retired_doggydog88

Introduction.

I finally got my 4-3-3 formation to work, and after reading Cleon's sweeper thread, I felt it was time for something creative. The upcoming tactic is really good in theory and I see no reason why it shouldn't work.

Don’t expect to scroll down and find a .tac file that will win every match for you. If that’s what you’re looking for you’re in the wrong place. Also, everything is still work in progress. I haven’t been able to test this enough, because I simply don’t have a sweeper yet. I’m getting ahead of things.. Now, here’s the way I divided this post:

- The formation.
- Benefits over the classic 4-3-3.
- The defensive system.
- The two-men midfield.
- The front three.


The formation.

First things first, here it is:



The reasons I call this the “flying 5 - 2 – 3” is because it has four true wing players: two wingbacks and two wingers. The name 5 -2 – 3 makes it sound as if I have a weak midfield, which isn’t the case. It could’ve been called it 3 – 6 – 1.

I choose to create this system because the players seem to be positioned really well. Or, to quote Cleon:

That’s the way I felt about it too. No surprise, this system is based on whipping in a lot of crosses. Which is one of the other reasons I created this tactic: crosses seem to be deadly in this version. I’ll get to the crossing part later, in the front three section.

This system should have high width at all times, don’t cut off the wings. Since a few days, one of my basic assumptions has been: playing wide needs longer passing, in able to find the flank players at once. Playing wide also allows slow tempo; players have more room, meaning more time to make the move that seems best to them. I know that not everybody agress to those assumptions, and everybody should feel free to experiment with different settings.

First I’ll explain why this system could work much better than the basic 4 – 3 – 3 system.


Benefits over the classic 4 – 3 – 3.



Now, here’s a picture of a standard 4–3–3. There are some real good things about this. The defensive block is really strong, with the DMC sitting in front of the backline. Also, with good wingers you will be deadly dangerous up front. I’ve said many times before, the 4-3-3 system can really get the best of your players. Meaning, your players can really concentrate on the things they do best, not having too worry about other duties. Now, there are also things that I don’t like about the 4-3-3. I have been struggling to set up a good central trio. Especially the MC’s seem to be in each other’s way sometimes. This problem is easily solved by the flying 5-2-3, since you only have one MC. It’s really impossible for players to get in each other’s way with this formation.

One of the other main downsides of the classic 4-3-3 is playing away matches. A 4-3-3 requires playing wide to function well. This is very risky away from home, therefore some people only use the 4-3-3 at home. I’ll get to the solution for this problem in the sweeper section.

Another good thing about this formation is that one problem is gone: the fact that strikers are bad at scoring one-on-ones. Simply because chances come from crosses, not from trough balls. And crosses, as a matter of fact, are very effective this year.

Now, I expect a lot of people to be afraid to use this formation. Maybe because it looks so weird? Or maybe because it seems too defensive, or too attacking?



There! Now, that doesn’t look too weird now does it? Really a simple change. The wingbacks make this more risky then a standard 4-3-3, and the sweeper compensates this risk. Result? Your players are much better positioned. The 4-3-3 is made for attacks over the flanks, which the wingbacks are really good at. It’s only logical too sacrifice a central midfielder for this, he was only in the way of his partner anyway.

Now that everybody is convinced that this is going to be a great system, I’ll get to the different positions. Please note that this is all still very experimental, don’t expect any precise player instructions.


The defensive system.

Now, if there’s one thing that should scare people from using this tactic, it’s this one. I mean, who uses a sweeper these days? I do, and you should too. Offcourse, it’s too early to be making conclusions, but this seems to be a real good system. The centre backs should function as in a normal defense, with the sweeper functioning as a vacuüm cleaner, as we like to call it in the Netherlands. Offcourse, this system hasn’t been tested a lot. Please keep in mind that I’m not making this thread to start a sweeper-discussion. We already have a very good one created by Cleon, take a look in there.

The biggest benefit this sweeper should give, is playing better away from home. Like I explained earlier, playing wide away from home is quite risky. When the AI wins the ball, there is often a huge cap between your defenders. This should be solved by the sweeper system. However, more testing is needed.

I’m not sure about the D-line yet, I’ll need more testing. Offcourse, any help is welcome.

I don’t think the wingbacks need an explanation. They’re basicly more attacking than the fullbacks. I’m not sure yet what player instructions they should have, but obviously they can be more attacking then your average fullback, since there’s a sweeper behind them.


The two-men midfield.

Now, what should we do with the centre of the field? I think there should be a clear split between the DM and MC, to keep them apart a bit. The DM should have high closing down, very defensive mentality and forward runs – rarely, to make sure that he stays just in front of the back three. The MC should be very attack-minded. Forward runs – often seems logical. Also, he can have some creative freedom. Closing down should still be quite high.
I’ll get to these instructions later.


The front three.

This is the most effective part of the original 4-3-3, and I feel it shouldn’t be changed. Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken. Have all three of them very attacking, with quite high creative freedom. In my original 4-3-3 formation, results were better when I set the wingers to high closing down, you should consider this.

The striker settings don’t really seem to matter. He just has to be at the end of the crosses. This is up to you really, just look at your strikers skills. Offcourse, good heading is a pré, but not really a must. Why? Not all crosses go to head. Your wingers will often send crosses to the near post, your strikers only has to get his foot to it. Crosses seem to be very effective, which is a good thing.

Now, that would be about it. I’m sure I’ve forgotten a lot of stuff in this opening post. Hopefully Cleon will do an edit for me now and then.. I’ll keep this thread updated regularly, with new player/team instructions. Hopefully we’ll have a nice discussion about this system, the flying 5-2-3.

retired_doggydog88

Whoops. I forgot to put [ /B] after "Benefits over the 4-3-3."

retired_elpata

Fixed

retired_Komododragoon

I'm still not totaly convinced, but the flying 5-2-3 certainly offers more passing options then your standard 4-3-3.

But I like playing with wingbacks and three at the back, so I will certainly be giving this a go.

ezekiel702

im really a fan of the 4-3-3 system, and i must say that this looks very promising, im joining in trying to do this a killer tactic

retired_doggydog88

Noticed the red line from the wingback to the striker in your first picture? Exactly what I'm trying to achieve

I'm going to wait until after this season with testing. The great sweeper I bought is currently on loan, therefore I have to wait..

retired_doggydog88

I appreciate that. Like I was trying to show in my opening post, this is really work in progress. A project, if you will.

I'm glad you didn't come in saying: "omg I just lost a match with your tactic, it sucks!1"

retired_Weebles

am glad someone is trying to make a great tactic using this formation, i absolutly love it, couldent get it to work at the start of this game, so went to tried and tested 4-4-2, but am now back on with this formation, trying as many different variants as possible, am sticking with 2dm type players and 1 am, at the moment im having trouble with my wide players, 1st of all they are not getting the ball enuff, or they are not doing alot with it, my team generally has 4% better possession and 75% completle passing, but the wide players are not getting enuff into game, my focus passing is down wings, just seems the ai has clicked after 4 games , and has closing down alot on them and hi def line, any ideas?

retired_doggydog88

DDEEFF - Have you tried to raise the tempo a bit? Maybe a quick tempo would be better for your squad. I'd say you give it a shot and report back In a few matches.

retired_doggydog88

Quick update:

I've bought myself a sweeper, so I'm now able to test
Actually, I've already played 2 matches. One home, one away, won both 2-0. Did really good in the first match especially. The first half of the second match was really bad, and I was lucky not to conceed. I changed some settings - I'll explain later - and won 2-0 in the second half. Really excited so far. I really want to make this thread a success, so I'll keep this updated after every 10 matches, when I'm able to draw some new conclusions..