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Team Shape


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As my ability to translate the ME is about as good as a glass hammer, I've been pondering the last few days while watching Youtube videos to get inspired about a style of play I'm trying to replicate.

What real life teams would use what Team Shape?

I'd be interest to hear what other people think. And it might also help others understand Team Shape a little more.

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Perhaps the best way to think of shape in FM is willingness to let full backs and central midfielders go forward. Leicester are quite conservative in this regard which corresponds to a more structured approach. Arsenal are more liberal which is a more fluid approach with maybe Southampton somewhere in between.

What confuses people in FM is a similar (but opposite) thing occurs in defensive phase. This means if Arsenal played a very fluid shape with Sanchez as an Inside Forward on an attack duty he would help out defensively. However, if Leicester did the same with Mahrez but playing highly structured, he would stay high up the pitch in the AM strata. That is rather counter intuitive. Especially as Leicester are famous for a nice compact defensive shape which in FM corresponds more towards fluid spectrum!

There are ways around this. Remember your defensive shape in FM is predominantly governed by the formation. For sake of argument I'll call Arsenal and Leicester both as a 4-2-3-1. Okazaki playing as an AMC rather than the striker most media have him as. So to create the compact defensive shape of Leicester in FM, I believe you'd need to go with a 4-2-2-1-1 formation. That is 2 DMC's, a MR and ML with an AMC and ST.

Then with a structured shape, you could still have a relatively high mentality and distribution of duties without compromising defensive shape. The risk you'd have with Arsenal playing a 4-2-3-1, highish mentality and very fluid is like I said at the top, with FB's and midfielders quickly joining attacks, one mistake and your open to a counter attack. That's the problem my side Bournemouth have faced repeatedly this season!

Hmmm I've rambled a bit and not 100% on this. If you don't like the real life examples (Leicester replication done to death on here!) then pick other examples although I do believe the basic theory I provide is correct. If I'm way off base please let me know someone!

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Team shape, imo, is one of those things i wish SI get rid off.

It's doesn't make any sence to my having a instruction that, apparently, only influence the criativity and the way your team is stretch in the field, because we should/could do that with the others TI's.

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