"Doom of Men" - "Field of Bones" - "Breaker of Chains"..... My final tactics set for FM14.3 !!

[karl b]

Your Tonbridge save sounds like my H'pool game, though i find if i start with DOM the game goes 0-0 and if i use FOB i dominate the game but the opposition score wonder goals or total flukes....very frustrated, plus virtually none of my players fit the criteria you set out when assigning players and position, my last transfer budget was 16mill (basically re-building stadium a brick at a time ) and the 16 mill went no where !!!

[Gooner2408]

In my long term save (currently 2022) I have got AFC Telford to the Championship, battling for another playoff spot for the 3rd season in a row following two previous 6th place finishes and failed playoff attempts.

Had been using a variety of tactical setups and after 27 games was lying in 6th yet again. Changed to this great new system and I've gone unbeaten in the league for 15 games and now lye top of the pack 8 points clear with 4 games to go!

Haven't scored as many goals as I'd expected (24 in 15) probably due to lack of quality in the front 2 positions, although I have limited the opposition (10 in 15) and racked up 9 clean sheets.

[Mr U Rosler]

In my long term save (currently 2022) I have got AFC Telford to the Championship, battling for another playoff spot for the 3rd season in a row following two previous 6th place finishes and failed playoff attempts.

Had been using a variety of tactical setups and after 27 games was lying in 6th yet again. Changed to this great new system and I've gone unbeaten in the league for 15 games and now lye top of the pack 8 points clear with 4 games to go!

Haven't scored as many goals as I'd expected (24 in 15) probably due to lack of quality in the front 2 positions, although I have limited the opposition (10 in 15) and racked up 9 clean sheets.

Which tactic have you been using predominantly?

[karl b]

What actually makes me favourites? I'm puzzled as to when i should implement what tactic. example.

Arsenal Evens (Fav) - Draw 11-5 Me 11-5 - so im the under dog?

So i set up with DOM, i'm 1-0 after 7min CCC, on 11 min Arsenal shockingly score a wonder goal so we're at 1-1.

Half time stats were

Arsenal 9 shots, 4 ot, 1 ccc 0 hc.

ME 3 shots, 2ot, 2 ccc, 0 hc

possesion 61% in there favour

I can't just sit and wait for them to score so i switch up too FOB.

47mins goal, corner leading to scramble GOAL.....

52mins goal, corner leading to scramble GOAL.....

on 63min i haven't been near there goal and they've had 6 shots 4 on target.....so i'll switch to BOC and see what happens

89min 4-1 another wonder goal...oh joy !

Full time stats

Arsenal 21 shots, 11ot, 5 ccc 4 hc

ME 8 shots 2 ot, 3 ccc and 1 hc

Should i have stuck with DOM and hoped to hold on?

after the game i get the little feedback message, I predicted a win for H'pool today, maybe a draw certainly didnt see Arsenal winning this one....:confused:

many apologies for ranting, i do think the main problem is my squad being awful (and by watching the match engine very very stupid!!!)

oh my next 2 games are Liverpool away and Man Utd at home

[lil ole me]

Mr.Rosler, as you know i have been beating opposition with ease with your previous set of tactics from the beginning. I am still at the same club which has given me the chance to nurture youth and make them world class but this new set of tactics seems to be a hell of alot better in many ways!

When i check the stats out, i am gaining a lot more possession, opening them up everywhere and limiting the opposition to very few CCC, if any in some games plus it feels much better to watch.

I`m loving the way the wingbacks are in this tactic too! they are playing like gods haha.

I`m not too quite sure if its not influenced by the fact i have the best football side on the planet so i`m going to try it out on a new save just for this weekend then i will be going back to my old save as it`s the only save i have on FM atm.

Going to test it out with Tottenham with no transfer in the first window....never been Tottenham EVER on FM

[Gareth Winter]

I reckon it will work well with Tottenham.

Danny Rose was a left winger so should fit in the WBL nicely and Walker should do a good job at WBR.

Then you have hundreds of midfielders to choose from

I am a spurs fan, i should now

Do me a favour though, dont play Townsend or Bentaleb, they are overrated IRL

[Mr U Rosler]

Don't know how strong your Hartlepool team is. Were you away at Arsenal?

Anyway they were slight favourites. 1-1 at half time I would suggest DOM was doing its job. I would have left it,

I don't even look at shots at half time, only interested in scoreline.

If a team is having a lot of shots, chances are there hopeless longshots which means the tactics working, a draw against favourites is a good result.

[karl b]

yeah i was away, this happens against the Manchester Teams, Arsenal, SPurs, Liverpool (who are in the botom 4!) and Chelsea home and away cup or league no matter there form.

I will start with and stick with DOM in my next 2 lovely games

[Gooner2408]

Which tactic have you been using predominantly?

I'd say the "Field of Bones" is what I have mostly started with (say 70%), although I have used your guidance notes and altered as required. "Breaking of Chains" has got me out of losing situations on 3-4 occasions within those 15 games where I have been 1 down.

[Mr U Rosler]

Quality players make a big difference, especially to the attacking tactics.

Once you have a set of tactics you like it's about squad building.

Sounds obvious but if want to score more goals you need more of the ball, more creativity and better finishers.

It's pretty easy to improve year on year if you know what your looking for. Hence the player guides.

[Mr U Rosler]

I'd say the "Field of Bones" is what I have mostly started with (say 70%), although I have used your guidance notes and altered as required. "Breaking of Chains" has got me out of losing situations on 3-4 occasions within those 15 games where I have been 1 down.

I would have expected more goals then. But finishers are streaky on this game. Wait till someone gets hot.

Fortunately, as you noticed, FOB ain't no pushover at the back.

[Gooner2408]

Back to training for the roles and key attributes...I've noticed some of the attributes you have specified aren't necessarily the ones that benefit from training focus set to role.

I.e training focus for central midfield/attack set to Central Midfielder or even Advanced Playmaker doesn't focus on composure training as you've specified for the "Outrunner" build. However setting as Poacher does cover all 4 attributes, strange I know seeing as we are trying to develop a Midfielder but is it viable and/or beneficial for both current playing ability within the system and going forward?

I'd much rather focus on the entire role attributes rather that one individually with my younger squad so it would, for me, be better to do this if it doesn't hinder player development or performance.

Hope that makes sense.

[karl b]

I struggle bringing in the right players with such a tight budget, though i am regularly told the club look to make a profit of upwards of £50mill yet pay me 3k per week lol my goal is to just finish in top 7, or improve on last years points tally, then a pre season of bargain hunting again

[Mr U Rosler]

Back to training for the roles and key attributes...I've noticed some of the attributes you have specified aren't necessarily the ones that benefit from training focus set to role.

I.e training focus for central midfield/attack set to Central Midfielder or even Advanced Playmaker doesn't focus on composure training as you've specified for the "Outrunner" build. However setting as Poacher does cover all 4 attributes, strange I know seeing as we are trying to develop a Midfielder but is it viable and/or beneficial for both current playing ability within the system and going forward?

I'd much rather focus on the entire role attributes rather that one individually with my younger squad so it would, for me, be better to do this if it doesn't hinder player development or performance.

Hope that makes sense.

I'm gonna pass on this one. Training is not my forte. There are others here with a much better understanding,

[Gooner2408]

I'm gonna pass on this one. Training is not my forte. There are others here with a much better understanding,

I must add - I want and will work to your system as I love the theory. I just want to develop my own players and find the best and preferably quickest way to get those key attributes up altogether

[Mr U Rosler]

I must add - I want and will work to your system as I love the theory. I just want to develop my own players and find the best and preferably quickest way to get those key attributes up altogether

Training at Tonbridge is jumpers for goal posts in the local park.

Our meteoric rise up the leagues has left our infrastructure trailing miles behind,

Never had cash to upgrade anything,

I have to sign players who are already show good attributes in the areas we want and relying on lots of game time to get them up.

It's not focussed but you do see good broad based improvements, I often just focus on the key attribute alone.

[drewshaw33]

Found out i had unsubscribed for screen that shows favourite or underdog but now i get that info for the entire premier league lol i must be missing something lol

Pre-season has turned into an amazing start 5 games 5 wins 15 goals scored 1 conceeded (inc a 1-2 away win at chelsea) onwards and upwards trying to find young future superstars to please the board and their stupid philosophies, must sign young players for first team must promote from within acadamy must play possesion and attacking football the final 2 i think contradict each other most possesion doesnt always mean great attacking football especially in this version of the game anyway

[drewshaw33]

Well thats the end of the winning streak and what a shocker it was away to west brom whole team couldnt string two passes together went 1-0 down changed to BOC from FOB not 1 shot on target ended 1-0 boy did they get a blasting pretty sure i hit someone with a teacup and kicked a boot in someones face then nutted another while naked in the shower...........

OOOOOOOOOppppppppssssss wrote this with 2 mins of normal time remaining went back to game to find out we won 1-2 while i was ranting about a defeat :o:herman::herman::lol::lol:

Wont do that again still blasted them for a pathetic performance tho

[Aleynasdad]

You know me , Uwe, I dont have the time to play for hours like others so my seasons pass slowly. Ive now played 12 games in both cup and league with the new tactics - upgrading from thetube v2 and my tweaked version. This is Skrill South so getting any tactic to work regularly is not easy as there is so much space for mistakes but we ve got p12 w 8 d1 l 3 gf 24 ga 17... thats more than two points per game which is good and we were still bedding in. Advice Id give is at this level except at home where you are overwhelming favourites use DOM as there are so many things that can go wrong down here. Much improved since I started with that and used FOB and BOC in-match.

[Mr U Rosler]

You know me , Uwe, I dont have the time to play for hours like others so my seasons pass slowly. Ive now played 12 games in both cup and league with the new tactics - upgrading from thetube v2 and my tweaked version. This is Skrill South so getting any tactic to work regularly is not easy as there is so much space for mistakes but we ve got p12 w 8 d1 l 3 gf 24 ga 17... thats more than two points per game which is good and we were still bedding in. Advice Id give is at this level except at home where you are overwhelming favourites use DOM as there are so many things that can go wrong down here. Much improved since I started with that and used FOB and BOC in-match.

Sounds like good advice for lower leagues. Be solid, wait for your opponent to make mistakes, which they will down there and then capitalize.

[stg34tx]

Quality players make a big difference, especially to the attacking tactics.

Once you have a set of tactics you like it's about squad building.

Sounds obvious but if want to score more goals you need more of the ball, more creativity and better finishers.

It's pretty easy to improve year on year if you know what your looking for. Hence the player guides.

Really appreciate the player guides. Finished the season losing the CL final on pens to Barca after the game finished 0-0. I used S&S2 throughout as I was a big underdog and dominated chances but couldn't score, hitting the woodwork a couple of times!

Building filters based on your player guides now as I look to revamp the squad for the new season.

[Marchw]

Found out i had unsubscribed for screen that shows favourite or underdog but now i get that info for the entire premier league lol i must be missing something lol

Glad to be of assistance (well, sort of assistance anyway!)

[Mr U Rosler]

Really appreciate the player guides. Finished the season losing the CL final on pens to Barca after the game finished 0-0. I used S&S2 throughout as I was a big underdog and dominated chances but couldn't score, hitting the woodwork a couple of times!

Building filters based on your player guides now as I look to revamp the squad for the new season.

My first priority is going to be nailing down a couple of murderous Wingbacks. Got scouts crawling over South America to see if I can find any quality 'natural' wingbacks. Get these 2 badboys scoring 15 a season each and your laughing,

[stg34tx]

My first priority is going to be nailing down a couple of murderous Wingbacks. Got scouts crawling over South America to see if I can find any quality 'natural' wingbacks. Get these 2 badboys scoring 15 a season each and your laughing,

That's definitely a priority. Ashley Cole is off looking for a new challenge, which leaves me with Azpilicueta, Shaw and Ivanovic. Bertrand has come back from Villa and his attributes actually fit pretty well so I will most likely keep him despite getting transfer offers for him.

[Gooner2408]

Don't suppose you can do a post on GK's could you Mr Rosler kind sir?

[stg34tx]

Don't suppose you can do a post on GK's could you Mr Rosler kind sir?

This was from Mr. R's Rainmaker 2 / Silk & Steel 2 thread:

Goalkeeper

Last line of defence

Job Description; Strong social skills are not required for this position, loners welcome. You will however be physically tall with excellent reflexes and the ability to concentrate for long periods of time before being called into action at a moments notice. You will also be required to organise your team mates well in defensive situations.

Key Attribute: Aerial Ability

Other Attributes; Reflexes, Command of Area, One on Ones

[GJHowell]

Excellent - I can crack on with my long-term career save now which has been sat at the start of pre-season whilst waiting for these tactics to arrive.

Just one (probably dumb) question - You mentioned earlier that one builder for the players is for the technical players, and one for the physical ones. Would you suggest picking one or the other and building to that method, or can you mix & match?

I'm Villa, just re-promoted to the prem - media prediction is 13th, but to be honest the squad is a bit threadbare. I'm thinking I might go down the physical build for now to consolidate and try to tweak over the seasons to the technical build.

[Saweni]

First of all, I'd like to apologize if this post reads bad as english isn't my home langage and it has been quite a few years since I last practiced it.

I have to confirm what Aleynasdad just said. I decided last night to try this tactical system on a brand new save to see how well it would work with a lower league team. I picked RC Strasbourg in french national league (D3, the lowest playable french league), the team is not bad for this league, but most players are terribly slow and I didn't even have a penny to recruit new players (in fact, the player wages even exceed the wage budget from the very beginning of the season).

I went through my preseason with a full focus on tactics training because I was afraid these tactics were too complex for my players to deal with, plus the fact that the club isn't fully professional which makes the team go training only twice a week. I performed pretty well in preseason using FoB against the weakest sides I could find in order to build up morale and confidence, but when the championship began, even though my players created lots of chances, terrible finishers are terrible finishers and they just ended up wasting lots of great opportunities while the opposition teams were able to score on a regular basis due to my defenders and goalkeeper being awful.

I had played my 8 first league games (4 wins 1 draw 3 defeats) using FoB as a starting tactics except for when I was the underdog when I decided to try switching to DoM and it proved to do really well (7 wins 0 draw 2 defeats since I switched). The issue I had prior to changing my starting tactics was I used to take lots of goals (I'd say about 2 per match) and wasn't always able to score enough to bring the three points home. Since I've been using DoM on every game I've scored slightly less, but my opponents almost haven't had the opportunity to score anymore. I think the main point is that the only thing you can be sure of when dealing with crappy players is your defenders won't be able to save yourself too many times in a game, which makes conceding as less occasions as possible absolutely vital.

[Mr U Rosler]

Good English and thanks for the post.

I will update front of thread to suggest lower league teams lead with DOM ;-)

[Mr U Rosler]

This was from Mr. R's Rainmaker 2 / Silk & Steel 2 thread:

Goalkeeper

Last line of defence

Job Description; Strong social skills are not required for this position, loners welcome. You will however be physically tall with excellent reflexes and the ability to concentrate for long periods of time before being called into action at a moments notice. You will also be required to organise your team mates well in defensive situations.

Key Attribute: Aerial Ability

Other Attributes; Reflexes, Command of Area, One on Ones

I wouldn't disagree with those attributes.

[Mr U Rosler]

Excellent - I can crack on with my long-term career save now which has been sat at the start of pre-season whilst waiting for these tactics to arrive.

Just one (probably dumb) question - You mentioned earlier that one builder for the players is for the technical players, and one for the physical ones. Would you suggest picking one or the other and building to that method, or can you mix & match?

I'm Villa, just re-promoted to the prem - media prediction is 13th, but to be honest the squad is a bit threadbare. I'm thinking I might go down the physical build for now to consolidate and try to tweak over the seasons to the technical build.

I will need to think about the route I go down myself at the end of the season,

Think you will always need a blend of technical and physical players. Ultimately I would like 2 have 2 players for each role, 1 of each type. Then you can be very flexible in how you approach games and how you can change games with substitutions if you need to.

Ultimately you want to be winning the individual battles all over the pitch. It's easier to find dominant physical players than dominant technical players.

In your situation I would probably look for a physical front pair (powerhouse & deep poacher) but keep classic wingbacks and at least 1 of the more creative roles midfield.

But if a great technical DLF is available you cant ignore that.

Depends who's available and what your preferred play style is. I would always mix direct and passive players for a well balanced team.

[gredawarha1979]

Okay about to start the season proper. Using the new tactic which has been used throughout preseason. Morale is high and Liverpool are ready to take on the premier league Season 2. Will report back after 10 games.

[jayahr]

Just a short question. Did you happen to try this formation with complete wing backs coming from the full-back positions too?

[Mr U Rosler]

Just a short question. Did you happen to try this formation with complete wing backs coming from the full-back positions too?

No, didn't try that.

[Cheesey1975]

looking forward to changing to these... hit the wall with current tactics

not sure why...went 25 games unbeaten from pre season and now cant grab a win in 5 games :confused:

[dan_lcfc]

Some pleasing results. Very pleased with the football on display!

[Saweni]

Well, I found enough time to push the testings a little forward and I am a bit confused with the results. First of all, I have to admit being on top of the league with this team and without being able to recruit anyone sounds like a great performance, but I struggle really hard at times.

I switched to DoM as my starting tactics juste after the Boulogne game because I was feeling like I conceded to much goals. It proved to be really successful as I went unbeaten for 11 games (9 wins, 2 draws) including a great 2-1 victory against Ligue 2 side Auxerre, but the LOSC game just made my team fall appart. There was indeed no way I could avoid getting hammered as LOSC is a top Ligue 1 team, but this loss has had quite heavy repercussions on the following games as I got hammered a couple of times since whereas my defensive side was quite strong till then (but I consistently felt like it heavily relied on my hability to prevent the opponents from attacking).

To be honest, I don't think it's a matter of tactical framework, my defense is absolutely terrible and slow as hell (my best central defender has a stunning 6 in pace...) and most of the goals my opponents score are complete jokes (the opponent tries to cross, then fails, goal, the opponent tries to throw in, then fails, goal, my goalkeeper tries to attak the ball, the ball bounces juste before him, he then gets lobbed by a clump of grass, goal, etc...). I feel like I'm just an unlucky manager playing a team with terribly awful defenders and goalkeeper, but the tactics seem to work fine.

The only issue that comes to my mind at the moment is I take loads of goals from corners, opponents look like they are always left all alone at the first post.

[pete62]

Mr Rosler if you want a good wing back wouldn't hurt to look at Balanovitch at Soligorsk (Belarus) WP no problem and pretty cheap both to buy and per week. Oh and he does a job in the midfield aswell.

If your a few years in chances are he will be in France or Italy at least that's where the bids come from in my save.

[Mr U Rosler]

Re: Saweni's post

Well I'm not sure what you're media prediction was but even if it was 1st you're meeting them.

It sounds as if it was a fair bit lower than that.

If you are expecting to plug in a tactic and blow away teams with superior players than you it's not gonna happen.

DOM is a grinding tactic which should allow you to amass enough points to exceed your expectations but it's not always pretty.

The pretty football starts when the results DOM has given you enables you to strengthen your team to the point where its one of the better teams in your league and you can move to the attacking tactics.

To be disappointed to be top of the league with a moderate team because your not playing like Barcelona is frankly unrealistic.

[Mr U Rosler]

Mr Rosler if you want a good wing back wouldn't hurt to look at Balanovitch at Soligorsk (Belarus) WP no problem and pretty cheap both to buy and per week. Oh and he does a job in the midfield aswell.

If your a few years in chances are he will be in France or Italy at least that's where the bids come from in my save.

It's 2022 in my Tonbridge save.... He's probably at Real Madrid by now ;-)

[martend1982]

so, what to do with a red card when being behing?

and what to do with a red card when having a lead?

[pete62]

More likely AC Milan probably 32-33 so maybe a year or two left in him, is an Israeli called Shish who might do I'm trying to find someone called Kebab to play along side him

[Saweni]

Well, it sounds like there's some kind of misunderstanding, I'm not sure why your answer looks sarcastic, I am definitely likely to have been pretty bad at trying to express myself.

In fact, I'm far from complaining about the way the tactics works, I was only trying to explain the reasons of the few bad games that occurred from january to the beginning of february (14 goals conceded in 5 games, which could be surprising at first glance regarding previous months), which could have led readers to ask why I got hammered this hard.

When I say I'm unlucky, I'm not talking about being atop of the league, I'm talking about all these goals I took in a few matches being caused by bad luck and not by the tactics which was still proving to be really efficient even if I was grinding defeats at that time.

My season is almost over now, I will edit when it's done (and well, I can already say those tactics performed way beyond expectations).

[pete62]

Every team has a bad patch whether in real life or in FM you just have to get through it as best as you can.

[Mr U Rosler]

Well, it sounds like there's some kind of misunderstanding, I'm not sure why your answer looks sarcastic, I am definitely likely to have been pretty bad at trying to express myself.

In fact, I'm far from complaining about the way the tactics works, I was only trying to explain the reasons of the few bad games that occurred from january to the beginning of february (14 goals conceded in 5 games, which could be surprising at first glance regarding previous months), which could have led readers to ask why I got hammered this hard.

When I say I'm unlucky, I'm not talking about being atop of the league, I'm talking about all these goals I took in a few matches being caused by bad luck and not by the tactics which was still proving to be really efficient even if I was grinding defeats at that time.

My season is almost over now, I will edit when it's done (and well, I can already say those tactics performed way beyond expectations).

Apologies, didn't mean to bite your head off ;-)

Think we just have to accept that short term there is a lot of variance and things can conspire against you. After a full season you can get a good idea of what works for you but within that season there will be periods of usually bad and unusually good results.

Its our instinct to try and understand and control everything within FM but sometimes it has a will of its own and it dominates you for a while ;-)

[Mr U Rosler]

so, what to do with a red card when being behing?

and what to do with a red card when having a lead?

Will come back to this when I've slept ;-)

[Saweni]

So, here we are, RC Strasbourg won the French National League 4 games prior to the season ending due to the team being able to react very well after the bad beginning of year 2014, which greatly helped in building morale back.

Now that this season is over, I can confidently assume that these tactics work very well on low level teams, even using players that don't fit it at all, which tends to prove the DoM FoB BoC tactical framework is very versatile. As stated before, the only change in mentality that I had to do is switching to DoM as the only starter tactics because most of my first games seemed really insecure with me losing a few games or winning out of luck by scoring at the very last minute. Switching to DoM seemed to bring me more control over the games, which greatly helped in stabilizing the team's results.

To summarize my team's season, I was able to :

- Win against a higher league team in the french cup in an away match ;

- Obtain promotion to Ligue 2 at the end of the first season ;

- Win the French national league

And I was able to do that :

- By only plugging the tactics in

- With a random team

- Without being able to adapt my team to the tactics (which is a really, really important point in my opinion)

- While having to face terrible injury waves (as an example, 4 out of my 5 best players suffered the same four month injuries on the second week of the season, which is quite a challenge when you barely can build a full team)

All of these being really spectacular results.

So, winning a low level league just by pluging the tactics with a random team -> passed

Now that I've seen how these tactics work when you're average in your own league, I think I will go on and proceed to Ligue 2 to see how these tactics perform while struggling against relegation in a team that is miles beyond your league's level, which can provide precious testing material, I guess.

NB : As I stated in my previous post, the only thing that stroke me is I seemed to really take a lot of goals from first post on corners while using DoM (and I can remember my assistant warning me a couple of times about nobody being defending posts on corners). I have absolutely no way to be sure if there is an issue with corner tactics or if it is just my players being awfully bad at marking opponents (which i can't deny, frankly ), but I feel like I have to notice it just in case of other people experiencing the same problem.

Apologies, didn't mean to bite your head off ;-)

My bad, really, communication on forums can prove to be a bit tricky even when talking your own language, so even though I think it's OK for me to express black and white, I don't expect to be absolutely non-ambiguous while trying to deal with shades of grey in english. So don't worry, I don't take any offense (especially when I am pretty confident in my ability to misinterpret in return too ).

That said, you've done a really great job with these tactics and I'm really happy to be able to put a few testing material together to help you in your work.

[RedBlueEagle]

I haven't checked all of the tactics but the DOM version doesn't have anybody on the posts when defending corners. Is this intentional? I have only conceded one from corners in 6 games.

[nickizzard123]

Just started a game with hull!! Doing really well considering they have no money and wage budget of £545. And there squad is tiny with a terrible defence! So have had to make do with what I have! Will post screen shots Sunday!

[pete62]

Haven't played the tactics enough to judge the def corner routine but if you have a problem with it you could use the one from the Silk and Steel thread I only let in 3 goals from corners (and the aftermath of one) in a season and a half (14.3) two of those were in 1 game, a EURO Cup quarter final against Spurs (we didn't make the semi's)

Its

man on each post

3 mark tall

3 back

1 forward

1 closing down