TESTUDO for FM16

My first foray into FM16, Dawnbringer, proved to be a bit of a ‘false dawn’ with mixed results for other managers at best.

Fear not, I now have something which I’m happy with.

As the name ‘Testudo’ implies this is based on a disciplined defensive set up which morphs into a moderately attacking 4231 when we are on the ball.

However it performs quite differently depending on your reputation.

With Man City, where teams will set up very defensively it is a monster of a ‘grinder’, my record with Man City was 56 – 7 – 1, lost one game all season, all competitions. That was away to Man United after Otamendi gave away a penalty and got himself sent off.

Picked up an easy quadruple.

Only conceded 15 league goals all season, scoring an acceptable 85 which whilst not flash was still the best in the division and more than enough to walk the league with 99 points.

With Bournemouth, comfortably the weakest team in the Premier League, teams see you as fair game home and away and try to overwhelm you with attacking football. As such you inevitably concede a few but you punish them severely for taking such liberties taking some big scalps along the way and being one of the highest scoring attacks in the division even with very limited attackers.

STANDARD TACTIC

https://www.mediafire.com/?a39eghc17kwo7a1

LOWER/NON LEAGUE VERSION

https://www.mediafire.com/?2bhp533v6h4j6hs

Non/Lower League is a different beast. Tweaked version of tactic recommended.

What to expect

You will see good possession stats, dominate shot counts more often than not but on occasions when you are not playing well and your opponent is defending well, you will see a fair few long shots.

I make no apology for that. It’s the price we pay for being defensively solid and not over-committing.

Those long shots can result in corners, rebounds, deflections all of which can lead to goals not to mention the fact that a fair few find the top corner as Fernandinho’s 45 yard effort did to win me the Champions League Final.

Besides, I’m probably over stating the point, when you play well you will create as many clear cut and half chances as any other tactic.

It’s a winning tactic, 2-0, 1-0 who cares.

Attack

The attacking play revolves largely around 3 players. The Striker & your Wide Midfielders.

Spend all your money here.

The DLF/A strikes the balance between holding up the ball, linking play yet also being prepared to run in on goal when the opportunity arises.

The Wide Midfielders have ‘Inside Forward’ instructions and will be the first to support attacks. They will both create and convert many chances so they need to be mobile enough to get into attacking positions and skilled enough to convert a good number of the chances they get.

Defence

The 451 is intrinsically defensive, you will see teams struggle to break you down and lots of possession turning over when they try to ‘breach’ this defensive midfield wall.

Your main vulnerability is to balls over the top. Most of the time you intercept these passes but of course occasionally you will get caught out.

When faced with higher reputation teams they will try and overwhelm you leaving themselves wide open to some deadly counter attacks which means you can cause a fair few upsets.

FM is not a push over these days. Weaker teams set up to defend very well and can be hard to break down, the more you commit players to attack the more you are exposed to the counter attack.

Stronger teams try and over power you with attacking play, attributes rule more than ever and it can be difficult to contain teams with much better players than yourself.

We are dealing with a new reality in FM16 where every tactic is a set of compromises between attack & defence. Strengthening one side of the tactic results in an equal weakening of the opposing side of the tactic. So to my eyes it is about arriving at a balance.

I’m pretty satisfied that this tactic works in most situations, when teams ‘park the bus’ against you they’re not going to score and you’ll create enough chances to get your 2 or 3 goal victory. When teams get after you the tactic will punish them for over committing and you’ll be fairly free scoring yourself, considering your underdog status you’ll be upsetting a fair few teams.

You still need to be realistic about what can be achieved, player quality is key, improving your squad is the easiest way to improve results.

Here are my ideas about that for this tactic.

DLF/A

As mentioned above we need to tread the tight rope of having a recognisable striker giving us an obvious out ball when attacking/counter attacking but not being isolated. This role struck a nice balance with me, mixing his play from holding the ball allowing runners to get beyond him or making a direct run at goal himself when that was a better option.

Even in a relatively conservative tactic he should be tracking close to a goal a game.

Off the ball

Passing

Finishing

Composure

Calum Wilson tracking to a goal a game until he got injured for the season in January

Wide Midfielders/A (Left & Right)

Interesting role this, through testing I have played Raheem Sterling in every conceivable position for him and this is the only role where he fulfils his potential with 20 goals, 21 assists winning English Player of the year.

Highly involved in attacking play yet contributing enormously to defence, if you have a ‘Star Player’ and want to put them where they can most influence play this role is the one if they are suitable.

They will often run beyond the striker, driving into the near post. A feature of the tactic is how often the wide midfielders will link up, one drilling a cross field ball to the far post where the other taps it in.

Acceleration

Dribbling

Finishing

Passing

Sterling picked up Premier League player of the year.

Ball Winning Midfielders/D

Couple of ‘hod carriers’ in the team I’m afraid. Tasked with re-cycling possession, breaking up play, intercepting through balls and putting in some meaty challenges. Unsung heroes, unlikely to get high ratings apart from when the odd long shot nestles in the top corner.

Vital to the overall tactic none the less.

Marking

Tackling

Passing

Work Rate

Central Midfield/A

With so much play going via the 2 wide players and striker, these guys don’t feature as much as you’d think. In attack they are often involved early but more often than not the killer pass and finish is applied by someone else. In defence they press high with the rest of midfield slightly deeper denying an easy forward pass.

Having said that Krancjar excelled here for Bournemouth where teams were more open and he was able to dictate play.

Passing

Vision

Flair

Work rate

Wingback/S

Even on support duty you’ll see a fair bit of overlapping with plenty of room to operate down the flanks with the wide midfielders moving centrally. Not too gung-ho mind, will often hang back and pass/cross from deep only moving into advanced areas when safe to do so.

You’ll get good ratings here and a fair few assists with a good crosser.

Marking

Tackling

Crossing

Positioning

Centre Back

Although we have a fairly high line, with the defensive shield in front of them most of the time they’ll be mopping up miss placed passes and recycling possession. Set pieces remain an issue and the odd ball over the top but relative to the level of your team you can expect a good defensive record.

Tackling

Marking

Positioning

Jumping Reach

Goal Keeper

When playing in a strong team at home they can get their cigars out. I even had to play Otamendi for 70 minutes after Hart got sent off and I didn’t have a keeper on the bench. He had nothing to do and we kept a clean sheet. 0 shots against is not uncommon with a strong team.

Obviously my Bournemouth keepers were a bit busier, the following should see you right.

Aerial Ability

Reflexes

Handling

One on one’s

Pace is welcome EVERWHERE.

That's it for me and Tactics on this patch, i've started my long term save with Maidstone, so far so good non-league will post my progress here.

If & when the ME is updated i'll look to take it to a 352 if they tone down the wide play, at the moment you get killed down the flanks playing 3 at the back so currently better off with a back 4.

NO OPPOSITION INSTRUCTIONS

TRAINING

This is not a thread about training but I have Match training on tactics until fully fluid then leave it on Team Work. General training I do a month of fitness pre-season, a month on Team Blend then leave it on Balanced.

Nice post as always, thanks will start on this straight away

Definitely giving this another go Rosler. Did you find you'd get a lot of bookings from the "Get stuck in" TI?

Nice to see.

Out of interest, did you try dropping the BWMs to the DM position and making the WM's & DLF support duties?

Only reason I say that is I have been testing that out and it's extremely good at defending (not great at attacking mind). Just wondered as an option how it would work or if you had tried it.

I wouldn't imagine it would be good for City, but Bournemouth maybe...

Definitely giving this another go Rosler. Did you find you'd get a lot of bookings from the "Get stuck in" TI?

Think i was 'mid table' on yellow cards. Think a fair few of the weaker AI controlled teams are using it along with tackle harder.

Wasn't really a problem.

I'll give this a try in my LLLLLM save (Northwich). I'l take note of any problem formations I'm facing as I've found from previous saves this year that a few problem formations cropped up. Hoping I can acquire two or three different formations depending on the oppositions mentality and line up.

Nice to see.

Out of interest, did you try dropping the BWMs to the DM position and making the WM's & DLF support duties?

Only reason I say that is I have been testing that out and it's extremely good at defending (not great at attacking mind). Just wondered as an option how it would work or if you had tried it.

I wouldn't imagine it would be good for City, but Bournemouth maybe...

Haven't tried that. Generally been getting better performances out of defensive minded central midfielders than classic DM's on this patch.

Changing WM's and DLF's would blunt the attack. Conceded 50 goals in league with Bournemouth which is acceptable for me anyway.

I'll give this a try in my LLLLLM save (Northwich). I'l take note of any problem formations I'm facing as I've found from previous saves this year that a few problem formations cropped up. Hoping I can acquire two or three different formations depending on the oppositions mentality and line up.

Mixed results with Maidstone so far, but early days and i'm re-building the team asap and they have just been promoted, predicted 18th so season 1 i'm not expecting too much.

Looks like corners are a problem down here, re-working the defensive routine to try and handle them better.

Mixed results with Maidstone so far, but early days and i'm re-building the team asap and they have just been promoted, predicted 18th so season 1 i'm not expecting too much.

Looks like corners are a problem down here, re-working the defensive routine to try and handle them better.

Yep, with my spectacularly unsuccessful save with Blyth, a corner was basically a penalty for the opposition. Seemed to be a lot of near post action with my men nowhere to be seen despite being instructed and concentrating training on defending set pieces. Maybe big tall defenders are a priority for this and for those balls over the top I also see every blessed week.

Mixed results with Maidstone so fa

English LLM (true LLM, mind you, meaning Vanarama, not League 1 or whatnot) seems to be more difficult this year, regardless of tactics. A word "random" crops up a lot when discussing it.

Its gonna need tweaking for lower leagues. (non league)

I think its largely tempo related (they can't handle the high tempo) and too many fouls.

Will adjust and report back.

What training do you recommend?

I challenge you do create a tactic around an Aston Villa save.

I've tried everything to get a decent Villa save going & failed every time.

Fined twice for poor discipline during my first 5 league games with Liverpool. 23 yellow cards so far. Might it be because we are only competent in the tactic so far?

Grinding out 1-0 results like crazy though!

I had mixed results and performances with the tactic until deadline day when I spent my budget on 2 new wide midfielders. You cannot underestimate their importance - my results and performances have improved drastically.

I am playing a LLM game in Vanarama Conference North with Curzon Ashton.

Using your tactic with a little tweaks to adopt the lower standard.

The only tweaks in team instructions are normal tempo, mixed passing, closing down more and a deeper defensive line.Else the same as you.

Changed the wing backs to full backs support and made a better defensive corner instructions.

It is going great so far.

Its gonna need tweaking for lower leagues. (non league)

I think its largely tempo related (they can't handle the high tempo) and too many fouls.

Will adjust and report back.

It's as you say, "random". Anything lower than National N/S and the match engine just struggles with the poor player attributes. Playing with the tactic as Walton Casuals, I humped a team 7-0 followed by a 2-0 defeat. Not uncommon for football but it was like watching two different sides. I may soldier on or start a new game in the Conference N/S. Either way, I'll keep you posted.

I stormed the league with Liverpool using the Ramdeuter so looking forward to giving this one a go too with a different team. Nice work!

I have a tweaked version for non/lower league.

Early days but results are excellent so far and its working like a cohesive tactic with my Maidstone team predicted 18th.

Changelist;

Tempo moved to low

Defensive line moved to normal

Removed 'get stuck in'

Removed 'pass into space'

New Defensive & Attacking corner routines

Lower League Tactic here;

https://www.mediafire.com/?9b3cv3rmfqq5hoe

Keep us posted when you play some more.

I think this slower, more composed version could be used even in top leagues, but right now it would be important to see if it can hold up for the entire season. So far I haven't seen a tactic which "works" relatively consistently in Vanarama N/S.

Was thinking that myself.

Won a lot of 50/50 games in that run so not expecting it to continue like that, top 10 would be ok, play offs this year i'd be very happy.

But its definately much better than the original down here.

How things change dude! I'm trying this for a 2nd time with Schalke, I got 6 clean sheets in my first 7 games but been shaky since then. Suspensions & injuries haven't helped though.

I have a tweaked version for non/lower league.

Early days but results are excellent so far and its working like a cohesive tactic with my Maidstone team predicted 18th.

Changelist;

Tempo moved to low

Defensive line moved to normal

Removed 'get stuck in'

Removed 'pass into space'

New Defensive & Attacking corner routines

I'll start this off with Stalybridge tonight and see if I can find some tweaks.

My 3 defeats I have had at least 1 player sent off. The 3-2 defeat to Bremen was my fault, I went gung-ho & scored 2 really late goals but then conceded a 96 min goal. Not looking forward to Dortmund away, especially as they're Schalke's biggest rivals too.

Anyway, a lot more solid than my last attempt. Thanks Rosler.

Maybe I might try these non/lower league tweaks soon.

Knew it.

Someone on FM Base (its not up there, he just saw this thread) plugged in the Lower League tactic with Stuttgart in the Bundesliga and went on a great run.

I'm reluctant to leave my Maidstone save and go back to testing but its possible the Lower League version is as good or even better than the original in a Top League if someone wants to give it a go....... sounds like a job for Willy Broadband

I'd focus on making sure it works down the ladder. If it works there, chances are it works everywhere.

I'll give the lower league version a go.

What about training?

There's OI?

What about training?

There's OI?

NO OPPOSITION INSTRUCTIONS

TRAINING

This is not a thread about training but I have Match training on tactics until fully fluid then leave it on Team Work. General training I do a month of fitness pre-season, a month on Team Blend then leave it on Balanced.

NO OPPOSITION INSTRUCTIONS

TRAINING

This is not a thread about training but I have Match training on tactics until fully fluid then leave it on Team Work. General training I do a month of fitness pre-season, a month on Team Blend then leave it on Balanced.

Thanks dude.

A small sample size of just 10 games, playing as a mid-table team.

Looks good, but every match is 50-50, you can easily connect 2 or 3 losses in a row and then things spiral out of control.

I'll try it some more, hopefully others will pitch in with their results as well.

Thanks for that.

If a mid table team is competing well then a couple of good signings should hopefully be enough to tip the scales and lead to a promotion push.

a quick question, are the wide midfielders needed to be opposite foot to their flanks?

Also, the corner set up, who takes the corner because everyone has a designated role except the fullbacks, is it too much a risk using 1 of them?

Also, the corner set up, who takes the corner because everyone has a designated role except the fullbacks, is it too much a risk using 1 of them?

I think the corner set pieces are a little unbalanced on the original tactic.

I think 1 side has 2 'stay back if required' the other 3.

So either don't let your full backs take corners or make sure both left & right corners have 3 'stay back if required'

a quick question, are the wide midfielders needed to be opposite foot to their flanks?

I don't get hung up on this, win in some situations, lose in others, it all balances out in the end.

ok Cheers, having mixed fortunes at the mo with my Curzon Ashton Team, played 8 games so far, won the first 4 by 1 goal, 3 2-1 wins all at home, then drew 1-1 and 2-2 but won on pens v Halifax in the 4th qualifying round - then played 21st placed Gainsborough and drew 1-1 at home, Then Football manager showing an as if moment against Gloucester away, 1-1, 90th minute, poor cross comes in, going just wide, keeper dives and parries it the opposite way to where he should onto the penalty spot for their man to tap it in! Shocker.

On the whole not been too bad, I have the best players I can physically get at the moment to fill the roles.

right this is probably the most consistent tactic ive seen so far on fm16...im with leyton orient in the champs..results below..plus team shots...and transfer to prove ive not cheated!!

https://gyazo.com/9bac9b65db7f27fbd2aa15bdbdf4a229

u`ll see I got some good money for 3 players I got on free`s the season before..hence the investment in the team..plus a small budget..

https://gyazo.com/ddc1ac77e5b678eebc97c345752a9ee2

https://gyazo.com/218f5bcccac382aa70fb39b78eca01ec

overall this tactic is very very good in the champs!

Struggles for goals away from home but defends well

Started an Ebbsfleet save this evening and I'll persist with the tactic for the whole season through thick n thin for a balanced verdict. No point criticising or glorifying it after a handful of games.

So far it's performing fairly decently but the tactic is far from fluid and we have one of the strongest squads in the division so I'm optimistic. I'll post stats after the season is done.

I am also going to give it a go. I have had a fairly successful 4231 tactic with spurs, but its not quite right. In many ways this is similar so I want to see if I can learn something.

I tried this tactic with my Huddersfield team and it didn't seem to work out too good, I used it for 10 games and didn't win. So I switched back to the original one and started winning again and climbing back up the league.

Think I will give it another try in pre season and see how it goes from there.

I tried this tactic with my Huddersfield team and it didn't seem to work out too good, I used it for 10 games and didn't win. So I switched back to the original one and started winning again and climbing back up the league.

Think I will give it another try in pre season and see how it goes from there.

It might be as soon as you hit League 1/Championship football the original works better.

Will hopefully finish my first season with Maidstone tonight and will post results.

There are certainly some very odd behaviours and dare i say 'patterns' non-league.

I will elaborate later.

Long winning streaks suddenly interrupted by long losing streaks for no reason?

Long winning streaks suddenly interrupted by long losing streaks for no reason?

Actually winning streak interrupted by ridiculous drawing streak, 8 draws in a row most massively one sided games in terms of chances/possession etc, normally in my favour.

Hello Rosler, just thought I'd give you a little update as I'm in the winter break in the Bundesliga now.

Is so much better with the non/lower league tweaks. As you can see I've won 10/14. My only thing is I cannot for the life of me get any CF's to score consistently - I have Huntelaar who I'm selling to Spurs, di Santo who has great stats for a DLF but is awful & then a few youngsters.

Annoyingly I missed out on Jonathan Calleri from Boca who chose Wolfsburg over me, they're 2nd from bottom! He would be great as a DLF.