Great stuff as always Cleon, I shall be following this with interest. Your work on developing youngsters and training changed the way i play.
I decided to start a save yesterday before i had seen any of this, with Brighton, the idea i had was to play deep and out of the back when in possession but with the ability to ping the odd Hollywood wonder ball from deep when under the cosh. I came up with a tactic while i was at work which i tested out last night.
Initially i set up as follows
Goalkeeper: Standard Goalkeeper - PI's for short kicks and distribute to the centre backs.
DL: FB S - No PI's
DCL: BPD C - More risky passes to try and bring out the occasional hollywood ball from the back.
DCR: CD S Pass it shorter
DL: FB D No PI's
DMCL: Anchor D Pass it shorter
DMCR: Roaming Playmaker S More risky, and more direct passing.
CM: BWM S No PI's
AML: IF A More direct passes
AMR: IF S More direct passes
CF; CF S More direct passes.
Counter mentality and Structured shape. We had drop deeper, Play out of defence, More Disciplined, and shorter passing as the team instructions to draw teams onto us, keep our shape and and building from the back when in possession also had playing out of defence.
This formation proved to be solid as a rock at the back conceding only from set pieces. The building from the back wasn't working well in possession though and the majority of our chances and goals were from long shots and most games finishing 1 nil to us. Even against weaker opposition.
So i made some tweaks, added work the ball into the box to try and reduce the number of long shots the two inside forwards were taking and changing the shape to flexible to bring the players in the final third a bit closer together.
Goalkeeper: Standard Goalkeeper - PI's for short kicks and distribute to the centre backs.
DL: WB S - Mark the AMR - Changed from full backs to get them involved more in the build up play when in possesion. This seems to have worked well.
DCL: BPD C - More risky passes to try and bring out the occasional hollywood ball from the back.
DCR: CD S Pass it shorter
DR: WB D Mark the AML, same as the DL position but more conservative than him.
DMCL: Anchor D Pass it shorter
DMCR: Roaming Playmaker S More risky, and more direct passing.
CM: BWM S added Get further forward and more direct passing. This guy wasn't getting forward and supporting the attack much and was running around with the ball looking for a short pass. He's now still winning the ball in the final third but is also popping up in the box and having a shot.
AML: IF A More direct passes
AMR: IF S More direct passes
CF; CF S More direct passes.
We are having huge amounts of possession and still only conceding from set pieces and we are having huge numbers of shots per game but still from outside the box predominantly.
I would like to encourage more link up play between my attacking 3 and the RMP and BWM who are performing as i would like in terms of positioning and stop the AMR and AML popping off so many long shots (which they are terrible at)
Things i am considering tweaking next are change the AMR to a winger support to reduce the cutting inside and long shots and give us a crossing option on the right side. Changing the CF S to either a TM S or a DLF S, probably the latter as i don't want to channel long balls to the target man but more have all 3 forward players as options. I don't really want to ask the AML to shoot less often if i can help it as i want him in the box scoring not passing.
So the tactic tonight will look like this:
Goalkeeper: Standard Goalkeeper - PI's for short kicks and distribute to the centre backs.
DL: WB S - Mark the AMR
DCL: BPD C - More risky passes to try and bring out the occasional hollywood ball from the back.
DCR: CD S Pass it shorter
DR: WB D Mark the AML
DMCL: A D Pass it shorter
DMCR: RPM S More risky, and more direct passing.
CM: BWM S More direct passing, get further forward.
AML: IF A More direct passes
AMR: W S More direct passes
CF: DLF S More direct passes, more risky passes.
Mentality: Counter
Shape: Flexible
Instructions: Play out of defence, shorter passing, work the ball into the box, Drop Deeper and be more disciplined.
So my question is, am i on the right track for trying to play out of the back and springing counter attacks when the opportunity arises? Would would you consider changing here and whats your opinion on replaing the RPM with the new Segundo Volante?
The 4231 Explained
in Tactics, Training & Strategies Discussion
Posted
Great stuff as always Cleon, I shall be following this with interest. Your work on developing youngsters and training changed the way i play.
I decided to start a save yesterday before i had seen any of this, with Brighton, the idea i had was to play deep and out of the back when in possession but with the ability to ping the odd Hollywood wonder ball from deep when under the cosh. I came up with a tactic while i was at work which i tested out last night.
Initially i set up as follows
Goalkeeper: Standard Goalkeeper - PI's for short kicks and distribute to the centre backs.
DL: FB S - No PI's
DCL: BPD C - More risky passes to try and bring out the occasional hollywood ball from the back.
DCR: CD S Pass it shorter
DL: FB D No PI's
DMCL: Anchor D Pass it shorter
DMCR: Roaming Playmaker S More risky, and more direct passing.
CM: BWM S No PI's
AML: IF A More direct passes
AMR: IF S More direct passes
CF; CF S More direct passes.
Counter mentality and Structured shape. We had drop deeper, Play out of defence, More Disciplined, and shorter passing as the team instructions to draw teams onto us, keep our shape and and building from the back when in possession also had playing out of defence.
This formation proved to be solid as a rock at the back conceding only from set pieces. The building from the back wasn't working well in possession though and the majority of our chances and goals were from long shots and most games finishing 1 nil to us. Even against weaker opposition.
So i made some tweaks, added work the ball into the box to try and reduce the number of long shots the two inside forwards were taking and changing the shape to flexible to bring the players in the final third a bit closer together.
Goalkeeper: Standard Goalkeeper - PI's for short kicks and distribute to the centre backs.
DL: WB S - Mark the AMR - Changed from full backs to get them involved more in the build up play when in possesion. This seems to have worked well.
DCL: BPD C - More risky passes to try and bring out the occasional hollywood ball from the back.
DCR: CD S Pass it shorter
DR: WB D Mark the AML, same as the DL position but more conservative than him.
DMCL: Anchor D Pass it shorter
DMCR: Roaming Playmaker S More risky, and more direct passing.
CM: BWM S added Get further forward and more direct passing. This guy wasn't getting forward and supporting the attack much and was running around with the ball looking for a short pass. He's now still winning the ball in the final third but is also popping up in the box and having a shot.
AML: IF A More direct passes
AMR: IF S More direct passes
CF; CF S More direct passes.
We are having huge amounts of possession and still only conceding from set pieces and we are having huge numbers of shots per game but still from outside the box predominantly.
I would like to encourage more link up play between my attacking 3 and the RMP and BWM who are performing as i would like in terms of positioning and stop the AMR and AML popping off so many long shots (which they are terrible at)
Things i am considering tweaking next are change the AMR to a winger support to reduce the cutting inside and long shots and give us a crossing option on the right side. Changing the CF S to either a TM S or a DLF S, probably the latter as i don't want to channel long balls to the target man but more have all 3 forward players as options. I don't really want to ask the AML to shoot less often if i can help it as i want him in the box scoring not passing.
So the tactic tonight will look like this:
Goalkeeper: Standard Goalkeeper - PI's for short kicks and distribute to the centre backs.
DL: WB S - Mark the AMR
DCL: BPD C - More risky passes to try and bring out the occasional hollywood ball from the back.
DCR: CD S Pass it shorter
DR: WB D Mark the AML
DMCL: A D Pass it shorter
DMCR: RPM S More risky, and more direct passing.
CM: BWM S More direct passing, get further forward.
AML: IF A More direct passes
AMR: W S More direct passes
CF: DLF S More direct passes, more risky passes.
Mentality: Counter
Shape: Flexible
Instructions: Play out of defence, shorter passing, work the ball into the box, Drop Deeper and be more disciplined.
So my question is, am i on the right track for trying to play out of the back and springing counter attacks when the opportunity arises? Would would you consider changing here and whats your opinion on replaing the RPM with the new Segundo Volante?