burnum

It's called "club vision" for a reason - it's bigger than what you as the manager want. It's the general long-term direction of the club, regardless of who the current manager is. Example: Bayern Munich have been playing possession football for the last 15 years, regardless of who the manager was. They played possession football under Louis Van Gaal, Jupp Heynckes, Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti, Niko Kovac, Hansi Flick and currently under Julian Nagelsmann. The amount of possession may vary, also the tactics and formations have changed over the years. But the general style of football has always remained very similar. Similar examples could be made for teams like Ajax or Barcelona. In short: as the manager, you're not supposed to change that, unless in some very rare exceptions - e.g. if you're at a club for a long time and are considered a club legend or something like that.

First step: try removing overlap on the left side (there should be a natural overlap anyways). If that doesn't work: second step: try changing the role from IF to IW. If that doesn't work (give him 5-8 games before making any further changes) you could mirror the setup from the right side to the left - WB on support and IF on attack duty. In general, if you have more of a finisher, play him as IF, if you have more of a dribbler/creator, play him as IW. If all those things don't work: maybe change the left BBM to RPM to help getting the AML more involved.

First of all: both of your guys are really awesome and could be cornerstones for every team to be built around. To answer your question: I think the international callups have to do a lot with player reputation. The two players you mentioned are still relatively young and play in a smaller league (Sweden). These 2 things have probably led to the player reputation not being as high as their playing ability (CA) should warrant. I don't think it's "strange behaviour" by the Spain/Italy national team coaches, it's more like a flaw to the game AI that younger players struggle to pick up reputation relative to their CA. But... isn't that somewhat realistic? Often times fans criticise national team managers for that exact thing: picking players by reputation and not by performance/ability. This video goes more into detail of the problem:

Update: I've tweaked around with some of the roles in the tactics. Here's what I've found: Changing BBM-su to BWM-su leads to a more solid defense but takes a little bit away from the attacking output. This could be a good change for tough games against good opponents. Changing BBM-su to RPM-su leads to better attacking output without sacrificing anything defensively. But you need to have great allround players for the RPM roles. If you don't have a top duo like Kimmich/Goretzka, you're probably better off just sticking with the BBM role. If you have one great player but not two, the combination of a RPM-su and a BWM-su should be a good combination (tested that with West Ham with Rice as RPM and Soucek as BWM, went pretty well). Changing IF to IW leads to more wing play and crosses, which can benefit your Target Man but hurt the AF in terms of goalscoring. I don't think there's a better or worse way, just use the role that's better suited to your players. The IW tends to run down the flank more before cutting inside in the final third, while the IF has a more direct approach and basically works as an "outside striker". Conclusion: Change BBM roles to BWM against tough opponents or when closing out games with a narrow lead. RPM is the best role for the two central mids but ONLY if you have the players to make it work. Any combination of BBM/BWM/RPM should work well. IF or IW on the wings is completely up to what players you have in your squad.

Good to see it's working well for you guys as well.

Show onto weaker foot for everyone unless they're either-footed. If they have someone in a playmaker role (DLP, AP, RPM) he'll get tight marking. Single striker gets tight marking if nobody is lined up in the AMC role. I usually look at opposing defenders' ratings before a match. If someone is particularly bad in terms of passing/vision I'll put trigger press on him.

Flut Skin Dark, can be downloaded at most of the popular FM websites/forums.

It has been done: SC Paderborn win the Bundesliga for the first time ever, breaking the FC Bayern streak of 13 consecutive titles in a row. This is the first eleven I used for most of the season: This is the player I use as my Target Forward. He scored 30 goals over the course of the season and is by far the most important player on the team. Fits the tactic perfectly.

Looking forward to this...

In a previous thread I created a possession-based 433, which I still use when playing with elite clubs. That thread can be found here: I like possession football and if I have the players to make it work, that'll always be the way I want my team to play. But not everyone has the luxury to mold the squad to his liking, sometimes you need to play with what you have. When I started a career at my hometown club SC Paderborn (a mid-table club in the German 2nd Division) I didn't have the players to play my favoured possession approach - and it almost got me fired. Using my possession tactics, we stood 16th at the World Cup break. That's when I decided to scrap my approach and go with what fits my players. 1. How we got there: Looking at my team I found that I had a couple of decent strikers but their skill-sets were polar opposites. One of them was tiny and fast, the other one was big and slow. In midfield I didn't have any playmaker-types but a lot of ball-winning type of guys, who could run around and get the ball back. So I tried to base my tactical approach around a pair of hard-working midfielders and a striker duo of polar opposites: a big Target Man ("Thunder") and a small speedster as Advanced Forward ("Lightning"). After almost getting sacked due to my failed possession experiment I installed the new tactics when we were in 16th position at the World Cup break in November. The tactic worked instantly and we were the best team in the league for the second half of the season, managed to work our way up from 16th to 5th. In the next season we won the league and got promoted to the Bundesliga. After promotion I was not afforded a huge transfer budget (around 5M Euros, if I remember correctly), so a huge improvement to the squad was not in the cards. We were expected to finish dead last in the Bundesliga (18th out of 18). I kept faith in my tactics and this happened: After qualifying for the Europa League as the weakest team in the league, we were afforded a budget of 30M Euros. I was able to improve the squad in multiple positions, bringing in players who perfectly fit my tactics. After half a season, we currently lead the league: 2.) The tactical approach: Just like my possession-based approach, I again decided to rotate between 2 different versions of my tactics, based on the opposition's formation. This is my main tactic that I use in most games: The Wingbacks provide width, the Inside Forwards run at the half spaces and the two forwards are the central threat. A ton of responsibility is given to the two Box-to-Box Midfielders - they need to be able to run their socks off. These 2 guys are the engine of the entire system. However, somewhere along the way I discovered that this system (somewhat unsurprisingly) struggles against narrow formations (e.g. Brazilian Box, Narrow Diamond, 5-at-the-back formations, basically every formation that only uses 1 player out wide on each flank) who simply have more players in the central midfield area than we do, thus being able to control the game. So I had to find a way to adapt against these narrow systems: Now the Inside Forwards are turned into Wingers to provide the width and the Wingbacks are turned into IWBs to support the central midfield areas (where we were shorthanded before). The added insurance of the two IWBs affords us to turn one of the BBMs into more of an attacking role to provide more runs from deep (the left BBM now has "get further forward" and "moves into channels" as PI). 3. When to use which setup? Only use these tactics if you have 2 central midfielders who can fulfil the requirements of the BBM role. There's no room for a static playmaker-type midfielder in this setup. Toni Kroos would be warming the bench in this setup. Only use these tactics if you have a big, strong Target Man. He's your most important player in attack. Without him you won't be successful. Doesn't have to be an expensive world-beater, just get a striker who is good in the air (jumping reach, heading), strong (strength) and doesn't shy away from contact (bravery). I'll give you some names later on... Use the normal version as your base tactic and build your squad around it. You'll use that one the majority of the games. Use the "inverted" version only against opponents who only have 1 player on each wing. Examples: 4. What to look for at each position? GK: Just get the best keeper you can get. You could also change the role to any other Goalkeeping-role to your liking. I still use the initial Paderborn keeper (Jannik Huth) in my save. DC: Defenders first and foremost but it helps if they have some passing skills. If they do, they will occassionally play long passes to the Target Man, which can create good chances on the counter. If you have a DC who's not a good passer, just turn the role into a standard Central Defender. DL/DR: Important guys to provide width in attack and still be reliable in defense. You want speed, workrate, positioning, crossing, dribbling, decisions here. These guys run a lot. MC: The 2 BBM guys are the engine of the team. Need to be able to run their socks off every game, working up and down the pitch all day. Workrate, teamwork, stamina, tackling, decisions, off the ball, passing are the most important attributes for them. If I were to manage Real Madrid I'd prefer Camavinga & Tchouameni over Kroos & Modric for these roles. Arturo Vidal in his prime would be perfect for this role. Morten Thorsby (Union Berlin) is a great option if you're on a budget. AML/AMR: Just get the best Inside Forwards you can. If you have a choice, I'd play them on their inverted foot (lefty on the right side and vice versa). Speed, dribbling, finishing, technique, first touch, agility, balance are all important. You basically want to find an Arjen Robben clone for each side. TM (Thunder): Big, strong, tough, anything related to technique/skill is a nice bonus. If money is not an issue, get Lukaku or Scamacca. If you are on a budget, I can recommend Fer Nino (can be bought on the cheap from Villareal after the 1st season, he's the superstar in my Paderborn save), Roberts Uldrikis (starts at Cambuur), Paul Onuachu (Genk) or Guus Til (AMC who can be retrained, if you want a more balanced player with some skill). AF (Lightning): Speed kills here. The quicker the better. Somebody who is fast and can finish. Dribbling and off the ball are important as well. In my Paderborn save I use Ernest Poku (starts at AZ) in that role. Guys like Timo Werner, Lautaro Martinez or Aubameyang should be great in this role. 5. Enough talk - where are the downloads? Normal version: 424 Thunder & Lightning.fmf Inverted version: 424 Thunder & Lightning Inverted.fmf Shut Up Shop version (final 5-10 minutes, when defending a narrow lead): Thunder & Lightning SUS.fmf Further testing with West Ham (holiday test, using the normal version of the tactic):

1. Remove "moves into channels" and "roam from position" from the F9. You already have both SS running the channels, you need the F9 to stay in the centre just outside the box if you want him to set up goals for the Shadow Strikers. 2. I'd also switch the left SS to an AP-at or Treq-at role. You need someone to get the ball to your F9. The Shadow Strikers are not creative players/passers, they are run-and-score players first and foremost. The only one who could get the ball to your F9 at the moment is your RPM but he's quite far away (DMCR position). If an opposing midfielder can mark your RPM out of the game, there's nobody to advance the ball to your F9, thus I'd change one of the SS to a more creative/passing role (AP-at or Treq still moves into space and runs the channels).

If you're interesting in the original version, make sure you change the DM from HB to either DLP or DM. The HB role is not needed if you have 2 IWB to protect the deep centre. The free 8 roles depend on the players you have. In a perfect world I think MEZ-at is the best role in that position. However, you need really good allround players for that role, they need to be really good on the ball, off the ball and against the ball (pressing). If you don't have the players for that, you could try a combination of AP-at and BBM-su or maybe CM-at. Also, if you have a more static playmaker type in MC (think aging David Silva or Xavi) you could pair a MEZ-at with AP-su. As for the wide men cutting in: if you use an IWB then I think it's mandatory to keep the wingers out wide. Someone needs to stretch the defense horizontally to create space for everyone else to run into. AML/AMR need be play as wide as possible ("hugs the touchline" is a great trait for those guys). If you want to use Inverted Wingers or Inside Forwards, you need to change the IWBs to wing backs to provide width (as Liverpool do with TAA & Robertson). It's pretty simple in theory: your Striker is the central thread. Then you need one player on each side in the half-spaces and one player on each side to provide width. How you create these roles within the ME is completely up to you - that's basically the difference between my 2 versions (433 Burnum and 433 Base).

First thing I try to do is managing Mentality. Depending on home/away and the level of my opponent I start games on Balanced/Positive/Attacking. Most other tweaks are based on the opposition. What formation do they use (e.g. 433, 442, 4231)? What kind of football do they play (e.g. Gegenpress, Counter-Attacking, Wing-Play)? How do we limit their best 2 or 3 players? Just try to think like a real manager and see each game on an individual basis, making small tweaks for each game to specialise the specific gameplan. I've abandoned my initial Bayern save after reaching a point where I was by far the biggest club in the world, winning the treble (Bundesliga, DFB Cup, Champions League) three times in a row. If you manage to bring in the best players it gets too easy at some point. I've started another save, this time with Ajax. In that save I focus on bringing players through from the own youth academy, only very rarely making transfers. We're still the biggest club in the Netherlands, winning the domestic double on a regular basis but we're not yet in the European elite in the Champions League. I usually manage to qualify for the knockout stages but then a lot is depending on the draw. We can beat teams like Leverkusen, Shakhtar Donezk or Monaco but we can't compete with the likes of Bayern, PSG, Real or whatever English team we might face. In that save I also use the 433 Base/CTRL/Hurry setup. In another save I play as HJK in Finland but there I use an entirely different tactical setup to suit my team (my best player is a big target-man striker).

Yes, I still use it. I'd only use the CTRL version if you'd be content with a draw in that game. If you expect your team to win, I'd go for the normal version, but of course do some tweaks based on the respective opponent from game to game. I'd only switch the DMC to HB-de if the opponent is pressuring your centrebacks in buildup play. If they don't pressure your backline the HB is not needed. Against weaker opponents, when struggling to break them down, you could also switch one or both fullbacks from FB-su to WB-su, which will position them deeper in the opposing half, forcing opposing DR/DL to cover them (and, in turn, leaving the IF). But be aware that you're open against counter attacks then.

If you want any sort of short passing style, the first step would be to remove the TF role and switch to any other striker role. TF basically means "just hoof it up to the big man up front", it can sometimes override your other team instructions. Defenders and Midfielders will play long passes to the TF even if you set all instructions to "pass shorter".