Man Utd tactic (based on the match against Aston Villa)

After analysing the team formation when they played against Aston Villa, this is the result that I've found.

From this photo, we can see that

1) van der Sar as GK

2) O'Shea, Ferdinand and Vidic as DR, DCR and DCL

3) Evra as DML or wing back left

4) Fletcher as MC, Carrick as DMC or MC and Giggs as MC, AMC or AML

5) Nani as AMR &

6) Rooney and Berbatov as STs

Goalkeeper (defend): van der Sar is a good GK who is also a good match reader. Look at how he distributes the ball to all over the pitch, it shows that he is a commanding goalkeeper to organise the defence and to start an attack. So he could be given a role of ball holding goalkeeper, by increasing his creative freedom, passing range, distribution to mixed and yes for hold the ball. I am sure he will always keep the opposition guessing.

Fullback (defend): O'Shea is a decent and complete fullback as he can do whatever is given to him, as long as it is not a role of Cafu. His primary role is to provide the width at the right side and defend the flank. His primary link up player is Nani although he will not be overlapping or attack for too much, he is still an option to start the attack as the team will always attack down the flanks. For his setting, most of them should be kept as simple as possible since I am giving him a defensive role.

Ball Playing Defender (Cover): Ferdinand, the pivot of the defence and the organiser, as how you wanna name him. He is sitting deeper than Vidic of course. His record of 1st foul after a long period is the evidence as Vidic has done all the dirty works to clear all the aerial ball. So he is given more creative freedom to play as a ball holding defender, waiting for a better option to move the ball to. Don't forget that he does have pretty decent technique, acceleration and pace to get past his marker, which we can instruct him to run with ball for sometimes.

Centre Defender (Stopper): Vidic, here comes the warrior or fighter. One of the best defenders in the world now. His primary role is to clear all the aerial ball coming into the defence and assist his partner, Ferdinand. Every setting of him will be kept simple as his role is to defend.

Wingback (Support): Evra will have both defensive and attacking duties. He doesn't need to run down the flanks for all the time if somebody is there. So, for attacking duties, his role is to support the attacker and provide an option down the flanks. As for defensive role, he needs to block away any crosses and prevent any overlapping by the opposition.

Centre Midfielder (Support): Fletcher, like O'Shea, who can do everything but not to the perfect one. However he is still an influential midfielder to the team since Sir Alex has kept him in the team for a long time. He supports the flowing of the ball from the defence to the attack and arrives late in the final third to score a few goals. So he will be given a normal creative freedom and keep his setting all to the middle.

Deep Lying Playmaker (Defend): Carrick, whom we have seen his form drop last season, is rated highly by Xabi Alonso who played the same role as Carrick. Players like Carrick will need his teammates to support him all the time as he will always be closed down by the opposition to prevent him from spreading the ball. If he is isolated then he don't have the tecnique and agility to get rid of his marker. However he is still an intelligent players who can spot his teammates movement and provide great through ball. So basically he is suitable to be given a fair amount of creative freedom so that he can use his creativity to dictate the tempo and also instruct him to provide the through ball all the time. Lowering his mentality could prevent him from being closed down too quickly.

Advance Playmaker (Attack): Giggs is the playmaker of the team. He starts from the centre and drifts to the flanks. His wide play can be set to hug touchline or cut inside. He will be given a lot of creative freedom, direct passing, sometimes for run with ball, often for through ball, sometimes for cross ball and yes for hold up ball.

Inside Forward (Attack): Constantly seeing him cutting inside, a role of inside forward should be suitable to him and set his crossing to sometimes. He will run down the flanks so he need to run with ball often. He does have defensive duty since O'Shea may be facing opposition who has great pace, so Nani will need to assist him, either acts as stopper or cover for O'Shea.

Deep Lying Forward (Attack): Rooney is not comfortable playing his back to the goal, so it would be the best for him to drop deep and he will do the magic for you. Alongside Giggs, he is another playmaker in the team and his setting should be pretty similar to Giggs. He is still the most important player in the team, for short and long terms, regardless of the position that he is given.

Complete Forward (Attack): Berbatov, our top scorer in the Premier League currently. He can shoot, he can pass, he can bring everyone into play. A flamboyant striker who works well alongside Rooney, both of them can exchange their positions as they can fit into each other roles. Against Aston Villa, Berbatov has been used as a targetman where the long balls from van der Sar were often supplied to him. Basically his setting is the same as Giggs and Rooney except the setting of run with ball and crossing. He should run with ball and cross the ball rarely.

Team setting:

Passing: Mixed except for Carrick, Giggs, Berbatov and Rooney who could be given direct passing.

Closing Down: Own half for the defence and midfield except Nani, Rooney and Berbatov with the last notch of own half or 1st notch of whole pitch.

Marking: Zonal

Tight Marking: Yes for the back four and no for the rest

Basically this is how I observe from the game against Aston Villa. Personally I haven't tested this in FM but I will do it very soon.

looks like a typical Zona Mista to me, or if you like; loopsided italian 4-4-2

Cool. Let's know how you're doing.

Ya it is like Zona Mista which has been discussed before. And Fergie used it again against Aston Villa and a slightly change after Rafael came back to replace O'Shea.

After applying the tactic into the FM, I have created a tactic which I think is quite similar to the one that Man Utd played against Aston Villa. Screenshot below shows the tactic created with tactic creator but I have made almost entire tweak to the player and team instructions.

Remember the starting lineup against Aston Villa? Just pick them and field on the positions respectively. (The players in the screenshot is my own selection)

After playing against a few teams, these are the result I obtained:

As you can see, I have made a pretty decent start of this tactic against Wolves who are at the 17th place. So it is still acceptable with the 3 goals margin. Then the second match, the 2nd leg of UCL against Dynamo Kyiv whom I have led three goals in the 1st leg, managed to score twice at the end of the 2nd half.

This led to a further minor tweak of the tactic and I used it again against Tottenham after it was done. A 4-0 victory which is a good result for me. The next three victories especially against Arsenal and Liverpool are great as this is a assymmetrical tactic, so it is very difficult for them to mark my players. Furthermore, there is no goals conceded since the tweak after the match against Dynamo Kyiv. In overall team performance, I am pretty satisfied with the result shown in terms of goals and solid defence and looking forward to the home game against Arsenal.

For the individual performance, the front three who are Rooney, Berbatov and Nani (Valencia) were benefited by the usage of this tactic. They are scoring goals and supplying excellent through passes especially Rooney that I need to single out. Let's look at his performance in the last six games.

He is scoring! And you may say that I am cruel to deny his four hattrick in a row but I am trying to keep him fresh for every game.

By the way, if the corner setting doesn't work, set a new one of your own if you all feel free to download and test it. One more thing I wanna emphasize is, always comment on your players performance. I do it after every matches. If the player is getting 7.9 to 8.9, I will say "keep it up" and for 9.0 to 10.0, it is obviously that you must say that he is outstanding. I will criticise if a player get 6.2 or lower. Do this after every match to build the relationship with the player and encourage him to play better!

Here is the link: http://rapidshare.com/files/446594122/Zona_Mista__Man_Utd__Apr_2011_.tac

http://hotfile.com/dl/102496316/1fa2a2b/Zona_Mista_(Man_Utd_Apr_2011).tac.html