4-4-1-1 - How to involve the AM

[CybrSlydr]

I want to play a 4-4-1-1.  

I'm playing as Manchester United.  Here's what I want to accomplish:

1.  I'm going to have Martial as an IW(A) on the left and someone else as a W(S) on the right.  The guy on the right is going to play in crosses while Martial is going to attack the defense and look for passes/score.  I want my Striker (probably Rashford as an AF(A)) and Attacking Midfielder to be available for passes and scoring.

2.  I'm using Pogba as either a DLF(S) or AP(S) (whichever will work best).  I want the Striker and Attacking Midfielder to find spaces for scoring as well as Martial cutting in from the left to either overload and draw a defender or to get into space to make a run at the net.

How would I best accomplish this?  Essentially, I want to create a formation where my CM can interact with my W/AM/ST players and have any/all of them score. 

[Experienced Defender]

2 hours ago, CybrSlydr said:

2.  I'm using Pogba as either a DLF(S) or AP(S)

Pogba as a DLF??? But he's not a striker. I mean, you can play him as a striker of course (if you want), but do not see reason for doing that, given that you already have a few regular strikers (Lukaku, Rashford, Martial and Sanchez).

Anyway, I understand what's your basic idea on the playing style you want to achieve (at least in the attacking phase of play). Based on your description in the OP, I would try something like this:

DLFat

APat/TQ

IWat    DLPde    BBM     Wsu

 

WBsu    CD   CD     IWBde

GK/SKde

AMC (Pogba) would be told to roam from position (if played as APat, since TQ already has the hard-coded PI), and the lone striker (DLF on attack) to move into channels.

Central mids would be Herrera (MCR/BBM) and Matic (MCL/DLPde). Btw, whom would you play as the winger in MR?

I would (most likely) go with Positive mentality.

Team instructions would depend on whether you want to play a more patient possession-based game or a more "Solskjaer-ish" free-flowing and faster attacking brand of football (I personally prefer the latter).

[CybrSlydr]

LMFAO

I'm sorry - I meant DLP(S) not DLF - typo on my part.  

I picked up Joao Felix, Chiesa and de Ligt (my DoF went and got Aaron Ramsay).

So I'd be playing Chiesa as the W(S) on the right, Martial as the IW(A), Felix as the AM(T) and Rashford as the DLF(S).  Currently looking at Pogba as a BBM(S) on the right and either Fred/Ramsay as DLP(D) on the left.

I'd also gone with Vertical Tiki-taka.  Lemme get a screenshot for ya.

[Experienced Defender]

22 minutes ago, CybrSlydr said:

Honestly, I am pretty skeptical as to how this setup is going to work, especially defense-wise. None of your 2 CMs is a holding type of player (in terms of players, not roles), which is a must in a 442. And on top of that, you have both fullbacks playing in pretty much attack-minded roles (WB on support), with the "Underlap" TI, which makes them even more attacking (because under/overlaps increase the mentality of fullbacks). And there is none in DM to screen the defense and provide more direct protection against counter-attacks.

Then you use unnecessarily too many team instructions. Plus, some of these instructions are not going to help your attacks be more dangerous and unpredictable, but quite to the contrary. So I would immediately remove the following TIs:

- focus play through the middle (because most teams will defend against you precisely by packing the middle, so why would you further deny yourself the space?!)

- very narrow attacking width (for the same reason as the above)

- underlap R&L (I already explained why)

- lower tempo (this will additionally help defensive sides to defend more easily against you, because you are giving them too much time to consolidate during your attacking transitions; besides, you are Man Utd, so your players have enough quality to play on a higher, or at least medium tempo)

- counter-press (because in this particular system, it tends to make you even more vulnerable defensively)

- extremely urgent pressing (for the exact same reason as with counter-press; standard (default) pressing intensity would be enough IMO)

And would definitely play the RB (Lindelof) as an IWB on defend duty, to at least partially mitigate your defensive weakness.

Btw, I hope you haven't sold Matic and Herrera?

 

[CybrSlydr]

My mistake - I was just posting that as a template for the formation.

This is more like what I'm going to utilize - I'm just trying to figure out how to get the AM involved rather than played-around.

 

 

[Experienced Defender]

You meant this one?

Btw, that's from FM18. 

[CybrSlydr]

On 18/02/2019 at 08:57, Experienced Defender said:

You meant this one?

Btw, that's from FM18. 

Yeah, I've not played a lot of 19 simply because it's seemed broken.  So I'm trying to transition a 4-4-2 that worked well in FM18 into a 4-4-1-1 that utilizes the AM to function in FM19.