LSPlaysFM's 4-5-1 Striker’s Paradise – Kane 76 Goal Season & 86% Win Rate!

Welcome guys to my 4-5-1 Striker’s Paradise Tactic which is both a successful tactic at winning trophies having won multiple and so prolific when it comes to getting your attackers scoring goals! It works by scoring goals on the counter attack and having a very high conversion rate in front of goal, but also it does have a very decent defensive record as well.

To help explain the tactic and how it works as well as all the results of the simulated saves, I created a tactics video over on my YouTube channel LSPLaysFM. You can find the video below:


I used this tactic in 3 simulated saves in FM21 using Tottenham Hotspurs who were the main focus and arguably the most successful, Lyon in France and also Forest Green Rovers in League 2. It has been tested on both the original Winter Patch (21.3.0) and also the latest 2nd Winter Patch (21.4.0) and works very well using it on either version.

You can also see in more detail below exactly how the tactic works and the results with various screenshots below as well if you’d prefer.

The tactic is a Wide 4-5-1 formation which utilises athletic wingbacks/Inverted Wingbacks who get up and down the pitch to both attack and defend, an Advanced Forward who will provide the majority of goals for your team (as you’ll see below) and preferably a good mixture of technical and physical midfielders both in the centre and in the wide areas.

In each save game every team has performed very well, both good defensively often having one of the best defences in the league or one of the better defences and also the best attack or again one of the best! With Spurs, Lyon and Forest Green each side performed above expectations all getting some level of silverware in their leagues and with Lyon and Spurs both won their domestic cup competition as well. On top of that, in every save, the league Golden Boot winner came from the side using this tactic (Harry Kane, Memphis Depay and Aaron Collins) with them scoring countless amounts of goals. On top of that in the simulation with Spurs especially, Kane managed 76 goals in all comps which is the highest I think I’ve ever seen in FM21!

The tactic works as follows (check out the screenshots below to see exactly how its set up):













Just so you are aware with other Set Pieces these are set to default options as I found they worked well for my sides, but if you want to adapt them then feel free and you may find this allows you to score even more goals.

Also in addition to this, my training & opposition instructions are set to be handled by the Assistant.
In terms of player instructions these are all mainly left to the defaults that each role provides the players with. The exception with this is with my two BPD Defenders (the CBs) which I have instructed to Stay Wider – The reason for this is when the Half Back drops between them, it gives each player enough room when defending. Other than this though, no other player instructions are added.

Using this tactic at Spurs they managed to finish comfortably as winners of the Premier League on a huge 92 points and easily clear of Man City in second. They also finished up with 28 wins, 8 draws and only the 2 defeats. In addition to this they also had the 2nd best attack and 2nd best defence in the league with 84 goals scored and only 31 conceded in 38 games. On top of this United also won a Domestic Double winning the FA Cup as well and they even reached the Europa League final losing only to Napoli. The team even had the golden boot winner as well with Harry Kane easily winning this with 39 goals in the league and 76 in all competitions including 27 in the Europa League!









Below you'll find the analyst stats for Spurs from their Premier League season as well, they were the best offensively in terms of conversion rate and one of the most impressive defensively too again in terms of opposition conversion clearly showing the tactic does well in taking chances and preventing them too.







After the success with Spurs, I also tested this with Lyon in Ligue 1 and also Forest Green in League 2 so we could get a test in a different nation and at a totally lower level of football and then we could see just how the tactic would fares with sides weaker than Spurs. You can see how Lyon mainly lined up below:



Using this tactic, Lyon were predicted to make the top 3 but were of course miles off of PSG yet the team finished far higher than expected eventually winning the league and hitting 100 points which was a Ligue 1 record! On top of that the team also won the French Cup as well beating PSG in the final. Its wasn't just the squad though which performed well for Lyon, but individually, Memphis Depay had a phenomenal season much like Kane for Spurs with him scoring 53 goals in all competitions and 47 in Ligue 1 alone!

Throughout the season as well, Lyon played a total of 44 games in the league and cup winning 36 of them. This meant Lyon had a massive 86% win ratio across the entire season which is bonkers to think they won that many games. Not only that though but in Ligue 1 the side had an average Goals Per Game ratio of 2.47 and they even had a massive unbeaten and winning streak across all competitions going 26 unbeaten at one stage and winning 21 games in a row too! Finally the team also managed to keep an impressive 24 clean sheets across the 44 games played meaning they on average kept over 50% cleans at 0.55 in total. You can see quite how Lyon got on in their competitions and the League below:











After Spurs and Lyon's success we come to the final team in Forest Green. A lower league side sitting in League 2, they are decent team at their level and were predicted to be in and around the Playoff & Promotion hunt but Salford were the big favourites for the league. Them being in League 2 was a big reason why I wanted to test them so we could see how a poorer side could fare with this tactic. Forest Green's side would line up something along these lines when using the tactic.



With this tactic, they absolutely smashed League 2, finishing up easily as Champions on 92 points 8 clear of the team in seconds They also had the 2nd highest goal scoring tally and 3rd best defence in the league as well! They also had the golden boot winner in their striker Aaron Collins who hit 40 goals in the league which is just crazy for a player of his ability! You can see exactly how the side got on below:







In addition to the teams I have tested the tactic with, another user who played a full season with Borussia Mochengladbach has sent me some screenshots of how their side got on using the tactic on the most recent version of FM21 (21.4.0). The answer is very well indeed. Without making any signings in season 1 Gladbach not only won the Bundesliga but the German Cup as well. On top of that the side again showed just how good the tactic can be at getting strikers scoring goals with Marcus Thuram (who was used as the lone striker) scoring 37 in the Bundesliga and 51 in all competitions. Absolutely crazy levels of goalscoring there from Thuram and from a side predicted only to be in the top 5 of German football to then be winning a domestic double is very good stuff indeed! You can see the screenshots below:









Overall that is how the tactic performed in these various tests, and clearly it did very well indeed.

Please do feel free to download the tactic via the link and I hope you get a lot of good fun and enjoyment out of this tactic on FM!

Finally, as mentioned above with using this tactic you can find me over on YouTube where I make plenty of FM21 content such as FM Tactics videos and much more. If you'd like to check it out then just use the link below and make sure to hit that Subscribe button.

https://youtube.com/c/lsplaysfm

Also I do stream FM21 over on Twitch as well where currently I am managing Norwich City as we push on for Champions League glory. I normally stream every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, so if you'd like to come along, then just check out the link below.

https://www.twitch.tv/lsplaysfm

Hope you enjoy the tactic guys, and of course if you have any questions, do feel free to ask and please also do let me know how you get on using the tactic.

Thanks,

Luc / LSPlaysFM