My first FM24 tactic: 4-2-3-1

[Silver Sweeper]

It’s early days but I thought I’d share my first FM24 tactic, a simple but (hopefully) effective 4-2-3-1.  Please comment with your thoughts and advice, where do you think I could make improvements and what problems do you foresee for us over the remainder of the season.

As with most of my FM tactics, I find inspiration in real life - in this case from one of the most impressive UCL winners of recent times…

In the 2019/20 season Bayern Munich won a treble of trophies: the Bundesliga, DFB Pokal and UEFA Champions League; and they did so playing a brand of exciting attacking football. In that first season under manager Hansi Flick, Bayern scored 100 goals in 34 Bundesliga games (2.94 goals per game) and 43 goals in the Champions League.

Hansi Flick inherited a talented but under-performing squad from predecessor Nico Kovac; he ditched Kovac's 'three at the back' approach and returned to the blueprint that had brought the club much success under Jupp Heynckes, the 4-2-3-1.

Flick used this shape to get the best out of players like Robert Lewandowski, Serge Gnabry, the "mentality monster" Joshua Kimmich and emerging talent Alphonso Davies.  The tactical change had an immediate impact with Bayern beating Dortmund 4-0 in Flick's first Bundesliga game.

https://youtu.be/-caMpDqwh_c?feature=shared

My chosen team is Fiorentina who possess a well-balanced squad suited to playing 4-2-3-1.  Although it's clear the La Viola players are not the same calibre as that 2020 Bayern team, whenever I think of a 4-2-3-1 I’m reminded of Flick's accomplishments.

A 4-2-3-1 on paper resembles 4-4-1-1 when defending and an asymmetric 3-1-5-1 in possession.  When we have the ball one full back advances whilst the other tucks in to form a back three. The team’s width comes from the attacking wing back on one flank and a more traditional winger on the other, the other offensive players can attack the penalty area in numbers.

 

One of the brightest talents in the 2020 Bayern side was a 19-year-old wing back called Alphonso Davies, and in a surprising parallel La Viola also has an exciting 19-year-old wing back in Michael Kayode.  As Davies provided the width on Bayern's left, Kayode will do the same on Fiorentina’s right.

Unlike most 4-2-3-1 tactics which deploy a double pivot or instruct one of the defensive midfielders drop between the centre backs, we use an inverted full back on the right to create a back three.  This structure allows the two defensive midfielders to be more involved, one pushing up to join the attack, the other sitting ahead of the defenders as the single pivot in a 3-1 shape.

This arrangement suits the Fiorentina midfielders, Rolando Mandragora can play as the metronome, loanee Arthur the box-to-box midfielder, whilst Maxime Lopez can perform both roles.  What’s more, if the opposition mark Mandragora then Nikola Milenkovic, a ball playing defender on the right of the back three, is more than capable of bringing the ball out of defence.

It's important to note that we're only 10 games into the Serie A season, but the early signs point toward a tactic performing its offensive duties with confidence.

 

 

Edited November 24, 2023 by Silver Sweeper

[TheMartello]

Looks like a great project!

 

I hope you share the tactic soon because I can´t wait to try it out!

 

[Silver Sweeper]

2 hours ago, TheMartello said:

Looks like a great project!

 

I hope you share the tactic soon because I can´t wait to try it out!

 

I can't believe I forgot to add the actual tactic to the OP 

Fixed that now!

[Halbraum]

Loved the thread! Congrats. Also i loved how Müller rose from the ashes under Flick back then 

How do you like the idea of using an attack-duty AMC in order to encourage him more to explore that left channel? They still join transitions and build-up rather than acting like a CF. I guess you're utilizing an AM(sup) to achieve the 3-1-5-1, respectable 

[Silver Sweeper]

Thanks

You're spot on... Flick got the best out of that Bayern team, experienced players and newbies alike.  Muller definitely regained his mojo in that side.

I think you're right, a more faithful recreation might look like this...

...but I'm not sure I have the right players at the moment (I experimented with a CF but my strikers are not Lewandowski!). It will be January soon and maybe I can find the right forward and AMC.  I haven't dipped my toes into the transfer market yet, any tips ppl?

[kalongtongan]

Liked what you explained to your OP and in terms of tactics nothing needs to be changed this is just my preference it would be better if your AMR was changed to IF-S and VOL to a support duty and I'm very interested in trying your tactics on my save.

[Twitch_TrZealousLive]

On 24/11/2023 at 21:19, Silver Sweeper said:

Thanks

You're spot on... Flick got the best out of that Bayern team, experienced players and newbies alike.  Muller definitely regained his mojo in that side.

I think you're right, a more faithful recreation might look like this...

...but I'm not sure I have the right players at the moment (I experimented with a CF but my strikers are not Lewandowski!). It will be January soon and maybe I can find the right forward and AMC.  I haven't dipped my toes into the transfer market yet, any tips ppl?

Tactic looks good man! have you tried a PF at all? Feel like it could work well

 

Edited November 29, 2023 by Twitch_TrZealousLive

[Silver Sweeper]

1 hour ago, Twitch_TrZealousLive said:

Any personal instructions for the players at all? 

Only the ones I’ve listed on the tactic screenshots (on the AMC and RW) - I don’t like to use a lot of player instructions and the ones I do use are either situational or, as in the examples above, based on learning from repeated watching; for example I started instructing the inverted winger to “sit narrower” together with the “overlap right” team instruction because the wing back on that side was not getting as far forward as I would have liked.

it’s a matter of personal choice.  I find too many PI’s to be counterproductive, making  it harder to determine what makes the tactic work/not work.  I also like the way a players natural traits can alter the way a tactic plays in small nuanced ways (without PIs).  That said, I’d weLcome any suggestions for PI’s that may help improve the tactic.

Edited November 29, 2023 by Silver Sweeper

[BadAss88]

@Silver Sweeper Sorry for bumbing this topic, but I find the tactic very interesting!

• Did the tactic kept working for longer than 10 games?
• Was your right flank with the WB-A & SV-A not too exposed at times?
• Did the SV-A & IW-S occupy the same space too often?

[Andres_enjoy]

downloand plis

Edited 22 hours ago by Andres_enjoy