Benoit2

And then we want to win as well of course Arent we just being picky

Maybe I should also just use 4-3-3. Afterall, you're Dutch or not

Tricolores

Funny you say that, because actually, we DO expect wins as well!!

It's crazy, but in Holland, if you win 1 - 0 by playing counter-attacking football, you will be slammed by all the newspapers.

For example, a few years ago, there was someone managing FC Den Bosch (Wiljan Vloet) and they were by far the weakest team in the Premier Division. So he played EXTREMELY defensive and while they eventually relegated, they were doing pretty well at the start of the season. Everybody slammed his tactics by calling it something like 'new realism' (which was meant negative). This has haunted Wiljan Vloet since then.

But think about it: we expect our defenders to join the passing game!?! No wonder we perform so poorly in Europe (with the exception of PSV and maybe AZ).

P.S. Despite being Dutch, I actually don't prefer 4-3-3... strange but true.

Evil Man

all this discussion about counter attack and slow tempo - correct me if my assumption is wrong - please

SLOW TEMPO - doesnt affect the speed at which you pass the ball to each other, but the speed at which you get the ball up the other end

COUNTER ATTACK - the teams ability to expoit any openings in the oppositions defense.

So - if you played a slow, short passing game, your team would, however, should an opportunity present itself, then they would counter attack quickly (as long as you had the option ticked)

This sounds like Man Utd - nice slow build ups, retaining possesion, but if possesion is lost and the opposition breaks, and that attack is foiled, Man Utd break with speed....

The only reason i bring this up, is My understanding of FM - counter attack (in terms of its style of play) could only be played with a defensive mentality, QUICK tempo and DIRECT/SHORT - essentially getting the ball upfield as quickly as poss, regardless of passing type....

Therefore, after a little thought, is it possible do you thing for teams to play slow, short games AND counter attack????

oescus

I favour Evil Man's view of "Counter Attacking". Revert to real life. Think about Brian Clough's great Nottm Forest teams, Man.Utd and Liverpool in their great years. They all played it at a slower pace, rather than a slow pace and used the full width of the pitch.

If you played too slowly, the opposition would be able to keep covering all spaces and therefore negate your attempts to counter. Likewise if you kept the play rather narrow, your opponents would not even have to cover all of the pitch.

But, by playing in between slow and normal and playing wide the opposition has to try to cover more ground and quicker, thereby creating the spaces from which you should be able to counter attack successfully.

The pre-requisites of counter attacking are of course attackers with some speed, without which, any counter attacking system is doomed to abject failure.