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Lennons 5-2-3 Tactic


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A brief history between me and Football Manager…

With FM 2007 I created a tactic that proved hugely successful, however since then I just have not got to terms with FM. More often than not just losing the desire to even play the game after several unsuccessful attempts. With FM 2011 I decided to go back to my old 2007 formation and theory’s.

The Formation and theory…

The formation as it was in FM07 is 5-2-3.

The theory as it was back then is to push the Defensive Line up and play the Offside Trap with having enough numbers at the back to cover for any errors. Up front it has changed dramatically since FM07, it had to. Now instead of ‘hoofing’ the ball up to the target man I try to play it into the channels with the two wide forwards running into space. It appears to work a dream so far.

DEFENCE

The whole team do a lot of closing down from the back to the front. What happens is when the opponents attack everyone looks to hassle them. Oppenents do get shots but mostly they are wide (off target) or blocked. They rarely get a Clear Cut Chance.

IN ATTACK

Attacking is great to watch because rather than taking it to the opponents head on, you really stretch them. All 3 forwards cause problems but the central striker is the real glory seeker.

Since playing as Sunderland with various tactics Asamoah Gyan has not really been anything special, but I chose him for the centre role as him is fast and decent both in the air and on the ground. From 4 games he has scored 11 goals. Darren Bent, Frazer Campbell and Danny Welbeck have all chipped in with goals.

The team as a unit…

The midfield needs to be good at closing down and tackling. In fact there are important attributes throughout the team required. In Defence, Midfield and Attack you need PACE. Two defence midfielders are better suited. Stamina, workrate all help.

Keep a watch on each players condition during the game. Due to the amount of work they do they are going to tire. A tired player will be less effective late in the game. It hasn’t been a major problem but I do usually need to sub at least one of the midfielders each game.

Tweaking

The only difference I have made so far is between Home/Away or rather Favourites/Underdogs.

When I am the Favourite I play slightly less Attacking to the underdog games. Attacking a team that is an underdog makes them sit back and harder to break down. Whereas attacking a team that are favourites catches them unguarded.

Later in games if you are winning it is good to crank up the Time Wasting as this allows you players to get a breather but is still effective. I often score even after pushing up the Time Wasting.

LASTLY…

This tactic needs a team to be built around it. At Sunderland most players are naturally suited it to it. The pace in attack, two D/M’s and plenty of Centre Backs. Other players like attacking Midfielders or wingers are best sold and re-invested.

I’ve never tried it with other teams and to get it to work at lower level will take some effort to get the right players in.

I’ll include some pictures tomorrow morning.

Home (Favorites)

http://www.gamefront.com/files/20012063/Lennons_Fav_V1__Sunderland__Nov_2010__tac

Away (Underdog)

http://www.gamefront.com/files/20012075/Lennons_Underdog_V1__Sunderland__Nov_2010__tac

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andysafc, i am just wondering, both wide strikers have slightly different slider's settings (closing down and crossing) besides they have also swapping turned on,

same with both fullbacks and the trio of central defenders. Why is that?

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andysafc, i am just wondering, both wide strikers have slightly different slider's settings (closing down and crossing) besides they have also swapping turned on,

same with both fullbacks and the trio of central defenders. Why is that?

Difference in closing down should be minimal. Different crossing is just to give something different rather than too predictable. I choose swapping because my strikers could play either side but you can untick it if you feel it is not effective. It trys to pull teams apart that use man marking.

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andy, what about match preparation? tank's

Save the tactic then goto Match Preparation (via training) select the tactic and then choose TEAM BLEND. Once your team has a good understanding you can switch between other alternatives (IE Defence, Attack) but concentrate on team blend first.

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I was curious to see how this would work at lower League level so i started a new game with both Sunderland, still got ambitions to be acheived with them ;) and Hinckley from the Blue Square North.

Hinckley are one of the harder teams to achieve any success with as there is no transfer funds and the Chairman refused to make any avaiable. He also refused to increase the wage budget. So not only was it free transfers but it had to be cheap ones.

hinckley2.jpg

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I got rid of all the players who had no pace regardless of their other attributes. I replaced them with players who had a minimum pace of 10 which is decent at this level.

My first game was a very tough game at Title Challengers Alfreton, this is what happened.

hinckley1.jpg

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As you can see my defence still limited the home team to decent chances. Yes it is only one result but i believe that with the correct management then resonable success can be achieved.

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In 2015 with Deportivo. 3 games to go to end of season. Sitting 4th (above expectations), but I think the AI has cracked my tactics, so time for something new.

This tactic should do ok for me as I have good def mids and centre backs.

Game 1: away v Levante. Expected to win - used 'favourite' tactic: Drew 0-0

Game 2: home v Barca. Expected to lose - used 'underdog': Lost 0-2

Game 3: away v Betis. Expected to draw - used 'favourite': Won 0-1

Obviously it takes more than 3 games to bed in and my top striker was injured for all 3 games. Created very few CCC's, but so did opponents.

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In 2015 with Deportivo. 3 games to go to end of season. Sitting 4th (above expectations), but I think the AI has cracked my tactics, so time for something new.

This tactic should do ok for me as I have good def mids and centre backs.

Game 1: away v Levante. Expected to win - used 'favourite' tactic: Drew 0-0

Game 2: home v Barca. Expected to lose - used 'underdog': Lost 0-2

Game 3: away v Betis. Expected to draw - used 'favourite': Won 0-1

Obviously it takes more than 3 games to bed in and my top striker was injured for all 3 games. Created very few CCC's, but so did opponents.

Are you using OI? Don't. Some people set their Ass Man to do it automatically. Make sure it is unticked. Have you changed from a very different formation? Maybe it needs time. Can i see a photo of your starting eleven?

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andy ma man i remember your tactics back in the old 07 days absoloutley addored it m8 best tactic for me out of any fm

i will defo give this a go m8

hope it is another cracker like 07

will report back with results

trying to download m8 its not happnin could you upload it to somewhere else pls

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Are you using OI? Don't. Some people set their Ass Man to do it automatically. Make sure it is unticked. Have you changed from a very different formation? Maybe it needs time. Can i see a photo of your starting eleven?

Sadly I didn't save my 3 game experiment, sorry.

I wasn't using OI. I was using Mr Hough, which is a 4-3-3 - not hugely different to yours, just one extra DM instead of a CD. I'll give it another go in preseason for the 2015/16 season and let you know

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andy, if have a really good formation, do u think u can push the full back more forward( mentality, cross, run forward etcc)? tank's.

Yes and no. If you are playing against a similar or better team this could be risky as it will leave you exposed to attacks down the wings. However if you are one of the better teams like Man Utd, Barcelona etc and are playing a smaller team then it would work to push your full backs further up.

I played as Sunderland in the FA Cup against Sheff Wed and we seemed to invite Sheff Wed onto us then hit them on the break. The tactic still worked as we won 3-0 but my full backs did have plenty of space and could have hurt them more. I'm still learning myself.

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Which tactic is better to use when I play the game away and I'm a favourite? By analogy: when I play the game at home and I'm an underdog? Which tactics you used against Man Utd and Chelsea?

btw I have very good results so far with your tactics

fixm.jpg

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Which tactic is better to use when I play the game away and I'm a favourite? By analogy: when I play the game at home and I'm an underdog? Which tactics you used against Man Utd and Chelsea?

btw I have very good results so far with your tactics. Later today i will post a screenshot of my fixtures.

Play the Favourite Tactic when Favourite HOME OR AWAY. Likewise play the Underdog version when you are NOT Favorite Home or Away.

I used the Underdog Tactic against both Man Utd and Chelsea as i was the Underdog in each game.

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Which tactic is better to use when I play the game away and I'm a favourite? By analogy: when I play the game at home and I'm an underdog? Which tactics you used against Man Utd and Chelsea?

btw I have very good results so far with your tactics

fixm.jpg

That is some very good results Zigi. I don't know how the tactic will stand against time when the AI susses it out. But i remain confident as it is built from being tight at the back. Just played 10 League Games with SAFC and sit top of the League unbeaton. Drew 1-1 at Arsenal when they scored an injury time equaliser which looked miles offside - even the comantary said so.

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yet another picture of my latest match:

wonv.th.jpg

I wasn't sure how it would perform in different countries as some have different styles of play however those stats show the players are doing their job correctly. Almost all Liverpools shots were restricted to distance shooting. That is good!

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andy-just starting my game as birmingham this is my line up at the moment

gk-foster

rb rafael

lb masilela

cb davies

cb johnson

cb dann

cm mudingayi/simao

cm palacios/vass

fw martins

fw benitez/zigic

fw beausjuor/jerome

lots of pace and a strong midfield.beat sunderland 4-1(sorry) then suffered a bad home loss to blackburn2-0 they had no clear cut chances though then a 1-1 draw away to liverpool so not a bad start

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Those players do appear to have the right attributes suited to the tactic so you should be ok. A few of them must have been bought during pre-season? Did you give them a full pre-season together? I don't like pre-season as i feel the results are mis-leading. However it is important for fitness and team blending. What i do is manage the day to day as normal then when i get to a friendly i select the team and then holiday for one day. Make sure you select 'use team selected' and 'use current tactic' and the team will blend with the tactic ready for the season without boring you with needless matches. DON'T HOLIDAY DURING THE SEASON THOUGH.

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Wanted to see first hand how it would perform with a top team so i tried a new season with INTER MILAN. As usual i ran the club but holidayed through pre=season matches. The first two games of the season were tough - TWO CUP FINALS! The first one against Roma was one way traffic for us but we lost. We didn't perform very good at all though despite the stats in my favour. The second Cup Final started the same as my players were not performing the way i was expecting them to. However the second half started to show shades of the kind of play i am used to. We won the Cup on Pens. But it was when the League season started when we really started to perform. 5 games (1 Euro Match) = 5 wins 0 goals Conceded. Sometimes the opposition get plenty of the game but my defence always seems to hold strong.

interyf.jpg

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Hi Andy, Just thought i'd drop my two pennth into the hat on your tactic. Playing for Juve in 2013/14 season...Played 24 games Won 16, Drew 6, Lost just 2. Going forward the tactic is fantastic...What I found was that if I played my most creative forward in the cfc position my team played alot better (I played G. Rossi). I'm not to bothered about the tactic in defence at the moment as I have a very aged Buffon in goal who has absolutely no physical attributes left!!! Won the Italian cup with this tactic but overall finished 4th (The damage was already done with other inconsistent tactics).

That is what your tactic brought to my team...Consistency...Cracking tactic mate...

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hi andy, how do you set match preparations?

Don't really do Match Preperations, the only thing i have done so far at the start of the season i goto the Match Prepartion screen, select my tactic and then tick - TEAM BLEND. That is it for me.

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