Welcome back to yet another episode brought to you by the good people over there at The S.M.B! We had to say a hearty goodbye to our beloved ‘4 at the back series’, but the show must go on and as we enter into a new territory, the main objective is to become as difficult to beat as possible which is exactly what you’ll be learning within the new series that commences in today’s episode. That’s right Soccermanagerites, to wrap up this amazing season we’ll be focusing on the ‘5 at the back’ formations that we have at our disposal within SMW, and what a better way to start off the 5 series than going in depth on one of the more recognizeable 5 at the back formations within the current game.
The 5-3-2A formation is one that has a lot of similarities to its older brother, the 3-5-2 (see… Another bunch of relatives). The biggest differences between these two siblings are the positioning of the wide players and the responsibilities of both trios within the midfield. While the 3-5-2 allows for more expansion, the 5-3-2A is more focused on discipline and working extremeley hard for the betterment of the entire squad even if it means to sacrifice some parts of an individual’s game. And although it can be converted into a 3-5-2 when in possession for long periods, there is a sense of caution that the 5-3-2A provides which is the one aspect of the formation that makes it stand out from the ‘B’ and ‘C’ sides of this formation that will be coming up soon… One final thing I wanted to mention before we get into the XI, and it’s the fact that we’ve decided to leave the more older players within SMW for these ‘5 at the back’ formations since there is enough protection for them so that they never have to be isolated which is arguably one of the biggest disadvantages of being a player over 32+ (Ofcourse, not every player fits into this category as we’ve already seen with the likes of Kroos, Hummels and Lewandowski, for example).
DEFENCE
In today’s formation, we have one of the best young GK’s within the modern game in the Italian Gianluigi Donnarumma, who has the name sake of an Italian legend but is more than worthy of having that level of pressure on his shoulders. Donnarumma is simply an amazing Shot Stopper who is like a one man mountain between the sticks and is also considered a physical intimidation to many attacking players in a similar elk to GK’s of the past like Schmeichel, Vinnie Jones, Joe Hart etc..
In front of Donnarumma, we have the 3 D(C)’s who have been granted the opportunity to be the first 3 up within the ‘5 at the back’ series. The man in the dead centre is a player that needs no introduction, a player who laughs at the face of the stereotypical concept that players of his age shouldn’t be playing at such a high level as well as a man who simply oozes with class every single time he steps on the pitch… Thiago Silva (update: rating decrease to 91) is the definition of a proper Rolls Royce defender, and with so much protection around him we can expect that he’ll go above and beyond as the leader within the pack. On both sides of him, he will need to have players who are athletic, since 39 years old means a Pace of around 60, so we have two D(C)’s who fit the bill and will be doing more of the aggressive defensive work in the French man Pierre Kalulu, and the Swiss man Nico Elvedi. Kalulu is yet another French D(C) who is very good on the ball and possesses a lot of that all too important pace that will be needed to aid Thiago Silva’s aging legs. Kalulu also posseses a lot of power and tends to win most of his ground duels; While in Nico Elvedi, we have a former D(RLC) who now only operates as a D(C), but those instincts haven’t gone anywhere so he is more than comfortable playing in that D(LC) position where he will primarily be on his weaker side (but it won’t show… ).
In the ‘Wingback’ region, we have to let you know that no matter who you play here their primary responsibility will be to prevent their attacker from doing any damage before switching to doing their attacking themselves. The beauty about ‘5 at the back’ formations is that they are the pinnacle for older players to play their best and with age comes a lot of experience, so we’ve decided to choose the Colombian Juan Cuadrado and the Croatian Ivan Perisić ( update: rating decrease to 90) as our ‘Wingbacks’. Both are actually former ‘Wingers’ who have been converted into ‘Wingbacks’ based on the revolution of their position. Not only will they get up and down the flank, their combined experience means that they’ve been around the park so they
will know when best to venture forward as well as performing some of the dark arts that allow a team to defend at their optimal
MIDFIELD
FORWARDS
DEFENSIVE TRANSITION
And with that, we kick start the ‘5 at the back’ mini series… Don’t go no where, cause the ‘B’ side of this formation will be coming up shortly!
The Soccermanager Experience 