Ralph Hasenhüttl High Risk 4-4-2 Tactic at Southampton FM20
Since the resumption of football, the Saints have been in a fine form. After the biggest defeat by Leicester, which was a nightmare to forget, Ralph Hasenhüttl had to go back and rebuild his tactic. Since then, Southampton came out stronger and accumulated more points than Leicester after the lockdown.
The Saints became the third-best team in EPL. They won 5 of their 9 EPL fixtures; drew 3 and lost one. It was an impressive post lockdown era for Southampton – thanks to Ralph Hasenhüttl high risk 4-4-2 tactic, which got them a bit close in league with Man City and Liverpool as the highest pressing teams in EPL.
We take a look at how this tactic performed in football manager 2020. All the stats and video gameplay will be shown below. First, let’s start with the build-up setup.
FM20 Southampton Tactic: Ralph Hasenhüttl 4-4-2 Setup
Build Up
Southampton under Ralph usually play out from the back. The two central midfielders will drop deep to offer vertical passing options while the centre backs will spread wide. The fullbacks will then be ready to push forward. However, one of the fullbacks, usually Bertrand, may invert.
Generally, Hasenhüttl’s tactic at Southampton is possession-based but with quick transitioning. However, this their quickness and urgent movement of the ball depending on the situation of the game. Sometimes they just keep possession and work their way into the box. This is why I left the tempo standard.
In the build-up phase, the wingers assume different roles. The right-winger which is usually Armstrong would operate centrally as an advanced midfielder. Meanwhile, the left-winger would sometimes offer width while the left-back inverts, or he would invert while the left-back overlaps.
Furthermore, in the midfield, one central midfielder will tend to advance more than the other. The other midfielder is usually defend-minded.
Attacking Strategy
Southampton can attack in various ways. First, they always try to create space for a teammate to exploit. Preferably, they overload the midfield to lure their opponents in focusing the central zones, leaving the wide areas open. This depicts that the Saints subsequently attack through the middle. With the addition of the RW operating centrally with the two midfielders, (and sometimes the LB operating centrally too) they have the numbers to take advantage of zone 11 and 14. In FM20, setting the attacking width narrow will help facilitate this strategy.
However, I should have selected play through the middle in the team instructions but that caused some issues for us, with my midfielders making mistakes. I don’t really know why it’s happening – I guess it boils down to squad quality and FM20 AI can accept.
Moreover, Southampton are good at counter-attack. Ralph is a fan of this attacking strategy. In the final third, Ralph’s men can work their way into the box with a series of passes or one-touch passing combinations. Alternatively, they can shoot on sight. To get all these possible, I didn’t choose any particular instruction in the final third section of the team instructions.
Defensive Strategy
Since the restart of football, Southampton’s pressing intensity increased. Just like Liverpool, Southampton press aggressively. They want to win the ball immediately and would engage in counter-pressing.
Hasenhüttl’s men usually use a man-oriented high press, with their line of defence staying up to support their press. However, in FM20, because the kind of squad I had, sometimes my players won’t press well and would commit silly mistakes, defensive errors that would lead to us conceding. We conceded a lot of goals but we scored the 2nd highest number of goals in the league in 25 matches.
Role Selections
Sweeper Keeper
McCarthy has always been the sweeper-keeper since the arrival of Ralph Hasenhüttl. Though he’s not really an Allison type, which is why he’s more of a support SK rather than attack.
Defenders
Southampton defenders mainly act as traditional defenders. The central defender role best describes their character. They are not usually comfortable with the ball, though they are improving. The same thing applies in FM20. Bednarek, Vestergaard, Kevin Danso, and Jack Stephens just don’t have the quality to be effective as ball-playing defenders. However, you can try them out in such role and see how it would go.
Fullbacks
Under Ralph Hasenhüttl, Bertrand, who frequently plays in the LB position, sometimes invert towards the half-space and midfield to help overload the central zone. In this case, the LW has to offer extra width. However, sometimes he just plays as a traditional supporting fullback to provide strength in defence and would overlap if needed.
On the other hand, Kyle Walker-Peters plays as the wingback in the RB position. He’s attack-minded and has to cover a lot of ground in the wide-area while the RW moves towards the midfield as a playmaker.
Central Midfielders
James Ward-Prowse always plays as the deep-lying playmaker. He has the passing range, vision, and good control of the ball. And impressively, he never gets jaded. Prowse impact in the team is superb and his manager admires his role in the midfield. He dictates the tempo of the game.
Beside Prowse is a defend-minded midfielder. Usually, it is Romeu who takes this role as a defensive central midfielder. He does most of the tackles in the midfield and he sometimes appears as a ball-winning midfielder. In such deep position, he closes up space in between the lines as much as possible and could recycle possession.
In substitute, Højbjerg can play in any of the roles well. Though he’s more of a playmaker. You can play him as box-to-box midfielder if you see fit.
Wingers
The wingers under Ralph play different roles. Armstrong is usually positioned on the right-wing but would tuck-in consistently and act as an advanced playmaker. Meanwhile, Redmond may be asked to offer width or asked to operate in the half-spaces. Irrespective of the instruction, he plays as an inverted winger who can choose to cut inside with his right foot, which is opposite to his position.
Strikers
The strikers in Ralph Hasenhüttl 4-4-2 are pressing forwards. These positions can feature Danny Ings, Shane Long, Che Adams, or Michael Obafemi. They also lead the press and would press aggressively in the opposition’s half.
Sometimes, due to their nature of pressing, the team has won possession in dangerous positions that led to goal – the same thing happened in FM20. In most cases, one advances more, while the other could drop often to receive a pass or assist defensively.
Mentality
This is tricky. However, I use positive in home games consistently. For away games, that’s when things are different. I usually use balanced in this situation but could change it to cautious or defensive, especially when the match is ending. My FM20 Southampton team is just not good defensively anyway. This is part of the challenges we mentioned in the video below.
You just have to try few things and see what works for your team.
Results and Statistics
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Squad Stats
