Keyzer Soze

It's a bit out of the box tactic, in particularly the 3 players playing wide. Perhaps the ME can't deal with that sort of setup. But, like any tactic, it has strong and weak points, so the opponent will also try to take advantage of those. The main point is, if you are having fun with it, then just go ahead and play. What team are you playing? A league winning team? Avoid relagation team?

Don't worry. If anyone asks i'll say that @Lucastold us how to do it, but also said that we should keep it to ourselves!

Thanks. I only have the android version, so i guess this wont work...

@Lucas Quick question, is it possible to erase the facepacks that comes in the game by default? Ist there any folder where i can find them and simply delete them? Playing the android version of the game.

A slightly more attacking version of the 4123 wide DM, but also with a good possession percentage. For this tactic, the key point that make my possession go up was droping the "counter" TI.

It's funny, but if we check the forum about threads with people with difficulties against teams that park the bus, the large majority are playing with a 4123 wide DM formation. My point being, that against teams that park the bus, it's important to have that extra man in the box, or by having 2 forwards, or with a AMC that arrives sooner. And, to achieve that with the 4123 wide. DM formation, is sometimes hard, mainly because the poor choice of TI's that rush the play too much. I think that people really struggle to achieve that

Got this issue last night in a penalty shoot-out in the champions league. the image from all missed penaltys was cut out when the player start running to the ball. playing the game in a xiaomi mi pad 4 plus.

When i'm trying to defend a lead, the first thing i do is change the duty of my FB/WB to defensive. This makes sure i have a solid 4 man in the back at all time. I also put my D-Line at standard, and drop my LOE a little bit, so that my team get more compact. I also make sure that closing down is at standard. If i have a attacking duty role in the midfield, i drop that one to support. Apart from that i stay away from TI's like, play from defense, work ball into box and be more expressive. I also make sure that my gk is not passing the ball to my defenders. In some situations, could be a good idea to drop tempo and passing a little bit, so that you can have a little more possession. The opponent will try to press you high and hard, so if you can keep the ball, pass it around and wait for a good killer pass, theres a good chance that you can score. about mentality, i tend to leave it the way i usually play.... balanced.

Why? they don't do the same thing, just by looking that their PI's. On top of that you can add some PI's, to one of them, like sitting narrower, or staying wider, or giving one of them the option to roam from position. And on top of that, you have the players prefer movements, that will make them playing the role in different ways. And to finish, you must not forget the midfield players, and you fullback/wingback players. Unless you are playing with the same role for both midfield players and WB/fB players, the way they will work with the correspondent IF, will be different, leading to a variety in your attack. In my current interpretation of the 4123 wide DM tactic i'm playing with two IF's, both on support, but... DLF(a) IF(s) IF(s) CM(a) AP(s) HB(d) FB(s) CD(d) CD(d) WB(a) The left IF, is left footed, in fact he is more suited to play as a winger. I gave him the PI to roam from position. Because of that he often don't cut inside, but instead, make a run, not by the line, closer to the box but from the outside side of the opponent fullback. On the same side i have a CM on attack that will often explorer the space between the FB and the CD. My left FB, on support, will give my left side the width i need and also a good option to reclycle possession on that side. On the right, the IF have the PI's to stay narrow, and make more forward runs. He will play closer to the DLF(a), and take, i hope, more advantage of the AP play. My right WB(a), on attack, will bomb forward and take advantage of the space that the IF will leave. So, although i'm playing with two IF(s) on support, my attack has enough variety to cause problems to my opponent. One thing i also have is a second tactic that is the exact mirror of the first tactic. I then, sometimes change tactics in the game. Sometimes i score immediately after that, simple because the opponet didn't adjust.

the HB is also a good choice for a setup that is based in playing from the back. he'll drop deep, making the central defender go wide. In my tactic (4123 wide DM), i use a HB(d) with a DLP(s)+CM(a) in front. The DLP(s) has the trait to come deep. I used to have a MEZ(a) has my guy to link with the forwards, but i've changed to a CM(a) so that he'll stay more central. I usually have my gk to distribute to the central defender, but if the opponent are pressing high i change the distribution to the fullbacks.

I think this year the DLF(a) works very well in a lone striker setup. He don't have the "get further forward" PI and with the "comes deep to get ball" trait he can work well with the wide players and the midfield.

@herne79 Do you think that your aproach work well against teams that park the bus? I ask this, because, playing with West Ham, you probably dont encounter too many teams parking the bus, at least in the first season. The instructions that you talked in the previous posts, like work ball into the box, shorter pass and tempo, dribble less (i know you dont use them all at once) area all instructions that need space and movement by you players, or you'll end up with a very static attack with players passing ball around. This is something that can happen when facing teams that park the bus.

Hi @herne79, A quick help in analysing my tactic, and the thoughts i'm having after reading your thread. I'm playing, like you, in a 4123 Wide DM formation, with the following setup: DLF(a) W(s) IF(s) MEZ(a) DLP(s) HB(d) WB(s) DC(d) DC(d) WB(a) SK(s) I usually play with balanced mentality, and in possession i use the play from defence and work ball into box instructions. What i see in this setup, is that i usually have less possession than my opponent. I'm winning game, 77% win percentage, but my game is more a game of quick transitions. From your thread, i come to the conclusion, that one of the issues for that is probably the tempo. By not reducing the tempo, i'm probably rushing the play (mainly because of the attacking duty of my forward), and not giving enough time for my MEZ and WBacks to come into play. Is this correct?

@herne79 I could be wrong but I suspect that you are combining a low LOE with a higher D-line, creating a very congest press zone just outside the midfield line, with the 5 top players instructed to press more urgent, and the rest with standard pressing. I assume that you are using the counter instruction to when you win the ball. About the press, or not, instruction to when you loose the ball, at first I thought that you leave that with nothing ticked, but from you post it seen that you choose to apply immediately pressure after loosing the ball. I would assume that for a more possession orientated tactic you would choose the option to regroup.

A little update on my tactic. After the last post where I start playing with a HB-AP(s)-MEZ(s) in the midfield, and after watching a couple of matches I start to get the feeling that my midfield was slipt in two: both AP and MEZ would go up, the HB would drop deep, and a big area would be empty. This brought be back to the drawing board, island got me thinking how cool if I could turn my 4123 defending into a 4231 in attack. With that in mind, I've changed the AP(s) to a DLP(s) and changed the Mezzala duty to attack. I also changed the IF(a) to a support duty, because in many games he would be to close to the opponent defender, leaving no space to make any runs, and also with a attacking duty the gap to the DLP would be too big. Só, the tactic turns into this: DLF(a) W(s) IF(s) MEZ(a) DLP(s) HB(d) WB(s) CD(d) CD(d) WB(a) SK(s) What I like in this setup is how I get almost like a double pivot when in possession, with the DLP and the HB playing almost side by side, and with the MEZ pushing forward. At first I've try with a CM(a) to get the player more central, but it seems that the hard coded movement of the MEZ just make him more upforward when compare with the CM(a). I'm still messing around a lot with team instructions, but really happy on how the team is playing and how they change from the 4123 to the 4231.