Wesley6 Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Like many people here I have really been struggling to get a 4231 formation going at all and have started and restarted my Arsenal save countless times. I've kinda gone back to basics, reading all the pinned threads and building the tactics from the bottom up. This latest version seems to be working pretty well albeit still early in the season. Thought I would make a thread rather than go into every single 4231 and post my thoughts. Fixtures so far: Arsenal 3-1 Liverpool FC Red Bull Salzburg 1-4 Arsenal West Ham United 1-3 Arsenal Arsenal 2-1 FC Red Bull Salzburg Manchester City 2-1 Arsenal Arsenal 4-2 Sunderland Six wins out of six against varied opposition is very pleasing. Obviously we haven't kept a clean sheet but having been watching aimless hoofball from my players in previous saves the football we are playing now is very pleasing to watch and more than makes up for it. Any tips to improve that would be greatly appreciated however. There are two things that I have done here that seem to be different to all the 4231 tactics I have tried before so I am basing the success down to that. I may well be completely wrong however Firstly is the tempo, I'm playing low tempo. I have always thought of Arsenal as playing the ball around with high tempo but lowering it has made everyone much more composed on the ball and given my main man Ozil much more space. In addition to this, I went for a defensive winger in the left AM slot and have fallen in love with this position. He doesn't crowd Ozil's space as I find an Inside forward might do and whips in nice early crosses. Providing this extra space for Ozil is really key, he's racked up 3 goals and 4 assists in the 5 games he has played. So here it is: I did originally have a very high line as I wanted some hardcore pressing but Liverpool's pace cut me open in the first game so I've removed that. Occasionally I'll throw in push higher up if I feel the opposition has more space or drop deeper if they are sitting and trying to counter us. I'm not entirely convinced by the stay on feet command, I'm experimenting with not having it so it could end up being removed. In terms of player instructions: GK has pass shorter, distribute to defenders. RB and LB have shoot less often as they have had a few times they shot from stupid angles when a cut back would have been better. AML has sit narrower and CF has dribble less. I haven't really used OI, I leave them blank at the start and then add some in if I feel I need them. I've only used them in the West Ham game actually as their wingers were having a lot of joy so tweaked things to get them out of the game. So yeah...I was ready to give up on the game but decided to try things one more time so hopefully this will help someone else stay in the game!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miravlix Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Not really, what works for your team won't work for someone elses makeup. Seem to be a general misconception that THE ONE TRUE STRATEGY is the holy grail, but in reality it's all about taking advantage of your players attributes and especially their PPM's to make a foundation, then adjust the foundation based on what pitch your playing on and who you're fighting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wesley6 Posted February 19, 2014 Author Share Posted February 19, 2014 It wasn't my intention to create a Master Tactic at all. Having said that there are numerous threads about playing a 4231 as Arsenal on this board... A key reason to play this formation (for me anyway) is that AMC position, a world class player at the heart of the team. I have really struggled to get anyone in that position to resemble anything like a footballer and having read other threads I know others have too. Having stumbled across a way to get somewhere near the best out of this position (and too lazy to post in every single thread ) I thought I would share things here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shakey.bridge Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Nice post Wesley, good to see someone having success with this formation, just a question...do you get caught out with balls over the top and your CD (X) caught too far up with no cover ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wesley6 Posted February 19, 2014 Author Share Posted February 19, 2014 Not really tbh. I did against Liverpool as I was pushing very high up but since I removed that instruction I haven't even with us pushing slightly higher. Apart from that instance I have never seen a ball over the top work for me or any opposition side - it either doesn't get over the top or bounces off the seemingly rubber pitch straight to the keeper. The stopper has caused me a few problems, Red Bull played with two up front and so opened us up a few times but I switched him to defend and it seemed OK. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 I'm glad you're finding success with the 4231, but your OP shows exactly why I will never trust the shape - no clean sheets there Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wesley6 Posted February 19, 2014 Author Share Posted February 19, 2014 Yeah its a bit of an issue! Played 3 more games and no clean sheets still but we scored 7 in those three games. I'm enjoying watching the football we play though which is important before. I gave up on an Arsenal save where I was winning by large amounts and keeping clean sheets because all our goals came from set pieces or scrappy play down the wings and it got me so stressed watching it. Going for a Kevin Keegan approach Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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