“The third season was also the last while using the so-called 2-3-3-2 formation with two central defenders and a “false” central defender in terms of using the Half Back.” This was the end of the previous blog post about the third season in Poland within FM22. I used the same formation and the style of play during the opening three seasons and I wanted to put together a couple of my thoughts about it.

THE INITIAL IDEA

When I think about the moment when I thought about using this type of formation, it was already during the previous version of the game when I played in Sweden with GAIS and I used a more common 3-5-2/5-3-2 with two wing-backs and three central defenders.

The same as I’m fun of three players within the flat central midfield, I’m also a fan of three central defenders at the back. But I thought about how it would look & work with just two central defenders and the half-back. The role I enjoyed using in the past already but in a different system.

And I decided to try it.

I’m not the type of FM player who would use many teams or individual instructions within my tactical setups. It’s connected to my own real-life experience with the game. As a player or as a fan of the game overall for more than three decades already. I always hated some complicated systems in real life but the older I am, the more I know it’s all based on what you have available to work with.

Mainly in terms of players in your squad. Their intelligence, their physical abilities, their age and more. And I also know it’s connected with the Football Manager as the heavy pressing system won’t work 100% with the squad full of veterans on wheelchairs. I like simple systems and I always will.

I put together a formation with 2 central defenders, 1 defensive midfielder, two wing-backs, three central midfielders and two strikers.

The base version of the formation. There always were some changes like TF(S) & DLF(S), the right CM(S) with the Run Wide With Ball instruction when some players were available or not. There were also many experiments with the higher line of engagement and higher defensive line or with more aggressive pressing. I also tried the sweeper-keeper role while using the higher defensive line but it didn’t work as I would expect. But there is always the option to try it and make it even better in the future.

The main point or idea to use two central defenders with the Half Back role is also based on the description of the role and how that role works within the game.

The Half Back drops deeper and he acts like another central defender in the defensive phase of play. The Half Back offer protection against the counterattack. The third stand out thing from the description is that this player offers an outlet for quickly recycling possession.

My aim was to have a player who will act as a third central defender but he will also support the midfielders ahead of him and will always be there to be able to receive the ball. This all without the need to use three central defenders and to be able to take advantage of the Half Back role as this player is used to doing everything.

“The Half Back looks to serve a role somewhere between that of an aggressive sweeper and a defensive midfielder. The Half Back drops deeper than a standard defensive midfielder in possession and looks to offer an outlet for quickly recycling possession and to offer protection against the counter attack.”

THE HALF BACK AT ITS BEST

My initial idea and a plan to use this kind of formation were supported thanks to the fact that I found an absolutely ideal player for the Half Back role in the Warta Poznan squad. His name is Michal Kopczynski and he was 29 years old when the save started.

I remember I shared his profile screen on Twitter back in December 2021 and @cb asked his first touch attribute. The answer from FMG is the best explanation:

“In leagues like Poland you have to compensate, there will always be one or two areas of weakness in a player's game. I place importance on his Mental side. Michal has top Anticipation, Concentration, Positioning, Teamwork & Work Rate. Plus his Composure will help him on the ball. Decisions and Positioning are v.strong too. So critical for a Half-Back to sweep up and protect the CBs who will push a bit wider as a result. I love him 😍😀.”

I remember my first friendly match within this save was against Hannover 96, our senior affiliate club from the Bundesliga 2 and we beat them 2:1 at home. It was good to see some positives. We lost to another partner club - Stade Rennais - in the second friendly. It ended at 2:5 from our point of view this time. It was good to see so many negatives against a much stronger team.

It was the first time I started thinking about using wing-backs with defending duty to cover wide areas more. Especially when I saw both wing-backs were still able to go forward enough despite the defend duty.

But I was able to see the main point of using the Half Back straight from the first match thanks to passing maps and average positions. Michal Kopczynski has number 6 and you can see him as the biggest dot, which means he was, as the game would say: “was at the heart of everything in the middle”. In this specific example, he had the most passes with the goalkeeper [28] (more below) and with the left central defender [23]. It was followed by the second central defender and MCR & MCL.

There are three examples from the third/latest season in the gallery above. I wanted to include more but 1) the game was against me while I tried to load matches properly and 2) maybe it’s better to not have too many pictures here.

DISTRIBUTE THE BALL TO A SPECIFIC TEAMMATE

As I already said slightly above, Kopczynski had the highest passes with our goalkeeper in the example we showed. It’s also because of one specific instruction I decided to try in this game. It’s nothing new and nothing groundbreaking but I didn’t see too many people using it. Maybe it’s also because of the fact that many people don’t know it’s even in the game - thanks, James!

So, it’s simple. Instead of using distribute to area/player like distribute to full-backs/centre-backs or to flanks and other options, I just used the Distribute To Position option and I selected the defensive midfielder, number 6 in our example. I used it for three seasons, alternately with the Take Short Kicks instruction or Roll It Out, usually depending on the opponent and their pressing style.

This is the kind of instruction I would use even for other DM roles, mainly if I would use playmaker type of player as he is able to decide where to distribute the ball properly. I enjoyed using it also with the Play Out Of Defence instruction as both central defenders were in their own penalty area and the halfback had a lot of options where to pass the ball in all directions.

BLOCKER AND PASSER

If you remember what I wrote at the beginning of the post, you will remember the main principles of the Half Back role.

• Drops deeper & Offer protection against the counter-attack & Offers an outlet for quickly recycling possession.

I can safely say this specific player was able to fulfil everything. Michal Kopczynski acted as our third central defender in the defensive phase and he was able to distribute the ball as good as possible. The gallery contains data from all three seasons.

THE BIGGEST WEAKNESS

The biggest weakness of this formation surely is in the defensive line and the positioning of the defenders. It works great but it also can be absolutely vulnerable against some specific formations. I was able to resolve issues against 4-4-2 with the man-marking of one of the strikers. I was able to resolve issues with formations with three attacking midfielders (Hi Diego Mendoza) but there will always be some formations/positions/roles that will cause problems to this formation with two central defenders in combination with WBR/WBL positions.

One of my favourite examples is matches against Stal Mielec within this save. Not only because I beat them at the sixth attempt. But also because they are using my FM21 and FM22 nightmare-formation - 5-2-3 WB. Simply, it’s 3 central defenders, two wing-backs, two central midfielders, AMR/AML and a lone striker.

The wide players are so dangerous that I always have to man-mark both wide offensive players and I also have to pay a big attention to both wing-backs. Both AMR/AML players also had the highest amount of key passes in all matches when I look back.

The Football Manager is a game of positioning. And this is a very good example. Both may central defenders were too wide, the same as both my wing-backs who also were too high up the pitch (if they were not set to man-mark AMR/L). The opponent’s wide players had enough space in the channels - it was like a new role, something like Mezzala in the AMR/L slot. These inside wingers/forwards had too much space and if there was at least an average playmaker in the middle, he was able to find them with the right pass.

But overall, the formations with Inside Forwards were the most dangerous against us if I ignored the option to man-mark these players. And it was dangerous even before the latest update/patch before the game developers announced that inside forwards/wingers were fixed in terms of how often these players/roles cut inside.

CONCLUSION

I wrote this is the formation I want to use for most of the time of the FM22 save. But I was wrong. I don’t want to use it in the upcoming season(s). Not because I would not like it or it would not be successful. Just because I want to use three central defenders again and also because of the fact that I am currently not able to find the better option/backup/replacement for Michal Kopczynski and the development of some newgen can last longer than the whole save.

The tactical change also doesn’t mean the end for Michal Kopczynski because we won’t use the HB role. I think he can be a good central defender with the cover duty. Especially with his calm head while playing from the back…

We finished 4th, 2nd and 3rd in the Ekstraklasa and we made it to the Europa Conference League Semifinal in the third season. I think it was a successful trial with this formation…

In loving memory of Oleksiy S., my friend with whom I played FM during almost every class while we were at university. And one of many heroes from Kharkiv and other Ukrainian towns. 🕯️💔

💙💛