Possession Attack 2021-12-05

Attack based football that allowed my Man Utd team to dominate and win the League, FA Cup and ECL, echoing the feat of 1999. The team broke many records with the most wins and most points both domestically and in Europe. Killian Mbappé also broke Dennis Law's record goal return with 56 in a season.

The tactic was implemented in my third season with a desire to improve on a previous one that gave me success but not in the dominant fashion I desired.

The principle is to play narrowly, focusing play down the middle, but using the WBs to bolster the attack. The anchor in midfield provides a third player to solidify the defence. The isolated forward will score most of the goals, with the IWs and AM providing the assists, but also regularly finding the back of the net. Although symmetrical to an extent, the right IW plays a support role in order to protect the AM that has an attack role. On the left side, the IW attacks, with the MC in a deep lying playmaker role on support duty. This allows for a decent balance.

All in all, the tactic allowed me to dominate most games, scoring large numbers without conceding large amounts. It is possible to switch the mentality from attacking to cautious late in matches to protect a lead, particularly in the tighter games, this change gave me much success seeing out games. As such, it may be a good change for smaller teams less likely to dominate. With the cautious mentality, the team appears a little more solid defensively, but still attacks. I switched to cautious several times late in a tight game only for the team to score one or two late goals.

For training, I made each player train individually to their position and role. I have two players per position, with academy graduates and young purchases as backup. Considering many of these youths, who are of a Championship or League One level, managed to perform in this tactic, suggests it may work with lesser squads too. I only rotate to keep players content and when a player isn't fully fit, full green heart. I didn't have many injuries and the tactic also reduces the number of cards, so there were not many suspensions.

The following screenshots provide some added information.