INTRODUCTION.
I have been trying for some time to perfect the now popular formation 4-1-2-2-1 (4-5-1 with an anchor man) and have always come up short. My previous attempts worked but I would concede sloppy goals or get caught out on the counter attack, it was very frustrating. It clicked one day that I might have been over estimating my sides defensive capabilities (I was either Arsenal, Q.P.R or West Ham in this years game.) and was encouraging a very fluid mentality and control. So I decided to attempt a style of play and mentality that I have only used with lower league teams or middle of the table sides like Wigan, Wolves and Newcastle in the hope it would give me the type of football I love watching.I will be posting screen-shots to enhance my points so here it goes.
THE TACTIC.
View attachment 249624
View attachment 249624
So as I mentioned earlier I switched from a very fluid/balanced philosophy and started developing a very rigid formation with an attacking style of play. (I originally developed it for Bilbao.) I hoped tat making the passes shorter, pressing higher up the pitch and man marking would help my side retain the ball more, win the ball earlier and encourage the players to keep their shape during the defensive phase of play. The question is did it work?
MATCH PREPARATION.
For match preparation I tend to stick to the following;
During pre season:
Very high team work
Week before first competitive game:
High team work
Mid October till end of season:
Average team work.
I look at my next opposition scout reports to determine whether I need to use any of the other match preparation settings and if so set them to very high (A team that concedes from set plays often change to Attack set plays) but I guess you could just set it to attcaking movement throughout the season.
During pre season:
Very high team work
Week before first competitive game:
High team work
Mid October till end of season:
Average team work.
I look at my next opposition scout reports to determine whether I need to use any of the other match preparation settings and if so set them to very high (A team that concedes from set plays often change to Attack set plays) but I guess you could just set it to attcaking movement throughout the season.
RESULTS AND SUCCESS.
So here are some of my better games and results plus the league table.
View attachment 249626View attachment 249627View attachment 249628View attachment 249629View attachment 249630View attachment 249635View attachment 249631View attachment 249632View attachment 249633View attachment 249634View attachment 249636View attachment 249637One last thing to mention is training schedules. I usually set my team training to compliment the tactic I will be using during the season. Here are my training schedule screen-shots to help.
View attachment 249663View attachment 249664
I hope this tactic works for you all. I would love to hear how it is going.
Last edited: