Help How Do I Make Wide Midfielders Track Back?

[Mr Phalanx]

 The wide midfielders in my 4-4-2 do not come down to help the fullback  or come inside to compress space in the penalty area.  Even telling them to sit back and not press all over doesn't work. This leaves a huge gap for the opposition to exploit. Starting to think defending in this game is somewhat pointless. I just want to hold on to a slender lead sometimes  without going gung ho every time. Player instructions are needed. 

[DanEnglish]

A few quick questions - what mentality are you using? And what width? Just want to check that you are using a contain / defensive mentality and narrow width as they’re the easiest two options.

I also get annoyed that you can’t get the wide midfielders to come inside and play as central midfielders (remember the old arrows in past CM versions?!). Instead this year I’ve successfully tried to:

• sacrifice the 2 wide players to have a 4132 with three central midfielders - which the wider two can be used to close down opposition full backs, BUT those full backs do have more space.
• sacrifice my 2 full backs to protect the central area for a 3142 with three central defenders on a wide width - the opposition full backs are closed down well, BUT I’m relying on my wider two CBs to chase their long balls to their wingers.

One thing I haven’t tried - is to replace the two wide midfielders with wingbacks (so you have wingbacks AND defensive full backs). If you want to protect the full backs, that should work on defensive mentalities.

What do you think?

[d e m a r a i]

11 minutes ago, DanEnglish said:

A few quick questions - what mentality are you using? And what width? Just want to check that you are using a contain / defensive mentality and narrow width as they’re the easiest two options.

I also get annoyed that you can’t get the wide midfielders to come inside and play as central midfielders (remember the old arrows in past CM versions?!). Instead this year I’ve successfully tried to:

• sacrifice the 2 wide players to have a 4132 with three central midfielders - which the wider two can be used to close down opposition full backs, BUT those full backs do have more space.
• sacrifice my 2 full backs to protect the central area for a 3142 with three central defenders on a wide width - the opposition full backs are closed down well, BUT I’m relying on my wider two CBs to chase their long balls to their wingers.

One thing I haven’t tried - is to replace the two wide midfielders with wingbacks (so you have wingbacks AND defensive full backs). If you want to protect the full backs, that should work on defensive mentalities.

What do you think?

On the 3142 note you can try and use fullbacks as the wide centrebacks, that way you can maintain relative pace ofcourse at the expense of less aerial power

[DanEnglish]

1 hour ago, d e m a r a i said:

On the 3142 note you can try and use fullbacks as the wide centrebacks, that way you can maintain relative pace ofcourse at the expense of less aerial power

Good point. I’ve not tried that. Guess it would work well with narrow width - which would also help with @Mr Phalanx desire for the wide midfielders to tuck in more (though they are still relatively ‘wide’).

As another option, if you’ve played in Brazil before, the Brazilian box (4222 with 2 CM and 2 AMC) is popular there. Gives you more bodies in the centre of midfield and with the right roles the AMCs could drift a little wider if needed.

[Mr Phalanx]

1 hour ago, DanEnglish said:

A few quick questions - what mentality are you using? And what width? Just want to check that you are using a contain / defensive mentality and narrow width as they’re the easiest two options.

I also get annoyed that you can’t get the wide midfielders to come inside and play as central midfielders (remember the old arrows in past CM versions?!). Instead this year I’ve successfully tried to:

• sacrifice the 2 wide players to have a 4132 with three central midfielders - which the wider two can be used to close down opposition full backs, BUT those full backs do have more space.
• sacrifice my 2 full backs to protect the central area for a 3142 with three central defenders on a wide width - the opposition full backs are closed down well, BUT I’m relying on my wider two CBs to chase their long balls to their wingers.

One thing I haven’t tried - is to replace the two wide midfielders with wingbacks (so you have wingbacks AND defensive full backs). If you want to protect the full backs, that should work on defensive mentalities.

What do you think?

Having WBs and DFBs on the same flank makes sense on paper. In reality, it is suicidal. Their starting position is already low enough. This will invite too much pressure on a defence that is almost never compact even with a narrow width. And transitions will be much slower on a low mentality.

Concerning width. There needs to be a way to adjust the defensive width. The option isn't available on FMM.  I prefer to squeeze space in my area. This can only be achieved by narrowing the width of the back line which also affects the positioning of the wide midfielders. Sit back + narrow defensive width will create a big lump in front of the goalkeeper. 

 

 

[Mr Phalanx]

1 hour ago, d e m a r a i said:

On the 3142 note you can try and use fullbacks as the wide centrebacks, that way you can maintain relative pace ofcourse at the expense of less aerial power

FBs as the wide center backs in a 3 atb system that focuses on compressing space in your penalty area? No way. Have you had any success with this? Wouldn't there be big holes in the defence?

added 0 minutes later

1 hour ago, d e m a r a i said:

On the 3142 note you can try and use fullbacks as the wide centrebacks, that way you can maintain relative pace ofcourse at the expense of less aerial power

FBs as the wide center backs in a 3 atb system that focuses on compressing space in your penalty area? No way. Have you had any success with this? Wouldn't there be big holes in the defence?

[d e m a r a i]

9 hours ago, Mr Phalanx said:

FBs as the wide center backs in a 3 atb system that focuses on compressing space in your penalty area? No way. Have you had any success with this? Wouldn't there be big holes in the defence?

added 0 minutes later

FBs as the wide center backs in a 3 atb system that focuses on compressing space in your penalty area? No way. Have you had any success with this? Wouldn't there be big holes in the defence?

Technically I'm referring to how irl there have been instances where coaches have put 3 atb systems comprising of FBs as wide CBs which in theory is a neat idea since they have slightly better technical and physical stat to compensate for their slightly worse defensive stats. I'll try and upload a new tactic when I can based on this just to see if this theory can work ingame

Edited August 24, 2021 by d e m a r a i
Adding some tidbits of words here and there

[Mr Phalanx]

2 hours ago, d e m a r a i said:

Technically I'm referring to how irl there have been instances where coaches have put 3 atb systems comprising of FBs as wide CBs which in theory is a neat idea since they have slightly better technical and physical stat to compensate for their slightly worse defensive stats. I'll try and upload a new tactic when I can based on this just to see if this theory can work ingame

Oh. Oh. I understand. It makes sense

[broodje kip]

@Mr Phalanx I think you need to remember that this is FM and not real life. The most suicidal tactic can even work in FM if being set up correctly. Having both DFB and WB at the same flank does work good. Having DFB as wide CD in a 3-atb formation does work very well too. I even had a tactic with one CD and two WBs; it works just fine without any much problem.

[DanEnglish]

At the risk of going dramatically off-topic, and deliberately understanding the OP incorrectly ... 

... if one REALLY wanted to minimise space in the box, surely a 4-2-4-0-0 would work, with 2 DMC, 2 MC and 2 wider midfielders ... Or (because there are holes in squares) a 3-4-2-1 with 3 CB, 2 WB, 2 DMC, 2 MC and 1 Shadow Striker / Normal Striker. Good luck to our opposition finding space in the middle there!