Season 6: SM23 (Tactics Page) Episode 12: CUSTOM FORMATIONS (5)

Hello Soccermanagerite! As always, thank you sooo much for participating with us throughout the entire series ( as well as being an active reader since day 1 😉). It feels like a bit of a calm after the storm moment over the past 2 episodes since the formations that we’re going over aren’t that crazy in terms of innovation…. Nevertheless, we have a job to do and over here in the soccermanagerverse, we finish whatever we start!

In today’s formational look, we’ll be going over one of my favorites and a particularly underrated formation that should be used more often: The 5-2-3. If you’re a fan of pragmatic, defensive set ups and you never took the opportunity to use this formation then wtf have u been up to???!!! With it’s pioneer being the likes of Antonio Conte, Jose Mourinho, and Diego Simeone, the 5-2-3 formation is a defensive masterpiece that offers the benefit of also allowing its users to maintain some form of attacking threat due to playing with of 3 out and out Forwards.

Let’s take a look at the roles which I believe will be the most important to use in order to get the best out of it:

GOALKEEPER AND DEFENDERS

Since this formation is all about a defensive approach first, there is no need to have any of your defensive players seeking to make an impact when your team has the ball. They’re sole responsibility will be to feed the attack minded players as much as they possibly can. With this being said, you’ll only need to play your GK as a Keeper, while you can mix things up with your back 3. I would highly advise that you seek D(C) who are exceptional at defending.

In terms of the man dem out-wide, I suggest that you play them as Wingbacks which will be beneficial as they will need a high level of Work rate in order to play this position since they are the main source of width. They do not necessarily have to be the most attack minded Wingbacks but they definitely need to have a ridiculous engine.

MIDFIELDERS

The one thing that I’ve realized over the course of this mini series is how many times a double pivot has been mentioned. The double pivot within the 5-2-3 have a bit more license to join in on the attack due to the flat back 5 behind of them, but they will always seek to maintain their defensive duties because they do not want to leave their midfield partner isolated. The best role for these 2 will be as a Box to Box Midfielder where they will have the freedom to get up and down the entire pitch. Be aware that both pivots must have extremely high levels of Stamina and workrate since they will be doing A LOT of running within from this position.

FORWARDS

The last area that we will be looking at is arguably the most crucial area within this formation. The players that you have within your front 3 should all be capable of playing as a F(C) and their attacking instinct will be crucial whenever your team is on an attacking transition since they will most likely be 3v4 or 3v3 against the opposition’s defence. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself in many situations where you are defending deep and all of a sudden a counter attack is on where your front 3 is in on goal and you end up scoring because of it.
For each player’s role, you should be looking for a combination play between your front 3, so it will all depend on the players you have within your personnel. Just make sure that all 3 can comfortably play as a F(C). For my current front 3, I have the brilliant Harry Kane whom I can play in 3 different roles ( Techincal Target Man, Deep-lying Forward or slightly deeper as a Floating Advanced Playmaker). Harry will look to use his techincal abilities on the ball while Son and Richarlison look to use their excellent movement and explosiveness to attack the goal as my Wide Forwards.

And with that, we come to the end of yet another fantastic mini series (if I do say so myself) . Thanks as always for joining and I hope you have a splendid rest of your day or evening!

As for what’s coming up next, we’ll be keeping our theme of diving into different tactical setups by taking a look at how some teams in real life play and place their tactics within SM23. Be sure not to miss it. See you next Monday. ADIOS! 🙂 😉 💚 ⚽