Newcastle Tactic (league domination)

Ok, the title might be a bit premature - I'm top by 11 points after 33 games - but I have your attention!

In my first Demo game with Newcastle I struggled a little, finishing at Christmas in 4th position, 4 points off top spot.

I was tweaking a lot and things felt extremely difficult, especially at home where I felt we should be winning more comfortably – and regularly.

So, after reading Cleon’s [thread=86542]Simplicity thread[/thread], I created a new Demo save which I have continued into the full game.

Here is the formation and the instructions:

Philosophy: Very Fluid

Because I have the roles set up as a 3-2-5 I need those five attackers to pitch in with defensive duties, especially the wingers.

Starting Strategy: Attacking

Because I want to win this league.

Passing Style: More Direct

No point messing about with short passing. We’ve got a mix of big fellas and decent first touch so, while our passing isn’t brilliant, we can receive it adequately.

Creative Freedom: More Expressive

Because I want to win this league and I want to win it in style. In the latter half of the season especially, some teams will come to SJP to park the bus.

Closing Down: Press More

We’re likely to give the ball away with such direct passing and I want to get it back as soon as possible. We have the stamina and work rate to pull it off so it is my preferred way of playing.

Tackling: More Aggressive

Time after time my backroom staff told me we were more aggressive than the other team. So, while I also want to play decent looking football, I want to ensure the opposition are terrified of us. No point in shackling a strength, just be aware of cards and suspensions.

Marking: Zonal Marking

Because there should be no other kind at this level.

Crossing: Drill Crosses

Default is too one-dimensional (it sets everyone to ‘man’ which means everyone tries to hit Carroll’s bonce) and Float means we have to fight for the ball in the box. Drill allows onrushing mids to get in on the action (see Nolan’s goal stats below).

Roaming: Default

Not too much, not too little. Allows the wingers and MCa to look for space.

I’ll run through the roles and the players, along with any further tweaks:

GK – Tim Krul (alt: Steve Harper)

Role: Goalkeeper

Duty: Defend

Just a normal goalkeeper, not a sweeper keeper. I chose Krul because he’s largely the same as Harper and much younger so he has potential to develop. I’d rather throw him in the deep end now than next season in the Premier League. His command of area means he collects the ball on corners more than Harper, but his eccentricity and tendency to punch is something to look out for. Still, he’s my first choice now. 33 apps, 16 conceded, 19 clean sheets, 1 motm, 7.01 avg rating.

DR – Ryan Taylor (alt: Danny Simpson)

Role: Full Back

Duty: Attack

I’ve played R. Taylor twice as much as Simpson but there’s pros and cons to both their games. Neither are particularly good so this is a position I’ll be looking to replace next summer when I have a better reputation. 22 apps, 3 goals, 2 motm, 7.12 avg rating.

DL – Jose Enrique (alt: David Castedo – signed on a free)

Role: Full Back

Duty: Attack

Enrique is definitely better than this league, but he has to be given the freedom to get forward and create. My alternative is a 36 year old free signing who I figured would only ever play if Enrique was crocked or in a deep rut. 31 apps, 2 assists, 1 motm, 7.17 avg rating.

DC – Fabricio Coloccini (alt: Tamas Kadar)

Role: Central Defender

Duty: Defend

I had tried a Stopper/Cover partnership with Taylor and Colo, but I didn’t like it. I also considered one or both of them being Limited Defenders, but at this level they’re actually fine. Colo’s head can drop due to low determination (for a defender I want them 16+, personally) but with adequate man-management I’ve had him go from making a mistake on very poor morale to scoring a brace on superb morale in about four games. 32 apps, 4 goals, 3 motm, 7.26 avg rating

DC – Steven Taylor (alt: Tamas Kadar)

Role: Central Defender

Duty: Defend

He’s my vice captain and I want to hold on to him at all costs. What he lacks in ability he makes up for in heart. You might need to watch out for yellow cards though, he habitually gets booked after the 70th minute. 25 apps, 4 goals, 5 motm, 7.22 avg rating

DMC – Alan Smith (alt: Joey Barton, Fabricio Coloccini)

Role: Anchor Man

Duty: Defend

I’m playing a very attacking style so I need cover at the back to prevent counter attacks. Smith might not know this position inside out, but as he’s my captain I have plenty of faith in him. His three goals this season all came from a stint up front to cover for a minor injury crisis. 26 apps, 3 goals, 2 assists, 1 motm, 7 avg rating.

MC – Joey Barton (alt: Danny Guthrie, Geremi, Michael Woods)

Role: Central Midfielder

Duty: Support

Joey can play as a box-to-box midfielder, but I felt that was better suited to a 442 without an outright anchor man like Smith. Joey’s versatility – and the legal implications of his personality being full simulated in the game – indicates that he’s one to keep. 26 apps, 1 goals, 6 assists, 1 motm, 6.90 avg rating.

MC – Kevin Nolan (alt: Joey Barton, Haris Vuckic, Ryan Donaldson)

Role: Central Midfielder

Duty: Attack

There’s only one criticism I have of Kevin: he’s about as physically fit as I am. After 33 games played he’s consistently below 70% condition around the hour mark. His decisions are sufficient that he needn’t dwell on the ball, so ask him to unlearn it. Will score goals from midfield, guaranteed. 30 apps, 11 goals, 2 assists, 7 motm, 7.21 avg rating.

AMR - Andy Van Der Meyde (alt: Jonas, Kazenga Lua Lua, Peter Lovenkrands)

Role: Winger

Duty: Attack

If you can keep him fit, he’ll do a good job at this level. Seeing him beat his man and cross for Carroll was a recurring highlight in the match engine. 20 apps, 3 goals, 10 assists, 1 motm, 6.98 avg rating.

AML – Jonas Guttierez (alt: Kazenga Lua Lua, Andy Van Der Meyde – signed on a free, Rudi Skacel – signed on a free, Peter Lovenkrands)

Role: Winger

Duty: Attack

Jonas is ok if he’s running at a full back but he can’t create much. He’s not a bad player but I transfer listed him on day 1 and he’s been miffed ever since. I’d take a fit VDM every time over him. I sold Lua Lua to raise some funds so I have to persist for now. 21 apps, 3 goals, 5 assists, 3 motm, 7.03 avg rating.

ST – Andy Carroll (alt: Shola Ameobi, Marlon Harewood – loaned from villa, Steven Thomson – loaned from Burnley)

Role: Target Man

Duty: Support

Big Andy Carroll, the Dunston Drogba. When I saw Carroll’s stats I was delighted because he’s a low grade premiership target man at age 20. Ameobi is poor in this position for me but he’s annoyed because I’ve listed him. I sold Ranger because his stats were dire considering he’s looked adequate for us in real life. Harewood was a short term loan I got in for realism and Thomson is currently not getting a look in because Carroll is so good in this position. 26 apps, 11 goals, 5 assists, 2 motm, 7.01 avg rating.

In-match tweaks and general advice

- I go into every single game like this making personnel changes only. I will ensure I have a fit squad that has decent morale, but I'll also drop a player for poor form. I have not yet made a single alteration to my tactics before a game. I have, of course, been embarrassed in the cups as a result (4v0 away to Huddersfield :S).

- If the assistant manager says you're misplacing too many long passes, change passing style to default and try that. If he persists, change it to shorter. If he complains that we're misplacing too many short passes, ignore the idiot.

- Due to the aggressive tackling, you will absolutely have to reduce tackling on any player who gets a yellow card. Even if it’s in the first minute, take his tackling down to easy immediately.

- Sub anyone who isn’t playing well, don’t hesitate to get them out of there. You’re trying to storm this league at the first time of asking so take no prisoners when it comes to form.

- Try to remain calm and positive in press conferences and team talks. The team are more likely to be nervous than complacent, it seems. However, don’t be afraid to put some pressure on them if their morale is high. Coloccini doesn’t really like pressure, so be nice because he’s really good at this level.

- You’ll get taken over before Christmas, likely by a fan consortium. My two didn’t have any money though. You’ll receive injections of cash throughout the season from the Bassong, Milner and Given sales, I used it to pay down the wage bill rather than make any extravagant signings. We’ve not got the reputation to get anyone half decent so why bother.

- This is excellent at home but it sometimes struggles away because it is so attacking. I went on a 12 game winning streak at home before a couple of draws (possible after re-ranking?) but I had w8 d4 l3 away. Not awful, just could probably be improved with a dedicated away tactic.

Here's the table after 33 games:

So, as you can see, attack is the best form of defence for me.

Please don't ask for a tactic download because there's enough information in this post to recreate it yourself in about 40 seconds

great opening post mate

zdlr why you cant make a dowloadn link fr your tactic so i could test it?

Hi

Tried a couple of games as NUFC but red cards and defeats pushed me back to a more controlled approach, great thread though and some nice ideas that I have adopted. You were right on the cards lol.

As you say takes a minute or so to put together

K..

This was great post. Very detailed, structured and very well explained.

So is this Tactic not available for download?

Lodgey, Matthew: there's absolutely nothing else that you need to recreate this tactic. It should take about 40 seconds to recreate using the new tactic creator.

Everyone else: thanks for the positive comments, I'm still playing the season so I'll update with an end of year report. Not sure how I'd go about our premiership season but I know for a fact it would require more tweaking!

I'm managing Russia and also Hull City. My first game with Russia we dominated Argentina but lost 2-1.

My first game with Hull City was away against Arsenal. We tied 2-2. We scored first followed by Arsenal equalizing. Then Arsenal went up on a bs penalty kick. Then in the closing moments we equalized on a penalty kick. I'll keep using it. I'm liking it so far. It seems like it should be a good fit for Hull City.

Shearer will be proud. looks like that old dog Andy Van Der Meyde will help you get to prem for him only to be replaced by a younger model lol

I'm managing Russia and also Hull City. My first game with Russia we dominated Argentina but lost 2-1.

My first game with Hull City was away against Arsenal. We tied 2-2. We scored first followed by Arsenal equalizing. Then Arsenal went up on a bs penalty kick. Then in the closing moments we equalized on a penalty kick. I'll keep using it. I'm liking it so far. It seems like it should be a good fit for Hull City.

Wow, surprised you managed to draw away to Arsenal as Hull using this. Talk about taking the game to the opposition! I would have thought that this was a bit too attacking for a relegation candidate like Hull, but perhaps not?

Shearer will be proud. looks like that old dog Andy Van Der Meyde will help you get to prem for him only to be replaced by a younger model lol

Aye, I'll be strengthening a lot of areas on promotion. Hopefully I'll not have to wheel and deal so much, but with a balance of £6m I imagine it'll be tight.

Should i use Macheda or Carroll?

Wow, surprised you managed to draw away to Arsenal as Hull using this. Talk about taking the game to the opposition! I would have thought that this was a bit too attacking for a relegation candidate like Hull, but perhaps not?

I set my style to "Counterattack" and both my goals were the results of counter attacks. Although I lost my next to games to Blackburn (1-0) and Liverpool (2-0). I had my fair share of chances. My strikers just didn't put them away.

Looks good. If only there was a download link for it

Should I use Macheda or Carroll?

I can't remember what Macheda's attributes are but I don't think he's suited to a line striker role? This requires strength, teamwork, workrate, determination, jumping and heading. Most chances for the striker are headers because the advanced wide players are wingers, but he does sometimes get put through by the MCa and MCs so pace, finishing and composure will help with those chances. If he can't head though, you'd be better off swapping the two wingers to their 'wrong foot' and setting them to inside forwards. That way, they should cut inside and get into the box themselves, leaving crossing to the attacking fullbacks.

Is this working in 10.1?

Untested in 10.1. Fancy giving it a go and reporting back?

I'm currently giving it a go in 10.1 and it seems to be doing the job fine in that. If you find that Jonas is crap at crossing I've tried dropping his crossing from Often to rarely. Which forces him to cut in and drive in at goal. He's already notched one for me that way. Can't claim credit for that tweak though it was from a different forum and a different tactic. But helps get the most out of him in a thin squad.

If you're wanting him to run at goal and shoot, ask him to unlearn 'looks for pass instead of trying to score'.

Yeah I tried that, he flat out refused.

I'm giving this tactic a go with Norwich, will report back soon

Shearer will be proud.

Yes, yes he will...

I've got Camara (on a free) as my back up striker and he does remarkably well considering he's no target man. Just if anyone is wanting someone on the cheap and cheerful.

zdlr thanks for the tactic first game i won 2-1 away to napoli with livrono - what type of team talks do you use?

Nice opening post

I'm still waiting for my game and as always I will start my first save with Newcastle and I was looking for a tactic which works for them. In FM09 I used to play a similar formation, just with the DMC being an AMC and the tactic being a bit less attacking than yours for the rest to make up for that. I'll try to recreate this in FM10, but will keep your approach in mind.

I'd love to know what you think about a few questions.

My worry is that the wingers might not be good enough at all. So how is vdm doing? Isn't he too slow? Why are you playing the right-footed Jonas on left as a winger and not as an inside forward where he might cause more danger? How happy are you with your free signings? Would you in hindsight sign other people?

Cheers

Hi

Decided to tweak the aggression to normal and use this tactic for home games to see if I have better results.

Grats on the Alan Shearer endorsement hoping to do the same. The club was taken over in September by Carl Hemming but he told me that he had no plans to provide the club with any investment at this stage.. (same old same old)

Anyway will report back on tweaked tactics.

K..

Nice opening post

I'm still waiting for my game and as always I will start my first save with Newcastle and I was looking for a tactic which works for them. In FM09 I used to play a similar formation, just with the DMC being an AMC and the tactic being a bit less attacking than yours for the rest to make up for that. I'll try to recreate this in FM10, but will keep your approach in mind.

I'd love to know what you think about a few questions.

My worry is that the wingers might not be good enough at all. So how is vdm doing? Isn't he too slow? Why are you playing the right-footed Jonas on left as a winger and not as an inside forward where he might cause more danger? How happy are you with your free signings? Would you in hindsight sign other people?

Cheers

Hi

I missed out on VDM but took Marlon Harewood on loan..doing excellent for me(8 goals in 7 games). I managed to get Jorge Andrade(sweeper/defender) as a free and he averages around 7.0 a game.

Had to sell Nigel Ranger which annoyed the fans though that helped me along with the 500k payments of players sold to balance salary. I play Jones both sides depending on who I got available, he averages around 7.2 per game and is playing really well (1 goal 6 assists after 7 games in). If you can get the Polish Forward that your assman identifies at the start of the game do so but he tends to go elsewhere (forgot his name).

Ryan Taylor has done a reasonable job on the right wing when I need Jonas on the left (average 6.6).

Try and keep Coloccini though you can loan him out re his huge weekly wage to help balance the books.

Other than that I signed for a free Godwin Antwi (21yo defender right/centre as a back-up) and no one else wanted to know or I had no money to pay them. I did sign a couple of coaches as NUFC definately lacks numbers and skills in that area.

K..

Great result in the 3rd round of the Carling Cup:

Bearing in mind I'm resting Enrique and Van Der Meyde and had Barton out injured. Carroll was on the bench as he's just back from injury.

I'm going to leave Camara in as my main striker, as he's got 13 goals in 10 appearences. But bear in mind that 6 of the 10 were from the bench.

zd! Do you have carrol set as the primary taget man in the team instructions? also do you aim for his head or mixed? oh and sorry to ask another question at what speed do you watch the game? thanks..

Great result in the 3rd round of the Carling Cup:

Bearing in mind I'm resting Enrique and Van Der Meyde and had Barton out injured. Carroll was on the bench as he's just back from injury.

I'm going to leave Camara in as my main striker, as he's got 13 goals in 10 appearences. But bear in mind that 6 of the 10 were from the bench.

Can you post a screenie of match stats please? Thanks.

No problem.

is there anyone else having sucess with this tactic

My worry is that the wingers might not be good enough at all. So how is vdm doing? Isn't he too slow? Why are you playing the right-footed Jonas on left as a winger and not as an inside forward where he might cause more danger? How happy are you with your free signings? Would you in hindsight sign other people?

VDM did ok in some games and poorly in others - same with all the other wingers. That's what I got so many. I had Skacel / Jonas / VDM / Lovenkrands for the left and VDM / Jonas / Libor Sionko / Lovenkrands for the right. If I played Lovenkrands on the right he would be set as an inside forward, but it was rare that I did this. I didn't set Jonas to an inside forward because he doesn't like shooting and he was best as a winger on the left - he was the only one to get a half decent rating of 7.12 for the season. Despite his utterly awful stats for the most part, I'm considering removing him from the transfer list. VDM wasn't really facing Ashley cole every week so when he was hot he tore the opposition apart. He is injury prone though, definitely.

I was pleased enough with my free signings, as well as my loan signings. Primarily I wanted competition for places across the pitch because I needed to win the league at the first time of asking so poor form would not be tolerated. Sadly, after the original post above I did finally have a dip in form. I can't blame the tactic though, we utterly underperformed for about eight games. Too many draws at home after Christmas re-ranking and too complacent for the latter half of the season when the squad appeared to think we'd already won the league.

As a result, this is the final league table:

Not bad and I didn't really feel we'd throw it away. Defensively we were insanely good, four of those goals conceded game in a drubbing in the last game away to QPR - we'd won the league and almost the whole squad turned in sub-6 performances. Not good enough.

Do you have carrol set as the primary taget man in the team instructions? also do you aim for his head or mixed? oh and sorry to ask another question at what speed do you watch the game?

Yes, Carrol is set as primary target man due to him being the only player with a target man role. Target man supply is default: mixed, I think this used to still favour aiming toward aerial balls though - not sure about in FM10. I watch the key highlights only because I'm itching to play in the EPL.

Ok, so I'm promoted but now I've got a mammoth task on to survive in the Prem. I have a decent sized squad, bar central defensive cover, but we lack quality. I'll be trying to pay down over £4m in overdraft as well as assembling a squad to stay up where Newcastle belong

Oh lord. First of all, the club got £29.4m for TV rights from the Premier League for the season, as well as negotiating a new kit sponsor on almost double the money (£9.5m) per year. However, the board give me my expectations options and the minimum I could choose was 'top half finish' - bloody hell!

I've been given £11m to spend though, so I reckon some judicious wheeling and dealing could see us survive. Top half, I doubt.

Opening fixtures are home to West Brom, which we simply must win, and then home to league runners-up Man U.

Now I need to really think about each game and how I'll approach it...

put a link man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

put a link man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look, if your reading comprehension is so dire that you can't recreate this tactic then I think you're better off looking for an alternative tactic. If you are incapable of looking at the original post and setting this up properly then you probably won't be able to pick the correct the players for the positions, resulting in you coming back hear and moaning of broken tactics when it's your own incompetence that is at fault.

My fm is in another language, please put the tac for download.

My fm is in another language, please put the tac for download.

Cannot you change the launguage? There will be no download link as far as I can see. You really do need to do some work but it is worth it. I am using a tweaked version I created and it is holding up.

K..

I am beginning to experiment

I have tweaked the tactics so that the tackiling is normal and in the last 4 games the scores are thus:

NUFC 3- QPR1

NUFC 2 - Bristol City2

Nottm Forest 0- 1 NUFC

Scun 1- 3 NUFC

NUFC 1 - 1 Doncaster

So far so good but each game nail biting as opponents see their games as cup finals...

K

I will try this, thanks.

Kazza: some decent results. Are you expecting a win of them in the team talks in the home games because those draws are a little worrying. Good away performances tho.

I'm not sure how this next season is going to go but I'll put some of my decisions and thoughts down in this thread if it helps anyone. Whereas last season I went into every game with exactly the same tactic and expected to win every game both home and away, I'll have to think more carefully about my approach.

Broadly speaking, there are six categories of teams I'll face this season:

A - Title Challengers (who I expect to lose home and away to) - Arsenal, Liverpool, ManU, Chelsea - 0 points in total

B - Better Teams (who I would hope to still gain a point from at home) - Man City - 1 point in total

C - Similar Teams (who I want to draw with both home and away, but it could easily go either way) - Everton, Spurs - 4 points in total

D - Poor Travellers (who I will likely lose away to but probably beat at home cos they don't travel well) - Villa - 3 points in total

E - Relegation Candidates (the main bulk of the league who I expect to beat at home and take a point from away) - Bolton, Brum, Stoke, Sunderland, Fulham, Portsmouth, West Ham, Blackburn, Wigan - 36 points in total.

F - Newly Promoted (sadly, this includes me so there are only two others. I'll want 6 points from these games) - Derby, West Brom - 12 points in total

So, that's 56 points in total which, last season, would have put me in 7th - comfortably top half.

If I expect to win a game I'll go into it attacking. If I expect a draw I'll either go in standard or counter, depending on the scout report. If I expect a loss I'll counter and defend in patches. My team talks will also be influenced by my expectations, too.

I was tryign out this tactic then a few varietys of my own tactic using the same shape in my Hearts game, but im getting absolutely killed. Cant seem to stop conceding simple goals, and dont create anywhere near enough chances. The 2 MC never seem to get as far as the opposition 18yr box which takes a lot away from the tactic.

Going to keep going, at one point i tweaked the wingers so one was a winger (left footer on the left side) and one played as an inside forward (a left footer on right side) but again wildely inconsistent results.

I shall go back to starting with the base formula from this thread and start with small tweaks to suit my players. That and hope that my centrebacks (who are pretty good) suddenly learn how to defend........

Cannot you change the launguage? There will be no download link as far as I can see. You really do need to do some work but it is worth it. I am using a tweaked version I created and it is holding up.

K..

in some country fm has no English language only from this country or neighbor country. in my country "POLAND" i have only polish and Chech

This is all very interesting but post a link for it so we can test it ourselves

Cruyff14: seriously, what part of it can't you recreate yourself?

Cheers ill give it a go now with Cardiff \o/ /o\

Cruyff14: seriously, what part of it can't you recreate yourself?

Seriously, why should we have to recreate it when you could just upload it ??

Unbelieveable, some of you people must live in some ethereal world of no effort and instant gratification. Swanning around like some kind of modern day Caligula, snapping your fingers until mother wipes your arse.

I won't upload it because you would actually use your brain a little bit if you set it up yourself. If you download a tactic and just select players you think go into the slots available you learn nothing and may well get the type of players required wrong.

Just read the original post and set it up yourself. It takes a minute, two at the very most. You might take note of the reasoning behind it all and learn something new.

Realise that I'm not asking you to validate my tactic - I know it works for me and my players so I thought I'd share it for anyone else in a similar situation. I couldn't care less how many other teams can crowbar it to make it work to some degree.

Whilst i agree that it is very simple to make this (or any) tactic and some forum users are very lazy at times, your attitude stinks. Why on earth did you bother opening this thread if you "couldn't care less how many other teams can crowbar it to make it work"?

Oh, and for what it's worth i tried this for 30 games with my Shrewsbury side and we got tonked mostly and we sit 13th in the table in Leauge 2, so it's a big thumbs down from me. Thanks anyway.

It's a Newcastle tactic. For people who want to get promoted with Newcastle in the first season with the minimum of fuss.

My attitude might seem to stink to you but I'm afraid I'm sick of people asking me to put a download link despite me saying from the very start that I wouldn't.

If anyone wants to try this with a different team they can do so very easily. If some benevolent third-party wants to provide a download link, great, but as a point of principle I won't.