The moment you lot have been waiting for…. Welcome back to yet another glorious episode of the one… the only… Soccermanager blog!!!! 🎺 🎺 🎺
Today’s episode is the beginning of our look into the VERY popular ‘4 at the back’ formation series, and what a way to start off with arguably the queen of formations, the formation that started the structural creation of different positions. The one…. the only…. 4-4-2A!
I mentioned back in episode 3 that the 3-5-2 formation is one of the more balanced ones within today’s game, but it is nothing compared to what we are discussing today. There really isn’t much more details needed about this formation since it is without comparison the most popular formation within the entirety of football. The only thing that you need to know further is that it consists of the basic fundamentals of a proper formation: 1 GK, 4 DEF’S, 4 MID’s and 2 FWD’s.
With that being said, let’s dive into what we believe are the best roles for obtaining the most effective balance from defence to attack:
DEFENCE
If it’s one thing that you will learn from today’s episode is the brilliance that this formation possesses. There really ain’t any other like it in terms of its ability to morph into ANY (and I mean any) other formation. With the continuous knowledge that you’re given with every passing episode you can rest assured that your tactical development will be threw the roof, to a point where your competitors simply won’t be able to deal with your intelligence…
Starting out from the back, we have a very flexible 5 man defence that can play multiple different roles but for the sake of proper balance, we’ve chosen Maignan in goal as he is extremeley comfortable with the ball at his feet and has a good pass radar on him. Our 4-4-2A will be converted into a 3-5-2 with the different roles given to each player with Kim, Bastoni and Alex Sandro forming the make-shift back 3 when you’re in possession. Kim will operate as theD(RC) using his ball playing skills to spray passes from an angle. Sandro will operate like a Fullback playing as a ‘General Defender’, keeping things simple on the ball while seeking to make ‘underlaps’ and ‘overlaps’ as much as he possibly can to utilize his crossing abilties within the opposition’s defensive third. Bastoni is a player who can operate both as a ‘B.P.D’ and as a ‘Stopper’, and in this formation in particular he will be a ‘Stopper’ keeping things simple on the ball but not being afraid of taking risks in his passing from time to time. The main reason why Bastoni has been given the ‘Stopper’ role is to ensure that our DM(R) gets majority of the ball and is granted the role of our main creator within the team
MIDFIELD
Starting things off with T.A.A, he is the main man in terms of conducting the play as he will constantly drift into midfield to join Fabinho and Merino to form a midfield 3 in possession. This midfield 3 will vary based on the game situation as sometimes he will form a temporary double pivot with Fabibho, or he will play advanced of him alongside Merino (with Mikel having more liscence to get forward). I know I mentioned that this season will not be about the play styles or team instructions, but for T.A.A, we’ll make an exception since he MUST be used as your playmaker within this team in order for the formational conversion to work (so, what this means is that you will have to tick the U.P.M box with Trent’s name in the slot). I know some of you might be skeptical about this but trust me when I say that Trent is one of only a handful of players within SMW that can do this successfully. Fabinho will be operating as a ‘B.W.M’ sitting in front of his make-shift back 3, while Merino will do the hard yards, utilizing his work rate and creative capabilities as our ‘Technical B2B’. The boys outwide will play in the ‘Wingback’ positions of the 3-5-2 conversion but with a lot more attacking responsibilities. Don’t think I need to explain what you’ll expect from both Bukayo (BLOODCART!) Saka and Bamba, since you can sorta visualize them taking the ball and running at their Fullback at will
FORWARDS
Upfront, we have a combination of strength, grit and technical flair in Olivier Giroud and Lautaro MartÃnez. Giroud will be the main target up front, holding up the ball to allow his teammates to get closer to him while attacking crosses from outwide via his elite heading capabilities. Lautaro MartÃnez is a very interesting F(C) who is quite capable of playing in many different roles (albeit, he’ll play them in his own way). As our ‘G.F’, he won’t drift wide that much but he will move into pockets to link up with his ‘Wingers’. He will also drop deep to collect the ball, make runs off of Giroud and attack crosses with as much venom as Black Spider-Man.
DEFENSIVE TRANSITION
If it’s one thing that you’ll learn from the 4-4-2 variants is that when it comes to defending there is simply no better formation to use, and although many like to consider that these types of formations are no longer playable from an attacking point of view, you will still find many a team using this shape to handle oppostion pressure when out of possession. The reason for this is due to the fact that the 4-4-2 allows for a defensive structure known as “banks”. A bank (in soccer terms) is a set up of 4 players who aim to keep a straight line between them horizontally which will make it quite difficult to penetrate. What makes the banks’ located in the 4-4-2 so special is that it makes it easier to instruct the player infront of you on where they should be best positioned to negate an opposition’s threat (so, Kim can instruct Fabinho on where to be, and Bastoni can instruct Merino on where to be, etc..). This is why teams like Sean Dyche’s Burnley and Diego Simeone’s Atleti were always so difficult to beat since they effectively set up their defence in this 4-4-2A structure and made it impossible for thier oppostion to break through. Personnel is ofcourse going to be important, but almost every player will be effective within this and the upcoming formations in this variant from a defensive point of view…
This was without doubt my most exciting episode to write so far within season 9 and I cannot wait to show you guys what we have in store for our final episode of this week!
The Soccermanager Experience 