Pairs & Combinations Part 4: The Wide Men

[llama3]

This is the final part, of the 4-part guide into the pairings and combinations that make up your team and tactics. These guides will cover the following:

• Central Midfielders
  
• Central Defence
  
• Wide Men
  
• Strike Partnerships

So, onto the Wide Men guide...

Introduction

Your wide men consist of Full Backs/Wing Backs & Wide Midfielders/Wingers. Most teams will have 2 sets of wide players, some will contain only 1 set of wide players. Your wide players have a very varied set of roles & encompassing all types of duties. There is a lot of potential for variation in your team in this area of the pitch. The formation you use will significantly impact on the choice of roles & duties in the wide areas. A solitary wide player has more responsibilities and has to be able to contribute to all areas of play, whereas a pair of wide players can share the specialisation for a more balanced set up. Sacrificing wide players is a way of having more midfielders to win the possession battle, however wide men used well can contribute to a possession game, a creative game, or be used for their goalscoring exploits, or even their work rate and defensive abilities - this applies to all positions down the flank. A full back who gets into superb advanced positions is a great asset to have, as is a winger who tracks back and makes tackles too.

Lone Wide Men

A formation consisting of lone wide players automatically begins to restrict your roles and duties significantly. A defend duty significantly reduces the contribution a wide man can make in a system where he is expected to get all the way down the flanks, as well as defend. Wide men in systems with only 1 player on the flanks typically come from the more defensive positions, to retain a good defensive shape, but then offer an outlet as the team moves into transition/attack phases. A wide man in the AM strata is highly unsuitable for this job as he exposes his team with too much space behind himself, and provides less tracking back or help in the midfield battle. So typically the wide men will make several forward runs, but will also tend to be in a deep enough position to offer the defensive cover. The further forward you place your lone wide man (i.e. wide midfielder instead of full back), the lower your duty should generally be (support instead of attack) to ensure that the wide man can cover and link play with your defence as well as midfield and attack. Crucially the wide man here must do everything, so he cannot sit and defend only, or look constantly to get into the final third and shirk his defensive work.

Some of the appropriate roles and duties for this type of role are:

• Full Back (Attack)
  
• Wing Back (Support/Attack)
  
• Complete Wing Back (Attack)*be cautious of if he offers enough defensive cover
  
• Wide Midfielder (Support/Attack)*be cautious if he offers enough defensive cover on an attack duty
  
• Defensive Winger (Support/Attack)

Dual Wide Men

With a team of 2 wide players, it offers more room for specialism, with players able to be selected on being individually good defensively, or offensively, without having the be particularly proficient in the other. Playing with 2 wide players you can approach your allocation of roles and duties in 1 of 2 ways; the more traditional pairing of 2 natural wide players, with a more attacking and a more conservative player, or, having the wide midfielder come inside as a goalscorer/creator/passer, leaving the full back/wing back to provide the main attacking outlet, whilst the wide midfielder can still offer defensive cover on the flank too. If you play dual wide men, you should almost certainly select 1 in the full back positions, as otherwise a wing back can leave space behind trying to sit further forward than he needs due to the existing defensive cover provided by a man playing in front of him. Caution should also be taken with playing wing backs with a traditional winger, as this rarely causes the desired overloads, and more often simply leaves 2 players upfield, exposing your team to the counter-attack. The wing back tends to suit having space to attack, whereas if you play a traditional winger a more traditional full back will provide a better outball and cover.

If you wish to play with wide men that stay wide then the following combinations will be useful:

• Full Back (Support) & Wide Midfielder/Defensive Winger/Winger (Attack)
  
• Full Back (Attack)/Wing Back/Complete Wing Back (Attack) & Wide Midfielder (Defend/Support)/Defensive Winger (Support)/Wide Target Man (Support)
  
• Full Back (Attack) & Winger (Support)

The first combination is a traditional option of more defensive player behind more offensive player, and is a very stable option. The second combination will have a player staying wide, but holding his position/the ball far more, and can be asked to sit narrower, to provide more space for the advancing full/wing back to move into and overlap. The third combination is a variant on the traditional option, with the full back pushing on to form overloads with the winger, but with 1 player sitting deeper/narrower than the other during these moves to encourage good link play and overlaps.

If you wish to play with the advanced wide-man coming infield, then the following combinations will be useful:

• Full Back (Attack)/Wing Back (Support/Attack) & Inside Forward/Advanced Playmaker (Support/Attack)
  
• Complete Wing Back (Attack) & Inside Forward/Advanced Playmaker (Support)

The first combination will be for the full back to advance from deep into space vacated by the IF/AP. If you are playing a wing back, you may have much better movement and defensive cover by ensuring the WB & IF/AP have opposite duties (Support-Attack or Attack-Support). If the IF or AP has a support duty, they will tend to tuck inside earlier on, in a deeper position, so it is important the FB/WB offers an outlet earlier on in the move. The second combination enhances the importance of this, as the CWB will need cover from midfield & the man in front to provide tracking back, should he be caught out of position. The CWB will tend to get into the final third early, and an angled reverse ball into the path of an IF/AP(S) can allow him the space to make more penetrating runs. If your IF is on an Attack duty he will tend to be playing more as a goalscorer, so wide support is generally required from the full back, although this burden can be eased by a centre-forward or playmaker drifting wide to offer an outlet.

Conclusion

Plan first how many wide players you are using before you decide on their roles. If you are playing a lone wide man you cannot afford to have them doing a defence-only job, they must offer an outlet. Consider that they must also have a good defensive position to begin with, or be able to track back and defend instead. Dual wide men must work in combination, ensure they do not get in each other's way, yet are still capable of providing overlaps and overloads.

That is the final part of the guide; hope you enjoyed them!

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/362894-Pairs-amp-Combinations-Part-1-Central-Midfielders

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/363078-Pairs-amp-Combinations-Part-2-Central-Defenders

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/366560-Pairs-amp-Combinations-Part-3-Strike-Partnerships

[kazm]

Nice. I tried making a 460 tactic with Celtic using Samaras and Balde as AML/AMR Wide TM's , having a hard time scoring though.

[llama3]

Is there a Shadow Striker in that team? If not its rather obvious your problem - lack of players attacking the box. Its a 4-6-0 - its essential to have runners from deep.

[Cleon]

Nice. I tried making a 460 tactic with Celtic using Samaras and Balde as AML/AMR Wide TM's , having a hard time scoring though.

I use this shape;

Another cracking thread here Llama3

[llama3]

Cleon that looks like you have 1 main goalscoring threat. At least you have a few methods of supply though.

[thegr8anand]

Do your AMR/AML defend at all? Mine do nothing even when the oppositions fullback is right in font of him and moving to attack.

[Cleon]

Cleon that looks like you have 1 main goalscoring threat. At least you have a few methods of supply though.

It's actually very attacking due to how the WTM plays. He tends to always be in space and when he recieves the ball he can normally beat his fullback because they are normally quite poor at defensive duties. He will then drive forward or across goal and play a ball to the back post for the SS to tap home. This happens quite a lot. Or he cuts it back to the edge of the area for the enganche to fire it home.

[llama3]

i assume the WTM is rather direct type of player?

[kazm]

Is there a Shadow Striker in that team? If not its rather obvious your problem - lack of players attacking the box. Its a 4-6-0 - its essential to have runners from deep.

Well I started with a 4-1-2-3-0 with a DLP-d, 2 BBMs 2 WTMs and the Amc in the centre who ended as a SS iirc, gonna try and start again to make it a flat 4-2-4-0 with a SS and some other kind of AMC. I want to create a 'hoof it to the big striker and then run towards him' tactic but with the TM's on the side without using a real striker. Using a tq might not fight in the fast, direct, physical approach. Oh well so far this is all theory.

edit: hm, looking at Cleons picture I might just start Samaras and Balde as WTM's in the left/right forward spots. This is gonna be interesting ^^.

[llama3]

You could always have a F9 to come deep for that 4-6-0 feeling?

[Orri]

Very interesting formation Cleon. Will you elaborate on your instructions? Perhaps that´s a different thread altogether....

[Throughball]

Thank you so much for this series of posts, have definitely helped me out heaps. Kudos!

[llama3]

No worries mate.

[jujigatame]

Good guide. I played with Juve in FM13 and when I switched from wide 4-1-2-2-1 to a narrow 4-1-2-1-2 (due to a lack of quality AML/Rs) I started bleeding points, mostly in low-scoring draws and the occasional 1-0 loss. Setting my fullbacks to attack helped a lot.

[sweep17]

I love these types of threads that really give you something to think about whilst playing the game. Thanks for the time and effort you put into this llama3.

[audere est facere]

Interesting read.

Currently I set up as follows

Left side: DL = WB.A + Stay Wider, Run Wide with Ball. AML = AP. S + Sit Narrower

Right side: DL = WB.A + Stay Wider, Run Wide with Ball, AMR = IF A + Sit Narrower

Do you think this is too attacking. I play a patient possesion game, akin to WWFAN interpretation of Barca,

I suffer with two problems

1. Wingbacks can get forward too early meaning they are no longer an outlet if teams press high up against me. Other times they can be really deadly and cause lots of problems. Seems very inconsistent. Would one answer to put them on a Hold Position or back to support, if teams are pressing higher up to get the initial out ball.

2 Defensively my WB gets beat one on one by average wingers a lot of the time. I don't know if this is the beta or whether its my tactical set up. I don't feel like they are being outmanouvered by the opposition, they just run with the ball down the line and seem to get their cross in. Surely its irrelevent whether my player has an attacking or support mentality when it comes to the ability to stop a cross and track the runner properly? It's not like they are getting caught out upfield.

[audere est facere]

Interesting thread

I play with the following set up

LB = WBA - Run Wide with Ball, Stay Wider and AML - Advanced Playmaker A - Sit Narrower

RB = WBA - Run Wide with Ball, Stay Wider and AMR - Iside Forward - A - Sit Narrower

Now I'm having two issues

I playe in a 433 or 4231 akin to wwfan's Barca set up, quite patient build up,

1. Wingbacks are sometimes going forward to quickly in the move meaning if a team presses against me, they are no longer an outlet. Sometimes they are a joy to watch a bit further on in the move, but just initially sometimes they go to forward for the move. If i move them to support I feel this will hinder them in the final third though. Is there a way for them to be more patient.

2. In defending the opppo winger often beats my wb's, to put in a simple cross. Now I don't think the wb is being beaten by the oppo engineering a way round him, it is more that there winger gets the ball and just runs straight past him, and my wb fails to block the cross. Not really sure how this can be fixed as I don't think having the wb on defence would make him any better at tracking or tackling. My wb is Kyle Walker so not the worst and very pacey. Don't feel he should be beaten that easily.