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Tactics The Tic-Tac, A Modern Overloading 4-4-2 (NEW UPDATE)


sscout
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Have you ever wondered what's the furthest you can stretch and push the definition of a 4-4-2?

That's where this all began, with that initial thought, 

"I want to make a 4-4-2 that is distinctively not a 4-4-2 in possession"

And after a month or so of me working towards that idea, here I am. 

Now fair warning, this tactic isn't meant to be some super effective plug and play tactic which will win you games for sure, it's not meant to be an underdog LLM tactic that will get you results against bigger teams(in fact, it's kinda awful against bigger teams and even a little problematic facing equal teams), it's not meant to be the highest scoring tactic ever either. 

My point is, don't expect too much and you'll be pleasantly surprised. 

With that out of the way, let's dive right into it:

Screenshot_2023-03-18-16-16-15-45_771543261040f582078018e6d22ad0ed.thumb.jpg.f867eb9541915bd5016412f2e099ab1b.jpg

Screenshot_2023-03-18-16-16-17-90_771543261040f582078018e6d22ad0ed.thumb.jpg.eb079697ba218eab0262b9a72efe607a.jpg

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So let me break this down bit by bit starting with my roles and the 5 main pairs:

 

Pair 1, The Offensive Pillars:

Spoiler

DLF: One of the most important players on the pitch, excellent technical and mental attributes are needed for him to excel in his offensive duties. He can either act as a playmaker, dropping deep and supplying passes to the overlapping W/AP or his strike partner, or act as a deadly finisher looking for that goal from right outside the box or within. You can expect plenty of key passes played, plenty of goals, and almost as many assists. 

Some key attributes would be 

Dribbling - Passing - Shooting - Technique 

Creativity - Decisions - Movement - Teamwork

Additionally, look for someone with low aggression

TF: An important physical presence in the final third, this role is versatile as there are actually other roles you can play in this position. Currently I recommend a TF so that the DLF, AP, W are better supported but you can also play a P, AF, CF, PF here. The main point of this position/role is to provide a strong physical presence and to also act as somewhat of a decoy to drag and force defenders out of position so it's easier for other attacking roles to do their work. Similar expectations as the DLF but slightly less productive overall, I would caulk it up to this role doing a bit more work without the ball and acting as a decoy. 

Some key attributes would be

Passing - Shooting - Technique

Creativity - Decisions - Movement - Teamwork

Aerial - Stamina - Strength 

Additionally, look for someone with high aggression

Pair 2, The Offensive Runners:

Spoiler

W: This is the mysterious wide trequartista role I've been talking about here and there you might be wondering about. Here is is a player who starts out wide and deep, usually found in the middle third of the pitch. But as possession changes hands and your team launches it's attack he will drift in centrally, sometimes quite aggressively, before looking for a long range shot or an assist. At times he might also be used to carry the ball up the field. You can expect a fairly equal amount of goals and assists. 

Some key attributes would be 

Crossing - Dribbling - Passing - Shooting - Technique

Creativity - Decisions - Movement

Pace - Stamina

Additionally, look for someone with high aggression

AP: Playing a very similar role as the W, but starting off more centrally with more responsibility to recycle possession and perform other supplementary midfield duties. You can expect most of your team's assists to come from here and a fair amount of goals as well. 

Some key attributes would be

Dribbling - Passing - Shooting - Technique 

Creativity - Decisions - Movement - Teamwork

Pace - Stamina

Additionally, look for someone with high aggression

Pair 3, The Wide Supporters:

Spoiler

DFB: A hybrid role that focuses on both defending and supporting the attack in addition to providing width. Despite the role only calling for a limited defender, you need someone who has the attributes for a WB so that he can adequately support the attack. You can expect some small amounts of assists as most of the work this role would be performing is defensive and supporting. I also prefer man marking on for this role as I want to encourage my DFB to be a little more proactive in closing down and chasing after players who have the ball and not staying too far down in his own zone. Although I will say this can be switched off as well. 

Additionally, look for someone with medium-high aggression

Some key attributes would be

Crossing - Dribbling - Passing - Tackling - Technique

Decisions - Movement - Positioning - Teamwork 

Pace - Stamina - Strength 

DW: An almost identical role to the DFB except with less defensive and more offensive responsibility. Similarly you want someone with the attributes for a WB. And similar to the DFB, you can expect some small amounts of assists from him as most of the work is done supporting. 

Some key attributes would be

Crossing - Dribbling - Passing - Tackling - Technique

Decisions - Movement - Positioning - Teamwork 

Pace - Stamina - Strength 

Additionally, look for someone with medium-high aggression

Pair 4, The Central Supporters:

Spoiler

CM: A fairly static but important role that is largely responsible for possession and midfield solidity also arguably the first line of defense. You can expect a high number of passes played, some key passes played, and defensive duties covered. 

Some key attributes would be

Passing - Tackling - Technique

Creativity - Decisions - Movement - Positioning - Teamwork 

Stamina - Strength 

Additionally, look for someone with low-medium aggression

IWB: Unlike the CM, the IWB has to constantly move between the left flank/half space and the central area of the pitch. And there runs a high risk of being caught during this transition, thus you'll need a player who is both intelligent and physically gifted to adequately cover this role. Expectations are similar to the CM. I set man marking on for this role as well as I kept noticing my IWB letting his man free too often because he'd be overly focused on transitioning from offense to defense and vice versa. 

Some key attributes would be

Passing - Tackling - Technique

Creativity - Decisions - Movement - Positioning - Teamwork 

Pace - Stamina - Strength 

Additionally, look for someone with low-medium aggression

Pair 5, The Defensive Pillars:

Spoiler

BPD: Despite what might seem obvious, the primary duty of this role is purely defensive and to get the ball shuttled back up the pitch in the safest manner possible. In addition to that, he has to sit back and be patient, letting the rest of the team apply defensive pressure while he sits back and looks to cut off any through balls and such. This role can also be set as a S or CD or NCB, but I haven't been able to decide which is best. 

Some key attributes would be

Passing - Tackling - Technique

Creativity - Decisions - Positioning - Teamwork 

Pace - Stamina - Strength 

Additionally, look for someone with low aggression

CD: To partner up with the patient BPD who sits back, I settled on an aggressive and industrious CD who is basically meant to serve as a BWM. Needs to be a great overall player who can perform a wide variety of duties in defense. 

Some key attributes would be

Dribbling - Passing - Tackling - Technique

Creativity - Decisions - Movement - Positioning - Teamwork 

Pace - Stamina - Technique 

Additionally, look for someone with high aggression

With those roles out of the way, let me elaborate on my instructions:

  • Overload is a must, you could probably build a more safer and consistent tactic if you bring mentality down, but I prefer the risk taking nature of overload and thus built this tactic to that end.
  • Narrow is a must as well, otherwise the W won't behave the way he does, not even on balanced width. 
  • Tempo can be fast or balanced, I prefer fast as it fits and accentuates the overall playstyle of the team. 
  • Creative freedom is an odd one, I had it on expressive for the longest time and it did do well as my team got many random and chaotic goals out of it, but I feel overall it might be holding back the tactic and not letting it flow properly. So I recently switch it down to disciplined, and while I do have similar amounts of success now I can't quite tell completely yet if it's better or worse than expressive. 

 

  • Defensive line is best played high, not only for defensive reasons but offensive ones as well as a higher line translates to the ball staying further up the pitch on average and more opportunity for your attacking players. 
  • I prefer closing down to be at sit back as well, this tactic already naturally has a rather flimsy defensive structure especially the way it is set up with all the instructions insofar. Setting it to all over or even own half might lead to that structure completely falling apart as your players chase down players around the pitch. 
  • And tackling set to either cautious or normal, committed just leads to too many fouls without offering any noticable advantage. 

 

  • Shoot on sight works well in applying constant offensive pressure and danger, through balls on further accentuates that. The key point is always maintaining a goal threat.
  • Passing style can be either short or mixed, short has the risk of your team getting pressed high up the pitch and being forced to make errors close to your goal, while mixed sometimes leads to your players playing over ambitious passes in the build up leading to a loss of possession. 
  • Passing focus is another interesting one here, for the longest time I had it on passing focus through the centre but switching it to the left does offer it's advantages. But it can be either left or centre. 
  • And short goalkeeper distribution is always good unless you have a very good keeper who is good at distribution. 

 

I'll post this first for now as I've been typing for hours, and I'll add on more details later if needed. 

I hope vibe finds this tactic well, and that many of you here will give it a try and some feedback. Thank you! 

Edited by sscout
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This is a hugely modest label of a tactic.

This is not just a Tic-Tac 442. This is so much more.

A better name may be:
SScout’s Overload Tic-Tac (an asymmetric non-442 with a Wide Treq!)

 it needs one of those American over the top, wrestling commentators or giant burger advert voice actors introducing it …

… as I’ve literally never seen a 442 like this. And the GIFs + screenshots he shared on Discord are … epic may be a tad overkill … but at the very least ‘impressive👍 

Edited by DanEnglish
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On 18/03/2023 at 19:19, sscout said:

Screenshot_2023-03-18-16-16-17-90_771543261040f582078018e6d22ad0ed.thumb.jpg.eb079697ba218eab0262b9a72efe607a.jpg

Hi sscout,

I am interested in your defense setting. High defensive line and sit back close down. 

What is your purpose of this? and How does it work?

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2 hours ago, rseven said:

Hi sscout,

I am interested in your defense setting. High defensive line and sit back close down. 

What is your purpose of this? and How does it work?

I was surprised by this also 🤔

I think Sscout explained the purpose in the post above (shown in the quote below) - but whether / how it works … ?!

On 18/03/2023 at 19:19, sscout said:

Defensive line is best played high, not only for defensive reasons but offensive ones as well as a higher line translates to the ball staying further up the pitch on average and more opportunity for your attacking players. 

I prefer closing down to be at sit back as well, this tactic already naturally has a rather flimsy defensive structure especially the way it is set up with all the instructions insofar. Setting it to all over or even own half might lead to that structure completely falling apart as your players chase down players around the pitch. 

🙂 

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4 hours ago, rseven said:

I am interested in your defense setting. High defensive line and sit back close down. 

What is your purpose of this? and How does it work?

As @DanEnglish has brought up it's as I've said on the main post itself but let me elaborate somewhat.

So I know the usual idea is high line+all over and low line+sit back is the conventional way to set things up, and going low+all over or high line+sit back is a bit of an anamoly at best and taboo at worst to say the least. 

So let me go try something here to explain my choice let me go through an alternative.

High line+all over for example.

it sounds great, pressing high up the pitch to force opponents to make mistakes or to steal back possession before they're able to build up momentum or to just keep up a constant attacking presence. But a few things run counter-initiative to that,

 

  1. How your players positions out of possession aka your formation basically. A 4-4-2 is a a very balanced formation and you've got players covering the pitch equally but what you don't have is an overwhelming number of players positioned higher up th e pitch who will look to start pressing faster. Now I'm not saying you can't press high with a 4-4-2, it's just not ideal. 
  2. This is a tactic that plays hard and loose with the scoreline, a lot of goals will get scored and the nuance is in making sure you're the one scoring and not getting scored on. Which means you need to play safe when you can and minimise mistakes from your side. Going all over is gonna help you a lot in games where you're bound to dominate against a significantly weaker side BUT only for the first 60 mins or so while your players' conditions are 80%+ after which the mistakes your players are gonna make is going to go up. And which each mistake your chances of conceding goes up. You might score 1-2 more goals but you're gonna concede 2-3 in the final closing minutes and they're gonna be goals from mistakes and that's going to bring down your players' ratings too.
  3. And last but not least, bigger teams with better players will expose you hard if you try to press all over.

 

While I'm here let me just talk about a minor change I've made to my tactic recently. FB can be utilised more effectively than a DFB when you're up against top level defences which are harder to break down. Made this change halfway through my first La Liga season with FC Andorra (I already finished season 3 a day or two ago but I haven't got the time to write up and update my career) and I was struggling to score against teams there and my DFB was struggling despite having decent attributes for the level.

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I have not tested it much but in 2 teams after 5-6 games it was not good results. Opponents had too many shots and chances. 

 

Somebody run with it full season?

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3 hours ago, Legend288 said:

I have not tested it much but in 2 teams after 5-6 games it was not good results. Opponents had too many shots and chances. 

 

Somebody run with it full season?

It's a difficult tactic to get right, and you absolutely cannot hope to win games without having the right players on your side, I have some results from my first two seasons with Andorra 

Screenshot_2023-03-17-22-05-58-37_771543261040f582078018e6d22ad0ed.thumb.jpg.090bed0bc03fd722a927f2d53c3b6081.jpg

Screenshot_2023-03-14-22-46-04-43_771543261040f582078018e6d22ad0ed.thumb.jpg.744a1dbff3be99ca669c458abb276f4b.jpg

As you can see, you are going to concede a lot, the idea is to just score more than you concede. 

Can I see some results and stats from your recent games? If you're losing to bigger teams that you're expected to lose against then there's not much this tactic can do for you, I have said it's not that kind of tactic. It's simply a tactic that does the best it can. 

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Oops I forgot to mention an absolutely crucial detail, 

Your two defenders MUST be fast, 12+ pace ideally 

I'm saying this because I had this one defender who should've easily been my best defender but because he had 6 pace he was a complete defensive liability and I always conceded more with him around. 

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BRAND NEW VERSION AVAILABLE!!!

You heard it right folks, and here I guarantee that this new version will perform to a far greater level of success than the previous version. To the point where the previous can be considered an 

embarrassment! 

Alright, now that I've gotten that piece of fun advertisement out of the way...

I've been spending a long long time trying to perfect this tactic. It's a difficult one alright, took me weeks just to get that base idea built up. And now I've been spending the last few days, even put my FC Andorra career on hold just testing out my tactic with over 20 odd saviour cometh challenges across the top 5 leagues playing as lower table teams such as Southampton and Almeria, putting it through the wringer to extract something more something better. 

And better I have got, in nearly every metric except for goals scored and even for that it's close. 

So without much further ado, 

Screenshot_2023-03-23-21-24-14-82_771543261040f582078018e6d22ad0ed.thumb.jpg.c90aec45f27bd0a3aa9501c7a41a1aaf.jpg

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So why these changes? 

Starting with the roles:

Spoiler

SK->G 

Due to now using a S and to cut out the goals I've been conceding from my SK doing weird stunts inside his box. 

CD->S

So kinda obvious and I should've gave this a try sooner, but the IWB really is kinda stupid when it comes to defensive positioning and getting back into position when out of possession. So to cover for that stupidity, a S who will sit back. Now important thing to note is that the CD previously played here needed high aggression but this S will ideally need low aggression so he will better sit back without rushing out of position. 

BPD on man marking, to encourage a more aggressive and tighter mentality to closing down the man on the ball in contrast to the S. Also again, previously I said this role needed a low aggression player but here you want someone with high aggression. 

CM->BBM

This ties in to my defensive instructions being tweaked somewhat and me abandoning the idea of sitting back and waiting for the opponents to come in before hitting them on the counter because I've come to realise that really doesn't work in FMM where your opponents are gonna freely score 30+ yarders every game or two. So my idea is to have a more dynamic and hard-working midfield duo who will take a greater amount of responsibility to control their third with help from the fullbacks. 

TF->DLF

Now funny thing is, functionally nothing much has changed here, this is still a physical role that is focused on supporting. Except just slightly more refined in my opinion. 

DLF->PF

Now don't let the stigma of PF being a "defensive" role throw you off, this role is primed to be your most important attacking role which should end the game with the most or one of the most shots attempted. In truth, I might still do a bit more tweaking and adjusting with the forward duo but the ideas have become more solid now, on the left is a physically dominant player who looks to support and on the right is a technically superior player who brings out the final product. 

The shape:

Nothing much changed, so yeah

The defence:

Still a high line, but with a higher line of engagement and more urgency. Because counterattacking football just doesn't work as well as it should in FMM in my opinion. 

The attack:

Shoot on sight had to be taken off as it honestly was a little overkill and just ended up opening me up for counters after wasteful shots. Now passing focus is important, it has to be centre and I'd like to dive into it and talk about this new theory I've been mulling over about passing focus and space but that's another topic for another post. 

Well here goes and I sincerely hope this improved version works out for you wonderful people. 

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man im loving this tactic especially that your not just throwing the tactic out there like a lot of people do you're explaining it and explaining ur thought process behind each instruction 
anyways imma make a new chelsea save to test this out 

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2 hours ago, Sloth77 said:

man im loving this tactic especially that your not just throwing the tactic out there like a lot of people do you're explaining it and explaining ur thought process behind each instruction 
anyways imma make a new chelsea save to test this out 

Please post how it goes. This is such an interesting tactic and I'd love to see the results with Chelsea.

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3 hours ago, Sloth77 said:

man im loving this tactic especially that your not just throwing the tactic out there like a lot of people do you're explaining it and explaining ur thought process behind each instruction 

Well as they say, sometimes the real beauty is not in the destination but in the journey

3 hours ago, Sloth77 said:

anyways imma make a new chelsea save to test this out 

Do let me know how it goes, good or bad any result is still useful for me

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now firstly i did not play the matches i simulated until the world cup 
second this was just plug and play the only thing i did was sign osimhen and demote a few players that i didnt want to play to the reserves because otherwise the ai would pick them (thiago silva because he was slow and a few others) 
this was with v2 altho i was messing around with it yesterday and i found that disciplined yielded better results for me and passing focus to the left was better (i think) so im going to simulate the rest of the season with those 2 changes

1.thumb.png.4d92daf9f3ea62b2a5f3074994de3854.png2.thumb.png.452985c7e5c5a777c7ba4e38a09346cc.png4.thumb.png.83f535157648159fb5bd5e53d65e9ee7.png3.thumb.png.27d549523b79deb6b71af732eb5e95ed.png

for chelsea who are expected to be in top four thats why i changed the tactic

 

results.png

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1 hour ago, Sloth77 said:

now firstly i did not play the matches i simulated until the world cup 
second this was just plug and play the only thing i did was sign osimhen and demote a few players that i didnt want to play to the reserves because otherwise the ai would pick them (thiago silva because he was slow and a few others) 
this was with v2 altho i was messing around with it yesterday and i found that disciplined yielded better results for me and passing focus to the left was better (i think) so im going to simulate the rest of the season with those 2 changes

1.thumb.png.4d92daf9f3ea62b2a5f3074994de3854.png2.thumb.png.452985c7e5c5a777c7ba4e38a09346cc.png4.thumb.png.83f535157648159fb5bd5e53d65e9ee7.png3.thumb.png.27d549523b79deb6b71af732eb5e95ed.png

for chelsea who are expected to be in top four thats why i changed the tactic

 

results.png

If your simulating matches on holiday mode different tactics are selected by the assistant 

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Just now, Resurgam said:

If your simulating matches on holiday mode different tactics are selected by the assistant 

wait they change the tactic????? umm that makes my tests useless lmao

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37 minutes ago, Sloth77 said:

wait they change the tactic????? umm that makes my tests useless lmao

Oof yeah, just saw this and got time to reply oh well, at least you tried and I appreciate that

Edited by sscout
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This seems like a fun one. I guess defenders' key attribute would be mostly pace? Tackling for the middle, crossing for the right winger and aerial for the of while.passing and dribbling for the DLF? Or am I wrong?

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13 hours ago, wondexya said:

Can you send the tactical file?

This gets asked so many times and it's not needed.

 

Just copy the tactic instructions exactly as it is written on here.

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