Michael Apleton Practical Tactic
This tactic has made some rounds in my save, as I moved from Bordeaux in Ligue 2 to Montpellier in Ligue 1 for a month, eventually ending the season with Olympique Lyon.
But it’s this variety that gave me a better understanding and maybe better test results about this tactic.
Michael Appleton is an English former professional football player, now manager. He most recently managed Charlton Athletic in the 2023 – 2024 season.
This video was suggested by one of our viewers around a month ago. They suggested the 4-3-3 tactic that almost got Lincoln promoted.
However, as that particular tactic is hard to research due to little to no information being available for it, we will discuss Michael Appleton tactical principles in general and turn his 4-2-3-1 setup in a 4-3-3 one.
Michael Appleton played professional football, most notably for Preston North End, and made over 100 senior appearances.
He also had a very good time playing for West Bromwich Albion, before he got injured in training. It was that injury that, after a few years, eventually forced him to retire.
And once he retired, he became a coach at West Brom, thus starting his managerial career.
He managed West Brom for one game as caretaker manager after Roberto Di Matteo was dismissed. And moved from club to club until in September 2019, he was appointed manager of Lincoln City, who were recently promoted to League One.
He replaced Danny Cowley, who left to take over at struggling Championship club Huddersfield Town. He signed a new four-year deal on 25 February 2021.
On 30 April 2022, following their victory over Crewe Alexandra on the final day of the season, it was announced that Appleton would be leaving his role as manager.
While managing Lincoln City, he had the second highest win rate % of his career, with 38%.
Michael Appleton seems to have very good tactical principles, expressed both while managing various football teams, but also while filming training sessions for the Coaches’ Voice channel.
As mentioned, we will turn the 4-2-3-1 formation in a 4-3-3 one in game, based on his principles.
We start with a sweeper keeper on defend duty. The goalkeeper’s objective as a sweeper one on defend is to monitor the situation and intervene when the ball becomes a loose one. In attack, he might become a passing option if the ball is played around him.
The back four are two wing backs on support duty and two ball playing defenders on defend. The ball playing defenders may be central defenders as well.
As ball playing ones, they might stay a bit up the pitch, to participate in the possession. As Michael Appleton seems to like having the ball, this seemed like a better choice.
The two wing backs are important in this tactic, as they are required to go up the pitch, often overlapping and helping the central midfielders and the wingers to circumvent the opposition’s defensive line through triangle passes.
You could ask them to cross more often. I did not do it as I wanted them to pass the ball more, trying to fully recreate Michael Appleton’s principle of recycling the ball in the opposition’s final third until an opportunity to attack the goal arises.
The central midfielders are a deep lying playmaker on defend and a central midfielder on support. Their main task is to recycle the ball and to find the best passing lanes to help the attacking players score.
The deep lying playmaker does this less than his teammate, as he also focuses on defending once the ball got progressed.
No player instructions for either of them. But this means that you will heavily rely on the central midfielder’s player traits. So, if you would like to control his game more, I would add get further forward and take fewer risks as instructions.
The front four are two inverted wingers on attack, a shadow striker and a complete forward on support.
The inverted wingers are important as their cutting inside allows the wing backs to progress further up the pitch.
Also, they are the ones that create overloads in the half spaces, usually dragging one defender onto them, leaving space for the wing back to go up and pass or cross. If the defender is not dragged onto them, they have space in the defensive line to attack into.
They are asked to play more direct passes, as they try to unlock the opposition’s defence with swift passes.
The shadow striker role was used as Michael Appleton likes his number 10 to go up the pitch and sometimes play on the striker’s line or overlap him.
This is in a bid to create overloads and give the defenders a choice to make. Either they mark the attacking midfielder or they stick to their formation and risk him getting through their line.
Combined with the striker’s movement off the ball, this setup can create chaos for the defence if executed correctly.
But here is where Appleton looks for ball recycling. If the defenders move onto the two attackers or they are unable to win the 1v1, then they are required to pass the ball to one of their teammates, retake their positions and restart the attack.
Granted, it doesn’t always work in Football Manager.
As mentality, I chose positive.
In possession, fairly wide attacking width and play out of defence. Standard passing directness and tempo. On positive mentality they will be shown as slightly. And play for set pieces.
In transition, counter-press, counter and distribute the ball to the defence.
And out of possession a high press and a standard defensive line. And trigger press more often.
This tactic helped me take Bordeaux to the 3rd place in Ligue 2 after 15 matches, keep Montpellier out of the relegation zone in Ligue 1 for a month and finish 6th with Olympique Lyon, qualifying for European football.
The tactic works and Michael Appleton seems to have good tactical principles and ideas. Researching this video, I felt like there should be more coming from him in the next few years. I hope I am right.
