3-4-3 Destruction Tactic - The Albatross.

[Ajinkya]

Hello everyone. After a few months of experimenting my way around 3-at the back tactics, I might finally have stumbled upon the motherlode. An attacking 3-4-3 which guarantees goals. For my team, I chose Borussia Monchengladbach, as I felt they had the right players for the formation, and also were in the Champions League, where I can test it out against the very best. So without further ado, here it is.

THE ALBATROSS 3-4-3

Why this name? The formation when in place does look like the bird in full flight, hovering with its wings spread to full length. (An Albatross has the highest wing-span of any bird)

So here is the formation, and the team instructions of the tactic as well.

Formation:

 

Team Instructions:

 

We have gone with the control strategy as we aim to dominate the play, and let the opponents adapt to our style rather than us to theirs. I've always been a fan of attacking football which looks good on the eye (No wonder I'm a Netherlands supporter), and I feel this is the strategy which suits me, and this formation the best. We've gone with fluid as we expect that little more from each player, with the wingers tracking back and helping in the defensive phase, as well as the strikers moving wide when necessary, with the midfielders pushing up and dropping back in a fluid manner, didn't go for very fluid as I felt it would complicate too many things, as well as Fluid was working very well.

Player Roles:

GK: Just your standard Goalkeeper. (Sommer, Patricio, Lloris, Jefferson etc)

RCB and LCB: CD -Defend. Pace is definitely a factor here. Anything less than 13 acceleration and pace will struggle, as Vestergaard did for my Gladbach team at LCB, before he was dropped and eventually sold off in January. Pacey centre-backs who are alright on the ball will do a good job. [12+ passing]  (Elvedi, Wimmer, Romagnoli, Rudiger, Dier etc)

 

CB: BPD- Stopper. This guy needs to be strong in the air, so definitely check for jumping and height, as he would push up from his defensive line to win headers from opposition goal kicks. Decisions is another key stat, as he should realise when and when not to leave his deep position. You could change the role from Stopper to Defend if your opposition has a very fast striker and your CB can risk being caught out due to the sheer pace. And as this guy will spread the play out to your wingers when such an option exists, he should also be decent on the ball. (Christensen, Hoedt, Alderweireld, Koscielny, Musacchio etc)

 

RM and LM: Winger-Support. These guys are the engines of your team, and a LOT of running is expected from the players playing in these two positions. Their job is to supplement the attack with passes to the forwards, whilst also getting into the box to provide incisive crosses when the opportunity presents itself. They also need to do a job defensively, tracking back to alleviate the problems caused by the opposition wide-men. Needless to say, 15+ Stamina and Work Rate is pivotal for your wingers to perform upto their extremely high standards. I also can't stress enough on the importance of speed, which fortunately is available aplenty in my Gladbach side. I did use left-footed players on the left and right-footers on the right, I'm not too sure as to how inverted wingers may work, but you can give it a try and let me know.  (Fabian Johnson, Herrmann, Bellarabi, Mkhitaryan, Lennon, Rose{retrained to LM} etc)

LCM:  Deep Lying Playmaker- Defend. This guy acts as the cog in your team, sitting in front of the defenders and will recycle possession to the players in front of him, whilst always offering an option to pass the ball to. Along with this, he is also your defensive enforcer, winning the ball back in midfield and quickly laying it off to more attack-minded players, facilitating a quick counter attack. Retrain a good DM with alright passing [minimum 13] who doesn't try many risky passes to this role and you'll do very well. Christoph Kramer was one of my most solid players all season, with the highest passing accuracy in the club (88%). Note: Do make sure you have plenty of depth in this position, as it is very prone to having a lot of yellow cards, Kramer had 20 bookings over the season for me. Fortunately I had Tobias Strobl and Diego Poyet who could fill in when needed. (Kramer, Schweinsteiger, Kranevitter, Matic, Besic etc)

 

RCM: Box-to-Box midfielder. This player during the attacking phase will be your more aggressive midfielder, venturing forward and looking at killer passes to your forwards and/or wingers. While a forward moves into a channel, the box-to-box midfielder will see the space and dart in to it, hoping to get on the end of a cross or a pull-back. The Gets into opposition area or Arrives Late in the Box trait  should work well for this position I imagine. Needs to have high work-rate and stamina as he will also be doing some defensive work along with his offensive duties. High passing and vision is also a bonus. (Dahoud, Pogba, Alli, Joao Mario, Ander Herrera etc)

 

LF and RF: F9- support.  These forwards should be your skillful players, who know how to use the ball, while making the most of their movement to get into channels either wide, or inward, details of which will be shown in screenshots below. They will get a load of goals, as well as assists for your central and main striker. More often than not, I played Raffael and Lars Stindl up there, and from their stats which I will be posting below, you will see that they were absolutely phenomenal. (Raffael, Stindl, Dybala, Hazard, Penaranda, Son-Heung Min etc)

ST- Complete Forward (Attack). Your main goalscoring threat, although the goals will be divided a lot amongst all three frontmen. Finishing, off the ball movement and pace are key attributes, as they were for Andre Hahn, doesn't look like he can do much with his technical stats, but he was an absolute goal-machine, leaving defenders in his wake with his 18 pace, also being the quickest to meet crosses from the wide-men/false 9's. This player doesn't need to be very flashy, just needs to get the job done. (Hahn, Berahino, Aubameyang, Hernandez, Bale, Vardy etc)

 

Now that I've told you a fair bit about the player roles and the formation in general, let me go in deep regarding how the team works and how some link-ups prove key to the success of this tactic.

 

DLP IN POSSESSION

The DLP (Kramer) receives the ball deep and weighs his multiple options before executing the pass.

 

THE THREE FORWARDS LINKING UP

The following sequence of images show how the three frontmen are involved in building a move which leads to a goal for our main striker, Andre Hahn.

 

Raffael picks up the ball  after it is won in midfield, the opposition panics and rushes towards him, leaving acres of space on the right hand side.

 

Raffael promptly spreads the ball out wide to Herrmann, who spots the run of Thorgan Hazard into the outside right channel.

 

Herrmann feeds Hazard, who rolls it across goal to Hahn for a simple tap-in.

 

LINK-UP BETWEEN WINGER AND WIDE FORWARD

Fabian Johnson picks the ball up and drives at the Basel defence.

As the opposition left-back rushes to close him down, Raffael sees the space in the outside left channel and is picked out by Johnson.

 

Hahn's movement is too good  for the defence to handle as he gets in front of everyone to head home Raffael's cross from out wide.

 

CLOSING DOWN IN MIDFIELD

The high pressure from the team shuts Wolfsburg's avenues down as Maxi Arnold is forced into a backpass to Phillip Wollscheid.

 

Wollscheid hurriedly makes the clearance which is pounced upon by Andre Hahn.

 

Three to four passes later, Hahn is in on goal and does not miss.

 RESULTS

What good is a tactic, if it does not provide you with the results you need? I won the Bundesliga with Gladbach, edging out Bayern on goal difference, while also making a Champions League surge to the Quarter-Finals, where I was beaten on away goals after a 1-1 aggregate result against Atletico Madrid. 

 

As you can see from the league table, we scored the most goals in the league, a staggering 96, averaging 2.8 goals per game, which is a fabulous attacking record. Defensively, we conceded 42 goals, which can be considered a lot but still managed to somehow be the second best defense in the league, behind Bayern. As for our signings, the only notable ones were Carlos Vela, who could not get into the team thanks to the form of the front 3, and Kevin Wimmer on loan from Spurs in January, to replace the departing Vestergaard, who had a torrid time with us and couldn't handle the prerequisites which came with this formation.

Here are a few of my notable matches-

 

Included the 3-2 loss against Barcelona at the Camp Nou too, as from the stats we out-possessed Barcelona (no mean feat) as well as had more shots, but Suarez was just too clinical for us to handle.  The match went a long way to show that on our day, we can compete with absolutely anyone, which is also shown by 3-2 and 4-0 wins over Bayern and Dortmund respectively.

 

PLAYER STATS

As I mentioned earlier, my main men were the front 3, Raffael, Hahn and Stindl. Instead of posting their stats one-by-one, I'll just leave this here and let it do the talking.

 

Shoutout to Thorgan Hazard as well, a constant provider of goals from the bench, and really stepped up to the plate when Stindl was injured for 8-9 weeks midway through the year.

Another honorable mention goes to my B2B, Mahmoud Dahoud who made it into the Bundesliga team of the year.

 

Well, so now I've shown you the results, shown you how the team will set up, shown you what players you should look for, looks like my job is done. Oh wait, I need to provide the tactic. Here you go.

THE TACTIC

Albatross 3-4-3_F14C4900-C6CB-4067-BBBA-AA5875CEC5E8.fmf

 

Enjoy, and do let me know how your season goes. I'm going to try it out myself with another team as a test, maybe a side with lower expectations, such as West Brom, with a front three of Rondon, Chadli and Berahino. Sounds exciting, already!

I hope to read your feedback regarding this tactic. Thanks a lot.

 

 

[westy8chimp]

I don't do plug and play but glad to see a 343 working nicely so may try to adapt to my own.... I often drop to 3412 but I guess with F9s you have that additional creativity. West Brom are a good side to manage, nice stadium. Tyler Roberts worth promoting early on to get game time! turns into a speed merchant who can finish.

[Ajinkya]

6 minutes ago, westy8chimp said:

I don't do plug and play but glad to see a 343 working nicely so may try to adapt to my own.... I often drop to 3412 but I guess with F9s you have that additional creativity. West Brom are a good side to manage, nice stadium. Tyler Roberts worth promoting early on to get game time! turns into a speed merchant who can finish.

Thanks a lot for the advice mate, any idea about the WBA budget as I would need striker reinforcements there. Just 4 strikers at present including Tyler Roberts. Also been linked with the Barcelona job in my Gladbach save and as much as I would hate to leave Gladbach, the prospect of MSN in this tactic is simply orgasmic.

[mcgaffer]

That was such a good write up, i'm going to test out straight away. I will post an update in due course.

[Ajinkya]

Just now, mcgaffer said:

That was such a good write up, i'm going to test out straight away. I will post an update in due course.

Thanks a lot mate! What team are you trying it out with?

[westy8chimp]

14 minutes ago, Ajinkya said:

Thanks a lot for the advice mate, any idea about the WBA budget as I would need striker reinforcements there. Just 4 strikers at present including Tyler Roberts. Also been linked with the Barcelona job in my Gladbach save and as much as I would hate to leave Gladbach, the prospect of MSN in this tactic is simply orgasmic.

I did a quick WB in the beta phase.. the budget was surprisingly good... about 13m without changing expectation. With a small surplus of wages to help as well. that's enough to bring in someone like petkovic and maybe a youngster. They have plenty of CBs too evans, McCauley, dawson, olson, (you will want to sign a BPD ... Celtics eughan o'connel maybe) ... and Matt Phillips, Brunt, Mclean & mcmanaman make for good starting wingers until you have budget and rep to replace them.

now I'm salivating at the prospect of a WBA save!

the only annoyance you will have is Nyom... you aren't playing a RB so you'd want to sell but hes a new signing so wont budge (I imagine). but IRL he's quite adapatable so hopefully you can make him a back up RW or CB and maybe get rid in Jan window.

sounds much more fun than MSN!

[Ajinkya]

2 minutes ago, westy8chimp said:

I did a quick WB in the beta phase.. the budget was surprisingly good... about 13m without changing expectation. With a small surplus of wages to help as well. that's enough to bring in someone like petkovic and maybe a youngster. They have plenty of CBs too evans, McCauley, dawson, olson, (you will want to sign a BPD ... Celtics eughan o'connel maybe) ... and Matt Phillips, Brunt, Mclean & mcmanaman make for good starting wingers until you have budget and rep to replace them.

now I'm salivating at the prospect of a WBA save!

the only annoyance you will have is Nyom... you aren't playing a RB so you'd want to sell but hes a new signing so wont budge (I imagine). but IRL he's quite adapatable so hopefully you can make him a back up RW or CB and maybe get rid in Jan window.

sounds much more fun than MSN!

Nyom shouldn't be a problem, as he's 6ft2 with decent jumping stats, so can move him into RCB. Also I'm only aiming to test the tactic for a season, as Gladbach is going to be my main save. My allegiance to Spurs makes it tough for me to manage any other English sides

[mcgaffer]

I have a leeds squad playing 433 in 2018/19 so adding this will be no problem, Hopefully it brings me the League next season

 

[Ajinkya]

1 hour ago, mcgaffer said:

I have a leeds squad playing 433 in 2018/19 so adding this will be no problem, Hopefully it brings me the League next season

 

That is some team you've built. Should work well!

[aburfitt11]

Looks good, currently trying a 3-4-2-1 wide with Southampton but this looks to be what I am looking for as an attacking alternative.

Do you use any OI's??

[mikewalker]

Followed the screenshot instructions...happy to report this works like an absolute dream on FM16 on iPad! Are there any PI's or is it just as described above? 

[tractor76]

Is this for patch 17.2?

[sparkysrovers]

What size pitch do you use?

I've noticed that once you score, the opposition are very quick to counter attack and score. Is there any way the defence could be strengthened, mightnt be possible with just the three lads at the back.

[FTJ23]

Having some great results with my Fleetwood side! However the issue of the opposition countering instantly and pulling one back (like post above) is very frustrating.

My two false 9's Hunter and Cole seem to score a peach from outside the area every other game which is very enjoyable to see. Taking the advice in from the OP, I will be investing in centre halves with more pace and see if we can sure things up at the back.

I retrained my full backs to play in the wide midfield positions and once we have established a comfortable lead i pull them back to wing backs and play on the counter it seems to close out matches very well.

[sparkysrovers]

Yeah one of my F9's has scored most some absolute screamers from outside the box -  nice tip on the full backs. 

[heartandgroin]

I'm about to start a brand new Villa save and think I may have most of the players required at my disposal. Might need another CB (Right or Left) and a decent RCM with back up needed for Jedinak. 

Luckily the FB in the squad (Amavi, Bacuna) can play as wide midfielders as well. I'll keep you updated as the season progresses. 

[Ajinkya]

On 16/12/2016 at 20:37, aburfitt11 said:

Looks good, currently trying a 3-4-2-1 wide with Southampton but this looks to be what I am looking for as an attacking alternative.

Do you use any OI's??

I leave them to my assistant. 
 

 

On 18/12/2016 at 05:12, tractor76 said:

Is this for patch 17.2?

Made it on 17.1. Give it a try!

 

On 18/12/2016 at 17:49, sparkysrovers said:

What size pitch do you use?

I've noticed that once you score, the opposition are very quick to counter attack and score. Is there any way the defence could be strengthened, mightnt be possible with just the three lads at the back.

I use standard. Are your defenders quick? Fast defenders and a good tackling DLP will help, but then again the tactic is about out-scoring the opponent.

 

17 hours ago, heartandgroin said:

I'm about to start a brand new Villa save and think I may have most of the players required at my disposal. Might need another CB (Right or Left) and a decent RCM with back up needed for Jedinak. 

Luckily the FB in the squad (Amavi, Bacuna) can play as wide midfielders as well. I'll keep you updated as the season progresses. 

Good luck mate, let me know how you get on.

[heartandgroin]

Pre season went by without too much trouble. The squad needs to work on their teamwork according to my coaches, and that was before I made any signing. 

I'll post transfers in & out once the window shuts as I'm still on the look out for a CB(Left). I've bought in some much needed cover both in midfield and up front. 

[Jackrosiemaisie]

Great tactic and I know it's hardly a difficult test with Man City but in the first season I played the usual 4-1-2-2-1 and I did well winning the FA and League cups, but came third in the EPL and I struggled particularly away to good sides. Starting the second season with two bad loses made me look at new options and I fancied your tactic even though I knew it probably meant an average season at best as the team adapted to the new formation (which I've never tried before in many years of FM).

The three CBs all had good pace and were class defenders (important as I found out) and I converted all the full backs (except Zabaleta who's poor crossing didn't, I thought, make him suitable) to wingers and were instrumental when getting results against strong teams especially away. I then pushed the wingers (except Sane who is excellent at MR) up to F9s and Hazard and Jesus made the transition very well. So I didn't have to get rid of any players due to the new formation.

The team then immediately went on to win the EPL with only two loses (one away to Arsenal with an injury struck team and then the penultimate game against Liverpool when I'd already comfortably won playing my reserves). In my third season and by mid-November I'd only lost one game away to Arsenal and that was only because I was holidaying. 

My key players have been Aguero and Iheanacho up top, Hazard, Sane on the wings and Fernandinho as the B2B. All the defenders rated highly.

With a huge budget I bought in Dybala, Ter Stegen and Zappacosta in the third season and so my team is as follows:

F9(L) - Hazard/Luan
CF - Dybala/Iheanacho
F9(R) - Aguero/Jesus
ML - Marcus Alonso/Coentrao
DLP - Gundogan/ Thiago Maia
B2B - Fernandinho/Naby Keita
MR - Sane/Zappacosta
DCs - Otamendi, Kompany, Stones plus Hoedt, Nico Elvedi, Ruben Dias
GK - Ter Stegen/Prinz

When up against strong teams away I often play two converted FBs to give more defensive ability (Marcos Alonso at ML and Zappacosta at MR)

So I'm delighted with the tactic and especially that it's not a 4-1-2-3-1 formation. Next season I'll try it with a Championship team to see if the tactic is just as successful.

Many thanks for the enjoyment!

 

 

[Ajinkya]

On 24/12/2016 at 15:05, Jackrosiemaisie said:

Great tactic and I know it's hardly a difficult test with Man City but in the first season I played the usual 4-1-2-2-1 and I did well winning the FA and League cups, but came third in the EPL and I struggled particularly away to good sides. Starting the second season with two bad loses made me look at new options and I fancied your tactic even though I knew it probably meant an average season at best as the team adapted to the new formation (which I've never tried before in many years of FM).

The three CBs all had good pace and were class defenders (important as I found out) and I converted all the full backs (except Zabaleta who's poor crossing didn't, I thought, make him suitable) to wingers and were instrumental when getting results against strong teams especially away. I then pushed the wingers (except Sane who is excellent at MR) up to F9s and Hazard and Jesus made the transition very well. So I didn't have to get rid of any players due to the new formation.

The team then immediately went on to win the EPL with only two loses (one away to Arsenal with an injury struck team and then the penultimate game against Liverpool when I'd already comfortably won playing my reserves). In my third season and by mid-November I'd only lost one game away to Arsenal and that was only because I was holidaying. 

My key players have been Aguero and Iheanacho up top, Hazard, Sane on the wings and Fernandinho as the B2B. All the defenders rated highly.

With a huge budget I bought in Dybala, Ter Stegen and Zappacosta in the third season and so my team is as follows:

F9(L) - Hazard/Luan
CF - Dybala/Iheanacho
F9(R) - Aguero/Jesus
ML - Marcus Alonso/Coentrao
DLP - Gundogan/ Thiago Maia
B2B - Fernandinho/Naby Keita
MR - Sane/Zappacosta
DCs - Otamendi, Kompany, Stones plus Hoedt, Nico Elvedi, Ruben Dias
GK - Ter Stegen/Prinz

When up against strong teams away I often play two converted FBs to give more defensive ability (Marcos Alonso at ML and Zappacosta at MR)

So I'm delighted with the tactic and especially that it's not a 4-1-2-3-1 formation. Next season I'll try it with a Championship team to see if the tactic is just as successful.

Many thanks for the enjoyment!

 

 

Thanks for the feedback and the very kind words! Appreciate it and glad to see that it's working well for you.

[DarklinkCL]

Hello there.

I am having fun using this tactic from time to time with FC Schalke 04 in season 2022/23, with a rather good squad.

Thanks to the very good 3 CBs that I have (Lukas Klostermann, Niklas Sule and Jonathan Tah), I can afford leaving my offensive players with more freedom.

I did make one two slight tweaks though: as I was seeing way too many long shots, I ticked "Work ball into box" on Team Instructions as well as "Shoot less often" for the two F9s. The overall performance of the team improved on the attack.

It's a shame that most of the times the two CMs are completely alienated from attacking play, getting mediocre ratings more foten than not.

[Ajinkya]

On 04/01/2017 at 19:31, DarklnkCL said:

Hello there.

I am having fun using this tactic from time to time with FC Schalke 04 in season 2022/23, with a rather good squad.

Thanks to the very good 3 CBs that I have (Lukas Klostermann, Niklas Sule and Jonathan Tah), I can afford leaving my offensive players with more freedom.

I did make one two slight tweaks though: as I was seeing way too many long shots, I ticked "Work ball into box" on Team Instructions as well as "Shoot less often" for the two F9s. The overall performance of the team improved on the attack.

It's a shame that most of the times the two CMs are completely alienated from attacking play, getting mediocre ratings more foten than not.

 

Thanks for the feedback! And it doesn't really happen to me that the two CMs get low ratings. Dahoud is one of my highest average rating getters. Don't know why that's happening to you.

[DarklinkCL]

Maybe I was too harsh. Of course they can't compare with the three forwards but after all I'm satisfied with how the CMs perform

Here some results achieved with this brilliant tactic, which might not be the best one defensively, but it definitely leads the team to play in a spectacular way to watch:

 

[Ajinkya]

18 hours ago, DarklnkCL said:

Maybe I was too harsh. Of course they can't compare with the three forwards but after all I'm satisfied with how the CMs perform

Here some results achieved with this brilliant tactic, which might not be the best one defensively, but it definitely leads the team to play in a spectacular way to watch:

 

Great to see that. Daniel Hakans looks like a beast! Is he a regen?

[DarklinkCL]

[Andy J 82]

On 17/12/2016 at 21:12, mikewalker said:

Followed the screenshot instructions...happy to report this works like an absolute dream on FM16 on iPad! Are there any PI's or is it just as described above? 

Not working too well for me (iPad also) - are there any player instructions in addition to the screenshots at the top?