Gloucester's Adventures with a 442

[Rashidi]

Gloucester's Adventures with a 442

 

In large part this journey by GCFC to play a 442 began with @Nic Madden who thankfully appeared on one of my shows playing a bog basic 442 with England, without any Team Instructions and only one player instruction assigned to a Goal Keeper. It turned out to be a marvellous match, perhaps Malta may not be the perfect test, however, the transitions England came up with provided me with some precious insight. 

There are several ways we can approach the game. We can either become Jose Mourinho or Rafa Benitez and opt to load over team with a myriad of PIs and TIs and get them to play a specific style of football or we can choose to allow the roles to breathe. It was fun and that inspired Mikey to send in his 442 to my channel which we quickly tried. Unfortunately for us, while we managed to close out the league with the title, we fell to a 3-0 defeat to PSG. This fired me up to enter the transfer market with GCFC. We dumped 89m on 18 players. The goal was to become a diversified squad that could use different tactical systems. After all the FM Tactics show that I host on my YT channel is about community tactics. Managers submit their tactics and I use them with tweaks to show how I would either adapt them to my squad, sometimes we use them in their entirety. In most cases the unique requirements of my side mean that frequent tweaks are needed. And the same applied to Mikey's 442. 

Initially this tactic featured an Inverted Wingback. Its a role I love. The IWB is a cross between a playmaker and a fullback. When in possession he takes up a narrow position and is frequently found congesting areas in a central area of the pitch. This gives us options. In order to understand the options and find out how GCFC managed to go on this run, we first need to set up the parameters on how we play with a 442

.

The Challenges of Playing the 442

Michael Cox has released a brilliant book called "The Mixer", in it he traces the history of tactics in the premiership.  And one of the interesting things about this is how he described the evolution of the 442 played in England. The 442 and the style of play is uniquely English. Huff and puff down the flanks and drop the ball down to the head of a strong striker with a fast striker. Basically that's the 442 in a nutshell from the early days. Sides like Blackburn and Manchester United showed how this could be played. And in its title winning season, United almost exclusively took this route, however Europe was a different matter. There, players were more technical, they were better on the ball. And they frequently had a man either protecting the backline or someone playing in a hole behind the strikers. Sir Alex Ferguson in his biography describes how their system needed to adapt. United started going strikerless.

The challenge the 442 has is its reliance on the flanks, in that system, no-one really cared about controlling the middle. Arrigo Saachi was different, he believed in controlling the middle of the pitch. Over time, United changed, first with Cantona, and then with Scholes dropping deeper to become a deep lying playmaker in his latter years. While I am taking some liberties condensing the 442 history, my point is this : The 442 needs to control the middle somehow, its weakness is actually the middle. SAF had to change their style of play, by the time Cristiano Ronaldo started banging in the goals, the need for Ruud Van Nistlerooy, slowly decreased. The purchase of Rooney was meant to allow United to play with a striker who could drop a bit deeper allowing the flanks to cut inside. Van Nistelrooy eventually had to leave, and United's system evolved.

For sides like Leicester City and Atletico Madrid, the benefit of playing the 442 lay with the potential of creating 2 solid banks of four. The challenge was getting the strikers to drop back. Early on in their season Leicester frequently looked like they played a 4-4-2-0. With both their strikers dropping so deep they frequently looked like a 6 in midfield. Faced with having to score goals, it slowly evolved into a 4411 with Vardy frequently seen sitting on the shoulder of the last defender. Madrid would move around as a compact unit, but the same challenges once again faced Madrid. Its notable that neither side could replicate their title winning seasons, its the nature of playing the 442 so defensively that eventually teams figure out how you play. It would surprise me if either Madrid or Leicester were to win a title again, playing exactly the same way.

The challenge for GCFC would be playing our 442 against systems that controlled the middle more effectively. 

442 vs 4231 - I need to worry about the impact of their AMC and worry more if their FB's get involved
442 vs 4132 Narrow - Here the challenge of breaking the dm based defence are further compounded with the potential of conceding goals from counters if their two strikers are released
442 vs 41311 Narrow - The master exploiter of the halfspace. This tactic by the AI allows them to congest as many as 6 players in midfield vs my 2

So for every system we played, we needed versatility.

HOW OUR 442 PLAYED OUT

Before I begin, let me explain transitional width. A team takes up different width settings at different areas of the pitch. If you are playing on a defensive flexible setting, chances are you are going to be narrow at the back when you are in your third, and the likelihood that your fullbacks step out to engage is not as high as it would be if they are on an attacking mentality.

Note how tucked in our fullbacks are on transitional phases in play. While the two central midfielders appear really close together, this combination was a BWM(S) and BWM(D) combination, and  I actually was ok with the way the two in the middle held their position, passing options are limited for the ball carrier and we are narrow. The issue when playing on a low setting like this is that you are effectively ceding the flanks. In cases like this I am going to make sure I field really good headers of the ball in my defence, because I am expecting crosses.

The defending positions my team takes up when on Attacking Flexible look almost similar, but during play I usually notice that my fullbacks and wingers are more aggressive at protecting the flanks which makes more sense, considering the higher mentality in the team.

So now that we have established what our transitional width looks like in defence, I start focusing on strategies when playing my 442. 

If I am playing against a team which has a flank attack that is extremely potent like Manchester City or Arsenal, then we play on at least Control mentality and we keep a structured shape to encourage more discipline during transitions. 

If we are playing against a team that deploys a narrow attack, e.g. the narrow 4231, we play on lower mentality settings to defend the middle. There congested numbers in midfield will surely overpower our 2 central midfielders.

In most cases we will begin on Structured shape, because a 442 could do with the space to work in, and not committing too many players in transitions will also help maintain some defensive integrity. If I feel the need to throw more bodies into transitional attacks, then I will raise shape to fluid. Venturing to very fluid is a risk I am not prepared to take.

I have also covered how you can understand transitions earlier on my blog here.

The Tactic As a Whole

The challenge in playing the 442 lies greatly in adapting to what's happening on the pitch. Sometimes I seek out a more aggressive style where I deploy an attacking CM with a defensive Midfielder, sometimes I need more control and try to go down the flanks more then I use a combination of BWM on support and defend duties. At other times I see to congest the playable area and then I use a IWB with a W(S) and CM(A) on attack in midfield.

In nearly every case the players have limited Player Instructions. Those that have PIs are listed here:
GK - Distribute Quickly, Distribute to Flanks
FBs(Both) - Pass it Shorter
IWB(if used) - Close down much more/tackle harder - The logic in this lies that if he is out of position and needs to track back and defend, then there is also the chance that he may need to go in early, since that flank is open to a lot of risk

DLP & CM(A) - I really want to use at least a BWM(S) or (D) here, but the problem lies in the fact that my players haven't learnt the trait "DOES NOT DIVE INTO TACKLES", so until they learn that trait I need roles that give me the option to reduce hard tackling. So for now they get close down much more and hard tackling. I don't like it, but it's a decent compromise.

Making the system compact in defence

We need to use every tool in the game to make ourselves compact defensively, so we have opted to do this via three methods:

1. Play Offside Trap
2. Pushed up Defensive line  - ( This instruction will adapt to the speed and skill of the opposition, if their players have better acceleration and anticipation then my players acceleration and positioning then I will play normal) 
3. Opposition Instructions

To play the offside trap aggressively we need to put the AI under pressure. This is where OIs become handy since I can opt for a form of zonal closing down that is aggressive but focused zonally instead of giving specific players that instruction. When you give your players specific close down instructions, they may create issues. Here I want to target opposing players specifically so that players closer to their zone can close them down. In conjunction with the offside trap we are also going to press their backline. This will create several side effects:

By closing down their backline, we ensure they are not given time on the ball, this will allow us to pressure them even when they have throw-ins in their half. We can counter attack them after their fail to get their own attacks going. We avoid pressing any AM role, because these have the potential of pulling our backline out of shape. If we maintain a cohesive press on their midfield and their backline, and along with our offside trap, we can play with a forward press that can cause turnovers.  In order for us to pull this off effectively, we need players to fulfil certain requirements from an attributes point of view:

All support duties : work rate, determination, stamina, bravery, off the ball. If they don't have at least 13 for the first team they will not be considered. The league average is 13, so that makes us barely competitive.

Multitasking Roles:  Most of my roles need a degree of multitasking:

Fullbacks - need to play as IWB on occasion so they will need attributes like decisions, vision, passing too. So these are all converted defensive midfielders
 

We went into the transfer market, found this youngster, dropped 7.5m for him and are now retraining him as an IWB. In attack I need my players to have the skills to play as AMs and strikers. My central midfielders need to be quality deep lying playmakers and ball winning midfielders. If we are going to win the title with a 442 there is no room for mediocrity especially if I am going structured. Playing structured puts more of the burden on the individual player so they need to be technical competent enough for me to change roles in a game. 

The only roles that I will have to change is the FB(S) on the right, and the two central midfielders. So far our strategy has worked.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAYER TRAITS

I can't stress how important these are to my style of play, I am not saying the players need them, I am saying that we need to know what traits they may have so that we can determine its impact on the system. There are some traits I can afford, we found that out in a draw against Southampton, when I fielded a player in the middle with Comes deeper as a PPM. Now we are hindered by not being able to play BWM because I need my players to learn the PPM - Does not dive into tackles. 

Since PPMs >PI>TI, it makes sense that we understand how those PPMs can affect individual roles. I can't believe how the dropping of Germano for Olmedo turned my 442 around. There are player traits that I plan to include in the tool-kit of the players I expect attacking down the flanks - "Knocks Ball Forward". I know this PPM is particularly effective with players who have good acceleration. Sides that apply high pressure with closing down and tight marking could overcommit.

It's important to pay attention to attributes and traits, and I have done a post on why these can be important here. I plan to do a new video on player traits and how you can use them in a youtube video on my channel pretty soon

Update thus far:

Against Arsenal we had to play a control structured system with a FB combination on both flanks because they played a FB-ML/MR combination on both flanks. This was their biggest threats. I was pleased to see how our central midfielders stayed wide enough to protect the centre and support the flanks. And over on the flanks we were very guarded. Although Arsenal played with a wide 4132, my biggest concern was their speed and potency from counters. In Musa and Danaher they had the most lethal scoring combination, with Musa frequently heading to the wings to flight in crosses. By nulling their flank attack, we were able to secure a 3-0 lead by the end of the first half.

This Arsenal team had been devastating with their flank attacks. Their left flank almost felt overpowered with 3 players giving it width. So our strategy to curb the flank threats worked.

We knew going into this match that if we played on a lower mentality, this would gift the flanks to them. It was something we could not afford. So we started the match on Control/Structured and moved it up to Attacking Structured. The increased pressure on the flanks allowed us to get good coverage to break their passing lanes.

 

In attack my Wide Playmaker would frequently cut inside and the two central midfielders would usually offer themselves up as great passing outlets. With all three having good off the ball, it's no wonder they found space. Overall their use of only one central midfielder with one DM was probably their undoing, making the job relatively simple for us. This had to be the easiest match against the best scoring team in England.

 

A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE IWB system and the non-IWB System

Basically I have two 442s and there are variations in between with respect to how I want my midfield pivots to work. If I am in a particularly defensive position, i.e. the team I am playing against is particularly strong I will play with a Support/Defend duty  combination. I find that Defend/Defend combinations work better in the DM slots. The 4222 Deep works amazingly effectively as well, this system deploys 2 DMs, and if I really wanted two pivots to be holding players for 90 minutes I would rather use 2 DMs.   Having two players on defend duties in the central while it looks defensive just offers too little off the ball movement, for my liking. Against sides that deploy a 3 man midfield their lack of forward movement could unhinge the middle.

The IWB based system is really cool, when we have possession, the IWB moves into midfield, creating the semblance of the Brazilian box midfield. In attack they play like the box midfield and in defence they drop back into a 442. By playing like this we have created some risk for ourselves as we leave ourselves open on the right flank. During these transitions, its vital that the IWB have suitable attributes that allow him to hold on to the ball, which is why I have reconverted DM's playing here. During the start of the season, there was some uncertainty, players made positional errors. Now though, Zuniga the player I linked earlier is showing the requisite qualities I need playing in the position. It allows us to keep retention of the ball against packed midfields. And here is where we give the option to the other central midfielder to romp forward. In my earlier  versions of this system, the CM(A) had the "Drop deeper" ppm which actually added to congestion without offering much by way of attacking options. With a player playing there now without those PPMs we are looking a lot more dangerous. The side effect of using the IWB as we have also found out is the risk we open up by given the AI a numerical advantage on our flanks. 

I am not too sure if I like the way he closes down sometimes, but its a choice I have consciously made knowing that he may sometimes be out of position. By giving him the PI close down much more he sometimes leaves the defensive line a bit too early like he does here when the AI is entering our half.

In the final third, the IWB option is interesting, depending on how the AI lines up it can give us options. The IWB option becomes more deadly when the AI is playing a narrow system. Here the IWB is in an advanced position looking to add support and allow the CM control the centre. We have effectively formed a 3 man midfield.

Against good teams who have solid flank attacks I sometimes default to not using the IWB, instead opting for the safer option of having a FB/Mid pair to protect the flanks. On the occasion that I have used an IWB, failure to control midfield has usually resulted in us conceding goals. So while the IWB option looks interesting, it plays well against some systems and requires particular attention to player attributes. I do feel that its still a stronger option in games where the AI has a better midfield than ours. Against PSG in the champions league final, we used the IWB 442 but were roundly beaten 3-0 as they took advantage of the weaker flanks.

Going forward I will be looking at both options, and its not uncommon for me to switch between the two if there is a need to take control of the match and keep the ball from the AI, however the risk is always there that our IWB flank could ship goals. 

 

LESSONS LEARNT

Things haven't been perfect, while we seem to enjoy playing against most teams. Its those hell bent on staying defensive playing narrow that have given us the most headaches, against

Southampton we made the wrong decision to field a BWM(S)(D) pair in midfield it backfired. On top of that we made things worse with an IWB. We played into their hands and it was a mistake, as our plan to release our Winger fell flat. Here we made some fundamental booboos

1. Fielding a CM with the "Likes to Drop deep to get the ball PPM" in a support duty. This just made things worse as we create further isolation issues with our strikers
2. Using an IWB when we needed to use width as an attack weapon against a packed midfield. The match finished 2-2.

USE OF MENTALITY/SHAPE

I have been using mentality and shape dynamically for each game. Each match is an exercise in anticipating what kind of tactic the AI will be using. This involves frequent watching of the opposition's previous matches. If the AI has a flank attack, we stay on Control/Structured. If they have a narrow attack, we move to standard or counter and still stay structured. In each case I am deciding how to approach the game by accepting the risk I am taking by opting to affect my defensive width. If I choose to go defensive, then I fully expect them to launch crosses. So having mentally strong players with the physical skills to win the ball in the air are vital. My central defenders have been mammoth in that regard.

There have been occasions when we were close to settling for a point, but I feel confident enough in my team's ability now to switch the shape up to fluid when we need to increase the risk level and get more players involved in transitions to get the goals. Here I worry more about easy OTT balls that could displace our defence. The risk of seeing through balls launched over the head is high, so making sure that my players in midfield/defence aren't sitting on a yellow is a priority. Here I am continually observing my defensive line to ensure we do not step out too soon. 

This apart from analysing matches in advance and preparation, is the single biggest challenge I face. The 442 plays well on flexible and structured shapes. Switching to fluid is a risky proposition but something I am willing to do. Another facet of playing this game that I have incorporated from real life examples is the need to have solid set piece routines. An interesting side effect of the way I am playing is that I am frequently hoping that my keeper kicks so long that the ball ends up deep inside the opposition half and rolls out to touch. This will force the AI into a defensive position immediately after they take the throw-in. We have already scored two goals from such pressure.

 

FUTURE UPDATES

A few people have asked details on how I play my 442s, thats the reason for this thread, its meant to show how I approach games and how I adapt the system on the fly when I am faced with needing to decide how to protect the 442s weaknesses. I do hope this helps some of you and I will update the thread if people need more insight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Fosse]

When I read the bit about Rafa and Mourinho it sounded like The Mixer and then you mentioned it anyway, it's a good read.

It made me think of FM too, the personnel in the CM spots need to be bang on. 

[ajsr1982]

Really like this, Rashidi.

It's an excellent demonstration of a) how to adapt one overarching system to deal with the approach of different opposition, b) how to create overloads to help control certain areas of the pitch, and c) how important it is to have the right players to carry out what you're trying to achieve.

As ever, I think the issues most people (including myself) is that they know what they want to achieve, but they don't really know which buttons to press (allied with an unwillingness to experiment and learn, it must be said). For example, I can't imagine many people would switch to a higher mentality in order to affect the defensive width of their midfield; it's probably counter-intuitive and needs know-how in terms of how to balance it off with roles and duties. But this was nicely demonstrated here, and another arrow in the quiver for people to use.

[Ji-Sung Park]

I love me a good 4-4-2, so I will be watching this space.

[wereldbol]

it's a very simple solution and i kind of feel stupid for not thinking of it myself but to not use a ball winning midfielder until he has learned the trait 'do not dive into tackles' makes so much sense. i'm playing a 442 flat myself or a 433 wide when my second striker is injured or tired and they do tend to pick up a lot of (early) bookings. usually it's fine and it helps if you have a balanced, simple enough system with players close to each other but even then it's a liability sometimes when you just play with half an eye on the game and you come back from a **** or a coffee and he's sent off. had this happen to me in the euro cup final with v valencia, matic got himself sent off within 6 minutes with a straight red (kante was injured and i thought about a central midfielder on support or defend even with close down much more and hard tackling). have told three of my midfielders to learn this trait. cheers!

[Rashidi]

@ajsr1982

Thanks for the feedback, yeah its almost stating the obvious when I say players are important. I took a leaf out of Victor Frades's training methodology which was used and expanded upon by coaches like Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, but that's the subject of a book really and too much information for one post on the forums. I eventually plan to cover elements of that within this thread.

 

@wereldbol

Player traits used to be a small part of how I played, but when I start thinking of a tactical system as a whole and the challenges of making them work uniquely within one's own requirements then the limitations of the match engine require us to use every tool in the game to ensure we get the style we want to play. For me the 442 has strangely turned into a personal crusade, in the absence of Richard, I guess its up to me to play the 442. Richard or wwfan used to play the 442 exclusively, I on the other hand just like winning games with any system. What I found interesting was the narrow focus of some of the roles. To give you an example:

The BWM stills positionally higher than the CM(S) and the DLP(S) sits even deeper. This has important implications of whats under the hood as far as mentality is concerned. I am glad that SI will eventually keep those numbers absolutely secret, because I just want to play the roles the way they are designed. And all I want to do is pick them read the description and off we go. It's how roles were meant to work. Naturally each role plays differently from the rest.. I like how the BWM closes down like a mad terrier, but what I don't like is having to pick the perfect player for the role. So what I have done instead is to get some of my central midfielders who are going to play in that role all learning "does not dive into tackles"

 

UPDATE

The challenging thing about playing a 442 is actually adapting to systems that seek to overload the channels. Its something I have found especially challenging with this system in particular.

 

The 41311 is particularly nasty for the 442, because it excels in coverage where the 442 is the weakest. It has a DM that allows for overloads in its half, and it has a DM that allows for overloads in the middle. It's a system which when played wide has the potential of flooding 5 players centrally and its weakest when its defensive and narrow, thats when the 442 excels at creating chances. However this was something I had to learn by observing.

We started the match on Control/Structured and played with 2 Fullbacks, an earlier attempt to play IWB's almost backfired on us as we flooded the central area too, creating little too no good chances. The match started with the AI playing on either counter or control.  

It was this screenshot that caused me to assume they were either on standard or control, their fullbacks were engaging higher up the pitch. Both fullbacks in their system were either playing on Support and one was potentially even a wingback.

Our structured shape would frequently see these kind of things happen, isolation in transitions. Our striker had no options as he got gobbled up by the Saints defence

They scored from a set piece, which we failed to defend from and then they hunkered into a defensive mentality. We had to get a goal back but we needed to play to our strengths and fix the problem of isolation. So we made several small changes;

We went from Balanced Width - Wide
We went from Control - Attacking
We went from Structured to Fluid

This was a risky move, but their central midfielders weren't as adventurous, so it was a chance worth taking. By going on a higher mentality, we also knew several things were likely to happen:

1. Our fullbacks would step up
2. We would be more proactive defensively on the flanks, where they were weakest and we could launch attacks from there.

The AI came down the flanks, lost the ball and we launched a counter to score.

https://youtu.be/99Fxs-b5WWs

However we made a horrid mistake, we didn't notice that the AI had changed its mentality back at this point and reverted to playing standard, its attacks  also started to go through the middle. We had forgotten to look at its buildup. By staying on attacking flexible, we weren't narrow enough to contain their threat. They tore through us in the middle and scored, and then promptly went back to defensive. With 15 minutes left on the clock we switched back to  our earlier strategy that helped us score our equaliser and scored again.  My biggest challenge thus far has been playing against the 41311, it has the potential of causing a lot of grief to a 442. If this system had one locked down flank and could still play through the middle, I daresay we would have lost convincingly.

The 442 has been interesting, the challenges playing it are considerable, and this has been one of those times when playing an IWB would have had disastrous consequences.

 

 

 

[wereldbol]

yes the 442 is incredibly fun to toy around during games and trying to figure out how to morph it into something capable of winning the game. last night i created a brazilian box midfield with a flat back four formation. that's with a simple left winger and a simple right full back providing the width.

that, for me, is the real fun in a 442. 

[MBarbaric]

4 hours ago, wereldbol said:

yes the 442 is incredibly fun to toy around during games and trying to figure out how to morph it into something capable of winning the game. last night i created a brazilian box midfield with a flat back four formation. that's with a simple left winger and a simple right full back providing the width.

that, for me, is the real fun in a 442. 

an interesting offensive transition you got there, but how do you get a right winger in a box 4-4-2?

[Rashidi]

4 hours ago, wereldbol said:

that, for me, is the real fun in a 442.

Exactly. 

[Jedi5diah]

as much as i love to play 442, its never consistent as the match engine is extremely bias against it

[Rashidi]

3 hours ago, Jedi5diah said:

as much as i love to play 442, its never consistent as the match engine is extremely bias against it

I have found it to be a consistent performer. There are challenges playing against certain formations, but therein lies in the beauty of the challenge. And I will not be drawn into a debate that the match engine is biased towards it.

[Jedi5diah]

19 minutes ago, Rashidi said:

I have found it to be a consistent performer. There are challenges playing against certain formations, but therein lies in the beauty of the challenge. And I will not be drawn into a debate that the match engine is biased towards it.

i have yet to have enough games to fine tune mine, but for a start itz kind of extreme cases for me to analysis what really went wrong.

[Rashidi]

9 hours ago, Jedi5diah said:

i have yet to have enough games to fine tune mine, but for a start itz kind of extreme cases for me to analysis what really went wrong.

The challenge with the 442 is actually the match preparation, and using the Statzone completely to your advantage. Its something I feel I need to do a lot of compared to how I normally play games with my 4312.

[Jedi5diah]

i conceded 2 counter atk goals, same crossing and header goal. what exactly is the "crossing bug" that i' have been floating around.

[wereldbol]

@Rashidi, is there anywhere else where you explain how to use shape in different situations? i'm fairly comfortable playing my different iterations of a 442 but would like to learn more about when to play attacking-highly structured or -structured instead of attacking-flexible, for instance. i've found your shape-2 video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L53HSIoi0g0) but was wondering if there's somewhere to watch or read up a bit more even. 

or anyone else really, doesn't have to be rashidi ofcourse.

cheers!

 

[Draktor]

@Rashidi really nice thread and I obviously have loved your Gloucester journey with the 442. Looking to see more.