Tactics Tactics - an insight to the meta game 4231 and 4321

[fixertm1]

Hi all,

First of all, i do not assume i know everything but i've tried alot of things and player roles and found out some cool stuff i'd like to share with you.

I'd like to say that i am providing observations NOT BASED ON TOP CLUBS, as it's very easy to win alot of stuff using giants like R.Madrid , Barca , Man U,etc. I'd like to see the developers of tactics post with low-end or mid level teams instead of giants.

I like managing underdogs and bring them to giant level status. I tried alot of the posted tactics on these kinds of teams and 95% of them just don't work.

I will start by saying that no instructions should be very STRICT as you don't encounter the same opponent over and over again.

My observations are based on two tactics : 4-2-3-1 - (Galatasaray and Genoa )and 4-3-2-1 (Watford and Sunderland ) .

The 4-2-3-1 :

I used this before the patch that now made the IF's all but useless. I don't switch my GK to sweeper GK as i think that adds a bit of randomeness to the game. By using 2x IF's i also used 2x FB's in order to balance the wings and keep my defence strong. The CD's i tried positioning them to their strenghts. If i had LD (limited defendenders) i put them in those roles as any mistake in 98% of cases leads to goals. In my experience, the best combo is a BPD ( but this one has to be really good , else he makes mistakes that lead to goals ) and a CD ( sort of "the rock in defence" ). The BPD can actually score some pretty decent goals ( around 5/season - from shooting ) and the CD ( scores from corners - from heading). I don't like to use LD even if they have 20 aerial 20 tack because they tend to do mistakes from time to time ( adding to a certain random element ).

For the middlefield 2 i've almost always used a DLP + AP. This was due to the fact that there is a gap between defence and the middle that the DLP can fill. Attention, all in the MC position , regardless of roles should have a decent number in strengh, or you will have the "lack of steel in mid" pop up in the after-game reports. This means that they are not phisycally capable of fighting the oppositions middlefield which leads to loss in possesion. Another great combo is the BBM + AP . It's more of an attacking duo , but if you have a great BBM , he will absolutely beast and win you the ball while also scoring alot of goals. In the AMC pos i play with an AP. This guy needs to have creativity , decision at a big number so he can "unlock" defences. Now for the bread and butter of this formation , the IF's. I had them with a high technical , pace, dribbling and MOVEMENT number. I saw that movement is very important for them as combined, these attributes did make or break their game. Even IF's with low strengh would score a ton of goals. 

Now for the ST , he was usually a TM / P . It depends on how the game is going and if you need him to contribute to the team effort ( i'll come back to this later). 

This tactic was reliant on the IF's for goals, on the AP for goals+assists and when the striker chipped in with his goal i would become unbeatable.

For the instructions part, i usually went on with balanced-everything at the team instructions. The reason behind this was that i would addapt to my opponent. If they had a narrow playstyle and i was a better-quality squad , i would  set my playstyle to wide in order to stretch their defence and make it easier for me to score goals. If they had WIDE , then i would leave myself at balanced. The reason is that having narrow vs their wide, it will cause me to concede at least 1 goal. VS smaller teams, i would usually attack + wide and depending on your players ( if they are technical, decision,etc high enough ) i would play also expressive. VS bigger teams, i usually tend to set it on control/counter(vs the giants) and balanced. This will cause the game going in scoring ALOT of goals, a "ding-dong" battle. Pay attention on how the game is going and have faith in your team to score the 80-90 minute goal win. If you are going to draw the game, put the team to attacking in the last minutes. If you are winning, don't switch to defensive and narrow. If you want to contain a result, play the "time wasting" and set to norrow ONLY if they are not playing wide. I won 8 out of 9 games vs giants in a high scoring game (3 - 4 , 2-3 results). I tend to struggle vs mid tier teams as they played similar to me. In this case, pay attention to the game and addapt accordingly. VS Smaller teams, i set my team to wide and attack and this results in a great result but i rarely don't concede goals.

I do not recomment Offide trap. For the defensive line, if you are in the end part of game and need to score set it to high, else keep it to normal. Closing down - all over. For attacking , i work the ball into box, use through balls sometimes. VS smaller teams, don't use through balls as you don't want to waste posession on stupid passes, and play short passing. VS big teams, i have the though balls ticked, as they usually attack me and i kinda skip over the construction phase and just bomb them with my pacy,skilled IF's. Keep the passing focus mixed unless you spot the enemy having a wierd formation with no wingers.

Last but not least, pay attention to not have in your team alot of greedy player roles. The IF"s are super greedy and don't contribute to assists, they are just there for the goals. For AML i had a right footed player and vice versa for AMR. P as ST is also greedy. Use AF / DF / TM ( if you have aerial high) for to help your team. This is why i use 2x AP's , as i need to have assists-makers in the team.

 

The 4-3-2-1 :

I'll come back to this later if you guys liked my first tactic, as i'm currently at work .

 

[pitbull]

Can you please post some screenshots?

I appreciate your effort but it's a lot easier to understand it with pictures!

[Blitz36]

Screenshout please

[FuddledFox]

Really good work.

It's always interesting to read someone's thought process when they set up their tactics. Yes some screenshots would be good but I really enjoyed reading this.

[Taff]

Good read dude, and nice depth to your article as well, look forward to part two

[Woody]

I like this alot....to be honest im getting most things right im wining games but not by a big enough margin.

 

[fixertm1]

It's gotten me over 75% win rate. Notice i already have the tactic on balanced + wide ( as i always played vs some narrow formations - just saved me some time ) and then i tweaked the shape based on my opponent and whether i was at home or away.

Also added some random SS of games . You can see the total dominance. Also the trophy cabinet for both galatasaray and genoa.

Notice how i had IF + FB on both flanks. ( FB got the defensive under control and permitted the IF to go wild )

I've also posted Arrambari's profile, as i absolutely love the guy. He's the uruguayan striker regen you can get after your first season is over. Some times he is just decent, but most of the times he's INSANE.

Also, i've always rotate my players. I end up playing youngsters vs smaller teams i would crush easily, just to get them some games and help them develop.

The game vs real madrid was the UCL final .

Edited January 4, 2018 by fixertm1