The 2-6-2 Framework. An Approach To Creating Tactics In FM08. - PART II -

[Asim]

your a legend Z.

thanks for your efforts.

will give feedback. initial tactics working well so far. i will try out the others in the zip.

[Strankan]

Gotta to check these out tonight. Just got relegated from L1 with the mighty Eastleigh using my own 4-4-2. Hopefully your ideas will help me bounce right back up.

KUTGW!

[Mitja]

Originally posted by Uncle_Sam:

Look at the starting formation picture again, why the F would you play with out strikers?

lol, it's possibile to see everykind of masterpiece monster tactics, these days, here. I'm glad I'm wrong, I wouldn't expect that from zagallo.

zagallo KUTGW!!

[beverage1982]

Given Mitja's confusion over the starting formation i actually tried implementing it for a joke so i was playing a 22222 formation with no strikers...lost 4-2 away to Chelsea with my Villa team, but what a game!!! highly amusing.

[Guest]

Good to hear that Millsinho. Good luck then for the rest of the season...

One question: What kind of passing do you use? Shorter/mixed or Liverpool style?

[Guest]

Thanks for the info. Good choice imo.

On tactic choices: Yes, you have to get used to it. But after a while you know when to use which setup. When testing the framework I played several matches 4 or 5 times to see how the team reacts with different setups. Sometimes the difference is really amazing, especially against strong sides. I used to note the tactic and table position from the opponent together with my chosen setup and the result for a while. After some time you start to see a pattern though...

[Golden_Team]

zagallo

just quick question: can your system ( 2-6-2) will be works with 4-3-3 ( 4-1-2-2-1 ) ?

sorry for english

Radek from Poland

[heron]

@Golden_Team: I did use this system in a 4-3-3, with some nice results. Positioning was with a MC barrows to DMC and the AML/R farrowed instead of the 4-1-2-2-1 you mentioned.

[Guest]

@Golden_Team: I also didn't try it yet. But the diamond formation was transformed into a 4-3-3 and worked a treat. So it should be possible with these instructions, too. The 2 players set to offensive should then be the striker and one midfielder (who probably gets a farrow to the AMC position), but not the wingers!

[il_fenomeno]

wow;i've never thought a target man could play great(i've never used one before)

[lam]

Z,

this is legendary.

Exactly what i am looking for. I am more interested in the hows and whys than the formation, but i will defo use until i understand it better.

Brilliant!

Thanks

Lee

[Copenhagen 2000]

i can't download from filefront can you give another link please

[lam]

I had problems with it to. You have to join, but it doesnt tell you this is the problem.

After that i had to use a download manager on the link to get it to work.

LEe

[Guest]

No problem, here are 2 other links:

262zagallo_flat442 via megaupload

262zagallo_flat442 via rapidshare

Hope that works for you.

[hirsty1867]

I downloaded the tactics and decided to start a new game with Bristol City who had a media prediction of 20th.

Pre-season went well so i headed into the league campaign with optimism.

Cardiff (A) 0-0

Southampton (H) 3-1

Charlton (A) 2-0

Hull (H) 4-1

Scunthorpe (A) 1-0

Crystal Palace (H) 2-2

I also beat Mk Dons away 4-0 in the first round of the League cup but lost 2-3 in the second round at home against Portsmouth.

I've had to make a few tweaks, mainly lower creative freedom and increased closing down in the centre of midfield, but im very happy with the results so far, Both my wingers are getting into good areas and providing plenty of width, Michael Mcindoe on the left flank has been fantastic, a great crosser along with high teamwork, workrate and natural fitness which enables him to get back and help cover my left back Jamie Mcallister.

At the back it looks pretty solid, I did lower my MCd's mentality to the same as the CD's which has given that little extra cover in front of the back four, this compliments my MCa who is Lee Johnson, a player who likes to get forward and create.

Up front my pairing of Lee Trundle and Dele Adebola is working a treat, Trundle as the more creative and Adebola the target man with balls set to feet.

It's early day's yet and im going to see how things go over a full season but so far so good!!

[james_33]

I've taken control of a struggling Man Utd in 2008/2009 season. They were lying 8th in the league.

Results as follows:

(H)Macclesfield (FA Cup) 13-0

(A)Aston Villa 3-2

(H)Bristol City 2-0

(A)Ipswich 1-1

(A)Liverpool (FA Cup) 2-3

(H)Wigan 5-0

(A)Liverpool 1-2

(H)Tottenham 2-0

A good set of results considering the morale of the team when I took over and both Liverpool games could have gone either way

What strikes me most is the type of football we're now playing - it's a pleasure to watch.

All in all, outstanding work on this. And the technical explanations are great as well

KUTGW

[lam]

IM having a mare !!!!!!!!

start of season (which i know can cause problems).

0-2 Blackburn

3-1 West Ham

1-3 Newcastle

0-2 Fulham

2-1 Liverpool (after some serious off the line clearances in the last few mins)

1-1 Bolton

3-2 APOEL (was down 0-2 end of 1st half)

0-1 Aston Villa.

Just do not get it. I am either picking the wrong formations or i do not know what.

Gernerally I will pick attack at home if slight favourite vs a small farrow 442 and same away.

Counter against a stronger team.

Once they have scored and settled into the game (the opposition that is) i can then come back a bit, but by then i am way down on the score board or on shots/possession and my morale at halftime is shocking.

Any sugggestions would be most gratefull !!!!

I am spurs. I have signed Vaart and Downing

Thanks

Lee

[Kizo]

Hey Zagallo

I really like your tactic much, finally something that looks like a normal football tactic.

But, playing with Aston Villa I get literally destroyed by the top three teams (ManUtd, Arsenal, Chelsea). Inexplicable! Running a fine run of results and than get eniolated by those.

Also very hard to win games away.

Any advice?

[Guest]

Hi lam.

Sorry about that. Did you use opposition instructions? Maybe working on them could help.

Other ideas:

Try using the control tactic more. Away as well as at home, but there with team mentality one notch up to attacking.

Try tight marking for the DCs.

Give MCd a back arrow to DMC position.

Play a little narrower.

These are the things I could think of. Would you give me some feedback if that helps? Thanks.

[vasilli07]

hi zagallo, with regards to oppositions instructions...

Do you close down the players no matter how skillful or fast they are? Cause if they are very fast, your players maybe pull out of positions.

And a off topic question, how do you make/save your training into 1? Cause everytime i save my training, they will be save as defenders, midfielders and etc. And everytime i start a new game, i have to load them 1 by 1 which is quite troublesome.

[james_33]

The only downside to this is that if you change your tactic during a game you have to re-enter your opposition instructions

[Kizo]

@james_33

this is because the bug in the game

[Kizo]

@zagallo

sorry mate it seems it doesn't work at all against stronger teams. i had two games in a row against liverpool, lost both with 4 goals each conceeded, virtually impossible to defend no matter what i do. what teams did you test your tactic on, just don't say man ut or arsenal, please...

[Guest]

@vasilli07

Just for the opp wingers I always use "close down always", even if they are quick (FBs sould be pretty quick too...). The FBs won't be drwan out of position as the AIs wingers rarely move into the pitch but stay on the sideline. So the FBs will also stay there.

In the center it's different. If the DCs get drawn out, you'll have problems. So I never use this OI for fast strikers.

For AMCs it depends. If the opp plays with 1 striker and 1 AMC and he is quick, I don't use it. If they play with 2 strikers and 1 AMC, you can. Example: I had good success tight marking and closing down always for Kaka vs. Milan (they playaed diamond formation).

To training save: If you are in the Edit schedules function for the training, tick all schedules you want to put into the file, then simply use export-button and the software will place them all in one file.

@Kizo

I did actually test it with Arsenal. But not alone. I did also try it with Valencia and Frankfurt, whose quality is less than Villa. And I played some games with Derby to see if that works - but there I had to tweak a lot... With the mid- to lower-quality teams, I mostly didn't win against the big four. But draws vs. Liverpool or Chelsea were possible.

[Guest]

Originally posted by james_33:

The only downside to this is that if you change your tactic during a game you have to re-enter your opposition instructions

I know. It's annoying - but it pays off!

[james_33]

Beat Arsenal 5-1 at Old Trafford. This is awesome considering we ended in 4th and they won the premiership by a country mile as well as the champion's league for the second time running.

[Kizo]

@zagallo

of course draws are possible, but unfortunately i am miles off! they just crush me, also the tactics works very hard when playing on snowy or rainy pitch. with some tactics you can actually win against chelsea, but they only last till half season. let's see if we can do something constructive because there is no chance in hell to win the league with for example man city with your tactics when you are certain of minimum six defeats in the season, probably eight, when you count in two unplanned you are up to ten! we need to tweak it so draws are a strong possibility against these teams, and maybe you sneak a win! what did you do with derby, as i said i am now miles off...

[Guest]

Originally posted by Kizo:

@zagallo

of course draws are possible, but unfortunately i am miles off! they just crush me, also the tactics works very hard when playing on snowy or rainy pitch. with some tactics you can actually win against chelsea, but they only last till half season. let's see if we can do something constructive because there is no chance in hell to win the league with for example man city with your tactics when you are certain of minimum six defeats in the season, probably eight, when you count in two unplanned you are up to ten! we need to tweak it so draws are a strong possibility against these teams, and maybe you sneak a win! what did you do with derby, as i said i am now miles off...

With Derby I reduced the mentality for the DCs, the FwR, RwB and Through Balls for the FBs. All were on man-marking and tight-marking. For tougher games FBs on hard tackling. Put the MCd on same mentality as DCs and let him man-mark plus gave him barrow (I also bought a new DMC). Upped closing down for MCa to higher medium. One winger on cross rarely, other on mixed, through balls often, RwB mixed. Upped the closing-dwon for strikers - fast one to always, TM to higher mixed. Most of the time I used lower medium def line and upper medium team closing down. Tempo lower normal, when attacking quick, lower normal width. That's about it I think. A lot of tweaking though... In the OIs I let them tight mark the whole offense plus closing down always as usual and also for the FBs. Will you try that? I'd be interested to hear how it goes. Guess I should also start a game with a weak team again... Btw, what training are you using? The one I have included with the tactics? Do you have good coaches? I always buy coaches at the beginning - that's the first thing for me...

[Kizo]

@zagallo

i use the training that you gave. but, problem is that there is a vast difference in quality of play between matches against teams other than big four and those against big four with same tactic set. it seems if you don't have top players than a lot of tweaking or a completely new tactic is needed when playing against top teams. actually i think this is a good thing because basic set is going to last longer.

get back to you when i try the tweaks that you proposed ( i beleive that they are for the control set )

[ropat]

tweaking

Hi Zagallo,

u did a great job guys . My team till now work quite well follow your framework.

But i prefer to play with 2 MC low ( more defensive)keep the ball and play long ball to both flank to winger, and 2 winger likely cut through the middle to play 1-2 with SC or try through ball, so they will attract the defender to create space for FB overlap to create the cross to striker. (like the FC Bayern playing style)

u have any suggestion to do that ?? thank you

[Kizo]

@zagallo

ok! this is definately a step in a right direction, it is possible now to win, and if not, to die honorably. only thing, don't tick man marking on dc's because you open a possibility that a quality striker like pandev will go past them and create a chance. this way, striker falls into offside trap. but, you should definately try your tactic with an average team on a longer period because after about 50 games that i have played with this system i see signs of cracking, it's not all easy any more than it used to be. have you got a tweak maybe to prevent this?

[AddicksFan73]

Awesome post

I hope Alan Pardew gets to read this !!

[Guest]

@ropat

I never played it with deep MCs. Guess you have to change the settings for the wingers a lot. Would give them high creative freedom, fwr and through balls, but mixed or low crosses and rwb. Probably even a free role. One MC must be defensive and stay back, maybe on DC mentality. The other should attack and use fwr often. Both with lots of through balls while crossing from deep. Passing down both flanks. For the FBs the settings should work as they use overlapping. GK distribution could go to an MC. I would also let the strikers close down heavyly as the center is wide open.

@Kizo

Good to hear that it get better. In my games over a longer period I ran into re-ranking. The choice of tactics will be different then. Less counter, more control. If attacking, then even more attacking. Also the closing-down might be raised. It seems like the AI gets to know the frame and adapts. But I hardly believe that a learning process is implemented into the AI. So it's just a different approach other teams use when playing against your team, as the perception of your quality is different (better). You have to work on the tactics over time to adjust them to this. That happened with every tactic I have used so far, not just this framework.

@AddicksFan73

lol. Send him the link...

[ropat]

thanks zagallo, i'll try to adapt this to the tactics and see how it work.

[lam]

Z,

thanks for the reply.

I have just played my first game with the changes you suggested. i drew 1-1 with Spurs getting an injury time equaliser, so still a dispointing result. However the stats were far strong and i think we played well, we just didnt finish well. Their goal came from a cross where (for some reason) my DC had decided not to man mark (despite the instruction to) and had moved into supporting role and left Malbranque to man mark their FC.

Stats: S14 SOT6 Poss60 PC75 vs S4 SOT3 Poss40 PC48.

so... need to look at Finishing. My TM (Berbatov) seems to be man marked everywhere we play. One thing i have noticed is the incredibly large number of charged down shots. Especialy so from my TM. Any advice on that?

I will play around until you comment or until i work something out.

Thanks again

Lee

[lam]

Z,

i have re-read through the comments here and cano not find the part that i need.

As general rule, should the OI for the FC's be closing down AND tight marking?

thanks

[lam]

sometimes i feel like throwing this game through the damn window !!!

Just cant work these tactics....... guess some things are just not meant to be.

Following the draw i beat the APOEL 6-0, so i figure hey its finaly working (not that they are a good team).

BUt i have just been whipped by Portsmouth 4-0 away. they lined up with a 4 1 2 2 1 (one striker and 2 wings) so i lined up with control as they were 20th spot. After conceding two goals i changed to attack and conceded a further two goals.

Not good.

Lee

[lam]

Z,

I was thinking more about your strategy in relation to the closing down and it got me thinking. Now .... a word of note.... i am crap at this but, its more a topic for discussion than anything else.

My thoughts were based around the differing settings based in the three catagories of closing down:

Own area 1 to 6

Own Half 7 to 14

Whole Pitch 15 to 20.

Put this strategy into two tactical extreames - defence or control/pull press.

Whilst i might still want my DM to close down in own half, if the opposition are attacking hard and i want him to keep his place in the formation tight i may set it to 7 or 8 which is still own half, but its a controlled closing down. The opposite to this could be if the oppo are sitting back in a defencive formation and are knocking the ball around. And again, I want my DM to retain the formation but i want him to work hard, so i might set him to 14, which is again, still clsoing down in 'own half', but this time he is really pushing it.

I have set up the following changes and will see how they go (im not to hot at this, so perhaps someone that already has this working might try it).

Attacking: Roughly in the middle of each section (ie 11 for DM and 17 for Wing) that is relevant to each positon.

Defence: Close to the left side of each section (ie 9 for DM and 15 for Wing).

I am sorry if this seems obvious or completely doesnt work. but its food for thought.

any comments?

Lee

[FrancescoTotti88]

Hey Zagallo,

First of all I want to thank you for sharing your (great) approach to the game, I learned a lot from it!

Currently the tactic works fine for me, but I have a remark/question.

Don't you think the FB's are too offensively minded (see screenshot)?

Especially the left back in this situation is almost directly next to the winger.

What is your opinion about this?

Thank you!

[ropat]

Hi, i just tried some more match with the tweak from your suggestion.

The team do quite like what i want them to play,but still have some question, can you help me

- The two striker do not quite well ( Toni and Klose), I set them 1 target man and 1 striker, but they not score often (most goal come the winger who cut through or long shot from CM ). They not try to run to receive the through ball from midfield.

- The two CB not man mark well, they often let opposite ST shot from outside the penalty area, and they score many goal from that. And the FB still run to close to the winger ( same with Totti's opinion above), even i low down the mental of the FB and give the winger high Creative to encourage them to cut through the middle. you have any solution for that

So what do you think if i switch the defend system to man mark ( 2 CB and 2 FB), dont use tigh marking??

[Kizo]

@zagallo

man, even though the defensive approach is working, i realised that you (and the rest of us using your tactic set) are having a real issue with defending! after conceedeing more than 50 goals with villa in my first season using your tactic, i bought a new goalie (decent robert green) and a classy defender (naldo). nothing happens, actually it is getting worse because now it's no problem for reading to score me two goals. so, once again it's easy to compile a defence if you have kolo toure, sagna, clichy, traore, senderos etc. to this with less quality players is a different thing. so, i do beleive that this is a good set because i still get a decent number of chances, and have a decent shot/goal ratio but i concede to easily, almost rediculous! they just walk through my defence as if coloccini and naldo are a couple of youngsters. i turned off offside because the team never had any and ticked man marking. same thing, martins and owen score in first 15 minutes, finished 2:0 for newcastle. what to do? let's do something since your set is the only one that works decent in the long run on the 8.0.2 patch.

[bob payne]

I find it useful to not give the wingers any opposition instructions, as the full backs on tight man marking do that anyway. However, the central midfielders tend to control the game, so closing down on them and perhaps tight marking should do the trick.

Just look at the stats at half time, and if the central mids are passing alot (especially key passes) just go nuts on them in the OP.

[Guest]

Originally posted by lam:

Z,

I was thinking more about your strategy in relation to the closing down and it got me thinking. Now .... a word of note.... i am crap at this but, its more a topic for discussion than anything else.

My thoughts were based around the differing settings based in the three catagories of closing down:

Own area 1 to 6

Own Half 7 to 14

Whole Pitch 15 to 20.

Put this strategy into two tactical extreames - defence or control/pull press.

Whilst i might still want my DM to close down in own half, if the opposition are attacking hard and i want him to keep his place in the formation tight i may set it to 7 or 8 which is still own half, but its a controlled closing down. The opposite to this could be if the oppo are sitting back in a defencive formation and are knocking the ball around. And again, I want my DM to retain the formation but i want him to work hard, so i might set him to 14, which is again, still clsoing down in 'own half', but this time he is really pushing it.

I have set up the following changes and will see how they go (im not to hot at this, so perhaps someone that already has this working might try it).

Attacking: Roughly in the middle of each section (ie 11 for DM and 17 for Wing) that is relevant to each positon.

Defence: Close to the left side of each section (ie 9 for DM and 15 for Wing).

I am sorry if this seems obvious or completely doesnt work. but its food for thought.

any comments?

Lee

Interesting thought. I usually use more closing-down the more I am attacking. But not going into extremes.Putting the wingers on high closing-down makes much sense to lock the sidelines. But I fear you'll get problems with the MCd. I think own half is too low for him, as the center midfield will be more vulnerable to attacks. I strongly believe he should be on always, 15 at least, to cover the MCa and pressure every opponent that comes close to the central position. Not matter if defending or attacking and trying to limit the opponent's space. But you should think about heavy closing-down for the strikers to press the def line. Just beware of long balls over their heads then... Anyway, tell us how it's working for you.

[Guest]

Originally posted by FrancescoTotti88:

Hey Zagallo,

First of all I want to thank you for sharing your (great) approach to the game, I learned a lot from it!

Currently the tactic works fine for me, but I have a remark/question.

Don't you think the FB's are too offensively minded (see screenshot)?

Especially the left back in this situation is almost directly next to the winger.

What is your opinion about this?

Thank you!

Hi Francesco.

Which one of the teams is yours? The white one I suppose? Anyway, you can see, that both teams use attacking FBs. So the AI uses the same philosophy...

The blue ones are almost overlapping while attacking, creating numerical superiority on the sideline and playing wide. Still, they have 3 men staying back to cover the field, 2 DCs and the MCd I suppose. When putting pressure on the opponent that should be sufficient.

The white ones, defending, hold their formation in relation to the rest of the team in a semi-circle, while the whole team shifts into the direction of the ball (left side). The white LB here is absolutely in position, covering the blue 11. The white winger is out of position (fortunately), tracking back to cover the blue 7. So it's difficult to find a good passing option for the man with the ball. Same on the right side, the RB and winger should start running on the 2 blue players as soon as anyone starts playing a flank to their side.

At first glance it may look unusual or even frightening. But this is how an attacking flat 4-4-2 should play. Perfect.

[Guest ssharp1981]

I have just started using these tactics with a new Arsenal game and they are working quite well.

I have a couple of questions though.

1 - How do you tighten the defence, i have currently conceded 26 goals in 22 games

2 - How do you decide which tactic to use if you are a top team, as the read me file just tells you which ones to use if you face stonger teams. I am currently guessing which ones to use.

Otherwise keep up the good work.

Cheers

[Guest]

Originally posted by ropat:

Hi, i just tried some more match with the tweak from your suggestion.

The team do quite like what i want them to play,but still have some question, can you help me

- The two striker do not quite well ( Toni and Klose), I set them 1 target man and 1 striker, but they not score often (most goal come the winger who cut through or long shot from CM ). They not try to run to receive the through ball from midfield.

- The two CB not man mark well, they often let opposite ST shot from outside the penalty area, and they score many goal from that. And the FB still run to close to the winger ( same with Totti's opinion above), even i low down the mental of the FB and give the winger high Creative to encourage them to cut through the middle. you have any solution for that

So what do you think if i switch the defend system to man mark ( 2 CB and 2 FB), dont use tigh marking??

Hi ropat.

If you want a striker to sit back a little, you might either reduce his mentality to "team" or give him a back arrow. Reduce their creative freedom, give the more attacking striker a free role. Set the more attacking striker on mixed fwr, rwb often, rest mixed plus cross from byline. And the less attacking target man to fwr rarely, rest mixed, through balls often, cross from deep. That might work.

For the DCs: Yes you can use tight man-marking for them. But the Munich defense should be good enough to play zonal. If you get goals from long shots, that might be outside the DC area. You should look at the 2 DMCs then and maybe raise their closing down or put them on man or tight marking. Or you raise yor def line and/or the CDs clsosing-down a bit to move the DCs closer.

For FBs: See my answer to Totti. And take a look at how Munich is playing. Lahm is constantly running up and down the pitch, overlapping with the wingers. That's the desired style of play using this setup.

[Kizo]

@zagallo

@bob payne

it seems that the thing is in width. if you are not a top team you cannot afford to play very wide because you leave to much space to opposition attack and consiquently two cd's alone with faster opposition forwards. second, fb's should have a lower mentality, because of space they leave behind. also, you cannont play offside trap because your teamwork is combined below 15, so you play man marking across the defence but not tight marking because you risk the danger from technically gifted players. giving fb's tight marking is something to think about. give wingers man marking because of overlapping opposition fb's, they stop them. only problem here is that there is a danger that your fb and your winger block the same opposition winger leaving opposition fb for a free cross which opponent punishes if they have a tall forward. how to solve that? this way your game is slower but more patient and intelligent. since using such a setup i managed to win twice with a decent amount of confidence (players morale suddenly risen high) but a problem with fb's crossing occurs in the third game. it seems the only way opposition breaks down my defence is with deep crosses and corners (another problem - how to manage lower amount of goals conceded from corners and game break-ups?). try this, let's see...

[Guest]

Originally posted by Kizo:

@zagallo

man, even though the defensive approach is working, i realised that you (and the rest of us using your tactic set) are having a real issue with defending! after conceedeing more than 50 goals with villa in my first season using your tactic, i bought a new goalie (decent robert green) and a classy defender (naldo). nothing happens, actually it is getting worse because now it's no problem for reading to score me two goals. so, once again it's easy to compile a defence if you have kolo toure, sagna, clichy, traore, senderos etc. to this with less quality players is a different thing. so, i do beleive that this is a good set because i still get a decent number of chances, and have a decent shot/goal ratio but i concede to easily, almost rediculous! they just walk through my defence as if coloccini and naldo are a couple of youngsters. i turned off offside because the team never had any and ticked man marking. same thing, martins and owen score in first 15 minutes, finished 2:0 for newcastle. what to do? let's do something since your set is the only one that works decent in the long run on the 8.0.2 patch.

I just don't get it. No matter what team I played, I never conceded that much. But anyway, what about changing the frame a little? You could set the MCd to the DCs mentality and the target man to team mentality. That would make a 3-6-1 frame and should be better suited if you have problems defensively. Put the DCs closing down on last notch of own area, FBs on 10. All on tight marking. Set all attributes of the FBs on mixed, long shots on rarely. Use a barrow for the DMC and let him cross from deep, fwr on rarely, tight marking. MCa closes down on 12 or 13, wingers on 16. Use a medium def line (9). Set team closing down to last notch of own area. If that doesn't make for a pretty tight defense, I am helpless... sorry...

[Guest]

Originally posted by ssharp1981:

I have just started using these tactics with a new Arsenal game and they are working quite well.

I have a couple of questions though.

1 - How do you tighten the defence, i have currently conceded 26 goals in 22 games

2 - How do you decide which tactic to use if you are a top team, as the read me file just tells you which ones to use if you face stronger teams. I am currently guessing which ones to use.

Otherwise keep up the good work.

Cheers

This thing was heavily tested with Arsenal. I conceded 14 goals in the first season. Apart from using tight marking for the DCs there should not be much more need to tighten that...

Anyway, here again are some measures that could help: rise closing down for FBs, lower DCs mentality 1 notch, put MCd on tight marking or(!) man-marking when playing tough opponent, reduce creative freedom for MCd, give MCd an barrow to DMC position, put DMC on same mentality as DCs (-> 3-5-2 frame), up closing-down for MCa and MCd (watch out for fouls), reduce tempo, reduce width, put team passing more to short side.

The ReadMe tells you which tactic to use. Even as Arsenal you will encounter stronger and weaker teams, just take a look at the match predictions. Basically you should use attacking at home, counter away. Against teams that are closer to you in the league table use control. As is away, with higher team mentality at home. After first half of the season and re-ranking, use more control than counter when away. Good luck.

[Guest]

Originally posted by Kizo:

@zagallo

@bob payne

it seems that the thing is in width. if you are not a top team you cannot afford to play very wide because you leave to much space to opposition attack and consiquently two cd's alone with faster opposition forwards. second, fb's should have a lower mentality, because of space they leave behind. also, you cannont play offside trap because your teamwork is combined below 15, so you play man marking across the defence but not tight marking because you risk the danger from technically gifted players. giving fb's tight marking is something to think about. give wingers man marking because of overlapping opposition fb's, they stop them. only problem here is that there is a danger that your fb and your winger block the same opposition winger leaving opposition fb for a free cross which opponent punishes if they have a tall forward. how to solve that? this way your game is slower but more patient and intelligent. since using such a setup i managed to win twice with a decent amount of confidence (players morale suddenly risen high) but a problem with fb's crossing occurs in the third game. it seems the only way opposition breaks down my defence is with deep crosses and corners (another problem - how to manage lower amount of goals conceded from corners and game break-ups?). try this, let's see...

Sure width is an important part. You can/should reduce it for the control setup. But be careful not to get too narrow or you might not be able to cover the wings properly.