[FM14] 4-4-2 Diamond

[CurnRaisin]

Posting this to get some discussion on the Diamond(one using MR/L not CM). A old favorite and one I always found that, if you had the players, to be a solid easy to work formation in previous FM games. With today's game both IRL and FM the status quo seems to be the lone SC with AMR/L off him, then different variations of the 3 in the middle and a flat back 4. In fact being a regular FM player I have seen over the last few games not only a notable decline in the natural MR/L position with more often or not players having their natural position as the higher up AMR/L but also even a lot less plays even being accomplished in these positions. Fear not, nothing a bit of hard training can't solve.

So I'm looking for success stories, failures, pro's and con's. Is the diamond a dieing formation, that will only pop up once every so often? Is having your old school 2 up front with your play-maker in behind them on a "freerole" days of old, slipping into legend, will I be telling my grandchildren about how back in my day when you played FM you had Joe Cole or Raffeal Van der Vaart walking amounts the gods, and they will laugh at grandpa's crazy old stories. Being a tad over dramatic here I don't even have children never mind grandchildren.

Back to the topic on hand, I tried and failed using the Diamond this year with Liverpool, I thought this will be great like the good old days, so I slotted in the obvious choices Sturige(Pa) and Suarez(F9s) up top are first on the list, Coutinho(APs) as the play maker in AMC, then Lucas(BWMd) in the DMC, the back 4 are fairly obvious with the pool, so I was left with the problem positions now the MR/L, the right side was easy Gerrard wasn't on the team yet and had it accomplished so I was quite happy having him there next was the ML, I was committed to the cause and spent the majority of my budget on a natural ML Kwadwo Asamoah from Juventus for a respectable £18.75 million, could of had him for less but wanted to structure it so I would have a bit of money left over. He seemed perfect Natural ML highly rated, great dribbling and physical stats, even had good passing marking and tackling, his crossing was lower than I would of wanted but I had a plan. I tried to play the MR/L as wide midfielders cutting in while keeping the DR/L on staying wide this I figured would keep my width and relay more on my MR/L passing over crossing while allowing my DR/L space to move into. My thoughts where that with wide midfielders an AMC and 2 SC I would have plenty of attacking options to pass too and play keep ball. Well my first game came full of confidence Hull at home, perfect easy team at home to get used/tweak the tactics, didn't go to plan lost 2-3 51%-49% possession with 18-12 shots off. My two SC both got 5.7. Next villa at Away. Went even worse, shots 21-8 possession 54%-46% but some how thanks to Brad Guzan getting a 5.9 and a og I won 1-2. Cup game Bradford at home, better possession 63%-37% wasn't impressed with with the shots tho 12-8 but I won 3-0. Newcastle at home, terrible, shots 7-21 possession 45%-55% I was dominated in all areas but the score line 0-0. Next was Arsenal away(being managed by my friend on network who won every game so far) Terrified of a hammering I changed to wing backs and lost 3-2. Next was stoke and the last time I have played the Diamond, I figured I built my team on this formation I need to commit to it, and so I did. It was the worst yet a 2-1 loss but stoke got a whopping 32 shots off to my 12, and so ended my adventure with the 442 diamond. (Since then I have realised it wasn't the Diamond it was me,currently 12th and sacked )

I realise that I probably didn't give the tactic enough time nor played the team instructions correctly but here are the pro's and con's as I found them

Con's:

• Very open, the gap between the DMC and the AMC seemed to be massive and I was constantly over run in midfield regardless of how high/deep wide/narrow I played
  
• SC always preformed poorly, unless they managed to get a goal from a set piece or a lucky rebound to bring their rating up, in open play they where poor.
  
• Very low chances both clear cut and half chances, excluding long shots not enough shots off .
  

Pro's

• am....
  
• I got to play the players I wanted?
  

[Moose-Stuff-For-Money]

I understand your frustration, I had built a narrow diamond and it worked great at first playing exactly how I wanted, then however the fact I had no cover on the wings and FB's are defensively poor in this current ME iteration I found it unsustainable. Problems I found where that when the opposition came forward my central midfielders backed off to the box leaving room for lots of long/ mid range shots to come in, I believe however this is an acknowledged issue and SI are currently working on it.

Problem with a wide midfield diamond is as you rightly say the space left between the DM and AM, one way you could possibly address it is have your WM set to come inside and pack the midfield more, or try playing your DM as a DLPs and if you have the players use a higher line so the gap between your DLPs and AM wont be big and the gap between CB and DLPs will no be too much either. if your FB are set to attack or support they may create spaces in between the lines to offer passing options to mantain possession.

I know it seems really difficult at the minute, I am struggling also, I feel like every thing I come up with only works for one game or so. However I do believe that every formation/ tactic we can conceive of(within reason) can be implemented, well hope is probably a better word then believe lol.

Why not put some pics on using imageshack or something and people can have a look, might be something that a fresh pair of eyes can see, and help you out with.

[Rippou]

I'm on the same boat, I have always loved 4-4-2 diamond and have been trying to play with this style at every FM. I've played three seasons so far, and I've come to the conclusion that 4-4-2 is not a tactic that can be employed at FM14 at the moment. Midfield support to the wing backs are almost non-existent or always late.

Also it seems that the attacking players cannot seem to carry the team in attack, instead it is the failed wingbacks at defence who shine at attack this time. My forwards cannot score to save their lives, but my wingbacks will make a forward run cut inside and crack it into the other corner so consistently that it became my main source of scoring. I don't find the tactic hard to play, so to speak, but any adjustment I make seems futile.

[CurnRaisin]

I just don't know if its problems with the ME or just that against more modern tactics that a 442 diamond is bad, or a bit of both. Even when I was telling my MR/L to cut inside and play narrower, in the hope of filling that gap in the middle of the pitch It looked like I was a man down the other team had so much space. From what I have tried it just seems that you cant pair DR/L with a MR/L it either has to be WBR/L with no wingers or DR/L with AMR/L , I haven't tried 3 at the back with MR/L yet but I can just see that being over run by attacking wingers. Seems like its the MR/L that are dying out.

[SnUrF]

I'd say it's the gap you leave centrally. I play with flat 442 and doing ok.

Also To me it seems you're trying use a formation with ML/MR but then you try to get them to play like MC (cut inside, play narrower). So why not just make it a narrow diamond or 4132 or 4312?

-SnUrF