Developing a 4-2-4 Wide

[DiStru_]

I never used 4-2-4 before, but recently found myself in the situation where it would probably make the most sense. Firstly, I'm predicted to finish 2nd in the league, so offensive setup makes sense. Secondly, AML and AMR Wingers are my best players and I have a 35 y/o Jamie Mackie, who is an exceptional Target Man for my level.

This is my current setup:

However, that's about it. I've never used 4-2-4 and have no idea what are some general instructions that would fit in.

Firstly, how do the AML/AMR Wingers differ from the ML/MR ones? Their mentality appears to be the same, but I imagine the game still perceives them as wide forwards, rather than wide midfielders? If true, what would this then mean; would it make sense to go for a more conservative mentality, since I'm essentially already playing with 4 forwards and might otherwise have issues defensively, or would a Positive/Attacking mentality I'd normally use in a direct 4-4-2 still make sense?

Also, in terms of attacking patterns, is this the kind of setup where Work Ball Into Box/patient probing style of play would make sense, since I have plenty of bodies in and around the opposition's box, or should I still look towards quicker transitions, as I would in a classic 4-4-2? I imagine, since 4-2-4 is a top-heavy system, it's vastly different than a bottom-heavy 4-4-2, despite the roles being essentially the same?

And my final question, how would you go about mitigating defensive issues of such system? Both of my CMs are solid defensively, when it comes to attributes, but what about instructions? High defensive line, to make the system more compact, or a standard/low one, to prevent players being caught too high up the pitch? Press aggressively, due to plenty of bodies up front, or drop off, to prevent CMs getting dragged out of position and exposing the midfield completely? I imagine Counter-Press would be very risky in system with so little cover in midfield?

Any tips will be greatly appreciated! 

Edited May 10, 2020 by DiStru_
Title change

[DiStru_]

Okay, after the above formation failing miserably, I went back to the drawing board. I will share my progress here, in case anyone else finds it useful for their own 4-2-4.

Problem #1 - Right Flank

The main problem I had was the mentality combined with duties I chose, particularly on the right flank. Originally I went with Positive, which set my Wingers' individual mentalities as Positive. Behind the right Winger, I went with FB-de, in an attempt to somewhat mitigate defensive vulnerability of the formation and cover for the BBM's late runs into the box. What ended up happening, is that due to a big gap in individual mentalities on that flank (Winger-su = Positive | FB-de = Cautious), plus FB's PIs such as Hold Position and Cross From Deep, he struggled to connect his passes immensely; Winger in front of him ran off early, and BBM could either be marked in the congested central midfield or already too far up the pitch for an easy pass. FB ended up having majority of his passes intercepted, which cost us a lot of possession and, in a top-heavy formation like 4-2-4, every ball lost early in the attacking transition can be deadly.

Problem #2 - Target Man

I admit, initially I chose the role without much thinking, simply because I have a striker that excels in it. I started building the formation with the same mindset I'd have in a direct 4-4-2, which obviously was a mistake. Since majority of the teams we face use a cautious approach, quick attacking transitions that Target Man encourages make no sense; teams will always leave enough men behind the ball, meaning there's no real space for counter-attacking. Majority of direct balls to the Target Man ended up being intercepted, which means not only we struggled to create any meaningful chances, we also kept losing the ball needlessly and getting counter-attacked ourselves.

Problem #3 - Wasteful in Possession

The above issues already touch on that, but add to FB's intercepted passes and TM's lost duels, the Positive mentality. Originally I chose it because wide forwards on Positive individual mentality just sound too good, plus I wanted to encourage runs behind the TM as often as possible. Turns out not only did TM not make too much sense against defensive opposition, Positive mentality also made us needlessly wasteful and defensively too irresponsible for a vulnerable formation like 4-2-4. Although I made sure both of my CMs were natural destroyers (Positioning, Anticipation, Bravery, Tackling), one counter-attack after another turned out to be too much. Besides that, Positive mentality gave the DLP-de Cautious and BBM Positive individual mentalities, meaning neither of them were particularly defensively oriented to begin with.

Rethinking the 4-2-4

• Balanced mentality to encourage lower risk-taking. Due to 4-2-4's low numbers at the back, every counter-attack can be incredibly costly.
• Play Out Of Defence instead of hoofing it forward and get counter-attacked. Besides that, playing from the back can help us create space in attack, as the opposition is forced to step up and close down or give us all the time in the world to find an opening.
• Much Higher Defensive Line + Line of Engagement to give the opposition no time on the ball. While I'm usually not a fan of such aggressive approaches that can pin the opposition back and choke potential space to attack, I think the 4-2-4 warrants it. Four numbers in advanced areas mean we could struggle to defend once the opposition progresses too far up the pitch. Wingers, as wide forwards, will only track back a certain distance, even on Support duty. I could set up man/positional marking to combat that, but at that point I might as well switch to a regular 4-4-2 instead.
• With instructing the front four to Close Down More, we are using a split defensive block. I find that being a somewhat safer choice than increasing all players' pressing urgency with the team instruction. If either of the CMs get pulled out of position our midfield will be exposed completely, which is why I don't want them being overly aggressive. I also chose Stay On Feet for this reason; diving into tackles and missing can be deadly when there is no cover behind. 
• Offside Trap instructs defenders to occasionally step up and compress the space, rather than drop off and let the opposition progress further up the pitch. With my defenders having pretty decent mental attributes and quickness, I'm confident they won't mistime the trap too often.
• Focus Play Down The Right was chosen mainly to increase right WB's individual mentality and bring it closer to the Winger in front. As I have learned above, having too big of a gap between individual mentalities can create problems when it comes to passing. While that might be less of an issue in direct systems with enough cover at the back, I can't afford losing possession too often in a 4-2-4.

Individual Mentalities

I can't stress enough how important it is to know your tactic's individual mentalities. They are the sum of your team mentality, duties and certain instructions, and ultimately dictate how players play.

To demonstrate, imagine how much of a difference different individual mentalities make in playmakers. One with Cautious individual mentality will play completely different than one with a Positive one, despite the roles and duties being the same; one will only look for safe passes and recycle the ball, while other one might look to unlock defences the moment he gets the ball—and that could be the difference between your team winning 3-0, or not creating any chances at all. The same goes for all positions, including your goalkeeper; he will hardly look to distribute ball into counter-attacking opportunities on Defensive individual mentality, but he might actually give us another way of attacking on Balanced or Positive. To achieve that, you have to either change his duty, or/and play around with various combinations of team mentality and, in the case of goalkeepers, central defenders and midfielders, Focus Play Through Middle instruction.

Hopefully, in future iterations individual mentalities are easier to see. They are far too important to be hidden in the personal instructions menu; many frustrated posts would be prevented if players noticed their whole front three is on Very Attacking individual mentality more easily, and maybe that's why I keep seeing all those God darn rushed long shots, instead of the beautiful Tiki-taka play I imagined! 

Opposition Instructions

As a final touch, I have also set up some positional opposition instructions. Those can be used to either target individual players, or supplement your tactic and/or mitigate its weaknesses.

With instructing my players to always close down goalkeeper and central defenders, I'm making my defensive split block more aggressive. Essentially, I don't want to give the opposition any time to either run down the clock, or build play from the back. I have left wide defenders out to prevent my CMs rushing out from their defensive position, if they manage to bypass my wide forwards.

The Results

We have turned our form around and are looking good. While I'm still not completely happy with the squad at my disposal, we're having no trouble winning matches. We could grab another clean sheet or two if I bothered making changes after scoring, but at this point I'm on auto-pilot mode, rushing to the end of the season.

However, these are the changes I make once we're a goal up (if I remember ):

• Standard -> Cautious
• WB-at -> WB-su
• W-at -> W-su
• Remove Focus Play Down The Right

I will post updates for any changes I make. For now, I'm enjoying the 4-2-4 a lot, it's quite a change from the usual better balanced 4-1-2-3 or 4-4-2 I tend to use. I like living on the edge, knowing that I rely on two central midfielders to keep us alive. Cue early yellow card that forces either of them to delay their tackles and allow the opposition high up the pitch, and it all goes down the drain instantly. 

[Britrock]

I like it, good post showing your steps to improve things and logical choices made 

I'd be tempted to recommend counter press and prevent short gk distribution as well if you really want to go all out on the high press, but if you're having success then don't change anything!

[TheCheesemonger]

@DiStru_ I'm glad to see a thread going about the 4-2-4, had you not fired one up I was about to. I'm currently using a somewhat similar system at the time with FC Porto and the early returns have been excellent.

I started with the formation in the Champion's League qualifer against LASK. I had gone through preseason and the early games with a simple but effective mid-block 442, but when I took a look at LASK I thought it would be an opportunity to try something new. Opposition reports indicated that they were going to be using a 3-4-3 system with two DMs on a defensive mentality. When I saw that my main concern was that if I don't press high they're just going to waste time passing the ball between the keeper, center backs and defensive midfielders without looking to progress up the pitch.

I entered the game with the tried and tested 4-4-2...

but after 35 minutes it was exactly as I had feared. LASK had no desire to move the ball out of their own half as long as I was sitting off. We had a a dangerous moment or two going forward but in general the football was flat. We needed to press them and force mistakes, so out came the new and never before used 4-2-4...

 

and it worked like a charm. Corona won the ball back quickly after a LASK interception, dribbled gracefully into the box and won a penalty. Telles converted smartly and we had our lead. Three more were added in a thirteen minute stretch of the second half, and Romario Baro came off the bench to score a screamer in stopage time to put the icing on the cake. 

 

Since that game I've largely stuck with the system, though I admit that I was not brave enough to use it in either of our fixtures against Liverpool! Against Valencia we were absolutely dominant. I was confident of a result going into the game but we surpassed my expectations, taking hold of the tie from the first whistle and keeping the pressure up for a full 90 minutes against a very good opponent. 

I'll go into a bit more detail on my version of the system in a later post. There are a few minor tweaks that I make, either to lineup selection or roles/duties, depending on player fitness, opposition setups, game states, etc. 

Best of luck with your 4-2-4! I've found it to be a very fun system to tinker with and watch on the pitch.