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So, here we are a good few days into full release and I figured, having got the hang of the new tactical options, to see what the match-engine could handle this time around. And what better way of doing that than with a lunatic formation?

I initially thought of trying something VERY old fashioned...a WM or even Metodo, 3-3-4 or something equally bonkers. And then it hit me! I (and everyone else, to be fair) have been trying to recreate Brazil 1970 in CM and FM for years and it's never really worked. So that's the basis of this experiment. A nominal 4-2-4 but with people all over the place, someone bombing down the right wing for laughs and an attacking mentality. Oh and lots of possession. And bone crushing defending. Should be easy!

1. SHAPE.

I'm normally a stickler for aesthetic appeal of a tactic and I originally envisioned a bank of 4, 2 in the middle and 4 up front but I soon had to change to a 'dog-leg' defence. It was hard to get the left fullback to sit and never go forward. Although Everaldo was not adverse to going forward to join in the fun, his primary job was to sit more centrally whilst Carlos Alberto surged forward on the right and even setting the player to Limited FB still left the 2 central defenders exposed too often. So the defence consits of 3 central defenders set to defend only and a CWB on the right, set slightly forward to give him a head start. Interestingly, the defence forms a nice flat 4 at the back when (or more precisely IF) the CWB get's back in time to help out in defence.

The midfield just HAS to have a Regista who I have offset to the left to help cover the obvious space out there. Even so, there is still too much room there currently so perhaps a DM would be more use. But it's Brazil....you got to have a Regista! The other midfielder is currently set as BWM but this may change to BBM under further experiment. Either way, these two get a suprising amount of space as the sheer weight of attackers push the opposition back.

Up front, the Rivelino position is currently set as a winger and playing a little deeper than I hoped, but it's hard to get him into the game otherwise and it simply provides a free corridor for the opposition to attack otherwise. On the right 'Jairzinho' is set as IF to allow him to squeeze narrower and give the CWM space to run into and send in crosses. The top two are set as DF and Treq with the Treq set to hold up the ball and play people in. These two work beautifully together and the DF is the main source of goals currently. In an ideal world, I would set these two to switch positions as Pele and Tostao did in real life, but unless I've missed something, this is not possible.

Here is the basic shape (it's ugly, but...)

View attachment 405453



As you can see, the team instructions are quite complicated. Far more than I would have liked. I wanted to keep the instructions quite simple, only to find myself adding more to get them to play how I wanted. So this is where the tactic is at the moment. Hopefully I can cut out some of the instructions under more testing.
 
2. THE TEAM.

There's little point, in my opinion, in using the ususal suspects for testing. Man City, Barcelona et al have such good squads that I sometimes believe you could play ANY formation with them and win. So I always choose a lesser league team to test with. Of course, this is such a bizarre set-up that you need good players in the positions to even have a chance of pulling it off. I consider that the 2 key positions in this formation are the Regista and the CWB and it's hard to find a decent low level team with one, let alone both of them. In the end, I picked Nottingham Forest as they start with a budget that should allow you to buy a decent Regista (I picked up Faurlin from QPR) and they already have Gonzalo Jara at RWB who can do a good job.

So I scrambled a few player instructions together, trained as near to fluid as I could and launched into a season. I was expecting carnage and, to be fair, when I left the assistant in charge for a friendly, West Ham crushed us 6-1. But then something started to happen as we gelled...I'm only 15 games in currently, but we're sitting comfortably top, unbeaten in the league, 46 scored and 13 conceded.

3.OPPOSITION INSTRUCTIONS.

A few years ago I read a post on a site that I can't remember about recreating pressing formations, which is vital for this tactic to get anywhere near working. I've used those same OIs ever since. It would be wrong of me to claim any credit for them but I struggle to remember who made the post. I think it may have been Taktizz at FMTN, so if that was right, any credit for this bit should go to him, not me (and it if wasn't, then I apologise to whoever it was).

Basically, just set every defensive player (including goalkeepers and DMs) to 'Closing Down' to cut off counter attacks before they start. Counters are the biggest threat against this formation. For the rest of the opposition, set them all too 'Tight Marking'.

4.PLAYERS

The player positions are fairly self evident. Just to say that although the central midfielder is currently BWM, that's just to force him to tackle more. Feel free to play someone a little more creative here. Also, because the greatest threat against this is the counter attack, you'll need defenders with a good set of wheels.

Finally, of course this is nothing like Brazil 1970. That's not possible! But I do like a crazy tactic and this is only in early testing days. Feel free to have fun with it, test it on other teams and let me know how you get on. I'm trying to develop a more sensible looking back 4 for the next version
 
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Nice, I love stuff like this, I hope it does well, you could try doing 226 like a lot of teams in the 1950's haha.
 
I've signed Oscar Cardozo to play as the central striker, Nathaniel Clyne as the CWB, Veloso to play the Regista role. Simon *** has been a revelation as the Treq.
 
It's a fun tactic, but frankly a little mental and I'm starting to think that the goals are simply coming from overloading the penalty area. At times we can have 7 bodies in the box. It's winning, but just winning was never really the intention. But I'm sure that Simon *** has never been asked to play like Pele before :D

If we win the Prem., I may start seeing if I can do Cruyff Barcelona 3-4-3 tactic for next season. Based on this: Cruyff explains his diamond formation - YouTube

How in the **** I'm going to get a midfielder to drop back into defence, I don't know! Half-back, maybe?
 
It's a fun tactic, but frankly a little mental and I'm starting to think that the goals are simply coming from overloading the penalty area. At times we can have 7 bodies in the box. It's winning, but just winning was never really the intention. But I'm sure that Simon *** has never been asked to play like Pele before :D

If we win the Prem., I may start seeing if I can do Cruyff Barcelona 3-4-3 tactic for next season. Based on this: Cruyff explains his diamond formation - YouTube

How in the **** I'm going to get a midfielder to drop back into defence, I don't know! Half-back, maybe?
Simple, in each match instruct the player to mark a specific player. Making your striker for example mark a specific AMC, he will drop and mark him in defense.
 
Simple, in each match instruct the player to mark a specific player. Making your striker for example mark a specific AMC, he will drop and mark him in defense.

But I don't want the players to man mark and follow the opposition around. I want a midfielder to drop into defence in order to maintain the diamond formations....This is going to require some thinking!
 
Hi, very interesting reading. One day I would love to have your tactical knowledge (do you have any training licence?). But the main thing, could you post pictures of your tactics with players filled in? (first season in Champ. and second season in Prem.) I am also playing forest and I am dying to know, how did you use specific players.. Thanks a lot
 
I'm guessing his tactical knowledge is from playing FM only :p
 
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