Trying to refine a fast paced 4-2-3-1

[vDraycottv]

Well its fair to say I'm no Jose Mourinho when it comes to FM, but I can do a job. I don't want to always stick with my same old 4-1-2-3 that I've used forever and ever and really fancy a change. There always comes a point after getting promoted when I feel that my team is good enough to utilise a 4-2-3-1 and this is where I'd like to improve.

My current set up is something along the lines of-

CF (A)

IF (A) AP (S) W (S)

CM (D) DLP (D)

WB (S) CB (D) CB (D) FB (A)

SK (D)

I've elected a flowing structure with a controlling mentality and shorter passing. This is with the aim of quick pass and move type of style.

I've addressed the standard issue of the formation in that sometimes the Cm's can be too far from the defence by playing a higher line, I'll also be looking to use fast center backs to address issues this in itself presents.

With playing a higher line it also allows me to play a slightly more pressing game which I'm trying to put into effect.

I'm also not too sure what other TI's would compliment this, as I've seen various forums on various different combinations and things that contradict each other.

I'd like to think that my reasoning with all of this is quite sound, but with regards to the player roles of CF(A) and the AP(S) I'm not too sure. Both full backs offer a lot of width going forward but it just seems that the CF doesn't seem to get on the score sheet enough. I've had good results with this in general across half a season in the championship, but im just looking for that bit more from it in terms of attack.

Im welcome to any suggestions other than a complete change of formation, and stylistic change. Cheers

[ajsr1982]

I used almost this exact system in FM15. Only differences were that I had two CM/Ds and my AP was on Attack.

I had my front four with 'Close Down More' to try to get a high press without committing the entire team to it, and I had Work Ball Into Box enabled to stop pesky midfielders taking pot shots.

It wasn't amazing defensively, but I scored plenty of goals with it. My CF (Balotelli) was firing in roughly a goal a game, on average, over three seasons. However, this may be because my front four was as good as anything around.

Balotelli was getting in the world team of the year, while Coutinho was picking up the PFA player of the year award (not sure what happened to Mario's votes there!), and Origi and Sterling both picked up the European Golden Boy award.

[vDraycottv]

I used almost this exact system in FM15. Only differences were that I had two CM/Ds and my AP was on Attack.

I had my front four with 'Close Down More' to try to get a high press without committing the entire team to it, and I had Work Ball Into Box enabled to stop pesky midfielders taking pot shots.

It wasn't amazing defensively, but I scored plenty of goals with it. My CF (Balotelli) was firing in roughly a goal a game, on average, over three seasons. However, this may be because my front four was as good as anything around.

Balotelli was getting in the world team of the year, while Coutinho was picking up the PFA player of the year award (not sure what happened to Mario's votes there!), and Origi and Sterling both picked up the European Golden Boy award.

I'll certainly see what changes the AP (A) can make to the general formation. I don't mind the odd pop shot, something's gotta make a highlight reel at some point after all!

In terms of player quality Derby have a squad of huge quality in comparison to the rest of the league so I don't think this is an issue, more just tactical tweaks.

Working the ball into the box I believe greatly lessens the amount of crosses going in? I find this a little detrimental when both my full backs are extremely attacking players that want to naturally get around the back of the defensive line. If they did this and then only played a ball back around the box then I think this would be a little bit of a waste of attacking quality, unless there's some individual instructions that could resolve this so that they were to still crossed but the team as a whole worked into the box

[ajsr1982]

I'll certainly see what changes the AP (A) can make to the general formation. I don't mind the odd pop shot, something's gotta make a highlight reel at some point after all!

In terms of player quality Derby have a squad of huge quality in comparison to the rest of the league so I don't think this is an issue, more just tactical tweaks.

Working the ball into the box I believe greatly lessens the amount of crosses going in? I find this a little detrimental when both my full backs are extremely attacking players that want to naturally get around the back of the defensive line. If they did this and then only played a ball back around the box then I think this would be a little bit of a waste of attacking quality, unless there's some individual instructions that could resolve this so that they were to still crossed but the team as a whole worked into the box

It depends what you want from your AP, really. With an attack duty, he's more likely to run at the defence, so it depends what his greatest attributes are.

You're right that Work Ball Into Box reduces the number of crosses. But that doesn't mean your players won't cross it if the right opportunity presents itself. I always think of it as cutting out the speculative stuff in terms of long shots and crosses. That said, the full backs in my system are really there to offer width further up the pitch to open out the play, rather than providing assists.

It's also worth taking a closer look at the descriptions of the roles. It may be something of a misnomer, but as an example, the in-game description of a WB/S emphasises through balls into the final third as a key part of the role.

[vDraycottv]

It depends what you want from your AP, really. With an attack duty, he's more likely to run at the defence, so it depends what his greatest attributes are.

You're right that Work Ball Into Box reduces the number of crosses. But that doesn't mean your players won't cross it if the right opportunity presents itself. I always think of it as cutting out the speculative stuff in terms of long shots and crosses. That said, the full backs in my system are really there to offer width further up the pitch to open out the play, rather than providing assists.

It's also worth taking a closer look at the descriptions of the roles. It may be something of a misnomer, but as an example, the in-game description of a WB/S emphasises through balls into the final third as a key part of the role.

I think that added dimension could be what I need to be honest.

Ah right that's good news, I was under the impression that it did, so I'll experiment. With the WB (S) I feel that I get the benefit of through balls with the If making the diagonal runs. This basically means that altogether I have one wing that's more about cutting in and the other more about width and over lapping. All in all it works ok.

Thanks for them pointers mate.