Not a Footium Blog

The final 3! We are into the LAST THREE of these blog posts, and these formations!

5-4-1, 5-4-1D and 5-2-3 are the last ones we need to get through, and it’ll all be done.

Can’t wait to show you what we’ve learned!

The Line Ups

Our Line Up

We had a bit of rotation going on at this part in the season, as we struggled to keep players fit across all positions. We had a RM playing at CM, but they were still 34 rated despite being incredibly out of position!

Average Squad Rating: 41.6 (at the time of playing)

Opponents Line Up

Lovely bit of 4-3-3 F9 from our opponents! Quite liked this formation when we tried it so it’s good to see it again.

Average Squad Rating: 45.1 (at the time of playing)

Real Life Context

This is just about the most defensive formation in Footium, with the only other exception being 5-4-1 D which is even MORE defensive.

The biggest example of 5-4-1 we could find was the 1960 Inter Milan side! The coach was Helenio Herrera, and they used this incredibly defensive setup to great success, coming 3rd in the league.

Strengths:

• Defensive Performance. This team absolutely slaps at defending, and it’s no wonder with NINE outfield players behind the ball a lot of the time.
• Counter Attacking. You’d expect it playing like this, but this is a key formation for utilising counter attacking.
• Set Piece Opportunities. This is not as specific to this formation, but with a back 5 you really have a chance with 3 big CB’s to score some set piece goals.

Weaknesses:

• Limited Attacking Options. With it being so defensive, you are kind of struggling to attack in traditional ways, other than with counter attacking.
• Possession deficit. You are very likely to not have much of the ball, so players have to work hard off the ball and get comfortable with not having much of the ball.
• Lack of flexibility. You are unlikely to get much flexibility out of this formation, and need to be extremely rigid in the work you are carrying out.

Against a better and attacking squad, we were expecting to struggle.

The Match

Back to normal, as we conceded first in the 30th minute. And then again, in the 45th minute. And then again again, in the 75th minute. Basically, we lost 3-0.

Stats are below:

Somehow, we had more of the ball and had more passes, but everything else we clearly struggled with!

See you all on the pitch!