Eds' Little 'n' Large 4-4-2 Variant

Eds’ Little ’n’ Large 4-4-2 Variant

Firstly, before I begin, I would like to show my appreciation to a few guys on the FM scene who have indirectly helped me out with this tactic. Having decided to create a 4-4-2 variant, I knew I needed to brush up on my knowledge of the 4-4-2 itself. And to do this, I used a number of different guides to help me. GodCubed’s Guide to Tactical Synergy, as well as his Guide to Formations and Tactics in FM were both of huge help, and for that I am grateful. I found the Synergy article particularly interesting because it isn’t something I have looked into before now, a huge amount. I’d also like to thank iNickStuff for various pieces throughout his [Amateur] Tactician’s Chalkboard for FM11, but in particular the guide on Playing (decently) Successful Possession Football which was obviously a huge help when building a possession-based tactic. Then there were the guides on the 4-4-2s which I found tremendously useful. Max’s Tactical Guide was a read I found very interesting and helped me build various elements of the tactic, from formation to Advanced Tactics. Also remarkably helpful was Mike.’s take on the ‘modern 4-4-2. This guide was particularly helpful in terms of determining my tactic’s strategy and various other tactical decisions I had to make. Cheers for all of those guys – all of massive help.

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Now, we’re onto the tactic itself.

When I was creating the tactic, I was modelling it for my Gold Coast United [in the Hyundai A-League, Australia] side. Not only did this give me a reason to create a new tactic (which I’ve been meaning to do for a while), but it also allowed me to make my central midfielder the key man in the tactic; something I love doing whilst creating my tactics. I decided I wanted plenty of partnerships in the tactic as well – and that was something I have worked hard upon.

The tactic is a variant of the commonly used 4-4-2, except with a twist. Instead of the two classical wingers, it uses a RAM and a LAM, both in the Inside Forward role. This adds an attacking element to the tactic which is just hard to find elsewhere. Despite the Inside Forward role, the two widemen, as the name suggests, do tend to stay wide and just cut in a fair bit – creating numerous chances for the two strikers. The most common situation is to beat the opposition right/left back and cut inside then, and either pull back for the onrushing Deep-Lying Playmaker or play it through to one of the two strikers or over the top to the other Inside Forward.

Up top there is the classic Target Man/Poacher partnership. And it’s not a myth that they compliment each other perfectly. The Target Man works in harmony with the two Inside Forwards to perform plenty of attractive possession football and create numerous chances for the Poacher. The Poacher is actually also involved in playing a ‘False Nine’ role, but I’ll touch on that more later, as it is a massive part of why the tactic is so successful.

The Key Men in the formation are without doubt the Poacher and the Deep Lying Playmaker: the dictator and the finisher. Without two key men in these roles you’ll be struggling, but it’s easy to find many glorious combinations of this around the world – Gerrard and Suarez; Alonso and Benzema; Xavi and Villa etc. These two men are key to the way the tactic functions, but it’s fairly important your team are creatively well equipped and good passers of the ball – it helps, anyway; as does a good goalkeeper.

The formation itself – a modern tinge to the traditional 4-4-2

As Jose Mourinho pointed out during his time in England, there is a problem with the 4-4-2. And that problem is the fact that actually, it’s easy to be outplayed in the middle. That’s a problem I really had to address if this tactic was to be a success, and it’s something I’m quite pleased with how it has turned out. Despite the two strikers, the Poacher plays somewhat of a False Nine role, and slots into the Attacking Midfield role when the opposition have the ball. This means that the tactic turns into a 4-2-3-1 whilst defending and a 4-2-4 whilst attacking. It takes it out of your players, but it works.

And here’s some proof.

Tahj Minniecon (#15) drops back into the ACM whilst the opposition have the ball

Things you might want to know

- Whilst successfully testing this tactic, I used a Standard pitch size.

- If you want to, you can use a separate tactic for home and away games. For home games, use this tactic. For away games, simply change team philosophy to Standard. If you do this, be sure to save it as a separate tactic and use both on Match Preparation.

- Speaking of Match Preparation, I used Defend Set Pieces as my Special Focus Area.

- No opposition instructions are required.

Testing

I played my season with Gold Coast United, in the Hyundai A-League, Australia. This is fairly challenging, but despite the relative challenge, I finished 2nd after the round robin 30-game stage, and went on to win the league through the playoff system, despite being rank outsiders for a huge majority of the season. I also found that I did not lose the possession battle once, during my whole season.

Also, whilst running several unemployed holidayed seasons with the A-League, on average, Gold Coast United finished 9th. Just to put things int perspective for you.

A few screenshots and a video - just for you.

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But I’m looking for help from you guys with the development of the tactic. I definitely need more testers, and despite having success myself, I’d love for a few others to have a go and tell me how they go, or even some general feedback would be nice. Please?

I'd also love some discussion about this, tbh. The more, the better.

Download link: here

this tactic is awesome but due to bad signings and bad luck im 21st in my 2nd season with it although it has nothing to due with the tactics just my bad judgement lol

selling a team that finished league 1 2nd with most goals scored and replacing it with old foreigners is NOT a good idea

11.2 or 11.3,,,,or can this be used for both????

11.3 i think

Thanks for the tactic..In the tactic i downloaded the MCR (playmaker) is also set as the target man with to feet ticked is this correct?

yes its so he gets the ball more often

sproule on the right demba was top scorer untill i sold him

worst

best

you can also see a couple more players i bought here too

Thanks for that Andyprime.

Anyone else had a go with it? Or just want to discuss it?

I'm gonna give this a shot with my Nantwich team. It seems well suited to my current team (the poacher/targetman/deep playmaker are perfect for my players, and I have depth). Plus you based it on Fold Coast, which is interesting. Plus my own 442's are failing.

With the AMR and AML, do you think it'd be better off with more 'winger' type players than converting fast strikers to play AMR/L?

Thanks for giving it a go.

I recommend fast strikers although, wingers could easily work. When I tested it I used Vidosic and Porter on the wings, who are both normally strikers that can play on the wings, and they worked exceptionally there. Although wingers can work. Stewart Downing's been doing well for me on my Villa save, as has Albrighton.

We were destroyed by injuries, as you can see only a few players played 50 games, and a lot didn't get 40.

I've got a few 'issues'.

The DM seemed to get caught in possession a lot.

The Deep Playmaker, in this case Andersen, that doesn't seem like the type of stats he should be getting. Or is it just the way the tactic works out? Would an advanced playmaker support work better?

Thanks alot for the input david - really helpful.

For version 2 of the tactic, what I'm going to do is focus more on making the DLP destructive, than anything else.

You say your DM got caught in possession alot. Is he one of your better players?

Also, where did you expect to come in the table?

Well, it was one of the lesser quality DM's due to the injuries, so I'm thinking it's probably more the player than the formation.

I expected automatic promotion. However, the injuries really killed us.

We're 11 games into the new season, and it's not going too well.

We're 10th, with 5 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses.

The match engine's horrible one-on-one performance is also killing us.

For example, I'm 40 minutes into an away match vs Huddersfield.

We've had 61% to 39% possesion, 8 shots to 1 and we are dominating.

So of course they scored their only chance off a corner and lead 1-0.

Game finished 1-0.

16 shots to 6

60% possession to 40%

More passes completed, more tackles and headers won.

Somehow they had 4 clear cut chances to 0.

4 games without a win, I'm gonna have to drop the tactic.

Andyprime could you post me a pick of your 2010/11 fixtures please