Pragmatic Football - Bringing Mourinho-inspired 4-2-3-1 to FM22

[ta11zx]

I started using this tactic with the Benevento game. I started the match with Balanced and they were up 2-0.  I then followed these instructions to make the tactic more attacking: 

 

On 30/01/2022 at 11:12, crusadertsar said:

mentality to Positive and making a few duty changes (switching the segundo volante to attack duty or make my left wingback more attacking). I also drop some team instructions (like work from the back that I mentioned before). Sometimes subbing out a player who is not doing well (rating below 6.5) and putting in a fresh replacement can work wonders in changing the dynamic of the match

They were up 3-1 and the change worked and we drew 3-3.  The Juventus game was one of the best comebacks ive experienced in FM21.  Check this XG story out:


 

I Decided to be defensive since I'm facing a tough team - i made the wingback on the left into D duty. and Balanced mentality.  They were destroying us 3-0 after only 5 minutes.  I then followed the same instructions to make the tactic more attacking: Wingback(A), remove play out of defense, SV(A).  We managed to score a goal just before half.  I then subbed off my defensive SV for a more offensive one.  The xg Story will tell you the rest.. an epic 94th minute Game winning Gol.

 

When i am protecting a lead i follow this advice: 

 

On 30/01/2022 at 11:12, crusadertsar said:

change my left wingback into a more defensive, less risk-taking role like fullback (support) or wingback (defend). Or drop my line of engagement one slot lower to make the team (and as result our defence more compressed and harder to break down). Or I could add some team instructions like "hold shape", "play more disciplined" or "waste time". 

Of course none of this would work if i didnt have the correct players for it - they fit into some of the key roles perfectly: 

My AMC: Rodrigo De Paul 

My IF: Gerard Deulofeu

IW: Roberto Pereyra

My Defensive SV
 

 

 

Edited January 31, 2022 by ta11zx

[ta11zx]

My Regista: Mato Jajalo

 

My PF: Ilija Nestorovski

 

My More attacking SV: 

 

 

Looking forward to the rest of the entries for this tactical masterpiece and how we can change roles / duties around from @crusadertsar

[crusadertsar]

19 hours ago, ta11zx said:

Fantastic Post - i have had some incredible results using this tactic with Udinese in FM 21.  

What would you say is your Squads DNA for this tactic?  Some say Jose M didnt like high flair players but then Di maria and Ronaldo thrived under his system.  Would love to hear your take. 

I will post some results i had soon after making tactical tweaks in game - they do wonders.
 

Great results ! Looking forward to future updates.

I would disagree on what people say about Mourinho and high flair players. If anything he loves having such players on his team. Of course for the most part, his players will play in a more balanced, disciplined way except for that one special player given more creative freedom. All of Mourinho's successful teams had at least one individual game-breaking player. Usually in the advanced midfield playmaker role. The Fantasista so to speak. Players like Dico at Porto, Ozil at Real Madrid and Sneijder at Inter. Basically a player who could create chances from almost nothing. For a system that is more rigid and conservative having such a player is a requirement to add a bit of creative spark, unpredictability. Otherwise the system risks becoming predictable and easily countered by opposition. Maybe that's one of the reasons why things did not work out at Tottenham and Man United. Lack of such a creative catalyst.

[mikcheck]

@crusadertsar any particular reason why you don't user counter?

Edited February 1, 2022 by mikcheck

[Bigshow1]

1 hour ago, mikcheck said:

@crusadertsar any particular reason why you don't user counter?

I was about to ask this also. Why no use of regroup or counter etc?

[crusadertsar]

@mikcheck @Bigshow1 good question. I am a firm believer in using the absolute minimum of instructions necessary to achieve the desired effect or style. In this thread, the point was to create a balanced tactic. Not one where players will look to counter at every opportunity. And even then without the specific instruction I find we get plenty of counter opportunities.

How? What most team instructions do is exaggerated the natural tendencies of players within the formation.  Theoretically you could make a successful tacic without any instructions just by selecting roles and duties that move and compliment each other well. Then the overall team mentality already tells the players a lot of what you want them to do. The shape itself is a good starting point even without instructions. In my case to achieve effective counters lining the players up in 4-2-3-1 formation is already more than enough. Upfront I will use minimum 2, sometimes 3 attack duties who are my fastest players and ready to take advantage of any counter opportunities. In the game the counter develops automatically once you have a certain amount of players in opposition half with a certain amount of opposition players in your half. Then no matter what mentality or instructions you use your players will start a counter. To develop such situations the top heavy shape is already sufficient. Counter instruction is not necessary in my opinion. Although I might use it sometimes situationally against teams that press me. To make my players more proactive in finding space behind the opponent's defence.

Edited February 1, 2022 by crusadertsar

[ta11zx]

22 hours ago, crusadertsar said:

Looking forward to future updates.

Season ended and we managed to finish 7th - which is amazin considering we were projected to finish 15th. 

We started struggling last few games of the season.  im not sure why as i didnt have injuries but we really started to struggle scoring.  Although some of the teams we faced we had no business winning anyway like Lazio (2nd) and Milan(1st).  We should have beat Torino and last place Parma - but we just kept struggling to create and put away chances.  so im not sure what the issue is. 

 

59 minutes ago, crusadertsar said:

Upfront I will use minimum 2, sometimes 3 attack duties who are my fastest players and ready to take advantage of any counter opportunities.

I will give this a go now if im struggling to score - lets see how it goes. 

 

59 minutes ago, crusadertsar said:

Although I might use it sometimes situationally against teams that press me. To make my players more proactive in finding space behind the opponent's defence.

I was going to ask how to approach matches when the opposition are heavy favorites.  I guess using counter instruction may help but we really struggle to get anything going against the big teams offensively. 

 

[ta11zx]

Sadly season 2 with this tactic not going too well.  I upgraded my striker, regista and IW and despite this, we are battling for relegation.  

 

Last season finished 7th - predicted 15th 

 

This season predicted top half but fighting relegation.

 

Not sure what happened. 

Edited February 5, 2022 by ta11zx

[Wavelberry]

Morale issue perhaps. A tactic can be technically solid but if your dynamics are shank then it will be affected.

[krript]

İts not morale or someting else. That always happens in fm series. You need to tweak or change your tactic. 

[crusadertsar]

52 minutes ago, krript said:

İts not morale or someting else. That always happens in fm series. You need to tweak or change your tactic. 

I would respectfully disagree with these statements. In fact morale does play a HUGE part in the games (probably since FM20 onward). More so than in the old FMs. I make sure that my players are always properly motivated. That means running team meetings every two weeks or so. Especially before big games.

Also you have to pay attention to the post-match talks. You cannot just always praise your players blindly if they win. Some wins are not as good as others. Usually if your have a good assistant manager he will give you hints. Like for example, beating an underdog/relegation candidate by one or two goals is not good enough if you are big team expected to finish in the top five of the league. So this is good enough time to warn your players about complacency. Or even tell them you were not happy with some aspects of their game like midfield possession or finishing.

On the topic of changing tactics because you started to not do well. Usually that is not a good idea midway through the season. You should not be completely changing your tactic based on opposition. Rather making small tweaks is usually all you will need.

In fact I have been running with this same tactic for almost the full season now and Villareal is performing pretty much as expected if not a little better.

As you can see we are in 5th position with a team that I did not make any big transfers with. True we are not overachieving but then it has been a very tight title race. There are only 5 points difference separating the #1 team and the 5th spot. And we still have 6 key games to go. So anything is possible. But my point is that I have been running with the same tactic all season and while there were a few bad streaks of loses and drops in morale, it has largely been stable and consistent. The same probably couldn't be said had I changed it midway through or after an especially bad loss. In FM22, the "long game" is very important.

The tweaks that I have been making are very small ones like one or two team instructions or a single duty change. All you need really. I will try to show more on what I mean shortly. Just need to get some screenshots as examples. 

Edited February 5, 2022 by crusadertsar

[ta11zx]

2 hours ago, crusadertsar said:

The tweaks that I have been making are very small ones like one or two team instructions or a single duty change. All you need really. I will try to show more on what I mean shortly. Just need to get some screenshots as examples. 

Eagerly waiting for this.  Need to save my team from relegation

[crusadertsar]

Mini-Update: End-of-Season Review and Tactical Takeaways

1) The first takeaway message of this first season with this Mourinho-inspired tactic is that it proved to be a highly stable tactical platform for Villarreal to overachieve. Somewhat. In my opinion, Villarreaal was a perfect choice to test this tactic because it had a very average squad (albait one that was suited to the 4-2-3-1) neither filled with top offensive talent like Real Madrid or Athletico Madrid nor stocked with exceptional technical players like Barcelona or even Sevilla. At the start of the season we were predicted to finish 5th, as a better-than average top-half team. We ended up finishing 3rd and qualifying for the Champions League for the 2nd consecutive time in recent club history. Last season it was through Europa League one automatic spot. For a while there in early April I had hopes of even beating Valencia for the title but we dropped a few important games (against Real Madrid and the big final showdown against the eventual league champion). So it didn't happen but the consolation prizes this season were the two cup wins. Both of which happened against some pretty big competition. The European Super Cup we beat Chelsea 1-0 and in Spanish Cup - Real Madrid 1-0. 

As you can see in the latter part of the season we manage to score more than enough goals while keeping quite a few clean sheets. The tactic's record against the "big" teams was also good. Decent results against Barcelona and A.Madrid. The Champions League 3-4 loss against Liverpool in two legs had more positive than negatives in my opinion. There is the fact that we only managed to lose by one goal. And then we managed to mount an almost comeback by getting 2 past Alisson at Anfield. To make the match that close against one of the best teams in the world is a win in my books. And gives me much to look forward to in the next season's Champions League.

2) This brings us to the second take-away message. The tactic. It does not look that different from what I presented in the previous updates but there a few important notes that I wanted to mention. It is remarkable that the Balanced team mentality and this simple collection of instructions manage to get Villareal this far. 

And that is the combination of instructions that I used for perhaps 80% of the matches this season. That is right I did not really make any adjustments for AWAY versus Home games or parked bus defensive teams. The only time when I tweaked the tactic was before the tough "big" opponents such as Liverpool, Man United, Real Madrid or Barcelona. For such games I would generally drop the line of engagement to "Lower", take off "tighter marking" and "play out of defence". And add "counter" instruction. That's it. 

These tweaks turned out to be effective most of the time. Such as in our 2-2 AWAY tie against Liverpool we managed to consistently create better chances and have greater xG than the home team. And both of their goals were a result of a set piece. 

It led to some standout performances by our front three attackers. Especially the central striker Gerard Moreno. Moreno scored 22 goals! An impressive achievement for the 30 y.o.

Yet the wide forwards, Diallo (right IF) and Danjuma (left IW) were not far behind with 13 goals each. 

Overall, I was very happy how my front three forwards performed. Often it is mentioned on the forums that it is difficult to get the striker and wide forwards to score consistently and have high ratings. I don't think that is the case. I think it is merely the question of finding the right tactical system to suit your players. I can only imagine what sort of results I could get if I had some better forwards. 

3) The third take-away message. Goal-scoring. One of my main objectives of this project has been to see how few goals would the team concede when using a solid mid-block defence-focused system. So naturally the big surprise was seeing how well and often the players actually scored goals while using this "defensive" 4-2-3-1 tactic. I say "defensive" although it is not really that. Just as none of Jose Mourinho's tactics are ever intended to be "defensive". But nevertheless this 4-2-3-1 is not your typical gegenpress, "win everything" high pressing uber-tactic that we see in the download section of this very forum. Nor does it claim to score over 100 goals per season like some of the tactics on there do. BUT it managed to net us more than enough goals to end the season in 3rd place. In the league, and in our goal-scoring both with 70 goals (only 1 behind the goal-scoring leaders Real Hispalis and Real Madrid). 

4) Defending. Our defending was not too shabby either. Especially considering this was the whole point of this tactic. We came in 3rd place in the number of goals conceded (33). Unfortunately 10 of those 33 came from corners and freekicks. So our set-piece defence is definitely something we have to work on for next season. 

5) Overall, VIllarreal's combined offensive and defensive stats were above average. It turned out to be a very balanced tactical system that created more good chances than an average team while conceding less than an average team.

So even if we did not win the league, I see this experiment as a success so far. It proved that one can create a good "balanced" tactic that is as good at defending as it is at scoring. No need for aggressive defending or tactical instruction overload. All you need is a sensible defence-focused approach when creating the tactic. And take some care before the "big" matches to analyze the opposition. With these lessons learned I expect to Villareal to perform even better next season. And there are a few things to look forward to in the future. 

6) And that brings us to the final take-away message. The Future. 

This save turned out way more fun than I expected, to the point where a one season-long experiment turned into my main FM22 save which I will hope to play at least until FM23 comes out. Here are the reasons why.

Amad Diallo, The 19 year old wonderkid on 2 year loan from Man United, managed to score 13 goals and assist on 15. A trully standout performance. I was happy that the tactic was able to get the best out of our right winger which incidentally was my "Young Ronaldo" position (to mirror the left winger in Mourinho's 4-2-3-1 at Real Madrdi). 

With such a strong performance Amad more than deserved his Young Player of The Season Award and I am very happy that we will have his services for another season. And then there is the $39 million buy out clause that I might just pull the trigger on. 

And finally speaking of the more long-term future, there is this kid that came through our first youth intake.

Villarreal's future is bright indeed!

 

TO BE CONTINUED ... 

 

 

[ta11zx]

1 hour ago, crusadertsar said:

take some care before the "big" matches to analyze the opposition

Can dive into how you analyze opposition and make changes with this tactic?  In seria A, there's a lot more " big matches" than I can handle.   Napoli, Milan, inter, juve, roma, Lazio and firontina. 

[crusadertsar]

3 hours ago, ta11zx said:

Can dive into how you analyze opposition and make changes with this tactic?  In seria A, there's a lot more " big matches" than I can handle.   Napoli, Milan, inter, juve, roma, Lazio and firontina. 

I was speaking in general terms. I don't study every single one of their players and try to counter them direct. Usually I just check for their style of play by looking at the scouting reports. So if your opponent is a high pressing direct attacking side like Liverpool then you know that you will need to take off "pass from the back" and increase the tempo in order to better resist their high press and to pass around them. Then adding "counter" and "pass into space" might be good idea as more gaps will form behind their defences as they press you.

[crusadertsar]

Something to think about this weekend 

2nd Season Tactical Musings: Creating Successful Attacking Transitions in FM22

Coming Soon ...

 

[Mourinho_Mastermind]

Hey Crusader Tsar I have followed your threads for a long time and like you have been trying to find some balance to your pragmatic football so I have tried.I did watch the videos from Football made Simple and also a few other threads about the tactics of Jose from his Porto days to his Chelsea 2nd stint. Now I wanna see your opinion and the opnion of others onto m tactic that i have developed, I wanna hear some advices or suggestions onto it. I will leave below the tactic and the results I had at Man Utd as I was managing them as part of my annual fm save of Inter and Utd

[coach vahid]

Il y a 2 heures, Mourinho_Mastermind a dit :

Hey Crusader Tsar I have followed your threads for a long time and like you have been trying to find some balance to your pragmatic football so I have tried.I did watch the videos from Football made Simple and also a few other threads about the tactics of Jose from his Porto days to his Chelsea 2nd stint. Now I wanna see your opinion and the opnion of others onto m tactic that i have developed, I wanna hear some advices or suggestions onto it. I will leave below the tactic and the results I had at Man Utd as I was managing them as part of my annual fm save of Inter and Utd

Two playmakers? Not too much for a Mourinho style. 

And wingback are not too agressive? 

Can you explain your idea behind the roles and some team instructions? 

Thanks. 

[Mourinho_Mastermind]

13 hours ago, coach vahid said:

Two playmakers? Not too much for a Mourinho style. 

And wingback are not too agressive? 

Can you explain your idea behind the roles and some team instructions? 

Thanks. 

My idea really was to reproduce the tactic that he had at RM sort of if I may say that, I had a cwb su at the right implement a  Marcelo type of fullback but about halfway to the season i changed it to a simple wbu su because i wanted to keep some of the balance in the tactic and for the other fullback i was going for either a fb-su with a sit narrower instruction or a wb-su. For the midfield and why it has two playmakers, it is fairly simple. As Crusader Tsar mentioned in both this post and the one on fm 21 Xabi Alonso was a deep lying playmaker so I didn't see a reason to not put him in that role, Khedira was a box to box player that could be used deeper in the dm strate but i didn't really wish to put him there. For the ap-at role well at utd I did not have the possibility to really show of a trequartista as Bruno was injured a lot of times and had to play Van de Beek on. For the wingers i picked Inverted Wingers as i liked the role from the previous versions of the game and I think it suited the role for both Angel Di Maria and Cristiano Ronaldo with Ronaldo going more into the box than Maria but that didn't mean that if the team was blocked in the left side or central side Maria couldn't try the same thing as Ronaldo. For striker i chose CF because i feel that's the type of role that Mourinho gave to his strikers usually from Drogba to Milito to Benzema, being the aerial threat, goal scorer and passing outlet all in one.

Now for the tactical part of it,
In possesion I wanted to not crowd the thing too much with instructions so I chose to put on just play out of defense and another reason was the fact I had Positive Mentality on and I didn't wish to go too hoof the ball type of tactic by increasing either the tempo or directness of the team, Positive already having a higher tempo but shorter passes to not go too direct and allow the players to think their next decision.

In transition it was fairly simple to pick because Mourinho's teams usually countered a lot and it is a good thing to have on this FM,Distribute quickly is a thing that helps in the counter attacking part of the tactic though it wasn't the only type of attack the team could do, Distribute to Centre-back was common for those teams because Ramos could go up the field and do passes, receiving and giving the ball and for Regroup well to not be caught themselves in a counter attack by the opposition team.

Out of possesion in here i chose Force outside  to crowd the box and not let anyone or anything near the box.Lower line of engagement was ticked to make the team even more compact on the field like with the force outside, the get stuck in and  tighet marking were as in the world of Crusader Tsar to press aggresivly and not high on the pitch.Finally press more often i put because i wanted to have a lot of pressure into the opposition.

Hope I have made my presentation clear and i covered up all the points that were needed

 

[crusadertsar]

8 hours ago, Mourinho_Mastermind said:

My idea really was to reproduce the tactic that he had at RM sort of if I may say that, I had a cwb su at the right implement a  Marcelo type of fullback but about halfway to the season i changed it to a simple wbu su because i wanted to keep some of the balance in the tactic and for the other fullback i was going for either a fb-su with a sit narrower instruction or a wb-su. For the midfield and why it has two playmakers, it is fairly simple. As Crusader Tsar mentioned in both this post and the one on fm 21 Xabi Alonso was a deep lying playmaker so I didn't see a reason to not put him in that role, Khedira was a box to box player that could be used deeper in the dm strate but i didn't really wish to put him there. For the ap-at role well at utd I did not have the possibility to really show of a trequartista as Bruno was injured a lot of times and had to play Van de Beek on. For the wingers i picked Inverted Wingers as i liked the role from the previous versions of the game and I think it suited the role for both Angel Di Maria and Cristiano Ronaldo with Ronaldo going more into the box than Maria but that didn't mean that if the team was blocked in the left side or central side Maria couldn't try the same thing as Ronaldo. For striker i chose CF because i feel that's the type of role that Mourinho gave to his strikers usually from Drogba to Milito to Benzema, being the aerial threat, goal scorer and passing outlet all in one.

Now for the tactical part of it,
In possesion I wanted to not crowd the thing too much with instructions so I chose to put on just play out of defense and another reason was the fact I had Positive Mentality on and I didn't wish to go too hoof the ball type of tactic by increasing either the tempo or directness of the team, Positive already having a higher tempo but shorter passes to not go too direct and allow the players to think their next decision.

In transition it was fairly simple to pick because Mourinho's teams usually countered a lot and it is a good thing to have on this FM,Distribute quickly is a thing that helps in the counter attacking part of the tactic though it wasn't the only type of attack the team could do, Distribute to Centre-back was common for those teams because Ramos could go up the field and do passes, receiving and giving the ball and for Regroup well to not be caught themselves in a counter attack by the opposition team.

Out of possesion in here i chose Force outside  to crowd the box and not let anyone or anything near the box.Lower line of engagement was ticked to make the team even more compact on the field like with the force outside, the get stuck in and  tighet marking were as in the world of Crusader Tsar to press aggresivly and not high on the pitch.Finally press more often i put because i wanted to have a lot of pressure into the opposition.

Hope I have made my presentation clear and i covered up all the points that were needed

 

Great presentation to the tactic  I like how you outlined your intentions with why you chose each tactical instruction and role. I think overall it's a good representation of how Mourinho's Real Madrid played. There are a few things that I would change personally. In my opinion anyway.

I would not play with two BPDs even if I had two amazingly creative ballplaying defenders. It's a bit overkill and basically telling your players to bypass your deep playmaker. I'm also not a fan of AP in AMC position as it slows your final approach and works against the quick attacking transitions/counters that you are trying to create.

Regarding the CF striker I like the choice of role but not the player. In my own system I would play Martial on the right in my more attacking IF role sort of like Ronaldo. Especially given his great dribbling attribute. He has neither the technical skills of Benzema nor the jumping reach and strength to pull two defenders to him like Drogba. So whole unsuitable to a central striker role in Mourinho-style 4-2-3-1

Edited February 15, 2022 by crusadertsar

[Mourinho_Mastermind]

44 minutes ago, crusadertsar said:

Great presentation to the tactic  I like how you outlined your intentions with why you chose each tactical instruction and role. I think overall it's a good representation of how Mourinho's Real Madrid played. There are a few things that I would change personally. In my opinion anyway.

I would not play with two BPDs even if I had two amazingly creative ballplaying defenders. It's a bit overkill and basically telling your players to bypass your deep playmaker. I'm also not a fan of AP in AMC position as it slows your final approach and works against the quick attacking transitions/counters that you are trying to create.

Regarding the CF striker I like the choice of role but not the player. In my own system I would play Martial on the right in my more attacking IF role sort of like Ronaldo. Especially given his great dribbling attribute. He has neither the technical skills of Benzema nor the jumping reach and strength to pull two defenders to him like Drogba. So whole unsuitable to a central striker role in Mourinho-style 4-2-3-1

Thanks for the advice in the matter of central defenders and also f or the amc position, I will put one of them as a cd and only allow one bpd so it will be balanced.Regarding the amc position I think i will move him from an ap to a simple am like you did on a su matter with a move into channels instruction.Now the striker thing is that I initially had Ronaldo there to handle it and it had worked wonders with him scoring a lot of goals now he sadly had been injured for 9 months in i think was jan/dec and he retired leaving me with playing Cavani/Greenwood/Martial and it didn't work out for me that well as i started to lose the lead i had initially but luckily for me Greenwood and Cavani did their job. I had Martial as a CF in that formation because it was just after my UCL final against Man City, Cavani and Greenwood being sadly injured at that time.

[nick1408]

On 12/02/2022 at 00:19, crusadertsar said:

Something to think about this weekend 

2nd Season Tactical Musings: Creating Successful Attacking Transitions in FM22

Coming Soon ...

 

 

Will you be expanding on your AM line in this update?

[crusadertsar]

22 hours ago, nick1408 said:

 

Will you be expanding on your AM line in this update?

Yeah. Mostly the forwards. So striker and the three AM level players. I'm doing some more testing with the tactic in the 2nd season to find tune it. But should have the update written soon.

[nick1408]

26 minutes ago, crusadertsar said:

Yeah. Mostly the forwards. So striker and the three AM level players. I'm doing some more testing with the tactic in the 2nd season to find tune it. But should have the update written soon.

Cool. Thanks mate. I’m also wondering about the switch of sides of the DM’s so a quick update on that would be nice. 

[crusadertsar]

Sorry guys haven't done an update in a while. To tell the truth haven't had much heart to play FM. Much less write about it. Just feeling kind of numb with what's happening in Ukraine. Some of you might know that I am Ukrainian. I don't live there anymore but still have family and friends there. Luckily they are all in the Western region which hasn't been affected yet. But it's still devastating watching the tragedy unfold and seeing the country of my birth being destroyed day by day. Sorry, I just had to mention this because I respect some of you who might have been waiting for me to put out an update this week. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it soon once I feel better.

 

[trgtoztrk]

On 26/02/2022 at 04:50, crusadertsar said:

Sorry guys haven't done an update in a while. To tell the truth haven't had much heart to play FM. Much less write about it. Just feeling kind of numb with what's happening in Ukraine. Some of you might know that I am Ukrainian. I don't live there anymore but still have family and friends there. Luckily they are all in the Western region which hasn't been affected yet. But it's still devastating watching the tragedy unfold and seeing the country of my birth being destroyed day by day. Sorry, I just had to mention this because I respect some of you who might have been waiting for me to put out an update this week. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it soon once I feel better.

 

We feel you brother, I am an ex army officer that resigned 2 years ago(from Turkey btw) and I know lot of about war, I wish Ukraine will win this and everything and everyone will be fine after all. Also hope that nothing bad will happen to your family and your country, this Russian nonsense should be stop asap and it is very very understandable that you cannot continue the thread right now. We are with you. Hope see you soon.

[crusadertsar]

I was not able to pick up the game for a while due to recent world events. But now little by little I'm starting to get back into my saves. And more importantly feel like writing about them again. Maybe it has the do a little with the start of spring, even if the situation in the news hasn't improved much. I like to think of this as my little distraction. Lately I've been distracted by thinking of ways to improve my attacking transitions. Hopefully you guys find this a little interesting and helpful. 

Using 4-2-3-1 Shape to Create Better Attacking Transitions and Counters

Before we examine how to create them in FM22, it is important to understand what exactly are attacking transitions in football. They are an important part of counter-attacking football, but not exclusive to that style of football. I would even go as far as to claim that any successful tactic needs to have potent, well-thought-out attacking transitions. Jose Mourinho has always been a manager who build his successful tactics around a strong attacking transition phase.

“If you don't play on the counter-attack, it's because you are stupid. It is a fantastic part of football, a weapon that, when you find your opponent off balance, gives you a fantastic option to score a goal” - Jose Mourinho

I whole-heartedly agree with Jose on this. No matter what style of football you seek, after successfully gaining possession a team needs to move quickly towards the opposition’s goal. And the quicker they do this, the less time the opposition will have to organize their defences. If the ball is not moved up quickly enough, the opponent gets too much time to organize. You end up with too much possession and not enough penetration. The dreaded possession for the sake of possession. Fast attacking transitions and effective counters are an antidote to such "stale" football. In my opinion, they are an integral part of the game. As you get better at attacking transitions, you will get better at breaking those stalemates. And in scoring more goals in general. Which is what most of us are after in FM22, no?

Attacking Transitions - The Basis for all Good Tactics

A football match is made of various parts. We call those parts, phases of play. In the game, the phases are simplified to two: in-possession and out-of-possession. But where the magic happens is actually between the phases. What the game calls the in-transition "phase". Although transition is not really a phase, but rather a change from one phase to another.

During this transition "phase" you instruct players on what they should be doing when changing from one phase of play to another. Like if they lose the ball and move from in-possession to out-of-possession. Transitioning from attack to defence. Or vice versa. Will you want them to pursue (counter-press) the opposition and try to win the ball back at all costs? Or to drop back into their defensive positions and regroup, patiently waiting for the opponents to attack.

The specific focus of this guide will be attacking transitions. Specifically, on how to set them up through using instructions and player roles.

An attacking transition starts when the ball is won (counter begins) and it continues until it gets to your forwards. Moving from possession to attack. Usually, a counter-attack occurs when a team launches into attack immediately after winning the ball back. Basically, it's a very fast attacking transition. It is also one of the best ways to stop the opposition's attack and put them on the defensive. Counters always happen during the attacking transition phase of the match. At the end of the day, if you want your team to pose a strong goal threat, you will need to think hard about how you will want their attacking transitions to work. What roles and team instructions you will use?

Attacking transition is a short period of time, usually lasting no more than 10-12 seconds. But a lot can happen during it. As part of a well-orchestrated attack, you might have a direct pass from one your midfielders that unlocks the defence. Or a series of quick one-twos linking midfield to attack. Or a whipped cross from the flank towards your big Targetman upfront. 

Whatever its source, a good attacking transition involves the exploitation of space and is indicative of a good balanced tactic. It boils down to a logical distribution of roles and duties. And a selection of a few key team instructions. Actually, you don't need too many instructions. The selection of formation and roles will already get you well on your way towards effective transitions. And more goals!

Ideal 4-2-3-1: Role Variety and Instructional Simplicity

 A potent attacking transition starts with a good creative foundation to your tactic. By this I mean the collection of players who will be feeding passes and crosses to your attackers. In my 4-2-3-1, these players are principally my regista, advanced midfielder and the two wingbacks for crosses. A Ball-playing Defender can also be a potent feeder. Provided you have a very creative centreback for the role.

The 4-2-3-1 formation offers many, varied avenues for assisting the forwards and creating quick attacking transitions. One can place "playmaking" roles in practically all the strata of the formation. Attacks can be started from the flanks, deep midfield, advanced midfield, and even defensive strata. This leads to multiple avenues for creating chances. And unlike other formations, it offers three-pronged attack: central striker and both wingers who can take advantage of all the chances created. It's not a "one-trick pony" kind of system. Tactical variety is the key word here.

Team Mentality and Instructions

I find Balanced team mentality to be a good foundation for most of my tactics. It provides a perfect combination of player behaviors. You get more risk-taking from your attackers while your defending players don't become too adventurous. I’m looking to create gradual increase in individual mentality from defenders to forwards. Looking at individual mentalities gives an idea of how much freedom the players are given in regards to their risk-taking behavior. Generally, you want risk-taking behaviour to increase as the ball gets closer to the opposition penalty box.

On the other hand, I don't want to see hoofball or constant crossing from the flanks. Consequently, I'm a bit more conservative with the roles and duties for my defenders, fullbacks and midfielders. And having "play from the back" is there to make sure that we do not waste scoring opportunities by launching attacks too early. But once the ball leaves the midfield, the presence of more attack duties among my forwards, makes the transitions more rapid in the final third. My forwards are sure to act on the chances created by the rest of the team. It is also the reason why I concentrate all of the attack duties in the attacking trident.

Balanced team mentality helps us with creating this sort of "slow-to-fast" build-up. Which would not be possible if we were playing on Attacking team mentality. I definitely don't want my defenders to launch attacks as soon as they have the ball. So Balanced, is a great starting mentality for a club that wants to BOTH defend well and attack well. Also, playing in a more balanced way suits a team that faces defensive opponents. In this case, it becomes especially important to exploit space well and create good chances. Something that super aggressive Gegenpress might not offer.

But you don't win games by smothering your opponent with constant pressing and 1000 sideways passes. You win through using balanced tactic that create good varied chances.

You don't want to smother the opposition and compress them around their goal which would help them deny you space. Rather, it is important to a have your own defence stay compact around your goal. It will deny space to the opponent. While giving more freedom to your forwards. If you have fast fast wingers then they will have more space to run into, behind the opponent's defensive line. This space will open up once the opposition commits itself to pressing your compact midfield and defence.

On a side note, I would not use this set-up when playing against a total underdog. Such teams won't test your defences at all, being happy to stay behind and deny you space. For such opponents I tend to increase both my line of engagement and defensive line. I would even increase the team mentality one notch, to make my players even more proactive in their decision-making.

For most opponents however, my original balanced approach works rather well. Last season my team was especially effective in attacks produced from through balls generated from deep.

 

It's All in The Roles

For this you will need certain types of players in both defence and midfield. As well as in attack, to receive such passes. In my tactic, I created a rather nice partnership between the Ball-playing Defender and Regista. They are essentially the creative fulcrum of the formation. These two players start many of our scoring chances.

This is my regista wonderkid.

Not only does he have great attributes for those precise long passes, but his traits are also perfectly suited to our style of play. Similarly, I always look for an ultra-creative player as my BPD. Sometimes I will even play a former midfielder or fullback (with decent jumping, positioning and tackling attributes) in this role to take advantage of his passing range and vision.

I cannot stress enough; the quality of the creative players in these roles will impact directly on the quality of the attacking transitions created by your team. In turn, your forwards will need specific attributes to take advantage of the plays created by your creative players. In this, I would say that you will need at least three out of four of your advanced attacking players to be rather fast (acceleration and pace) and possessing good off the ball and anticipation. For best results when playing in the top division, you will want these attributes to be at least 15.

You could get away with a less nimble striker, provided he excels at the more typical Targetman attributes such as Jumping, Balance and Strength. This way, even if he is not fast, he can be a creative player (with decent passing, vision and teamwork) with ability to withstand opposition defenders. Then he could act as a strong focus for passes and crosses and then connect with your wide attackers who have the agility and speed to escape their markers.

Finally, the Advanced Midfielder plays a similarly important role in linking plays. So even if you have a slower player here, he will make up for this with his creativity.

The distribution of duties is the most important aspect of any well-balanced tactic. A tactic that defends well and yet hits hard in the final third has to have components that complement each other well and make up for their weaknesses. More defensive and conservative duties in the back slowly transition to more attack-minded roles at the head of the formation. Naturally, you'll want to keep your defence compact to make up for the more wide, open play by your wingers. So I designated one of the fullbacks (left flank in this formation) as the more defensive one. He is instructed to stay narrower, almost like a third centreback. Thus, there are never less than 3 players staying back during our attacks. Having an extra defensive player will balance the forward runs by your regista.

Moving up the mentality ladder to the forwards. All four have "attacking" individual mentality, as they will need to be more adventurous. They have to be ready to take more risks and make the best of all the chances created by the midfielders and fullbacks.

Transitions and Counters in Action

I think the best way for me to explain is through concrete examples from the game. So I will try to show you how my attacking transitions are working in FM22 and contributing to some very nice counters. Firstly, our play starts with a pass from my ball-playing defender (BPD).

The result is an eventual goal by our winger. Only some 10 seconds pass between the two, so it a rather quick attacking transition. Exactly, what I am aiming for. But let me discuss the factors which I believe influenced the quality of the chance that led to a goal.

Firstly, my BPD is a very creative player with great passing, vision and other relevant mental attributes. It's almost like having a very deep playmaker. That is something that I always try to achieve in all of my 4-2-3-1 counter-attacking tactics. You never know when you'll get that nice through ball from one of your defenders. A pass that unlocks opposition's tight defence. Having at least one creative passer in your backline is practically mandatory.

Likewise, you need good link-up players in the midfield. And another playmaker-type player in your advanced midfielder position. Yet, you don't want to set him up in a playmaker role. This might slow down your transitions and give more time for opposition defenders to organize. But you will definitely want someone who can control ball easily (good balance and composure) and pass it quickly and accurately to your attacking trio.

Speaking of the three forwards, their "off-the-ball movement" attribute is key, as it influences how they move when not in possession of the ball. A high value in off-the-ball makes it more likely for a player to successfully receive a pass in a dangerous position.

Off-the-ball is related to anticipation. Like anticipation, it's about how well a player can assess a rapidly-developing situation. And then how he moves without the ball, to make himself available to receive the ball in a position where he can provide the biggest goal threat. Either to attempt to score or to pass the ball to another teammate who is better positioned.

Because attacking transitions can occur so quickly, in addition to off-the-ball attribute, your wingers will need great anticipation, decisions and acceleration. They will require the ability to able make a correct assessment of the situation and then act on it quickly. Without decent acceleration (at least 15 for the top 5 leagues), the player might anticipate the ball movement well but won't be fast enough to act on it.

While the central striker doesn't need to be as fast. Rather you want someone who is strong and imposing. A player who, by his mere physical presence, can hopefully attract and occupy one or more defenders.

It is also very helpful if he happens to have a fair amount of technique and creativity. Also, you need him to be able to pass the ball to a teammate in a better scoring position. Especially if his markers are preventing him from getting a clear shot on goal. After all, if there are two defenders after your Targetman then that means there is space elsewhere which can be exploited by your quick wingers.

It is not that difficult to create an effective 4-2-3-1 tactic. Provided you take your time to build good synergy between roles, duties and instructions. Once you have achieved this and as a result can create effective attacking transitions, it becomes rather easy to score goals consistently. But as is the case with any successful tactic in FM22, you have to go in with a clear tactical plan and vision of what you want each one of your players to do. This game is a complex system of multiple interacting components. Like gears in a machine. Everything from attributes to individual traits and morale. The more of these elements that you can isolate and align with your tactical vision, the more likely success becomes. So keep on tweaking those tactics and having fun!

 

[loisvale]

This is a very good write up and the balanced philosophy works extremely well. 
 

Have used the principles with Sporting Lisbon and have comfortably put Porto and Benefica in their box and beaten Barca 3-0 in the Champs league. 
 

Like using as a base and tweaking with roles, TIs etc  

 

Thanks for sharing and I hope your family is ok in Ukraine  🇺🇦 

 

[crusadertsar]

6 minutes ago, loisvale said:

This is a very good write up and the balanced philosophy works extremely well. 
 

Have used the principles with Sporting Lisbon and have comfortably put Porto and Benefica in their box and beaten Barca 3-0 in the Champs league. 
 

Like using as a base and tweaking with roles, TIs etc  

 

Thanks for sharing and I hope your family is ok in Ukraine  🇺🇦 

 

Thanks you friend! I think Balanced mentality is under-appreciated. It is indeed a great base to start for any team. And then to add little tweaks depending on match. 

They are safe! Thanks for asking 

 

[crusadertsar]

For those interested, the evolution of my Balanced 4-2-3-1 continues in this thread now.

I'm trying to unite the best aspects of 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 in one hybrid tactic. And still doing great while using Balanced mentality with Villarreal. We just won our second Spanish Cup in a row 

[Feddo]

1181 replies, got some catching up to do 😅

 

[Mourinho_Mastermind]

Hey Crusader Tsar i wanted to ask,  are the instructions you had on the first page avaiable for the last post ?

[crusadertsar]

On 01/06/2022 at 18:16, Mourinho_Mastermind said:

Hey Crusader Tsar i wanted to ask,  are the instructions you had on the first page avaiable for the last post ?

No the instructions for the last tactic are shown in the screenshot. There have been some changes since the first page of this thread. 

[Mourinho_Mastermind]

Alright thank you, I was also refering if they were other personal instructions.  I would love to ask another questions; would you categorize Mourinh's counter attack fluid or direct ? 

Edited June 4, 2022 by Mourinho_Mastermind

[Feddo]

Just tried it out (1 one game). 1st half of a wc game against Real Madrid, was completely blown of the pitch. With the exception of a player with good flair in the regista spot I do feel I got the right personnel. 

Since I did wanted to win the game I switched to a much higher dline and LoE combined with counterpress. And then the tables where turned. (Lost however to a 90+3 corner 😅) 

I got some more experimenting to do in the upcoming pre-season. I like the idea a lot for my CL games, just need to figure out how to make it work with my players. 

 

Did you had any PI installed other the the one on the left back you mentioned?? 

 

Oh and I added pass into space, have you ever tried that? 

Edited June 6, 2022 by Feddo

[crusadertsar]

4 hours ago, Feddo said:

Just tried it out (1 one game). 1st half of a wc game against Real Madrid, was completely blown of the pitch. With the exception of a player with good flair in the regista spot I do feel I got the right personnel. 

Since I did wanted to win the game I switched to a much higher dline and LoE combined with counterpress. And then the tables where turned. (Lost however to a 90+3 corner 😅) 

I got some more experimenting to do in the upcoming pre-season. I like the idea a lot for my CL games, just need to figure out how to make it work with my players. 

 

Did you had any PI installed other the the one on the left back you mentioned?? 

 

Oh and I added pass into space, have you ever tried that? 

The tactic is as mentioned. No other PIs. You have to keep in mind it is no plug and play tactic and is not meant to be. My tactic was made to fit specific players too. So it's possible it might not work for every team. And also facing a team like Real Madrid, or Paris Saint Germain is a special case. No matter how good your tactic is, all bets are off the table. They are just too good in the first 4-6 seasons in the game, or until their stars start to ago or leave for other clubs. I'm in my 4th season in La Liga as Villareal and sitting comfortably in 2nd position but I can rately win against Real Madrid.

@Mourinho_Mastermind I would say he uses more direct counter attack.

[Mourinho_Mastermind]

Yeah i would agree he has a more direct style of counter attack nowadays, I think the Porto stint was more fluid on the counter attack with the more years passing he is now direct

[crusadertsar]

5 minutes ago, Mourinho_Mastermind said:

Yeah i would agree he has a more direct style of counter attack nowadays, I think the Porto stint was more fluid on the counter attack with the more years passing he is now direct

He has been corrupted by the English Premier League 

[Mourinho_Mastermind]

3 minutes ago, crusadertsar said:

He has been corrupted by the English Premier League 

Yep he did tho I would argue it was still was counter attack just in another way, both style's worked in the end

[Feddo]

On 06/06/2022 at 13:25, crusadertsar said:

 You have to keep in mind it is no plug and play tactic and is not meant to be. My tactic was made to fit specific players too. So it's possible it might not work for every team. And also facing a team like Real Madrid, or Paris Saint Germain is a special case. No matter how good your tactic is, all bets are off the table. They are just too good in the first 4-6 seasons in the game, or until their stars start to ago or leave for other clubs. I'm in my 4th season in La Liga as Villareal and sitting comfortably in 2nd position but I can rately win against Real Madrid.

I'm playing a really long save atm where I've made Feyenoord one of the biggest clubs in the world. It's a fun distraction from my really hectic life and most importantly not to difficult. Got enough real management puzzles in reality 😅

The thing that keeps it interesting is switching up systems. And your thread sparked an idea. I won't hijack your thread because I'm going to use it in a different way, more possession oriented. But I've used your formation and a lot of the instructions as a starting point. Have to say I like the early looks of it. 

I will use a counter attacking version for the later CL stages and if you're interested I will drop in an update here. 

Edited June 7, 2022 by Feddo

[Tsuru]

Hi @crusadertsar. This thread is quality - this is exactly what I was looking for, a strategy that is not too offensive neither relies on long ball/low block football. Simple, flexbile and very nice to see on the field. I have been creating my own system based on this thread´s ideas on Tokyo Verdy in Japan and our next mission is to survive on the J1 League after being promoted.

Another interesting part is that I have been using the 4-2-3-1 from your Total Football topic (the one with two DMs), with the strategy from this topic here. I think both match each other perfectly!

I would love to read more about the Mourinho inspired system on FM 23, with the new out of possession instructions and probably the changes that will come on the ME. Do you have any plans for that?

And thank you once more! 

[crusadertsar]

56 minutes ago, Tsuru said:

Hi @crusadertsar. This thread is quality - this is exactly what I was looking for, a strategy that is not too offensive neither relies on long ball/low block football. Simple, flexbile and very nice to see on the field. I have been creating my own system based on this thread´s ideas on Tokyo Verdy in Japan and our next mission is to survive on the J1 League after being promoted.

Another interesting part is that I have been using the 4-2-3-1 from your Total Football topic (the one with two DMs), with the strategy from this topic here. I think both match each other perfectly!

I would love to read more about the Mourinho inspired system on FM 23, with the new out of possession instructions and probably the changes that will come on the ME. Do you have any plans for that?

And thank you once more! 

I definitely have some things in the works! A few theories in my head and on paper that I am itching to test. You guys on the forum will, as always, probably be the first I'll share them with 

And personally I think with all the improvements that SI planned for FM23, these type of balanced midblock systems will work even better than before. 

[Tsuru]

Em 06/10/2022 em 18:32, crusadertsar disse:

I definitely have some things in the works! A few theories in my head and on paper that I am itching to test. You guys on the forum will, as always, probably be the first I'll share them with 

And personally I think with all the improvements that SI planned for FM23, these type of balanced midblock systems will work even better than before. 

These are fantastic news, I will be waiting for your FM 23 guide! 

I don't know if you already answered it on the topic, but do you do any changes on TIs when you are trying to hold a lead? Maybe shorter passing, play narrower and/or waste time?

[crusadertsar]

On 08/10/2022 at 05:26, Tsuru said:

These are fantastic news, I will be waiting for your FM 23 guide! 

I don't know if you already answered it on the topic, but do you do any changes on TIs when you are trying to hold a lead? Maybe shorter passing, play narrower and/or waste time?

Yes. Play narrower and waste time are my favourites when holding a lead against a heavily favoured team. Or sometimes instead I just lower the whole team mentality one notch (so like from Positive to Balanced, ect). This has a similar effect but more generalized where the whole team will play with less risk. 

[Mourinho_Mastermind]

Hey Crusader I wanted to ask you what you would think of this system i made basing my theories from this thread, the swiss knife one and some of your work from the past like   the  porto tactic

[crusadertsar]

On 11/10/2022 at 12:12, Mourinho_Mastermind said:

Hey Crusader I wanted to ask you what you would think of this system i made basing my theories from this thread, the swiss knife one and some of your work from the past like   the  porto tactic

Looks like a nice balanced system 👍

My only concern would be having two conservative fullbacks on the wings. I usually like to follow the Brazilian tradition of having one more defensive fullback (almost like 3rd centreback) and one attacking wingback to overlap and support the forwards. You can use a more defensively-responsible midfielder, such as carrilero, on the same side as wingback.

Edited October 13, 2022 by crusadertsar

[Mourinho_Mastermind]

3 hours ago, crusadertsar said:

Looks like a nice balanced system 👍

My only concern would be having two conservative fullbacks on the wings. I usually like to follow the Brazilian tradition of having one more defensive fullback (almost like 3rd centreback) and one attacking wingback to overlap and support the forwards. You can use a more defensively-responsible midfielder, such as carrilero, on the same side as wingback.

So basicly what Mourinho had in most of his systems usually, then  I think i will go with the carrilero on the right side and have the wing back on there so my left side will have the fullback staying as the 3rd defender. I think the duo of dlp and bwm type of duo in midfield is important, probably carrilero can do the job as the bwm probably, if not should i just put the bwm on de instead ? 

 

Edited October 13, 2022 by Mourinho_Mastermind
I forgot to add something

[crusadertsar]

1 hour ago, Mourinho_Mastermind said:

So basicly what Mourinho had in most of his systems usually, then  I think i will go with the carrilero on the right side and have the wing back on there so my left side will have the fullback staying as the 3rd defender. I think the duo of dlp and bwm type of duo in midfield is important, probably carrilero can do the job as the bwm probably, if not should i just put the bwm on de instead ? 

 

I prefer carrilero in most of my tactics for two reasons:

1) It comes with a higher individual mentality due to its support role. This means that with the right type of player he will be more proactive in supporting our attack, pinging passes and moving up progressively during an attack but ...

2) he will not be all out roaming and neglecting his defensive duties like a mezzala or even box to box. Carrilero is far closer to a holding midfielder role than those other more offensive -minded roles. Not to say that he will always sit back. He does not come with many hard-coded instructions so you could really customize him to your heart's content. Adding "hold position" if you wish. Even go as far as creating a creative holding player. Just by adding a few individual instructions. It's probably one of my favourite FM roles.

Oh and one very important thing I forgot to mention is carrilero's hard-coded tendency to cover the wide areas. It's one of the unique aspects of the role that simple CM(S) can't really recreate. This helps a lot in systems with one more aggressive wingback.

 

Edited October 13, 2022 by crusadertsar

[Mourinho_Mastermind]

35 minutes ago, crusadertsar said:

I prefer carrilero in most of my tactics for two reasons:

1) It comes with a higher individual mentality due to its support role. This means that with the right type of player he will be more proactive in supporting our attack, pinging passes and moving up progressively during an attack but ...

2) he will not be all out roaming and neglecting his defensive duties like a mezzala or even box to box. Carrilero is far closer to a holding midfielder role than those other more offensive -minded roles. Not to say that he will always sit back. He does not come with many hard-coded instructions so you could really customize him to your heart's content. Adding "hold position" if you wish. Even go as far as creating a creative holding player. Just by adding a few individual instructions. It's probably one of my favourite FM roles.

Oh and one very important thing I forgot to mention is carrilero's hard-coded tendency to cover the wide areas. It's one of the unique aspects of the role that simple CM(S) can't really recreate. This helps a lot in systems with one more aggressive wingback.

 

Alright man thanks for the info i appreciate it though i could still use a bwm-su in the 4231 right, i get why the car as essien could do that and i think most of Mourinho's 3 man midfield's mou had

[HanziZoloman]

Always enjoying your writing @crusadertsar it’s so helpful and it’s fun to try it out.

Question: I have a strong and slow TM, a creative and aggressive  fast AM a strong fast IF and a quick IW.

at the moment I am close to your tactics. FBs left WB right REG left VOL right

my front line is IFa AMa IWs and TMs up front. Which works well but often we miss a goal. Would you play all three behind the TMs in attacking duties?