Tactics Pep's 2021 Man City Replica 4-1-2-2-1

[Insidious]

So I've been watching Man City playing the latter part of this season and was just awe struck by it. So i wondered if i could replicate it for FMM21, after lots of trials and fails i finally managed it.  The starting formation is a 4-1-2-2-1 but in reality with the roles and instructions its actually a 5-4-1 in defence and a 2-3-5 in attack.

When attacking both IWB's become DM's allowing the RPM and AP to push forward creating a 5 man attacking overload while your anchorman stays back basically forming a 3 man defence. If the opposition tries to clear their goal area, 9 times out of 10 it falls to one of the IWB's and is recycled over and over. 

If the opposition does manage a counter which is rare ( think i was cointered 7 times all season) one of your CB's go wide while the IWB recovers position and the anchorman drops into the CB role to cover any space. Ive included SS a whole season with this tactic and it completely dominates the 4-1-2-2-1 and 4-2-3-1 as you can see. The only difficulty ive found is vs a 5-2-2-1WB Formation clutters the midfield and makes it difficult to play. Most of the time no change is needed its just a harder game although if you struggle all you have to do is switch your IWB's to opposite sides, change roles to WB, Push 1 up so its an att WB and select look for overlap then it overcomes the 5-2-2-1.  I hope you enjoy this tactic as much as i do

https://youtu.be/vY7-15vQY5s here is a link to the tactic in game

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2021 by Insidious

[Nilesh]

Defence???

 

[Insidious]

1 minute ago, Nilesh said:

Defence???

 

What do you mean defence?? If you look at the screen shots i conceded 10 goals all season. I can't really answer a 1 word question properly 

[Sarge]

I think he means can you upload the screen shot of your defence settings

[Insidious]

4 minutes ago, Sarge said:

I think he means can you upload the screen shot of your defence settings

Oops. Lol il do that now

 

 

[Schwantz34]

Looks good this!

[swede22march]

Struggling to find appropriate IWBs but like the formation. would it work quite well with traditional WBs?

[Schwantz34]

5 hours ago, swede22march said:

Struggling to find appropriate IWBs but like the formation. would it work quite well with traditional WBs?

Have you tried doing a player search and setting the template to IWB?

[broodje kip]

5 hours ago, swede22march said:

Struggling to find appropriate IWBs but like the formation. would it work quite well with traditional WBs?

Cancelo in LWB is great to me

[GabboFTM]

1 minute ago, broodje kip said:

Cancelo in LWB is great to me

Hi @broodje kip would you reckon using right footed for LWB and left footed for RWB brings better results?

[broodje kip]

4 minutes ago, GabboFTM said:

Hi @broodje kip would you reckon using right footed for LWB and left footed for RWB brings better results?

Not entirely sure about that. I didn’t the tactic so I’m not sure. It really depends on the way you want the IWB to play

[Insidious]

5 hours ago, broodje kip said:

Not entirely sure about that. I didn’t the tactic so I’m not sure. It really depends on the way you want the IWB to play

Having their feet on opposite flanks definitely helps with them stepping inside and supporting the midfield. I tried using same footed/side and found they often dragged themselves wider. IWB's to try cancelo, Angelino, gomez from Liverpool is great here, kimmich, Alexander Arnold, keiran Tierney, jose gaya, mendes to name a few. 

Edited April 3, 2021 by Insidious

[Feri Sandria]

does this tactic always control ball possession against any team?

[Insidious]

52 minutes ago, Feri Sandria said:

does this tactic always control ball possession against any team?

Yes mate the lowest possession stats ive had are 52% but in general its around 58 to 65% possession 

[swede22march]

So far so good. Been working quite well. Not amazing, yet, though. Very good on defence, conceding very few clear cut chances, but not creating that many at the other end. It is very susceptible to the long ball over the top (because of the high line) so your CBs should be super fast. 

Possession is good, but not totally dominant, despite me having all world class players...will update further in as my players get familiar with it...

[Insidious]

7 hours ago, swede22march said:

So far so good. Been working quite well. Not amazing, yet, though. Very good on defence, conceding very few clear cut chances, but not creating that many at the other end. It is very susceptible to the long ball over the top (because of the high line) so your CBs should be super fast. 

Possession is good, but not totally dominant, despite me having all world class players...will update further in as my players get familiar with it...

Yeah it was a bit ropey at the start for me too until they got used the formation then it just ckicked after about 10 to 15 games. Im surprised at the lack of chances but again I assume it's because they are still getting used to the formation 👍

[swede22march]

1 hour ago, Insidious said:

Yeah it was a bit ropey at the start for me too until they got used the formation then it just ckicked after about 10 to 15 games. Im surprised at the lack of chances but again I assume it's because they are still getting used to the formation 👍

The biggest compliment I can give this tactic is that it really nullifies the chances it affords to the opposition. I am having top six teams fail to register a single shot on goal - and this is when they are the home side! The only goals I am conceding (except from flukes, penalties or own goals) are the balls over the top when my defenders are caught out by pace. So, I have dropped the defensive line to balanced and not high. I have also found shoot on sight is getting me more goals. 

[swede22march]

22 hours ago, swede22march said:

The biggest compliment I can give this tactic is that it really nullifies the chances it affords to the opposition. I am having top six teams fail to register a single shot on goal - and this is when they are the home side! The only goals I am conceding (except from flukes, penalties or own goals) are the balls over the top when my defenders are caught out by pace. So, I have dropped the defensive line to balanced and not high. I have also found shoot on sight is getting me more goals. 

 

[swede22march]

1 minute ago, swede22march said:

 

...safe to say that this tactic is working quite nicely...

[Insidious]

On 07/04/2021 at 16:19, swede22march said:

...safe to say that this tactic is working quite nicely...

Thanks mate i appreciate it, i worked hard on that one. You're 100% right on the fast defenders and balls over the top. I created the tactic in 20-21 season to replicate man city with man city i appreciate you testing it and the alterations 👍

Edited April 8, 2021 by Insidious

[Quaresma-7]

On 06.04.2021 at 19:20, swede22march said:

Bu taktiğe verebileceğim en büyük iltifat, muhalefete verdiği şansı gerçekten geçersiz kılmasıdır. En iyi altı takımın tek bir şut atışı yapamamasına neden oluyorum - ve bu onların ev sahibi oldukları zamandır! Kabul ettiğim tek gol (şanslar, cezalar veya kendi kalesine atılan goller hariç), savunucularımın temposuyla yakalandığında üstteki toplar. Bu yüzden savunma hattını dengeli ve yüksek olmayan bir seviyeye düşürdüm. Ayrıca görüşte şutun bana daha çok gol kazandırdığını gördüm. 

Photo pls  tactics

[Schwantz34]

2 hours ago, Quaresma-7 said:

Photo pls  tactics

The instructions and pictures are in the original post at the top of the thread.

Changes made by the other poster are mentioned in the post just a few above where you asked for photos. It's all there for you.

Edited April 8, 2021 by Schwantz34

[swede22march]

11 hours ago, Insidious said:

Thanks mate i appreciate it, i worked hard on that one. You're 100% right on the fast defenders and balls over the top. I created the tactic in 20-21 season to replicate man city with man city i appreciate you testing it and the alterations 👍

You deserve great credit. It is hard to mimic rl tactics in to FM and make them work to the same extent. This one is a rarity! IRL Man City has been Scrooge-like in defence this season and so has your tactic in FM for me. Look at this, 10 games without conceding, furthermore I have conceded twice in the last 14 and one of those was an OG from a youth defender in a cup game!