Muppet Management(How to feel you "boss" FM09-with a little help from your "friend")

Hereby follows my FM09 experiment in Muppet Management inspired by hopes for the next FM release, tempered by my dissapointment in the CM10 demo.

The concept is to let your Ass Man do almost everything. YOU have control but you save your focus for tweaking where you are confident - you should never feel you have lost control but should always feel that help is at hand.

For the purpose of this experiment I wanted a mid table Prem team (as I know that league best in real life - though my own FM preference would be lower leagues or French football). Having narrowed the choice to Fulham, Wigan & Sunderland I decided Wigan was to be the team best suited.

WIGAN ATH - Muppet Manager:

The settings adjusted from default were as follows:

Team settings - Ass Man to attend press conferences, arrange friendlies, take team talks & take control of friendlies.

Base tactic: 442 standard

Budget:

6m transfer kitty upped to 8m by predicting mid table finish in place of the default "avoid relegation", Ass Man felt the lowest expectation was easily achievable. Important not to stretch yourself at this early stage though.

Get some in:

Although I have reset training as auto select, I will not at this stage recruit any new staff.

As for players, I have created searches from my 1st XI, reducing all ability search fields by 2 points where there were no findings (after all if you look for an SC fin-14,offTB-14,Head-14 that would miss an SC who was, eg, Pac-19,Acc-19,Str-18,fin-13. So searches should be flexible).

All players deemed of interest will be scouted and the plan is to only sign those who are instant 1st XXII quality and who have "no weaknesses". Certain "weaknesses" may be acceptable but as a new Muppet Manager you need to play it safe.

I normally treat friendlies much as seriously as competitive games, but with an eye on developing match fitness primarily. You will have noticed though that Ass Man does the preseason management 100%.

Results preseason: Won them all: Port Vale (A) 4-1, Red Star (H) 2-0, Ross County (A) 3-0, St Johnstone (A) 1-0, Notts Co (A) 3-0, Parma (H) 3-1 & Chertsey (A) 3-0.

During that period I signed:

R Rat 3m - 2nd best DL

F Celestini 325k - best DM ( I do like a good DM as an option!)

F Chaussidiere 175k - 2nd best DM

K Gonzales 925k - 2nd best ML

D Veron 2.9m - 2nd best DC

All the above had "no weaknesses" and strengthen the squad substatially, Veron being one of the 1st choice DC pairing.

The Season proper:

Match 1 - H vs Portsmouth, won 2-1

Pre match I didnt act on the Ass Man feedback but did note it. Early on it was prudent to show Crouch/Gellas to weaker foot. Having taken the lead I tight marked Crouch. The Pompey equaliser was from a corner, by Gellas. I maybe should have tight marked him too as hinted by the Ass Man, but set pieces are a different animal to open play so I wrote this off as "one of those things". Having gone 2-1 up a little timewasting and some closing down to Ass Man instructions tied up the result. In truth Wigan did not dominate the game but won it, ultimately.

Match 2 - A vs Tottenham, won 3-1

Again I noted but did not heed Ass Man instructions. Going behind to a creative short free kick was a blow but not a failing, however closing Bentley down & playing longer passes was required at that point. Equalising it was time to heed the advice to close Bale down. I ignored the advice to replace Valencia as "exhausted", he was still 70% + fitness, he is match fit and I had foolishly not put MR cover on the bench. This was an error of match day squad building but not a tactical faux pas, he was instrumental later in the winning goals but I should have liked to be able to make that subbing as advised, I think the Ass Man was right all things considered. Wigan having taken the lead Spurs then went 424 and I picked off another goal, making substitutions to suit in the last period of the game. Again, we did not dominate this match but 3 points speaks for itself.

I should at this point note that I let Ass Man pick the match day squad but do then adjust to suit my own opinions.

Early days but I hope the results may encourage others to "go Muppet" if their own tactical theories unravel in practice.

I should like to add thanks for Heathxxx who encouraged this germ of an idea months ago.

Do you leave evrything in the tactics at the default. ?

Do you leave evrything in the tactics at the default. ?

To start with, yes. In theory if I was instructed to use an anchor man I may start with one MC at DMC and the other at central MC. Otherwise the default 442 standard seems pretty sensible and I have never understood the interaction of the slider settings well enough to tweak substatially unadvised or create tactics from scratch. I assume that those of interest in Muppet Management would be looking for that help or it would be a useless thread to them.

I may if up against a superior 442 uses 41221 (the Mourinho shape) and tweak in match as instructed. 442 Standard is not the only starting tactic, actually depending on squad, 433 variants may be better.

This thread does not suggest non-tactical participation, that would be dull for the majority I am sure. Use the advice and control the development, thats the principle.

By the way, I fully appreciate that this will not be to everyones taste and will horrify some, but would appreciate anyone testing my theory and Posting their feedback.

OK, Ill be looking out for this thread, very interesting approach

OK, Ill be looking out for this thread, very interesting approach

Thanks Melikefm, Im "Unconventional" for sure!. Check out Heathxx's threads (see also T&TF), our ideas very much compliment each others.

Match 3 - A vs Preston (League Cup), won 1-0 aet

Pre match I did act on one piece of Ass Man feedback, I dropped an MC back to DMC. Followed wrong foot advice for certain OI's, passed longer. Winning by numbers really, easy.

Match 4 - H vs Aston Villa, drew 0-0.

Even reacting to Ass Man advice I got hammered all round in this one. Draw was an awesome result. With hindsight as 13-8 underdog I should not have used the usual 442 Standard tactic (laziness I must confess). Not sure a DMC would have helped, unless I went fully 41221 myself. Next time will need to try to shut up shop defensively (442) for such a game. At this point I think integrating wwfans ideas in his "Theory" thread would help (I needed a Control tactic!) but Muppet Management theory contradicts that in its purest form. Cant complain though, pld 4, W3,D1 - all comps.

What a title

I know Spav did well in similar circumstances- he played the matches, but only adjusted the global mentality, and won the Spanish League with Barcelona. Not bad, you say, but Spav was trying to lose

This is very interesting - I will keep a close eye on this little experiment for sure, though I won't take part myself as I'm currently engrossed in a successful game of my own

Match 3 - A vs Preston (League Cup), won 1-0 aet

Pre match I did act on one piece of Ass Man feedback, I dropped an MC back to DMC. Followed wrong foot advice for certain OI's, passed longer. Winning by numbers really, easy.

Match 4 - H vs Aston Villa, drew 0-0.

Even reacting to Ass Man advice I got hammered all round in this one. Draw was an awesome result. With hindsight as 13-8 underdog I should not have used the usual 442 Standard tactic (laziness I must confess). Not sure a DMC would have helped, unless I went fully 41221 myself. Next time will need to try to shut up shop defensively (442) for such a game. At this point I think integrating wwfans ideas in his "Theory" thread would help (I needed a Control tactic!) but Muppet Management theory contradicts that in its purest form. Cant complain though, pld 4, W3,D1 - all comps.

Bear with me, not got a lot of FM time lined up for the next 7 days, however I have just replayed as an experiment the Villa game using 2 alternative tactics.

442 Defensive: Won 2-0, a little against the run of play but never felt in danger once 1-0 up.

451 Standard: 0-0. A bit lucky to draw, but this with being reduced to ten men after 80 mins.

In both of the above the tweaks Ass Man recommended matched those in the original vs Villa match. The out of the box 442 Def & 451 Stnd do need some tweaking to the Midfield-Forward mentality gap (too large a gap), and the 451 has too little defensive cover for Defending Corners & Attacking Free kicks (Thanks for that Ass Man :-) )

As I suspected Muppet Management seems great for tuning the performance but tactics / formation are always King. As underdog the more defensive 451 Stnd and especially the 442 Defensive were wiser starting formations / tactics agains a strongly favoured opposition. With that knowledge in the armoury Mupp Man seems even better suited to the challenge.

Match 5 - A vs Newcastle, lost 2-0

My 442 Stnd was holding out, tweaked and tweaked again to Ass Man instructions, but I did not have faith - was under the cosh a bit. Changed to 442 Def and instantly went 1-0 down. Quite late on!, so switched to 442 Att. Conceded again. Maybe if I had held my nerve at 0-0....

I still believe in Muppet Management, it has mainly let me down when I have "taken a chance" with a tactical variation which could be described as an abstrct interpretation of how I feel, formation-wise, the Ass Man wanted me to go. Am now working on a set of Standard-tactics influenced custom-tactics, honed to the players / squads strengths. To clarify, I will assess all players in all favoured positions (as per the Ass Mans Team Report). I shall then select the highest star rated players in their best positions and fit the next best players around them, keeping a minimum of 3 defenders, 3 midfielders, 1 forward. The resulting "formation" of players will then be tweaked into a set of 3 to 5 slightly more conventional formation shapes and then actually set up & saved via the Standard tactics templates, with the appropriate tweaks. That should help with player instructions being roughly balanced. When the work in progress is "progressed" I hope to clarify that somewhat jumbled thought a bit, it was inspired though by Posts detailing the FML Tactical Interface. In other words, if it bombs in FM09 the theory should hold firm in FM10. Time will tell.

Am now working on a set of Standard-tactics influenced custom-tactics, honed to the players / squads strengths. To clarify, I will assess all players in all favoured positions (as per the Ass Mans Team Report). I shall then select the highest star rated players in their best positions and fit the next best players around them, keeping a minimum of 3 defenders, 3 midfielders, 1 forward. The resulting "formation" of players will then be tweaked into a set of 3 to 5 slightly more conventional formation shapes and then actually set up & saved via the Standard tactics templates, with the appropriate tweaks. That should help with player instructions being roughly balanced.

Have set up 3 tactics which utilise those players in their favoured positions with the highests star ratings for each postion. These are the findings:

******(6 star rated)

Valencia (as ML or AML)

Veron (DC)

*****(5 star rated)

Rat (DML)

Celestini (DMC)

Scharner (DC)

Cattermole (MC)

N'Zogbia (AML)

Zaki (SC)

**** (4 star - best keeper I have)

Kirkland

To these need to be added an appropriate pair of **** (4 star) rated outfield players.

I produced these 3 variations:

Ultra Def (Using "442 Def" as template and adjusting positions to suit):

GK Kirkland 4

DL Edman 4 - DC Veron 6 - DC Scharner 5 - DR (or DMR) Melchiot 4

DML Rat 5 - DMC Celestini 5

MC Catermole 5 - MR (or AMR) Valencia 6

AML NZogbia 5

SC Zaki 5

The above is very asymetrical, not I suspect a good thing!, but it does test the pure theory of best XI played whenever posible, all in their best position.

Ultra Att. (Using 442 Att as a template and adjusting positions to suit):

GK Kirkland 4

DC Veron 6 - DC Scharner 5

DML Rat 5 - DMC Celestini 5 - DMR (or DR) Melchiot 4

MC Cattermole 5

AML NZogbia 5 - AMR (or MR) Valencia 6

SC Mido 4 - SC Zaki 5

33121 Symetrical (Using 541 Stnd as a template and adjusting positions to suit):

GK Kirkland 4

DC Boyce 4 - DC Veron 6 - DC Scharner 5

DML Rat 5 - DMC Celestini 5 - DMR (or DR) Melchiot 4

MC Cattermole 5

AML NZogbia 5 - AMR (or MR) Valencia 6

SC Zaki 5

I replayed the Villa game again with the Ultra Def tactic. It was not succesful though not a spectacular failure, not enough attacking options, Lost 2-1. Some set piece instructions need tweaking, ref Ass Man.

Replayed match again with the 33121 Symetrical. Much better, all stats slightly more in my favour than before though Villa were still the better team. Felt we were a little unlucky to lose 2-1, again set piece tactics required tweaks ref Ass Man (full backs mark posts for def corners, & stay back for Att FK's). We created a lot and I am convinced that this tactic (and indeed the theory) really do work.

I immediately played the match again with the set piece tweaks adjusted from the start. Sadly I did not log the stats in any detail...but despite Villa shading the stats generally (but only just) we won 4-3 !.

I have not tried the Ultra Att option yet, I think it may only be a form of disaster management for emergencies, hopefully never used.

If you have read this and I have made it understandable I hope you give the theory a try. If you are intrigued but I have confused any detail along the way please feel free to ask any questions.