The Switch 4132 Tactic by ChrisOrmie

The 4132 Switch Tactic

For the past 5 versions of Football Manager I have been developing the same tactic along the same line. It started with a 442 and has gone through quite a few variations but the only things that have changed in 5 years is the midfield. It’s ever evolving and the positions in midfield tend to switch through a cycle. This is the story of the evolution of my ‘Switch’ tactic:

FM2005 – How it all started
When this game came out I was a little surprised but happy to see the changes from the last version of Championship Manager I had played (CM03/04), the name may have changed but the core game was the same – however a few things had changed. For the first time I saw that I needed to rethink my tactical and training ideals and could no longer count on the ones provided for me. I had started up a game as Swansea (my favourite team) and asked for advice on a forum about the best formation for this type of team. I was told to try a 4132 as wingers were not dependable enough in lower leagues and without true quality in the middle, you needed to put men in that area to close down space.

Looking at my squad there was not enough to even play this formation in my opinion so I went and signed a bunch of free transfers to try this new formation out. Within a few months I saw that it was stopping me losing games but we couldn’t score goals for love nor money – and so the first evolution came about. The four midfielders consisted of a DM/MC; AMLC; AMRC; and an AMC. During games I switched their positions about to suit the in-game situations. If I needed a goal or two then I switched them about again pushing up the DM to replace the middle of my midfield three, who in turn went up to AM and supported the strikers – who could now seek the space in the channels and leave the AMC to occupy the central defenders. If there was just a few minutes left and we still needed to score then it became a 4114 with a DM and an AM, also the AMLC and AMRC pushed up front and out wide leaving the strikers to only try and score. This was the only time our tactics changed from defensive to attacking. We struggled at times and a good winger was all it took to destroy us even though we dominated possession and chances, so I decided to look into it but with FM2006 around the corner I would try it again there.

FM2006 – Locking the defence
One of the main weaknesses of the tactic on FM2005 was the defensive mindset of the outfield which led to us struggling to win these games we were controlling – and that resulted from the fact that the defence was a shambles in terms of both player quality and instructions as I had focused too much on the midfield. I remembered Houllier’s Liverpool team and the fact that the back four all played like centre-backs and their style of defending was simplicity itself. From this I devised my three rules of defending: 1) ‘Get in the way’ – block the shot or pass with anything you can. Toe, knee, face. 2) ‘Get it rid’ – Don’t bother to run it up field or try a killer 40-yard ball down the wing. Just get it and then get rid. (If unsure then aim for row Z), and finally 3) ‘Never leave it’ – If you can get it then go do so, NEVER leave it for a teammate, all this causes is confusion.

Using these simple ideals I set the back four to the most defensive settings I could – with the keeper the same. This was also the first time I decided to retain our shape even with corners and free-kicks (ie keeper in the net, back four in defence, midfield taking set pieces and supporting, and the strikers trying to score). This defensive base then allowed me to switch from a defensive team mindset to a more attacking one. The team did seem stretched at times but we were scoring more goals without conceding many. I was very happy with the result of this tweak and I found that rotating the positions of the midfielders during matches was still working well – in fact with the stability at the back I could now even switch a few individual instructions about to better accommodate them in their new roles. Again our weakness was a good winger or striker attacking from the flanks.

FM2007 – Protecting the flanks
I needed to minimise the threat of the opposition down the flanks as this had become a real problem once I reached the Premiership with Swansea and especially started challenging for European places. The wingers I was beginning to face were of too high a quality to ignore and without protection from the midfield my fullbacks started getting overrun and the goals started flowing in against us. I spent a while studying the match engine in a bit of detail and saw that we had been poor at picking up AML’s and AMR’s once the opposition full/wing-back had pushed upfield. whilst this left space for us to exploit we tended to see either the winger or fullback occupying my defenders whilst the other was free to enjoy the space and time he’d been afforded. The midfield dominated the middle of the park but once it reached the touchline – they were letting the opposition play – that had to change.

I set up the team instructions to play wider and pegged back the outside midfielders creativity and mentality. This meant that they would try to stay in position a bit more and just recycle possession rather than trying to get forward themselves. Once we lost the balls these players would move to mark the opposition full-backs as they bombed forward which meant that my own full-backs could just concentrate on the wingers. This had the desired defensive effect but now the strikers got isolated and the AMC was swamped by the opposition midfield whenever he got on the ball. More changes needed but I could see that we’d nearly gotten the balance right and it would not be long before I was happy.

FM2008 – Self destruction
Before now I could only score or keep clean sheets in most games, and that was decided over the quality of the opposition’s midfield more than my own team. This was the game where everything went wrong and I seemed to start to unpick the good work that I’d done so far. The main problem was that I changed to one up front, and turned the other striker and the AMC into wingers. This, I thought, would provide extra width and shorten the gap between midfield and attack, meaning we’d be able to keep our defensive shape but also create better chances to score. Variations of this theme led me to adapt to a 451 for many months but we’d just play boring football and either win or lose 1-0. This was not acceptable after years of free-flowing football and in direct counter-point to the style that had led Swansea to clinch the League One title in real life.

So I again adapted from 451 to a 433 which led us to goals galore – at both ends. I had moved completely away from my ideals that I has spent three years on in a reckless attempt for a quick-fix. Sadly it was not until later that I realised this and before I knew it the new version of Football Managers had hit the shelves. This came at a good point as I could roll-back to my end-of-FM2007 tactic and start afresh without the complications I had added to things in 2008.

FM2009 – Learning patience
As quick as I had been to drastically change things in the previous version, I had to learn to make small changes again and wait to see how they affected things. The 2007 tactic was working well for me and with a small bit of tweaking I was happy with both our general defending and attacking but the same problems that had bugged us for the past few years were still evident – generating width in attack and protecting our flanks. I took a look around in real life football and noticed the trend for English League teams to adopt a 451 formation where the fullbacks moved into midfield, the wingers pushed forward, and the DM sat to help defend. The level of positional changing during games struck me as similar to my own, but whilst my changes occurred due to changing our shape for periods of play, the real life changes resulted from a the wide-reaching roles that each player had been given. This was not easy to replicate in FM2009 so I felt the need to try and replicate the movement between attack and defence but once again concentrated on the midfield to provide this change.

My dilemma was that I was stuck between a 4132 and a 4312 formation. One had proven great for defending and the other was great for attacking, but the weakness was my own recognition of when to switch from one to the other during matches – any mistakes and we’d invariably concede. During one of these changes I manually moved my DM to MC and the central MC to AM – or so I thought – but only the second change occurred. This new 41212 was very narrow but provided a great pivot system for changing between attack and defence. When we attacked the DM seemed to move between our MC’s and aided in the re-cycling of possession. In defence the AMC dropped back and allowed the MC’s to move into wider positions to pick up the opposition fullbacks. Still the attacking width needed increasing and now moving the strikers out wide just meant that their markers could go with them and there was nobody to occupy the space. A quick change to the fullbacks saw them playing like the central midfielders and getting forward to keep possession and stretch the opposition defence. Only against a quick counter-attack were we vulnerable but the solution to that was about to arrive!

FM2010 – The tactical revolution

With the new tactical system and introduction of roles I finally had the tool-set to build the tactic that I had longed for back with FM2005. The 2009 tactic had come close but still suffered from the bane of my life – the quick striker or winger. With this new system however I could minimise that threat by assigning team tactics to aid our attack, individual tactics to keep our shape and minimise the opposition threats, and now player roles which allowed me to revert to the stability of the 4132 whilst still enjoying the players movement between attack and defence. The sideline features and in-game shouts also helped me to make the changes needed without actually changing tactics. I could now switch our style, shape and mentality without loading a different tactic.

The Tactic
The basis of the ’4132-Switch’ tactic is quite simple – the defenders defend, the midfield is the engine, and the attackers score the goals. Width is provided by the fullbacks and attackers, whilst the centre of the field is protected by the midfielders. The one weakness of this system is that it only works with certain player-types but seeing as the type of player needed is available at all levels of the game (at least I have never struggled to find players that fit the requirements – usually on free transfers), this is not really a problem to fufil. The toughest roles to fill are usually goalkeeper and strikers. I tend to use counter-intuitive strategies for each opponent – ie for teams I expect to dominate I use Contain and not Control, whilst for those I expect to dominate me I use Control and not Contain. I find that this works better with this tactic that the ‘correct’ strategies, and that one of these two are all I need at the beginning of each match.

The Player Requirements
ALL – For this tactic to work all players need decent anticipation, work-rate, determination, and physicals. This is the core of this system as they will be (hopefully) running the game for the whole 90 minutes (or beyond).
GK – 6′ plus, needs good handling, and reflexes. Needs decent rushing out.
DR/DL – 6′ plus, needs decent concentration, and marking. Crossing is useful but not essential.
DC – 6’4 plus, needs decent concentration, heading, and positioning.
DM – Needs decent passing, tackling, team work, and positioning.
MLC/MRC – Needs decent passing, team work, and positioning.
Central MC – Needs decent dribbling, passing, creativity, and off the ball.
SCs – Needs good anticipation, and off the ball. Needs decent finishing, composure and dribbling.

The In-Match Shouts
For full effectiveness of this tactic you need to play certain shouts together. When you need to defend – ‘Play to feet’ and ‘Get ball forward’; and in attack – ‘Pass into space’ and ‘Retain possession’ both work well. Usually I leave the rest alone unless I am having problems with certain players and then I use the ‘Drop deeper’, ‘Push up’, ‘Play wider’, and/or ‘Play narrower’ shouts to combat that player. It’s normal for me to change the shouts every 15-20 minutes during a match and those times could be even shorter if the opposition is making changes.

The Download

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