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Welcome to version 1 of my defensive tactic, to be deployed against stronger teams and tough away games.
Most people have a fairly good attacking tactic by now, mostly centered aroun a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2. The problem is that most of these tactics were designed with teams like Chelsea and Barcelona in mind. If you are a smaller club, then you won't get away with playing these tactics away from home - particularly in the Champions League. It is even advisable to use this tactic to defend a tight lead at home in the closing stages of games.
The tactic is a 4-5-1, with a solid bank of 4 in defence, a solid bank of 5 in the middle, and a hard working centre forward at the front. You can have a look at it here:
This tactic has been invaluable for me soo far. Its been tested in the Russian Premier Division (2 consecutive championships, Quarter Finals of Champions League), with Spartak Moscow, With Dortmund, 2nd place in first season without spending any money, followed by Semi Finals of Champions League the next season, And with Celtic, 4 Championships in a row, 2 Champions League winners in a row.
Notes:
I advise that you have defenders with high marking, tackling and heading. Pace is not required soo much. The defensive midfielder must have high decisions ability, and at least a 12 in creativity, as he will be collecting the ball from defence and attempting to instigate attacks. Of the 2 central midfielders, the one on the right (circled), is your most attack minded midfielder. His job is to break foward with the ball when he has the chance, and to relieve the pressure off the defence. It is vital that he has pace and acceleration, along with creativity.
The striker must have a high work rate. It doesn't matter if hes a tall striker that uses strength, or a pacey striker. Composure and finishing should be the stats you look for there.
It is a very defensive minded tactic, but it scores goals away from home. The idea is to tightly pack your midfield and defence, and you will get a goal on the counter attack or from a set piece.
I'm surprised nobody has bothered replying to this.
I've tried it, more so when winning and trying to hold onto a lead and it works well.
So well done Sonic :-)
Nice work Sonic - one more for the keep a clean sheet and win brigade. Do you find it works better home or away or do you have equal success and how much closing down do you use on opposition instructions?
Its the only attacking tactic that has consistantly worked for me and I recommend anyone to try it if you're struggling to score goals and dominate against weaker sides.
As for my tactic, there is a few tweaks I've been working on to make it slightly more effective on the counter attack, which is obviously very useful away from home in Europe. In this version, I don't do any closing down on opposition instructions, although this will change for the second version. I honestly don't advise you start with it at home. Teams will normally play a counter attacking formation when you are at home, and if you do the same you will gift them too much possesion.
I've been running some simulations (setting team tactics and going on holiday), on various leagues whilst tweaking things, so version 2 will be out shortly : )
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[RELEASE] Sonic Defence v1 [RELEASE] 
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