The S.M.B is indeed the gift that just keeps on giving! We complete our mini series look at the ‘Big 4’ formations consisting of what many believe are the 4 most popular formations within the entirety of soccermanager which are both variants of the 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3. Today, we end it off with yet another spectacular formation that provides almost everything that any manager will need to obtain the best results that they possibly can. There really isn’t that many differences when it comes to the ‘A’ and ‘B’ sides of each 4-3-3, but it has a structural similarity compared to the ‘B’ side of the 4-2-3-1 in that it offers more width and is focused more on wide play (compared to the 4-3-3A). What makes both 4-3-3’s more superior (in our humble opinion) is that the 4-3-3A is also a formation that can operate with traditional ‘Wingers’, albeit that they will have more of an emphasis to get ‘in behind’ compared to the wide men within the 4-3-3B. Another slight difference between the two is that the ‘B’ side makes it more of an emphasis to partake in a possession based style of play since the midfield 3 play closer to each other and the foundational set up of the formation makes it more effective when it comes to forming triangles around the field (the same occurs when implementing a possessional game with the 3-5-2, as well as the upcoming formation that we will be discussing next). Other than these differences, it’s basically the exact same set up structurally from both 4-3-3’s, but we will take these differences into consideration as we dive into the balance of the starting XI.
DEFENCE
Like I said within the 4-2-3-1A episode, we need to have the best of the best between the sticks, and we continue this trend with the Brazilian shot stopper who could possibly debut at DM(C) if he had the opportunity. Ederson is a GK that really stands out when it comes to his ability on the ball, so much so, that he is highly regarded as the best ‘Modern Keeper’ within today’s game. I mean, seriously…. He’s freaking fantastic on the ball and makes what he does seem so simple. From his short, mid, and long range passing, no other keeper in world football can compete to the Brazilian’s ball playing skills.
In front of Ederson we have the D(C) pair setup that you’ve probably been used to seeing during the course of this season in theworld class ‘Ball Playing Defender’ and Austrian skipper David Alaba, and the up and coming French ‘Stopper’ Jean-Clair Todibo (the amount of Center Backs France have at their disposal is ridiculous…,) Both D(C)‘s will be providing a great mixture of ball playing capabilites from one and the destruction of the opposition’s play from the other. With the structure of the midfield 3, there will be more of an emphasis on Ederson and Alaba to be the ones who are responsible for ball progression within the early stages of the build up. On the flanks, we have the Czech Republic international Vladimir Coufal, while the Brazilian Caio Enrique is an under the radar player who currently plays in France and will be responsible for maintaining his position as a supporting ‘Fullback’ who will also convert into a left sidedD(C) if it is needed (particularly against a press that consists of a lot of attack minded players)
MIDFIELD
Although this midfield might seem as if they don’t have enough quality, there are players here who have enough ‘X factors’ that could help them stand out and make a difference against higher rated teams… In João Palhinha, we have a ‘Ball Winning Midfielder’ who is considered a top 3 player within his role in the prem at the moment and is surely set to leave Fulham in either January or in the Summer. He keeps things simple on the ball and is quite exceptional when it comes to winning the ball back and protecting his backline. His positioning is superb, and there has to be a ’91’ rating loading for sure! In front of him, we have the main conductor of the team in the Spaniard Luis Alberto, who is considered a Liverpool flop that went on to new pastures and had quite a respectable career (alongside players like Iago Aspas and Dominic Solanke etc….). Alberto is more of a ‘Classic No.10’ but has the added protection that will allow him to star slightly deeper thus getting on the ball and being the main source of ball progression with the likes of Alaba and Ederson being the supporting cast. But, the main man up top needs as much service as he possibly can so that is exactly the reason why we have chosen the Portugese Renato Snaches to make up this midfield 3. Renato Sanches is a M(C) that is one of the more versatile ones in terms of tactical brilliance, and he is very much capable of playing in several different roles (which is something I’m realizing that lower rated players tend to have in abundance…). In this team he will be aiming to assist Alberto with the ball progression as our ‘Technical B2B’, getting unto the ball and playing killer passes, while beating the oppostion’s press with his technical dribbling in tight spaces
FORWARDS
This formation has an attacking bias and I won’t shy away from saying that is indeed the case since one of the main reasons behind the inclusion of some of the earlier players we’ve discussed so far is down to the front 3 that we have at our disposal… Starting out left, we have a potential Balon d’or winner in the Brazilian danger man Vinicius Júnior who has the left flank all to himself since Henrique will rarely be overlapping him, and although this might cause a potential double team against Vinicius, you simply have to trust that he has the know-how to get pass them (trust me when I say that he does indeed have the ‘know-how’!)… If you thought one ‘Explosive Winger’ was enough then prepare to be bamboozled as we also have the Belgian starlet who has started his career at the Treble winners in the best way possible. Jeremy Doku is one of the very few old school ‘Wingers’ still around in the modern game and he will showcase his love for ‘stop and start’ dribbling as he isolates his Fullback and take them wherever he wants to. When it comes to who is going to be more of a threat between both ‘Wingers’, you’d be surprised that it’s actually Doku since he is more unpredictable, while Vinicius is more of an efficient player in terms of his dribbling patterns as he tends to be more clinical and efficient while Jeremy will overall cause more headaches for each Fullback he comes up against (this is to be viewed from the perspective of an ‘out and out’ Winger). Oh, we’ve also given Jeremy an ’89’ rating beacuse we expect him to increase due to his stellar start at City.
Upfront, we have a cyborg. We’ve already gone into details about our F(C) from a previous season’s episode (which we’ll leave a link to at the end of this one) but the Norwegian has literally made the hardest thing to do on a football pitch look like taking candy from a bunch of ‘baby’ defenders… Erling Braut Haaland has been quite a sensation, and in this team he has up to 6 players who are actively seeking to give him the ball so he can finish it, and if you’ve been paying attention to the Prem you’d realize that he’s one of those Forwards that needs to be the main man since he has no intention of having many touches on the ball which concludes to the creativity needing to be diversified since Erling WILL score once he gets those chances…
DEFENSIVE TRANSITION
So, as we mentioned back in the ‘A’ and ‘B’ sides of the 4-2-3-1 episodes, it might be considered that the 4-2-3-1B is more of a better defensive set up due to it providing the necessary defensive positioning that is required to prevent teams that like to stretch their oppostion from doing so effectively. But this is not a scenario that will be an issue for neither 4-3-3’s due to the structural set up of both. What this means is no matter if you’re playing the 4-3-3A or 4-3-3B, the entire team will aim to defend as much as possible so everyone gets involved with the proceeding of ensuing that the opposition does not have an easy time breaking them down. What could potentially cause the 4-3-3’s an issue in defence is the personnel that you have within the starting XI. If you choose to have attackers who don’t have any form of workrate then you should expect that to be a conundrum which is why we prefer to use a different formation when there is a “Slacker” within our realm…
Other than that, you can rest assured that these 4-3-3’s are the best in terms of offering a proper set up during the defensive phase (hence why we continually proclaim them as being the 🐐’s)
As we come to the end of our ‘Big 4’ series, there is still some more work to do and formations to check out so don’t go anywhere as Episode 23 is just around the corner!!!
The Soccermanager Experience 