Match Prep formation's

Just wondering on the 3 selected match prep formation that we can choose is it a good idea to have 3 different formations or 3 identical formations with different instructions?

I have my 4-3-3 as the first option.

The second option is a 5-3-2 in case I need to drop a striker back into defence to hold onto a lead.

I don't think different instructions on three identical formations will make any difference really. Once you've got a certain formation sorted - all the bars tend to be 100% anyway, no matter how many variation you create with different little details.

I have a Narrow 4-1-2-1-2 Formation, a Wide 4-1-2-2-1 Formation and I have at present a 4-3-2-1 test formation in the third choice option. My Team and Player instructions are very similar in all three tactics. I have found that in this version of FM the winger tactics are more useable than in previous versions. My test tactic I am trying to see if I can get away from always having a DMC in all my tactics. Recently I came across the thread on how to properly use the Match prep screen and have noticed after using it in the way proposed that after approximately 6 or so matches I can see a definite bonus effect on my in game tactics as a result.

If you like to do A LOT of tactics and switch between them (which I do), you can use 3 setups that mix most different tactical settings and be able to change tactics without suffering that much. Not that I have done in-depth testing, but from experience it seems to work ok. For example something like this should cover formations and settings pretty well:

5-2-3 standard, fluid, wide, short passing, high def line, slow tempo / 4-3-3 control, balanced, normal width, default passing, normal def line, normal tempo / 3-4-1-2 attacking, rigid, narrow, direct, deep def line, quick tempo.

One issue with this is checking how fluid a new formation is (exchanging it with one of the 3 setups) seems to reset knowledge of that particular formation

I had a tactic set up and it was almost all accomplished, however i just set up a second formation and put it in the match preperation and its reset my other tactic??

Is this supposed to happen?

EDIT: i have just started a new season btw

EDIT2: Just realised why, probs because ive signed a 3/4 new players and they need to gel to it i suppose

Copied from another discussion, but this might help you make your decisions as to how to approach the match preparation screen, and what actually constitutes a "change in formation". I've not edited the post, in case your wondering about the reference to the "OP" in the quoted section below - it's not the OP of this thread!

I thought I might add some of my thoughts and experiences on the match preparation.

First off, I do think it's less limited than it at first appeared, but is still limited and probably not implemented sensibly. I'm the sort of player who tweaks tactics in matches a lot. It's a rare game when I haven't changed at least a few instructions within 5 minutes of kick off (normally much less). So I was particularly wary of the fact that the changes I'm making are not the settings I've been training, and my players would be uncomfortable with the changes. And, to a certain extent they were. I then read that your changes in matches (or shouts for those using the wizard) are remembered, and you players become more adept. As far as I can tell, this isn't necessarily the case (but I've not looked into it much).

Anyway, I was playing a wonky 4-1-2-1-2 with DMR, MCL, MR and AM and my team were quite adept at it. But I then signed a new AM and decided to move the old AM to the MR position. However, I wasn't getting the most out of him (in particular his ability to score from distance). So in the middle of one match, I moved him to MCR to get him more central; I also moved my DMR to DM (i.e. a "normal" 4-1-2-1-2). This worked much better over a couple of matches. So I went and edited my base tactic and selected the new version in the match preparation screen. Lo and behold, the bars are still at the same level. In fact, when I moved my MCL to ML, the bars were still all full. (I was only saving my tactical changes and loading up the new tactic in the match preparation screen)

This got me thinking, so I tried a few things out... and here's my conclusion:

• There are a few bugs relating to the overall team settings and the fact that they aren't loaded correctly (I believe this is a known issue)
  
• The tactic familiarity bars ONLY reflect/are affected by the team sliders (which may or may not be related to the team settings bug). In other words, any changes you make to a player's individual settings result in no penalty on the match preparation screen (whether they are penalised somewhere else is unclear). This may be an exploit, it may be a bug, the display may not reflect the fact that players are less familiar with their roles; I don't know. But it does mean, for example, that you can set team passing to any setting you like, leave it there until the passing style bar is full, and then theoretically assign all players new individual settings at no penalty; just don't touch the team setting. This would theoretically allow you to go from short to direct passing at no penalty if you use the player settings; but you'd be penalised using the team settings or shouts. The same applies to creative freedom, mentality, marking and closing down. Of course, some of the team settings aren't available for players as well, such as tempo and width. *More on what this might mean for the OP later...
  
• The further you move the team sliders, the more the bars drop. I don't see any indication that my players are used to playing at different widths, for example, even though I do regularly change my width in matches. But I haven't tested this properly.
  
• You can move players freely within any lateral position with no penalty to the formation bar. What I mean is that as long as your tactic is nominally a 4-1-2-1-2 (or whatever you've prepared), you can place those 10 players anywhere at no penalty. So you can play: DL, DC, DCR, DR, WBL, MCR, MR, AML, SL, SCR (a type of 4-1-2-1-2) and the formation bar is still full! This probably explains why my team has fallen apart in the past when I've switched from 4-4-2 to 4-1-3-2; because I've not prepared 4-1-3-2, and this is in effect a wholesale formation change. But switching 4-1-2-1-2 variations and I don't notice my team playing awfully in matches.
  

* So what does this mean for the OP? Well it may mean that using the wizard possibly has one simple disadvantage: You're relying on the team sliders, rather than the individual player's sliders, and may be being penalised for this and changes made to the team settings (e.g. shouts). Whereas you can seemingly make wholesale changes using the advanced player settings without any penalty. Either that, or the players are being penalised, and this is not being displayed. But this may explain why seemingly identical tactics are giving such different results. Maybe you're simply suffering from penalties to team settings using the wizard, and avoiding them using the advanced tactics?

As you can probably see, this suggests that the best approach is to use 3 very different tactics, not variations on the same line up. For example, 4-1-3-2, 4-1-2-1-2 and 4-3-3 are my choices at the moment. This would provide you with far more fluid tactical options at the same training overhead as 3 slight variations on your run of the mill 4-4-2.

Edit: you probably want to ask these kinds of questions here: http://community.sigames.com/forumdisplay.php/18-Tactics-amp-Training-Discussion

and the original discussion is here: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/251291-Looking-at-some-of-FM-s-new-features...?p=6423220#post6423220