532 advice needed

[Corperate]

Hi all,

I am struggling to implement a good 532 tactic with Tottenham. I wish to play through the middle but have more success from the flanks. Anybody have a good tactic they can share with me? Should you look for an overlap in this formation considering there is only one player assigned to the flanks? Any advice would be welcome.

[XuluBak]

In a 532/352, both WBs need to be overlapping, otherwise you have no width. 

 

[yellowforever]

I'm yet to use a 5-3-2 wb system on this years game so take it with a pinch of salt, but a couple of tips from me would be:

 

1. Width. Width is vitally important in a 5-3-2 wb, every successful one I've made in previous versions have used increased width. I would suggest wide or even perhaps 'extremely wide' (adjust passing directness accordingly). Without this I find the midfield three are too narrow and get in each other's way. Width only effects the distance between players across the pitch, not necessarily how often your players choose to use it, so you could try playing on a wide width with exploit the middle on.

2. Midfield roles such as the Mezzala work extremely well in these shapes because they target the half spaces in the channels. At Tottenham both Alli and Eriksen would suit this role well. 

3. How are you organising your defensive three? Personally I prefer the two wide defenders to be slightly further forward than the one in the middle. That is meaning that the two wide CBs are on stopper and the middle on defend, or the two wide ones being on defend and the middle on cover. 

4. Look for overlap is by no means necessary. It can be useful to add on in-game if there's space you want to open up behind an attacking full back or something, but your windbacks will naturally run forward very often with or without this instruction. It can also lead to the WBs getting caught very far upfield and as most teams operate with AML/Rs these days, you can end up being very vulnerable. Something like a carrillero on that side may help you on this front if you have a particularly attacking WB that you're going to give license to go forward.

5. Front two is pretty flexible to be honest. Keeping it simple you might want to have one on support and another on attack to give it some balance. Maybe Son as a F9 and then Kane as a AF, but I'll leave it up to you.

6. Distributing to CBs natrually becomes slightly easier against a high press team as you'll have an additional option.

 

 

Anyway I'm not sure how much of a help that'll be to you, but I love 5 back systems and here's just a few basic tips that might help you. Good luck!

[Experienced Defender]

In a 532 - as in any narrow system - it's incredibly important to have really good wing-backs (in a back 5) or fullbacks (in a back 4), simply because these guys will be solely responsible for their respective flanks. This means they should be good both physically and mentally (in addition to being defensively reliable by definition). In a top team like Spurs, this should not be a problem.

The setup of your midfield three would then basically depend on how you set up the wing-backs. For example:

F9/DLFsu     AF

CAR/DLPsu   CMde   BBM/MEZsu

WBat                                       WBsu/au

CDde   CD/BPDde/st   CDde

Here you have a very attack-minded WB on the left who is defensively covered by a carrilero or DLP, whereas the one on the right is a bit more restrained because he has a mezzala (or BBM) on his side.

Alternatively, you can opt to have both WBs very attack-minded/adventurous, as in the following example:

F9/DLFsu     AF

DLPsu/de     BBM/CMat      CAR

WBat                                       CWBsu

CDde  CD/BPDde/st  CDde

Here both outer CMs perform the covering function, but the central one is more attack-minded/adventurous instead.

Analyze your team to see what kind of approach suits your players optimally.