Hey guys, I have tested another FM 2013 tactic. The author requested to be addressed under the guise of ‘Poobington’ (thanks for making me feel 8 years old mate!) But before the girlish giggles continue lets re-cap the testing process.
The testing procedure is quite simple: I will install the tactic and use it through pre-season plus six league matches with Spurs. Then I’ll watch each match closely, see what happens and come up with the best review I am capable of. I will also keep track of various statistics in order to be able to compare the essential numbers between this and other tactics that have been or will be analysed. It will be more or less like a benchmarking tool for FM 2013 tactics.
Today’s FM 2013 tactic review is on Poobington’s 3-4-3 high pressure tactic, a very attacking system that creates some very unique movement both on and off the ball…lets see what its all about.
Formation
The formation is a 3-4-3, one I rarely see in action. The main reason for that is a lack of AM usage, most of the best midfield talent on FM13 prefer the attacking midfield positions.
We start from the back with roles and a sweeper keeper who will not only stop shots but act as the last defender when loose balls make their way towards the box. The back row of three are all ball playing defenders, so they will rarely hoof the ball clear John Smith style, calm and composed passing is more their style and even when going long, its a calculated effort to form some sort of counter attack. We have a ball winning midfielder at MC with a central midfielder enjoying attack duty, then the MR and ML are set to defensive winger, attack duty. They will hunt the opposition back and also charge forward, doubling up as wingers and wing backs. The front three consist of three roles, Trequartista in a Messi like role, deep lying forward to link up play and an advanced forward to run the the channels and get on the end of crosses.
Team Instructions
This tactic revolves around high pressure, the fluid philosophy and attacking strategy lead to some intricate play when mixed with a short passing style. Each player will hunt down the ball as closing down is set to press more and they also have the freedom to switch players during marking which is set to zonal. This is a very high tempo tactic with a very high defensive line to focus on winning possession back in the opposition half.
Average Positions
The average positions above make this tactic look very compact which it is but the two defensive wingers tend to add width when attacking and defending. Three flat lines are created, which can be tough to break down and also help press the ball high up. You’ll notice the ball winning midfielder generally sits slightly deeper than the wingers and attacking MC, this is important to add an extra bit of insurance when the high closing down doesn’t work.
Talking of insurance, you’ll notice that there’s one huge gap between the three defenders and goalkeeper, hence his role of sweeper keeper which is vital.
Defending
This tactic, with the right players works very well during the defensive phase of play. Your back three push up high, compressing the play, then there’s a near flat line of four in midfield, this gives the opposition very little space to create chances and move the ball around. The two outer CB’s can push out wide if need be, but all three will look to get on the front foot and stop an attack before it comes to them.
The defensive wingers will do the same, but they can also track back to cover a wide AM. While the two MC’s tend to hold their ground and let everyone move around them, making these two the ideal candidates to receive the ball once possession has been regained.
While the three forwards don’t track back much, they do pressure any opposition player with the ball in front of them, the very fact they hold their line makes for a quick and direct counter attack.
Attacking
Once possession is back with your team, its easy to spark creative counter attacking football. The three DC’s will always start this off and the three strikers make for a nice outlet if long ball opportunities arise. You’ll notice 5 players making their move forward in the screenshot above, this happens with almost every attack. And due to the three ST’s playing fairly narrow, the opposition defenders don’t like to go wide, leaving tonnes of space for your defensive wingers to exploit.
Your two MC’s offer that bit of insurance holding back somewhat, but the true beauty of this tactic is in the strikers movement. They can drop deeper to link up play if needed, but when the winger darts for the byline or cuts inside the three ST’s just sit on the defensive shoulder waiting for a loose ball, through pass or cross. The goal below highlights this, there are so many players waiting to pounce on the loose ball that scoring is inevitable.
Results
Some good results there, we thrashed the lesser sides including what could have been 7 or 8 nil against Villa. If the game away at Chelsea taught me anything, its that this tactic can be exploited out wide in behind the defensive wingers, the likes of Mata and Hazard managed that time and time again. However, we more than held our own and deserved the draw at Stamford Bridge which speaks volumes for this tactic…16 points from a possible 18 is a joint best so far.
Statistics
Goals scored: 15 (2.5 per game)
Goals conceded: 3 (0.5 per game)
Shots on target for: 7.83 per game
Shots on target against: 2.33 per game
Clear cut chances for: 2.33 per game
Clear cut chances against: 0.67 per game
Half chances for: 3.17 per game
Half chances against: 1 per game
Ball possession average: 59.67%
I believe this tactic provided the highest average possession to date, just under 60% is an excellent figure. The CCC and half chances were fairly good too reading 2.33 and 3.17 respectably. None of the stats above leave alarm bells ringing either so very, very successful I guess. This tactics quality is proven in the FM13 Tactics Index table, this is used to compare the stats from all our reviews. Now lets analyse the main pro’s and con’s of Poobington’s 3-4-3.
+
Excellent results.
Great possession and intricate play.
Strikers sit on defensive shoulder creating rebound opportunities.
For a short tactic this can be direct, winger crosses from deep to great effect (as shown below.)
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No attacking midfielders used so some quality players are a no go.
Superior AML and AMR’s can exploit space in behind your defensive winger, leaving you vulnerable.
Suggested Tweaks
There’s not much you can change here, the wingers work great, the MC’s are set correctly and the tactic wouldn’t work as well without all 3 DC’s set to ball winning midfielder. I guess my main change would be the forwards, I’d be tempted to play with the roles a little, probably to suit your players. The Trequartista could be poacher and depending on your players the advanced forward could be a target man.
I would definitely consider the strategy though, for those really big games it may be worth using the counter strategy just to drop the defensive line back a little and combat that issue of superior wingers taking advantage of the hole in behind.
FM 2013 Tactic Download
Download the 3-4-3 FM 2013 tactic by clicking on the image below:
After downloading the tactic follow these simple steps to install it in FM 2013:
1. Put the downloaded file into this folder: Documents>Sports Interactive>Football Manager 2013>tactics
2. Start your game and go to your team’s tactics screen.
3. Click on the little arrow located to the right of your starting tactic name, move your mouse cursor over “archived tactics” and select this tactic from the menu.
I hope you enjoyed this analysis, more importantly I hope this inspires you to continue my testing and I’m looking forward to your comments. Due to an excessive amount of tactics posted for review we will not be taking further entries for the time being, at least until we have dwindled down the backlog.
saltwater
6 апреля, 2013 at 12:37
A particularly interesting tactic for me as I am at the moment I’m using the 3-4-1-2. My main issue is defensively so I’m surprised this tactic has worked so well, seeing how many attacking roles their are in an already attacking looking system. However it does prove that a tactic that has 3 at the back can work.
I agree with you on the striker roles by the way as I would definitely have a poacher somewhere in the ranks.
Darren Smith
6 апреля, 2013 at 14:00
TBH I see the shape as been fairly even, due to the wide midfielders been in the middle as opposed to pushed forward that makes a huge difference then three at the back adds a lot of security too. In fact almost every ‘three at the back’ tactic we’ve tested has proved successful, interesting.
Poobington
6 апреля, 2013 at 13:53
Wow! I am actually very surprised! I found that the tactic was doing well for me in so far as build up play, but these consistently good results have left me speechless.
Recently I have been trying to recreate Marco Bielsa’s tactics, but after closer inspection of your analysis, the system I have here seems to operate in the same way, High pressing, width and fairly direct without hoofing it forward.
In the future I would like to perhaps have the wingers cut in more to provide additional central runners from deep, with the strikers drifting wide to create space, but in short I can’t complain with the results of your analysis.
All I can say is a massive thank you, and I hope others have success with this tactic.
Darren Smith
6 апреля, 2013 at 14:04
Well its a great little tactic and a successful one at that. Surprisingly the wide midfielders do sometimes cut inside from wide, just depending on what passing options are available. Mainly Bale did that though so could be something to do with preferred moves etc.
Poobington
6 апреля, 2013 at 14:16
Yes. Usually I played Bale in the Treq slot, as I wanted to mirror his free role in real life.
As far as the wingers cutting in I wanted them to run the central channels almost like box to box midfielders, with the two outter strikers hugging the touclines to provide the width. I have experimented with attacking wingbacks set to cut in but i have found that the players require a phenomenal ammount of fitness to last the match as well as the fact that they tend to sit a bit too deep for my liking.
I guess a remedy to this tactic would be to play inverted wingers in the DW slots and see if they drift in. In this edition of FM, PPMs seem to have a drastic effect on the way a team will play.
The more and more I look at your review, however, I really can’t help but think to myself that my overambitious attempts to create a Bielsa tactic have been pointless as the tactic I have here practically does what he preaches.
Darren Smith
6 апреля, 2013 at 14:27
Sometimes what you’re looking for is right under your nose, you just need someone else to point it out ;)
Johnny Karp
6 апреля, 2013 at 17:54
This tactic is dynamite, the numbers look great and the player movement looks exquisite as well. Hats off to Poobington for creating it and well done to Darren for a great review.
Darren Smith
6 апреля, 2013 at 18:52
It certainly is a brilliant tactic, very different but very effective.
Miles Smith
6 апреля, 2013 at 18:32
I saw a similar tactic being used to great effect in a let’s play on youtube by «workthespace».
He got control of Cameroon national team just before the Africa cup of nations but after the squad had already decided. The AI has chosen about 101 Central defenders so he had a formation with 3 at the back and then 4 in midfield (although he had a DM behind the central midfielder (DLP) and it utilised long passing.
I have my own tactic to upload actually. I will have to do that soon.
Miles Smith
6 апреля, 2013 at 18:35
But anyway I’ve been going off the more Barcelonaesque tactics in these latest patches favouring some of these tactics that avoid the use of the AM and IF layer in favour of wing backs or wide midfielders with 2 or 3 strikers.
Darren Smith
6 апреля, 2013 at 18:56
Yeah these kind of shapes boasting no AM’s and making use of the wing backs or MR/ML seem to work well in the recent patches.
MRDNRA
6 апреля, 2013 at 20:11
How do you find out average positions?
Interesting tactic I’ve never really considered 3-4-3 as it does not appear initially to have much defense out wide and I like my wide midfielders pushing forward usually. As I result I pretty much invariably go with 4 at the back apart from a tactic I’m having reviewed in 4 or 5 weeks that I want suggestions of improvements on as I aim to use it eventually on a current ongoing save I’ve started a few weeks ago after downloading expanded English league database!
Darren Smith
6 апреля, 2013 at 20:21
In the match engine go to ‘analysis’ and ‘performance’, its in the options there.
I too would never have considered a tactic with three at the back as opposed to a flat back four…not until we started testing these tactics and the best two statistically enjoyed a back three, but that’s why we’re doing these reviews, to open everyone’s general knowledge and perception of tactics in the game.
MRDNRA
6 апреля, 2013 at 20:44
Found it thanks Darren.
Conor Donovan
7 апреля, 2013 at 02:08
This seems to me to be quite a risky tactic. In terms of attacking, it is one of the best I’ve seen. You are bound to score a lot of goals with it. But my first impression was definitely that you would be extremely vulnerable defensively.
As with probably all tactics, definitely a lot depends on the players you have (and how they compare to the opposition). If you have players who can win the ball back quickly and keep possession well, you’ll do fine. If the opposition stop this, however, and deliver the ball to their attack quickly then your defence is in trouble.
I think that Spurs have quality players so they were good enough to dominate possession and this led to loads of goals scored and few conceded. Chelsea were the only particularly good opponent and I’d guess they didn’t give away the ball as much as other teams did
Darren Smith
7 апреля, 2013 at 09:39
I can see what you mean, but TBH the part about a teams quality compared to their opponents has been very true every tactic I’ve tested so far. In fact, this was much more reliable than Gaurav’s tactic using a 4-2-3-1 while playing Chelsea. While the shape may look risky because most gamers aren’t used to a back three, the bodies do pile back in support as soon as possession is lost and the defensive minded MC is always the link between the back three and midfield.
The Chelsea game was very even in truth, possession 50% while Spurs had 4 shots on target to Chelsea’s 2. Chelsea did create two CCC but that is how they scored and when they managed the shots on target, they were the only real chances in the match.
Poobington
7 апреля, 2013 at 12:49
In my eyes I think the most important players are the central 5; the 3 cbs and the 2 cms. Generally I have found if the players in these positions are weak generally the whole tactic suffers.
To remedy poor defenders who keep possession badly I have tried playing CDMs in teams which have the talent, but in LLM saves I have just adjusted their range of passing all the way left to be as short as possible to reduce the risk of hoofing it long.
With the CMs there can be 2 options.
1. just use players in your squad who fit the roles as best as possible.
2. Have players who are both good at attacking and defending. A recent example would be my Liverpool save, who I might add have a terrific squad for this tactic, where i used allen in the CM position and Lucas Leiva in the BWM.
As far as the roles of the stirkers are concerned initially it consisted of a central trequartista with two AFs running in behind the opposition. On too many occasions this central striker just seemed to be far too isolated and far too often resorted to taking long shots, even though they were set to rarely. I have dabbled with using a poacher in the AF slot but only when the striker lacks any sort of creativity.
If you have any questions about the tactic I am happy to answer them!
kevin
7 апреля, 2013 at 18:21
This certainly looks a very impressive tactic with some great possession stats. I’m sure this one will be downloaded by any including myself!
Not looking forward to my tactic review after this :(
Darren Smith
7 апреля, 2013 at 18:26
lol, I’m sure your been modest Kevin, I believe Johnny has your tactic within his list so will be interesting to see what he thinks.
Johnny Karp
8 апреля, 2013 at 07:16
I agree with Darren, way too modest. I have already started testing your tactic and I can reveal I was really impressed, it’s very good to say the least.
ReynoDeNavarra
12 апреля, 2013 at 11:59
hey mates,i want to share my very own tactic lol,could you explain me how to do that and whats are the terms?
Johnny Karp
12 апреля, 2013 at 17:01
We are not taking in any new tactics for testing at the moment because we already have too many on the waiting list. However, you can always share your tactic in our forum here: https://www.footballmanagerstory.com/forum/forum/14-tactics-training/
Burtko
13 апреля, 2013 at 19:00
How important would you say that the tackling and marking attributes are for the wide midfielders? Not a lot of players these days play as wide midfielders, most of them are AMR and AML, so the tackling, marking attributes are not that great. Would you say to ignore those attributes, or to try and find fullbacks/wingbacks and re-train their position?
Darren Smith
13 апреля, 2013 at 21:44
TBH I probably haven’t played with wide midfielders enough to answer that, but from what I’ve seen they marking and tackling can be helpful for that position but not a complete must, I think the attacking attributes are more important than the defensive attributes for sure.
Sp3aker
20 апреля, 2013 at 17:16
Be interesting to compare this with the bazooka tactic, which I enjoyed a lot of success with. Three at the back is the future!
Darren Smith
20 апреля, 2013 at 17:40
I agree, 3 at the back seems very, very effective this year.
Slynglen
21 апреля, 2013 at 02:00
My plan for my Newcastle side was to play Brobs17 tactic, as it in fm 2012 was a major success. Therefore I offloaded wingers and bought strikers, but the Brobs tactic sadly failed miserably for me this time.
This tactic has been a very interesting alternative.
My results with the tactics are:
Wigan away 1-1
Sunderland home 0-0
Liverpool home 1-0
Liverpool away 1-3
WBA away 1-0
Chelsea home 3-0
Liverpool away 2-0
Arsenal away 1-2
Man U home 2-0
Stoke home 3-0
Reading away 0-3
Swansea away 2-0
Norwich home 3-0
Overall 8 victories, 2 draws and 3 losses. Pretty good for a side that lacked the right players for the tactic. Debuchy and Moussa Sissoko was my MR and ML. Given that it is a very attacking formation, I was very impressed by the defence. I feared that Hazard, Nani and so on would kick my ass, but the only ass kicking was against Reading on a day, where Krul seemed to have left his gloves in the bus or something like that. They had four chances, scoring 3 goals.
Most of my goals was scored by the Trequarista.
Darren Smith
21 апреля, 2013 at 08:25
Thanks for sharing the info, those were interesting results and good ones too, especially seen as you didn’t have ideal players in some positions. Very interesting to see some huge wins against great ‘Footballing’ sides too.
Poobington
2 мая, 2013 at 23:26
thanks for the insight. Just to clarify I tend to find that the RM and LM should be your most complete players, ideally box to box type midfield players who can both attack and defend. Liverpool as I mentioned earlier have a very good squad for this tactic, with players like jose enrique and glen johnson being particularly effective.