Borussia M'Gladbach Tactics

[AbdelBarrada]

After consecutive bad results with different formations I stick with 4-1-4-1 for Borussia.

I use very defensive formation because my players at RB/LB positioning is very low and CD's are very slow

LB/Remy Bensabaini:11 - RB/Stefan Lainer: 10

CD/Mattthias Ginter: Accelaration 10, Pace 12 - 

Mentality: Attacking 

• Because my formation is quite defensive
• I want my attacking threats Thuram and Plea stay advanced
• I want my counter attacks are fastest as possible

In trantisiton: Counter

• to encourage fast counter attacks
• i usually dont us when the ball has the lost but i could use regroup against bigger teams

Out of position: More Urgent and Get Stuck in

• for increase number of counter attacks and my players are good at tackling

No PI's.

Dou you think my approach is logical? Any comment and suggestion about tactic?

 

Some of my important players:

 

 

 

[Zemahh]

Generally speaking, you've got the right idea with using an aggressive mentality in a counter-attacking system. However, the problem I can see you having is that, while your players will look to get the ball forward quickly, you only have one striker and:

• He's on Attack duty, meaning he won't look to hold up balls or play others in too often
• The rest of the team is far away, meaning when he gets the ball from deep, he will be completely isolated

In a system like yours, I'd say a physically strong striker on Support duty is crucial. You need someone to hold up the play and allow others to join the attack.

I think there's two options:

• Change your striker to Support duty (PFs/DLFs/TMs) and play a more patient game (Standard/Positive mentality)

or

• Use a two-striker formation (e.g. 4-4-2/3-5-2) better suited to direct counter-attacking system (Positive/Attacking mentality)

Regardless of which one you choose, counter-attacks will still happen. They are triggered automatically once certain conditions are met, so you should look to set up your system for your normal build-up play. That's where constant hoofing to a lone striker with a Very Attacking individual mentality could be a problem.

The rest of your roles and duties look balanced. I would be vary about More Urgent closing down however, especially since Attacking mentality already comes with it increased. If your team isn't good enough to press effectively, or the opposition is good enough to beat the press, your players will be pulled out of positions all over the pitch.

[AbdelBarrada]

42 minutes ago, Zemahh said:

Generally speaking, you've got the right idea with using an aggressive mentality in a counter-attacking system. However, the problem I can see you having is that, while your players will look to get the ball forward quickly, you only have one striker and:

• He's on Attack duty, meaning he won't look to hold up balls or play others in too often
• The rest of the team is far away, meaning when he gets the ball from deep, he will be completely isolated

In a system like yours, I'd say a physically strong striker on Support duty is crucial. You need someone to hold up the play and allow others to join the attack.

I think there's two options:

• Change your striker to Support duty (PFs/DLFs/TMs) and play a more patient game (Standard/Positive mentality)

or

• Use a two-striker formation (e.g. 4-4-2/3-5-2) better suited to direct counter-attacking system (Positive/Attacking mentality)

Regardless of which one you choose, counter-attacks will still happen. They are triggered automatically once certain conditions are met, so you should look to set up your system for your normal build-up play. That's where constant hoofing to a lone striker with a Very Attacking individual mentality could be a problem.

The rest of your roles and duties look balanced. I would be vary about More Urgent closing down however, especially since Attacking mentality already comes with it increased. If your team isn't good enough to press effectively, or the opposition is good enough to beat the press, your players will be pulled out of positions all over the pitch.

@Zemahh Thank you for all your suggestions 

i try almost all of other formations but only 4-1-4-1 worked for me, but I will try to make my CF to DLP/S

My CF has suitable attiributes to holding up to ball

Strenght: 15, OTB: 16, Balance: 16 etc. and he has Play-One-Twos ppm may be it can work with attacking wingers if I use him as DLF/Support.

My only question mark is he is my main goal threat right now, and if I change him to support role, this can be broken

I tweaked my tactic a little bit, here is my current tactic:

I changed my rb FB/Attack to FB/Suport and changed Winger/Support to Winger/Attack. Because I think overlapping is more suitable for posession based system. 

And I changed my centre mid to Mezzala/Attack to AP/Support cause again i suppose Mezzala works best for possession based systems.

Do you think that this current tactic is too one-dimensional?

 

Btw, before 4-1-4-1 I played 17 Matches, 8 Losses, 4 draws and 5 wins

and I changed to current tactics, here are the results:

6 matches, 5 wins, 1 losses, (I lost to Bayern with 90th minutes goal).

 

 

Edited March 26, 2020 by AbdelBarrada
duplicate pic

[Zemahh]

9 hours ago, AbdelBarrada said:

My only question mark is he is my main goal threat right now, and if I change him to support role, this can be broken

I would give DLFa a try. He will still hold up the ball and look to play others in, while also being a threat himself. He definitely has the attributes for it.

Lone striker with no support nearby (empty AM stratum), solely focused on scoring goals, can always be risky. Your team could struggle to offer him support fast enough, especially on the Attacking mentality, which tends to have very fast transitions.

Personally, I would try something like this:

Mentality: Attacking

Team Instructions:

• Slightly Shorter Passing (reduce the amount of direct passes straight to your lone striker)
• Regroup, Slightly Less Urgent Closing Down (reduce the aggressiveness that comes with high mentality)
• Play Out Of Defence (don't clear the ball long to the lone striker, instead make use of all the bodies in your half)*

*If your defence is especially bad at ball control (First Touch, Passing, Composure, Decisions) or you notice the opposition pressing you high up the pitch, remove the instruction

Potential Changes:

• Add Counter if the opposition is leaving space behind regularly or you're desperately chasing a goal
• Add Slightly Lower Tempo if transitions are too fast and your striker is struggling to find support

Role Changes:

• SKs -> SKd: SKs looks for risky passes from deep, which your lone striker could struggle to make use of regularly on his own
• Left FBs -> WBs: With the IWa in front of him cutting inside, WBs offers a natural overlap and width
• Right Wa -> Ws: Attacking mentality already makes your players fairly offensive on its own; having both wide players on Very Attacking individual mentality could be risky (e.g. long shots, wasteful passes, slacking defensively)
• BBMs -> MEZs: With the DMd behind them, you can afford a slightly more adventurous central midfield; with staying wide, MEZ offers good support to the right winger
• PFa -> DLFa: Striker holding up balls and looking to play others in before making a run into the box himself, to prevent him getting too isolated due to the deep nature of 4-1-4-1

Just my two cents. If your current tactic is performing well, by all means ignore my suggestions and keep using it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. 

That said, it's worth keeping in mind that sometimes, while you're an underdog, tactical issues can be masked by the sheer amount of space the opposition is leaving you to attack, while it's throwing the kitchen sink at you. Once your form and reputation start improving, their approach also becomes more conservative and very attacking tactics suddenly start struggling to find space.

Edited March 26, 2020 by Zemahh