Tricolores

Hi all,

I'm currently working on a new tactic. It's a 4-4-2 diamond variation and after some research on this forum, I am going to use slow(ish) tempo and short(ish) passing. Hopefully, this will help my team keep possession and create chances.

However, what width should I choose? I always like my teams to play (extremely) wide, since I'm from Holland and we like wingers who hug the line (Robben, Castelen, Overmars etc.). However, can this be combined with a slow tempo? I mean, on one hand I wouldn't see why it couldn't work, on the other hand, I can imagine that your short/slow passes will be easily intercepted by your opponents if they have to travel huge distances (which is the case when you play wide).

Any thoughts (or experiences) on this?

Thank you!

Cleon

Your exactly right, you can play this way and wide, but there will be times when it just doesn't work and you might need to go more direct with the passing or play less wide if the wingers are isolated. But if the player mentalities are all very simliar and not too spread, then it should work out okay.

Tricolores

Hey Cleon,

Thanks for your SUPER-fast response!

I already feared I was right... So a slow tempo, short passing and the width-slider on 20 is not exactly without riscs (to put it mildly). Too bad.

But your post has really helped me by strengthening my thoughts. I will start out by putting the width-slider to about 14 (so a bit wider than normal, but nothing spectacular) and I will watch closely if even this is too wide for certain games (trouble is, I'm so slow with finding out what exactly is going wrong, that I will probably be trailing 0 - 2 by the time I even touch that slider, hehe).

Millie

I play passing 4*, tempo 4 and width 17 at the start of the game. If the opposition come through the middle, I knock it down two notches, if it's not breaking down the opposition I knock it up two notches (that is, 15 and 19). Sometimes I may need to go as low as 13 or as high as 20, but this is rare.

However, I play a 4-1-2-3 with no wingers, so I need to artificially create my width by spacing the players out more in the team instructions. For 4-4-2 you may need to tinker about to find an acceptable starting width.

* - notches on the slider from the left, with the lowest value being 1

Tricolores

Yeah, because my wingers are already wider on the pitch than your midfielders, I think my 14 will do for me. However, I didn't quite understand that part where you said: 15 and 19... Isn't knocking 17 up two notches always 19? And if you make it 15, how will playing with less width help you breaking down the opposition?

And please don't see this as any kind of criticism. I'm just very eager to know, since I'm just starting to become interested in tactics and how to implement them in FM.

Thank you.

Tricolores

Sorry, I must be drunk or something, because I totally skipped a part of your post Millie.

Now it makes perfect sense: if you leave holes in your midfield, play more narrow; if you fail to break up the opposition, play more wide.

Got it.

Sorry for my previous post. My bad.

Tricolores

One final question for Millie: do you also play slow/short?

Millie

Yes, 4, 4 which is the final notch of "short" and "slow" before you start entering "mixed".

This is only with larger teams though. Against better opposition or with weaker sides. I usually play "direct" and "quick" with a narrower formation.