Direct fast attacking play - how to implement?

[vandamme22]

Hi

As it stands in the subject I want to create a direct, fast attacking game. I'm not a fan of ball possession football, so I'd like to score with few passes. You will find almost no topics or articles where you can create the direct and fast play with offensive mentality (attack / control). There are more counter-variants, stand very low and switch immediately at ball profit.

I tried this with Juventus in a tight formation (4-3-1-2) and was moderately successful. The game was too flanked. Maybe not the best formation to play this.

Team instructions: Only put offside traps and direct passing game.
Mentality and Strategy: Control and Flexible

SWK (defend)

TM (Support) Poacher (attack) 

APM (attack)

Carillero (Support) dlp (defend) mezalla (attack)

Wingback (attack) CD (defend) cd (defend) WB (Support)

So the question for you, which formation / roles/ duties and team instructions would you choose for such a game philosophy?

I think it will work with a deeper Formation like 4-2-3-1 dm wide to have space. This would my Basic set-up

TM (attack)

Raumdeuter (attack) AM (Support) Winger (Support)

DM (support) dlp (defend)

WB (support) cd (defend) cd (defend) WB (attack)

SK (defend)

What do you think of this set-up?

Thanks for your inputs.

[mourinho-herrera-defense]

 

in the first formation, those are one too many attack duties i'd think, normally you'd play with a higher tempo and you'd have less ball control, which means the opposition would have space to attack and be on the "front foot" so to speak, having too many attacking players would make it easier for the opposition to exploit in behind, when trying to play a high tempo game i'd prefer to sit deep instead of commit men higher up forward because i could lose the ball more readily.

would you like to play direct and solid like mourinhos chelsea?

[Experienced Defender]

43 minutes ago, vandamme22 said:

Hi

As it stands in the subject I want to create a direct, fast attacking game. I'm not a fan of ball possession football, so I'd like to score with few passes. You will find almost no topics or articles where you can create the direct and fast play with offensive mentality (attack / control). There are more counter-variants, stand very low and switch immediately at ball profit.

I tried this with Juventus in a tight formation (4-3-1-2) and was moderately successful. The game was too flanked. Maybe not the best formation to play this.

Team instructions: Only put offside traps and direct passing game.
Mentality and Strategy: Control and Flexible

SWK (defend)

TM (Support) Poacher (attack) 

APM (attack)

Carillero (Support) dlp (defend) mezalla (attack)

Wingback (attack) CD (defend) cd (defend) WB (Support)

So the question for you, which formation / roles/ duties and team instructions would you choose for such a game philosophy?

I think it will work with a deeper Formation like 4-2-3-1 dm wide to have space. This would my Basic set-up

TM (attack)

Raumdeuter (attack) AM (Support) Winger (Support)

DM (support) dlp (defend)

WB (support) cd (defend) cd (defend) WB (attack)

SK (defend)

What do you think of this set-up?

Thanks for your inputs.

If you wanna play such a style of football, you really need a good team both offensively and defensively. Your more offensive players would need good speed (acc, pac), off the ball, anticipation, first touch... More defensive players (not only defenders) will need good positioning, tackling, anticipation, acceleration, decisions, concentration, teamwork... Supportive midfielders also need tactical intelligence (positioning, decisions, off the ball, anticipation, teamwork, determination), good passing, vision, first touch... as well as work rate, stamina, decent acceleration. And @mourinho-herrera-defense is absolutely right saying "in the first formation, those are one too many attack duties i'd think, normally you'd play with a higher tempo and you'd have less ball control, which means the opposition would have space to attack and be on the "front foot" so to speak, having too many attacking players would make it easier for the opposition to exploit in behind, when trying to play a high tempo game i'd prefer to sit deep instead of commit men higher up forward because i could lose the ball more readily". 

Now, if you have a good enough team, this is just one example of how you could set the tactic up. Formation - 4123 Wide. Roles & duties:

DLFa

IFa                             Ws

BtBM     APMa

ACM

WBd    CDd    BPDc     IWBs

SWKs

Control / Structured

TIs - drop deeper, more direct passing, play narrower, pass into space, low crosses, roam from positions

BtBM - move into channels, get further forward (and if he has good tackling, strength, positioning and decisions, you may also tell him to tackle harder)

Ws - get further forward

You could even consider reducing Closing down slightly (one notch) for your 3 forward players in order to encourage the opposition to get more forward and thus leave more space behind for your players to exploit.

[Experienced Defender]

And yes, a deep 4231 can also do the job:

F9

APMs       AMa        RMD

 

SVs      HB

WBd   CDd    BPDc   WBs

SWKs

Control / Flexible

TIs - drop deeper, more direct pass, low crosses

WBd - sit narrower

[ianscousemac]

I have has some excellent results away from home with a 442 direct fast style.

Its using counter mentality and structured shape, TIs be more disciplined, defend much deeper and much higher tempo. 

PIs my defender's close down less, tackle harder, pass more direct,  midfield/ forwards close down more and tackle harder

 

                  Gk

FB(d) CB(d) CB(d) FB(d)

W(s)  BWM(d)  CM(s) W(s)

              AF(a)  TM(s)

[AFCBeer]

On 08/10/2018 at 18:08, Experienced Defender said:

And yes, a deep 4231 can also do the job:

F9

APMs       AMa        RMD

 

SVs      HB

WBd   CDd    BPDc   WBs

SWKs

Control / Flexible

TIs - drop deeper, more direct pass, low crosses

WBd - sit narrower

I’m not saying there is anything wrong with this formation overall, but if I wanted to trigger Match Engine auto counter attacks, I’d prefer the attacking midfield trio in the M strata. 

The best counters are when the AI leaves space behind and you break with runners from deep. I’d be concerned here that we might already have too many players high up the pitch. This gives them less space to run into, and might discourage the AI from over extending in their attacking phases. 

EDIT: oops wrong thread! Thought this was the counter attack thread. Disregard my post in terms of the original discussion. I’ll leave it live though as I think it still has some merit in terms of setting up a direct counter system