442 Diamond high CCC count - there can be only one!

I rarely post tactics, mainly due to feeling other people seem to be much better at creating them than me however I thought this this tactic might be of interest to people especially if you don't have any decent wingers or inside forwards. I must first of all give a huge amount of the credit to Mr U Rosler who has produce loads of top tactics for this site. This tactic is based on his silk and steel tactic but tweaked to suit my players and to counter an issue I spotted with opposition midfield players slipping in their forwards with to greater a regularity for my liking.

The tactic: I wanted to maintain Mr U Rosler's awesome attacking power in Silk & Steel (http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/387277-Silk-amp-Steel-The-Quickening.........-exclusively-for-14.3) but through the middle but leaving little space for the opposition to play through the middle and slip balls between my centre back & full back (a common method of conceding with the new patch). I got the idea after seeing Liverpool switch to a diamond against Man Utd and how they dominated the middle of the park. This tactic doesn't dominate possession, it allows the opposition to have 'sterile' possession but creates plenty of CCC. This is exemplified by the performance and chance creation against Sunderland in the cup:

The only changes of made to Mr U Rosler's tactic involve the front three where I tweaked them to fit my players, their individual instructions are as follows:

DLF set to support: pass it shorter, close down less (I want this guy to be in the space between midfield and defence not pushing up against the defence to win the ball back, he gets a load of goals running from slighter deeper beyond the false 9 and eganche)

Eganche set to attack: closedown more (this guy gets goals and assists in abundance

False 9 set to support: no instructions: (I tried closing down more but he ran around like a headless chicken chasing the centre back, I want him to sit between the line playing in the DLF and eganche running through)

The players for this system are the same as those detailed in the silk and steel thread linked to in post other than the front three and my DM, key characteristics I've gone for for these player roles are as follows:

Deep lying forward: He gets the most chances running from deep so strength, composure and finishing need to be key stats along with off the ball , pace and dribbling as additional attributes. Daryl Murphy has been awesome in this role for me. He's no world beater but his stats and playing style are perfectly suited to the job:

False 9: It seems strikers can't both perform right? Well I think my false 9's job is a decoy, he players higher than the DLF, attracts the centre backs leaving space for his strike partner. I've played my more technical players here but he won't get the praise via higher average ratings but his role allows his team mates to play! Key attributes are Work rate, off the ball, first touch, passing bonus attributes would be a bit of pace, strength and decisions.

Eganche: He is the extra goal threat and creator, I've been lucky to have Johnny Williams on loan at Ipswich, he's a real threat running through the middle or playing in the DLF, key attributes are dribbling, passing, creativity with pace, finishing and decisions a bonus.

Regista: More direct passes, close down more, this guy helps shield the back four and importantly cut out those through balls with support form the box to box midfielders. he must have high work rate, decisions and passing attributes as his interventions can often be a springboard for devastating counter attacks!

I've not really had much to spend, a net transfer outlay of £200,000, mainly due to needing a decent keeper and cover up front due to injuries when the season started:

You can see the results for the first half of my championship season with Ipswich (season media prediction 14th) where I switched to my diamond formation after the nerve jangling Wigan and Coventry results:

I'll post more results and information as I get towards the end of the season, download link below, enjoy!

http://rapidshare.com/share/CA179D1ED8711F6FB131BE5DD2806C8E

will give it a go and feedback shortly..

just gonna start a new save

Better than S+Sv2 going forward suffers against a decent 4-4-2 team due to the BBMs not helping out the FBs so horses for courses.

when i come up against arsenal in my game they play the same formation and its ridiculous how much they smash me everytime

Better than S+Sv2 going forward suffers against a decent 4-4-2 team due to the BBMs not helping out the FBs so horses for courses.

Yup, I've noticed teams switching to 442 second half and I counter by switching back to S&Sv2a, I think this is part of FM2014's beauty as the AI actually responds like a manager would!

when i come up against arsenal in my game they play the same formation and its ridiculous how much they smash me everytime

Who are you playing as? I guess that's understandable against a much stronger team if your team is much weaker? I found that 442 can be an issue but its been pretty solid against teams playing a midfield diamond or a 4132 / 4231

middlesbrough but in the year 2020 so ive built a champions league team but yeah they do still have a better team than me in the sense they have top players in every position but i never get a shot against them and if it do its very little lol last game i played them they had 19 shots and 13 on target and 9 clear cut chances and 3 half chances haha and i had 1 shot