Tactics 4-4-2: An Outdated Tactic?

[Meow]

Decline of 4-4-2 systems

It's fair to say that the 442 formation is a dying breed. Traditional number 9s and wingers are also on the decline. With the fullbacks in a team getting more and more advanced, it's not surprising to see players which just a decade ago would be wingers, yet you see them now fitting well with the fullback role.

Weaknesses of the system

It's commonly talked about till the point of death, the 2 man midfield being overrun by 3 man midfields of the 433 or 4231 systems.

 

My tactics

It's probably strange to say, but I've never used a 433 in FMM. Not once. And I've only used the 4231 in instances when I've got a striker injury crisis, but it's mostly just dropping a striker from my usual 442 into AMC so it functions incredibly similarly.

Usually I've never got a DLP to work in DMC and a flat 3 midfield never gives good ratings all across midfield, so I always went with a midfield duo. However given the new roles added to the DMC position, perhaps this year might be different. Yet with the changes with the tactical system, the first order of business is to test the old system I've played for years.

I've decided to start with Brighton in the Premier League to showcase how it would work with smaller teams.

Attacking, wide and fast! Just the style I like it, will work even better with a better set of players at a larger club.

A high defensive line is key, with the DLP and AP, sitting too deep is suicide. I'm on closing down "Own Half", sometimes "Sit back" depending on the pace of my defenders compared to the opponents strikers. Close down too much and you might lose your defensive shape (a key for the 442)

I'd imagine a "All Over" might work with a more physical, quick and tireless group of defenders, but going so far to close down might just be diminishing returns.

This one is probably less fixed, some changes will be ideal to take advantage of your strengths and exploit your opponents weakness.

I wouldn't ever look for the overlap too much, the system already sacrifices defensive stability for attacking output. However you can remove early crosses if the opponents fullback in particular are weak.

Work into box or shoot on sight will depend on how far back your opponents sits, though neutral works most times.

Through Ball or Run at Defence will depend on how good their centre backs are. With my quick strikers (I'm actually playing coverted wingers up front like Anthony Knockaert, Romero and Izquierdo, I'm opting for through balls. Though I do remove it when I'm playing my traditional strikers like Baldock, Hemed and N'gog.

Transfers IN

The players I've brought in are mostly free transfers or budget players (not costing above 10m).

Sessegnon and Juan Fuentes for a left wing back, given the current options at fullback can't bring the ball forward.

Javi Matilla, Jan Kirchoff and Arthur for DLP. While we have a few players that can play DLP, these players are more suited. The rest will play AP or get sold.

Dudu for left IF.

In fact ignore Arthur and Rodrygo, I wasn't particular aware they were wonderkids. However despite their potential, they are mostly a non-factor as of now (in fact I've loaned back Rodrygo).

Transfers OUT

I might come to regret selling Solly March, but hey 21m. Also left IF and right winger, so I don't need a left footed wide player.

Start of the Season

I realise we weren't afforded anytime to chill at all.

What a tough set of starting fixtures. Away to Spurs, Man U and Chelsea! 

Results

 

Probably more the big clubs throwing it than me actually being a title worthy team, but I don't expect to win the title.

However 53 goals in 19 games, not bad for a budget Brighton team.

Also I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, but the logos for Brighton, Everton, Bournemouth, Newcastle and Huddersfield aren't working...

Not a bad set of results, considering the game feels the need to remind me I'm the underdog against EVERY other team. Yeah... DESPITE HOME ADVANTAGE too.

Also bloody game decides to schedule me to play every single top 6 team plus Everton away for the first half of the season -_-

Notable results

Fair to say, I didn't get trashed by the big sides. In fact I dealt more trashing than the other way round.

Player Performance

What's a tactic without the players though?

Stunning performances from my wingers being played up front. Izquierdo, Knockaert, Romero (injured way too often unfortunately). Not that our out and out strikers don't get a chance, with N'gog, Baldock and Hemed having some of the goals.

The great number of assists all round also indicate good fluidity. 

Conclusion

I was worried somewhat that engine changes that reflected the success of 3 at the back systems will render my tactic useless, or that the new tactical options will make it harder to find the sweet spot.

There's probably some concern with defense. We never stood a chance anyways, so I stayed on the front foot for every second of every game. The moment we relent, we started conceding. However I mostly stuck with the original defenders in the Brighton team with the exception of left back and brought in Ragnar Klavan as backup. I mean... pretty good considering I know some real life team who has Klavan as backup and gets thrashed by big teams (which we didn't)

 

Wanted this beast of a defender. Would have solved my defensive woes somewhat.

But Huddersfield beat me to it, bidding above 10m, which is the point where I decided spending that amount would render the point of the tactic testing pointless. With him, he's still cheap enough for any top division side and would make for a solid defender.

Hope you guys get relegated!

However I'm happy to say, it still works. And it still works with very much below par players.

Edited November 13, 2017 by Meow

[Meow]

Placeholder for future use?

Maybe to showcase a more defensively solid setup with a larger team.

Edited November 13, 2017 by Meow

[ahmtbra]

EME or OME

[Meow]

2 hours ago, ahmtbra said:

EME or OME

EME

[Snip]

Good write up. Some interesting tactics stuff! 

[smoggy90]

Excellent post, enjoyed reading. Will give it a go in my middlesbrough save. 

[Meow]

10 hours ago, Snip said:

Good write up. Some interesting tactics stuff! 

 

9 hours ago, smoggy90 said:

Excellent post, enjoyed reading. Will give it a go in my middlesbrough save. 

Thanks! If you got any findings with the tactic, do post here.

I've not been playing with any larger clubs, so I'm not sure how defensively solid it could be with an actually functioning squad. That said, I'm noticing a lot of long range goals on the game. Unsure if it's because of the engine or it could be less of an issue with a better squad.

[BatiGoal]

Great lil write up 

On the match stuff, I noticed that I tend to look at the match highlights much less and less as of late for the simple reason that there's just too little variety imo. I just don't believe that it reflects any of my or the opponents tactics close enough to base any/all decisions on it. I never liked looking at moving dots anyway and much prefer a solely stats-based game. 

Maybe it's just me opting for the easy way and basing tweaks purely on results, tho over a fair amount of games of course. It works well for me. 

[Meow]

2 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

Great lil write up 

On the match stuff, I noticed that I tend to look at the match highlights much less and less as of late for the simple reason that there's just too little variety imo. I just don't believe that it reflects any of my or the opponents tactics close enough to base any/all decisions on it. I never liked looking at moving dots anyway and much prefer a solely stats-based game. 

Maybe it's just me opting for the easy way and basing tweaks purely on results, tho over a fair amount of games of course. It works well for me. 

On Vibe (or at least the prominent members of Vibe) gets their kick out of goal challenges, player challenges, bringing small clubs up the divisions (in the most optimal and planned way ever). I've got lots of respect for that, but I'll never play FM that way, it's just..... not me. Though I'm not surprised when you say you aren't too into the highlights, because there's no reason to if you just want the optimal game. Sometimes I feel strategy and stats based game players plan the fun out of a game :/

The reason I like looking at highlights has got nothing to do with tactics and improving my team. I rarely get kicks out of looking at highlights from club football on FM past the first few seasons starting at a small club. The only times I get kicks out of it is international management, where I've got little to no control of my pool of players. Nothing is more fun than just having no chance at all, throwing tactics out the window and hope to surprise teams by unexpectedly playing on the offensive. Nothing is more thrilling than playing as Switzerland and advancing past the group in the European League consisting of England and Germany or pushing it against Spain away to end up losing the game 5-4 but was up 2-1 and 4-3 at some points in the game. And no I didn't have Embolo (old as shit and useless) or Ricardo Rodriguez (heck if I know where he went, my left backs were shit).

You can see elements of that in my Brighton tactics testing. Despite having an intentionally terrible transfer window, it was really really fun. In fact it was probably because of it. I played every second of every game on the front foot and it's really evident how thrilling both Spurs, Everton, Arsenal and Man City games were to watch. Yeah even though I only won 2 of them.

Edited November 14, 2017 by Meow

[BatiGoal]

I think I must have played a record number of careers last year incl quite a few single-season ones for (community) challenges and experiments etc etc but I've always enjoyed long-term careers much more. 

I understand what you are saying about getting the underdog to shock the world etc. There's definitely a lot of fun in achieving that too. 

This year tho I was thinking of managing a "feeder club" like say PSV for example and sell my best 5 players every season and not use any of the money for reinforcements. I basically plan to remain a feeder club for the entire career and hope for the occasional European success. I think that could be a very enjoyable save for me this year. At least it's something kinda new-ish. 

[Taff]

Sounds good BG, could be a very difficult save, if you aren't reinforcing the side you'd be relying heavily on youth graduates, so getting PSV's youth academy up to world class 

[Fish18ish]

On 14/11/2017 at 10:01, BatiGoal said:

I think I must have played a record number of careers last year incl quite a few single-season ones for (community) challenges and experiments etc etc but I've always enjoyed long-term careers much more. 

I understand what you are saying about getting the underdog to shock the world etc. There's definitely a lot of fun in achieving that too. 

This year tho I was thinking of managing a "feeder club" like say PSV for example and sell my best 5 players every season and not use any of the money for reinforcements. I basically plan to remain a feeder club for the entire career and hope for the occasional European success. I think that could be a very enjoyable save for me this year. At least it's something kinda new-ish. 

You could be Southampton, Liverpool's feeder club.

[Meow]

It's certainly strange to look back at this thread, to see stats from my first 6 months of my Brighton save. Finished runner-up to Chelsea that season. I've since gone to conquer Europe with the same tactic.

Haven't played FMM in months, but just went to look at some screenshots in the first season my save, and I thought it might be interesting to post them.

Hemed was an amazing impact sub. The number of times he's come on in the last 10 minutes and scored or had a second half appearance for a hat trick. Knockaert was actually played mostly up front. One of the players that devastated teams with goals from throughballs, but also went out wide to deliver hanging crosses for the aerial Hemed.

That's 4 editions of FMM now, 2015 to 2018. I've lasted all those while with a 442 similar to this, and I've never used a 433 ever. A tactic that might not quite elevate 1 position to another level, but one that is functional and well-rounded, creating unexpected legends in every position in the time I've played.

Edited August 12, 2018 by Meow