If you register for free, you will be able to post threads, vote on polls and lots more. If you have problems with the registration or logging in, please contact the administrator.
For those of you with higher level teams that want to absolutely dominate possession and defend well too, look no further than the 3-6-1 or...3-1-4-1-1 to be precise.
Having tasted success in the lower divisions, I decided that it was time to give a big team a whirl, so I took the reins of Milan.
Having taken into account that Pirlo and kaka are the driving force of Milan, I had to find a way to maximise the potential of both of these players. Kaka had to play in behind, and Pirlo had to be the anchor. Easy decision. Instead of playing a narrow 4-4-2 diamond though, I still wanted to keep my width but be defensive at the same time—so I made the decision to drop a striker. Kaka acts as a second striker anyway. The only player I have signed is Ben Haim from Bolton since he is a good passing sweeper. Nesta and kaladze (CBs), and Gattuso and Ambrosini (CMs) are the backbone of the team and it is their jobs to merely man mark tightly. This leaves Pirlo and Kaka open ALWAYS. The whole of the team is set to low creative freedom (remember that CF refers to how consistently players will carry out your instructions, it does not mean it weakens your side) except Pirlo and Kaka whom are set to full and are both set on free roles. Pirlo is set to my playmaker.
My passing and tempo is set to 2 (except Pirlo whom has mixed passing), and my goalkeeper is asked to play the ball to my sweeper. My mentalities are varied depending on the team that I play, as is my defensive line. My wingers are not really wingers (I will change this against weak teams though), but are really just left and right midfielders. They are not asked to cross often, get forward often, or run with the ball often. They are set to cross from byline for the rare occasions that they find themselves there, in an attempt to maximise the cross. I do NOT want deep balls going in to the box with such a good team as Milan. My striker is asked to do nothing in particular except hold up the ball.
The whole system is based on Pirlo and Kaka's ability to impact on games.
Pirlo is on super high CF, free role, defensive mentality, run with ball (very important), and long shots (very important). I noticed that there is SO much space in front of Pirlo to run in to and I wasn't using this originally, so I changed it with instant results. Since long shots is set to often he will frequently receive the ball from a defender, hit the space, and rifle a thirty yarder into the top bin. Amazingly, and yes, a lot of his goals are from free kicks, he has notched 14 goals in 23 games. Not bad for a midfield anchor.
I have heard a lot of people saying that they can't get Kaka to play well. No such problems for me. I play him directly in the AMC role, free role, high mentality, run with ball, long shots often, CF all the way up. He has notched 17 in 23 games and is the club's top scorer. Gillardino has scored a scrappy 7.
I play a global closing down of around 3 and a VERY narrow formation. Since I am vulnerable down the wings, this closing down setting (3) allows my wingers to get back. The opposition's centre mids and strikers are so well marked (admittedly by world class players—I'll get to this shortly) that the opposition really can't do a thing. Pirlo acts as a midfield sweeper and picks up the pieces as does Ben Haim at the back.
OBSERVATIONS
Pirlo receives the ball at every opportunity. My centre backs hardly EVER lump the ball forward. I conclude that this is because Pirlo is always open, so the CB's have an easy decision to make—they simply dish it off to the maestro.
My wingers usually "come back around". Instead of going forward and losing the ball on the dribble, they'll come back if there is nowhere to go and give it to Pirlo in acres.
My striker hardly has anything to do with the play. He wins the occasional flick on, will score from corners, or will tap in a rebound (usually from a Pirlo or Kaka shot). EVERYTHING goes through Pirlo and Kaka.
Between them, Pirlo and Kaka will score a wonder goal every couple of games. It is this heavy reliance on them both that leads me to believe that this formation will break down with lesser ability players. It is VITAL that possession is kept, and with Milan, it is (usually 70–30%). Since I have had this game, of any version, I have never seen a team play as beautiful as this team does with these settings.
I was a little hesitant to release this formation due to the fact that I am indeed a 'super-power', but I felt it justified after reading a certain post that someone was struggling with Milan, and could not get Kaka to play well. I took on the challenge of making a great team play great and it works real well. I have not lost in the 23 games that I have played and I play virtually the same whether I be home or away. I look forward to implementing this formation with other teams, although I am sure that there is no better DM than Pirlo, or AM than Kaka, in the world, so it is quite possible that this formation could be exposed.
im using celtic and i too use this set up.. with the leftcentral and rightcentral defenders on sarrow, two dmcs (one normal mentality, one defensive mentality), two wide midfielders (not exACTLy wingers), two AMCs and one target man.
Scottish league isnt really the toughest around and celtic is the equivalent of Chelsea-arsenal-utd in scottish league so i cant really say my tactics really is a 'good tactic'... i havent lost for 6 league games now.. however i havent one any single european ties...(3 draws, 2 away VS SPorting Lisbon and Lille, 1 home draw vs Barcelona... ronaldinho scored in the 89th minute after Balde's mistake)
I'll give a try some of your ideas as i really like playing with 6 midfielders.. CHOKE THE MIDFIELD BABY!
I get the same thing—Pirlo constantly gets over 100 passes. I have never really neen this before have you? At least not so consistently. Melench, did you see the same observations as me? I am going to try it with my beloved Blue boys when I get home, and I'm going to turn Arteta into a DM and play Cahill in behind Johnson with Neville and Carsley as man markers in the middle. Will keep you posted with my results. Let me know if you notice anything else, mate.
Very interesting tactic. I have never played with so much midfielders before. I am not good at creating tactics so I will wait until this one is uploaded. But I have a question, while you have made this tactic to revolve around Pirlo and Kaka, do you know of any other players which suit their position for the tactic? I meanm I have searched alot of players in FM and while their are players that are very 'Kaka' like, I dont think their is any players that even come close to being like Pirlo?
Introducing the 3-6-1 sweeper possession 
Linear Mode
