New year new me.

Well, unfortunately this year of hell still has some months left to run. But some light at the end of the tunnel comes in the form of Football Manager 2021, the latest iteration of the great management simulator. As we start off fresh in the new game, it’s time to start thinking about who to manage, who to sign, which South American clubs to raid for their wonderkids, and most importantly TACTICS!

In FM20, I found myself falling into the ease and warmth of the 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress that millions like myself have grown to love. However, the more I played, the less of a challenge I found it, jumping from game to game with the same ‘vanilla’ formation and squad roles for all my players. Therefore, this year I’m going rogue, and am looking to spice up my saves with some bold new tactical decisions. Whether they bring success or failure, reward for the risk or sacking after sacking, I must not fall back into the blanket of Klopp-esque football and go big or (stay) home.

Here are just 3 of the more ‘unconventional’ formations I’m going to test out in this years’ game. If you have any successes with some unique formations or playing styles, drop us a tweet @NextGoalWinBlog and we can celebrate your wins.

Enjoy, and good luck out there on Football Manager 2021!

2-6-2

The great Thiago Motta shocked many football fans in 2018 when he proposed a 2-7-2 formation, one in which the goalkeeper would play as part of a packed 7-man midfield. After reading up on the formation and Motta’s either ingenious or wild statements, I believe I have understood the method and the madness involved in this way of playing.

The team would set out with 2 centre-backs holding back, 2 wing backs, a sweeper keeper, 2 central midfielders and 2 attacking midfielders which make up the 7 player midfield, allowing quick transitions, being offensive, controlling the game, press high and have several options for a pass at all times. This jam packed midfield will ensure that each player has up to 4/5 passing options on always and 2 players nearby incase of a loss of possession. If the majority of the game is spent in the middle section of the pitch, it makes sense to be so dominant, controlling and supportive. In the final third, you have a support striker and main striker who reap the rewards of the midfield dominance.

Although we are yet to truly see any team set-out in this formation on the team sheet, analysist’s have seen the PSG youth side managed by Motta apply some of these ideas, even if some argue the formation falls into a 4-3-3. As this is so ‘unconventional’, many are quick to discredit the thoughts, however in theory it makes sense, and that’s all I need to embrace this madness in Football Manager 2020.

Obviously this idea can’t be fully translated to Football Manager, as the keeper needs to hold back and do his actual job, although he can be given the role of a ‘sweeper keeper’ to encourage the outfield involvement proposed by Motta. There would still be the 2 CBs holding the line in defence, then the 6-man midfield comprised of wing-backs staying high up the pitch, 2 holding midfielders and 2 attacking midfielders. This is reminiscent of many other formations, however by setting each player with specific instructions of where they need to spend the majority of the game (e.g. wing-backs staying forward), the game can be controlled through Motta’s revolutionary plans.

Pros: Attacking football, control the midfield, control possession, passes and attacking options.

Cons: Defensive exposure, easily undone by a strong attacking side, requires clinical striker to finish chances, requires lot’s of individual roles to enforce.

5-5-0

In complete contrast to the previous ‘attacking and controlling’ 2-6-2, this idea would be the ultimate definition of parking the bus. The 5-5-0 is designed to be used by teams when holding onto a slender lead in the final few minutes, however I am proposing to enforce these ideas with a club for the full 90 minutes, game after game.

The reason behind using this formation, is that as you fly up the leagues and the competition increases, there is an inevitability of conceding more and losing control of many more games. By using this formation, it will allow your side to take a ‘Burnley’ approach in which you nullify the opponents attack, create 1/2 decent chances and rely on draws/scrappy wins to survive in the league.

Of course, this strategy will not allow you to dominate leagues and win title after title, however if you were to draw every game in a league season, you are almost guaranteed to avoid a relegation scrap, and sit comfortably mid/bottom of the table. Additionally, if you set out the correct instructions for your attacking midfielders/wingers you can still create plenty of goal scoring opportunities.

In the 5-5-0 you would need 3 CBs, 2 wing-back/full backs, and then an option of 5 midfielders depending on whether to play with wingers, attacking midfielders, defensive midfielders or a mixture of all. The key point is to have no recognised striker, although you could choose to play with a traditional striker in a deeper role, meaning you have a finisher in one of the attacking midfield positions.

Pros: Nullify opponents attack, strong defensive unit, control the game in 2/3 of pitch, could hold majority of possession.

Cons: Limited attacking threat, lots of draws/scrappy wins, not ‘traditionally’ entertaining football, difficult to recover if conceding early goal.

2-3-5

Over lockdown, I finally sat down to read Jonathan Wilson’s superb book ‘inverting the pyramid’ and reading through the birth of formations and tactics from the 1800s to present day truly surprised me with the advances to the sport we love that has come about as a result of the way 11 men are positioned on a pitch.

One of the main formations discussed by Wilson, and a key influence of the title of the book, is the 2-3-5 formation, known more commonly as ‘the pyramid’. It was used in the late 1800s and early 1900s by English teams and changed the way football is played, by stopping the reliance on 1 player carrying the ball forward, and introduced the ‘team’ element of football.

In defence, the full backs/CBs would mark the oppositions inside forwards, the outside halfbacks would drop back with the opponents wingers and the middle halfback marks the main striker. This middle halfback also plays the pivot role in going from defence to attack as he would organise the squad and play short passes to the attacking line.

This formation was a real gamechanger, in both the way the game was played, the role of every player on the pitch and even with the offside rule, as there was a major change to the offside laws with the prevalence of the 2-3-5 pyramid.

Taking this into Football Manager will again create a risky attacking based style of play. The work rate from the defensive unit will be massive as they’re expected to not only protect and defend but be the start of attacking moves. When in the oppositions final third with the ball, your squad will be incredibly dominant and undoubtedly bag plenty of goals. Therefore, with the combination of an exposed defence, and packed attacking line, you’ll be in for some dramatic and entertaining fixtures for sure.

It is essentially the 4-3-3 used by Klopp and many others, however this takes the wing-backs and turns them into the actual wingers that these major managers are slowly creeping into. Think TAA and Dani Alves as your wingers and a Bruno Fernandes playing halfback.

It’s risky, but entertaining for sure.

Pros: Attacking football, plenty of goals, dominant in final third of pitch, ‘entertaining’ games.

Cons: Exposed defence, heavily reliant on energetic midfield, weak to crosses, potentially cluttered attack.

Don’t forget to head over to Twitter to let us know your unique formations and tactical styles, and share any successes you have with any of these formations. (@NextGoalWinBlog).