The United Way – Releasing the Handbrake
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Welcome back to The United Way! Season one can definitely be described as a success, with a third place finish in the Premier League and a Europa League triumph. However, we drew a few too many winnable games for my liking, and heading into season two that was the major thing I wanted to fix from a tactical perspective.
I had a bit of a think about how I tend to set my sides up, and questioned whether that would actually get the best from the players I had available to me. By changing just player roles, I unleashed the beast.
As a reminder, for more regular match and transfer updates, The United Way can also be found on the SI Forums!
The Run
We were given a horror run to start season two. Our first five league games were Chelsea (a), Tottenham Hotspur (h), Liverpool (a), Manchester City (h) and Arsenal (a). In and around them, we had to face Liverpool twice more in the UEFA Super Cup and Carabao Cup Third Round, and kicked off our Champions League campaign at home to Inter Milan. For this run, we predominantly used the 4-3-3 system that I developed halfway through season one, which has generally seen us be able to pick up results in the biggest games. This post isn’t about the 4-3-3, but instead about tweaks to our favoured 4-2-3-1. However, I think it’s important to add the context that, after what was an incredibly tough start to the season, a game at home to Everton felt like the perfect opportunity to blow away the cobwebs and kick start our year.
The Old System
Before we look at the changes, let’s take a look at how we were setting up last season. As I’ve mentioned, in the big games we’re setting up in a whole different system that won’t be looked at in this post. I’m just looking at the changes I’ve made to our 4-2-3-1 and the effect it’s had.
Since the introduction of positional play to Football Manager, my preference has been to set up my team to build up in either a 2-3-5 or 3-2-5 shape. As I often use a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 for my primary tactic, my first major decision is which player to use as the fifth attacker.
In season one, as you can see above, that player (more often than not) was Luke Shaw. I made this choice for a couple of reasons; firstly, Luke Shaw is an excellent attacking full-back. He has quality on the ball that many out and out wingers would envy, plus the speed, agility and mental game to back it up.
Secondly, it provided balance to the system. With Rashford always playing his best football when he can dart inside and offer a goal threat, having Shaw on the overlap down the left allowed us to hold width and stretch opposition defences. It’s exactly why Gareth Southgate took him to the Euros when he wasn’t fully fit; he knew that if he could get him on the pitch he would unlock that left hand side. Trippier filled in admirably, but it was clear that England needed a natural left-back to link up with Foden.
Lastly, due to the profiles we had in midfield. With space for only one player to join the front four when we had sustained possession, if it wasn’t going to be Shaw then it was going to be a runner from midfield. The problem with that, is that none of our best pivot players offered that profile. Casemiro (at least in game) was the stable anchor, and Hjulmand was brought in to be his long-term replacement in that role. Kobbie Mainoo is a wonderful talent and definitely has the needed athleticism, but I feel he’s best as a playmaker rather than a box crasher. Scott McTominay and Mason Mount suit the profile, but neither warranted enough minutes playing in the pivot to make it my go-to system.
So with that in mind, and Shaw offering a fantastic option from left-back, I decided that my pivot should focus on ball retention, progressive passing and solidity in defensive transition.
Casemiro was given the task of doing the dirty work; as a Defensive Midfielder with a Defend duty, all I wanted from him was to hold station, win his duels and lay the ball off to those around him.
Diogo Dalot was asked to join the pivot and slot in to the right of Casemiro. He may not have Trent levels of ability on the ball, but he’s such a well-rounded player that he offers multiple benefits to the system by inverting. He’s good enough on the ball to contribute to our deep creation (albeit he wasn’t asked to take any crazy risks with his passing), he’s solid defensively and therefore could help Casemiro to regain possession, and he’s also quick enough to recover should teams try to play over the top of us, especially as we were playing with a high line.
To the left, I needed Kobbie Mainoo to be positionally disciplined, but also wanted to put my faith in him by giving him a little bit more creative freedom. By using him as a Deep-Lying Playmaker with a Support duty, he could be the most progressive of the pivot and take more risks with his passing, but still stay in position well enough to contribute defensively.
Why The Switch?
A few reasons, really.
In season one we dropped points in a lot of winnable games, particularly away from home. My theory is that we were possibly showing these sides a little bit too much respect, and not being ruthless enough. As we aren’t exactly rock solid defensively, sides were often able to take the one or two chances they needed to get a result.
Also, although Shaw was indeed offering the width like I had envisaged, he wasn’t getting far enough forward to really be considered the fifth attacker, which means we weren’t building up in the way I wanted to and had one less player for opposition defences to deal with.
We also don’t really have a true defensive midfielder going into season two. We have a lot of players to play in the pivot, with the likes of Mainoo, Mount and Hjulmand being joined by new signing Khephren Thuram, plus Lutsharel Geertruida who can also play in midfield. However, I feel all of them are at their best as the more progressive of a midfield pair, or possibly even played further forward as number 8s in a 4-3-3. I did consider that as a permanent adjustment going into season two, but I’m not willing to dampen the impact of Bruno Fernandes, who has been world class playing as a Shadow Striker.
In season one we had Casemiro, of course, and when I signed Hjulmand it was to rotate with and then replace the Brazilian. Despite being an excellent ball winner, I felt Hjulmand was a bit wasted last season and he never really put in any impressive performances as the deepest of our midfielders.
I said over on the forums when I signed Thuram that he was a market opportunity that was too good to turn down, and I didn’t necessarily have a plan for how best to utilise him. That did prove to be the case early in the season, with him playing some of his first games as the sole DM in our 4-3-3. However, he offers far too much for that to be his role. He has so much talent on the ball, and such excellent athleticism that asking him to just sit as a ball winner is a complete waste.
With the excellent options we have in the pivot, the overriding reason for the change is simple – I want to unlock the potential of our midfield.
It’s no secret that midfielders, especially defensive midfielders, can sometimes feel underwhelming in Football Manager because they struggle to get high match ratings without goals and assists. That doesn’t mean I don’t value what they’re doing, but our midfield is full of genuine game changers, so if I can find a way to tweak the system to allow them to be at their best, then I’ll do just that.
The New System
Three player role changes and three player instructions added. That’s it.
It’s about evolution rather than revolution.
Both full-backs are now asked to invert, which obviously means a change of play style for Luke Shaw. I waxed lyrical earlier about his ability to go down the outside of Marcus Rashford and offer the width, but he’s equally proficient at tucking inside and creating from deep. In order to still maintain the width on the left, the Inside Forward has been asked to stay wider when we have the ball, but will continue to cut inside when they have the ball themselves.
The Defensive Midfielder has been adjusted to a Support duty, and also has added player instructions to take more risks when passing and to hold position. This is the role that Thuram seems to have made his own lately, although Hjulmund has also played well doing this and on a couple of occasions Mainoo has also sat as the deepest midfielder. With the inclusion of the player instructions, it turns this role into a kind of faux Deep-Lying Playmaker. They won’t get on the ball as much as a playmaker generally would, but that’s fine by me as their primary role is still to stay in the pivot and protect the defence. The Support duty does bring with it though a Positive mentality (as our tactic itself has a positive mentality) so in sustained possession they will still support the attack. With this role it’s more about removing some of the restrictions that the Defend duty applies, rather than an overhaul for what I want from the role.
The same applies to the change on the left of the pivot, with the move from a Deep-Lying Playmaker to a Roaming Playmaker. The idea is fairly simple, with the left-back now being asked to invert and fill the position on the left of the pivot, it gives the midfielder on that side licence to get forward, knowing they have protection behind them.
They don’t join as the fifth attacker in the same way that Shaw did in season one but actually, I prefer this, as they tend to sit between the lines and find gaps where it’s difficult for the opposition to pick them up.
The new system also challenges a misconception that I’ve had for a long time, that I now realise has possibly been holding me back – that a midfield player has to have a Defend duty to contribute defensively.
Ever since I wrote a post back during the FM21 cycle about how mentality affects player roles, I’ve been keen to make sure I pay attention to the combination of mentalities I have, and that I’m not committing too many players to attacks.
At the time, I was managing Defensor Sporting in Uruguay, and was dissecting a horror season where we’d gone from title challengers to a limp fifth place finish. In that save, I’d actually gone the other way, and in a 4-3-3 I’d created there was far too much attacking impetus that left us horribly exposed defensively.
Through a combination of the introduction of positional play to Football Manager, and an improvement in my understanding, I can now confidently create a tactic where I can give more freedom to my pivot, while also trusting that they’re going to do the job we need them to do defensively.
We’re Manchester United after all, we should be looking to play on the front foot, and the midfield can be a massive part of that.
The Comparison
I’ve taken a look back through some matches we’ve played with each system, and there are definitely a few bits that show we’re moving in the right direction.
Average Positions
The three average position maps below are from three matches in season one, where we narrowly beat Everton 1-0, and drew with Bournemouth and Fulham – all at Old Trafford.
The biggest thing to take away from these maps is the positioning of the left back. The biggest drawback with asking a full-back to be the player to join the attack is that they have to do the most running to be able to do so. Shaw is a fantastic athlete, but it’s clear to see that he wasn’t getting as far forward as we needed him to. That means that the build-up shape isn’t the 2-3-5 I was looking for, but rather a 2-4-4. Of course I could have put Shaw on an attack duty to push him on further, but that also puts extra physical demands on him to get up and down the pitch.
Compare that to the average position maps from three convincing wins in season two against Everton, Brentford and Crystal Palace, and the shape looks much more like what I wanted to create.
The left-back is obviously a lot narrower, but is getting just as far forward as when we previously wanted them to be an active part of the attack. The joy of this is that when it’s Luke Shaw joining the pivot, we actually gain an extra quality passer from deep to provide for the forwards. The left-back is taking up similar positions to the ones that the Deep-Lying Playmaker was taking up in season one, and this allows the Roaming Playmaker to now push forward and be in those little pockets of space between the lines.
To confirm what I said previously about my reluctance to not include a Defend duty in my midfield, it’s important to note that the Defensive Midfielder on Support is taking up almost identical positions to last season, where there was a Defend duty. This means that I’ve gained the extra freedom to allow them to take more risks with their passing, and possibly even add more instructions if I ever feel the game calls for it, but I haven’t sacrificed any of our defensive solidarity.
I was sceptical about the width on the left being offered by the Inside Forward before making the tweaks, even with the added player instruction. It’s good to see that there has been a clear shift, with the average position changing from inside the left half-space to being outside the width of the penalty area.
Pass Maps
Next up, I wanted to take a look at the sort of passing positions the changes roles were taking up each season, most crucially to ensure that the dynamics down the left hand side remain balanced.
In season one it’s pretty much what you would expect from the left-back and the deep-lying playmaker. The left back is holding the width and predominantly playing forward passes down the flank to find the inside forward. There isn’t a huge amount of activity from the left-back in the attacking third, another sign that although the system was balanced in season one it wasn’t quite what I was looking for.
The deep-lying playmaker was also keeping things pretty simple. There aren’t many switches of play, the focus is very much on short, safe passing, often trying to find the players to his left.
With the tweaks in season two, we start to see the hybrid role from the left-back that you would expect when asking them to invert. In deeper areas the passes are still made from out wide like a traditional full-back would, but then once they’re over the halfway line there’s a very obvious shift to the sorts of positions that the deep-lying playmaker was taking up in season one.
That gives me the freedom to push that player on, and with the Roaming Playmaker role there is definitely less activity in our own half, with the biggest density of passing coming from just inside the opposition half in the left half-space. To be honest, I think I could still get more from this role in terms of progression, but there’s no doubt that the change has already been a positive one.
One concern I did have with this setup is that there would be a gap left at the very base of the midfield, where the left-back hasn’t inverted yet but the Roaming Playmaker has started to advance. Luckily, the Defensive Midfielder has this covered.
Rather than just patrolling the right hand side of the pitch, the Defensive Midfielder covers a huge amount of ground, as shown by the combined pass and heat map above. With this level of screening, the left-hand side are free to link up and cause overloads which in turn causes opposition defences to shift over, leaving space for our right-hand side to attack.
Attacking Contributions
Goals are the currency of football. A player who can contribute to scoring them at one end, but also keeping them out at the other, is worth their weight in gold.
In season one, Kobbie Mainoo was our undisputed starter as the deep-lying playmaker on the left-hand side of the pivot. It was undoubtedly his breakthrough year, and in the more progressive of our two midfield roles he contributed six goals and nine assists from 37(9) appearances in all competitions.
Compare that to season two, and the tactical tweaks we’ve made have seen Mason Mount become a far more viable option as part of the pivot. This has meant the two of him and Mainoo have largely shared minutes, however for this purpose I’ll only be comparing Mainoo’s contributions as Mount has also been playing significant minutes further forward as the Shadow Striker.
The season is not yet over, but so far Mainoo has made 27(16) appearances, and has seven goals and five assists in all competitions. The immediate headline is that he’s already surpassed last season’s goal tally, and could easily yet do the same with assists.
However, there are a few unexpected changes to his game showing in the numbers. His minutes per goal and assists per goal have essentially switched, which is surprising considering he still has a playmaker role. The goalscoring seems to be more a case of Mainoo either getting more clinical or just hitting a purple patch, as he’s actually scoring more goals from a lower xG. He is, however, getting more shots on target per 90, perhaps a sign that he’s finding better positions.
The lower creative output is a bit of a concern. The lower amount of progressive passes isn’t overly surprising, as I’m now asking him to play further up the pitch and therefore there won’t be so many simple forward passes for him. However, I wasn’t expecting his xA to drop as much as it has, or at all really, so now the question once again becomes about balance, and whether the side is better with Mainoo as a goal threat or a creator. One nice added perk is an increase in Mainoo’s amount of interceptions, but as we play with a high press, this again makes sense.
The Next Evolution?
Football tactics are never truly finalised. The game is always evolving, and as sides find ways to exploit our weaknesses, it’s important to adapt and not get left behind.
The next step I have planned for this tactic is to further advance the midfield and try to get them both more active in the attacking phases while remaining defensively secure. Thuram in particular has been excellent in his new role, but I think he still has more to offer.
My plan is to try and shift the build-up shape to more of a box midfield, created by asking the full-backs to become the pivot and have both midfielders push up behind the front four. Even though we’ve gone on an incredible run of goalscoring form since the changes made, I still have question marks over both roles.
Considering the output I’ve had from him this season, I’m not convinced that a Roaming Playmaker is the best role for Mainoo. I like his increased goalscoring, but I’m not certain I’m willing to sacrifice his creativity for it long-term, especially if it is just a purple patch that could regress. I also feel that if I’m going to have a ‘box crasher’ in the midfield, that this role is better served by Thuram and Mount, so maybe I’m better to find a role that Mainoo and Hjulmand could compete for, that pushes them on but allows them to retain their creativity?
It’s all food for thought, for now the system is working to a better standard than last year, and ultimately progression is all we can ask for.
Until next time…
