We’re back with an episode that has been highly requested. In episode 2 of the ‘big 4’, we take a look at the very popular formation that is the 4-2-3-1B… In our previous episode we went over another fan favorite in the 4-2-3-1A, and today we will be explaining what many might believe to be the best out of the two. I must say that this formation is really close to my heart since I tend to always perform well whenever it’s being used (currently using it with England for the WC…). It is quite similar to its narrower brother, but the major difference between the two is the make up of the 3 players who operate behind your main F(C). While the ‘A’ side tends to try to dominate the central areas on the pitch via implementing a mixture of roaming and intelligent positioning, the ‘B’ side is primarily about using width to stretch the opposition, in addition to having a certified creative no.10 who will be the primary hub of the team with every single play going through him (I cannot stress enough how important this aspect of the formation is cause I’ve seen it used incorrectly too many times and I’m currently on a mission to ensure that it doesn’t happen again). There is also an importance in the ‘Fullback’ area since it will determine wether your wide men stay high and wide or aim to cut inside to create goal scoring opportunities for themselves. Ofcourse, these episodes are all about balance, so we’ll aim to get as much balance as we possibly can from GK to F(C)…
DEFENCE
Both back 4’s have a similar set up in terms of personnel and what they offer the rest of the team (with the biggest exception being who we have in goal); Jan Oblak may be in the “decline” and may not be the best keeper in terms of ball play, but when it comes to the fundamentals of being an elite shot stopper, well there’s really only one player that surpasses him amongst the entirety of today’s goalkeepers. He will keep things simple on the ball which means that we cannot rely on him in pressure situations, but that’s fine since as a GK his primary responsibility is to keep the ball out of the back of the net. In front of him, we have 4 defenders who are capable in terms of what they do off the ball, but also have their own unique qualities when in possession. In the Brazilian Eder Militão we have a player who will be the main starlwart at the back as he is very capable of mixing things up on the ball. Next to him is the safe and secure Amir Rrahmani who is putting the small country of Kosovo on the map with his performances that have caused him to be a key component for the current Serie A holders. In this team he will keep things simple while allowing Eder to do more of the ball progression… We have some very attack minded ‘Wingbacks’ on both flanks, with the Belgian Timothy Castangne, and the Argentinian Marcos Acuña both seeking to always be that outlet outwide which will allow the player in front of them to cut into more dangerous positions knowing that the width will always be occupied by these lot.
MIDFIELD
We have another double pivot but with different attributes compared to the two within our ‘A side’ episode… In William Carvalho, there is a foundation of steel within the middle of the park as the Portugese International excels at being the warrior within the middle of the park, outing fires and breaking up opposition play while giving the ball to his more attack minded teammates higher up the pitch. There is one thing that separates Carvalho from most ‘B.W.M’s of his make up and it’s his ability to recycle possession effectively via a very good level of short passing. Not only will he keep the tempo ticking when he has the ball, but Carvalho can also play slightly riskier passes from anywhere between 5-20 meters which could potentially take opposition players out of the respective play (this is one of the major factors as to why he currently plays in Spain and was a main stay within the Portgual national team compared to his main competition, the less capable in possession Danilo Perreira, but he has a serious challenger in João Palhinha atm…). Next to Willam, we have a baller who is another one that deserves some kind of recognition in the Belgian metronome, Youri Tielemans who is arguably one of the most intelligentM(C)’s in SMW both on and off the ball. In possession, Youri will be primarily tasked with being the most creative player within the first phase of build up, taking the ball from his backline and using his metronome skills to get his team up the pitch. He isn’t the most athletic lad, but what he lacks in physicality he damn sure makes up for it with his football brain, and alongside William they will pass their way out of any trouble via implementing great positioning to rid themselves of any danger. Tielemans also has a broad range of passing so will look to get the front 3 in the game as early as he possibly can…
FORWARDS
Notice that in the final sentence of the ‘MIDFIELD’ section I said “Front 3” and not “Front 4”. The reason for this is due to our need to bring the spotlight on the star of this team, the Norweigan twinkle toed magician, Martin Ødegaard. Rather than staying high up the pitch as our main creative spark, Ødegaard will run the show from basically everywhere in the pursuit to always be involved in build up play. He will drop deep to form a midfield 3, drift outwide to create a different angle for his passes, and he’ll position himself high and central to be closer to his attacking trio, and all of these occurrences are in addition to his vision, technical dribbling and finishing capabilites with the latter being most deadly from 20 yards out as he’s shown time and time again for Arsenal in the Prem.
Since he is the main man for this team, the rest of the attackers are basically “puppets” to his ball playing skills which is why we have 3 attackers who essentially have elite level movement which will be their ‘Classic No.10’s’ wet dream… We start out with the one whom many consider to be the heir to CR7’s boots, Raphael Leão is a physical spectacle of a player who uses all that pace, power, and movement to always be a main threat in on goal. Leão will rarely seek to go 1v1 against his opposition as he primarily wants to get in the box to score goals. And in this team, he is the secondary goal scorer who will be tasked with getting into double figures each and every season… On the right, we have the more traditional wide man who will look forward to taking on his opposition but also has that knack of making ‘out to in’ runs in the Mexican Hirving Lozano who has never been a key player for any of his club teams but does a more than capable job no matter where he plays. He’s also a Latino who possesses that Latin tenacity to always want to give 100% each and every match and with Ødegaard feeding him constantly you can expect Lozano to make a lasting impact within this team.
Speaking of impact, is there a more underrated F(C) than Ciro Immobile?!?!? (Jamie Vardy has entered the chat… 😅). The Italian that wakes up with goals on his mind, Immobile has no intention of getting involved in build up play and can go an entire half with maybe 4 or 5 touches on the ball, but with 2 goals to his name… He’ll lead the line in an old schooled fashion, not busy with hassling around, but whenever you’re in and around the box the opposition better be ready! (Update: Immobile has now went down to a 91 rating since this episode was published…)
DEFENSIVE TRANSITION
Both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ sides of the 4-2-3-1 have the same set up from a defensive point of view with the only major difference being the positioning of each player. In the 4-2-3-1A there is more of a bias to protect the central regions, while today’s formation has more of a bias to protect the flanks. Either will still be effective though, and you can expect to be a difficult team to breakdown so long as you get your tactics and personnel spot on…
2 of ‘The big 4’ down, 2 more to go. And what a 2 they are going to be! We’ve heaped praised on the 4-4-2 for being the pioneer of formational football, but even that has to bow at the throne of who we have commig up next.
2 thoughts on “Season 9: PLAYER ROLES MEETS FORMATION MATTERS EPISODE 20: 4-2-3-1B meets Player Roles”
I can’t seem to beat another manager in my game world with 4-2-3-1 even though I have the better players overall. I have the better defence and midfielders but our attacks seem to be similar but I feel like I have a slight edge but I always seems to struggle against him, he also plays 4-2-3-1 with normal team instructions on everything.
Hello Antony! Wow, we understand your conumdrum and you must be quite frustrated about this situation…
We’d like to completely help you out but we’ll need to see things like your starting XI and tactics of choice. So, you can either tell us what those are in here, or you can shoot us an email at shaheemjackson9@gmail.com where you can send some screenshots of everything we need to see in order to assist you.
We may not respond to you right away but we can promise you that we will always get back to you no matter how many inquiries you have. 🤞
The Soccermanager Experience 
I can’t seem to beat another manager in my game world with 4-2-3-1 even though I have the better players overall. I have the better defence and midfielders but our attacks seem to be similar but I feel like I have a slight edge but I always seems to struggle against him, he also plays 4-2-3-1 with normal team instructions on everything.
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Hello Antony! Wow, we understand your conumdrum and you must be quite frustrated about this situation…
We’d like to completely help you out but we’ll need to see things like your starting XI and tactics of choice. So, you can either tell us what those are in here, or you can shoot us an email at shaheemjackson9@gmail.com where you can send some screenshots of everything we need to see in order to assist you.
We may not respond to you right away but we can promise you that we will always get back to you no matter how many inquiries you have. 🤞
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