How to dominate with a lesser side!

Introduction

I have played FM since the CM series when and i have always loved the tactical side of football. It is probably the reason i am obsessed with and enjoy Italian football so much. And the last six or so years i have played most of my saves online with a good friend of mine.

Since the start of this FM i have been obsessed with getting a 3 man defense to work, with mixed results, ave been able to make Foggia a very strong side in Serie A taking them from the lowest divisions, on an online save. Yet i never managed to dominate at the highest level.

Now it that was based upon the 3-5-1-1 formation that Guidolin at Udinese. I found myself lacking defensively as i was never quite able to get the wingers to act the way i wanted them to. I never managed to perfect this formation, but i am sure i will try again in the future.

The idea

I then started another online game with a mate, and after 3 years of tinkering i was able to really implement my ideas, and take a very average side, to play and act as one of the top sides of the league.

I based my tactics on ideas i have gotten from Palermo in 2011, Napoli under Mazzarri, Barcelona, the smart and solid defensive play by italian teams over the decades, and my own idea of how i like football to be played.

I wanted the dynamic trio up top from the xmas tree, with the idea of Miccoli, Pastore and Ilicic in mind. I wanted the attacking winger/wingbacks of Napoli and Palermo's Maggio, Cassani, Zuniga and Balzaretti. The pressure of Barcelona and my own preference of controlling the game with possession, but not the tikitaka or endless passes for nothing. I want my team to keep the ball smartly, not excessively. And i wanted a smart, solid defensive unit whom i would be able to sit compact with and ride out 1nil's if i felt it necessary.

It took me 3 years in game to perfect my ideas, and the results have been better than i could have ever imagined. But with a team of younger players mainly around the age of 23. With not a single player bought for more than 4.6 million GBP, i was able to win the league, and champions league 3 years after perfecting my tactic, this with Hellas Verona. I won this by creating a hardworking, well organized and extremely cohesive unit. Proving that you dont need to buy the greatest talents in fm to achieve success.

Champions League winning side. There are no world beaters in this team. No super regens, in fact no regens at all.

The tactics

It's a mariolicious Xmas tree!

I wanted a 3-4-2-1 formation where the wings are heavily involved in attack, and the front 3 can create and roam into space for each other. I want a solid defense and a controlling midfield. This is how i achieved it. (some of the tactical pictures are taken from other saves, but it is still the same tactic with a lesser team.)

I do have 3 different versions of the same tactic, one is with high pressure and very offensive as this is when i am chasing goals or i want to catch my opponents by surprise. And i also have the same tactic set up much more defensively for me to hold leads or to grind out tough draws as a lesser side. Principles stay the same however, pressure to win the ball back, it is more the extent to how much and where on the pitch you are to keep the ball and control the game for, that i have these 3 variations of the tactic.

This is how the tactic is set up however.

My side is rigid, as i want a side to do exactly as told. I want my players to have a specific job to do at all times and i dont want them to stray from this. Every single player on the pitch has individual instructions and almost every single player has a different job to do from the next. My team is told to be more disciplined.

I chose control, as i feel this is a good mentality quite balanced, and allows me to bring players forward without over committing. I also feel it is a more offensive mentality which allows me to win the ball back high enough up the pitch so that I can keep control.

In order to make my team pressure high, and pressure in numbers, like Barcelona are known to do, i have us hassling opponents, marking tighter. As well as all offensive players being asked to tackle harder and close down more. I will also very often select the entire opposition side in the opposition instructions, and close down more on every single one of their players.

If i cannot win the ball back high, or quickly, I have set my team to drop deeper. My two wide CB's are told to close down more. This resulting in them helping my wingers to close down opposition wide players, making it a 2v1 on the flanks, while the remaining two CB's and winger cover. Defending set pieces is a huge part of making a solid defense and i have set up a very specific zonal marking system which drastically decreases goals conceded by set pieces. My offensive midfielders will track back and often times follow the runs of opposition wide players making it 3 players on one out on the flanks. This is because they are asked to tackle harder.

In order to keep possession and to strengthen my defense I play narrower, while retaining possession, passing it out from defense and short passes. We also play with a higher tempo, to keep the ball moving at all times, i only want players who are asked to keep ball, do so. My keeper is told to distribute to defenders and in order for my defense to be able to keep ball i have a central BPD, with the wide CB's asked to pass shorter. My two central midfielders are set as deep lying playmakers. One set to defend and the other to support. Both have instructions to close down more and to tackle harder, this is because i then get the behavior of ball winning midfielders, as well as the movement of the DLP's, whom both roam towards the ball, creating lots of passing options while a defender is on the ball anywhere on the pitch.

My wingbacks, are set to complete wingbacks, they are told to push forward more and close down more. For the reasons i want them to be like out and out wingers when attacking, and i want them to help get the ball back quickly.

My AM's are the main source of my attacks. And every AM and striker in my team is required to be able to play one-two's. This is so the attack can be as dynamic as possible and can penetrate any defense. My AM's are told to roam and shoot more, and one is told to get forward more often.

My striker is set as an AF, but is told to roam more, which makes him act kind of like a more goal-scorer determined trequartista.

This is how the formation looks when put to use.

How does it work?

I want my team to act like a machinery. It is one unit, where every single part has its own job and role to play. I dont need world class players, all i need is the right parts. And i base my teams on cohesiveness. The way I do this is by never changing up my roster too much. I will never play more than 2 new players at once, new players are slowly integrated into the team over the course of an entire season. Which allows me to train new players in the different PPM's I feel is necessary for certain roles in my team. I wont be going into specifics on all PPM's i like for each position, or all PI's or OI's. (not right now at least.)

We pressure high up the pitch, forcing mistakes and clearances. We will more often than not win the ball high.

- forcing the clearance

- winning the ball high

If the team is unable to win the ball high, my high pressure assures me that wherever the opponent is on the pitch, he will have at least two men pressuring him at all times.

- Here the AM(S) and the DLP(S) are both pressuring, and in this scenario will win the ball by interception. Players marked green are all standing by ready to pressure depending on where the ball might be played.

- In this picture the AM(S) is chasing down the RB pressuring him all the way into our own defense. The CWB comes to double up on the pressure.

- Now the ball is played forward, and immediately the LCB comes to pressure with the CWB. We win the ball back by forcing a bad cross into our DLP(S).

We defend narrow, as a unit, clogging up the center of the pitch forcing the opponents wide, where we can double up on pressuring to win the ball back. One of the CB's will always come forward to pressure while the other two cover for him.

-Here you can see how compact, and how many we are behind the ball, forcing our opponent wide.

Going forward the CWB's are my only source of real width. They are asked to go further forward, and act throughout a game more as wingers than defenders, which is the point. They help us keep possession as they are always available to receive. All though my AM's and AF also drift wide on many occasions creating 2v1 situations for us on the wing. When in possession there is always an open teammate, and with my attacking players all able to play one-two's i am able to get through tight, and tricky situations.

- here is one example of the amount of triangles there are at all times. The examples are many but here is one.

Now I have my defenders dropping deeper, this is to limit the over the top balls, and all though one might think it contradicting to the high pressure i play, it really is not. The 3 defenders are very rarely called into action having to pressure opponents in their half as everyone ahead of them do a great job of it already, and if they are, more likely than not it is to win a cleared ball from opponents defense, this giving them time to push a little forward to win the header. My two DLP's are both told to close down more and tackle harder, just as my AM's are asked to do, this means that once the ball is cleared up field or opponent manages to break free and counter, the entire midfield is sprinting back.

- That is 7 players in close proximity of the ball and opponents. While my AM's are on their way too.

Performance

On the picture i am set as Juventus, but i only took Juventus now in 2021. After getting fired at Verona due to internal issues between me and the Chairman.

- Here are my achievements at Verona.

Now, this formation was originally made for my Hellas Verona side, on an online game with a mate of mine. Hellas Verona are a newly promoted side when taking them over in 2013. It took me 2 years to get somewhere with it, but i managed around 13th for the first two seasons with the players at my disposal. At the end of the 2nd season I had found my way. And by the third season i was finally able to bring in a side that was capable of playing the way i wanted them to. Now, this were a lot of young players, at this time around their 20's but i was determined to playing them together building a cohesive unit over the next years.

- The 2016/17 season i was able to finish 4th, qualifying for my first European experience in the Europa League.

- The following season i bettered myself a little, and i got my first taste of Europe, where i would lose to PSG over two games, managing one draw at home, in the first elimination round. PSG went on to win it. And second place finish would ensure me a spot in the Champions League.

- With the addition of 3 players raising the standard in the team from the last year, i was able to better everything. My first time playing Champions League football. I won the league, and i won the Champions League with this side. Not a single player bought for more than 4.6 million GBP. I would like to add that my star player and the only one at that point i had bought for more than 4.6 million was Jorginho whom i had bough back from co-ownership with Napoli, left on a bosman at the start of this season, to rivals Chievo(the other human manger), wanting to play at a higher level.

- The champions league winning season fixtures.

- The game.

- The side that won it. No world beaters.

- After the winning the Champions League and League in 2019 i then won the league again in 2020, i also won the Italian cup for the first time, as well as the supercup in italy, and the supercup in Europa vs Bayern. Came second in the WC for clubs to add. I went out in the Champions League in the second knockout round to Marseille, who would go on to win it.

I did this with an unchanged side what so ever from the season before, and my defense bettered it self tremendously.

In 2021, i was fired from Verona after disagreements with my chairman, i had one loss in the league and one in the cup after 24 games, cruising the league in front of 2. place by 7 points. Shocking decision by the Verona chairman, Verona would go on to win nothing.

http://i.imgur.com/RXIkFDI.jpg - Season up until my firing.

http://i.imgur.com/r984D0E.jpg - Verona's season after my firing.

Now i am currently managing Juventus, planning on winning the league and champions league, for me then to journey to another country and do the same hopefully. My tactic stays the same as with the best players in the world nearly i am cruising, and no one are really able to touch me. And as the pictures show, i am well on my way.

- Current league standing

- Fixtures til now

And ill add here some pictures of the stats from some games with different teams using this formation

http://i.imgur.com/I0lGEXF.jpg - verona

http://i.imgur.com/dt9bkqD.jpg - verona

http://i.imgur.com/F5jsH7o.jpg - atalanta

http://i.imgur.com/ER0RI8x.jpg - atalanta

Conclusion

"You have broken FM". Is the quote from my mate whom i play these online games with, i dont think its quite so drastic, but i have however found a tactic that is able to get the most out if its players, make them work as a strong cohesive unit able to take on any side in the world. Given, you have the right type of players. It is a tactic that works for lesser sides without the need for fantastic players around the pitch to dominate for you. Which is something i feel is not really around anywhere. Maybe i have not looked well enough for it just.

It does work as a plug and play tactic as i have now entered into multiple online games with strangers where this tactic is proving fruitful. But it is not the reason i posted this. I am proud of it, and i wanted to share my ideas and thoughts. And hopefully give others some ideas like i have been given reading threads like this in the past.

Download link added for anyone who wants to try:

http://www.speedyshare.com/KAzKh/its...ee-3-4-2-1.tac

http://www.mediafire.com/download/g5hueetsg7us1fe/its+a+mariolicious+xmas+tree+3-4-2-1.tac

Let me know how you get on!

Offensive version:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/3px966sbc7e5pts/Its+a+mariolicious+xmas+tree+offensive.tac

Defensive version:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/l33a42312lm99jk/its+a+mariolicious+xmas+tree+defensive.tac

mario milanista.

Really impressive results there - and the system is certainly created in a logical structure. So a great achievement. You have excellent central dominance, but also have good width and movement. Keep it up.

I am using the same formation in my current save and like it so far. Some things I am tinkering with:

Wingbacks: When operating in the CWB role, they tend to race up the pitch a little too quickly for my liking. Even on WB(d) duty, they get forward enough to provide width, and I find them more easily available as a passing outlet if/when the CMs need it. As CWB(a), they do get the occasional scoring chance, but most wingbacks aren't quite skilled enough to finish from the angles where they receive those chances.

Back Three: Sometimes I push the two WBs back to the defender strata and push the middle CD up to the HB role. When attacking, everything looks the same, but this does allow me to use my natural full backs in their natural position, thus avoiding any position familiarity penalties.

AMCs: I typically use a trequartista and an AP(s) in this area, though I haven't noticed a lot of difference between roles in this slot.

I want my wingbacks to be a scoring outlet. And I found their finishing really matters little when coming in at the angle, and i usually use 4 wingbacks during a season, i rotate them a lot. They usually all score 4-8 goals and 4-8 assists each every season. Which is very good considering i split their playing time. Example: Murru, a LB through and through, quite far from a wingback in any sense, has little offensive capabilities, but he kept getting played in in such great positions he would score a lot of goals get a lot of assists for me, every year. If a player is not comfortable in a position i train them until they are. And for a fullback to play in a wingback position offers little to no problems that i have ever noticed.

I chose AM's as they are the most hardworking and i could get the roaming effect of the trequartista by assigning them that duty. But i want them to work hard for the team, getting the ball back.

I have also uploaded the tactic for those wanting to try it out.

please upload to other site like mediafire , ur host site dont work for me

added it for you

Very interesting. You wrote that you have three different versions for different game situations. Do you mind uploading the other versions? I'd like to take a look at what you are doing differently, especially when trying to protect a narrow lead, especially if you are doing something more than just changing overall mentality. It might really help me out to see how to adapt my current tactics. I'm playing the lesser Sheffield United in our first year in the EPL. Doing very well, but will probably finish just outside of going to Europe because of all the late equalizers conceded. It's probably too late for me to do anything about it this season, but if I can figure it out for next season that would be great.

Anyway, congrats on the success and the tactic. I don't think I'll actually be using it anytime soon as that would require a radical rebuild of my roster, but it looks excellent.

Hey I have been using your tactic with great success with my Newcastle team and just wanted to say well done on a well rounded excellent tactic! And was hoping that you could also upload the other two variations you spoke about earlier as I have tried to make them myself and failed miserably. And then last thing I promise any hints and little tips with training and match prep would be awesome. Cheers dude.

Added them to the main thread for you. download them and have a look.

Added them to the main thread for you. download them and have a look.

Thanks man!

This tactic is deserving of much praise. Late in my season I had a 21 day layoff due to internationals, so I decided to see what this tactic looked like in action and scheduled a couple of friendlies against small clubs. Due to player absences my squad was cobbled together. I even had a striker playing in CD. I just sat back and watched how the tactic worked. Obviously, everything didn't work perfectly with my cobbled together squad and an unfamiliar tactic. But, I could tell what was supposed to happen and it was lovely. I really wanted to see how things would work against quality competition, so I took a close look at the league table. With 8 games left in the EPL season, it looked like I would need to overcome an 8 point deficit to make the Euro Cup. Board expectations on the season were to avoid relegation and I had an 18 point lead on that. Even if I didn't win another match for the season, it just wasn't plausible for the teams at the bottom to overcome my lead. I really had nothing to lose by just trying the tactic out for the rest of the season. I didn't really have the squad for it though. I didn't have enough true wingbacks or central defenders to cover for injuries. I had been using AMRs and AMLs and those aren't needed with this tactic. I went with it anyway.

The first real match was away against Man Utd. It went about as well as you would expect. I lost 1-4. Man Utd. shredded the defense in the second half. Of course, the defensive scheme was so far away from what I had been doing that my players were a bit lost. I stuck with it though and the next match was at home against Liverpool. I had a home cup match against them earlier in the season and was soundly thrashed. This time they had a much more difficult time solving the defense and I managed a 1-1 draw. Next, I rattled off three straight wins against mid-table squads. A message came in the inbox that Chelsea had won 15 straight league matches to break the EPL's consecutive victory record. Naturally, my next match was at Chelsea. Would the tactic work again? Well, no. I wouldn't have expected it to under the circumstances. I lost 1-4. Fair enough. Chelsea are ridiculously good in this save. However, I won the final two matches of the season and most surprisingly I qualified for the Euro Cup group stage. I was more than pleased and impressed to get those type of results plugging in a completely unfamiliar tactic that late in the season. Needless to say, the Sheffield United board and supporters were jubilant as well.

With the same group of starters the next season I'm sticking with the tactic. The second match of the season was again at Man Utd. This time being more familiar with the tactic, I managed a 1-1 draw. That's excellent progress. It's still too soon to know how the tactic will work for an entire season, but so far, it's great.

Even more impressive than the results is the way that the tactics play out in action. It's just like it's stated in the OP. My squad wins possession back more quickly than before. The defense works as a cohesive unit. Everything is covered. Other teams struggle to get good shots. Most of the shots they do get off are from bad angles. My team is dominating in shots per game. I suppose that I should mention that to test this I've gone with straight plug and play. No OIs. No changes whatsoever during matches except for changing which version of the tactic is used to adjust for the situation.

Lest anyone thinks I'm using a squad full of world-class players:

Excellent job, OP. Tactic does exactly what you say.

I want to try your tactics but i want to know when do I need to use the three different version? when the standard, when the offensive and when the defensive???

Hey I have been using your tactic with great success with my Newcastle team and just wanted to say well done on a well rounded excellent tactic! And was hoping that you could also upload the other two variations you spoke about earlier as I have tried to make them myself and failed miserably. And then last thing I promise any hints and little tips with training and match prep would be awesome. Cheers dude.

I didnt see the question about training and match prep but i saw it now so ill answer.

In the offseason, and during the christmas break, i always train, teamwork (or is it team cohesion it says cant remember) very intensively. As I would like for any new players to get integrated as quick as possible into the group, and the quicker they are comfortable the better. Match training is fully on the tactic. I have it set all the way to the left side on the bar (50%) for my team to gain familiarity. I also remove a day of rest before the friendlies. Once the season starts i have less match training, and i usually switch between defensive options, as i like my teams to be very strong defensively. However if i have no new defenders that season or its not the first season i am at a club i will train offensive set pieces. I usually switch inbetween these options.

sosasoser

Thank you! Your feedback is most appreciated. I really do hope you manage to do even better this year over last. Also a quick tip if you really want your defense to be a strong unit. Try for to not change a single player defensively from one season to the next. A lesser player who's used to and played with you for a year+ will perform better and make a more solid unit than a superstar defender you just bought. Try rather to integrate players slowly i found this is one of the keys to keep consistently performing.

gennamitico

Ok they so there are different ways you can do it. If i am a lesser side, coming up vs a strong side or an average side i expect a tough game but capable of winning. i would carefully consider the match report your scouts give you before a game. To see when the opponent is prone to conceding, and when they are likely to score. I would then write this down, and play defensively in the first 15 minutes if my opponent has scored more than 20% of their goals in this time period. However, i would always prefer to field in the standard controlling manner. I would then just switch between the tactics depending on what time it is in game and whether or not the opponent is likely to score or concede.

If I am facing a side i feel i should beat i will always start standard. and then write down when they are prone to let in goals, and then go offensive in that period of the game. This is not exact science but i have had a lot of good results doing this. And if you are up a goal or you have a draw vs a good side i would go defensive in the last 15 or so minutes. Sometimes if i am up 2-0 or 3-0 against a good side i will go defensive and usually score one or two more hitting them on the counter.

If you are a very strong side however. I would start standard, and go defensive only at the end of the games to give your players a little rest, and to finish the game without letting in a goal. I only need to go offensive if i am chasing a lead and i wouldnt go offensive till around the 60-70 minute mark depending on the situation.

keep in mind that if a team is extremely poor like 30% conceded in the first 15 minutes, or i am up vs an extremely strong side and i feel confident and bold, i do like to start off the first 15 minutes offensively and then go into standard, just to keep opponents guessing.

Little question to those of you who have tried

Have anyone of you noticed a decreased goals conceded from set pieces? Or even better noticed how the defense is set up on defensive / offensive corners. And i ask you have these setups worked as well for you as it has for me. I would let in maybe 2-3 corner goals in an entire season, and score close to 15 goals.

You said that you don't have to buy the "best" players to be successful. What are you looking for when buying players to build a cohesive team like yours? Team work amongst others?

fantastic system. I recreated it based on your explanation. then I tried to adopt big parts to my own three in a back formation. suddenly I started to enjoy back three. big thanks. now I can give "english hero" achievement a try.

what's different in my approach? set pieces are default. my mentality is very rigid. I use drill crosses. to balance my possession play and the much slower tempo instruction I added roaming and more expressive. goal keeper is sweeper keeper on defend. I use 2 DMCs (regista and anchor man) instead of MCs to able to soak up more pressure when pressing fails. the front 3 are 2 strikers (CF (A) and F9 (S)) and an AMC (T (A)). With regista, treq and false 9 I aim to close build up gaps due to using AMC and DMC's.

You said that you don't have to buy the "best" players to be successful. What are you looking for when buying players to build a cohesive team like yours? Team work amongst others?

The team i won cl and league and dominated with i think only 1 players potential and skill was 4star, the rest was below most being 3.5 skill. none bought for more than 4.6 GBP million.

in defense i look for players with decent pace, atleast the two wide defenders i like to have atleast 14, but its not a necessity. But what the players must have i feel is decent passing, for defenders i feel 11+ is good enough. concentration, positioning, decision making, composure etc i look for. now for as a smaller side as long as the cb has got 12-14 in most of the important mental attributes i am happy with it, i can make that work. I do however feel as high marking and passing are the real main necessities in order to keep a comfortable defensive unit on the ball.

my wingbacks, i tend to get more attacking minded players with decent work rate and stamina. crossing dribbling etc stuff you look for in a winger needs to be decent, doesnt have to be amazing, 12+ is fine. allthough dribbling is more of a want rather than need, if you can find a good hard working wb with decent crossing it wont matter much as they mostly get played in and does not have to challenge alot of opponents.

my two midfielders needs to have composure, creativity and passing. Work rate is always a pluss, but for the DLP (D) i would take a player with less creativity and more aggression and tackling. but still good passing. Ideally get two players in there who can do all of this.

the AM's i like to have one whos very good at dribbling and taking on opponents to play him in that AM(A) role, where he can burst forward and towards goal. And the other can be less of a dribbler and more of a creator. However i try and find a balance between the two types, but that is the basis of the idea. I prefer dribbling, passing, creativity, without ball (as they are to roam), composure, technique. Basically what you would want from trequartista's all though i do tend to prefer players with work rate as i want them chasing ball all game.

My ST, can be anyone really. A more trequartista type, or a more AF type player. I always look for movement off the ball, composure, and determination. Dribbling, creativity, technique, etc are all a pluss. as i want the player to roam more. Originally this was created for Dybala whom has little above 14, he would score 27-30 games a season for my Hellas Verona side.

As for teamwork, i dont in particular look for players with that trait. but i dont go for players with particularly low teamwork either. anywhere from 12 and above i feel is fine. Also as lesser sides, to get every attribute you want is usually very hard. The players dont have to be amazing, just needs to be the right type of player, to be able to complete the tasks you want from him.

Just like to stress again. Players in attack, AM's, ST's and maybe even WB's(these are not a necessity) should be trained in playing one two's. This is very important to the success i have of getting alot of goals. I train everyone in attack no matter if my coaches tell me they dont think the player will be able. You learn this trait or you leave my team.

Mario, I don't think I have enough of a sample size to tell you about set pieces. I was definitely scoring more than I conceded. However, extreme fixture congestion and injuries have taken their toll. I had five matches in 23 days, a two week break for internationals, and then followed it up with 7 matches in 20 days. At the tail end of that, I was down to 13 players left thanks to a rash of injuries. Everton scored 3 goals in the first 25 minutes of a match on corners against me. That had nothing to do with the tactic and everything to do with playing a several youth squad players out of necessity.

I was really surprised with my result in an away match against Man City. I decided to tank it and fielded a squad of nothing but youth squad players to give all my remaining regulars a much needed entire match off. I went with the defensive tactic for the whole match and was quite shocked that I only lost 0-4.

You know, if you are forced to play defensively for an entire game. i would much rather advise you to use the standard tactic, and just put the mentality to defensive. As the defensive tactic is set up to waste time, and keep ball. I recently beat my mate on that save in OP 5-1 by playing this way. He had no answer. We just sat back, controlled the ball but didnt limit ourselves just to do that. With the defensive tactic you are setup to play ball into box etc making you extremely careful going forward, with main focus on keeping the ball in the side, keeping men behind ball, staying defensively compact. While if you just change the mentality, you will be alot more careful sending men forward, aswell as being more careful in possession, but you will still create more on the counter and going forward, as the build up play is a lot slower, but your team is looking to finish the attack atleast.

Had a similar formation a few years back playing with a Level 12 League side. You've tempted me to try this out again!

Well, I'll give an update now that I have used the tactic for a lot longer. Eventually, my team's injury problems cleared up. A full year of the tactic resulted in a 5th place finish in the EPL and a Euro Cup championship trophy. I would have liked to have finished higher in the league, but given the extreme injury problems for a good part of the season, 5th was a reasonable finish. I'd say the tactic did its job.

Moving on to the next season, everything started out great. At the beginning of December, I was at the top of the table and had blown out everyone in my Euro Cup Group so far. And, then the worm turned as it so often does in FM. As is typical, I stopped seeing the results I had been seeing. I started seeing a lot of very close, low-scoring games. Several 1-0 games, some of which I won and some of which I lost. It's worth noting that the AI teams had already been sitting back on me and looking to counter. This is a tactic that just isn't that vulnerable to counters. So, I switched to comprehensive to give things a look.

They say that the AI doesn't learn tactics. I believe that's true in terms of the AI figuring out how to crack a tactic and exploit the one fatal flaw with it. But, the AI certainly seems to learn how you play. In essence, comprehensive mode revealed that the AI managers *knew* what my team was going to do. The opposition seemed to know when and where my players would make runs and passes. It looked as if the AI had given up on even trying to counter. They were content to sit back and let my team just pass the ball around. I was dominating possession even more than before, but as the AI seemed to know where my players were going to attack from, the possession didn't lead to good shots. The AI managers were content to let the games come down to whichever side hit a lucky strike. This was made crystal clear to me in a game against Chelsea. I had previously switched mentality on OP's attack tactic to overload as that seemed more in line with how I used it, which was rarely. I used that tactic for the entire game as an experiment. I was basically inviting Chelsea to counter attack, but even the mighty Chelsea played a contain type defense the entire way. They showed little interest in even attempting any kind of coordinated attack. The game ended with me having possession 85% of the time and in a 1-1 draw.

It was pretty obvious to me that the tactic would need to be tweaked or abandoned, but as this was something of a plug and play experiment, I thought I'd attempt other things first. I got on the players a bit harder in team talks to make sure they were not complacent. No effect. A team meeting improved morale a bit, but it really wasn't bad in the first place and there was no effect on the pitch. Next, I tried shaking up the lineup a bit. That didn't do any good. At the end of the transfer window, I sold off my aging captain just to see if that would change anything. It didn't. Basically, I tried all the usual tricks and nothing worked. The tactic needed tweaking. But, as this was a plug and play experiment I instead switched to a tactic that I had used previously. It hadn't been trained in almost two years so familiarity wasn't great. I won the first match 3-0. I won the next four matches with clean sheets as well. Two different strikers had hat tricks in that five-game span. That run ended in a EURO Cup match against Barcelona. It's 2021, they still have Messi and Neymar who proceeded to show my young defenders how the game is played.

Anyway, the bottom line for me is that as a plug and play tactic, this one works longer than most. After you dominate for awhile, AI managers' first adjustment seems to be to attempt counterattacks down the flanks. That really doesn't work very well against this tactic. Countering down the middle doesn't work very well either except for a rare long ball down the middle that a speedy striker beats the defense to. However, once the AI decides to pack things in even more than that, this tactic like any other needs tweaking to continue to produce the same results. That makes sense. In real life, no manager could possibly hope to do the exact same thing every single game forever and expect that the rest of the football world wouldn't eventually figure out how to frustrate the manager's plans.

This is a great tactic. It does do what it says for awhile. But, I do agree with OP that it doesn't break the game, at least not in the sense that it can be used forever without tweaking. It does, however, work much longer in that way than the super-attacking tactics that are floating around and touted as dominant.

Thank you so much for a great write up there sosasoser. I am glad you liked it and got some results out of it.

A plug and play tactic is always easy to counter no matter how good it is. This is why i try and stress in the OP that training all your forward players to play one two's and using opponent instructions is always very important. I managed to dominate with verona for 5 years before i switched to Juventus and dominated. 6 years of great play never met trouble with AI countering me. This is because every game is different. And I never once in those years changed my tactical setup. I do however always mix up my opponent instructions, and i switch between the 3 different versions of the tactic to never become too predictable. As a straight P&P i am impressed with what you managed to do.

I work very hard at making myself liked by players, and at verona and other clubs i have been, about 80% of the team has me as a favored person. And i feel like i see a difference in number of late game winners from when a team likes me and when it does not. I am even left with the feeling that if i go to the offensive tactic in the last 30 minutes, i will _always_ score. Now ofcourse this is not the case, but it is more so than not.

What i would recommend if you feel like things are getting too predictable. i would change the game plan of attack. Maybe attack down flanks, focus down middle, shorter or longer crosses etc. I can go into this in detail but i know there is a thread around here somewhere explaining some combinations of shouts one can use to exploit opponents, which in turn can be used to alter your way of playing just a slight tiny bit, and can prove extremely fruitful.

I am currently playing as Swansea in an online game with 6-7 others and i will try and update a little here on how it is going, as i am using this tacitc. I can start by saying i took over at end of last season and managed to beat the league winners man utd, for their second loss of the campaign. I managed this by using my tactics even at 50% familiarity and players out of position. My first full season in charge we are about 8 games in, i have not had a bad nor great start. ave conceded 4 scored 8. I keep creating 5-7 ccc's every game yet bony is just missing everything going more than 15 hours without a goal. So my team is doing everything right just having a bad spell of luck in front of goal. We will see how it goes. And i will get to test my tactic against downloaded tactics used by my opponent managers so will be fun to see how my one does.

Ok so, i had a very slow start to the season, i had a lot of new signings and my team struggled getting tactical familiarity up because of this. So results where a bit all over the place with me wanting to implement new players etc causing me to go outta COC in the first round, I knew if i wanted to make a stand for myself and my tactic i would have to do well in my upcoming games vs Newcastle, Chelsea, Arsenal, Man Utd and Everton, with the 3 latter clubs being human controlled managers. We are playing both fantastic and horrible at the same time. Wilfred Bony is struggling big time, so much so that i am 120% convinced Michu has stopped passing him the ball all together, the striker had scored 1 goal in 14 games for me this season being completely rubbish. But at the end now he's gotten 2 goals so hopefully he's getting he's confidence back.

I have been extremely solid at the back, and i have been very good going forward and creating numerous great chances, having mostly around 4-5 ccc's a game, yet to no avail any goals. Most of my games this season feature only one goal despite a lot of great chances, now this is not down to the tactic but rather individual abilities and performances.

Going into those 5 big games for me, i was not playing well, and my tactical familiarity only reached an acceptable level after chelsea game. Which shows in the results, Newcastle had one shot on target which was an FK, and i could not convert my chances. But going into Chelsea game, Bony got he's first (open goal tap in) and we were on our way. The next match vs Arsenal proved a very tough one. Arsenal on top of the league playing in a strikerless formation is a completely new thing for me to deal with i however managed a goal, my high pressure game and wanting to win the ball kept drawing my defenders out for him to overload us over the top. After getting a well worked goal early on i switched to sit deeper so that he was unable to get so many players running through, and it worked. We did not play very well in this game but still got out with a win. Next up vs Man Utd, we started poorly and conceded, but we took control over the game after that for the most part and creating an ok amount of chances, one of whom resulted in an equalizer. Had Bony been anywhere near acceptable level, we would have won as he could have converted he's chance or Michu might actually have passed him the ball.. once.. Everton proved a decent game, we controlled it, didnt play very well but won it by playing solid at the back keeping the ball and controlling the game as i want. We were still not scoring how i like us to however.

This is my side more or less, i think i prefer De Guzman to Shelvey for the most part however.

And here are some pictuers of the fixtures and league standings.

Upcoming matches VS City, Fulham and Tottenham, all human managers, will be tough, but possible. I need to get Bony scoring and my team more effective however. As i have only scored 20 measly goals all year in the league.

Now, all opponent managers are using downloaded tactics from either this forum or others, and so far, with a lesser side than them, my tactics have proved very strong. Hopefully it will continue and ill try and keep updating. If there is any interest at all.

The Human controlled teams are:

Arsenal

Everton

Fulham

Liverpool

Man City

Man Utd

Swansea ( me )

Tottenham

I think this is a hugely well thought out and cohesive tactic, and the same could be said about the thread. Excellent work:thup:

I like the look of this tactic, as it includes 2 of the areas i have been experimenting with lately (back 3 and CWB who score goals). I have also had fun with the attacking trio concept before (although the tactic behind them was different).

I decided i would give this tactic a try, with a view to using it to get my team up and running, and potentially look to change to the BPD to a Libero at some point, as I love trying to make Libero effective and when it works, it works brilliantly. I actually messed around in an another save by starting with your tactic, moving the BPD to a Libero and also moving the ST back to AM and the Libero behaviour worked nicely (it was a save where i went Man U and signed about 15 players and had no tactical familiarity, so cant judge overall on that!).

The team i have started with is Bayer Leverkusen. I intend to do a career where i try to win the title in Germany, Spain, Italy & England, with the aim to do it within a maximum of 3 seasons in each country. So with 3 seasons in mind, i dont expect immediate success with Bayer. Worth noting that they are not a "lesser" side as such, tipped to finish 4th in a strong league, but i see no reason the concepts of this cant work here.

I tried to limit player recruiment, ended up bringing in 9 players but only 3 are first 11, and importantly none of them are in the back 5. Only 2 first team players left (Bender for big money and Hengler who was surplus anyway). The key signings were Batshuayi for the striker position (great all round striker), Raul Garcia for the DLP(s) role (once Bender left) and Ganso for the AMC(s) role (great creator, not a good runner but he is balanced by a runner alongside him).

I have set up training for all my forward players to learn one-twos (i love the movement this brings) and also working on team cohesion and boosting morale with the correct team talks.

First 4 games were all wins, somewhat narrow in 3 of them but also 3 clean sheets. I didnt expect to blow anyone away early as need to gel and learn the tactic. In 2 of the wins i got the crucial goal by changing to the attack tactic, then changing to defend with 10mins to go in order to secure things. We are creating lots of CCC which is a nice start.

I am also curious about trying a winger/forward type in the CWB role. In the Man U save, i played Wellbeck at LWB purely because i found i could get him in on goal on average twice per game. A standard wingback missed most of the chances but a striker takes them. It wont work against better teams, but i might try it against some smaller teams

Cheers for testing it out Jambo! I have tried switching the BPD to a Libero (A) myself. All though only for a few games, but with no change in results. However i never really got to analyze or do it properly. I can see it working very well however, as there is no player in the DM position that may come in the way of the libero and he should be able to be brought into play more. However the negative being the fact that using two DLP's in midfield the team will automatically look to bring them into the game rather than the libero, so the desired effect of pushing him up might not be accomplished. One possibility is to switch the roles of the DLP to BWM and try to make them behave as DLP's, and you can to some extent, but when your team is in possession they will not be dropping so deep, both will not be venturing towards the ball creating passing opportunities like the DLP's does. However, you now have the libero in this area and this might work to get him properly involved.

As for the SS to AM, that is very interesting, as i posted above i recently played vs a strikerless team, Arsenal, even superior to Swansea. And it impressed me, the pressing worked extremely well, something that my pressing also does. So the SS to AM might be a brilliant adaptation.

For the team to play one two's i feel is the key to attacking with so many players centrally, and just it gives you that little extra when there is no room and opponent is just sitting waiting for you.

Luca Valzania, is a winger who comes up in italy on every save, he slowly becomes a decent player and by year 2018 he is a very strong attacking winger. My director bough him when i was at verona, and as i use no wingers i tried converting him into a LWB, and the results were astonishing. He quickly became the Italy's number one left wingback, and he was scoring good amounts, assisting and playing fantastic. For me, the CWB's are an attacking threat, in defense for me they are pressing numbers. I want them to pressure, and in numbers with either a midfielder or CB. I dont need them to be fantastic defenders as long as they are great hard workers, and very good going forward. I never tried a striker in the position but it might be fruitful, as the CWB's come to around 2 ccc's each a game some times.

I gave the tactic a try in a cup game against a lower division side, but I played my backup players (2 players made their debut), some were played in unfamiliar roles, and the tactic was only at 60% familiarity, yet we still won convincingly.

What stood out for me:

- Really good interplay between the striker and attacking midfielders when counter attacking. Fast, but high quality.

- The wing backs are a huge goal threat, I won 4-1 and each of my wing backs (one of which is more of a limited fullback) scored. There was also another goal disallowed from my wingback.

You've made a very good tactic here, thanks!

P.S. I am saving it to get full familiarity and then unleash it upon AC Milan in the Champions League 1st knockout round.

Cheers for testing it out Jambo! I have tried switching the BPD to a Libero (A) myself. All though only for a few games, but with no change in results. However i never really got to analyze or do it properly. I can see it working very well however, as there is no player in the DM position that may come in the way of the libero and he should be able to be brought into play more. However the negative being the fact that using two DLP's in midfield the team will automatically look to bring them into the game rather than the libero, so the desired effect of pushing him up might not be accomplished. One possibility is to switch the roles of the DLP to BWM and try to make them behave as DLP's, and you can to some extent, but when your team is in possession they will not be dropping so deep, both will not be venturing towards the ball creating passing opportunities like the DLP's does. However, you now have the libero in this area and this might work to get him properly involved.

As for the SS to AM, that is very interesting, as i posted above i recently played vs a strikerless team, Arsenal, even superior to Swansea. And it impressed me, the pressing worked extremely well, something that my pressing also does. So the SS to AM might be a brilliant adaptation.

For the team to play one two's i feel is the key to attacking with so many players centrally, and just it gives you that little extra when there is no room and opponent is just sitting waiting for you.

Luca Valzania, is a winger who comes up in italy on every save, he slowly becomes a decent player and by year 2018 he is a very strong attacking winger. My director bough him when i was at verona, and as i use no wingers i tried converting him into a LWB, and the results were astonishing. He quickly became the Italy's number one left wingback, and he was scoring good amounts, assisting and playing fantastic. For me, the CWB's are an attacking threat, in defense for me they are pressing numbers. I want them to pressure, and in numbers with either a midfielder or CB. I dont need them to be fantastic defenders as long as they are great hard workers, and very good going forward. I never tried a striker in the position but it might be fruitful, as the CWB's come to around 2 ccc's each a game some times.

The thing with the Libero approach, is not to expect too much. I think a Libero in this tactic could contribute, simply because with 3 at the back you often have 2 spare men, and in essence thats " a waste" and is probably leaving you short in midfield (which is why a lot of teams IRL stopped using the system). I dont expect to bring a Libero in and suddenly have him be the focus point, or have him start assisting a lot. Just an extra passing option for my midfielders. Because of that, the 2 DLP wont be an issue (i tested this in the Man U save, the Libero moved forward nicely into the DM strata and took passes, without being the focal point). PPM are important for a Libero and its rare to find the right type, but i might try it in a few games.

At the moment my wingbacks are Guardado and Gonzalo Castro. Guardado is in essence a winger, so he is well suited. In 15 appearances he has 3 goals and 5 assists. Extrapolated out for the season, he might end up with 10 goals and 15 assists, which for a wingback is excellent. Castro not quite as good a finisher but still has 5 assists in 22 appearance. Castro is probably not the long term answer for me in that position.

The one area i am struggling with is the AMC(s) role. I bought Ganso for this role and he should be perfect. He has first touch, passing, technique, creativity, flair, Decision all at 15+. I am giving him time to adapt, but he has zero goals in 18 games, and averaging a woeful 6.55. I have taken off "shoot more often" as he wastes too many chances that way, and i also need to look at whether his PPMs might be causing it. He has "tries killer balls often" and "plays short, simple passes" which seem to totally contradict. I might get him to unlearn the later.

Overall its going quite well. Bayern and Dortmund are too good for us, but we came through our CL group with 5 wins out of 6. In the league we are 4th, well behind the big 2 and a point behind a surprising Mainz team. Some good results but the odd poor performance as the team is still not full gelled and the tactic took some 10 - 12 games to become fully familiar.

Shall see how the rest of the season goes

I dont think there is a problem with Ganso. In my CL winning Verona side, i have Dybala up top with Baselli and Saponara behind. (Zaccagni also plays alot in the two am spots) Saponara's first season was not a success, very similar to Ganso's as you have described. But i stuck with Saponara because i know sometimes players use an extreme amount of time. The following season Baselli and Saponara scored 10 goals each and had 15 assists each. Dybala had 37 goals 10 assists or something. Zaccagni scored a lot of goal aswell. Having players who's known each other for a year+ is really beneficial to play i have found. It is why i stress the fact of making small changes if any to a defense. Same goes for attack. I will bet you if you stick with Ganso and the 2 others you have in the 2 other forward positions you will see an increase in effectivity and performance of them all next season.

Well, afraid the second half of the season was very disappointing for me. I made a concious decision to make a few signings in January, accepting it would reduce our success for the rest of the season. I was willing to sacrafice this to ensure that i have a team i am happy with going into season 2, and means i wont make many (any?) signings in the summer. We sat 4th going into January and we had lacked a bit of consistency and struggled to score a bit.

Second half of the season more of the same. Real lack of goals and consistence. Never won 3 games in a row, and ended up with 37 goals in 34 games in the league which is, to be honest, woeful. We sat 4th for a while then dropped to 5th, lost our last game of the season to drop to 7th. Suspect i will be sacked before the start of season 2 as i promised CL and we were tipped for 4th.

Hard to put my finger on exactly what didnt work. The AMC roles werent consistent, the Striker worked periodically but also drifted out of a lot of games. We conceded more than i would like (34 in 34) but i could live with that if we were scoring another half a goal a game.

I know the signings in Jan wouldnt help the team gel, but i hardly changed the entire squad. It was 2 starters and 2 back up (who both rarely played).

See if i survive the summer......

I ended up beating AC Milan and they were beaten easily, and that still wasn't my best side. 2-0 up after 10 minutes until they went very defensive. They had no clear cut or half chances, and only 1 shot on goal.

Also, nice to see you with this tactic on fm base as well!

Well i survived the sack for now, with a slightly bizarre board meeting. Being told i had not been good enough i pleaded with "tell me what i need to do to save my job"........to be told they expect 9pts from the next 5 games........erm ok, but the season is finished! I assume they will apply it to the first 5 of next season, but bizarre coding SI..........

I had planned to only change one first team player for season 2, and add one back up. I wasnt happy with my AM(a) as he was a converted winger and not cutting it. I let him go and brought in Jovetic for 12m who is a great player with all the right attributes if he stays fit. My back up signing was a striker, as Batshuayi is only 21 and needs support and my existing back up wasnt good enough. I went for Dybala, as i know him from a great Swansea save and well, he has form with this tactic apparently!

My plans to keep the rest stable were somewhat thrown into disarray when my keeper demanded a transfer and Barca came in with 15mill for him. Had to let him go and went for a German replacement in Zieler. Pretty much like for like so not overly worried by a keeper change.

I am still pondering replacing my RWB as Castro isnt great and i have a bundle of cash. It would mean 3 new starters which is more than i want, but the keeper barely counts. I could easily upgrade a CD but i dont want to disrupt those 3.

We dont even have Europe after such a poor season, so maybe we can "do a liverpool"

Haha thats a real conicidence because I had something bizarre happen yesterday, I had a league game in an international break, and I wondered how that happened, but when it came to game day, all my players returned and the international fixture was postponed I think.

Well, didnt work overall for me i am afraid. Sacked 3 games into the new season.

Think i observed with the tactic:

1) There is a huge amount of pointless passing - lots of times a deeper player (say one of the MC) plays it into an AMC who immediately gives it back. I think the "retain possession" shoud causes a lot of pointless Tika Taka for me.

2) The striker seems to be a bit isolated at times and never seems to get a consistent run of form/games.

Would be interested to see how your game at Swansea went. Not to discredit this tactic at all, because it is extremely well thought out, but i have found in the past that Serie A is a particularly easy league for some reason. I won it first season after promotion with a fairly average Parma team, and i also game within a goal on goal difference of winning in season 1 with Fiorentina when restricted to playing a specific, unusual formation.

back to the drawing board for me, will continue the save and see what jobs i get offered, and look at back 3 and strikerless again

What kind of striker were you using? When I was using this tactic, I had two strikers more or less equal in ability. One was kind of a traditional pacey striker. He could fly, but as he was young his technical skills still needed a lot of development. With other tactics, this striker could generate a lot of opportunities but finishing was an issue. Nevertheless, he scored a lot of goals due to the volume of his opportunities. He never really got going with this tactic. The other striker was a year younger, but had great technical skills. If he had space in the box, he was scoring. He was also a great passer so if he didn't have space, he worked very well with the AMCs and got assists. However, he wasn't fast or quick enough to really generate his own opportunities. With this tactic, he was simply brilliant. While playing it he won EPL young player of the year and World Golden Boy of the year. Turning down 50 million pound transfer offers for him was routine.

It seems to me that this tactic is for the very patient. You are going to get fewer scoring opportunities than some other tactics, so you want attackers who make the most of their opportunities. This tactic works fine outside of Italy. Where it falls apart is when you no longer have a lesser side. If you have a squad of great players and a worldwide reputation, this tactic isn't going to work for long. AI teams will just park the bus to an extreme degree. It will look like your team is just passing the ball around pointlessly. They're doing that because they can't find space to get the ball into the box for a proper attack. This really is a tactic for a lesser side.

My striker was the young belgian Batshuayi who is a pretty good all rounder for his age. Fast and good technical ability. He started off scoring lots but tailed off. Too many games with very few chances knocked his morale i think.

Ganso was awful. Over a season and a bit he averaged about 6.5 and i think 1 goal in 40.

Maybe my team was "too good" for the tactic, as a top 4 rated side.

After a month or 2 out of the game a struggling Wolfsburg have hired me. Only 5 games in but they were second bottom so fired the manager. I have taken over and sticking with a back 3, but going to give my Libero/CWB/Strikerless tactic a proper go........

This tactic is not for lesser teams only. If you look at the OP. I am playing as Juventus, the best team in italy. I am absolutely smashing everything that comes my way. I am Unbeaten in CL. And even if i did not have the players of world class ability at Verona, i was still considered to be favorites to win the league alongside Juventus before i got the sack, so teams would treat me as if i had the players Man City have. Yet i never stopped to dominate. The tactics are set up for your team to keep the ball. Controll the game, no matter if you just started playing with it or have been for a year or 2, all teams when you attack for the most part will have 8 players behind ball. This is why playing one two's is so important, and this is why players who's played together for a long time is important. As they gel and find their way much easier. However with world class players, its even easier, they are so good they dont need to rely too much on team cohesiveness and they figurer it out without much work.

And Batisyahu is known for not taking he's opportunities on FM tbf. At Juventus i had Lukaku and Fierro, two very different type of strikers. I did find Lukaku to work very well, but fierro a bit better. Lukaku seems not to be as lethal as Fierro, and i think fierro is also better passing wise and creativity wise to link up with the AMC's.

So when playing as Atalanta, Denis is more of a target man striker, but he's scoring a great deal for me. In my first online save with multiple people i was swansea and found Bony to fit perfect and score a lot. Now on the save i am currently in Bony has been a disaster. He has scored 3 goals in 24 games. In fact, my 3 strikers, Donnelly, Bony and Schurrle had scored 7 goals in total, this was equal to what Taylor had scored from a LWB position. So the problem is not in the amount of chances created, its individually that my players are failing to take them. I have never found there to be a lack of CCC's in my games averaging 4-5 CCC's every game. Michu is playing a 6.72 rating all season, and things are just not going our way up top. I have never seen anything like it. I have never seen players consistently play so badly yet given so much time and chances. But i am optimistic for next season.

By January i was top of the league with 29 goals scored. Its horrific. My offensive players are letting me down but i am still managing top of the league. But the game crashed twice apparently so instead of me beating liverpool (human manager) 3-0 i had to replay, and it was 0-0 then it crashed again, and i had to replay him again this time i got a red card and ended up losing 4-1. So instead of a 3-0 victory leaving all my players on average rating of 7+ top of the league with the game that seemed to finally have loosened everything i ended up with a 4-1 loss to crush everything. in the next 8 games or so i only won twice i think I was 3rd in the league yesterday before i had to go, so there is no telling how far i have dropped now that my assistant was controlling the team for the remainder of yesterday. I just hope i haven't fallen out of a champions league spot.

These pictures are taken after the liverpool game before the crash.

Ok so as explained above, that liverpool game did change a lot for my team and all for the worse. I had to go off yesterday due to illness, and left my team in my assistant managers hands with 7 games remaining. My season was just dreadful after that. And when i got on today to learn my assistant manager, did not manage to win one single game in the last 7.. And that Bony was without goals for 13 games.. I had ended on a 6th.. its unbelievable. If i had stayed on for 1 more game and won it i would have gotten CL. Needless to say my assistant is fired. Thats the worst i have ever seen.

So clearly the tactic works outside of Italy. If Bony wasnt the worst striker in england this year i could have challenged for the title, and if my assistant wasnt a complete ****** i would have gotten 3rd. If Game had not have crashed at such an important stage for my team a lot could of gone differently. Swansea was predicted 10th, i managed 6th. Now by my own standards this is godawful. But in one of these pictures you will see what my team averages in ratings. Nobody played a good season. So despite my entire team playing extremely average or even maybe below that the tactics propsered, and took a bunch of poorly playing mediocre players into the top for the most part of the season, and would have ended in a 3rd place had i not gone off. I will just post the pictures.

Overall the season was a failure. But the tactic was not. Next season i want to be challenging for the title without many changes made to the squad. It would be impossible to do any worse than what i just witnessed.

I like the post. It is really good to see detail regarding the defending on FM, something that is left out of a lot of other posts.

3 at the back playing against one lone striker, as it looked in the pictures - do you ever try to take out a CB and push him into midfield, or at least into an anchor role? Its just you must be lacking numbers in midfield against a one striker formation, could lead to players getting tired late in the game with all the pressing they are doing for example. It could help against some counter attacks also.Obviously your results suggest you are doing ok as it is, just a thought.

If i were to push a cb out to dm, i would be forced to draw the wingbacks down to fullback positions as without doing that i will leave huge gaps at the back. I never push a cb up however.

Yes, this tactic requires a lot of players, and i look for players with 14+ work rate and stamina. But we also keep the ball alot. the double DLP's hold the ball really well even when they are outnumbered in midfield. And the defense also does a decent job of it. My team covers more distance than the opponent in every game, and also has 55% or more possession. Players do get tired, but with the 3 subs you have at hand i never finish a game with more than 1 player at under 70% fitness. And also if i switch to the defensive tactic it has the instructions to waste time and take a breather, which also helps with stamina.

Funnily enough I've been trying to make a tactic using this very formation. I'm surprised how effective it is defensively and offensively.

Here's where I am with it so far:

Congrats on your success mate. Good read

Hi mario,

I've tried your set of tactics in Portugal, 3rd level league (teams like you found on Serie C2). My team was predicted to finish 5th on a league containing 10 teams, and i finished in 2nd place, after a bad start with 6 points in 5 games.

What i've found to be very interesting in your tactics is the results achieved vs better teams, even if your side lacks a lot in quality terms. I have players with 6 stamina and 8 pace, even in the wingback position(!), but still they can play a simple passing game, and very often found ways to do very good vertical passes who leads me to goals, with no complications. In my games the % of passes completed are almost always over 80%, and this number is allways better compared to opposition %, even in a game against a team from the First Division (Cup game).

Yes, be 2nd in a league that you are predicted to finish 5th isn't something outrageous, but found something that led you to win games when you are underdog is - without any doubt - the key to success. I've tested a lot of tactics and created my own ones too, most of all led me to score more than yours and led me to more CCC's per game than yours, but when i had to challenge a team better than mine in (almost) all aspects, the end was allways the same: draw or loose, no matter what shouts i would use. And this where you tactic differs from the other great tactics.

The only thing that concerns me is my 3 defenders, they almost allways finish the games with rates below 6.6. Should i be concerned? Any special attribute to look for?

I have only had one or two seasons where my CB's have very good avg ratings. And this i believe is because it is the team who defends, the CB's are a last resort when defending and throughout an entire game, they should be called out into action as little as possible. However, once you start keeping clean sheets etc their avg. ratings usually rise.

I'm going to try this with my current save. I've got something a bit similar on the go already, but I'm using wide IF's on the flanks without much success. Pushing them centrally might work for me. Thanks for sharing, mario milanista!

Why play narrow? Isn't narrow primarily how your team plays on the ball? In that case I would think playing wide(/exploit middle) would be better, since you can stretch the opposition defence with wingbacks hugging the sidelines and opening up the center for the 3 offensive players.

Gonna try this with Frankfurt, heir players seem tailor made for it, ay instruct WB's to shoot less often though!

This tactic truely kills! Used it for my current Sporting Lissabon save at the end of 2015, current results are just mind blowin'. Goin' to post some SS by the time, when the season is over.

Very interesting tactic, I wish I had the knowledge to develop such a tactic.

I'm gonna give it a go with my Anderlecht (Belgian team) side, as I always get hammered in the Champions League.

Why play narrow? Isn't narrow primarily how your team plays on the ball? In that case I would think playing wide(/exploit middle) would be better, since you can stretch the opposition defence with wingbacks hugging the sidelines and opening up the center for the 3 offensive players.

I dont really like limit my team to focus on going down the wings or down the middle, nothing should be forced in the decision making going forward. And in the situations where i do decide to exploit middle or flanks or whatever it is usually for a specific period of a match, maybe chasing goals, or vs a much tougher side i feel i can use this to great effect vs.

Now i play narrow because your team sits more narrow when defending. It leaves less gaps, and they stay closer together when on the ball. This in turn makes it easier for the players to pick out passes, and keeps a higher number of player in close proximity to each other opening up multiple passing options at all times. If you decide to try the tactic out you will also find that width is not a problem. As the fullbacks provides all i need. Often times they will receive, challenge a man, and get a cross in, or they will get played in behind the opponent fullback. Infact, playing narrow also seems to put the wingbacks into more scoring opportunities, all though, that is purely a theory.

I hesitate however on playing wider over long periods of a game, but this is mostly personal preference and also uncertainty. I am afraid of leaving my wingbacks too exposed on the flanks. I never want them to be left 1v1 vs an opponent winger. I want them to sit narrow, and then push out wide, along with a midfielder or CB to put pressure on the opponent winger. The idea is, you are of no danger out on the wing. Get a ball in, fine we have got the numbers to defend. However, once you get the ball out the the wing you will receive instant pressure. But as long as the ball is in the middle of the pitch, in dangerous areas we are keeping all players focused and close, wide areas are of no importance, if the ball is not out there.

Hope that was an ok answer, to my reasoning.

Your reasoning makes sense. I tried with more width and it seems to make wingbacks hug the line, which is fine during attack, but I can see that having them that wide could leave them exposed and alone during defending phase. I'm gonna ditch exploit the middle and keep experimenting with width.. the attacking wingbacks are definately my favorite players in fm14.. damn they can score.

I sent this thread home by email with a subject line try this tactic.

Tried it in a pre season friendly against 1st division opposition with my 2nd division Cheltenham game, 3rd season in from start FM14. Having just missed out on promotion in the playoff final I needed something to try after my own 3 tactics had mixed results.

I have never seen a AI team have so little time and space on the ball in all my years playing Football Manager and there can be no lesser side to try it out with than my own current squad.

It's an amazing tactic, won 4.0 easily with so many missed opportunities and I guess at least a third of my team are not ideal players to use with this tactic. Despite the AI deprived of any space the positions didnt appear to fatigue any more than my own tactics. Appreciate your posting and I'll will continue to use it in competetive matches see how I go.

One question though, my ass man feedbacks theres noone marking the posts at corners, was that a part of your plan or shall I edit players instructions to mark

Thanks

That is part of the plan. I would not recommend altering the defensive corner set up as it is a zonal marking system which have worked incredible wonders for me.