Tactical Experiment

[thezogsageordie]

I was just playing my Stranraer career save. I'm at the start of the 2019/20 season. I've finally got Stranraer into the promised land of the SPL and have a fairly good team (having said that I'd still be delighted to stay up this year).

Any road, I started off using 4231 in the first few seasons, then I changed to 4222 (442 with advanced wingers) because my best 4 players were AML, AMR, ST, ST so obviously wanted to accommodate all 4. It kinda worked but didn't really work as well as the 4231. I've carried on with the 4231 ever since but I find that it's good if you have good consistent players but it relied heavily on the AMC/ST (don't know if it's just me that thinks that these two pretty much decide the game for you, too).

So after 8 games my record was 2-1-5, 7 points from 8 games, luckily Dundee Utd are in crisis and have a squad of about 14 players. Since changing to a flat 442 I've won 3 league games and drawn 1.

My 4231 was setup like this:

Fluid

Standard

Shorter/Default passing

Default CF

Press More

More Aggressive

Zonal Marking

Float Crosses

Default Roaming

Gk normal def

FBs support

CBl limited stopper

CBr limited cover

CMl BWM def

CMr adv pm support

AMR IF/Winger attack (depending on who played) mainly winger though hugging touchline

AML IF/Winger attack (depending on who played) mainly winger though cutting inside

AMC Adv Mid Attack

ST Poacher (used to use DLF but have a really good poacher - got 24 in 31 league games last season)

I did changed width to 1 notch below wide, 1 notch above slow and time wasting to 1 notch below often. Again that was just for about 1/2 seasons, before it was just standard.

Don't use PMs or TM.

My 442 is setup like this:

Rigid

Standard

Default passing

Default CF

Press More

More Aggressive

Zonal Marking

Float Crosses

Default Roaming

Gk normal def

FBs support

CBl normal stopper

CBr normal cover

MR winger attack

ML winger attack

MCl CM defend

MCr CM support

STl TM support

STr Poacher

I'm having a lot more success with this standard 442. I've heard a million times to keep it simple (KISS, I know, I know) but before keeping it simple never seemed to work...Now it does.

I was wondering whether anybody was curious in watching my previous game against Aberdeen, who we were level on points before the game. Reasons are:

1) How come I'm getting a better share of possession even though I've got 4 in midfield instead of 5.

2) Why we only had 1 long shot, usually my team take a lot of long shots - it's so annoying!

3) Why we created 7 clear cut chances.

4) Why we had 8/13 shots on target (very good in my experience).

I'm just looking for a few answers, I can see my team are playing well I've and I'm glad I'm just curious as to why and wanted to use this as an experiment if that makes sense?

Also, how do you play v a 442 diamond? Considering I'm using a flat 442. I just played narrower, cleared ball to flanks and rode my luck drew 0-0 with Partick who are 4th, yet with 4231 I lost 0-3 to St Mirren who are 11th (both away from home!)

[lucatonix]

Well a 4-4-2 is probably working better because since your wingers are slightly less advanced they get behind the ball more easily meaning you protect your full backs and can win the ball back more easily. Also your Tm support is likely to drop deep when you don't have the ball which can help with possession.

[thezogsageordie]

Never really thought of it like that, cheers mate makes sense! It's going well this basic 442!

[Frank327]

I think what's more important is your CB's and your CM's. In the 4-2-3-1 you had two limited CB's, a ball winning CM and an advanced playmaker support. That's not a great setup to build attacks from defense. The advanced playmaker will often be too far ahead, so he's marked by opposition CM's. What you're left with is two limited defenders and a ball winning CM in the middle with the fullbacks the only outlets. What you can try is play your CB's as normal defenders instead of limited defenders, and play a deep lying playmaker alongside a CM - defend. That way it's easier to retain possession in the middle, and it gives those players time to pick a pass.

Also, having one of the front four with a support duty is great for linkup play. Id doesn't necessarily have to be the AMC, although that would work quite well. By giving a winger or inside forward a support duty he will move between the lines more and will be more available for passes. The best option might be to have either your striker or AMC with support duty though. Just think of them as a standard striker duo, but with one of them withdrawn into midfield.