4-3-3 tactic with Crewe Alexandria.. Help needed!

[jorgvandervloed]

Hello everyone,

People in other threads recommended me to post my tactic here to get it looked at by some of the tactical geniuses. So here we go:

My game is in dutch so I'll translate the things that you need..

Mentality is on attacking and fluidity is on fluid.

The tactic instructions I play with are: Play shorter, Hassle, Use offside trap, Be more expressive, Roam from positions.

Individuel instructions:

Sweeper Keeper: Distribute to Defenders.

Full Back: Tackle harder, Shoot less often.

Central Defenders: Mark tighter.

Half Back: shoot less often, pass shorter, Mark tighter.

Central Midfielder: Pass shorter, Tackle harder, More Risky passes, Shoot less often.

Inside Forwards: Pass shorter, Roam from position, Shoot less often.

Trequartista: Pass shorter.

My goal for this tactic is to play attacking football but have possession at the same time. My team has to attack and defend as one unit and I would like my lonely striker to be the main goal scorer.

I understand that this tactic might be too attacking for my Crewe side and I might use too much creativity. The plan is to develop my own players in the next couple years that fit in my tactic and then fight for promotion. I just wanna know if I'm on the right path and there probably are things that I can do differently to improve my tactic. All feedback is welcome!!

Have a great day:cool:

[daylight]

You don't really have any creative player role, also you have a lot of the team set to automatic, I would certainly change 1 of the CMs to maybe an advanced playmaker, also the fullbacks to at least support.

Personally when playing with only 1 up front I see much more success when he is playing as support rather than attack, lastly again with only 1 attacker I would not be asking my inside forwards to shoot less often, on the whole I feel you have given the players too many instructions.

[Foot]

I think your tactic is a bit too symmetrical, and all the roles are a bit 'pedestrian'/generic. I agree with daylight, in that there is no real creative flair in your team. I'd imagine that all the players pass the ball back and forth to each other, waiting for someone else to 'spark' the match.

Try giving your CM's asymmetric roles. Have one as a ball winner or box-to-box player in a support role, and the other one as a creative outlet in an attacking role. Changing the striker to a support role will get him into the action a lot more as well. Your Inside Forwards will be cutting inside, which will get them close to the supportive striker, but now you will have no-one on the wings. The Full Backs in FM14 tend to get forward fairly well, so I'd change their mentality to 'support'. This way your AML/AMR will cut inside, and your FBs will overlap and supply crosses into the middle. This is especially valuable as it gives an outlet when the opposition is crowding the box.

[jorgvandervloed]

You don't really have any creative player role, also you have a lot of the team set to automatic, I would certainly change 1 of the CMs to maybe an advanced playmaker, also the fullbacks to at least support.

Personally when playing with only 1 up front I see much more success when he is playing as support rather than attack, lastly again with only 1 attacker I would not be asking my inside forwards to shoot less often, on the whole I feel you have given the players too many instructions.

I always thought that roles set on automatic duty would switch between defend, support and attack depending on the things that happen on the field. I want my midfielders to be hardworking players that both attack and defend. They have to be the engine of my formation. Thats why they tackle harder but also give more risky passes.

So lets say I change my attacker to a ''false 9'' role, do I have to change my inside forwards to an attacking role?

Thanks for your quick reply

[Cleon]

I always thought that roles set on automatic duty would switch between defend, support and attack depending on the things that happen on the field. I want my midfielders to be hardworking players that both attack and defend. They have to be the engine of my formation. Thats why they tackle harder but also give more risky passes.

So lets say I change my attacker to a ''false 9'' role, do I have to change my inside forwards to an attacking role?

Thanks for your quick reply

No the 'auto' roles will be whatever your strategy is. So if you use attacking strategy all the auto roles will be attacking.

[daylight]

You have to find a tactic that sees your team playing the football you want, you said that you wanted your lone striker to be the main goalscorer, if you use him as a false 9 then chances are he will not be getting bag fulls of goals.

He basically makes more space for other players by taking away the defenders, maybe a deep lying forward would maybe be better.

I would certainly change 1 of your CMs if not both to more defined roles, you said you that you thought that maybe your side was too creative but there is no creativity roles.

[jorgvandervloed]

No the 'auto' roles will be whatever your strategy is. So if you use attacking strategy all the auto roles will be attacking.

So both my full backs plus my midfielders have been on an attack duty, that explains why my tactic was defensively unstable. Thanks for your quick reply.

[jorgvandervloed]

So what about this?

Do i give the deep lying forward roam from position? And on attack duty or support?

[RTHerringbone]

What is the thinking behind having a Trequartista as the lone front man?

I'm sure it could work, but it would need a really careful balance in midfield.

My preference with a lone front man is to have a Role I can trust to consistently do whatever job it is I want; he might be there to create space through movement, or he might be there to link play, or he might be there to act as a battering ram.

A Trequartista is a luxury player, and the luxuriousness in my opinion, is usually best applied from the AMC area.

I say this because he has Roams about and his Creative Freedom means that he is hugely unpredictable. These are great traits for a secondary attacker, but arguably less ideal for your focal point.

EDIT - Typical! You posted after I mentioned this with a different Role! Ah well.

[jorgvandervloed]

What is the thinking behind having a Trequartista as the lone front man?

I'm sure it could work, but it would need a really careful balance in midfield.

My preference with a lone front man is to have a Role I can trust to consistently do whatever job it is I want; he might be there to create space through movement, or he might be there to link play, or he might be there to act as a battering ram.

A Trequartista is a luxury player, and the luxuriousness in my opinion, is usually best applied from the AMC area.

I say this because he has Roams about and his Creative Freedom means that he is hugely unpredictable. These are great traits for a secondary attacker, but arguably less ideal for your focal point.

EDIT - Typical! You posted after I mentioned this with a different Role! Ah well.

I would like to play with a Trequarista for the reasons you just gave me. He can do whatever he wants and the team has to play in roles to support him.

[jorgvandervloed]

What are great roles in my 4-3-3 tactic above to support the Trequartista as my main forward?

[Steve Odom]

What are great roles in my 4-3-3 tactic above to support the Trequartista as my main forward?

A TQ isn't actually a forward. It's name implies he is just 3/4 of a forward. By playing him as a strikers, you expect others to run behind him to attack the space he leaves by drifting. This can work really well if he drags defenders with him, but don't expect him to be your focal point in terms of scoring.

He will drift wide, drop deep, pass through balls for others to use. He will not shoot from distance or attack the goal directly.

[daylight]

I would advise against using a Trequartista, as RTHerringbone has said it really is not the role for a lone striker, personally I would never use one ever but that's a different story.

A DLF may suit your needs more, like I said though you really need to let your IFs have a bit more freedom, I would not set them to "shoot less often" also I am not sure "pass shorter" is great for IFs, let them shoot and let them pass, my 2 IFs I see switching play from 1 wing to the other, you are limiting that.

[jorgvandervloed]

A TQ isn't actually a forward. It's name implies he is just 3/4 of a forward. By playing him as a strikers, you expect others to run behind him to attack the space he leaves by drifting. This can work really well if he drags defenders with him, but don't expect him to be your focal point in terms of scoring.

He will drift wide, drop deep, pass through balls for others to use. He will not shoot from distance or attack the goal directly.

Thanks for the information.. Lets say that I don't want him to be my focal point in terms of scoring. How do I make this tactic work then? Using a Trequartista in this 4-3-3 formation

[Steve Odom]

Well, he drifts from side to side, potentially dragging a defender with him. This leaves a gap in the defence, creating opportunities for any AM to exploit. In your current setup I would use your IF 's in a more attacking role. I did managed to get this working in FM '13, but htis was in the Faroe Islands where defence is less organised because of their weak positional play. I'm not sure this will work against more organized defenses. Maybe you could switch to a 4231 formation so there would be a third attacking midfielder trying to exploit the space he gives the team.

Don't ignore daylight and RTHerringbones comments though, because it really isn't the easiest setup to achieve in FM, if the opposition is organized that is.

[lewis999]

I remember Cleon with his Tottenham team used Adebayor, Defoe and another player as Trequartista's in the same formation. Despite their attributes not lending themselves to that role i.e (Defoe - Poacher) Adebayor - (Complete Forward/Target Man) he stated that not only did they play well at it as he won everything more or les but also they played the role slightly different even though the role was set the same.

It might have been something to do with how he set up and the roles around his main guy but I do think a Trequartista can definitely do a job up front on his own.

[szp]

I think you probably should look at this thread:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/311627-The-FM-41221-(433-451-WoW)

It's reffered to FM 12, but most of the points are still up to date

[jorgvandervloed]

I think you probably should look at this thread:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/311627-The-FM-41221-(433-451-WoW)

It's reffered to FM 12, but most of the points are still up to date

Thanks for showing me that thread! It really helped me

[Steve Odom]

I think you probably should look at this thread:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/311627-The-FM-41221-(433-451-WoW)

It's reffered to FM 12, but most of the points are still up to date

That thread is indeed a great one to show the versatility of the 433/451/41221