[FM15][FMC] Stermdeuter: a wide 4-3-3 for Liverpool with Sterling dominating as Raumdeuter

Hey guys,

Sharing my tactic because I'm halfway through season one with Liverpool, currently sitting top of the league with our only loss being an unlucky 2-1 away at Sunderland (who also knocked us out of the league cup). Oh, and I just thrashed Everton 6-0 at Goodison.

First, I play FMC, so there will be a distinct lack of OIs, team talks, training tips etc. here.

I wanted to create a single-striker tactic for Liverpool which also allowed Raheem Sterling to be a focal point for our attacks, particularly on the counter. The Raumdeuter role seems to be perfect for this, as when we are on defense he tends to sit in space out to the right, waiting to be released by my midfield, CF (Sturridge/Balotelli) or IF (Coutinho/Lallana):

Players/Positions

GK was Mignolet as GK-Defend, and is now Valdes as Sweeper Keeper-Support, just because he's better and he can play that role.

The back line is straight forward. CBs are on Defend and have simply been asked not to close down. I want my midfielders doing the grunt work on defense with the CBs guarding the gates at the back. Lovren, Skrtel and Sakho all do well here and I have brought in Balanta as a short-mid-term replacement for Skrtel.

I loved playing Complete Wing Backs in FM 14, but just couldn't get them working for me in this squad, so the fullbacks are both operating as Wing Backs with an Automatic duty, meaning they'll attack as much as we require in the game situation. I've asked them to sit narrower to reduce the chances of them being isolated on the ball out wide, with my attacking midfielders sitting quite high up the pitch. They still get a lot of chances to get forward and are often found in space during broken play. Johnson and Enrique are playing well and are holding off the challenges of Manquillo and Moreno respectively.

Gerrard and Lucas rotate as my DLP on Defend duty. Against top teams running an AM plus two strikers, I sometimes drop this player into the DM slot, but try to keep him at CM most of the time so he can help recycle attacks in the final third. This player is asked to close down more (since my CBs won't) and to dribble less and pass shorter, because they are key to the transition from defence to attack and I don't want them giving up possession with a bad pass or dribble. Despite being told to pass shorter, Gerrard still leads my assists count with 7 so far in the league.

The BBM and CM are probably the two positions I've thought least about. I don't like duplicating roles in midfield so kept them different, and opted for the CM on Auto so his mentality adapts to my overall team mindset. Henderson and Allen currently fill these roles with Can and Lucas as backup but I will be looking to bring in at least one more attack-minded player in the summer, as they get plenty of chances to score and aren't converting as much as I'd like. No instructions here, they are left to do their own thing.

At AML is usually Coutinho, with Lallana getting some game time when he's not injured. Inside Forward on Support means he helps out in defence while getting a fair few chances to run at their back line. Against weaker teams or when I need a goal I might change the duty to attack but I haven't really needed to do this so far. Coutinho has 11 goals from 18 starts, so I'm happy.

AMR is the goal machine that is Raheem Sterling. 16 goals in as many games in the league, with 5 assists and 5 player of the match awards to go with it. He makes a massive 6.66 dribble per game and has an average rating of 7.88. Markovic is my backup/sub for Sterling. The only extra instruction given is Close Down Much More, which for the raumdeuter seems to translate to "close down a bit", which I like better than the default behaviour of "stand still and watch them attack". I also have him set to swap position with my CF to prevent either of them being man-marked out of the game.

Sturridge plays as a Complete Forward on Support, because I want him to drop deeper to help recycle possession and unleash the Stermdeuter ahead of him. Balotelli struggles a bit in this role due to his low work rate so I'm grateful Sturridge hasn't been injured much so far in my save. Studge has 7 goals and 6 assists in 13 starts in the league.

Team Instructions

I wanted a fast-moving, attack-oriented tactic, so I ask for direct passing at a high tempo, and allow my players to express themselves, as most of my attackers have high vision and flair ratings. Some of our passing in the final third was a bit too ambitious so I asked the team to be more patient and work the ball into the box.

My defenders aren't quick, so they sit a bit deeper, which also helps to draw out the more defensively-minded opponents.

I've got a bit of pressing going (for everyone except the CBs) and tight marking, all to help force mistakes and recover possession as quickly as possible.

Whipped Crosses probably isn't required but I like the sound of it and don't want any floated balls. I might play around with low crosses instead.

My mentality starts as Control against all opponents. I'll change to Counter with a small lead, Defensive or Contain when holding a lead in the final 10 minutes (as well as changing Close Down to Less), and Attacking and then Overload when I need a goal.

Having my shape set to Very Fluid seems to work best, as it gets my fullbacks more involved in attacks and my forwards more involved in the defensive phase. I'll drop this to Fluid or Flexible when defending a lead so my fullbacks, DLP and CM don't commit themselves too far forward.

Download link (Mega)

Let me know your thoughts, and I'm keen to hear how everyone else is using Sterling in their tactics.

how can you play fm classic . because i can't

What's stopping you?

I started playing FMC on FM14 because I got sick of having to micro-manage all of my players' training and youth development. The tactic engine is the same in both versions so other than some more in-depth statistics I don't feel like I'm missing much!

It's said "ABC" team can't be selected - please select another team

http://i.imgur.com/7AptLIm.png

Oh wow, you literally can't play FMC! That sucks man, hope they fix it for the full release.

Going to give this a go as Shakhtar on FMC since it's the first tactic for FM '15 released on this forum.

Need all the help I can so yes going to give this tactic a try given only one uploaded for fmc15.

I'll try this tactic also, will post results once i play at least 20 games.

Well I've just reached the half-way mark of the first season in the form of the Ukrainian Winter break. The team took a little while to get going (June-September) and we were narrowly beat in the Super Cup by Kiev on penalties, but all in all I'd say so far so good; with us performing as well as we should be. I've provided some screenshots below:

Glad it's working for you Lewis, thanks for giving it a go and sharing the results!

Glad it's working for you Lewis, thanks for giving it a go and sharing the results!

Cant post any pictures but I can sure say its work ed/ing for me aswell so thankyou very much.

I am Spurs and was about 8th in January and I'll be really honest but I got to mid-feb and was sacked hence was reason I really had to look on here.

I then thought to continue the save (last one being in mid jan) and yeah how can a tactic make all that difference I don't know given same players used and yes similar formation? However I'll tell you now I then went onto win the FA cup and got 4th in prem which yes is the other extreme to be honest and doesn't feel right given its only due to this tactic. Yes tactics are important but to be the difference of life or death within the game is a bit over the top. Oh well cant complain so lets see how CL football goes then but not during this week.

One thing I will add thought which is a bit strange after you pick your team then play game etc, once you go back into tactics the ST/RW keep swapping on the right hand side so not sure if any1 else finds that. You change them back again and continue but then again go back in and they switch back again so yes am I going mad or has someone else noticed that.

...the ST/RW keep swapping on the right hand side...

This is because of the individual instructions on these two positions:

You can probably change this to None without it affecting the tactic too much. I have it set to help drag man-markers out of position and to share the workload between the striker and raumdeuter.

This is because of the individual instructions on these two positions:

You can probably change this to None without it affecting the tactic too much. I have it set to help drag man-markers out of position and to share the workload between the striker and raumdeuter.

Ok well at least there is an explanation to it that's what matters most.

Never had/seen that before though but clearly its all part of the masterpiece so thanks again.

I mean with Sterling/Sturridge its quite logical but Lamela and Adebayor its a bit different. Honestly though and now all is clear but is funny, Adebayor got a goal of the month by running from like half way line and banging in top corner so maybe he is good as RW.

Don't think I've seen him run like that since when he scored for city against Arsenal when he ran from where he scored to the arsenal fans at the other end.

Very strange, how did this happen to you? Any chance you can save the game where this occurs and report this in the bugs forum please?

finally i can play FMC now . I have to chose exist profile to play . Can't create a new profile to play fm classic

Strange, I can´t import the tactic file to my FMC ??

team training? how to get fluid tactic? pre season -in a season?

team training? how to get fluid tactic? pre season -in a season?

Team training is for what YOUR players needs to work on. Find what YOUR players need to work on. My team training is going to be different than yours, and the next person. As for getting your tactic fluid, adjust the bar so that more time is focused on the tactic, keep it there until the team has a full understanding of the tactic.

Well a bit disappointed in a way as that is kind of that lol. Yes season 2 I won the premier league with Spurs .

Had more money than expected but yes sold Llloris for 30 mil but Vorm more than held his own well and the ball hehe.

Got in Immobile and Ayew who got 40+ goals between them but Townsend on fire getting 15 odd goals which just felt wrong. Biggest coup though was Pogba on January deadline day for 60 mil as thought sod it moneys there lets do it and yep he got around an average of 7.5 from 12 prem games and sealed the league in penultimate match.

KO in 1st ko round by Dortmund so yes clearly hope to do better than that in season 3 but end of day as far as tactic is concerned its certainly benefitted me more than a lot of them did on FM14.

any chance this would work for the old skrill north league?

I am using this tactic with Liverpool. It is amazing at home but have not won one game away, conceding loads of goals. Does anyone else have this problem?

I replicated this with Liverpool, with 1st window transfer budgets disabled, and basically followed the directions completely. Lost most of my preseason games and went on to lose most of the games afterward. Just didn't work as I hoped. Still looking for a LFC tactic that'll work consistently.

I also was having major issues with Liverpool, I found a tactic that worked very well eventually. Then the recent patch hit and it all wen pearshaped again.

I find it very hard with tactics as you can have success then after a new patch you need a whole new rethink - very frustrating!!

Just saying... I've tried Mr Roslers/FuSs'/Athena ones, and not been able to get a run going (on FMC, so no familiarity needed) and I keep coming back to this baby (15.1.4).

playing this strudge as romdeuter he learned the shot with power ppm his banging in goals

Just saying... I've tried Mr Roslers/FuSs'/Athena ones, and not been able to get a run going (on FMC, so no familiarity needed) and I keep coming back to this baby (15.1.4).

This, only I'm not using FMC, swapped back to it last night with liverpool, from pretty much drawing every other game with my other tacs, I won all games last night!!

I'm sure keeping the tactics rotating in this game makes a difference too!

The tactic is working fine for my Liverpool side, and Sterling really is explosive in this role.

I've played about ten games so far, lost two narrowly (Arsenal away and MCity at home) and drew one (Chelsea away), won the rest, mainly against weaker PL and average Continental teams, as expected.

It's a fun tactic so far, mainly because the roster fits. The only problem I have so far is Sturridge looks second rate in his role, hardly scores. Maybe because he's assigned as a Complete Striker on Support duty, I'm thinking of changing his role to Poacher or something else, with maybe an Attack duty (though I do see his value in Support duty).

Cheers.