Bluetoongers Record and promised guide to 4-1-3-2

Bluetoonger · July 11, 2007

I have posted snippets here and there on different posts about my record and tactics and have had a number of different questions that have not been fully answred on one post. So as promised here is one post (sorry for its length) hopefully covering everything!

I currently manage Rangers and Spain. I have also previously managed France. In two separate saved games I play as Newcastle and Peterhead. The Rangers game is my main game and the one I will focus on.

I am currently on the 2nd of October 2021. I have unlocked 3 of the bonus features and the only one I am waiting on is the closing of the transfer window. I unlocked Sugar Daddy after my fourth season when I won the European cup and have only used it once. if truth be told I wish i hadn't used Sugar daddy as it screwed up my wage budget for years. I used my money to make two big buys namely Kompany for 21m and Akinfeev for 14.5m. I also got a few good Bosmans because of my increased wage budget.

My current record is as follows:

Games Played - 934

Games Won -738 79%

Geames Drawn - 122 13.1%

Games Lost - 74 7.9%

Goals Scored - 2210 2.37p/m

Goals Conceded - 461 0.49p/m

League titles - 14

Cups - 31

Players bought - 103 369m

Players sold - 76 407m

Jobs 3

Manager Points -12324

For some further information I have a transfer budget of 64m (sold a lot of players in the summer which I will return to later), a wage budget of 950,000 p/w and I am slightly over my wage budget although the January transfer window will sort this out.

My tactics are 4-1-3-2. This is both for Rangers and Spain. I play attacking with direct passing, hard tackling. I play pressing and the offside trap. Offside works very well and on average leads to 10 chopped off goals a season. I do not counter attack or put people behind the ball. I do not individually assign any players to set-pieces.

In terms of player instructions all are set to team apart from my centre midfielder who is set to normal. All players are set to team for tackling. Everyone presses apart from my 4 defenders. I don't interfere with passing instructions. I don't interfere with set pieces and do not have anyone set to a free role. I sometimes tinker with the free role. Either my DM or Central midfielder can be set as a free role. If the team I am playing has a very defensive set-up then I allow my DM a free role as I don't want to restrict him to defensive duties. If I had a super-talented (i.e multiple 20's in all attacking attributes) AM I would give him a free role. I set all 4 midfielders and 2 strikers to forward runs. For defensive solidity mark your full backs to No. For some reason they still go forawrd and still contribute but it does add solidity to the defence. I set my three midfielders (not the DMC to avoid doubt) and two strikers to run with the ball. I don't set anyone to hold up the ball. As for long shots I currently have all 4 midfielders set to yes but I also tinker with this. Your coach will tell you apout where your player is best from shhoting from and I usually set this to go with there advice. as a rule anyone who is best shooting from within the box plays as the central midfielder. The central midfielder is also set to putting through balls, nobody else is. I set my full backs to cross the ball only. i appreciate it contradicts the no forward runs policy but it doesn't seem to make a difference. My view is that as I am attacking they will play higher up the pitch and when they do get forward I want them to swing the ball into the box which fits in with the direct passing style. My two full backs are set to Zonal marking and my two DC's and DM are set to Man. Everyone else is set to None. Once again i may tinker if my scout tells me a certain player should be man marked but as you can't assign a man as you can in the PC version I don't tinker that much.

Now short passing works very well but personally i prefer direct. I previously used to play 442 with Rangers and a lot of my losses were during that period. I usually only lose one league game a season whereas i used to lose 4 or 5 games a season.

Now as for players I am obviously in the land of regens beacuse of my date but I can provide certain tips. At the outset Akinfeev is a wonder goalie and will easily do you for 12 years. He is worth the investment. Kompany is a great DC and also worth the investment and if you get him fom HSV before Barcelona you should get him for 10m. For the DM Makoun from Lille is absolut class. On the English database Micah Richards is made for the position. Also Tymnoshuk (excuse the spelling) from Shakthar is very good as well.

I am willing to highlight my current crop to give you an idea of attributes to look for:

DL: Popkhadze D/M LC, Crossing 15, Heading 19, Tackling 20, Aggression 16, Decisions 16, Positioning 15, Stamina 17. Georgian, 32 years old, worth 1.3m and bought for 750k. I have a young reserve who is 18 with similar stats who will take over at the end of this season. Popkhadze has played for 3 seasons with an average of just over 7 and 6 assists a season.

DC: Marco Dias, 1st four stats15,15,18,15 respectively. 18 for tackling, 19 for aggression, 15 for movement, 17 for stamina and 19 for strength. 23 year old Brazilian worth 7.5m signed for 6.5m. Average rating about 7 and has scored 13 goals, 5 assists, 16 yellows, 2 reds in 117 appearances. I have three other Dc's with simialr stats although he is my best defender and club captain.

DM: Cedric Thomas, 20 passing, 15 tackling, 20 aggression, 15 decisions, 15 positioning, 17 teamwork, 17 stamina. 27 year old French International, valued at 8.25m and bought on a bosman. Now in his eight season and averages from 7.83 to 8 over a season. Averages 10 golas a season and scores 10 a season. I have three other DM's with arguably better stats and sold one in the summer for 19.5m to Man Utd. Loyalty dictates that this player will get another season unless i get a 15-20m bid for him.

Now for midfielders i try to play a left, central and right in the three position. It does not seem to make any material difference if they are MC/AM/F as long as my coach says thay are an attcking Mid rather than a forward. I usually shy away from playing a forward in the Midfield. I to a certain extent rotate my three but do have a preferred left and Central and usually rotate the Right. I wouldn't get to hung up about sides though as played a MC on the left for five seasons and he was great each season averaging 15 goals a season. My preferred 3 are as follows

Left Mid- Kayah Emrah AM/LC, His first five stats are 17, 17, 20, 17, 15 respectively. Thereafter 16 for technique,19 for creativity, 16 for movement, 17 for pace, 17 for stamina and 19 for strength. 26 year old turkish international in his 7th season after joining as a bosman. Average about 7.9 over a season with 15-20 goals and 10-15 assists. Currently 5 goals in 5 games with an av rating of 8.60. Valued at 5.5M although I have had 20m+ bids for him.

Central Mid: Andy Richardson AMC, stats in order 15,20,7,20,14,15,17,15,20,15,17,20,16,18,14,16,9. 25 year old English international worth 8.25m. in his 3rd season after a bosman (from Celtic!!!) and has scored 33 goals in 99 games with 43 assists.

Right Mid: Bernd Muller AMC, stats in order 15, 16, 16, 17, 16, 20, 16, 20, 13, 16, 20, 19, 15, 19, 15, 15, 11. German International valued at 7m signed on Bosman with average 10 goals a season, 10 assists ands 7,9 rating.

I have 6 other midfielders with similar stats who all compete for spaces.

Striker: Francisco Gomes SC, on the face of it rubbsih ratings as his highest is 19 for movement with 17 for shooting and the other all 14-16 but this boy is a legend. 27 year old Brazilian valued at 7.5m. Now in his tenth season, his worst season rating was 8.07 and his best 8.33. He has scored 239 goals in 372 games. Over the last 3 season has scored 35, 39 and 38 goals. Averages 10-15 assits a season. I refuse to sell him as he is a hero. I have consistently played him on the LHS but do not know why this suits him better.

RHS Striker: Luis Coelho, his stats are 15,15,18,15,16,13,17,13,15,12,14,20,13,11,19,18,11. 22 year old Brazilian valued at 9m. Purchased for 13.5m and in his 3rd season having scored 46 goals in 77 games. Average rating of 8.43. This boy is not for sale at any price and is a future World player of the Year.

I have three other strikers all with good stats who fill in if there are any injuries.

At the end of each season I make a point of selling 3-4 of my better players although there are certain players I will not sell. I broke up my team last season after my third Champions League in a row selling 5 first team players for a combined 50m. I usually have scouted my replacements from South America or Eastern europe a season ahead. my spending this season is only 6m. the reason i haven't unlocked the transfer window is I love spending the money i have made and this is the first season i have resisted. My new rule to try and unlock is not to spend more than my initial allocation which is usually 10m. My maximum wage is 48k a week.

I have won 14 titles in a row. the last 7 scottish cups and the last 3 Champions Leagues. Highlights include an 8-1 aggregate victory over Liverpool in the QF of the Champions League (they seem to buy most of my cast off's) and beating Lyon 5-0 in the final but to name two.

I have won the Euro Championships with France and Spain and await the 2022 World Cup which will be my first. I resigned from the French job as they didn't love me enough (see post history). i have not lost a competitive international and in my euro Qualification for Spain scored 36 against with 0 against.

With Rangers i concede about 10 to 15 league goals a season and two seasons ago won every competition scoring 169 and conceding 26.

I hope this helps anyone struggling and I am open to any questions.

Thank You

Bluetoonger · July 11, 2007