I would LOVE IT, If we could re-create the Newcastle formation!

Sorry about that

Okay Oba, Jaycar, Cleon and whoever else wishes to join in, I think we'd all agree that from the back to the midfield we are talking about a standard looking 4-3-3 as follows:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

Barton Butt Geremi

Enrique Faye Taylor Beye

</pre>

With the fullbacks, especially Beye overlapping. Now the interesting part is the front three. I am interested to know what you think but this is my take on Owen (...

As I suggested earlier I think we are looking at either this:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

<---Martins Viduka <---Owen

</pre>

With Owen as FR with Sarrow and lower mentality than the other strikers so he is attacking the ball from deep.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

<---Martins Viduka \

\

Owen

</pre>

As a AMR with diagonal Farrow. Or...

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

Martins Viduka

Owen

</pre>

That last one is not particularly specific, you could give him an arrow to the right of Viduka I suppose but against Spurs the goal he scored was running from deep between the strikers.

As for Martins' role I would say with more certainty it's a straight arrow to FL or AML, Viduka is your standard central striker who holds the ball up and does not make many forward runs.

So....before I go into things like passing and focusing play I shall hand it over to you's

Oh and here is that great link with all the stats and stuff to help out

Stat changes

I should point out that I am making a few adjustments to the stats of one or two players which are simply wrong:

Beye Swapping Dribbling and Crossing around so it becomes Crossing 12 and Dribbling 15 and Off The Ball to about 13.

Faye Concentration and Decisions to about 13. Heading to 16.

Martins Jumping to 16 or 17. Finishing the same. Heading about 14 and Long Shots about 16 or 17. Martins is too underrated.

..and I am removing the injuries, as they are not injured anymore

I could change a whole host of PPM's too, but that would take a bit of time and I would not want to get my save differing too much from the rest of you. For example Beye only has Marks Tightly as a PPM, considering he spends half the time as a wingback/winger and runs with the ball loads

I have signed 3 players in Pineda, Almeyda and Farfan to give me cover for Enrique, Butt and Owen and am ready to start my season. I intend to go with the same team that beat Spurs and Reading.

Fingers crossed.

(P.S. Why the hell has no-one posted in here yet )

As a Newcastle fan I will be intigued to see how this turns out. But I have found that the AI get confused if you use a tactic that they don't use. So this should work

Also, maybe Barton could have a farrow to AMC?

My game crashed whilst doing this, but no worries. I saved the tactic, and will be starting it again. Probably will including the tweaks that Buxton has made to some of the players, as I feel they are quite important, Martins is poor on the game.

As for the tactical aspect. I played with a normal 3 up front:

< --- Martins -- Viduka -- Owen

I had a Martins with a sarrow to FL, as he provides a good amount of width irl, and the arrow will hopefully take him wide, and give him chance to cross for Viduka and Owen.

I also gave Enrique and Beye a farrow to WBL + WBR respectively. This seems to help them want to move forward alot more, as well as the use of 'often' forward runs. I saw Beye in particular get a couple assists because of this, which is just like real life. Yay.

I'm interested in Butt's position though, as it isn't easy to tell exactly where he plays, DMC or MC. He does seem to go forward at times, as you can tell by his goal he got against Spurs. I think I am going to play him MC with a barrow to DMC, with 'mixed' forward runs.

Will post some screenshots either tonight or tomorrow once I've started again arggghh.

Actually I think this would work better for the strikeforce:

Martins ----> - Viduka - -Owen

Martins' goal against Reading showed that he stays wide, then when in possession he came inside, recieving the ball and then firing home.

Also interested in how people set up Creative Freedom and Closing Down. Also, will we create a home and away tactic, or just tweak one tactic?

How does Newcastles midfield operate irl? I've not seen much of them lately, so no idea how to set it up best. Is there just 1 holding player, or do all 3 do defensive stuff etc?

I thought this was going to be a challenge to re-create the formation that Keegan used when he last the manager, with two wingers and a front two of little and large combination and two midfielders who dug in and got moves going after breaking down opposition attack.

Keegans type of player would have lots of flair in a 4-4-2 formation.

Good luck with your quest but most of the current Newcastle players arent good enough to make it work.

That is the best thread title I've seen in ages lol. Good luck with this, will be interesting to see what happens, and I will follow keenly

i think it would be abit of a pointless excercise, seeing that the team are barely suviving premiership football

Just fired up, forgotten to sort out the injuries, so not the best start

Shape is as Buxton posted at the back and midfield, central MC Butt has a barrow to DMC.

Upfront I've gone with a very experimental...

<----Martins Viduka--> Owen

|

|

|

|

Ok, that looks terrible, but Owen is Barrowed to

The AMC slot behind Viduka. Viduka has a Sarrow to the slot vacates, and martins has a sarrow to the FCL slot.

No idea how it will play out but hey, who dares wins

May or may not use farrows on the FB's.

We were doing this just messing around regardless, but we thought we could turn it into a thread. That way anyone can join in.

So much negativity

jesus, that post was a mess..if nobody understands that I'll post a screen shot.

Originally posted by Cleon:

How does Newcastles midfield operate irl? I've not seen much of them lately, so no idea how to set it up best. Is there just 1 holding player, or do all 3 do defensive stuff etc?

I'd also like to know this one I'm guessing Butt at least is defensive.

Originally posted by jaycar:

jesus, that post was a mess..if nobody understands that I'll post a screen shot.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Cleon:

How does Newcastles midfield operate irl? I've not seen much of them lately, so no idea how to set it up best. Is there just 1 holding player, or do all 3 do defensive stuff etc?

I'd also like to know this one I'm guessing Butt at least is defensive. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thats what I've gone for and the other 2 more normal.

I didnt sort injuries out either, so will have a make shift team for first month or so

Don't know if you've noticed, but Geremi and Barton seem to find themselves in wide positions quite a lot, with them both delivering crosses. Not sure how this could be done, because they are both central when defending, hmmm. Been watching highlights on Youtube of the two games, and I definitely think we could recreate it. Here's what I am going to do with the midfield:

Barton ----> Butt <---- Geremi

Will be interesting to see how some of the ideas work. I'm not a fan of tactics that have arrows here, there and everywhere so I am going to attempt to use as few as possible.

@america33428: You iz well funneh.

Guys,

I came up with this idea about a week ago after the humbling of spuds. Taken me a week but i have finally created a superb tactic that I have used to with the Euro Cup with RC Lens. Would upload it but not sure where to upload it to.

If you didn't see the last couple games Cleon, then search for them on Youtube. It has highlights from MOTD.

Originally posted by bearsy:

Guys,

I came up with this idea about a week ago after the humbling of spuds. Taken me a week but i have finally created a superb tactic that I have used to with the Euro Cup with RC Lens. Would upload it but not sure where to upload it to.

Why not try tell us about it, instead of uploading it. If you upload it then people will download it and start talking about there results with it, which isn't really what we're looking for.

We're more hoping for some decent discussion. So, how have you set the front three up, and the midfield?

All three of my cm's are hard tackling guys. My DM sits a bit deeper when we lose the ball, and does nothing really other than retain possession and tackle. The other two cm's get forward when possible, but are still very solid defensively. The joy of the tactic is the freedom the two strikers have either side of my target man(Viduka-esque). The target man hardly moves, but fairly bangs them in. I've got two backward arrows going back from the other strikers to the amc slots, and with forward runs mixed and run with ball often, they run riot in most matches

Interesting bearsy, I like the idea of barrows on the two forwards either side of Viduka, and did see this happening to a certain extent against Spurs, but less so vs. Reading. I will experiment with that possibly.

What views does everyone have on the use of free-roles and hold up ball? I'm undecided on whether anyone in the team uses either, although I will probably use HUB on Viduka.

The little analysis feature on the telegraph website is a great source of information, and can help a lot when it comes to setting up the passing for each player.

Originally posted by ObaMartins09:

Don't know if you've noticed, but Geremi and Barton seem to find themselves in wide positions quite a lot, with them both delivering crosses. Not sure how this could be done, because they are both central when defending, hmmm. Been watching highlights on Youtube of the two games, and I definitely think we could recreate it. Here's what I am going to do with the midfield:

Barton ----> Butt <---- Geremi

Will be interesting to see how some of the ideas work. I'm not a fan of tactics that have arrows here, there and everywhere so I am going to attempt to use as few as possible.

@america33428: You iz well funneh.

Thats why I use narrow width, with farrows and often forward runs the FB's still overlap, with rarely crossing on the outer MC's, they will not cross.

Originally posted by ObaMartins09:

Interesting bearsy, I like the idea of barrows on the two forwards either side of Viduka, and did see this happening to a certain extent against Spurs, but less so vs. Reading. I will experiment with that possibly.

What views does everyone have on the use of free-roles and hold up ball? I'm undecided on whether anyone in the team uses either, although I will probably use HUB on Viduka.

The little analysis feature on the telegraph website is a great source of information, and can help a lot when it comes to setting up the passing for each player.

I only have hold up ball on Viduka. Couple that with little creative freedom, through balls often, RWB set to mixed, and the rest on rarely he just sits there nice and pretty up front

I'm half way through pre-season atm and I think I've sorted the striker out, its just the middle and back I'm not happy with. Martins is FL with arrow to SC, Owen is AMR with arrow to SC

Results so far;

won 3-2 against Lyon

won 1-4 against Bristol

won 0-4 against Motherwell

I'll post more about formation once season starts and I'm decided on exactly how to set up.

Originally posted by Cleon:

I'm half way through pre-season atm and I think I've sorted the striker out, its just the middle and back I'm not happy with. Martins is FL with arrow to SC, Owen is AMR with arrow to SC

Results so far;

won 3-2 against Lyon

won 1-4 against Bristol

won 0-4 against Motherwell

I'll post more about formation once season starts and I'm decided on exactly how to set up.

lol not happy with the middle or the back.. your sounding more like Keegan

Originally posted by bearsy:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Cleon:

I'm half way through pre-season atm and I think I've sorted the striker out, its just the middle and back I'm not happy with. Martins is FL with arrow to SC, Owen is AMR with arrow to SC

Results so far;

won 3-2 against Lyon

won 1-4 against Bristol

won 0-4 against Motherwell

I'll post more about formation once season starts and I'm decided on exactly how to set up.

lol not happy with the middle or the back.. your sounding more like Keegan </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I hate back 4's on FM, its too poor imo

Something like this?

Or maybe

Have I misunderstood?

Originally posted by Cleon:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by bearsy:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Cleon:

I'm half way through pre-season atm and I think I've sorted the striker out, its just the middle and back I'm not happy with. Martins is FL with arrow to SC, Owen is AMR with arrow to SC

Results so far;

won 3-2 against Lyon

won 1-4 against Bristol

won 0-4 against Motherwell

I'll post more about formation once season starts and I'm decided on exactly how to set up.

lol not happy with the middle or the back.. your sounding more like Keegan </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I hate back 4's on FM, its too poor imo </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah i agree, especially when the full backs are on FWRuns often. The DM's never fill the holes like in real life.

Owen being the one back to AMC, Barton being the one to AMC, viduka in the middle

Formation

Thats what I've gone for, judging by clips I've watched on youtube.

Originally posted by Cleon:

How does Newcastles midfield operate irl? I've not seen much of them lately, so no idea how to set it up best. Is there just 1 holding player, or do all 3 do defensive stuff etc?

I'd also like to know this one I'm guessing Butt at least is defensive.

Well it is not an adventurous midfield 3 that is for sure, all are hard working and do a good share of defensive duties, Butt is definitely the deepest of the 3 what you would call the holding midfielder. When the ball is wide when not in possession Barton and Geremi fell back to help out the fullbacks.

When in possession Butt often finds himself fairly free in the middle to spread it about, the midfield 3 often play short(ish) passes between each other until the fullbacks are advanced enough to overlap and provide a cross.

Play on the left and right flanks tends to differ slightly though, when it's on the right with Geremi, he tends to hold up possession until Beye is ahead of him, gives him the ball and holds back, Beye then knocks the ball back to him and Geremi gets a cross into the box from around 18 yards out.

On the left with Barton, it's more difficult to explain as there is not a clear ploy like there is with Geremi and Beye. Barton does find himself wide a bit but tends to look to play the ball inside more which is probably to do with the fact he is right footed. Enrique meanwhile gets into a similar position to that of the one Geremi takes up when crossing in the box, about 18 yards or so from the goalline, sometimes even further back.

If I were to equate all of that into FM instructions it would be:

Butt - Low Normal Mentality, Mixed FR's, RWB and TTB's. Mixed Passing and Normal to High Normal Closing Down.

Barton - High Normal Mentality, Mixed FR's RWB and TTB's. Short to Mixed Passing and Normal CD.

Geremi - Similar instructions to Barton but with Hold Up Ball and Crossing Often and from Mixed.

Good results Cleon, glad to see your using Martins at FL with an arrow to SC.

@ Jaycar: I think you misunderstood. I WANT the outer mc's to be crossing the ball a lot, because they seem to be going wide often irl and doing so. I think a wide with is definitely necessary, and I think most would agree. Sorry if what I said was misleading.

How's it going Buxton, if you've started. Also, how have you set up creative freedom and closing down Cleon?

By the way guys, I would say Enrique's FR's should be Mixed rather than Often.

Thanks Buxton, I'm using something simliar to how you explained

Oba - CF is just normal for players for now and closing down, I'm going to watch my first game and set it up that way.

In regards to tempo, I would say that it is slow, and we play much more probing than we did with Big Sam. Mainly short passes, but Butt always seems to play a direct pass when he recieves it, so I would have him doing that.

Going to have a little break from posting, maybe do a few matches and report back. I think that providing screenshots and PKM's would be good to the success of the thread.

Originally posted by Buxton:

By the way guys, I would say Enrique's FR's should be Mixed rather than Often.

Aye, I see what you mean, he definitely isn't as attacking as Beye. This could provide us with a bit more defensive stability as well. Good spot there Buxton.

Originally posted by ObaMartins09:

In regards to tempo, I would say that it is slow, and we play much more probing than we did with Big Sam. Mainly short passes, but Butt always seems to play a direct pass when he recieves it, so I would have him doing that.

Going to have a little break from posting, maybe do a few matches and report back. I think that providing screenshots and PKM's would be good to the success of the thread.

I'd say having him on Direct was limiting the type of pass, against Reading Butt played a lot of short passes in the space between the centre circle and the touchline on both sides of the pitch.

Okay then mate, I will probably set it at the mid point of centre and direct.

Thought I'd mention that whilst playing earlier, I scored an almost indentical goal to the one Butt scored against Spurs. I was well chuffed.

Great thread, if something tangible comes from this could someone (looking at you cleon) upload the tactic - would love to play like Keegan is at the minute!

Why not just give it a try, like the rest of us mate

A fantastic start!

..and the performance was very accurate, quite suprised how much so

I went with:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

<---Martins Viduka <---Owen

</pre>

Then went to this when I went 3-0 up:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

<---Martins Viduka |

|

Owen

</pre>

The balance was better than I anticipated, Beye was the one providing the width down the right, and the only thing that was not right was he did not pull the ball back to Geremi for the cross, which is a difficult thing to make happen with the instructions we are given.

There was even a long enrique pass down the line for Oba which was great

Originally posted by Cleon:

Why not just give it a try, like the rest of us mate

I am doing fella, just not having much success lol

i would love it.....if somone uploaded a similar tactic maybe yours buxton?

aslong as its got the keegan magic

Originally posted by 13xForever:

i would love it.....if somone uploaded a similar tactic maybe yours buxton?

aslong as its got the keegan magic

Uploading a tactic would defeat the object of the thread.

Impressive start Buxton, have you changed any player instructions for anyone, i.e. Free Roles? Creative Freedom? etc . . ?

In fact, could you upload the PKM of that match Buxton? Could look at it and offer suggestions . . .

Yeah I will upload the PKM after work. Nobody is on free role and CF is different throughout the team however the maximum is Martins on about 13.

Vs Blackburn PKM Download

Buxton, may I just ask you what skins are you using? Looks real neat.

Just had a quick look at the PKM before the Arsenal/Liverpool game, and I must say that some of the football played there was brilliant Buxton. I'll have another look at it later, but from what I saw it seems that you have a good base formation and settings.

Beye went on a few great runs down the line and Barton was excellent in midfield.

Anything else to add? Results? Changes to tactic?

Anyone made any more progress with this? I am just about to boot up FM for the first time in a couple of days and continue.