'Unto The Breach v2' - West Brom 76 points, 2nd in Premier League - Original Squad

[Axel Foley]

Shall test with Coventry City in League one.

[powerspurge]

will test 15.1.4 new game with hull city now and report back

[Mr U Rosler]

will be interesting to see what happens with the latest hotfix

Indeed, not a massive changelist for the ME and some of it should help. We'll see......

[Axel Foley]

Shall test with Coventry City in League one.

1 win, 5 draws, 2 defeats

[DB11]

1 win, 5 draws, 2 defeats

I think the problem you've got is probably more to do with your team, as opposed to any tactic

[Mr U Rosler]

Fixtures since patch.

Still going well with City at least. A few more goals flying in. More chances seem to be being created.

[CBP87]

Hey

great tactic once again Mr U, ive been doing some research and its probably obvious to you all but the AI scout your team and tactics, so when you come to play them they know your tactics and are set up for it, so what ive been doing is changing the mentality every 2-3 games, this way then the opposition become unstuck because they set up for the wrong mentality, ive tried this in my Porto save as i was getting beat off teams sat in the lower part of the table and after doing this i went from 7th to 2nd within 10 games, 10 games unbeaten too and hardly conceded goal

[Mr U Rosler]

Some further observations on the ME.

Even the 'Control' tactic seems very attacking now, creating many more chances but i've not been able to 'shut up shop' with it anymore.

Might need to re-test a few different mentalities for the away/underdog tactic.

I've noticed we're no longer overly reliant on our Trequartista to score most of our goals, my support striker has been on fire and i'm seeing more goals from midfield.

Some very nice play thru the middle of the pitch which suits us and more passing inside the penalty area which is good.

[Axel Foley]

1 win, 5 draws, 2 defeats

Decided to change from control to attack and have had much more success with the odd poor result (to be expected).

W - 14

D - 5

L - 4

[Mr U Rosler]

Decided to change from control to attack and have had much more success with the odd poor result (to be expected).

W - 14

D - 5

L - 4

:thup:

[DouLou]

This tactic has no wingers but is set to exploit the flanks... why is this?

[Mr U Rosler]

This tactic has no wingers but is set to exploit the flanks... why is this?

Full Backs sit wider, the wide central midfielders operate on the flanks at times as does the trequartista.

This formation can get a bit bogged down in the middle of the pitch, wanted to bring the wider options into play more.

[DouLou]

Full Backs sit wider, the wide central midfielders operate on the flanks at times as does the trequartista.

This formation can get a bit bogged down in the middle of the pitch, wanted to bring the wider options into play more.

Ah ok. I'll give it a whirl tonight and report back.

Another question - I'm playing LLM (Gainsborough) and of course at this level you never get to sign a Treq or Complete Forward. Most have Target Man or Defensive Forward or Poacher as their best position. Would you suggest it's better to change the roles to suit my strikers strengths or keep them as is in this situation?

[Mr U Rosler]

Ah ok. I'll give it a whirl tonight and report back.

Another question - I'm playing LLM (Gainsborough) and of course at this level you never get to sign a Treq or Complete Forward. Most have Target Man or Defensive Forward or Poacher as their best position. Would you suggest it's better to change the roles to suit my strikers strengths or keep them as is in this situation?

I would stick to the roles in the tactic.

The roles are just a set of player instructions/behaviours you would like your player to follow.

Of course no one in lower league refers to themselves as a Trequartista or Complete Forward as they'd look like fools.

Essentially we want 1 striker to remain high up the pitch and to find space (not neccessarily on the shoulder of the last defender like a poacher), and our support striker to help out in defensive then get far up the pitch quickly when we win the ball and support our Treq without getting too involved in deep build up play. The roles i've picked seem to do that best

[DouLou]

I would stick to the roles in the tactic.

The roles are just a set of player instructions/behaviours you would like your player to follow.

Of course no one in lower league refers to themselves as a Trequartista or Complete Forward as they'd look like fools.

Essentially we want 1 striker to remain high up the pitch and to find space (not neccessarily on the shoulder of the last defender like a poacher), and our support striker to help out in defensive then get far up the pitch quickly when we win the ball and support our Treq without getting too involved in deep build up play. The roles i've picked seem to do that best

Thanks for the explanation, that's what I thought!

[AnarchyAnt]

Was able to get promoted from the Belgium 3rd Division. I don't score as many goals with version 2 as I did your first go, but much more solid defensively. I usually run Control for most matches. When going Attacking I seemed to give up more chances than I liked. Occasionally when holding a late 1 goal lead I will drop the line by removing "Push Higher Up", but that is usually the only change I make.

We were supposed to finish 14th out of 18 teams at 33-1 odds to win the division, but we finished 2nd and advanced through the playoffs. I still don't have any money to sign anyone good so this next season should be a huge test!

Overall, great job!

[Scully11]

Was able to get promoted from the Belgium 3rd Division. I don't score as many goals with version 2 as I did your first go, but much more solid defensively. I usually run Control for most matches. When going Attacking I seemed to give up more chances than I liked. Occasionally when holding a late 1 goal lead I will drop the line by removing "Push Higher Up", but that is usually the only change I make.

We were supposed to finish 14th out of 18 teams at 33-1 odds to win the division, but we finished 2nd and advanced through the playoffs. I still don't have any money to sign anyone good so this next season should be a huge test!

Overall, great job!

Well done with your promotion you'll be giving anderlecht and standard a run for their money in no time at all

[Mr U Rosler]

OK, done some testing with West Brom under the new ME.

The Home/Attacking tactic is still looking good

The Control Tactic is not giving us anything away from home, need to come up with something better than this

Even if i can get something which averages a point a game away from home, with the excellent home record it will be enough to push West Brom into a Champions League position.

Only Chelsea averaging more than 2 points a game away from home, everyone else struggling to win matches away, strong bias to the home team.

Might take another look at counter attacking for away matches.

[MADA]

enjooying the lack of goals conceded from crosses and corners now, much better.

having a fair bit of joy with this so far.

[MADA]

...but not away from home

[Mr U Rosler]

...but not away from home

Indeed, away games are a problem on this patch, even for AI teams..... that's firmly on the Radar.

[kazm]

It's working pretty well with Dinamo Zagreb so far. Had a rough start with some red cards and some goals against from corners/fk's but now it has stabilized.

After 13 games I'm 3rd in the league with one game in hand which will put me first if I win it. Scored 33, got 11 goals against. Unfortunately lost in the 2nd qualifying round for the CL cause of two goals from set pieces. Now first in the Eufacup group stage with 7 points in 3 matches. Pretty happy so far.

[Mr U Rosler]

Thanks for the feedback guys, still seems to be going reasonably well on 14.1.4

Will be working hard on improving the away tactic, trying to dominate possession via a 'Control' set up doesn't seem to be working, at least not with Mid/Low teams.

At Home AI teams seem to push up/overload and are all over you like a rash, i'm hoping this can be countered/exploited by a counter attacking set up, this is what i'll be exploring next.

Were looking good at home with the Attacking Tactic so i'm not worried about that, i'm even Attacking top teams at home and seem to be able to dominate them.

[Scully11]

Not sure if it would work but what do you think about changing the complete forward to a target man support. I only ask because my ibrahimovic is getting on now and was think someone with good heading and strength may be a good replacement. Id like to know your thoughts and why it would or wouldnt work

[Mr U Rosler]

Not sure if it would work but what do you think about changing the complete forward to a target man support. I only ask because my ibrahimovic is getting on now and was think someone with good heading and strength may be a good replacement. Id like to know your thoughts and why it would or wouldnt work

Target Men effect the tactic quite a lot making your whole team play direct.

Might have a solution to away for below.

[Mr U Rosler]

OK, the AWAY form issue.

Tried high possession tactic - doesn't work

Tried countering - doesn't work

I wonder.......... can we fight fire with fire.........

I had 2 away games in a row against weaker opposition, maybe we can simply use the Attacking Tactic and seek to impose ourselves on them.

It worked, missed a penalty against West Ham but still won, Leicester got a penalty to get a stuffy draw but we hammered them they only had 4 shots all game.

Bear in mind i'm West Brom who aren't great, with stronger teams should work really well.

For the time being at least I'D RECOMMEND USING THE ATTACKING TACTIC IN ALL SITUATIONS.

I have made the following 3 tweaks to the Team Instructions for 14.1.4

* REMOVED 'PUSH HIGHER UP'

* ADDED 'BE MORE EXPRESSIVE'

* ADDED 'ROAM FROM POSITION'

* cant remember if 'LOOK FOR OVERLAP' was on original but i've got it on now

OR WHAT THE HELL, JUST DOWNLOAD THIS WITH ALL THE CHANGES + A NEW CORNER ROUTINE I'M TESTING

https://www.mediafire.com/?cggh68nxt75omcd

I will test further tonight but got work now and then watching the Chelsea match.

ATTACK - ATTACK - ATTACK !!!

[MADA]

since switching, i haven't conceded a goal in 7 games...

[whizzkid]

Thanks Mr Rosler, gonna give this a go with my NUFC save.

[Kenty7]

Just to update on my Man City save, I've been using the latest version of the tactic wherever update, season 2 now completed with a Septuple! Couldn't quite believe it as it wasn't as comfortable as last season, but lots more games so expected a few closer games and the odd loss.

So won the Charity Shield, League Cup, FA Cup, Premier League, Champions League, Fifa World Club Cup and Uefa Super Cup, all seven trophies, nothing more to win?!

League wasn't as much of a run away, 38 played, 31 won, 1 drawn and 6 lost this year, only 1 in year one, still won with 94 points against last years 99, scored 78 and conceded 27. Exactly the same scored and conceded 8 more than last year.

[MADA]

think you've hit gold here mate, i'm flying

[WillyBroadband]

Mr Rosler - so far, so good man.. this is v2 not the most recent one. Loving it so far! Solid as a rock.

[Mad Mull Jag]

Trying out the new tatic with Partick Thistle in SPFL - old one was good just a few daft results now and again but i think that i sdown to player quality rather than the tactic. Its hard to beat team with 10x more spending power than yours

[Salvector]

Not sure if I'm missing something... but the tactic doesn't work as its not a tac file? Downloaded all 3 versions and none have worked I'm afraid.

[Mr U Rosler]

OK, ran a full season with West Brom just plug & playing the latest tactic (first post, post 78, v3).

I had 11 points after 12 games 15th in the table and i reckon i was 2 games from getting sacked, Roy Hodgson was giving it large in the media about how i should be sacked.

It was my home form that was letting me down oddly enough.

I was dominating games, both in terms of shots & clear cut chances but was getting royally shafted, every shot at my goal seemed to be finding the corners, Berahino missed 3 penalties in a row, i knew with certainty that with about 85 minutes on the clock a highlight would kick in and i would witness the goal that would see me defeated.

It was clear that something outside of tactics was strongly influencing results, i think i was stuck in a down cycle of poor form & confidence and this was how its represented in the match engine.

It was a really good test of the tactic, i was enjoying the challenge, i thought 1 break in 1 game and i would be off and running and that was indeed what happened.

After 11 points in 12 games i then picked up 48 points in 26 games, that form is much more reflective of the true tactic and maintained over a season would have knocking on the door of qualifying for the Champions League.

Berahino was out for 3 months with Injury as well, which would have impacted my goal scoring.

So overall i was actually very satisfied with the tactic even though i have had far better results with older tactics under different versions of the ME.

We were backed into a corner, down on our knees but as soon as we got a break, a bit of confidence we powered up the League into a very respectable position.

Final Table

Evidence that being on the front foot and attacking away from home yields results.

6th best Away record in Division.

Results in 2nd half of the season - nice solid finish

SUMMARY

Think we have a pretty solid plug & play tactic here for 15.1.4.

Any attempt at some kind of specialised, countering, containing AWAY tactic is pointless at the moment. You're better off just having a go away from home.

I'm still seeking an effective corner routine, only scored 6 all season whilst conceding 4. If i can consistently score 10 corners a season i'll be happy with that.

Gonna run a season with Man City, try some different corner set ups and see if we can dominate like i think we should.

Then i'm gonna go back to the nice little 442 i had going

[Mr U Rosler]

Not sure if I'm missing something... but the tactic doesn't work as its not a tac file? Downloaded all 3 versions and none have worked I'm afraid.

Take a look at this, should help you out

http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/share-download-fm-15-tactics/184003-fmf-filles-tac-files.html

[Immite]

Has anyone found that although dominating FA Cup matches, no matter who against matches have been drawn and finally won on penalties?

[Immite]

FA Cup 4th Rnd V Crewe (H) 1 - 1

Replay 2- 2 won o n pens

FA Cup 5th Rnd V Burnley (H) 1 - 1

Replay 1 - 1 won on pens

FA Cup 6th Rnd V Leeds (H) 3 - 3

Replay Not yet played, hoping to break that hoodoo

[Mr U Rosler]

Literally murdering teams with City.

Averaging 4 goals a game in the league.

Jovetic just bagged 5 against Man U, got 10.0 rating

[shirajzl]

Looks great, but that poor start with WBA can be disastrous when playing with small/mid table club, especially if one or two players start complaining about lack of first team football (which doesn't take much in FM15), it can all easily spiral out of control.

[powerspurge]

Thanks for this tactic, its very solid. As you say Mr Uwe as soon as the tactic gels you start to fly, my first 15 games were ok but after that we were brill!

Took me a while to realise but you only need a solid defender to play the Anchor role. My CB who has great jumping & heading was immense in this role, scoring 6 goals along the way from corners too

http://i59.tinypic.com/9unn1u.png[/img]"]

[Mr U Rosler]

Good job Powerspurge.

How many goals did you score in the league from corners?

[Saintjonny]

Managed to download the new updated attacking tactic and happy with performances of the first 5 games using it.

[gmulv]

Tried this for Liverpool, really having a hard time with everything I've tried so far I'm really struggling with!

Going to give this a go as your tactics in prev versions have always been my 1st choice problem is with my squad I'm set up to play wingers, so may need to do some retraining

So far mixed bag beat psg 4-1 but thrashed 5-2 by Man U and 4-0 by Spurs

I'll keep going with it and see

[Mr U Rosler]

Just thought I would give an update on my use of this tactic. I have actually made one change to it, moving the Central MC up to AMC and given him the advanced playmaker role (A), leaving the 2 CM Ball Winners behind him.

I've used the original tactic up until November when I decided we weren't getting enough goals. Here is what it has yielded...

We got off to a good start in the first few matches, but then it went sour (but please bare in mind I had a 16 year old goalkeeper in net for those losses), but since the blip has passed we have absolutely dominated!

The football is also a joy to watch with many goals coming as a result of one touch football!

This goal for example... A classic Pogba goal, but the build up was a joy to watch.

Looking good

I'm 15 games into the season with Man City and still unbeaten. After a mad start the goal scoring has calmed down, i've even had a couple of 0-0's at home against teams that parked the bus. Last time it happened I had 6 clear cut chances and hit the woodwork 4 times, you just cant legislate for that!

Still well clear at the top so cant complain.

[WillMcG99]

I'm using the version with a team predicted to finish bottom of conference South. My results were ok played 10: W:3 D:2 L:5.

However when loosing I threw the cm(a) up top as a poacher and it was deadly, I've now started this from the start, results were epic pld: 5, W:5 scored 17 goals for 6 against.

What seems to be happening is the treq/cf play almost like inside forwards on fm14, this results in massive overloads up front in which a chance seems to always be created.

Now I need to test it further and the caveat is I have far better strikers than I do midfielders, but still promising

[Mr U Rosler]

I'm using the version with a team predicted to finish bottom of conference South. My results were ok played 10: W:3 D:2 L:5.

However when loosing I threw the cm(a) up top as a poacher and it was deadly, I've now started this from the start, results were epic pld: 5, W:5 scored 17 goals for 6 against.

What seems to be happening is the treq/cf play almost like inside forwards on fm14, this results in massive overloads up front in which a chance seems to always be created.

Now I need to test it further and the caveat is I have far better strikers than I do midfielders, but still promising

So you're playing three Strikers?

[gmulv]

This is pretty much similar to what I've done, but I'm using an AMC playmaker instead, so I get that extra creativity added, but the AMC seems to score a lot too.

Are you using any instructions for your AMC or just leaving it generic??

and so the midfield is now essentially a narrow diamond??

G

[gmulv]

Yes mate, I'm not a great tactician to be honest, so I've just stuck with the generic one. Don't fix what isn't broken

It looks like this...

I was always told triangles are the way forward, so you can kind of see why this works... ST ST CAM... CM CM DM

must admit I swapped to this and fingers crossed, so far working wonders

[WillMcG99]

Hey, yes I'm using 3 strikers. Not something I like normally. Gonna do some more testing this evening

[tieio]

This tactic has just not delivered for me like the old S&S V.2 did last year. I gave it a try on my Accrington team and it was just awful. I guess your tactics can't always be awsome Thank you for your continued work in exploring the best 4-1-3-2's though!