Sep.04
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Mister Wong
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4-4-2 is one of the most popular formations in football nowdays. In fact very few coaches use anything but a 4-4-2 variation. Players are symmetrically spent throughout the pitch which makes easier to cover every inch of it. Matching your defenders with your midfielders one by one, generally means that you can easily convert a double-zone defense to an extra player in attack, and vice versa. This is generally the first tactic to try in Football Manager.
The results get easily obvious: Bolton climbed 2 places to the 9th in the Premiership's league table. And not only that, but they also managed to get the League Cup!
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The improvement in goal difference is astronomical. From a -11 on the previous exemple, we jump to a mere -1, when speaking of league goals. Taking into account goals in other competitions, Bolton scored a total of 82, to concede a mere 68.
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Anelka is still clearly the best player, dominating any and every category except the cards. His 31 goals, 18 in the league, place him in the fourth place, just below Henry, Rooney and Van Persie.
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The board of directors is definitely pleased with the League Cup, though they we woud have probably hoped for more.
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Verdict: The mediocre defense was the main reason behind the medium league position. Anelka, on the other hand, greatly benefited from the chances created by the attacking mentality. Definitely an improvement compared to our first test. We will have to wait in order to see if it can stand against the other formations.
