Joey Numbaz

Best I can tell, players only build partnerships while playing for the senior team. I think when players play on U23/U18 (or any other teams) they should also get "partnership credit". It's realistic, and it would also be neat to see two youth players promoted at the same time with a partnership. These partnerships should also impact U23/U18 games themselves too. This would be especially interesting/fun for managers who build through their academies.

Just finished my 2026-27 season, I play pretty slow. I pushed the WBL/WBR to WML/WMR, but with the same instructions a wingback-support or attack would have, including Cleon's sit narrower addition. At times I would drop them back to wing backs. To protect a lead, or when developing players so they would get experience in both positions. Note that in converting this for FM22, I went with: Very Narrow Standard Tempo Standard Line of Engagement It would say it was a resounding success! We dominated the toughest league in the world, clinching the title with 4 matches to go. We nearly completed the treble. We were a 2-1 loss away to Newcastle and a 4-3 loss away to Arsenal (in a game where Onana was at the African Cup of Nations and Pickford gave up an own goal) from an invincible season. We scored the most goals in the league (104) and allowed the fewest (27). In 2025-26 I scored 80 and allowed 20. I did add Alphonso Davies over the summer and Jude Bellingham in early January, so we were a little better talent wise too. Here's the full schedule: 3 key players were out for the Champions League Final against Manchester United. The Regista Sandro Tonali, WBR/WMR Reece James, and CB Anel Ahmedhodžić. That being said, we were up 2-0 in the second half before giving up 2 late goals, the second of which came on an own goal off of a corner kick. We lost 3-2 on another corner in extra time. Which is really ironic because we did not give up a goal on a corner kick all season, while scoring 12. No trick plays or cheats, my players are just good and mostly very tall. We had beat ManU 2-1, two and a half weeks earlier, in a game where the xG was 2.45-0.82 in our favor. In the Champions League Final we out xG'd them 2.28-0.97. Sometimes you just get unlucky. But there's more! Our youth teams which are considered "average squads" also had amazing seasons, playing the 3-1-4-2 almost exclusively. This despite not being very deep at all, and sometimes not even having enough players during international weeks. I play all available leagues and every game at every level on full detail for all league. I think that means the youth games around the world also use the real engine and not the fast engine. The U23s also won the Premier League Cup. The U18s were even better, winning the the North and the final game over Aston Villa U18s. They also won the UEFA Youth League, taking out Inter, Dortmund, Barcelona, and Feyenoord. So this tactic really can work, even without perfect players everywhere. ******* Some things I noticed that are probably needed to make the WM version of the tactic work. Depth on the wings. These guys work their arses off, James especially (the attacking WMR/WBR) was typically the tiredest player on the team, and he's got great stamina/natural fitness. I play with attributes slightly masked, but his are 15-16 there. Goes without saying but you need to make WB your WM, they need pace, acceleration, work rate, stamina, etc. Just because you are pushing them up doesn't mean you can play a no defense winger or wide forward there. The entire back 5 really need to be stars. But when they are it is amazing to watch. I said this earlier, but it's like playing with 13 players out there. Late in games I would switch counter-press to regroup. When my normal back 3 were tired, and I had to play Sebastián Coates, who is now 36 years old, with acceleration in the 6-8 range and pace in the 9-11 range, I would drop the line back from high standard. I would also do this late to protect a lead sometimes. The Advanced Forward is going to be a star. Even my backup advanced forward, Luis Suárez (the Colombian one) scored 17 non-penalty league goals in 14 starts with 5 sub appearances. Granted he was typically playing against the lesser opponents, but that's a decent number over a full season let alone half of a season. Starter Domenic Calvert-Lewin (now 30 years old) scored 21, with 8 assists in 22 starts + 5 sub appearances. Actually I can share all of the stats, maybe you'll find something interesting in there: Obviously I have great players, which helps a lot. But at a minimum, I think you can push the wingbacks up with minimal risk if you are chasing a goal. Here's some data hub stuff The 3-1-4-2 created a chance every 37 minutes and allowed one every 227 minutes, over 2731 minutes in our last 50 matches. The 5-3-2 created a chance every 53 minutes and allowed one every 213 minutes, over 1704 minutes in our last 50 matches. Many of those minutes were played while protecting a league late. I occasionally used a 4-1-3-2 DM WB Asymetric M(L) and a 4-1-3-2 DM WB Asymetric M(R). That's a fancy way of saying sometimes I only pushed up one of the wingbacks. Mostly this was player dependent. One of them needed some experience there or was much better suited to a WB or WM position/role than the other. I probably could have done this more to counter specific opposition threats, but I was kind of winning a lot anyway :-) Anyway with only the left back pushed up, we created 5 chances (one every 47 minutes) and allowed one over 239 minutes. With the only right back pushed up, we created 1 once in 206 minutes and didn't allow any. Combining them it was one chance created every 89 minutes and one allowed every 445 minutes. That's probably just small sample size noise, but maybe that was a little better defensively with less punch? Probably not. Goals/Assists (Last 32 league games) Goals/Assists Allowed (Last 32 league games) Hah, I somehow missed that a keeper scored against us. I wonder if that's Pickford's own goal against Arsenal. Also there does not appear to be any formation that was "Kryptonite" for us. We were positive chance wise against any formation that we played against for at least 90 minutes. In the 6 games against the 4-4-2 opponents had a chance every 99 minutes, but we had one every 37 minutes. Maybe there is something to that as those weren't great opponents or anything, Wolves (7th), Leeds (10th), Stoke (19th). We outscored them 18-6 in those games and went 5-0 with a draw. We also had a 1-1 draw against Fenerbahçe in the Champions League, they used a 4-4-2. We did beat them 4-0 at home. We didn't play our top lineup in those games either. I'll keep an eye on it though. Maybe keep the wide players as WB against the 4-4-2. Against a 5-3-2 WB Wide we only had a chance every 58 minutes but we only allowed one every 291 minutes. Maybe I'll make the DLF a F9 against that one next season. Anyway, this is an amazing tactic that's a lot of fun, and it's even more fun and crazy if you can push those wingbacks up higher! Oh, next season, we are adding Erling Haaland from PSG, we closed that deal in early May. The goal is an invincible treble with him in the fold!

Excellent point. I don't think I'd keep the WB -> WM if Davies and/or James aren't playing. I need all-world players in those spots for it to work I think. Thanks for sharing this one. It's fun to play around with, and I can't wait for the upcoming articles.

I'm in FM22 still beginning of the 2026-27 season. I always like new things tactically so this season I am trying a variation of this that pushes the wingbacks up to wide midfielders, but with all of the wing back instructions (except for get further forward on the left wingback since he's already further forward some by being a WM instead of a WB So its a 3142 I also set the in possession instruction to very narrow (since there are plenty of attackers out wide anyway). I assume mid block = standard line of engagement. It seems to be working pretty amazingly in a small sample. Granted I have an all-star team practically. The WB/WM are Alphonso Davies and Reece James. The back 3 are De Ligt, Cuenca, and Ahmedhodžić. The regista is Tonali, b2b is Declan Rice, with Tchouameni as the Mezzala. Calvert-Lewin and Kane up front. Sometimes for more attacking punch I'll play van de Beek as the Mezzala, sit Cuenca, make Ahmedhodžić the CD-C and put Tchouameni in as the WCB. De Ligt is a superstar, but he also has stays back at all times. It hasn't been a deal breaker, but he doesn't get forward nearly as often as Ahmedhodžić and Tchouameni do. Instead De Ligt will occasionally bomb a long cross field pass to James from over the center line when De Ligt pushes forward. Which is a lot of fun. The pendulum attacks are just awesome to watch. It feels like I'm playing a 2-1-7 in attack! And a 6-2-2 when defending. It's like I have 13 players out there when it's clicking. After burying Valencia 4-0 (5-0 if Kane hadn't missed a penalty) including a hat trick from Rice as the B2B in our last friendly (the first time I went with the wide midfielders), we obliterated a Manchester United team that has Kylian Mbappé amongst others in the Community Shield, up 3-0 20 minutes in with a brace from Davies and another goal from James. We gave up a goal near the end of the first half, so I called off the dogs and dropped them back to WB for most of the second half. Same thing away to Burnley on opening day. Up 3-0 15 minutes into the game. Another late first half goal allowed. Moved them back to WB in the second half and won 4-1, with Calvert-Lewin scoring a perfect hat trick. I also added a variant that regroups instead of counter presses and drops the line back to standard for closing things out and that seems to be pretty tough to score on, though there isn't nearly as much attacking punch there. It's a fun set up, especially with great players. We'll see how it plays out in some more games. We beat Barcelona 3-0 in a friendly with that one, but only had 1.04 xG. Any thoughts on whether any of these tweaks can work long term or if I'm just having some beginner's luck but missing some gaping hole that will bite me?

Raising this from the dead, but I love this tactic. I'm using it on FM22 and doing very well. Of course you need the right players. Check this out from the Advanced Analysis reports: We got a ton of shots, though they aren't always great shots. On a lucky day we'll have 1.5 xG and 4-5 goals. On a rough day we'll have 2 xG and no goals. Also look at this - the defense is extremely solid despite no DM, and support and attack duty fullbacks: We never dribble, despite having pretty good dribblers. We don't win the ball in their half much, but that' not an issue: We are very hard to break down ... note, we don't have a lot of tackles, interceptions, or blocks. And an average number of interceptions. But we concede 2/3 of the xG and half the goals of an average team. And this isn't because we play keep away with the ball. We have 54% possession on average. I do have a really good roster, we won the Champions League the year before playing a 541. But we only finished 2nd/3rd with 83/82 points the last two year in the EPL, we aren't some insane super team. We are second again this year through 24 games. City (coached by Klopp since 22-23) is still really tough and going for a 3-peat. Anyway, thanks @kr10this one is a lot of fun.