Achieving but not excelling

Hello everyone,

Just a quick thread from me here. I was just going to ask for any tips and tricks that I seem to be missing in FM at the moment. I continually achieve/slight underachieve at the clubs I am managing, for example finishing 13th and then 10th with Birmingham in two seasons, or only winning the league with Barca, finishing 5th with Arsenal, mid table with my BSN team.

I never seem to excel.

I try to stick to the same tactic, which is currently a 4-1-2-2-1. It could be those, it could be my signings/team talks. I don't know.

I would just like to be given some direction on where I should go.

First of all matey I would have a look at your tactics. Depending on which team you are, depends on what sort of tactical approach to take. E.G. If u are for example Barca, you have a team full of stars already, therefore it would be most beneficial to find a tactic that incorporates the best and most influential players. However, if u have an average top flight team, i.e bimingham (no offense brum fans), then you may look to find a tactic you prefer, and begin to build a team with that formation in mind. It would take time, as you can hardly afford an overhaul with a team like Birmingham, but it would allow you to eventually have a team that is built around your preferred style of play.

If for example, you are looking to play a 4-2-3-1. But you don have particularly good wingers, but a strong dependent ST, then setting your wingers to 'support' rather than 'attack' may be a good option as they will not attempt to run at the full backs as much, and applying the crossing from deep option would also be a help here. Then, once you have maybe built up some cash over a few season, look to buy 1 or 2 pacey wingers and get them to attack the full backs, and cross from the byline.

Just a few things to consider matey. It is the appoach I have taken since I started a save with Barca and finished 5th! Got sacked and wondered what on earth I had done wrong. I started a new save with Barca and used tactics tha suited their style of play rather than enforcing my own preferred tactics onto them, and surprise surprise, I won the La Liga title and the Spanish cup in my first season.

Hope this helps bud.

Very helpful, cheers. I'm awful tactically I have to be honest. I'm not sure where to start though, do I look at all my players and what they're good at and then judge the tactic from there? What if I am an LLM and have awful players in every position? Do I go out to win games? Do I play quick/slow tempo, what determines this? Do I play direct or short?

These are all questions I'm not sure how to answer!

It fully depends on the team you pick. There's no set choice that will guarantee you results.

For instance, my Newcastle and Arsenal formations are a physically identical, 4-2-3-1 with wide men. But the roles for players are entirely different and the team play is completely different too and both are successful clubs (my Newcastle save has seen me obliterate pretty much everything in front of me). As the players I have at Newcastle are totally different to the ones at Arsenal, I've adjusted the play accordingly.

Look at players stats and if you're using the new tatics system when selecting a role look at the highlighted stats to determine their best position. If you have a technically brilliant CM who's lacking defensive skills then play him in an offensive manner.

A bit of tinkering should solve all your problems.

It fully depends on the team you pick. There's no set choice that will guarantee you results.

For instance, my Newcastle and Arsenal formations are a physically identical, 4-2-3-1 with wide men. But the roles for players are entirely different and the team play is completely different too and both are successful clubs (my Newcastle save has seen me obliterate pretty much everything in front of me). As the players I have at Newcastle are totally different to the ones at Arsenal, I've adjusted the play accordingly.

Look at players stats and if you're using the new tatics system when selecting a role look at the highlighted stats to determine their best position. If you have a technically brilliant CM who's lacking defensive skills then play him in an offensive manner.

A bit of tinkering should solve all your problems.

Cheers, i did just decide to do this before I saw this post and your advice backs it up! Thanks very much, I changed the roles of all bar three of my players and they were the full backs and the keeper which will most likely stay the same for most clubs! I did a bit more tinkering of the roles and more advanced tactics sliders but kept the same formation and team instructions. With this little tinkering I managed a 3-1 win in the next game. Placebo effect? I hope not!

Many thanks for both your help!

As an aside if your playing the reverse xmas tree formation (1DM-2MC-2W-1ST) sometimes if your forwards not on his game it can work wonders dropping him very deep. If the opposition DCs are marking him to death and nothings sticking to him, drop him deep and use your wingers as Inside Forwards to run into the space the DCs leave trying to pick up your ST. Doesnt always work but it seems to help when teams park the bus...

As an aside if your playing the reverse xmas tree formation (1DM-2MC-2W-1ST) sometimes if your forwards not on his game it can work wonders dropping him very deep. If the opposition DCs are marking him to death and nothings sticking to him, drop him deep and use your wingers as Inside Forwards to run into the space the DCs leave trying to pick up your ST. Doesnt always work but it seems to help when teams park the bus...

Yeah I have sometimes found it difficult when playing that formation if my ST is being outplayed. Interesting point, worth considering! Thanks