Playing the swansea way

[David Beckham_7]

How do you do the posts where you quote a post several times?

You mean

...in other words your post is:

quote/reply/quote/reply etc.

like this?

[drevil1969]

@Cleon cheers I was using those ones you gave near the front of the post already. To dominate a game and against a team you might struggle with. Was having difficulty with other shouts though but reading on as you have put more up in regards to the W-M formation.

[SCIAG]

I'm starting a Newcastle save and I'm going to try and play the Swansea way. There are a few personel issues that make it quite difficult, but I'm going to give it a shot

Here is my basic set up:

--------------GK------------

FB (a)-DC(x)--- BP©-FB(auto)

------BWM (d)---DLP (d)------

W (s)-------AP (a)-------IF (a)

------------AF (a)------------

Krul; Santon, Taylor, Coloccini, Bertrand; Tioté, Cabaye; Gutiérrez, Ben Arfa, Ba; Cissé

Tactically I'm set up pretty much as you'd expect, control, short passing, fluid, press more.

The main difference between this tactic and the one Swansea use is Tioté. There was no way I could get in a player who could do the Britton role as well as Tiote can destroy, so I've stuck with him. I'll look to get someone in next summer when I have a bigger budget.

One problem is that Ben Arfa is out with an injury for several months, and Marveaux isn't good enough to play the Sigurdsson role, so initially I will play a traditional 4-4-2 with Jonas and Obertan/Marveaux on the wings and Cissé and Ba up front. The other problem is the full backs, where I don't want to risk playing with two attacking full backs and Santon doesn't have the stamina to attack all match anyway.

A word of warning- I'll probably abandon the 4-2-3-1 except for injuries if the 4-4-2 works brilliantly. I hope morale is sustained and performances are decent, but I can drop the spare winger when Ben Arfa is fit.

[Cleon]

I'm starting a Newcastle save and I'm going to try and play the Swansea way. There are a few personel issues that make it quite difficult, but I'm going to give it a shot

Here is my basic set up:

--------------GK------------

FB (a)-DC(x)--- BP©-FB(auto)

------BWM (d)---DLP (d)------

W (s)-------AP (a)-------IF (a)

------------AF (a)------------

Krul; Santon, Taylor, Coloccini, Bertrand; Tioté, Cabaye; Gutiérrez, Ben Arfa, Ba; Cissé

Tactically I'm set up pretty much as you'd expect, control, short passing, fluid, press more.

The main difference between this tactic and the one Swansea use is Tioté. There was no way I could get in a player who could do the Britton role as well as Tiote can destroy, so I've stuck with him. I'll look to get someone in next summer when I have a bigger budget.

One problem is that Ben Arfa is out with an injury for several months, and Marveaux isn't good enough to play the Sigurdsson role, so initially I will play a traditional 4-4-2 with Jonas and Obertan/Marveaux on the wings and Cissé and Ba up front. The other problem is the full backs, where I don't want to risk playing with two attacking full backs and Santon doesn't have the stamina to attack all match anyway.

A word of warning- I'll probably abandon the 4-2-3-1 except for injuries if the 4-4-2 works brilliantly. I hope morale is sustained and performances are decent, but I can drop the spare winger when Ben Arfa is fit.

That's not too different to how I played. I think the destroyer type of player can actually make this type of system work even better. I'm currently Newcastle as they ended up in the Championship for the 2nd season into my Swansea save. So I decided to take over them and I use Cabaye as the Britton role. Do you still have him?

I think the 4231 with 2 DMC's is awesome for Newcastle. They just have quite a lot of depth for playing this system and it brings out the best of every single player. You can also adapt this to the Swansea approach.

[dribbler]

Imagine you were playing 4-2-3-1 with 2 DMC's and you wanted to make it more attacking...or the 4-4-2 and you wanted to make it more defensive. I have a half-way house formation I've used a lot and I wondered what you guys would think or if you'd fancy a dabble?

Basically from the 4-4-2 I pull one striker straight back to AMC and the central midfielder behind him straight back to DMC...so it's a 4-4-1 narrow diamond plus a winger/wide midfielder...seems to work OK and it allows me to bring on a DMC without resorting to 4-1-4-1.

[jimbobBRFC]

Imagine you were playing 4-2-3-1 with 2 DMC's and you wanted to make it more attacking...or the 4-4-2 and you wanted to make it more defensive. I have a half-way house formation I've used a lot and I wondered what you guys would think or if you'd fancy a dabble?

Basically from the 4-4-2 I pull one striker straight back to AMC and the central midfielder behind him straight back to DMC...so it's a 4-4-1 narrow diamond plus a winger/wide midfielder...seems to work OK and it allows me to bring on a DMC without resorting to 4-1-4-1.

Let me just check ive understood this right, only just woke up so my heads a little slow. Looks something like this:

---------GK----------

--FB--DC---DC--FB--

---------DM--------

--MR----MC-----ML--

--------AMC---------

---------ST---------

THats how I picture it anyway, let me know if im wrong.

[däkkä]

I think he meant:

---------GK----------

--FB--DC---DC--FB--

------------DM------

--MR-MC--------ML--

-----------AMC------

-----ST-------------

[jimbobBRFC]

I think he meant:

---------GK----------

--FB--DC---DC--FB--

------------DM------

--MR-MC--------ML--

-----------AMC------

-----ST-------------

Ahh right yeah, that does make more sense

[SCIAG]

That's not too different to how I played. I think the destroyer type of player can actually make this type of system work even better. I'm currently Newcastle as they ended up in the Championship for the 2nd season into my Swansea save. So I decided to take over them and I use Cabaye as the Britton role. Do you still have him?

I think the 4231 with 2 DMC's is awesome for Newcastle. They just have quite a lot of depth for playing this system and it brings out the best of every single player. You can also adapt this to the Swansea approach.

I'm going to use Cabaye more like Allen, receiving the ball from Tioté and the defence and working it forwards.

I've managed to sign Guti on a free transfer so I might try him in the Sigurdsson role, I think he'll get a lot of assists but he is unlikely to score many goals. I've also added Tshabalala who will add options on the wings and attacking midfield.

The only problem with playing with two defensive midfielders as Swansea is that Allen doesn't have DM as a position to start with, so he'd need it training. I think using Britton and Allen as defensive MCs (DLP(d) or CM(d)) would probably come closest to how Rodgers sets them up, or Britton as a DM and Allen as an MC.

I know people like to compare Swansea to Barcelona, but really I think Rodgers is more influenced by Mourinho's initial set up at Chelsea. Britton is essentially Makelele, Allen plays a similar role to Lampard and Sigurdsson is the Icelandic attacking midfielder, like Gudjohnsen. The style of play is more like Barcelona, but the system itself is Mourinho inspired.

[Cleon]

I'm going to use Cabaye more like Allen, receiving the ball from Tioté and the defence and working it forwards.

I've managed to sign Guti on a free transfer so I might try him in the Sigurdsson role, I think he'll get a lot of assists but he is unlikely to score many goals. I've also added Tshabalala who will add options on the wings and attacking midfield.

The only problem with playing with two defensive midfielders as Swansea is that Allen doesn't have DM as a position to start with, so he'd need it training. I think using Britton and Allen as defensive MCs (DLP(d) or CM(d)) would probably come closest to how Rodgers sets them up, or Britton as a DM and Allen as an MC.

I know people like to compare Swansea to Barcelona, but really I think Rodgers is more influenced by Mourinho's initial set up at Chelsea. Britton is essentially Makelele, Allen plays a similar role to Lampard and Sigurdsson is the Icelandic attacking midfielder, like Gudjohnsen. The style of play is more like Barcelona, but the system itself is Mourinho inspired.

I'd agree with this. Swansea are a lot more stable at the back compared to Barca, something again which can be taken from Mourinho imo.

Guti is a very good signing, you going to try and get him to tutor Allen?

[cragswfc]

ZonalMarking.net's Michael Cox uses the StatsZone app – from FFT and Opta, available now – to preview the weekend's Premier League action...

Arsenal’s trip to QPR on Saturday afternoon should see an interesting battle between two players who know each other well from their days at the Emirates together – Theo Walcott up against Armand Traore, who moved to Loftus Road at the start of the season.

Walcott’s main asset is his pace – but Traore is also extremely quick, and so when facing his ex-teammate, Walcott has to vary his game and show that he has the ability to beat an opponent with a trick, as well as with raw speed.

In the first meeting between the two earlier in the season, Traore largely stopped Walcott from doing anything in the penalty box – it’s notable how his interceptions and tackles are right on the edge of the area, and Walcott’s passing chalkboard illustrates how he struggled to make an impact inside the box.

Sunderland’s 1-0 win over Manchester City will go down as one of the most defensive – yet most effective – performances of the Premier League season. Ji Dong-Won’s late goal came after a dogged defensive display on New Year’s Day.

The pattern of interceptions and tackles is interesting – Sunderland intercepted the ball higher up, as they closed down City when they tried to play through midfield, but almost all their tackles took place very deep, within 20 yards of their own goal, and particularly in the left-back zone.

Sunderland will almost certainly play the same way in the return match at Eastlands, and City should be aware that they’re unlikely to be tackled in the centre of the pitch – that’s the zone they can create from.

Jose Enrique started the season in fine form for Liverpool, but a little like fellow Spaniards Juan Mata and David Silva, his displays have dropped in quality recently. Up against his former club Newcastle – currently eight points ahead of his new team – he’ll be looking to make an impact.

His performance in the shock home defeat to Wigan summed up his recent form – he got himself into good positions, but was then underwhelming with his delivery. Seven out of eight successful take-ons was contrasted with none of his attempted four crosses finding the intended target.

Swansea will be without centre-back Steven Caulker for their trip to White Hart Lane this weekend, since Caulker is on-loan from Tottenham, and therefore ineligible to play against his parent club.

Caulker is a solid defender, but like most Swansea players, his ability to pass the ball is also crucial in his selection over Brendan Rodgers’ other options in his position. Although the Welsh side are famed for their short passing play, Caulker is one of the few who tries to pass the ball over longer distances, as his pattern from last week’s defeat to Everton shows.

In contrast, likely replacement Garry Monk – who deputised in the reverse fixture, the last game Caulker missed – plays much less ambitious passes, and rarely strays forward from his natural centre-back position. Swansea will be weaker at the back because of Caulker’s absence, but might also miss him prompting attacks from deep.

[jimbobBRFC]

^^^^^ Bit of a random thing to put into this thread? But hey ho.

I do agree with likening Swansea to Mourinho setup, sort of like a mix of the two that is pulled off brilliantly by Rodgers. Top quality manager

[Cleon]

When I did the bit about Swansea in the SI Sports thread I wish I knew I'd want to carry it after the season. I'd have done things differently and actually put more effort into the first season. I know I won the league etc but I didn't invest any time into anything else like player development, new players etc.

Hmm might start again properly this time.

[jimbobBRFC]

I still need to download that save and have a go at it no doubt ill somehow end up falling off and getting relegated

[luton]

Is it possible if someone could post a link of cleons game as i am unable to download it.

[Cleon]

Is it possible if someone could post a link of cleons game as i am unable to download it.

The links in the thread work fine.

[SCIAG]

I'd agree with this. Swansea are a lot more stable at the back compared to Barca, something again which can be taken from Mourinho imo.

Guti is a very good signing, you going to try and get him to tutor Allen?

No, because I'm Newcastle

Swansea do push their full backs on a lot so they have more options when they are transitioning from defence to attack which I think is Barcelona inspired, but neither Rangel nor Taylor are quite as adventurous as Alves. To be honest, I think this is more to do with the limitations of the players than a stylistic choice.

Guti is very hard to get match fit, so I'm playing 4-4-2 more often than not. Tiote is actually a surprisingly good passer so I might have him play the Britton role when Ben Arfa is fit.

Just played Swansea and destroyed them because Tioté and Cabaye totally outmuscled Allen and McEachran. Tioté made 17 successful tackles to McEachran's 1! We have definitely nailed the pressing aspect of Swansea's game, even if the passing football still needs to come.

[lam]

"Fast wingers should be stood off as if you get close they will just fly past, but they should be closed down as they can't be given too much time"...so what's your decision on this?...the thing I don't do is man-mark them but maybe I should, so I'd tell my full-back to stand-off and my wide midfielder to man-mark even if he's pants at marking...I've never tried this so maybe I should...what do you think?

In this situation I'd let the game run for a little..... 10/15 minutes (though I do tend to watch the whole game unless I am two goals to the good nice and early - yes my seasons take forever), if the winger is getting the best of my FB/WB then I issue the releveant instructions.

One thing that I have started doing with the opposition FB/WB after reading some threads on this forum (will try and issue credit later) is to review the scout report and to look at the oppo squad with my columns on, providing you are not early on in the season, looking at the assists will tell you if their FB/WB are getting forwards much. If they have assists that look positive in relation to the number of games they have played I will, before the game starts, tell my ML/R AML/R's to man mark the specific WB/FB. Unlike wingers, the opposition very very rarelyt switches the FB sides.

Only, just be sure that they are getting forwards to support play regularly (not just limited to assists), if they are not and they are sitting back, then you are wasting your wide midfielders on marking them.

This is very relevant against teams that play a narrow formation and use the FB's to attack. You can really kill off their game with this.

Just another reason for people to watch games................. you wouldn't see this otherwise.

Each to his own though

Regards

LAM

ps... great thread, though, I'm still early in it.

[jimbobBRFC]

In this situation I'd let the game run for a little..... 10/15 minutes (though I do tend to watch the whole game unless I am two goals to the good nice and early - yes my seasons take forever), if the winger is getting the best of my FB/WB then I issue the releveant instructions.

One thing that I have started doing with the opposition FB/WB after reading some threads on this forum (will try and issue credit later) is to review the scout report and to look at the oppo squad with my columns on, providing you are not early on in the season, looking at the assists will tell you if their FB/WB are getting forwards much. If they have assists that look positive in relation to the number of games they have played I will, before the game starts, tell my ML/R AML/R's to man mark the specific WB/FB. Unlike wingers, the opposition very very rarelyt switches the FB sides.

Only, just be sure that they are getting forwards to support play regularly (not just limited to assists), if they are not and they are sitting back, then you are wasting your wide midfielders on marking them.

This is very relevant against teams that play a narrow formation and use the FB's to attack. You can really kill off their game with this.

Just another reason for people to watch games................. you wouldn't see this otherwise.

Each to his own though

Regards

LAM

ps... great thread, though, I'm still early in it.

I never even thought of checking FB's assists. I always set my AML/R to man mark because I play a high pressing tactic so I like my players to be close to their men at all times. But I suppose if the FB's dont get forward it is a little pointless, will look more into that.

My way of looking at it is if you force the winger wide and your DR/L have good positiing 9 times out of 10 they will stop the cross. Leaving their only option as a backpass to the DR/L. So if you can mark him as well you can force the winger to try something that isnt going to work, win possesion back. The worst that could happen is they win a corner, but im pretty solid from set pieces so that doesnt bother me

Need to get back into this thread now, there are some good posts in it.

[jimbobBRFC]

In this situation I'd let the game run for a little..... 10/15 minutes (though I do tend to watch the whole game unless I am two goals to the good nice and early - yes my seasons take forever), if the winger is getting the best of my FB/WB then I issue the releveant instructions.

One thing that I have started doing with the opposition FB/WB after reading some threads on this forum (will try and issue credit later) is to review the scout report and to look at the oppo squad with my columns on, providing you are not early on in the season, looking at the assists will tell you if their FB/WB are getting forwards much. If they have assists that look positive in relation to the number of games they have played I will, before the game starts, tell my ML/R AML/R's to man mark the specific WB/FB. Unlike wingers, the opposition very very rarelyt switches the FB sides.

Only, just be sure that they are getting forwards to support play regularly (not just limited to assists), if they are not and they are sitting back, then you are wasting your wide midfielders on marking them.

This is very relevant against teams that play a narrow formation and use the FB's to attack. You can really kill off their game with this.

Just another reason for people to watch games................. you wouldn't see this otherwise.

Each to his own though

Regards

LAM

ps... great thread, though, I'm still early in it.

I never even thought of checking FB's assists. I always set my AML/R to man mark because I play a high pressing tactic so I like my players to be close to their men at all times. But I suppose if the FB's dont get forward it is a little pointless, will look more into that.

My way of looking at it is if you force the winger wide and your DR/L have good positiing 9 times out of 10 they will stop the cross. Leaving their only option as a backpass to the DR/L. So if you can mark him as well you can force the winger to try something that isnt going to work, win possesion back. The worst that could happen is they win a corner, but im pretty solid from set pieces so that doesnt bother me

Need to get back into this thread now, there are some good posts in it.

[lam]

Imagine you were playing 4-2-3-1 with 2 DMC's and you wanted to make it more attacking...or the 4-4-2 and you wanted to make it more defensive. I have a half-way house formation I've used a lot and I wondered what you guys would think or if you'd fancy a dabble?

Basically from the 4-4-2 I pull one striker straight back to AMC and the central midfielder behind him straight back to DMC...so it's a 4-4-1 narrow diamond plus a winger/wide midfielder...seems to work OK and it allows me to bring on a DMC without resorting to 4-1-4-1.

I use something similar to this for when playing against a very busy AMC LRC section. I pull back the same players but leave them in the off mid role so that they are an AMCL and a DMCL. This way my team doesnt have to many gaps through the middle as the central 'lanes' are still covered by an AMCL and MCR and a DMCL.

If you then put your DM on man mark (assuming against an AMC) he will only default to his DMCL position when you are IN possession, other than that, he is following the AMC around. Same aplies to your AMCL, as he will likely fall back when not in possession to pick up excess midfielders.

Regards

LAM

[dribbler]

I use something similar to this for when playing against a very busy AMC LRC section. I pull back the same players but leave them in the off mid role so that they are an AMCL and a DMCL. This way my team doesnt have to many gaps through the middle as the central 'lanes' are still covered by an AMCL and MCR and a DMCL.

If you then put your DM on man mark (assuming against an AMC) he will only default to his DMCL position when you are IN possession, other than that, he is following the AMC around. Same aplies to your AMCL, as he will likely fall back when not in possession to pick up excess midfielders.

Regards

LAM

That's exactly my formation Lam but I've not tried your man-marking idea so I'll give it a go. Thanks for the suggestion.

[daleuk8]

Dribbler: What advice would you give regards to shouts when trying to control a game?

[aderow]

In this situation I'd let the game run for a little..... 10/15 minutes (though I do tend to watch the whole game unless I am two goals to the good nice and early - yes my seasons take forever), if the winger is getting the best of my FB/WB then I issue the releveant instructions.

One thing that I have started doing with the opposition FB/WB after reading some threads on this forum (will try and issue credit later) is to review the scout report and to look at the oppo squad with my columns on, providing you are not early on in the season, looking at the assists will tell you if their FB/WB are getting forwards much. If they have assists that look positive in relation to the number of games they have played I will, before the game starts, tell my ML/R AML/R's to man mark the specific WB/FB. Unlike wingers, the opposition very very rarelyt switches the FB sides.

Only, just be sure that they are getting forwards to support play regularly (not just limited to assists), if they are not and they are sitting back, then you are wasting your wide midfielders on marking them.

This is very relevant against teams that play a narrow formation and use the FB's to attack. You can really kill off their game with this.

Just another reason for people to watch games................. you wouldn't see this otherwise.

Each to his own though

Regards

LAM

ps... great thread, though, I'm still early in it.

I've never thought about checking assists of opposition wide players before. What do issue is somewhat similar I guess. Since I want my wide players pressuring high up the pitch, I always give the OI close down always for both opposition full backs.

When looking at a team's wingers, I check a couple things before making my decision; the player's ability, his form, and his morale. I generally like to show dangerous players away from goal (Ronaldo taught me that the hard way). I consider anyone in good form as dangerous so they shown out wide always. If a player is extremely one footed, I consider showing him onto his weaker foot.

Now that I think about it, I sometimes look at the opposition striker as well. For instance, if I'm up against a very tall one like Dzeko, I'm showing all the wide players inside. No one is allowed to get to the byline and a cross it in.

I actually generally like to show player inside, unless they are very gifted or in good form/morale etc., because I feel like it limits their width somewhat and it allows things to remain compact. I feel like its easier to defend this way as space is not as easy to exploit.

[aderow]

Dribbler: What advice would you give regards to shouts when trying to control a game?

It really depends on what is happening in the match. What, at that moment, is causing you to lose control of the current match? Thats why it really pays to have a quality assistant manager.

If you're in a situation where you pass completion is low, then you should consider using a shout to lower your passing length and/or increase your time wasting in order to slow things down. You also want to consider limiting certain player's runs from deep as that will keep your players closer together instead of leaving the passer somewhat isolated.

Are there certain players giving the ball away more than others? Then you could consider using shouts to keep the ball away from them, by then focusing getting the ball down the wings or playing through the middle, for a little bit to help them maintain composure.

Hope that helps a bit. I'm sure dribbler will probably explain things a lot better than I can

Heck, I could be completely off

Oh I and don't really use to many shouts so forgive me as I can't really remember what many of them are called lol

[jimbobBRFC]

It really depends on what is happening in the match. What, at that moment, is causing you to lose control of the current match? Thats why it really pays to have a quality assistant manager.

If you're in a situation where you pass completion is low, then you should consider using a shout to lower your passing length and/or increase your time wasting in order to slow things down. You also want to consider limiting certain player's runs from deep as that will keep your players closer together instead of leaving the passer somewhat isolated.

Are there certain players giving the ball away more than others? Then you could consider using shouts to keep the ball away from them, by then focusing getting the ball down the wings or playing through the middle, for a little bit to help them maintain composure.

Hope that helps a bit. I'm sure dribbler will probably explain things a lot better than I can

Heck, I could be completely off

Oh I and don't really use to many shouts so forgive me as I can't really remember what many of them are called lol

Personally Id say ignore the AssMan completely. All he does is analyse statistics but without actually watching the game I think everything he says is irrelevant. The AssMan for Barca-Chelsea last week would of been going mental in FM, but actually watching the game Chelsea looked so dangerous on the counter, so statistics dont mean everything.

Personally @daleuk8 I would say watch the game on full match, at least the first 15 minutes. That will show you where the opposition are exploiting you, so for example if they are keeping the ball youd want to "play narrower", "hassle opponents" to try and force a mistake.

If you need any help with actually stopping them exploiting you let me know

EDIT: Just seen that your trying to control the match. Your best bet for controlling the game is creating space. So shouts I usually use are, drop deeper, retain possesion, play wider, play out of defence. That spreads your players out makes space and lowers passing length so your players play the safe option rather than trying the killer through ball that may give the ball away. Although as aderow mentioned it does depend on what is happening in game. If youve been dominated all game and sneaked a lucky goal you dont want to be trying to control the game because its not going to happen. Praying usually works well

[dribbler]

Dribbler: What advice would you give regards to shouts when trying to control a game?

At some point I need to rewrite this thread. It's a shambles really :o

Remember that formation, team instructions, player roles, opposition instructions and shouts are all a part of the package.

So far as shouts are concerned there are often (but not always) 3 options. One option will increase possession, the other will reduce it and the third is just to keep your mouth shut which is effectively choosing the middle ground between the two shouts. Of course the shouts will also do other things apart from altering possession.

My current team is pretty good at passing and an above average team in the league so I experimented by using the fastest possible tempo. I'm telling my players to ping the ball about quickly. Because my players are trying to make quick passes this decision will reduce passing percentage and possession percentage.

But I want a good level of possession so I'm using the shouts to get this:

So "pass to feet" should increase the percentage of passes that are successful and "retain possession" should encourage your players to be more patient. Using these shouts will reduce the number of chances you make but should hopefully help you make better quality chances. I don't like long shots because in my experience for every great goal 100 shots go over the bar. So "work ball into box" will reduce long shots and reduce the number of times you pointlessly give the ball away in this way. In this game I forgot about "play ball out of defence". Presumably you can use this if your defenders are reasonable passers and it should shorten passing lengths and increase passing accuracy.

When your opponents have the ball you can use "hassle opponents" and "get stuck in". Basically these shouts will allow them less time on the ball and increase the mistakes they make. So you should win the ball back more quickly and your possession percentage should increase. Theoretically "hassle opponents" or pressing will tire your players but because it increases your possession percentage there's an argument that having the ball is less tiring than chasing it around all the time. Also "get stuck in" isn't hard tackling, it's tackle lots. I've learned the hard way to be careful about broken legs. I usually set players who have a low tackling attribute to normal tackling in the player instructions so the shout has no effect on these guys.

You can also choose "play narrower". This should make your defenders play closer together so you concede fewer goals but it should also mean your midfield play closer together, make it harder for your opponents to pass the ball about. So your possession percentage should increase but this may well be at the expense of creating fewer chances and the quality of chance you create may be poorer as well depending on circumstances. I usually use this for the whole game if my opponents are playing a narrow formation. In that situation I'd also be using "exploit the flanks" and making one of my wingers my playmaker in the team instructions. Against a narrow formation that should increase your percentage of successful passes.

Finally, I also use "drop deeper". Usually I use this because I'm worried about my opponents attacking pace compared to my defenders. As part of the deal I'm looking at my opponents strikers and comparing their pace and acceleration (especially) to the pace and acceleration of my central defenders. If a striker is slow you can use the stopper role for your central defender. If he's fast I use cover. For a long time I was reluctant to have both central defenders on cover unless I was playing a DMC but I've been experimenting and it's not a disaster. I also use opposition instructions for this as well. Close down slow players and stand-off fast ones. Also watch for the AI sneakily swopping their strikers round. I check this at half time and every time they make a substitution. Adding all the things in this paragraph together I reckon I save a ton of goals.

That last paragraph is off-topic but there's a secondary effect of using the "drop deeper" shout. You give your opponents more space to pass the ball about in. So you can use this shout to lure your opponents out of a deep defensive position. Remember I'm not necessarily trying to maximise possession. I'm really trying to get it at a level where I'm making a sensible number of high-quality chances. So this shout will reduce your possession percentage but if you're using a poacher or just have plenty of attacking pace you may get more space for your strikers and wingers to run into or more space for your AMC. You can also switch off the other shouts and/or give the opposite shout to reduce your possession, lure out a defensive team and have more of an end-to-end battle with more chances for both teams.

That's all I can really think of just now.

[dribbler]

Summary:

I'm assuming that I'm not a dominant team:

(a) I try to get my goals in the first 60 minutes because if you go behind then the later it happens the harder it'll be to come back. Also I'm no tactical genius and I'm unwilling to watch the full game or even the first 15 minutes so I'm uncomfortable in these situations. If my team is playing well and I'm not too scared of my opponents I might use my standard strategy for 60 mins.

(b) If my possession percentage is lower than I want then I tighten up slightly. Maybe a couple of midfielders sit deeper or a couple of shouts to increase possession. In my mind I'm trying to play patiently so I create good quality chances but not so patiently that I make too few chances. The purpose of tightening up slightly in this way is to minimise my risk to reward ratio. I'm trying to score a goal without conceding one and I've no intention of allowing a 4-3 slugfest.

© At some point I'm almost certainly going to switch to counter-attacking. Unless I'm 2-0 or more up I'm still trying to score so the emphasis is more on countering effectively rather than defending. Against a really tough team I might do this as a starting strategy but normally I'll switch to this at 30-45 minutes depending how the game is going. I'm normally using a poacher so the counter-attack is a good way for me to play. So I'm not using loads of defensive shouts, my possession percentage will go down and I'm trying to break quickly.

(d) So in my mind there's counter attacking while trying to score and counter attacking because I want to defend but don't want 10 men back into my penalty area. So I'll often switch to a more defensive system at 45-60 minutes, especially if I'm 2-0 up. As you keep pointing out I don't want to "invite too much pressure". If I'm defending in this way I want to compete for the ball, retain possession and use my attacking pace as a threat. Even so I'm not really trying to score. I use a whole load of defensive shouts and try to get a high possession percentage. One thing worth noting though is that I'm not necessarily using the drop deeper shout. I usually don't use this until later unless my opponents have lots of pace in which case I'll use it as soon as I switch to counter. I usually look for central defenders who're not too slow.

(e) At 75-78 minutes I hit the defend button and play deeper. By now I'm using every defensive shout I can think of and I'll usually have made defensive substitutions and very often gone to a more defensive formation. If I still have 4 midfielders it'll still be supp-def-supp-supp...if I have 5 then I'll have a DMC on and 2/5 given the defensive instruction. I don't bother going rigid or bothering with more defensive team instructions. I'm still using pressing and hard tackling even though I fully understand your reservations. I want to disrupt them. Usually my opponents' morale has been shattered long since.

(f) At 84 minutes I hit contain and play even safer.

So in games that go to plan notice that I may have made 5 or 6 tactical adjustments and each one of them is to go slightly more defensive. It's my theory that the AI can't cope with this.

[Cleon]

In my case in the Swansea thread I'm talking about different things depending which of the posts you're reading...I'm assuming that I'm not a dominant team:

Yups I had a feeling we on about differnt things, that's why I felt I needed to make it clear which aspect we was talking about

I only mentioned it in this thread as my first post was explaining to the poster that he conceeded because he ended up far too deep. In fact in his scenario he did the oppositie of what he should have done, hence why he lost 2 very late goals.

(a) I try to get my goals in the first 60 minutes because if you go behind then the later it happens the harder it'll be to come back. Also I'm no tactical genius and I'm unwilling to watch the full game or even the first 15 minutes so I'm uncomfortable in these situations. If my team is playing well and I'm not too scared of my opponents I might use my standard strategy for 60 mins.

How do you judge how you are playing? I mean what distinguishes a bad performance from an unlucky performance? How do you decide when and what you'll change?

(b) If my possession percentage is lower than I want then I tighten up slightly. Maybe a couple of midfielders sit deeper or a couple of shouts to increase possession. In my mind I'm trying to play patiently so I create good quality chances but not so patiently that I make too few chances. The purpose of tightening up slightly in this way is to minimise my risk to reward ratio. I'm trying to score a goal without conceding one and I've no intention of trying for a 4-3 slugfest.

What do you do then in scenarios where you have lower possession dude to been pushed back and penned in your own half? You can't get people to drop deeper then, so how do you change it?

© At some point I'm almost certainly going to switch to counter-attacking. Unless I'm 2-0 or more up I'm still trying to score so the emphasis is more on countering effectively rather than defending. Against a really tough team I might do this for the whole match but normally I'll switch to this at 30-45 minutes depending how the game is going. I'm normally using a poacher so the counter-attack is a good way for me to play. So I'm not using loads of defensive shouts, my possession percentage will go down and I'm trying to break quickly.

What do you do if the opposition don't allow you the space to counter attack? How do you try and win a game then?

(d) So in my mind there's counter attacking while trying to score and counter attacking because I want to defend but don't want 10 men back into my penalty area. So I'll often switch to a more defensive system at 45-60 minutes, especially if I'm 2-0 up. As you keep pointing out I don't want to "invite too much pressure". If I'm defending in this way I want to compete for the ball, retain possession and use my attacking pace as a threat. Even so I'm not really trying to score. I use a whole load of defensive shouts and try to get a high possession percentage. One thing worth noting though is that I'm not necessarily using the drop deeper shout. I usually don't use this until later unless my opponents have lots of pace in which case I'll use it as soon as I switch to counter. I usually look for central defenders who're not too slow.

So when you say defensive a better word would be more cautious? If so then I agree with you and everything your saying

(e) At 75-78 minutes I hit the defend button and play deeper. By now I'm using every defensive shout I can think of and I'll usually have made defensive substitutions and very often gone to a more defensive formation. If I still have 4 midfielders it'll still be supp-def-supp-supp...if I have 5 then I'll have a DMC on and 2/5 given the defensive instruction. I don't bother going rigid or bothering with more defensive team instructions.

If you're doing this often, why do you feel you have to? Is it more a habit of doing so, or is there some fundenmentally flaw that is making you choose to go this route?

What do you do then when your winning comfortably like 3-0 with 30 minutes left? Do you try and shut up shop or do you stick with the system that's got you the lead?

You got any examples or PKM's of where you play like this? I'm interested in people's games who play this way, I find it interesting

[dribbler]

"How do you judge how you are playing? I mean what distinguishes a bad performance from an unlucky performance? How do you decide when and what you'll change?"

Possession percentage lower than I want...or a couple of yellow cards might be an indicator that I'm under pressure...or I've played 20-30 minutes and hardly had a shot...or whatever's on the motivation widget and my opponents' motivation widget...plus I am watching the highlights so I'll consider the quality of chances I've made and if my opponents have had a couple of dangerous chances I'd notice...I'm not so much worried about the 25 yard long shot that my keeper saves without diving but rather the dangerous-looking scramble in the box even though my defence hacks it clear and there isn't a shot.

Well you can see what I wrote about shouts in post#177 so if I'm not doing one or more of those things then I'll give it 0.1 seconds thought and pick a couple of those things. I'd normally adjust the instructions for my winger and DMC before I mess with shouts but that's probably just habit. I'll already have decided my strategy to cope with my opponents pace and formation before the match and I'm only using 4-4-2 so there's not likely to be too much to worry about tactically.

"What do you do then in scenarios where you have lower possession due to being pushed back and penned in your own half? You can't get people to drop deeper then, so how do you change it?"

Well I guess I wouldn't have realised that this was happening but now you've made me think about it I'd guess this is a situation where I've maybe got 40-45% possession after 30 minutes. It's rare for this to happen and it's almost invariably when I'm up against a stronger side. It can sometimes happen against the narrow diamond as well. If I'm struggling for possession in this way I just abandon the fight and switch to the quick counter at least until half-time. Then I see how my talk goes and reassess depending on the score. I'm not scared to defend at 0-0 if necessary although I don't like to. It's surprising how often you can sneak a goal though. I take tactical responsibility for the clean sheet and one of my players produces a bit of magic out of thin air. I'm feeling badness welling up inside me though and I'm finding it hard to suppress a comment about well-motivated players

"What do you do if the opposition don't allow you the space to counter attack? How do you try and win a game then?"

If my possession percentage is good and it's 0-0 then I'll likely play my normal system for 60 minutes. I might switch off pressing and the other shouts that increase possession to lure them out if I'm not scared of them. At 60 minutes if I'm drawing I'm almost certain to switch to counter whatever the circumstances. It's a long season. Who cares about the odd draw here and there? Also you saw in the statistics up above that I got a decent number of goals late in games and I was almost invariably on counter, defend or contain when they were scored. I do like determined players of course

"So when you say defensive a better word would be more cautious? If so then I agree with you and everything your saying"

hmmm...I'm using this ultra-defensive counter-attacking style from 45-60 minutes onwards almost every game...if not then it's because I'm into it earlier...I'm doing this because I've got the lead (hopefully 2 goals) or else because my opponents are much stronger than me...but I'm also doing it because I've at least one fast striker and because it seems to work, but don't ask me why...again I point you to my second-half goals scored...the AI can't break me down and my players find a way to score surprisingly often

"If you're doing this often, why do you feel you have to? Is it more a habit of doing so, or is there some fundamental flaw that is making you choose to go this route?"

I go ultra-defensive late on almost every game. I tried it a decade ago and I've done it ever since. What's more on the odd occasion I've tried the late counter recently or else lost concentration and forgot to hit the defend button I've conceded a goal. I tried it on purpose twice with Brighton in the Europa league and lost injury time goals both times much to my annoyance.

But you make an interesting point which links to a previous comment you made. Maybe I "need" to hit defend and contain late on because I'm playing deep, pressing and hard-tackling i.e. all the things that you're worried about. As I said already I understand the tactical reasons for your reservations. But my attitude is if it ain't broke don't fix it.

"What do you do then when your winning comfortably like 3-0 with 30 minutes left? Do you try and shut up shop or do you stick with the system that's got you the lead?"

Once in a while I get over-excited with the brilliance of my team, lose a goal and shut up shop at 3-1...since I'm invariably drunk in these situations I don't get annoyed with myself until the next day.

"You got any examples or PKM's of where you play like this?"

I barely know what a PKM is let alone know how to send you one...in any case my players, formation, timing of tactical instructions etc change from game to game so I don't see what you'd gain...just use one of your own games or start a new one and try it yourself for a few matches

Of course I'd be astonished if it was better than your Swansea system but of course I never claimed that

[Cleon]

Possession percentage lower than I want...or a couple of yellow cards might be an indicator that I'm under pressure...

How does a few yellow cards indicate you might be under pressure? All it tells you is a player mistimed a challenge or something. This can happen even in games you dominate, especially as you like your hard tackling. It could just be an indication the player isn't good at what you're asking him to do.

I'll already have decided my strategy to cope with my opponents pace and formation before the match and I'm only using 4-4-2 so there's not likely to be too much to worry about tactically.

You can only guess though before a match. What happens when your strategy fails to work, what's plan b?

Well I guess I wouldn't have realised that this was happening but now you've made me think about it I'd guess this is a situation where I've maybe got 40-45% possession after 30 minutes. It's rare for this to happen and it's almost invariably when I'm up against a stronger side. It can sometimes happen against the narrow diamond as well. If I'm struggling for possession in this way I just abandon the fight and switch to the quick counter at least until half-time. Then I see how my talk goes and reassess depending on the score. I'm not scared to defend at 0-0 if necessary although I don't like to. It's surprising how often you can sneak a goal though. I take tactical responsibility for the clean sheet and one of my players produces a bit of magic out of thin air. I'm feeling badness welling up inside me though and I'm finding it hard to suppress a comment about well-motivated players

That's fair and I can deffo relate to this

Although I'm not sure how you rarely get pinned back as you are one of the weaker teams aren't you and not the strongest? Some games you have an off day or get caught out tactically.

As you seem to focus heavily on possession, have you got any screenshots of the stats from some of the games to give us a better indication of how well you do against wek sides, mediocre and top sides?

What do you do if the opposition don't allow you the space to counter attack? How do you try and win a game then?"

If my possession percentage is good and it's 0-0 then I'll likely play my normal system for 60 minutes. I might switch off pressing and the other shouts that increase possession to lure them out if I'm not scared of them. At 60 minutes if I'm drawing I'm almost certain to switch to counter whatever the circumstances. It's a long season. Who cares about the odd draw here and there? Also you saw in the statistics up above that I got a decent number of goals late in games and I was almost invariably on counter, defend or contain when they were scored. I do like determined players of course

What kind of areas do the goals come from? Any change of the screenshot from the screen that shows this from the game?

hmmm...I'm using this ultra-defensive counter-attacking style from 45-60 minutes onwards almost every game...if not then it's because I'm into it earlier...I'm doing this because I've got the lead (hopefully 2 goals) or else because my opponents are much stronger than me...but I'm also doing it because I've at least one fast striker and because it seems to work, but don't ask me why...again I point you to my second-half goals scored...the AI can't break me down and my players find a way to score surprisingly often

How do you know you won't score 3 or 4 more though? If things are going well and you are 2-0 up why change? Unless you feel the tide as turned of course then it makes sense.

But my attitude is if it ain't broke don't fix it.

You say this but it's a contradiction to everything you've wrote. Because you go into a winning lead then defend it to protect the lead. So you are actually changing something that is working

"You got any examples or PKM's of where you play like this?"

I barely know what a PKM is let alone know how to send you one...in any case my players, formation, timing of tactical instructions etc change from game to game so I don't see what you'd gain...just use one of your own games or start a new one and try it yourself for a few matches

What I'd gain is to be able to see how this plays like you claim. It doesn't work the same for me, hence the asking to see your matches played like this. You claim you don't get penned back or invite extra pressure, yet everyones matches I've viewed who play this way all do. So I wanna see what differs between your games and theirs when you play the same way yet both seeing different results.

I'm not doing it to compare with my own game. But rather to see what you write about actually in action.

For a PKM all you have to do is go intoa game you've played and click the 'save match' option. Then go to whereever your folder is, it should be something like C:\Users\Cleon\Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2012\matches and then just mail it me

[dribbler]

back later

[aderow]

Personally Id say ignore the AssMan completely. All he does is analyse statistics but without actually watching the game I think everything he says is irrelevant. The AssMan for Barca-Chelsea last week would of been going mental in FM, but actually watching the game Chelsea looked so dangerous on the counter, so statistics dont mean everything.

Personally @daleuk8 I would say watch the game on full match, at least the first 15 minutes. That will show you where the opposition are exploiting you, so for example if they are keeping the ball youd want to "play narrower", "hassle opponents" to try and force a mistake.

If you need any help with actually stopping them exploiting you let me know

EDIT: Just seen that your trying to control the match. Your best bet for controlling the game is creating space. So shouts I usually use are, drop deeper, retain possesion, play wider, play out of defence. That spreads your players out makes space and lowers passing length so your players play the safe option rather than trying the killer through ball that may give the ball away. Although as aderow mentioned it does depend on what is happening in game. If youve been dominated all game and sneaked a lucky goal you dont want to be trying to control the game because its not going to happen. Praying usually works well

Sure you could do that if you watch the full match but, I don't. I don't have the time for that tbf. Getting yourself a good assistant doesn't hurt imo. I don't make changes every time my assistant mentions something; I only consider them and start looking specifically at certain aspect of the match be it a player or an area of the pitch. When I've made changes based on his observations, he usually been right. And he only has a tactical knowledge of 12 (He'll be out of a job in the summer btw).

I never said stats meant everything; some stats are more important than others at different points in the match and if you're going to use them to your advantage, you need to know which ones to look at, when to look at them, and how to interpret them.

[daleuk8]

Thanks for the advice.

I'm very much the type of player that changes things regards to each team.. What advice would people give if you wanted to hit a team early? Or get a late goal?

[dribbler]

"How does a few yellow cards indicate you might be under pressure? All it tells you is a player mistimed a challenge or something. This can happen even in games you dominate, especially as you like your hard tackling. It could just be an indication the player isn't good at what you're asking him to do."

Ok let me phrase this more carefully. If I get 2-3 yellow cards in the first 20-30 minutes it might be an indication that my team's under pressure. After all even though I don't mind a few cards I'm not getting 9 per game. So the yellow cards might add to another piece of evidence and persuade me to tighten up slightly.

I once counted that I'd played 260 seasons of Championship Manager but that was long before I finished playing CM00-01. So let's say I've played 20-25 thousand matches. Along the way I picked up a few tricks and I can tell whether or not a player will be a decent tackler.

"You can only guess though before a match."

Basically 4-4-2/4-5-1 seems to work just fine (but see below) against everything the AI can throw at you. You need to pick your team before the match but everything else including formation can be decided before kick-off but after you've seen your opponents players and formation. So I'll think about the strength of my opponents before I pick my team and decide whether or not I want to start with 4-5-1. Then I click the continue game button and then think about the specifics of my tactical set-up.

"What happens when your strategy fails to work, what's plan b?"

Plan B is the same as plan A. Or to put it another way I hate defeats and don't mind draws. If I can't score after 60 mins I go into defensive counter-attacking followed by defend and contain in the normal way. If necessary I take the 0-0 but as you saw from the earlier statistics I seem to get a respectable number of second-half goals. (that's only a tentative conclusion because of the small sample size)

"Although I'm not sure how you rarely get pinned back as you are one of the weaker teams aren't you and not the strongest? Some games you have an off day or get caught out tactically."

No in this game I'm roughly Liverpool standard but without anyone as good as Suarez or Reina. It's very important to understand what I'm saying though. I don't believe for one minute that I could take a team of Swansea standard and win the league with them. Certainly not in the first season anyway although maybe I could get top six or thereabouts? If I was able to bolster the squad with a few free transfers I'm sure I'd do OK but the thing is I just wouldn't get enough goals to challenge for the league. So I'm not trying to claim some wonder system that will destroy all-comers.

I think there must be a large body of people who will never watch the full game or even the first 15 minutes. I tried it and it was the most boring thing I'd done since I watched Prince Charles' investiture.

So the whole reason I'm banging on about my system is that it works reasonably well and I don't need to watch the matches. Of course I spend a lot more care and attention about this, that and the other than many inexperienced players and I'm sure a great many people won't enjoy playing my way. Even so it seems to work and I wouldn't put my name against it in the assertive and prolonged way that I have unless I was sure of this.

"What kind of areas do the goals come from?"

Well I do like my poacher and I put my DLF on forward runs often. So excluding set-pieces it's these guys. But none of this really matters. I don't always play the same way anyway. Little pressing and no hard-tackling with Crawley for example because the squad is small and the players "delicate".

I guess a handful of hardy souls might try to follow the exact system I described in this thread. But it's my theory that it's possible that the whole idea of starting with the "attacking" system of your choosing and then gradually tightening up depending on circumstances and ending up ultra-defensive might work with a wide variety of systems.

I've dabbled with SFraser-style 4-2-3-1 and still used the ideas I've been expounding here.

"How do you know you won't score 3 or 4 more though?"

My name is J.Mourinho and I only care about the points. I'm trying to get mid-table with a weak team or get promoted with a mid-table team. When I get Premiership money I look for good value players who can drive the club forwards. When I get Champions League money I look for good value players who can dominate world football. When I dominate world football I get bored quickly and abandon the game.

"You say this but it's a contradiction to everything you've wrote. Because you go into a winning lead then defend it to protect the lead. So you are actually changing something that is working"

If you say so but I'm doing pretty much the same thing game after game so I'm not changing something that's working at all. It just depends which way round you look at it. So I don't think it's a contradiction at all and you've just twisted my meaning.

[dribbler]

"You claim you don't get penned back or invite extra pressure"

I'm so so bored with this subject now. You're putting it too strongly. If I actually said that it's a stronger statement than I meant to make. I lose very few late goals and I'm good at turning leads into wins. Very often the highlights just show me passing the ball around in their half. Sometimes they may get some possession and a long shot.

Of course I'm not saying that my system is perfect. Lots of things contribute. The strength of your players, your willingness and ability to make defensive substitutions, the care and attention you pay to altering opposition instructions, your willingness to watch carefully for your opponents switching formations and switching players into different positions, your media dealings, your player interactions blah, blah, blah are all factors that contribute to your defensive success or otherwise.

In this particular game I closed down 28 matches and conceded one goal. Obviously that's an unusually good statistic although I don't have any other games saved. If I was conceding lots of dangerous chances I'd have noticed and I'd have conceded more than one goal. So I don't care if I'm "inviting pressure". I've done this for 10 years not one season. I'm not conceding many dangerous chances and that's good enough for me.

Now please explain what you mean by "inviting pressure" (but be very aware I don't actually care)

[dribbler]

Sure you could do that if you watch the full match but, I don't. I don't have the time for that tbf.

I never said stats meant everything; some stats are more important than others at different points in the match and if you're going to use them to your advantage, you need to know which ones to look at, when to look at them, and how to interpret them.

That's exactly my opinion

[Cleon]

I've deleted the post above as it's pointless asking you more question, can't be bothered with the discussion especially as you don't care.

Enjoy the rest of your day

[dribbler]

I've deleted the post above as it's pointless asking you more question, can't be bothered with the discussion especially as you don't care.

Enjoy the rest of your day

No probs

[kevin3]

I've been having a go at emulating Swansea's style of play as close as I can to their real life counter-parts. I had a look at a few games they've played and I analysed certain phases of their play and I'm pleased as well as surprised with how I was able to pull it off in the match engine.

This shows Swansea's default shape in the attacking phase - two holding midfielders, Sigurdsson in the hole with two wingers and a forward playing high up against the Fulham back four. In terms of Fulham shape, they are playing a deep, narrow and very rigid 4-5-1. Keep an eye on Rangel on the far right as he becomes important in the next photo.

When Allen receives the ball, Sigurdsson drops off a little, Routledge drifts a little inside and Rangel makes a surging run into the space down the right hand side. Translating this into FM, I gave Sigurdsson a mid-line mentality and mixed runs from deep, I gave Routledge a mentality of 11 and runs from deep often and I gave Rangel a mentality of 13 and runs from deep often. Also, I decided to go with a team width of 13 as Swansea like to open the pitch wide enough with their wingers but they also come inside, like you have seen in these photos.

Allen decides to go for the difficult ball into Rangel. He could have played the simple pass into Sigurdsson or back to Britton or even back to Caulker but no, Allen decides to mix it up. In FM terms, there are a few aspects that come into play. Firstly, I must give him a high enough mentality to go for the forward pass , I must give him the creative freedom to try and attempt a pass like that and I must let him attempt through-balls.

The set-up of the Swansea attack along with the ball Allen has played has created a multitude of problems for the Fulham back-line. Hangeland decides to get tight to Sigurdsson and play as a stopper, the Fulham left back has seen the run of Rangel and is ready to come out and intercept the pass and the wide-left midfielder has tracked the run of Rangel also. This re-shuffle has created a pretty big gap between Hangeland and the Fulham left-back and if Routledge was clever enough with his movement, he would run into that space. (I would also have to give Allen a hell of amount of creative freedom to try that pass )

Comparing this to the second picture I've shown and it's more or less a mirror image. The positioning and spacing between Allen-Britton, Sigurdsson-Routledge as well as Rangel's run are identical between the two images.

What surprised me with this image was that it was Britton that attempted the pass even though I gave him a defensive mentality, low creative freedom and through balls rarely. Looking at it again, I suppose he had no other option but to try and play Rangel in as all the other options have been tightly marked.

[SCIAG]

I went to see the Fulham-Swansea match and I remember that pass. The attacking full backs are very important for Swansea's system and the main thing Rodgers learnt when he was sacked by Reading, at least tactically. You seem to have replicated them perfectly.

I can't get the full backs working for my Newcastle side, firstly because I don't really have a left back, secondly because only Simpson has nearly enough stamina and even he seems tired if I have him on any duty except defend. The other problem I'm having is at AMC. Guti and Marveux have been appauling for me and I've had to transfer list Guti because he wanted more game time. Ben Arfa has also been disappointing, not only has he had serious problems with injury and fitness (just like my other AMCs ) but he's also been ineffective when he has played. Frankly I don't think a central dribbler is right for a club like Newcastle and I'm going to look to shift him to the left wing in the summer. Meanwhile, Tsabilaba has done more in a few sub appearances than the rest of the AMCs combined so will fill in for a few weeks. Hopefully I can bring in Sigurdsson in the summer, if not then Haris Vukinic will return from loan to play there.

[Cleon]

I went to see the Fulham-Swansea match and I remember that pass. The attacking full backs are very important for Swansea's system and the main thing Rodgers learnt when he was sacked by Reading, at least tactically. You seem to have replicated them perfectly.

I can't get the full backs working for my Newcastle side, firstly because I don't really have a left back, secondly because only Simpson has nearly enough stamina and even he seems tired if I have him on any duty except defend. The other problem I'm having is at AMC. Guti and Marveux have been appauling for me and I've had to transfer list Guti because he wanted more game time. Ben Arfa has also been disappointing, not only has he had serious problems with injury and fitness (just like my other AMCs ) but he's also been ineffective when he has played. Frankly I don't think a central dribbler is right for a club like Newcastle and I'm going to look to shift him to the left wing in the summer. Meanwhile, Tsabilaba has done more in a few sub appearances than the rest of the AMCs combined so will fill in for a few weeks. Hopefully I can bring in Sigurdsson in the summer, if not then Haris Vukinic will return from loan to play there.

Want me to post up the settings I use for my AMC (Ben Afra) as Newcastle? He tore up the Championship (Toon were relegated and then I took over) and he tore up the EPL last season as well. Not started my 3rd season yet though. Still mainly playing with the original squad too.

[Cleon]

That is my winning EPL side the season after winning the Championship. Ben Afra sits deep and sprays passes all over the park. He'd have a lot more assists and goals but he's playing in a way that isn't selfish. He'll spread the ball out wide to the flanks and then they'll cross for the striker to score hence all the key passes.

[Fisher310]

Want me to post up the settings I use for my AMC (Ben Afra) as Newcastle? He tore up the Championship (Toon were relegated and then I took over) and he tore up the EPL last season as well. Not started my 3rd season yet though. Still mainly playing with the original squad too.

Cleon please could you post the settings used for Ben Arfa if you still have them. Also did you change many of the other player settings from the default TC. Cheers

[Cleon]

He's just default TC set up. Advanced playmaker on support as in the screenshot.

[Đẹp Trai]

cleon could you post your save game

i want to see setting of other position

thanks

[Cleon]

You can see all the settings in the screenshot above.

[Đẹp Trai]

You can see all the settings in the screenshot above.

Is it default setting?

[Cleon]

Everything is default unless I've said different

[vanjari]

I've been in charge of Swansea for 7, soon 8 full seasons now, but I'll put my focus on the first season where I think I managed to make them play very similar to how they play in real life.

The formation I used was a 4-1-4-(0)-1.

I set the passing mentality to Short , and closing down to Press More , rest I left to default.

As for the roles;

Defense: I had Alan Tate as a Ball-playing defender, accompanied with one of the others as a Central Defender. Backs was set to full backs. (wingbacks is a waste imo)

Midfield: Defensive midfielder = Anchor Man (Britton) , MC Ball winning midfielder and MC Advanced Playmaker (Gylfi)

Wingers: Defensive wingers on both sides. Even though the wingers aren't completely comfortable playing in midfield rather than AM, I still found them WAY more usefull down there. They denied opposition wingers and most of all backs getting space forward and still made the opposition uncomfortable at the back with their pace.

Striker: Deep laying forward.

Who I signed : Jelle Vossen £2.1M - Top scorer. Excellent choice.

Guti - Free transfer, still a very decent player!! Can only play around 60% of the games though, and retired after 2 seasons. He was used as anchor man, D. winger and DLF and played nicely everywhere! : )

Rory Delap - £900k Decent player who's transfer listed at Stoke. Real ball winning fighter in midfield. Also knows long throws, see below.

Eric Lichaj - £2.2M - transfer listed at villa. Important player. Used his long-throws ability, but still had the DC's, DM and the other back staying back. Anything else would be stupid. Maybe got 3-4 goals from this, plus a number of corners.

The season went well over my own, the board's, the media's, the other manager's, the fan's and the bookmaker's expectations as we went on to win the Premiership as well as the League Cup. "intentionally" (used B-team) lost the FA-cup in the third round as we were facing Man Utd at old trafford. The small and fairly old squad was already struggling enough with the fixtures as it was. Didn't need more games in there. I decided in the beginning of the season that I would wanna try to get a Europa League spot by winning the League Cup. This was my priority competition of the first season!! Also, when I won it, we were 6th in the league, but the moral boost of winning gave us a 10 matches unbeaten run.

If everything goes your way this team can challenge for the title. I was lucky in every way possible = First match was Arsenal away. Got off with a draw and a massive confidence/moral boost, before heading into 3 matches against "easy" before I faced ManCity twice in a row, losing the League game and winning the League cup against their reserve team. Confidence was high as the next 7 games gave 7 wins against relatively weak teams, before 4 massive fixtures containing Spurs, Chelsea (villa) man utd and liverpool pushed us down the table, but after those matches was over with I yet again faced nearly half a year facing almost exclusively the weaker sides in the premiership, harvesting points and building confidence and moral.

I rode the luck, and winning the PL with only 79 points underlined that. Nevertheless, 79 points is still very good with this squad, and it will most likely secure a CL-spot. And with your wages being by far on of the lowest in the Premiership, you'll be looking at a transfer-budget at £20M+ like I did. Then you sign Gylfi for around 1/3 of that budget. All the rest is up to you. Good luck!