4-4-2 Emergence - Season 1 Premier League Win with high tempo, wing based 'English' style 442

Greetings all,

After winning the Premier League with Tonbridge Angels in my 19th Season (after starting in Skrill South) I took a break from the game satisfied that I had achieved my main ambition. I had used all of my released tactics over the 19 seasons across 4 or 5 Match Engines and they had all been successful.

The team I actually support is Man City and their Premier League win inspired me to start a save with them, something I had previously avoided thinking it would be too easy.

Its turns out its not that easy as even 1 defeat or draw can be catastrophic to your chances of success as the expectations, self imposed and from the board are so high.

Additionally, some of my own tactics had become quite fanciful and I noticed the tactic boards were full of 4-2-3-1 Tiki Taka style tactic utilizing Complete Wingbacks and slow tempo in the Spanish/Barcelona model.

Call me a philistine but I cannot bear to watch this possession for possessions sake style of sideways and backwards passing, in real life or with FM. Its bores me rigid.

So I set myself some boundaries for my new Man City tactics which would ensure it was an antidote to the dominant 4-2-3-1 playing vibrant, quick attacking football.

These were my rules.

IT WILL BE A TRUE 4-4-2

IT WILL BE HIGH TEMPO

THERE WILL BE AN EMPHASIS ON WING PLAY

THERE WILL BE DIRECT ELEMENTS IN PLAY

IT WILL BE HIGH SCORING

A HIGH PERCENTAGE OF GOALS WILL COME FROM MY MAIN STRIKER

I WILL WIN THE LEAGUE IN THE FIRST SEASON WITH AT LEAST 85 POINTS

RESULTS

All of the above objectives have been met. Comfortable League win with 87 points which is pretty good under 14.3.1 which as you know is a pretty moody version of the Match Engine.

Picked up the League Cup as well, got out of a tricky Champions League group before losing to Juventus in the quarter finals somewhat unluckily.

Aguero got his quota of goals.

Conceded a fair few goals but that was always gonna happen without someone in the DM spot. Confident we were going to outscore our opponents most of the time.

Overall a very promising season with fantastic football played.

THE TACTIC

HOW THE TACTIC WORKS.

The attacking system is a simple one, get the ball wide quickly to the Wingers who isolate the full backs one on one and beat them for pace and skill. If that's not on they can recycle possession back into center field or back to the supporting FB's who overlap or cross from deep depending on whats the best option. You will see some neat interplay and one - two's on the flanks.

Lots of goals come from crosses, headed as well as struck in from the six yard box. This is a real feature of the tactic and great to watch.

Sometimes instead of crossing the wide player will feed the runs of the supporting midfielders who will drill a shot or supply a through ball to the strikers.

Defensively we are pressing hard high up the pitch. We employ a defensive forward on defend duty who supports the midfield when out of possession, the DLP drops deep in defence and we effectively have a 4141 when out of possession.

The tactic is not based around defensive solidity but this system guarantees we dont get overrun very often.

Evidence of great wing play, Navas wasn't even my first choice Winger initially using Nasri at first, however it soon became clear Navas excels in this role and will be the archetypal winger for this tactic, very quick, good dribbling and crossing. If his finishing was a bit better he would be unreal but he still chipped in with 10 goals.

MATCH ENGINE STUFF

There's no doubt about it, sooner or later you will get well and truly shafted out of the blue often when you are in good form. This season I beat Tottenham 7 - 0 and then lost 5 - 1 the Villa in the next game, the next game I won 3-0 and it was business as usual.

Sometimes, something in the background determines that your team will be unable to string 2 passes together and/or you will run into an opponent playing like Barcelona on speed.

We just have to accept it and move on. I don't bother to analyse those games as its pointless.

****IMPORTANT****

Due to the corner routine put ALL of your full backs as corners takers (and no one else!), regardless of corner attribute. All will become clear :-)

Player descriptions will be vital and I will do them later as well as explaining more about the tactic.

Good luck and enjoy.

**** DOWNLOAD ****

http://www.mediafire.com/download/h8497tpjjn7axdq/4-4-2_EMERGENCE.tac

player guidelines

The Defensive Forward/Defend

No team really ‘carries’ 2 strikers anymore. All teams defend from the front to one extent or another.

I am happy to leave our Complete Forward/Attack higher up the pitch, occupying the Centre Backs and giving us an out ball but we need our 2nd Striker to track back.

Looking at the heat maps post game you will see him positioned only slightly advanced of our Box to Box midfielder almost occupying the MCR spot vacated by our DLP who has dropped deeper.

In essence we transform into an 4141 when we are out of possession.

Surely this must blunt his effectiveness as an attacking force? Well he certainly won’t get as many goals as your Complete Forward but one of the criticisms of all the support striker roles is that they don’t come deep enough, often enough. Our man will do that, linking play early in attacks then making late runs into the box which can be deadly. I’ve seen hatricks out of my DF/D on more than one occasion.

Attributes.

You won’t find Strikers with the tackling or marking attributes indicated for the role in game but I don’t think they are necessary. I believe you want a quick, powerful striker with a very high work rate and all our strikers need to be able to finish.

Negredo is a great option at City, the Ultimate would probably be Diego Costa.

Look for, Acceleration, Strength, Work Rate and Finishing

COMPLETE FORWARD/ATTACK

I find this to be the best role for bagging loads of goals. Pretty much a Poacher with a few more arrows to his bow. A very direct threat in his own right but more than capable of bringing others into play.

He will be your main goal scorer probably bagging around 40% of the teams goals. He will score lots of goals running onto crosses, a fair few headers even if he is small and not great in the air. He will also have the opportunity to run onto a lot of thru balls in and behind the defence out pacing the Centre Backs.

I like a small agile guy here, Aguero is perfect. I think you could also do well with someone powerful as long as they are skilful and quick. Dzeko filled in well for me on many occasions.

They need to be quick to keep up with our flying wingers.

Look for Finishing, Composure, Acceleration and Off the Ball.

I’d spend my money here!

WINGER/ATTACK

Not that fashionable anymore, or perhaps they are, we just call them by different names. I wanted classic wingers, Giggs in his youth, Overmars, Ginola, Kanchelskis, Pires, Matthews, Figo, Dzajic, Finney, Best, Garincha…..get my drift.

We want people who can run quickly with the ball at their feet, attack space and deliver pin point crosses and passes. Starting from a deeper position than the AMR/AML they will have plenty of space to attack. When attacks are forming on the opposite flank they will drift inside giving us another striking option in the penalty area so finishing ability is a great advantage.

You will likely need to retrain natural AMR/AML. Works well, Navas was ripping teams apart with his dribbling and crossing. My left flank was weaker with Silva & Milner filling in, next season I will look at someone like Marco Reus to fill that spot and he is a quality finisher as well as being a great winger.

Attributes, Acceleration, Crossing, Dribbling and try and get a Finisher as well.

BOX TO BOX/SUPPORT

Again, bit of a dying breed really. Most midfielders either ‘sit in’ or operate in an advanced role. We need our man to operate as a ‘piston’ moving up and down the pitch as the situation requires.

In possession we need our man to assist in building attacks before making late runs into the box. Out of possession we need him quickly behind the ball forming a defensive shield with the DLP in front of the back 4.

As such you need an all action midfielder with a great engine and good all round abilities. The Box to Box is the ultimate ‘support’ roll for midfield and carries a lot of responsibilities.

Good examples are a young Gerrard, Khedira, Pogba, Modric, Lars Bender, Gundogan, Schweinsteiger, Vidal and of course Yaya Toure.

Look for WORK RATE, STAMINA, PASSING, TEAM WORK

DEEP LYING PLAYMAKER – DEFEND

As we have 2 wingers and 2 strikers committed to creating and scoring goals we can be fairly conservative with our midfield duo in particular the DLP well remain deep apart from during sustained pressure and attacks where he will advance forward to support attacks.

Our DLP has direct passing switched on. Ideally we are looking for diagonal balls crossfield into our wingers but unfortunately the ME doesn’t really go for that often. Our Complete Forward seems to be a more tempting option and you will see some nice 35 yard passes into him adding a nice direct element to play.

Our DLP is more involved in building attacks from deep often receiving the ball from our GK and Centre Backs before distributing and initiating attacks up the flanks. He is always available for an easy out ball should anyone run into a ‘dead end’ and he will patiently ‘probe’ and move until the ball moves up field.

A vital cog, although not one for grabbing the limelight.

Defensive qualities should not be ignored.

Look for, PASSING, POSITIONING, MARKING, TACKLING

FULL BACKS/SUPPORT

The modern 442 is pretty much built around the wide midfielders ‘tucking in’ and the Full Backs attacking, overlapping and getting very high up the pitch during attacks. At least down one of the flanks.

I tried to ‘force’ this action making the wide midfielders sit narrow on support duty, setting the DR/DL left to attack and adding ‘stay wider’ to their instructions. It just wouldn’t work. The FB’s seemed unable to overlap the wide midfielders with any regularity at all. It was as if they were unable to move into the AMR/AML ‘zone’ as it was already occupied and they tended to stay deep.

At this point I decided it was far easier to use my wide midfielders as ‘wingers’ (attack) and use them as the focus of my attacking down the flanks. I then put the FB’s onto a support role expecting them to provide good defensive cover and cross from deep. The weird thing is they overlap more on ‘support’ duty than they do on ‘attack’? Perhaps it because my MR/ML vacate space more readily leaving room for my FB’s to run into.

A common attack is the FB’s passing from the byline to your wide midfielder just inside the penalty area who lays the ball back to a striker. So 2 lateral passes instead of 1 cross. Much more accurate.

Attributes, POSITIONING, CROSSING, TACKLING, WORK RATE

CENTRE BACKS/DEFEND & COVER

Pretty obvious stuff here, these guys don’t need to be footballers. Just a short pass to the DLP or FB’s and that’s pretty much as far as it goes. Some recycling of the ball during sustained pressure but there is always an easy pass on.

Just make sure one is quick and use him on the ‘cover’ role DC/L. They must be good in the air for set pieces and obviously firm in the tackle.

Look for, JUMPING REACH, TACKLING, MARKING, POSITIONING and that at least one is quick.

GOAL KEEPERS

Again use you scouts and follow the star ratings to get the best you can.

Look for Aerial Ability, Reflexex, One on One’s and Handling.

Lots of good keepers in the game.

resreved 333333

nice timing just finished 9th with southampton using ss and rainmaker will give this a go 2nd season:brock:

Been using your tactic sets since the very start and have had massive success with all the sides i have used. I have just managed to get Barrow from non league north in England to the EPL in just over 8 years and are having great success with my young kids

I want to try out your new tactics but my squad is built around your other tactic and i have no wingers anywhere in my squad!!

I don`t want to quit my Barrow save as im really enjoying it at the minute, so in the summer i might save the game and sell a few players and bring in 3-4 good wingers.

Been using your tactic sets since the very start and have had massive success with all the sides i have used. I have just managed to get Barrow from non league north in England to the EPL in just over 8 years and are having great success with my young kids

I want to try out your new tactics but my squad is built around your other tactic and i have no wingers anywhere in my squad!!

I don`t want to quit my Barrow save as im really enjoying it at the minute, so in the summer i might save the game and sell a few players and bring in 3-4 good wingers.

Sounds like a plan

Great work for all your tactic. I like the 442 i try myself to make this system work but each time it failed

Ive got some question about your tactic....

i would like to know what attributes for the fullbacks , the midfield and the dc's , do you use OI? and do you change settings during match.

Thanks.

Great work for all your tactic. I like the 442 i try myself to make this system work but each time it failed

Ive got some question about your tactic....

i would like to know what attributes for the fullbacks , the midfield and the dc's , do you use OI? and do you change settings during match.

Thanks.

Thanks for your interest. I will fill out the rest of the player roles later.

NO OI's.

Never changed settings within match EVER. Plug & Play.

Loving this tactic mate with my bayern team I'm a few seasons in now and fancied a change and this popped up :-).

Got Cavani as my CF and lewandowski as my DF. Then Pogba and Vidal/javi Martinez as the 2 CMs I will put up a screen shot when I get home from work

Really great tactic,the first year of the game i win the Blue Square Bet South League with Concord Rangers,predicted 20th!!!

Really great tactic,the first year of the game i win the Blue Square Bet South League with Concord Rangers,predicted 20th!!!

Its great to hear it works with a crap team in a crap league !!

What's with FM14 and defensively poor 442's?

They attack alright, but they can barely concede less than a goal a season.

I want a defensively strong 442 but I've had no luck with it.

Not talking about this tactic in particular.

who cares as long as you score more than them why worry about defense and 3 cheers for rosler for time and effort he puts in to making these tactics when doesnt need to :applause:

Hi Mr U Rosler I'm a big fan of your tactics and trying them out has helped me develop my own. I have a question, you use drop deeper in most of your tactics that i have tried is there a reason for this? would you use drop deeper even if you have fast defenders?

cheers.

Hi Mr U Rosler I'm a big fan of your tactics and trying them out has helped me develop my own. I have a question, you use drop deeper in most of your tactics that i have tried is there a reason for this? would you use drop deeper even if you have fast defenders?

cheers.

I have played with a high def line but its just too easy concede, 1 simple ball over the top and your opponents have a CCC.

Its possible to get away with it if you opt for a VERY possession based tactic, narrow formation, short passing, retain possession, slow tempo, hassle etc as you are relying on your opponents not having the ball very much.

Dropping deep also gives you space in front of your back 4 to build attacks.

I have played with a high def line but its just too easy concede, 1 simple ball over the top and your opponents have a CCC.

Its possible to get away with it if you opt for a VERY possession based tactic, narrow formation, short passing, retain possession, slow tempo, hassle etc as you are relying on your opponents not having the ball very much.

Dropping deep also gives you space in front of your back 4 to build attacks.

Thanks for the reply, that makes sense. Just to add your 442 is working great with my Newcastle side currently 2nd in table just behind Chelsea in January. Best 442 tactic i have used.

Thanks for the reply, that makes sense. Just to add your 442 is working great with my Newcastle side currently 2nd in table just behind Chelsea in January. Best 442 tactic i have used.

Thanks dude. Its just a shame that in FM14 442 has an inherent disadvantage in that any formation without a DM causes your centre backs to 'step out' closing down players in the DM strata therefore leaving big holes in your defence.

Season 2 i finished 2nd behind chelsea who got 96 points and scored 103 goals including beating me 8-1 !!

Much as i love 442 to challenge chelsea I'm having a rethink.

Thanks dude. Its just a shame that in FM14 442 has an inherent disadvantage in that any formation without a DM causes your centre backs to 'step out' closing down players in the DM strata therefore leaving big holes in your defence.

Season 2 i finished 2nd behind chelsea who got 96 points and scored 103 goals including beating me 8-1 !!

Much as i love 442 to challenge chelsea I'm having a rethink.

I've had the same problem against man city with my bayern team 2 seasons in a row I've been knocked out of champs league at the semi final stage by man city with 2 stupid goals

Insane tactic esp. for relatively crap teams, due toe the fact that nearly every opponent gives you lots of space to attack! won the championship with nottingham, made some nice additions to the squad (tom ince ftw!) and made 7th place in BPL in 14/15 (lost to united in the last match, was in 5th before :-/). anyway, fun to watch! only hassle is to find the right guy to shine in the DF role, but i had some serious luck with guidetti who's doing really well.

EDIT:

BTW, won the first 5 league games in 15/16, with a squad now really fitted to the system. it's lookig like this atm:

GK Begovic/Darlow

DR Byram/Jara

DCr Shawcross/Wilson/Strandberg

DCl Lascelles/Wilson/Strandberg

DL Rose/J. Silva

MR Hahn/McManaman

MCr Romeu/Strandberg

MCl Lansbury/Hughes

ML Ince/Gauld

DF Guidetti/Paterson

CF Batshuayi/Guidetti/Djebbour

Love this squad already...

Season 2 I only got 80 points finishing 16 points behind Chelsea. They beat me to Diego Costa which didn’t help.

They smashed it up with league 103 goals.

Interestingly I picked up Suarez to play as my defensive forward, he outscored Aguero by 30 goals to 29 and was the leading goal scorer in Europe playing as Defensive Forward on defend duty!

Staying loyal to the 442.

Will see if Chelsea’s freak season was a one off or if they will dominate.

Picked up Drexler to play left midfield and Wilshire to work as my Box to Box guy.

Desperate to get Pogba but he's not leaving Juve yet.

3 wins out of 3 so far and Chelsea have lost 1 already…….here’s hoping…….

Don't normally download tactics but struggling with this years game and I love 4-4-2 so gave this a whirl. Hopefully I can reverse engineer this and learn something! (Very much doubt that though... )

Very impressed with it so far on a new game with Plymouth Argyle in League 2. Smashed everyone out of sight in Pre-Season and won my first game away at Southend 3-1. Second game a narrow, and undeserved, 2-1 home defeat in the League Cup to Birmingham.

Well done to the OP.

hey mr rosler mind that tactic you made 433 midstar rising any idea were the link to download it is a cant seem to find it gony give it another go

hey mr rosler mind that tactic you made 433 midstar rising any idea were the link to download it is a cant seem to find it gony give it another go

PM'd you :-)

cheers got it

Quick update. I won the league first season with Newcastle which is a first for me. Made only one change to the tactic and that was the complete forward to a target man attack which i thought would suit Luuk De Jong better when he played. He ended up with 30 league goals and 14 assists amazing. Did have a few crazy defeats like you said might happen a 1-6 to man city and a 0-5 to Norwich at home among others lost 7 in total. Really enjoying this 442 tactic of yours.

Season 3 is going well. Like the idea of the Target Man Attack in the Complete Forward position.

Might try that next season. But that means a new role for Aguero.... Hmmmmm

Mr R, on the player attributes, do you give equal weighting to those listed for each position, or is there a key one for each position, like in your other tactics?

Mr R, on the player attributes, do you give equal weighting to those listed for each position, or is there a key one for each position, like in your other tactics?

Basically treat them equal. It defaults to 15 for each attribute then i knock them down till I have about 20 players to scout. Lower league you might need to knock attribute levels down to 9 or 10 etc. Then scout the pool of players and use the star ratings/scout reports etc.

3rd season with this tactic and i've been massively dominant.

Smashed the Premier League with 92 points, 98 goals. Won FA cup, League Cup and Champions League beating Real Madrid, Chelsea in the knock out rounds before smashing Barcelona 3-0 in the final. Suarez got sent off after 50 minutes for diving but Aguero scored a hatrick!

Most dominant season i've ever had.

Much as I enjoyed it and its tempting to build a dominant empire at City I can hear the siren call of the Angels of Skrill South......... Tonbridge here we come.

Bottom line is, you can smash FM playing a standard 442.

Aguero having it large as usual.

Reus with 18 goal and 23 assists from the right midfield birth

What do you do for training ?

Hi Uwe, I used this tactic as Belgium using a World Cup database, won it quite easily. This was my line upGK: CourtiosDL: Picologico (sp?!)DC: Kompany DC: Vermalen DR: Alberwield MC: Witsel MC: Dembele ML: Hazard MR: De Bruyne CF: Benteke DF: Lukaku. Benteke got the golden boot with 6 goals.Not a huge achievement as Belgium have a good squad but the tactic worked well. Thanks again.

Hi Uwe, I used this tactic as Belgium using a World Cup database, won it quite easily. This was my line upGK: CourtiosDL: Picologico (sp?!)DC: Kompany DC: Vermalen DR: Alberwield MC: Witsel MC: Dembele ML: Hazard MR: De Bruyne CF: Benteke DF: Lukaku. Benteke got the golden boot with 6 goals.Not a huge achievement as Belgium have a good squad but the tactic worked well. Thanks again.

Thanks for that, also starting to work well in Skrill South, in play offs with 12 games to go with original and hopeless Tonbridge squad, once I get my own guys in we should be flying next year.

another long term tonbridge save rosler???

another long term tonbridge save rosler???

Indeed, my wife really is that boring.

Trying to beat my record of 19 seasons to win premier league.

This times its 1 tactic on 1 match engine.

Indeed, my wife really is that boring.

Trying to beat my record of 19 seasons to win premier league.

This times it 1 tactic on 1 match engine.

I assume you mean life, not your dear lady :o

I assume you mean life, not your dear lady :o

She doesn't frequent these fine forums

Or know me as 'Rosler'

Doubly safe

I'm giving this tactic a shot - I love a classic 4-4-2 and this looks exactly the style I like to see. One thing though - I'm not very fond of this corner routine so I'm using the routine you have on the "Quickening" tactics. It's a traditional routine, crossing toward the first post that has good results, 5 goals for each CB per season, if they are good.

I'm giving this tactic a shot - I love a classic 4-4-2 and this looks exactly the style I like to see. One thing though - I'm not very fond of this corner routine so I'm using the routine you have on the "Quickening" tactics. It's a traditional routine, crossing toward the first post that has good results, 5 goals for each CB per season, if they are good.

Fair enough. I've grown to like the short corner. Not massively prolific but that 2 or 3 times your 'lurker' hammers in a 40 yarder makes it worthwhile for me!

Season 1 in Skrill South. 6 games to go and i've just got fully fluid due to being part time club.

We're making a late run for the title after being mid table most of the season.

Killing them with crosses and passes across the 6 yard box.

You will notice a very high ratio of shots on target with this tactic due to their close proximity to goal.

Will finish season tomorrow.

That was a joke.

Last game of the season I needed a win to be promoted. Was 2-0 up at half time. Gave it the 'dont be complacent team talk' sure enough they scored 2 goals in the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half to bring it to 2-2. We scored a 3rd on 74 minutes, they equalised on 81 minutes. Finished 3-3.

The only team that could catch me, Eastbourne had there game postponed, never seen that on the last day of the season. So I had an agonizing 4 day wait for their match. They needed a win to pip me to the title and the only auto promotion spot........... unlucky, they could only manage a 1-1 draw.

We're out of Skrill South and ahead of schedule

Max McLovin bringing the big times to Tonbridge.....

She doesn't frequent these fine forums

Or know me as 'Rosler'

Doubly safe

well, ****.

i really like the idea of this and it seems to work for you exceptionally well, as well as for some others who commented, so i decided to give this a try with a fresh Liverpool save i wanted to get into for some time now. I previously had some nice seasons with your DoM tactic sets so i was looking forward to some good times once again...

...only this time I didn't last two months as boss, lol. couldn't even beat the likes of Stoke at Anfield and everyone else pretty much swept the floor with us both home and away. I know this edition's ME is whimsical to put it mildly but still, these were some heavy beatings. and of course at least one goal per match conceded from some set piece but that's pretty much a given bonus with this version

anyhow, quite the failure here, even though on paper most of the default Liverpool squad fits the bill pretty nicely, more or less. the defense isn't the best but it wouldn't matter that much if we scored goals, which Suárez and Sturridge usually are more than capable of, plus there's the likes of Sterling on the wings. tough luck, i guess. i'm gonna have to give it another go once i'm calm enough though, i really want this to work, and i wouldn't mind some below par results until the squad is appropriately shaped, but sadly the board thought differently though i can see why, relegation zone is definitely not where Liverpool should be after 2 months in

your success both with this tactic and your others is phenomenal. i have to ask: why Tonbridge, of all teams?

well, ****.

i really like the idea of this and it seems to work for you exceptionally well, as well as for some others who commented, so i decided to give this a try with a fresh Liverpool save i wanted to get into for some time now. I previously had some nice seasons with your DoM tactic sets so i was looking forward to some good times once again...

...only this time I didn't last two months as boss, lol. couldn't even beat the likes of Stoke at Anfield and everyone else pretty much swept the floor with us both home and away. I know this edition's ME is whimsical to put it mildly but still, these were some heavy beatings. and of course at least one goal per match conceded from some set piece but that's pretty much a given bonus with this version

anyhow, quite the failure here, even though on paper most of the default Liverpool squad fits the bill pretty nicely, more or less. the defense isn't the best but it wouldn't matter that much if we scored goals, which Suárez and Sturridge usually are more than capable of, plus there's the likes of Sterling on the wings. tough luck, i guess. i'm gonna have to give it another go once i'm calm enough though, i really want this to work, and i wouldn't mind some below par results until the squad is appropriately shaped, but sadly the board thought differently though i can see why, relegation zone is definitely not where Liverpool should be after 2 months in

your success both with this tactic and your others is phenomenal. i have to ask: why Tonbridge, of all teams?

Sorry to hear about your results.

On paper at least the Liverpool squad should be ideal for this tactic.

After hearing that the Liverpool job was a difficult one I ran a season with them using one of my other tactics a few months ago. didnt have too many problems finishing 2nd i think in the end. The only thing I noted was Gerrard had by far the lowest rating of any of my regular players and was hopeless.

But there are teams in FM whose board expectations are out of line with the actual quality of the squad, its fair to say Liverpool are one of these teams. You are vulnerable especially if you have tough early fixtures, get off to a slow start, get in a downward spiral and you dont get time to pull it around.

Funnily enough, another team very similar is my usual lower league club, Stockport who have very high expectations with an awful squad.

As far as I know I remain the only tactic creator to document his own sacking within his own tactics thread when I was using my original Silk & Steel tactic early into FM14 with Stockport. I got on the wrong end of things and got myself sacked with little chance to recover the situation. I then rebooted from the same seed (1st day original save) and got promoted with them first season using exactly the same tactic before making my usual run to the Premier Division.

With these types of teams and their high expectations as a new manager its on knife edge for a few months.

As i mentioned in this thread I got hammered 8-1 by Chelsea and 5-1 by Villa with Man City, season 2 with City was a failure no trophies and only 80 points. But I came back season 3 and did the quadruple as i was given time.

Why Tonbridge?, well I like to start at the bottom, Stockport is my home town but I moved away years ago and every time i go back my car gets broken in to so I have negative feelings about the place now. So basically I picked the nearest club to me in the lowest division available.

Would be interested to see how you get on if you fire up the Liverpool save again.

Good luck

i hear you. i actually won the Premier League with Liverpool in the first season with no transfers using your DoM sets some time ago, and if i remember clearly it was a fairly smooth run, with Sturridge going crazy and even Suarez scored more goals than he bit people Gerrard is indeed a bit of a queer business in this FM, his attributes would make him fit into pretty much every tactic I've used so far (most of them being yours ) but the only time I actually managed to get a good number of goals and assists out of him when he played as an almost all-out attacking running midfielder, which he certainly was one of the best at in his prime, but you'd think he'd do best in some deep lying playmaker role in his current state.. well, FM tends to disagree with that notion for some reason.

board expectations are fine, qualifying for European football has to be indeed the bare minimum Liverpool should aim for, and the default squad is certainly more than adequate to achieve at least that, plus the board in my experience is fairly patient but when you're sitting at 4 points two months in with absolutely no signs of improvement... well, they did what they had to I did get some tough early fixtures though, such as Chelsea and your Manchester City boys away, but the real problem was that the likes of Swansea and Stoke came to Anfield and left with precious points, more often than not with 3 rather than 1. FM was really cross with me this time I guess.

oh well. I'm actually considering giving your Triple X set a whirl instead, I have not yet used that one with Liverpool and it seems it would suit the default squad better, especially Coutinho who I believe would shine in that Enganche role, but even so it kind of leaves a bitter taste... I do love a good 4-4-2

we'll see what happens. thanks anyhow. all the best to you too once again with your Angels

I dont really found it sucess

How about Training???,

what do you use, because that's essential to any tactic

I used this tactic to get me promoted to the Skrill Premier with Stockport.

I'm starting to struggle at Home with this tactic. It tends to do good on the road but I don't do well at home with it at all. Usually end up down by two by half-time and it's an up hill battle from there.

Edit:I just loss against Corby in the FA Trophy 1-0 at home. This game makes me want to break things sometimes.

I've been noticing that this match engine needs a tactic for dry weather and another for a rainy day... When it rains I know my team isn't going to play ****, and won't be able to make 2 passes successfully. Short passing tactics totally suck for those conditions. It would be awesome if anyone could give some tips on how to avoid this

What's this corner routine?