Low block 442 - vertical counter attack

[El-Maestro]

INTRODUCTION
I hate high pressing tactics. I love teams that deploy a solid low block and soak up anything you throw at them, then punish you on the counter. I've been using this tactical setup in 2 different saves. One was in Faroe Islands where I took the worst team in the country from the 3rd tier to the Champions League. The other save started in the 2nd tier of Austria and I made it to the CL semifinals in my 4th season. Make sure to play a fair amount of friendlies so that your players are up to it once the season starts! This is no Mourinho tactic where you come to the stadium with the plan to win 1-0. The beauty of this setup is that we can score lots of goals while being fairly solid in defense. It seems like an underdog tactic, but we are also able to break down teams that park the bus.

COUNTER
The term "counter" has been totally misleading in FM for years. When you played on counter mentality it resulted in slow/boring play. It was a patient brand of football. When I think of "counter" though, I think of defending rigidly in a low block and then launching quick counter attacks with vertical/direct transitions. I could only ever achieve this in many years of FM when playing on attacking mentality.

LOW BLOCK
I'm usually a 3-5-2 guy with attacking wingbacks. It fits my idea of counter really well. However, naturally the 3-5-2 has gaps in the wide areas behind the wingbacks, or at least you get outnumbered on the wings. To create a true low block, we can't allow any gaps once we are defending. So I went with a 4-4-2 that protects us with two solid banks of four.

But how to create a true low block? Obviously our DL must drop a bit deeper. What we should never do is drop the DL very deep. I don't even do this when defending a tight lead in the final minutes, as all it does is inviting too much pressure. To create the ultimate low block, I drop the LOE as deep as possible. It's all about condensing the space between our strikers and our defense. The shortage of space makes it very difficult to break us down, while the slightly deeper DL prevents balls over the top.

TACTIC

This was my 1st version. As you see, I like to keep team instructions at a minimum. Makes it easier on the players, no matter at which level you play. We have "more urgent" pressing intensity, but remember it's only triggered once our opponent gets past the LOE. We "stay on feet" to slow opponents down and allow our other players to get into our defending shape. This actually works better than "regroup". In theory, our logical choice should be to "regroup" when possession is lost. However, our DL/LOE and "stay on feet" instruction create a natural low block anyway. All "regroup" has done for me is that players missed too many easy opportunities to win the ball back and - what hurt even more - that players were focused on getting back into our shape (good) but ignoring the opponent's actual attack (very bad). "Distribute quickly" should also fit our counter attacking style in theory. But imo it rarely results in successful counter attacks. While we don't care about possession %, we also don't want to give the ball away cheaply!

Centrebacks
Not giving the ball away cheaply is also the reason why I instruct the keeper to distribute to one particular CB who is better on the ball. I don't bother with NCB/BPD since both are too extreme imo. If both CBs can play, you can select "distribute to CBs". The keeper and both CBs are instructed to "pass it shorter" and "take fewer risks". This has proven to be the safer option compared to generally "play out of defence".

Fullbacks
Our FB(S) are defenders first and foremost. Especially at lower levels you won't find many prolific attacking fullbacks. I set them to "sit narrower" to offer better protection should we lose the ball, and "cross from deep" to prevent them from unnecessary adventures. However, their support duty and our attacking mentality will allow them to help - and sometimes even overlap - the wingers if our quick transition gets stopped. The beauty of this is that when one fullback joins attack, the fullback on the other side will stay back and narrow to give us solid protection.

Midfield
Our midfield is pretty standard. I started with a DLP(D) as you can see, but later switched to CM(D). If you want to use DLP, make sure that he is an excellent passer. Otherwise CM(D) is the wiser choice. Wingers are on attack but I value teamwork and work rate more than anything else. Sometimes people ask why their wingers don't track back, but more often than not the player is simply too lazy - just as it is in real life!

Forwards
At first glance the pressing forwards are an odd choice for our low block setup. But make no mistake, they will still work hard and press aggressively. They key is that our LOE is at the lowest bar possible, so our strikers will press the opponent's midfield and not so much the defense.

Variant I

In this particular save, I found an excellent attacking left wingback - WB(A). All I did was set the left winger on support duty and select "overlap left". The CM(D) on the left side offers decent protection anyway and I switched the B2B to CM(S) to achieve more balance. If you have a really good WB(A), it can lift your attack to another level!

Variant II

Unfortunately my excellent wingback got poached by a bigger club and will leave us soon, so I switched back to my initial classic back four. However, I signed 2 Brazilian strikers with superb technical skills. One of them is suited to be sort of a creative targetman and I set him to DLF(S). He provides countless assists for my PF(A). The other Brazilian is a quick dribbler with good shooting from distance. I didn't want to sacrifice my young homegrown PF(A), so I'm converting the Brazilian to B2B with the instruction to "dribble more". While his familiarity with B2B is just yellow/orange, he added another dimension to our attacking play. Once his familiarity is green, he will be our very own Angel Di Maria!

CONCLUSION
I'm not uploading this since it's a very simple setup anyway with just a few individual instructions. As you can see, there are quite a few potential variants of this style. It all depends on your players. Maybe you can find your own variant and let me know!

ENJOY!

Edit: Classic and advanced setup added for download!

 

low block 442 classic.fmf low block 442 v.2.fmf

Edited September 7, 2020 by El-Maestro

[jo04]

Can you share the tactic to trye??

[silence_born]

@el maestrowanna try ur tactic in LL
could you share the link, plz for the simpliest version?
serie D  in Italy as an example

[luanpefe]

Link ?

[kelvin0131]

Can you share the tactic ?? thanks 

[El-Maestro]

Here we go!

The classic one is my typical LL setup. Works best with 4 solid defenders at the back (I often used 4 CBs), 2 hard working midfielders, 2 quick wingers and 2 hard working forwards.

The more advanced v.2 works better once you can afford some quality players - namely an attacking left WB, a DLP with good passing and a creative DLF. In v.2 I changed the B2B to CM(S) to not be overly exposed, but it should work either way. You could also just insert a DLP or DLF in the classic setup if the player has some quality.

 

low block 442 classic.fmf low block 442 v.2.fmf

[luanpefe]

Thanks you very much

[jo04]

Thanks, i will try .

 

[El-Maestro]

You all are welcome to share your results with my tactic!

[francesco1908]

if you put the marking close to the wingers they will tend to mark the opposing full-back