Tactics SotongBall: An Aggressive 2-2-3-3

[BakaSotong]

Been using this tactic for my Triple Threat attempt for nearly 3 seasons (you can check it out here if you want), and so far it's been by far and away the best tactic I've used all year. Thought I'll share it with you guys!


TACTICS:

Spoiler

 

For the most part this tactic seems to be plug-and-play, I haven't felt the need to make any drastic changes to the formation or instructions thus far. However, the tactic tends to struggle a bit against extremely defensive teams (i.e 5ATB). In those cases I change the tempo to "normal", it seems to help alleviate the issue. You can set the creative freedom to "disciplined" as well if you're still struggling. 

 

 

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN YOUR PLAYERS / HOW THE TACTIC WORKS:

Spoiler

(Bold means the attribute should be at least 15, italics is at least 12 unless stated otherwise. Of course, this is assuming you're managing in a highly competitive team / league, feel free to adjust the numbers as needed)

 

SK:

Your standard attributes (Aerial, Agility, Decisions, Handling, Reflexes) are important, but Kicking is the most vital one here. Your GK's responsible for launching attacks via pinpoint distribution high up the pitch, without good kicking you'll only be handing possession off to the opposition. Pace is also important for compensate for loose balls, though as long as you have decent enough centre backs, you should be fine if you can't find someone fast enough.

 

BPDs:

Takes care of the defensive side of things by aiming to win the ball high up the pitch, or chase down loose balls / lone attackers. They also play it short to whoever's available while in possession (mostly the IWBs or CM). Decisions, Passing, Positioning & Tackling are what this role requires. Pace is very important as well, but if you're unable to get CBs that are fast enough, you can change them to CBs and your SK to an outright GK. Your attack and possession will drop off slightly, but your defence will be more than sturdy enough. Aerial for some reason doesn't seem too important (my main CBs all have less than 14 but I hardly concede), but it's still nice to have. Same goes for Strength.

 

IWBs:

They're essentially the engines of this tactic. They'll start from the flanks within our own third and make their way into almost an AM position via aggressive runs. For the most part they're responsible for carrying and distributing the ball, though on occasion they do get a shot off. Decisions, Movement, Pace, Passing & Stamina is what you'll need here; Positioning & Tackling is also helpful for the defensive side of things, though they don't seem to get too involved in that side of the game. Teamwork is nice to have as well. 

 

CM:

If the IWBs are the engines, the CM is the maestro, given the heavy burden of controlling the game by pairing his intelligence with aggressive ball-winning. I'd argue that this is the most important role of the tactic, without a good CM this tactic will fall apart. Decisions, Passing, Positioning, Stamina, Tackling & Teamwork will be crucial here. 

 

WMs:

Basically wingers. Their main job is to provide another avenue for goals by running the ball and delivering crosses into the box. If you want them to contribute more in goal-scoring and shoot more often, you can convert them to just straight-up wingers instead of WMs. You can move them up to AML/Rs as well, though it seems to be 50/50 on whether it works or not. Crossing, Decisions, Movement, Pace & Stamina are what's necessary; Dribbling, Passing & Teamwork is also good to have if possible. (Edit: Your left WM should be left-footed, and your right WM should be right-footed)

 

PFs :

Aside from making runs and scoring, they also aim to place pressure on the opponent's defence and try to win it back to... well, score. Occasionally they'll pass the ball to the poacher if he's in a better position to score. Decisions, Movement, Pace & Shooting (this stat alone should be at least 18) is what to look out for; Aerial & Passing as well, if possible. (Edit: Your left PF should be right-footed, and your right PF left-footed)

 

Poacher:

The main goalscorer in the team. Similar to the PFs (Decisions, Movement, Pace & Shooting), but Aerial is also needed. Strength helps here as well. 

 

 

RESULTS:

Spoiler

More than 160 goals in my 7th season at Celtic, 130 of which came from my main 3 strikers.

2 stand out games I've had while using this tactics.

 

 

Let me know what you guys think, and if you decide to use it, how it's been working for you guys! To be honest, I've only used it for my Celtic save so far so I don't know how it'll work for a mid or lower tier team.

 

 

(Shoutout to @marwahqr BTW, my tactic was inspired by his)

Edited January 31, 2023 by BakaSotong

[AndersJ]

Its looking very interesting! Thank you for sharing with the details

[TehSpaceGiraffe]

Looks great definitely gonna give this a go

[BakaSotong]

37 minutes ago, TehSpaceGiraffe said:

Looks great definitely gonna give this a go

Let me know how it goes! Which team are you going to use?

 

Also I forgot to mention a few more details regarding what to look for in the players, I just added them in. 

Edited December 27, 2022 by BakaSotong

[TehSpaceGiraffe]

23 minutes ago, BakaSotong said:

Let me know how it goes! Which team are you going to use?

 

Also I forgot to mention a few more details regarding what to look for in the players, I just added them in. 

Thank you. Dont know yet i normally use southampton to test so probably them, the squads so rubbish that if you do well with them you know you have a good tactic

[Legend288]

Its working well but i have many draws with man utd. I have forwards with minimum 16 shooting and 15-20 shots but  in many games cannot score much

[BakaSotong]

8 hours ago, TehSpaceGiraffe said:

Thank you. Dont know yet i normally use southampton to test so probably them, the squads so rubbish that if you do well with them you know you have a good tactic

Good luck! Looking forward to seeing how it goes for ya ^w^

 

23 minutes ago, Legend288 said:

Its working well but i have many draws with man utd. I have forwards with minimum 16 shooting and 15-20 shots but  in many games cannot score much

Try either dropping your tempo to "normal", or your creative freedom to "disciplined". I noticed that you'll get less shots off, but they tend to be more on target. Otherwise, maybe the players just need more time to get used to the tactics. Are you using a left-footed PF on the right, and right-footed PF on the left? If you're not, that might be another reason why. 

Hopefully this helps!

[Schwantz34]

Only a small sample size so far because I applied it to the back end of a Leeds season that I'm already three seasons into, but I will already say it's one of the most fun tactics definitely this year and probably for a few years.

Looking forward to a full season with it.

[BakaSotong]

1 hour ago, Schwantz34 said:

Only a small sample size so far because I applied it to the back end of a Leeds season that I'm already three seasons into, but I will already say it's one of the most fun tactics definitely this year and probably for a few years.

Looking forward to a full season with it.

Glad to hear it's working out for ya so far, hope it keeps doing well! 

[Legend288]

( in all matches  D or L  have same problem

 

[BakaSotong]

21 minutes ago, Legend288 said:

( in all matches  D or L  have same problem

 

Hmm... the shots and possession seem about right. TBH I'm not too sure what might be the issue based on just those images, but at the very least the attack seems to be putting in the work. How does your team normally line up?

[Legend288]

1 hour ago, BakaSotong said:

Hmm... the shots and possession seem about right. TBH I'm not too sure what might be the issue based on just those images, but at the very least the attack seems to be putting in the work. How does your team normally line up?

 I think problem is corners. When they changed corner exploit i cannot score . And i miss so many corner/chances. And opponent are scoring from corners . Not too many but scoring.

Edited December 27, 2022 by Legend288

[Schwantz34]

1 hour ago, Legend288 said:

 I think problem is corners. When they changed corner exploit i cannot score . And i miss so many corner/chances. And opponent are scoring from corners . Not too many but scoring.

It's been really good for me for the half season I applied it to.

I think it's more about the player traits to get the most out of it. I dropped a few starters for bench players that had the right attributes and it took off from there. The CM really is key because I noticed a dip when my first choice wasn't available, moreso than other positions. He makes everything tick.

[TehSpaceGiraffe]

This is obviously all about the attributes, ive had difficulties with it because i dont have the correct attributes in all positions. This thing is really fun though when it works and comes together its brilliant 

[BakaSotong]

5 hours ago, Legend288 said:

 I think problem is corners. When they changed corner exploit i cannot score . And i miss so many corner/chances. And opponent are scoring from corners . Not too many but scoring.

Try switching Gakpo & Antony around because of their strong foot, same goes for Toney and Gomez (if he's left-footed, I'm not sure which Gomez you're playing. If he's right-footed you may be better off replacing him). Shaw's attributes don't fit the team as well because his movement is subpar, so maybe play Malacia over him, or sign someone else.

 

Like what @Schwantz34 and @TehSpaceGiraffe said, the attributes are really important, without the right players the formation won't work the best it can.

 

Hopefully the changes will make it work, but some signings may need to be made.

Edited December 27, 2022 by BakaSotong

[BakaSotong]

4 hours ago, Schwantz34 said:

It's been really good for me for the half season I applied it to.

I think it's more about the player traits to get the most out of it. I dropped a few starters for bench players that had the right attributes and it took off from there. The CM really is key because I noticed a dip when my first choice wasn't available, moreso than other positions. He makes everything tick.

Both you and Giraffe raised the same point, which is definitely true. It took me a season to figure out what players worked and why, but when I did the tactic really worked like a charm.

 

And yeah, the CM is extremely important. In my current season I signed a young CM with a lot of potential, but his passing is only at 14 ATM so the team seems to be struggling a bit more than usual whenever I play him.

 

Nevertheless, I'm happy that you guys are having fun with the formation ^w^

Edited December 27, 2022 by BakaSotong

[TehSpaceGiraffe]

First season finished, wont lie its been a struggle. Obviously dont have the right players, or enough of them. The tactic itself works, and its great to watch, gets goals and does do damage. However at the back i found it a bit soft, maybe thats because im playing teams like city, chelsea and liverpool that just annihilate everyone but even against teams like bournemouth, brentford and forest i struggled. Definitely a tactic to develop over a few seasons 

[BakaSotong]

24 minutes ago, TehSpaceGiraffe said:

First season finished, wont lie its been a struggle. Obviously dont have the right players, or enough of them. The tactic itself works, and its great to watch, gets goals and does do damage. However at the back i found it a bit soft, maybe thats because im playing teams like city, chelsea and liverpool that just annihilate everyone but even against teams like bournemouth, brentford and forest i struggled. Definitely a tactic to develop over a few seasons 

TBH I'm not surprised that you're conceding a lot, in my current save I'll occasionally leak 1 or 2 goals against clubs that are 2.5 or 3 stars even with my main players. Maybe at the stage your club is at it may be worth playing CBs instead of BPDs and a GK instead of a SK, then as you get better players you can convert back to the original strategy.

Edited December 28, 2022 by BakaSotong

[TehSpaceGiraffe]

3 hours ago, BakaSotong said:

TBH I'm not surprised that you're conceding a lot, in my current save I'll occasionally leak 1 or 2 goals against clubs that are 2.5 or 3 stars even with my main players. Maybe at the stage your club is at it may be worth playing CBs instead of BPDs and a GK instead of a SK, then as you get better players you can convert back to the original strategy.

I did try doing that for a bit but didnt really make a noticeable difference so i thought i may aswell revert to original. Tried a few things but none really seemed to have a lasting effect which led me to believe my players just werent good enough 

[Misterbruce890]

8 hours ago, BakaSotong said:

TBH I'm not surprised that you're conceding a lot, in my current save I'll occasionally leak 1 or 2 goals against clubs that are 2.5 or 3 stars even with my main players. Maybe at the stage your club is at it may be worth playing CBs instead of BPDs and a GK instead of a SK, then as you get better players you can convert back to the original strategy.

This actually changed everything in my save.

 

I play St. Pauli and changed to this tactic (with bpd and sk) as a weaker Bundesliga-Club. I finished two seasons rank 9 with it, I was always the better team with a lot of shots but often got FMed and hat lots of late goals against me, lots of draws and high losses against strong teams. Was hard to keep morale up. 

 

At the beginning of the current season I bought some older players that were even more suitable for the tactic and I was 7th in the League in winter, but still the same problems. Then I changed to CDs as you suggested, even tho both had 15 pace, and suddenly my strikers started scoring like hell, beat bayern 4:3 and then morale was constantly maxed out and I didn't lose a game from that point, even beat Dortmund 5:0 in the second last game overtaking the first place from them, won the Bundesliga and the Cup (against HSV haha, brillant game first I got a red card and then scored 3 goals)... 

So I'm here to say thank you I'm having a lot of fun with it. 

 

[BakaSotong]

6 hours ago, TehSpaceGiraffe said:

I did try doing that for a bit but didnt really make a noticeable difference so i thought i may aswell revert to original. Tried a few things but none really seemed to have a lasting effect which led me to believe my players just werent good enough 

 

1 hour ago, Misterbruce890 said:

This actually changed everything in my save.

 

I play St. Pauli and changed to this tactic (with bpd and sk) as a weaker Bundesliga-Club. I finished two seasons rank 9 with it, I was always the better team with a lot of shots but often got FMed and hat lots of late goals against me, lots of draws and high losses against strong teams. Was hard to keep morale up. 

 

At the beginning of the current season I bought some older players that were even more suitable for the tactic and I was 7th in the League in winter, but still the same problems. Then I changed to CDs as you suggested, even tho both had 15 pace, and suddenly my strikers started scoring like hell, beat bayern 4:3 and then morale was constantly maxed out and I didn't lose a game from that point, even beat Dortmund 5:0 in the second last game overtaking the first place from them, won the Bundesliga and the Cup (against HSV haha, brillant game first I got a red card and then scored 3 goals)... 

So I'm here to say thank you I'm having a lot of fun with it. 

 

The BPD -> CB thing seems to be a bit hit or miss it seems, honestly I'm not sure why. It may be just down to the players like you said, Giraffe.

 

But I'm happy that it's worked for ya Bruce! Hopefully it keeps getting the job done, you're welcome 👍

Edited December 28, 2022 by BakaSotong

[gegenMaster]

Why man marking?

[Schwantz34]

41 minutes ago, gegenMaster said:

Why man marking?

It's effective within this tactic is the only real answer.

[BakaSotong]

22 hours ago, gegenMaster said:

Why man marking?

Basically what Schwantz34 said. It didn't work when I tried it without the man marking, but it may vary from save to save. Feel free to experiment!

[gegenMaster]

On 15/01/2023 at 18:16, Schwantz34 said:

It's effective within this tactic is the only real answer.

Thanks, let me try this

added 0 minutes later

5 hours ago, BakaSotong said:

Basically what Schwantz34 said. It didn't work when I tried it without the man marking, but it may vary from save to save. Feel free to experiment!

Sure