Martin O'Neills CELTIC Diablo? [Fast, gung-ho, solid defensively and attacking art]

Background

I remember sitting during the years of Martin O'Neills reign at Celtic and thinking.. how do we get men all over the place? The line-up was like this.

GK: Douglas

CB: Varga

CB: Balde

WBR: Agathe

WBL: Guppy

DMC: Lennon

MC: Lambert

MC: Petrov

AMC: Sutton

ST: Hartson

ST: Larsson

It was amazing watching this team play, how they played and most of all how fast and how well they conquered the counter attack.

The Tactic

When attacking it is effectively a 3-2-5 with the wing-backs very wide, alongside the strikers and the AMC who all should be in the box and outside the box would be the two MC's. The DMC sits beside the two DC's all covering a quick counter attack if we lose the ball.

As soon as the team loses the ball the wing backs get back alongside the DC's and the DMC acts as a DC and the two MC's as DMC's so the box will be crowded with our players defending and the opposition wingers will be closed down by the wing-backs. This should mean the tactic turns into a 5-2-1-2, and you will see once we receive the ball it is punted up towards our strikers and turns into the 3-2-5 formation again.

The Team Instructions

As you can see it is obviously first an attacking tactic, very quick and crosses are a plenty. You may not create a lot of CCC's but with the amount of crosses that are put in, you get alot of easy tap ins.

Which players to use?

GK - Any goalkeeper really, doesn't matter as long as he is good.

DC - Big and strong with a bit of pace around them, like Ramos or Ferdinand.

WB - Players like Evra or Srna, with good crosses and stamina as they will be going up and down that wing all day long.

DMC - The DMC can actually be a DC, I find it works well as they are usually defending in the box but if you are going to use a DMC he would have to be good at passing, heading and pretty tall and strong.

MC - doesn't really matter if they have good passing.

AMC - You can either have a really technical playmaker like Riquelme or a big strong ox like Sutton was. I tend to use Beckham here as he gets on the end of alot of shots at the penalty spot area but if you were to use a taller, stronger striker type player I would put his mentality up.

ST - I'd go for big strikers, like Ibrahimovic or Vagner Love.

Conclusion

I don't feel I have tested this enough as I usually would but I am really excited about this and hope that you guys would do some testing and help develop this further. I feel it is the best tactic I have made/used (sorry heathxxx ) and hope you can have many successes with it. I would recommend this with attacking teams like R. Madrid, Inter, Barca and Celtic.

Cheers, Bhoy.

Download links

Rapidshare - http://rapidshare.com/files/264184181/martin_oneils_5-2-1-2_v4__Celtic__Mar_2009_.tac.html

Megaupload - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7Q7GPW31

easyshare - http://www.easy-share.com/1907210131/martin oneils 5-2-1-2 v4 (Celtic, Mar 2009).tac

AWAY VERSION - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=94L22OLM

UPDATED TACTIC - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VLPSW6PG

can you explain how i would get it into my game once downloading it? looks promising!

Once you download it, you extract it to

My Documents > Sports Interactive > Football Manager 2009 > tactics

thanks will gove it a go!

fantastic thank you will let you know how it goes!

Okay thanks, if you make any improvements post them here.

Background

ST - I'd go for big strikers, like Ibrahimovic or Vagner Love.

vagner love is 5ft 7 :S lol

I love this formation. I played like this in FM08 and it was incredible but I haven't been able to recreate it in FM09. I'll give it a go.

Nice results there viiralx.

hey, im gunna try this. what size pitch do you choose?

I use the biggest possible, it makes a lot of space for the wing backs to attack and for through balls to be played into.

viiralx - do you use the away tactic for the away matches or just the original tactics?

I always thought Martin O'Neil system at Celtic was 3x5x2.

Essentially Bhoy has a 3-5-2, just the DM acts as a defender.

Neil Lennon was infront of the 2 CB's acting as a further forward CB and Agathe and Laursen/Guppy would act as wingers when attacking and LB/RB when defending.. similar to this system as I have explained in the OP.

Celtic (3-5-2): Douglas; Mjallby, Balde, Valgaeren; Agathe (Sylla, 74), Lambert, Lennon, Petrov (Fernandez, 78), Thompson; Larsson, Hartson.

That was during the UEFA Cup campaign where we needed to be more cautious about teams. In the league I think you'll see nearer the end of MON's Celtic (last 2 or 3 seasons) this is the system that we played.

It was a very good uefa campaign that year. Too bad about the ultra-conservative approach on the uefa final which in my opinion was not a good idea. Porto's team was good, but not that good to justify such a defensive strategy imo.

Seems nice!

What about OI's and teamtalk?

I don't use OI's and teamtalks are.

Odds in your favour heavily or even slighty - Expect to win

Odds not in your favour - They can win this!

Heavy Underdog - Wish luck!

Celtic (3-5-2): Douglas; Mjallby, Balde, Valgaeren; Agathe (Sylla, 74), Lambert, Lennon, Petrov (Fernandez, 78), Thompson; Larsson, Hartson.

In Europe he took Sutton out of the side and used more defensive players in midfield ie. Petrov AMC, Lennon MC & Mjallby D/DM C.

well, ive currently played 12 in the league and won 12 (granted i am liverpool first season with some good signings) but ive not had a start like this, only conceeded 2 in thoose 12 games

Great results there Dmc, are the team playing well and especially the wing backs? They are the key to this tactic.

yeah its great, grabbing srna who is incredibly influenctial and de ceglie, who had good crossing stats aswell was key

I don't use OI's and teamtalks are.

Odds in your favour heavily or even slighty - Expect to win

Odds not in your favour - They can win this!

Heavy Underdog - Wish luck!

and at half-time what you say?

At half-time

Winning by 1 - Encourage

Winning by 2 - Don't let performance drop

Drawing - We can win this!

Losing - Expect to play better.

Do you use the away version for every away match? what training do you use?

I only use the away version for tough away matches, but I guess you could use it for every away match and I use Tugs Training 2009.

What a season I have had with R. Madrid with this tactic. Barcelona who?

Overview

League table

Squad

I played my youngsters in the Spanish Cup and as you can see my season was really successful and I was miles better than Barcelona which is hard first season. I also have an updated tactic which I believe is better than the original.

updated tactic - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VLPSW6PG

Transfers

Champions League Final

I only use the away version for tough away matches, but I guess you could use it for every away match and I use Tugs Training 2009.

Do you train your wing-backs as full-backs or wingers?

I train my wing-backs as full-backs.

do you have a transferupdate? ronaldo,kaka,albiol on real and valencia on united...

have you downloaded it (link please?) or have you updated yourself?

I want to give this tactic a try

works it with lower league teams?

Wijnand fens - I'm not sure if it works with lower teams but I'd imagine so looking at viiralx's results. Try it out.

franklin - I am using a downloaded transfer update, find it in the editors forum.

What team are you playing with?

SE Gama

1 of my 2 favorite Brazilian football teams.

viiralx - do you use the away tactic for the away matches or just the original tactics?

original.

Have you played any more? How are you getting on?

I had to change back to my own tactic due to injuries, but the matches i used it in i had about 60% possession.

And were you 1st/ had good results?

# Campeonato Brasiliense

|- Champion 1st

# Campeonato Brasileiro Série C

|- Serie C 1st Stage 1st

|- Serie C 2nd Stage 1st

|- Serie C 3rd Stage 1st

|- Serie C Final Stage 1st

That is sensational, if you start using the tactic again then please keep on informing us about your results.

Will do

what are your record with Celtic with this tactic?

has anyone try the tactics with a lower club?

not really hard to be honest winning league and cup with madrid and winning league with celtic

imnopro - Some people do fail at it imnopro. I also won the IFA Interim League (lowest Northern-Irish League) and Mid-Ulster Cup with Lurgan Celtic, so as far as I can tell it works with lower league clubs.

DKB - I've won numerous league titles in different games with only a few signings with SC's and CIS Cups aswell.

imnopro - Some people do fail at it imnopro. I also won the IFA Interim League (lowest Northern-Irish League) and Mid-Ulster Cup with Lurgan Celtic, so as far as I can tell it works with lower league clubs.

DKB - I've won numerous league titles in different games with only a few signings with SC's and CIS Cups aswell.

ill give it ago with peterbrough who in championship will keep you updated

i'm using it for Standard Liege in Belgium and getting good results

only the AMC doesn't get decent ratings. I'm now experimenting with his mentality to improve his ratings

Try the updated tactic Stu, the AMC really performs for me with a couple of tweaks.

I tried it with Dundee United with cracking results, I finished 2nd in the league with no new players. However the second season it didn't do so well. Falling to 9th place after 20 games with QUALITY players.