So — Should I Have 3 Or 4 At The Back?

What do you think?

So — Should I Have 3 Or 4 At The Back?

Football Manager requires you to create a tactic before you can get past the first screen.

Actually, before you can create a tactic you need to figure out who is on your squad. But you can’t really do that without having a tactic in mind.

I decided to break my tactic creation process into three phases. This is the first: the back.

You’ve basically got two options in the back. Most people go for four men at the back, with two fullbacks on each side:

The second is to have three centerbacks. It’s technically a 5 at the back system, though, since you really need to have wingbacks (or wingers) playing on either side:

Now, we’ve got 2 major star defenders.

One is Brazilian Diego Jara Rodrigues (ジエゴ), or just Diego for short. He can play at either left back or center back.

The other is Hiromu Mitsumaru (三丸 拡). He prefers to play at either left back or left wing back.

Additionally, we’ve got a problem. Our only real right back is Naoki Kawaguchi (川口 尚紀). Eiichi Katayama (片山 瑛一) can technically play in that role, but he’s much more comfortable on the left side.

And that’s what caused my dilemma.

If I wanted Diego and Mitsumaru on the pitch together, I technically could have it happen. I’d need to play somebody like Taiyo Koga (古賀 太陽) or Wellington Daniel Bueno (ブエノ) — another Brazilian — together with him.

But that would likely eat into Kawaguchi’s playing time. He’s a good player; I’d rather give him some time on the left side than have him play behind Naoki on the right.

Anyway, I decided it would be better to stick both Brazilian center backs on together, and give ourselves a little bit of extra space on the wings.

What do you think? Did I make the right decision? Or am I going to regret this?