Randalls Tactic

[firskrim]

Ive not really much time with fm these days. I used bilbao and now is christmas and im top of the table. i'm battered most of the game, but its my keeper that has been excellent and we took our chances well.

[Les Girondins]

Update:

Transfers:

1st 11:

Formation:

(cont)

[Les Girondins]

Results:

Manager Profile:

So there you have it! No hax, no tampering, no data editing etc. I have dramatically over-achieved with your tactic Randal ..

The players I have signed (25!!) have all been mid table battlers and a lot of them were PA < 110. I also have a 20m gap in my net spend.

I will admit I have been lucky in some matches but I have also read the ME well and changed to attack or posession based shouts at just the right moments to snatch goals and win a lot of matches 1-0.

We specialsie in the late equalizer/winner now thanks to the overload/shouts you suggested in your OP rand. They work!

This is the most amazing experience I have ever had in FM. Its insane that I could do so well with such a 'meh' team. Admittedly I could be mid table nowhere if I hadn't nicked so many 1-0's but thats part and parcel of being a good manager and managing morale etc effectively. Its the difference between success and failure. The tactics just make that so much easier!

We are not worthy!

[Up The Bracket]

Trying this tactic with Zaragoza, currently 11th overall but the home/away table is a total contrast.

Home - 3rd Played 12 Won 8 Drawn 3 Lost 1 (Highlight a 4-0 win over Valencia)

Away - 18th Played 10 Won 1 Drawn 1 Lost 8

Defence probably isn't the best but surprised it's so good at home but so bad away, will try and test some tweaks away from home though.

[Les Girondins]

Trying this tactic with Zaragoza, currently 11th overall but the home/away table is a total contrast.

Home - 3rd Played 12 Won 8 Drawn 3 Lost 1 (Highlight a 4-0 win over Valencia)

Away - 18th Played 10 Won 1 Drawn 1 Lost 8

Defence probably isn't the best but surprised it's so good at home but so bad away, will try and test some tweaks away from home though.

Getting a consistent back two is key to any success in FM tbh.

My DC pairing of Rafa and Rivas is pretty solid; Rafa is 'highly reliable' and has excellent mental stats and 'marks opponent tightly' ppm and Rivas has 18 determination, strength, work rate and heading etc. He's a monster in the 'cover' role. Even tho his concentration and composure are rubbish he does what I am asking him to do - get a foot in and be everywhere at once.

The other thing is the MC role needs to be someone who is strong, quick, technical AND good going forward and defending. Check out Viktor Elm he's the ideal template MC.

[Les Girondins]

Looking at the analysis tool would suggest that heading is very important for both forwards and the AMC. My stats show that these three players are winning less than 15% of their headers every match. The AMC also, in my team, is very lightweight and I think he would benefit from being stronger and more mobile ..

The new analysis tool is epic. Well worth a look. It really helps show you where where your game is breaking down ..

I got my left winger dashing down the wing making 5-10 runs a game and crossing the ball to my forwards who are losing the header and the move is breaking down. Also got an AMC who does track back but never wins any of his challenges in midfield etc.

[RandallUK]

Yeah I win A LOT of games by the odd goal, usually one nil.

Try doing teamtalks that are less expectant away from home and also make sure your two centre backs are solid and have good morale. Your DMC needs to be good too. It's strange because for me it performs better away from home if anything.

[Les Girondins]

Yeah I win A LOT of games by the odd goal, usually one nil.

Try doing teamtalks that are less expectant away from home and also make sure your two centre backs are solid and have good morale. Your DMC needs to be good too. It's strange because for me it performs better away from home if anything.

I had a look at my first 11's determination and every single player has 15+. If they are also professional/ambitious/spirited etc and have min 12 work rate and team work I reckon you can click the 'I win' button more times than not.

[kornel]

Hi Randall,

just a quick question:

is there any difference between opening post tactin and tactic 124 post? I guess nothing... or... ?

THX

[Up The Bracket]

Looking at the analysis tool would suggest that heading is very important for both forwards and the AMC. My stats show that these three players are winning less than 15% of their headers every match. The AMC also, in my team, is very lightweight and I think he would benefit from being stronger and more mobile ..

The new analysis tool is epic. Well worth a look. It really helps show you where where your game is breaking down ..

I got my left winger dashing down the wing making 5-10 runs a game and crossing the ball to my forwards who are losing the header and the move is breaking down. Also got an AMC who does track back but never wins any of his challenges in midfield etc.

Cheers for the advice - Looked at the analysis after a 5-4 defeat away to Sporting. Kevin Thomson (MC) lost 8 of his 10 headers and two of them cost a goal.

Used the shouts to come back from 4-0 down before conceding a last minute penalty.

Will try a new game and sort out the defence properly this time!

[efcdave]

hey im just starting my second season in the prem with my beloved local team harlow town.

i started useing this tactic towards the end of last season, for the league cup final actualy, which i won. i also managed to get 6th.

im 10 games in on the new season using this tactic, p10 - w6 - d4 - L0.

my first 3 games were draws and were againsed everton, man city and villa so, so far so good

[Leto2626]

This tactic is working ok, but I'm losing a bit too much because I have the feeling the MC needs to be absolutely world class for this tactic to work. The DMC (Sissoko) sets up more actions than the MC (Filipe Melo, tried a lot of players here but a 7.0 is getting exceptional), while the MC is the one that should providing support. Maybe it's the players, I'm going to try Sissoko on the MC for a few games.

I'm pretty happy with possession and the defence (lots of long shot attempts and blocked shots from opponent, which is good). I have Modric and Giovinco who can play AML as well as AMC and Diego also AMC, so those are pretty much world class, but those depend a lot on the MC and he's not really doing his job. I even played Modric on that position a few games, and actually did better than Melo, but I need his creativity and other skills more up front.

[upthedons]

Doh!..... just sold my left wingers to accomodate the ultimo domination narrow tactic, what seems to be the more successfull out of the 2?

[nedge01]

Anyone tryed this tactic in the Lower Leages? I mean Blue Square south ? Or wont the players be good enough ?

[RandallUK]

I tested this tactic with a team using felipe melo and he was sensational in the MC role, played really well.

This tactic should work in the lower leagues as it should scale down with the players in the leagues, I played a bit with Basingstoke with this tactic in BSS and did okay.

[salmonskinroll]

hi randall. Im wanting to use your tactic, ive just started a game with nottingham forest. Ive clicked on the first upload on the first page. It opened fine, i clicked download this file. It then says you have chosen to open...(your tactic) then what should fire fox do with this file? open with and theres a browsing option next to it or i can click save file? ive pressed save file. When i find the file, windows cant recognise it and therefore i cant open it up and use it. What should i open the file with?

[Les Girondins]

Cheers for the advice - Looked at the analysis after a 5-4 defeat away to Sporting. Kevin Thomson (MC) lost 8 of his 10 headers and two of them cost a goal.

Used the shouts to come back from 4-0 down before conceding a last minute penalty.

Will try a new game and sort out the defence properly this time!

My AMC never gets a rating over 6.6 unless he scores. I couldnt figure it out tbh. Then I used the analysis tool and .. he wasn't winning ANY headers or ANY tackles. I played Rivaldo (38!) in the AMC role and he never got a worse rating than 6.9 in 8 games. Why? He's tall and has 15 heading.

Anyway AMC needs to win headers AND he needs to have the strength and stamina to win 1-1's in the middle of the park.

The MC does need to be a monster .. but my monster cost me £1.9m and he's 6ft 4, strong, hard working, can head, tackle and pass ..

[Les Girondins]

hi randall. Im wanting to use your tactic, ive just started a game with nottingham forest. Ive clicked on the first upload on the first page. It opened fine, i clicked download this file. It then says you have chosen to open...(your tactic) then what should fire fox do with this file? open with and theres a browsing option next to it or i can click save file? ive pressed save file. When i find the file, windows cant recognise it and therefore i cant open it up and use it. What should i open the file with?

You need to move the .tac file into your tactics folder (or any folder you like) then go into Tactics > Manage in the game and Load the .tac file by browsing to it and selecting it.

[Leto2626]

I tested this tactic with a team using felipe melo and he was sensational in the MC role, played really well.

This tactic should work in the lower leagues as it should scale down with the players in the leagues, I played a bit with Basingstoke with this tactic in BSS and did okay.

Well that is very bizarre as I never touched instructions on the midfielders and he even had some 5's recently. I'm going to sell him, even Dzagoev plays better on the MC spot. I just wonder why eveyone always buys Melo when he can't even get a decent 7 now and them on his favorite position in my game ...

Anyway against big teams I can't get consistent results, ok I won away at Inter twice (end of last season when I already won Serie A, and first match this season in Serie A), then in the cup semi final i was 0-2 ahead (!!) after 20 minutes, Inter got a red card, scored, got another red card and scored again ! Whole team didn't get a chance after the first red card Inter got, that must have been the worst match I've seen in like 10 years of FM. And to make it even worse I lost the home match, so didn't even make it to the final, Melo had an average of 6.0 over the 2 games, and that's supposed to be a good midfielder in FM? Brasil stopped calling him up, now he's even more demotivated

Going to keep using the tactic until the end of the season so I can see a global conclusion. I'm adjusting team instructions according to situations of course. So it's not like I'm just clicking and filling players in or something, it's just very strange the midfield thing.

Besides Inter (AC Milan are crap this season) only real good team I had to play so far was Liverpool, never stood a chance (had about 8 chances in both games together, conceded 6 goals). So for next season I'll have to think how to change the midfield as obviously that's were stuff goes wrong when it really matters. I'm only on top of the Serie A because I scored 12 goals from corners in 23 games so far (with my own set pieces from FM09 that still work pretty good).

The tactic fits my style, and I can't really complain, but I'm going to look deeper for an explanation for the MC thing, I will never win the Champion's League if clubs like Liverpool keep kicking my butt

[Les Girondins]

Leto mate, use the analysis tool! It will tell you why their ratings are so low. It will be missed headers, lost tackles or crappy passes. Just get the right player based on what they are sucking at .. usually its headers in my game.

[Leto2626]

Leto mate, use the analysis tool! It will tell you why their ratings are so low. It will be missed headers, lost tackles or crappy passes. Just get the right player based on what they are sucking at .. usually its headers in my game.

Pass completion is high enough, headers as well, but I noticed there isn't enough tackling from defensive players, my strikers are tackling at least as much, hence low tackling percentage. But still it doesn't explain why I have this problem and obviously others haven't. This is the cool part of FM, understanding why some stuff happens

[Les Girondins]

The default tactic with no shouts is rather direct at times and I think it would suit a less technical, faster tempo, strong/heading sort of team. My world class striker is a real demon with the ball at his feet - technique, dribbling etc. I use the shouts retain posession and work ball into box and they team plays slower, more composed, more patient/short passing and our superior technique shows and we score lots of goals.

I think you need to alternate your styles of play based on opposition and your squad characteristics for sure ..

[Leto2626]

I think I need to play shorter passing yes, just noticed in my last game the AMC did 10 headers (1 won), AML 8 (2 won), this is not my intention that those players put their heads against the ball All My target men and strikers are beasts in the air though, so I need to try to make them pass correctly to the correct players. I had this problem in FM09 as well and never really found the solution.

[RandallUK]

Any success yet mate?

[kornel]

Results:

Manager Profile:

So there you have it! No hax, no tampering, no data editing etc. I have dramatically over-achieved with your tactic Randal ..

The players I have signed (25!!) have all been mid table battlers and a lot of them were PA < 110. I also have a 20m gap in my net spend.

I will admit I have been lucky in some matches but I have also read the ME well and changed to attack or posession based shouts at just the right moments to snatch goals and win a lot of matches 1-0.

We specialsie in the late equalizer/winner now thanks to the overload/shouts you suggested in your OP rand. They work!

This is the most amazing experience I have ever had in FM. Its insane that I could do so well with such a 'meh' team. Admittedly I could be mid table nowhere if I hadn't nicked so many 1-0's but thats part and parcel of being a good manager and managing morale etc effectively. Its the difference between success and failure. The tactics just make that so much easier!

We are not worthy!

Do you use any opp. instructions?

[Les Girondins]

Only common sense ones ..

If I have a good ass man I have him do it - but I do check them to make sure there's no silly closing down or hard tackling, as they are prone to suggesting.

Most of the time I just leave it blank at all but the top division level.

If the AI goes to 4-2-4 I set all 4 strikers tight marking and full backs closing down always and show on to oppositing foot.

If they are using a playmaker (by looking at stats) I shut him down.

If they are using long balls that are carving me up I use shouts to keep posession more etc.

What do you recommend Randal?

[Falahk]

this does indeed look very interesting, will probebly give it a shot with my nottingham forest test game(in an invertet set up since it seams to suit the team better) or as a back up plan in my newcastle game, if 2 of my wingers get hurt

[RandallUK]

falahk how did it go?

[jay_23]

randall do u think the tactic will still be effective if i altered the positions to make it a FLAT 4-4-2 ?

[RandallUK]

Probably not mate, but by all means try it.

[SUCK IT]

Is this 10.2 and How well would it work with Inter Milan

[RandallUK]

yeah this is 10.2 also, should work well with inter milan.

[Sloken]

Hey. I was going to launch a new game this weekend and was wondering if you could recommend any particular team in one of them big four countries, namely England, Spain, Germany or Italy. Preferably, no top teams, but teams just below the top. Are very eager to try your tactics man. =) Be good / Sloken

[RandallUK]

Everton perhaps or tottenham, maybe atletico, juventus. They are just below the top.

[madmike]

This tactic is solid and i can not believe i overlooked it for so long.

I am 3 games into the season with Wolves, original team no new signings.

Wolves 2 - 0 Burnley

Liverpool 1 - 0 Wolves

Wolves 1 - 0 Aston Villa

The only annoying thing (which has nothing to do with the tactic) is after the Liverpool game it said "I am surprised at the result today, Wolves and Liverpool are equal and i expected a draw" Yeah right, if you call Gerrard and Torres equal to Sylvan Ebanks-Blake & David Jones

Anyway great tactic, really solid at the back. I will play some more matches and report back.

Great work Randall

[RandallUK]

Thank you my man.

Yeah sometimes that thing speaks absolute bollocks! Keep me updated on how it goes.

[Falahk]

falahk how did it go?

it looked very promesing in my test game with forrest, but that team did not really tickle my fancy for very long, so i went on to test the basic tactic with Roma...but sadly my team just ended up looking like a blunt dagger (my team did hardly create the amount of chanses needed to score, even if the defence looked solid), so i reverted into a 4-4-2 which improved my preformace

maybe none of the starting players at roma was good enough to do well on the left wing spot, but stuff did not look good up front

[kornel]

I have been using this tactic with Newcastle for 3 years. Look at 3 tables and current squad:

FIRST SEASON:

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/1671/table1.jpg

SECOND SEASON:

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/7061/table2d.jpg

THIRD SEASON:

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/7554/table3.jpg

CURRENT SQUAD:

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/856/squadf.jpg

RANDALL, YOUR TACTIC IS AMAZING!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH ONCE AGAIN!!!

[RandallUK]

Wow extremely good results kornel! Glad I could help you!

Falahk I don't know why this wouldn't be working for you, perhaps it is the players I'm not sure, I'm sorry that it didn't work for you.

[sebstar]

Wow extremely good results kornel! Glad I could help you!

Falahk I don't know why this wouldn't be working for you, perhaps it is the players I'm not sure, I'm sorry that it didn't work for you.

hey randall, i love the tactic, and espacially the system... i like asymetric tactics.. will there be an update for version 10.3 ?

please please please

[RandallUK]

Yeah I'll test it again on 10.3 and check how it goes and tweak it accordingly.

[sebstar]

Yeah I'll test it again on 10.3 and check how it goes and tweak it accordingly.

that is a nice info.. i love systems, including nearly all positions.. like this one : )

[sebstar]

hm any results so far ?

[RandallUK]

I'm testing with Oldham at the moment, I'd appreciate if you also tried it on 10.3, for me it is still too early to say.

[Falahk]

Falahk I don't know why this wouldn't be working for you, perhaps it is the players I'm not sure, I'm sorry that it didn't work for you.

im not exactly sure why it did not work, i think the AML possition was the big problem (menez is crap, and baptista is well...not worth his wage) i bet i would have done much better if i had offloaded the mentioned pair and bought 1-2 new players for the AML spot, maybe the superkeepers of 10,2 played ther part, since i failed to score on the chanses i had, or maybe my team had problem to gel with the tactic and me as manager (started on automatic rep, like i always do, and a small oversight ment that my ingame alterego could not speak italian...)

I do however still think this tactic have a fair bit of potential, and i will maybe give it a few more test runs, im just not sure when i will have the time to do so thought, since im a bit ocupied tweeking my own 4-4-2, and exprimenting with a cuple of other line ups

but i will surly keep myself updated on this thread in the meantime

[sebstar]

ok, i'm testing @ germany second division, mid-class team.. 1 win, 1 unlucky loss away ( 2 penaltys failed )

[RandallUK]

This is working extremely well for me in 10.3. Think I'll make a new thread for a slightly tweaked version when I've finished this season. Over half way through and top and unbeaten with oldham in league 1. Predicted 10th.

[jeorge]

can u say the changes u've made so i can give it a try?

[RandallUK]

I'll upload tomorrow or Monday.

In essence it's almost exactly the same, I've lowered tempo ever so slightly and lowered the two CB's mentality, I put everyone on rarely long shots too.

[jeorge]

Thanks RandallUK