3-4-3 Attacking tactic. Dominant and lots of chances.

[BiggusD]

I was struggling to make a tactic that worked well across the field. Good teams, bad teams, different nations. In one of the test saves I did, I encountered Roma playing a 343 tactic and I tried to exploit the space on the flanks that Lamela and another defensively inept winger left behind in that tactic, but no matter what I did nothing seemed to work (I played as Palermo, second season).

I then thought "what the hell!" and promptly made a similar tactic myself using the TC. I then replayed the match against Roma a few times crushing them each time. Continuing the game a few matches further, I won those games too quite convincingly. Then I decided to test it with a few other saves i had going; with Hertha Berlin (season two in the 1st division), Lazio (season 8) and Preston (season one). The tactic worked fine there as well even though the squads were suited to 442, 433 and 424 tactics. Lots of chance creation, lots of goals, mostly full control defensively.

It was time to actually start a save where I could tailor the squad to the tactic, and I did that by holidaying to 2017 to freshen things up, and I started two games - one two-player online game with Chelsea (my friend with Arsenal), and one with Portsmouth in League One. First season with Chelsea I ended third behind City and United. Second season I started well but am now in a spell of poor form as discussed in a few threads in GD. I haven't tried this version (Wingers on attack) with Chelsea yet.

With Portsmouth, no such poor form has happened. Currently second in the league with one mach to go and after I changed to this current version the goals have been pouring in.

So to the tactic:

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As you see very basic. I have barely changed anything, even left the long shots on except on the wingers.

Permanent changes:

Trequartista: none

DLF LC/RC: Hold up ball NO.

Winger L/R: Long shots RARELY.

CM: Tackling HARD. Mentality NORMAL (10). Passing MIXED (10). Hold up ball NO.

CD LC/C/RC: Passing MIXED (10).

Set pieces: custom corner routines. Inverted takers.

The player requirements:

Trequartista: he needs to be a trequartista, obviously, but the central striker can sometimes get through-balls from the DLF's so some quickness is nice. Neymar has been awesome in that role for me with Chelsea. Also the two other strikers are rarely pacey as you will see, so it is nice to have that up front as well. So: Acceleration, Pace, Anticipation, Creativity, Decisions, Off the Ball, Technique, Passing, Dribbling (as well as finisher skills of course).

DLF LC/RC: big, strong target men. Preferable with some football intelligence and technique as well, of course, but most importantly physique physique physique. Strength, Jumping, Aggression, Bravery, Composure, Off the Ball, Technique, First touch, Finishing.

Winger L/R: quick, technical classical wingers - or if you are a big enough club; the Eden Hazard type who can do that plus more. Do not worry about defensive qualities here. Of course, sometimes you get a whack over the fingers because of this but mostly there seems to be no defensive issues from having this player type here whatsoever. So: Acceleration, Pace, Agility, Creativity, Flair, Off the Ball, Technique, Passing, Dribbling, Crossing.

CM: all-round midfielder type. Should be able to contribute defensively as well as offensively. Strength, Stamina, Work Rate, Team Work, Decisions, Creativity, Bravery, Aggression, Technique, Passing, Tackling.

CD LC/C/RC: stopper types, preferably with some quickness. Strength, Jumping, Acceleration, Pace, Work Rate, Positioning, Decisions, Concentration, Composure, Bravery, Anticipation, Aggression, Tackling, Marking.

GK: I have set him to do long kicks because otherwise the defenders and midfielders are too far apart when he gives them the ball, causing wild clearances and mayhem. Kicking is therefore an important attribute for the keeper. If he fails at them too often I set to Defender Collect anyway.

Common tactical changes:

The keeper to Defender Collect if he fails at the long kicks too often.

The DLF RC to Target Man. I put my biggest and strongest striker there because of the corner kicks. I do this when I haven't seen him taking part in attacking play that much. It usually helps.

The Trequartista to Poacher. Sometimes work towards the end of matches when I am in the lead.

NEVER change to Counter or another more balanced approach with this tactic. If you want to conserve move the Trequartista to MC or DMC position and see if you take over while Attacking. If not, change to Counter using that formation. Remember that a 343 have three players not doing any defensive work whatsoever and two players on the flank not really capable of it. Obviously there is risk! What you want is to take control of the possession in the match and Counter with a 352 does that well.

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I will upload results later.

[BiggusD]

DOWNLOADS

Tuck the Bucking Runt 343 v3

http://www.sendspace.com/file/bq9obz

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A more balanced version. (see #8 for more info)

Tuck the Bucking Runt 343 v2

http://www.sendspace.com/file/rxhw7j

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Counter-attacking 352. This is a possession-based patient tactic intended for use away against weaker sides. It does not improve defending! (see #11 for more info)

Pluck the Duck

http://www.sendspace.com/file/nrmjh9

[BiggusD]

Here's the league table

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The results

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The last match in that fixture list

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Its PKM file

http://www.sendspace.com/file/d6zv8w

[BiggusD]

I have tried different Match Preparations but I think my overall impressions, without having done thorough research, is that Attacking Movement is better for the team. Offense is known to be the best defense, and this is true for this tactic at least - evidently with the marginally better movement up front there are fewer dangerous losses of possession in a match, which leads to better control.

After having reached fluid tactical familiarity I switch to Balanced training on Average and let it stay there, match preparation focus one click right of centre. Each player is set to Heavy individual focus.

I use, as always, Standard pitch size, which means I have not tried other sizes.

If the opponent uses a single striker, it is the central defender that will be his primary marker. It is therefore important to make sure that you put the one defender you have in your squad best suited to stop him in that position. This is especially important if that single striker is a big and strong one. In all other cases I use the quickest and/or smartest defender in that position, so that he functions as a cover defender/sweeper. It is also he who most often operates in the anchor role when in possession, so if you have a ball-playing defender use him there.

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Here's a youtube video of the goals in the match against Bury

[BiggusD]

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This is how the season ended.

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[vietanh_1611]

my HSV losed 8-1 to Dortmund with ur tac...

[BiggusD]

my HSV losed 8-1 to Dortmund with ur tac...

whoa!

Never had results like that. I just won against Dortmund with Hertha Berlin season two!

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I lack creativity in the team but I think I forgot to change match preparation to Attacking Movement. I think this explains the lack of goals after I changed to this tactic in the beginning of January:

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Are you in bad form with HSV perhaps, and that is why you wanted to try a new tactic? What is Tactical Familiarity like? What season are you in?

[BiggusD]

Well, seeing as the only feedback I got was a shockingly bad one, I decided to try the tactic with more teams.

Hertha Berlin wins with it, but doesn't create that many chances. The team doesn't have the right type of winger and no real Trequartista. There is a profound lack of technique, speed and creativity in the team, but it still manages to scrape victories as you can see above. Won 3-2 against Hoffenheim, 1-1 and won on Penalties vs Aalen and won 1-0 vs Dusseldorf with just 10-12 shots.

I created a test save out of a long-term save (2020 currently) and added myself at Manchester United. They had built a team with good speed and technique but no muscle. A match against Bolton at home ended 1-1 and had 11 shots 1 at goal. That was displeasing. I then decided to try that same match again but with an earlier version of the tactic. I then won 3-1 and had 26 shots, 10 on target, 4 ccc.

What is different with this tactic is the midfield. Instead of two wingers and two defensive midfielders, it has two Wide Midfielders on Support, one Central Midfielder on Support and one CM on Defend. The benefits of this are that there is more variation to the attacking play and the wingers don't have to be quite that quick to perform well.

I have now uploaded this tactic in post #2.

[vietanh_1611]

i was in first season and not in bad form with HSV, the team had just won München 2-0 before being beaten 8-1

i tried to use ur tactic again when the Tactical Familiarity was almost perfect and lost to Ausburg 2-1. The team was always dominated in Possession and can hardly get a shot on target. I tweaked it by reducing the number of long shots but it didnt work too.

Dortmund played with a very fast tempo, and they closed down all my defenders really hard. We lost possession whenever Adler kicked the ball in the midfield (his kicking is only 11)

I had problem with defending corners too and it caused quite a few easy goals to be conceded.

i ll try ur new tac and post results

[BiggusD]

i was in first season and not in bad form with HSV, the team had just won München 2-0 before being beaten 8-1

i tried to use ur tactic again when the Tactical Familiarity was almost perfect and lost to Ausburg 2-1. The team was always dominated in Possession and can hardly get a shot on target. I tweaked it by reducing the number of long shots but it didnt work too.

Dortmund played with a very fast tempo, and they closed down all my defenders really hard. We lost possession whenever Adler kicked the ball in the midfield (his kicking is only 11)

I had problem with defending corners too and it caused quite a few easy goals to be conceded.

i ll try ur new tac and post results

HSV relegated in my save. The defenders seem good enough and they have sold away their good midfield, but have you signed any new strikers? The tactic is unlikely to work with Berg, Min and Rudnevs (those are the three strikers the club has in second division).

Edit: if you have very low pass completion in defence (around 50% it was for me with Hertha), try maxing out the passing range of the defenders (long). That seemed to help for me (it rose to 65%ish) and I took control of the match. Also, if the goalkicks keep pinging back you have no choice but to swith to Defender Collect. It is very important that they reach the big striker(s) so that it isn't an autoloss of possession.

[BiggusD]

I have now started to use a Counter-attacking 352 version of the tactic in away matches, and this has worked very well. However, this is not because I wanted to be more defensive but because that strategy ensures better control of the match. In other words, it is not a better tactic against stronger sides - rather the opposite. I tried it with my Chelsea side against my friend's Arsenal and against Manchester City but in both cases the slow, short passing was just playing into the attacking football of the opponent. I had to change to the attacking 343 in both matches and thus managed to make an impact on the game.

Another thing that is fairly easy to notice is that both wingers on attack duty (TtBR v3) can sometimes make the two midfielders isolated especially away where the play is slower and more hesitant (for no reason if you ask me). They run forward as soon as the team gains possession but unlike in the home games the passing decision is not made soon enough. With Chelsea I got Hazard and Oscar as left wingers and both do better as playmakers than wingers, so I have now set them to Wide Midfielder on Support duty, so they are often used as an early passing option by the midfielders. In addition, if it still is a problem, I sometimes drop the Trequartista into AMC position to make him available earlier.

This slower away football hurts the v3 and v2 tactics but not this 352 version because it is slower anyway. Just don't expect better defense! I will look into a solution for the away matches where I am the underdog for good reason - right now those matches often end 3-3 or 3-4 or 4-2 and stuff like that. Too risky when competition is hard. I think maybe going 352 with a MC on Support or a DMC on Anchor with either of those three tactics could possibly be the solution, so I will look into it the coming days.

I ended 2nd behind my friend's Arsenal this season, 14 points behind his record-breaking season going 32-4-2 (me with 27-5-6, same as ManU). Most of those losses and draws came in a very bad period in November. After that and the changes I made to the tactic (making v3) plus even more focus on getting team talks right, some signings in January and the switch to 352 counter in away matches from mid-March made me lose points in only three matches the whole second half of the season (those were away vs City 1-1, away vs Arsenal 1-2 and home vs Sunderland 0-1 in a very unlucky match). This bodes well for the next season, also because my players have become one year older by then.

Look in post #2 for the 352 Counter tactic.

[worthit]

imo: when playing with 3 forwards, more direct is better. you can give it a try.

[BiggusD]

imo: when playing with 3 forwards, more direct is better. you can give it a try.

Yeah, I have. Sometimes it is better, sometimes not. I know for sure that going More Direct when I see that the team is playing too slowly does not speed up the passing game. There are probably other reasons why the players hesitate passing - and I believe one of them is motivation. If the pitch conditions are poor it is possibly necessary, but then it is important to manually remove the ticked-off passing settings on the defenders.

[worthit]

what's your take on offside this edition, in the past its always a bad idea to play offside but it seems to work "better" now but feels more like a "cheat" then actual effectiveness.

[BiggusD]

what's your take on offside this edition, in the past its always a bad idea to play offside but it seems to work "better" now but feels more like a "cheat" then actual effectiveness.

I am playing on Extended so I don't really get to see the offside trap functioning that often. Statistically I usually get more offsides for me than against me, so that's how Isee that it works.

I didn't remove it when I created the tactic and haven't found a reason to do so since.

[worthit]

I am playing on Extended so I don't really get to see the offside trap functioning that often. Statistically I usually get more offsides for me than against me, so that's how Isee that it works.

so does your conceded goals come from thru balls more or crosses?

[BiggusD]

so does your conceded goals come from thru balls more or crosses?

Counter-attacks and set pieces. It is only rarely that something happens in the centre of the pitch, but if it does it is usually because of a strong AMC/playmaker type finding space there, drawing the three defenders out of position and then hitting a through ball. AMRL wingers are also more dangerous than MRL wingers. Also here, the defenders are drawn out of position and often crosses to the other winger who is unmarked.

[BiggusD]

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Just for laughs

[Sawyerrrrrr]

I started to see some bad form in my Blackburn team (4th season). First game was away against Southampton and i had a 3-1 victory. Good start! Will keep posted after 10 games with this tactic.

[BiggusD]

If you have the right wingers with the right PPM's and skill, it is not necessary to have them on Attack duty. I also recommend to untick the passing settings of the defenders so that the Clear Ball to Flanks shout can be used to full effect. I use it to good effect when pitch conditions are poor/wet and the ball isn't moved around quickly enough.

Generally, the tactic is actually quite vanilla from the TC. The "trick" is to set it to Attack, two defensive central midfielders and a central trequartista flanked by two physically strong strikers, and to have outright wingers as the only flank players. As long as your team is capable of taking control of the match this way (or punish them on the counter), there seems to be little or no negative consequences from being that offensive-minded as a whole.

It does require some excellent physique all over, though. And the ability to spot when to withdraw from the battlefield and for instance swap a striker for a DMC and go Counter. Just remember that NOT going Attack with this 343 is not a good idea - the ball needs to be moved quickly to the strikers so the midfield and defense can push up - otherwise you have three useless players up front not helping you to defend or build up an attack. This is why you need at least one, preferably two, "towering striker" to help the trequartista retain possession in the final third (and get on the end of crosses). I don't remember if I went More Direct in this version, but it might be an idea trying this.

I won't play more FM until mid-August!

[shirajzl]

I won't play more FM until mid-August!

Is there any specific reason, i.e. something that bothers you within the game or you're just temporarily bored of the game?

[BiggusD]

Is there any specific reason, i.e. something that bothers you within the game or you're just temporarily bored of the game?

I lied - couldn't go a whole summer holiday without FM

Started a game in 2017 with Oviedo currently in the Secunda Division B1. Topping the leauge in February with this former "giant" being tipped at 7th place with quite an ordinary team. Got some good signings, though. Most players are now Leading 2B1 or Adelante, with one striker deemed worthy of BBVA football.

The tactic is working fine with this team. The wingers are a bit anonymous but otherwise I am not particularly harmed by lack of skill or physique.

[sulle008]

..

11

sorry

[sulle008]

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Just for laughs

Hello.

Can you tactic Re-upload please?

Or send me a link with tactic with Private Message.

Thanks