KOTU

Hi everyone,

I recently started a game with Alfreton in the very dredges of the Conference North.

I am now in my 7th year with them playing 421 games and winning 212, drawing 102 and losing 107. Pretty good stats i would say. And am fighting for the Championship title!

How did i do this?

Easy...i played this style of 4-2-2-2.

------GK------
FB--DC--DC--FB
----DM--DM----
ML----------MR
--------------
----FC--FC----

Position Explanation:

Obviously the whole team centres around my two DM's.

The 2 DM's are of pretty good quality (i signed proportionately better ones as i got promoted).

One DM having good traditional stats for a playbreaker DM (ie: strength, tackling, work rate etc etc) and the other a more deep lying playmaker free role (creative, passing, decisions etc). Similar to Gennaro Ivan Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo of AC Milan.

However i've tried using two playbreakers and it works damn well too. I like this style more, but the playmaker one tends to make more goals. Did that make sense?

My FCS have changed over time as i experimented but i found that it works best with a huge targetman (more then 185cm with good jumping and heading and strength) who wins everything in the air and a pacy forward. The 'towering striker' and 'explosive striker' combo.

The 2 DC's tend to be the english type (huge!) and seem to get the MoM's and Fans Player of the Year Award. They are instructed to be back at all times and mark their area's zonally. I always get commentators saying: " Player X is winning everything in the air"

Team Instruction Explanation:

My mentality is defensive. no doubt about it. At 5 notches it means my team sits back quite often and breaks fast. This goes hand in hand with my direct passing style and high tempo. I generally destroy teams that play over attacking football against me. Never underestimate your foes!

Similarily i dont like the shackles of rigidness and allow my FC's the most creative freedom with my playmaker DM a free role. My MR's and ML's still need a bit of work with tweaks but they generally provide overlaps with the FB's.

I find that a deep defensive line works well because the two DM's tend to break up play very well. So with a deeper defensive line i dont want the back 4 from losing structure so i have my closing down set individually for everyone.

Time wasting i had a bit of dilemma over. I thought maybe i should be more wasteful of time considering that it was soo defensive. But i found it worked really bad and just set it to rarely and it worked wonders! I'm not sure exactly why...but i think after my DMs won the ball they wanted to break fast and with timewasting they just held it up? I'm not sure 100%

tackling is set to medium, except for the two DM's who are very hard at it. I enjoy ALOT of tackles in my games.

Attacking 4-2-2-2

I have seen Crazy's 4-2-2-2 and i find that it works well with my style. If i am a goal down i tend to switch to this style. Alternatively i might even change to a 4-4-2 but because my club is tiny i rarely have the players for this.

So...what are your thoughts people?

This is a work in progress.

Joey-B

I like the idea of a defensive 4-4-2 you rarely see it.
Is counter attack ticked?

KOTU

It sure is!

I suppose its probably better to call it a defensive 4-4-2...

I want to upload the tactic but i'm not sure how

Mike235110

upload it to fmdownloads because im pretty interested in trying this out as i am struggling with my Gillingham team.

KOTU

Ok!

I've uploaded it under KOTU's Defensive 4-2-2-2

Feedback is good!

Joey-B

Have you tried it with any big teams?
Because it might only work with LL teams

KOTU

I've tried it with Real Madrid and Chelsea.

It worked pretty well with chelsea (but IMHO all tactics will...they are the Globetrotters!):

Playbreaker was Makalele/Essien and i used ballack as the playmaker. Lampard was converted to a DM and worked pretty well...but i used him mainly as a sub.

I felt it was a waste for Chelsea considering the midfield gems i had.

Real Madrid was pretty good too. Champions league and Cup double with:

Playbreaker = GAGO!! This guy is unbelievably awesome as the centre of attention. He was amazing alongside Diarra/Emerson. With Real i used two playbreakers instead and had an awesome defensive record. Alot of the games i was on the edge of my seat...soooo many 1 - 0 games.

ETM

I dont want to jinx it, but i took over at srtuggling Hartlepool and was on the verge of relegaton. 6 games to go i employed this tactic i got 4 wins and two draws. That alone is impressive, before i could not buy a result, team morale was very low. What made it more impressive was in all 6 games i simply battered the opposition having at least 3 times as many shots on goal. The two draws, at full time the commentary said i should have easily won. (I think with better moral the strikers would have finished their chances).

I am going to re-group then have a full season, looking for promotion i will employ this tactic. I need to reatain the services of my on loan striker, as the target man in this tactic is key.

DanishBhoy

don't you concede a lot of long shot goals with no players in MC?

KOTU

Yes the TM makes a huge difference. Congratulations on avoiding relegation! With my beloved Alfreton Town i am now confirmed Promotion. I want to test this at the highest level with a Conference North team. Muhahahaha!

I do tend to concede a lot of long shots but many of them are off target so i'm not particularly worried.

The reason i reckon is because the playbreaker keeps the pressure on them (high closing down) and they dont have enough time to get a Lampard shot.

Oh btw...the tactic i uploaded was the two playbreaker one. You can just adjust it by changing the DM to whatever you want.