Not a Footium Blog

This One Is Personal.

As we continue our journey of using every footium formation, today we came up against our toughest challenge yet. Someone using 4-5-1 DM, the formation that got the mighty Marrouck Villa RELEGATED from Division 6 last season.

We lined up with 4-2-2-2, hoping to restore some pride back to our wounded team.

The Line Ups

Our Line Up

We thought this was a strong showing. Lots of power through the middle of the pitch, but maybe a lack of firepower up top.

Average Squad Strength: 42.6

This is our strongest line up yet!

Opponents Line Up

A few out of position players, and a weaker squad overall than Marrouck Villa.

Average Squad Strength: 35.5

This is by far the biggest disparity in squad strength this season. We had a far stronger squad.

Real Life Context

Looking again at ‘real life’, we can look at the strengths and weaknesses of 4-2-2-2 as a formation.

This formation came out of Brazil in the 1950s, and initially was widely used in South America before making its way to Europe.

It’s designed to overload the midfield, and offer creative midfielders the chance to do their business, with the CF’s occupying the opponents back line.

Strengths:

• Two Strikers – they can occupying the opposing defence, whilst well supported by the two attacking midfielders. They can drop in short, or run over the top.
• Central Defensive Cover – The double pivot gives great cover in front of the CBs.
• Midfield Overloads – With essentially 4 midfielders and 2 forwards occupying the central part of the pitch, it can easily overwhelm midfields and allow lots of options centrally.

Weaknesses:

• Lack of width – The full backs can get exposed, especially against good opposition wingers.
• Holding Possession – Due to so many players occupying the same central stretch of the pitch, it can make it difficult for players to find space in a slow build up.

Against the opponents 4-5-1 DM, our main concern was those pesky wingers!

The Match

We went down 1-0 very quickly, in the 14th minute. This was scored by the opponents Attacking Midfielder.

Fortunately, we had enough firepower to get back into it, with our LB scoring on the 42nd minute, followed by our CB scoring in the 44th minute. This left us 2-1 up.

We continued to dominate the game, but errors would be our downfall. In the 58th minute, we gave away a penalty which the opposing AM put away, grabbing a brace.

The game ultimately finished 2-2. The stats are below.

As you can see, we just about edged out possession, but had less passes, less corners and less free kicks.

With a massive 21 shots, we hope to have our shooting boots firmly on next time!

In normal circumstances, we’d have definitely expected to win this game.

See you all on the pitch!