be good offensively since he will be your right winger in attack. I use Sagna or Eboue in this position.

Centre Backs - defend

They need to be reasonably quick so around 12/13 will be fine. With the stopper/cover combination use a quicker defender to cover the RB. I think the better defender needs to be in the covering role to cover the exposed right hand side since the right back has a lot of work to do. Vermaelen and Fazio have been my favoured combination here.

Central Midfielders

Ball winning midfielder-defend

It is imperative that he is very talented at covering and winning the ball back. He therefore needs good acceleration, anticipation, positioning and tackling. An aggressive player such as Felipe Melo excels here because he is more likely to make a tackle and often a foul is better than letting your opponents expose your right flank. If the player is also decent at passing it's a bonus but not imperative.

Advanced playmaker - support

He is essentially the player who pulls the strings for the team offensively but won't get recognition for it. He will start most attacks and hold postion. Don't get carried away in buying a supreme attacking player because he has to play a part defensively. Fabregas plays well here. I think a player like Sandro for example would be perfect due to his defensive talent.

Attacking Midfielder - Trequartista

This player is where you want to splash your cash on. Get someone who is agile and quick but can both finish and pass. Creativity, Flair, Acceleration and Off the ball are key as well as passing. Arshavin seems to be made for this role.

The AM will consistantly get inbetween the lines and run at the defense. If the defenders close him down, he can pass to the strikers and if they don't he can dribble through them and score himself. He must be able to pose problems for the defense.

Left Winger - Defensive Forward - attack

This player can be either left or right footed. His job is to look for space and create space for others. This man is second in the assist table for my team. Stats-wise look at Cassano but with better Composure.

Strikers

Complete Forward - support

He needs to be a complete forward. enough said. This guy needs to be strong and good on the ball. Teamwork, Creativity and Off the ball are important.

Van Persie and Chamakh have been insane here.

Advanced Forward

This guy should really be quick but don't look for pace and forget about mental attributes. Van Persie, Chamakh, Vela and Walcott have all done equally well. This man should get the bulk of your goals and thus needs to be Composed. Aguero has been good but I would prefer him to be a little more clinical at times.

In game this looks likes:

So far this season the table looks like:

As for goal and assist distribution:

As you can see the tactic produces fluid football, but the defense is a little shaky. If anyone comes up with a solution to this I would be grateful.

I don't use any opposition instructions but when against 4-2-3-1s or teams that play down the wing I tell my Adv. forward to tight mark the opposition's full back.

http://www.filefront.com/17540677/arsenal (Arsenal, Jan 2011).tac

Meh... just been thrashed 4-1 by both Villa and Chelsea with this, playing as Arsenal. Against Villa they only had 10 men for 65 minutes too.

Wow talk about strange then, cos I've still only lost one game all season. Did you start using the tactic pre season or mid season?? And I'm guessing the goals were from the left hand side crosses or drawing out the midfielders.

At the end of the first season, my team has scored 173 goals.

in all competitions or in league???)

Patch? 11.1.1?

This looks like a 4-2-2-2 formation from the heat map and the description you provide (1 AMC, 1AML and 2 strikers). The heat map shows Aguero further forward than Chamakh so it's a little confusing considering you call it a 4-2-3-1. In the Blackburn game you seem to have a lot more freedom on the left with Arshavin and Clichy getting forward and wider more than Sagna. Is that because the AMR (Aguero presumably) is actually a forward now so has tucked in? Who beat you and what was the score?

In all competitions I scored 173 goals according to the information tab. I'm not sure if that includes friendlies though. And yes this was done with Patch 11.1.1

The reason I say a 4-2-3-1 variant was that it originated as a 4-2-3-1 which changed to a 4-2-2-2. There is alot more freedom on the left hand sde, but Sagna, on the right hand side gets further forward than Clichy but Clichy holds a deeper position to draw defenders and create space for the AML. Yes Sagna does get further forward due to the absence of an AMR since Aguero has tucked inside.