The other night after having a few beers I put together this formation for Liverpool, no idea why I choose Liverpool or the formation woke up with the tactic on my screen.
Anyway, I really Like the look of it and want to make it work (if poss) my question is any advice, I have only set mentality, fluidity and what would be my starting XI.
I would like to play fairly direct attacking football with a solid defense, well who does not want that!!!
Any Advice is very welcome, after posting this will play a season tweeking it as I go along and update with my results.
Cheers in advance.
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I've seen several plug-and-play posts with formations that resemble yours - with the team set up in a Z or S shape - which the authors always claim to have had great success with. I play FM by working out my own tactics and tweaking here-and-there, and having won all three European trophies with Southampton, I'd say I've been quite successful at working out what each position does and how players in those roles interact with the rest of the team.
OK - enough of the boasting (!); let's take a look at your team. The first thing to mention is that with all three of your forwards on Attack duty, you will probably find that they press themselves up against the defenders and don't leave much room to play in or run into. So I would be inclined to stagger your formation a bit more by pulling Sterling into the AM_L position; shift Coutinho into the middle; pull Sturridge back one into AM_R; leave Henderson and Gerrard where they are.
In my Southampton squad, I still have Luke Shaw and in one of my formations I use him as a Left-Back_Attack with the Croatian Karlo Lulic operating as a right-footed Inside Forward_Support ahead of him in the AM_L position. I suggest you do likewise with Jose Enrique and Sterling and give them these Player Instructions:
Enrique: Get Further Forward, Cross More Often, Close Down More, Shorter Passes, Cross Aim Target Man
Sterling: Sit Narrower, Dribble More, Cross Aim Target Man
You'll find that Sterling will sometimes attack the wings himself, sometimes play one-twos with Enrique to play the Spaniard in - and will get into the box himself to get on the end of those crosses. Being right-footed will also enable Sterling to go directly to goal when the opportunity arises. It's important to remember here that putting Sterling into Support duty doesn't render him any less an attacking player - it just changes the way in which he interacts with the players around him. I've had Lulic for three seasons and he has achieved double-figures for goals, with plenty of assists, too, in each season - and I often rotate him out when playing 4-4-1-1 instead. Shaw, meanwhile, is equally effective at building attacks or instigating a second wave by providing additional width to attacks that have already met a roadblock on the right wing or in the centre.
Gerrard's position in the DM_L position will enable him to cover Enrique's forward excursions, but I would encourage you to try Gerrard as a Regista in that position with instructions to
Close Down More and play
More Direct Passes. We know he has that range of passing and with fast forwards all along your attacking lines, he can play the kind of balls that will get them in-behind full-backs and into the channels for those typically Liverpool fast-paced attacking moves. In the Regista role, and with your team set to
Short Passes, he will generally play it short - but he will go more direct when there is a real opportunity to be had, and being able to switch the play quickly has been a potent weapon for me in FM.
Keep your Centre-Backs as basic CD_Defends with instructions to
Close Down More and play
Shorter Passes; their only responsibility is to tackle and pass short to somebody who is better at passing. Trust them with too much possession and they will only shoot each other in the feet! Tell the Goalkeeper to play
Shorter Passes and
Distribute to Defenders to aid your team's possession of the football. The Right-Back should be on Support duty, to ensure a minimum of three at the back when Enrique is doing his flying Spaniard routine on the other side. Tell Manquillo to
Cross More Often,
Aim Crosses At Target Man,
Close Down More and
Shorter Passes.
I never use the Box-to-Box Midfield role and in your set-up, I wonder whether the slightly more restrictive Central Midfielder_Support role might help you to keep a better shape. I'd experiment, if I were you and see what works best. With the Box-to-Box, I'd anticipate that you will sometimes find a gap where your midfield should be and you'll become vulnerable to the counter. With Gerrard playing left of centre and not being as sprightly as once he was, he might struggle to control those situations on his own. In the CM_Support role, Henderson should sit in the middle most of the time and rarely venture too far in either direction.
Close Down More,
Tackle Harder and
More Direct Passes for him. Joe Allen can also perform that role; Lucas would make a good Ball-Winning Midfielder in that same position, with the same Player Instructions.
I'm guessing that Coutinho is a good dribbler so I would switch him to Advanced Playmaker_Attack - or even Trequartista - with instructions to
Dribble More,
Play Direct Passes and
Get Further Forward. The difference between an AP and a T is that the T doesn't do any defensive work. With your team's shape, I would think AP would be more suitable.
Sturridge is left-footed, I think, so Inside Forward_Attack from the right-hand side should suit him down to the ground. Get him to
Dribble More,
Move Into Channels and
Shoot More Often. He has a good long-range shot so I'd expect him to score a few from outside the box from inside-right positions. Dribbling is more effective when players receive possession in deeper positions because they then have time to build up momentum by the time they encroach upon the defender's territory - often drawing free-kicks or forcing defenders to commit themselves and leave space behind for through balls or a skilful dribbler to mazey into with the ball.
Use Mario Balotelli to break the lines by putting him in a Support role, like Complete Forward, Deep-Lying Forward or False-9. This will encourage him to drop deep and draw defenders out of position, creating space for Coutinho, Sturridge and Sterling to run into. Have him play
Shorter Passes,
Hold Up Ball and
Move Into Channels; likewise when you use Rickie Lambert.
At the Team Level, set mentality to CONTROL and FLUID - with the option to switch to ATTACK and VERY FLUID when you need to chase a goal. I'd recommend the same Team Instructions that I use (apologies if some of the terminology is wrong - my game isn't loaded at the moment, but I'm sure you'll work it out):
- Short Passing
- Retain Possession
- Play Out From Defence
- Work Ball Into Box
- Exploit the Flanks
- Play Wider
- Look For Overlap
- Drill Crosses
- Push Higher Up
- Hassle Opponents
- Get Stuck In
- High Tempo
Again, reserve
Higher Tempo and
Be More Expressive for those occasions when you need to quicken things up to get a goal back.
So, your keeper sets the tone by playing the ball out short; your team is generally playing a short passing game but trusted midfielders have specific instructions to go more direct when the opportunity arises - which is especially effective if Gerrard (as I'm sure he does) has
Likes To Switch Play Often and/or
Tries Long-Range Passes among his Preferred Moves; you attack on the left-hand side with an overlapping full-back, allowing Sterling to go central and make an extra body in the box; Sturridge will operate more in isolation from the right-hand side and try to create his own shooting chances; Balotelli should provide movement that allows other attacking players to make runs in-behind but will also get front-and-centre often enough himself to pose a real goal threat - especially when Enrique gets in down the left; Gerrard and Henderson will marshall midfield in-front of an effective back three, from which Manquillo will occasionally emerge down the right-hand side to provide crosses or help build up the play; you should also achieve a high-press, winning the ball back upfield and being able to exploit space quickly and effectively with your midfielders' range of passing complementing the pace of your attackers.
My only concern would be that Sturridge might become too isolated and wasteful in possession, cutting in from the right-hand side and possibly shooting from anywhere and hitting anything but the goal. I prefer to only use one Inside Forward in my formations, with the other side occupied by a traditional byline-seeking Winger_Attack. You have the scope to do that, of course, with Adam Lallana and the option to switch Sterling to the right. Then you might see whether Sturridge or Balotelli is the best man for the central forward role.
Whatever you do, you have plenty of options with all those former Saints players (my team!) in your ranks. Actually, on that, remember that Lambert can also be very effective in the No.10 role, playing as an Attacking Midfielder_Support; playing in others as they sprint past him into attacking areas - and he's not bad from 25-yards, either (or 12-yards, come to that). And, finally,
James Ward-Prowse has those same attributes that I suspect Gerrard has (switching play and direct passes), is English (important for Premier League and European squads), provides excellent set-piece delivery and is a good 10 years younger than your current skipper - a role that he is also suitable for with strong leadership qualities. So you might consider adding him to your
St. Mary's Rejects XI for, I'm sure, an affordable price. You might want to retrain him to operate in the DM position, but he's young enough that you can easily do that without losing any of his potential ability. If you have any plans to rid yourself of Glen Johnson, then you might also raid St Mary's again for Nathaniel Clyne, who can play in either full-back position and is another Englishman.
