Guest Blogger tommysboy007 introduces us to a new series titled ‘Space and Overloads’, which aims to detail a few tactical setups in Football Manager 2023. From passing networks, structural shapes and vulnerabilities this 442 post is the start of a cycle of tactical pieces that will be drip fed onto the site over the coming months. They will be collated here: coffeehousefm.com/lattequarterly

I hope you enjoy them - FM Grasshopper

Intro

In this post, my aim is to examine some tactical formations I am thinking of using in my Football Manager 23 save and drill down into their strengths and weaknesses. I have named this post Space and Overloads because these are the two factors that go into helping a team win football matches. The third factor is the individual affecting play either through brilliance or errors (more likely the latter at the level my teams play at). The whole point though is to set your team up to create more than the sum of your parts and mitigate this third factor.

I don’t mean to insult anyone’s intelligence but it is worthwhile quickly setting out what I mean by Space and Overloads in relation to football. Space is an area of the pitch that has no players in it. Overload is where in one area of the pitch the number of players of one team is greater than the opposition’s.

My aim for a successful tactic is to create Space in my opponents team that we can exploit or force Overloads in vulnerable areas that we can attack. Actually, I want to do both. All the while, I want to minimise the Space and Overloads that my team give to the opposition.

A balanced tactic is like a toddler with sweets - he will Take more than he Gives.

Here are some Football Manager 23 formations that I’m interested in using and the inherent strengths and weaknesses found in their structure. I will then look at using Player Roles and Instructions to strengthen further.

In my opinion Team instructions and Mentality are mainly used to set up the team’s playing style as part of the coach’s (or club’s) vision of how to play but both will impact on the Space and Overloads. For example, say I want to create overloads on the opposition’s left back and set my formation and player roles to do that with an Inverted Winger on Support and Attacking Wing Back to overlap. But I recognise space will open up down my right flank vulnerable to attacks so I have a Ball Winning Midfielder on that side with the idea of snuffing out attacks. On Cautious. I will see the BWM sit in behind on the (rare) occasions when wide men are attacking but on Attacking, not only will my Wing Back be more often than not in line with our strikers, that support duty may see our BWM haring into tackles much higher up the pitch. The space would be much bigger and potentially more vulnerable. In Football Manager, everything is connected, nothing works in isolation.

442

Most teams late 90s/early 00s

442 Passing Network

You can see the symmetry straight down the vertical line in this basic 4-4-2 structure with the left and right flanks mirroring each other. You can also see the passing triangles in the diagram. Each position has at least 4 passing options without having to break lines. Your central defenders have 6 passing options and central midfielder has 7. However, with your players positioned in straight lines this makes it easier for the opponent to cover the passing lane whilst pressing the ball. Passing triangles for ball progression up the field may require an initial sideways or backwards pass depending on opposition positions. For example, passing moves from CB to LB to CM to bypass a pressing AM. This slows down moves to short pass up the field which is why teams prefer more direct (i.e. longer) passing in this formation.

442 Structural Spaces

Two Forwards Partnership

With two up top you have the opportunity to expose space behind and in front of the opposition’s defensive line. How many goals have you conceded (or hopefully scored) where one striker drops a bit deeper taking his marker with him. His strike partner then runs into the space behind to receive a flick on or through ball. A slower variation but using the same space would be the one-two pass between strikers again into the same space. 

Wide Players

The wide players may have space to exploit depending on the opponent’s formation. If against a back four,  a winger can occupy the full back to create space either

1. behind or wide for our supporting full back 

2. between near side centre half and full back (commonly known as the Half Space) for our Striker or Central Midfielder to run into.

If playing against a back 3, the space is there for our wide player to run into.

442 Structural Overloads

Flanks

With the 4-4-2, we can look to create numerical advantages on the flanks by sending our Full Backs up beside our Wingers. This can be on the outside with Overlap Team Instruction or Inside with an Inverted Wing Back player role. Our Forwards (using a role that encourages wide runs like Complete Forward or Advanced Forward) and Central Midfielders can also move quickly into the same zones to further overload.

Central Defence

When against an opponent’s back four formation, with the two Forwards occupying their Centre Backs, we can overload with forward runs from Central Midfielders or diagonal runs inside from Inverted Wingers. 

442 Vulnerabilities
Space Between Horizontal Lines

As mentioned regarding Passing Networks, the 4-4-2 is full of straight lines. There is a danger for opposition to exploit the space found between our defence and midfield. An Attacking Midfielder could find space in one of the most dangerous areas of the pitch. Known as Zone 14 (if attacking) or the Golden Zone - it is the central space around where the “D” of the penalty area is. A perfect place for an attacker to slip a through ball or have a shot themselves. 

The space between our midfield line and forwards is maybe less immediately dangerous but against teams with a Deep Lying Playmaker (or similar role) sitting in this gap will have time to control possession or look for clever runs to start attacks from deep. Something to keep in mind if you are chasing the game and you want to avoid the opposition running down the clock.  

This space can be reduced by making your team compact. Lowering your line of engagement, raising your defensive line or doing both to squeeze the lines together. 

Space Between Vertical Lines

Again the rigid structure of the 4-4-2 opens up potential space in between Centre Backs centrally with his defensive partner or with their nearest full back in the half space. 

Team instructions to reduce defending width (Pressing Traps) or Player Instructions on Full Backs can tighten the defence and reduce these gaps between the defenders. 

Midfield Overloads

In a 4-4-2 our central midfielders have a lot of ground to cover shuttling between deeper defensive line and supporting the forward line. Against opposition with the same formation, a missed tackle or interception and your opponent has free run at the defence. The responsibility on the central midfielders in a 4-4-2 is immense.

However against a 3-man midfield, the task becomes nigh on impossible. As stated above, the space in front and behind the midfield lines would be exploited by the third player. It gives an easy pass around the two defending midfielders. To prevent this, we need one or both of the forwards to drop back into midfield to pick up the most defensive of the three opponents. We also need to squeeze these horizontal and vertical spaces creating a really compact centre with the drawback of leaving space on the flanks and in front of us for their defence to pass the ball about at will. 

It also makes it harder to attack and progress the ball through the centre which is why most successful uses of this formation either use counter attacks - with more direct balls from defence to strikers or wingers - or a Wide Playmaker - see Simeone’s Atletico Madrid and his utilisation of Koke. 

442 Transitional Shapes
Defends in a 4-4-1-1 or a 4-1-3-1-1:

Attacks in a 2-4-4 or 2-1-2-5:

442 Attacking Variance/Predictability

The 4-4-2 is more suited to underdog teams - it allows lesser talented players to set up as two compact banks of four, soaking up pressure and hitting teams on the break. As such it doesn’t offer a lot of variance of attacks - usually relying on the two wingers and two forwards to fashion chances on the counter. If faced by an opponent also happy to sit back and defend, there will be a predictability about the attacking shapes a 4-4-2 allows. 

How to Beat a 442 in FM23
Step 1 - Three at the back.

Let’s think defensively first. We’re up against 2 strikers and we’re going to assume they are better players than my defenders so we need to outnumber them with a 3-player central defensive line. The benefit to our attacking play is that we can build from the back as we will always have one player free to receive a pass. The 3 defenders are positioned naturally in line with the vertical spaces of the 4-4-2 basic structure so someone will need to move out of shape to close down our third man creating pockets of space in more dangerous areas.

Step 2 - Attack the flanks

To mitigate the weaknesses of the 4-4-2, the opponent will make their centre compact. This gives us the opportunity to look for wide overloads. To overload a winger and full back, we need to occupy their near sided centre midfielder - with one of our own - and centre back - with a single centre forward we can pin back both centre backs. For the overload we will use a wing back pushing high and wide to pin their full back and a wide attacker taking up dangerous position on the inside channel to make their wide midfielder drop back. When mirrored on the other side, we now have a 3-4-3 shape and when our Wide Centre Back has possession it creates a 3v2 on the flank. When the centre back moves forward with the ball we look to commit the wide midfielder to come forward to press, thus creating a 2v1 with Wide Attacker and Wing Back. We also have options from opposite side Wide Attacker and Centre Forward. 

My 343 to beat a 442

My 442 in FM23

As an underdog side, I would be looking at Dycheone’s 4-4-2 set up rather than a pressing Sachhi or Lobanovskyi system. What that means is a compression of lines using either Sean’s Low Block/Standard Line or a Mid-Block/High Line combination. I am looking to soak up pressure and hit on the break. I don’t mind seeking out a set piece! I want hard working players especially through my centre. Finally, to keep things more spicy in the attack, I will use a Wide Playmaker instead of two wingers a la Diego. My FM23 4-4-2 tactic will look like this:

That’s my thoughts on the 442, I’ll be back soon with a breakdown of the tactic that overtook the 442 in popularity: the 433.

Thank you for reading,

tommysboy007