Manchester United 1994 tactics

[silv3rf0xx]

ok so i have often wanted to try and replicate fergies achievments but the one tactic no body seems to write about how to build it is the 1994 double team my first thoughts are united used wing play as a template ill start here player roles are an issue tho.

 

gk i see schmeichel as a standard gk with distribute quick to the flanks and throw long.

rb and la i see standard fb support 

cb here im not sure i believe it was a cover stopper set up but was they both standard cb or was it nononsense cbs or a combination  im stuck here?

cm im thinking two bwm one def inces role and one support keanes role alot of people say box to box but i see his play style as bwm but he did get further forward then ince in general.

wings here im not sure was they am strata or mid strata both was winger attack

strikers well hughes was not a taqrget man or advanced forward he was a bit of both i see pressing forward support as the perfect role it acts like a target man but is more mobile i.e hughes

cantona i think is probably a treq but not an overly quick one decent in the air and the hub of the team now is he in the striker pos or am pos i see the number 10 role as being am in real life a lack of understanding meant he was shown in the st strata.

this lack of understanding in taqctics meant this was viewed as 4-4-2 but was it really im thinking  a cross between 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 like this 

gkd

                                      fbs                                                                cbd                                                                                                                    cbd                                                  fbs

 

                                                                                                          bwms                                                                                                                bwmd

                              wa                                                                        trq                                                                                                                                                                                           wa

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  pfs

 

ideas welcome help def needed

[blehq12]

This one of Fergie's first great sides, also known as the OG "Fergie's Fledglings". They were the double winners of the league and FA Cup in 1994, indicating Fergie's first peak at Man Utd. He's had success domestically and in Europe before 1994, but this side was to go down in history as the first of his successful sides. This was also a time he phased some of the youngsters in the team like Ryan Giggs and Roy Keane

The team in a 4-2-3-1:

GK (Schmeichel): Goalkeeper (Defend)

RB (Parker): Full-Back (Support)

CD (Bruce): Central Defender (Stopper)

CD (Pallister): Central Defender (Cover)

LB (Irwin): Full-Back (Support)

CM (Keane): Box-to-Box Midfielder (Support)

CM (Ince): Central Midfielder (Defend)

LW (Giggs): Winger (Attack)

AM (McClair): Attacking Midfielder (Support)

RW (Kanchelskis): Winger (Attack)

ST (Cantona): Complete Forward (Attack)

 

On paper it's a 4-4-2, but with Cantona's tendency to drop deep and the wingers advancing forward, it typically played out as more of a modern 4-2-3-1. Like all Ferguson sides, wingers were prominent and the strategy was to attack.

Edited November 14, 2018 by blehq12

[Atarin]

I can't see Cantona as a CF(a) at all. Complete Forwards on attack are pretty mobile and Cantona certainly wasn't that. Was he not just an audaciously talented DLF(s), CF(s) or maybe even a Treq. McClair was more of an SS before becoming more of an AM(s) in his later days as his legs went. 

[silv3rf0xx]

agreed if the shape is 4-2-3-1 then cantona would be treq in am position and hughes was his strike partner im thinking of toying with pressing forward

[felley]

Ok, so first of all there's no point trying to force a modern looking 4-2-3-1 into this discussion. United defended in a 4-4-2, no question about that (as SAF himself would put it!).

In essence the tactic was extremely simple:

• 4 defenders at the back with the full backs able to support when neccessary.
• 2 central midfielders who used physicality to impose themselves and feed the ball to the wingers/Cantona.
• 2 wingers widening the field of play and committing defenders.
• 1 forward staying high and testing the back line.
• ...and an Eric Cantona.

So for me it's simple 4-4-2 all the way with various situational/personnel tweaks. I'd go with:

                GK(D)

FB(S)   CB(D)   CB(D)   FB(S)

W(S)  CM(S)  BWM(D)  W(A)

         P(A)   T(A)/DLF(S)

When your 'Cantona' plays (assuming you have this style of player because it's integral IMO), then a Trequartista is the closest role to the freedom he had. Otherwise DLF(S) should work.

Another thing to consider is playing a Poacher with good aerial ability in order to mimic Hughes, but this is more about mirroring player types than tactics.

[goqs06]

A summary on an article from The Guardian by Rob Smyth (2008):

• It is harder to distinguish between his three genuinely great sides (1994, 1999 and 2008), but the differences are fascinating to observe. They each have wonderfully distinctive identities: the uber-masculine pack of 1994, who kicked seven bells out of opponents and then nailed seven pints in blockbusting post-match sessions; the intrepid voyagers of 1999, ingenuously exploring uncharted territory; and now 2008's loose-limbed, cosmopolitan collective.
• In 1994 they had Le Dieu (Cantona?), in 2008 the Holy Trinity (Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo). But in the 1999 they had perhaps the highest power of them all: Roy Keane (yes, we know he was part of the side in 1994, but in those days he was a different player entirely). All three scored 80 goals in their title-winning campaigns (1994 was from 42 games). Yet in 1994 they conceded 38 goals; in 1999 they conceded 37, this year it was only 22.
• The relationship between attack and defence has certainly changed. Domestically at least, the 1994 side was very hard to break down, whereas the 1999 side emphatically prided themselves on scoring one more than the opposition. They scored as many goals in the Champions League group stages (20) as the 2008 team did all season. But they conceded more in the group stages (11) than this side did in the whole campaign (six). The class of 2008 got to the final on the back of five straight clean sheets, a reflection of the modern ethos.
• Ferguson's great sides reflect the evolution of English football; it is a mark of his genius that he has been able to mix the austerity that is woven into the game's fabric with the enlightenment that came with the gentrification of the game in the 1990s. That development left most of Ferguson's managerial peers - George Graham, Graham Taylor and Kenny Dalglish among others - as dinosaurs.
• Such change, and the consequent challenge, sharpened Ferguson's taste for the tactical battle. If his first two great sides were, for the most part, sent out in a straightforward 4-4-2 (or, if you prefer, 4-4-1-1) formation, this team (2008) has no real shape, and in many ways the formation is a 4-6-0. Similarly, just as you could pretty much pick Ferguson's best sides in 94 and 99 - nobody has a clue now. The side that started the Champions League final had never played together before,
• It didn't help that United missed their main man, Eric Cantona, for much of the 1994-95 campaign (the 93-94 European season was over in the blink of an eye, making it hard to draw conclusions). A talismanic figure, without whom life was unthinkable, has been the essence of each side. Cantona's swagger, class and work ethic not only catalysed the 1994 side but pointed the way for the younger members of 1999 side; when he was banned for five games in the 1993-94 run-in, United's season nearly fell apart. Keane was the endless well of mental strength into which the 1999 side could dip in times of trouble. And now there's the remarkable Cristiano Ronaldo, with his 42 goals, of which an amazing 18 have been the opening, tone-setting goal of the game.
• For Ferguson, each will have provided a different pleasure. In 1994 there was the thrill of the breakthrough; in 1999 there was a fatherly pride, yet this probably gives him the greatest satisfaction, because he has shown he can achieve things the European way. And, more importantly, because it's the most recent.

Le Dieu or the Holy Trinity? Which is Ferguson's vintage team?

[silv3rf0xx]

On 15/11/2018 at 07:21, felley said:

Ok, so first of all there's no point trying to force a modern looking 4-2-3-1 into this discussion. United defended in a 4-4-2, no question about that (as SAF himself would put it!).

In essence the tactic was extremely simple:

• 4 defenders at the back with the full backs able to support when neccessary.
• 2 central midfielders who used physicality to impose themselves and feed the ball to the wingers/Cantona.
• 2 wingers widening the field of play and committing defenders.
• 1 forward staying high and testing the back line.
• ...and an Eric Cantona.

So for me it's simple 4-4-2 all the way with various situational/personnel tweaks. I'd go with:

                GK(D)

FB(S)   CB(D)   CB(D)   FB(S)

W(S)  CM(S)  BWM(D)  W(A)

         P(A)   T(A)/DLF(S)

When your 'Cantona' plays (assuming you have this style of player because it's integral IMO), then a Trequartista is the closest role to the freedom he had. Otherwise DLF(S) should work.

Another thing to consider is playing a Poacher with good aerial ability in order to mimic Hughes, but this is more about mirroring player types than tactics.

agreed so wing play on tactical style on fm 20 as a starting point?

[Guerin]

Going against the grain here, but for me Giggs was never an out and out winger. In fact, I think he was a bit of a trailblazer in the way he played on that left flank which became instrumental in the modern wide-player. He was very much a template for the inside forward/ inverted winger of later years. Basically, he cut inside. A lot. In FM20, I think Pepe is pretty similar to giggs.

I'd see giggs as a left sided Winger/ Inverted winger but with the traits run with ball down left and cuts inside from the flanks. Looking at some of his highlights from 93/94 he often seems to be on the right hand side (auxillery striker maybe?) when scoring his goals.

As an Arsenal fan I'll always remember him for this:

It's 1999, But look how central he gets from that left wing.

 

[silv3rf0xx]

On 13/03/2020 at 02:35, Guerin said:

Going against the grain here, but for me Giggs was never an out and out winger. In fact, I think he was a bit of a trailblazer in the way he played on that left flank which became instrumental in the modern wide-player. He was very much a template for the inside forward/ inverted winger of later years. Basically, he cut inside. A lot. In FM20, I think Pepe is pretty similar to giggs.

I'd see giggs as a left sided Winger/ Inverted winger but with the traits run with ball down left and cuts inside from the flanks. Looking at some of his highlights from 93/94 he often seems to be on the right hand side (auxillery striker maybe?) when scoring his goals.

As an Arsenal fan I'll always remember him for this:

It's 1999, But look how central he gets from that left wing.

 

That is a good point i have watched lots of vids and seen that movement was going to set him as roam from position as wing attack but maybe it would work better with a left footer inverted winger