Swap Positions

[Junkhead]

Evening all

I imagine many of you guys have used the "Swap Positions With" option to swap wingers around, or maybe a winger with a striker. So far this has been my only use of the option.

In my current save, I am about to take over a club which has a very good left winger who can also play as an attacking left full back, and a very good right full back who can also play on the right wing.  I have a natural right winger at my current club that I had been playing as a wing-back, so he is ok defensively too. I am hoping to make him my first purchase at the new club.

I am therefore considering a 4-3-3 / 4-1-2-3 system where the full backs and wingers swap positions down their own side in the hope of confusing opposing full backs.  

Was interested if anyone else had tried this, or anything similar. Also interested to hear how people think this might go.

Edited June 9, 2020 by Junkhead
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[HUNT3R]

I really don't think you'll confuse fullbacks. They mark whoever comes into their zone.

What you will do if you choose to swap, is give them different challenges. Or rather, that should be the idea, imo. Say your winger has exceptional dribbling and your fullback has exceptional pace. That gives the opposition fullback two different challenges. His tackling and his speed will be tested here. He might succeed in one, but will he succeed in both?

I haven't done it with fullback and winger, but I've done it with strikers to good effect.

[Junkhead]

My hope was that fullbacks may sometimes man mark and using swap positions would automatically give me multiple 2-3 minute periods per match where they were tracking a player who had switched to full back giving me space in behind them. If this is unlikely then I think I would probably be better off just changing players around as I am watching games to respond to what I see.

With three players per flank at the new club capable of playing anywhere down their respective side, it really does seem like something unique to capitalise on.

[HUNT3R]

Give it a go. I'd be surprised if a fullback specific man marks a winger, honestly. I'm not sure the AI uses it and I know I definitely wouldn't since the fullback position is very important when it comes to protecting that flank. It would just take a Support winger to draw my fullback forward and an overlapping fullback would have oceans of space which would draw out a centreback... I get shivers just thinking about it. You my get a few seconds of adjustment advantage if that fullback is caught out while your two players are swapping, especially if it's a tight zonal marking assignment.

[Junkhead]

10 hours ago, HUNT3R said:

It would just take a Support winger to draw my fullback forward and an overlapping fullback would have oceans of space which would draw out a centreback... I get shivers just thinking about it.

😂 

I will report back - hopefully I've got loads of opposition managers into the same state by then.

👍

[Powello]

I have had wingers and full backs swap before with great success. I found in some games the AI had blatantly set their fbs to mark my wingers as I saw them following them leaving my full backs free on the wings. Not every game but it did happen a lot