4-2-3-1 German-Inspired Offensive Tactic.

Hello everyone, i have had a lot of success with a tactic i've been using so i thought of sharing it with the rest of you.As the title suggests, it is inpired by the german national team, but not necessarily the one at this world cup.Think more of the times they used Ozil as an attacking playmaker.

I made this tactic with the idea that i wanted to see free-flowing football that was exciting to watch while trying to keep possession in mind but not with it as a primary objective.I wanted a tactic that would be able to play a traditional #10 (think zidane) and would play a lot of through balls and slice the opposition defense.On the defensive side, i would try to keep things tight, primarily relying on deep lying playmakers to stop any loose or counter-attacking balls, with the full backs and even the goalie assisting higher up the pitch.Whenever the opponent starts trying to play possession football, the idea is the team slowly circles them and forces mistakes.

I've played with this tactic and have had success with it from season 1 all the way to year 2025 (polished it along the way).It is easier to have success as you advance through the years in the game, but i have done very well with it in the initial years as well.What teams is it meant for ? Generally meant for strong teams that are contenders for la ligga/EPL/ETC.It's meant to take a team like that and convert it into dominating both domestically and on the european level while playing very exciting football.

Main weakness ? the lack of a defensive midfielder can hurt you at times, the space between midfield and defense can be tricky but i've done my best to make up for that.Most goals that you will get scored on will be counter-attacking long balls to the flanks leading up to a goal or at times the defense can space out and a long ball to a pacey striker can get the best of them.Getting the right central defenders (not about class, more about attributes here) mitigates this a lot as does the right goalkeeper.As for set pieces, i know a lot of people like to set those up themselves so i've reverted them back to defaults.

Without too much more ado, some screenshots :

team lineup :

http://imgur.com/4LSX0NP

general team info :

http://imgur.com/4LSX0NP,CGPsxmu,uYJygOY,M4yTLXX,jpzrGXz,tbXEp2v#1

team instructions :

http://imgur.com/4LSX0NP,CGPsxmu,uYJygOY,M4yTLXX,jpzrGXz,tbXEp2v#1

assists/goal screen (stats) :

http://imgur.com/4LSX0NP,CGPsxmu,uYJygOY,M4yTLXX,jpzrGXz,tbXEp2v#3

Fixtures screen (new season, ignored friendlies, Assman was handling those) :

http://imgur.com/4LSX0NP,CGPsxmu,uYJygOY,M4yTLXX,jpzrGXz,tbXEp2v#4

A little more on individual player instructions and the kind of players you want.

Goalkeeper : Any good goalkeeper will do but one one ones/reflexes are good to have in order to beat the odd breakaway striker. I play my goalkeeper as a sweeper keeper, kinda trying to imitate manuel neuer but having a hard time incorporating that quite as well into FM.Maybe you need to have Neuer or someone like him in order for it to work best.Rushing out would be a great attribute to have as well.

Full backs. You don't need amazing wing backs here, but instead good supporting full backs work well.Decent physical stats in terms of agility/acceleration and pace as per usual for full backs.Positioning is also good to have as is bravery and concentration.Jumping reach would be a great bonus.These are kinda the dream stats but good solid full backs will do just fine.

Central defenders. I prefer well-balanced central defenders here.They don't need to be amazing in the air, 13 or 14 will actually do just fine.They will need a bit of pace to make up for the lack of defensive midfielder and to keep up with the pacey strikers, so look for that.Marking,positioning and tackling are always key as is anticipation but pretty much all central defenders have those at a decent level.Concentration is good as well, but once more, good central defenders have that.Look for balanced physical stats most of all.It is okay if you have a Mertesacker in your defense, just make sure you have someone like hummels, boateng , sakho or varane next to him.

Deep lying playmakers.These guys are the anchors of your team, they are the players that will probably shine the least as you need them to cover for your attack.Ideally you want someone that has a good balance of offense and defense.In terms of defense, you want okay tacklers most of all and positioning.Good physical stats are a plus, specially jumping.In terms of offense, you will care most about passing, first touch and even creativity, as they will launch a through ball here and there.The best one you could ever get is Pogba, but plenty will do well here.Ramsey, Wilshere come to mind.Even the more defensive ones will do well.Khedira, Vidal, Illaramendi etc.

AMC (#10) - This guy is probably the heart of the team offensively. You will want someone technically gifted that can get deliver good through balls and also has good movement off the ball with the ability to finish.Players like Isco and James Rodriguez should do extremely well here.I've also had a wonderkid called guido vadala that became a legend in this position.You want someone with a good skill in passing,creativity and flair (around 17); those will help him assist your team.However, he also needs to get into space and score, so you will want him to have at least 17 in off the ball, and a good balance in finishing/composure.If he has 12 in finishing as isco did for me but 18 in composure, it is still okay.If he has pace and/or is good in the air, that is always a plus.First touch is key for him, as it is for all of the team in general with this tactic.

Inside forwards - Very straightforward on these. You will want players that can get into space and score, that is the most important part.Pace, first touch, off the ball and finishing are the most important attributes here.Everything else is a bonus.I've had players like Jese do amazing in early seasons getting european golden boy with ~8.00 ratings.He is good but he is no cristiano ronaldo yet still did amazing.

Strikers - I've had most success with strikers that do well in the air as well as good at finishing.Alberto cerri is one of the best i've had in this position but any good striker can do well; i've had a striker with 9 jumping do well (but he had amazing stats aside from his jumping). Morata has had 8.00+ average rating in my first seasons if i remember correctly.Anyone can do well here, but being good in the air will help a lot.Dream scenario would be high attributes in jumping and finishing/composure with about 15 in passing/creativity/decisions/teamwork/strength/first touch.Dribbling is not too important but of course always a bonus.

I will try to polish this post a bit more once i post it, feel free to ask anything, i'll try to oblige.

Download link : http://www.megafileupload.com/en/file/551170/FM-rar.html

Have you ever considered changing one of the DLPs to defend duty?

Otherwise it's a good set up. I've actually used quite similar.

Thread moved, as it seems more appropriate for the Upload/Download section than the main tactics bit.

If they are more defensive-minded players then yeah, you could do that.It would give you a bit more security and potentially less lost possession.However, in my experience the difference between what a defensive DLP or a support DLP tends to do is defined more by their attributes than by the defend/support duty.The only potentially big thing would be if a defensive DLP hang deeper on the pitch, which could alleviate the lack of DM, but i did not experiment enough with it, most of my DLPs had a bit more to contribute.Going with support makes it feel more of an universal choice.