Maddux

I can't post results because, unlike i usually do, i didn't do a "single tactics only"-test save with the tactics. Instead i've played about 2 seasons in already existing saves with different teams of different strengths (Rennes, Dresden, 2x Frankfurt) where i already played other 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 tactics. And i switched between these tactics depending on the opponent. The other 4-2-3-1 i'm using is attached to this post. You will see that it isn't that different to the Target Man 4-2-3-1 except for a few roles and duties. The attached 4-2-3-1 is essentually just a slightly different version of my "Basic is better" tactics. Maddux 4-2-3-1.fmf

I wouldn't have published it if the results were bad The tactics works well in multiple saves but it isn't the only 4-2-3-1 tactics that i'm using. The tactics works well against defensive teams due to the player's (counter)movement. But if i'm on the counterattack myself, i'm using a similar tactics with Adcanced Forward and more support duties. So this tactics is better suited for when you're the (slightly) stronger team or equal at home.

With Igor Matanovic coming back from his successful loan spell at Karlsruher SC and we're being linked to another Target Man style player in Alvaro Rodriguez from Real Madrid, i was thinking about how Eintracht Frankfurt could play in the upcoming season. What's the best way to accommodate the player's and squad's strengths? And what i came up with was this: - we have Matanovic as a Target Man up front, with the freedom to move around and open gaps for his teammates - although Hugo Ekitike is good in the Advanced Forward role, he likes to drift into spaces and often to the wing to find pockets of space and getting away from defenders. Just to then start a deadly run into the box. He has the technical abilities needed to play more in the role of an "Outside Forward", a spearhead striker that is also comfortable playing on the wing. - on the right side we have Omar Marmoush, a player that also likes to drift around but plays more like a traditional Inside Forward when playing on the left wing. If playing on the right wing, he often does late runs into the box or is hitting crosses - Niels Nkounkou is a very offensive minded Wingback with good pace, that likes to go forward and hit crosses or arrives in the box late to try diagonal shots - this very offensive midset has to be covered of course. And that's why we have a holding (defensive) midfielder on the left side that can cover the center of the pitch and drift to the left if needed - Hugo Larsson had an impressive first season at Frankfurt. Strong in buildup, good playmaking skills and he likes to go forward to support the attack, either as an option in the back of the box or in the right half space to play one-twos with the winger - the left defensive center is unoccupied of course if Larsson goes forward and Skhiri has to cover Nkounkou's back. So we need to play Tuta as an Inverted Wingback to cover Larsson's runs and support the winger from deep if needed - Chaibi has a free role in central attacking midfield to give him the freedom to drift around, find pockets of space and play passes to his more offensive teammates The rest of the squad fits this kind of aproach too. Ansgar Knauff and Eric Dina Ebimbe can play on the right wing if Marmoush can't play or has to replace Ekitike on the left wing. And with Jean-Matteo Bahoya there is a young and promising player that could fill the role on both wings. The signing of Can Uzun won't be official before 01. July but he will become an Eintracht Frankfurt player and is an option to play for Chaibi or Larsson. And there is still Mario Götze, that also can play both positions. For the left wingback positions there are new signing Nathaniel Brown and Philipp Max. The only 2 gaps to be filled, if we sign a second Target Man, are a backup for Skhiri and a better right Wingback then Aurelio Buta. And this is how it looks like in Football Manager I had to add a good bunch of PIs that would be to much to list them to get the players to do what i want. But the result looks pretty good. The IF-A starting from the left wing and immediately starting runs into the box once the CWB-S goes forward, the W-A giving width and doing late runs into the box, the MEZ-S supporting the attack from a deeper position, the TF-S creating spaces for his teammates and the AM-S just being all over the place. I've tried the AM-S as AP-S but we already have the TF as a central player with a huge pull on the ball. Using a playmaker role in the CAM position would make the play to onedimensional and force the ball to much through the middle. The TIs are pretty much basic and you can change them to fit your team's strengths and weaknesses. Although Frankfurt was a lower pressing side that tried to play with a compact mid block, i opted for a higher press because the players are able to pull it off. An Anchor Man should be better than an DM-D to cover the left side. But he doesn't. He covers the left side pretty well but after we lose the ball his first intention is to fall back and wait for passes to intercept instead of closing the gap between the attack and the central defenders. Try the tactics and feel free to comment. SGE 24-25.fmf

Seems like someone liked the "fun" version of the tactics so much that he submitted the tactics to Zealand, who then featured it in his latest video on Youtube. I'm glad that someone liked the tactics so much that he though he needed to submit it to Zealand. But i'm honestly pissed about the ratings the tactics got and the fact that the folks rated it without playing a single game with it. Because then Zealand's rating would've been better and none of the folks would've stated that the tactics will concede many goals from long balls. Everyone here that tried the tactics knows that this isn't the case. The current version of the tactics is attached here. - changed the width to wide to stretch the opponent's defence as much as possible - went back to the Anchor Man because the DM-De pushed up to high and made it to easy for the opponent to cover our 3 central midfield players (the A and the 2 Liberos) FM 24 asym 1 at the back v1.4.fmf

I'm glad you liked the tactics. Any changes on player roles?

It's attached to the post that you've quoted But attached to this post you can find the updated version. I changed the Anchor Man to DM-D and the CWB-S to WB-S. I think that i will stick with the DM-D but i'm still testing which wingback roles is better. The WB hits more and earlier crosses while the CWBs positioning is a bit more offensive. FM 24 asym 1 at the back v1.1.fmf

I did just half a season with Eintracht Frankfurt with 1L - 4D - 21W in 26 matches across all competitions. The only loss was a 1-2 loss against Chelsea in the Champions League where they had 6 total shots and scored from 2 corners.

Long time no see but here is an update for the tactics. Or a (fun) alternative version of the tactics to be exact. I became pretty upset recently with all these "haha i'm so funny" troll post on Reddit where people posted their 1-defender-tactics they concede 10 goals per match with and asking why they're keep losing. But then i remembered how Inter Milan is playing with the central defenders often pushing into midfield during buildup while midfielders like Calhanoglu dropped back into defence. And i thought: "Hm, wait a minute. Maybe this could work. How about defending with just 1 player while in possession but concede 0 goals?". So i took my asymmetrical 3-4-3 as a base, did some changes on a few roles and it works. It works like a charm. During buildup and in possession the players position themself on the pitch exactly how you would imagine or how you can see in the picture below. Both Liberos push up into midfield beside the Anchor Man to create a 1-3 buildup. The Trequartista drops deep into midfield (especially with the Comes deep to get ball PPM) to form a line of 4 in the more advanced midfield and the strikers lurk further up the pitch for through balls. One might think that a Half Back would be better than an Anchor Man to create the player movement that you can often see from Inter Milan. But that's not the case. The HB and middle CB will cuddle during buildup and block each other, which will cause many possession loses with no central player to challenge the striker. Changing the middle CD to Libero to will fix this buildup problem but the HB will push up in possession with all 3 Liberos allready high up the pitch. And then we have no player left defending against long balls. I've tested a bit with different roles and positions for the Trequartista and changing him to CM-A or MEZ-A is an option. But just if you already have the lead and want an even more compact midfield to keep possession. When attacking the Trequartista is the best option. He will act like a AP-A in the CAM position during buildup, dropping deep and offer a passing option in left central midfield. Without having the same pull on the ball playmaker roles have. This dropping movement will pull defenders out of position and creates more space for the AF on the near post when we play over our left CWB. And he will act as a goal threat on long post when we play over our right side. The AP as a playmaker has to much pull on the ball, and both the AM-A and Shadow Striker position themself to much in the centre when we progress into the final third, sitting on top of the AF and leaving the post on their side empty. Why the tactics concedes such few goals with just one player in a defensive position during possession? Because there are 9 players in the opposition half very close to each other and to every opponent that could try to initiate a counter attack. Passing lanes are pretty much closed, opponents have one or often even 2 of our players close to them that can challenge the ball and the only option left is a desperate long ball to the striker. Or both strikers. Weirdly enough the tactics works against tactics with 2 strikers to. You first get the shivers when you see the lonely middle CD standing between 2 strikers but it works. Because the CD just has to challenge the long ball and hold up the striker if he can control the ball while the Liberos drop back pretty quick to form a back-3. I've tested the tactics with a team that was already practicing the asymmetrical 3-4-3 in training sessions. Even they never played in the original 3-4-3 the familarity was already high due to training practice and still good after the changes on 4 roles. So you might want to give your players a couple extra tactics training sessions for a better familiarity with the tactics to see best results. Because the Liberos mostly play in central midfield you can also use CDMs on the Libero position and see good results. Most of their defensive duty is picking up passes anyway and there are just a few crosses coming into our box. Try this version of the tactics and tell me how it works for you. FM 24 asym 1 at the back v1.0.fmf

Genau so. Auf der 10 musst du schauen was für dich besser funktioniert. Götze ist der klar bessere Vorbereiter, während Chaibi schneller ist und auch als Torschütze glänzt.

Prinzipiell von der Formation und den Rollen her würde ich an der Taktik garnichts ändern. Bei den TIs würde ich ggf etwas kürzer und schneller spielen lassen. Ggf sogar mit "work ball into box". Das Spielermaterial gibt es her. Ich würde die Spieler auf folgenden Positionen einsetzen: DM: Skhiri, Rode, Hasebe ZM: Larsson, Götze RM: Knauff, Dina Ebimbe, Buta OM: Chaibi, van de Beek HS: Kalajdzic, Bahoya ST: Ekitike, Marmoush Zentral im Sturm braucht es eher Antritt und Geschwindigkeit statt die Kopfballstärke von Kalajdzic. Zudem kommen die hohen Flanken in der Taktik ohnehin immer auf den langen Pfosten. Und da ist dann ein Kalajdzic Gold wert. Für die zentrale Sturmposition ist er viel zu langsam aber auf der Position der Hängenden Spitze ist das egal. Dafür kann er mit seiner Physis Bälle gut festmachen und an den schnellen Stoßstürmer weiterleiten. Alternativ kann man auch mit Kalajdzic als 10er spielen und dafür Chaibi oder van de Beek als Hängende Spitze aufstellen. Von der dünnen Personaldecke in der Innenverteidigung abgesehen ist der Kader wie gemacht für die Taktik. Kauf dir Kempf von Hertha BSC. Sehr günstig, solide und zählt als Vereinseigengewächs, weswegen er in der UCL keinen Kaderplatz wegnimmt. Fall nnamdi Collins in deinem Save nicht gut genug ist noch einen rechtsfüßigen Innenverteidiger verpflichten und der Kader ist fertig.

The attacking corner setup that works best for me is: - inswinger short post - A1 + A2 attack short post - A3 mark keeper - C1 + C2 lurk outside near and far side - C3 come short - D1 + D2 stay back - D3 stay back if needed / lurk outside centre defending corners: - A1 mark near post - A2 mark far post - A3 player mark - A4 to A6 zonally mark 6y-box near post, far post, centre - B1 edge of area - B2 go back - C1 stay forward centre - C2 edge of area

What i do against a 4-2-2-2 when playing a 4-3-3 is the followin: - instruct my 2 CM to man-mark the opposing CAMs. That way their creative players and strikers are marked with my DM being a free man that can close holes - use the "trap outside" TI - remove POOD and all transition TIs except for counter and counter press plus i add WBIB POOD and distribute to xxx makes your buildup more predictable and easier to press. With WBIB your players will still try to play a controlled buildup but it's less predictable and you can better pull opponents out of their position. - i wouldn't use pass into space. The 4-2-2-2, even with defenders out of position, is still a very narrow formation and spaces are hard to find. Passing into space can result in your players losing the ball to often. - put the passing tempo one or 2 ticks higher. It should be easier to pull opponents around and your players have the technical abilities to pass faster

I don't know anything about Juve or how they play, so i can't tell you how to replicate their style of play. In general how to get a lot of long shots in a 4-3-3? I think that it could work if you're using a more controlled approach with working the ball into box and playing back-passes in front of the box to your central midfielders. With that any vertical CM role should do the job. CM-A, BtB. Vertical Playmaker. But i don't how to to set it up tactics wise because i've never tried.

@Adonalsium Making screenshots of the positioning in offense and defence turned out to be harder than i thought. There is just to much movement depending on opponents that it's hard to find scenes where i can say "yes, that's the typical positioning", especially in defence and transition phase after losing the ball. I would've to do at least 6 screenshots for a single scene, in offense and defence, the give a decent overview on how players move. I figured that it' better to get my OBS running again, record some scenes, cut it together and upload it on youtube to link the videos here. But i can't promise how long it takes. maybe i get it together until sunday. In the meantime i recommend downloading the tactics and try it in a throw-away save to get a quick look how the tactics works.

Thanks for posting your test results. My tactics arend't finished products, at least not with the TIs. Many Tis are highly situational depending on your own players and your opponents tactics and i always put a lot of effort into explaining why i use things, why i don't use something and what you can change when. It isn't my goal to just give people something that they can copy and hopfeully will work most of the time but to educate them and help them to build there own tactics, Either from scratch or by adapting an existing tactics like mine. Here is a tactics building guide that i wrote: https://theffm.co.uk/t-for-tactics