For a very long time I have used a version of 4-4-2 on FM. The match engine seems to be set up in such a way that two striker formations are very effective, crosses are devastating and at certain points inverted full backs have been super powered.
This 4-4-2 has proven effective everywhere, yielding trophies galore. Success is great but eventually the team stories (resurrecting Depor) or player stories (Lincoln scoring 1000 goals for Flamengo) start to grow tiresome.
There becomes a desire for creating something different.
While reading an article in The Blizzard I came across a section about tactical development in Brazilian football. At the time I was running my 4-4-2 with Flamengo, fulfilling Brazilian traditions with buccaneering full backs. Brazilian football has hugely influenced the evolution of the full back role in modern football.
Before the era of moving players to what we would now recognise as full backs Flamengo used a 3-2-2-3 or 3-Box-3 formation. They used this seemingly modern system in the 1930s. I found this fascinating and thought it would be an interesting experiment to create a 3-Box-3 formation on Football Manager.
Initially I wanted to try to make the tactic strikerless. I felt that the RB Leipzig squad would be a good candidate for such a system, pulling Werner out to a wide role.
My suspicion was that with the match engine this system would have to press high, the wide players would need to stay wide and rely on runners from midfield. I did not want to overdo it with instructions, keeping things simple, but with a few key points. Possession was not that important, at least not possession for the sake of it. Fast football with the intent to score, not as a defensive tool.
Breaking down the ideas behind the roles.
Sweeper Keeper – Support – The team will be pressing high and aggressively, with the maximum pressing line available and the highest possible defensive line. The hope is that with a support role the start position will be higher.
No Nonsense Centre Back – Defend – All I want these guys to do is defend tight in our half and recycle the ball near the halfway. Keeping it as uncomplicated as possible.
Anchor – Defence – The aim is for the anchor to help infront of the defence and recycle the ball.
Volante – Attack – The dynamic midfielder. With an attack role the volante should push forward and join the attack, while still attending to defensive duties.
Mezzala – Attack – The mezzala behaves like a goalscoring midfielder, with many FM players reporting excellent goalscoring returns from their mezzala. He will be expected to be in goalscoring positions.
BBM – Support – Another dynamic midfielder. His expectation is in the box to box name.
Breaking down the instructions
In Possession
The attacking width is standard. After a few games this quickly changed to wide in order to get the wingers into better supporting positions.
The passing directness was set to standard.
The tempo was also set to standard.
The only support play instruction was to underlap right and left in an effort to get the central midfielders making runs into the box.
Crossing is set to mixed.
In the final third all options are unticked regards working the ball into the box etc.
Run at the defence and be more expressive are selected in line with my personal preferences (plus most successful systems on FM seem to utilise these options).
In Transition
As this is a pressing (and counter pressing) based system both counter press and counter attack are selected.
Goalkeeper distribution only has distribute to centre backs selected and take long kicks deselected.
Out of Possession
To compliment the high defensive line the offside trap is selected.
The highest line of engagement available is chosen along with a much higher defensive line.
The defensive width chosen is narrow. Compactness being important.
Tighter marking has been chosen (as a general rule I distrust the AI to mark anyone when tighter marking is not selected).
Pressing intensity is extremely urgent and prevent GK distribution are selected as standard.
After a couple of friendlies it became obvious that there was no way this could work. The immediate issue was that none of the three attacking midfielders was able to get close enough to the opposition defenders to press.
The first tweak was to change the SS to a pressing forward in order to help get some pressing going.
I also noticed that the volante and the box to box midfielder spent most of the game standing on top of each other, the roles were far too similar. I changed the box to box midfielder into a deep lying playmaker in a support role.
One other change was to uncheck preventing short goalkeeper distribution. One of the ideas I have often used in both football and futsal is that in order to press high we must first allow the distribution. If we do not allow the distribution the ball will be played long and bypass any pressing opportunity.
I briefly tried this new version with Dortmund. Though the attacking element of the team was much better, I still had the volante standing on top of the DLP. The PF was pressing alone and lacked support. Meanwhile in defence a classic FM back three flaw was on show. The far posts were not covered and the opposition exploited them. I expected that this would happen but the regularity tore me to shreds. I could not think of a way to stop this and play 3-Box-3.
The formation had to be ditched.
A few days later a thought occurred to me. Does the 3-Box-3 have to be a 3-Box-3 or just take up a 3-Box-3 shape in possession?
Breaking down the ideas behind the roles.
Sweeper Keeper – Support – Using a high defensive line I am looking for the goalkeeper to cover the space behind the defence.
Ball playing defender – Defend – Going to a ball playing defenders instead of no nonsense defenders is simply a matter of reversion. All of my successful teams have used ball playing defenders so I returned to two of them.
Half back – Defend – The choice of a halfback is to supplement the two central defenders, giving the team three players back when in possession.
CWB – Attack – The complete wing backs are expected to act as the wingers in possession while still dropping back and offering cover on the far posts when defending. In the 3-Box-3 shape when we have possession the two wing backs will be the wide players in the front three.
DLP – Support – The first of the players in the midfield box. The deep lying play maker should look to stay outside the box and help recycle the play.
Mezzala – Attack – The hope is that the Mezzala will get into the box and be a goal threat.
AM – Attack – The attacking midfielder is one of the two players at the top of the midfield box. He should be close enough to the forward to help counter press while also helping create opportunities.
SS – Attack – The shadow striker is the last of the midfield box but I am looking for him to get up alongside the striker to score.
CF – Support – The complete forward should be the penalty box threat but with a support role he will sometimes drop short, allowing midfielders to run beyond him.
Breaking down the ideas behind the instructions.
In Possession
The attacking width is set to wide. I do not want the wing backs to tuck inside as there are already five bodies in the central areas.
In approach play I have selected underlap left and right so that the midfielders will make runs. I initially selected standard tempo and standard directness but changed this to slightly more direct and higher because the attacks were too slow.
Crosses are mixed, no specific instructions are set for how the ball should enter the box. Run at defence and be more expressive are selected.
In Transition
The team will counter press and counter attack. The team is still built to counter press.
The goalkeeper is set to distribute to the flanks, nothing else is selected.
Out Of Possession
The highest possible lines of engagement and defensive line are selected. The defensive width is narrow,
Tighter marking, urgent pressing and prevent short GK distribution are selected.
I have chosen Lazio to test the tactic with and the results are promising.
Based on the scores alone this tactic should at least be good enough to qualify for the Champions League in the first season.
The wing backs are operating as wingers in possession and provide heavy goalscoring and creative threat. The two attacking midfield players get close enough to the forward so that pressing works well centrally, it is slightly less effective when the ball is in wide areas. Though counter pressing is good because of the high position of the wide players.
Immobile as the striker has had a very good start to the season, but the AM and SS are not contributing enough just yet. Of course this might change with a season under the belt.
The team has good possession, not particularly because the team looks after the ball well, but because it is well placed to regain the ball. However, it is noticeable that much of the time the half back is regaining the ball close to the opposition box, far higher than I would really like him to be in the 3-Box-3 shape. I would like to think that it is the game using intelligence and sending the half back higher up because the opposition only have one striker and the two centre backs have it covered. However, it is far more likely that he is just too high up. I am considering two solutions to this problem. One is to put the DLP on a defend duty to keep him deeper, so the half back doesn’t push up as much. The other option is to drop the defensive line deeper and hope that the half back stays closer to his central defenders. Dropping the pressing line might also help. The central defenders have been missing a few headers on long balls. A deeper line plus the offside trap and a high position from sweeper keeper should also condense the space behind the defensive line.
Lazio have players who are very well suited to the roles selected. Luis Alberto is very creative attacking midfielder, Milenkovic-Savic is one of the best midfielders available and Correa is a fantastic option as a shadow striker. I suspect that in order to get the very best out of this system the wing backs have to be virtual wingers. Signing Jetro Willems has worked superbly on the left but the right sided options are lacking. Lucas as the HB might also not be ideal.
Although an outright 3-Box-3 was not possible something very close has been. With a few further adaptations it might be exactly what I am looking for, while also being good enough to deliver trophies with slightly more sophisticated personnel in key positions.
Thank you to Cleon for listening to my ideas.