my 4-2-3-1, FM 15 vs FM 14

Played a couple of seasons now as Blackburn Rovers in the English Championship on FM 15. Just thought I'd share some of my experiences with my tactical setup between the two versions.

My previous successful tactic was:

GK(d)

FB(s) CD© CD(d) FB(s)

CM(d) CM(a)

W(s) SS(a) W(s)

DLF(a)

Standard, Flexible setup. Short passing, Low tempo, build up from the back type game.

I got lots of overlap from fbs down the sides. Got lots of crosses in. Wingers and SS scored lots of goals. Wingers also dropped back to defend.

So I tried to replicate it in FM15. I'm doing OK. Still got promoted easily into the Premierhip in my first season and survived easily in the Premiership in my second season, but I've noticed some very acute differences between FM 14 and FM 15, some of which might be to do with my players, but others don't seem to be.

1. My wingers don't cross or get forward to the byline as much, they pause and cut in a lot more.

2. My fullbacks don't overlap or get forward as much

3. My SS is nowhere near as prolific

4. The central area in the final third is very congested. My DLF, SS and CM(a) get in each others way a lot. I often find I'm messing around on edge of the box playing tight little passes and not using width. Very frustrating.

Things that I think are to do with my players:

Lack of crosses: My 2 wingers aren't really suited to traditional wing play. Craig Conway likes to cut-in and is a favoured Raumdauter. Josh King can also play left but also likes to "run with ball through center". Connor Mahoney also likes to 'cut in'. Ben Marshall is a good fit for a winger, but doesn't really posses the pace or acceleration to "knock ball past opponent". My two wingers in FM 14, were pacey, "hug line", "run with ball down left/right", "knock ball past opponent" types. I think I need to change my players to achieve my desired effect here. Having said this, they don't seem to get forward as much as they used to in FM 14, so when we are building up attacks, my DLF and midfield don't spray the ball wide as much as they used to...

SS not as prolific: The players I play in the shadow striker position aren't perfectly suited. They don't get as forward as much and aren't as deadly in front of goal. Ben Marshall, Josh King, Connor Mahoney and a couple of recruits I got on the cheap (Juan Cazares and Ruben Rayos) are more AM, AP, Treq type people.

Things that I don't think are to do with my players:

Fullbacks don't overlap as much. They are set to the same role and duty and have the same instructions, but for some reason they don't seem to get forward and overlap as much. I'm wondering if this is why my wingers hold back - they are somehow invisibly 'tied' to my FBs, so if my FBs pushed forward more, then my wingers would also push forward more??

Congestion in the final third. Again perhaps this is because my wingers aren't far enough forward, so the central 3 don't see them as a suitable outlet? And maybe this is also restricting the opportunities that my SS gets to score...

I'm wondering whether 1 small tweak (like changing my FBs to WBs) will solve all these problems, by pushing my wingers further forward, thus stretching the opposition defence wider and then making more space in the middle for my SS to exploit?

Any feedback more than welcome. I'm going to continue to try to tweak stuff. But is *is* hard to tell whether this is just down to the fact that I have worse players, since I was in about season 10 in FM 14.

I've been working on something fairly similar, and noticed the same thing with Fullbacks.

I've now switched to Wingback (support) or even Complete Wingback (support) with much better results - they sit behind 2 x IF (support) and I see lots of noticeable overlaps - but rarely ahead of the ball, so plenty of passing options remain.

My midfield is slightly different - I use a DLP(s) where you have a CM(a) and a Trequartista in the AMC position, so I'm not overcrowding the central area with a runner from deep. I know the IFs will cut inside, but they tend to do so from wide towards the corners of the penalty area, rather than running straight up through the centre towards the AMC and striker.

Players being suited to the role and tactic really are key in my opinion.

Are you fullbacks the type to storm down, overlap and offer an effective cross? Do the wingers have the work rate, stamina, determination and teamwork to effectively aid your defence?

If the answer to these is no, along with your wingers not being typical wingers and your SS not being suited, then you really are probably to struggle to see the intended effects.

A couple of other tactical notes, though i'd still sort out the player suitability as a priority first:

- Perhaps consider having one fullback with an attack duty to give your team move movement between the lines. This may also encourage him to overlap the supporting winger. Ideally have your most defensive minded central midfielder on the same side to maintain more cover when he gets forward.

- As mentioned, your CM attack may be causing part of the congestion problem. Consider a play-maker role instead who will look to feed your SS with effective through balls etc.

- You are playing a short game, slow tempo and playing from the back so you are playing extremely slowly. Surely this isn't an idea scenario for crosses from wide as the opposition will have time to organise a deep block against you, cutting out most crossing opportunities with ease due to superior numbers. I'd try out removing these for 2-3 matches and analysing what impact it has.

- How well are your DLF and SS connecting together? If i were to employ those two I would probably start with SS (A) and DLF (S). My thinking being that I want the SS to break beyond the DLF who will hold up the ball and distract central defenders, for which a support duty would be suited to.

My initial thought would be something like:

DLF (s)

IF (s) SS (a) W (a)

CM (d) - DLP (s)

WB (a) CB (d) CB (d) FB (s)

- You'd get the wing back making runs in support of attacks and often overlapping the IF

- The CM (d) would give greater support to those forward runs from the WB

- The DLP (s) would not overly add to the congestion in the final third

- The DLF (s) will hopefully link up more with the SS

- The IF would cut in and hopefully cause an overload with the SS on his central marker or attract attention from a CB which may also open up space for runs

- The attacking winger may help to stretch the defence further and potentially open space for the DLP to work more magic.

I think strength and weakness on one particular foot also has an impact on whether the forward wide men cut inside or not, irrespective of role and individual instructions.

I've swapped my 'cut inside' / 'inside forward' who was playing on the left to the right and he plays more like a winger, getting to the byline and crossing...more so than he does on his favoured left side of the pitch.

Just an update on this.

I've tried the above formation with limited difference. I'm still not anywhere near as successful as I was in FM14. However the biggest difference I noticed was removing a lot of the PIs that I had. My PIs seemed to be limiting the players from playing. They were too restrictive. I've noticed a lot more fluency from the whole team now that I've reduced the PIs.

I'm actually playing with the above formation now, since I also think it makes my team a lot less predictable. I certainly run into a lot less blind alleys than I used to but I'm still not that successful since I do give away a lot of cheap goals. I'm hoping thats just down to the quality of my GK and back 4 and when I improve those players (they are all mostly CA of around 130/140) I'll do better.