LLM Direct Attacking 4-4-2

[OrientTillIDie]

This is an “I could do with an outside eye” kind of post. 
 

I’m in the second season of a save with Weymouth (still in the National League). I’ve built my squad to suit a direct 4-4-2 system. I can’t post a screenshot now but the system is this:

 

                     TM(s)       PF(a)

W(a)          CM(d)         CM(s)          W(a)

FB(s)          CD(d)          CD(d)          FB(s)

                             GK(d)

 

The mentality I want to incorporate is Attacking. I’ve got a decent Balanced and more defensive system, but I can’t seem to get the Attacking version to click.

TIs I’ve tried so far:

Extremely direct passing

Hit early crosses (this works a treat)

Counter

Higher defensive line

Get stuck in

Tighter Marking

 

Essentially, in the home games that I should be winning, I want to be getting the ball forward quickly, either to the target man for a flick on, or out wide to the wingers who will then cross.

I can’t seem to get good ratings out of my full backs but I assume that’s because they’re lumping it forwards. The central midfielder pairing is bothering me because I’m not sure if that’s the most effective pairing in that system, or whether I should use a BWM in one of those positions. But then I wouldn’t be sure if that should be in the support or defend duty. Maybe I should give the CM(s) a Get Further Forward PI?
 

I’ve tried each of the wingers on Support with the other on Attack and it just doesn’t seem as effective as both on Attack.
 

The issue I’m having is that it’s not creating as many chances as I’d like. The squad I have, particularly the wingers and strikers are certainly well above average for the level I’m at. 
 

Any tweaks anyone would make, I’m all ears. Thanks in advance.

[Experienced Defender]

6 hours ago, OrientTillIDie said:

The mentality I want to incorporate is Attacking. I’ve got a decent Balanced and more defensive system, but I can’t seem to get the Attacking version to click

Can you explain why exactly do you want to incorporate the attacking team mentality specifically? What do you expect from it? Do you understand what the mentality is actually about and how it affects other elements of a tactic? 

 

6 hours ago, OrientTillIDie said:

Extremely direct passing

Hit early crosses (this works a treat)

Does this mean that you want to play a typical hoofball (route one) style? If so, then there are some tweaks that could help improve the tactic and make it more conducive to such style of play. 

 

6 hours ago, OrientTillIDie said:

Higher defensive line

Get stuck in

Tighter Marking

What's the reasoning behind the combination of these 3 out-of-possession TIs? Do you know that instructions such as tight marking and/or get stuck in can backfire when paired with a high D-line, and even more so under a high team mentality?

[kingjericho]

Read this

https://community.sigames.com/topic/527939-a-guide-to-direct-long-ball-antifootball-play-a-dyches-burnley-inspired-4-4-2/

 

[OrientTillIDie]

40 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

Can you explain why exactly do you want to incorporate the attacking team mentality specifically? What do you expect from it? Do you understand what the mentality is actually about and how it affects other elements of a tactic? 

 

Does this mean that you want to play a typical hoofball (route one) style? If so, then there are some tweaks that could help improve the tactic and make it more conducive to such style of play. 

 

What's the reasoning behind the combination of these 3 out-of-possession TIs? Do you know that instructions such as tight marking and/or get stuck in can backfire when paired with a high D-line, and even more so under a high team mentality?

I feel like Balanced and Positive are too conservative at the moment. I know it pushes things further up the pitch and encourages higher tempo, higher risk football. Which is kind of what I’m after. In your face, Crazy Gang stuff.

 

I’d say I’m looking for more hoofball than simple long ball. Essentially, get the ball forward to my four main attackers as quickly as possible. There have been games I’ve played recently on the more conservative mentalities where it hasn’t been happening quickly enough no matter how much I tweak the tempo and the defensive line.

 

The three TIs have been ones I’ve experimented with, as opposed to having them on now. I didn’t make that very clear, apologies. Would you say I should maybe lower my defensive line to draw the opponent in so I can then win the ball back and break behind them?

[OrientTillIDie]

29 minutes ago, kingjericho said:

Read this

https://community.sigames.com/topic/527939-a-guide-to-direct-long-ball-antifootball-play-a-dyches-burnley-inspired-4-4-2/

 

This is where I started for inspiration. The more adventurous systems they’ve spoken about on this thread haven’t really worked for me but I don’t want to hijack that thread with my own bang-my-head-against-a-wall tactical issues. It’s mainly for a change of pace. Something that can put a team on the back foot rather than only digging in and playing conservatively. I guess this is the evolution of my system but I’m struggling to implement it.

[Experienced Defender]

Just now, OrientTillIDie said:

Essentially, get the ball forward to my four main attackers as quickly as possible

Why then don't you go with a 424 (possibly the version with 2 DMs) instead of the 442? 

 

3 minutes ago, OrientTillIDie said:

Would you say I should maybe lower my defensive line to draw the opponent in so I can then win the ball back and break behind them?

Well, for the style of play you seem to want to achieve, lowering both the Line of engagement (from standard to lower) and D-line (from higher to standard) would make more sense, especially if you want to play on a high mentality.

Get stuck in is okay and makes sense (on paper, at least). Not sure if tight marking is a good idea though. Might work depending on your players, but is more suitable for bottom-heavy systems (e.g. flat 4141).