Spec me a team formation

[FnG]magnolia

[FnG]magnolia

[FnG]magnolia

Caporegime
Joined
29 Aug 2007
Posts
28,734
Location
Auckland
Hi all,

I play in an amateur league over here and our team is struggling to find a formation that 'fits'. We have a pool of probably 16 players, most of whom are of an average/decent standard. A few are dreadful and there are 4 who are extremely skillful and can run at people, hit the through balls, split defenses etc. We also have a very robust goalie coupled with decent centre backs but relatively poor LB and RBs. It's a social league with unlimited subs so everyone plays at some point in the game.

The problem we have is scoring goals. We're tried 4-4-2, 3-5-2 and 4-5-1 (holding DM) and although we often win we're not scoring as many as we should. Too many squeaky bum games, if you get my drift.

What would you guys recommend to get the goals flooding in? Our very skilfull striker plays very deep and we don't really have a target man so we often have the ball and just ... run out steam because there's no outlet.

We're very open to trying new and different things so suggestions welcome! Thanks in advance.
 
4-3-3?

3/4 of the creative players up top, and put the other one on the wing he's good at or whatever side the opposition is weakest. I would give them the licence to rotate during the game (they should be good enough to interchange positions during play) but keep the holding MF in the middle third of the pitch (must be very disciplined with this). The other two in MF need to be dedicated enough to get back and defend, and I'd keep 2/3 of the forwards high up in attack for quick counters.

I don't play Football Manager and by no means do I have any sort of managing experience, but from an amateur player's point of view that's my opinion. :p
 
If it's an amateur league, does formation matter as much as skill of players? :p

Have you tried 4-3-3?

also, if you have two creative midfielders and a quality forward, try the christmas tree formation

Or a 4-5-1 like the top teams play. ie: two centre midfielders, two wingers, a frontman and a guy behind him
 
4-1-2-1-2

4 defenders.

1 central defensive mid.

2 mid's (left and right).

1 central attacking mid.

2 strikers.


this gives enough defensive cover 4 defenders and 1 holding. with 2 midfielders also covering the flanks.

it also gives enough attacking power with a central attacking midfielder linking up with the strikers and the 2 mid's bombing up and down the flanks.
 
Tunney said:
You could do a Chile and play 3-3-1-3. :)
Click to expand...

DO IT!!!!

Or just do a 3-5-2. You said you've got a good GK and decent CB's but **** LB and RB, this will almost eliminate the crap wide defenders, you'll just have to rely on your wide midfielders to occasionally drop back but if your defence is as good in the middle as you say then keeping the opposition to the outside isn't a bad idea.

EDIT: duhh sorry OP I see you've tried 3-5-2 already. :(
 
Last edited:
Haiku said:
4-2-3-1? Worked at the World Cup. :p
Click to expand...

You mean with Spain, the lowest scoring World champs, EVER?

4-4-2, no gimmicks, get the basics right, play one two's, make smart runs. Have a striker drop off his CB, midfielder passes to the striker who hopefully has pulled a defender with him, midfielder runs into space.... then hopefully a goal, simplist, yet hardest and the best teams in the world are the best at it.

If you've got 4 guys who are good at seeing and hitting a throughball, then the obvious answer would be, your strikers/striker isn't making good enough runs to get on the end of them. Are they really good throughballs, or just kicked in behind with no chance for the striker to get on them.

Tell your "deep" striker to get further up the pitch, the more your two strikers make runs across the defence, the more gaps you'll open up for wingers/central midfielders to run through and create chances from.

I mean, no outlet, and one of your strikers from your description I assume is never that far up the pitch, seems the obvious choice there. Either drop him into midfield in the attacking role, tell him to play as a striker. 2 strikers + cb's = hard job to mark, a run WILL drag a defender and create gaps and is the basis of almost every great team ever. 1 striker and two defenders = easy to mark, easy to track, easy to pass off, easy to cover the gaps, hard to pull apart and hard to make space.
 
hehe I don't want to suppose too many things, but maybe the problem is not really the formation?

I imagine it is more the fact that you guys are only playing together once or twice a week, and it doesn't really matter how technically proficient you are, your passing and movement being incisive depends on how much time you spend playing together and learning the kinds of runs/passes your team-mates are going to make before they actually make them.

As for formation, well I always liked 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 whatever you want to call it: Two centre halves with two very attacking full-backs supplying genuine width and crosses. Two deep central midfielders - 1 combative, 1 creative, and One Attacking midfielder who will run into the opposition box all day long. Two narrow inside forwards coming off the flanks (I Like lefties on the right and vice versa) and a Tall central striker who isn't Emile Heskey.
 
The problem I see with teams at this level is they try and play like the Pro's. In reality there are very few players at the level the OP is playing at that can get to the byline and put a decent cross in.

You would be best starting from the back and building up from there.

Try a 5-3-2 formation:

3 CBs, 2 Wingbacks. This allows you to have strength through the middle of defence, if you have no 'natural' wingbacks make sure the players are fit and know they must get forward and back.

3 CM's one of which can sit if needed. Generally you would have 2 sit (1 defencively) and 1 roam but make sure 1 of the sitters gets forward when you have 'control' of the attack.

2 Forwards, if one likes to come naturally deep to get the ball maybe think of playing him as the roaming CM. Ideally big and small work well, but if you don't have a target man you need someone who will hold the ball up and bring players into the game.

This gives you a good solid base to move forward from. It should also allow you good ball players to get on the ball and flood the midfield.
 
As above, we use to do 5-3-2 every week, basically you end up with a spare man in defence to cover which is very important. Whilst keeping a good line is important, at this level the linesmen are shocking so playing offside is dangerous anyway.

The only problem is that you've mentioned your full backs aren't very good. As long as they can clear the ball and cross the ball and track the run of whoever they're supposed to be marking they should be fine as long as they're fit.
 
as mentioned above, its the quality of the players that count.
i have watched local football for nearly 10 years and it does not make a difference.
if you are playing a good team, then usually most formations fail, as you are reacting to their play, and not enforcing your own,
this is where better players will make a big difference.
can you not advertise for new players? and drop the weaker players
 
Regardless of your level of football don't over complicate it looking for a magic formation to get you more goals. Do something that your players are suited to. If your players are not good enough to adapt to new positions, you may end up leaking more goals and score less.

If your Full Backs are good defensively but not so good going forward, then get some training sessions set up to help them develop their attacking skills. Get them really fit and get them pushing up when attacking and dropping off when defending.

Is it a case of the old 4-4-2 would work but moving some players around the pitch. ??? Could the problem of scoring be your forwards are both making the same runs all the time to the near post or back post etc ? Could it be that your very good players are not encouraging the lesser players to make some space so only play the ball to feet through the middle rather than out wide.

Sorry a lot of that isn't a lot of help in relation to your question but I really don't think changing your formation will give you a glut of goals your looking for.

My advice would be if your team is relatively fit then you only need a bit of pre-season condition work. Your training session should be about presenting different challenges to your team mates so that they can be more confident when attacking and defending.

Also rather than training the whole 16 together split them into two groups of 8 then you can do a lot of 4 v 4 work or you can split it further into 5 attackers vs 3 defenders then swap it half way through your session to 3 attackers 5 defenders.

Most of all make sure you or your coach/manager is giving you something new to do in training each session but focusing on the same end result. If you are getting all your players finding more space in training they will do this in the match. What is stopping you scoring goals might be your left and right sided players make a pass but don't move and as such everything goes through midfield. A few more crosses in the box might result in more goals. That won't happen if your wide players don't find the space or take their defender on.

Good luck for new season but as I say don't look for some magic formation to get you more goals. It's the players skill and ability to adapt in a match that will do that for you.
 
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