Liam

Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
Messages
1,010
Reaction score
678
Points
113
The aim of this project is to collaborate on some old and forgotten tactics/formations.
In this Specific Project 2-3-5, we'll be looking to collaborate on this:

The 2-3-5(1900)

View attachment 365909

This formation, also known as the Pyramid, or the classic formation, as it was used for 50 years after its invention, has only two defenders. Three midfielders and five forwards should be sufficient evidence to show that this is an attack-oriented formation. Attacking plays generally began from the center-half, who had usually two options: to pass to one of the five forwards or to dribble forward himself. The defence is manned solely by the defenders (naturally) and thewing-halves, the two outside midfielders, helped out by marking the opposing wingers.
The Danubian style, based loosely on the 2-3-5 and used successfully by the Austrian, Hungarian and Czechoslovakian national teams in the 1930s, was only different in one aspect. The passes used by the players were strictly kept on the ground, and no aerial passes were used.
Advice on the 2-3-5: This formation requires defenders that have good stamina, good sense of positioning, and good tackling skills, as they have to do the defending of the goal alone. The wing-halves should be able to run fast and pass well, and possess some amount of trickery, for they will have to outwit the opposition wingers.The centre-half should have a great control of the ball, superb sense of positioning and good passing. Wingers have to be creative, have a decent aptitude in dribbling down the flanks, and be able to beat defenders with ease, for they are the suppliers of the goals, and must beat the opposing wing-halves to do so. Great passing is another important asset for the winger, as he has to find the centre-forward in good positions to enable him to score. The centre-forward must be one man who is able to get the goals; people who can put the ball over the bar from two metres out need not apply. The centre-forward must also have a strong shot and good passing, so that in case he gets into trouble, he can pass it out to the wingers to try again.


So far:
I've put together the basis of a strong 2-3-5, I've gone unbeaten for 5 games with FC Porto with a rather weak squad.

I see it as an overstretched 3-5-2, and as such, that's how I've built it.
2x Ball Playing Defenders.
1x Ball Winning Midfielder.
4x Defensive Wingers.
2x Deep Lying Forwards.
1x Advanced Forward.

Here is a diagram:
View attachment 366162


Here is the tactic:
I'm going to call this one v1.0, if you tweak it and return it, please call it v2.0, etc...
View attachment 366164

Updated v1.0 to 2.0, because I played Real Sociead and got smashed 7-4. I've tucked the 2 DWs into BWM with a DLP in between them. Also changed Control to Counter and dropped the defensive line and turned off the offside trap.
Also made the Deep Lying Forwards, Defensive Forwards, hopefully that'll work.

If you're testing it please get your Far right/left strikers to mark there full backs. lol.

Current List Of People who have contributed:
-Ovro
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Plz could post some SS of the results.
At first I thought you wrote 3-5-2 the wrong way round as it seems so different, but I was wrong!
 
Really like these kinda projects where its more about playstyle and having a game plan than just winning.
Im gonna try it out, test and contribute when the weather gets worse ;)
 
No offence but this formation wont work.The ME with strong teams will murder you on counter as the strikers have no marking or tackling stats nor they will track back .
 
No offence but this formation wont work.The ME with strong teams will murder you on counter as the strikers have no marking or tackling stats nor they will track back .

Yawn yawn yawn, wasn't that said about the 3-4-3?
Don't give up on something unless you've atleast tried!
 
I don't see how this is going to work without essentially abandoning the whole 235 style.

Decent wingers will tear the defence apart, a team with a solid midfield will just overrun you, counter attacks will be a constant issue because of the massive amount of space you're leaving behind your front five. It could be a fun style to try out against much weaker teams but I don't see this going any further.
 
Yawn yawn yawn, wasn't that said about the 3-4-3?
Don't give up on something unless you've atleast tried!

I hoped you would have a better answer than that seriously.A tactic is based on a method and i dont find any method in this ,the whole philosphy is based on numbers in the front.But matches are not won in just one part of the field.The midfield and defence are heavily out numbered.My suggestion would be change the rm and lm to wing backs atleast so that atleast wingers of opponent are marked.And change the bwm to anchor man and bring one dlf to trq position in midfield.
 
Its not a "I want to win every match" tactic - but a project that tries to incorporate an old playingstyle. Projects like that are inspiring for me atleast and makes manager games more about a vision for the game we love rather than a win button. Keep it up!
 
Kind of true, Just got battered 5-1 by Bayern with Dortmund.

Ribery scored 4 goals all from the wing
 
Interesting.

Not sure how "authentic" you actually want to be, but attached is my quick take on this.

One game played with my latest Juve team away vs Fiorentina - we won 3-2 with a fair amount of possession (65%!), CCCs and shots. Obviously one swallow a summer does not make, but not a bad start - especially as it is mid-season and the tactic is just plugged in and far from fluid.

I changed things around from the original tactic a fair amount, mainly to try to fit in with the ME limitations and help a little with authenticity (again, how authentic do you want this?).

Screen shots follow, and an updated tactic - here's some reasoning:

1) Changed tactic to Balanced / Attacking with more aggressive tackling and man marking. I doubt teams would have played "Control" in 1900, and the game was much more aggressive back then. And Zonal Marking wasn't invented.

2) Narrower width to help reduce the amount of gaps in defence.

3) Defenders changed to Limited Defenders (stopper). Using "stoppers" should help provide additional cover behind the wingbacks (see below).

4) Moved the centre midfield line back to the DM line, with 2 x defensive wingbacks and a defensive DLP. Not that authentic perhaps, but the ME will tear apart a 2 man defence otherwise.

5) 4 attackers moved back to the ACM line, to provide a better link with the (defensive) midfield. In 1900 we would have had 2 x Outside Forwards, 2 x Inside Forwards and a Striker, which I've changed to 2 x Defensive Wingers (to take care of opposition fullbacks - like your original but in AMCL/R), 2 x supporting IFs and a Poacher up front.

6) Lots of individual settings changed too.

Like I said - only one match played, so far from ideal, but a fairly sound start and keeps a basic 2-3-5 formation intact.

View attachment 366400View attachment 366401View attachment 366402
 
Last edited:
"mainly to try to fit in with the ME limitations and help a little with authenticity (again, how authentic do you want this?)."

Not so sure about this, might be more to do with how the rules of the game have changed.
 
"mainly to try to fit in with the ME limitations and help a little with authenticity (again, how authentic do you want this?)."

Not so sure about this, might be more to do with how the rules of the game have changed.

One in the same thing. The ME doesn't know the offside rule changed in 1930ish, therefore we can't play with just 2 at the back with no other cover as the ME will slaughter us. Hence we are limited by the ME.

We cant set up an authentic formation based on a pre1930s offside rule if the ME uses the modern rule. Thus we need to push the original midfield of inside/outside halfbacks down into the DM line to try to compensate. All we can really do is set a tactic that fits in with the ME, with as much a nod to authenticity as we can give, assuming the OP wants at least some authenticity in the tactic which isn't made clear (hence the question).
 
Interesting.

Not sure how "authentic" you actually want to be, but attached is my quick take on this.

One game played with my latest Juve team away vs Fiorentina - we won 3-2 with a fair amount of possession (65%!), CCCs and shots. Obviously one swallow a summer does not make, but not a bad start - especially as it is mid-season and the tactic is just plugged in and far from fluid.

I changed things around from the original tactic a fair amount, mainly to try to fit in with the ME limitations and help a little with authenticity (again, how authentic do you want this?).

Screen shots follow, and an updated tactic - here's some reasoning:

1) Changed tactic to Balanced / Attacking with more aggressive tackling and man marking. I doubt teams would have played "Control" in 1900, and the game was much more aggressive back then. And Zonal Marking wasn't invented.

2) Narrower width to help reduce the amount of gaps in defence.

3) Defenders changed to Limited Defenders (stopper). Using "stoppers" should help provide additional cover behind the wingbacks (see below).

4) Moved the centre midfield line back to the DM line, with 2 x defensive wingbacks and a defensive DLP. Not that authentic perhaps, but the ME will tear apart a 2 man defence otherwise.

5) 4 attackers moved back to the ACM line, to provide a better link with the (defensive) midfield. In 1900 we would have had 2 x Outside Forwards, 2 x Inside Forwards and a Striker, which I've changed to 2 x Defensive Wingers (to take care of opposition fullbacks - like your original but in AMCL/R), 2 x supporting IFs and a Poacher up front.

6) Lots of individual settings changed too.

Like I said - only one match played, so far from ideal, but a fairly sound start and keeps a basic 2-3-5 formation intact.

View attachment 366400View attachment 366401View attachment 366402

Would love to see a succesful version of this. I've tried, a few times, to create a tactic which uses 4 attack midfielders behind one striker. I've never managed to get the balance right. Let me know how this works out for you.
 
One in the same thing. The ME doesn't know the offside rule changed in 1930ish, therefore we can't play with just 2 at the back with no other cover as the ME will slaughter us. Hence we are limited by the ME.

We cant set up an authentic formation based on a pre1930s offside rule if the ME uses the modern rule. Thus we need to push the original midfield of inside/outside halfbacks down into the DM line to try to compensate. All we can really do is set a tactic that fits in with the ME, with as much a nod to authenticity as we can give, assuming the OP wants at least some authenticity in the tactic which isn't made clear (hence the question).

Ah it's just you make it sound like it was a deficiency of the ME, rather than the heavy flaws of the tactic in the modern game.
 
Interesting....

...Like I said - only one match played, so far from ideal, but a fairly sound start and keeps a basic 2-3-5 formation intact.

View attachment 366400View attachment 366401View attachment 366402


Any further news/update to this? I'm just about to give it a go but with little things like training and morale having such a huge influence on tactics, it's hard to give a decent review to be honest. There are so many variables on this years FM.
 
Haven't given up- just been working hectically, in real life.
 
Top