4-4-2 Advices

[patrick.jane]

Hello, so here i have a 442 with direct football, i want to benefit the most from my 2 strikers to score. What would you change in my formation? especially what are ur opinions about tight marking/tackling in this formation? I will attach formation and both strikers. Thanks.

 

 

 

Edited October 16, 2020 by patrick.jane

[NotSoSpecialOne]

I would change one of the strikers' roles to either a CF(Su) or a DLF(Su). Then see how that goes.

[Experienced Defender]

2 hours ago, patrick.jane said:

Wait a minute... what's your LOE setting actually - higher or much lower? 

In the 1st screenshot it says "much lower", while in this last one it is "higher". 

The same question for pressing urgency - is it "more urgent" or "slightly less urgent"? 

And tackling - is it "get stuck in" or "default"? 

[patrick.jane]

23 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

Wait a minute... what's your LOE setting actually - higher or much lower? 

In the 1st screenshot it says "much lower", while in this last one it is "higher". 

The same question for pressing urgency - is it "more urgent" or "slightly less urgent"? 

And tackling - is it "get stuck in" or "default"? 

Higher, Urgent, Default

U are right, because while i made the printscreens i switched to other formation i was testing.

[Experienced Defender]

2 hours ago, patrick.jane said:

U are right, because while i made the printscreens i switched to other formation i was testing

Can you now post a screenshot of the tactic as it currently looks like? 

[patrick.jane]

27 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

Can you now post a screenshot of the tactic as it currently looks like? 

 

[Experienced Defender]

1 hour ago, patrick.jane said:

 

7 hours ago, patrick.jane said:

here i have a 442 with direct football, i want to benefit the most from my 2 strikers to score. What would you change in my formation?

Here are things I would definitely change in your tactic (not just formation) with regards to your tactical intention:

- change the duty of both wide midfielders from attack into support

- change the role of the RM from winger into WM

- change the duty of the left CM from support into defend

- change the role of the LB from FB into WB 

- drop the LOE a notch (from higher to standard)

- remove more urgent pressing and possibly add the Get stuck in instead

- switch the attacking width to slightly narrower (i.e. fairly narrow under the positive team mentality)

- add hit early crosses

Other potential tweaks would depend on what happens after these ones above have been implemented. 

However, I am not sure this particular style of play is going to work for a top team like Napoli, so keep that in mind as well. Because when you are a strong team, very few opponents will leave you enough space to take advantage of. Instead, they will defend deep and tight, which is likely to make a tactic like yours pretty ineffective. But anyway, let's see what happens. 

[patrick.jane]

Thank you for your time, i will try ypur suggestion later and tell how it is going. Cheers.

[nugatti]

23 hours ago, Experienced Defender said:

mind as well. Because when you are a strong team, very few opponents will leave you enough space to take advantage of. Instead, they will defend deep and tight, which is likely to make a tactic like yours pretty ineffective. But anyway, let's see what happens

This triggers some thoughts, perhaps (as in most certainly ) because I believe I can set up a team to play in a kind of ‘Atletico Madrid mode’. But the attempts have led to way too many goals against. And the only way I’ve been able to stop goals against has meant moving away from essential principles in their style. 
 

So could you please maybe give some advice on how/in what way relatively strong teams over time can play to and succeed in lureing the opposition forward in FM only to then exploit the vertical space they’ve given up? (Does not have to include a strict 4-4-2 setup, btw )

The threads I’ve come across on AM’s style has not worked in this way for my teams. And other threads on exploiting space is mostly about overloads and switching play horisontally.

If you know of any existing threads or other resources where this is a part of the strategy, I’d be more than thankful. I’ve not been able to search for this specific point. 

Edited October 17, 2020 by nugatti

[Experienced Defender]

7 hours ago, nugatti said:

This triggers some thoughts, perhaps (as in most certainly ) because I believe I can set up a team to play in a kind of ‘Atletico Madrid mode’. But the attempts have led to way too many goals against. And the only way I’ve been able to stop goals against has meant moving away from essential principles in their style. 
 

So could you please maybe give some advice on how/in what way relatively strong teams over time can play to and succeed in lureing the opposition forward in FM only to then exploit the vertical space they’ve given up? (Does not have to include a strict 4-4-2 setup, btw )

The threads I’ve come across on AM’s style has not worked in this way for my teams. And other threads on exploiting space is mostly about overloads and switching play horisontally.

If you know of any existing threads or other resources where this is a part of the strategy, I’d be more than thankful. I’ve not been able to search for this specific point. 

We can discuss that, but only in a separate thread. This one is solely about the OP's tactic and tactical issues. 

Start your own thread on the topic you want to discuss, tag me there if you want my opinion specifically and that's it. 

[Tsuru]

I think it´s important to think what you mean by direct football. Do you want a long ball style, with back players trying long passes to the strikers to score? If yes, you may face some trouble against teams that Park the Bus, as Experienced Defender says. You would need to create some space for the strikers to run into and use their speed to reach those long balls, but other teams can put many players on their own half and the result would be your players hoofing the ball back to the other team to regain possession. Playing on counter attack could help creating this space, but we know that many teams on FM simple play the ball short and let time goes on, enjoying a draw, so this could be very frustrating.

If you think about direct football but on a different approach - few passes until goal, quick and vertical football, not necessarily long passes, not hoofball - yes I think it´s possible for Napoli on a high level, with the right players, roles, duty combinations and team instructions.