Tactics 4-1-2-2-1 effective in lower leagues for me

[Schwantz34]

I tried a couple of setups from here in my first season with MSV Duisburg in the German 3rd division, but they didn't work and I missed the playoffs. Played around a bit with a 4-1-2-2-1 system of my own in the early games of my second season then settled on the setup you will see here. I romped to the title with 5 games to spare and not with a particularly strong squad, so hopefully those of you looking for something for lower levels might have some success with this too. Also applied it to a save in the Greek League with Panathinaikos (not lower level I know as it's their top division, but not stellar players so still proved effective without star players) and it turned that season around. Let me know if it works for you.

Goals

Assists

Results

Setup & instructions

Edited November 26, 2019 by Schwantz34

[AndersJ]

looking really good  - like the fact that you testet in germany . Maybe i will try it out in The Superliga in Denmark

Did you try other settings than overload?

[Schwantz34]

30 minutes ago, AndersJ said:

looking really good  - like the fact that you testet in germany . Maybe i will try it out in The Superliga in Denmark

Did you try other settings than overload?

Tried control and attacking early on. Overload gave the best consistency. You can probably tell from the results when it was that I changed to overload.

[AndersJ]

That looks like the best setup yes!

[Schwantz34]

It might not work for everyone, but I have seen people asking for lower league setups so thought I'd post mine up.

Edited November 26, 2019 by Schwantz34

[Schwantz34]

Applied my tactic to York City in non league and it worked there too.

Goals

Assists

Results

[kevuk29]

Im playing as Dover Athletic will try this out

[Schwantz34]

6 hours ago, kevuk29 said:

Im playing as Dover Athletic will try this out

I applied it to a Sunderland save (in League One at the time when I took over) and it's still working, gaining promotion to the Championship.

[Leroy2108]

Worked brilliant for me. Great tactic 

[Schwantz34]

3 hours ago, Leroy2108 said:

Worked brilliant for me. Great tactic 

Good to see it worked for you 👍

[SirSpankorama]

Nice tactic. I'm loving the FB roles this year. I love the security - not giving up anything defensively but still contributing on the attack.

[matt2taylor]

I'm using this tactic with Man United.  Fun to experiment what you can do with money and a few wonderkids.  I'm only in January of the first season but only have 5 players left of the original squad (Wan Bissaka, McTominay, Dalot, Gomes and Greenwood) and have a team of...

 

Donnumruma

Wan Bissaka

Chilwell

Upamecano

Zagadou

Guendouzi

Fernandes

Cuisance

Kulusevski

Sancho

Haaland

 

Using this tactic I'm currently unbeaten in the league and Euro Cup.  Knocked out the other cups as I played reserve teams to keep main players fresh for the league.  Also now in my squad I have Gasparini, Armini, Todibo, Itter, Camaviga, Fein, Tete and Silva, with Reiner, H. Elliot, Martinez, Dewhurst, Kotchap, Bellingham, Mejbri, Cherki and Fati in my reserves.

 

[Schwantz34]

5 hours ago, matt2taylor said:

I'm using this tactic with Man United.  Fun to experiment what you can do with money and a few wonderkids.  I'm only in January of the first season but only have 5 players left of the original squad (Wan Bissaka, McTominay, Dalot, Gomes and Greenwood) and have a team of...

 

Donnumruma

Wan Bissaka

Chilwell

Upamecano

Zagadou

Guendouzi

Fernandes

Cuisance

Kulusevski

Sancho

Haaland

 

Using this tactic I'm currently unbeaten in the league and Euro Cup.  Knocked out the other cups as I played reserve teams to keep main players fresh for the league.  Also now in my squad I have Gasparini, Armini, Todibo, Itter, Camaviga, Fein, Tete and Silva, with Reiner, H. Elliot, Martinez, Dewhurst, Kotchap, Bellingham, Mejbri, Cherki and Fati in my reserves.

 

That's some team you put together! Glad the results have been good for you.

[RP21Houdini]

Is the "Time Wasting" important for this tactic to work?

[Schwantz34]

6 hours ago, RP21Houdini said:

Is the "Time Wasting" important for this tactic to work?

I found it more effective with it on than off.

[PeteyNee]

Can definitely vouch for this to work brilliantly! Started with Queen’s Park in the Scottish Division 2 to see how far I could get- won back to back promotions, made a couple of signings which helped but this is the best tactic I have used so far on this game. 

 

[Schwantz34]

2 hours ago, PeteyNee said:

Can definitely vouch for this to work brilliantly! Started with Queen’s Park in the Scottish Division 2 to see how far I could get- won back to back promotions, made a couple of signings which helped but this is the best tactic I have used so far on this game. 

 

Glad it's worked out for you. Not used it for a while myself. I may go back to it at some point.

[KG4]

Excellent tactic. Working well with Hearts

[Schwantz34]

2 hours ago, KG4 said:

Excellent tactic. Working well with Hearts

Appreciate you trying it out and happy it's working for you so far 👍

[Hambone513]

On 22/12/2019 at 06:39, Schwantz34 said:

I applied it to a Sunderland save (in League One at the time when I took over) and it's still working, gaining promotion to the Championship.

Same here. Just completed a Sunderland season from League One and around January 5 I applied your exact formation and tactics. 
 

Defeated Wolves in FA Cup before losing 2-4 to Liverpool. But won all but 2 League One matches after applying the tactics.

 

Now onto the Championship campaign!

[Schwantz34]

38 minutes ago, Hambone513 said:

Same here. Just completed a Sunderland season from League One and around January 5 I applied your exact formation and tactics. 
 

Defeated Wolves in FA Cup before losing 2-4 to Liverpool. But won all but 2 League One matches after applying the tactics.

 

Now onto the Championship campaign!

Good to hear 👍🏻

As long as you buy well it could be effective higher up as well. Tempted to go back to it myself with a Leeds save I have in the Premier League, given people are saying it still works.

Edited August 17, 2020 by Schwantz34

[Marx2]

Few questions:

- How do you react for home/away matches? I change pressing to sit back or own half only

- I often do similar adjustment when I score goal, as I noticed I often get goal very soon

- I use this technique also if I get goal to make tactic more offensive

But generally it works so-so, not very effective. Do you have better ideas?

- when I go into details of position, it often happens that player would play better in another role. Do you adjust it or leave as set in tactic?

- I have much more success with mixed passing. Short seems very ineffective. What about you?

- I set goalie distribution to short, because he is garbage at throwing, and as such had 15/1 of successful passes. Should I look for better one?

Edited August 22, 2020 by Marx2

[Schwantz34]

9 hours ago, Marx2 said:

Few questions:

- How do you react for home/away matches? I change pressing to sit back or own half only

- I often do similar adjustment when I score goal, as I noticed I often get goal very soon

- I use this technique also if I get goal to make tactic more offensive

But generally it works so-so, not very effective. Do you have better ideas?

- when I go into details of position, it often happens that player would play better in another role. Do you adjust it or leave as set in tactic?

- I have much more success with mixed passing. Short seems very ineffective. What about you?

- I set goalie distribution to short, because he is garbage at throwing, and as such had 15/1 of successful passes. Should I look for better one?

I didn't change anything tactically when I used it. The system of play will likely react differently depending on the players you have, or you bringing in players to fit the style you want to use and that's what I usually do.

If your goalkeeper is struggling with passes he may not be very good in the kicking stat. If that is the case then I'd recommend replacing him, not just for my tactic but any tactic as poor kicking can be a real hindrance.

Only positions I really ever swapped were the AF to DF/DLF or a P depending on player traits, and one CB to a BPD but again both depend on what you have in the squad or how you want to play.

Edited August 22, 2020 by Schwantz34

[Marx2]

So even if you loose you do nothing?

[Schwantz34]

3 hours ago, Marx2 said:

So even if you loose you do nothing?

I didn't need to as you can see from the results. I lost 3 games all season.

Edited September 13, 2020 by Schwantz34