This post will present the latest and final update of my 4-3-3 tactic. I have reduced the tactics even further to just inlude one attacking and one defensive tactic. This way it will be easier to select a tactic for a game, either you belive that you can control the game and then you choose the attacking one, else you go for the defensive one.
Here are the tactics, the file includes the two tactis (attacking and defensive) and the 4-3-3 Get a goal and 4-3-3 Defend points tactics that has been explained in previous posts.
4-3-3 Tactic set - Fianl version
Below the changes to each tactic will be presented.
1. 4-3-3 Attacking Individual changes
-Passing for central defenders set to shorter so they dont hoof the ball up the pitch so the team loose possession.
-The mentality for the DMC have been reduced. This way he plays more behind the other two midfielders and cover the gap between the midfield and defensive line better.
-The closing down of the DMC have also been reduced, this way he will play more in the middle of the pitch and dont close down as far out on the flanks. The wingers and fullbacks should handle the flanks and he should cover the middle op the pitch, just infront of the penalty area.
-The playmaker role have been moved to the defensive midfielder, i have noticed that he will have more time on the ball and he also plays more central in the pitch then the other two midfielder’s this way he will have a better position to switch the ball the flanks and pick out the forward and wingers with nice passes.
- ncreased the creative freedom of the DMC to match his playmaker role.
- Through balls set to often for the DMC, to encurage nice direct balls out on the flanks to the wingers and forward.
-The two central midfielders have been given more creative freedom. The idea behind this is that they should provide more nice through balls to the wingers and the forward.
-The two central midfielders have been given forward runs often. This way they will take more runs into the area and can a dangere to the opponents when crosses go in to the box, they will also be in a better position to pickup any ball that is cleared by the defenders then if they stay further back.
-The two central midfielders have been given “normal” tackling instead of “easy” because they should challange for more balls then in the previous tactics.
-Closing down on the two central midfielders is adjusted, as well as the mentality.
-Both central midfielders have through balls set to often and long shots set to mixed. This is something that you should tweak so it suit your central midfielders, if he has bad long shots attributes then reduce it.
-The creativity of the wingers increased.
Team changes
- The team now play a wider and higher tempo then in the first two tactics. This has proven to to be helpful to break defending teams down. You shouldnt give them the time to organize at the back before attaking.
- Set pices are gone through.
2. 4-3-3 Defensive Individual instructions
-Fullbacks stay back at all time.
-Mentality and closing down for the defensive midfielder reduced
-Mentality for the central midfielders is tweaked and creative freedom is increased. They need higher creative freedom to pick out nice passes to the wingers and forward.
-Forward runs for the central midfielders reduced to mixed.
-Through balls and long shots the same as in the 4-3-3 attacking tactic.
Team instructions
- Defenisive line, mentality, tempo and width are adjusted.
- Set pices are gone through.
Notes on 4-3-3 Attacking (H) and 4-3-3 Defensive (A)
-The attacking formation uses a playmaker and the defensive is a counter attack tactic.
-The DMC is the playmaker in the attacking formation and should be set in the playmaker list.
-The wingers take the corners
-The best header of the defenders should be in the left position of the centerbacks to stand on the near post at corners.
-Sometimes i move the defensive midfielder from the MC position to the DMC position, if the opposition play with a AMC i consider moving him there for better cover.
Tips for adjusting the formation
What you have to do is to put your striker in the target man list (even that target man box isnt ticked), you then need to adjust his individual settings to suit him. And then choose the right supply to him. In the tactics im currently playing as Porto and have Helder Postiga as target man and he is good at long shots and very techical, so he recived the ball to the feet, set to long shots mixed and run with ball mixed. This settings works great for him but dont work at all in my Sunderland game where i also tested the tactics, thee i have Eddie Johnsson as striker and he is great at the head, so when using this tacic with sunderland i need to tweak his instructions and change the supply for him to the head.
How this is how I use the tactics
Now i belive that i have found a good balance in the individual instructions, what is do is the following. First i take a look at the opponent do decide what tactic i should choose. If i belive that i can control the play i go with the attacking one else if i belive that i would need to defend and my only chance is to hit them on the break i go with the defensive one.
I never tweak the individual instructions (except for the forward to make it suit the type of player he is). What i can chage from game to game is the width, tempo, time wasting and the defensive line mainly. If i get rapports that the opposition have a pacy attack, and i still want to use the attacking tactic then i move my defensive line back a bit then its set in the original tactic. Same is true if i for example choose the defensive tactic, but the opponent seem to play through the middle and have a strong midfield then i reduce the width.
Tweaking just the team instructions is something that has worked great for me, and it has a huge effect if set proparly to match the opponent.
I also make slight tweaks during the game (sometime before the game) to the forward and backward arrows. The changes depend on if i belive the opponent to be a threat in certain ways then i change the barrows or remove farrows to hadle this. For example if it in the scout rapport says thay they attack down the flanks and are a threat down the flank and that the wide man needs to track back then i move the back arrow on the wingers to go all way down to the ML/MR positon, and perhaps even removing the farrow on the fullbacks to not let them get in behind.
Other things i use to do is the following, say for example that i has taken the lead in a game that is even (using the attacking formation). To defend the lead better without switching to the defensive formation. If i switch to defensive i invite the opponents onto me and since i belive that im stronger but dont want to go all defensive i do the following. I putt barrows on fullbacks (so now there is no chance they get in behind), barrow the wingers to ML/MR position and go into team and switch to counter attack, but im still using the attacking formation. This way i will play attacking, but my players will be more catious and not risking to loose the ball while the team is still high up the pitch. This thing with switching to counter attack but still using the attacking formation and a playmaker has worked great for me when i take the lead in a game. You can count on loosing some possession this way, but the chance that you get caught out of position is less. But i only tend to do this if the teams is of an even strength, if have a way better team i let the boys attack them all night long since it fun for them to score =)
And as i said, i dont do any individual tweaking i only tweak team instructions and change farrows and barrows depending on the opposition im up against.
Results
Here i will show some of the results i had with this formation, i will take my Porto save as an example since i havent finished the season with Sunderland yet.
1:st season with Porto using the original 4-3-3 tactics set.
League:
Pos: 1 Pld: 30 Win: 26 D: 4 L: 0 For: 59 Ag: 14 G.D: +45 Pts: 76
Portugal Cup
Winner
Champions League:
Reached Semi-Final – Knocked out against Chelsea with one goal. Did beat Arsenal in the Quarter-Final, won 2-1 away and won 1-0 at home.
2:nd Season with Porto starting with the 4-3-3 updated tactic set, then switched after 10-15 games to the two tactics in the new set.
League:
Pos: 1 Pld: 30 Win: 22 D: 6 L: 2 For: 58 Ag: 17 G.D: +41 Pts: 72
Portugal Cup
Winner. Won against Sporting Lissabon with (1-0)
Champions League:
Runner up. Knocked out Dynamo Kiev, Inter in quarter-final (won 4-1 home and 1-0 away), Ajax in semi-final (lost 3-2 away and won 3-0 at home), and lost (2-0) against Roma in the final, got one goal from penalty and one from a corner.
Stats for the 2:nd season in all the games played
Played: 50 Games
Scored: 105
Conceded: 33
Goals: Defenders(14), Midfielders(27), Wingers(24), Strikers(39)
Assists: Defenders(21), Midfielders(16), Wingers(49), Strikers(5)
So far im happy with the tactic, it produces some nice fotball and seem to score alot and not conced to much. I think that in my second season i could have conceded less, but i tried to play some youngersters to give them first team experience and their lack of experience perhaps added to some late goals. And i should have switch to a more defensive tactic when i went two up instead of pushing for a third, but it is fun to score also =).
What i belive is important with this tactic to have success is that you tweak the team instructions, i always do that depending on how the team i up against play. Some tips of what i do tewak is presented above.
Would like to hear how this tactic works for you so i can compare the results against the old tactics. If someone uses this tactics and try using zonal marking in the defensive and also try to use the offide trap i would like to hear the results from that.
Cheers /Zenith
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