The Diamond Sea - A Freescoring 4-1-2-1-2 Narrow Tactic.

Brief Introduction

This patch was, for me, a bit of a dissapointment and I had decided to not update my defensive 4-2-3-1 (http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/241387-4-2-3-1-Super_Defense). This new tactic started out just just as something I used in a casual game, but I fell in love with the beautifull passing patterns and the high scores it can produce so I decided to invest some time to make it work properly and release it.

Brief Description

Basicaly, it is a 4-1-2-1-2 narrow formation with an attacking philosophy and short passing. The core of the tactic is the excellent passing options your players have at all times, and how they create space for each other with their off the ball movement.

Results

To test this tactic, I started a new game with Everton, making no new signings. The main problem I had was that my squad was relatively thin.

I still managed to win the League Cup and the Premier League, and I also ended up scoring a large amount of goals despite the fact that my strikers were not really good enough for a side that challenges for the PL.

Tim Cahill also won the Player of The Year award.

Players You Need

You really don't need to have a squad of world beaters to get results with this tactic. You key players are the DCs and the AMC. Generaly, I would say this is a tactic that does not require specialists, but ballanced players without major deficiencies, and an emphasis on physical attributes. There are lots of good guides on squad-building, personaly I always look to have players with good Teamwork in all positions. Let's take a more detailed look on the players' "roles" and attributes:

ST l/r - Essentially, their job is to create space for the midfield to make runs from deep, and also make use of the space that the AMC creates for them. "Fast" strikers work best, so I would say look for pacey players with good anticipation and off the ball stats.

AMC - His job is to exploit the space that the strikers create, draw defenders out of position, provide assists and also score. This player will be the star of the team so invest as much money as you can in this position. Off the ball, anticipation, creativity, flair, passing are important. Some finishing and pace won't hurt either.

MCl/r - You can play any type of midfielders here really, from AMC-types to more defensive minded players. Personaly, I would go for quick, physical players with good Stamina, Teamwork and Workrate. Technical and other mental attributes should not be completely overlooked however, so look for players who are good all around, not specialists.

DM - A standard DM, perosnaly I prefer players with good speed and Stamina and decent Positioning/Tackling/Anticipation attributes.

WB l/r - These need to be as fast as you can possibly afford, and with lots of stamina. Positioning and Tackling should also not be overlooked. Lots of goals you concede can come from mistakes the fullbacks make, so try to get some decent players here.

DCs - Possibly the only "specialists" in the squad, you need quick, clever DCs. Speed, Positioning, Anticipation, Jumping would probably be the most important, but don't overlook the rest of the stats you usually look for in a DC. Investing in quality DCs is generally a good idea!

Additional Info

Pitch Size - minimum. Training - wichever you like, I use my own. No Opposition Instructions. Match Preparation - set to very high workload/team blend untill you are fluid in most areas, then set to low/defensive positioning

Teamtalks and Man Management

I could write an essay on the details and importance of psychology in FM '11 but this is probably not the place for it. Instead, here is just a few tips that might help:

1. Try to put pressure on opposing managers. The "...must surely be under the spotlight to find a way for his taleneted squad to succeed" can often yield surprising results.

2. Be cautiously optimistic against bigger teams, and try to talk up weaker opponents, in order to guard against complacency.

3. Be hard but fair with your players. Don't be afraid to discipline players with ratings of below 6. Have a private chat with underperforming players (rating < 6.5) to ensure they bounce back in the next match.

4. At half time, always check the "Split-Screen" tab and look at your team's motivation. Act accordingly: if they are "playing nervously", tell them "no pressure". If they are "looking disinterested" or otherwise slacking, give them the hairdryer treatment. If they "lack confidence" tell them you have faith. If they are "having a poor game" you can try to get angry, if that does not wield fast results sub them as soon as possible.

5. At half time, for players who are motivated ("split screen" tab) but still perform poorly, let them know they have to try harder. Either telling them to "prove a point!" or showing them dissapoinment or anger can work, depending on the player's mental and hidden stats.

Download Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?2b7gotdqxbhxw72

Hey Elhan This Tactic looked really good so i thought id give it a go on my liverpool career save because i think it will work well with them going good so far in the friendlys beat real madrid 2-0 which i thought was a great result but do you think Carrol will be any good in this tactic or do u think i should use gameiro or benitez?, and how many goals did your two strikers score?. Surprised this aint getting more recognition because so far for me its playing nice football while keeping tight at the back for once. Also using it with aston villa on my network game wid my m8s and its doing well so far and using young as attacking mid so he should score a few hopefully.

If you can get Benitez on the cheap I'd say sign him. I think Carroll will do alright but a quicker, more mobile striker might offer you better movement and will probably drag defenders out of position more often. I rotated my strikers a lot and also had a lot of injuries,but if I remember right Saha had 20+ goals and Anichebe was somewhere close to that figure too. I'll try to post some screens when I get home in the evening.

I will definitivlly try it in a future save game

Well done Elhan, Great work, To win the leauge and cup with the standard Everton side is brilliant and refreshing ! Will def give this tactic a go and report back.

will try it with C Atletico Paranaense of Brazil

will report back but not so soon.good to see you back with a new tactic

Best of luck guys, and thanks. I forgot to mention one thing in my original post, if your MCs are getting tired far too early in the game, untick their "free role" option. Also, if the tackling settings are too aggresive for your taste or you need to play an MC with a really low Tackling attribute, you can safely decrease his tackling settings. I've tested this tactic with easy/medium/hard tackling settings and it didn't really make that much of a difference (although the version I uploaded has the settings I would reccomend)

great tactic!!!

i'm playing with juventus and i used to play 4-3-3 but i was looking for a diamond tactic.

23 games: 19 wins and only 3 loses. scored 60 goals.

few changes i've made:

1.the corner kick is set to near post (as posted in the forum).

2. DC mentality is set to defensive.

the only problem is both MC don't get high rating (7 and lower)

To be honest, my MCs played consistently well, but perhaps their settings are not ideal for the players you have in your squad. I would try to experiment a bit with their creative freedom, free role, and tackling settings and see if it makes any difference. The attacking corner routine is indeed nothing special, I tried to use a "generic" one in order to not influence results too much. I'm glad it's working well for you so far, and thanks for giving it a go.

the only problem is both MC don't get high rating (7 and lower)

I think that could be a FM problem, i have tried many tactics and all my MC and MAC never have good ratings, only if they score, otherwise always less then 6.8

I really want to try this tactic out, but for some reason the link is not working for me? Never had this problem before, can you put it in another website?

deffo gonna try this tactic. I liked your 4-2-3-1 defensive one very much. KUTGW

Would be nice if you upload the tactic again? The link is dead :/

I think that could be a FM problem, i have tried many tactics and all my MC and MAC never have good ratings, only if they score, otherwise always less then 6.8

I do agree with you..

I think that could be a FM problem, i have tried many tactics and all my MC and MAC never have good ratings, only if they score, otherwise always less then 6.8

It's the same thing with DMs imo even if they have great defensive stats after a game their rating is usually around 6.9 even though they did their job perfectly. I think good defensive work often doesn't get rewarded with high enough ratings, something SI really should look into.

Ciao! I would try this tactic with Juventus as I think I have the right players in season 2011/12 but the link is not working. Please someone could re-upload it somewhere?

Thank you in advance!

Enjoy your day!

Chenzo

No clue if its the most uptodate tactic, but this is the one I have: http://www.mediafire.com/?l79d8qdbwtc5w1e

Thank you!

While waiting for the response from Elhan I will try the one you did upload

Thanks Elhan!!

i loved your 4231 tactic. i'll give this one a try.

Here is the latest version of the tactic http://www.mediafire.com/?2b7gotdqxbhxw72.

And here are my results over the last few seasons using this tactic

I will test this and give you feedback.

Did you name this after the Sonic Youth tune? If so huge thumbs up to you Sir!!

Did you name this after the Sonic Youth tune? If so huge thumbs up to you Sir!!

Guilty as charged, could't come up with anything apropriate for a narrow diamond formation.

Getting promoted and winning the CL in 5 seasons is something, but doing it in the Greek leagues is something else. Well done.

Thank you again!

this is a really good tactic - am enjoying the quick strike ability of it and the movement off the ball by the front 3. I am finding 2 issues with it though -

1. my players are knackered! I am having to rotate fullbacks every game. I untick the MC's free role for periods in the game to rest them up but it does seem to take a very high physical toll on my players.

2. what do you change to try to nurse a narrow lead to close out the game - I am giving away a lot of points from winning positions in the last 10 minutes - have tried adjusting time wasting/tempo but still shipping goals galore in the last 10 min. may be related to 1. perhaps?

You have to keep in mind this is a tactic that relies on relentess pressing. Furthermore, since it is a wingerless formation, there is an added burden for the fullbacks. They need to have good natural fitness and stamina, and you must have ample cover for them. Late in a match if they are getting very tired you might want to try decreasing their RFD, though be warned that this will make them less effective at pressing the opposition as soon as the ball is lost.

I've gotta say this is a really sound tactic and I've had excellent results with it. I am playing as Wolfsburg and am on a 12 match unbeated run (though I am drawing a fair amount of games) and am joint top of the league. I find the tactic is giving me excellent results away from home with some lethal counter attacks. I have just beaten FC Bayern 5-1 with it with practically every goal coming from a counter attack. I have only added a couple of fringe players to the squad and so these results are with the players that were already there.

Although it's good that I'm not conceding much, I have drawn a few games against lesser opposition that have went defensive against me so I might make a more attacking version somehow. See link below for my results so far:

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0Bx4M9tgjZvIwNjM4NzIwYmEtNTA4MC00NmI2LWJkZWYtMWU4Y2QxZWMzNDBk&hl=en_US

Its very interesting topic .I have make 4-3-1-2 of allegri and its very simmilar to what you have done .You can take a look here

The formation by itself has many advantages (excellent passing options, controll of midfield etc) and the few disadvantages it does have you can work around. Mainly, you have to rotate the fullbacks a bit since they have to cover their respective flank single handedly. In my opinion, in FM it is easier to deal with attacks on the flanks while using this formation than it is in reality - the two CMs can do that better than most real players could.

As for my own tactic I would say that it's greatest strength is that it does not require expensive players. It merely requires some players with "cheap", easy to find attributes like teamwork,workrate,determination etc.

There are not perfect tactics .When your opponent is using fast wingers without leaving spaces in the midfield he can make you a big damage .The best idea in 4-3-1-2 or diamond is that you can use 4 central midfielder who are all around players .They need to fullfill eachother without leaving empty spaces .Montolivo,de rossi,pirlo ,marchisio(or nocerino) its the ideal

example of that .Add as well aquilani or tiago motta and you have a perfect application on what I said .The backs need to become third stoppers because its extremely risky to play whole side by their own .So your midfielders need to cover tightly the spaces and they must run diagonally very often .No slow players ,no overaged bodies and you have a fresh and very

fast team .