3-4-3 asymmetrical diamond

This tactics is a continuition of my asymmetrical 3-4-3 modified to the 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 BPD-Co is sitting a bit deeper and covers against long balls 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 players in real football are allowed to do. Usually the Advanced Forward will stay in the centre and sit on the offside line while the DLF and AM are allowed and encouraged to find spaces more outside or deeper on the pitch
• 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 midfield half position and the offensive wing or offensive half space. Inverted Wingbacks won't do the job either with the match engine and won't provide width in the final third

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 wide 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 winning 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. But keep in mind that the defensive line should always be at least at the same height as the pressing line. Otherwise you'll have to much space between the lines and can't press or cover spaces properly.
• 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 to many good opportunities being cleared by the opponents. Passes into space also lead 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.