FM11 New Tactic Set: The Typhon Trilogy

FM11 New Tactic Set: The Typhon Trilogy

Some of you may know of the Typhon tactic from its various incarnations in FM09 & FM10, Some of you may even have used it, and some of you will know doubt have no idea what on earth I am going on about,

Typhon was a 442/424 based tactic that I developed with great success (Although that may be a somewhat biased view) on FM09 & FM10, it worked at all levels and produced football that really was a joy to watch.

In FM11 however, i really have struggled to get any success at all when using a single tactic strategy, and so Typhon has evolved itself from a Singular Tactic into a Set,

In order to release this tactic however, i felt it was just as important to discuss how i play the game in relation to the tactic and how i manage the team, the squad and the club as a whole to build a legacy for sustained success. This will include Training Schedules & Search Filters that function alongside the Tactic Set.

To me the tactic is just one part of a multitude of areas that need to be addressed in order to be a successful club, and because of this i will explain in post 2 briefly what, when and why i do things when starting a new game, and what i do to sustain that club moving forward, then when you add the tactic alongside the other areas, success happens.

So if you just want the Tactic then here it is, but if you want some more in depth info then see you in Post 2 a little bit later.

The set comprises of 3 tactics,

1. Home – 424 To be used in most home games

2. Away – 433 To be used in most away games

3. Big Team – 433 To be used Home or Away against bigger sides and in Europe

I have so far only tested this tactic on Patch 11.2.1 with a 1st Season Spurs Team, but i have seen unprecedented success.

When and where to use each of the Tactics does become a little intuitive as you use them more and more, but as a starting point Home, Away and Big Team is a good rule of thumb

I generally decide who my main rivals are for the top of the league and decide on the other 6 best teams in the league, against them i will use the Big Team Tactic Home and Away,

Against the rest its Home at Home and Away when Away

Some changes will be needed if the performance isn’t coming but again you will start to realise this as you use the tactics more.

Cup games i usually use the Big Team Formation and always use this in Europe

To let you know the differences in the Tactics i will use my Spurs Players to show you where I Played them and to give you an idea of the types of players you would need.

The main differences are that in the Home you have a Target Man & a Poacher, in the Away you have a Poacher on his on fed by 2 creative MC's, in the Big Team you have a Target Man holding up the ball for others to join.

Home

GK – Gomes

DR – Corluka

DL – Baines

DC – Dawson

DC – King

MC – Van der Vaart (RHS)

MC – Palacios (LHS)

AMR – Lennon

AML – Bale

FC – Crouch (RHS)

FC – Defoe (LHS)

Away

GK – Gomes

DR – Corluka

DL – Baines

DC – Dawson

DC – King

DMC - Sandro

MC – Van der Vaart (RHS)

MC – Modric (LHS)

AMR – Lennon

AML – Bale

FC – Defoe

Big Team

Same as Away but Swap Defoe for Crouch

Screen Shots

Competitions

League Table

Premier League Fixtures

Champions League

FA Cup

Carling Cup

Player Stats

Transfers

Selected Match Highlights

This Tactic will not make you unbeatable (although i wasnt far off), defeats come with the territory and often arrive when they are least expected, just bite the bullet, Move on and get on another run, I saw only 6 defeats in all competions, but 3 of these were against Wolves, Blackpool and Blackburn

I have not tested this with any other team or at a lower level so no idea how it would fair,

I use a totally different tactic for my lower league games so would be interested to know how anyone gets on with this set if it’s used at a lower league level

I Do Not Use any OI’s at ALL, I find that they often counter act the tactic and make it function less effectively

For corners, Use your best Right Footer from the Left and your best Left Footer from the Right,

For Free Kicks, Just use your best Free Kick specialist on both sides, footedness is not an issue here

Tactic Downloads

Typhon - Home

Typhon - Away

Typhon - Big Team

Please let me have any feedback – Positive or Constructive

As I said in Post 1, In order to release this tactic, I felt it was just as important to show how I play the game and how I manage the team, the squad and the club as a whole to build a legacy for sustained success,

To me the tactic is just one part of a multitude of areas that need to be addressed in order to be a successful club, because of this I will explain briefly what, when and why I do things when starting a new game, and what I do to sustain that club moving forward, then when you add a tactic that works alongside the other areas, success happens.

I hope none of this sound’s patronising as that is not the intent, I am simply going to explain my actions and reasons behind them, I don’t think any of it will be revolutionary and I am pretty sure most will follow a similar plan, but for anyone struggling for sustained success it may prove useful.

When starting a new game, below is the process I follow and the order that I do this in, with a little explanation as to why

1st - Tactics

First point of call in all games is the tactics screen,

In my opinion there are two ways to go in this game, either you fit a tactic to the players you have, or you have a tactic and mould your squad to fit into that tactic.

I am one who goes by the latter approach, I have my tactic(s) and I will mould my squad to fit, and all purchases will have this set approach in mind.

Decide on your tactic(s) – Shape is more important than anything else at this point as this will determine players needed, Training Schedules etc.

The Tactic set I am using comprises of 3 tactics,

1. Home – 424 To be used in most home games

2. Away – 433 To be used in most away games

3. Big Team – 433 To be used Home or Away against bigger sides and in Europe

2nd - Match Preparation

Very straight forward here to begin with, the quicker you can become fluid with your tactics the better in my opinion, so workload is set to very high and Team Blend is selected as focus,

This does mean that you may see some red arrows in training initially but it is worth it to fast track the players being comfortable with the tactic.

I have found that leaving the workload at very high till October/November usually has the team fluid in all 3 tactics, it can then be reduced to Very Low and I always select Defensive Positioning as Focus.

3rd – Staff

No matter what club I am at I always have a clean sweep of staff and employ my own, Mutual termination for anyone that was already at the club and straight to the staff search screen.

Using my current club Tottenham as an example I will as a rule have the following staff

1 x Assistant Manager

2 x Fitness Coaches

2 x GK Coaches

2 x Attacking Coaches

1 x Defending Coach

1 x Tactical Coach

1 x Technique Coach

All of the above will have Man Management, Motivation, Determination above 15, plus as high a stat in the chosen area as possible,

Obviously if none are available or interested I gradually reduce to 14, 13 etc

I also have

9 x Scouts

Attributes for these are JPA, JPP and Determination above 15

2 x Physio’s

Attributes for these are Determination, Man Management, Motivation and Physiotherapy above 15

4th – Squad

This is probably the most important part of how I set my game up, Having played the game for more years than I care to admit I have settled on a squad make up that allows the 1st team to flourish but also allows for the youth to get game time and progress at a more accelerated rate than I had managed before adopting this approach.

The principle of my squad management is to have 3 different 11s,

A First Eleven,

A Back up Eleven

A Prospects Eleven

At any new club or the start of any game I will review the entire playing staff,

I will then decide out of the players I have who fits in which eleven based on the tactics I am going to play, This means that I will have a working squad of approximately 33 players, this has a nice split to the squad of 22 first team players and 11 players under 21

Each eleven has certain stipulations about the players I class in that squad,

The first eleven can be any age and there are no stipulations

The Back Up eleven must be aged between 22 & 30, once a back up player reaches 30 I will look to move them on and replace them, either by promotion from the prospects eleven or through the transfer market.

The Prospects eleven is for players between 16 & 21, All are set as available for reserves, once a player in this squad reaches 22 then they need to move to be the backup in their position or if they are a poorer player still than the current backup, they are moved on and replaced by another youngster in the prospects eleven

What this does is ensure that all transfers are well thought out and every player bought has a specific role and place in the squad already clearly laid out for them, this helped stop me ending up with 37 hot prospect forwards like I used to when I often bought players without a thought out plan and this then led to unhappy players and an unbalanced squad.

I review the squad at the close of every season and rarely make signings in January; this allows the youngsters to get valuable game time if there are injuries etc and helps to speed up their development,

What this squad system does do in the first season at least is cause for some tough decisions and potentially a few unhappy senior players,

Looking at my current Spurs game, the squad of 33 was put together from the current crop of senior players and youngsters (Plus 2 Signings at LB), but, given that Spurs have a large number of players it led to several supposed top players being transfer listed and unused.

As an example, the 33 I choose is below (after signing Leighton Baines & Jack Robinson),

 
[font=Verdana][size=2]   1st Choice                  Back up                Prospects[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=2]GK          Gomes                Cudicini                  Button[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=2]DR          Hutton                Corluka                  Walker[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=2]DL          Baines                 Assou-Ekotto         Robinson[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=2]DC          King                    Kaboul                  Caulker[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=2]DC          Dawson               Bassong                Ekong[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=2]MC         Van der Vaart       Modric                  Bostock/Parrett[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=2]MC         Palacios               Sandro                 Livermore[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=2]AMR       Lennon                 Bentley                  M'Poku[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=2]AML       Bale                     Dos Santos          Townsend[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=2]FC         Crouch                 Pavlyuchenko         Oyenuga[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=2]FC         Defoe                   Keane                   Kane[/size][/font]

As you can see, this has meant no place for supposed first teamers such as Gallas, Huddlestone, Kranjcar, Jenas etc

But I find that this first season pain is more than made up for to have the structured set up and frame work for sustained success in place.

5th – Training

Once you have your squad set up correctly, it’s time to organise the training,

I have set training regimes that I have set up for each position; there is one for the Developing, The 1st Teamer, The veteran and the Youth (I havent finished all the Veteran Schedules as i didnt have players of the right age or position)

Training Download

All that is needed here is to place the players into the correct schedule,

Also, make sure you manually set up your coaches to make the best of the star ratings, leaving this automatically done has never in my experience utilised the coaches to their best.

6th – Tutoring

Tutoring is a vital part of the development of the 3rd string youngsters. Because of how I set up my squad there is always 2 more senior players in the squad covering the position the youngster will be playing to tutor them.

It is important however to ensure that the senior player has a higher determination than the youngster they will be tutoring,

Also, always try to get the 1st choice player to tutor first and then the back up. This should ensure that the youngsters get a minimum of two tutoring stints during their Developing Years

7th – Scouting

My scouts are only used to widen my scouting knowledge and ensure that I get as many players as possible show up in the player search,

One scout is set to UK & Ireland, Plus Scout Next opposition,

The rest are all just set to World

I base my transfer policy on player attributes and my own eye for a player rather than the star rating and scout recommendation.

8th – Search Filters

I have pre-set search filters targeting the key attributes for each position,

These are set so that through minimal tweaking I can quickly identify players who will fit into the system and have the required attributes to succeed in my tactical structure, there is no point buying a player who does not have the attributes you need, even if they look like a world beater, they just won’t fit into your tactic and style, which will lead to changing tactic and set up to accommodate them (which is what I want to avoid), or you will move them on as they haven’t performed.

Search Filters

9th – Transfers

Having fully reviewed your squad in the 4th Step, you should have a clear idea as to the gaps in your squad, Is it clear a Developing player is not going to make it? Is there a weak link in the first team? The Squad structure should make it clear and easy to organise your thoughts and transfer policy. Working on the one in one out keeps the squad numbers settled and steadily improves and eventually sustains success and quality in the squad,

By using the squad set up and search filters you can quickly and easily identify areas for improvement and players to bridge the quality gap.

After that it’s a question of persuading them to join your club

With all this in place, a clear vision for the future and a strong successful Tactic set in hand, Success I assure you is only round the corner

Look forward to trying this PVentress, I am paticularly interested in your Post #2 content as I think the game is not just a tactic but an ever smaller part of the whole.

Thanks, will be great to get your feedback,

Make sure you update the thread with any postive or constructive comments

Has anyone given this a try?

would be great to get some feedback

PVentress I will give this a try soon and let you know how it works out just looking into a team I would test your tactics out with almost got it narrowed down so I'll give you feed back once I get a few games in after the set up you have explain in your posts ..

Cheers

Just started using the 3 tactics not many games so far but ill report back once i got a good few games under the belt

Results have been great so far

/thumbs up

I like your squad idea, but... what to do with youngster team when the league you're playing in doesn't have reserve team games?

i am using your tactic and club philsophy with my Southampton team in season 3, my first in the Premiership, and it is mid season so i am expecting it to take some time to work and gel. I am finding the Big Team tactic to work very well having gained draws at home to Arsenal and away to Chelsea, but against West Brom at home using the Home tactic i was well beaten 3-1. Perhaps as it is my 1st season in Premiership i may need to use Big Team tactic for the rest of the season.

Do you use any in match instructions when playing?

I will update as i go along but i am not the quickest player

KUTGW

As your a new iin the league mate I would use the Away and Big team tactic mainly maybe if you fancy your chances against the teams that got promoted with you then use the home tactic to gain some vital points

thanks andrjam i will give it a go sounds like good advice

I like your squad idea, but... what to do with youngster team when the league you're playing in doesn't have reserve team games?

Serek, I had this exact issue in the first season with Spurs as they do not have the reserves registered for the League,

I find though that you can get them all about 5-10 starts in different competitions and then you can have the bench with a split of experience and youth, meaning if you are winning comfortably you can give the youth 20-30 minutes, but have experience available if needed

i am using your tactic and club philsophy with my Southampton team in season 3, my first in the Premiership, and it is mid season so i am expecting it to take some time to work and gel. I am finding the Big Team tactic to work very well having gained draws at home to Arsenal and away to Chelsea, but against West Brom at home using the Home tactic i was well beaten 3-1. Perhaps as it is my 1st season in Premiership i may need to use Big Team tactic for the rest of the season.

Do you use any in match instructions when playing?

I will update as i go along but i am not the quickest player

KUTGW

Martvb60 - Itotally agree with the advice given by andrjam, the home tactic is very open and free flowing so as a weaker team in the league you could get blown away,

I would stick with the Big Team Tactic in almost all games for a first season in the league and as you build and improve the squad bring the other two tactics into play

I have just started to get on with the 2nd Season of using the Tactic set so will keep the thread updated with my progress and highlights of significant games

Just had a Cracking Result

Just watch how Dos Santos skins Maicon for the second

[video=youtube;9TcAXmWPrwY]

PVentress, what would you suggest for a new game with Newcastle? Mainly Big Team tactic or all 3?

For Newcastle in the first season i would suggest starting out with the Big Team Tactic for all and then gradually bring the others in maybe after Christmas if you are doing well,

With Andy Carroll up fron the should be great as the Target Man in the Big Team Tactic

Thank's. I was thinking Carroll would fit into it well.

I'll report back with results.

lovely little move from Dos Santos for the 2nd goal mate fair play

Been using your tactic set nothing bad to say about it so far , excellent .

Just going to finish off this season and Ill post my thoughts about it .

KUTGW mate fair play many thanks for taking the time to post this set:thup:

Thanks for that andrjam,

Glad its working for you,

I love the Dos Santos trick aswell, really made me smile

Will be very interested to hear your full thoughts on it once you have finished your season, any suggestions for improvement greatly appreciated

What position is best for the playmaker? Could I use one of the wingers for example?

Any particular pitch size?

What position is best for the playmaker? Could I use one of the wingers for example?

Any particular pitch size?

I dont actually use a Playmaker, atleast the option is not ticked in team Instructions although i use the settings in the home tactic,

As for pitch size, i have been using 101 x 67

Another Stunning Group game Victory

[video=youtube;Id639dMiijw]

Strange. I asked because playmaker was ticked in all 3 tactics..probably bugged...I'll reload.

Strange. I asked because playmaker was ticked in all 3 tactics..probably bugged...I'll reload.

Dont reload, it is right that it is ticked, with "None" selected, this means there will not be a playmaker

I just use the playmaker settings in some of the players

Have just finished my 2nd season using the Tactic set,

I have made no tweaks to the original set posted above and the 2nd season has been nothing short of sensational

The only 1st team signing i have made is still Leighton Baines in the 1st Season

The first season saw us surprisingly lift the Premier League and Champions League double, and appear in the FA Cup Final (Defeated by Man City)

But just look at what the 2nd Season brought

Transfers

Player Stats

Community Shield - Winners

Super Cup - Winners

World Club Championship - Winners

League Cup - Winners

FA Cup - Winners

Champions League - Winners

Premier League - Winners

What a Season, What a Team, Incredible Stuff

do you set your tactics to res and u18's?

do you set your tactics to res and u18's?

I havent done,

But the only reason for that is because i put my youngesters that i want to develop in the senior squad and try to give them as much 1st team action as i can, either from off the bench or starting easier games,

If i was leaving them in the reserves or U18 teams then i would set them to use the current tactic

Hi, sorry to be a dumb@ss, but what are the codes in the training schedule? bw, po etc?

po= poacher bw= ball winer i think

pm = passing mid?

Pm= playmaker

Just to clear up any confusion about the training schedules

Here is what the abbreviations are

Gk - Goalkeeper

FB - Full Back

CB - Centre Back

BW - Ball Winner

PM - Playmaker (although playmaker is not used in the tactic)

WG - Winger

TM - Target Man

PO - Poacher

Hope this helps

Just to clear up any confusion about the training schedules

Here is what the abbreviations are

Gk - Goalkeeper

FB - Full Back

CB - Centre Back

BW - Ball Winner

PM - Playmaker (although playmaker is not used in the tactic)

WG - Winger

TM - Target Man

PO - Poacher

Hope this helps

thankyou

could you post settings of your gk please

could you post settings of your gk please

Which Settings?

Training or Tactics?

Which Settings?

Training or Tactics?

tactics pal

tactics pal

They are just the default Sweeper Keeper Settings,

Only change is to set distribution to defender collect

Just started a season with brighton and hove albion in league 1 , just playing friendlies at the moment , will post my results later

will be good to see how you get on,

Have never tried it with a lower league team

First game not to good lost 4-0 away to bourmouth , going to keep going

First game not to good lost 4-0 away to bourmouth , going to keep going

What tactic did you use?

In lower league i would suggest avoiding the home tactic and use the big team tactic most of the time

I used the away tactic as i was slight fav going in to the match , just beat port vale in the league cup using the away tactic 1-0 then got a draw away at peterbrough 2-2 using the away tactic , im just trying to work out what tactic to use at this level

I have only been using these tactics for 9 games on my Arsenal save, but I have won 9 out 9 matches, with a goal difference of 30-4. In my two last matches at home against Chelsea and Tottenham I have won 5-0 and 4-0. Luckily I didn't have to make too many changes to my squad, as I was playing 3 strikers. I actually only bought 1 winger for the formation switch. So many of my strikers were small and fast they could play wingers. So far I generally seem to take my chances more with these tactics. Playing 3 strikers they seem to get "clear-cut chances" that really weren't that easy to score. These formations seems to have a good CCC to goal ratio.

Hi this might be a little off topic but I was wondering if you'll share how you spot a hot new prospect and avoid dud buys?

Yeah im also going to try this out with my Darlington save. Im going to assume that your filter set is null and void for LL saves also as getting players with those attributes are unlikley

Ok well i tried this tactic when my 1st season with Darlington got off to a pretty bad start, losing 3, drawing 1 and only winning the first on the opening 5 games of the season. Since the change i have had (tactics used in () )

Away to Bath 0 - 0 (Big Game) - used this due to the importance of arresting the losing streak

Home to Wrexham 1 - 1 (Home)

Away to Forest Green 2 - 2 (Away)

Home to Crawley 2 - 1 (Home)

Away to Newport County 1 - 1 (Big Game) - were 2nd in the league and scoring for fun

Away to Southport 1 - 2 (Away)

So 2 wins and 3 draws is an improvement and i'll continue using it. Conceding late goals is a bit of an issue but i'll try and fix that with better use of instructions. Disapointed about the Forest Green result too as that was a absolute howler of an own goal by my GK in the 91st minute. Some how managed to palm a floating cross under no pressure into his net x(

I have only been using these tactics for 9 games on my Arsenal save, but I have won 9 out 9 matches, with a goal difference of 30-4. In my two last matches at home against Chelsea and Tottenham I have won 5-0 and 4-0. Luckily I didn't have to make too many changes to my squad, as I was playing 3 strikers. I actually only bought 1 winger for the formation switch. So many of my strikers were small and fast they could play wingers. So far I generally seem to take my chances more with these tactics. Playing 3 strikers they seem to get "clear-cut chances" that really weren't that easy to score. These formations seems to have a good CCC to goal ratio.

Glad to see it is working for you,

I have no doubts that as a top team you will see success with this tactic set,

Keep the thread up dated with how you get on

Hi this might be a little off topic but I was wondering if you'll share how you spot a hot new prospect and avoid dud buys?

There is no hard and fast rule of avoiding dud buys,

But my method of finding youngsters is to use my search filters, but add an age limit of up to 18 and then reduce the minimum attribute values to 12,

Then if no results show, reduce the least improtant attributes to 11, then 10 until i get some players to review

Seems to work for me and i havent had to many dud buys yet, although you will always get some that dont progress quite how you want them to

Yeah im also going to try this out with my Darlington save. Im going to assume that your filter set is null and void for LL saves also as getting players with those attributes are unlikley

I wouldn't say they are null and void,

Just reduce the Minimum attribute values to an acceptable level for the league your a playing in, As Darlington in the BSP I would suggest dropping the attribute requirment to around 10 or 11

Then reduce the least needed attributes by one gradually until players appear, a little like i posted above to find youth as a big team, only this time age is not an issue