96 replies to this topic

[Sheriff Skacel]

I'm building a 3-4-3, why?

1. I'm bored of the formations I usually play
2. I'm already six points behind PSV in the table, so I may as well try something new

I'm thinking, all out attacking play, high pressing, high defensive line, zonal marking, players swapping positions.

I'm thinking Ajax. I'm thinking Istvan Kovacs. I'm thinking pushing FM to the limits.

So tell me of your 3-4-3 experiences.

[Craig.]

I don't understand why a lot more teams don't use a 3-4-3 more often in real life to be fair. Okay, it's a bit adventurous but when you think about it up against a 4-4-2 you'd have one man more than the other team both in attack and in defence, and match them in midfield.

[Sheriff Skacel]

Down the wings you can totally fucked with it, that probably puts a lot of teams off due to the speed of modern day wingers. Who knows though, in ten years time it could be the 'in' formation in football.

I'm keeping my 3-4-3 simple at the back, no sweeper keeper and my three CBs are just set as central defenders defend. Haven't got the balls to play on with stopper, cover, support, attack, etc

The biggest problem with this formation will probably come from the three forwards linking up.

[Craig.]

Don't a lot of Italian teams play a 3-4-3 sort of tactic, I suppose more of a 3-5-2, but use 3 at the back anyway?

[adz.villa]

I played it a few seasons ago for a few games, and it played quite well. In the end I scrapped it because I had too many quality central midfielders and wing backs wasting on the bench.

The wings are a fucking nightmare though. Supporting wide midfielders with slightly defensive mentalities and high stamina may help a little bit, but also nullify part of the attacking threat - unless you have an Iniesta type in central midfield and play narrow?

[Sheriff Skacel]

Craig., on 10 July 2011 - 03:18 PM, said:

Don't a lot of Italian teams play a 3-4-3 sort of tactic, I suppose more of a 3-5-2, but use 3 at the back anyway?

A few do yeah, Napoli and Udinese did last year and Inter will in the coming season. But Serie A isn't exactly abundant in nippy wingers.

adz.villa, on 10 July 2011 - 03:21 PM, said:

I played it a few seasons ago for a few games, and it played quite well. In the end I scrapped it because I had too many quality central midfielders and wing backs wasting on the bench.The wings are a fucking nightmare though. Supporting wide midfielders with slightly defensive mentalities and high stamina may help a little bit, but also nullify part of the attacking threat - unless you have an Iniesta type in central midfield and play narrow?

I'm going to try and play two out and out attacking wingers, I'm trying to avoid having them defend too much. If you have a winger who isn't tired then he can turn a game for you late on, so I don't want my wingers to be knackered from constantly tracking back.

The plan is for my three CBs and my MCL to do all the defending, the MCL, MCR and STC link the play and the STCL, STCR, MR and ML attack, attack, attack.

On my player instructions all the players are told to rarely cross bar the wingers who are set to Sometimes, this is due to my strikers being unable to head. I've set the STCR and STCL to cut inside and swap positions(one is poacher and one is a deep lying forward attack)

Lets get some goals.

[Rootsey]

Sounds very interesting Skacel.

Good luck with it I am looking forward to seeing some results.

[Craig.]

In my Argentina save my team was:

Higuain - Messi - Tevez
Di Maria - Pastore - Mascherano - Perotti
Otamendi - Samuel - Demechellis
Romero

It done very well.

[Sheriff Skacel]

What were your roles and team instructions and shit?

[caddell7]

Im currently playing a 3-4-3 with Celtic and its working quite well in both Europe and the SLP.

My team looks like this:

...............Foster...............
Toloi..Majstorović..Loovens
Brown.Kayal.Ledley.Maloney
..Gameiro..Van Wolfswinkel..

[Sheriff Skacel]

First real test of the 3-4-3 and we win 3-1 against Amkar in Perm, I changed the mentality from Attacking/Very Fluid to Standard/Balance pre-game. Seems to have done the trick.

A few more easy games then I have Lyon away, that will be a huge test.

Edited by Sheriff Skacel, 10 July 2011 - 04:36 PM.

[Rootsey]

caddell7, on 10 July 2011 - 04:02 PM, said:

Im currently playing a 3-4-3 with Celtic and its working quite well in both Europe and the SLP.

My team looks like this:

...............Foster...............
Toloi..Majstorović..Loovens
Brown.Kayal.Ledley.Maloney
..Gameiro..Van Wolfswinkel..

You only have two strikers

[Game]

I play this; I rotate it between 433 and 343. I only implement it in games where I need an extra attacking push though (I never start with it, I just switch to it). Works well for me.

I think if you have 3 quick CB's and a good Anchor Man, then it's defensively sound. Yes, you do get caught out a little on the flanks, but usually the extra man in the middle helps defend the cross into the box.

However, if you do play with this formation, I'd say you need a backup tactic which you can switch to if you're being overwhelmed at the back.

[Sheriff Skacel]

I'm excited, I've found something in FM that captures my imagination. Since I'm doing things differently FM has a wee sense of freshness to it. I'm already thinking about the prospects of buying players to fit this tactic, I'm going to have to pay real close attention to mental stats, the mentally weak will fail in this tactic for a multitude of reasons. The long and short of it is due to zonal marking, an offside trap, lots of attacking movement and a lot of creativity, mentally weak players will falter.

I've made myself three versions of the tactic, a home version, an away version and a home/away version.

Home version = To be played at home against weaker teams
Away version = To be played away against weaker teams
Home/Away version = To be played against stronger teams / teams as strong as me

Home version is Very Fluid/Attacking, Away version is Balance/Control, Home/Away version is Balance/Standard.

Also I like the little tweaks I've made, few crosses, STCR and STCL cutting in on their stronger foot, etc


----

TG - My CBs are decently quick, nothing special, but all three are husky bastards, all three have a strength of 20, so that counts for something. Mentally they are strong as well, which is needed.

My MCL is a deep lying playmaker defend, I like this role because it offers options in defence and going forward, most games he doesn't get up to much but every few games he'll play a blinder. This isn't specific to my Ajax MCL, more specific to the deep lying playmaker role as a whole from my own experiences.

[caddell7]

Rootsey, on 10 July 2011 - 04:35 PM, said:

caddell7, on 10 July 2011 - 04:02 PM, said:

Im currently playing a 3-4-3 with Celtic and its working quite well in both Europe and the SLP.

My team looks like this:

...............Foster...............
Toloi..Majstorović..Loovens
Brown.Kayal.Ledley.Maloney
..Gameiro..Van Wolfswinkel..

You only have two strikers

Shit sorry, Left out Hooper

[Game]

I don't do all that, I just have three tactics which I worked on in the Match Preparation (4-3-3, 3-4-3, 4-2-1-2) and then I use the touchline shouts to adjust things on the fly. Obviously, you may need to adjust the passing style from time to time, but I don't have a tactic specifically for short passing or direct passing, nor do I have home or away tactics (I think they're a load of shit because whilst the home tactic is going to work more often than not –– as you won't change the dimensions of your pitch –– the away tactic will only be optimal some of the time –– as the away pitches will change dimensions). I have 4-3-3 and 3-4-3 as direct systems, with 4-2-1-2 being a short system, but only because I think that's how they work best. If I need to play a shorter game I'd use the touchline shout for 'Retain Possession' and go to 'Control', if I need to be more direct (my tactics are direct anyway) I'd just get use 'Get the ball forward' and switch to 'Attacking'.

Seems to work well for me because I have three different tactics to switch between and I have a dynamic team. I don't think it would work as well if I just had 3 versions of the same tactic/formation.

[Sheriff Skacel]

Most of the time I disregard home and away tactics as well, but under these circumstances I think they are a must, at least when I'm playing stronger teams. I can't really go into games against Twente, Lyon, PSV, Barcelona, etc expecting to totally dominate, so I need to be more cautious. But against the likes of Almere, Quick Boys, NEC, etc I should be very attacking both home and away.

Due to three CBs being very foreign to me I probably will be overly cautious at first, but once I find my feet with the tactic I'll know when to deploy which versions of the tactic and if I need three versions of it. When push comes to shove I may actually only need two versions, freeing up the third Match Prep tactic for games against the worlds best teams(if my 3-4-3 fails me)

[Game]

Yeah, I bottled playing it as the main tactic. I've thought about it for a while, but I can't employ it as the formation of choice. I might try it in France, if I ever get there.

[Sheriff Skacel]

I'm bored of other formations, and since I'm at Ajax I see it as a nice fit.

Got done 3-0 at Lyon, they took their three clear cut chances though, we managed 20 shots, only five of them long. I'm still optimistic.

[Sheriff Skacel]

Time for a stat attack, I've played nine games, won eight, lost one(Lyon away), scored 25 and conceded eight(three against Lyon, three against Excelsior in a 5-3 win)

STCL: Deep Lying Forward Attack
STC: Deep Lying Forward Support
STCR: Poacher

STCL: Five goals
STC: Eleven goals
STCR: Two goals

The STCL has scored in three games and the STCR has only scored in one. I'm thinking about switching the STCR from Poacher, I'm happy enough with the STCL, but I need more from my STCR. Thinking about switching him to Deep Lying Forward Attack.

Thoughts?