davidbarros2

Having using the ramdeuter to great effect since FM17, I definetely feel the same about this year. He seems always too wide and only cuts inside really late in the moves...

Since your enganche (Ganso as AP) will play on the center of the pitch sidelined by 2 other AMC's, it might not be just as easy to make them go wide to whichever side the ball goes. But if roam from position isn't delivering what you want, you may try other PI's such as move into channels perhaps? You can also try to remove the Counter instruction and go for Hold Shape - besides being more suitable to Diniz approach of positional play it would be hard for you to understand the issues with the positioning of your AMC with counter + roam from position ticked. It will be easy to start simple and building from there than to have those 2 instructions (TI + PI) ON and wondering about the issues you see happening on the pitch. Regarding the defensive shape, It would be easy to defend in a 442 if you were using that shape as base on some sort of lopsided 442/4411 might also work...

Seems like a great project! Perhaps you can't replicate it entirely, just focus on the main elements of Diniz style, a particular match or moment of a game... What are you observing with your AM's? You want them to go to the byline with or without the ball? You want them to start at the centre and spread wide (and go back to the center to defend) or the other way around (starting wide, cutting inside and going back to the sides to defend)?

I would say lines and diamonds aswell. It's so good that can teach football principles to someone who doesn't even watch/like/know football..

Lovely stuff! Well played

@frukox amazing detail!!!

It's actually from an old thread of @herne79, don't really recall the name right now. As the OP wanted some kind of analysis of several formations I just recalled that was a preatty neat summary right there.

Well it's not an in depth guide but rather a cheat sheet about must haves, if it helps:

I may not be able to help you with "all common tactics" but I've been playing the 4-4-2 diamond and recently wrote a thread about my sort of quest to make a young fantasista shine behind the 2 strikers of the 442 diamond, but since then and from watching how my team plays over the time I feel I have a better understanding now. I guess you can make a list of strengths and weaknesses to assess every formation out there, but regarding the 4-4-2 diamond here's something: Pros: Passing options Numbers advantage in midfield Compact when defending Attacking formation Versatile formation due to the possible combinations Cons: Lack of width Central midfielders wide or out of position Full backs being doubled down at times Fitness/Stamina of some players like the full backs Vulnerable to counters By experience here's something I learnt, not saying this is the only way it can work but it has been working for me at least... Fullbacks/Wingbacks are your only natural source of width both defensively as offensively, you need to balance this out. Your shape (the diamond shape) is key to build up attacks and sitting back and defending, so pressing more urgent or roaming can at times dismantle your diamond shape and might cause more harm than good. You need a connection between the midfield and the front 2, so again, roaming, move into channels and so on must be carefully considered. Feel free to give your inputs because I'm still playing this save and always looking to improve my tactic.