2-7-2, a reflexion on how to design Football tactics

[Greeds]

Introduction 

Hello everyone, hope you are all doing good.

I'm sure a lot of you have read or heard about the "2-7-2" formation used by Thiago Motta with Bologna FC 1909 recently (PSG U-19, Genoa CFC and Spezia Calcio before that). If not, I suggest the papers of The Football Analyst or Coaches' Voice to name a few (unaffiliated) sources. The aim of this thread is to create a discussion around different ways to think about the pitch, player positionning and their movements.  This is not a re-creation of Thiago Motta's Bologna nor is any tactic here supposed to be plug & play or even "good"/meta. 

Let's break down the 2-7-2 concept. First, there's the obvious fact that Motta is including the goalkeeper in his player count, underlining his importance in the system. This can be directly seen on some phases of play. In the build-up phase, at least one of the central defenders goes up to the midfield to provide a passing option while the goalkeeper becomes an integral part of the defensive line. Counting him, Bologna has maintained a back four while gaining a number advantage in the midfield. In a higher build-up, the goalkeeper tends to take on a modern sweeper role with Bologna getting in a (1-)3-2-5 shape back to front. 

Secondly, the 2-7-2 count is not done back to front but left to right. I like to think that this is not done purely to recreate Motta's view of the pitch from the coaches zone but to try and think about the player positionning in a different way. Take your left winger and instead of telling him to be part of the midfield/advanced midfield line only tell him you need him to stay wide and attack wide areas, his line not being defined by how high up the pitch he is but by how wide he stays. We can see with Bologna that no matter how the player move relative to each other in all phases with and without the ball, their goal is always to stay in a 2-7-2 top-down. 

 

Who am I ? A quick word about me

I've been a long time lurker of the forum and an even longer FM player. I started playing on FM18 but did it regularly enough that I now have a few thousand hours under my belt. I've gone through all the possible phases of an FM player : not understanding a thing, using plug and play tactics, save-scumming, stopping all that, thinking I have a grasp of what's going on (I did not), reading about real life tactics and trying to implement them, ... Now I mostly like to experiment with the engine, see what I can and cannot do with it and taking advantage of the new Positional Play improvements.

 

Goals

For this experiment, I'll manage Bologna. This will help me check if the movement of our players are similar to that of their real life counterparts. As stated before, I do not plan to recreate the exact movement of real life Bologna but rather experiment with thinking "top to bottom". Let's list some initial goals.

• Overloading the midfield : there needs to be 7 players in the central zones + half spaces at all times. The central numerical advantage is our main goal
• Four flank players : I want the flanks to be constantly threatened, thus giving more space to our central players. I do not mind if my attacking wingers end up cutting inside after beating their direct opponent though. Moreover, I want the winger on the opposite side of the pitch to be a free man when we have possession on a flank 
• High fluidity and permutations : fluidity and dynamic positionning between the players, lots of possibilities for pass & move Football
• Liberos : the central defenders should feel free to impact on all phases of play
• Creative freedom : the players have complete creating freedom on how to progress with the ball or create chances
• 1 on 1 pressing : all of our central players have to stay as close as possible to their direct opponent to prevent the opposing team from playing through the centre and try and take the ball if they do so

 

Every system has its strength and weaknesses. Motta's team plays high intensity, high pressing Football and we'll start in the same spirit.

Strengths that I aim for :

• High pressing intensity : try to win the ball as fast as possible
• Very high line : try to win the ball as high as possible
• Immediate rest defense/good presence on second balls : a lot of players high up the pitch in the central zones
• High diversity of threats created : we won't refrain from playing long balls or crossing early, let's give our players a lot of freedom in their choices with the ball

Weaknesses :

• Bad low rest defense : not many players staying back
• Vulnerable on counter attacks and long balls

 

Enough theory, let's get into FM24

There is obviously some limitations about what we can and cannot do with the game engine and the tactics hub. As such, our top to bottom way of thinking kinda has to translate to some back to front system. For this first iteration, we'll go with a 4-1-4-1, with the possibility to evolve in a 4-3-3 depending on how it behaves in game. The roles on the attacking wings will be classical wingers instructed to run wide with the ball. To defend the flanks, I'll first opt for two Inverted Full Backs to get some stability.

Now for our 7 central players. First, a sweeper keeper on attack to get him to contribute as much as possible to the play. Sadly, the starting Bologna squad doesn't have one that suits the role as much as I'd like. We will try to improve on this point with a transfer, for now Skorupski will have to do

.

 

In central defense, we will use two liberos. You read me right. This is about experimenting, if this doesn't end working out I will only keep one. Beukema, Calafiori, it's up to you now. We will compensate on this by having a Half-Back tasked to cover for their forward movements and join the back four with the GK.

Including the Half-Back, all the central roles from now on are subject to being changed from match to match. I want 7 players in the middle. What they do and where exactly they do it will depend on what needs to be done against a particular opposition. For now, we'll use two mezzale on support and, to stay true to Bologna's style, we'll instruct our striker to move as much as possible with the Trequartista role.

 

The choice in the players is not set in stone for now. I like to see how they behave on the pitch first and decide on a starting eleven later.

 

TIs

In possession

I want to try run at defence to get some challenges going. I bumped the tempo a bit higher to bring more rythm to our attacking phases. I plan to move it higher if it does not work. Pass Into Space is an option I will test on the next few matches, same with the attacking width. The rest is untouched as to not limit the players creativity.

In transition

The GK is to make mostly short passes, we can't afford to lose the ball in the transition phase. With two liberos, our FBs are our back line so let's pass to them. When we lose the ball, we counter press for it. When we get the ball, we send bodies forward and invade their half.

Out of possession

We defend as high as possible and are aggressive in our pressing (High Press, Much More Often and Step Up More). Prevent Short GK Distribution and Step Up More might be removed depending on opposition or for good.

 

PIs

The 6 central field players are set to Mark Tighter to keep or 1 on 1 pressing. The liberos are also on tackle harder.

The Wingers are told to run wide with the ball. The Inverted Full Backs are also told to run wide but they also Mark Tighter and Tacle Harder.

 

Thank you for reading

Thanks if you made it this far ! Now, I'm not pretending that this approach is a new way of conceiving Football tactics per se. This is just something that I want to explore and maybe it can resonate with some of you here. Feel free to comment, tell me any mistake I might have made or any misconceptions about the game/Football that I might have, I'll gladly discuss them
Once again, thank you for reading, I hope to read what you think below ! I'll post the results once I have some data and tweaks to share with you.

2-7-2 Bologna.fmf

Edited June 8 by Greeds
typo + trying to be clearer

[Delial]

Congrats for this tactic man, it looks awesome. 

Thanks a lot for taking the time to write it very well, I miss those kind of very inspiring threads on this forum. 

[coach vahid]

Great writing. Good choice for the color. I hope to see more.

[Greeds]

UPDATE 1

I've been tinkering with roles and duties to get the results that I want in the engine. In this update I won't cover everything I've tried as I've done a lot of experimentation but I want to share some alternatives on most TIs/PIs and player roles as there is a need to adapt how you play to what and who you play against. I want to stay true to the system/philosophy of how we play but I will not be using only one formation. With this little disclaimer done, let's get to it

If you're not in the mood to read all that (I get it) and just want to see/try the tactic, the last section has a screenshot of all instructions and there will be a download link.
 

Different phases of possession

Early buildup

We're all familiar with the 3-2 buildup that more and more teams use to resist against high press and move the ball out of their defense. In most cases, we will have our Half-Back drop between the Fullbacks, allowing our Liberos to move higher and form a double pivot in the midfield.

To have the Liberos move up and be able to create this shape, we need to give them time and space to do so : they can't just move up while the other players around them are getting pressed so close to the goal. That's when the Goalkeeper gets into play. As stated in the first post, we want to have him form a back four, turning this early buildup shape into a 4-2. By allowing him to hold the ball for a bit and moving some of the pressure on him we can have our wide players stretch our defensive line, thus giving the space and time for our Central Defenders and Defensive Midfielder to swap places. The aim is to keep the ball in play on the flanks for now. On one hand, having the goalkeeper outside of his posts is riskier if we lose possession. On the other, having one more passing option reduces the chances of losing it.

 

How do we achieve this in FM ? 

• Slow pace down : the GK needs to dwell on the ball for our players to move in position
• Distribute to Full-Backs : we do not want the GK to pass to CBs to let them move up
• Take Short Kicks : he needs to keep the ball in play to soak some pressure

All these players are told to Mark Tighter and Tackle Harder : if an opponent gets past them it's game over. We can't risk it.

The IFBs are told to Run Wide With Ball : their role is to stretch the playing field.

 

In possession
When we get out of the buildup phase, we want to commit as many players as we can higher up the pitch. We also have to stop relying on the GK as part of our defensive line because we don't want to give free goals to the opposing side
To retain possession and create passing options, we'll try to form passing boxes accross the field. Our midfielders need to join the offensive line and our wingers are to stay wide to provide passing options. Our striker will drop deep to create overloads and allow all the players around him to move and disrupt the defensive shape.

Obviously, both sides won't move up at the same time to form these "perfect" squares. When the ball is on a flank, depending on who has it, the IFBs might be lower or higher than in the previous video.
In those cases, as the players' relative positions get narrower and passing gets harder and harder, keeping the opposite flank winger wide at all times allows us to quickly switch possession to the other flank. The Player Trait Likes To Switch Ball To Wide Areas and the ability to do so are sought for in our wide players. Here's a clip of it in action :

How do we achieve this in FM ? 


The Winger roles on attack won't change much as they play exactly how I want them to. They are told to Run Wide With Ball.
The other three players are free outlets to help us keep possession but also need to stay high up the pitch to allow our other players to move up. I set the midfielders as Advanced Midfielders on Attack to achieve this but depending on the need I might give them more specific roles. Zirkzee is set as a False 9 to get as much influence from him as possible and I couldn't get the Trequartista to drop as much as I wanted. The three of them are told to Mark Tighter, Roam From Position and Move Into Channels.

We attack the center. The Wingers will stay wide as per their PIs.

The Tempo and Passing Directness will change with the opposition. Can we keep possession ? How heavily are we pressed ? Do we want to create control or chaos ?

Passing into space keeps all our players moving : we want to spend as much time as possible in their half. Play Out Of Denfense is off for now. I like to keep some unpredictability and the option to launch a long ball and skip the need to have a buildup but I might end up turning it on and instructing defenders to take more risks, not sure how I feel about that yet. I tried focusing play on the flanks to get the most of our width but as a starter I'll give my players the chance to decide for themselves.

Regarding the over/underlaps, I settled for underlaps to have my wingers hold more of the ball and let the CBs/CMs take their offensive runs. Feel free to change as needed. The relevant instructions not shown here are off and to be switched on (or not) depending on the opposition.

Starting an attack
We attack through the middle as that's obviously where we can be the more dangerous. Sometimes we will have a through ball that can reach the striker or one of the AMs but these are rare as blocking them is the main defensive focus in the central zones. So how do we get the ball and our players in the box ? We keep spaces open and send as many players through it as we can ! Having a striker that drops back helps us in building our passing play with the third man concept (play it to someone with his back to goal that can quickly lay it to someone front to goal). When the false 9 or anyone else gets the ball and is in good position to try a penetrative pass, he has multiple options of who to pass it to : AMs, Wingers and sometimes a Libero. When the chance is created by those movements, it's either a shot opportunity or a low cross to one of the late-runners (false 9 and liberos mostly).

 

A (very) quick word about defense

I feel most of our defensive strategy has been explained in the first post, I'm not sure if I'll make an update about it yet, for now here are the instructions I use. 

I lowered the press trigger to keep the option to tell individual players to press more/less. This helps me define where I want to force the opposition to play.

 

Thanks for reading

Please let me know if I made some typos or if I'm not clear enough as English is not my main language. If you wonder what the software I used for my videos is, that's my own. It has some known little bugs and might have some unknown big ones. I made it while coaching my Pro Club team a few years back, it's free and will always be so if you're in the need for something like that, here's the link: github. Once again, thanks for reading !

 

TL;DR : current state of the tactic

PIs are higher in the post.

2-7-2 Bologna.fmf

[Macca83]

Great post! I will try this on my Luton rebuild save! 

[Greeds]

Il y a 12 heures, Macca83 a dit :

Great post! I will try this on my Luton rebuild save! 

Do tell me how it goes !

[cocoa.david]

On 01/06/2024 at 22:20, Greeds said:

the 2-7-2 count is not done back to front but top to bottom.

Motta does not count it from top to bottom. He counts 2-7-2 horizontally, so its from left to right (or right to left). So, 2 players wide, 7 players centrally, and 2 players wide.

[Greeds]

Il y a 3 heures, cocoa.david a dit :

Motta does not count it from top to bottom. He counts 2-7-2 horizontally, so its from left to right (or right to left). So, 2 players wide, 7 players centrally, and 2 players wide.

Yep you're right, that's a mix of bad phrasing on my part and because I tend to visualize teams with defenders on the left and strikers on the right, in this case it is top to bottom
I'll try to find an unequivocal term and edit my original post

[cocoa.david]

10 hours ago, Greeds said:

Yep you're right, that's a mix of bad phrasing on my part and because I tend to visualize teams with defenders on the left and strikers on the right, in this case it is top to bottom
I'll try to find an unequivocal term and edit my original post

Ah I get it now, it was just a misunderstansding then, your content is great btw!

[kennypavey]

On 08/06/2024 at 18:34, cocoa.david said:

Motta does not count it from top to bottom. He counts 2-7-2 horizontally, so its from left to right (or right to left). So, 2 players wide, 7 players centrally, and 2 players wide.

Wouldnt almost all football tactics with 4 at the back from the 70’s until like 5 years ago fit the 2-7-2 mold? Until positional systems became trendy almost all teams used wide overloads with wide attacker and full back on each side. Heck, proper brexit 4-4-2 fits into the 2-7-2.

 

or am I missing something?

[Hilly1979]

12 hours ago, kennypavey said:

Wouldnt almost all football tactics with 4 at the back from the 70’s until like 5 years ago fit the 2-7-2 mold? Until positional systems became trendy almost all teams used wide overloads with wide attacker and full back on each side. Heck, proper brexit 4-4-2 fits into the 2-7-2.

 

or am I missing something?

Just how the term rest defence has become trendy when in fact it’s always existed.

[Greeds]

Le 22/06/2024 à 22:08, kennypavey a dit :

Wouldnt almost all football tactics with 4 at the back from the 70’s until like 5 years ago fit the 2-7-2 mold? Until positional systems became trendy almost all teams used wide overloads with wide attacker and full back on each side. Heck, proper brexit 4-4-2 fits into the 2-7-2.

 

or am I missing something?

Indeed, most regular formations (leaving out some of the variations of 3 at the back) can be counted as 2-7-2 horizontally. My point is : why did Motta specifically insist/use this way of talking about his team ? Do you believe he just wanted to seem interesting and make some waves (coulb be !) or is there a point to doing so ?
I chose the latter to see if I can achieve anything by trying to think of the field differently.

 

I think using this way of seeing a team's organization and movements has interests and can help shape a different way of playing football for IRL teams. I'm not pretending it's revolutionnary either. How well does it translate to Football Manager ? Well it has its limits in what we can achieve through the engine and the options we have to mold our players to these kind of views. I'm currently achieving some encouraging results and the save is really interesting to play through, so at least there's that !

Plus the free, ever-changing roles and interactions between our 7 central players is causing havoc in a multiplayer save I'm playing in