That is all I would ever want from them as a minimum requirement. Their primary job (and only mission as far as I am concerned) is to head and kick the ball away as far as possible. Relatively simple this one but there are personal tastes to how you might want your centre half duo to play. You will want your full-backs to have high stamina as well as technical attributes such as crossing as they will be expected to play a big part in the attacking phase of play. When on the ball they push forward and overlap whilst off the ball they are back to defend. You want your wide players to parade up and down the pitch as much as possible. Like the wide midfielders that we will talk about shortly, your full-backs are going to have to be tiresome. Therefore, you want the ball back in play quickly to take advantage of that.ĭistribution to the flanks will see your wide midfielders (who should be your most creative players) pick up the ball and start on the attack. Normally when your goalkeeper picks up on the ball that means that an opposition attack has ended and are out of position.

You will want your man in between the sticks to distribute quickly. I have created a 4-4-2 myself and I will break the positions down with a short description of what you will be wanting from them during a match. That is the history lesson over so now let us create a 4-4-2 system of our own. AC Milan obtained a lot of success with the diamond addition under Arrigo Sacchi as the 1990’s approached. That is exactly what happened when teams in Italy began to roll out the 4-4-2 but instead of the traditional flat four across midfield they tended to go with a diamond.Ī central holding midfielder sitting behind two central midfielders and another one further forward just in front of what you would call the traditional ‘CAM’ position. Liverpool won numerous European Cups using the tried and tested strategy.Īs is the norm in football a tactic can be copied but a spin added to it. The success of the 4-4-2 skyrocketed from there as many English clubs adopted this style. It worked well for Alf Ramsey as England won the World Cup. A technique that Guardiola used and adapted to new levels whilst managing Barcelona. The reasoning was that a narrow four up against the oppositions two in the centre of midfield would make it easier to stay in possession and offer more passing options from the back to the front. England manager Alf Ramsey was the first to employ the formation although the midfield four were narrower at the time compared to that of the 90’s and 00’s. You must go all the way back to 1966 to find the first use of the 4-4-2.

My mind wanders straight to the Manchester United team that won the treble in the 1998/99 season and the unforgettable Leicester City team that shocked the world by winning the Premier League in 2016.ĭiego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid stunned Spain in 2014 using the 4-4-2 and winning La Liga, leaving perennial runaway winners Barcelona and Real Madrid baffled.īut before we get into the tactical side of things, I think we should look back on the origins of the formation and understand the root cause of its creation. The tactic can also easily be adapted depending on the situation you find yourself in during a match, but I’ll provide a short walkthrough on that later.

Your 4-4-2 may eventually evolve into a 4-5-1 or a 4-3-3 as you chop and change to make your ultimate tactic, rotate players and fit new signings in that require to be facilitated in positions that require a specified role such as a DM or CAM for instance. It is not too heavy at either end of the pitch and provides the correct balance in numbers for both attacking and defensive phases of the game. A flat back four and midfield with two strikers. Why the 4-4-2?Īs I said it can be viewed as ‘basic’ but it can also be a safe option at the beginning of a save. The 4-4-2 is the more ‘basic’ of tactics and was the standard setup for most football clubs and national teams during the late 90’s and early 00’s before your Jose Mourinho’s and Pep Guardiola’s turned up and changed the game as a whole with unique tactical setups and foundations. We will be looking at the specific roles for each position including what to look for in a player and how the team should be encouraged to play as a unit when on and off the ball in attacking and defensive situations. I will be kicking off my first tactics piece with the formation I grew up watching: The 4-4-2. 4-4-2 is one of the most traditional tactical systems and here I’ll examine the player roles and duties setup to make a 4-4-2 formation work in Football Manager. Today I want to look into how I’m approaching bringing back the 4-4-2 system in Football Manager 2021. Welcome to TheTarrantino’s first tactics talk piece for Passion4FM.

Fmm 2021 tactics