Arrigo Sacchi's 4-4-2: High Pressure, Attacking Tactic for Top Teams and Underdogs

[burford1988]

Tactic looks good!! Want to give it a try on my Liverpool save, just 1 question does this tactic work on the 13.3 patch?

[Bennie23]

I've reached the World Cup with my Curacao team. I've managed to reach the finals of the CONCACAF cup also. Lost 3-2 against Mexico.

Every year I try to reach this with Curacao (former 'Dutch Antilles') but I never succeed. These are major achievements for a side like Curacao. Well done SMP !

[stevemc]

I'm having mixed results with this tactic with Southampton.

Its a solid tactic, but just don't create enough chances at all with it.

[Jor-el321]

Are you having the same problem as me? Can't keep possession, having hardly any shots on goal, and just get carved open by the simplest ball?

Kind of. POssession is a bit of a problem. Fine at home, terrible away (Stoke outplayed me at their place which shouldn't really happen). The shots or to be specific the CCCs seems to be a problem. Games just seem to drift by with your team not creating much. You're right about the simple ball in my case it is the ball over the top

[Cadijk van Kaarhandel]

My humble Aberdeen side (£50k/week wages) just held the great Barce to a 0-0 draw in Champions League groups. Can't argue with that.

[stevemc]

Kind of. POssession is a bit of a problem. Fine at home, terrible away (Stoke outplayed me at their place which shouldn't really happen). The shots or to be specific the CCCs seems to be a problem. Games just seem to drift by with your team not creating much. You're right about the simple ball in my case it is the ball over the top

I'm having the same problems, I think this formation is perfect for closing out games (which I think I'm going to use it for), but not great for chasing games.

[mexamoxa]

Started a save with Nott Forest and I'm destroying everyone! I'm sitting top of th championship and only signed Masilela, using all of the original squad!

The tactic fits to every scenario, stevemc says it's not good to chase games but right on th first game of the season away to Cardiff, I was losing at half time and turned it around with 3 goals in the last 20mn! And I never had another game to chase because I just destroy everyone home and away! 9 wins and 1 draw so far!

Tactic is brilliant and the football is beautiful, not much possession true but it's very clinical! Great work!!

[Bennie23]

Road to the final, Gold Cup

Qualified for the world cup with Curacao

Ranking

[bakes106]

Is anyone else getting a higher then normal amount of longer term injuries with this tactic??

i mean its working fine i'm 1 point behind man utd in the first season with everton, only bought moreno and malouda(loan)

i think i would be well clear if i could have my first team on the park more often tho, there is always 3-4 players out with torn hamstrings and ligament damage.

[Magraev]

Do they get injured in matches or in training? Silly question maybe, but injuries during training can be lessened by turning down the intensity.

I've read, that very tired players get injured more often, so if your players often get a low condition during a match, that could also be the problem.

[The_FM_Fanatic]

We're in Serie C and our slowest CBs pace is 9

[bakes106]

yer it probably doesnt help with the squad size at everton, i had to keep playing my best players as i was chasing the unlikely title, which was won on the last day. Man Utd drew at stoke thanks to missed penalty by giggs and a late crouch header, mean while i beat wigan 3-1

[Cadijk van Kaarhandel]

For anyone that’s struggling with finding goals, recommend switching Match Prep to Attacking Movement.

I hit a lean spell at the start of Season 2, wasn’t losing but loads of draws, but a switch to this saw me banging in 3s and 4s all over the shop.

It became obvious to me that I should’ve done this earlier but if you’ve not done it and are struggling for goals, give it a go.

[Cadijk van Kaarhandel]

Season 2 with my Aberdeen side (£60k/week wages) I reached the semi-final of the Europa League before narrowly losing 2-1 on aggregate to Leverkusen.

Champions League was first up – drew with Barce and Juve at home at defeated Shakhtar 4-2 to seal 3rd place.

Europa League I knocked out Fenerbahce, Dynamo Kiev, Napoli on route to the semis.

So far, in two seasons, I’ve won each of the three domestic competions and that’s not a bad achievement at all when you’re competing with someone with the resources of Celtic.

Excellent stuff. Thank you.

[jefflackey]

Is anyone else getting a higher then normal amount of longer term injuries with this tactic??

i mean its working fine i'm 1 point behind man utd in the first season with everton, only bought moreno and malouda(loan)

i think i would be well clear if i could have my first team on the park more often tho, there is always 3-4 players out with torn hamstrings and ligament damage.

Yes, currently playing in League 1 with Swindon, 3 matches in and every match I have at least one player going down with injuries that are two weeks to 3 months or more long. Followed training, got good physios, etc. Right now I'm having to play players out of position because of so many injuries, and had the same problem with my previous try with the tactic with another team.

[jefflackey]

OK, I love this tactic because of the style of football it produces once everyone is trained in it. BUT - something is really going on in terms of injuries. Two different teams, with good fitness, good physios, etc. and EVERY game I am losing 1 -2 players. Current season with Swindon, League 1, and I am in my 4th game, it's half-time, and I just lost my 5th and 6th player to significant (= more than two weeks) injuries. I'm playing 3 people in "red dot" out of position positions because I'm out of players.

I'm pretty much just playing the default tactic with no changes at all. No shouts, etc. just to get a feel for the tactic. Training as described in the OP. But I'm going to be forced to start over with a different tactic if every time I play with this one half my squad is out on stretchers! Anyone have any ideas?

[BAD-RELIGION]

Yap, it happened to me alot to :/

[iMan]

OK, I love this tactic because of the style of football it produces once everyone is trained in it. BUT - something is really going on in terms of injuries. Two different teams, with good fitness, good physios, etc. and EVERY game I am losing 1 -2 players. Current season with Swindon, League 1, and I am in my 4th game, it's half-time, and I just lost my 5th and 6th player to significant (= more than two weeks) injuries. I'm playing 3 people in "red dot" out of position positions because I'm out of players.

I'm pretty much just playing the default tactic with no changes at all. No shouts, etc. just to get a feel for the tactic. Training as described in the OP. But I'm going to be forced to start over with a different tactic if every time I play with this one half my squad is out on stretchers! Anyone have any ideas?

This tactic requires alot of pressing and running around from the players. If they are injury prone or not very fit then there's a high chance you are going to pick up injurys.

[lilljons]

I love this as well, right up my philosophy alley! Hard working and team working tactic... Im Hibs in Scotland, currently topping the league 12 p up. Which makes me wonder, is this a cheat or just that good of a tactic!?

[jefflackey]

This tactic requires alot of pressing and running around from the players. If they are injury prone or not very fit then there's a high chance you are going to pick up injurys.

Sure, but with two different teams, in the first 10 matches of the season, I lost about 9 players (each team) to injuries. Seriously, I don't have enough players to fill a full sub list each match, and I have numerous players playing out of position due to a shortage of players.

[jefflackey]

I will say this: don't be afraid to play in Defensive mindset once you get a goal up or are up against a stronger team. I've found this tactic to provide plenty of chances and offense even while in defensive mode. We were one goal up on a superior team, and I put the team in Defensive mode and also Retain Possession, and we scored two more goals while not really providing any good chances to the opposition.

[Earnie is God!]

I used this tactic to help get promotion for my Cardiff team. The board weren't that pleased with "the negative football on display" but that was soon forgotten when promotion was achieved.

I agree about the injuries though and we don't have the money to bulk up the squad. We also weren't creating that many chances.

I've now switched to another tactic for the new season but will return to this one if it goes wrong.

[jefflackey]

I have found my injuries go down dramatically if, when we get ahead, we go into Defensive mode with Retain Possession as a shout. For my lower league team (Swindon) we still create a lot of goals that way, and the injuries appear to have gone down.

I also found that it took the team becoming fluid in just about every area of the tactic before it really became successful. When that happened we suddenly switched into that lovely football with a lot of crosses into the box and nice passing creating opportunities. The first several matches of the season had us in the middle to lower half of the standings, then the tactic became fluid and we've had a long run without losing and are comfortably on top of the standings.

[Kweek89]

I have won the Champions League with Havant & Waterlooville in 2022 with this tactic.

Beat Real Madrid 5-1 in the final

Fantastic tactic! Highly recommended.

[jefflackey]

After a series of great success and climbing to the top of the standings, suddenly we're struggling with this. 5 losses in a row, same personnel, some of those to much lower rated teams. Puzzled.

[Kweek89]

Variation is key. You can easily play the same tactic 10 games in a row but sometimes you have to vary with another tactic. As a variation I use a 4-1-1-2-1 tactic with a DM, MC,MR and AMC, AML.

The other tactic gives me the chance to also try out some players on their natural position.

[donpost2]

This has been a great tactic. However now I'm an established top prem side after about 4 seasons it's lost it's effectiveness. I thought this might be down to teams setting up more defensively against me so I tried switching to "control" but that didn't work. Continentally, where I don't have such a high reputation, the tactic works a lot better.

Any ideas at what I could look at tweaking to help here?

[RobertoNUFC]

Thoroughly recommend the 4-4-1-1 tweak available over on fm base (and probably this thread somewhere). Its a shame this forum has quietened down so much compared to the past.

I know some tactic creators have stated plug and play tactics are dead but i must disagree.

I think its very true that team talks, training/match preparation and possibly opposition instructions are much more important now than ever before but its definitely still possible to have great success with a downloaded tactic without bothering with shouts. The shouts method is just another way of playing i would say.

[serek]

That 4411 tweak is way too reliant on AMC. Might work with strong clubs, but it's inferior to the original tactic otherwise.

[donpost2]

This has been a great tactic. However now I'm an established top prem side after about 4 seasons it's lost it's effectiveness. I thought this might be down to teams setting up more defensively against me so I tried switching to "control" but that didn't work. Continentally, where I don't have such a high reputation, the tactic works a lot better.

Any ideas at what I could look at tweaking to help here?

Quoting myselft here but I just wanted to say after watching some games it seems the problem was that player's were not getting enough passing options, mainly occuring on the wing. This lead to either losing possession by being tackled or hoofing the ball in hope.

I changed the style to "rigid" and changed passing from "shorter" to "normal" and all is good again

[gazcollo]

I have found the tactic much better and more potent by pushing the two wingers up a bit and pulling the CF back to be AM (adv playmaker) and move the AF into the middle

[Biddy]

hey, i was just about to start a new career save with reading, try and keep them in the prem, and came accross this tactic. i was just wondering if you guys could give me any advice regarding this tact

[HughYork]

Nice tactic.

Playing with sc Heereven in the Dutch league (I always like to start with a smaller team in a lower league and earn my way to the EPL) - so far we're 13 games in and I'm in 1st with 27 points. Twente and Utrecht are also on 27 pts but we're in a great run of form and confident that we'll push on as the season progress's.

I've not done to much with the training/coaches etc at the moment and my team is the same as starting but with a few load additions.

Loving it!

[Earnie is God!]

I used this tactic to help get promotion for my Cardiff team. The board weren't that pleased with "the negative football on display" but that was soon forgotten when promotion was achieved.

I agree about the injuries though and we don't have the money to bulk up the squad. We also weren't creating that many chances.

I've now switched to another tactic for the new season but will return to this one if it goes wrong.

This tactic still works well but even more so in the massive games against superior opposition.

My Cardiff side have destroyed Man U using this tactic

...and Real Madrid too

Ok, so two of those games were at home but two were in finals at neutral grounds. Away from home is always harder and results are not as comfortable but here is the league table to show how well we have done away from home too:

Due to the fitness issues of it, I only use this tactic in big games when we are the underdog, otherwise my players become too tired and injuries occur. It works very well, especially against Man U, although fails v Man City. That is probably due to their narrow formation. I have found the only tactic/strategy that works against Man City is JP Woody's 'playing the odds' one.

I use his standard or attacking tactic in most of my games but use this Arrigo Sacchi one in big games.

[driveon]

Hello

Does this tactic work for 13.3.3?

[Swordy86]

Not for Arsenal, unless you like scoring a maximum of 1 goal and then going onto lose.

[Omark]

I have been able to get Woodford Utd from level 8 to the BSP in 5 seasons (that's 3 promotions for those of you counting) with the lowest wage budget by far in the division now 2nd with 10 games left. It's not super sexy - you will not be scoring a ton of goals but it certainly allows you to overachieve with a weak squad.

[Big H]

Guys, I don't have enough DMCs, e.g I have Cleverley (and others) , who is 'Red' is placed as DMC. would it be better to place them as DMC (I.e out of position), or push the 2 x DMCs up to MC, i.e their Natural positions? Thanks

[rich_barnes]

Guys, I don't have enough DMCs, e.g I have Cleverley (and others) , who is 'Red' is placed as DMC. would it be better to place them as DMC (I.e out of position), or push the 2 x DMCs up to MC, i.e their Natural positions? Thanks

Buy some dmcs and if that is not an option then retrain someone as a dm until you can buy some. Do you have any centre backs who can play dmc or are at least yellow in that position?

[Big H]

Buy some dmcs and if that is not an option then retrain someone as a dm until you can buy some. Do you have any centre backs who can play dmc or are at least yellow in that position?

Thanks mate - I have some 'Yellow' DCs, I can use and I'll retain Cleverley and Eriksen. Shame is I just bought them as MCs, but the tactic I was using didn't work.

[Rub Rub]

Great tactic, finally found a consistant one thanks!

[serek]

Still a very good tactic in 13.3.3, but not as good as it used to be.

[HakanMild]

That 4411 tweak is way too reliant on AMC. Might work with strong clubs, but it's inferior to the original tactic otherwise.

I play in a lesser league with an average AMC and I've been doing better with the 4411 compared to the original, on 13.3.3. It makes it easier to link-up attack imo.

[GeesusChrist]

Im trying it on my guisley save. only about 10 games in. doing ok but ive lost a couple and drawn after been 2 goals down against teams at the bottom. i decided to use it without OI because i just copied the screenies guideline. i couldnt find the link at first but i did use the OI and did alright. i lost 3-2 to celtic reserves after been 3-0 down after 20 mins. i then downloaded the link and saw the slight changes but i dont think it affected the learning of the tactic much.

So anyways i played my first game v histon and lost 2-0 with all th OI i could, but it was the fact that they absolutely destroyed me. i had 5 shots to their 15, so because of this i read on fm base that people have had success without OI so i tried it and its been great. scoring in every game since. but you concede like crazy as well. i even lost to a non league team, granted i put my 2nd string out but still shouldve beaten them and lost 2-1 at home too.

My defenders have i would think good stats for that league. the only thing they lack is pace really. 7 and 9.

But the main thing that frustrates me and has cost me about 7 points is my goal keeper steven drench has kicking of 17 but insists on kicking the ball in between My two dcs straight to their striker who runs straight through my 2 dcs who are desperately trying to get to the poor pass and is one on one with drench who for non league has a high stat of 13, may as well have a stat of 1 cause he always concedes. hes done it about 6 times in about 10 games and his rating stays at the average 6.9 so i cant even give him a kicking.

Any way to rectify this?

[krosotv]

make him kick it long to to the forwards ive scored loads of goals like this

[GeesusChrist]

Ok ill try that tonight cheers. has it happened to you?

[krosotv]

yeah loads of times

[GeesusChrist]

Cheers krosotv. i thought it might affect the tactic changing anything but its still as good attacking wise.

[GeesusChrist]

Great tactic for blue square north. since changing keepers distribution. takes time to get fluid and because of this i drew quite a few in the early season but ive just lost my first game after a 33 game unbeaten run coutersy of a cross that went in and their keeper been like peter schmeichal in his hayday. so yeah brilliant tactic with determination, workrate and teamwork of atleast 10.

[Earnie is God!]

To solve the problem of your GK giving the ball away, I just set him to pass it to one of my FBs instead.