Franky's Blitz Tactic for FM16 (v16.1.1)

Hi folks. After an absence of 5 years, I took the dreaded decision to buy Football Manager once more (Top Eleven just wasn't cutting it :-) ). I'm regretting it already with the amount of time the game is eating up, which was the reason I initially stopped playing. Anyways, for those who don't know me, I created a few popular and succesful tactics for FM09 and then FM11 (didn't play FM10 for reason already mentioned) and maybe some previous versions of the game that I can't remember. Probably the two most well known tactics were Magnifico and more so my Blitz for those two versions of Football Manager. The Blitz tactic was the most downloaded tactic on the Dugout Community. Just google 'Franky's Bl' and the rest will show up automatically. Anyways, onto my latest creation and it's for the unpatched version of FM16 (16.1.1). Whilst I did extensive write ups before, I'm gonna keep things pretty simple this time as I'm actually still finding my feet on this latest version of the game..... quite a lot has changed over the past 5 years.

TACTIC CAN BE DOWNLOADED FROM THE FOLLOWING LINK......... http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=60168973386122384739

THE BASICS

It's a high pressing tactic designed to harass and hurry the opposition in order to win the ball back as quickly as possible, whilst also gaining the upper hand possession wise. It's a narrow assymetrical formation with a normal tempo, designed to get plenty of men into the box for maximum attacking options and is to be used as is for teams who are pre-match favourites. If he opponents are favourites, then set the mentality to 'Standard' and if they are odds on favourites then to 'Counter'.

THE PLAYERS

Back Four – Quick centre backs are required as the defensive line is set very high and all four need good tackling ability as they will be going in hard to retrieve the ball at the earliest opportunity. Full backs are on support duty to pick up balls cleared out wide and keep an eye on counter attacks by the opposition.

Holding Midfielder (CM centre) – Needs to be your typical holding player, although decent passing ability is a bonus as he's set to 'more risky passes'. This is to neutralize his defensive mentality when passing the ball, so as to prevent him from slowing down the flow of attacking momentum. Obviously, if he is a poor passer of the ball, you'll get a lot of wasted passes and give possession away cheaper than you'd like, which is not ideal. Also needs decent tackling ability

Support Midfielder (CM left) – Supplements the attacking options in the final third by making late runs into the box and making himself available to his team mates at all times. Defensively helps cover the centre left of the pitch so needs solid defensive attributes to complement his attacking ability. As with his midfield partner, he'll also need decent tackling ability as both are set to hard tackling.

Deep Lying Forward (attack duty) - A creator of goals as much as a scorer, when not getting on the end of moves, he will look to play in the two Inside Forwards and the Shadow Striker. Needs to be strong as he'll be holding the ball up, waiting for them to make their runs before trying to put them through on goal.

Shadow Striker (AM right) – Needs to have a decent work rate as he'll be running back a lot to provide defensive coverage in the centre right of the pitch against teams that play possession football or have slow build up play. Also needs to be fairly creative with good decision making ability as he'll have plenty of options when receiving the ball in deep areas.

Inside Forwards – There's two of these guys, one on either flank. They'll look to get on the end of moves more so than the striker so good finishing is important. They also need to be creative as they will look to fashion chances for their team mates.

FINAL WORD

Right, there you have it. FM has now evolved to the extent that the green circle tells you how suitable a player is for each role so the type of players needed is pretty self explanatory so even though I've provided some basic player information, you can no doubt get by without it. The tactic is designed to create plenty of chances while remaining defensively sound. Other than the Deep Lying Forward and Shadow Striker, everyone else is set to 'shoot less often' so if you have any player with good 'long shot' ability, feel free to uncheck that option for him as you don't mind him having a crack from distance.

How you use the tactic will depend on how strong your team is. You might want to manually check 'retain possession' and go to a defensive mentality in order to protect a lead in the last 20-10 minutes of a game. Always ignore the assistant manager's advice regarding tactical changes as he just talks rubbish in my opinion. As for set-piece instructions, they can be tweaked as I've just adopted a fairly basic set up so there's no super corner routine or anything like that.

I have spent a bit of time creating the tactic but haven't yet used it over a period of time.... that's where you guys come in so let me know how you get on

PS. This tactic is still work in progress. I've shared it to get some feedback on how it shapes up for various teams and against various types of opposition.

great to see the legendary Franky here, your tactics were a true inspiration for me on the old FM's

I had to give it a super quick test, of course one game means nothing (tactic not fluid, random results etc) but just had to plug it in tonight - tomorrow it's holiday in my country...

http://postimg.org/image/3oadlyl91/

yeah my TFC team is quite strong for MLS standard and we happen to have very good fits for this tactic, still some of the best team pressing I've ever seen on FM16, felt like the old blitz

I assume IF's work better with inverted foot?

excited to see your work on FM16!

Thanks for the kind words Kandersson I'm also goint to assume the IF's work better with inverted feet as I've not tried them otherwise

No problem mate, the original Blitz tactic is a big reason I got drawn back to FM after basically 'retiring' after the CM/FM split. So it's only right that you're back as well, hopefully you'll stick around and keep wasting your time

going to give this a proper test on a new save, I have total trust in the blitz!

Haha, wow a Franky sighting. Enjoyed our conversations back in the day on the Dugout. I'll give it a go with my Sampdora game I have going. Will only use it in the cup as I have a good run going now.

Legend!!

I will tell you only this................. I LOVE YOU BRO !!!!

hi Franky.

Your tactic looks awesome... Wondering, do you use any Opposite Instructions? What about training? What do you use on-season and off-season?

And player's individual training? What do you use to make them fit in your tactic?

Cheers

Are there any tweeks for 16.2?

Thanks for the kind words. The tactic was in development stage for 16.1 and I just wanted some feedback to see what others made of it. As for OI's, I leave them to the ass man. Regarding 16.2, I've not made any adjustments as I'm currently away on holiday until late January..... therefore won't be working on the tactic until then. Will hopefully release an updated version late Jan/ early Feb.

its not bad for 16.2 tbh...however I do find you have to overload a lot with it...but ive got leyton orient into the prem and its working ok so far..