ways to succesfully built up against different formations

[DimitrisLar]

I decided to make this topic to show how to use the opponent's formation in your advantage in a build up. I will use my save with Juventus to do that. In the season, i faced 3 formations more frequently. Before every different fotmation faced, there were changes in the role of the players. Of course there were differences in the opponents philosophies, which caused changes in the Team Instructions too. The experiment was succesful and got a nice quadruple.

My formation is 4-3-3. I'm gonna describe the basic shape i use to make. Then how i make it work against a 4-4-2, 4-3-3 & 4-2-3-1. 

The most integral part of the shape is a pentagon. It consists of defenders and midfielders. Basically it's a rondo. In some topics here it's referred as a 3-2 or 2-3, so 5 players having the duty of escaping the first lines of the opponents. After that, what is important, is the way to support the pentagon. Supporting the pentagon gives me an escaping route in case it attracts a lot of pressure. I use 1 player who is deeper (the GK obviously), 1 on the left, 1 on the right and 2 above. So 5 in the pentagon and 5 supporting it. It leaves 1 spare player. His job is to stretch the field horizontally. 

Using your imagination, in the tactic below, you can see how this shape is being made.. 

So, for somebody who doesn't get it, it becomes something like that.

 

And this is also my way to get around a 4-4-2. It was against Roma. the game ended 4-0 and the IF(a), who you see is feeded with passes, got all 4 goals.As you see, a pentagon consisting of FB,BPD,BPD,DM,RPM. Of course for that to work, in some roles, there are PI's, which are:

RFB: hold position, stay narrower, dribble more

LBPD: stay wider

DM: hold position

IW: hold position, stay wider

What i want to explain though, is why i chose the FB, against a 4-4-2, to be my 3rd man in the base of the rondo. Why i didn't use a HB instead of a DM and an IWB instead of a FB. Cause everything about a possession tactic is about having a player with a bit more time on the ball. The only way to have time on the ball is to have distance from the opponent. Having a HB splitting between my CB's isn't ideal for that reason. He is too close to the pressing opposition forward players. It might work but it's not my taste. My FB on the other hand has to be dealt from a ML, a wide midfield player. Against a 4-3-3, he'd be marked from a Winger, but now against a 4-4-2 he has an ML, who is having more distance to cover and that gives my FB time on the ball. This time on the ball creates, for the opponent, a sequence of miss-timed runs towards my players and their rondo. That's what makes them fooled around and me having an easy progression.

Next post will be about going around a 4-3-3.

P.S. I hope i'm not tiring you, as english is not my native language. I tried to keep it simple and tight.

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by DimitrisLar

[interferemadly]

Looking forward for next posts! Would like to know how you go against 5 at back systems

Edited May 20, 2022 by interferemadly
typo

[DimitrisLar]

On 20/05/2022 at 20:28, interferemadly said:

Looking forward for next posts! Would like to know how you go against 5 at back systems

most of these formations don't have wingers so it's a simple IWB on one side, or both. Only in 3-4-3 it's different, cause of their wingers, but i respond to it like i face a 4-3-3, which will be my next post. In case i take some more time to post, it's the shape of the pentagon that is altered. Instead of a 3-2, it's a 2-3 shape.

[Beni150]

Which shape of the pentagon would you use against 4231?

[Lambielsa]

This is really interesting. I get the idea of having a spare man taking advantage of space the opposition leave. I can’t quite picture the significance of the pentagon. Has anyone got any links for further reading? Thanks!