[Asymmetrical 3-3-2-2 - the ideal way to win ME 22.4]

Hi,

This is the most successful tactic I have created to date. If you want to play a high intensity, attacking brand of football, this tactic is for you.

 

 

When out of possession, we play with aggressive pressing, and a solid back three. In possession we play a form of vertical tiki taka, trying to find depth with quick passes. This is tweaked, however, to work with support from deep. The wingback on the left side pushes forward aggressively. And the two wide center backs give support to the central midfield by carrying the ball forward and offering passing options. Up front, there are two forwards that can hold up the ball and wait for the line behind to run into space. It works brilliantly and produces gorgeous and succesful football.

Here is an example:

 

You need physically and technically proficient players for this tactic. Especially the three central defenders all need to be comfortable with the ball. So it's probably not a good tactic for underdogs - though I didn't try. For the forwards, ideallly you have to players with pace and good finishing on the shadow striker and inside forward position. For the false nine, a player with off the ball, dribbling and passing, as well as vision and finishing. And for the pressing forward a player with good physical and aerial attributes, and workrate.

 

Results:

 

 

I hope you enjoy as much as I do.

 

Asymmetrical 3-3-2-2.fmf

 

 

[The way to play - 5-1-1-3 perfect football - FM 22]

Anybody tried this yet? Still works very well for me, and produces some astonishing football.

[The way to play - 5-1-1-3 perfect football - FM 22]

Hey Nitro, 

 

Yes it should work beautifully with Manchester United. Ideally you'll  add a strong wide center back to the team, but even without it should work. Let me know how it goes for you. 

[The way to play - 5-1-1-3 perfect football - FM 22]

Thanks for sharing your results BroeslyDotA. Did you win the Champions League? What are your impressions of the tactic?

[The way to play - 5-1-1-3 perfect football - FM 22]

Hi everyone,

 

If you enjoy playing beautifully, and winning in style, this is the tactic for you. We want to win by playing perfect football. With this tactic your team will produce goals through beautiful combinations that will overwhelm your opponents defence.

 

The key points of the tactic are:

• attacking, beautiful football
• quick short passes
• moving the ball forward at high speed
• pressing at high intensity

 

As you can see, this is a tactic for technically proficient teams. You need technique and you need speed to play this way.

 

The specifics

 

We defend in a 5-1-1-3 shape. This is very stable defensively, and allows for quick counter attacks.

 

Offensively, we attack in numbers in a 4-3-3 shape. Four defenders are joining the attack, making it extremely difficult to defend. In position, the half back drops deep to create a backline of 4. The wingbacks push forward and cut inside to connect with the playmaker in the middle of the pitch. Thus attacking the space in the middle of the pitch. The wide center backs go wide and run up the flank, providing width. With four defenders pushing forward, there is always an overload creating passing options for your team.

 

I have tested this with Ajax for one season. I won the league unbeaten, plus the Champions League (penalty shootout in the final against Liverpool)! I very much enjoy the results and the football this tactic creates.

 

Results

 

 

 

I would love to get some feedback on this. If you manage a technically gifted team, this tactic is for you. Let me know if you have any questions, and let me know how the tactic works for you.

 

The tactic download

5-1-1-3 modern football.fmf

 

Hope you enjoy.

[Papamogl's 5-3-2-2 / 4-4-2 hybrid]

For IWB (a) you can actually use a winger there. Raphael Guerreiro and Achraf Hakimi are fantastic in this position, but I am also playing Jadon Sancho there. Ideally you will use a wingback that specialises in attacking. Some defending skills are still necessary, but the focus is on the attacking skills. Speed, dribbling, off the ball movement and finishing are important factors. For WB (auto) I use wingbacks with very good defensive stats. It is tricky, as these players are basically central defenders that double as wingbacks. If you have a DC with some speed and crossing skills, that will work too. I'm playing Lukas Pisczeck and Marcel Schmelzer there. I also play Dan-Axel Zagadou there if facing tough opponents, even if his crossing is lackluster. If your opponents play with two strong strikers, playing a DC in this position can help neutralizing them. If they play only one striker, fielding wingbacks can help your attacking intent.

[Papamogl's 5-3-2-2 / 4-4-2 hybrid]

Cool, thank you!

[Papamogl's 5-3-2-2 / 4-4-2 hybrid]

Is anybody using this tactic? It's doing wonders for me.

[Papamogl's 5-3-2-2 / 4-4-2 hybrid]

Here is a screenshot of the tactic and team instructions, in case you are on Stadia:

 

[Papamogl's 5-3-2-2 / 4-4-2 hybrid]

Hi everyone,

 

This is a really special tactic. For the first time in Football Manager I managed to recreate an idea I had, and for me it is extremely succesful.

 

5-1-2-2 Perfect Football.fmf

 

The tactical background

A few years ago, a new tactical approach emerged where with a four man defense, a DM drops into the defensive line when in possession. These teams are playing with a four man defense when out of possession, and a three man defense (2 DCs plus the halfback DM) when in possession. My idea was to exactly reverse this. As many teams are now playing with a single striker, two men are enough to defend against a lone striker when in possession. How to achieve this?

 

Well, my idea was to play with three DCs when out of possession. When in possession, a DM (=halfback) will drop deep, creating 4 DCs! This allows the DCl and DCr to spread out wide, and actually become wingbacks! The DC and the halfback will be left to cover the center of the pitch. This gives you a very solid 3-3-2-2 when defending, and an explosive 2-6-2 when attacking.

For opponents it's very difficult to defend against inverted wingbacks already, but it becomes almost impossible when central defenders suddenly become fullbacks marauding the flanks. My inverted wingacks and the DC/WB hyrids both assembled huge scorer point tallies:

I marked the players that were my main wingbacks, and inverted wingbacks throughout the season (* Talles Magno played around 1/3 of his games as striker).

The following graphic shows the formation when out of possesssion, and the players movements when possession is won.

 

The implementation in FM

The hybrid between DC and Wingback that we are using has not been implemented in FM. The way I got this to work was to position them as WBs, have a narrow defensive width and specifically instruct them to mark opponents ST (l) and ST (r). When you are playing against a lone striker, your DC will mark him. This is very stable defensively, and the wingbacks still contribute a lot to the attacking phase of play. Note that I had much better results using winbacks with good defensive stats in the DC/WB hybrid position, than playing DCs there.

To give due credit: the standards were taken from Lisa's @terminator tactic:

https://fm-base.co.uk/resources/fm-20-4-4-3-3-terminator.673/

 

In practice

I enjoyed a hugely succesfull season with Ajax with this tactic. Winning the league unbeaten, the domestic cup, and becoming runner up in the Champions League (narrowly beaten in the final by Liverpool). The football this tactic produces is spectacular. it isn't primed for huge spells of possession. Instead there are blazingly fast attacks with quick short passing, and lots of unexpected movement. I really enjoy this tactic a lot, and I hope you will too.

 

Let me know if you have any questions.

[Play the right way - glorious 3-6-1 (patch 20.2)]

vor 12 Stunden schrieb BarraBravaDCU:

Sorry if OT (going to test the tactic today),

Thanks BarraBravaDCU. Please let us know how it went.

[Play the right way - glorious 3-6-1 (patch 20.2)]

Am 7.2.2020 um 07:59 schrieb PODSYMAN:

Has anyone used this with the new patch, please, and does it sill work?

At the moment I have very little time for testing. I would be interested to know this as well. I'll see what I can do with testing in the coming weeks, but can't promise anything.

[Play the right way - glorious 3-6-1 (patch 20.2)]

Thank you for the feedback @kanonz You raise valid points. I'm busy at the moment. I will try to make some balance tweaks when I have the time. I like the core of the tactic very much. But I'm certain that I can come up with  improvements for lower tier teams. Thanks again for bringing this up.

[Play the right way - glorious 3-6-1 (patch 20.2)]

Thank you @Abulafia glad you like it.

[Play the right way - glorious 3-6-1 (patch 20.2)]

vor 15 Minuten schrieb FM Base:

Yup, they'll be up soon. 😁

Awesome. Looking forward to it 👍

[Play the right way - glorious 3-6-1 (patch 20.2)]

Thank you for your testing@FM Base

It's currently marked as 'pending test'. Looking forward to seeing the results!

[Play the right way - glorious 3-6-1 (patch 20.2)]

Thank you Mark

[Best Possession Tactic?]

Pacey defenders will be a crucial addition. A good deep-lying playmaker is important too. That's no concern with Barca of course.

I haven't developed set pieces and simply used the standard ones. So better use your own.

[Best Possession Tactic?]

Thanks @Podsyman. Let me know if you have any questions.

[Best Possession Tactic?]

Shameless plug: my set of tactics is possession based:

 

Normally 55%+ possession. The third formation I use is a 4-2-3-1. I can't say that it is 'the best' tactic. But I get very good results and an exciting brand of football with it.

 

[Play the right way - glorious 3-6-1 (patch 20.2)]

Does anybody else have some results to share? The tactic works extremely well for me, so...

[Play the right way - glorious 3-6-1 (patch 20.2)]

Interesting @Matsbrunsen

It's a great formation to dominate possession and dictate play. Very good for a short and fast passing game because there are lots of triangels. I arrived at that formation because of the style of football I wanted to play. Works very well for me.

[Play the right way - glorious 3-6-1 (patch 20.2)]

Cool, thanks for the feedback @BigBobJoylove Sounds like the framework of the tactic works for lower league teams as well. Please let me know whether you are scoring more with players that are better suited for the tactic.

 

And yes, the style of play is an important factor for me. Though I want to win too, of course

[Play the right way - glorious 3-6-1 (patch 20.2)]

You are absolutely right. If you have a midfielder you can retrain as a fullback that works very well. I play Blind as a fullback from time to time. But usually he is too important as the deep lying playmaker in my side. If you can afford to put such a player in the fullback spot that's awesome. If you can't, a 'normal' fullback can fill the role as well.

[Play the right way - glorious 3-6-1 (patch 20.2)]

The style of play is the same in each tactic, so I wouldn't change anything and use the 3-6-1 as your base tactic. I'm curious to hear how it works for underdog teams.