My experience with a 4-3-1-2 tactic - Barcelona

linux2k

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Hi All,Just thought I'd share my experience with my 4-3-1-2 tactic which I have been using almost exclusively with barcelona for 30+ games. I decided to try 4-3-1-2 over the 4-2-3-1 playing wide, which I see is a favorite among many FM12 players. Can the 4-3-1-2 be described as "narrow" since I make no use of wingers? Initially I started off with a 4-3-3 and evolved to a 4-3-1-2 because the midfield wasn't connecting properly to create chances. I make exclusive use of a trequartista in Iniesta. My formation with specific roles looks like this:
View attachment 245997

The above screenshot of my current squad has a few injuries, but it usually looks like this:
View attachment 245974

My playing philosophy is set to rigid and strategy is attacking. I find this strategy leads to a better position metric, with a more fluid transition from midfield to create goal scoring chances. Match preparation is always set to attacking movement, with a high workload until full competence is acquired, after which it drops down to average-low.

View attachment 247563

The average position chart shows that when playing 4-3-1-2, I spend more time attacking, giving the opponent minimal possession close to my box. The first picture below shows my average position for a recent match against Betis (I'm playing 4-3-1-2, left) and Villarreal (I'm playing 4-3-3, right). Whats more interesting is the second set of average positional diagrams. The opponent spends more time in their half defending and they don't have a chance to counter attack when I'm playing 4-3-1-2 (left). The 4-3-3 formation (right) does show the opponent spending more time in my half, however it is not significant. As a coach, I'd be more happy with the 4-3-1-2 formation, however

.View attachment 245993
View attachment 245994
Here is a summary of tactics used for my last 20 matches. I haven't lost a single match in that period:

View attachment 245995

I'm having fairly good results with this one so far:

View attachment 245996

I know this tactic isn't anything spectacular compared to other tactics posted here, but the thought of playing without wingers seemed interesting. I'll try taking this tactic to the end of the La Liga season and see what results I get.

Thanks
 
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hey mate, can u post your tactic? wuold like to try a 4312 that work. cheers
 
Looks good. Have you tried this on any if the latest patches to ?
 
hey mate, can u post your tactic? wuold like to try a 4312 that work. cheers

Tactic posted. I hope I uploaded it correctly.

Hope you get good results with it and let us know if you tweak anything. btw, I think you will need a player with good trequartista abilities as well as a FBR with decent attacking abilities so that he can work across the midfield.

Looks good. Have you tried this on any if the latest patches to ?

My current version is 12.0.2. I will upgrade to 12.2.2 or whatever the latest version is soon. Older tactics won't work with newer patched versions?
 
With barca must be very hard :D


It took sometime and experimenting to find the right role and duty for players. I had to experiment with the midfield mostly. Attack was pretty straight forward, and defense wasnt too difficult either, with the exception of the FBR whose duty has to be attacking. Actually I took a page from Pep's book in the way he plays Daniel Alves.
 
My current version is 12.0.2. I will upgrade to 12.2.2 or whatever the latest version is soon. Older tactics won't work with newer patched versions?

Well, à solid and well balance tactic Will mot be affected by patches but tactics exploiting flaws in the game ( intentionally or unintentionally) might not if these flaws are no longer there to exploit.

There Will be à difference in your tactic though since there was changes to the TC settings from the first STEAM version and the 12.0.4 and forward. Attack no longer has the counter box ticked and instead defensive has so here you Will have to tweak tje tactic to make it remain the same.
 
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I dont know,where is the challenge to play as the best team in the world,you already have the best players in each position,try with teams who are good,but not too good...teams like manchester united,arsenal,bayern,chelsea etc.....for me is the biggest challenge to play with milan,the reason is old team and very big wages,so you must sell those players or wait one season and then pen new contract with lower wages...just my opinion :D
 
I dont know,where is the challenge to play as the best team in the world,you already have the best players in each position,try with teams who are good,but not too good...teams like manchester united,arsenal,bayern,chelsea etc.....for me is the biggest challenge to play with milan,the reason is old team and very big wages,so you must sell those players or wait one season and then pen new contract with lower wages...just my opinion :D


I personally dont enjoy playing with the top guns either as I like a challenge but sometimes people just want to have fun. If you perhaps support or just like Barca and want to manage and get the best out of player like Messi, Xavi, Inieste etc, then obviously Barca is the only club to do it in, the challenge being winning all games, getting Messi to score as in real life, to conceed under 10 goals in the league etc and sometimes you dont wantg the game to be challenging, but just enjoy the ride :D

Also consider that many people supporting an English middle teams or people support a top club but already having played 3 saves with them would never dream of managing the(other) top guns in England and then there are very few clubs left to chose from ;D
 
I think that we all play this game for fun,probably no one will be a manager in real life ;)
 
While I do agree with the notion of "wheres the fun" because barca has world class players, but should we simply expect this tactic to work? How often does barca play 4-3-1-2? How often does anyone make use of a trequartista? I've hinted at this before, that the motivation was to play without wingers and avoid the common 4-3-3. This is my first dive into the FM series, so I'm not motivated enough right now to get a team promoted to the english premier league.

I wasn't intending on doing this, but I tried the tactic using NY Red Bulls. I've played two friendlies, winning both (4-1 and 3-1) with similar average position graphs as barca. The current tactic familiarity is low since its the beginning of the season. I'll meet Toronto FC soon and once the MLS season starts, the team should be competent in the tactic. I'll add some screenshots as I progress, though I don't much care for this save.

Anywayz, I;m new to this....so baby steps :p

Cheers
 
hi download this and put in my folder and its a 4321 tac not the 1 on your post
 
hi download this and put in my folder and its a 4321 tac not the 1 on your post

Hi,

Sorry about that. You would think that it took 100+ downloads for someone to mention it lol. I have uploaded the correct tactic this time. This one includes some updates to "team instructions" for marking, crossing, and closing down. I was hitting a game where I was either losing by one goal or drawing, so that lead to "update1"
 
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