Testing the Wide AF - Experiment with Aston Villa

Intro

In this post I will be going over my findings with using an AF in the RF and LF positions. I will be sharing my experience with how the AFs interacted in the FM24 match engine.

I watched each variant of my tactic (one which involved IFs and one with the wide AFs) until January 1st (I simmed cup matches) with extensive highlights and analyzed the movements of the players on the field. Although my sample data is only 20 matches, I hope this post is informative.

If there is anything someone wants to ask or add please feel free to leave a comment as I want this to be a discussion.

Contents

1. Tactics
2. Process
3. Wide AFs in Action
4. A Closer Comparison with IFs
5. Conclusion

Tactics

I built a tactic to make the wingers the primary point of attack in this team. To do this I made the ST a DLF to give the wingers more space to cut in and theoretically create more chance for themselves.

I intended for this to be a very counter attacking focused tactic that would let the AFs take space in behind the defense.

In my second trial involving IFs I simply changed the AFs into IFs

Process

To eliminate as many outliers and inconsistencies while testing, I enabled the In Game Editor to maximize each players condition and morale before each league match. I also used the same starting 11 each match (with the exception of suspensions) and I did not use any subs if not necessary (injuries). In the case of a player getting sent off, I did not touch the formation at all (If a CB got sent off, I’ll be playing 1 CB for the rest of the match). I also swapped Zaniolo’s weak foot so he would be shooting with his strong foot rather than his weak foot

I also made 0 transfers in and out

Wide AFs in Action

When I first went into testing, I expected these AFs to act similar to IFs in the way they would stay narrow and cut inside the box and be selfish. They acted different to how I expected. They acted more similar to wingers who would stay narrow than IFs.

In the pictures displayed above, you can see the AF on the opposite side of the attack (Diaby) occupying the half-space in between the wing and the middle. The Wide AF on the opposing side of the attack tended to wait to crash the back post, while the other AF on the other side usually hugged the line looking to supply a cross to the DLF or the other AF.

This is where I noticed that the Wide AF wasn’t just a IF, it was a narrow winger who looked to crash the back post  and create chances for his teammates. 

in this position receives the ball and the midfield and unlike IFs, they stay wide to provide support and width rather than trying to make a ran on the goal side of the opposing wingbacks. By staying wide, the AFs provide the midfielders and striker space in the box and midfield.

League table (January 1st):

As you can see from the league table, Aston Villa was almost undefeated for 20 games, with exception to a loss to Man City. Despite so many aggressive and attacking roles on the team, Aston Villa had the 2nd best defense second to Man City.

A Closer Comparison with IFs

In the second part of this experiment I did the exact same things as before EXCEPT for changing the AFs into IFs to see which ones led to better success and were more prolific.

In the second round of testing, I realized a crucial difference in the positioning and habits of the 2 roles.

do you guys see what I see? The IFs position themselves almost opposite of Wide AFs. Instead of positioning themselves on the outside of the wingbacks, the IFs position themselves in the space between the wingbacks and the CB to try and create a chance

Meanwhile the AFs look to drag wingbacks wide and cut in at the last moment.

Another crucial positional difference is how they interact inside the box.

The IFs tend to get very central and kind of act as strikers. 
 

you can see that the IFs move very central and drag the wingbacks with them.

The AFs take a different approach in which only one of them goes into the box while the other one provides more width

after fully simulating all 20 league matches with the IFs this is the league table:

 

Wow, the league tables are nearly identical! This must mean that AFs and IFs can be used interchangeably and receive similar results right? Well not really… If you take a closer look at the top scorers of each of the trials you can see something shocking

With AFs (Ignore McGinn, he only played in cup matches in which he played as an AF while I went on vacation for those matches)

With IFs (Ignore McGinn, he only played in cup matches in which he played as an IF while I went on vacation for those matches)

You can see that the ST and IFs led the scoring charts by a mile with the next top scorer that played league matches besides them was Lucas Digne with only 2 goals. Mean while the scoring responsibility was much more dispersed in the trial with the AFs. You can easily infer that the AFs played a much more important in the build up and play making than the IFs, playing less selfish providing chances for their teammates. You can see this further in these match statistics.

With AFs

With IFs

In these games you can see the differences in the amount of impact the wingers had in playmaking. In the game with the AFs, you can see that the wingers provided more passes, had more shots and attempted significantly more crosses than their counterparts. This provides further evidence that the AFs are a more supportive role and take harder chances (on goal) than IFs. Even though throughout the season, IFs are more prolific, AFs are able to bring more out of their teammates than IFs are able to.

Ive also noticed that AFs receive many chances through crosses to the back post, so I’m not sure if higher Ariel would lead to more prolific results. Though the fact that Zaniolo had double Diaby’s aerial and was more prolific may lead to that.

Conclusion

The Wide AFs were fun to mess around with, they were a completely different role than what I initially anticipated. They were more like aggressive and attacking wingers that stayed wide and in the half spaces rather than wider strikers that cut inside.

While the AFs were relatively successfully, there is still too little data on them and a 20 match data set isn’t the greatest. I hope we can explore this role further and find ways to exploit it.

Edited June 13, 2024 by Halcyon

[DanEnglish]

Crikey! This is a good article. Thanks for testing and explaining so thoroughly.

Firstly I really like HOW you’ve done the test (which means we can trust the results more) - as you’ve watched the matches (not holidayed) + you’ve kept things consistent (max morale + fitness) 👍 

Secondly the test’s results are really interesting. “AFs play a bit wider than IFs” makes a lot of sense (I quickly checked this in my current save and it matched) + the ‘attacks back post’ / ‘so its good to have aerial’ points are valuable. I didn’t know this before 👍 

Perhaps ‘wide AFs’ will be the next trend / FMM best practice? 🤔 Now instead of using 2x IFs - I’m going to start using a wide AF + a IF together (on opposite flanks) - and see what happens.

Thanks for the well written article and the fascinating insights 🙏 

[Bolajoko]

1 hour ago, DanEnglish said:

Crikey! This is a good article. Thanks for testing and explaining so thoroughly.

Firstly I really like HOW you’ve done the test (which means we can trust the results more) - as you’ve watched the matches (not holidayed) + you’ve kept things consistent (max morale + fitness) 👍 

Secondly the test’s results are really interesting. “AFs play a bit wider than IFs” makes a lot of sense (I quickly checked this in my current save and it matched) + the ‘attacks back post’ / ‘so its good to have aerial’ points are valuable. I didn’t know this before 👍 

Perhaps ‘wide AFs’ will be the next trend / FMM best practice? 🤔 Now instead of using 2x IFs - I’m going to start using a wide AF + a IF together (on opposite flanks) - and see what happens.

Thanks for the well written article and the fascinating insights 🙏 

That's what I use in my tactic I ship a roaming playmaker or a box to box midfielder on the same side so they can fill in the spaces they effective but the midfielders take all the glory by delivering the final pass and providing assits

[shosky]

The wide AF will mostly stay wide and act as a winger. I've always used them like that in any of my 1K tactics. 

[Halcyon]

1 hour ago, shosky said:

The wide AF will mostly stay wide and act as a winger. I've always used them like that in any of my 1K tactics. 

Yes I’ve noticed that as well but they do look to penetrate the back post whenever possible.

[Halcyon]

2 hours ago, shosky said:

The wide AF will mostly stay wide and act as a winger. I've always used them like that in any of my 1K tactics. 

I do have to ask though, you have 3 people on each wing, how does that interact?

[Rezz7399]

Good article Very good.

[Halcyon]

21 hours ago, Rezz7399 said:

Good article Very good.

Thank you 🙏 

[gphome]

@Halcyon Can you possibly re-run the same test with a PF instead of AF? I would be really interested to know if the PF moves like the AF on offense, but gives more of a press (naturally) on defense, for the ultimate GG style