Tactica de Contra-ataque

Counter-Attacking Football for the Small Fry

Vertanno takes an in-depth look into the workings of Counter-Attacking football. Ever wondered how to fully utilize this feature in FM08? Then check this great article out! It will win you the games you keep losing.

To counter attack, first the opposition must attack, otherwise, you aren't countering an attack. If you ever read the hints and tips on football manager, you may have heard the expression that a counter attacking style works best with a fast tempo. I suppose that is fairly honest, but is slightly misleading.

When you tick the counter attack box (and this important that you know exactly what it does), your team will only look to attack when they have retained the ball and many opposition players are in your half. This is why, when you want to counter attack, in attacking formation, it is important to play direct and fast. Otherwise your team would be trying to play possession football way in the opposition's half, and although attacking, they would have the mentality of trying to catch the opposition on the break.

The best counter attacking style, in my opinion, is defensive, possession based tactic. Any team, in any league can use it, providing they are at most a mid-table club. You hear these morons on web saying all lower league teams should be looking to play a more direct style. They clearly have experimented; they haven't taken other sliders into consideration. I remember reading an article on a forum, wrote by moron, and someone vey humbly asked why are lower league teams unable to play short passes, he said that surely the shorter the pass the simpler. And he's correct. Its not about passing styles, it's about simplicity, lower league teams should keep it simple. How does your team keep it simple? Man Utd can play a creative, ultra wide, short passing game, but you can't. The underdog must keep it simple.

Width

You must keep it narrow. If you play wide, or even an adventurous normal, your players will be too far apart - passes will go astray and a routine of interceptions will follow. Your players are probably not the most technical passers, so keeping it narrow will keep it short.

Creative freedom

Do not be too restrictive for your strikers and wingers, in order to counter; they need some freedom to move around the channels. Do not lot any one venture over normal, defenders = little always. The crappier team, the less CF. Do not get ultra restrictive, not enough freedom and players get confused, I've made the mistake before and my left winger was running at defenders and eventually decided to hoof the ball out of play!

Defensive Line, closing down and tackling

I feel this is the backbone of counter attacking. I nearly always keep it fully deep. You want to invite the opposition deep into your half so when you get the ball, HOOF. Closing down should never go over the middle, remember you want the opposition to come at you - you need men behind the ball, you need to keep your structure. Depending on their tempo, you should increase/decrease. Fast for example, you should be closing down less, whereas normal to slow should be slightly more. You really can't afford to get players sent off with counter attacking football. I've gone from 2 - 0 total control to 6-2 because a player got sent off. But, with a low-normal closing down, and opposition who are not playing fast football, hard tackling for every midfielder is fine. With this hopefully, you can keep the structure of your formation whilst still making important tackles to retain possession.

Mentality

Defensive is mandatory. The harder the team, the more defensive mentality. I recommend a global mentality (everyone the same) - maybe your target man on a slightly higher setting. Players with a defensive mentality are more likely to play defensive passes that do not risk losing possession. Global mentality ensures that all of your players are close together; remembering you do not want them to far apart.

Tempo and passing style.

Ultra slow, short passing. Nuff said really, it's what this whole article is about, keeping the ball.

Target Man

Pace is important for counter attacking, but your target man doesn't necessarily need to be the fastest forward. In 4-4-2, or a flat 4-5-1, he pretty much does need to be fast (run onto ball). However, a formation such as 4-2-3-1, with more attacking wingers, your target man should be someone who is strong and can hold up the ball, or someone who can knock the ball onto your wingers. Either way, your wingers need to be fast because he should be feeding them through balls which could either lead to a one on one, or a cross for your target man (far post works best for slow target men).

Time wasting

I like to have this a notch before often. You will see a lot stalling, turning on the ball from your midfield and attack which is good, because it draws players in from opening gaps in the opposition's formation. The more defensive you play, the more time wasting you should employ. If you see a lot of defenders randomly kicking the ball into row z, you may want to reduce the slider!

Who?

Derby would be an excellent team in the premiership to deploy this tactic. You get the idea, underdogs. If you are Middlesbrough say, I would not recommend using this tactic as a constant, but for away matches or up against the big team, it could work quite well.

If you have any more questions on counter attacking, ask in the forums, it's okay I won't bite your head off.