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3-4-3 transforming Diamond

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	Tester	Team	ME	Win %	PPG	AGF	AGA	GD	PL	W	D	L
	Maddux	Eintracht Frankfurt	23.2	85%	2.65	2.4	0.7	1.71	34	29	3	2

This tactics is a variant of my asymmetrical 3-4-3 modified to my 4-4-2 Diamond theory.

In this theory, with the sitter/runner concept in mind to build a balanced tactics, players act in every starting formation as if they would play in a 4-4-2 Diamond formation. Or you can make them act like in a 4-4-2 Diamond.

But let's get started with the player roles.

The WCB-Su will drift outside and move higher up the pitch, effectivelly acting like supporting and covering fullbacks in a Back-4 formation
The Libero is sitting a bit deeper, acting like a Centre-Back on Cover duty, while the Anchor Man is playing like a Centre-Back on Stopper duty
the DLP will stay back to play like a DM in a midfield diamond, covering the central midfield and helping with possession
the 3 offensive players are positioned asymmetrical to replicate better what player in real football are allowed to do. Usually the Advanced Forward will stay in the centre while the DLF and AM are allowed and encouraged to find spaces outside
sadly i can't replicate the movement of the Wingbacks because of the match engine restrictions. Real players would of course be able to do a triangular movement between the wingback position, the central half position and the offensive wing or half space. Inverted Wingbacks won't do the job either with this match engine but maybe we will get improvements with the new positional play in FM 24

Effectivelly we have a 4-4-2 Diamond on the field with just the wingbacks being a bit wider than in a normal narrow diamond. But you want the double-8 players in a diamond to provide width in offense anyway. So it's fine.

There is a lot of movement in transition and while moving up and down the pitch. Starting with a 3-2 buildup in a 3-box-3 formation, switching to a slightly asymmetrical 4-4-2 Diamond formation while moving into the mid third and a 2-3-2-3 or 2-3-5 formation when in the final third. So the tactics provides good connections between our own players to have a controlled vertical play while dragging opponents out of their positions and creating spaces that then can be exploited.

About the team instructions:

I prefer to have a tight midfield press to have more space to counter into when wining the ball. So i opted for a mid block with a higher defensive line. But it's up to you how and where you want to press the opposition.
I let the keeper distribute the ball to the centre-backs because the wingbacks are to far away to receive the ball without high risk of losing it. The same with the Anchor Man and/or DLP. They should receive the ball in open spaces created by the back-3 players when the opponent is pressing them
Passes into space are bad in this tactics because we want a good combination play forward instead of sending players into space. Passing into space just leads to many good opportunities being cleared. Passes into space also leads to counter situations for the opponent when the DLF and/or Trequartista are trying to reach the wingbacks with risky passes.
You can make the formation a bit narrower if your players arend't the best passers but a fairly wide formation is, for this tactics, the best combination of passing distances and width to create spaces.
Switch between Balanced, Positive and Attacking depending on the opponent.
Your best offensive wingback should always play on the side with the Attack duty. So mirror the tactics if your right wingback is better. And you can save the mirrored tactics to switch between exploiting the left or right side more with just 2 clicks.

Feel free to comment if you have any questions.

EDIT:

The tactics works great in FM 24 too except for one change you'll need to make.

It seems like that the new positional play works with some high priority roles that force normal roles to swap positions instead of just moving them away a bit or don't move at all if the space is already occupied.

And the Libero is one of these roles. A Libero, even on defend duty, will push into midfield and forces the midfielder(s) in front of him to swap position and drop between the 2 WCBs. That's why you have to change the Libero to BPD-Co or CD-Co if you want to play the tactics in FM 24.

Download FM 23 3-4-3 Diamond... (44.81 KiB)