A more defensive approach

[tripedius]

I'm Arsenal and in the 1st season. I made a pretty decent 4-2-3-1 setup that works quite well at home and against smaller teams away. It's suprisingly solid in defense but doesn't quite cut it against the bigger teams away. I can still score, but also seem to get a minimum of three goals scored against me resulting in more losses than wins.
So I wanted to make a more defensive tactic for away games or cup games in which you want more security.

Staying close to my orginal setup I opted for a 4-1-2-2-1 wide. However whichever way I try, this formation only gets me into a lot of trouble. Defense is very solid, but I lack opportunities on the opponents half, resulting in way to much pressure with barely any relief. I have setup this tactic from the start of the season, so it's quite well trained, but I only started using it recently, about halfway through the season.
My team is quite young and new (7), but very versatile so I kind of tried giving them different roles but what seemed to work in one match didn't work in the other. So basically my question is how to make a 4-1-2-2-1 work? So far I tried:

GK-FB(s)-CB(d)-CB(d)-FB(s)-A(d)-B2B(s)-AP(a)-IF(a)-CF/SS(s)-IF(a).
Retain possesion, closing down, stay wide, higher tempo, work into box, play out of defense (also I seem to know how to press using a 4-2-3-1 but not with this formation.

Thanks for any pointers

 

[WJ]

Your tactic with those roles will be quite narrow, which may not be a massive problem if you're purely trying to attack on the counter. I'm guessing that's what you're trying to do? The AP/A would also indicate that you're trying to play this way.

Does your CF/S drop deep enough to create space for the IFs?

The main issue, that I can quickly see, is with your TIs. Why have you selected them? Can you explain why with each one? If you can't, remove it. In fact, I'd say you can remove at least half of them as it's unnecessary, but I'd like to hear your thought process.

What's the idea behind the tactic; how is it supposed to work? How do you see the build up happening? Who will be the main providers/creators? Who are you expecting to score, generally speaking?

 

[tripedius]

Well I'm trying to do the same as with the attacking tactic but with more defensive security. Just 2 CM's can make it easy to exploit the gap between defense and midfield hence the DMC. The MC AP(a) is there to cover for removing the AMC and the other CM is a go between supporting attack when needed. Thinking it over made me guess (I haven't read all the theory) the CM(s) isn't really needed in defense because of the DMC so B2B could be the wrong role. Also lowered the tempo as I need more time to build up attacks. Lastely didn't use support for the striker as it seemed him coming deep just left me without a target upfront.
This seemed to help some what last two games (Everton & Napoli away) though both were narrow wins and the Napoli one lucky as well. Btw since I'm Arsenal and it is the football I like IRL, I want to play attacking, possesion based football and using young footballers to build a team (which ofc you buy for ridiculous amounts). So actually the fact that I have a lot of (very) young players who are also new to the team and some the England (not speaking language) could also play a part in things.

 

[WJ]

What role are you using up front then? I thought it is a CF/S? Or did you change it to an attack duty in the last 2 matches? That may work, but again, all 3 players will be attacking the same space. It can get congested centrally.

Just to clarify, tempo just affects how much time players have on the ball before dribbling, passing or shooting. Mentality and passing range will affect how quickly the ball goes from defence to attack.

 

[Igneos79]

I wouldn't bother with a new away tactic if I were you. In my testing, it turned out the best way to play is to attack in the first half, high tempo, direct passing, score a couple of goals, and then drop deep and stand off and lower tempo in second half....For a 4-2-3-1 deep this system works great. If you really want a tactic that will endure for the whole match, you need to pack the middle and play possession football, for example with a 4-1-2-3 DM Wide formation...

 

[Dobrin]

Use this tactic from FM 2014 http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/shar...-strong-attack-strong-defense-undefeated.html

I made some minor tweaks and I beat them up every time when I encounter big teams. With this tactic you don't let the ball to the enemy. You press hard and quickly to regain the ball, then when you have it, you'll play the ball, retaining the possession, passing shortly with patience. You need good full backs, in fact, you need wing backs with good crossing and decent long shots and at least one center back with good speed and acceleration (13-13 at least). This is not a defensive tactic, is made to score 1-2 goals and not concede.

If you can't view or import the tactic give me a message and I will send it to you.