Getting Wingers to Track Back

[fscuba]

Sorry if this has already been posted but I am having a problem with my formation. I play the old Chelsea 433 but keep getting caught with my wingers not tracking back. Can anyone offer some insight into why?

I am set up with with attacking full backs and crossing from deep and wingers getting to the byline with a big target man (lukaku) upfront. Should my anchorman close down more or is there a way to get hazard and Moses to track back quicker?

Thanks

emma

[SPE3D]

I use to have similar problems until I realised my wingers teamwork and work rate stats were low. Changed personnel and things are better although not perfect but you certainly need to ensure they have these stats to have any hope of them tracking back.

[Dark Demon]

Try playing with Defensive Wingers

[shaunwwfc]

Yep, Defensive Wingers are the way to go and I do this with all my systems but I normally take off the hold up ball option as I still want them to run at there full back at every opportunity.

[Football Manager.]

Either as above it set them to man mark the player you want them to track back

[ShirazS]

Or change them to a Support Duty.

[Domus Clamantium]

Increase closing down. Also it helps to have wingers who are good to concentrate, mark, position and tackle. Yarmolenko's pretty good at it.

[allyc31]

I agree with the above.

Set them to def wingers.

Also, they need good work rate, stamina and (possibly) team work otherwise they won't consistently track back regardless of the role

[deserter]

Also, my favorite, pull them back to midfield. Like Mourinho said lately, his wide men are always forwards. It's just that they sometimes have more defensive duties than another time. Sometimes they will be expected to drop back to the midfield line to help out.

With FM formations working as a defensive template, you would be well justified with dropping the AML/R to ML/R. They are perfectly capable of getting forward when you get the ball.

[Kawee]

I've found max closing down and hard tackling work well.

[ShirazS]

Also, my favorite, pull them back to midfield. Like Mourinho said lately, his wide men are always forwards. It's just that they sometimes have more defensive duties than another time. Sometimes they will be expected to drop back to the midfield line to help out.

With FM formations working as a defensive template, you would be well justified with dropping the AML/R to ML/R. They are perfectly capable of getting forward when you get the ball.

Agree with this 100%

[RocheBag]

Also, my favorite, pull them back to midfield. Like Mourinho said lately, his wide men are always forwards. It's just that they sometimes have more defensive duties than another time. Sometimes they will be expected to drop back to the midfield line to help out.

With FM formations working as a defensive template, you would be well justified with dropping the AML/R to ML/R. They are perfectly capable of getting forward when you get the ball.

Yep, people don't seem to realize that the modern 4-2-3-1 with the wingers tracking back to make two banks of four, is a 4-4-1-1 in the TC, that's how the formation plays.

[furiousuk]

Agree with the comments.

AMR/AML are not defensive and so should not naturally track back very far at all.

They should be strikers, just out wide. You could try and set their mentality lower, get them to man-mark opposing wingers/full backs, increase their closing down, whatever, but itll take away from what they should be doing.

They should be getting you goals, or getting in positions to set up goals and support the FC or move beyond him.

If they stay high you always have a counter attacking option. Plus, if they are high it is a brave (or stupid) FB who habitually drifts very far forward to attack because eventually that FB will get caught out and you'll be laughing.

With this in mind you have to figure out a way of getting your FB's forward if that is what you want (usually solved with a more measured attacking system so they actually have time to get forward) and accepting that you might be facing some crosses because you will be slightly weaker defensively down the flanks. So long as your FBs are quick and hard working enough to get into positions (even if they aren't defensively great) then crosses will be rushed and if your CBs and/or DM are decent in the air you should be fine, at least, the pros outweigh the cons for me.

As Rochebag stated, if you are worried about your 'wingers' tracking back they should be in the MR/ML slots.

[RocheBag]

Right, you either want them tracking back and helping defensively (ml/mr), or you want them staying high and available to counter (aml/amr), you can't have it both ways.

[Langefis]

How much does it affect a player to play him out of position? None of my AML/AMR players have any skill at all to play in the ML/MR positions.

[RocheBag]

How much does it affect a player to play him out of position? None of my AML/AMR players have any skill at all to play in the ML/MR positions.

That would lead me to believe that your wide players are more striker types who can play wide as opposed to true wife players. In which case I wouldn't want them tracking back, I'd want them staying available high up the pitch.

To answer your question though, I've always found as long as a player has the required attributes to play the position, familiarity is almost meaningless.

[SnUrF]

Agree with the comments.

AMR/AML are not defensive and so should not naturally track back very far at all.

They should be strikers, just out wide. You could try and set their mentality lower, get them to man-mark opposing wingers/full backs, increase their closing down, whatever, but itll take away from what they should be doing.

They should be getting you goals, or getting in positions to set up goals and support the FC or move beyond him.

If they stay high you always have a counter attacking option. Plus, if they are high it is a brave (or stupid) FB who habitually drifts very far forward to attack because eventually that FB will get caught out and you'll be laughing.

With this in mind you have to figure out a way of getting your FB's forward if that is what you want (usually solved with a more measured attacking system so they actually have time to get forward) and accepting that you might be facing some crosses because you will be slightly weaker defensively down the flanks. So long as your FBs are quick and hard working enough to get into positions (even if they aren't defensively great) then crosses will be rushed and if your CBs and/or DM are decent in the air you should be fine, at least, the pros outweigh the cons for me.

As Rochebag stated, if you are worried about your 'wingers' tracking back they should be in the MR/ML slots.

How about this compared to AMC? After all there's the same 'AM'

-SnUrF

[scott MUFC]

I had the same issues going 4-2-2-2 I just made it 4-4-2 and set the ML an MR as wingers. so they are a bit deeper when needed, you dont lose any attacking potency but gain a bit more in defence.

[tomtuck01]

I had the same issues going 4-2-2-2 I just made it 4-4-2 and set the ML an MR as wingers. so they are a bit deeper when needed, you dont lose any attacking potency but gain a bit more in defence.

They don't a bit more, as the AML/R don't have anything to be gained upon. They are not there to be defensive.

[furiousuk]

How about this compared to AMC? After all there's the same 'AM'

-SnUrF

Depends how you play him, an attacking AMC (i.e. a creative striker who likes to play in the hole, I'd say Rooney but his work rate is such that he is a good defender too) is really just a 2nd striker, sure his depth will bring him into contact with the ball (when the opposition have it) a bit more but I'd never have him as a crucial part of the defensive setup.

Similarly, a treq in at AMC would not be expected to be a defender at all either. It's useful if he gets in the way but I wouldnt be too fussed.

However, the AMC can also sit a little deeper and has roles that better define him as a midfielder so he can do more defensively. Of course, if the opposition hinge around playing through their DM and you have a Gerrard/Lampard style AM then you'd expect them to be a solid part of your midfield defence and I reckon they do that in FM.

It's as much about the right player. A real team player playing in the AM strata will do defensive work, I'd never expect them to chase right back and it's rare you'd see this in real life (Rooney does, or did, but its arguable whether he should be or not).

It's part of why a 4231 (with MC's) is hard to set up in FM, because I'd probably want my midfield triangle to be somewhere between DM,DM,MC and MC,MC,AM but with the previous roles/duties I could never really achieve this as solidly as I would have liked. Maybe the new roles will (and possibly ME flexibility to go with it, presumably the ME would receive some work before FM14 but maybe not) allow more options.