helius' Zona Mista

[heliu5]

As some of you know, Zona Mista is a version of a Catenaccio. Below you can see the basic formation:

Key points:

- Sweeper.

- A right CB which is holding the right defensive flank.

- Left wing-back which with attacking mentality acting as both a winger and a full-back.

- Middle triangle of a classic DM, classic CM and a Playmaker.

- Right Winger.

- Two forwards, right one is the central one and the left one goes wide but also covers the playmaker when he drops back.

For more on the original Zona Mista, here.

My formation looks like this:

Unlike the original Zona Mista, in mine I don't have 3 CB but one RWB and two CBs which are normal defenders (no sweeper). My right winger is actually an Inside Forward, cutting inside and very attacking minded. Instead of the Central Striker to be on the right side I switched through my experimenting to the left side which brought me better results.

If you try this tactic you will notice as time passes on your squad gels well together, you will have incredible individual and team-play and both scoring goals and conceding less.

I tested the tactic successfully with Burnley and Partizan and can work for all teams if you read what do the players require and if you add a bit of determination, teamwork for all players and have a good captain. (age, influence, determination and more years in the club if possible?; I recently bought Lorik Cana for Burnley, incredible captain). Test the tactic for a year, blend the players it will work miracles. Plus is a kind of a tactic I want a short passing teamplay with the better amount of possession, good passing completion rate, decent amount of clear cut chances and conceding less goals.

Important points in my tactic:

Team wise:

- Balanced mentality and standard strategy. I plan to use the tactic both on home and away matches so I need a balanced tactic.

- Short passing because I want a steady build-up, combined with slow tempo.

- Closing down is normal but generally I think is more like Stand-off More.

- Zonal Marking without Tight Marking except left and right wingbacks.

- Float crosses.

- More Roaming just because I love roaming.

Player wise:

- The GK distributes to the defenders.

Required Skills: highlighted ones.

- Left wingback is very attacking minded, has the required Creative Freedom and roams from position. He needs to be extremely good stats-wise and during a season you will get a lot of assists, successful tackles and dribbles.

Required Skills: crossing, dribbling, marking, tackling, anticipation, concentration, decisions, positioning, teamwork, work rate, acceleration, agility, balance, natural fitness, pace and stamina.

- CBs are standard defenders I just changed the Tight Marking to No.

Required Skills: highlighted ones.

- Right wing-back is more defensive than the left one.

Required Skills: highlighted ones, a plus is if he is better defensively (tackling, marking, concentration, decisions)

- The DM is also a normal one with just No Tight Marking.

Required Skills: highlighted ones.

- Left MC is central midfielder with a support role he needs to pass good but simple, good tackling/decision is also required so he can win some balls on the middle.

Required Skills: highlighted ones.

- The right MC is the main and only playmaker. Nothing unusual about him, normal playmaker. It's good to have a bit knowledge of long shots cause he tends sometimes to do them plus he lurks outside area on corners.

Required Skills: highlighted ones.

- AMR is the Inside Forward and a good source of both goals and assists, he needs to be a classic inside forward with a bit more finishing and it's good to have Places Shots in Preferred Moves.

Required Skills: highlighted ones.

- STr is a Deep Lying Forward. I found it quite good if he has a decent knowledge on crossing and if he is good with the head (heading, jumping, +185cm). He roams from position, he will bag you a decent amount of goals and he is the main source of assists.

Required Skills: highlighted ones plus crossing, heading, jumping and to be +185cm.

- STl is an Advanced Forward. For this guy as well is good to have crossing and to be good with the head. He is the main source of goals and sometimes delivers good crosses for his partner or for the Inside Forward.

Required Skills: highlighted ones plus jumping and to be +185cm.

You can download the tactic here:

- Download helius' Zona Mista from 2shared.com

- Download helius' Zona Mista from Mediafire

[cragswfc]

a very good post. its in a way what Brazil play inaway are some team's im champ league. have you had success with it and did you use any shouts, oi's?

[heliu5]

a very good post. its in a way what Brazil play inaway are some team's im champ league. have you had success with it and did you use any shouts, oi's?

Sometimes OI on opponents' wingers but generally no, no shouts as well. I like to keep the same tactic/everything.

With Burnley I played it 3 seasons, first season 10-th place, second season 9-th place and third season I won the Premier League. In second season we were also FA Cup runners-up, all this with the same tactic all the time. The first two seasons were a hell for our away games but when I finished making my team in second season, they gelled really good and in the third season we had great away record (14-3-2).

With FC Partizan I also played it 3 seasons and all three seasons; first season double, second season runners-up in both league and cup and third season double. In the first season in Champions League we topped the group with Juventus, Arsenal and Dinamo Kiev but lost against Chelsea in 1-st knockout round.

It is also good to mention that I don't use holiday mode and that motivation talks are a MUST for you to be successful.

Feel free to combine it with shouts or with a defensive or attacking version of the tactic so you can be even better.

I put the tactic so we can discuss the Zona Mista and analyse it, it would be great if someone tries it with his new team or even with an already gelled squad and we can talk about flaws or good stuff.

[cragswfc]

well i played 1 game i had 54% to there 46% possession but what i found and i know it only 1 game but the ccc i had to there's. in the game as-well the left wing back saw loads of the ball who plays a lot of through balls but on the negative side of it the holding midfielder dint cover him so well maybe my player not good, but that's what i found on 1 game will do further testing

[dankrzyz]

Tell us why you chose to play with a DC/DC/DR instead of a DC/DC/DC back line? What did you see in the three DC model that you didn't like? I might have done the same as you, but curious why you chose to do what you did. I'd like to try this setup - either format - with my current club, since I have some good wingbacks & I still prefer to play with two forwards.

[heliu5]

Tell us why you chose to play with a DC/DC/DR instead of a DC/DC/DC back line? What did you see in the three DC model that you didn't like? I might have done the same as you, but curious why you chose to do what you did. I'd like to try this setup - either format - with my current club, since I have some good wingbacks & I still prefer to play with two forwards.

I never played without the usual for me back four, maybe that's the biggest reason why I chose to play with DR. I feel unsafe playing without one defender on the side.

[SFraser]

Nice post.

This is something I have been using for the past few seasons in my own save. The great thing about this formation is how quickly it can become other formations through simple tweaks to instructions. Pull the LCM out a bit and it's 4-4-2. Tweak the LFC and you have a 4-1-2-3.

I don't think that the ME produces an "accurate" Zona Mista from this shape in terms of how Zona Mista was actually supposed to be played, but I do think we are seeing more and more "Zona Mista - like" formations around today based on flexibility and strength through variety and options, which is something this shape gives plenty of.

As an aside, Anderson from Manchester United absolutely tears up that LCM Role, it is completely perfect for a player like him. Anyone playing this Zona Mista should make sure they pay attention to the fact that the LCM requires the ability to dominate his small area of the pitch with power and physicality, while the RCM really needs brains and intelligence.

[heliu5]

Thanks for the reply SFraser. Good to know that Anderson rules the LCM I will try to take him in my Burnley squad see how he fits in. I also found out that Gabriel Silva is extremely good with the settings I gave him with the both teams tested.

And that's really true, this side is very tweak-able, especially if you are one man down (my case) or if you are the kind of a manager that wants pin-point perfect matches and makes changes/modifications during matches.

[ubos]

Pretty curious about this tactic, mind uploading it to filefront or mediafire instead? 2shared doesn't work properly for me.

[heliu5]

Pretty curious about this tactic, mind uploading it to filefront or mediafire instead? 2shared doesn't work properly for me.

Here you are:

http://www.mediafire.com/?mmydjn2nz1hdxai