Liverpool Possession Tactic with a Very Attacking intent! Ultimate Doom!

Hello everyone, If this post helps one person, then it will have been worth the time and effort put in and also it may help me to improve the tactical side of my game as well, so I see it as a bit of a win win situation. I am currently manager of Liverpool. I am trialling a new tactic this season. We have had some success so far, with other tactics; I have won back to back league cups, been to the final of the champions league and the final of the FA Cup, and finished 2nd and 3rd in the league. I am the current Euro Cup Holders. This is a work in progress and I will be updating this thread as the season continues.

One of the issues I have is the Liverpool board refuse to change any of their philosophies.

* Play Attacking Football

* Play Possession Football

* Give young players a chance

* Sing young players for the first team

For the last few seasons I have chosen to go Attacking and really not bother too much, only dabble in the possession part, and this has obviously led to the board saying they are very happy with the attack but disappointed they are not seeing a possession game. They have been happy that I have given lots of opportunities to young players but disappointed with the amount of young players I signed for the first team.

However I have since bought a lot of young potentials for this season so I am hoping they have changed their minds about that.

On the face it, I think it is very difficult to create a tactics which incorporates both possession and attacking football and is successful. But as that is what the board clearly wants then I have decided this season to give it a go. So this is what this thread is trying to create.

My main aim for this season is to be crowned league champions. My main competition will be back to back champions Tottenham Hotspurs and of course the usual suspects.... Man United Arsenal and Chelsea and of course the Oil rich Manchester City.

I am also going to have a good crack at going one step further and winning the Champions League this season or next. I have promised Mesut Ozil whom I purchased from Arsenal that we will win it by next season or he will leave if I don’t!

In this thread, I am not claiming to know anything about tactics, in fact I probably do not know a great deal compared to what there is to know.

I am just going to show you what I have done and then I am going to give screenshots of my results and progress through the season! Hopefully we will achieve the aim of becoming league champions for the first time since 1990. Don’t think that you have to agree with me, yes I make mistakes, but life doesn’t come with instructions or a rule book!

First of all then let's have a look at the tactic itself.

ULTIMATE DOOM: http://www.mediafire.com/download/kjj94vg8jhbzycj/UD_970376CC-BECB-4228-BBF8-C3FAD71FC31C.fmf

ULTIMATE DEFENCE: http://www.mediafire.com/download/ryid1vtn6v51sxp/UC_68F02FAF-AC0C-4DB3-B71D-AEDABCD40CEC.fmf

I have decided that the best way to approach this is to make a Possession tactic which is very attacking. I would find it harder to make an Attacking tactic which is about possession, if that makes sense.

Therefore the Mentality I have chosen is control which for me is the mentality to do with possession football.

Here are following key points with this mentality:

Believe we are the stronger team: TICK

Wary of the opponents counter attack: TICK

Move the ball around the park: TICK

Patiently probe the final third: TICK

Find space as and when it opens up: TICK

Wing Backs overlap: TICK

Midfielders break ahead of the forwards only in relatively risk free situations: TICK

Sit back and help the midfield maintain possession until chances open up: TICK

I believe that the game of football is simple and people make it more complicated than it is. Brian Clough said the game of football is simple, you have a ball and the aim of the game is to put the ball in the back of the net.

I want to do all of the above, but I want to Attack as well. Attack for me means to frighten the hell out of the opposition by attacking them and putting the ball in the back of the net.

To combat this I have chosen a Fluid Philosophy. This is very important because we want to play the beautiful game too. My players are good enough to play a game which means that they can contribute to more than phase of play at a time, yes they can Multi Task! Especially the wages I am paying them! They had better be able to do this.

I want the players to play free flowing football and absolutely I want the creative players to shine.

Before I get into team instructions, I want to go into player roles and why I have chosen them.

Sweeper Keeper: Support Duty

My Sweeper goalkeeper will focus on simple and risk free use of the ball which is vital for a keeper; you don’t want your keeper taking too many risks. As Brian Clough would say, the keepers’ job is simple, stop the ball from going into the back of the net!

Personal Instruction: Roll it out, Distribute to Centre Backs and Fewer Risky Passes

Wing Back: Attack Duty

Remember I said the way I am doing this, is by creating a Possession Tactic that is attacking, one of the ways I am hoping to achieve this is by making the player roles more attacking.

Plays outside with no wing support: I use Inside Forwards instead of wingers so this is fine.

Fulfil attacking and defensive duties of winger and full backs: Absolutely my players can do this.

Run at his man and put in aggressive crosses: Yes I want to frighten the opposition so aggressive crosses are great and I want to run at the man, put the man on the back foot, get the man back peddling.

In Midfield to win the Possession Battle: Great because this is a possession tactic.

In Defence to close down opponents, block crosses and win back the ball when possible.

Yes I want the closing down approach in line with attacking, and of course winning back the ball will help us to regain possession as soon as possible.

Central Defender: Defend Duty

Possess the technique and composure in aggressive tactics (which this is) to help the team maintain possession and lay off simple passes to more creative players. This is perfect for a team which wants to play possession football.

Ball Playing Defender: Defend Duty

The reason I have chosen a ball playing defender in this position is because the ball playing defender thinks a lot about attacking passes, so he does everything a central defender does but also he will be encouraged to make a searching attacking ball / through ball up field if he has the vision to see it through.

Regista: Support Duty

The Regista is aggressive which is what you want in an aggression tactic. Suitable for possession orientated systems which press high up the pitch. (This is exactly what this tactic is all about)

Given complete freedom to dictate from deep positions which is perfect because he is in a deep position, the Regista offers a dynamic and unpredictable creative outlet from behind the attack.

The Regista seeks to maintain intense pressure (which is perfect in a tactic which attacks) by constantly looking for new chances as his more advanced teammates get into goal scoring positions.

Advanced Playmaker: Attack Duty

This player makes himself available for team mate’s passes, which is what you want possession wise, this player also aims to turn defence into attack in an instant which is great because it also deals with the attacking intent of this tactic. The reason he has an attack duty is because he will run at the defence from deeper positions which is great as we want to run at the opposition and frighten the life out of them! Plus the added bonus that he will craft out crossing or through ball opportunities whilst moving into the final third.

This is very important because with possession tactics, that just pass the ball about the park, you also want the tactic to have an end product so you need players which are moving into the final third and creating chances on the opposition goal.

Central Midfielder: Attack Duty

The central midfielder offers a link between the defence and the attack and having good links in your tactic are vital to success in this game. The central midfield will support both attacking and defensive play as needed. Whilst it is great that the central midfielder will supplement the attack, it is also good to know that should we find ourselves in a defensive situation; the central midfielder will chip in as well. Crucially though, I am a firm believer that Attack is the best form of Defence which was ably proven by Tyson Fury defeating Vladimir Klitschko very recently on-route to becoming the three belt holder heavyweight champion of the world! So this central midfield will more readily surge into the final third to support the forwards in and around the box!

False Nine: Support Duty

The reason I have chosen the false nine will become very clear. I don’t usually opt for False Nines in a tactic but this player really suits what I am trying to create here. Firstly it is a more advanced attacking midfielder/playmaker role, which is great because I want the player to be more advanced as it is in the attack position. It is a lone striker role and I am playing with a Lone Striker. I really like that this player is prepared to drop deeper into midfield because let’s face it, you don’t want a lone striker just waiting for someone to pass it to you, you want a striker who is going to go into the midfield and get the ball themselves, this reminds me of when Ian Rush was transferred to Juventus and had a horrid time scoring goals after being so prolific with Liverpool, the reason given was that he stayed in attack and wasn’t getting the right service, he didn’t go into midfield to get the ball himself.

The purpose of this is that it creates a massive problem for opposing central defenders in that they either follow him, leaving space behind them for onrushing midfielders, forwards or wingers to exploit.

This is exactly what I am hoping for, the central defenders will mark or follow my striker into midfield leaving open goals and clear cut chances for my onrushing midfield or inside forwards to exploit to devastating effect.

Alternatively they don’t do this, they then leave him the time and space he needs to dribble at the opposition or pick out a pass which is fine as well because this falls in line with attacking play, and also the pass will help to maintain the possession aspect of the tactic.

Inside Forwards: Attack Duties

The inside forward is going exploit the spaces left by the central defenders when they follow my false nine. They are going to run directly at the opposition which is great because as you know I want to frighten the life out of the opposition. Their movement will open up the spaces for my overlapping wing backs, as well as overloading a retreating defence.

It is worth mentioning at this point that I have developed Jordan Ibe into a cracking player, he is playing like maradona, zig zagging and ghosting his way through players and he has a brilliant end product as well.

Ok so now I have shown the formation and explained the reasons for the team positions I have chosen, I will now show you my team instructions and explain my reasons for choosing them.

Tempo: Normal or Low

The reason I have chosen a normal tempo is because I don’t believe in one tempo fits all, the players are intelligent as I like intelligent players like Mesut Ozil e.g. so they can choose when the time is right to play at a normal tempo, when the time is right to step up the tempo and also when the time is right to slow the tempo down. You have to consider that if this was an outright attacking tactic, then I would be going with a very fast tempo and if this was a possession tactic, id be slowing the tempo right down so the two don’t mix, the only mix is the centre ground in between so therefore I think as I want both, the only way to make it work is to leave the tempo as normal and then let the intelligent players choose when to speed it up and when to slow it down.

If you find that you are losing possession, then go with a low tempo instead as this will help you to keep hold of the ball better.

In football manager 2016 one of the differences is that it tells you how much you will be timewasting based on the tactic you choose, so this is defaulted at fairly rarely which is great because to be frank, I’m not really into wasting time.

Wide: The reason I have gone wide is because I want to attack the opposition, therefore I want to stretch the play, I have 2 wing backs and 2 inside forwards, at the end of the day, narrowing the play will just suit tactics that want to be more compact and defensive and therefore this is not a defensive tactic at all, so I don’t feel the need to do that, I want to attack and control, So I want it to be as wide as possible and stretch the play and use the full extremes of the pitch to my advantage.

Defensive Line: Slightly Higher

Remembering here the Regista who plays in possession orientated systems that press higher up the pitch. So I know my defensive line needs to be higher, also of course attacking play generally tends to have a higher defensive line which presses the opposition, I don’t like going all the way high up because remember that the control tactic is wary of the oppositions counter attack and if the defensive line is too high than you take the serious risk of opposing teams playing balls over the defence and springing a counter attack and/or breaking the offside trap.

Therefore I have opted for slightly higher which is close to the half way line.

Use Offside Trap: Yes this is important because if you defence is higher, you should be playing the offside trap, especially if your central defenders are also on the same duty.

Closing Down: More

I have chosen more because if I lose the battle for possession, I want the ball back as soon as possible, I don’t want to give the opposition any time with the ball because every second the opposition has the ball, is a second I am losing in the possession stakes and so I want to win the ball back as quickly as possible. I was very tempted to choose much more, as I want to be relentless with this but at the end of the day I didn't want to have any major negative impact on my team shape as a result, so I opted for more being enough to suit the teams needs without sacrificing on team shape which is also very important. A good team shape is vital, If you look at the way the formation is spread out then you will notice that each player has space within the chosen formation and that is important, I am all for pressing the opposition but if we lose our shape then that is sacrilege because the opposition will just pick holes in you and you find yourself on the end of a bit of a thrashing!

Prevent short goalkeeper distribution:

Yes, this option means pressing the opposition goalkeeper as well, Chelsea used to this in the pre roman days, if the keeper had the ball, they used to close the keeper down at any opportunity and the reason for this is to prevent the goalkeeper from playing it short to the defence and building from the back, this forces the keeper to hit a long ball which could potentially be picked up by one of my players instead.

Use Tight Marking:

I am never sure whether to choose this option or not because I am of the thinking that if I use opposition instruction which I do, then you don’t need to do tight marking but maybe you do! However I have chosen to include this because I do want to prevent the opposition from attacking the ball and this option allows me to do this.

Tackling: Get Stuck in

I have chosen this option because I want to be aggressive, attacking should be aggressive and control is aggressive as well in my opinion. I know that this might lead to more fouls and disciplinary action but I am prepared to accept this, I have a big squad, lots of strength in depth and therefore I know that I can handle that, what I like about this is my players who are good tacklers will go for the ball, and get the ball off the opposition and this is great.

Build Up: Play out of defence. Okay so this is a possession tactic and therefore play out of the defence is required so that we can start moves in the right way. I want my defenders passing their way out of the back, rather than clearing long.

PASS INTO SPACE:

The reason for pass into space is that you do that when you are attacking and I like greasy fast players to latch onto these balls passed into space and gain clear cut chances as a result. This instruction is about making passes into open spaces. A lot of my player roles are designed to create the space, finding the spaces for my attackers to exploit so pass into space falls in line with the roles of the players and also the way I want to play. This is going to make my possession tactic; more attacking too which is the whole point of this exercise.

Passing: Shorter Passing

This is a possession tactic so I have gone with shorter passing as I feel that you need shorter passing with a tactic which looks to control the play and maintain ball possession. You might argue that attacking should be direct but not necessarily, you can attack and play the game with short passes too.

Retain Possession

Prioritise keeping hold of the ball which is essential in a possession tactic.

Attack: Look for Overlap

I chose this because my wingbacks will benefit from this tremendously, as they bomb forward and also my inside forwards will create the space which the overlapping wing backs by doing their thing and the false nine will distract the defenders, meaning the wing backs and the inside forwards will simply create total carnage in the opposition box leading to teams getting well and truly thrashed!

Attack: Work Ball into Box

I chose this because it falls in line with a possession tactic, it will mean players work their way into the box and not shoot on sight, but instead wait for clear cut opportunities to present themselves. Remaining patient and not forcing the issue is great because it means more control of the play. Retaining possession until a breakthrough appears.

Whipped Crosses

The reason for whipped crosses is because these are really hard for the opposition to deal with and they swerve as well.

Dribbling: Run at Defence

As I previously mentioned, I want to run at the defence a lot and frighten the opposition so I have included run at defence. It is also means I am dribbling with the ball more and if I have the ball then it means I also have possession, so this is not only an attacking move, but it is a possession move as well.

Creative Freedom: Leave this at default, so neither option selected.

The reason for this is my players are intelligent, and they can decide whether they need to be more disciplined, also you don’t have to tick every option in team instruction, if in doubt, leave at the default setting, I personally think that attacking is more about being more expressive and defensive tactics are about being more disciplined, however I don’t feel the need to select be more expressive as I am sure the creative players will express themselves, I still want an element of discipline as well.

Freedom of Movement: Leave this at default, so neither option selected.

The reason for this is because I want the players to decide as sometimes they may need to roam and sometimes ill want them to be stick to position, e.g. If they are passing the ball around, then its good if they are in the right positions to get the pass, if they are not in possession, how are they going to be there when the pass is made? Also e.g. I will want them to roam, so that the can get to the passes made into open spaces too so its best just to leave this a default and trust my players to decide when the right time is to roam and when the right time is to stick to position, also the players will know their own limitations, I don’t want a player roaming if the player does not feeling very comfortable doing so.

This was my first preseason game, I won 4-0. I scored a lot of goals, I got 59% possession, and it is worth remembering that the tactic isn’t anywhere near being fully trained yet. 23 shots and 10 on targets, so I think I attacked them well too, this is a great early indication that this tactic is going to work.

This game I could not believe that it finished 0-0. I had 53% Possession, 35 shots on goal and 15 shots on target; the opposition had 0 shots on goal and 0 shots on target. The result was 0-0! I would say highly unlucky is a bit of an understatement! We dominated the whole game

Not so good on possession in this game but we won 8-0 so I guess the attacking part is working well. Watching these games, the passes are brilliant; we are definitely playing a possession game whilst being very attacking at the same time. It’s still very early days so I am willing to give it more time, the first game was very promising, the other games I really want more possession. But I am very happy that I am attacking well and the ball is going in the back of the net.

I am over the moon to announce that Liverpool is the new European Super Cup champions, beating the current European champions Roma 7-3 in the final. 6 of my players got on the score-sheet, in a massive European game, which means I am scoring goals all over the pitch. Once again, I wish I had more possession but 51% against the current European cup holders is not bad. In terms of shots on target, I dominated the match, not happy with the 3 goals I conceded. A great start to the season then. More updates on how to season progresses to follow in due course.

Thank you for taking the time to read this so far and feel free to post any comments or give advice or just to ask some questions, there is no such thing as a stupid question, no right or wrong, this is just a work in progress and I look forward to your input. More updates to follow in due course...

I am out of ideas so I will give this a try.

I am out of ideas so I will give this a try.

That's great, let me know how you get along with it.

will do mate

Here is a quick look at my progress so far

This my star player!

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first friendly game

In this match, we dominated the game, we actually got 61% possession which was pleasing, we only won 1-0 so would of liked to score more goals but we had 24 shots so on another day we might have done so and not bad for the opening game of the season.

Before this match Mourinho who is now the manager of manchester city told me that he was looking forward to humiliating me and putting me back in my place! He will have to wait a little longer to do that though.

Interesting. What PIs have you set?

Interesting. What PIs have you set?

Good Question. I have set no personal instructions. The roles themselves carry their own personal instructions and I have not added to those at all.

First European Cup game and we beat Monaco, I am pleased with the 60% possession here. We clearly won this game and you can see that is even though the commentator thought Monaco was going to win.

As you can see we broke the club record for gate reciepts! This is good news because it means that more fans are coming to watch the game so they must be pleased with the way the team is playing.

As you can see in this game, the tactic is still in training but we managed 66% possession and here and were comfortable winners in the game.

Also here you can see that the game is acknowledging that we are playing a passing game, committed to passing football which means the tactic is doing well in terms of being a possession tactic. We are unbeaten so far, so pleased to report and scoring lots of goals too. We have scored 11 goals which is more than any other club. So we are certainly being attacking as well.

Final Update for now: In summary no major setbacks so far but that is not to mean there wont be any. I am very pleased with the start we have made, further updates will be provided as and when the season progresses. Hopefully we can achieve our aim of winning the league and doing well in the champions league this season. Incidentally I fielded a weaker team in the league cup and we won that match comfortably too. so far so good.

6 attacking roles?? My god, either your team is that good or the system just works. Very interesting...

6 attacking roles?? My god, either your team is that good or the system just works. Very interesting...

That is a great point. Yes, well spotted, normally for an attacking tactic I would choose between 4 or 5 attacking roles, however I am trying to create a possession tactic which is attacking and as I mentioned in the opening of the thread, one of the ways I am trying to create this is by making the roles more attacking, the issue for me is possession is all about passing it around the park and keeping possession but I want to try to score lots of goals as well, that is why I have chosen to go with 6 attacking roles.

I agree that this may seem a tad ambitious but so far it is working to great effect. I think the support roles in the system are very effective. 4 of those attack roles are the wing backs (they will still defend when the team is not in possession) and the inside forwards, only 2 attack roles in the centre of the pitch with support roles in front of and behind those two attacking central midfielders. I tend to think that you could have a great team but if your system is not great, the players will not perform. Also Attack is the best form of defence! When the team doesn't have the ball they close the opponent down and get the ball back as quickly as possible. I think its a bit of both, a really good team and a good system which is working well so far.

Well...Im surprised that you've taken Cleon's article about the "Art of possession" as blueprint for your tactic.

If I'm not mistaken the tactic of Cleon utilises only 1 attacking role.

Imho your tactic looks more like a downscaled overload tactic than a patient probing one

This tactic seems extremely risky but it seems to be working for you so far. I also think its pretty interesting that in some of the games the possession is pretty close but you still manage to crush teams. Would you say you have one of the best squads in the world or do you think the tactic has them playing like giants? I would have assumed you'd be leaking in goals with the central midfield roles you use.

I was tempted to change the CM/A into a BBM

Well...Im surprised that you've taken Cleon's article about the "Art of possession" as blueprint for your tactic.

If I'm not mistaken the tactic of Cleon utilises only 1 attacking role.

Imho your tactic looks more like a downscaled overload tactic than a patient probing one

Hi Hansaplast, thank you for your question.

I have not taken Cleons article as blueprint, I just said that I found it interesting and I think it is a great post and it prompted me to do an article about my own journey in the current FM. That is an interesting observation, it is primarily a possession tactic with very attacking intent! As the title does say that.

It is all very well only having one attack role in a team, but then how many goals are you hoping to score? That is fine if you are looking to create a defensive or a counter tactic, nothing wrong with that at all, I am trying to create a possession tactic which is very attacking! How many goals am I hoping to score? A top team should take the game to the opposition and attack them, as I previously mentioned, Attack is the best form of defence! If your players do not attack, you can still play pretty football and look great on the ball and maybe even be more focussed on preventing the opposition from scoring but if you don't have any substance to your play? I prefer Brian Clough view that the aim of this game is simple, you have a ball and you have a net. What do you need to do? You need to put the ball in the back of the net! Simple as that and to do that you need to have more than one attacking role in your team. I have 6, instead of 4 or 5, those 6 players will still defend when we don't have possession of the ball because that's what they are paid to do. It's called Multi Tasking!

This tactic seems extremely risky but it seems to be working for you so far. I also think its pretty interesting that in some of the games the possession is pretty close but you still manage to crush teams. Would you say you have one of the best squads in the world or do you think the tactic has them playing like giants? I would have assumed you'd be leaking in goals with the central midfield roles you use.

Hello Patticb, thanks, that is a great question. There is always room for improvement!

It is important to remember that there is no right or wrong way of doing it, there are so many ways which are different, just because some people play a certain way or have a certain blueprint does not mean that is the gospel on how you should play this game. Why do my roles in central midfield mean I should be leaking goals? I don't think so when I have a support role in front and behind of them. Those players will still defend when I don't have possession of the ball. And what about my 2 central defenders, my Regista and wing backs, and my goalkeeper who are paid to stop the goals going in as well, are they not going to work hard to prevent the opposition from scoring as well? I see evidence on the pitch of great defending in the game. All my players work together to try to stop the opposition from scoring when they don't have possession of the ball. In my opinion a player with an attacking role, will only be attacking when you have possession of the ball, when you don't have possession of the ball, they will defend as well.

Unless it is a player like the Treq who needs to be carried when defending. My aim is to create a possession tactic which this is, which is evident in the recent news report I posted regarding how the team is committed to 'Passing Football'. I wanted to make it more attacking to try to give my board the style of football they are looking for, attacking and possession football and I have chosen to do this by making the roles more attacking which is why there are 6 attacking roles in the formation.

Brian Clough won back to back European cups with Nottingham Forest and a league championship with Derby County. Was his team that good? Or did his tactics have them playing like giants? I am not a team which is miles better because I have not won the league in the last two seasons, I have 2 league cups, a euro cup and made a couple of finals in the fa cup and champions league. I am a top team, and the aim this season is to win the league with this system.

The system is good so far, Manchester City and other teams like Roma who were European champions, have squads which are just as good as mine, there are better squads than mine. Manchester city were the biggest spenders spending 129 million pounds and I beat them 3-0 playing this system, also as i mentioned I played a weak team against premier division Southampton in the league cup and I beat them 4-0 too, so its a bit of both, a good squad but with a good system too. I really like what i see in the highlights, we are certainly working our way into the box and passing it around in the box, and working hard for our goals. the team works together.

I was tempted to change the CM/A into a BBM

Hey mate, that is a good idea, because the BBM would suit my captain Jordon Henderson very well. I turned down 60m from Manchester City for Henderson last season, they offered 64million up front for him! The BBM will still attack, and also defend as well. I thought of that too, but I like to have at least one 'Central Midfielder' in Central Midfield. Why don't you try it and see how it does for you?

Hello Patticb, thanks, that is a great question. There is always room for improvement!

It is important to remember that there is no right or wrong way of doing it, there are so many ways which are different, just because some people play a certain way or have a certain blueprint does not mean that is the gospel on how you should play this game. Why do my roles in central midfield mean I should be leaking goals? I don't think so when I have a support role in front and behind of them. Those players will still defend when I don't have possession of the ball. And what about my 2 central defenders, my Regista and wing backs, and my goalkeeper who are paid to stop the goals going in as well, are they not going to work hard to prevent the opposition from scoring as well? I see evidence on the pitch of great defending in the game. All my players work together to try to stop the opposition from scoring when they don't have possession of the ball. In my opinion a player with an attacking role, will only be attacking when you have possession of the ball, when you don't have possession of the ball, they will defend as well.

Unless it is a player like the Treq who needs to be carried when defending. My aim is to create a possession tactic which this is, which is evident in the recent news report I posted regarding how the team is committed to 'Passing Football'. I wanted to make it more attacking to try to give my board the style of football they are looking for, attacking and possession football and I have chosen to do this by making the roles more attacking which is why there are 6 attacking roles in the formation.

Brian Clough won back to back European cups with Nottingham Forest and a league championship with Derby County. Was his team that good? Or did his tactics have them playing like giants? I am not a team which is miles better because I have not won the league in the last two seasons, I have 2 league cups, a euro cup and made a couple of finals in the fa cup and champions league. I am a top team, and the aim this season is to win the league with this system.

The system is good so far, Manchester City and other teams like Roma who were European champions, have squads which are just as good as mine, there are better squads than mine. Manchester city were the biggest spenders spending 129 million pounds and I beat them 3-0 playing this system, also as i mentioned I played a weak team against premier division Southampton in the league cup and I beat them 4-0 too, so its a bit of both, a good squad but with a good system too. I really like what i see in the highlights, we are certainly working our way into the box and passing it around in the box, and working hard for our goals. the team works together.

I basically assumed that if your team lost the ball high up the pitch you would be exposed and get beat on the counter. Maybe as the season progresses you might see more of this? I am actually glad I came across this thread because I have recently started a save with Aberdeen and I have been having difficulties scoring goals. I started the season off with a counter tactic but decided to change to a possession/control strategy because thats how I like teams to play and we are one of the best teams in the league so we should be capable. It was an okay strategy but we had trouble scoring goals as I mentioned. It just seemed way too static for my liking.

So when I came across this thread I quickly realized that maybe I didnt have enough attacking roles. I was maintaining possession but wasn't doing anything with it. My first season is coming towards an end and I decided to test this out at Braga in the Europa league first KO round. Obviously I'm not expecting us to dominate and destroy them but I was just curious how my boys would fair with a few more attacking roles.

Obviously we did not dominate on possession like we normally do but being away from home and the underdogs I almost expected that. Either way, I was very pleased with the end result. Both of the goals I conceded were played over the top over the heads of my centerbacks. This made me aware that if I do want to play a system like this I will need to recruit faster defenders. Faster everything pretty much. I'll also need central midfielders who are 'complete' players. Players who are competent in both attacking and defending.

I am very pleased with what I saw from my team in that match and decided to stick to the attacking philosophy from now on! Thank you for the inspiration!

Morning Everyone

I have decided to trial this tactic with Watford who are clearly one of the favourites to go down and I am very pleased to report the results are very good, here is my journey with them so far, I am still going to continue to update my progress with Liverpool but I just want to put to bed the idea that this tactic requires you to have a world class team to get results.

I am not going to show all the preseason games as to be fair, pre season is just about fitness and preparation but we did have a great preseason. It only really matters when the season kicks off but clearly Watford are one of the favourites to go down. I was 500/1

Here you can see the same tactic, but in Watford colours. The reason I chose Watford is because we dont have a world beating team and because Miles Jacobson supports them.

So this is a little bit into pre season and you can see we beat Brechia convincingly, I know this is a serie b team but they used to be in serie A so its still a good result. 58% possession and we won this game.

So here you can see that we are 500/1 to win the league!

After Leicester held on to claim a lucky draw in the opening game, we beat Southampton away 2-1

You can see Southampton were the better team but we shared possession and more than matched them and after coming from behind, we fully deserved the win. Very proud of the team here.

Here you can see that we beat Crystal Palace convincingly! We were expected to draw this match, but we won convincingly.

League cup match against the very decent cup specialists Wigan, and you can see we won convincingly, and got 58% possession. Wigan didnt even get one shot on target!

Ok first ever defeat I have seen with this tactic, to be fair we were winning and then my central defender got sent off, after the sending off we were exposed, initially I had to sacrifice the DM but this was a mistake on my part and we went 2-0 down pretty sharpish, but then i changed it and put the DM back in and left me with one CM and this seemed to work and i only lost the game 3-2 despite being down to 10 for half the game, i am totally positive we would of won had my CD not got sent off!

Here you can see that after one month the board are pleased with my performance. Highlighting the win over wigan. It is worth mentioning that they are not judging me on any philosophies.

Here you can see that the team responded to their first defeat by beating Manchester United 2-1 at home. I realise that Man United had a much stronger team, we were never going to win the battle for possession and they were always going to be more dominating but, what this shows is that this tactic defends well, look at how much defending we did and we still managed to score a few, what a great result this is against a top Manchester united team.

So here you can see the Watford fans were jubilant after this result and they were 'Pleased with the ENTERTAINING football on display' which is pleasing because we are playing an attacking passing game.

Finally you can see that after 5 games into the season Watford are in second place in the table. Not bad at all for a team that is supposedly going down!

I basically assumed that if your team lost the ball high up the pitch you would be exposed and get beat on the counter. Maybe as the season progresses you might see more of this? I am actually glad I came across this thread because I have recently started a save with Aberdeen and I have been having difficulties scoring goals. I started the season off with a counter tactic but decided to change to a possession/control strategy because thats how I like teams to play and we are one of the best teams in the league so we should be capable. It was an okay strategy but we had trouble scoring goals as I mentioned. It just seemed way too static for my liking.

So when I came across this thread I quickly realized that maybe I didnt have enough attacking roles. I was maintaining possession but wasn't doing anything with it. My first season is coming towards an end and I decided to test this out at Braga in the Europa league first KO round. Obviously I'm not expecting us to dominate and destroy them but I was just curious how my boys would fair with a few more attacking roles.

Obviously we did not dominate on possession like we normally do but being away from home and the underdogs I almost expected that. Either way, I was very pleased with the end result. Both of the goals I conceded were played over the top over the heads of my centerbacks. This made me aware that if I do want to play a system like this I will need to recruit faster defenders. Faster everything pretty much. I'll also need central midfielders who are 'complete' players. Players who are competent in both attacking and defending.

I am very pleased with what I saw from my team in that match and decided to stick to the attacking philosophy from now on! Thank you for the inspiration!

That's great, and your welcome. I am pleased that this post has helped you! I said in the beginning of this thread that this post is to help others and also to help me as well. so thanks for sharing

How do I download this tactic?

How do I download this tactic?

This is not a tactic you can download, because you can easily make it from the opening thread. I have given clear instructions on the tactic in its entirety. If you want you can pm me your email and ill happily email it to you.

Hi Fenech,

Great tactic you've got here.

I'm playing as Newcastle and suddenly I'm scoring so much more. Not leaking many goals either cos I reckon the opposition is too busy handling our attacks.

The only thing I've changed is moving the tempo down to low cos we were giving the ball away too much.

There's an element of counterpressing in here too. I've scored a few where the AP or CM wins the ball high up the field and passes it to an IF who crosses for the F9 to score.

Very pleasing to watch.

Thanks for sharing.

Hi Fenech,

Great tactic you've got here.

I'm playing as Newcastle and suddenly I'm scoring so much more. Not leaking many goals either cos I reckon the opposition is too busy handling our attacks.

The only thing I've changed is moving the tempo down to low cos we were giving the ball away too much.

There's an element of counterpressing in here too. I've scored a few where the AP or CM wins the ball high up the field and passes it to an IF who crosses for the F9 to score.

Very pleasing to watch.

Thanks for sharing.

Excellent stuff! Thanks for the feedback. I really like the way the team plays with this tactic. at the end of the day, attack is the best form of defence!

Got destroyed by Bayern in preseason, this tactic didn't worked for me at all, I'll give it a try for next few matches maybe my players need to get used to it. Also my team shape seems to be a little narrow, certainly different than yours.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/aanijszkbbyiecq/Plik%2006.12.2015%2C%2019%2017%2034.png?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4siljea5qlch2xg/Plik%2006.12.2015%2C%2019%2018%2026.png?dl=0

Got destroyed by Bayern in preseason, this tactic didn't worked for me at all, I'll give it a try for next few matches maybe my players need to get used to it. Also my team shape seems to be a little narrow, certainly different than yours.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/aanijszkbbyiecq/Plik%2006.12.2015%2C%2019%2017%2034.png?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4siljea5qlch2xg/Plik%2006.12.2015%2C%2019%2018%2026.png?dl=0

Hey Darko, Thanks for the feedback!

Sorry to hear it didn't work against Bayern. You do need to give a tactic a few games at least, and I am guessing the tactic isn't fully trained yet.

If it doesnt start to click, and you are losing too much possession, try changing the tempo to lower as Driveldrivel did to see if that works for you.

Are you using the same formation? Keep me updated.

Got destroyed by Bayern in preseason, this tactic didn't worked for me at all, I'll give it a try for next few matches maybe my players need to get used to it. Also my team shape seems to be a little narrow, certainly different than yours.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/aanijszkbbyiecq/Plik%2006.12.2015%2C%2019%2017%2034.png?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4siljea5qlch2xg/Plik%2006.12.2015%2C%2019%2018%2026.png?dl=0

Well, of course...it's Bayern.

Got destroyed by Bayern in preseason, this tactic didn't worked for me at all, I'll give it a try for next few matches maybe my players need to get used to it. Also my team shape seems to be a little narrow, certainly different than yours.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/aanijszkbbyiecq/Plik%2006.12.2015%2C%2019%2017%2034.png?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4siljea5qlch2xg/Plik%2006.12.2015%2C%2019%2018%2026.png?dl=0

I would probably suggest playing easy opposition in friendly matches to get team morale as high as possible before the season starts.

Great thread, I have a few decent tactics I currently use, (plain 442 with wide AP, a bit like Athletico Madrids tactic) but will attempt to implement some of this into my own tactic to see if I can make it better! Thanks.

I would probably suggest playing easy opposition in friendly matches to get team morale as high as possible before the season starts.

Great thread, I have a few decent tactics I currently use, (plain 442 with wide AP, a bit like Athletico Madrids tactic) but will attempt to implement some of this into my own tactic to see if I can make it better! Thanks.

Yes, I always like the give any new tactic a full pre season, consistency is the key, play slightly smaller clubs, get the morale high, give the players ample opportunity to learn the tactics and get confidence with it too.

If the tactic is working for you, great, some of your TI's do not seem to go together though:

Shorter Passing + Retain Possession: Seems like you can "do" with one or the other, as you move "up" the attacking mentalities the passing "bars" get shorter (less direct), by selecting either one restricts it just to the first bar, while adding the other halves that short bar as the primary option.

Pass into Space: Combined with the above this really makes little sense, you want your lads to make "safe passes" with Retain Possession and then you tell them to make "risky passes" with Pass into Space, but since you have the combo above they are looking to "pass into space" 10-15 meters away...

Whipped Crosses: So this combines with the above, you want hard hit crosses, which are "safely" aimed at a place 10-15 meters away that is where your pacey striker is going to be...

Once again, if it is working....

Only question I have about roles is why the BPD? Seems redundant with the Regista. Your CD's should be looking to him as primary outlet anyway due to his playmaker status.

If the tactic is working for you, great, some of your TI's do not seem to go together though:

Shorter Passing + Retain Possession: Seems like you can "do" with one or the other, as you move "up" the attacking mentalities the passing "bars" get shorter (less direct), by selecting either one restricts it just to the first bar, while adding the other halves that short bar as the primary option.

Pass into Space: Combined with the above this really makes little sense, you want your lads to make "safe passes" with Retain Possession and then you tell them to make "risky passes" with Pass into Space, but since you have the combo above they are looking to "pass into space" 10-15 meters away...

Whipped Crosses: So this combines with the above, you want hard hit crosses, which are "safely" aimed at a place 10-15 meters away that is where your pacey striker is going to be...

Once again, if it is working....

Only question I have about roles is why the BPD? Seems redundant with the Regista. Your CD's should be looking to him as primary outlet anyway due to his playmaker status.

Hi Pedroig,

Thanks for the feedback! The strange thing is the tactic is working very well.

The simple truth is that the game allows you the 'option' to use both shorter passing and retain possession, now if the options were totally conflicting with each other, then the game wouldn't let you use them. so e.g. if you tick work ball into box, it automatically restricts you from using shoot on sight.

Can you show me any football manager manual or clear instruction from Miles Jacobson which can back up that you shouldn't use Short Passing and Retain Possession together? I know that is the opinion of some people, but that does not mean that they are right. The truth is there is no right or wrong way, just differences of opinion. Personally I think it makes sense because I want to do both, I want to play a short passing game and I want the team to keep possession and at the end of the day, if it was a no-no the game wouldn't allow you to do it.

It's important for other players to be aware, that just because someone says, this is how the game should be played, doesn't mean that they are right, it is just their opinion.

I have played this game since the championship manager days and i personally have no issues using short passing and retain possession together.

I said before that this is a possession tactic with a very attacking intent and what I mean by that is that I will use both attacking and possession instructions to make the best combination, pass into space is an attacking instruction, i want the players to score and this tactic scores goals, as Brian Clough says there is a ball and there is a net, the aim of the game is to put the ball in the back of the net, it really is that simple. Now yes i want to play possession but at some point in the game, i want the player to play a pass into an open space for one of my attackers to race on to and score. of course i do, it doesn't mean the player will play a possession pass into open space, these players are intelligent, they get paid alot of money, the player will play nice short passes when playing possession and when he sees an attack on he will pass into open space. the two don't conflict, they are two separated pieces of play, why would they try to mix it up? they will just do it on different occasions. If it was an issue, why would the game allow you to select the two option? Where is the manual that backs up the statement that you cant pass into space and retain possession or short pass in the same game?

Whipped crosses are difficult for defenders to deal with and that's good enough for me, but if you have a tall striker then maybe try to float them in, or low crosses, the whipped crosses thing isnt major, i just prefer the whipped ones.

The reason I have chosen a ball playing defender in this position is because the ball playing defender thinks a lot about attacking passes, so he does everything a central defender does but also he will be encouraged to make a searching attacking ball / through ball up field if he has the vision to see it through. Maybe my BPD might see something the RG doesn't or maybe the BPD finds himself in a better position at the particular point in time, why have one set of eyes when you can have two?

The main points here, is don't just believe everything you read. It is all opinions at the end of the day, they could be wrong, I could be wrong, if you show me the football manager manual which states these points, i will hold my hands up! and the other main point, the tactic works really well, so that would back up the TI's, don't you think?

It is not that they conflict, they add...

It is not that they conflict, they add...

Hi Pedroig,

That is true, they add. I see no problem with adding, if you have a certain philosophy, then adding reinforces the way you want the team to play. You can see what it does, if you choose them both, the passing is even shorter, when you play a possession game you want the passing to be very short. I don't understand what the issue is with playing nice short passes and retaining possession too. I think that what happens is the players will play short passes and the players will retain possession too, at different points in the game, the players will see a player racing forward and pass the ball into open space for that player to score too, the players will do different plays on different occasions. Variety is the spice of life!

Hello tactics downloand please

Hello tactics downloand please

See below:

This is not a tactic you can download, because you can easily make it from the opening thread. I have given clear instructions on the tactic in its entirety. If you want you can pm me your email and ill happily email it to you.

nice tactic How do I download this tactic?

link pls

link pls

nice tactic How do I download this tactic?

All the information is in the opening post. It isn't hard to copy.

mithat-ayturan88@Hotmail.com please tactic e-mail

I think you are going to be waiting awhile for that e-mail.

I think you are going to be waiting awhile for that e-mail.

Hi Mystylee1, thanks for your message. One of the reasons I explained the tactic in detail in the opening thread was that so anyone could easily create it. It is easy to copy without the need for an email or to make the tactic downloadable.

mithat-ayturan88@Hotmail.com please tactic e-mail

I have emailed the tactic to you now.

Thank yok fenech.

Hmm I have a very similar tactic and I'm going to try this one, because it fits my players very well.

My tactic is:

------------SKa--------------

CWBa---CDd--CDd---CWBa

-------------RGAs------------

--------RPMs---APa----------

IFa------------------------IFa

-------------F9s--------------

It's basically the same, just change the roaming playmaker to CMa and the complete wingbacks to regular wingbacks. I have it on control, fluid, and the instructions I have are exactly the same except I have roam from positions and higher defensive line (or whatever the highest option for defensive line is on control).

Your getting some nice results with that tactic. I'm interested to see what its like over the whole season. Nice work.

Hmm I have a very similar tactic and I'm going to try this one, because it fits my players very well.

My tactic is:

------------SKa--------------

CWBa---CDd--CDd---CWBa

-------------RGAs------------

--------RPMs---APa----------

IFa------------------------IFa

-------------F9s--------------

It's basically the same, just change the roaming playmaker to CMa and the complete wingbacks to regular wingbacks. I have it on control, fluid, and the instructions I have are exactly the same except I have roam from positions and higher defensive line (or whatever the highest option for defensive line is on control).

Hi Trajano080,

Thank you for your message.

Although on the surface the similarities are there, even one small change can make a big difference. This is an attacking possession tactic so it is going to be fast possession. It is on the Control Setting, with a normal tempo / low tempo, depending on your preference, driveldrivel found that by going to a lower tempo, it helped his team to keep possession more. Even though the temp is medium to low, because it is on a high mentality setting (control is similar to attack), it is still going to be played fast and with a sense of urgency.

The differences here is:

Sweeper Keeper Versus Goalkeeper: The reason I opted for the Goalkeeper is because he is safer, and because the sweeper keeper will play counter attacking / more risky passes and I think that is not what you want, in a possession tactic, you want a goalkeeper who is going to roll it out and start a passing move playing out of defence.

Complete Wing Backs V Wing Backs: You have to think about what is going to happen when your team is not in possession, I know that you have two inside forwards so it looks like you have four side players, but what you really have is 2 side players and 3 forwards, there is no wing support for the wing backs, I would go for just wing backs, that means they are a little more reserved but not very attacking either. You dont want them bombing too far forward at every opportunity because you will be putting too much pressure on your defence, they are on an attacking duty as it is, but you dont want them to completely neglect their defensive responsibilities altogether.

Roaming Playmaker Versus Central Midfielder: You could try the CMa and RPS, I have the CMa and APa, I wouldnt go with the RPMs and the Apa and this is because your leaving the centre of midfield exposed, you need at least one CM in Central Midfield but that is something that I like personally, the thing is that the RPM will often camp out on the opposition penalty area and try for that killer ball and I do like that, the advanced playmaker will play advanced in between the oppositions midfield and attack, he will sit in that hole and also try to turn defence into attack in an instant! But to have both doing the same thing, your leaving the centre exposed, one pass over those two guys and the opposition is just going to run straight through the centre and you will find the defence is under alot of pressure especially if it happens when the wing backs are already further advanced. the central midfield will support both attacking and defensive play as needed. Whilst it is great that the central midfielder will supplement the attack, it is also good to know that should we find ourselves in a defensive situation; the central midfielder will chip in as well.

The rest is the same.

Roam from positions is something i prefer to leave upto the player, I don't have it turned on and I don't have it turned off, and the reason for that is because the player is intelligent and he can decide if he needs to roam or not, sometimes it is better not to roam. you can find yourself exposed as well, but keeping it a default level, you are letting the player decide and they are the ones in that situation or moment. I have it on slightly higher defensive line, because i dont like going completely high, its too much, your team will be exposed even more by any lob over the top and your going to give your regista, a torrid time having to constantly deal with teams who will want to play over the top of you. There is no need for it, slightly higher is fine on a control mentality, you really don't want to be rocking the boat, the aim is to attack but you just need to be mindful of what is going to happen once you lose possession because you will not have the ball for the whole game.