Dust_ing for trouble's 3-4-3 libero

Hey,

First thing's first: greets to BoogiePt who gave valuable intel about building a solid tactic.

I WILL NOT ADVERTISE THIS AS BEING A MIRACLE TACTIC. Please don't expect to win every game right of the bat, or even in the long run. This is a tactic that worked quite well for me and I wanted to share with all of you.

TACTIC CONCEPT:

I've always been a fan of a sweeper, but I've never found a good, consistent tactic employing one. So, after much tinkering, I came up with a "VW" concept, emplying a V defense and a W offense. It turned out pretty bad, as space between lines was too much to control a game.

So, I found an evolution of the VW. It focuses on a solid 3 man defense (on the premise that there's always 1 man to mark the striker with the help of an anchor man to stop middle playing All my offense is based on a playmaker (the focus of the team) that ensures my 3 strikers get the ball in position to score.

After trying for about 3 months on getting the formation right, I think I setled with this one.

We have the 3 solid defenders backed up with a defensive midfielder and a wide midfielder that will backtrack whenever there is trouble on his side.

The midle 4 are completed with a box-to-box and a advanced playmaker leaving the attack to a poacher, a target man and 1 inside forward.

I settled for a balanced philosophy, with direct passing and low creative freedom, so that my players know where to play and how to play to the men on the front.

ATTACKING CORNERS ARE SET TO THE FAR POST, so, it the games changes this due the bug, please revert it to far post, as it is the most effective way to score from corners (that i figured out, at least)

PLAYER DESCRIPTION:

GOALKEEPER - Your average goalkeeper, nothing to say bout this one.

SWEEPER - The player I based my tactic around. He is the extra man in defense to help clear all those crosses. It is set on libero, attacking, so that he can team up with the anchor man to stop counter attacks

CENTER DEFENDERS- Nice and sturdy defenders, set on defender, defend so that they don't roam too far of position

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER - The last man of the back 4. He stops play before getting dangerous and helps attack to construct. Set on Defend

MIDFIELDER - This is your fullbacks on defense and your winger on attack. So, It must have good stamina and pace to keep up with the game. I always bring an extra set on the bench and most games I sub him near the 60'th minute.He does need to tackle and mark fairly well, I'd say above 10, so that he can actually be fullbacks.

BOX-TO-BOX - Making for a sturdy midfield, he will go back and help defend aswell as roam forward and shoot on sight. Fabregas obviously is the perfect player here.

ADVANCED PLAYMAKER - the magical being in your formation. guardiola's iniesta, mourinho's ozil, etc. The team plays to him, he delivers to the front 3, and they score. . Set on Advanced playmaker, attack

INSIDE FORWARD - Still not sure if I'm fine with him. Maybe i'll put them up front with the strikers, like Mr. Hough did on FM10.3. But, so far, he's working. He is important as open spaces on the defence to make room for the winger and the playmaker. He should be able to score, but, more important, he should be able to pass. Inside forwards, attack

POACHER - He is the main scorer on the team. Van persie had 30 games and 26 goals before getting injured. He is always trying to be on the end of crosses and trough passes

TARGET MAN - A big, tall player with some mad heading, jumping and passing skills. He will direct the attack, passing to the poacher or the inside forward or opening space for the advanced playmaker.

Results so far have been good. My pride and joy was NOT a win... was a draw, agains barcelona! I dominated the match, top to bottom, even had one player sent off on the 40th minute, and still, got 8ccc and 26 shots

another game where I had plenty of ccc's:

My fixtures are as follows,

The champions cup loss I had already qualified, so my B team played.

Please do notice I'm playing as Arsenal, which is a top team. Not quite sure how it will work on others, as I have tweeked for this particular players.

There is a left and a right side version. More than playing the most suitable formation on your team, you should change formations to fit the most dangerous winger on the opposition's formation. The midfielder should be marking him! so, if (for example) nani plays on the right, you should play the left version and vice-versa!

Here are the 2 versions:

LEFT:

http://www.mediafire.com/?c18phg501vdmbx4

RIGHT:

http://www.mediafire.com/?6dnovgo94mnyk2h

It takes 20 seconds to download but only 5 to say thanks, please do comment and help me improve this tactic.

I am always open to suggestions and tweeks, come talk to me and we'll discuss it together!

PLEASE NEVER FORGET THAT THIS IS A GAME... ENJOY IT

n the beginning it was really though to make the libero work. He wouldn't go forward at all, just sat there in defense. Managed to do what I wanted in setting him to LIBERO, ATTACKING. This way he will sit on the midfield and be an active part of the game, making simple passing to more offensive players. If they counter-attack, he's the first man to break the attack, often getting the better of midfielders when heading is needed. (as he is a defender)

I wouldn't say vermaelen is the best possible libero available. He has performed quite well for me but the main points I think the libero has to have are:

Defensive skills (obviousy, especially tackling marking and heading [jumping is a huge bonus, aswell as antecipation] )

ANTECIPATION is key to the dutys of the libero, as this will enable him to play fairly well

POSITIONING is quite relevant.

I'm trying to train Nordtveit to the libero position as I believe this type of player would be perfect. Besides being a defender, he is a defensive midfielder, so he know how to play a little further in the field and he has the right stats. I believe a good anchor man would give a perfect libero, having a lot more consistency when he gets the ball and has to pass it around. A good example would probably be Pepe (as I'm portuguese )

I am starting a new season now, so I don't have acces to stats from the earlier season.

Nevertheless, I'll leave you with a screen of my winning season:

going to give this a go with my Deportivo save