442 Diamond in the Rough

[VoidVector]

As I'm writing this, I'm only a couple weeks away from finishing my 12th season with Arsenal. With a Community Shield at the start of the season and the Carabao Cup recently won, we're in for a Quintuple

But, it doesn't feel right. For most of the season, all the way to Febraury, we've struggled. The tactic that saw us score 126 goals the previous season just wasn't working, and the players seemed to have lost their drive to play. We were out of the races for the Premier League most of the season, but a sudden drop of form by Manchester United meant we were able to clinch it with few games to go. An easy run in the FA Cup, where the only truly strong team we faced was Manchester United, means we're now in the final against Leeds, who are a team just outside the 'Top 6'. And in the Champions League final we did better than expected. Based on how we were playing, I'm surprised we're in the final

But enough talking of my save. We're here for tactics

I have a formation in mind, as I feel that's the one that suits us better. 442 Diamond Narrow. And being the best team in the world, there's only one way we have to play. Attacking and Attractive football. Chances, Shots and Goals

But even when I've tried, I can't really make it work. I'm a bit lost on how exactly to make it work. I have the players, but I can't make the tactic to use them to their full potential. When playing against teams who use wingers (442, 4231, etc) we struggle to take the ball out of the wings. My strikers have had a mere of a season. The Top Goalscorer this season it's my Attacking Midfielder with 33 goals, although 15 of those are penalties. My next best goalscorer has 23, only 10 of those in the league when the previous season he scored 21. And the next one, my other striker, has 18 all season, 13 of those coming in the league even when the previous season he scored 23

How can I set my team up to once again dominate the world?
 

[craiigman]

We need sceeenshots

[Experienced Defender]

8 hours ago, VoidVector said:

How can I set my team up to once again dominate the world?

You first need to post a screenshot of your tactic so that we could see if there are any glaring issues. The formation alone means nothing without context.

[VoidVector]

Here it's the tactic. The only difference to what I've used this first few games of the season was is the PF. It was a DLF but I was going to experiment for a few games to see how it went

Some individual instructions are:
- Both Strikers: Shoot more often. Last season I noticed they tended to have a low ammount of shots, so I've been testing giving them both this instruction. It hasn't changed things much. Both also have the Mark Tighter instruction
- Attacking Mid: Take more risks, Dribble More, Roam from Position, Move into Channels and Mark Tighter. I want the AM to function almost like a 3rd striker, but give it freedom to still contribute creatively
- Mezzala: Run wide with the ball so it can create some more 'width', encouraging to find spaces out wide. Shoot less often since both finishing and long shots aren't spectacular and Mark tighter
- Carrilero: Run wide with the ball, same reason as the Mezzala. Take more risks, Shoot less often and Mark Tighter
- DLP: More Direct passes, Dribble less, Close down More, Tackle harder and Mark tighter. I wanted to keep the Fluidity on Fluid, so the DLP changed form it's usual Defend to Support role, but the defensive instructions were added so it can still help in that regard
- Both CWBs: Take more risks and shoot less often
- CB: Take more risks. I like my defenders to be good passers, so this role it's the more defensively minded one, but can still help with build up
- SK: No added instructions

[Experienced Defender]

3 hours ago, VoidVector said:

A very unbalanced setup of roles and duties + overkill of instructions (narrow attacking width + focus through the middle coupled with an already narrow formation). You also use pass into space, but with so aggressive defensive instructions, the question is where that space actually is supposed to be?

I don't know how you are faring defense-wise, but the right flank looks like really asking for trouble in your setup. 

[Experienced Defender]

3 hours ago, VoidVector said:

Some individual instructions are:
- Both Strikers: Shoot more often. Last season I noticed they tended to have a low ammount of shots, so I've been testing giving them both this instruction. It hasn't changed things much. Both also have the Mark Tighter instruction
- Attacking Mid: Take more risks, Dribble More, Roam from Position, Move into Channels and Mark Tighter. I want the AM to function almost like a 3rd striker, but give it freedom to still contribute creatively
- Mezzala: Run wide with the ball so it can create some more 'width', encouraging to find spaces out wide. Shoot less often since both finishing and long shots aren't spectacular and Mark tighter
- Carrilero: Run wide with the ball, same reason as the Mezzala. Take more risks, Shoot less often and Mark Tighter
- DLP: More Direct passes, Dribble less, Close down More, Tackle harder and Mark tighter. I wanted to keep the Fluidity on Fluid, so the DLP changed form it's usual Defend to Support role, but the defensive instructions were added so it can still help in that regard
- Both CWBs: Take more risks and shoot less often
- CB: Take more risks. I like my defenders to be good passers, so this role it's the more defensively minded one, but can still help with build up
- SK: No added instructions

 

And this obvious excess of player instructions can only make things even worse. 

[VoidVector]

hace 36 minutos, Experienced Defender dijo:

A very unbalanced setup of roles and duties + overkill of instructions (narrow attacking width + focus through the middle coupled with an already narrow formation). You also use pass into space, but with so aggressive defensive instructions, the question is where that space actually is supposed to be?

I don't know how you are faring defense-wise, but the right flank looks like really asking for trouble in your setup. 

Thank you for the insight. In your opinion, what are some changes I should make to make the tactic more balanced? 

[Experienced Defender]

2 hours ago, VoidVector said:

In your opinion, what are some changes I should make to make the tactic more balanced?

In terms of roles and duties, the first 2 changes I would recommend are:

1. switching the mezzala's duty to support

2. changing the RWB's role into the WB on support (instead of CWB)

And given that you currently play both strikers in simple runner/scorer roles, I would consider changing one of them into more of a creator role (or even a TM if you have a suitable player and if such role suits your intended style of play).

In terms of instructions, I already mentioned a couple/few most problematic and contradictory. In any case, I would considerably cut down on their number (decide on your style of play and employ just a couple basic instructions that go hand in hand with that style). 

Because when you use (too) many instructions at once, it's far more difficult to figure out what you need to change when things start going wrong. Conversely, when you start with just a couple of them (or even none), you can easily tweak one or the other if/when needed.

[VoidVector]

Thanks for the advice. Before reading it I played one final game with the old tactic, ending in a 2-1 loss to Man City. So, perfect time for tweaking
No player has individual instructions, except for the CB who still has the Take More Risks. He's composed and a good passer, and my backup options are also good on the ball, so I decided to keep that Pseudo BPD
I decided to go for the CF on Support because I'd still like both my strikers to be involved in the scoring charts. Neither are particulary domiant in the air, Young having a mighty 4 on jumping reach but Evans has a decent 13 + being 6 foot tall. I had considered using a F9 and keep Young on the right, but I haven't found much success using that role. However, I'll still test how it goes

[Pasonen]

1 hour ago, VoidVector said:

How your wide defending have been working? If you are up against teams with out amc and they overload your flanks you could try rising dm pm to cm position deep pm sup wich will wider the formation and make defending flanks easier. You can even try it when theres amc, specially if you're losing game. 

[Experienced Defender]

9 hours ago, VoidVector said:

i would rather have the CF (or F9/DLF) on the left and the AF on the right, considering the rest of your setup).