Welcome back to the Lyon Journey! We have finished our first ever season with Lyon and successfully won the league title and a domestic cup competition. We have stepped into the summer break, at the same time, the summer transfer window has opened. In our first season, we only trained one tactic and used it in every single game. Stepping into the second season, I feel like we should try something different with the formation, as well as the playing style. As a result, I decided to go for a 5 defenders formation. I have been playing around with 5-2-2-1 and 5-4-1, but the main focus is to investigate how a 5 defenders formation works. Does it suit Lyon? Or do we fail in using this kind of formation?
5-2-2-1
This is the initial 5-2-2-1 I have created, and this is a super attacking tactic. My idea is to fully utilise our wingbacks as most of our assists have come from crosses last season. I want my wingbacks to push higher up the pitch so they can create more chances to the striker up front. Another thing that I wanted to try out is the combination between an Advanced Playmaker and a Shadow Striker. I was looking forward to seeing how these two roles work together in a tactic, followed by an Advanced Forward in front of them.
Instruction wise, I keep the attacking width wide, as well as Play Out of Defence. However, I remove Pass Into Space and I remain both passing directness and tempo in standard. The only instruction that I add is Hit Early Crosses. I remain using Counter-Press and Counter in transition. My defensive instructions are always similar. I like to press the opponent more urgently and prevent the opposite’s keeper short distribution. I will always add Stay On Feet and Use Offside Trap as well.
In terms of the roles, I have my 2 defenders to play as BPD on Defend and the centre defender playing as CD on Cover. I want my 2 BPD involve in the attack but at the same time keeping the shape of our defence, and that’s the role of my CD on Cover – to make sure he himself is the last defender. I like my midfielders playing as BBM and DLP on Support and my players suit these roles very well. I realise my wingbacks create better chance from deep, so I want them to play as Wing Back in Defend.
vs Zenit & vs New York Red Bulls
I tried this tactic against Zenit and New York Red Bulls. We won both matches but we only scored one goal in each match. We had a really tough time against Zenit. We had 11 shots but only 4 on target. The only goal we scored was a penalty. On the other hand, Zenit had 10 shots with 6 on target. Looking at the analyst report, it clearly shows that the gap between our midfield and defence is way too big.
So, the second game against New York Red Bulls, I adjust the defensive line back to standard to keep the gap smaller. We played better in this game having 15 shots and 2 clear cut chances. In this match, we finally see a better performance from our Shadow Striker and Advanced Playmaker. Memphis Depay the Shadow Striker made an exceptional run before passing the ball to Ousseynou Ndiaye. The Advanced Playmaker then struck a beautiful goal.
5-2-2-1
This is the 5-4-1 tactic I have created. I keep the exact same instruction as the 5-2-2-1. The only thing that I have changed is the position and roles of our wingers. Memphis Depay is going to be the first choice left winger, so I stick with his best role – Inverted Winger. On the right side, I wanted to try out Inside Forward in support duty, and the plan is to feed the ball to our attacking Advanced Forward.
vs Columbus
However, we actually struggled using this tactic. Most of our attacks came from the wings as expected but our striker just can’t score goal. We had 16 shots in total, 8 on target and 1 clear cut chances. Our opponent only had 3 on target but they managed to turn one into a goal. Only Memphis Depay had a good game and the other players weren’t at their best. I was furious during the half time and I decided to change the tactic back to 4231 Flying Fox. I think I should definitely test this tactic again next time, maybe in the cup competition to find out whether or not it is a good tactic.
Conclusion
I wasn’t very happy with these tactics as I feel like we could be more effective in the attack. I used the 4231 Flying Fox back vs Standard in the next game and we scored 3 goals. In terms of the chances, the 5-2-2-1 formation has a +2 in general and we create chances in every 69 minutes. I would definitely like to try the tactics again if I got the chance, and slowly produce an effective second formation for our team instead of relying on the 4231.
Now, we are just goinng to sit back and prepare for the next game against PSG. It is going to be our first final in the 2020/21 season and of course we will be aiming for another silverware. Join us in the next chapter to see how we play against PSG.
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ABT Football Manager 