Manuel Pellegrini 4-4-2 Football Manager 2014 Tactic by Passion4FM

Media prediction was to finish 5th. So good first season all round with this tactic apart from the defence like you say. But being on league 1. Will keep you posted how I get on
 
i'm not offended at all! don't worry:D i'm not giving up either as i know it works for most people, myself included. do you have a more specific feedback on where it went wrong? what team are you and what players do you have? maybe they don't suit the tactic ?
Thanks for asking, but the players do suit the tactic perfectly, otherwise there wouldn't have been any point in trying it. I've been playing the CM/FM series since 00/01 edition so I know what I'm saying. ;)
I'm Borussia M'Gladbach btw, and as defending champion of both the Bundesliga and the DBF-Pokal I couldn't afford such a horrible start of the season. Now I'm using other tactics, but the low morale caused by the early defeats isn't helping me at all :(
 
I find using a flat 4-4-2 helps massively. Defensively I should say, for me anyways having a 4-4-2 with 2x Center Mids and 2x WIDE Attacking Mids making up the midfield felt like at times I was playing a 4-2-4 but with 2x Center Mids and 2x Wide Mids I feel more secure when it comes to being solid and tough to break down. That said I'm not playing kick and rush football, you know your stock standard 4-4-2 with a big man/little man combo that has gotten a bad rep in England. No I'm playing with Interiores that are cutting inside as soon as we get possession. With instructions to dribble more, pass it shorter, more risky passes, get further forward, roam from position, sit narrower.
 
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I find using a flat 4-4-2 helps massively. Defensively I should say, for me anyways having a 4-4-2 with 2x Center Mids and 2x WIDE Attacking Mids making up the midfield felt like at times I was playing a 4-2-4 but with 2x Center Mids and 2x Wide Mids I feel more secure when it comes to being solid and tough to break down. That said I'm not playing kick and rush football, you know your stock standard 4-4-2 with a big man/little man combo that has gotten a bad rep in England. No I'm playing with Interiores that are cutting inside as soon as we get possession. With instructions to dribble more, pass it shorter, more risky passes, get further forward, roam from position, sit narrower.

that's great. was that a general info or something about my tactic?
 
Ahh sorry just a general info kinda thing, see I've been interested by Pellegrini's 4-4-2 since his Villareal days. Applying it in FM as ben something for a 4-5 seasons I've wanted to do but found tricky. Circa pre 2010 you had the arrows to direct you interiors inside to link up with your DM's/CM's and CF's, then instead you had the ''cut inside'' tab in 2012/13 .... in this years FM we have ''cut inside when you get the ball'' plus ''sit narrow'' as well as ''roam from position'' which we have had for years. So we have more tools so to speak when it comes to the way Pellegrini likes his interiors look to set up with and without the ball.
I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.
I sometimes wish there was a 1/2 position between the ''Wide Mid'' role and the ''Attacking Mid'' roles. But in the end I've just used the formation as how I want my players to position themselves WITHOUT the ball, because with the movement of my fullbacks, wide mids coming inside and forwards drifting wide or coming deep .... it could be 2-4-2-2 or 2-4-3-1 with possesson really I suppose. It's a really fluid system, with really fluid movement as this pic shows;
villarreal-formation-diagram-1.png

Anyways keep up the good work and you got me thinking about other ways to set up the team shape to get more out of my interiors. I've even tried somthing more akin to a lopsided Brazilian 4-2-2-2;
campinho_Flu_ideal_BR20101.jpg

.. with one ''interior'' wide and one central ... then one CF wide and one CF central - with some great results but it was lacking dfensively tho'
 
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Ahh sorry just a general info kinda thing, see I've been interested by Pellegrini's 4-4-2 since his Villareal days. Applying it in FM as ben something for a 4-5 seasons I've wanted to do but found tricky. Circa pre 2010 you had the arrows to direct you interiors inside to link up with your DM's/CM's and CF's, then instead you had the ''cut inside'' tab in 2012/13 .... in this years FM we have ''cut inside when you get the ball'' plus ''sit narrow'' as well as ''roam from position'' which we have had for years. So we have more tools so to speak when it comes to the way Pellegrini likes his interiors look to set up with and without the ball.
I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.
I sometimes wish there was a 1/2 position between the ''Wide Mid'' role and the ''Attacking Mid'' roles. But in the end I've just used the formation as how I want my players to position themselves WITHOUT the ball, because with the movement of my fullbacks, wide mids coming inside and forwards drifting wide or coming deep .... it could be 2-4-2-2 or 2-4-3-1 with possesson really I suppose. It's a really fluid system, with really fluid movement as this pic shows;
villarreal-formation-diagram-1.png

Anyways keep up the good work and you got me thinking about other ways to set up the team shape to get more out of my interiors. I've even tried somthing more akin to a lopsided Brazilian 4-2-2-2;
campinho_Flu_ideal_BR20101.jpg

.. with one ''interior'' wide and one central ... then one CF wide and one CF central - with some great results but it was lacking dfensively tho'

yeah if you read the write up, you'll see that a 'true' interiore is not yet possible in FM terms. i've tried different setups, with AMCs just on individual marking on fullbacks so they drop back, but the closes you can get i guess is a tucked in playmaker, though not a pure interiore him either
 
Ahh sorry I wasn't saying you don't know what your doing just talking about what I found so far, my thoughts ... just didn't feel like starting a thread on it. So just talking out aloud, that said you seem to know what your doing/talking about.
 
Ahh sorry I wasn't saying you don't know what your doing just talking about what I found so far, my thoughts ... just didn't feel like starting a thread on it. So just talking out aloud, that said you seem to know what your doing/talking about.

it's certainly a very interesting system, and his philosopy on reactive width is brilliant
 
looks good! some bad patches of form here and there but i guess it's inevitable. what was your media prediction? you just need to buy some better defenders though, but in attack it looks good, you're scoring loads. keep it up

Tactic still working well with my gateshead team. Since getting promoted to league one last season with this tactic. Now pushing for league 1 trophy and getting into the championship.
 
Tactic still working well with my gateshead team. Since getting promoted to league one last season with this tactic. Now pushing for league 1 trophy and getting into the championship.

ha! good to know. did you strenghten your defence?
 
Yeah brought in a couple of new defenders and a new keeper. Think defence is a bit better than last season. Probably still be able to improve in the jan transfer window if I have available funds. Still seem to be scoring for fun aswell.
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Just finished season in league 1 since winning league 2 championship and guess what. Media prediction was 11th and I finished. Well i'll let you see for yourself lol.

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Defence is dodgy in 14.3 with Boro and it was Leicester in the first game of the season

defence should be more solid once the tactic is more fluid. and yes the defensive play is sometimes criminal. especially the fullbacks making opposition winger runs impossible to stop and thats where most goals come from
 
Goals against are just too easy, one ball behind the back 4, forward runs onto it and pang - goal. Nottm F did this 3 times and won 3-2.
My best coach has 12 tactical knowledge and 14 in defence. It is of course the first season and the Ayala (DC) is new from the game start and I have brought in a new DL and DR and sold Rhys Williams. So it could be that of course but still frustrating - a theme I seem to be experiencing all the time in FM 14.
 
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