[FM21] Building Ipswich 4-4-2 tactic/philosophy

[equinøx]

Hi everyone!

Haven't played FM for quite a while and decided to get my hands on the new version, to help myself survive the lockdown.

Ipswich Town seemed like a great team to manage, due to the challenge of getting back to Prem and due to the facilities they have, which helps to build the team around academy players. I look at the possibility of building a club with the certain DNA in it and obviously the strategy/tactic/philosophy being a big part of it.

Before I go into the tactic itself, I think I should explain first what I am trying to achieve in terms of philosophy:

- Offensively I want to be quick with the ball, using a more direct approach in terms of passing, and trying to be as vertical as possible, threatening mostly from the wings crossing the ball.

- Defensively I am mostly looking for a mid/low-block, dividing the pressing into two stages:

* 1st stage - applying pressure on the back 3/4/5 of the opponent if they build up from the back, forcing longer passes that might be intercepted by my midfielders/defenders.

* 2nd stage - if the ball is not won during the 1st stage, team shall drop deeper and wait for the opponent to cross the middle line, before engaging again into the pressing.

In general, I suppose it can be viewed as a counter-attacking approach.

This is the result of me building the tactic, taking into the consideration general ideas I already mentioned:

I've opted for the standard 4-4-2 formation, which covers my offensive and defensive needs. And I guess I have to add that managing English club usually sort of provokes me to actually build a decent 4-4-2 tactic. I am also looking into the possibility to use a formation with three at the back (3-5-2/3-4-3), because it should match well with the philosophy (at least I think so), but there is still a need to find the right players, so I am leaving this formation for the future. Sometimes I might go for 4-4-1-1, especially against the teams playing a DM that can cause a threat during their build-up. I believe that having an AM is making the life a bit more complex for the opponent's DM. Actually, I apply the same idea when using a 4-1-4-1 formation, when I have to counter oppositions' AM. But these are the rare cases and I usually start with a 4-4-2, changing the formation depending on how the match unfolds.

Roles: 

Goalkeeper is just the standard one. Since I am not defending very high up the pitch, I don't need anyone to cover for central defenders, so its G - De.

Defense

Back four is quite simple. 2 CD - De, because they are not supposed to clear the ball out every time they touch and at the same time they are not capable of passing well, so I avoid BPD role. Both fullbacks are FB - Su. I don't want them rushing forward much, so I currently limit their attacking influence. Also, I believe this role works best with wingers on attack duty, cause they do not conflict much on the pitch and do not occupy the same space.

Midfield

I guess simplicity is the word describing my roles, so I've kept it simple in the midfield as well. CM - Su and DLP - De create my midfield duo. I am still experimenting with that partnership, trying to find the best combination. I've used BBM instead of CM, but his pressing intensity was a bit too high, breaking my 2nd line of defense, when he tried to pressure the opponent. DLP used to be a CM - De, but there was no input from him offensively, as he was just standing there not trying to find that through ball or changing the side of the attack. The goal is to have one of them being a pivot, spraying the ball to rushing wingers, second being the engine, running up and down, supporting the attack and the defense.

I guess here is my first question. Any ideas on how to improve this partnership and whether the roles I have at the moment are actually going to cover my needs?

Wide players are W - At, pushing up the field, playing wide and crossing the ball a lot. They are mostly responsible for generating the moments for my forwards.

Attacking duo

Once again, playing in England encourages me to create big man - little man partnership. So I have one of the forwards playing as a TM - Su, trying to either score a header himself or to flick the ball to his partner in crime who is PF - At. This partnership is my second dilemma. I am not going to give up on TM (at least until I find or develop a complete forward), so my lab rat in this duo is the little guy. Had him play as a poacher - seemed too selfish, as an advanced forward - drifted too much. PF resembles the AF but stays more central and links ok. But, I am willing to ask again - how do you approach the attacking duo when you try to play similar style of football? 

Team instructions

I started with selecting a preset Wing Play style, that generally represented my ideas, and I am trying to improve this style step by step, to find my own.

First of all, I removed overlaping, main reason being that it slows the play. Well, and I have to account for the level of my players. I've also changed the way my goalkeeper passes the ball. Distributing to Flanks is what I ideally want, but I need someone to be able to actually pass it well and someone to challenge on the wings. In the meantime, I trust my first pass to the fullback.

Below are the instructions I've been adding/removing from match to match, but I haven't actually found the value from those changes:

- I've been playing around with width. My current thoughts are about reducing it to Wide, because it probably can help me be more defensively sound, not exposing the central area. But the observations are not suggesting that I am true in my thoughts.

- Tempo looks ok. I suppose playing with extreme tempo can help me be more vertical and quick, but the passing accuracy will suffer a lot.

- Engagement lines and pressing intensity... These are the ones I struggled with the most, when looking for the right combination to match my vision. Currently we are playing solid at the back, inviting our opponents to attack, defending as two banks of four, not pressing much. Having a More Urgent instruction sometimes worked fine, sometimes broke those defensive lines. So I went to instruct my wingers and forwards individually to be More Urgent in pressing, increasing the Line of Engagement to Higher (to achieve this 1st stage of pressing I described). Any tips?

- To keep the shape and the banks of four I used to add Be More Disciplined and Regroup instructions, but haven't noticed those instructions affecting the game.

- Well, and I have to add that I still need to learn on how to use the mentality effectively, because most of the time I do not even touch it, keeping on the Balanced. Any tips on how to use the mentality to improve my general approach?

To sum it all up, I cannot complain much about the tactic not working, but I am determined to make it even better, adapting the vision to different opponents. I.e. I want to make sure I dominate the weaker opponents in the same quick and decisive fashion, applying a riskier pressing approach to close the opponent in their half. On the contrary, I want to have the same approach playing against tougher opponents, improving defensive side, without eliminating a chance to quickly jump on their defense.

I hope that this post does not violate any rule of the forum. This is my first time posting here, so I might have missed something, If it did happen, I will gladly edit the post or add the missing info.

Thank you in advance for any feedback whatsoever!

Edited November 28, 2020 by equinøx

[equinøx]

Any feedback? Maybe some more information is needed. If so, let me know, please.

[frukox]

Executing a low block is really tricky but if you think your players can handle the pressure and attack the opposition hard on the counter successfully, go for it.

Your tactic is similar when going down both flanks. Your wingers should be really good at going up and down and skinning their markers. If not you are going to have a hard time as you don't have the variety a really good tactic needs. Maybe this could work:

              PF(A)   TM(A)

WM(A)  BBM   DLP(S)    WM(S)

FB(S)   NCB(D)  CB(D)    WB(S)

                     G(D)

Positive(you are looking for more forward-thinking movement, good candidate for fast-transition based tactics)

Increase the passing directness and reduce the attacking to wide and drop your LOE to lower and now you need an aggressive defence as you cant allow your opposition time and space in your defensive third so think about adding more urgent pressing,tight marking, narrow defensive width and get stuck in.

When you are against a defensive opponent, this tactic may not work by the way.

Edited November 29, 2020 by frukox