[FM!4] Van Gaal Approach

Hey Guys,

So it has been absolutely ages since I last posted on here, I have had a very long break from FM trying to sort out my life. But I am now at a point where I have quite a bit of free time so I am back!!!

I am a Manchester United fan and have been watching Van Gaal in action over the last few weeks, including during the World Cup with Holland, and I have been very impressed with his tactics so I thought I would try and replicate it in FM. In past versions I have tried to get 3 at the back working without much success, so this time I have been determined to get it work. This tactic has been created on the 14.3 patch, I have yet to ty it on the later patch but I hope some of you will give it a go.

I was already in a save as Stockport in the Skrill North early on in the first season, and was bored with my usual 4-2-3-1 formation so I decided to see if I could get the 3-4-1-2 tactic working for them. To give you an idea of how well it has done I am now in League 1 in the 5th season. Now I haven't been using this tactic the whole way through as I was trying to work on some other real life managers tactics once this one was working, but I came back to this one when others failed.

Created using the tactic creator and tweaked afterwards, Here is what it looks like:-

As you can see it is a standard 3-4-1-2 formation. I have toyed with the idea of having the wide men back in the wing back position set as CWB but I found it worked better with wide men set on a defensive mentality.

I have watched and tweaked it over the last 5 seasons and now feel it is ready to be shared. I can really say it is a plug and play one as I can't guarantee it will work for others as well as it has worked for me. It has taken many years of tinkering and getting the right players in the right positions for me to be confident with it.

I never use OI's although thinking about it against certain formations they could come in handy, but the players are set to do certain things, so I haven't wanted to risk unsettling the balance of the side, especially with 3 at the back. Hopefully people can mess about with it themselves and let me know what they find?

I was watching the United game against Liverpool last night and I noticed a lot of similarities between the real life tactic and my interpretation of it, I couldn't help smiling to myself haha.

Player Info:-

GK D - Standard goalie here, good balance of attributes needed. I just get the best keeper I can get, but I would say that they would need good positioning, anticipation and reflexes.

CD D - All three are set as the same with no player instructions - Attributes I look for are positioning, marking, tackling, concentration and acceleration, but I like my playrs to have pace on top of that as well.

WM D - Both of these have the same player instructions, I have them set to mark tighter which seems to get them to track back as needed, they are both good in defence and attack. I like them to have good pace and acceleration as standard along with good attributes in passing, off the ball, teamwork, decisions and determination

DLP S - This is the one on the left side of centre mid. He tends to sit around the middle closing down the opposition and picking out passes to the attacking players. He needs good attributes in creativity, off the ball, passing, positioning, tackling and team work.

CM S - He has a simiar set up to the DLP but as he seems to get forward a lot I have him set to shoot less often as he seems to like taking rubbish long shots. Attributes for him I like are good in passing, creativity, marking, anticipation, teamwork and work rate

AP A - This guy is the sides main assister, he roams around picking the ball up and takes players with him leaving space for the forwards who with the right stats finds them perfectly. He also scores quite a few. Needs good creativity, flair, off the ball, first touch, dribbling and passing.

CF S - This is your Rooney type player. He creates and scores goals. I personally have him set to roam around and shoot less often to stop him shooting willy nilly. He will get his fair share of goals though. Good passing, off the ball, pace, finishing, decisions, and creativity definitely needed.

AF A - This is your main goalscorer, with the right players behind and along side him he will score bucket loads. All I have him set to is to move into channels. He basically needs to be good in everything that is highlighted in the important attributes for his position. I have a player called I an Clifford who I signed as a youngster and have trained him up. He had 5 star potential but I bought him as a 1 star. He is now a 4 star, but he is immense in this position.

Another thing I like to do is train all the attacking players to play one twos regularly. I got this idea off someone else on the forums, sorry but can't remember their name , but if you read this thank you . Now I see even better attacking play, with the attacking trio, passing it around between them.

I have only used this as Stockport starting in the Skril North working my way through the leagues. We have mainly been the underdogs, but it works just as well being the favs. In the first season we destroyed opponents in the FA cup making it to the Final losing heavily to Chelsea but it did get us into Europe the following season, which fo a Skrill North side is rather tasty .

This is a pic of the current league 1 table early on. We are expected to get relegated but have started the season very well. Clifford has been on fire as usual.

Thank you all for reading and I hope someone will give the tactic a try and see how it works for others, especially on the latest patch, I hope it still works on there. I look forard to reading your responses and if you need any more info just ask away

Tactic Link:-

http://www.mediafire.com/download/7802bdx2qra7395/Van_Gaal_Approach.tac

just trying the other van gaal tactic out thats been posted , if that doesnt work out i shall try this one

Hi! The wide midfielder role, just wondering does attacking wingbacks work in that role or is it better with midfielders?

Hi! The wide midfielder role, just wondering does attacking wingbacks work in that role or is it better with midfielders?

Hey, yes they do, my back ups at the time of posting were wing backs, who have now replaced the wingers I played there. Just make sure they have good decisions, determination and team work attributes

Hey Guys,

So it has been absolutely ages since I last posted on here, I have had a very long break from FM trying to sort out my life. But I am now at a point where I have quite a bit of free time so I am back!!!

I am a Manchester United fan and have been watching Van Gaal in action over the last few weeks, including during the World Cup with Holland, and I have been very impressed with his tactics so I thought I would try and replicate it in FM. In past versions I have tried to get 3 at the back working without much success, so this time I have been determined to get it work. This tactic has been created on the 14.3 patch, I have yet to ty it on the later patch but I hope some of you will give it a go.

I was already in a save as Stockport in the Skrill North early on in the first season, and was bored with my usual 4-2-3-1 formation so I decided to see if I could get the 3-4-1-2 tactic working for them. To give you an idea of how well it has done I am now in League 1 in the 5th season. Now I haven't been using this tactic the whole way through as I was trying to work on some other real life managers tactics once this one was working, but I came back to this one when others failed.

Created using the tactic creator and tweaked afterwards, Here is what it looks like:-

As you can see it is a standard 3-4-1-2 formation. I have toyed with the idea of having the wide men back in the wing back position set as CWB but I found it worked better with wide men set on a defensive mentality.

I have watched and tweaked it over the last 5 seasons and now feel it is ready to be shared. I can really say it is a plug and play one as I can't guarantee it will work for others as well as it has worked for me. It has taken many years of tinkering and getting the right players in the right positions for me to be confident with it.

I never use OI's although thinking about it against certain formations they could come in handy, but the players are set to do certain things, so I haven't wanted to risk unsettling the balance of the side, especially with 3 at the back. Hopefully people can mess about with it themselves and let me know what they find?

I was watching the United game against Liverpool last night and I noticed a lot of similarities between the real life tactic and my interpretation of it, I couldn't help smiling to myself haha.

Player Info:-

GK D - Standard goalie here, good balance of attributes needed. I just get the best keeper I can get, but I would say that they would need good positioning, anticipation and reflexes.

CD D - All three are set as the same with no player instructions - Attributes I look for are positioning, marking, tackling, concentration and acceleration, but I like my playrs to have pace on top of that as well.

WM D - Both of these have the same player instructions, I have them set to mark tighter which seems to get them to track back as needed, they are both good in defence and attack. I like them to have good pace and acceleration as standard along with good attributes in passing, off the ball, teamwork, decisions and determination

DLP S - This is the one on the left side of centre mid. He tends to sit around the middle closing down the opposition and picking out passes to the attacking players. He needs good attributes in creativity, off the ball, passing, positioning, tackling and team work.

CM S - He has a simiar set up to the DLP but as he seems to get forward a lot I have him set to shoot less often as he seems to like taking rubbish long shots. Attributes for him I like are good in passing, creativity, marking, anticipation, teamwork and work rate

AP A - This guy is the sides main assister, he roams around picking the ball up and takes players with him leaving space for the forwards who with the right stats finds them perfectly. He also scores quite a few. Needs good creativity, flair, off the ball, first touch, dribbling and passing.

CF S - This is your Rooney type player. He creates and scores goals. I personally have him set to roam around and shoot less often to stop him shooting willy nilly. He will get his fair share of goals though. Good passing, off the ball, pace, finishing, decisions, and creativity definitely needed.

AF A - This is your main goalscorer, with the right players behind and along side him he will score bucket loads. All I have him set to is to move into channels. He basically needs to be good in everything that is highlighted in the important attributes for his position. I have a player called I an Clifford who I signed as a youngster and have trained him up. He had 5 star potential but I bought him as a 1 star. He is now a 4 star, but he is immense in this position.

Another thing I like to do is train all the attacking players to play one twos regularly. I got this idea off someone else on the forums, sorry but can't remember their name , but if you read this thank you . Now I see even better attacking play, with the attacking trio, passing it around between them.

I have only used this as Stockport starting in the Skril North working my way through the leagues. We have mainly been the underdogs, but it works just as well being the favs. In the first season we destroyed opponents in the FA cup making it to the Final losing heavily to Chelsea but it did get us into Europe the following season, which fo a Skrill North side is rather tasty .

This is a pic of the current league 1 table early on. We are expected to get relegated but have started the season very well. Clifford has been on fire as usual.

Thank you all for reading and I hope someone will give the tactic a try and see how it works for others, especially on the latest patch, I hope it still works on there. I look forard to reading your responses and if you need any more info just ask away

Tactic Link:-

http://www.mediafire.com/download/7802bdx2qra7395/Van_Gaal_Approach.tac

I am a huge County fan in real life and have come unstuck since starting my save again as I cannot get past te Conference premier.

You got my interest so as I am off work all this week, I am going to start a new save and give this a go. I will post as to how things go.

FA Cup Final in the first season?!! Wow a huge well done!!

Thanks and good luck, let me know how you get on

Thanks and good luck, let me know how you get on

Promoted from Conference North first season via play offs. Second season looked certain to romp the division before winning 3 in the last 18 - I put it down to my still part time status in a league predominantly full time - finishing 9th. 7 games in to the next season and sitting 5th with 1 defeat so far.

I am now full time though with a much stronger, fitter squad and tactics fluid already. I will keep you posted.

Downloaded this tactic as it wasn't far from what I was already playing and I thought it would bed down quickly but after a good start, I've not had great results since. Any ideas why? I've signed a few players who are better than what I had before in the key areas outlined.

Promoted from Conference North first season via play offs. Second season looked certain to romp the division before winning 3 in the last 18 - I put it down to my still part time status in a league predominantly full time - finishing 9th. 7 games in to the next season and sitting 5th with 1 defeat so far.

I am now full time though with a much stronger, fitter squad and tactics fluid already. I will keep you posted.

Sounds like you are doing well, sometimes it can take a while to bed in. Do you change anything or keep it as it is? It's been a while since I have been on here so hopefully you are doing well. Let me know how you are getting on now.

Downloaded this tactic as it wasn't far from what I was already playing and I thought it would bed down quickly but after a good start, I've not had great results since. Any ideas why? I've signed a few players who are better than what I had before in the key areas outlined.

How many players have you signed? The tactic needs tme to work but also needs all players on the same page so bringing in a load of new players won't help

As you can see it is a standard 3-4-1-2 formation. I have toyed with the idea of having the wide men back in the wing back position set as CWB but I found it worked better with wide men set on a defensive mentality.

I have been playing with wingbacks in the WBL/WBR position in otherwise the same formation. What were your CWB's doing that you didn't like? How does the play of Wide Midfielders (D) differ?