LatexGuru

343 DM is a pretty solid formation defensively, 3 cb + 2 wb + 2 dm, 7 players in defensive tiers. Also 343 DM is pretty good to attack in transition since 2 winger are already in higher position. The weakness of 343 is that it only deploy 2 defensive midfielders, this is the weakness u can utilize. I think currently your problems are two DM roles, anchorman with Dm on support, they are not really aggressive in possession. Against 343 DM u should be bravely push your two DM forward to play higher up thte pitch and overload their centre. Based on the reasoning above, I would suggest changing Anchorman to either VOLs or RPMs based on your player attributes, and maybe play a little bit narrower. Please do not play wider or faster or more direct, it will just fall into the trap of 343. Wider will be vulnerable if the 343 ask to stop crosses, faster will give the ball easily to the opposition and more direct sometimes lose possession aimlessly. Pushing two DM up using different roles can help. Constantly giving opposition pressure and your midfield park at the edge of opposition box can help u to score.

I've been playing 442 a lot in series of football manager, I would like to share my thoughts here. English is not my first language as well, hopefully I do not make too much grammar mistakes so u can understand. 442 Formation 442 Formation is pretty Iconic. It only has players in 3 tiers, ST, CM and CB, there are no player in DM or AM tier. The gaps between back 4, midfield 4 and striker 2 is quite big. Therefore normally I wouldn't play shorter passing with 442 unless I have the player with best off the ball attribtues. In your tactic u are working with standard passing(middle notch) which is quite good. Mentality Mentality is the key starting point to all tactics. Since u want to play a counter attacking tactic, I definately will not use Positive as starting mentality. Remember mentality influence everything in the game like passing, width, creative freedom etc. I would either use Cautious, Balance or Attacking. Let me explain the resonale behind it. Positive Automatically reduce the passing directness, which is not good for counter attacking tactic and 442 formation. This is the screenshot for positive mentality passing directness. Cautious, Balance and Attacking As u can see, for cautious, balance and attacking mentality, the passing directness are all standard, which is more suitable for 442 system. Core of 442 is the Midfield player selection Since 442 only has 2 players in in midfield, it will be easily overloaded in midfield by formations like 433, 4231, 41212 narrow diamond etc, therefore the player selection is very important since u need them to fight very hard. It is neccessary to have 2 all rounded players who can defend. For top level teams I would recommend players like Franck Zambo Anguissa. Two Anguissa almost solves everything for 442 no matter what roles u choose. Striker combination Double Attacking duty is very good for counter attacking 442. Some common combinations I used such as DLFa + AFa, TFa + AFa, TFa + P, PFa+AFa, they are all good combinations, choose them based on your player. Midfield Combination I will not go through every possible midfield combination, but I really enjoy to place an BWMs in 442 since he break down a lot of opposition attack and make that our own transition attack. Width 442 does not have extra players in the midfield for narrow attack, therefore I definately will not select narrow width, this is I think the biggest issue cause your tactic to under perform. Mid Block or Low Block I prefer Mid block, I simply think low block allowing opposition to have too many room to attack. Also flat 442 is system without DM therefore I don't think it is suitable for low block, system like 532 5212 can be more suitable. But this is entirely personal opinion. Tactic This is the tactic I would change and use as a starting based on your tactic, I try to make minimum changes as possible but maintain the flavour of soak and counter.

4411 is a solid formation since it can easily switch between 4411 4141 and 4231 and gives the team a lot of tactical potentiao in different circumstances. TIs Counter, Slightly Higher Tempo, Slightly higher Width From your TI set I can assume you are trying to create a mid block, quick transition tactic? Please correct me if I am wrong. Content below is based on Mid Block strategy Roles The first potential issue I see will be the Trequartista, Treq got his iconic movement pattern which is drop deep, receive the ball and attack the opposition. In a middle block, despite his lack of defend contribution, I really will not have a player drop deep, take the ball etc. For a mid block tactic, I want AMC tier to attack the space, I would change Treq to Shadow Striker I would swap the CM position, getting CMs closer to IWa and give IWa some support. Also since on the right side now have CMd and Ws, probably it is a good idea to change right fullback to FBA or WBA depend on the situation. This is the tactic I will start with a mid block 4411 and change slightly during the game

For APS I apply roam from position. Sometimes I apply Mark tighter, drible less and more risky passes to my WB depend on what I want them to do and their attributes

Why the pictures are so big........ For the HB choice, that is my personal preference, I use HB to drop in transition and both BPD told to stay wider and dribble more to get up the pitch. Changing HB to DM can work, but remember to remove BPD stay wider and dribble more

I am new to the forum but I have been playing this 41212 narrow diamond system for a long time with FM23(2300 hours) and also with previous editions, so I would like to suggest some of my advices to the system. Since English is not my first language, if u are reading this and find some wordings are a bit strange, it is not my intention. Narrowest Formation 41212 narrow diamond is actually one of the narrowest formation in Football Manager. If we look at some similar system like 4312 narrow or 4132 narrow, which still got 3 players in one horiozntal tier ( 3 player in CM tier), the middle CM will push the left and right CM a bit toward the flank to support the flank play. and also in defence those the protection down the flank is a bit better. Choice of Side Midfieders However 41212 narrow diamond do not have 3 players in same horizontal tier, which makes CAR and MEZ the almost only suitable role for 41212 system, because both CAR and MEZ are designed by SI to stay wider and support the wingback. If u try to use any other roels other than CAR or MEZ in CM position in 41212 narrow diamond, sometimes u will see absurdly low rating for your wingbacks (6.3 6.2) even if u won the game, unless u have exceptional wingbacks who can detroy the flank by his own, for exceptional I mean Alphso Davies, Achraf Hakimi level. Also the side midfielders will need to have determination, decision, stamina, workrate, aggresion, bravery and tackling to help the wingback defend the flanks. Find the right players are important for the system. Choice of Wingbacks Football manager games are like real life football, one tactic always need someone to provide width and to be the option on the flank, for 41212 narrow diamond, the only player who can provide width to the system is the wingback, therefore for the system to be successful, that makes the option limited to WB and CWB, sometimes FBA can work but definately not FBS and NFB. FBS and FBD and NFB does not go up the pitch high enough in transition. Despite from the role of WB, the player selection is important. U need a player who is good at almost everything from attack to defend, I will not list everything here but I think u can get my point. One important thing to note is that u need a player with decent jumping reach as well, otherwise u will concede a lot of back post header(sdo not use player like Tariq Lamptey, he might be good in 5 at the back in in 41212 he will be the vulnerability). Afraid of Quick Counters Since 41212 narrow diamond really requires WB to get up the pitch, and despite from the CB who can drift wide and protect the space, there will be no one there, therefore the space left by WB going forward will be exploited by some winger system like 4231 433 and maybe 442. If the tactic is not set up reasonable, the tactic lose the ball in transition but wingback already going forward, then opposition winger is getting into space to receive the long ball, it is a concede without looking further to the animation. Playing style There are basically 2 playing styles for 41212 narrow diamond. The whole team get up the pitch and keep high pressure to the enemy, control the ball in middle and WB continuously provide width and drop crosses Sit in a mid block, launch long balls or quick balls to double strikers to attack Personaly speaking I prefer the first option, if I would like to play the mid block I can set up a different system that can protect the space much better. But it doesn't neccessary mean from game to game u do not need to do it if u are not managing the greatest club in the world. Against sides like Real Madrid with VInicius, it is important to change WBA to WBS or even WBD to prevent Vinicius get into space(if u do not plan to change formation), and hope they do not score. Conclusion I will post my tactic below as the starting point if u want to play 41212 narrow diamond, it is not plug and play though, some in match changes are needed. Also I will post my player selection, Wijndal and Singo as WB, and Rosario and Klassen as side midfielders to see the player selection criteria. My Tactic