Tactics Possession based tactic

shariq · September 3, 2018

Hello all! This is the first tactic that i'm sharing here. The basic concept of this tactic is to retain possession and play passes until a goal scoring opportunity comes. The attributes required for this tactic is firstly the passing ability and then the creativity.

Formation and shape

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Its basically a modified 5-4-1 formation. The goalkeeper is kept with a basic goalkeeping role.I personally like the sweeper keeper but it is weak in one on one situations because the sweeper keeper charges towards the player attacking. In the defence there is actually a back five which then shifts to back four when in attack. The three central defenders make it difficult for the opposite team striker to recieve passes or through balls from their midfield.The two Ball playing defenders are kept on either side of the central defender so as to play passes to both sides. The central defender covers the striker if ball playing defenders are caught off position. The RB is a full back.Its because infront of him on right wing is an AP so the fullback basically defends and in attack it most of the times remains in his position but on certain occasions moves forward with a dribble. On the left wingback position is an Inverted wingback. In the defensive phase it will defend normally as that of any other wingback but in attacking phase it shifts inside and acts as a holding midfielder which is why i have used it on the left because the CM on the left would roam forward and the inverted wingback almost takes his position.The CM in the midfield goes forward when in attack and helps in the defence without the ball. The reason behind choosing this role is that CM helps me to pass the ball around and retain possession. Unlike Advance playmaker, the CM in this system makes more passes and builds the attacking moves. It's paired with a deeplying playmaker. It is the holding midfielder. It sits behind on the right side with the inverted wingback on the left making 2 holding holding midfielders who dictate the play. Now comes the tricky positions. On the left wing i have kept a defensive winger. A wide midfielder can also be chosen but i found that when playing on control mentality the defensive winger gets forward and also in the box occasionally. It also provides width and is resposible to feed the poacher. Talking about poacher, you have noticed that i have shifted the striker towards left .It is because when a lone striker plays in the middle and most importantly when the midfield roles are not too attack minded. The striker gets lost in between the central defenders and is hard to find with passes. So i shifted it to left so as the defensive winger would provide passes or low crosses to the poacher. Finally on the right is the AP . I chose the role AP there because the right hand side remains open as the striker is shifted to left. So the AP holds his position there spraying the balls towards the midfield and if the poacher is in a goal scoring position, it plays a pass towards him and the poacher does his job. The AP sometimes dribbles in and shoots which provides an attacking threat from the right as well.

Defensive Setup

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The defensive line is high so that the opposite team doesnt get enough time to make moves and to win the ball back quickly as its paired with closing down option 'all over'. Tackling i prefer to be normal because it does the job well while also not giving away red cards too often. Offside trap is off ,works better for me. Time wasting ? Why to waste time .Enjoy every minute of FMM.

Attacking Setup

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Early crosses are off because crosses often lead to giving away of possession so its better to make overlaps. Shoot on sight is also off due to the same reason. Unnecesarry shots lead to loosing possession. The passing style is short as it builds the attacking moves progressively. Passing focus is mixed so that every area of the pitch is utilised while in transition. Goalkeeper distribution is short so as to build the play from the back.

This is how the formation looks when in attacking phase. Notice the shifting of striker towards left causes a gap in middle of the defence which can be exploited by the AP