Duracellio

And not as agressive (vertically speaking) as an BBM. I like the idea, I think i'll go with it.

Thank you for your tips. So I imagine you usually go for the target forward "jumpman" archetype in the ST position? This also reminded me, do you reckon a Wide targetman where you usually have an IF could work?

That's exactly my string of thoughs behind the 433 I'm currently trying to run but I find myself questioning a few things in this kind of setup. Maybe some of you more experienced FManager's have some tips or ideas we can exchange on this matter. Here goes some food for thought. -I love the idea of having an AP on the wing to help masking the eventually inferior numbers on the midfield since your HB will drop and leave your midfield with only 2 mens (or even 1, if you choose one of them to be a breaker like M(a)/AP(a)/MEZ(a)) BUT with an AP on the wing with attack duty, I often find him to be neglecting when it comes to defend that wing, thus leaving the CWB alone against the opponent's FB and Winger or in most of the times, arriving late for the pressure. The obvious solution for this would be to play him as a AP on support, the thing is, by doing that, one would become a bit passive on the offensive side because you only rely on your ST and the other W/IF/IW (and eventually on one player from the midfield if you choose a breaker here) because I find the AP on support to float in front of the box a lot and not being a threat to the goal. -Another issue that I often find with this kinds of setup is the team becoming a crossing merchant and stop looking for vertical passes through the middle of the pitch, either for the build up or for the final deadly pass. How can one stop this from happening? I understand the theory behind the reason this happens in a natural way, your CWB's will find themselves wide and with lots of space to receive the ball, and since you'll have only 2 men in the your midfield, that are most probably under pressure your CB's will naturally start to build towards the wings. Maybe you could patch this up by playing a DLP on the midfield, that would give a passing option trough the middle, but the DLP doens't offer much in the offensive either, and since you already lost one of the mid 3 (the HB) this will make it even harder to attack through the middle once you overcome the initial pressure from the opponents strikers, so I don't think that really works in this matter. How would you adress this two things, let me know and what other issues do you find with this kinds of setups? Cheers. PS: I thought about creating a topic on this 433 setup with HB and CWB's approach, but since I'm not sure on how or even if it is appropriate, plus having this nice little 433 topic, I think it is the perfect place to leave this chain of thoughts

The only way I got this to happen is with defensive wingers. They tend to defend a bit inside. I feel the same, I dont think those OI's work properly to be honest. It's the same with our own CD's. I have them to press less and they still follow the opponnent forever, towards the sunset...it's very annoying.

I get it, because most of the people (that have a lot years playing FM) are sick and tired of seeing the same boring one style goes for all...although people have to take into consideration that not everyone have the same level of experience or the same will to turn up the dificulty a notch. Most of us "gegen haters" look at that particular style at the state it is in the current game engine as the "easy mode" button for FM24 and tend to show a bit of animosity towards this types of shares... BUT we all have to bear in mind that every post has some kind of knowledge to someone in their own way. That being said, I found SI forums to be quite healthier I'm happy that I found this forum I liked how this set secured the flanks with a winger on the right side and an IF on the left with the "stay wider" instruction. I've been trying with only 1 IFB combination to make a 3-1 rest defence, with the other WB playing more ofensive almost as a winger, for a long time without much success, I think its time to go for the 3-2 with two IFB and the libero.

Hi, any update on this one? I have a similar aproach but am struggling a bit with the defensive unit aswell. Was wondering if you gave up on this or tweaked it. Cheers

The thing about the 442 with 2 DM's with lesser teams is that sometimes the midfield gets way too compressed to the defensive line due to the pressure you have to soak sometimes and give away way too much space in our own half to our opponents to work the play. I tried with medium/higher DL but I guess it has to do with the "mentality" of being an underdog side (i've been testing it only with lesser teams). To avoid this I tried the assymetric midfield, with a DLP(s) and a CM(s) (for example) and it tends to work better covering the space. Also tested some things with the 2 upfront. I figured that dropping one striker to the AM(a) position {SS isn't working as well as last year (?)} gives the team a better shape when defending. By employing this kind of 4141 shape (or 41311 to be precise) you still attack in a a 442'ish shape and defend in a 451 wich is more realistic, since in modern football defending with two players upfront completely neglecting the defensive phase like it tends to happen when employing a 2 strikers setup, is completely suicide.

@2calvin thanks for sharing. Have you tried with Defensive mids instead of CMs?

Would love to see more on this thread. It's my favourite shape irl and I try to emulate it in the game every year...although I always have a hard time to replicate the forwards defensive work. In real life they have the most important job, regarding the defensive phase, on closing the space in the middle of the pitch, in front of the two MC's, but in the game they always tend to be a bit negligent in their defensive duties and stay way too far from the two MC's. I know one can always lower the LOE so they defend a bit deeper but that mess up the midfield pushing them a bit behind... If anyone have found some success with the flat 442 setup would be nice to see so we can exchange some ideas!

Finally! The real questions are being asked!! We demand some answers SI

So in the end it worked for you? Did the underlaps in both the sides helped on that?

I am running a very very similar system (4231), and I am struggling to achieve exactly this: Having the striker to drop close to the AMC is the most imortant thing in the way I try to play, specially against opponents with 3 midfielders, because it is what enables the team to counter the fact that we are simply outnumbered in the central and most important area of the pitch: When you can make this happen, the football you get from it, is just awesome and is the diference between loosing the ball to your AMC versus 3 midfielders and giving a counter attack or finding the space to get a goal: https://streamable.com/zi2ufj My problem is achieving this behaviour from the striker constantly during the matches... Have you managed to find any kind of solution for this?