AusBlackCat Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Firstly I'd like to say I am not at all a tactical genius or will I ever claim to be. In fact I have battled through this game like crazy. I've tried numerous tactics and styles and been beyond frustrated. I've read countless articles on here and other websites and finally, with some advice and ideas to play with from my 'My struggling Black Cats' thread on this forum. I have come up with a tactic that I am having some success with. Now I am a huge Sunderland fan so naturally I have chosen them as my team, not a great squad by all means but they have some nice pieces to work with. I do not expect to dominate possession and outplay top tier teams, I do however expect to grind out results against better teams, and pick up points against similar and lower tier teams. So lets move onto the shape and roles I have settled with (for now). As you can see, nothing spectacular with the shape I have gone with, except for the fact I've opted to have the 2 central mid players sit in the DM positions. A few reasons I have it like that - I feel it offers me more protection, I love the anchor man role, it just seems to work better for me having the 2 in the dm slot instead of the cm slot. Finally, having Bridcutt, Colback, Cattermole, and Ki - it only seemed logical to have at least 1 DM slot, and with those players not being the most creative, it made sense to keep there roles to more simple defensive duties. Here are my team instructions, mostly kept the same for most matches. Still tweaking things though. The things I alter at times is turning direct passing off, and work ball into box off. It all depends how the opposition is setting up, and how the game is playing out. After 12 games I am sitting 5th in the league with 5 wins 6 draws and 1 loss. Here are some of the stats to 3 games in particular that went very well for me. I have training set to balance and average, when I'm away I have them focus on def positioning, and at home usually attacking movement. Ok I am not at all saying this is a wonder tactic it's far from it, but it's working for me and I am enjoying using it and trying to develop it further. The issues I have with it at times is the sheer number of shots against, though most of the time they are harmless outside of the box shots. The wingers aren't producing as much as I want, and against similar level teams, and at times lower level teams it struggles to generate chances. The only game I lost was 3-2 to Southampton away, which was due to 2 stupid penalties given away by my team. I also drew 2-2 with Chelsea at home, they equalised in the 90th minute. It seems to work quite well against teams who want to push up and attack me, I just sit back and then rapid fire counter attack with the huge gap behind there defence. I have issues when the opposition sit deeper and clog things up. I am happy to answer questions, and I hope some of you are willing and interested in trying this out and perhaps even add your own little spin on it - I am always open to constructive discussions on what might make it work better, or what's holding it back. http://www.sendspace.com/file/y7h1v3 Enjoy! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianwood001 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 I've not long created a very similar tactic. I have the same formation set to Counter but the fluidity set to very fluid. I have the central midfielders as DM on support and the wide midfielders set to Wide Midfielder with attach duty and specific instructions to get further forward and dribble more - I’m using them as sort of narrow wingers that will help out defensively. Both fullbacks on support. I'm with Nott'm Forest and have so far Played 14 - won 10, draw 4 and lost 0. Not scoring loads but conceeding very few goals - about 0.5 goals per game. Only team instruction I use are: Hassle more, higher tempo, drill crosses. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintage75020 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 hi guys can you put link for download your 2 tactics plzease ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AusBlackCat Posted February 27, 2014 Author Share Posted February 27, 2014 I've not long created a very similar tactic. I have the same formation set to Counter but the fluidity set to very fluid.I have the central midfielders as DM on support and the wide midfielders set to Wide Midfielder with attach duty and specific instructions to get further forward and dribble more - I’m using them as sort of narrow wingers that will help out defensively. Both fullbacks on support. I'm with Nott'm Forest and have so far Played 14 - won 10, draw 4 and lost 0. Not scoring loads but conceeding very few goals - about 0.5 goals per game. Only team instruction I use are: Hassle more, higher tempo, drill crosses. Thanks for your reply mate, I'm curious to know how your wingers perform, are they getting many assists and goals? Mine seem to be the ones that play the ball to the player who gets the assists. My left winger has scored a few but my right winger isn't troubling the scoreboard at all, no goals or assists. I've played 14 games and conceded 15 and scored 22. Not too bad but of course I'm still developing this and improving it. I enjoy the early signs of it though. hi guys can you put link for download your 2 tactics plzease ? Sorry mate, I put a link up now - hopefully it works. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HTC Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 AusBlackCat you receive many shots probably because of Hassle Off. I think you are ok though. If your Wingers have good passing and creativity, Wide Midfielder role will be better i think. They will make some good passes for the front two. At least thats what i saw in my counter tactic. (Same formation as yours for the 4-4, but one Striker at MC position as APs and the other at AMC as SS. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianwood001 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Thanks for your reply mate, I'm curious to know how your wingers perform, are they getting many assists and goals? Mine seem to be the ones that play the ball to the player who gets the assists. My left winger has scored a few but my right winger isn't troubling the scoreboard at all, no goals or assists.I've played 14 games and conceded 15 and scored 22. Not too bad but of course I'm still developing this and improving it. I enjoy the early signs of it though. My wide midfielders are performing well. They are the ones supplying assists, chipping in with a few goals and have the highest average ratings for my team. I had a little tweak to the tactic last night to help improve things: 1) I have set all players to shoot less ofter as I felt we were shooting from distance too much 2) I set passing to more direct. To try and move the ball to the wide midfielders and strikers more. 3) Set to 'pass into space' - I'm not trying to create a possesion based tactic but one that defends well and then hits them hard on the counter. The Wide Mids need good pace for this and the 2 DM need to well rounded players that can defend and pass the ball well. After playing 28 games I have only lost 1 and am still top of the league - the tactic does seems to draw quiet a alot however. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AusBlackCat Posted February 28, 2014 Author Share Posted February 28, 2014 Thanks for the input guys, I've decided to put both wingers to wide midfielders on attack, and instructed them to dribble more and get further forward, I'll see how this plays out and if it makes any difference at all. I'm worried that if I hassle my opponents it might drag players out of position and allow them to pass and move into the space I left them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianwood001 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Just to add, I selected the 'Very Fluid' mentality as I like my teams to all work together in attack and defense - which I think works well with the Counter attacking strategy. I try to look for players that have high ratings in teamwork, workrate, determination and decision making. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AusBlackCat Posted February 28, 2014 Author Share Posted February 28, 2014 Just to add, I selected the 'Very Fluid' mentality as I like my teams to all work together in attack and defense - which I think works well with the Counter attacking strategy. I try to look for players that have high ratings in teamwork, workrate, determination and decision making. I'm yet to try mine on very fluid, I've had it on balanced, and settled with rigid for now. I wonder if changing mine to very fluid would make it better or worse, or keep it the same. I have changed both my wingers to wide midfielders on attack, and at home I change my full backs to wing back support, helps create an overload on the flanks at times. I also changed my BWM to a DM s so he isn't running around so much and is keeping more to the shape. I have played 22 games in my season and am currently sitting 3rd! I have the best away record in the league which is very impressive. I haven't lost to a big team yet, my 2 losses have been to Southampton and West Brom, both games I should have won but luck went against me. This tactic for me has been very efficient with the ball, I usually only see 40ish% of the ball, but when I have it I'm usually efficient. Which brings me to my next point - it tends to struggle against teams I am the favourite against where I'm meant to boss the game. When the other team sits back like I am, it tends to be a pretty boring draw or one team will get lucky. Not sure what to do about this? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianwood001 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 I'm yet to try mine on very fluid, I've had it on balanced, and settled with rigid for now. I wonder if changing mine to very fluid would make it better or worse, or keep it the same. I have changed both my wingers to wide midfielders on attack, and at home I change my full backs to wing back support, helps create an overload on the flanks at times. I also changed my BWM to a DM s so he isn't running around so much and is keeping more to the shape.I have played 22 games in my season and am currently sitting 3rd! I have the best away record in the league which is very impressive. I haven't lost to a big team yet, my 2 losses have been to Southampton and West Brom, both games I should have won but luck went against me. This tactic for me has been very efficient with the ball, I usually only see 40ish% of the ball, but when I have it I'm usually efficient. Which brings me to my next point - it tends to struggle against teams I am the favourite against where I'm meant to boss the game. When the other team sits back like I am, it tends to be a pretty boring draw or one team will get lucky. Not sure what to do about this? I find the same. With teams that sit back and defend the chances to counter attack become more difficult to come by and it can turn into a stalemate. Taking Sunderland to 3rd is still well above expectations. If you finish in the top half of the table and can get 2-3 better players in the close season eventually some of those draws will become wins. I think from what I have seen overall - the tactic is stable and fun to use. I don't really like tactics that are unrealistic and are created to just confuse the match engine with instructions that would never work in real life. I find it much more fun to create a solid 'realistic' tactic and slowly improve the quality of players I have. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HTC Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Yeah better players can make the difference against defensive opponents. You might try a little more attacking approach and use it against them from the beggining or after half time if drawing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AusBlackCat Posted March 1, 2014 Author Share Posted March 1, 2014 I find the same. With teams that sit back and defend the chances to counter attack become more difficult to come by and it can turn into a stalemate. Taking Sunderland to 3rd is still well above expectations. If you finish in the top half of the table and can get 2-3 better players in the close season eventually some of those draws will become wins.I think from what I have seen overall - the tactic is stable and fun to use. I don't really like tactics that are unrealistic and are created to just confuse the match engine with instructions that would never work in real life. I find it much more fun to create a solid 'realistic' tactic and slowly improve the quality of players I have. I couldn't agree more mate, I am really enjoying this tactic. Though part of me is just waiting for it to fall apart haha! If I finish in the top half that is well above my expectations so sitting 3rd and only 3 points off the top after 23 games is quite an achievement! I'd like to know how your tactic keeps evolving as well as it is very similar to mine with the performances and results. Yeah better players can make the difference against defensive opponents. You might try a little more attacking approach and use it against them from the beggining or after half time if drawing. Yeah part of me is scared to change it too much as it's working the majority of the time, but I need to find a way to beat the teams that sit back and block the counter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AusBlackCat Posted March 1, 2014 Author Share Posted March 1, 2014 So I managed to finish 5th in the league and lose in the FA Cup final against Chelsea 2-1. Pretty good season I think! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HTC Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Great season. How many goals did you conceed in the league? And is tactic working in the same way after patch? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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