Back to Basics: a recipe for success?

After trying many different tactics over many different save games and many a lost hour spent tweaking something dawned upon me. I have even after all this time been playing this game completely wrong.

Why was I wrong I hear you ask? Well even with a top team I always tried to create very precise and particular set of tactical instructions often veering towards the attacking side. For example all my tactics were generally controll and fluid.

I would often have a major mid season slump whereby teams would adjust to my tactic accordingly and counter whatever team and player instructions I had set.

I would also have lots of team instructions set. Sometimes as many as 9 or 10 at a time. At times, inadvertently these would contradict what I was trying to achieve.

I started thinking about in game shouts and how I wasn't using them enough and what they really should be used for.

I decided to strip my tactic to the bare bones, keeping things as simple as possible. I wanted also to veer away from a tactic that leans too much in one direction ie too attacking like my previous efforts.

So I have setup a 41221 standard / balanced. I have no individual player instructions set and the only team instructions I have is shorter passing, roam from positions and work ball into box.

I have now learnt that by sticking with this I can better alter or change the way a game is going with in game shouts.

I see how the game is going for 20 or 25 mins and if need be make changes then.

I've also found my traditional mid season slump doesn't happen or isn't as serious, probably because my tactic is quite standard / generic thus no obvious counter to it.

I've setup a standard conventional way in a 41221 as advised on the forums here. Nothing revolutionary or different.

So far I'm playing better football and getting more encouraging results.

After my long winded rant. The motto of this thread and the overall message to new and experienced players alike is to keep it as simple as possible. Resist the urge to over complicate a tactic like I used to do.

To add to my post above. I used to play a high defensive line and tried to press high up the pitch so would have the hassle opponents option ticked.

By keeping defensive line, width, tempo and not have things like hassle opponents ticked everything is pretty much set to default, ie how the game ai thinks is a balanced and normal set of instructions ands I must say it's working well. In ten games at the start of my new season I've scored on average over 3 a game and conceded less than 1. I am delighted. I have always had a problem getting my defense solid and I appear to now have it.

It is amazing what a return to basics can do

^ Exactly the same occurred to me yesterday after banging my head against the wall trying to turn around my lowly motivated Arsenal side (10th in January). We are almost undefeated (2 losses) but way, way too many draws against mediocre teams leave us in 10th although only 6 points from top 4 with Chelsea seemingly unreachable with 20 points ahead.

But back to topic. I have this "great" tactic with attacking and short passing etc. which looks great and does play great but because I kept tweaking it in the early stages I am in January with my familiarity still not fluid, which results in the weird or "just" didn't win results. I just went back to basics. Standard, Balanced, Work Ball into Box, Push Higher Up - 4-2-3-1 Denmark. Because it is so basic, we are almost fluid in everything already and the wins are starting to come in improving morale.

In the end, unless you really know what you are doing, stick to a formation you like, then choose a mentality and fluidity that you like (if you don't know stick to standard/balanced) and keep the instructions to a minimum. Not only does it keep things simple for you but also your players, and THEN from there and watching the game you can adjust. We need more chances? Switch to attacking maybe? Or play wider? Losing possession? Slow down game? Distribute to defenders? Shorter passing? It is all possible from a standard template. And, until you become an expert, much easier to implement and adjust. If you are already set up with an attacking tactic with 6 or 7 instructions - WHAT do you change to score? Overload? Or maybe reduce the mentality to be more patient? It is definitely possible but becomes much more complex than playing in Standard and switching over to Attacking.

Also, some other simple instructions like man-marking an influential player can change the game.

Especially with team instructions - less is more. Keep it simple with about 4 essential instructions and then tweak on a game by game basis.