[FM15] Feedback on Tactic

[voy1d]

Background

So I recently got into playing FM14 again (hadn't played since CM02-03 and the Diablo tactic) and have now been given FM15. Decided a challenge and took on the job at West Ham.

Desired Play Style

When I last played football we used a 4-4-1-1 formation with the AMC a somewhat roaming player (this was incredibly successful and for three years our school boys team dominated our national competition (including advancing deep into the amateur mens competition).

The strategy was a structure whereby possession is considered above all else (if the other team doesn't have the ball they can't score). As such the ball was often moved around in the middle third before being moved rapidly up the pitch as the offensive players (wide midfielders, AMC and ST would be looking for opportunities within their zones). Often the defensive line would sit deep and we'd harass the opposition when they had the ball.

Offensively the structure is built around taking high value shots on goal so typically whilst the total number of shots taken is less, these are often of higher quality.

Team Setup

Formation: 4-4-1-1

Mentality: Counter

Team Shape: Structured

Team Instructions: Retain Possession, Play Out of Defense, Drop Deeper, Close Down More

Player Instructions

GK: None Adrian

DR (Full Back, Attack): Stay Wider, Cut Inside with Ball Joey O'Brien

DC x 2 (Central Defender, Defend): Pass It Shorter Winston Reid, James Collins

DL (Full Back, Support): Nothing specific Aaron Cresswell

MR (Winger, Support): None Morgan Amalfitano

MCR (Ball Winning Midfielder, Defend): Pass It Shorter Alex Song <--- This guy is the engine room of the midfield operating as a hybrid DMC moving around a lot shutting down attacks.

MCL (Deep Lying Playmaker): More Direct Passes Mark Noble <--- Central creative guy - should be involved in the initiation of most attacking movements.

ML (Winger, Attack): Shoot Less Often, More Direct Passes Stuart Downing

AMC (Attacking Midfielder, Attack): Shoot Less Often, More Direct Passes, Hold Up Ball Kevin Nolan

ST (Advanced Forward, Attack): Shoot Less Often Enner Valencia / Mauro Zarate

My typical line up is in italics and is built around what is needed. In a game I'm expected to win I'd likely deploy Valencia with Treq instructions where as Zarate in a game which I might struggle more.

Premier League Results

4-1 (Win) Swansea

0-1 (Loss) West Brom

2-1 (Win) Tottenham

0-2 (Loss) Manchester United

3-0 (Win) Crystal Palace

3-4 (Loss) Southampton - This game frustrated me as Tadic went on a blinder in the second half scoring two and assisting another in a 20 minute period

0-1 (Loss) Chelsea

So What Next?

I've read through a number of documents and everything makes sense (although I am tempted to make the AMC a Treq and the ST a DLF) what I'm after is whether anyone can pick anything out of what I've said (and their knowledge of West Ham that is at odds with what I'm trying to achieve.

[imabearlol]

Quick one - I don't think you need Drop Deeper on a Counter strategy, they should already be quite deep. Have you seen how this is working in your games? You might be inviting too much pressure onto you with this setting.

[RTHerringbone]

It generally looks decent to me, but I have a few question:

1. What Duty does the DLP have?

2. What is the thinking with the Cut Inside instruction for the DR? This usually will only kick in when he has the ball. It could work as long as the BWM on that side doesn't stray too far up field. I ask, because the FB (A) / W (S) combo is lovely for creating overlaps, and you'll potentially lose that with this instruction

3. Why Drop Deeper with a low line anyway? You say the concept is where possession is above all else, but some of your Team level instructions arguably don't fit that vision. You use Counter which invites the opposition to have the ball and then attack you. To my mind, a possession game better fits a more aggressive Mentality

4. Partly in relation to 3, you Close Down More. A general Rule of Thumb is that Closing Down is more effective when you are higher up the pitch or use AML/R type players - neither of which you do.

All in all, I think the Roles and Duties are OK (possibly a question mark over the BWM Role) but the Team Level instructions and Mentality might need a second glance. Your results look decent so far. My advice is to watch as much of each match as you can be bothered to, and to make note of things that are good, bad and ugly. Refer back to those notes, try to find the root cause, tweak and watch the next match in detail again. Even if you get the match itself "wrong", you should still be able to determine whether or not your tweaks have made your system better.

[voy1d]

I was in a game against Everton just before and spent the first half with drop deeper and found I spent alot of time in my own third (though to be fair I also had 70% possession in that half)

In the second third I removed that TI and was being stretched more (that also was likely a shift in their strategy as I was up 2-0 against a team that hadn't conceded in 3 games) and as such Goalie def kept me in the game.

[voy1d]

1. What Duty does the DLP have?

At the moment it is Support, the idea behind this is the player will move around the pitch as needed. In hindsight perhaps a B2B is better.

2. What is the thinking with the Cut Inside instruction for the DR? This usually will only kick in when he has the ball. It could work as long as the BWM on that side doesn't stray too far up field. I ask, because the FB (A) / W (S) combo is lovely for creating overlaps, and you'll potentially lose that with this instruction

The idea is I still want the winger to stay wide and the FB to use the inside channel. Although thinking about this perhaps it would be better to have the FB on the outer channel as Amalfitano who usually plays the Winger role is a better shooter and could be useful if he cuts into the edge of the area.

3. Why Drop Deeper with a low line anyway? You say the concept is where possession is above all else, but some of your Team level instructions arguably don't fit that vision. You use Counter which invites the opposition to have the ball and then attack you. To my mind, a possession game better fits a more aggressive Mentality

Hrmmm, perhaps I could try a Standard mentality instead. The idea is I want the team to be comfortable holding the ball in the neutral third and move it around a lot, not always trying to build an attacking movement but being very patient with how it is used.

4. Partly in relation to 3, you Close Down More. A general Rule of Thumb is that Closing Down is more effective when you are higher up the pitch or use AML/R type players - neither of which you do.

The idea is to harrass the opposition so they can't sit with the ball and feel pressured to move it around.

All in all, I think the Roles and Duties are OK (possibly a question mark over the BWM Role) but the Team Level instructions and Mentality might need a second glance. Your results look decent so far. My advice is to watch as much of each match as you can be bothered to, and to make note of things that are good, bad and ugly. Refer back to those notes, try to find the root cause, tweak and watch the next match in detail again. Even if you get the match itself "wrong", you should still be able to determine whether or not your tweaks have made your system better.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll make a few changes and see how that goes;

Removed: Drop Deeper, Close Down More, Cut Inside (FB)

Added: Look For Overlap