Creating A Tactic - Step By Step

[Cleon]

This is taken from my blog https://teaandbusquets.com/blog

I decided to change the way I was writing about my Paysandu saved game. I wanted to do this so I could talk you through every single step of tactic creating. If you are unfamiliar with what I was doing on the Paysandu save you can find it all on my blog or here;

 

Part One  - Creating A Tactic Based On A Real Life Concept

I want to take a step back and talk about creating tactics before we jump ahead with all of the other stuff I have planned. This will be a comprehensive guide focused on designing, creating and maintaining a tactic. Be warned though, this is a very long read and will contain many different parts to it. So if that isn’t up your street you might want to consider tapping out now.

Introduction

In the last piece I did about the W-M, I did some random analysis in the build up to the season. In this article I want to change the pace and direction I am going in, with the series. It’ll still be analysis heavy but first, I want to explain how the W-M formation functions, what we can change-up, how we might be at a disadvantage in certain areas and so on. I want this to be a comprehensive article that focuses on my thinking because each decision I make. This will then help you all understand the analysis I do much better and give a great insight into how I play Football Manager 2019.

Before all of that though we need to know how to arrive at the point where you can start to analyse things and know what to look for. Some of this stuff might seem a bit familiar as I did something like this around 5 years ago but none of it really exists online any longer. So I want to reuse some of the stuff and update it for the current game.

The Starting Point

Teams and Players

The team you are and the games expectations for those teams, can impact how you can play from the off. Some styles of play or formations might require a specific kind of player or players for positions you currently don’t have. So the idea you have might be likely something you progress towards rather than starting out at. This doesn’t mean you have to abandon your ideas though, it just means you need to be realistic about what you can do straight away.

Any team can play any formation if they have the players to play the positions. But not every team can play an attacking style and be effective. The better the side you are the more creative you’ll be able to be with tactic creating usually because you’ll have more variety or players who are strong for a specific style of play.

A lot of people think you can’t be creative with weaker sides or with teams who are lower down the league pyramid. This isn’t true at all. You still can be creative with these type of sides but it could be to a much lesser extent normally due to the type of players you can attract as they’ll likely not have the required attributes needed. The important thing to remember is that the player attributes are relevant for the level you are playing at. So it is possible to find creative (or any kind of player you need for your style) players at any level.

The point I am trying to make is that you don’t have to keep it simple in the lower leagues or with weaker sides. Just like you don’t have to be more creative in your thinking and application when you are a much stronger side. Keeping it simple or being as detailed as possible in your approach isn’t tied to the level you play or the team you manage. They're separate things entirely.

When deciding on the team you are going to be, it’s best that you have realistic expectations. For this I break teams down into four different groups.

Weak Teams

Teams like Palace, Cardiff and Burnley are classed as weak teams in season one. So to begin with the options you have might be limited. You can still play any formation you wish player and transfer budget allowing. But the style which you play will be could initially be hampered. If you want to be attacking then you need to ensure you’ve got a good knowledge of the system you’ll be using and understand its strengths and weakness If not then you’ll struggle especially against better sides.

If the team you’ll be managing falls into the bracket classed as weak sides almost everyone in the league is better. So even before you start you’re already on the back foot. The good thing about being a weak side though is teams will underestimate you and try to impose themselves in the match and force you to adapt to them rather than the other way around.

That can be a good thing at times as this will mean regardless of how you set up majority of teams you face will set up to be attacking and be slightly more aggressive against you and we know what that means don’t we? SPACE.

Bigger sides when they attack automatically leave you space to use somewhere on the pitch, it’s impossible to be attacking/aggressive and not concede space somewhere on the pitch or risk certain players being exposed at times. So regardless of your sides limited capabilities this is something you should be looking out for as you can really cause the opposition some difficulties if you can spot this.

Average Teams

These are sides that are expected to finish somewhere between the bottom three and mid-table. These kind of teams are sides such as West Ham, Newcastle and Southampton. If they have a good season they could possibly have an outside chance of pushing for a European place. If they had a bad season they could be down in a relegation place. The choice of tactics for these sides is vital and it’s important you get the players playing well in most games to avoid a slump down the table. I class these type of teams as bang smack in the middle of the road sides. The opposition will be a mixed bag and while some sides might be really aggressive against you other sides might be more cautious. If you play with a side like this then you have to be really aware of how the opposition are playing so you can understand what you need to do yourself to get a result from the game.

Good Sides

Everton, Wolves and Leicester are what I class as good sides. These sides have probably got too much talent to be relegated. But probably not enough to break into the top 4 on a consistent basis to begin with. That’s not to say with a couple of new signings and the right tactic that you can’t push all the way for the title. A lot of sides you face will try being stubborn in their approach against you and could end up having men behind the ball trying to stifle your attacking threat. I believe it's these sides and the top sides that people have the most issues managing and the reason for this is space and movement. When managing sides like these any badly made tactics or tactics that offer no movement tend to get caught out and shown for their weakness much more than when you are a lesser side. The reasons for this is it's down to you to create space and movement as teams are more cautious/reserved against you compared to when facing bigger sides who naturally give up more space.

Top Sides

Teams such as Liverpool and Man City can dictate how they play. They can also be creative in their tactics and approaches due to the quality of players they have available. You have much more creative license when creating tactics for these types of sides due to most of the opposition playing defensive or counter attacking against you and you normally having a much stronger squad than 75% of the league. Again, when managing a side like this you really need to understand how the roles and duties you’ve chosen all work together and how it all brings you the ‘final product’ you see on the pitch.

It’s really important you decide which category your team falls under. Then you should be able to be more realistic about how the team can actually play. Remember the above is simplifying things slightly and talking in black and white context but this is just so you can decide what type of team you are. It is possible to be any team and overachiever/underachiever.

Tactics

After you know which kind of team you are going to be, it’s time to explore the tactics and get a rough idea of how you’ll be playing.

There are a few different ways that you can approach tactic creating and each one will determine how it’s created. For me the different ways of creating a tactic are;

• Copying real life or elements of real life tactics.
• Just an idea in your mind.
• Creating a tactic based on player attributes/positions available in the current squad.

You might think there are many other different ways to create tactics and that’s fine. But for me, I think these are the three different ways. Despite which category you fall under, the most important part is that you have some kind of idea. Whether it be any of the options I mention or something else that you’ve thought of. In my opinion there has to be some kind of initial idea to work with.

If not, then how do you know if something is working or more importantly, how do you know you have to change things and what you can build towards. Without an idea you just stumble around with no real goal. It doesn’t matter if your idea is small or big as long as you have something to work with.

Copying/replicating real life

Trying to replicate real life football can be hard because the terminology in-game doesn’t usually match that of real life. This confuses a lot of people. I’d suggest to anyone who is trying to create anything based on real life, to ignore the role names in-game and instead focus on the settings the role comes with and base any decisions on that. At least by doing it this way, you can see if the settings reflect what you see the real life players doing. Don’t get hung up on labels, instead focus on what a role offers.

Another thing that I find tricky to achieve is creating a specific style based on a real life team. One of the reasons for this is, teams change settings/shape constantly. Some are more subtle that others and you might not really notice. This is why I believe if you want to take a real life concept and replicate it, you either needs to focus on the concept in a more generic manner and decide which parts you want to play all the time and which ones you can omit because maybe it's not a constant staple of the desired play.

Or if you want to be as specific as possible, then maybe focus on a specific time period of a particular game, were the desired style is really noticeable and prominent. This is probably the easiest way to replicate styles/formations and so on in my opinion.

I wrote about creating a tactic based on a real life idea a few years back. So rather than write a new example, I’m just going to use this. One important thing to remember is, that no matter what you are trying to recreate, there will have to be some sacrifices along the way due to game limitations. Remember that the below example was written maybe 4-5 years ago.

Old Example

I like to attempt to replicate real life tactics but putting my own spin on them. This past few weeks  I’ve been reading about Bayern and the system they’ve been using and it intrigued me a lot. Especially as people claim this is the next tactical revolution and the next logical step for tactics. So with this in mind I started to read about how they played to get some ideas for how I would set up. For this I used such sites as;

http://spielverlagerung.de/2013/11/23/borussia-dortmund-bayern-munchen-03/

http://www.bavarianfootballworks.com/2013/7/17/4530782/bayern-munich-pep-guardiola-4-1-4-1-tactics-flexibility-schweinsteiger-kroos-alcantara-martinez

http://www.chroniquestactiques.fr/bayern-munich-pep-guardiola-tactical-analysis-telekom-cup-8116/

http://bundesligafanatic.com/tactical-analysis-bayerns-4-1-4-1-in-german-super-cup/

This was more than enough to start me off with what I was trying to create and how to go about achieving it.

Setting The Base Shape

Once you have some kind of inspirations it's all about setting this up in Football Manager. So what I do is create some kind of base tactic for how I try to translate the information I found in the articles above into the game. I call it a base because things never work exactly how you think and you have to make changes during games or to your initial setup should you find something isn’t working.

Firstly the shape. I went for a bog standard 4-1-4-1 because I feel this is more versatile than a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3. I can make the 4-1-4-1 turn into those formations quite easily while in the game with the use of roles/duties. So for me this is the shape I choose.

That’s the shape I’ve gone for.

The Instructions

Once the shape is sorted we have to add the roles/duties and settings we think the team use. So I need to identify what I learnt from the links above.

• The striker closes down the opposition’s back line constant
• The wingers judging by heat maps I’ve seen start from further down the pitch but are at times the furthest players forward.
• The MC’s are versatile and are something that change depending on the personnel available.
• One of the MC’s likes to drop back into the DC positions at times to act as the third centre back when defending. Yet when attacking like to push up into midfield while still being the deepest midfielder.

These are the main points so to put this into FM terms I am thinking along the lines of;

• The striker is better suited to being a defensive forward. Some could argue they are a false 9 or even a deep-lying forward. However due to the nature they press the defence then a defensive forward is more logical.
• The wingers or inside forwards depending on you label them will be wide midfielders for me. The reason for this is they both defend and help out defensively and having them in the AMR/AML position won’t allow this. But I can influence their play from the wide midfield positions by the use of individual instructions. Maybe use the cuts inside ones and possibly the gets further forward ones.
• This is the hardest part and the one I am undecided on. So I think I might set this up just like real life and change it depending on who I use or the team I play against.
• I honestly think the half back is suited for this position because it does exactly that, deep when defending and pushes higher up when attacking.

I also decided that I would use an attacking strategy and play very rigid. The reason for playing very rigid is simple - I need certain players do act in a very specific way so by going rigid this allows those players in those roles to really shine and be the focal points of the side. I’ve not gone for retain possession as I believe I can do this naturally due to the roles/duties we have. Plus I’d rather we focused on good dangerous possession rather than keeping the ball and not doing anything with it.

And that’s it, it's really that simple......

Well actually it isn’t because we don’t know if the ideas or logic behind what I’m trying to create even works. But this part will be explained further in the series.

In the next article I’ll focus on the W-M formation again and discuss how we create a tactic based from just an idea we have in our head and how we can fill in the blanks.

[Cleon]

Part Two  - Creating A Tactic Based On A Simple Idea Without And References

The Objective

A little earlier in the series I wrote a little about why I was using the W-M formation. If you missed it, then the short version was that I wanted to give it a modern-day twist. The reason for this was mainly because I wanted to add an extra difficulty level to my saved game, so I felt it was a challenge. It all fits in with the no attributes thing I am doing. That as the reasons behind using this shape but is that really an objective, I’m not sure. So let me explain a little further in what I want to do.

I want to win games, pure and simple. I don’t want to set up not to lose, I want to set up to win. This means I will have to take risks and not be as conservative. Setting up not to lose is very different to setting up to win. Think of Jose Mourinho at Manchester United, he set up not to lose a game and didn’t try to win games that often. The same can be said about Nigel Clough when he was the Sheffield United manager. Both managers focus on playing in a negative way, I want to be a positive manager and take risks.

The objectives come down to;

• Playing to win
• Play a good brand of football

I don’t want to focus on the style of football I want to play as that will come in the other parts because good football can be many things. But these are the objectives.

Understanding The Roles And Team Instructions

When creating a tactic, you need to have some idea of how it’ll function on paper. It doesn’t matter that this might be proven wrong at a later date. But initially you need to have some idea of how you think the roles all link together as this is what we have to work from. There always has to be a starting point. Let me talk you through what I selected and why in the W-M formation.

Vertical Tiki-Taka offers me a balanced mentality and is quite direct at times, so this suits the ideas I have much better. I’ve not touched the team instructions yet, everything is still default. I won’t be altering any of this until I’ve seen it played for three consecutive games. That way I can build a much better picture of how it functions and pick up any patterns that I spot. The narrowness are something I want to try to keep though, it will help us stay compact and be much harder to break down, even though we might give up space in some specific areas. Giving up space is fine though, as long as it fits your overall strategy and you don’t become easy to break down.

The four important things for creating a tactic for me is movement, supply, support and scoring. Each tactic to be successful needs these elements. So really focus on this when deciding on the roles and duties that you'll use to create the base tactic.

Picking the roles is probably the part people struggle with. I find that if I am struggling, then start from the front and work backwards. So what I'd do is focus on the main priority of all tactics - Who will score the goals?!

Once you've identified this whether it be a striker, midfielder or even a wide player, then you should focus on the next stage which is the supply. Who provides that scorer with the supply he needs and what kind of supply is it. Will his goals come from through balls or crosses or even a mix of those things. Once you know this then the roles you need to use become more obvious as a lot of your choices, will not have this as part of its skill set.

Your choices automatically rule out certain roles because of what the roles do. It makes it much easier to select a role because instead of having maybe six different choices for a specific position, you are left with one or two.

Just carry this thinking on throughout the whole process and before you know it, you'll have something similar to what I've set out below.

The four important things for creating a tactic for me is movement, supply, support and scoring. Each tactic to be successful needs these elements. So really focus on this when deciding on the roles and duties that you'll use to create the base tactic.

GK - I’ve gone for a standard keeper here but I think eventually he will have to be a sweeper keeper. I think him staying on his line and playing deeper, might make me more vulnerable, especially if the central defender pushes up. I need all the defensive players to play as a fully functioning cohesive unit. Any big gaps between the players, and this is something the AI could possible exploit.

CB - I don’t want anything fancy from him, I just want a good old-fashioned no-nonsense defender.

IWB’s - I don’t want players to cross often down the wings. I want t force play into the central areas were I have the numbers. I think these roles suit that better than the others available. There is a concern here though and that’s that I could become too narrow at times or that they push too far up the pitch. So I’m not 100% set on these roles but they are the best fit as a starting point.

HB’s - The two half backs will allow me to revert to a flat back five when the opposition attack me. This will make me harder to break down and offer protection to the lone central defender who might become isolated without them.

RPM - There has to be someone who can play with the ball at their feet and bring it forward. He is very much the link player in the system. Without this type of role, I struggle to see how the ball would get to the attacking players.

Mez - A very aggressive role as I try to overload the central areas. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out, especially with the inside forward possibly taking up the same areas. It could be problematic on FM18 and forced one of them to act in a way that was the intended behaviour of the role. With the changes in FM19 though, this shouldn’t be as much as an issue as before.

IF’s -  Scoring goals and providing support to the striker while trying to cause the opposition defence issues is the main aim here. I’m not sure on the duty allocation just yet and might end up having one side more aggressive than the other. But it’s something I really need to see in action first.

CF - When creating a lone striker formation, this is probably the role most will struggle with. Any number of roles could possibly work. I’ve tried to select a role that offers a bit of everything. I didn’t want to use one who dropped off the front constant and was more focused on linking play with the IF’s. As I have the Mez who will be venturing forward a lot too and space is likely to be limited to begin with. The last thing I want is someone else constantly dropping into the same areas. It might be a role I change after a few games but I think whatever role I end up with, will be one that is very attack minded and focused on occupying the central defenders and playing in and around the box rather than outside of it.

As you can see, I have a vague idea how the roles and settings should link together in theory. This gives me a basic idea of who is creating the goals, scoring them, which players are creating the movement and so on. Whether this works in reality as I think it would, doesn’t actually matter at this point. As you’ll see later in the series, when we start the analysing stuff.

What Does The System Offer

After I’ve done all of the above, I need to take a look at the shape I’m using and see what the system actually offers me, as well as focusing on the areas we will struggle with. This is a very important part of creating tactics because it allows us to know what we are good at and potentially what we could struggle with.

If we take a quick look at how I’m set up I can talk you through what the system offers me.

These are the roles and duties I currently use

The key to the W-M is how I’ve set up to create overloads in the central areas of the pitch. This is one of the biggest advantages the system offers me currently. The majority of my play and goals are likely to come from these areas. The inside forwards, roaming playmaker and mezzala will all look to overwhelm the opposition in the final third. Using inverted wing-backs will also see them reinforce the midfield and central areas in attacking phases of play. This allows us to keep recycling the ball in the central areas and keeping the opposition under relentless pressure.

The above screenshot shows us overloading the middle with six players attacking players in the final third. The IF (on the right when looking at the screenshot) is dropping off the front to receive the ball. He is creating space and movement by dropping deeper towards the ball, as the defender is following him.

The players who aren’t labelled with roles, along with those who are, are also in good positions to recycle the ball should the move break down. Or if we lose possession and the ball is then cleared, these players will either be able to retreat to cut out the threat or chase the ball down and play it back to the advanced players.

Remember though, just because I showed you an in-game example of how this worked out in this scenario, doesn’t mean it’s a constant thing. It’s still very much an idea just on paper for now and showing an in-game screenshot is jumping the gun slightly. But I just wanted to show you a visual to help you think about how the roles and settings you initially choose, could play out in the match engine.

Another strength of the initial shape is when the opponent attacks, the midfield drops right back, clogging up the centre of the pitch, keeping two half backs in-front of the centre backs, essentially making a solid flat back three at times. Due to this, it makes it hard for the opposition to penetrate me from central areas. And when the inverted wing-backs regain their position, I have a flat back five.

For me those are the two main benefits of the shape and while there are a few more benefits, I don’t think it’ll be beneficial to speak about them just yet. The whole idea of this series is to talk you through each phase of the tactic creating process a step at a time. This will allow you to build better tactics without being overloaded with information to begin with. The important thing is to focus on a couple of the strengths you have with the shape, roles and settings you’ve decided to use.

Naturally Exposed Areas

Understanding any potential weakness you could have in your system is every bit as important as understanding the strengths. This will allow you to understand were the opposition might hurt you with their play. Then you can decide whether the risk vs reward side of things is worth it. Something I’ll focus on in a lot more detail later on.

The W-M is very vulnerable to attacks down the flanks, especially to the quick, direct counter attacking styles of play. It can also be susceptible to quick changes of play to the opposite flanks. You only have to look at the system overview earlier in the article to be able to automatically see this. The roles and duties you use will further impact this and make the issue more bearable or more exposed depending on how it affects your overall balance.

Another area that could potentially be exposed is the space between the central midfielders and the defenders, should the half backs drop deep to form a solid three or five with the rest of the defenders. This could give up important space just in front of the defence.

Now we’ve got enough of a picture to know what we should and shouldn’t expect from the system we are creating. The next step is to analyse if your ideas do work when you play games. Or whether you need to make slight changes based on what you actually see happening in a game. In the next article it will focus on that next step as we dive into the analysis stage. It’ll be a different type of analysis than you have seen from me before though, as I will be breaking things down into key stages so it’s easy to understand, follow and more importantly, easy for you to do in your own save.

[Cleon]

Analysing your tactics can be quite tricky and is something I see people get frustrated with regularly. I understand why it’s frustrating and sympathise with those people and hopefully, this article will go a long way in helping these people not only spot potential issues but give ideas on possible solutions they could use.

I like to keep it simple when analysing games and reviewing my tactics, I don’t over-complicate things if it isn't necessary. What I mean by this is, don’t analyse too much in one go as this can be daunting or be information overload. So what I did was create a system of some kind to help breaks things up, so I can analyse in stages. Some of those stages look like this;

• Friendly games
• Competitive games
• 15 mins
• 30 mins
• 45 mins
• Without the ball
• With the ball

These aren’t all the stages I use but are probably some of the most common splits I use.

Friendly Games

I believe the results of this games or the manner they are played in should be taken with a pinch of salt. For me these are mainly used for fitness for all the players that will be used during the season. It’s important that everyone is in peak physical condition are ready for the season.

In terms of actual telling me much about the tactics I’m playing, I don’t really put much stock into anything that’s happening. The reasons for this are players aren’t in peak condition and will likely be nowhere near match fit (especially on new save games). Another point is, the players know the difference between a friendly game and a competitive one. Some players due to personality or hidden attributes might be more dismissive towards a friendly game than a competitive one. Which makes it hard to judge if something is a player, tactical, or personality issue. If you want a more clear picture of how things work then I tend to use competitive matches to get any kind of real feedback or info. I’d never make a change based on what happens in preseason or a friendly game.

This year though due to playing with no attributes, I used the friendly games to try to understand my players more and the types of personality traits that they might have, which don’t initially show up on the player's profile page.

Rather than reusing some stuff that I recently wrote, I’ll just link some analysis I already did on the W-M formation a few weeks back that were based on the friendlies I had played.

https://teaandbusquets.com/blog/the-w-m-formation-match-analysis

 

Competitive Games

These are the most important games of all, especially if you want to learn if your tactic plays how you thought it would or whether you need to make changes and adapt your initial ideas somewhat.

As stated in the linked article above, I like to play three competitive games without changing anything. Even if something isn’t working, I don’t change anything. The reason for this is because when I’m creating a tactic I like to get a feel for it over several games. This way, you can see if something is a one-off or whether you see patterns in each game of things that aren’t working. You don’t want to make knee jerk reactions and change things without knowing if it's a one-off or not. Friendlies can kind of help with this but I believe competitive games are better because players know the difference between a friendly and a competitive game.

Once the three game period is up, I then look back over the games. There’s a reason for this. When you watch a game in real-time and when the result matters, you maybe rush decision-making or don’t think properly. So it’s important for me to take my time and make sure I look over all three games and gather all the information I need, without feeling the result matters.

I know some of you will be sat thinking that this sounds like too much and fair enough it might be. But then you’re probably the person who doesn’t need the use of this whole series. However the point is, if you spend time (now) learning how your system functions and works then you can play at a faster pace once you have that understanding. Putting a bit of effort in now means you’ll be able to make changes on the fly in the future or be better places to know what’s gone wrong and why.

15 mins, 30 mins and 45 mins

Splitting the game into time sections when viewing it back can be really useful. By splitting the time up, you can really push your focus. It’s also easier to spot potential issues in shorter spaces of time than it is longer ones.

My favourite time period is the first 15 minutes of a game, I believe the game is won or lost in this time and that its very hard to recover from a bad opening. I’ve wrote about this before so I’ll just link the article;

https://teaandbusquets.com/blog/first-15-minutes-football-manager

 

You don’t have to stick to these time periods though, you could use anything that makes sense for you. This is the good thing about analysing, you find what works for you and the way you play. If you wanted to you could analyse the first 15 minutes of the second half, to see if your team talks have helped or not. You could analyse a specific period of time after you make a change to check how it's benefited/restricted you and so on. Find something that works for you.

With and Without the Ball

When viewing games and looking for what my players are doing without the ball this includes both defensive and attacking phases. So immediately you can see the positions the players take up when defending as well as seeing how they move off the ball when attacking. I’ve banged on about this for the past 10 years but the most important aspect of trying to identify these issue is using the pause button. Pause the game at random stages throughout, to see what positions the players have taken up and to enable you to see what is happening around them. Not only that but also use different camera angles to view things as it gives you a much better picture of what’s going on seeing incidents from a different view.

Focusing on play when you do have the ball is just as easy as the above but remember you want to look at the positions of the players not on the ball too as everyone who is currently on the ball needs support. I’ve wrote about both of these aspects in greater detail before too. It can be found here;

https://teaandbusquets.com/blog/identifying-tactical-issues

 

This series is a great way of me linking all my previous works into what I’m currently doing to make it even more in-depth.

Now we’ve got the basics of analysing your tactics out-of-the-way, it’s time to show how we now apply this to our games.

Analysis

I touched upon this above but I like to see how my tactic plays out over three competitive games before I make any changes. This allows me to look back at the games after they’ve happened so I can watch them properly and not get worried about needing a result. On top of this, it’s a great way for spotting if something is a one-off or a regular issues. Sometimes the issues might be caused because of the oppositions tactics, shape, team instructions or even because of a specific individuals influence. It could also be caused by your own player not being good enough, a weakness in your formation, a player having a bad day and so on.

The most important aspect of this is to try to spot such patterns of play and make a mental or written note. When I was learning how the game works I used to write things down on a bit of paper or by using the notes feature inside the game. Find a way that of doing what works for you and make notes about what you see happening in a game. You don’t need the answers to fix them just yet, the first step is identifying issues.

At times you might notice something happening in-game that isn’t currently a problem but might be at a later date or in a specific scenario. This type of information can be valuable as you progress and is all part of understanding how your formation works and why, as well, as knowing its faults and flaws. To give you a few examples, here are some things I noticed in my first few competitive games.

With The Ball

What I’m looking for here is how we attack when we have the ball. This means I’m totally ignoring the opposition and just concentrating on my own players positioning and movement. I need to understand how the roles I am using all link together. This is the start of the move and I already notice something interesting in the screenshot.

The three players in the red box that I’ve highlighted are all a bit too close together. Now this doesn’t mean it's an issue because this is the very start of a move and they might become further apart as the move progresses. However I’d like the RPM to perhaps play slightly more forward initially.

Perhaps somewhere between his current position and the arrows end would be more preferable. Maybe I have the wrong role for what I am wanting or maybe all of this is nothing to worry about. However I’ll make a mental note because it could have complications further in the move. One of the reasons I believe it could be an issue further down the line is highlighted in the screenshot below.

There’s an awful lot going on here, it’s why I’ve broke it down into little stages to make it easier to understand. However in this latest screenshot I add everything back together to show you the overall picture which actually prompted my concern from the very first screenshot.

Both the inside forward and the roaming play maker are both facing away from goal and are both going towards the ball. This then creates the dead space. Now if you look at the strikers positioning (he’s the player circled in white) you can see he is really advanced. This means the only immediate support he has is from players on the opposite side of the pitch. If we get the ball to the opposite side then none of this becomes an issue.

But what happens if the ball doesn’t reach that side? Well my striker would be isolated because he’s cut off from the right hand side of my tactic in this scenario. He has no support, no runners and no direct route for anyone to supply him with the ball. That’s all without even considering the opposition and the amount of players he has around him. From the very first screenshot were there doesn’t seem much going on, at face value, there actually is an awful lot going on potentially.

Now I’ve identified this I can look to see if this kind of scenario happens regular in this match and the others that I play or if it's just a one-off. I can also keep an eye out to see if this does happen, does it actually play out like I think it would and is the striker actually lacking support or supply. If it happens two or more times in one match it's a concern long-term. If it only happens once then it’s likely nothing much to worry about unless you see it occurring in every single game. Then it would require a further investigation.

I could probably show fifty or more other examples too but I don’t want to over analyse and fill you with information overload. So I’ll keep it at that for the attacking example. I will show you one more example before this part of the article is done though. This time focusing on our positioning when we don’t have the ball.

Without The Ball

One thing I have neglected to mention in the series so far is changing your view when watching games or incidents back. Changing the camera angle can be a great tool for looking at things from different angles and perspectives. Some stuff might become clearer or give you a fresh take just because you did something simple like change the camera view. I often change it for different angles when analysing my tactics.

In this screenshot I lost the ball after attacking. A bad pass and the ball was put out for a throw-in. The opposition took it quickly and got the ball back into the centre of the pitch. You can basically get a general idea of my formations natural shape here, it’s not exact but it’s more than enough to highlight the issues defensively.

As you can see, a quick ball out to the wider player and he has time to control and turn with the ball. This simple pass puts me on the back foot and means the oppositions wide player is one on one against my IWB.

This is still the same move but the screenshot is taken after the pass I was speaking about above and from a different camera angle. The oppositions wide player is rather isolated and my half backs who are circled are coming across to cover. So there isn’t that much danger here.

However what if the opposition was using an attacking midfielder or two strikers. Then this would be a huge concern because my centre back would be isolated and not able to mark them both. Not only this but in this screenshot my two half backs are too close together. I don’t want them both doing the same thing at the same time and moving into the same space. This isn’t helpful at all. Could this be a downside of using two roles that are the same next to each other or is it down to the quick change of play which has put my team onto the back foot.It could be either and I know the answer but I’ll leave you pondering the situation until the next article.

In the next article I’ll focus on the stuff I have seen happening regularly are speak about what changes we could make, whether it be a role/duty/PI/TI change and discuss all the other possible options. Normally there are multiple ways of fixing things and not one specific way.

[Cleon]

Inverted Wing-Back vs Complete Wing-Back

One of the things I noticed a lot during the first season of this save game, was my side kept the ball really well and was hard to break down defensively. We also used the ball really well but something didn’t quite feel right. Scoring goals and winning games wasn’t a problem as we was doing both really well. I even got promoted the first season, so things really were going well. However, overall something felt like it just wasn’t clicking. It’s hard to put down into words but as you likely know yourself, you can feel when something is working but you know you can get more out of it. So I decided to make some changes to take the tactic to the next level and get more out of it.

Inverted Wing-Back vs Complete Wing-Back

The first change I did was change the left-sided inverted wing-back to a complete wing-back. But to understand why this change was made, we need to analyse how the role was playing.

If we look at the above screenshot we can see the position that my left-sided inverted wing-back has taken. It’s not often he will stray from this position but if he does, it’s more likely to be the white arrow route he takes and would hardly ever take the route of the black arrow. This is nothing out of the ordinary and is expected, this is the job of the inverted wing-back. If we take a look at the settings the role comes with, along with the description we can see that this is what the role does.

This is the general description of the inverted wing-back role. As you can see in the description and the very first image I posted, my inverted wing-back is doing exactly this. However depending on the duty you use, it also slightly modifies the behaviour of the role. I use a support duty and here is the description for the support part;

Now because he’s on a support duty, this means he isn’t the most adventurous player in the world. That’s why he’s kind of taking up the position he does in the first image and hanging back. On an attack duty he’d push forward more but would still be taking up this kind of area, it would just be slightly more forward.

Just off the first image we can see that the player is doing what the description hints he should be doing. But to truly understand the actions the inverted wing-back should be doing regular we need to know what settings he has. This is one area of FM where users are disconnected at times in my opinion. As the user thinks they know what the role should do based on real life or their own opinion.  However none of that matters at all, the only thing that matters is how the game determines what the role should and shouldn’t be doing.

Some roles do come with some behaviours that are hardcoded, that’s why the descriptions are important as they’ll not show up on this screen below. But the descriptions will allude to certain characteristics.

Now this is the bread and butter of the players role and will show exactly the things he will try often and the ones he won’t. It also shows you the type of movement he will make and show the settings which can be customised to add different behaviour.

I’ve not changed any behaviours for the W-M formation, the above settings are the standard ones for the inverted wing-back role. We can see that the role is told to sit narrow when out of position and that he is allowed to roam from position. What roam from position tells the player to do is stray from his ‘usual’ position. This allows him to move into central areas and other areas. It doesn’t mean you’ll see the player pop us as a striker though. Think of the setting as more a radius around his usual position.

This image is very basic but I think it does the job well. Think of the red circle as an inverted wing-back without the roams from position instruction. He’d generally stay in and around his designated position the majority of the time. He might stray outside of it at various times depending on the scenario but for most parts he’d try and be positionally strict.

If we then think of the yellow icon as the same role but now with the roams from position instruction added, we can see that his movement will stray from the stand position a lot more. He’ll still play in around the natural position but he is also allowed more freedom in going outside of the natural. The players around him and the tactical shape you use will also influence it but the image should give you a general idea of how to think about roams from position.

Now if we go back to the rest of the instructions the role has, we can see he doesn’t do much specific stuff. He has a lot of settings which can be added or removed, so it's a very customisable role. But no matter what you change on the role, it will still do the core basics of what the description says it will. Even if you removed sits narrower instruction, he will still be narrower than a normal fullback or wing-back. And when he has possession of the ball, he will always look to come inside.

We’ve covered the basics of the role now, so it’s time to focus on why I felt I needed to change this in the W-M formation. In the last article you’ll remember I spoke about patterns and seeing if things happen regular or not. The screenshot below is an example of this and what I was talking about.

Things in this screenshot are a total mess and I’m not only speaking about the inverted wing-back who is circled in red. Inside the yellow bow I have my two half backs, mezzala and a roaming playmaker. I’ll be covering this in the second article but this kind of thing also caused me to make two more changes.

But sticking with the inverted wing-back for me, we can see he is very narrow. This means he is blindsided by anything that is happening out on this wing. The opposition have free rein it seems. Ideally I’d like the inverted wing-back to be more were the grey box is. I know that would then leave the player free who Marco is trying to track but this shouldn’t be on him to deal with. In fact, the player is already free. This is a downside to what is happening inside the yellow box.

It’s easy to sort out but I want to make sure the inverted wing-back is offering me what I want defensively first and currently he isn’t. I’ve allowed the opposition a few goals because of not sorting this out earlier but it’s not been costly, not really. But as I was fighting a promotion campaign, I need to iron out all these little niggles so I don’t get caught out more frequent against a much higher standard of player.

When we are attacking teams though, I feel the role is a bit too cautious and safe for what I am wanting.

I’ve had a look over the players passing stats and these are a bit ‘safe’ for my liking. When I say safe, I mean majority of the passes in this game are either backwards or sideways. Some of this is expected because of what the role entails. It’s not a bad thing actually as it’s allowing me to strangle the opposition in central areas and overwhelm them. This strategy is working really well but I know things can be much better if on the left side of the tactic, the wing back was more forward thinking.

The main reason for wanting to make changes is to add more variety to my play. As it currently stands, things are very samey on both sides of the pitch.

If we go back and look at the tactic I am using in the above screenshot, we can see what I mean about everything feeling the same. I lack a bit of variety and if you’ve read my stuff before, then you’ll know I always hammer home that a successful tactic should always have a variety of ways to attack. The reason behind this is, what happens if plan A isn’t working. How do you change things without making wholesale changes? Were as, if you concentrate on attacking in multiple ways then you eliminate the risk of teams stopping you from creating chances should your plan A get cut off.

Everything at the moment comes from central areas mainly and I want to address this so we use the whole pitch much better without compromising my overall play. Because overall we’ve been great this season. I also only want to change the left-sided inverted wing-back, I will keep the right-sided player as he is.

This is the player who I’ve been using on the left side of the pitch, as you can see he’s had a good season. He’s chipped in with a few assists and a couple of goals. I’d say he is doing what is expected of him with the instructions he currently has. But what happens when we make him a complete wing-back who is more front footed and focused on forward passes and crosses into the box.

Complete Wing-Back

The same player a year on after the screenshot above. In this screenshot we see he played more games, scored one more goal than last year and got four more assists. It should be noted that this year he played in a better league too after we gained promotion. But while his stats might look similar to last year, the actual play and what he offers the team was a lot better overall.

After gaining promotion I actually didn’t strengthen that well due to having no money. I brought in more depth but in terms of the starting eleven, ten of them all started last season. So it’s not like the team got much better after promotion either.Last season we scored 82 goals in all competitions. This season we scored 116, which is a massive improvement. But why? Let’s take a look.

We still have some sideways passes but nowhere near as many and just look at how active he is in the opposition's half compared to when he was an inverted wing-back. You can see he is more proactive going forward and they all mainly come in the opposition's half compared to his own. Some of you might think it’s not that different, that’s why we now have to see what this equates to for the rest of my team and see how it’s changed how we attack.

Here we have my complete wing-back just about to receive the ball. Meanwhile the inside forward is also about to make a run, once Marco receives the ball. Automatically we double up on the oppositions wing-back. Not only this but we are using the width of the pitch and not coming inside to attack, compared to when using an inverted wing-back.

A little later in the move this is what we see the complete wing-back doing. He’s making a run for the byline and we can see the roles around. Now the reason for highlighting these roles are to let you know which player is which and to show you their positioning. The reason this is important is because of the complete forward, he’s far too deep and taking up space that the inside forward or mezzala could use. The striker should be in the box or on the edge of the area at least. If not then the complete wing-back has no-one to really aim for.

But like a little earlier in the article, this issue doesn’t fall on the complete wing-back, he is doing exactly what he should be doing. However because I’ve now changed the role of the wing-back, I need to readjust the striker role maybe to take advantage of what the complete wing-back does. What’s the point of someone crossing and making runs towards the byline if he has no target in the box to aim for. Despite all of that, this play is really good and offers something I don’t get on the right side of the pitch. I’m now using the pitch better by using the full width.

Just by changing one role the whole dynamic of the way I attack has changed. Let’s take a look at the settings and the description of the complete wing-back to find out more about why this happened.

Like before, we get a gist of what he offers. But what about the settings the role comes with.

Straight away we can see he stays wide and gets further forward and runs wide when he has the ball. He also has roams from position just like the inverted wing-back does. But that’s were the similarities end. We know this is a very aggressive role and is focused on hurting the opposition by staying wide and using the width, in the hope they can put crosses in from the oppositions byline.

We can kind of see why we attack differently now and why I need to revise a few other roles in the tactic. Before we only attacked centrally and didn’t really have any emphasis on attack, so it didn’t matter if there was no target in the box initially. But now it does, or it’s a waste using this role.

I’ve already made the changes I need, I just haven’t wrote about them yet. But I hope to have that completed this weekend. I also don’t want to focus too much on the W-M itself just yet as the important thing is evolving the base that I started with and discuss the steps as I go alone.

I’m hoping that in the next one to two weeks I have this series finished now. I think there is only two more parts planned and that should be enough to wrap it up. Then I can start on the Ajax stuff that you are all waiting desperately for. To give you a little spoiler of what is to come in the next two parts of this series though, here’s what’s included.

Roaming Playmaker vs CM Attack - It’ll be like this article and follow a similar theme.

The W-M End Product -  This last piece will focus on the W-M in its entirety and show you how all the roles link together to bring me the football I see happening in my game. It will highlight what exactly each roles does, who creates space and why, which players are using this space and how and so on.

That should cover all the basics of tactic building and the steps we’ve done along the way. And also explain how the W-M actually plays. This won’t be the end of the Paysandu series though, it’ll just be the end of the tactic creating sections of it. I’m hoping this then allows me to focus on the scouting stuff you are all waiting for, as I discuss the system I created for identifying and signing players.

[Cleon]

Roaming Playmaker

One of the main reasons for originally using the roaming playmaker was down to his drive and him involving himself in the build-up play. A roaming playmaker can be the driving force of any midfield and can be used from the defensive midfield position or the central midfield position. If you took the high energy game of the box to box midfielder and mixed it with a more creative role like a deep-lying midfielder or advanced playmaker, then what you get is a roaming playmaker. Let’s take a look of what the game says about the roaming playmaker;

The Roaming Playmaker is the heartbeat of his team, driving forward with the ball to spearhead attacks as well as tracking back to cover defensively. Always offering a passing option to teammates, the Roaming Playmaker must have the physical attributes to maintain a high intensity as well as the technical attributes to stamp his authority on the game.

He will look to pick the ball up in a deep position and work the ball forwards with urgency, all the while keeping up with play. The Roaming Playmaker will often camp on the edge of the penalty area looking for room to shoot to try that killer ball which creates a goalscoring opportunity.

You can see from the game's description of the role that it’s a very demanding role that needs a specific type of player to work how you’d expect. Due to this role being a playmaking role, it also has under the hood behaviours attached to it. This involves players knowing you use a playmaking role and will look to play through this player more than usual due to the mechanics of the game.

The role can be customised a fair bit to give you a different take on the role if needed.

We can see here how the instructions make the roaming playmaker play and which instructions we can change. Regardless of how you set him up though, his main job will always be that of a playmaker above all else. This doesn’t mean he won’t do other things and it’s not unusual to see him score the odd goal. But it’s worth remembering what his primary role is.

Match Analysis

Here we can see his stats from various games were this player played the roaming playmaker role;

We can see he is very involved with play and sees a lot of the ball in terms of passes he makes. Over the course of the season, he’s also scored a few goals and grabbed a few assists too.

The above screenshot gives us a quick snapshot of what the player does and gives a little indication of how he’s playing in matches. On face value, it looks like he’s doing very well and that would be true. However, his play is limiting some of the others in the team which might seem strange when you consider how effective the roaming playmaker seems to be.

This is why context is the key to everything and you need to understand how the stats translate to game performances. You need to analyse that the play is helping the team and not holding them back as a whole. I want everyone in the team to be the best they can for the team and not themselves. To understand more about this we need to look at what the roaming playmaker actually offers the team in the W-M formation that I use.

The roaming playmaker is the player circled. He’s been on the ball a few seconds already but because he didn’t release the ball early enough, all the movement in front of him has come to a standstill. This means that the two most advanced players now have to drop deep in search to find the ball. The other two players behind the roaming playmaker are making forward runs to now join the attack. However, the roaming playmaker doesn’t use any of them and yet again the move breaks down.

A little later in the move, we can see how the roaming playmaker has driven across the midfield without releasing the ball. This means that both the inside forward and the striker have not been used and any movement they made in the build-up to the move, was all wasted and this is not a good thing at all. One of the reasons why this is bad is because it’s now made us very static up top. It’s hard to see where the support will now come from. The opposition has many players back to deal with any threat of my attacking players. None of the roles I use elsewhere in this system is going to break the lines or get forward and provide help either, meaning we’ve become very flat.

Although the roaming playmaker doesn’t come with the ‘dribble more’ player instruction activated, the fact he is a playmaker has made him make the decision to dwell on the ball far longer than he should have. This made the only real option he had was to dribble with the ball because he’d failed to use any of the support provided. Throughout the entirety of the first season, I saw this happen a lot but I never did anything about it. But after getting promoted it’s these little things that tend to hold you back and cause you issues against a better calibre of player and teams.

If I’d have just looked at the player's individual contribution to the team and based how he’d played on his stats for the entire season, I’d have thought he was doing his job but he isn’t. Well, I guess he is to some extent but it’s a hindrance to the rest of the side on occasions. If you’ve read any of my stuff before you’ll know that I’m always banging the drum about knowing how the roles and duties you use throughout the side, all link together. And it’s for reasons like the above, that it’s so vital to know how everything links together.

Here is another example of him not being forward-thinking enough.

In this example, we can see he is just about to receive the ball and has all the time in the world to turn in either direction with little real pressure from the opposition. But he doesn’t, when he receives the ball he just passes backwards and then gets the ball back yet again but then does exactly the same thing again. Keeping possession is fine I have no issue with that. My concern is that the passing is just for the sake of it and we aren’t using the ball or the pitch how I would like. If he took a few seconds to turn and move forward then we’d cause all kind of issues.

Whether it resulted in a goal or a chance it really wouldn’t matter. All that matters is we’d be using the players who are making runs or dropping off the front. If we are passing it backwards in nice triangles, this isn’t going to hurt anyone or create anything at all.

It’s due to all these little types of things that I decided to change the role to something more proactive who will focus on going forward more rather than keeping things nice and tidy and dwelling on the ball. I could probably keep things as they are and do okay and win games but I’ll not be getting the best out of the team.

Central Midfielder

If we immediately jump to the recent games I have played (I’m now in season Two) we can notice two things straight away compared to the roaming playmaker above.

1. The central midfielder sees a lot less of the ball than the roaming playmaker did.
2. The central midfielder seems to be more of a goal threat and has scored a fair few.

The central midfielder role is more focused on running and scoring goals and offering support, rather than being a creative outlet. It’s a very aggressive, forward-thinking role. So this explains why he sees less of the ball but seems better from an attacking perspective.

One of the biggest changes that I noticed throughout the second season was what is highlighted above. In this screenshot, we see the halfback on the ball and he hits it to the inside forward. In the first season, nine times out of ten this kind of thing didn’t happen as the ball would be played to the roaming playmaker. But because we don’t have that role now, the play isn’t as forced or centred around one specific player as much. This means we now attack much differently in this second season and are putting sides on the back foot with a simple ball like this.

The inside forwards are now scoring more goals this season, a lot more. This is a knock on effect of allowing players to dictate who they pass to and when rather than having play channelled towards a playmaker. The play wasn’t always channelled towards the playmaker mind but all playmaking roles do have a bias attached to them, meaning it happens frequently.

There is one downside to having a central midfielder on attack duty now though as this has added extra pressure to the two halfbacks. As the roaming playmaker would get back and help defend. While the central midfielder still helps with this, he also has more ground to make up as he’s getting in and around the box almost every attack we make. So the middle of the pitch is more vulnerable and exposed so I’ve had to make a change to one of the halfbacks. One of them (the left sided one) is now an anchorman so he just sits and protects the midfield. I’ll touch upon this in greater detail in the next chapter though.

In this example, we now see how the pitch has opened up and how we are using it much better. The ball is played to the central midfielder who then has acres of space to run into and the inside forward is already making the run forward. This then allows these players to use the space that has opened up. It’s important I use the full pitch as this is what will unlock stubborn defences and create chances in general, as it runs the opposition ragged.

We can see that the role is very customisable but don’t let the lack of instructions fool you as to what he does. The role is basically that of a runner and will see the player make aggressive runs into the final third and support attacks. He still defends too, the role is very rounded and you can expect the player to do a bit of everything. But on attack duty, he is very aggressive.

His movement from deep can cause lots of issues for the opposition because he is so hard to pick up and mark. Especially when he is playing alongside a mezzala who is also running forward at every opportunity. Both players are committing the opposition to either tracking them or allowing them space to run into. If they get tracked then this opens up space for either the other midfielder, the inside forward or the striker. It’s all about creating opportunities in many different ways and making the opposition make decisions. The key here is that any decision the opposition makes, it will always be likely the wrong one because of the variety we have in the way we attack.

It’s one of the reasons why I always stress variety is key. You can build systems that make life difficult for the opposition, whether it be the AI or a human manager. The principles are the same. Force them into decisions that have knock-on effects for the other players in your side and that frees them from their marker, makes them space to use and so on.

I don’t want to show too many examples so I’ll likely wrap the article up here. The reason being is the next part is likely the last one on this subject. So it’ll be explaining what everyone's job is in the side and how this makes us function as a unit. I’ll show examples of creating space, defending space, creating chances and so on.

[Cleon]

This is likely to be the last planned part of the ‘Creating A Tactic’ series before I move on and make a start on the Ajax series you are all patiently waiting for. I might end up writing more about the W-M when I pick up the Paysandu save and start playing again if I feel I can add more things that I perhaps feel I missed out mentioning throughout the series. But nothing is planned. In this last piece, I will be explaining how the W-M formation works with the roles I use and focus on the relationship between the roles and duties used.

The roles and duties have changed quite a bit since the very first article. I’ve evolved it along the way to get the most out of the system. So here is what the roles and duties look like now.

This is the system I now use, the arrows represent the movement of players when we are in possession of the ball and attacking. I spoke about some of the changes I made already. The ones I discussed in the earlier articles were;

• Complete wing-back
• Central Midfielder

But the two I never spoke about where;

• I swapped the Complete Forward to a Deep-lying Forward.
• I also changed one of the Half Backs to an Anchorman.

In one of the earlier articles, I touched upon the striker role is a bit of issue with some of the other changes I had made. I think it was in the inverted wing-back vs complete wing-back article. This change was a direct result of changing the wing-back role as I felt the complete forward role was going wide far too often and wasn’t really central when I needed a spearhead. The deep-lying forward holds his position better even though he has moves into the channel instructions activated. One of the reasons for this is because the deep-lying forward has the holds position instruction activated. So while he might look to move into the channels at times, for most parts he’ll stay more central.

I’ve moaned about strikers, in general, these past few months. We need a more generic role that allows full customisation of the settings. It’s ridiculous that we are now approaching FM20 and still don’t have a striker role we can fully mould to suit our needs. All the current options all have some major flaw with them. Far too many come with hardcoded instructions for moves into channels and so on.

The second change that I’ve not really spoken about apart from a sentence in the last article is the anchorman. The main reason for this change is I felt that two halfbacks are overkill. They both end up doing the same thing, chasing the same balls and so on. Another part of the reason for switching the role was to protect the midfield now both my central midfielders are aggressive. It’s a pre-emptive measure to steady up the middle of the pitch and have someone who is positionally strict, so he can cover for the more aggressive players.

Now I’ve covered the changes and the reasons behind them let’s take a look at some match analysis to get a real feel of how everything all links together.

I won’t lie and pretend that the way I play isn’t risky. I spoke about risk vs reward earlier in the series and I’m a bit risk taker, as you can see in the screenshot above. If you checked out the team instructions I use above, you’ll see that I use a high defensive line and a high line of engagement. So the behaviour you see in the screenshot is my own doing, I can make the impact less if I really wanted to. I can drop the players further back by lowering the line of engagement and dropping the defensive line. This would then see the anchorman and the half back, drop deeper, as would the attacking players too.

A lot of people don’t like giving up space on Football Manager and try to play the perfect game. This is impossible, you can’t cover every inch of the ground and you can’t stop the opposition from shooting at goal. You can have some say on the kind of areas they shoot from though, which I’ll talk about a little further in. The space I give up in this system is part of my strength as I want the opposition to venture forward and attack me. This then allows my own players more space to work with when we win the ball back. This is why I’m aggressive in my approach above.

Due to us being aggressive presser of the ball and having a lot of bodies in the oppositions half, it means that when they have the ball, the players can be quite aggressive. This is because of the line of engagement we use, which determines the starting point for the press. Even though I don’t use an aggressive mentality, the players are still hounding the opposition in their own half. It’s just my players starting point isn’t as high.

This means that when the opposition does get the ball, they have little time on the ball. Which then allows my side to force them into making decisions quickly and this is what I see happening, often, in the screenshot above. River Plate has hit the ball long to their striker because they didn’t really have many other options or the time to pick out a better choice. When this occurs my anchor man and half back can easily drop back to cover and help out the lone centreback.

Even if the opposition used two strikers, one of the anchor or half back would have stayed behind and aided the defender out. But because neither of them had any kind of defensive duties, they were allowed to get further forward, to begin with.

Although this does have a downside when the keeper gets the ball. The defender, anchor and half back become really narrow. It looks bizarre and is something that is improved in future versions but just look at how narrow things become.

Once the players have come narrow, they do spread out a bit afterwards. But you’d think the game would be intelligent enough to not allow all three to become this bunched up wouldn’t you. When the three players do start spreading a little wider it does allow for some nice build-up play though.

 

In this short video, we can see a little bit of the build-up play that the defence does. The defender, anchor and half back all pass the ball around patiently, then when the opportunity arises play the ball to the inverted wing-back. He then drives forward towards the centre of the pitch, creating space and forcing the opposition back. Nothing really comes of this move but this is the behaviour you’ll often see from the inverted wing-back.

Here we have the mezzala in possession of the ball. The complete wing-back is keeping the width down this left side of the pitch. So the role is doing what I wanted when I changed it from an inverted wing-back earlier in the series. What the mezzala can and can’t do here doesn’t really matter for now as I want to highlight what the roles I use in defence do and how they help and support attacks. This is a good example of what the complete wing-back does. It’s nothing fancy, it’s just simple.

I’ve just won the ball back in the above screenshot. The inside forward plays the ball to the half back who then plays it to the inverted wing-back. Again it’s nothing elaborate or special, it’s just basic defending and passing. However, I also have options here, which allows us to play out from the back. The defender can also be utilised if the opposition presses us due to him currently being the spare man.

A few seconds later in the move, we see the above happen. What is happening here is the inside forward and the central midfielder is about to block the opposition players from getting close to the inverted wing-back. This allows the inverted wing-back to drive inside because the pitch suddenly opens up for him. It also brings the deep-lying forward into play, as he now becomes a passing outlet.

Due to this kind of stuff happening frequently, the inverted wing-back is an integral part of how the defence links up with the midfielders and the striker. He also created space and uses space with his constant driving inwards and him sitting and playing narrower than the complete wing-back over on the right side of the pitch.

The complete wing-back is more of an immediate direct threat with his running and width that he provides the team. This allows the other players in the side to look for him in higher areas of the pitch initially. Compared to the inverted wing-back who is more of a threat from deep because of his running from deeper areas and driving into central areas.

We can also play some really nice football from the back which starts with the keeper. Rather than trying to explain, take a look at this video which shows how effective we can be by playing out from the back.

 

It’s also a great example of showing people create space, attacking space and the squad's movement in general. I have people creating space, running from deep to support the attacking move and so on.

This move also starts with the inverted wing-back recovering the ball and playing it to the keeper.

 

The Midfield

Having options when breaking forward is what my midfield has in abundance. It’s like a swarm at times, with how quickly they break forward and just overwhelm the opposition. To give you a better example of what I’m talking about, take a look at this video.

 

Just look at how quickly we attack when winning the ball back off the opposition. This is one of the reasons I don’t play on higher mentalities, as you don’t see this happen as often. But on the lower mentalities, its something that you see happening more frequently. A blistering counter-attacking move.

Not all the play is rushed though, the team, in general, can also be really composed and pass the ball around until space opens up for them.

 

The mezzala and the central midfielder on an attack duty, are devastating in the set up I use. Currently, this season (2025) the central midfielder has 21 goals and the mezzala has 32. They’ve both played the same amount of games which is currently at 38. Let’s take a look at why both roles score so many goals.

Once again we see the complete wing-back playing very close to the touchline and making a run down the wing. This means that the oppositions midfielder tracks his run and drops back. The mezzala is quite wide too and the inside forward is also deep. The inside forwards positioning is why I use him on a support duty rather than an attacking one. I want him in these deeper areas initially and linking up with the more attack-minded mezzala and complete wingback.

Due to the opposition player following the complete wing-back, this creates space and time for the mezzala and inside forward. They already had both of those anyway but this allows them even more. Now if you note the central midfielder, he is also unmarked.

When the ball was played to the anchorman, he then played it into the path of the central midfield which opened the pitch up and allowed the central midfielder to drive forward. I have people making runs towards the box or people who are already there. One of these players is the mezzala. Once the central midfielder starts making his run across the goal the mezzala is already busting a gut to get into the box. So when the ball is played to the inverted wing-back, he crosses the ball into the box and the mezzala slots the ball away.

This is just one example but it happens often and sometimes it’ll be the reverse of this and the mezzala will create the run/distraction and the central midfielder will score.

The Attack

Sometimes the inside forwards will both create and score a goal. One example of that can be seen in this clip.

 

The complete wing-back links up with the inside forward down the left side of the pitch. Then when the inside forward receives the ball, he plays a fantastic weighted pass into the run of the other inside forward.

Another example of how we attack can be seen in this clip;

 

In this move, we see the keeper play the ball to the halfback who then hits a direct ball the inside forward. He then plays the ball to the deep-lying forward who runs as far forward with the ball as he can without losing possession. In the process of doing this, he is able to draw the defenders with him. Lot’s of space is then created because he’s run both the oppositions centrebacks ragged with his initial run. This leaves the oppositions fullback exposed and he is ball watching and totally unaware of the movement of my inside forward on the left side of the pitch. A simple ball is then played by the deep-lying forward and the inside forward finishes off the move with a goal.

If then add all of this play together, you get the picture of how the W-M plays and all links together. I hope all the clips and screenshots have shown you the many different ways we attack too. There isn’t really one set way of attacking, we have plenty of options which are varied. This is the difference between a good tactic and a great one. If play is predictable then at times you might struggle with consistency. But if you attack and score goals in multiple ways, you’ll tend to be fine on most occasions.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the series.

[Cleon]

Reserved

[Cleon]

Reserved

[Cleon]

A little peak of what is in the third article

 

[Faramir]

Cheers Cleon I always learn something new in your explanations, so keep going....

[lam]

On 13/02/2019 at 05:21, Cleon said:

Be warned though, this is a very long read and will contain many different parts to it. So if that isn’t up your street you might want to consider tapping out now.

 

Can't wait..........

 

Been back about a week now and am enjoying the new setup of the tactics page for 2019 and am trying something different this year, Normally I'm fairly attacking but I recently read through your old "Art of Counter Attacking" (at some point I'll work out how to link old threads) and the way the players patiently, when starting deeper with an (S) role, supported around the box was a revelation. I know Herne talks about those "lightbulb" moments. That was one for me.

The realisation that I don't need 4 players in the box and then wonder why my remaining two MC's aren't making forward runs in was a joyous moment,

Still struggling with a number of aspects of the game but I always take a huge amount from your threads buddy.

Will be reading through this and many others over the coming days....

and.... as always.... awesome work!

 

*EDIT*

Though I am questioning my motivation to read further when you failed to mention Spurs along side Liverpool and Man C

 

 

Edited February 16, 2019 by lam

[Gegenklaus]

God, I love the look of that 4-1-4-1, Cleon. And fantastic read. Can't wait for your deeper analysis.

[s0ni42]

Good stuff. One thing that always helps me is a blank sheet of paper (maybe a lot of paper) and just sketch away. Envision the perfect path (passing combination) to goal. Where does each guy need to be to play his part. Lastly, create something that can pivot to more defending or  attacking if opponent parks bus or even playing 3 in the back, or conversely 2+ strikers.

[Cleon]

POST 3 UPDATED 

[AndySummers]

Somewhat surprised this thread hasn't generated more activity.

It came in a timely fashion for myself, as I had started to experiment with a double IWB combination in a 3-man defence and, an Arsenal fan with knowledge of Herbert Chapman, the 'WM' is something I'd wanted to try in FM for a number of iterations, but had never gotten around to doing so. At that point I stopped reading and started to build my own set-up prior to moving on to post two. I decided to play as Ajax; almost a default club for me, and if there is one club in European football that embodies an innovative approach, it is Ajax. That most of the players are multi-functional also appealed.

My own WM ended up in a relatively similar structure. The four differences were:

• SK(s) rather than GK
• BPD rather than NCB
• One wingback an IWB(s) and one a tucked-in WB(s) - here I was wanting to see how effective they were against each other, before deciding my overall approach.
• B2B rather than RPM

I also settled on vertical tiki taka and left the instructions default. The high press and high defensive line were a key for me, to help mitigate the issues in the widths of the pitch.

Immediately, it became apparent this is a set-up exceptional at hiding the ball from the opposition. The central quadrangle move with a fluidity that plays decisive patterns through the lines, and the off-pattern formation really causes difficulty for a lot of standard opposition approaches, particularly if the opposition is pressing heavily and can't get close enough to the ball, opening up inviting gaps.

A successful pre-season did make me rethink a number of elements though. Some of the questions posed:

• Wide combinations. This is clearly not a focus of a tactic with two inverted wingbacks and two inside forwards and where the vertical tiki taka instructions are to focus through the middle, but the lack of intent on the wings led to too much of the play being forced inside and a significant amount of long-range efforts. Some combination play was evident, with the wingbacks overlapping and putting in a low ball, but all too often the wingbacks would stop, retreat, and play inside.
• Front 3 relationship. This should be a strength as nigh on all Ajax's wingers have a 'cut inside' trait, but while the drifting inside of the inside forward overloaded the centre, the lack of intent out wide had more of an effect of stunting the forward progress of the two most advanced central midfielders and further congesting an already-cramped and narrow approach. And it also rendered....
• Complete forward. Nigh on redundant. I actually had a little more success dropping the forward into the attacking midfield strata as an AM(s) and pairing that with the more attacking version IF(a).

As I worked through pre-season, I slowly began fine-tuning the TIs. Removed:

• Underlap right. No evidence of this, and by then I had changed the B2B to an RPM.
• Focus play through the middle. With a central quad, there is a natural focus here anyway. I removed this in combination with changes elsewhere.
• Very narrow width. Overkill. Changed to a normal width.

Alterations to personnel:

• IWB(s) > both wingbacks became WB(s), tucked-in narrower. I need the width in the system that a WB(s) gives, but sitting narrower helps to keep the defensive game straight.
• B2B > to an RPM with occasional use of a MEZ(s). As above.
• IF(s) > both of these became W(a). This again gave a better balance between the dictation of the central midfield and actually being able to penetrate in a meaningful manner. A winger on the left does free up some space for the MEZ(a) to his right, which has made this role more effective. It may prove to be too much having two wingbacks and two wingers. Potentially, the right-sided winger may revert to an inside forward.

Weaknesses:

• Long balls over the top. Ever a danger with a high line, but this hasn't been as problematic as thought. One central defender helps to form quite a natural offside trap without even having that TI set. With wingbacks pushed slightly up and halfbacks dropping deep but still largely acting as midfielders, the BPD is basically often a sweeper behind a four-man shield.
• Quick ball out to wide areas. This is dangerous. With the two wingers assisting the forward to stop the opponent playing short, occasionally a quick ball to a flat winger will see the front of the team turned around and the option for a direct ball in behind. Less of a problem if the defence are picking up a lone attacker, but problematic if they are in multiple.
• Balls into the channels. The gap between the BPD and the WBs can be exposed by vertical balls into the channels. Usually, the defence can recover to block off the attack, but every now and again a black hole will suddenly become apparent.
• Multiple opposing strikers. This is both a great strength and a weakness of the 'WM'. One defender picking up two central strikers has danger written all over it; I dread to think what may occur when coming up against a three-man attack. However...

The 'WM' is the ultimate 'risk vs reward' tactical approach. Whilst a solitary defender up against multiple attackers is a nerve-jangling sight, you can turn it firmly to your advantage. See this passage of play from a game against Groningen: note, Groningen are playing a flat 442 and pressing. If possession is lost, there is danger. But in possession they are outnumbered 4-2 in the midfield, with their wides struggling to get near to the play as it circulates around the central areas, but tucking inside. This also frees up space for the two wingbacks moving forward and gives virtually a 6-2 advantage.

In the first image, we had built slowly out from the back. Ziyech, the MEZ(a) is in possession and the two Groningen central midfielders are hunting the ball and outnumbered. Ziyech has multiple options to pass; either to the forward about to move through the lines, or back to the two halfbacks, with an easy out ball to the RPM in oceans of space. The WB(s) hugging the touchline is another option if he can get it vertical.

In the second screenshot, the move has progressed. Playing at a lower tempo, Groningen have had time to shuffle back and shut off the central midfield area. But with the three advanced players now tightly bunched centrally, their backline has had to contract, leaving oceans of space for Tagliafico as the left-sided WB(s). Kristensen, the right-sided WB(s) is running off the back of his marker. If De Jong can get the ball wide, we are in great shape.

And he does. Now Tagliafico is homing in on the defence. The left-sided W(a) isn't in a greatly threatening position, but is available for a short ball for a potential combination. The right-sided W(a) is well marked and unlikely to threaten. However, there is a world of space for the onrushing CF(s) or RPM to exploit here, with Groningen's backline having been forced deep.

Nothing came of this move (I couldn't locate the better example I wished to show), but the results were devastating: we were already 3-0 up within 17mins by this point. The 2 v 1 at the back looks horrific, but in reality this has given us a big numerical advantage as the play progressed, able to pass around the outnumbered Groningen centre and pull their structure out of kilter. And the front two are so detached from the rest of the team, it will take an accurate long ball to put them on the front foot, which is often like picking candy to a capable centreback. Or the halfbacks who do a stellar job of snuffing out attacks before they get going.

Impact

To date, 10 games into the Eredivisie season and unbeaten, with only two league goals conceded and clean sheets on the road to PSV among the notable moments. At a higher level, the 'WM' has so far proven its mettle and durability. A 1-2 underdog loss at PSG in a game where their attacking trio were shut down to nothing and both goals came from taking advantage of personnel distribution at corners. And then a 4-1 win against Inter; 0-0 at halftime and Ajax down to 10-men, took off the forward and went with two IF(a) and put four past them. It is a formation where appearances are deceptive as it is actually very stable defensively, given the right circumstances.

In attack, it is one of the most versatile set-ups I've used. There are so many combinations possible to achieve whatever ends you wish, and it offers a goal threat across the board in quite an even fashion. Taking away goals from set pieces, this currently stands as:

• 9x - MEZ(a)
• 7x - W(a) - right
• 5x - CF(s)
• 5x - RPM
• 5x - W(a) - left
• 2x - HB
• 1x - WB(s) - right

Overall results, though, are less important. It is the development of an unconventional approach that is the enjoyment and I would encourage more managers to go down this route: if not the 'WM', your own take on a classic play style.

I look forward to reading your next update(s) Cleon, to see how you are developing your approach. Thanks for the thread and the inspiration to finally get around to trying this.

Edited March 2, 2019 by AndySummers

[Cleon]

A brilliant post @AndySummers

I'm glad you're using the thread as I intended and trying to implement some of the ideas into your own save. My central 4 players have crazy numbers for ball retention, the system is ideal for keeping the ball as you pointed out. It also offers a lot of flexibility for how you can use that possession. You can be a threat from all over the pitch. My current stats in season 2 look something like;

• Left IF 36 games 26 goals
• Striker 34 games 12 goals
• Mez 39 games 12 goals
• RPM 27 games 7 goals
• Right IF 39 goals 14 games

So like yourself, I'm also seeing a wide spread of goals.

[Generation-Next]

3 hours ago, Cleon said:

A brilliant post @AndySummers

I'm glad you're using the thread as I intended and trying to implement some of the ideas into your own save. My central 4 players have crazy numbers for ball retention, the system is ideal for keeping the ball as you pointed out. It also offers a lot of flexibility for how you can use that possession. You can be a threat from all over the pitch. My current stats in season 2 look something like;

• Left IF 36 games 26 goals
• Striker 34 games 12 goals
• Mez 39 games 12 goals
• RPM 27 games 7 goals
• Right IF 39 goals 14 games

So like yourself, I'm also seeing a wide spread of goals.

 

Very impressive ;-) 

I Jest, i'm aware it's a typo. 

Great thread, that's given me a lot of inspiration to try unconventional shapes myself, and attempt to get them working. 

[lam]

Curious.....

Why go from IW(S) to WB(S). With the space they have outside they get quite far forwards. If it was a case of gaining width but keeping defensive wouldn't WB(D) have been a better option? Is it something you looked and dismissed? ie a conscious choice?#

You have both gone for an RPM. Are you looking for the creative side of the player here? ie killer balls or is it other aspects of the role you like?

I am playing in the lower leagues and I have players that have high suitability for the MEZ and RPM roles but lack one key stat in each role. The Mez has shooting of 7 and the RPM has passing of 11. Thus I have swapped them around and it's evened it out for me however I've had to switch out the RPM role for CM(S). Hence the curiosity around the RPM role.

I've played a number of games like this and would I'm finding it quite sensitive to PPM's. Though this is clearly something I'll need to look for moving forwards if I stick with the formation. My WB's both get 'get forwards' my wingers have 'cut inside'.

LAM

[AndySummers]

1 hour ago, lam said:

Curious.....

Why go from IW(S) to WB(S). With the space they have outside they get quite far forwards. If it was a case of gaining width but keeping defensive wouldn't WB(D) have been a better option? Is it something you looked and dismissed? ie a conscious choice?#

Penetration in the final third.

The IWB(s) is not reluctant to overlap, but tends not to put balls into the box; rather, cutting back and playing inside. That could be exacerbated also by the 'work ball into box' TI, but it was leading to quite insipid play. However, the WB(s) is much more inclined to get wider in possession and deliver the ball into more dangerous areas. Combined with the 'sit narrower' PI in the defensive phase, I was able to replicate some of the possibilities of the IWB(s) whilst enhancing attacking prowess. 

The WB(d) is a role I use either when protecting a lead against a stronger opponent or sometimes later in the game when the players' legs have gone and they would struggle to cover the pitch. More generally, the WB(d) stunts attacking potency. Bearing in mind I am playing a high line and that pitch depth is condensed, the WB(s) is a very effective tool to stretch the opponent (as seen in the previous screenshots) and often roams into threatening positions unannounced (particularly when using IFs that force the opposing backline to retract). WB(d) sits deeper and is more reticent to get involved. With two defensive halfbacks protecting the lone central defender, I don't feel the balance benefits from what would be five defensive roles.

RPM I am flexible on. I am equally happy with a second MEZ. However, with a MEZ(a) in the line-up and two W(a), that represents a very forward-thinking triumvirate. The RPM gives enhanced possibility to spot the forward-runs and brings a slightly more creative edge. The role would also depend on the personnel available too, but I have a few players suited nicely to RPM with 'dictates tempo' and/or 'tries killer balls often' PPMs.

Edited March 3, 2019 by AndySummers

[craiigman]

West Brom are in the Championship mate?

[Cleon]

On 05/03/2019 at 14:48, craiigman said:

West Brom are in the Championship mate?

What?

[craiigman]

1 hour ago, Cleon said:

What?

Sneak edit I see 😂

[lam]

The passing patterns on this tactic are amazing.

 

I'm bouncing around various different roles depending on who is available. One thing I like about this is that you can become more attacking by changing one or both of the IWB into WB(S) go give you more width and earlier crosses.

It's really interesting to see how it fares against other formations. I struggle with 451's but excel against 433 (DM Wide) as the overloads in the centre kill their DM and generally pull a CD out.

This season I have aquired a really decent (Division 1) IF on the AML position. He is also creative and can dribble and he is ripping defences apart with a small dribble then a defence splitting pass. I'm tempted to play with a AP(A) role on the AML position to see if i can force this more.

I think this is really a formation that I can stick with, Its the only one on2018 and 2019 that has really delivered what I want from a tactic. This means that I can truly start to build the team correctly. My MCR is a loanie and fits the role perfectly but has shooting of 9 which I really see in the game. He gets into great scoring positions but generally shoots straight at the keeper.

I'm going to look at the CF role as I have no players that really fit it well. DLF or poacher seems to suit my strikers better but it'll be something I have to explore ingame.

This is me at the moment:

[lam]

This might be more of a generic question rather than specific to this thread.

I originally started with a 1/3 setting on passing and tempo. SHort and lower. In one match I played I was closed down a lot and moved to the middle setting standard which fixed the closing down issue at the time.

But it got me wondering. If I can pass short and fast should I do it all the time? Is there a time that I should use slow? What do these situations look like in a game?

[Cleon]

8 hours ago, lam said:

This might be more of a generic question rather than specific to this thread.

I originally started with a 1/3 setting on passing and tempo. SHort and lower. In one match I played I was closed down a lot and moved to the middle setting standard which fixed the closing down issue at the time.

But it got me wondering. If I can pass short and fast should I do it all the time? Is there a time that I should use slow? What do these situations look like in a game?

If you feel it's more beneficial to pass the ball shorter and faster all time then do it. There's not really one scenario where it's better as such (same for all settings really), it's all about preference and what you think works best for you.

[lim]

has anyone tried playing a CB instead of one of the HB's?

 

My squad doesn't really have two players that can play as half backs

[Cleon]

1 hour ago, lim said:

has anyone tried playing a CB instead of one of the HB's?

 

My squad doesn't really have two players that can play as half backs

That's kind of not the point of the thread. It's aim is to show you how to create a tactic, regardless of the shape you use. It's not about creating a W-M or using the shape I use. it's more generalised than than, in that I am giving you the tools to create your own tactics specific to what you want. Rather than copying. 

[lam]

It's an intersting transition you have made to two wingers.

Despite my last post stating I am likely to stick with this tactic I have moved away due to a poor run of injuries. I was tempted to 'magically heal them' but decided to stick with the game proper and just switched tactics.

I make the comment as I have been playing around with other formations that are a little more traditional and I have tried to bring with me what I learnt about this formation (WM). I opted for a simple 4141DM and was getting a little frustrated with it but then I played around with the front three and set myself up with two wingers. One (S) and one (A) and the game play was great. Defense was really stretched, there was space for incoming midfield to attach and I massively dominated the last 14 minutes and grabbed the winner goal from a cross from the far winger to the other winger that had cut in.

I found with the WM and my team the passing around the box was amazing but the box was just packed with players so it often took an amazing worldie to win a game. It early days for me with two wingers but it really does seem to deliver the space. Now it's just about how best to exploit it.

I'm running a auto 100 year game in the background so can't post a picture but am running with this

AF(A)

 

Winger (S)                                 Winger (A)

 

CM(S)               MEZ(A)

 

WB(A/S)        DC(C)        DC(S)        WB(S)/IWB(S)

 

The DC combo is interesting as they do not have 'hold position' like the normal DC(D) do. Thus they move around a little more offering better support. I also find that they mark a solo striker a little better,

[Cleon]

I sadly didn't get time to write the next chapter this weekend. Hopefully I'll have it done for this weekend though. But here are a few clips showing how the W-M actually works.

The first one shows how my IF's link up with each other and this is a typical goal I see us scoring time and time again;

The second video shows how we pass the ball around patiently while creating space for the runners and supporting players.

The third one shows how the striker and two IF's link up. Note that pass yet again into the channels;

And lastly, look at all the runners I have in this counter attack;

 

[lim]

12 hours ago, lam said:

It's an intersting transition you have made to two wingers.

Despite my last post stating I am likely to stick with this tactic I have moved away due to a poor run of injuries. I was tempted to 'magically heal them' but decided to stick with the game proper and just switched tactics.

I make the comment as I have been playing around with other formations that are a little more traditional and I have tried to bring with me what I learnt about this formation (WM). I opted for a simple 4141DM and was getting a little frustrated with it but then I played around with the front three and set myself up with two wingers. One (S) and one (A) and the game play was great. Defense was really stretched, there was space for incoming midfield to attach and I massively dominated the last 14 minutes and grabbed the winner goal from a cross from the far winger to the other winger that had cut in.

I found with the WM and my team the passing around the box was amazing but the box was just packed with players so it often took an amazing worldie to win a game. It early days for me with two wingers but it really does seem to deliver the space. Now it's just about how best to exploit it.

I'm running a auto 100 year game in the background so can't post a picture but am running with this

AF(A)

 

Winger (S)                                 Winger (A)

 

CM(S)               MEZ(A)

 

WB(A/S)        DC(C)        DC(S)        WB(S)/IWB(S)

 

The DC combo is interesting as they do not have 'hold position' like the normal DC(D) do. Thus they move around a little more offering better support. I also find that they mark a solo striker a little better,

You haven't put the role of the player playing in the DM position, but i assume this is a HB.

[gpassosbh]

@Cleon just a quick off topic question. What camera you use on replays above?

[Cleon]

32 minutes ago, gpassosbh said:

@Cleon just a quick off topic question. What camera you use on replays above?

Behind goal reversed. 

[Robson 07]

Only just read this or read it properly anyway.  Really nice bit of work and definitely worth taking in whether a new player or an experienced one.  Cheers Cleon.

[Cleon]

POST 4 NOW UPDATED 

[Cleon]

I'm really surprised no-one is finding this useful or not asking any questions about anything at all.

[halil85]

Do you use it still as a default Vertical Tiki-Taka 

[summatsupeer]

2 hours ago, Cleon said:

I'm really surprised no-one is finding this useful or not asking any questions about anything at all.

I enjoy reading this stuff, even if its stuff I think I know its good to be reminded or reaffirm it.

The bigger font might be putting people off, on mobile it looks like an even longer read than it is!

Your CM analysis will be interesting, I often feel they're too deep and wait too long to make there runs.

Edited April 4, 2019 by summatsupeer

[Gegenklaus]

5 minutes ago, summatsupeer said:

Your CM analysis will be interesting, I often feel they're too deep and wait too long to make there runs.

Amen! I haven’t been able to get a CM-a/Mez-a to move really high when possession in midfield is secured even when I try to make all the space available for the midfielder and putting a IWB behind, so I am really looking forward to that analysis. 

[Cleon]

2 hours ago, halil85 said:

Do you use it still as a default Vertical Tiki-Taka 

Yeah, all the changes I've made so far are all documented above.

17 minutes ago, summatsupeer said:

I enjoy reading this stuff, even if its stuff I think I know its good to be reminded or reaffirm it.

The bigger font might be putting people off, on mobile it looks like an even longer read than it is!

Your CM analysis will be interesting, I often feel they're too deep and wait too long to make there runs.

Is the font much bigger? I posted this off my phone and it only looked slightly bigger than usual. I'll have to check later.

I'm writing the CM stuff tomorrow, hoping to have it finished by the weekend. That's if my kids can stop being ill.............

9 minutes ago, Gegenklaus said:

Amen! I haven’t been able to get a CM-a/Mez-a to move really high when possession in midfield is secured even when I try to make all the space available for the midfielder and putting a IWB behind, so I am really looking forward to that analysis. 

You'll probably like the analysis then. As my Mez scores a lot of goals. These are the Mez stats for the 7 years I've played so far.

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

Season 6

And so far this season, the Mez has scored 7 goals in 4 games. So is on course to score a fair amount yet again.

The CM also scores a lot. But it's the running from deep on both these positions that cause issues, which is what the analysis will be focused on. As it'll show why the CM is a better fit than the RPM. Then in the final piece we'll see how the CM/Mez link together and how they interact with the other roles around it.

 

[Gegenklaus]

8 minutes ago, Cleon said:

And so far this season, the Mez has scored 7 goals in 4 games. So is on course to score a fair amount yet again.

The CM also scores a lot. But it's the running from deep on both these positions that cause issues, which is what the analysis will be focused on. As it'll show why the CM is a better fit than the RPM. Then in the final piece we'll see how the CM/Mez link together and how they interact with the other roles around it.

I am not surprised you are able to get them banging in the goals and a fair amount of assist. It's you who coach them, after all. How are the attributes of the players you use as Mez/CM-a?  (joke, love your project). 

You've intrigued me further, man, if your two midfielders are both operating with an attack duty. For the last couple of versions of FM I have been using the 4-1-4-1 (not the false 4-3-3 with two wide forwards) with the intention of using the front 5 as attackers and the back 5 supports and protects - heavily inspired by Guardiola's teams, that often has 5 players high up and between the lines. Very much a WW-formation.

[andrewsgn]

3 hours ago, Cleon said:

I'm really surprised no-one is finding this useful or not asking any questions about anything at all.

I really enjoyed how you started at the beginning and are showing the evolution of your tactic vs only showing the finished product. I sometimes struggle with spotting problems and knowing what changes to make to correct them so it's definitely helpful to see you walk through it step-by-step. I think my big takeaway is that I am too quick to make changes without fully analyzing whether or not something is actually a problem and considering how the change may impact my overall tactic. 

[yolixeya]

Those, screenshots above, what skin is that?

[Cleon]

22 minutes ago, yolixeya said:

Those, screenshots above, what skin is that?

TCS'19

[yolixeya]

17 minutes ago, Cleon said:

TCS'19

Thank you.

[Armistice]

5 hours ago, Cleon said:

I'm really surprised no-one is finding this useful or not asking any questions about anything at all.

Just seen this, gave it a brief look, will read more when I finish work. Not a question though, just that it's crazy how some FM players can make things work even when they're "half blinded" (attributes disabled) while the big majority struggle even with the best sides in the game.

[Cleon]

13 minutes ago, Armistice said:

Just seen this, gave it a brief look, will read more when I finish work. Not a question though, just that it's crazy how some FM players can make things work even when they're "half blinded" (attributes disabled) while the big majority struggle even with the best sides in the game.

I'd flip this around and ask - Do you need to know the attributes of players, if all you are concentrating on is how things work? To understand the settings, I don't think the attributes are that important. Even the poorest players will be enough to show you the basics of any role or settings used. Maybe this is why people are struggling?

I'd also argue that a lot of people have ideas and think they work from the off, without realising that should be the end goal and not the starting point. It's very rare you can implement your ideas straight away and get them to work. Even the stuff I do, I work towards it and tweak (like part 4 shows) as I go along based on what is happening. The main issue I see on this forum and on social media, is people who don't do the middle bit (which is what I'm illustrating throughout this thread). For most something either works or it doesn't and they don't try figuring out the middle bit and get an understanding of what's working good, what can be improved and what is really problematic. I get that it's tough though. This is why I write showing how things work and how you get to certain points. 

[summatsupeer]

3 hours ago, Cleon said:

Is the font much bigger? I posted this off my phone and it only looked slightly bigger than usual. I'll have to check later.

It looked significantly bigger but doesnt now so either my phone/brain is playing tricks on me or its changed?

10 minutes ago, Cleon said:

Do you need to know the attributes of players, if all you are concentrating on is how things work?

I think a lot of players get to click happy and dont really spend enough time watching the football there team is playing. They judge if it works by results and make blind changes.

With no attributes your relying on reports and what you see more.  I imagine you aren't just watching games for the tactical element, but also for the players actions, which many people overlook because the game gives the player x stars or say they are good at that role.  If there success rate as a certain action is poor, your forced to analyse it.

[Gee_Simpson]

Similar to you @andrewsgn I'm not good at spotting things, in fact I would go as far to say that I'm useless at spotting things! I'm not an analytical person at all and don't have a good tactical understanding of football despite being a fan all my life. I don't have a clue where my players should be on the pitch etc, when I pause and look at my team off the ball and on the ball, I always think everything looks fine but it obviously doesn't  

I would say my other problems are similar to what @Cleon has pointed out above. I try something then immediately scrap it if it doesn't work, as I'm rather lazy to put the effort in fixing it. I just want something to work with minimal tweaking but I don't want to go down the route of downloading tactics like I always used to. Problem is I'm never 100% sure how I want my team to play, I know I prefer high aggressive pressing and possession football but that's it really, it's not detailed. I see some people's tactics and they look sensible to me but then I feel I have to create something completely new without copying them (same roles etc). I feel bad if I take any part of their tactics and insert it into a tactic of my own.

Sorry for the rant. This stuff by Cleon is great but my main problem is spotting the problems in the first place.

[Cleon]

11 minutes ago, summatsupeer said:

It looked significantly bigger but doesnt now so either my phone/brain is playing tricks on me or its changed?

I think a lot of players get to click happy and dont really spend enough time watching the football there team is playing. They judge if it works by results and make blind changes.

With no attributes your relying on reports and what you see more.  I imagine you aren't just watching games for the tactical element, but also for the players actions, which many people overlook because the game gives the player x stars or say they are good at that role.  If there success rate as a certain action is poor, your forced to analyse it.

I changed the font when you mentioned it. Although it wasn't a significant difference, the original post was 15 and I changed it to 14.

[Cleon]

6 minutes ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Similar to you @andrewsgn I'm not good at spotting things, in fact I would go as far to say that I'm useless at spotting things! I'm not an analytical person at all and don't have a good tactical understanding of football despite being a fan all my life. I don't have a clue where my players should be on the pitch etc, when I pause and look at my team off the ball and on the ball, I always think everything looks fine but it obviously doesn't  

I would say my other problems are similar to what @Cleon has pointed out above. I try something then immediately scrap it if it doesn't work, as I'm rather lazy to put the effort in fixing it. I just want something to work with minimal tweaking but I don't want to go down the route of downloading tactics like I always used to. Problem is I'm never 100% sure how I want my team to play, I know I prefer high aggressive pressing and possession football but that's it really, it's not detailed. I see some people's tactics and they look sensible to me but then I feel I have to create something completely new without copying them (same roles etc). I feel bad if I take any part of their tactics and insert it into a tactic of my own.

Sorry for the rant. This stuff by Cleon is great but my main problem is spotting the problems in the first place.

Don't worry, I don't see it as a rant.

I think your selling yourself short a bit in the post mind. I've seen some of the replies over the years you've done and the questions you've asked, you know a lot more about how the game works than you think. You don't really need to be analytical to see if something isn't working either. You just need eyes that work . Everyone no matter how limited they are with football or how the game works, is able to see if a player is crossing the ball when he should be. If not, then it's easy to see why he isn't. And so on. It's really that simple. It's not as complicated as guides make it seem. You have to remember that guides are written to show you how things work and are kind of 'walkthroughs' so they always give more detail than needed, or we can't get the points across.

If you want something to work with minimal tweaking then the more effort you put in at the start, the less you'll have to do for the entire of the save. 

And don't worry about taking elements of others tactic, you don't have to feel guilty. That's what football has always been based on. The best coaches in the world always take other peoples ideas and put their own spin on them.