4-5-1 Counter

This article and many others in this series are all about building towards having a Tactical index which is going to be part of the Football Manager 2013 tactics series., in which we have every single formation we have played ourselves and the scene has available. This is not us saying these are the best tactics around, or explaining them in full depth, we will even link to other sites that have better articles so you can improve as managers. These are just systems we have developed ourselves that work really well and are available for you to download. This article is clearly about a counter attacking strategy in Football Manager 2013 in a 4-5-1 formation.



This is the counter 4-5-1, I created this FM Tactic to counter much better opponents than ourselves. In all my matches I want to win like everyone but you cant always play the same attacking formation aginst stronger sides as this will normally end in a defeat. So to counter this happening I developed a solid base to then push forward from when the opposing team are more exposed like when an attack of theirs has broken down. First you need to win the ball back and make sure you dont conceed and I feel I accomplished this at the best of times having 6 defensive minded players as well as a box to box player making it almost 7 players concentrating winning that ball back to counter. I even have the wingers supporting the full backs incase the opposing teams full backs decides to come forward.



This is very much a defensive minded formation no doubt but I still want to try and nick that goal to get us a valuable 3 points. Although I only have one attacking minded playing my deep lying forward but in the attacking phase on a counter this can quickly turn to 4 players up against a possible two or 3 of their defensive players from a counter. I also think with this formation you should check out how to make the most of set pieces, check out our guide on Football Manager Set Pieces. I think countering from set peices also helps and that guide will show you how.

Strengths

Solid shape at all times
Fewer mistakes will be made costly
Less clear cut chances will be made against you

Weaknesses

Less chances created
Play is more in your own half than theirs
Less posession

Team its good for

Winning by a narrow lead with 10 minutes remaining
Good defensive players
Pacey box to box player and wingers
Players with good stamina
A solid formation to start with in hard away games

Opposition its weak against

Good Target Man
Against very good passing team
Against good long shot players

Video

Have a watch of this video here, no goals but it was a solid 0-0 with Man City at the Etihad not creating any real chances in the match despite playing 3 attacking midfielders and a striker!! You will also see a few chances created by my Palace team on a counter attack.