[Missing analytics under some player tabs]

Under some (not all) of my player tabs, when I click on the "analysis" tab (and this happens in a number of different skins), it comes up blank, saying "no analytics have currently been requested." The club has a full staff of analysts etc. Am puzzled. Thoughts? We are a few months into the first season.

[Opposition Pass Map - how to get it?]

How does one get hold of the "next opposition" pass map? I can get team reports, via a scouting instruction. But neither on the data hub, nor in the scouting report, is this available.

[A guide to defending like a real 442]

On 31/10/2021 at 21:05, cocoadavid said:

Hi @redmisty

I haven't bought FM22 yet, so unfortunately I don't know what adjusments are needed at the moment. I plan to update this thread if I buy FM22.

But at the moment I am not 100% sure that I'll be buying it. Reading the feedback thread of the beta, I am not convinced of the FM22 ME yet. I have seen too many complaints about lack of central play, IFs and IWs not cutting inside, overpowered headers and CBs scoring 20+ goals a season. All of these issues have been acknowledged by FM. I'll only buy FM22 if these issues are sorted out.

Thanks anyway- understood!

[A guide to defending like a real 442]

Hi Cocoadavid

Having real difficulties with adapting the tactic to fm22. Any tips about what adjustments are needed? Seems like its harder.

[A guide to defending like a real 442]

On 05/08/2021 at 10:58, cocoadavid said:

Behind the scenes the pressing forwards are hardcoded to always press, so there is a contradiction, and I think that is the main reason why they "half press" the opponent CBs despite telling them not to do it. Also, most of the instructions in FM are not black and white, they are more like tendencies. By that I mean that if for example someone instructs his fullback to cross less often, the fullback is still going to cross sometimes. So despite telling your player to not press the opponent at all, he still might press them, altough less urgently.

Thankyou!

[A guide to defending like a real 442]

On 02/08/2021 at 16:07, cocoadavid said:

Thank you so much, I'm glad to hear that!

You are welcome! One thing: my pressing forward (& also when I play him as TM) tends to "half press" the CBs, despite the OI not to press them at all. Even when the TI is Regroup, not Counter Press. Might this just be his own way of playing?

[A guide to defending like a real 442]

On 16/05/2021 at 19:10, cocoadavid said:

Sections

1. Prologue
2. How teams in real life defend using 442
3. Implementing the compact 442 in FM

1. Prologue

A mid-block 442 is my favourite defensive shape. I have had great successes in FM using 442 formations, most of the time using an Advanced Forward. But despite the good results, I was never fully satisfied, because our defensive shape was not as compact and as organized as I imagined, it was not how teams using 442 defended in real life. Diego Simeone and Marcelino are the masters of 442, but sometimes even Guardiola’s Man City uses a 442 defensive shape, more often than you might think. So I started experimenting, read a lot of articles and analysis, and I think I managed to create a good system that replicates a real 442 defensive shape, and now I would like to share it with you.

2. How teams in real life defend using a 442

• Vertical and horizontal compactness is the most important part of a successful 442 defensive shape. The midfield is congested and the play is forced down the flanks.
• Both forwards are asked to track back. Most of the time, the opposition’s central defenders are allowed to have time on the ball, and the strikers, instead of pressing the central defenders all the time, focus on blocking passing lanes to the defensive/central midfielders. But as soon as the ball goes to a full back, the pressing intensifies, forcing the full back either out wide, or forcing a pass back to the central defenders. The opponent’s central passing options can be marked tighter.
• Balance is important: since the opposition's center backs are not under intense pressure, teams try to stay deep enough to protect space in behind in order to prevent a dangerous long ball from a ball playing defender, while simultaneously staying high enough to avoid intense pressure in dangerous areas closer to the goal.

Below a classic 442 by Marcelino's Valencia.

 

Below you can see that the forwards do not press the center backs and the full backs are left free.

 

Below you can see how Atletico man mark’s the central passing options.

 

3. Implementing the compact 442 in FM

OPPOSITION INSTRUCTIONS

Implementing this defensive system, Opposition Instructions are crucial, so I’m going to start with this.

• central defenders: never mark tightly, never press
• wide players (DR/L, WBR/L, MR/L, AMR/L): always press
• defensive midfielders and central midfielders: always mark tightly, optional: always press

This is how I set up:

 

OUT OF POSSESSION INSTRUCTIONS

• Compact mid-low (Lower LoE + standard DL)  or mid-high block (Standard LoE + higher DL)
• Force Opposition Outside
• I also encourage you to use either Get Stuck In and/or Mark Tighter, to ensure that your defending is not too passive.

 

IN TRANSITION

• counter: you are defending in a medium or low block, and 442 formation is ideal for counter attacking, I don’t think it needs too much explanation.
• counter press: this is optional. I want my team, and my strikers to occasionally press the opposition's central defenders, high up the pitch, and the counter press is perfect for it. In real life you can see that sometimes teams press high up the pitch, but then retreat to their solid 4-4-2 shape.  When the counter press is on, it overwrites the OIs. In my experience this instruction creates a good balance between pressing and standing off. I also instruct my team to play narrower, and a narrower shape always helps counter pressing, because more players are closer to the ball. But I don’t have this option always turned on, sometimes I turn it off or switch to regroup.

 

PLAYER DUTIES

In order to have a really compact, real-life defensive shape in FM, both your strikers and central midfielders should be on support duties. I think it is not surprising that both of your strikers should be on support duty - in my experience a Complete Forward - Target Man combo works really well together.  I am going to explain why I avoid using defend duty on CMs.
Central midfielders with a defend duty do not stay in line with their midfield partner, and instead act more like a defensive midfielder, creating a 4-1-3-2 defensive shape, and not a 4-4-2.

Here is an example why I avoid using the defend duty on central midfielders. I changed my right central midfielder's duty to defend. He leaves his midfield partner, leaving a big open space on front of him (white circle), and this gives an opportunity for Ruben Vezo to pass the ball into a good position. If he stayed higher up the pitch, in line with his midfield parner, he could mark or immidietaly press the opposition's central midfielder.  (I am not saying that using a defend duty player in CM is bad in general, I am saying that if you would like to create a real-life-like 442 defensive shape, you should avoid it.)

 

As a starting point, I suggest the following distribution of duties, this has worked well for me. In the example below focus on the duties, the roles are flexible.

• Defence: one fullback on support and the other on attack duty.
• Midfield: attack duty for one (or both) of your wide midfielders, support duty for others.
• Strikers: support duty for strikers.

 

PLAYER INSTRUCTIONS
When the opposition plays with a Defensive Midfielder, I usually aks one of my strikers to mark the DM.
Other player instructions are flexible, depending on the player roles.

 

ATTACKING
This writing is focusing on defending, but I also want to say a few words about attacking with this system, because it has worked really well for me.

Since the hole shape is compact and the players are close together, I prefer a quick, short passing game with a narrower width. We can play with a quick tempo, because chances are that because of the compactness there is always a free teammate nearby, and the players do not have to think too much, they can make decisions quicker without losing the ball.

My tactic

The tactic you see below is a base, sometimes I change player roles, but never duties! I change the roles depending on my available players and the opposition. I also play around with TIs. A few examples:

• If I want to play more urgently and put more pressure on the opposition, I change the mentality to Positive and/or defend a notch higher (mid-high block).
• Sometimes I want to let the opposition have more time on the ball, maybe giving me more opportunity for a counter attack, therefore I turn off counter-pressing. If I want to protect a lead in the last 5 minutes, I may change to regroup.
• If I want to waste some time and save energy for the last few minutes, because for example I am going to have an important game 2 days later, I switch the mentality to Cautious, switch off counter, max out time wasting, and instruct my GK to slow pace down.

 

I have the following PIs for this setup:

• FBL: sit narrower
• DCR: stay wider
• WBR: stay wider
• IWS: sit narrower, more risky passes, roam from position
• TM: mark opposition's DM

The SK on support duty really works well. His first instinct is to pass the ball to the central defenders, but sometimes he plays the ball forward to the TM, or finds a free man on the flanks.

 

IN-GAME EXAMPLES

pure 442

 

Below you can see that my strikers are marking the opposition's defensive/central midfielders, so the opposition's CB can only pass the ball to the other defenders, or he can try a risky pass, but then we might win the ball back.

 

Here we have won the ball back and are in an excellent position for a dangerous counter attack

 

In possession we often have a 3-1-2-4 shape.

Finally a short summary to this approach:

• never tight mark or press opposition’s centre backs
• tigh mark opposition CM and DM
• always press opposition’s fullbacks and wide players
• support duty forwards
• support duty central midfielders
• compact mid-low or mid-high block
• get stuck in and/or mark tighter
   

I hope this was helpful for those of you who are obsessed with 442 and I could show you another way how to approach this beautiful, sometimes underrated formation. This is not the only right way to play 442, this is just another way.

Cheers,
David

David - I can't thank you enough. Not only do your insights work. It has also taught me a lot about football tactics and defending by using team shape. For the first time, I can set up like Diego Simeone at Athletico Madrid. Bravo!!!