4-2-4 Wide: End of season review

[Bellyfish]

Hi all, 

I've just wrapped up my first season as Aberystwyth. Season was a success; we were relgeation candidates that finished second. Disappointingly lost the title on the final day and the cup final on penalties but overall I'm happy.

I am looking for some tips or tweaks to make to my 4-2-4 wide.

The tactic is a custom version of one of the wide play presets. As you can see player ratings are pretty good with goals spread amongst my front four (BWM got some but mainly due to him being the free kick taker).

Full backs on defend with the aim of being solid at the back. General idea is to win the ball, lay it off to my DLP who in turn launches it to a winger.

Only have this tactic and have been switching the mentality around based on the opposition.

Some nice result but let down by the number of draws. Second place in the league for number of goals scored is great, however fifth placed for fewest goals conceded implies that my defence could do with some work.

Looking at my goal analysis we have had good amount of clear cut chances with almost 2/3rds of them converted.

In terms of conceding goals though 10 out of the 35 were outside the area. Prehaps this isn't a problem as much as I think it is but I did get annoyed at seeing the text 'hit from 25 yards' fairly frequently.

Assists analysis shows me a nice spread of them on the wings and in the center. 17 of them have come from crosses which is great.

Almost half of the opposition assists have been from the center. I assume this is due to my 2 man midfield being overrun. 

 

Questions

Any suggestions to roles or instructions you guys have would be appreciated. The main questions I'd like answered though are:

• How could I stop the number of '25 yard screamer' goals? Was thinking I could swap the duties of the DLP and BWM and that might put the BWM in a better position to close them down.
• Would moving the AML and AMR to ML and MR help win the midfield battle? There are quite a few 4-5-1 teams in the league.
• Not entirely convinced by the DLP and TM (though this might be down to the players rather than the role). What roles could I potentially use instead of them?
• I should probably have a dedicated defensive tactic slot. What changes should I make to my 4-2-4 for a 'hold onto the lead' type tactic?

 

Thanks for reading,

Bellyfish

[lferreira]

To prevent or at least reduce long shots increase your vertical compactness by having a lower LOE. In that way, opposing players won't have that much space. 

A 4-2-4 is going to have defensive issues anyway, especially when you have 2-star full backs and defenders. A 4-4-2 would be better defensively because you will have two banks of four - you could then defend narrow as well, just make sure your defenders are good in the air.

A TM is a good partner to a poacher, and a DLP-De is a good holder in midfield and offers way more than a CM-De. The BWM might press too far away and leave your sitting midfielder with too much to do though. I'd go for a CM-Su with some personalized instructions.

Edit - As counter intuitive as it sounds, having both your full backs on defend is also something that will cause you to concede more goals. There are acres of space between them and your wingers and if their wide players run at you or cut inside, you're toast. Again, I'd go for support duties with personalized instructions. 

They will be in a better position to get second balls and keep your team in possession. You need someone to get the clearances from outside the box, and your BWM alone isn't going to do the trick.

Try having your full backs as IWB. That would effectively change your attacking formation to a 2-3-1-2-2.

Two defenders, three players in the midfield strata, you could then unlease one of your midfielders to connect with the attack, plus your two wingers and your two forwards.

Edited September 12, 2019 by lferreira

[Bellyfish]

On 12/09/2019 at 13:55, lferreira said:

To prevent or at least reduce long shots increase your vertical compactness by having a lower LOE. In that way, opposing players won't have that much space. 

A 4-2-4 is going to have defensive issues anyway, especially when you have 2-star full backs and defenders. A 4-4-2 would be better defensively because you will have two banks of four - you could then defend narrow as well, just make sure your defenders are good in the air.

A TM is a good partner to a poacher, and a DLP-De is a good holder in midfield and offers way more than a CM-De. The BWM might press too far away and leave your sitting midfielder with too much to do though. I'd go for a CM-Su with some personalized instructions.

Edit - As counter intuitive as it sounds, having both your full backs on defend is also something that will cause you to concede more goals. There are acres of space between them and your wingers and if their wide players run at you or cut inside, you're toast. Again, I'd go for support duties with personalized instructions. 

They will be in a better position to get second balls and keep your team in possession. You need someone to get the clearances from outside the box, and your BWM alone isn't going to do the trick.

Try having your full backs as IWB. That would effectively change your attacking formation to a 2-3-1-2-2.

Two defenders, three players in the midfield strata, you could then unlease one of your midfielders to connect with the attack, plus your two wingers and your two forwards.

Cheers for the advice. I've switched to supporting full backs and a cental midfielder with instructions to win the ball back. IWB sounds interesting and I might look into it next season.

I'm please with how things are going so far half way into the season (ignore the terrible start...).

Still some things to sort out but I am definately seeing less 'wonder' long shots (although still conceded a 30 yard shot from a 6 long shot player in one of games :/) 

[lferreira]

I'd remove focus play down right/left as it increases the mentality of your wide players. You're playing a 4-4-2 with a DLP-De and a CM-Su with two wingers on attack, so you will already play through the wings.

Btw, aren't your wingers getting too isolated or running into defensive traps, losing the ball?

[Bellyfish]

On 19/09/2019 at 15:20, lferreira said:

I'd remove focus play down right/left as it increases the mentality of your wide players. You're playing a 4-4-2 with a DLP-De and a CM-Su with two wingers on attack, so you will already play through the wings.

Btw, aren't your wingers getting too isolated or running into defensive traps, losing the ball?

Haven't noticed that much, guess with hit early crosses they are not running as much?

I guess maybe dropping the wingers to support and use overlaps with my full backs? Probably need to transition away from direct passing and to a more posession based tactic if I want to start dominating the league,