2-3-4-1 FM27 tactic – the counter-attack behind 92 Haaland goals

The 2-3-4-1 FM27 tactic by Korea’s 네넨띠 (Nenenti) is one of the most viewed on FMKorea, with about 60,000 views. With Manchester City, the author scored 103 league goals and conceded 38. Also, Haaland played alone up front and scored 92 goals in the season, in 66 games. The file name, «WideAttack», sums up the idea: lots of players in the middle and wingers staying very wide.

Index

The tactic at a glance

In possession, the team builds in a 2-3: two centre-backs at the back and, in front of them, the defensive midfielder with the two full-backs, who tuck inside. Ahead of them, there are two attacking midfielders, two very wide wingers and a striker. Out of possession, the team drops back into a simple 4-4-2.

At the back: first, a ball-playing goalkeeper (BGK) and two ball-playing centre-backs (BCB), Gvardiol and Khusanov.
Midfield: the full-backs play as playmaking wing-backs (PWB) and move inside, next to the defensive midfielder (DM), Anderson.
Attack: Foden and Cherki as attacking midfielders (AM), Semenyo and Doku as wide forwards (WFD) and Haaland up front (CHF).
Out of possession: the full-backs drop back to defend (FB), Foden drops into defensive midfield and the wingers close the flanks (TWM).

The in-possession shape, left, and out of possession, right (Image: 네넨띠)

How the team attacks

In the first phase, the full-back joins the midfield trio and passes to the winger. Then the winger receives in space, carries the ball and plays it through to the second and first lines, who are already running. So the wingers stretch the defence and the crowded midfield frees them from pressure. According to the author, counter-attacks follow the same pattern.

The inverted full-back starts the attack (Image: 네넨띠)

However, the tactic carries a big risk. As the full-backs play inside and push high, when the team loses the ball the back line is often left with just the two centre-backs. So the flanks are completely open. Also, if one centre-back loses a duel on a direct counter, nobody can cover him.

Switching play to the winger in space (Image: 네넨띠)

The players you need

The author gives this order of priority for signings: wingers, striker, full-backs, centre-backs, defensive midfielder, attacking midfielders and, finally, goalkeeper.

Wingers: above all, they must be fast. However much space the midfield gives them, a slow winger will not do.
Striker: he does not need an outstanding physique. He just needs to be quick, agile and a good finisher. In fact, the author tried a slight striker who never scored fewer than 30 league goals.
Full-backs: do not use defensive full-backs. They help little in defence and they are the base of the build-up, so attacking quality matters more.
Centre-backs: a centre-back who is weak in the air is a disaster here.
Defensive midfielder: he needs to build play and be strong in the air. So the author does not recommend a purely destructive midfielder.
Attacking midfielders: they matter least. Even so, as one of them drops into defensive midfield out of possession, it helps to have at least one who can attack and defend.

Foden attacking the box (Image: 네넨띠)

What the author explained in the comments

Keep both attacking midfielders: first, a player asked about dropping one of them to box-to-box. The author does not recommend it, because the wingers would have fewer options to play the ball forward.
Players’ feet: for the attacking midfielders it does not matter. For the wingers, playing on their natural foot fits the structure better.
Slow strikers: to a Bayern player, the author warned that Harry Kane may struggle, because the attack is very direct and needs pace.
Weaker teams: he also tested it with Como, an upper-half Serie A side, and it went fine. However, he warns that it is a hard tactic to carry out, in attack and in defence.
Training: he did not touch training and used the game’s recommended set pieces. If you want to fine-tune, go to the Tactical Effectiveness tab in Training and work mostly on the factors shown in red.
Cards: with Get stuck in there are plenty of yellows, but only two or three games a season with reds. So the author keeps it on.

2-3-4-1 FM27 tactic download

Download – 2-3-4-1 WideAttack FM27

How to import the tactic:

First, download the 2-3-4-1 WideAttack.fmf file.
Then copy it into Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 27\tactics. If the tactics folder does not exist, create it.
Next, start the game, go to the Tactics screen and load the tactic from the tactic menu, using the import option.
Finally, check each player’s role and get the team training the new tactic.

Mind the Tactical Effectiveness

The author says results are usually good for a strong team, and that is the point: it was tested with Manchester City. In FM27, Tactical Effectiveness measures whether the squad understands the idea, has players with the right attributes and believes in the manager. So this tactic may not work for every team, especially at a small club, with slow wingers or centre-backs who are weak in the air. Give the team time to build familiarity and start with players in their natural positions.

For another direct football tactic, see the Hull 433 tactic, with three plans.

The tactic is by 네넨띠, posted on the FMKorea community. FMPortugal only points to the file — all credit goes to its creator.