Caixa Futebol Academy: Youth Development & Adapting Tactics

[axehan1]

@Ö-zil to the Arsenal! have you looked at this player in your save?

He is an absolute gem,I love his description,Midfield orchestrator

[Tiger666]

3 hours ago, axehan1 said:

@Ö-zil to the Arsenal! have you looked at this player in your save?

He is an absolute gem,I love his description,Midfield orchestrator

I wouldn't have a player with 5 Bravery anywhere near my midfield.

[axehan1]

4 minutes ago, Tiger666 said:

I wouldn't have a player with 5 Bravery anywhere near my midfield.

Three guys in midfield all with amazing workrate,why would I worry about his bravery when I want him to unlock packed defences.

[axehan1]

We've finally done it!!

Best feeling I've ever had playing this bloody game, a 0-3 defeat away to Bayern Munich in the 1st knockout round had me thinking "here we go again" but we smashed them 4-0 in the return leg, after that we beat PSG 2-1 in the Quarters,Monaco 6-1 in the semi's and then Man City 2-0 in the Final.

Domestically we are streets ahead of everyone else.

Solid as a rock at the back and the 100 goal barrier smashed, still using control/fluid(still not sure about Overload).

A young,highly professional 1st team hungry for more trophies, meanwhile beneath this team Benfica B are champions and the U19's are Domestic and European Champions.The perfect conveyor belt from youth to 1st team, the only downside being the absolute shower of **** we get called a youth intake(1st season Golden Generation exempted of course) full of half to 2 and a half star potential no hopers.We have a good scouting network though.

 

[zlatanera]

I'm a Mac user. It's been over a month and my game still makes my computer run hot like its trying to ignite the atmosphere. So I'm going back to FM18. As I've done Ajax to death the last couple of years (despite having not played them until FM18 when I started reading a certain user's tactic threads) it'll be Benfica.

@Ö-zil to the Arsenal! @axehan1 any recommendations on which leagues I simply must have loaded? I've never even setup a game for the Portuguese league so I don't know it recommends many but my computer isn't that powerful, can only handle around 35k players so that's why I'm asking, in case I have to prioritise.

Edited May 13, 2019 by zlatanera

[axehan1]

5 hours ago, zlatanera said:

I'm a Mac user. It's been over a month and my game still makes my computer run hot like its trying to ignite the atmosphere. So I'm going back to FM18. As I've done Ajax to death the last couple of years (despite having not played them until FM18 when I started reading a certain user's tactic threads) it'll be Benfica.

@Ö-zil to the Arsenal! @axehan1 any recommendations on which leagues I simply must have loaded? I've never even setup a game for the Portuguese league so I don't know it recommends many but my computer isn't that powerful, can only handle around 35k players so that's why I'm asking, in case I have to prioritise.

I've found some good regens from Serbia too.

[anxiousAnarchist]

I would love to see some of the templates you mentioned. You use these to introduce elements of fluid/total football to teams you manage? 

Out of personal interest, anything you have regarding Sarriball would be extra great.

Love your threads man, they've helped me improve a lot. Keep it up.

[Jean0987654321]

11 hours ago, zlatanera said:

I'm a Mac user. It's been over a month and my game still makes my computer run hot like its trying to ignite the atmosphere. So I'm going back to FM18. As I've done Ajax to death the last couple of years (despite having not played them until FM18 when I started reading a certain user's tactic threads) it'll be Benfica.

@Ö-zil to the Arsenal! @axehan1 any recommendations on which leagues I simply must have loaded? I've never even setup a game for the Portuguese league so I don't know it recommends many but my computer isn't that powerful, can only handle around 35k players so that's why I'm asking, in case I have to prioritise.

Have you thought about getting a cooling pad (unless you have a desktop Mac)? That should relieve the heat that the computer gives to play the game

[zlatanera]

@axehan1 thanks! Absolutely no way I'm loading up all those English leagues though, you're running twice what I can hack at a decent speed!

@Jean0987654321 had not thought of that at all, I'll look into it! But that's not the primary reason - I tend to just place my left hand under it which elevates it from my leg, and use my right hand to work the touchpad - its that the last minor MacOS update just ruined the game, and it still hasn't been fixed. For all I know I'll load up FM18 and that'll be bad too, but at least I have hope

[MadOnion]

@Ö-zil to the Arsenal! such a shame you had to sell Ruben Dias (whom you had a captain). Look at this profile. Is this intelligent, creative enough for you? 

@axehan1 welcome to the club .
All of them professionals and model professionals 

Edited May 14, 2019 by MadOnion

[vrbrasa]

Citar

Start simple. Either pick a club you know or take the time to get to know a squad very well.

Pick a style of play that suits them and play something simple. 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2 variants, 3-5-2 etc are balanced staples that most squads can manage. Depending on what version of FM you're on, I've actually put together a couple of different templates and happy to share. Nothing fancy, just basic systems that work and you can build upon.

i'm on fm17 and i would love to see those templates

[Ö-zil to the Arsenal!]

Hey, everybody. Sorry for the slow responses and updates. Hectic week on a tough project at work. Should get a bit more time next weekend.

 

On 12/05/2019 at 12:15, axehan1 said:

@Ö-zil to the Arsenal! have you looked at this player in your save?

He is an absolute gem,I love his description,Midfield orchestrator

Don't recognise the name, could be new to this year's game? Looks like a lovely player. I think Dantas had that description in my save for a while 

 

On 12/05/2019 at 21:24, axehan1 said:

We've finally done it!!

Best feeling I've ever had playing this bloody game, a 0-3 defeat away to Bayern Munich in the 1st knockout round had me thinking "here we go again" but we smashed them 4-0 in the return leg, after that we beat PSG 2-1 in the Quarters,Monaco 6-1 in the semi's and then Man City 2-0 in the Final.

Domestically we are streets ahead of everyone else.

Solid as a rock at the back and the 100 goal barrier smashed, still using control/fluid(still not sure about Overload).

A young,highly professional 1st team hungry for more trophies, meanwhile beneath this team Benfica B are champions and the U19's are Domestic and European Champions.The perfect conveyor belt from youth to 1st team, the only downside being the absolute shower of **** we get called a youth intake(1st season Golden Generation exempted of course) full of half to 2 and a half star potential no hopers.We have a good scouting network though.

 

Excellent. Congratulations, @axehan1 it's cool to see some new names in there as well. Nice work 

 

On 13/05/2019 at 11:40, zlatanera said:

I'm a Mac user. It's been over a month and my game still makes my computer run hot like its trying to ignite the atmosphere. So I'm going back to FM18. As I've done Ajax to death the last couple of years (despite having not played them until FM18 when I started reading a certain user's tactic threads) it'll be Benfica.

@Ö-zil to the Arsenal! @axehan1 any recommendations on which leagues I simply must have loaded? I've never even setup a game for the Portuguese league so I don't know it recommends many but my computer isn't that powerful, can only handle around 35k players so that's why I'm asking, in case I have to prioritise.

My computer is a piece of junk. IIRC I've got the Portuguese leagues, the main European leagues (just big 5) and Brazil and Argentina.

 

On 13/05/2019 at 20:53, anxiousAnarchist said:

I would love to see some of the templates you mentioned. You use these to introduce elements of fluid/total football to teams you manage? 

Out of personal interest, anything you have regarding Sarriball would be extra great.

Love your threads man, they've helped me improve a lot. Keep it up.

Check the screenshots further up and you'll see screenshots from a save with Napoli. Let me have a think about some templates and I'll try to put something together. I'm thinking of some of the most basic shapes - probably just 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1, maybe 4-4-2 diamond, 3-4-3 and 3-5-2 as well as other common shapes - in a control mentality, just to help people get a basic start point they can build from 

 

On 14/05/2019 at 14:04, MadOnion said:

@Ö-zil to the Arsenal! such a shame you had to sell Ruben Dias (whom you had a captain). Look at this profile. Is this intelligent, creative enough for you? 

@axehan1 welcome to the club .
All of them professionals and model professionals 

Ahhh, you managed to get him comfortable with the ball. I could barely get him into double figures for any of the ball control related attributes. He's doing very well in Italy now, with that style of play.

 

On 15/05/2019 at 02:22, vrbrasa said:

i'm on fm17 and i would love to see those templates

 OK, as above. Let me have a think about how to do it.

[BleuBurgers]

Hardest part about playing as Benfica is keeping the players.  I have won the league 4 years in a row, domestic quadruple once, and domestic teble 3 times.   Also on 90 something match unbeaten in the league.   In champions league,  we have been in the qtrs 3 times and semis once, but I just keep losing everyone.   I retool and go again but its annoying.

 

How did you manage to keep everyone?

Edited May 18, 2019 by BleuBurgers
Spelling

[axehan1]

On ‎18‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 11:06, BleuBurgers said:

Hardest part about playing as Benfica is keeping the players.  I have won the league 4 years in a row, domestic quadruple once, and domestic teble 3 times.   Also on 90 something match unbeaten in the league.   In champions league,  we have been in the qtrs 3 times and semis once, but I just keep losing everyone.   I retool and go again but its annoying.

 

How did you manage to keep everyone?

It's actually very easy, mentor everyone so they have a professional or better personality,I think it may(pure speculation here) improve their loyalty.Everytime they ask to leave tell them they can't because they are to influential in the dressingroom.The only time it hasn't worked for me was if the player in question did not have a personality of professional or better. 

[Brian]

On 11/05/2019 at 10:58, Ö-zil to the Arsenal! said:

Pick a style of play that suits them and play something simple. 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2 variants, 3-5-2 etc are balanced staples that most squads can manage. Depending on what version of FM you're on, I've actually put together a couple of different templates and happy to share. Nothing fancy, just basic systems that work and you can build upon.

Do you have templates for FM18? Struggling to keep it simple as I always want the extreme in the first season.... 

[Ö-zil to the Arsenal!]

On 18/05/2019 at 11:06, BleuBurgers said:

Hardest part about playing as Benfica is keeping the players.  I have won the league 4 years in a row, domestic quadruple once, and domestic teble 3 times.   Also on 90 something match unbeaten in the league.   In champions league,  we have been in the qtrs 3 times and semis once, but I just keep losing everyone.   I retool and go again but its annoying.

 

How did you manage to keep everyone?

 Much the same as @axehan1.

I've found a couple of things.

1. Push back on contract negotiations.
   • Say no (becomes more effective over time as your reputation gives you a better bargaining position)
   • If you do say concede, then at least promise negotiations at the end of the season.
2. Get contract negotiations done immediately after the end of the season, before other teams bid.
3. Pay fairly.
   • Next time I fire up FM I'll check our wage bill. Pretty sure it's very high,
4. Plan ahead and sell on your own terms.
5. Particularly early on, January is rough. I just hammer through, reject everything and promise deals for the end of the season and wait for it to be over 

Early contract negotiation is the biggest. If you get a player on a new deal shortly after the end of the season, he won't think about going anywhere for the entire transfer window in my experience.

[Ö-zil to the Arsenal!]

The production line of produces another golden generation..

Meanwhile, our scouting network is uncovering talent after talent in Brazil which I'm unable to recruit until 18 years old, which is a 3-year wait 

Steam-rolling Chelsea (top of the Premiership) helped lift my mood..

Should hopefully find the time over the long weekend to take a look how the competition is shaping up..

[False9]

interesting what you say about brazil. Are still thinking of a save in brazil? also have you thought of setting up a feeder club there maybe?

[Ö-zil to the Arsenal!]

3 hours ago, False9 said:

interesting what you say about brazil. Are still thinking of a save in brazil? also have you thought of setting up a feeder club there maybe?

Yes, it's still on the cards but I've put no further thought into it. Flamengo would be my preferred choice but I cannot work out why they're not at the Maracana in this version of FM. It'd be a longer save than this one, due to needing to develop the club's facilities but I'm worried it might be too easy to dominate Brazil before the project is even done and not have the Champions League to maintain some degree of challenge. I'm not sure.

[axehan1]

A Benfica milestone as we lift the Club World Cup with an easy victory over LA Galaxy

 

 

[axelmuller]

thats really weird that the youth intake is so useless year after year since Benfica has world class recruitment after all. perhaps a bug ?

[axehan1]

2 hours ago, axelmuller said:

thats really weird that the youth intake is so useless year after year since Benfica has world class recruitment after all. perhaps a bug ?

Yeah something's not right.My first intake was excellent but the following 4 has offered up nothing but 2/2.5 stars.

[Ö-zil to the Arsenal!]

Over the past 3-4 seasons, we've developed an intense style made of aggressive pressing, high-tempo possession football and attacking and defending in numbers.

The first leg of the 2023/24 Champions League Quarter Final sends us to Anfield to face an up-and-down, but potentially dangerous Liverpool team managed by Carlo Ancelotti.

They've only won the League Cup in this save, to date and currently sit at 8th in the Premier League so Ancelotti is fighting for his job however they finished second last season and boast a dangerous side.

 

 

The scouting report shows that they're almost playing a 4-2-4.

Tactically, the positioning of Jota concerned me as playing as a second striker could isolate my centre backs, leaving a 2v2 in an away leg of a latter stage Champions League tie at Anfield.

My first thought was to pull Florentino Luis back to help deal with the additional danger, in a 1-2 midfield set up.

The issue with this is that João Felix has been outstanding this year in the role inspired by the Ponta de Lança. This role means we oscillate between 4-5-1 and 4-2-4, isolating opposition central defenders in turn.

Additional considerations included:

• Cook and Keita is a very all-action midfield so I didn't want to risk being overrun.
• Dalot and Alexander-Arnold are two of the best wingbacks in Europe and will likely bomb forward.

Ultimately I decided to play the same structure (formation, roles, duties etc) but adapt our game plan to mitigate the need.

 

Rather than press aggressively and play intense, high-tempo possession football, we set up to play a bit deeper, draw the opposition out and attack directly.

It's a fairly minimal tweak to the tactics, but with a fairly profound effect.

As you can see, our defensive shape is now deep and very compact. Interesting to observe that this is an Overload mentality and a simple 4-2-3-1, which has regularly been maligned as a poor defensive shape.

In this example, we're higher up the field with Liverpool building an attack from deeper but again you can see the solid structure. Particularly pleased with the compactness between the centre backs and holding midfielders and also the wingers tracking back.

Liverpool's attacking fullbacks and expansive central midfielders left them open when we turned over possession. 

The game looked extremely tight until around the 80th minute, until Florentino Luis put us 1-0 up with a long-range screamer from a second ball after a corner and that goal then forced Liverpool forwards more and opened the game up for us.

Dantas winning the intercept and putting Trincão straight in behind the Liverpool defence, who drew the defender and squared it to João Felix in the centre for the second goal.

The final goal came from a more built-up attack, again Dantas putting this time Jota in behind the Liverpool defence to cross for Trincão at the far post to make it 3-0. You can really see the 4-2-4 shape in this one and the attacking options.

Wonderful set up now going into the second leg, and - hopefully - on into the latter stages.

Edited May 27, 2019 by Ö-zil to the Arsenal!

[Ö-zil to the Arsenal!]

21 hours ago, axehan1 said:

Yeah something's not right.My first intake was excellent but the following 4 has offered up nothing but 2/2.5 stars.

My understanding is that the relative star system means that young players look relatively worse, as you build a stronger team. In other words, youngsters look like better players in comparison to your starting squad but then don't look so good when compared with a fully developed Dantas, João Felix, Embalo, Jota etc.

I've sometimes wondered if the game has some potential balancing mechanism and at the moment Portugal have such depth they've got players like Guedes, Diogo Jota, Semedo, Sanches, Bruno Fernandes, Dias, Neves, Carvalho etc unable to make the squad. But that's pure speculation.

It's also not unrealistic. Even clubs with the best facilities can go through years without producing young players able to make their first team.

 

[vrbrasa]

Em 29/04/2019 em 19:05, Ö-zil to the Arsenal! disse:

My advice would be to start with something simple. Work out how you want to play, given the players you have and build an overall tactic which suits that.

Van de Beek is a classic, intelligent, technical player. Ziyech similar, but more attacking and left footed. Neres is an excellent wide player, either left wing or cutting in from the right.

Look at the rest of the team and see how they can fit in.

Try something simple, like 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 whilst you find your feet and then perhaps try to put your stamp on something more.

i think what is telling is how do you manage to go to control or atack, how to know if you can try fluid or not...

[steakfaced]

19 hours ago, Ö-zil to the Arsenal! said:

Over the past 3-4 seasons, we've developed an intense style made of aggressive pressing, high-tempo possession football and attacking and defending in numbers.

The first leg of the 2023/24 Champions League Quarter Final sends us to Anfield to face an up-and-down, but potentially dangerous Liverpool team managed by Carlo Ancelotti.

They've only won the League Cup in this save, to date and currently sit at 8th in the Premier League so Ancelotti is fighting for his job however they finished second last season and boast a dangerous side.

 

 

The scouting report shows that they're almost playing a 4-2-4.

Tactically, the positioning of Jota concerned me as playing as a second striker could isolate my centre backs, leaving a 2v2 in an away leg of a latter stage Champions League tie at Anfield.

My first thought was to pull Florentino Luis back to help deal with the additional danger, in a 1-2 midfield set up.

The issue with this is that João Felix has been outstanding this year in the role inspired by the Ponta de Lança. This role means we oscillate between 4-5-1 and 4-2-4, isolating opposition central defenders in turn.

Additional considerations included:

• Cook and Keita is a very all-action midfield so I didn't want to risk being overrun.
• Dalot and Alexander-Arnold are two of the best wingbacks in Europe and will likely bomb forward.

Ultimately I decided to play the same structure (formation, roles, duties etc) but adapt our game plan to mitigate the need.

 

Rather than press aggressively and play intense, high-tempo possession football, we set up to play a bit deeper, draw the opposition out and attack directly.

It's a fairly minimal tweak to the tactics, but with a fairly profound effect.

As you can see, our defensive shape is now deep and very compact. Interesting to observe that this is an Overload mentality and a simple 4-2-3-1, which has regularly been maligned as a poor defensive shape.

In this example, we're higher up the field with Liverpool building an attack from deeper but again you can see the solid structure. Particularly pleased with the compactness between the centre backs and holding midfielders and also the wingers tracking back.

Liverpool's attacking fullbacks and expansive central midfielders left them open when we turned over possession. 

The game looked extremely tight until around the 80th minute, until Florentino Luis put us 1-0 up with a long-range screamer from a second ball after a corner and that goal then forced Liverpool forwards more and opened the game up for us.

Dantas winning the intercept and putting Trincão straight in behind the Liverpool defence, who drew the defender and squared it to João Felix in the centre for the second goal.

The final goal came from a more built-up attack, again Dantas putting this time Jota in behind the Liverpool defence to cross for Trincão at the far post to make it 3-0. You can really see the 4-2-4 shape in this one and the attacking options.

Wonderful set up now going into the second leg, and - hopefully - on into the latter stages.

I love seeing this, whenever I try something similar I always overthink it or never am able to capture these moments perfectly. Well done!

[MadOnion]

@Ö-zil to the Arsenal! would you mind profiling the Felix role a bit more?

Some people struggle to get the N10 role working. I also play with a 4231 with Felix in the hole which is more of less where he plays in real life (albeit more of a Trequartista), but in a more direct style instead of a being the main creative outlet of the team.
Since Ponta de lança (spearhead), in Portugal, is the guy that leads the line, and often top scorer, I'd be interested to know his involvement from deep and if he is indeed the top scorer.

Do you ask him to get further forward? Arrive late in the opposition area? Roaming?

[davidbarros2]

I am also intrigued of your interpretation of João Félix as "the ponta de lança".

From what I understood your PI's are solely drible more for CB and Get furtwer forward for the 3 players in the AM strata?

Regarding training... and again João Félix, do you use complete forward or roaming playmaker?

[vrbrasa]

i am also curious to know

[vrbrasa]

Em 28/05/2019 em 14:42, davidbarros2 disse:

I am also intrigued of your interpretation of João Félix as "the ponta de lança".

From what I understood your PI's are solely drible more for CB and Get furtwer forward for the 3 players in the AM strata?

Regarding training... and again João Félix, do you use complete forward or roaming playmaker?

hummmm.... i bet roaming 

[davidbarros2]

Em ‎28‎/‎05‎/‎2019 em 13:36, MadOnion disse:

@Ö-zil to the Arsenal! would you mind profiling the Felix role a bit more?

Some people struggle to get the N10 role working. I also play with a 4231 with Felix in the hole which is more of less where he plays in real life (albeit more of a Trequartista), but in a more direct style instead of a being the main creative outlet of the team.
Since Ponta de lança (spearhead), in Portugal, is the guy that leads the line, and often top scorer, I'd be interested to know his involvement from deep and if he is indeed the top scorer.

Do you ask him to get further forward? Arrive late in the opposition area? Roaming?

Can I ask what's your version of the 4231 to accomodate Félix?

Of course, if it's somehow based on this thread's principles, otherwise I wouldn't hijack the thread's focus...

[MShing]

Just caught up with this thread. Been reading it the last few days, wow another great thread from @Ö-zil to the Arsenal! Your Ajax thread inspired me to do an Ajax save and now this save has inspired me to do a save in Portugal with Nacional da Madeira in the second league. They have excellent youth facilities and with the added fun of getting them promoted and breaking the top 3 big clubs dominance I am really looking forward to it. This will be on fm18 as I can't seem to get to grips with the new training and mentoring systems in fm19 🤯

On a side note, as a gooner myself after watching the team the last 7/8 weeks of the season and Ozil's performances are you ever tempted to change your username? 😂😂😂

[Ö-zil to the Arsenal!]

On 28/05/2019 at 13:36, MadOnion said:

@Ö-zil to the Arsenal! would you mind profiling the Felix role a bit more?

Some people struggle to get the N10 role working. I also play with a 4231 with Felix in the hole which is more of less where he plays in real life (albeit more of a Trequartista), but in a more direct style instead of a being the main creative outlet of the team.
Since Ponta de lança (spearhead), in Portugal, is the guy that leads the line, and often top scorer, I'd be interested to know his involvement from deep and if he is indeed the top scorer.

Do you ask him to get further forward? Arrive late in the opposition area? Roaming?

 

On 28/05/2019 at 18:29, vrbrasa said:

i am also curious to know

 

On 30/05/2019 at 11:04, davidbarros2 said:

Can I ask what's your version of the 4231 to accomodate Félix?

Of course, if it's somehow based on this thread's principles, otherwise I wouldn't hijack the thread's focus...

Sure. Good question. Seems like an interesting question, and very topical at the moment 

This season has really influenced the way I see 4-2-3-1, in a positive way.

Anyone following my threads will probably have noticed that I am a big fan of the simple dutch 4-3-3, with the deepest midfielder designated the playmaker and runners ahead of him. This was heavily influenced by the logic of Johan Cruyff about the misuse of the 'Number 10'. The argument is that a 6 has more forward passing options as a playmaker than a 10, as he has more players in from of him:

Versus designating our 10 as a playmaker, with a typical defensive double pivot behind him:

The former has an extra man in both attack and defence.

The challenge with this system is that it demands particularly complete players in the wide midfield roles. With our style of play, they need to be able to press, defend, pass and attack.

In our team, we have Florentino Luis, a strong, quick, intelligent and technical all-action midfielder:

..and João Felix, a more expansive, creative and attacking player:

Both are outstanding players, but with very different skill sets. Depending on the set up of the rest of the team we typically maximise the skill set of one or the other. Playing wingers and playing the Guardiola-esq 'Free 8s' gives João Felix the freedom he needs, but puts Florentino Luis into attacking positions where he doesn't offer too much. Playing the typical dutch 4-3-3 (Inside Forwards and Wingbacks) puts Florentino Luis into that all-action midfield role, but exposes João Felix defensively somewhat and fails to make the most of his attacking ability.

The punta de lança article and re-emergence of the Brazilian Jogo Bonito thread inspired me to re-think the 4-2-3-1 / 4-2-4.

Particularly, this:

..and, this definition of the "true number 10":

 

Quote

Some journalists and football fans, when discussing a “true number 10”, usually mention Maradona, Zidane, Zico, Platini, among others. A few of them define Pele like that. However, from the information reported here and later on, I believe it’s possible to state that Pele was a “true number 10”, like Zico, Platini and Maradona. The more careful reader notices that I did not mention Zidane. Yes, in my opinion, Zizou, in the Brazilian tradition, was closer to the old number 8, the meia armador. Let’s see, the main playmaker of his teams, the French player did not use to enter much the opponent area and scored very few goals (0.19 career average). On the other hand, players in the mold of Zico, Pelé, Platini and Maradona, helped in making plays, but were also great scorers with goal averages considerably superior to Zidane’s in official games: Platini and Maradona with a little more than 0.5 per game; Zico, approximately 0.7; and Pelé, 0.93. Because of that, I consider a mistake to talk about a “true number 10”, as someone supposed to be “the brain of the team” (the main playmaker), because that was the role of “the true number 8”.

The hybrid creator-goalscorer role.

Combining the two schools of thought somewhat, I use my 6 as a playmaker - rather than 8 advocated above - and my 10 as a hybrid creator-goalscorer.

Key Points

1. Overload mentality
   • Means the entire team has an expansive mentality
   • Could be translated to Control or Attacking, depending on the level of the team
2. Lots of Support duties
   • We attack and defend as a unit, rather than individuals
3. Look for Overlap
   • Slightly decreases the mentality of the inside forwards, and increases the mentality of the wingbacks
4. Exploit the middle
   • Increases the mentality of the centrebacks and double pivot

This leaves us with the following mentality structure (1 = most defensive, 20 = most attacking):

        15

16      17      16

     15    15

17   15    15   17

        15

Key Points

• The entire team is expansive and extremely compact.
• The DC - DC - MC - MC core all hold position, dominating midfield and freeing the rest to attack.
• The attacking midfielder is the most attacking player in the front 4.
• The complete forward has a lower mentality than the inside forwards and attacking midfielder, creating fluid movement in the 4-2-4 shape.
• Wingbacks attack aggressively creating width when the inside forwards move inside.

The roles - as always - are very simple.

My preferences for playmakers are:

1. One playmaker in the team.
2. Positive mentality (11+)
3. Ideally one of the deeper midfielders, with passing options ahead.

As shown earlier, Dantas now typically has the following options:

He can go forward, wide, centrally or switch play to the other flank.

Our striker has switched from deep-lying forward, to complete forward:

1. As the presence of João Felix in attacking midfield means he doesn't need to be so deep.
2. He now roams from position to drag defenders and open up pockets of space, but still holds up the ball (unlike False 9).

So, finally.. the attacking midfielder.

Already the most attacking player in the front four, the attacking midfielder asked to:

• Get forward
• Dribble
• Move into channels
• Given the structure of the team, there's no need to roam as standard however not against using it in the presence of a strong opposition DMC.

Simple as that.

Let's take a look at the role in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Jose Mourinho's Manchester United.

The attacking midfielder (support) naturally oscillates between midfield and attack.

Above we see here, João Felix drops reasonably deep, offering Dantas an easy passing option with the opportunity to either dribble into a dangerous attacking position or to link play with the attack.

Here, Felix makes an attacking run losing his marker and entering the penalty area unmarked running on to a simple through ball from Florentino Luis.

Now he's the spearhead of a 4-2-4 with inside forwards coming inside and wingbacks overlapping.

We can see the influence of João Felix and Dantas clearly in their passing stats.

 

On 31/05/2019 at 04:46, MShing said:

Just caught up with this thread. Been reading it the last few days, wow another great thread from @Ö-zil to the Arsenal! Your Ajax thread inspired me to do an Ajax save and now this save has inspired me to do a save in Portugal with Nacional da Madeira in the second league. They have excellent youth facilities and with the added fun of getting them promoted and breaking the top 3 big clubs dominance I am really looking forward to it. This will be on fm18 as I can't seem to get to grips with the new training and mentoring systems in fm19 🤯

On a side note, as a gooner myself after watching the team the last 7/8 weeks of the season and Ozil's performances are you ever tempted to change your username? 😂😂😂

Fantastic  good luck with the save. I agree with the FM2018 decision.

João Felix to the Arsenal!  Yea, it's a frustrating team to follow sometimes..

Edited June 2, 2019 by Ö-zil to the Arsenal!

[vrbrasa]

fantastic! 

i have start one save with sporting and hoping to get in the team ready to try some of this.

meanwhile, now i have another question, actually two 

- the aml and amr have pis?

- how you manage the b team (i think you say that you are going to bypass, have already some results)? 

[davidbarros2]

I wonder if in FM 2019 the playing no players on attack dutty will increase overall mentality is still valid... anyone knows?

In FM 2019 I find the CF (S) is not a goal threat if there aren't any attack duties around...

[Park]

Enjoyed that post on the no.10, @Ö-zil to the Arsenal!. Once again a practical, quality explanation.

Re. the 4-3-3 v 4-2-3-1 debate: in my opinion, the worst things about 4-2-3-1 in real life (at least when not executed cleverly - these things don't seem to be issues for Pochettino's Spurs for instance) are 1) there are too many square passes (easily marked/intercepted) owing to the centre-mids being next to each other, and a flat line of three; and 2) how the 'front four' and 'back six' can easily get separated, both in possession and just having lost it, resulting in a split team where neither 'section' helps out much with each other. 

Are either of these things an issue for your Benfica?

Edited June 3, 2019 by Park

[axehan1]

Champions League, back to back winners.

We are slowly but surely turning into the dominant force in world football

[Ö-zil to the Arsenal!]

On 03/06/2019 at 21:47, axehan1 said:

Champions League, back to back winners.

We are slowly but surely turning into the dominant force in world football

6 for Bravery isn't looking so bad now, eh? 

[axehan1]

On ‎08‎/‎06‎/‎2019 at 10:07, Ö-zil to the Arsenal! said:

6 for Bravery isn't looking so bad now, eh? 

My thoughts exactlybut what do we know

[Ö-zil to the Arsenal!]

Here we go again.

This year it's the dominant champions of France, against the dominant champions of Portugal.

PSG are currently being managed by Roberto Mancini and - fortunately, for us - amidst a multi-million dollar injury crisis:

Despite their crisis, they still put out a strong team.

We line up with a much fresher team, with the strength of our squad meaning outfield player needed to start more than 50% of league games. Hopefully, staying fresh for the latter stages and then European Championships in the summer.

Our go-to style remains the high-intensity possession football, attacking and defending in numbers and building up from the back.

We already demonstrated a 'Plan B' against Manchester United, sitting considerably deeper, drawing the opposition out and hitting on the counter. Enjoying that direct attacking style and somewhat inspired by Liverpool's real-life Champions League intensity I decided to combine the direct counter-attack with the intense pressing aimed at shocking the opposition.

These are now saved as presets, which allows us to adapt our strategy based on the requirements of the game and our opponent without compromising the structure of our overall tactic.

Given that PSG had Ederson in goal, Marquinos and Rugani in defence and Verratti and Rabiot in midfield, I'd expected to see some build-up play so set up to pressure them aggressively and then attack. However, PSG didn't really play ball. They didn't really build up from the back at all. Most of their play went directly through Martial or Draxler, both wonderful players but receiving the ball very early, against a well-organised defence and under immediate pressure.

Playing directly to Martial:

Playing directly to Draxler:

The advantage is the speed at which we're able to counter-attack when we turn over possession. We have multiple passing options, and players quickly moving into dangerous attacking positions.

Space and attacking runs:

Now we can see the combination of the Complete Forward (Support) holding up the ball, and the forward run from the Attacking Midfielder (Support) to make it 1-0.

This time, Dantas wins the ball from Verratti in midfield after a sloppy pass from Draxler and we're ready to go again.

Obvious passing option, Jota manages to beat Traore inside and attack Rugani. Runagi can either back of and Jota advances unchallenged or engage and leave Marquinhos outnumbered against Martinez and the run of João Felix.

Deja vu, Martinez holds up possession and draws out Marquinhos and João Felix attacks the space. 2-0.

Shortly after this, Draxler was sent off and we went back to our typical, high tempo possession and pummelled a battered PSG.

Our attacking play broke our own record:

..and João Felix set a new standard:

This was comfortably our best season yet. The football has been up there with anything I've seen in any save I've played before. On to Euro 2024! 
 

[robot_skeleton]

I'm really enjoying your works @Ö-zil to the Arsenal!, like how you take your time and break down everything and tell us your thoughts behind the tactics. Will you be moving to FM19? Sorry if it had been asked.

[Ö-zil to the Arsenal!]

10 minutes ago, robot_skeleton said:

I'm really enjoying your works @Ö-zil to the Arsenal!, like how you take your time and break down everything and tell us your thoughts behind the tactics. Will you be moving to FM19? Sorry if it had been asked.

Thank you. Unlikely, I'm afraid. I'm not convinced that the changes to the tactics creator, training or tutoring are improvements. I like the way FM2018 works. The only glimmer of possibility is that I'd love to play a save with this year's Ajax team before they're ripped apart.

Edited June 9, 2019 by Ö-zil to the Arsenal!

[zlatanera]

I think mentoring is an improvement in realism, as tutoring was incredibly powerful (as demonstrated in this thread).

18 months ago I would have been completely ambivalent about team shape, but I really got the hang of it towards the end there so I do miss it. I liked how it was perfectly possible to just go through playing on Flexible for years and still do alright (as I had done) but if you played about with it you could achieve spectacular things (using your @Ö-zil to the Arsenal! Sacchi tactic but tweaked to a 442 to get a 49 goal season out of André Silva on FM18 was some of the most fun I've had playing the game). Kinda like how in my other favourite game series, Pokémon, especially in the earlier ones it was possible to completely skip parts if you want, like a bunch of the legendary Pokémon, and a lot of hidden items etc. that could help you get really powerful fast, but still win the game. 

My only problem with training on FM19 is that if you delegate it to your assistant they tend to train the preset they think is closest to your style - as I tend to play pressing football, sometimes with possession, they always choose Gegenpress which leads to a tough Physical session in a two day gap between games, which leads to injuries. I've not played any saves long enough to really see the effects of a consistent regime, but I do have fun adding a bunch of tactical sessions to all three squads to try and improve my players' mentals. It is a lot of extra clicks though.

[howard moon]

Still a great thread  I’m on FM17 still but have learnt loads from this for my own save.

Have you reached a point now where you never lose, or make mistakes? I’d love to see something where it didn’t go to plan and how you reacted?

[Ö-zil to the Arsenal!]

16 hours ago, zlatanera said:

I think mentoring is an improvement in realism, as tutoring was incredibly powerful (as demonstrated in this thread).

18 months ago I would have been completely ambivalent about team shape, but I really got the hang of it towards the end there so I do miss it. I liked how it was perfectly possible to just go through playing on Flexible for years and still do alright (as I had done) but if you played about with it you could achieve spectacular things (using your @Ö-zil to the Arsenal! Sacchi tactic but tweaked to a 442 to get a 49 goal season out of André Silva on FM18 was some of the most fun I've had playing the game). Kinda like how in my other favourite game series, Pokémon, especially in the earlier ones it was possible to completely skip parts if you want, like a bunch of the legendary Pokémon, and a lot of hidden items etc. that could help you get really powerful fast, but still win the game. 

My only problem with training on FM19 is that if you delegate it to your assistant they tend to train the preset they think is closest to your style - as I tend to play pressing football, sometimes with possession, they always choose Gegenpress which leads to a tough Physical session in a two day gap between games, which leads to injuries. I've not played any saves long enough to really see the effects of a consistent regime, but I do have fun adding a bunch of tactical sessions to all three squads to try and improve my players' mentals. It is a lot of extra clicks though.

Yes, I agree. In fact, you sum it up very well.

Removing shape costs the tactics creator a degree of control. The preset styles like vertical tiki taka and whatever just look like arcade game gimmicks. The interface seems to have gotten worse. If I remember correctly from the demo, the individual mentality in the Player Instruction screen is no longer even represented graphically leaving very little idea what's actually going on.

Training just looks like it'd grow very tedious, very fast.

Anyway, not to go too off topic.. 

 

8 hours ago, howard moon said:

Still a great thread  I’m on FM17 still but have learnt loads from this for my own save.

Have you reached a point now where you never lose, or make mistakes? I’d love to see something where it didn’t go to plan and how you reacted?

Yes, to be honest this save needs something new. The league hasn't been a challenge for years but a good opportunity to develop the youngsters. Competition in the Champions League is now a serious step behind as well. PSG and Man Utd have the best squads at the moment and I smashed them both. I'll do a more thorough update looking around Europe but I think Barcelona were 5th and still playing a 38 year old Suarez, and have a very weak squad. Real are aging. Juve lost their title for the first time. Bayern look OK and the Prem is really the only competitive league.

I'll do an update as I look at which direction to take the save after Euro 2024.

[Ö-zil to the Arsenal!]

Focus turns to the Portuguese national team. Impossible to fit everybody in, so we'll be utilising the squad during the championship for sure.

The last few years, I've been using the 4-3-3 with Xadas and Felix free to roam, creating a 2-3-5 in attack.

After this season's success, 4-2-3-1 is more of an option as well.

..or even pulling Xadas into midfield and being reminiscent of the structure used in the Sacchi thread.

Not at all sure, at the moment. Need some inspiration..

[vrbrasa]

hi @Ö-zil to the Arsenal!. i am in 3 year with sporting... wait for a new force arriving

i am trying this style with neutral and having great results, in the end of the year i will see if i take same shots to show

still having a dout. the amr/l. sometimes having a reaaly poor day. do you have any pi? i have try with forward but that make us vulnerable at defense...

[Ö-zil to the Arsenal!]

1 hour ago, vrbrasa said:

hi @Ö-zil to the Arsenal!. i am in 3 year with sporting... wait for a new force arriving

i am trying this style with neutral and having great results, in the end of the year i will see if i take same shots to show

still having a dout. the amr/l. sometimes having a reaaly poor day. do you have any pi? i have try with forward but that make us vulnerable at defense...

When playing with wingbacks I ask my inside forwards to Sit Narrower and sometimes Get Forward, depending on how much space the AMC has to attack into..

[vrbrasa]

thanks @Ö-zil to the Arsenal! i wiil try that

i must say i have the fm18 because of this post. i was in the year 2045 with sporting in fm17...

and just because you are here, do you have any more pis?

 have to say the fluid match with 4-2-3-1 wright?

[vrbrasa]

i gess the CF move to channels