Trying to make my own 442 in a long time

[burtanza]

Hi all,

I have been playing FM/CM for a long time, but as the game has gotten more in-depth my interest in creating a successful tactic has diminished. A few years back I started downloading tactics and just focused on building my squad. However, FM 16 comes around and all the tactics I have downloaded have failed miserably and so I started reading this forum and eventually I came up with a successful 4231. This time around I want to try my hands at a 442. The team I have decided to do this with is West Ham. The sheer expertise on this forum has now gotten me to sign up, submit my first post in the hopes of getting some pointers and advice from the braintrust on here. Lets get right into it!

Formation, roles & duties

The thinking behind this is to have the full back on the right side to offer some help defensively and come up in a support role while attacking, hence support duty. On the right flank we will have width from the winger in front of him. On the left flank we have a full back on attack to offer width on that flank and overlap the Wide Midfielder on attack, who is supposed to act as a IF (hopefully). We have a DLP on defend to act as our holding midfielder paired with a CM on support. Here I am looking for someone who will mostly stay n midfield, but will offer some support around the opponents box. Up top we go with a Defensive Forward who will annoy the oppositions defense and help out defensively in general. Alongside him we have CF attack who will help out in the build up and also score most of our goals.

Roles and PIs

Goalkeeper: Nothing fancy here. Just standard GK. PIs: Fewer risky passes and distribute to Central Defenders.

Full back right:On a support duty because the winger in front is on attack. There to offer some support of course, but also to be back ready to defend. PIs:Mark tighter

Central Defenders: Just regular defenders. No PIs

Full back left: Cresswell has some nice offensive attributes, such as crossing etc. Therefore, on attack and to offer width on the left. PIs: Mark tighter, Stay wide, Run wide with ball

Winger: Winger to offer width on the right, but also to create some havoc in the final third and be a threat on his own. PIs: Mark tighter

Central Mid: No PIs

DLP defend: No PIs

Wide Mid: The hope is for this guy to act like an Inside Forward and therefore he has the following PIs: Mark tighter, Sit narrower, Cut inside, Cross less often

Def forward Will alternate between support and defend duty depending on opposition and in game changes. No PIs

Complete Forward: Goal scorer, help out in the build up, help closing down defenders. You name it, he has to do it. PIs: Tackle harder, Close down much more.

Team Instructions

I will alternate between Counter, Control and Attacking as I see fit. Same goes for Fluid vs Structured. The TIs I intend to use (might do some changes as i change mentality or shape, I guess I will have to figure that out as I go along) are narrow, close down more, tighter marking, play out of defence, shorter passing and run at defence.

I have gone with narrower to try to be a little more compact down the middle. We are closing down more in an attempt to win the ball back high and catch the opposition on the break. We try to mark tighter to help with the closing down. Play out of defence and shorter passing are there so we try to keep some kind of possession and dont just kick the ball forward. Run at defence, well, to try and create some havoc in the final third.

So there you have it. These are my ideas and I have only played one game so far against Lusitans (some team from Andorra) at home in the first qualifying round of the Europe League. Won 7-1, but the score is not what is important here. What is important is how we played and I definitely saw some good things. A little bit disappointed with the DF as I didnt see him close down to any extreme, but maybe that has to do with tactic familiarity and such. By the way, how important is the familiarity? Also, would going attacking with West Ham the first season be too much as they dont have the strongest squad?

As I said in the beginning, I am newbie at making my own tactics, but I try to draw inspiration from many on this forum and I am excited to hear your opinions on this.

[Rigga89]

I'm doing a 4-4-2 with Atletico Madrid so this is interesting to me.

I think people need to be careful with their interpretation of mentalities in FM. Often defensive and counter shapes lead to much better possession figures because fewer players push up and are left more open for passes. I can't see you mention exactly how you want to play besides mentioning press high and catch the opposition on the break. If this is the case I may question slightly the shorter passing. You may want to look towards mixed or more direct, perhaps with pass into space, if you're looking for quick, direct counters.

If you could add a little more about how you want the side to play then I'll help you some more if I can. Perhaps the tactic I have arrived at with Atletico could then be of interest to you.

[thatdamgood]

Looks interesting looking forward to an update. My main concern with this tactic is when the ball is lose in the final third you could have a counter attack where your outnumbered...interesting to see how this pans out

[burtanza]

Yes, it would have been interesting to keep plugging away at this one. However, my computer crashed last night so there will be no FM for me for a while (oh, life is cruel sometimes). I guess this thread could be deleted now as it will no longer be relevant. At least not in the sense that I will keep it going. If someone else wants to pick up and explore things that is fine by me.