4-2-3-1 & tactics comments

[kinglestat]

I have been reading the forums for the past 4 days and I have noticed many postings about tactics and 4-2-3-1 in particular. Rather than post in all of them I opted to start a new thread. Since I happen to be a RL coach, though not practicing at the moment there are some things that don't make sense while others do. Let us start with the generic. In modern football the formation is typically how the team shapes up when ball is in the 1/st 3rd of the opposition team. Even this is not a fixed rule as some coaches .. for example Mourinho, takes liberties depending of opposing teams. Then again, the tactic is really the summation of the initial formation and the instructions given to the department and the individual players (which can be opposite each other). For example your defensive line is suppose to be high but you ask your fast defender to man mark a particular striker. In FM I have not been able to replicate this particular behavior consistently. What I want to conclude here is that there is no "fantastic" tactic; it is mainly what you want and ask the players to do which is important. The "Tactic" is how to shape the team to face your opponents. Which brings us to 4-2-3-1. I have noticed that many assume that this is a very offensive tactic; and they are wrong. 4-2-3-1 or 4-2-4 are counter strategies which eliminate the need of the midfield and they are very effective when either you are in adversaries half, or adversary is in your half. If your opponent has a structured midfield, than the midfield "battle" is lost. To counter this, teams playing with such strategies push their defenders right up to where the midfield is to create density. Why I am saying all this? I am trying to point out that certain strategies require certain rules:

eg 4-2-3-1 with low defensive line = does not make sense in real life as well as in FM.

In offense the difference between 4-2-4 and 4-2-3-1 is for a player who can keep the ball and distribute/shoot or get a foul.

Substitutions

It is impressive that FM replicates many real life scenarios when it comes to playing football. For example, if your team is hard pressed, and has good possession, you will noticed that your midfielders, especially if they have a high workrate, will tire more. This is true and also makes sense: imagine your midfielder has to run from your defense to opposing defense over and over. Whilst if you consistently manage to keep the ball in your opponents pitch it is your strikers who get tired. Many people criticize strikers because they seem ineffective at times, but strikers constantly do "off the ball" sprints to either provide space for other strikers, or make space for midfielders/wingers. This should explain why attacking coaches substitute strikers when it looks like it does not make sense. But even for your play, at times it pays you to substitute a midfielder who will help both your defense as well as your offense; or during gameplay change his role to more defensive

Of course this subject is never ending and fascinating, But a as conclusion.

Having 2-3 tactics for training makes a lot of sense. If you have a large squad it is necessary as certain players lend themselves more in certain roles. But more importantly it is the instructions you give them and if they obey them.

What the game lacks?

- Player expectations: expecially regarding discipline. Normally you should be allowed to tell players when you contract them what the penalties are for example being late for training, yellow card, red card.

- Substitutions if players disobey your instructions - so they "train" to obey your rules

- Players commenting on social media. Personal issues outside football.

- more flexible players when player has character...some players truly behave consistently throughout the pitch like Cavani, Modric, Ozil, Dani Alvez; they

play very intelligently and fill the gaps their teammates leave empty even if it is outside their pertinence zone

- morale benefits from teammates

[Puni]

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/348223-Setting-up-an-effective-4-2-3-1

You didn't have to go through all of them, this one has 274 comments and is the main one.

[Cleon]

Please use the thread linked above, no point having lots of topics on the same subject.