Help needed with defensive organisation

[Thenextbigthing]

From a defensive standpoint how can I make the midfield and defence  more difficult to play through in this tactic? 

[zyfon5]

2 hours ago, Thenextbigthing said:

From a defensive standpoint how can I make the midfield and defence  more difficult to play through in this tactic? 

I will first look at the flanks first. Inside forwards and wing back combinations are just not going to track back and defend which means a winger could easily cut open your defence from the flanks. Your two midfielders are not going to cover the spaces on the flanks since they are mezzala which is very attack minded.

The only possible way you can defend using very aggressive roles is to press as high as you can and try to win the ball back in the opposition half which you have done. The problem with pressing high here is the formation that you have chosen. The 41221 is not a good formation to press high as it leaves too many space for the opponent to play around you. And using 'prevent short GK distribution' with one striker up top does not make any sense at all which will disrupt your pressing structure.

For a 41221 formation I tend to use a mid block with the engagement line one notch lower than the defensive line to give me a solid defensive structure. The biggest defensive gap with this formation is the half space behind the two midfielders which the opposition front two or front three can drop in to exploit. By putting the engagement line slightly lower you can limit the two midfielders to sit a bit deeper to cover the half space and form a defensive line to protect the centre. By utilizing a mid block the lone striker can constantly shadow the passing lanes from the CB to the midfielders and force the CB to pass out wide and limit their attacking options.