APEX PREDATOR for 15.2. League = 102 points, 118 Goals.... playing 442

Seasonal greetings one and all,

Anyone whose been following my threads will know i've been after a solid 442 for a while.

After a few near misses I'm finally happy.

Yes, i know its Man City but i had developed so many tactics which worked with middle/low teams but did not translate to big teams i thought i would try it the other way round this time.

Its SO DOMINANT it must translate to lower teams, I will test with West Brom shortly.

It works with smaller teams.

TACTIC

Standard 442.

There were 2 main ideas i was trying to implement, a MASSIVE midfield press with AGGRESSIVE tackling never allowing attacks to build and winning the ball in dangerous positions.

Attacking wise I wanted the wide players to 'funnel' inside from the MR/ML, to create lots of central, vertical runners, we then focus passing through the middle to make use of that.

More later, for now here's the tactic

https://www.mediafire.com/?74olxo6i5f39bjz

Corners, SET YOUR STRIKERS TO TAKE CORNERS. (Don't question this )

OK, some player information based on what i look for when building squads.

Just my ideas on the roles, do what you like!

ADVANCED FORWARD/ATTACK

Your key player and major goalscorer (although he'll get a lot of help from elsewhere on this tactic).

The one player on the team without much defensive responsibility, he offers you an out ball at all times. You'll often win the ball fairly deep and in these situation he'll be hovering around the halfway line, if a direct pass is on to him your players will take it even though we have the short passing team instruction. He rarely runs directly at goal in these situations preferring to dribble up the right touchline before putting in cross to your support Striker or the Wide Midfielders who will be busting a gut to get into the penalty box.

Outside of counter attacks he links well with his support Striker and will likely get a lot of assists as well as goals.

This role in this tactic suits a dribbler with good pace to compliment his goal scoring abilities, i'd look for;

ACCELERATION

DRIBBLING

COMPOSURE

FINISHING

COMPLETE FORWARD/SUPPORT

You have a lot of flexibility in this role with different types of strikers bringing different things to the table. You can go with another out and out goalscorer in this role or a very creative player, someone with Target Man attributes or a Defensive Forward type of player.

Your choice will influence slightly how the tactic play out but you can go with your preferred play style or just make the best of what you had in the squad.

Myself, i'd go with a Target Man profile in lower/mid level teams to bring some physicality to your forward line, with stronger teams i'd lean towards a creative hub. But its entirely up to you.

A few possible 'builds' below.

GOALSCORER

ACCELERATION

COMPOSURE

FINISHING

WORK RATE

CREATIVE HUB

VISION

PASSING

OFF THE BALL

TEAM WORK

TARGET MAN

JUMPING REACH

STRENGTH

WORK RATE

FINISHING

DEFENSIVE FORWARD

WORK RATE

TACKLING

AGGRESSION

DETERMINATION

WIDE MIDFIELDER/ATTACK

There will be times when these guys are your most advanced players. They get a lot of chances to score and assist, yet they have a key role to play in the success of the defensive set up. Ideally you would like hybrid players with balanced attacking and defensive attributes (Milner), they are difficult to find for most teams so you will likely end up with someone more attacking or more defensive.

I ran with Navas/Silva on the flanks for many games which added to my attack but detracted from defence. For tougher games i would often bring in Milner & Nasri who offer a bit more defensively. I'd be aware of striking the right balance, especially if you are a weaker team.

Ideally i'd look for basic attributes in the following areas, then tailor to suit your taste, i.e a good finisher or a big tackler etc.

WORK RATE

DRIBBLING

PASSING

STAMINA

BALL WINNING MIDFIELDERS/DEFEND-SUPPORT

The 'engine' of the team, we need 2 very hard working players here, were talking 16,17,18,19.....20 for work rate. As that's not a technical attribute these sorts of players are available at all levels.

We want these 2 guys all over opponents in possession, if an opponent lifts his head to pick a pass, we want our guy in his face biting his ears off.

We are seeking to snuff out attacks at source, turning over the ball as early and as high up the pitch as possible.

When they are not winning the ball, Ball Winning Midfielders are surprisingly capable of building, linking and finishing attacks. The one on 'support' duty will contribute a good number of goals and assists, Toure managed 20 goals despite spending half the season injured.

I would concentrate on getting the base attributes as high as possible but as you improve your squad try getting some good attacking ones in there as well, it will help greatly, good passers here are fantastic and if you have someone with good Longshots in the support role you will reap the dividends.

But don't compromise the defensive requirements.

WORK RATE

TACKLING

AGGRESSION

DETERMINATION

FULLBACK/SUPPORT

Our Full Backs are fairly conservative although with our wide midfielders cutting inside they will overlap when the right situation arises. They do not have an onus on them to attack so we can concentrate on balanced attributes. First and foremost we want them to be solid in defence, GK will often distribute to them so they need to be comfortable on the ball and good passers, beyond that anything else is a bonus.

I would look for;

POSITIONING

PASSING

MARKING

TACKLING

CENTRE BACKS/DEFEND - COVER

Nothing out of the ordinary here, they are not required to do anything other than bog standard defending. Pace is always welcome, we have a high'ish line so that will help us out if a ball is pinged over the top. Put your quicker guy on the left spot (Cover).

JUMPING REACH

MARKING

TACKLING

POSITIONING

SWEEPER KEEPER/DEFEND

We want to give our man the freedom to leave the penalty area to 'sweep up' if required although he rarely ever does it. I use 'star ratings' a bit more in this position and just get the best Keeper I can get ensuring there are no major weaknesses and that he is strong in the following areas.

ONE ON ONE'S

REFLEXES

HANDLING

AERIAL ABILITY

yeah ha here we

hey pal

training the same as UTB??

hey pal

training the same as UTB??

Yeah, same as.

Hello mate your link doesn't seem to work

Hello mate your link doesn't seem to work

links working fine pal, should open a new tab, try again dude

Yeah opens in a new tab but say's could not load must be my internet or the masses trying to download the tactic lol

Yeah opens in a new tab but say's could not load must be my internet or the masses trying to download the tactic lol

https://www.mediafire.com/?74olxo6i5f39bjz try that, doesnt work, right click on the link and open in new tab/window and your rights it probably the masses

Apparently the latest patch means I cannot print screen anymore?! But anyway, just gave this a go, first game a convincing 4-1 victory over Southampton with West Ham:thup:

For some reason I can't download the tactic either.

Mr R - Mixed results so far. Had it plugged in for 4 matches so far, but was already playing a 4-4-2 so achieved around 70% fluidity at outset. 2 losses, 2 draws. But I'm happy - I'm playing as Colchester and (don't ask me how, it's one of the most unbelievable FM saves I've ever had!) have had back to back promotions from L1 to now be playing in the Prem. I have a 12,500 capacity stadium (increased at beginning of season from 10k), a paper-thin squad still mainly made up of L1 quality players, bolstered by a couple of signings I managed to make whilst in the Championship, and a measly transfer budget (can't even afford the sign-on & agent fees for most free transfers), so I'm happy with how it's playing out - it's the best football I've seen played on this year's ME.

Of those four games using Apex so far, 2 were against Chelsea, one in the Capital One Cup at home which we "only" lost 2-1, and one at Stamford Bridge in the league, which was a 2-2 draw (Slightly disappointing as we surrendered a 2-0 lead). One was against Liverpool, again a -2 draw and, again, one which we had been leading (came back from 1-0 down to take a 2-1 lead before conceding late on). The only slight disappointment was a 2-1 home loss against Villa, who were below us in the league.

Anyhow, will keep you updated, but looks good so far - my only aim is to avoid relegation this season, the club is relatively healthy from a financial point of view, so should have an astronomic (for Colchester) transfer budget at the end of the season to start building a squad that can compete more.

Most of my goals so far have come through the AF (Nicky Ajose) - like the fact that this tactic seems to get the strikers scoring.

Anyone having an issue getting FMF files into the tactics there is guide here.

http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/share-download-fm-15-tactics/184003-fmf-filles-tac-files.html

Very good results so far. Find it better to change the mentality quite frequently though.

Against the big teams, I've been using counter.

Against similar teams, slightly lesser teams stick with control.

Against much smaller teams, or going one down I've used attacking.

Won every game with the tactic so far.

Very good results so far. Find it better to change the mentality quite frequently though.

Against the big teams, I've been using counter.

Against similar teams, slightly lesser teams stick with control.

Against much smaller teams, or going one down I've used attacking.

Won every game with the tactic so far.

Cool.

You can get screenshots by pressing f12 or function f12, they appear in steam, select FM15 and there at the bottom of the page.

all im going to say is wow, awesome tactic yet again

I'll have a play with this tomorrow after a big interview in the morning. I'll use it with Chelsea again to compare with the previous 442

Because the wide midfielders cut inside should we use inverted footed wide midfielders? (Left footed in the MR slor and right footed in the ML slot)

Because the wide midfielders cut inside should we use inverted footed wide midfielders? (Left footed in the MR slor and right footed in the ML slot)

No, don't worry about that, they still go both ways and cross plenty.

No, don't worry about that, they still go both ways and cross plenty.

OK, thanks

By the way the tactic works like a charm for me. Really great job!!!

Great tactic in pre-season so far dude - only thing is I've played 3 games, 1 against my U-21's; conceded 2 goals & 2 against a couple of proper minnows: conceded 1 in each. So no clean sheets so far.

I'm thinking it must be because I've still got a few important players on holiday after the 2018 World Cup..

Won my first two competitive games with this tactic 12-0 & 9-0! However these were Europa League first round games against College Europa with Aberdeen, so I'll maybe give it a few more games before giving a definitive verdict!

Hm, I don't get this tactic. People says its amazing and reporting some insane results. Unfortunately, it has been quite unstable for me. I'm playing the original Newcastle squad, and after 11 matches I have 5 wins, 4 losses and 2 draws. My GD is 23 for and 15 against. Any ideas?

Nope not a fan of this one, sorry.

Your previous ones were ok

This tactic is nuts. great stuff

Hm, I don't get this tactic. People says its amazing and reporting some insane results. Unfortunately, it has been quite unstable for me. I'm playing the original Newcastle squad, and after 11 matches I have 5 wins, 4 losses and 2 draws. My GD is 23 for and 15 against. Any ideas?

I think the tactic is better defensively if the CDs are quick so for premiere league i recommend at least 15 acceleration and pace!!!

How do you concede?

Have you tried this out yet with West Brom Mr U. When playing away from home the tactic just gets ripped apart i lost 3-1 to crystal palace drew 1-1 with west ham and lost 1-0 to Arsenal in my last 3 away games. Im using newcastle in the third season and have significantly strengthened my team. There is always 1 of the strikers aswell has a poor game and the other has a good game. I just cant get it to work

Have you tried this out yet with West Brom Mr U. When playing away from home the tactic just gets ripped apart i lost 3-1 to crystal palace drew 1-1 with west ham and lost 1-0 to Arsenal in my last 3 away games. Im using newcastle in the third season and have significantly strengthened my team. There is always 1 of the strikers aswell has a poor game and the other has a good game. I just cant get it to work

I would agree to a point with everything you've said.

Home teams have a big advantage at the moment, to go away and try and overcome home advantage against teams with far better players than you is very difficult and there is a limit to what any tactic can do.

If your striker misses his first couple of chances his rating drops and he tends to miss every other chance he gets, I had to sub Aguero at half time 6 or 7 times last season, FM has been like that for years. He still got 33 goals and Berahino has 14 goals in 16 games so its manageable.

I'm beating most teams at home and some weaker teams away, i expect to finish 5th or 6th with West Brom which is solid over performance, i expect some hammerings along the way and will no doubt dish a few out of my own, i'll take that !

West Brom results so far

i started to do what was put in an earlier post about mentality, i have the tactic set up in all 3 slots, one counter, one control and the other attacking, but i mainly use control for all games unless im the underdog than i use counter, works perfectly for me, for me this is probably the best tactic Mr U has done, solid at the back and lethal going forward, 8 of my players got over an average of 8.0 last season, never had that before

Slow to get started but once its fluid this is the best tactic so far for 15.2.Top work

i started to do what was put in an earlier post about mentality, i have the tactic set up in all 3 slots, one counter, one control and the other attacking, but i mainly use control for all games unless im the underdog than i use counter, works perfectly for me, for me this is probably the best tactic Mr U has done, solid at the back and lethal going forward, 8 of my players got over an average of 8.0 last season, never had that before

Funnily enough, i was 2 goals up in the Arsenal game and 1 goal up twice in the City game. In a 'real' save i would have switched to 'Counter' but as i'm flat out testing I left it to see what happened. Not sure how much it would have helped, the big teams at home seem to be able to shift thru the gears when behind and have some unstoppable comebacks.

Funnily enough, i was 2 goals up in the Arsenal game and 1 goal up twice in the City game. In a 'real' save i would have switched to 'Counter' but as i'm flat out testing I left it to see what happened. Not sure how much it would have helped, the big teams at home seem to be able to shift thru the gears when behind and have some unstoppable comebacks.

Its working me pal, i usually switch from control to counter once im leading, its tends to kill the game but at the scare time i have fast wide mid fielders so i tend to score alot on the break, ill keep going and give you my results, im juventus btw, no easy task though, all the big players were sold and they were 12th in league when i took over, finished 2nd first season, won league 2nd season, and currently 2nd in my 3rd season, its a brilliant tactic, congrats again pal

No its a brilliant tatic, but you need the right players. My team Copenhagen do have that. A hard working team with a few creative players.

And even though the average CA is not much higher than 130, more 125 overall in the standard squad I do well. I Lost 2-1 away to Panathiniakos and won 2-0 at home in the 3 qualifying round to CHL. Lost 2-1 away to Arsenal in the playoff and DESTROYED them 5-0 at home. Drew 0-0 away to Porto, won 4-2 against Ajax at home, lost 4-1 to Leverkusen away and now just won 2-1 at home to Leverkusen so far almost half way through the season.

I will post a screenshot of my season when its finished. And for those who might ask "how is it possible for a Danish team to destoy Arsenal 5-0, I did save the match. So for the pessimist, ask for the match if so

No its a brilliant tatic, but you need the right players. My team Copenhagen do have that. A hard working team with a few creative players.

And even though the average CA is not much higher than 130, more 125 overall in the standard squad I do well. I Lost 2-1 away to Panathiniakos and won 2-0 at home in the 3 qualifying round to CHL. Lost 2-1 away to Arsenal in the playoff and DESTROYED them 5-0 at home. Drew 0-0 away to Porto, won 4-2 against Ajax at home, lost 4-1 to Leverkusen away and now just won 2-1 at home to Leverkusen so far almost half way through the season.

I will post a screenshot of my season when its finished. And for those who might ask "how is it possible for a Danish team to destoy Arsenal 5-0, I did save the match. So for the pessimist, ask for the match if so

Thanks for the feedback, be interested to see your results at the end of the season

Playing as QPR and some of my current tactics did not produce results in the last couple of weeks so i decided to use this tactic in a

europa league game at home to athletico madrid and I have to say this tactic was outstanding, beat them 4-0 even though I rested

most of my key players and the amount of chances I created with this tactic was unbelievable we could have scored 10 in the game.

Will start to use it in other games but the only problem this tactic creates is that I have a lot of attacking midfielders like suso,

sigurdson and tielemans so its going to be difficult trying to fit them into lineup with only 2 central midfielders, but great first

game with this tactic

Playing as QPR and some of my current tactics did not produce results in the last couple of weeks so i decided to use this tactic in a

europa league game at home to athletico madrid and I have to say this tactic was outstanding, beat them 4-0 even though I rested

most of my key players and the amount of chances I created with this tactic was unbelievable we could have scored 10 in the game.

Will start to use it in other games but the only problem this tactic creates is that I have a lot of attacking midfielders like suso,

sigurdson and tielemans so its going to be difficult trying to fit them into lineup with only 2 central midfielders, but great first

game with this tactic

Here is a tip: I'm retraining some of my attacking minded central midfielders to wide midfielders so they can play MR and ML

So far with valencia this tactic has won me the europa league and then the champions league a season later, my team isnt world class either but my strikers are scoring for fun, negredo scored 53 in all competitions and angelo henriquez got 42 across all competitions.

I still havent won the league yet, but last season 3 points seperated me in 3rd from winners barca, with my team having the best goal difference by a huge margin.

Top marks Mr Rosler, this is the best tactic i have used for many a FM version.

Great to hear Ronnie

i cant upload screen shots, tried to screen shot my results/table but it just comes up with the porn im watching on another window , anyways just got promoted with Harrogate, this tactic is class pal

I would agree to a point with everything you've said.

Home teams have a big advantage at the moment, to go away and try and overcome home advantage against teams with far better players than you is very difficult and there is a limit to what any tactic can do.

If your striker misses his first couple of chances his rating drops and he tends to miss every other chance he gets, I had to sub Aguero at half time 6 or 7 times last season, FM has been like that for years. He still got 33 goals and Berahino has 14 goals in 16 games so its manageable.

I'm beating most teams at home and some weaker teams away, i expect to finish 5th or 6th with West Brom which is solid over performance, i expect some hammerings along the way and will no doubt dish a few out of my own, i'll take that !

West Brom results so far

Yeah i dont mind losing against a stronger opponent at their place i was hoping for top 4 finish this season just because i finished 6th first season then 5th second season

i started to do what was put in an earlier post about mentality, i have the tactic set up in all 3 slots, one counter, one control and the other attacking, but i mainly use control for all games unless im the underdog than i use counter, works perfectly for me, for me this is probably the best tactic Mr U has done, solid at the back and lethal going forward, 8 of my players got over an average of 8.0 last season, never had that before

This is what I've done man, do you remove or add any team instructions for attacking & control at all?

OK, 28 games into the West Brom test, things are getting interesting.

Had a pretty big wobble pre-Christmas, played 3 big teams in a row, narrowly lost them all. I could see confidence was low, we weren't creating as many chances, was worried about the tactic for a while, got a couple of scrappy wins and then we were flying again.

Just played 4 away games in a row, again a cause for concern but sailed thru 3 games and were unlucky to lose to Chelsea.

The tactic is holding up well.

What oppostion instructions do you use?

None at all.

Top work with this tactic, its working really well in my sheff weds save right now. Only a few league games in but have not lost yet and also had decent results in my friendlies.

My only problem is that in every game I will pick up something like 3 or 4 injuries. My players are never at 100% fitness. Ive brought in a decent fitness coach but Im not sure what else I can do? Maybe I didnt play enough friendlies (5) and so the players are still working their fitness up and therefore are not ready for competitive football every 4/5 days? Any suggestions?

I needed a break from my regular save and was looking for a fun season with a plug and play tactic

so far so good

Dansloman1, Not had undue problems with injuries. Should settle down hopefully.

Is there no way to upload photos on this forum?

Anyway, i have now reached january 2015, with this tactic playing with Nottingham Forest. No new signings, just some loans to beef up the squad. So far so good, 1st place after 24 games, 14W, 7D, 3L. Matty Fryatt has got 25 goals already!

You said don´t question the corner routine with a striker taking all the corners, but i have to question it since i don´t have any sucess with it....All that happens is that my striker takes a short corner to an unmarked player that gets tackles, or he plays the ball back to the striker and nothing more comes of it...

I've seen a short corner to an unmarked player, given back to the taker to hit the midfielders late run into the box who then smashes it in the top corner.

I may have woken the neighbours after that one.