Help! I need to find the winning formula

[cpfc4evar]

I need help finding the right tactics to find the winning formula to keep MK Dons in the championship.

I am managing MK Dons, i got them promoted from league one to the championship in 2 and a half seasons. I got off to a good start in the championship but now we find ourselves staring relegation in the face. We have around 10 games left and we are in the bottom 3. I went from fielding a 4-4-2 formation to changing to a 4-3-3. Both don't seem to be working. I am a good young manager and have agreed to join Leicester City at the end of the season. I have 10 games left to save MK Dons from relegation and need to start winning games again.

The transfer window is closed and i was given hardly any money to improve the squad in the window. As it stands every player in the squad was playing League One football last season.

Has anyone got any good tactics or advice???

[oobro]

Well,

Heath's thread about LLM is a good start. There are massive amounts of information in it, though (in my personal opinion) there is an overkill of information.

I can give you some advice about what might work. I'm managaging Utsiktens BK in the Swedish lower divisions and I am doin fairly good.

1) First of all, sitck to the 4-4-2 formation, that one seems to work best for small teams. Don't try to give them alot of difficult roles.

2) In away matches I set Starting Strategy to counter. In home matches I put it on standard. Depending on how the game evolves I switch up and down a bit (dominating putting it a bit more attacking, having a hard time, putting it down a bit.

3) Take a good look at your team. Place the right player on the right place. By clicking on a player in the tacticfield, check how well he fits on that position, maybe someone else fits better.

4) Since your players probably lack proper skills set your team philosophy to rigid and creative freedom to More Disciplined. This will make players focus on their primairy tasks first and not doing "stupid" things. This should reduce the number of mistakes individuel players make.

5) I personally use my assistant alot. When I have played 15-25 minutes (somewhere between) I check the feedback of my assistant manager (or my own observation). Your assistant can provide you with information about how well your team plays. He usually says something about the passing, who is tired and wich player plays a poor match. Use the Shouts to alter the playstyle. For example: when (short) passing is very poor, I let my players play the ball into the foot more. You can look on the internet wich shout does what when you doubt about the effect.

6) Also Matchpreperation can help out alot. A short list that works for me:

Likely win: attacking movement

hope for win: defensive movement

tough match: attack set pieces (works very well for me)

likely defeat: defensive set pieces

Outclassed: blend

Some points of adivce. Make sure you check the Lower League Management thread by heath (stickied)

[Marsupian]

If your a relegation candidate I would play on the counter every game (with other relegation candidates at home as the only exception). I don't think lesser teams can't play lone striker formations but if you do you better have a good reason for it.

I recently accepted a job offer at newport county and my basic plan for the season is to play a counter attacking strategy with 2 defensive central midfielders and attacking wingers. The idea is to make my defense watertight and exploit my pace on the flanks to score goals. It's a simple idea that suits my team and works well against my opponents. I would advice looking at your team and come up with a similar plan that allows you to win games. If you have very good defenders you might play very attacking football trusting on your quality at the back to keep the opponent from outscoring you. Similarly if you have very good attacking players you might adopt a very defensive approach and give a few quality players the creative freedom to unlock the opponents defense with their high mental and technical skills.

I find that keeping things simple can really help and the TC is a perfect tool for the job allowing you to build a working tactic without changing any sliders at all.

[k0109671]

Hello mate, ive just uploaded a tactic which i think would be worth a shot? Its called '4-2-3-1 Mad Decent' - would love to hear how you get on with it!