McGougan 4-2-3-1 Testers wanted for all divisions.

Hey Guys,

I have created a 4-2-3-1 which after using during patch 14.2 and patch 14.3, seems to be very solid in possession control, and scores quite often, however I concede far too many for my liking!.

51 games played since patch 14.3, 38 games won, 4 games drawn and 9 games lost, goals for 139, goals against 63, goal difference +76 - Win Percentage 74%

My possession in games averages between 54% and 72% depending on the strength/weakness of the team, most games it is at least 60% possession, however admittedly I am the strongest team in my division by far! I have beat/lost to far superior teams in Europe through controlling the game.

I am by no means saying this tactic will win by an "average" or "weak" team in your division, I am looking for advice and help on how to become more defensively solid, and hopefully via these means it can prove to be an effective tactic at all levels!. Whether it wins you the division, propels you up the table, or saves you from relegation, my aim is to outsmart the opponent, by any means necessary.

In my Celtic save first season on the new patch, only 4 games I have failed to score, that in 51 games played I consider impressive! However conceding 63 I consider far too high, perhaps even too high for a full season!.

I am very happy with the attacking play of my tactic, the way the team move the ball about and tantalise the opponent is very good, however the way in which we concede varies, which is quite hard to address without compromising the tactic.

I request enquiring minds who are more tactically astute than me to address this issue, and perhaps we can help the football manager community with a fairly good tactic and if not a good basis for those who are looking for help.

I will say to all you Community Users, this tactic may not be for everyone, you may prefer a different style of football, you may also find it does not suit your team, I am not promising miracles, I am merely requesting help from my fellow gamers.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/44ccgg7zwwfp61w/McGougan_Barca_Style_Control.tac

Do you use OI ?

What's the match prep ?

I will try it

Sorry forgot to include that! No I do not use OI - Match prep until fully fluid is Tactics on very high, match prep 40% on the slider, and tactics only - When fully fluid I reduced match prep to 30% and changed the right hand option to defending set pieces.

I was going to say scoring that amount of goals was impressive - Then I saw you were Celtic

Your AMR doesn't need to be on attacking when you have the fb behind on attacking aswell, so I would switch him to support, same with your attacking cm... you are leaving your defence wide open. The CM A would be better off with a AP(S), or a BBM(S) in my opinion. You may not score as many but just those changes will cut off a lot of leakages. Plus I definitely wouldn't have Very fluid, control or so many Instructions. Away, that tactic would have so many weaknesses, even in Scotland

Woops sorry, got the forums mixed up there, thought I was in the tactic help section not sharing lol

I was going to say scoring that amount of goals was impressive - Then I saw you were Celtic

Your AMR doesn't need to be on attacking when you have the fb behind on attacking aswell, so I would switch him to support, same with your attacking cm... you are leaving your defence wide open. The CM A would be better off with a AP(S), or a BBM(S) in my opinion. You may not score as many but just those changes will cut off a lot of leakages. Plus I definitely wouldn't have Very fluid, control or so many Instructions. Away, that tactic would have so many weaknesses, even in Scotland

Woops sorry, got the forums mixed up there, thought I was in the tactic help section not sharing lol

Good observation , those changes sound interesting, would they however cut off the scoring drastically to an extent where i may draw or lose a lot more games? What else do you suggest mentality and duty wise then? 7 away losses and 5 home losses now since I am a few more games in.

Only reason I posted this tactic here was because it was an upload, however if a mod wishes to move it then thats fair enough by me.

Good observation , those changes sound interesting, would they however cut off the scoring drastically to an extent where i may draw or lose a lot more games? What else do you suggest mentality and duty wise then? 7 away losses and 5 home losses now since I am a few more games in.

Only reason I posted this tactic here was because it was an upload, however if a mod wishes to move it then thats fair enough by me.

No no was my mistake, completely mixed up where I was.

I would think it would cut the scoring by a bit, no idea how much in Scotland though. Thinking about it control is probably good to use in Scotland as the teams are considerably weaker. I would of just gone for fluid.

Anyway Let others see for themselves how it works for them, I haven't even tied it was just first impressions But as you are sharing it I'msure others will have an input.

Sorry again, I need to sleep more lol

I will download it now and have a proper look

Well I implemented your changes and in the first game I have played, I beat Kilmarnock 2-0 away, with 14 shots and 8 on target, so that is a good enough ratio, and for a change I didnt look as defensively vulnerable, so perhaps you have hit a nail on the head! However after 1 game its completely impossible to tell, so further testing will commence!

yeah one game is definitely not enough time to tell haha

I'm going to test it with my United team and I will report back

By United, you mean?

Manchester United sorry

Hi mate

Great result agains Porto, shame you didn't finished off Betis

As said in the thread your tactic seems a bit too attacking

Unless you have a great desire for keeping Commons, then I would drop him and put a DMC into the tactic to protect the back four (at least in Europe) - I use a half back with great effect (but I'm Bayern atm and Martinez is a bit special) - Also I wouldn't use two of the same kind of midfielders together in the central midfield (even though one is on support and the other on attack), I have a CM attack and a BWM support infront of my Half Back - but that might just be me

The "more expressive" instruction is almost certain to be behind a couple of the conceded goals

Hi mate

Great result agains Porto, shame you didn't finished off Betis

As said in the thread your tactic seems a bit too attacking

Unless you have a great desire for keeping Commons, then I would drop him and put a DMC into the tactic to protect the back four (at least in Europe) - I use a half back with great effect (but I'm Bayern atm and Martinez is a bit special) - Also I wouldn't use two of the same kind of midfielders together in the central midfield (even though one is on support and the other on attack), I have a CM attack and a BWM support infront of my Half Back - but that might just be me

The "more expressive" instruction is almost certain to be behind a couple of the conceded goals

My AMC has been scoring goals quite often, 6 games in after taking the advice above this and ive won 3, drawn 3, conceeded 8 goals, so i dont think thats the issue, Will trial it for another few games and see if it sorts itself out.

My AMC has been scoring goals quite often, 6 games in after taking the advice above this and ive won 3, drawn 3, conceeded 8 goals, so i dont think thats the issue, Will trial it for another few games and see if it sorts itself out.

how is it going along?

Just ended a 10 game clean sheet streak as my reserves conceded a goal in my 6-1 win against Leverkusen in the German cup

28 games undefeated as it is with Bayern (only lost one game in the season so far, and that was my reserves being played at the start of the season, would think that they would have won the game if it was played now (with tactic more fluid and players more integreted)

Guess playing in the Bundesliga with Bayern isn't far from playing in the SPL with Celtic in terms of the quality of the opposition that you are up against compared the the quality of your own squad - Going to give my tactic a run out with Celtic at some point, but is to buzy with the Bayern game at the moment

I swapped it around with different ideas and mentality`s in the same formation, and I found no matter what I was still conceding, so I went back to this tactic, and I have won 5 out of 6, the other result being a 0-0 draw with Kilmarnock - Beat Vitesse 1-0 and Dortmund 2-0 in my CL Group using it, the latter being a far superior team to mine. 57% possession, 3 ccc`s, 80% pass completion rate, 93% tackles won, 83% headers won.

The one thing I neglected to mention about this tactic was it creates a high number of ccc`s, if only I could either tighten the chances made to chances scored ratio, or tighten the defence up I would be severely happy

The two ways I am conceding mostly from are long balls out to the flanks, which my full backs on support/attack are getting caught out with, or long balls over the top of my cb`s to an on rushing striker who finishes with ease, any ideas on how to cure this?

The two ways I am conceding mostly from are long balls out to the flanks, which my full backs on support/attack are getting caught out with, or long balls over the top of my cb`s to an on rushing striker who finishes with ease, any ideas on how to cure this?

I find that playing 3 in the back is the best way to counter the ball over the top, if not willing to put 3 central defenders in, then playing the half back is a good idea

I find that playing 3 in the back is the best way to counter the ball over the top, if not willing to put 3 central defenders in, then playing the half back is a good idea

I was toying with the idea of a sweeper - I would need to drop the striker to a dlf and make the amc a sw!

I was toying with the idea of a sweeper - I would need to drop the striker to a dlf and make the amc a sw!

I tried that in a european game against Vitesse and although the team looked more solid, I lost some of the fight in the midfield and ended up conceding 3 silly goals - Won 4-3 right enough

So touch wood, what I have done to cure the goals conceded over the top is drop the amc to a sw role, changed the avf to a f9 on support and added in lower tempo to the instructions and so far 5 out of 6 games I have kept clean sheets whilst scoring every game! 15 goals scored, 1 conceded.

So touch wood, what I have done to cure the goals conceded over the top is drop the amc to a sw role, changed the avf to a f9 on support and added in lower tempo to the instructions and so far 5 out of 6 games I have kept clean sheets whilst scoring every game! 15 goals scored, 1 conceded.

Sounds promising, looking forward to hear more about the SW project

Gonna test it with Cambridge U in mid season 17 games i. They're currently 22nd in the conf!

Couple of things from your team instructions mate. Hassle opponents works better with a high d line but you have them dropping deep. Also look for overlap is more for mr/l rather than your amr/l as they are too far from your fullbacks. Not sure if your retain possession and pass into space would contradict each other but maybe someone can tell me.

I tried that in a european game against Vitesse and although the team looked more solid, I lost some of the fight in the midfield and ended up conceding 3 silly goals - Won 4-3 right enough

So touch wood, what I have done to cure the goals conceded over the top is drop the amc to a sw role, changed the avf to a f9 on support and added in lower tempo to the instructions and so far 5 out of 6 games I have kept clean sheets whilst scoring every game! 15 goals scored, 1 conceded.

So 14 games later, with a sw involved and a f9 on support, lower tempo added in, 33 goals scored, 9 conceeded ( 3 in that freak game to vitesse ) and 8 clean sheets!! Whilst looking fairly potent in attack still! 8 wins on the bounce, 6 with clean sheets - This could perhaps be down to amazing form, and team talks to keep morale high?!.

Gonna test it with Cambridge U in mid season 17 games i. They're currently 22nd in the conf!

As it is mid season be patient with it! And implement the suggestions I have made and see if it makes a difference to your team.

If you want to get it fully fluid fairly quick, put general training on tactics and very high, and match training to 40% on the slider, and to tactics only!

Couple of things from your team instructions mate. Hassle opponents works better with a high d line but you have them dropping deep. Also look for overlap is more for mr/l rather than your amr/l as they are too far from your fullbacks. Not sure if your retain possession and pass into space would contradict each other but maybe someone can tell me.

I shall keep this in mind mate! I also have them standing off, so even if it is a high line, the ball over the top scenario may occur more frequently? The reason I use look for overlap is, my AMR/L drift inwards in accordance with the roam from positions, freeing the fullbacks on support and attack to bomb forward, cross regularly and strike when it is a good opportunity, would you believe I actually score a fair amount of goals this way? As my striker either gets on the end of a cross when its drilled in, or my fullback/winger pings it into the net!

Retain possession and pass into space I wouldnt imagine as a contradiction, as In my head anyway, you always have a passing option, so it can set up an attack or it can recycle the ball very well through your team. Although perhaps more tactically astute minds than mine would say otherwise!

Did you start the game with 14.3 or the previous update?

if 14.3 then the only way that Balde will score is by a header or by luck (after his downgrade)

(only just discovered that he had been downgraded after reaching December in my game - hadn't looked at him before, just figured that he were the same as before - but it kind of makes sense that my tactic isn't working as it should)

Did you start the game with 14.3 or the previous update?

if 14.3 then the only way that Balde will score is by a header or by luck (after his downgrade)

(only just discovered that he had been downgraded after reaching December in my game - hadn't looked at him before, just figured that he were the same as before - but it kind of makes sense that my tactic isn't working as it should)

Had created the tactic in 14.2, but implemented the changes mentioned above in 14.3, and balde has been a phenom for me, I also have Zivkovic who runs amok as a f9.

Is the link the latest update? I am keen to use this with Man City