Özil + 10, a tactical exercise on FM14 with Arsenal

[RossoneriGunner]

Since you have played more than me it would be good if you posted the game pkm for this match and explain it to them in bugs forum.

I didn't even bother finishing the match because whatever I changed didn't seem to have any affect.

I won't bother playing anymore until the full game comes out (Supposedly this Thursday), as I can't see the point getting annoyed and p!$$ed off with it.

[gunner86]

Afternoon chaps.

Been reading and enjoying the thread for a while thought it was time to contribute.

Current system at the moment for me is as follows:

---------------------TM(S) --------------------

-AML[iF(S)]-------AMC[T(A)]-------AMR[W(A)]-

------------------------------------------

----------DMLC[DLP(S)]-DMRC[DM(D)]----------

LB[WB(A)]- DLC[CD(D)]-DRC[CD(D]-RB[FB(auto)]

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

Normally with:

Szczesny, Eboue, Mertesacker, Vermaelen/Koscielny, Gibbs/Monreal, Arteta, Wilshere/Ramsey, Walcott/Draxler, Ozil, Cazorla, Giroud.

I have my AML set to tucked in which allows my left back, whether it'/s Gibbs or Monreal, to bomb forward. Whoever plays there is consistently one of the best players on the pitch, and their av ratings are both nearly 8.

Still have a bit of an issue getting the best out of Ozil though. Any ideas??

[llama3]

Looks like a fairly sound system, but I bet there is a lack of movement in the final third in behind - your TM(S) will come deep, and your IF(S) will not make a huge amount of runs in behind - and your W(A) will be making runs in behind, but in a much wider position, perhaps Ozil does not have much to aim at?

[gunner86]

I've got Giroud set to move in to channels, and when Podolski plays up top he's set as a DLF(A) as he doesn't much suit the TM role. Giroud gets goals. Mostly from crosses which is fine. It's just Ozil is being wasted really.

Perhaps a different role?

[llama3]

I've got Giroud set to move in to channels, and when Podolski plays up top he's set as a DLF(A) as he doesn't much suit the TM role. Giroud gets goals. Mostly from crosses which is fine. It's just Ozil is being wasted really.

Perhaps a different role?

Maybe, why is he not playing well though - not recieving passes? Too much risky stuff? Nothing to aim at? He moving away from the area you want him?

[gunner86]

Maybe, why is he not playing well though - not receiving passes? Too much risky stuff? Nothing to aim at? He moving away from the area you want him?

Mainly he seems to be ignored by everyone and the play moves around him without much of his involvement.

I must add that I'm by no means doing badly with this system. 3rd in January after a run of 4 draws over Christmas. Only lost twice in the league all season, but I want to see Ozil being Ozil, not just a spectator.

[RossoneriGunner]

I keep going back to my 4-3-3 (4-1-2-2-1) so I decided I would have 2 test saves one was 4-2-3-1 and the other 4-1-2-2-1, and I was far more happier and confident using the 41221.

I changed a few settings which so far have been positive.

ST has been changed from DLF/a to P/a which has seen Giroud getting 9 goals in 6 league games.

The AML is now set to W/a and my AMR is set to IF/a and I changed both players settings to More Direct Passes, Get Further Forward and Roam From Position. I played Özil as IR/a and he has been amazing popping up all over the place, he is playing so well he bagged 4 in a 5-1 away win over A Villa, making it 4 goals in 6 league games.

[Babak G]

How are they helping on defensive side and how are the full backs faring?

[RossoneriGunner]

Well I have scored 18 goals and conceded 5 in 6 Prem matches, which we have won all 6.

When defending corners I've had 10 players in the area with only Giroud staying up.

Both full backs are doing really well Sagna has an Av Rat of 8.07, Jenkinson 7.75, Gibbs 7.96, Monreal 7.52.

[Babak G]

So you have overcome the initial downside of the update?

[RossoneriGunner]

So you have overcome the initial downside of the update?

Well this is really weird because the 4-2-3-1 tactic played dreadful after the 2nd update but the 4-3-3 is still playing OK.

[thomit]

Decided to not have Özil play as a AMC, and instead go for a 4-3-3 with Özil and Cazorla having IF roles on the wide left (support) and right (attack). Told both to stay more central, and given them instructions so that they operate more like a cross between IF's and AP's. Swaps.

433 balanced, control or attacking. So far so good; 5 matches into the season and won all 5, including home vs. Spurs and away vs. Chelsea. Ôzil 2 goals and 4 assists, Cazorla 3 goals and 3 assists. Playing Arteta in the DM position as a DLP (defend).

What to do about Walcott? He's too good to be kept as a backup, but that is his life at the moment. I guess I could have him alternate with Giroud as a striker, but it's not ideal.

[Mark.]

Decided to not have Özil play as a AMC, and instead go for a 4-3-3 with Özil and Cazorla having IF roles on the wide left (support) and right (attack). Told both to stay more central, and given them instructions so that they operate more like a cross between IF's and AP's. Swaps.

433 balanced, control or attacking. So far so good; 5 matches into the season and won all 5, including home vs. Spurs and away vs. Chelsea. Ôzil 2 goals and 4 assists, Cazorla 3 goals and 3 assists. Playing Arteta in the DM position as a DLP (defend).

What to do about Walcott? He's too good to be kept as a backup, but that is his life at the moment. I guess I could have him alternate with Giroud as a striker, but it's not ideal.

Yeah this is a question on my mind too. To be honest it does give you two very different options up to, which if you can become comfortable with how to get the best out of each of them up there and work it in with the team philosophy it could be worth it As for how to do it..... let me know how you go!

[Babak G]

Decided to not have Özil play as a AMC, and instead go for a 4-3-3 with Özil and Cazorla having IF roles on the wide left (support) and right (attack). Told both to stay more central, and given them instructions so that they operate more like a cross between IF's and AP's. Swaps.

433 balanced, control or attacking. So far so good; 5 matches into the season and won all 5, including home vs. Spurs and away vs. Chelsea. Ôzil 2 goals and 4 assists, Cazorla 3 goals and 3 assists. Playing Arteta in the DM position as a DLP (defend).

What to do about Walcott? He's too good to be kept as a backup, but that is his life at the moment. I guess I could have him alternate with Giroud as a striker, but it's not ideal.

You're having them both come in narrow and you play through the middle?

[RossoneriGunner]

I keep going back to my 4-3-3 (4-1-2-2-1) so I decided I would have 2 test saves one was 4-2-3-1 and the other 4-1-2-2-1, and I was far more happier and confident using the 41221.

I changed a few settings which so far have been positive.

ST has been changed from DLF/a to P/a which has seen Giroud getting 9 goals in 6 league games.

The AML is now set to W/a and my AMR is set to IF/a and I changed both players settings to More Direct Passes, Get Further Forward and Roam From Position. I played Özil as IR/a and he has been amazing popping up all over the place, he is playing so well he bagged 4 in a 5-1 away win over A Villa, making it 4 goals in 6 league games.

I have used Podolski on the left and at last he is playing well and scoring goals.

I have tried him in every conceivable combination to try and get him playing well but with no success but this set up seems to suit him perfectly.

[thomit]

You're having them both come in narrow and you play through the middle?

I have them sit narrower... by using that player instruction. That does not mean that they play in the centre, but merely a bit less wide. And I don't play through the middle - if you mean given the instruction "exploit the middle". My width in attack is provided by my wingbacks.

I have not yet decided what is the best role setup for them; either both as IF's with some added "AP" instructions, or one as AP and one as IF, or both as AP's. Both on attack duty, or one of them on support ... and so on. Experimenting. But it seems to work pretty good so far. By the way, whenever I use Walcott in the AMR position he copes pretty well, despite not being the world's most creative/pass accuracy player.

Still not sure what role/duty is best for my striker either. It's not only a matter of what my striker is best at, but also what is best taking the whole team setup and style into consideration. So far I have Giroud as DLF/attack.

The rest of the roles and duties are pretty straight forward. Wingbacks, the left attacking, the right support. DLP in the DM position when Arteta is there, regular DM when Bender plays. 2 CM's in front of him, one support, one attack - or - a BBM and a AP/attack. Another experiment. The nice thing about Arsenal is that you have a bunch of very versatile midfielders, and you have a lot of options available. All of them can play a CM/support or BBM role, and not lacking in options for CM/attack or AP/attack either.

Brought in Bender (Sven) and Subotic as these were the most viable alternatives available. Bid a lot of money for Lucas, and got it accepted, but he opted for ManC wages instead. Slightly concerned with Subotic' lack of pace, but since Mertesacker seems to be coping very well with even less pace ...

BTW; very tempted to bring back Song ... but have you seen the wages he is paid @ Barca?!

[noikeee]

Returning the joy back to Arsenal

Despite the very long write-ups here, my motivation for playing FM has been on-and-off, so again this post will be in retrospective about a couple of matches that happened a few days ago - before the final beta Update, and before the full game was out. So beware that any tactical analysis here could be rendered irrelevant if the ME has developed in any dramatic way (and from reading the threads around it looks as if there's some pretty bad balancing problems with it in wide areas). My approach is to try to base things on footballing logic not exploiting the ME, but I just cannot pretend we play on a perfect tactical sandbox neither as sometimes you do find flaws in the ME that are hard to ignore, and could partially nullify or magnify your footballing ideas!

So, the last time I was here I was having a very bad run of results and looking a bit lost for ideas, really. The thing I realized was that from the initial opening post to the later ones, I had progressively gone more and more defensive overall with instructions, and also more and more in the direction of possession-based football. I had built a malfunctioning monster that really had little to do with the Dortmund-inspired ideas I delved with at the start, and I do not believe suits Arsenal anymore - half-paradoxically so, since Arsenal are known to be a possession football team. I will explain in a bit, but let's start by going into a more positive route by simply showing my results since I did a few changes:

Losing to Spurs ends this on a bit of a bad note but otherwise this was quite a positive upturn, if aided by a nice list of home fixtures. I will gloss over a bit on the Atlético away draw where I lined up on a similar 4-3-3 type thing as the previous post, and got lucky in the final minute after changing to an Attacking strategy in pursue of an equalizer. Wilshere made quite the off-the-ball run from an AML position and barged into the area to finish a quick, mildly scrappy play.

The next two matches were when the fun started. I had bad morale and hosting Cardiff then Villa was a godsend. I figured caution really wasn't working so switched back to a 4-2-3-1 formation sort of similar to plan A, BUT developed it a little bit.

The differences to the opening post plan A are the following:

- 2 CMs became 2 DMs to help defensive stability, this has been long established as the norm in my previous posts as the MCs cause havoc in such a loose system

- Stopper CB became Defend CB, again this has been long established as I found out the Stopper encouraged far far too many through balls

- "Hassle Opponents" is gone. Now this is one of the critical tweaks because this is the one area Arsenal differs greatly from Dortmund which is, Arsenal are rubbish at winning the ball back. We are not a combative team at all and Behrami by himself, the only man with the right skills for that, is not enough. The reasoning I had given for pressing so much, was that 4-2-3-1 is not a good defensive formation so we need to win the ball back quickly to stay as little time as possible in that defensive formation. Thing is, "win the ball back as quickly as possible" is a possession-based idea. It's the Barcelona thing, keep the ball all game and when you lose it desperately get it back. I am not looking for that at all in this new tweaked plan, and I will soon explain why. I don't really want the ball that much (although I do have "Play Out Of Defence" because my defenders are good enough for that - don't just hoof it). I will concede a non-ideal number of goals yes, but I do have 2 DMs back at all times to keep things mildly sane there, and the benefits shall outweight the negatives because we are a cracking team at attacking.

- "Higher Tempo" is gone, I just didn't feel I had that much success with delving with tempo, I do want my team to be quick but they seemed to be a bit too rushed into making decisions, so just wasted perfectly nice opportunities to build play.

- "Roam From Positions" is gone, I think I dropped this by accident actually but it sort of makes sense as I have a Trequartista, he will roam crazily enough, the others can be in nice predictable positions where we do need them, I need Walcott to stretch the play, I need Giroud to be upfront to finish, I need Cazorla to be tucked in as an early easy passing option etc. They are clever enough to move enough as it is with the fluidity and all.

- I also later introduced "Run At Defence" (not pictured in the screenie), to try to make the most of my 3 AM strata dribblers but have not seen a huge difference with this.

- Now the real big groundbreaking move is the introduction of both "Drop Deeper" and "Play Wider". This is a classic combo which you'll want to use many times when you are favourites for a match, particularly at home, as it maximizes space both vertically and horizontally. You get a ridiculous lot more space to play in as the opposition just cannot cover you anywhere near as efficiently if you're that stretched out, and this is delicious news for our world class Trequartista (usually Özil) who feeds on space. The downside is that the opposition also gets more space to play in, but as I've said I'm willing to accept that and try to outscore them. Notice this is under "Control" strategy, I'd be wary of issueing these instructions under "Attacking" which already stretches you greatly by default; or under "Counter" as you're far too deep by default then.

- I also dropped the man-marking, tight-marking I had given my AMLs and AMRs (and it seems the bug regarding that is fixed, haven't noticed yet again) to ensure they don't drop so deep therefore remain in a nice position for when we win the ball back. That is the big reason why I don't want possession - by being so deep, and having 3 AMs with wildly different instructions yet all in position to be given the ball quickly and easily, when we win the ball back we are suddenly in a FANTASTIC position for killing the opposition.

The screenshot above depicts one of the goals in the hectic win over Plzen. I was playing with Podolski as advanced forward which has slightly different dynamics than Giroud as deep-lying forward, but still, notice the delicious positioning of my 3 AM's - Rosicky on the left, Vela on the middle, Oxlade-Chamberlain on the right - for when my defence picks up the ball to launch a counter at pace. Rosicky, Vela and Podolski would combine for the goal with a couple of triangle passes over the floor.

Alternatively, the massive width lets us carve open teams that sit deep and wait for us, by the flanks. The screenie above shows a passage of play that would lead into one of Giroud's goals vs Aston Villa, Coentrão and Cazorla combining down the left wing for the later to cross for him - Wilshere's movement off-the-ball facilitating the play as he occupies a defender that could possibly have been tracking Cazorla instead.

[noikeee]

The away matches

I must admit that this new updated gameplan, whilst very fun and enough to let me beat Cardiff, Villa, Newcastle and Plzen, is not fit for playing away from home against good teams such as Atlético, Leverkusen, Everton and Tottenham. That being said, that was an actually quite tough list of away fixtures and we got away from that with 1 win, 2 draws and 1 single defeat, unfortunately vs our big rivals. That's decent.

I have not done a gigantic amount of changes in the more cautious 4-3-3 I used for these matches, that being said I still made a few minor breakthroughs as I attempted too to make this 4-3-3 a little more positive minded, loosely based as well in those ideas of exploiting space much as the new 4-2-3-1, just aided by a more defensively solid formation:

- the big change is Behrami up to the MC strata as Ball-Winning Midfielder, swapping him for the DLP which now remains stationary in front of the defence tasked simply with putting a body on that space. This has made a really nice impact as Behrami now wins a lot more balls further up the pitch and I remember a few plays against Everton and Tottenham where this caused havoc, the ball suddenly brought into the attacking 3 with the opposition on the back foot.

- the 4-3-3 is now Balanced rather than Fluid, this lets everyone focus a little more on their own roles - the defenders stick back more, and the front trio know they are there to counter-attack. Despite the fact the strategy is now Standard because I no longer want my team to think defensively foremost (although the alternative Counter 4-3-3 is still being trained for those really extra hard matches where we are big underdogs, like at Camp Nou or something).

- Got rid of "Push Higher Up" to ensure we stay deep enough to benefit from those quick transitions like depicted previous in the first screenie for the other tactic; got rid of "Look For Overlap" because I want the full-backs to retain some sense and the team to have some urgency (although the LB needs to be WB/A to ensure width on that wing given the tucked-in Özil); and got rid of "Retain Possession" to again instill urgency, we no longer want to be a retain-the-ball team.

Conclusions

I think to be satisfied with the results is slightly optimistic because we were extremely lucky vs both Atlético and Everton scoring late injury goals, and the game against Leverkusen was a total freak result as we had a lot less corners than them yet Vermaelen scored in 3 of them. However, vs Tottenham we got a taste of our own medicine by being the ones who conceded the late goal, and the really great news is that in all 4 matches the match stats were actually very very even between both teams, similar amount of shots/chances/possession. Given all 4 matches were against good sides away from home, I will be happy with that, on average that will win us more points than lose.

Sadly despite this good run we are still only 6th in the league (7 pts behind leader Man Utd, with 1 game in hand over all 5 teams above), the new ME update may also force me to change more things, but I am now on a much much more uplifting note. I now feel I have settled on an identity for our football, I have gone through nice and rough times, figured out what worked and what didn't, and have evolved greatly our tactical foundations. And this could very well be my last post in the series, at least for now. I want to have some fun watching as the matches fly by, and I feel the write-ups on this thread are hindering the progress rate of this enjoyable career. Thanks for reading, will continue sharing opinions here if good debate points arise.

[Babak G]

As a couple of guys here said switching from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3 adds so much stability. Have done the same with minimal changes to the instructions and even my full backs are more solid and center backs deal with crosses better. Dont understand the logic there but its worked with this new engine.

[noikeee]

As a couple of guys here said switching from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3 adds so much stability. Have done the same with minimal changes to the instructions and even my full backs are more solid and center backs deal with crosses better. Dont understand the logic there but its worked with this new engine.

I really do hope I won't need to drop my new 4-2-3-1, but I think I will, as people are talking in other threads about how vital it is in the new engine to have the wingers helping out in defence. My latest major breakthrough was exactly to have the wingers only half-arsedly helping in defence, in order to be in position to counter...

[kandersson]

I really do hope I won't need to drop my new 4-2-3-1, but I think I will, as people are talking in other threads about how vital it is in the new engine to have the wingers helping out in defence. My latest major breakthrough was exactly to have the wingers only half-arsedly helping in defence, in order to be in position to counter...

I like a lot the ideas behind your latest 4-2-3-1 esp the drop deeper+ play wider combo to open spaces for the AMC, brilliant! I also hate 4-3-3/4-1-2-2-1 irl, heopefully it's not the go-to-formation for FM14...

how are you doing with posession with the new 4-2-3-1 as I always find hard to keep that high with 2 DM's?

[RossoneriGunner]

Has anyone had problems searching for players. I went onto search > players and tried to type in a players name and it wouldn't let me, had to go to the players club and get him that way.

[RossoneriGunner]

I've just sussed the problem, I'm using the Dark Skin and the type colour is........white, so its typing white on a white background.

[Babak G]

How are feeling doing with their 4-2-3-1's currently? Has anyone moved away from the 4-3-3? After falling slightly apart with the 4-2-3-1 in the second quarter of the season I moved to the latter. Now as things are steady its difficult for me to move back considering the season is in a critical stage. However, I enjoyed the football on the 4-2-3-1 a bit more. Dont like the link up play between 3 CMs and forwards. Its more like 2 units rather than 1 in the 4-2-3-1. Maybe I need to play a higher line to get them closer, even though results wise Im top of the table.

I struggle against 4-4-2s that play through wings. Its hellish.

[RossoneriGunner]

I'm starting my save this morning and will be using the 433 that I used in the beta version.

I feel more confident when I play using 433.

[noikeee]

I like a lot the ideas behind your latest 4-2-3-1 esp the drop deeper+ play wider combo to open spaces for the AMC, brilliant! I also hate 4-3-3/4-1-2-2-1 irl, heopefully it's not the go-to-formation for FM14...

how are you doing with posession with the new 4-2-3-1 as I always find hard to keep that high with 2 DM's?

I'm not getting a lot of possession (almost every game that stat seems to stay around 50%) but I'm trying to base my game on transitions, not on possession, so I don't mind...

[thomit]

Settled now on a Fluid/Attacking or Control 433 setup, with AML=IF/support, Sit narrower, roam from position. (Cazorla/Walcott/Chambo), AMR=IF/attack, Sit narrower, Roam from position. (Özil/Walcott/Chambo). Allowed to swap in team instructions. Walcott only needs a little bit of positional re-training, and he copes with playing on the left very well indeed.

Striker is AF, Move into channels, mark tighter, dribble less. (Giroud/Poldi/Sanogo). Not surprisingly, Giroud does the best job here, but Sanogo is really promising.

Midfield is MCL=AP/attack, dribble less, close down more. ( Wilshere/Arteta/Rosicky), MCR=BBM, close down more, mark tighter. (Ramsey/Flamini/Arteta), DM=DM, mark tighter. (Bender, Arteta, Flamini).

DL=WB/attack, dribble less, run wide with ball, close down more. (changes to support when I play Control), DR= WB/support, run wide with ball, close down more.

Keeper is SwKeeper/defend, distribute to defenders (attacking), quick throws (control). DC's are straigh forward DC/defend.

Team instructions are: Shorter passing, Work ball into box, Play narrower, Roam from positions, Allow wide players to swap, Be more expressive, Push higher up, Higher tempo (when playing Attacking, this instruction is off when playing Control).

I play Attacking mentality in bursts; it usually goes like this; First 15 minutes=attacking, next 15 minutes=Control, next 15 minutes attack again ... etc. Depending on how the match plays out, of course - there's no need to go attacking when you allready is 3-0 up. I do this because playing much of the match in Attacking mode tires my players out more than I like (higher pressing and higher tempo than "standard"), so I "rest" them by playing Control in between. The only other instruction I use is if I'm comfortable in the lead 10-15 minutes before full time - then I may add Take a breather to my Control setup. This is the most "defensive" or careful I ever go, whatever the opposition, home or away. It's Arsenal, after all.

Getting Arsenal to gel nicely and really "click" with this setup now, watching matches looks not that dissimilar to seeing Arsenal live, actually. Sitting second in the league after 10 rounds, behind Chelsea. One particular high note was a home 4-1 "thrashing" of ManC - a match where I got Vermaelen sent off about 30 minutes into first half. I was 2-0 up at that point, so not really panicking, but I had to play the rest of the match without a striker. 2 beautiful counters in the second half, one by Cazorla and one by Wilshere. Did nothing else but set my tactic to the usual Control setup - the last counter came when I had gone Take a breather, even.

One note: To get this setup to "click" depends heavily on tactical familiarity being very close to perfect. In my experience; the more Fluid you play, the more you going to have to rely on tactical familiarity.

Point is: Playing Özil as on of two IF's in a 433 setup is not a bad idea at all, even though every fibre in your body, and every bit of info in the game tells you that he's at his absolute best as a AMC.

[lomekian]

Early days yet, having only bought FM14 on Friday,but my attempts at re-creating my lop-sided 4231 (or more like 3-2-1-3-1) based on the real set up that gave me so much success in fm13 seem to be working. I'm not sufficiently technical to really put up lots of pretty pictures, but this is the idea

---------------TM (A)---------------

------AP(S)----TQ(A)----------W(A)

--------------------BBM(S)----------

WB(A)------DLP (D)------------------

----------CD (D)-----CD ©----FB(S)

---------------SK (D)---------------

Obviously this is specifically tailored to the current squad, but happily the 2nd 11 can all slot almost seamlessly into these roles (apart from OX always drifts infield as a winger & Pod needs a totally different set up - DLF(A) or IF(A) or W(A)....

Instructions - retain possession, Look for overlap, Higher tempo, Be more expressive, hassle opponents.

Suitably successful pre-season (managed by bouldy), and 5 wins out of 5 so far, with 20 goals for and 5 against, including 5-2 win at Anfield, 6-0 at home v Norwich and a 3-1 away at Sunderland. Both Liverpool goals were flukes (double deflection & a poor keeper clearance straight to Coutinho).

Too early to really be confident of the long term impact, but as this thread set out to achieve, Ozil is on fire for me. With personal instructions of 'run wide with ball' and 'shoot less often', in 5 competitive games he has 2 goals and 7 assists, after 4 goals and 2 assists in 5 preseason games.

It will be interesting to see hoe this pans out.....

[Babak G]

Settled now on a Fluid/Attacking or Control 433 setup, with AML=IF/support, Sit narrower, roam from position. (Cazorla/Walcott/Chambo), AMR=IF/attack, Sit narrower, Roam from position. (Özil/Walcott/Chambo). Allowed to swap in team instructions. Walcott only needs a little bit of positional re-training, and he copes with playing on the left very well indeed.

Striker is AF, Move into channels, mark tighter, dribble less. (Giroud/Poldi/Sanogo). Not surprisingly, Giroud does the best job here, but Sanogo is really promising.

Midfield is MCL=AP/attack, dribble less, close down more. ( Wilshere/Arteta/Rosicky), MCR=BBM, close down more, mark tighter. (Ramsey/Flamini/Arteta), DM=DM, mark tighter. (Bender, Arteta, Flamini).

DL=WB/attack, dribble less, run wide with ball, close down more. (changes to support when I play Control), DR= WB/support, run wide with ball, close down more.

Keeper is SwKeeper/defend, distribute to defenders (attacking), quick throws (control). DC's are straigh forward DC/defend.

Team instructions are: Shorter passing, Work ball into box, Play narrower, Roam from positions, Allow wide players to swap, Be more expressive, Push higher up, Higher tempo (when playing Attacking, this instruction is off when playing Control).

I play Attacking mentality in bursts; it usually goes like this; First 15 minutes=attacking, next 15 minutes=Control, next 15 minutes attack again ... etc. Depending on how the match plays out, of course - there's no need to go attacking when you allready is 3-0 up. I do this because playing much of the match in Attacking mode tires my players out more than I like (higher pressing and higher tempo than "standard"), so I "rest" them by playing Control in between. The only other instruction I use is if I'm comfortable in the lead 10-15 minutes before full time - then I may add Take a breather to my Control setup. This is the most "defensive" or careful I ever go, whatever the opposition, home or away. It's Arsenal, after all.

Getting Arsenal to gel nicely and really "click" with this setup now, watching matches looks not that dissimilar to seeing Arsenal live, actually. Sitting second in the league after 10 rounds, behind Chelsea. One particular high note was a home 4-1 "thrashing" of ManC - a match where I got Vermaelen sent off about 30 minutes into first half. I was 2-0 up at that point, so not really panicking, but I had to play the rest of the match without a striker. 2 beautiful counters in the second half, one by Cazorla and one by Wilshere. Did nothing else but set my tactic to the usual Control setup - the last counter came when I had gone Take a breather, even.

One note: To get this setup to "click" depends heavily on tactical familiarity being very close to perfect. In my experience; the more Fluid you play, the more you going to have to rely on tactical familiarity.

Point is: Playing Özil as on of two IF's in a 433 setup is not a bad idea at all, even though every fibre in your body, and every bit of info in the game tells you that he's at his absolute best as a AMC.

Are you threatening through the middle or are the wide players active in play too?

[max787]

I've had success playing Ozil as the striker in a 4-5-1, set as a trequarista. It's quite effective when he's flanked by two inside forwards, he comes deep for the ball, the inside forwards move into the vacated space, and Ozil can play them through on goal. He scores a decent amount himself too.

I've found that he seems to find more space, and gets the ball in more threatening positions, when played as a striker coming deep than he does as an AMC. It also allows me to play my preferred 4-5-1 formation, instead of a 4-2-3-1.

[llama3]

interesting work, similar role to fabregas and messi at barcelona?

[max787]

interesting work, similar role to fabregas and messi at barcelona?

Barca were the inspiration I guess.

Ozil / Messi - Striker dropping deep, creating space, linking with midfield

Wilshere / Iniesta - Ball carrier from central midfield

Ramsey / Xavi - Deeper midfielder, playmaker.

Arteta / Busquets - Shielding DM, offers an out ball for defence and midfield.

Those are the role archetypes I try to implement more or less.

[Brett_PFC]

I am playing as Arsenal - I use a 4-3-1-2 formation as my first signing was Levandowski for £25m

Scored 28 goals in 11 prem games and lying 5th at the mo. Ozil rating is 7.53 and he has scored 5 in 17 I play him just behind the from 2 as an Advanced Playmaker - Giroud has 10 in 15

[sirfletch2006]

This is the formation I get the best out of Ozil with.

Ozil is the false 9 and the wide men are inside forwards.

I wanted to play a possession game with a standard strategy but found that the IF's werent getting forward enough in their usual position, so I pushed them into the advanced strata.

Ozil got 18 goals and 36 assists from 51 games (no set pieces).

[rune_star]

And how are you playing your MC's in that setup?

[sirfletch2006]

And how are you playing your MC's in that setup?

Wilshere is the MCL and has a standard CM Support role

Ramsey is MCR and is a DLP Support

I bought Nemanja Matic for the DM position, he has a Halfback Role, he has excellent mental attributes and is strong in the air and pretty much sweeps up anything that is hoofed forward.

I focus passing through the middle, those 3 have excellent stats for retaining and recycling possession.

[thomit]

I've had success playing Ozil as the striker in a 4-5-1, set as a trequarista. It's quite effective when he's flanked by two inside forwards, he comes deep for the ball, the inside forwards move into the vacated space, and Ozil can play them through on goal. He scores a decent amount himself too.

I've found that he seems to find more space, and gets the ball in more threatening positions, when played as a striker coming deep than he does as an AMC. It also allows me to play my preferred 4-5-1 formation, instead of a 4-2-3-1.

Tried out playing with a treq up top in both FM 12 and 13, but was never entirely happy with the results - but decided to have a go again inspired by your post here. So started to train Özil in striker position (it will take a couple of months) with the aim of using him as a treq there. But in the meantime, I figured I'd try having Giroud as a false 9, while waiting for Özil to be ready - and now I think maybe I'll stick with that solution. My team is playing gorgeous football, free scoring and defensively very solid ... Just had to change my tactics a little bit, from my high pace, high pressure, aggressively attacking approach to a somewhat more posession based and patient approach. Slower, wider, lower defense line. I can allways play Özil instead of Giroud up top if he's not available now, without having to change anything but their roles. I didn't really expect Giroud to cope very well with a F9 role, but indeed, it turns out that he can. Giroud/Özil as alternatives up top, and Özil/Walcott/Chambo/Poldi as interchangeable IF's. Perfect. That means I'm mostly playing Cazorla as one of the two CM's, in a AP/support role, but can allways use him as IF too.

[Bittah Dreamer]

Just finished my first season and won the league by 3 points, with United in second. At one point I was 10 points up but two consecutive away losses to Spurs and Man City, and then a limp home draw against Villa nearly threatened to ruin my season. I was playing a similar formation to most here at home.

Away though, I was never really sure how to approach the game, and never really settled on a convincing approach for away games. I changed between 4-2-3-1 and 4-1-2-2-1 depending on the opposition. Obviously you will always be up against it against the bigger teams away from home, but I recall Swansea having over 70% possession against me at the Liberty Stadium (think i somehow managed a draw though).

Anybody found an approach that works?

I'm also trying to think how should I approach the upcoming transfer window and my team's approach for next year.

I already have Lewandowski coming in on a free. Although Giroud was joint second top scorer in the league this year (behind Danny Graham of all people), he was too inconsistent at times.

I'm thinking that maybe a move to 4-1-2-2-1 might be better than 4-2-3-1, even at home. I think at time play got too congested in the final third with 4 players so high up. However, I feel I would be failing to make the most of Ozil by playing him on a wing.

I also have choices to make on my wide men. I think Walcott on 100k per week is way over priced. He was actually effective for me on the right wing, but I still feel his only real strength is speed. I also feel that Cazorla didn't deliver either, and his attitude annoyed me (outright refused to tutor younger players for example, and never really accepted criticism when he had a stinker).

So I have identified Shaqiri, Draxler and El Shaarawy as possible alternatives for them. Shaqiri on the right for Walcott and the other two on the left. Each plays best as inside forwards.

A lot of my attacking play came through Walcott on the right as a winger - especially on the counter. On the left, most of my attacking play came through Baines, with Cazorla or Vela sitting in a bit as an advanced playmaker and inside forward respectively.

If I go to an inside forward on the right, I may lose some of the directness Walcott offered. The move to 4-1-2-2-1 is intended to try and compensate to an extent by leaving more room for the inside forwards to cut in and run at the defence. I would also obviously have players who had more to offer than just their pace, and could hopefully influence the game in more ways.

Thoughts?

I am also wondering how best to play Lewandowski. I had Giroud as a target man (attack) and he did well. Lewandowski is best as a complete forward per my scouts. he should have the strength to do a target man job as well, but if I am moving to using inside forwards on the wings I wonder might I be best to try and get him to bring them into the game more. If so, a DLF or F9 role might work, but I would then be sacrificing some goal threat from him.

should I just leave him on complete and let him try and do it all?

[llama3]

With regard to Walcott - there is nothing wrong with having a pacy option or outlet, you cannot have all technical players. Having a Plan B is important. Even Wenger who has been so stubborn for years has plans B & C now. I like having different players with pace, strength, good passers and movers, good dribblers etc.

Lewandowski could be a CF(S) - still carries a significant goal threat but good link play. You may be surprised to know Giroud is capable of doing that too.

[max787]

@ Bittah: Draxler and Chambo would be awesome on the wings, both of them are two footed so they offer a threat on the inside and on the outside. I'd play both of them on the flanks if I were you. Lewandowski as a DLFs or CFs, with Giroud as backup.

Draxler badly needs to be tutored though, so make sure you have someone with a higher rep and squad status than him in your squad.

[Bittah Dreamer]

Max, who would you recommend for tutoring? Ozil would seem an obvious one.

That could actually be a good combination - Draxler and the Ox set to switch flanks, have them varying between winger and inside forward depending on their side maybe? Might give a bit of variation to the play, make the team less predictable.

llama I agree the plan b option is good, and really do love the directness Walcott offers on the break at times. However, apart from run to the line and cross he doesn't offer much - for £100k per week at that. Ox is now probably ready to take his starting place.

I was thinking Shaqiri on the right would offer pace (though not as much as Walcott), though he would be an inside forward so would go for the juggular himself rather than crossing - which might be a better option as I only play one up front, so the target man would be isolated up front, even assuming he makes up the ground in time to take advantage of Walcott's break.

[Sleepydude]

I wouldn't use Ozil to tutor anyone because of his low determination.

[howard moon]

I just wanted to thank Noikeee for this thread and his detailed posts. It's the best I've read on here since SFraser's excellent posts years ago.

I didn't enjoy FM12 or FM13 as much as I enjoyed the older games, which I put down to my increasing age, and decreasing amount of time I get to play the game. I tried the demo for FM14 but it didn't grab me, and I made the decision not to buy it right now, and possibility not at all.

Reading this has made me want to buy the game. I often get frustrated with the tactical side of the FM, feeling that I either a) cannot translate what I want to do into the language and commands of the game, or b) the match engine just can't do what I want. I certainly got that impression with the demo for FM14, seeing my team fail to press high up the pitch, dropping too deep despite my instructions, seeing inside forwards run to the byeline to cross, seeing keepers with 'distribute to defenders' knocking it long to my 5ft9 lone striker etc.

But reading a thread that is brilliantly though out, with logical responses to tactical issues has given me faith that it is actually possible. I like to tweak my team based on the opposition, and the three set-ups you use are pretty much what I've always wanted to try and do on the game, using different ones depending on the context.

What's refreshing about this thread is seeing:

1. A tactical plan thought through,

2. Problems overcome

3. All in realistic football speak, rather than trying to second guess sliders.

I'm reading the explanations and looking at the videos and pictures and thinking, "yes, that's what I want to do," or, "I've encountered the same problem before, but couldn't find a solution."

So thanks again - you may have made me £30 poorer, and my wife will doubtless roll her eyes that I'm buying "that game again." But if I can play the game like this, I'll rediscover my love for it!

[Typhoon]

Max, who would you recommend for tutoring? Ozil would seem an obvious one.

That could actually be a good combination - Draxler and the Ox set to switch flanks, have them varying between winger and inside forward depending on their side maybe? Might give a bit of variation to the play, make the team less predictable.

llama I agree the plan b option is good, and really do love the directness Walcott offers on the break at times. However, apart from run to the line and cross he doesn't offer much - for £100k per week at that. Ox is now probably ready to take his starting place.

I was thinking Shaqiri on the right would offer pace (though not as much as Walcott), though he would be an inside forward so would go for the juggular himself rather than crossing - which might be a better option as I only play one up front, so the target man would be isolated up front, even assuming he makes up the ground in time to take advantage of Walcott's break.

I agree with both Ox and Draxler on the flanks. I set Draxler as IF(S/A) on the left, and let Ox on the right as W(A). It's a very good combination, but I feel that either the position (it's the best for Draxler), or just the player himself isn't scoring as many goals as he possibly could.

[jujigatame]

I'm actually surprised to see so many people using Ozil as a TQ rather than an AP. I know it makes intuitive sense to play him as a TQ but in my experience, when you set someone to TQ they tend to shoot a lot (probably because their "mentality" is jacked up to the highest setting) whereas an AP/A will run with the ball and look to pass first, which is what Ozil excels at. If the concern is that you don't want him necessarily staying central, you could always give him the individual "more roaming" instruction.

[Lenners]

I solved the Ozil problem. Broken ankle, out for 3 months :-(

Also, I've reverted to my favourite tactic from 13 and I've finally started winning consistently. Wilshere has 7 goals in 5 games and everything is going great. Shame it happened after I was knocked out of the CL, but I suppose I may as well win the Europa League since I'll never be in this competition again!

Tactic is a narrow 4231 with central midfielders and a deep lying forward backed by 2 AP's and an attacking midfielder. Winning games by 3 or 4 goals now :-)

[thomit]

@ jujigatame: In FM 13, playing a Fluid or Very Fluid tactic, Control or Attacking, the treq would get lower mentality than any other position/role. So I doubt very much that he gets a much higher mentality setting in FM 14, but of course it's hard to tell now. Other than that, I agree with you in that AP is a superb role for someone like Özil, preferrably AP/attack coupled with a striker that's not all out attacking ... maybe a DLF.

[jujigatame]

I must be misunderstanding "mentality" in that case, I had the understanding that a lower mentality means more defensive work, and that a TQ (which can only have an attack duty) does no defensive work whatsoever.

I always noticed that when using a TQ in FM13 (I used RVP, Mata, and Vucinic this way) the player would end up shooting a lot from the edge of the box, which is why I wouldn't recommend it for Ozil.

[James9]

Cleon the pictures of training on Pre Season are no longer available. Is there anyway I can view these pictures to give me an idea what to do.

[noikeee]

Defensive work is more tied to closing down than to mentality (in old slider speak). Lower mentality is more about dropping the player deeper in terms of positioning on the pitch, which the Trequartista does, although I think it's also tied to how adventurous a player is with his passing.

Ozil doesn't tend to shoot a lot because of his teamwork. Although I've had him score one from outside the area. I suppose he knows when to pick his shots too, which is nice.