retired_melanie

I've been playing Football Manager for quite a few months now. And upon until recently I couldn't really find a system , that worked with the players I had. The main issue was that , I liked to use wingers ; as wingers. Let me explain. My idea was to have the wingers to run straight down the line. So they could get the ball to the byline and get a cross in so that one of your forwards to head the ball in. However , there is two problems with that. One , the match engine doesn't properly represent crossing , from the ball being live , to score headers , it doesn't tend to work. And the second being. Having a forward who can best utilise the cross to try and convert the headers. Finding these forwards is hard , because many , with the required heading and jumping stats , are center halves. And also , even if you can find one , they don't tend to be good at much else.

So where to go then. Well I embarked on a Tottenham game (The picture is of my Torquay game , I've changed the kit colour by the way). I wanted to utilise Lennons dribbling abilities. And I signed Freddy Adu to give the side some balance aswell. With Huddlestone covering the holding role , I used (in my second season anyway) Magnus Wolff Eikrem from Man Utd to great effect in the creative midfield role.

Ill describe what happened in my second season. With a pretty simple back four , Bale , Davies , Dawson and Chimbonda. And Berbatov and Lita upfront. They were business as usual. With the midfield set up as described. I set about a sucessfull campaign.

So how does it work?. We the theory is simple. Keep the thing on the deck , play quick , intracate football , and get 5 players going forward 'crashing the net' if you like. With the players running as they do in the picture above. The ball gets played from the defense out wide. Out wide surely not you must be thinking. And to an extent thats true. The ball , instead of getting to the wingers , goes to one of the forwards. (For this example the ball has gone down the left.) Lita normally did that. Then with Berbatov already causing the defense problems. Lennon , Adu and Eikrem advance on the box. Lita , now running at defenders , has now five options. Berbatov , who has found himself now normally , by the back post. Lennon , who is poised about 15 yards from goal , on the right side of the box. Adu , who is on the overlap , if needed. And Eikrem finds himself , purched in the 'D' waiting to unleash a first time ball. Or Lita can go it alone.

Now whatever option Lita chooses , You've got a pretty decent chance of scoring. But the important thing with this , is that those 5 aren't alone. If the ball is scrambled clear , Ive got Huddlestone , Bale and Chimbonda in on the act.

So , this is attacking football. Ill admit that. But I like playing attacking football , as im sure most of you do. But for anyone who doesn't think this will work with lower teams , fear not. I got Torquay in one season promoted to league one , and after 4 years of finding my feet (I haven't exactly been blessed with huge amounts of money) am now top of League one after 20 games with a 7 point lead.

I play Short passing , A quick tempo. But with narrow passing. It tends to mean the ball goes wide less often , but it still works either way. I Play a high line , but that again doesn't tend to matter a huge amount.

Give it a try , you never know. With the Tottenham game in 2 years:

2 Uefa Cup titles
2nd In the Premiership in the second season.

Not bad in my opinion.

retired_el_chanclas

Generally when you have a tactic, you provide a download link.

retired_melanie

Normally helps doesn't it.

http://rapidshare.com/files/27247017/4-4-2_On_The_Deck_...__Dec_2011_.rar.html

retired_Lyon

Nice theories, I'm playing Spurs as well. I tried something like that before, getting my "wingers" into the box rather than the byline, as Lennon and whatever left winger I used were not very good out and out widemen. I'll give this a try as I'm almost starting my preseason.

retired_mona

Hey, could someone put the link in FM Downloads as it won't work for me

Cheers :cool:

retired_melanie

Its on FM Downloads now. Go in FM 2007 / Tactics / 4-4-2.

Called 4-4-2 "Crash The Net".

retired_Myoplex

bit stuck up of you wasnt that "davidbowie"? all you had to say is can you put the tactic up for download.

bobby, do you play like this every game or only when you need to score? as i play similiar football to you and am thinking about trying it against portsmouth from the start

retired_melanie

The file Name is 4-4-2 On The Deck , Torquay Dec 2011

retired_melanie

I play like it all the time. I've been searching for the 'perfect' football that Arsenal seem to play. And i think this is it. But you've got to sign the right type of players. I'd give it a go. I think you need quick wingers as the main thing. And someone creative in midfield , who can pass.

retired_brinker317

It's an interesting idea, particularly as I'm about to play my first preseason game with Torquay...

I was planning on using a direct 4-4-2, with Mickey Evans as the targetman to head, but I may well be tempted to give this a go.

Couple of questions;

1; I find Farrows on the fullbacks to be, usually, suicidal. How many do you concede on average, especially from balls out wide?

2; Centre backs have very high closing down (team) - is this intentional?