dukesisking

Copperhead V2


History
This tactic has been built over 5 separate seasons using Rangers, Darlington and Wigan.
Originally a friend asked me to develop a tactic for Rangers. My immediate thought was that the generic 442 would win you the league with them, but I accepted the challenge and looked at their squad. I wanted an attacking formation that utilized many different attacking options. I’m not an arrows all over the place type of man, but try to utilize individual instructions. The strong central defenders and fullbacks caught my eye with Barry Ferguson as the lynchpin.


I decided on a 5-4-1 with wingbacks very attacking. That was copperhead v1. It was quite successful, champions league semi’s and Scottish premiership winners. But I’ve always been more interested in the play rather then results. I thought that tactic was too attacking and skillful for a lower league team, so started a new game with my old favorite Darlington. I utilized the copperhead v1 with no changes, attacking was just as good, with excellent buildup work and genuine chances the flavor. Defence was shocking, especially at set pieces. I was coming 1st a quarter of the season gone but I wasn’t happy with how the team played (I never am). I made adjustments of the wingbacks to not be so attacking and that was helpful, the sweeper went and a genuine dm came in, the am went to cm, targetman and playmaker went and so Copperhead V2 was born. I started a new game with Wigan, bought some gun footballers, was winning ½ way through the season, but injuries and loss of morale killed me and eventually finished 4th. I could have finished 2nd on the last game but a Portsmouth bomb from 35 yards out in the 4th minute killed that. I had 10-20 excellent chances to score, but that’s the name of the game. It happens with this tactic, be warned, I’m not talking long shots but 1 on 1 with the keeper chances. The same thing happened In the final of the FA cup 1-0 to arsenal. Last season I owned Liverpool the 3 times I played them, 4-0, 2-0, 3-1. Killed arsenal once 3-0, the other was 1-0, also the 0-1 they hit me with in the fa cup. With the players I’ve acquired in the offseason I’m confident of a good showing, currently 5th, 2 points off the place after a 1-1 with everton. (5 games in)

Warning

This is without the beta patch, with the beta patch I would adjust the closing down all over the field and adjust the cd’s mentality, and then look and adjust accordingly.

The Shape

Shape image 1



The shape plus the 1st team and reserves, I know I’ve got a half decent squad, most of them were bought this year. I need to get a decent LWB eventually, but I’ll wait for January.

The Play

You will never get much possession with this tactic, I’ve changes tempo, passing etc, but from observations I think I know why. The opposing team passes the ball player to player back and forth across the midfield trying to find a way through. The patch might adjust the closing down and I might get the ball back quicker, however that will have to be discovered later. Here is an image of when the opposing team has the ball (all images vs Milan in Champions League, I’m expecting to lose the match but want to show how the tactic works)-

Without Ball image 1



You can see how the 5 defenders are back, if the opposition had a winger with a long farrow in front of the person with the ball, the wb would be tightmarking them. Kewell will stay back for a little bit if he decides to make a run, and attempt to tackle him about where Kewell is now.

Often (I’ve seen this a lot) the opposition full back will attempt to pass it (after going back and forward with the cd closest to him) to where my cm is now (their am) If my Dm gets possession, he will quick pass it to the cm, my striker and right am would run forward and someone would take a shot. Beautiful to watch.

A lot of the opposition goals come from this situation also. A long ball across field in front of the bottommost attacker can sometimes give them a shot. I’ve tried to counteract this with offside trap (as all my defenders are pretty slow), but with 2 new defenders they sometimes get it wrong.

With Ball image 1

I wanted to show how the team is setup on the attack but I scored. It’s a good example of how the tactic capitalizes on mistakes.



Their throwin got pinched by Van der Vart (no 8), how quick passed it to defour, who played a beautiful ball to the striker to put it in the back of the net. Counter Attacking moves get a lot of goals, but now I hope we build a goal so I can show that next.

Bloody hell, scored again. This one was less luck and more buildup.


With Ball image 2




The right cb hit a long ball to Kewell (the left am), who in the past has either dribbled and has a shot himself, crossed it the right am who has a shot, plays one-twos with the am, but in this case hits a through ball in front of the striker who puts it away. High decision making is vital with everyone in front of the cbs. Srna (right wing back) often doesn’t know what to do even though there is no opponent near him.


Without Ball 2

They scored through fast running of Kaka, he has had a lot of runs however he has been caught offside every time except for this one. My central defender did have him marked, but it is Kaka.




Cahill hit a throughball to Kaka (22) who hit the corner of the box. Even though they have had a lot of shots from outside the box, this is the only one where it looked like it should have gone in. Even in this circumstance my rcb has a tackle on Kaka, but no good.

I have had a good number of shots in the past 40 minutes, one from Kewell, 2 from the striker and 1 from Van ver vart. They have had a number of good freekick situations where they could have scored, however I am looking the better team. We’ll see how we go.


Vander Vart in the last ten minutes had 2 very good chances, the striker had a couple also.

Finishes 2-1 to me.

The match stats with this tactic sort of lie. For example, I only had 10 shots at goal (4 on, 6 off) they had 16, 7 on, 9 off. All of my 10 shots were really good scoring chances (its not always so, sometimes my players try shots from 40 – 50 yards out, but not this time), I counted 2 maybe 3 of theirs were good chances. Anyone watching the game would have thought I deserved to win.

Possession likewise, 43 to me, 67 to them. A lot of their possession is trying to find their way through the wall of players in front of them. It is a counter attacking tactic (not ticked, but does counter attack), but it also builds attacks from the back. I’ve often though that with the patch installed and the goalkeeper actually passing to the defenders rather then hoofing it upfield, would alleviate the possession stats.

I’ll talk about the players now.


Defensively the tactic is sound, mainly because of the amount of players the opposition has to get through to have a decent chance. Attacking wise good chances can come from the am, dm long shots, left winger dribbling and having a shot, the striker passing it back to the am, left winger crossing to the right winger who has a shot, the right winger playing through balls to the striker, even wingbacks crossing to the wingers who have a shot etc. Every goal is different, I’m really pleased with the variation in attack.

Player abilities and usage

Goalkeeper – he has to save a lot of long shots, so handling/reflexes/concentration desirable. He’s set defensively obviously.

R and L cd – I would sell my soul to get some speed in my players here. Concentration a must, as well as tackling/marking. They man mark as well. The central defender does most of the heading, so just average heading is desirable in these players. They are set on the first notch of normal (change if you have beta patch), with everything set to rare.

Closing down in the middle, passing very direct, creative freedom practically none.

Cd – did have him as a sweeper, but I don’t have sweepers anymore, a bit more defensive then the other cd’s, with ttb sometimes. Passing mixed with closing down a bit less then half. Heading is important, pace not so.



R + L wb’s - mentality is a bit less then half, I adjust as the game progresses depending if they are using wingers or not and how good they are. Passing shortish, closing down highish, Srna on mine is pretty high creative freedom, I might change that.
Cross Ball often, Forward runs often, rwb mixed.

They sometimes go past the am wingers and do 1-2’s with them. But they also track back with the opposing players, and the cd closest to them also comes over and gives a hand. If a winger gets past them then look out, but they usually do a good job.

Dm – Passing, decisions and determination is a must here, he is one of the lynchpins. He basically has to be able to win the ball and pass it to either the wingbacks, the cm/am or do a defence splitting pass to the aml/r. I spent the majority of my budget on a good dm, because I was using Danny landzat (sp?) last year and even though he has good allround stats, none of them are spectacular. He could be used as a playmaker but the ball usually goes through him anyway so why bother.

Cm with farrow to am. I put a genuine am here, he does have to win a lot of balls in the air because of keeper short passing bug, but good heading people in this position are hard to find. Passing most important, creativity and flair etc.

I give him heaps of creative freedom and have everything else on mixed. Passing is set to team (short).

Left am – I wanted variation between the am’s, so this one is set to dribbling and crossing. He often gets man of the match, I’ve found Kewell unsurpassed here, but put whoever you want. He’ll either play a through ball to the striker, cross it to the other am or have a shot himself.

Right am – He’s sort of a backup to the striker. When the team plays well, he gets a LOT of great chances. I haven’t really found the perfect person for this role, but we’ll see how van der vart goes, he cost enough anyway. I’ve also put him playing all corners and freekicks.

Striker – I tried a target man, hold up the ball type of player in the lower leagues, but he wasn’t so great. Now I go for speed, speed and more speed. I always put a fresh speedster in at the end of the game, and he often wins me the glory.


Variations

I don’t do too many variations, I have been beaten comprehensively however I still usually get good chances which my players don’t put away.

I adjust the time wasting in about the 83rd minute, I adjust the team mentality (which is the am, wingers and strikers) if I’m playing against a defensive team. If my dm gets sent off I move one of the am’s to cm, the other to dm. If I’m really chasing a goal I’ll put the central defender to striker, but be warned of the counter attack. I also adjust the wingbacks depending on how the opposition is playing.

I don’t do any opposition instructions because it gets players dragged out of position.

Reason why I’ve put it on

I want people to improve the tactic and tell me how they did it. The set pieces are pretty well set up, however the throw ins can be drastically improved, I have just never got around to it.

You will have to adjust it if playing with the patch obviously, specifically the d-line, the closing down and the mentality of the defenders.



The tactic is called Copperhead V2, by dukesisking on Fmdownloads - copperhead V2

Now to press the post button and see how many mistakes and images were wrong.

dioufy_is_god

With a post like that it would be rude of me not to try it probably tommorow now though i will report back with my results KUTGW :thup: