442 Diamond/4132Narrow Counter - Advice Needed!

[Kuchiki]

Hi, I'm looking for advice on whether my tactical ideas are good or bad and why?

I'll try to provide you with sufficient information so you can draw your own conclusions, I'm currently still playing FM21.

Here is my team report:

My main take away from this is we lack quality in a lot of areas but what we do have going for us is our tackling, work rate and teamwork. I've tried to setup my tactic (primarily the diamond with this in mind) and my general performance stats backs up that we are pretty good with our tackling however we are lacking in a lot of other areas.

 

 

Here is my primary tactic which I hope to use against the majority of teams:

Team Instructions

• I've opted for shorter passing hoping to keep things simple 
• Low crosses as we don't possess tall strikers who are good in the air
• Work ball into the box because we don't have wingers who can cross  
• Higher tempo because I felt we'd struggle to create chances with using short passing with a normal tempo and my passing % in games doesn't really take a hit by moving the tempo up a notch
• To help with our possession I thought our best option would be to distribute to our DLP, although this might not pan out well if heavily pressed so distributing to my wingbacks might be a better option at times
• Because I've opted for a narrow 442 diamond and I want to be proactive in winning the ball I've gone for a higher line as using a lower line with no wide midfielders I feel would cause me issues as it could potentially be too passive and invite too much space down the flanks.
• Due to our excellent teamwork, workrate and tackling I felt it made sense to max out our closing down and to tell the team to get stuck in and also to counter-press when we lose the ball
• Tight marking I've chosen because I want to increase my chances of not giving the opposition room to breathe and to help put my team on the front foot

Role and Duty selection

• I'm not blessed with quality goalkeepers so I've gone for a simple GKd
• I want to keep my Central defenders simple so CDd
• The FB/WB position are our main form of width and will be required to get up and down on a regular basis, I do however hope that my Mezzala can offer some width to stretch play this is something that I'm not sure is that effective
• DM position...last season I think I used a DMd role with a DLP ahead of him, this year I've switched it because I felt it would be better to have a BWM in a more advanced position to compliment the style of play I'm hoping to achieve. With a DLP in this area it may help me build from the back better and he should have the ability to switch the play to my wingbacks and recycle possession
• BWM to proactively win the ball back and to help with defensive security when our WBa bombs up the flank
• MEZZa I want to get into attacking halfspaces and provive width on the right flank as I don't want my right WB being to adventurous and I want my right WB to cross from deep although whether this will happen with WBIB I'm not sure 
• The front 3 I'm not settled on and I've been chopping and changing roles as I can't seem to get the balance right, I've been trying to focus on roles that create movement, I wanted to have a SS, AFa and F9 but didn't get great results with that I think it may have been due to the link up play maybe the SS was too advanced so lately I've changed it to a AM

And here I have attempted creating a counter tactic to play against the really top teams who I expect to be really attack minded:

 

Here you can find the attributes of my players, I did consider using the squad comparison but I came to the conclusion that this would perhaps be a better source of data as I assume the squad comparison data can be affected by backup/youth players I'm less likely to play at this moment in time.

[z464]

Seems you already have the plan, does your team play what you want ?

[Kuchiki]

No, as shown in the general performance stats we only really excel with our tackling and perhaps our passing percentage. We need to improve our shots per game as a minimum imo.

[Johnny Ace]

I think with your first Tactic, overall it looks good and it's well thought out, I'd still change a couple of things:

- The CM and DM duties, I know you had it this way before, but it looks really disjointed. Two out of 4 midfield diamond have Hold Position. The DLP on D will stay deep and help cover for your left back and I think a BWM on support can help out your wingback. He can help support him and take a defender from him and help support attacking play in general

- WBIB is one I'm just never a fan of, it's great for Man Citys and Barcas who can (or could) just walk through defences. If you're struggling for goals, it would be the first thing I would drop. You have wingbacks on the flanks and the Mezalla will be making inroads into that inner right channel, so a good few players who could provide crosses   

Your 4-1-3-2 again looks great, I'd maybe just use a WB at RB to help the team's width and the Anchor will help cover him