FM20 Lower League Special - 3322 - Stockport County Predicted 24th - Result = 1st

[Mr U Rosler]

Greetings,

I’ve been scratching around for something for my Stockport save, following promotion to the National League they are predicted to finish 24th, dead last. I’m not one for hanging around so I had expectations for something which could get me into the playoffs, which go down to the 7th place in the league these days.

Was pleasantly surprised to finish 1st securing the only automatic promotion spot with a creditable 90 points. Nice goal difference for such a poor side. I re-ran the season a couple of times to make sure it wasn’t a fluke and each time we were there or thereabouts.

This is with the original squad.

Out of curiosity I also ran it with the team predicted to finish 1st to see how it handled teams with high reputations who were favourites for most matches. Managed to secure top spot although the return was not much better than Stockport’s despite the better players. This can mean 1 of 2 things, or a perhaps a combination of both.

 

• The Tactic is more suitable for underdogs 

• Its intrinsically easier to beat teams that ‘attack’ you, than those that sit in and defend, even though when dealing with teams sitting in you have better players warranting your higher reputation

    

Either way, I’m happy as I’ll be underdogs during most of my save as I push up the leagues.

Not tried this at Premier League level or leagues around the World so can’t comment on that, however attacking, semi direct, aggressive tackling & pressing, high up the pitch tactics like this tend to do well universally although only having 1 wide player on each flank hasn’t been a great way to go in recent years.

 

 

 

upload photos for forums

 

 

Not done a huge amount of work on set pieces but attacking and defensive corners are pretty solid.

Left Wingback to take left sided corners and throw in's 

Right Wingback to take right sided corners and throw in's

 

 

 

Stockport 1st.fmf

Edited November 25, 2019 by Mr U Rosler

[Ragin Cajun]

I'll give this a toss around.  Doing a LLM and really struggling at the moment.

[GKorr]

Tested with Wolves, 1st season, no transfers, on holiday

4th  in the league and Europa league winners.

Excellent tactics, thank you!

[djhagster]

Had a run on this on FMT. Adjusted the defending free kicks a bit and also noticed that if you defend wider your goals conceded from crosses goes down, as i found these were the main causes of conceding. Long balls are still a problem but found lowering LOE and DL helped. 

I still managed top 6 finishes with unfancied teams and got promotion through play offs, so cant complain too much really! Thanks for sharing this, great work.

[burnum]

Glad to see you back, Rösler. I've been trying to create my own tactics the last few days but I can't get my style of football ('Guardiola'esque') to work consistently on the current ME. Those Gegenpressing tactics with 3 centre-backs seem to be the flavour of the month. After experimenting with different versions of my favourite formations (4123 and 4231) I've given up for the time being. As I've always liked your tactics and your open way of communication, I've decided to give these tactics a try.

You've mentioned that the tactic is designed for smaller teams as some kind of underdog tactics. I'm going the completely opposite direction, trying to fine-tune your Stockport version to fit for bigger teams (who the AI will park the bus against). I'll test it with Bayern in the German Bundesliga. First impressions are really promising (albeit a very small sample size).

 

I've made the following changes to fit my team:

• remove 'Get Stuck In' (to avoid too many yellow/red cards as a top team like Bayern shouldn't be dependent on extreme physicality)
• changed GK to Sweeper Keeper on Attack duty (playing a very high D-Line and we have THE prototypical Sweeper Keeper in Manuel Neuer)
• switched 'low crosses' to 'mixed crosses' (we have Lewandowski up front who is quite good in the air; also our wide players should have good enough decision-making to decide on their own whether to cross high or low)

 

I'll see what I can do with it and if/how I need to tweak it any further against teams who park the bus. First impressions show that we don't get a lot of possession using this tactic, so maybe I can tweak it to become a bit less direct in favour to gain more control of possession (although I don't think the current ME is suited to possession football)...

Edited November 26, 2019 by burnum

[Mr U Rosler]

Hi Burnum 

Good to see you're still around, wasn't it Paderborn you played back in the day?

Sensible changes you've made.

'Work ball into box' is an option to increase and make better use of your possession as you'll be dealing with teams sitting in most week.

'Play thru the middle' is another option as it will 'push up' all the midfielders into even more advance positions, Elite teams could get away with this.

But this years ME is very sensitive to change, one different Team Instruction or player role can throw the tactic, so maybe one tweak at a time. 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2019 by Mr U Rosler

[burnum]

vor 4 Minuten schrieb Mr U Rosler:

Hi Burnum 

Good to see you're still around, wasn't it Paderborn you played back in the day?

 

 

You're right, that was back in FM18 (I skipped FM19 and just went from 18 to 20). I live in Paderborn, so they're my hometown team. I live 2 miles from their stadium.

'Work Ball Into Box' is already ticked (green) in your tactic. Did I miss anything? One more change I made was to the GK distribution: Your tactic instructs the GK to throw long to the Wing Backs. I've changed it to simply distribute to either the Full Backs or the Centre Backs (all of my back 5 are ok at the ball). Also I don't want to restrict Neuer to always throw the ball, so I just removed the 'throw long' instruction and left it up to him to decide.

Another change I'm contemplating has to do with the middle guy of the three Centre Backs. I might tinker with using him as a BPD as I have several CD who fit the role and have the PPM 'brings ball out of defense'. I thought someone like Boateng, Javi Martinez or Pavard should be able to bring the ball out and lay off to Thiago in the RPM position.

[Mr U Rosler]

6 minutes ago, burnum said:

You're right, that was back in FM18 (I skipped FM19 and just went from 18 to 20). I live in Paderborn, so they're my hometown team. I live 2 miles from their stadium.

'Work Ball Into Box' is already ticked (green) in your tactic. Did I miss anything? One more change I made was to the GK distribution: Your tactic instructs the GK to throw long to the Wing Backs. I've changed it to simply distribute to either the Full Backs or the Centre Backs (all of my back 5 are ok at the ball). Also I don't want to restrict Neuer to always throw the ball, so I just removed the 'throw long' instruction and left it up to him to decide.

Another change I'm contemplating has to do with the middle guy of the three Centre Backs. I might tinker with using him as a BPD as I have several CD who fit the role and have the PPM 'brings ball out of defense'. I thought someone like Boateng, Javi Martinez or Pavard should be able to bring the ball out and lay off to Thiago in the RPM position.

You're right, WBIB is on, i experimented with it on and off and forgot it ended up in the tactic.

BPD are always popular, never really understood it myself, the centre backs all have short passing on here to encourage them to move the ball to the RPM or Wingbacks rather than hoofing it, but selective use of BPD, if you have a footballing centre back can be effective.  

[burnum]

As someone who's new in the 3-in-the-back world, I've never played with CWB-at. What would you do with those typical Inside Forward guys (Coman, Gnabry, Perisic)? Would you retrain the usual DL/DR (Alaba & Kimmich in my case) to play CWB or does the role allow for a more attacking wingman, like Perisic, Gnabry or Coman? I have 3 good Wingers/IF in my squad but now that I don't use that role anymore, I need to find other roles for them. 

[Mr U Rosler]

10 minutes ago, burnum said:

As someone who's new in the 3-in-the-back world, I've never played with CWB-at. What would you do with those typical Inside Forward guys (Coman, Gnabry, Perisic)? Would you retrain the usual DL/DR (Alaba & Kimmich in my case) to play CWB or does the role allow for a more attacking wingman, like Perisic, Gnabry or Coman? I have 3 good Wingers/IF in my squad but now that I don't use that role anymore, I need to find other roles for them. 

Yes, part of the issue with a tactic like this is what to do with your talented, attacking, wide players.

I would suggest pretty much all of them can be retrained as either Strikers, Mezzala's or as you suggest Wingbacks dependent on there strengths and weaknesses.

Perisic, for example would make a fabulous Mezzala, high work rate, off the ball, dribbling and finishing. I think mezzala loosely translates to 'half winger', there movement 'in to out' see's them end up in wide positions fairly often.

Kimmich would make a fine Wingback, although a slightly more defensive version, i would expect him to still be very effective going forward.

Gnabry, i'd have no problems playing as a striker. He has high work rate and will press well, is very quick, whilst perhaps not a natural finisher he has very good technique which seems to make up for weakness in in other areas.

 

As ever balance is key, and you don't want too many of the same type of players. I wouldn't want 2 'wingery' mezzala's for example. If I played Perisic as one Mezzala i would make sure the other was a well rounded midfielder with strong defensive qualities to balance out your midfield. Playing Kimmich as right Wingback, being more defensive, would allow a more attacking Left Wingback, a converted AML for example. 

Taking that further, i wouldn't want both the more attacking Mezzala AND the more attacking Wingback on the same side of the pitch as this flank would be weak defensively.                  

 

So whilst both the central midfield roles are identical, how they play out in practice depends on who you play there, they need to complement each other ideally. Then you need to think about their interactions with the other players they will be close to, the Striker and Wingback on there side of the pitch for example.

And the stronger your team is relative to the rest of the league, the more you can lean towards the attacking focused players.

Hope this makes sense.

 

   

[burnum]

Thanks for the reply, makes perfect sense on paper. Last question for the moment: Do you care about what your player's strong/weak foot is? Your tactic has several positions that mirror each other (DCL & DCR, Mez-L & Mez-R, STC-L & STC-R), conventional wisdow would suggest to play players to the side of their stronger foot in case of the CB and Mezzala positions - not sure about the strikers (meaning I'd put my lefty DC to DCL and my lefty MC to Mez-L and vice versa).

Do you care about those details or am I overcomplicating things?

[Mr U Rosler]

Hi Burnum,

Centre backs, I don't care about footedness.

Wingbacks I CERTAINLY want left footer on the left, right footer on the right.

Strikers and Mezzala's, i'd PREFER left footers on the left, right footers on the right. If not then at least 'reasonable' ability on there weaker foot if possible. But if you have 2 great strikers and they are both right footed i'd still play them together.  

These things certainly need thinking about.

[burnum]

Ok, I did some testing and fine-tuning. First thing to say - this tactic works really well when implemented correctly. But the tendency remains that it's better suited for underdog or mid-table teams than for the giants of their respective leagues. Using Bayern München I beat Real Madrid (CL group stage game, tough draw) away at Bernabeu. Won the game 1-0 with the goal coming with a header from a corner, but the result could've been even better if my strikers could convert some one-on-ones. We've had 3 CCC and an additional 5 half-chances (Real: 0 CCC, 1 HC). Most of my chances came from long through balls by the RPM. The RPM player is basically your Quarterback - he decides when and where the ball goes and chooses his receivers (the strikers, Mezzalas and sometimes even the wing-backs). You need a creative, passing player in the RPM position for this to work - he's the most important player on your team. Think of someone like Pirlo or Xabi Alonso in their primes.

However, when you play against smaller teams who park the bus and stay deep with 9 or 10 players, this tactic has some problems in breaking them down and creating clear chances. Your attack in this tactic is very reliant on through balls from the RPM but if the opponent are sitting deep to only protect their own box, then you simply don't have any space for your 'receivers' to run into. In those cases we're lacking a 'Plan B' to break down the opposing defense. Maybe lowering the mentality and/or instructing to a shorter passing game could help in those situations. I beat Real Madrid, the next game I went to a 1-1 against Augsburg. I beat Benfica 2-0, then had a disappointing 0-0 against Union Berlin (17th in Bundesliga).

 

Some tweaks I've made when defending a narrow lead in the last couple of minutes:

• lower mentality (obviously)
• change both CWB from Attack to Support duty
• change RPM-s to DLP on Defend duty (he'll still play those through balls but he'll stay in a deeper position)
• (depending on how your opponent attacks): change the middle CD to a Cover duty and remove offside trap to to decrease chances of being hit over the top

[nicholas27]

Hi Rosler

Currently attempting to take Oxford City up the Leagues, successful 1st season, winning Vanarama South and FA Trophy, but now struggling in the National league against "better teams", so this tactic should be perfect!! - Will let you know how it goes!!

One quick question - is the tactic designed to use OI or do you let the players do their own thing?

Many Thanks

[Mr U Rosler]

Hi Nicholas. 

 

No OI

[burnum]

I don't understand how this isn't getting more love. Great tactics for any mid-table or below team. All you need is a good passing DM and wing-backs who can run up and down the field all game.

Edited November 28, 2019 by burnum

[Mr U Rosler]

To be fair, most players probably pick a team in a top division so the title puts them off. 

Might try and get it in the FM base testing league to see how it goes. 

[Jaffa]

Well I for one always manage LLM, it is great to see someone putting a tactic up.  Good work Rosler buddy.

[dom.march]

Le 25/11/2019 à 21:41, Mr U Rosler a dit :

Greetings,

I’ve been scratching around for something for my Stockport save, following promotion to the National League they are predicted to finish 24th, dead last. I’m not one for hanging around so I had expectations for something which could get me into the playoffs, which go down to the 7th place in the league these days.

Was pleasantly surprised to finish 1st securing the only automatic promotion spot with a creditable 90 points. Nice goal difference for such a poor side. I re-ran the season a couple of times to make sure it wasn’t a fluke and each time we were there or thereabouts.

This is with the original squad.

Out of curiosity I also ran it with the team predicted to finish 1st to see how it handled teams with high reputations who were favourites for most matches. Managed to secure top spot although the return was not much better than Stockport’s despite the better players. This can mean 1 of 2 things, or a perhaps a combination of both.

 

• The Tactic is more suitable for underdogs 

• Its intrinsically easier to beat teams that ‘attack’ you, than those that sit in and defend, even though when dealing with teams sitting in you have better players warranting your higher reputation

    

Either way, I’m happy as I’ll be underdogs during most of my save as I push up the leagues.

Not tried this at Premier League level or leagues around the World so can’t comment on that, however attacking, semi direct, aggressive tackling & pressing, high up the pitch tactics like this tend to do well universally although only having 1 wide player on each flank hasn’t been a great way to go in recent years.

 

 

 

upload photos for forums

 

 

Not done a huge amount of work on set pieces but attacking and defensive corners are pretty solid.

Left Wingback to take left sided corners and throw in's 

Right Wingback to take right sided corners and throw in's

 

 

 

Stockport 1st.fmf 45 Ko · 267 downloads

Hi Mr U Rosler,

 

like for previous fm do you have any recomended attributs for the players ?

 

thanks

[Mr U Rosler]

5 hours ago, dom.march said:

Hi Mr U Rosler,

 

like for previous fm do you have any recomended attributs for the players ?

 

thanks

Yep,

Team Building

I follow a few universal rules aimed at ensuring we have no mental weaknesses in the team which can lead to inconsistent performances or long, avoidable runs of poor form.

Key attributes I look for before signing any player are Determination & Decisions.

Even with Stockport in the National League I’ll never sign any player with less than 10 Determination and 10 Decisions. By Championship Level I’d want a minimum of 12 in all players. Elite Premier League teams I’d push this to 13 or 14.

The thinking behind having a highly determined squad should be obvious, resilience to come back from setbacks both during individual games and for lessening the impact of low morale during any poor runs of form hopefully enabling you to break out of them earlier.

In terms of decisions, I saw some testing which indicated that Decisions was one of the KEY attributes underpinning all other attributes. A low Decisions attribute seem to negatively impact many elements of player performance in the match engine, to my mind that cannot be ignored and this is now key to my approach.

The Final pillar is consistency, although this is a hidden attribute and therefore invisible, I always check player weaknesses on the scout report and will never sign any player noted as ‘inconsistent’. 

Having established a basic mental baseline for the types of players we will recruit, we can look in more detail at wider recruitment.

How much you can reasonably expect to get from a player depends on the level you operate. I work to the following priorities.

 

PHYSICAL > MENTAL > TECHNICAL       

 

The thinking behind this is whilst you can find players with 19 or 20 in both Physical & Mental attributes in even non league players, you’re unlikely to find any players with 19 or 20 Technique at this level.

So in the lower leagues I look to ensure my team is highly Physical, being fitter, stronger and faster than your opponent is enough to get the job done here. As I move up the league and recruit replacement players I ensure that the Physical requirements are still being met but now I’m layering on strong Mental attributes, as well as the aforementioned Determination and Decisions I want high Work Rate in most positions and start to look for things like Teamwork and Off the Ball.

Once I hit Championship Level and I bring in new recruits, I’m now looking to add Technical skills onto our player recruitment profile delivering us complete footballers. Which technical skills will depend on player roles and tactics.

      

Tactic Specific

Pressing Forward/Attack

On a basic level we are looking for hardworking, highly mobile strikers who can harry the back line when out of possession and make runs into dangerous areas when we are in possession, pulling defenders out of position whilst seeking spaces where they are hard to pick up. On a higher level we are then looking for players who can make the most of the chances they get as well as being able to set up their strike partner and team mates.

Desirable Attributes 

All Levels

Work Rate

Off the Ball

Acceleration

 

Top Levels – add

 Finishing

Composure

Technique

Passing

 

Mezzala/Attack 

Again, in simple terms we are looking for good athletes here with an appetite for hard work. When in possession they make a lot of runs, in to out as they move up the pitch. They will certainly rack up the KM in your data reports. Once you get to the top leagues the fun starts as you can layer in some nice technical skills to make them more effective in the attacking third.      

Desirable Attributes 

All Levels

Work Rate

Off the Ball

Stamina

 

Top Levels – add

 Vision

Flair

Technique

Passing

 

Roaming Playmaker

This is our Joker in the pack, whilst our entire attacking system is built around movement, lateral much of the time following an ‘in to out’ pattern, our Roaming Playmaker breaks the lines vertically. To use NFL parlance, both a Quarter Back at times, pinging passes around, but also a Running Back marauding upfield both with and without the ball, extremely difficult to mark.

A genuine creative force in the team, whilst he will cover a lot of ground, employing 3 Centre Backs means he doesn’t have huge defensively responsibility and is free to roam.

Desirable Attributes 

All Levels

Work Rate

Off the Ball

Passing

 

Top Levels – add

 Vision

Flair

Technique

Composure

 

Complete Wingbacks

Monster athletes required here. Largely having sole responsibility for the flanks, in both attacking and defensive phases, they will be up and down the pitch all day long often covering 15km in a game. Once you have the basic physicals covered you can add rudimentary attacking and defensive attributes to enchance their contribution to the team.  

 Desirable Attributes 

All Levels

Work Rate

Stamina

Natural Fitness

 

Top Levels – add

 Crossing

Passing

Tackling  

Marking

 

Central Defenders  

 3 is the magic number here, a solid foundation for our defence meaning that even when we are caught out of position with the rest of the team up the pitch, we still have 3 defenders in place at all times. Whilst they need the strength and aerial ability to do the basics, they need to have good positional sense and ideally the pace to recover from any errors.

 

Desirable Attributes 

All Levels

Strength

Jumping Reach

Positioning

 

Top Levels – add

 Acceleration

Heading  

Marking

Tackling  

   

Goalkeeper

The tactics weaknesses mean we need to focus mainly on dealing with balls over the top and set pieces. Outside of that we need someone who can remain focused when not involved in the game so they are ready to deal with things that do come their way.

 All Levels

One on Ones

Concentration  

Aerial Reach

Reflexes

Handling

Command of Area  

[BlueZero]

Thanks for the tactic. I just played few matchs but seems work well in french third division.

[Ragin Cajun]

On 25/11/2019 at 16:41, Ragin Cajun said:

I'll give this a toss around.  Doing a LLM and really struggling at the moment.

Well, gave it a run.  To be fair I dropped it in mid-season so no training camp to get used to the tactic.  They never really picked it up. 

Started positive with a 3-3 draw against Frome but from that point we won two matches (3-1 and 3-2) and had one draw (1-1) with the other seven matches being losses ranging from 1-0 to a 5-1 drubbing to top of table Boreham Wood.  I ended up getting sacked at that point.  Well, going to give it another go at my next LLM club but hopefully have the offseason to train the tactic.  I may make a few of the above mentioned tweaks as well. 

[Mr U Rosler]

22 minutes ago, Ragin Cajun said:

Well, gave it a run.  To be fair I dropped it in mid-season so no training camp to get used to the tactic.  They never really picked it up. 

Started positive with a 3-3 draw against Frome but from that point we won two matches (3-1 and 3-2) and had one draw (1-1) with the other seven matches being losses ranging from 1-0 to a 5-1 drubbing to top of table Boreham Wood.  I ended up getting sacked at that point.  Well, going to give it another go at my next LLM club but hopefully have the offseason to train the tactic.  I may make a few of the above mentioned tweaks as well. 

Strange, can happen of course.

I restarted the Stockport save and things looking solid enough, just caught Notts County who got off to a flyer, I have 45 points after 20 games and are 1^st.

The only possible issue was early season when, as a new manager, the players had no respect for me. We started well and they soon came round but I could see that going the other way with a slow start.

Hopefully you’ll go better next time round, a pre-season will help 

 

[VP.]

Decided to give this a go in my save, after getting the sack first season at Rangers for finishing 2nd! I got the job at Colchester Utd  for season 2, we was ok but lost in the Play Off semi's and I was very lucky (twice) to keep my job. Thought I'd give a downloaded tactic a go for season 3 and as I wanted to use three center backs I chose this one.

As you can see it's performing very well (though the board do expect promotion) but It does seem to struggle a bit at home, certainly compared to the away results anyway. I usually play attacking at home and balanced away so would think our home scores would be better but that isn't the case.

Edited November 30, 2019 by SortitoutsiVP

[Mr U Rosler]

Hi, 

If promotion is the expectation then its a reputation thing, teams will be parking the bus when you play at home. 

Similar to my Notts County test, you should get over the line and get up. Next year, in higher division hopefully, teams will attack you much more and that is where you should see a good level of over performance. 

[VP.]

2 minutes ago, Mr U Rosler said:

Hi, 

If promotion is the expectation then its a reputation thing, teams will be parking the bus when you play at home. 

Similar to my Notts County test, you should get over the line and get up. Next year, in higher division hopefully, teams will attack you much more and that is where you should see a good level of over performance. 

Yeah true never thought of it like that, bloody annoying though as could be a fair few points clear by now.

[BlueZero]

Less impressive i think first but this is first season with no buying. And i finished 2nd for a team supposed to be 10th.

[VP.]

Brilliant tactic.

[442ta]

Mr U Rosler

 

Maybe off topic, but are you from Sweden?

Uwe Rösler in the real world had a uniqe experience thursday night. With a real fairy tale end. 

[Mr U Rosler]

7 minutes ago, 442ta said:

Mr U Rosler

 

Maybe off topic, but are you from Sweden?

Uwe Rösler in the real world had a uniqe experience thursday night. With a real fairy tale end. 

No, Manchester, loved Rosler when he was at Man City. 

(think he had 20 finishing, 20 heading in one version of the FM ) 

What happened Thursday? 

Edited November 30, 2019 by Mr U Rosler

[442ta]

He is a great coach and leader! He is now coach in Malmö FF who won over Dynamo Kiev thursday night. Malmö is very much a underdog against Kiev. But it was also the final game for our captain. Markus Rosenberg whos started playing football in Malmö at the age of 5. At thursday he did his last home game 32 years after his debut at the club. He then scored the 4-3 goal for malmö when the clock was at 95+ with 5 minutes additional time.

Anyway Uwe is a great coach!

[VP.]

Won league two with Colchester, 104pts and just 2 defeats.

[jdubsnz]

So have started using this in my Barnsley save.  The team is pretty pants, but this formation has at least made us competitive again (results below in red box)!  Although just got spanked 4-1 by Preston away.  One thing we don't have is a solid roaming playmaker which seems key to this formation, and we are a bit weak in the left CWB position.

Do you change the mentality at all for home or away?  Also finding we are giving away quite a few penalties.

[Mr U Rosler]

Hi, I never change the mentality, I just plug and play. I personally have no issues with penalties, must just be a phase your going through. 

Need a preseason really 

[Mr U Rosler]

Well spotted 

Didn't know about that. 

[MegaAlbin_88]

Hi Mr U Rosler! 

Do u use the same training schedules as in fm 19? or have u done som tweaking to it?

[Mr U Rosler]

2 hours ago, MegaAlbin_88 said:

Hi Mr U Rosler! 

Do u use the same training schedules as in fm 19? or have u done som tweaking to it?

Hi, 

I've tweaked them for FM20, just testing them now, will put them up here if they look good. 

[Mr U Rosler]

Tactic still looking fine on new patch. 

Balanced mentality is potentially looking a better option but still testing and not much in it. 

[VP.]

Yeah balanced does work better even at home.

Couple of pics from my save.

[Scruffer23]

Mr U Rosler I was wondering if anyone has tried this with a better team ??

[Mr U Rosler]

1 hour ago, Scruffer23 said:

Mr U Rosler I was wondering if anyone has tried this with a better team ??

Not had much feedback on that. Working on an updated version for the new ME, I will run some tests then. 

[Mr U Rosler]

Adding 'play thru the middle' gets the tactic back to where it was pre-patch. If not better, certainly more goals. 

I've run a couple of Stockport tests finishing 1st and 2nd.

Testing Man City and Leicester to see how it goes in the Prem. 

Will post results, but looking like original tactic, left on attacking mentality, with Play Thru The Middle is the way to go. 

[Mad Mull Jag]

I've been using it in the Scottish premier league with Partick Thistle.

Very good defensively but a lack of goals from chances, sometimes 25-30 chances but only 1 or 2 goals (might be my strikers !!!)

Sitting 3rd at half way stage 6 behind the leaders Celtic and rangers 2nd but both of them are spending £10s of millions a window when I've got £500k to spend .

 

Overall I'm happy and enjoying the tactic

[xplode7]

1 hour ago, Mr U Rosler said:

Adding 'play thru the middle' gets the tactic back to where it was pre-patch. If not better, certainly more goals. 

I've run a couple of Stockport tests finishing 1st and 2nd.

Testing Man City and Leicester to see how it goes in the Prem. 

Will post results, but looking like original tactic, left on attacking mentality, with Play Thru The Middle is the way to go. 

tactic before 20.2 patch was great... start testing in new season... so only new tweak after 20.2 is play thru middle? any changes in player positions? ty

[Mr U Rosler]

14 minutes ago, xplode7 said:

tactic before 20.2 patch was great... start testing in new season... so only new tweak after 20.2 is play thru middle? any changes in player positions? ty

Yes, everything else is the same. 

Just the one change, play thru the middle. 

 

[rmills2000]

Working wonders for me in Swedish 4th Tier!

7th place when I joined in match week 14, finished 1st after a 12 game unbeaten run in the league  

 

[Mr U Rosler]

On the latest patch?? 

[rmills2000]

Transitioned through both, didn't make the 'play through middle' tweak either and still performed superbly, many thanks on another great tactic!

[Mr U Rosler]

3 minutes ago, rmills2000 said:

Transitioned through both, didn't make the 'play through middle' tweak either and still performed superbly, many thanks on another great tactic!

Thanks for that,

Bizarrely, it doesn't translate to top teams very well, can barely scrape a Premier League win with Man City, but is good with underdogs and mid-table teams.

The game is a bit tougher for top teams this year with massed defences tricky to break down, probably a good move and more realistic.  

[rmills2000]

Just now, Mr U Rosler said:

Thanks for that,

Bizarrely, it doesn't translate to top teams very well, can barely scrape a Premier League win with Man City, but is good with underdogs and mid-table teams.

The game is a bit tougher for top teams this year with massed defences tricky to break down, probably a good move and more realistic.  

I fear we're going to have to go with the 4231 trend that's infected football these days - not a fan...  long live the traditional winger, and a No10 should be a Sheringham-esque player, not this modern interpretation where you throw you're best flair and, typically, most selfish and egotistical player in the hope he does something 'special'...

 

But hey, I guess I'm a traditionalist lol