Tactics 3-2-2-2-1 Asymmetric -- Barcelona 2009 inspired

[vchta]

So this will be a quick, short and simple post about a tactic I have been using in FMM 2020 and recreated in FMM 2021. So, as many of you, I played plenty of FMM 2020 during the last few months due to corona and everything, and playing it I created this nice tactic that has helped me promote Stuttgart back to Bundesliga in Germany, and beating Real Madrid in the Champions League Final. Did a nice run with Sunderland getting them back to the premier league and getting them into Europe. Lasted 10 years in LA Galaxy practically winning more than 75% of about 650 games. I've been a lurker for the longest time, so I never really posted any of these seasons, I just kinda played and enjoyed by myself. But this tactic has been so fun and so I wanted to share with everybody. Hopefully some of you try and enjoy! 

So the inspiration started one day while I was re-watching the 2009 Barcelona team that won every trophy that season. Pretty simple idea:
GK: The keeper (Valdes) was a SK - good with feet and all that.
CB: Two center backs that were very good with the ball and using good passing to start the build up. (Puyol, Pique, Marquez)
LB: A left back that was overall a solid player, Wasn't especially good at anything, just very decent at everything (Abidal or Sylvinho).
WBR: A right wing back that was always joining the attack and overlapping. Very very creative and energetic. (Dani Alves).

BWM: A midfield of three that started with a player at the bottom that was very good at intercepting passes, reading the play, helping with the buildup, etc (Busquets or Yaya).
DLP: A second attacking mid kinda player that sometimes dropped deep to help the holding mid with the build-up but also contributed a lot going forward. (Xavi or Keita).
AP: A third attacking midfielder that usually positioned himself in between the oppositions lines of midfielders and defenders; to create very good opportunities. (Iniesta)
IW: A right winger that would start his plays out wide. He would receive the ball, dribble inside to combine, or shoot. (Messi).
W: On the left side was a player that was very good at also staying wide and very good at 1v1 situations vs defenders, getting to the byline to cross or dribbling inside to combine (Henry),

AF: A striker that was overall very pacey, good finishing, technically good enough to create opportunities (Eto). 

 

It is important to note that this tactic has failed when I don't have the players that fit. Usually, if any of my wingers had bad crossing or bad dribbling, I don't score any goals. So below, I will just write a few notes about each player and what attributes I usually look for. 

GK: Usually any good keep is good. Helps if he's good with Passing. 
BPD: The attributes that I look for with these are Pace to prevent counter attacks, Passing for the build up, Leadership because I find a team with good leadership is better in big games. 
LB: For some reason, my left backs always perform. I just look for two main attributes: Stamina because I want him to play a lot of games, Tackling because he's going to deal with good wingers, and Passing. 
WBR: With this guy, I really really emphasize Crossing. It is difficult to find but if you can get a Crossing, and Dribbling, that will be good. Also Tackling

BWM: Here, I would say the basics all around good midfielder: Passing, Technique, Decisions, Tackling, Strength, Just get yourself a midfielder with only blue and green attributes. 
DLP: Same as BWM.
AP: Sometimes, I get this player on hat-tricks. I look for mainly Passing, Dribbling, and Creativity.

IW: What a classic winger needs: Dribbling, Crossing and Pace. I also find that if he has good Movement and Shooting, he'll get a good amount of goals in as well. 
W: With this guy, also think classic winger: Dribbling, Crossing and Pace.

AF: I have had some players average more than a goal per game. I know that isn't a whole lot, but it can mean a lot for this tactic considering you don't receive too many goals. I always look for Pace, Movement, Shooting, and Technique. a forward with these four attributes usually do amazing in this tactic, 

Also, managing in Mexican league has been so much fun. I've been playing the portable version of FM since 2009 when I bought it for PSP and it took me about nearly 3 months for it to ship to me here in the west coast of the US, and to finally get to manage my favorite team in Mexico is exciting! You guys should give it a try. Two short tournaments per year. 

I know it's only the first few days of the release so many of you are trying your own tactics and stuff but if you want a tactic to just get started, try this one! 

Edited November 24, 2020 by vchta
Added defensive set up.

[Saintalaye]

Is it a possession based tactic ?

[Rehans]

Can you share the defence preset? Nice tactic though

[Liisandro]

What did you put on the defensive part?

[vchta]

3 hours ago, Liisandro said:

What did you put on the defensive part?

 

6 hours ago, Rehans said:

Can you share the defence preset? Nice tactic though

Just updated it! 

[vchta]

9 hours ago, Saintalaye said:

Is it a possession based tactic ?

Yes! I tried to focus on both possession and pressing. 

[JHghgh]

How about the set pieces and markings for defenders and midfield ?

Edited November 25, 2020 by JHghgh

[vchta]

1 hour ago, JHghgh said:

How about the set pieces and markings for defenders and midfield ?

To be honest, I haven't experimented with that so I guess I left those at default. 

[Adrien]

How was your BWM peformed (season long avg rating)? Just wanna know whether SI already fixed this as in previous version, the player in that position rarely exceed 7.x in overall rating throughout the season

[vchta]

1 hour ago, Adrien said:

How was your BWM peformed (season long avg rating)? Just wanna know whether SI already fixed this as in previous version, the player in that position rarely exceed 7.x in overall rating throughout the season

I have never heard of that but I do not doubt that. I usually base my subs off rating and the BWM is almost always at a 6. Right now he is at 6.5 about half way through. I will try to update you once I finish the season! 

[El Sheim]

BWM and DLP bug still not fixed

[AlexRiu]

Can you describe the bug? 
For me the tactic works pretty good, finished third in the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen.

[Fabricio]

Can you tell me the player roles for each position? 
And what is the tactic for the formation? I get wing play, rout one and park the bus as recommended. 

[vchta]

On 24/11/2020 at 20:52, Adrien said:

How was your BWM peformed (season long avg rating)? Just wanna know whether SI already fixed this as in previous version, the player in that position rarely exceed 7.x in overall rating throughout the season

Yeah, I just finished and my BWM got a 6.5 so I am assuming that it isn't fixed. 

[vchta]

On 25/11/2020 at 05:40, AlexRiu said:

Can you describe the bug? 
For me the tactic works pretty good, finished third in the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen.

I guess, for whatever reason, the BWM rarely gets a rating of more than 7 throughout the season. But I'm happy it works! Now it's just about upgrading players and creating a depth in your team! 

 

[vchta]

On 26/11/2020 at 10:51, Fabricio said:

Can you tell me the player roles for each position? 
And what is the tactic for the formation? I get wing play, rout one and park the bus as recommended. 

It's on the images attached. So if you see for example, the defensive mid is "BWM" so that would translate to Ball-Winning midfield? And BPD stands for ball playing defender. The tactic is also in the screenshot. This one is 3-2-2-2-1. 

They give you presets which you can choose, but you can also create your own formation/tactic. 

Is that what you meant? lol

[Fabricio]

11 hours ago, vchta said:

It's on the images attached. So if you see for example, the defensive mid is "BWM" so that would translate to Ball-Winning midfield? And BPD stands for ball playing defender. The tactic is also in the screenshot. This one is 3-2-2-2-1. 

They give you presets which you can choose, but you can also create your own formation/tactic. 

Is that what you meant? lol

Thanks, I figured out the roles are shown in the images above right after I posted this, sorry its my first time playing FM.

The tactic I was referring to is the tactics you can choose where there are 'wing play, tiki-taka, gegenpress, park the bus, etc'.  I don't know how much that affects the team but if it does, which one is recommended for this preset ? 

[vchta]

On 28/11/2020 at 05:43, Fabricio said:

Thanks, I figured out the roles are shown in the images above right after I posted this, sorry its my first time playing FM.

The tactic I was referring to is the tactics you can choose where there are 'wing play, tiki-taka, gegenpress, park the bus, etc'.  I don't know how much that affects the team but if it does, which one is recommended for this preset ? 

No worries, hope you've enjoyed it so far! 

But like hhooo just said above, it has zero effect on the tactic. It is just a suggestion type of thing, 

[JgRoller]

The key to heavy duty press is cautious tackling, which you have. I never realised this b4. It makes sense. Nice tactic.

Jg

[vchta]

23 hours ago, JgRoller said:

The key to heavy duty press is cautious tackling, which you have. I never realised this b4. It makes sense. Nice tactic.

Jg

Yes, I always changed this up, but this seems to always get the job done! Thank you! I think there are a few things in this game that just works well together. Also, BWM, DLP, and AP always does a good job for me.

[jrhc91]

I've been using this tactic since day one of release. Of course I've upgraded the squad throughout the seasons (Man Utd) and it took a good 4 or 5 seasons to clear much of the deadwood and get the squad I wanted. Despite this I was still winning practically everything almost every year.

I use 'control possession' style, I found results were better using that style rather than tika taka.

My BWM tends to average around a 7, so perhaps the bug has been sorted?

7/10 Premier League titles won

7/10 Champions Leagues won (4x in a row)

1/10 FA cup wins (Rarely perform well here for some reason)

7/10 Carabao Cup wins

Edited December 19, 2020 by jrhc91
BWM and DLP performing better than expected

[vchta]

17 hours ago, jrhc91 said:

I've been using this tactic since day one of release. Of course I've upgraded the squad throughout the seasons (Man Utd) and it took a good 4 or 5 seasons to clear much of the deadwood and get the squad I wanted. Despite this I was still winning practically everything almost every year.

I use 'control possession' style, I found results were better using that style rather than tika taka.

My BWM tends to average around a 7, so perhaps the bug has been sorted?

7/10 Premier League titles won

7/10 Champions Leagues won (4x in a row)

1/10 FA cup wins (Rarely perform well here for some reason)

7/10 Carabao Cup wins

Nice to hear!! I should try that out. Congratulations on those achievements! But you're right, it does take a season or two to fully get the team you want. How does your striker typically perform? 

[jrhc91]

Usually anywhere between 15 to 25 goals (Halaand), but that's a world class player. Anything less than world class and its typically around 5 (Greenwood never seems to develop well for me).

Having said that Rashford has scored 30 plus goals a season for 8 consecutive years, 4 seasons scoring over 40 goals; that seems to be where the vast majority of goals come from.