Building a system around 1 player - An alternative way of building tactics

[Jack722]

Introduction

There are 2 things that I see a lot of people have trouble with on these forums. The first is people either not knowing what style of football suits there squad the most, or playing a style that contradicts the players that are currently at the team. The second problem is people wondering why there star player isn't performing.

This thread aims to give a method for building a tactic that fights both of these issues. 

Here we are going to build a squad, and a system that is purely designed to get the best out of one player in the team. Every decision that is made will be for the benefit of this one player. The player should either be chosen due to a unique set of attributes, or simply because be is your best player.

The chosen one

I'm sure most of you are familiar with this guy, the heir to Pirlo. This is a screenshot that I found on the internet, I have just finished season 1, so my version of Tonali will be slightly better, although the spread of attributes will be largely identical.

Step 1: What does this player offer? and what are his drawbacks? How can we use this to create a style of play?

 

Tonali can play as either a central, or defensive midfielder, and likes the role of a deep lying playmaker with a defend duty. It's worth checking if he would be better as any other role or position, but i can't see any better alternatives. He could use his passing range to play as a regista, but that would neglect his good defensive attributes, such as 14 positioning and 13 tackling. He also won't be at his best as a purely defensive player, as this would neglect his excellent playmaking attributes and ppms.

Now ,we already have our first role, duty and position decided for our tactic.

The key ppms that I would like to draw your attention to are: dictates tempo, tries killer balls, and tries long passes. This suggests that Tonali will be effective playing a sort of 'Quarterback role' - where he can recieve short passes from either the cbs, or the keeper, and launch long passes to either a target man, or into space for others to run on to. This brings us onto some team instructions we could use, as well as some other roles for his teammates.

Ti's:

• Play out of defence
• Goalkeeper distribution to playmaker
• More direct passing
• Pass into space (?) (this is dependant on whether Tonali makes enough risky passes with his ppm)
• Counter 

we can also use this information to decide on what kind of block we would like to use. In this case, I think we should use a mid block, this is because, if we press too high, there would be no space to launch these long direct passes into, and if we press too low, then we won't have the ball enough for Tonali to dictate the tempo of the game. Tonali is also equally comfortable off the ball as he is on it. This means that we should probably aim for a possession stat of around 50%.

Ti's:

• Play out of defence
• Goalkeeper distribution to playmaker
• More direct passing
• Pass into space (?) 
• Lower line of engagement
• Press more intensely

Now, before even opening the game and looking at any other players, we already have a list of preliminary instructions, and a few ideas for team roles.

 

Edited April 14, 2020 by Jack722

[Jack722]

Thinking of potential formations

What my formation could do with:

• A deep lying playmaker
• A variety of attack duties that can run in behind the defence
• A more advanced support duty that can create chances closer to the opposition goal
• A BWMs - I like the idea of this role, because Tonali can fufill the roles of both a holder (due to his good positioning) and a creator, this means that the midfield could do with a hardworker with liscence to leave his position to win the ball back.

433

What this formation gives us:

• A hardworking parter for Tonali with the BWM
• A winger and CF that will push up against the defensive line looking to make runs in behind for long balls to be played
• A late runner from deep in the CMa which can help overload the tighter defences
• Width on both sides (Width is important to get the best out of Tonali due to his long passes - a quick switch of play can easily open a tight defence
• Enough bodies staying back to defend in case we get countered
• An inside forward that will cut in and hopefully have at least two players to play through balls to (his wingback and the forward)

4312

A good system to play if we have good enough full backs. 

• We have 2 players looking to run behind the defence the moment we win the ball back
• 3 players in the box to aim for should we have an oppertunity from a cross
• Targets on both wings that Tonali can aim for with long passes should we find ourselves camping in the oppostiion half
• Cover for attacking wingbacks with a CAR and Tonali
• A roaming CFs that can create chances closer to the opposition goal

Both of these formations are compatible with the suggested team instrctutions. We can:

• Easily play out of defence with a diamond forming between the Centre backs, Tonali, and the keeper
• Have targets to aim for with long passes
• Have enough defensive roles to comforatbly play a mid block

*Notice that in both formations, there are no other playmakers, this is because I don't want any other players to take the attention away from Tonali. There are plenty of other roles that can look to open up defences and take risks. For example, the IFs and CFs

In the next post, I'll have a look at the other players in the squad and decide on a tactic and signings needed to be made based on the team.

Edited April 14, 2020 by Jack722

[Jack722]

[reserved]

[TheGoodRebel]

An interesting concept. I am looking forward to reading more of this and seeing your progress.

[Justified]

Could I make a suggestion? If you want Tonali to be the dominant playmaker then don't play a BPD. These type of defenders try riskier passing so he isn't always looking for Tonali right in front of him. If you play direct but with two CD's you might get longer passes from there anyways when the DLP is marked. Also I wouldn't play out of defence as you've set the tactic up in a Direct-Counter manner, I'd rather let the defence choose how to play out.

[FMunderachiever]

I have just started a new save with a team in the Greek Premier League named Panionios.

I would like to contribute to this thread as I have a player who I believe fits the "build a team around a star player" description, and would like to gain some thoughts, when I get off work

[Jack722]

4 minutes ago, Justified said:

Could I make a suggestion? If you want Tonali to be the dominant playmaker then don't play a BPD. These type of defenders try riskier passing so he isn't always looking for Tonali right in front of him. If you play direct but with two CD's you might get longer passes from there anyways when the DLP is marked. Also I wouldn't play out of defence as you've set the tactic up in a Direct-Counter manner, I'd rather let the defence choose how to play out.

Thank you for pointing out the centre back issue, I fully agree with you. It's just a habit of mine to always gravitate towards a ball playing defender paired with a more traditional no nonscence type of player 

I think for now I will keep play out of defence, though, as this instruction forces the central defenders out wide a bit and forcing my playmaker in line with them to create a 3. I'm hoping that this could draw the other team to press us a bit more, leaving more space in behind. I think that the direct style can still be achieved, like in this thread by o-zil to the arsenal. Idealy, if a counter attack is on, the use of the 'counter' instruction on the transition page would overide play out of defence.

[Jack722]

5 minutes ago, FMunderachiever said:

I have just started a new save with a team in the Greek Premier League named Panionios.

I would like to contribute to this thread as I have a player who I believe fits the "build a team around a star player" description, and would like to gain some thoughts, when I get off work

Go for it  

Once i finish with this save, I'm planning on continuing this thread with another team and player, maybe Ozil at Arsenal, as lots of people including myself seem to be having trouble with numbers 10's in FM19

[Justified]

You have to make sure your defenders are good under pressure if you do that as you're forcing them to play out of the back. I'd prefer selecting distribution to CD's and fullbacks if you want to create what you're saying you want to and remove play out of defence. Try it in one match, I'm sure you'll see what you want 

[coach vahid]

Very interesting.

Threre's so many ways to play the game. Great job.

 Personally, i'm a little bit scared (but in real life too) if the player gets injured.

[Jack722]

1 hour ago, coach vahid said:

Very interesting.

Threre's so many ways to play the game. Great job.

 Personally, i'm a little bit scared (but in real life too) if the player gets injured.

I also worry about the same thing. I haven't thought about transfers yet, but it's probably worth bringing in an older player with similar ppm's whose willing to be a backup and act as a mentor.

[Jack722]

The Tactic

The tactic that I decided on is almost identical to the 433 that I posted in this thread before. The instructions are also very similar to what I mentioned before, facilitating a more counter attacking approach with the use of long passes.

I've lately been becoming more aware of the importance of the type of players you use over what role you play them. To play this style of football - which i believe is what suits Tonali the best, There are a few basic requirements I need from the players

• The whole midfield needs to be comfortable defending and willing to work hard
  • 
  • Look at the positioning and tackling attributes for my starting midfielders - they rarely go below 14. We could defend all day if we wanted to
    • Imagine asking a centre mid pairing such as xavi and iniesta to defend for 90 minutes. They are not going to perform nearly as well as if you got the team to dominate the ball
• Your attack needs sufficient pace and off the ball, to find space and break away from defenders to run on to a pass into space
  • Ideally, my attacking winger needs to be a physical, pacey player, such as Bale or Adama Traore, Perisic has pace, but is on the wrong side of 30 so has been declining. However, his off ther ball rating of 18 makes up for this.
• Defensive contributions from the full backs are also important, i've gone for Grimaldo, who offers exceptional attacking attributes and can suppliment the attack. And a defensive option, Militao, who has the attributes to also play as a centre back, to give the team another asset in defence.

The results

 

Due to my worrying lack of pace up front, for my first 3 games, I experiment with a more possession based style - which didn't work at all. We struggled to break weak teams down and the goals we scored were mostly penalties. This comes as no suprise in hindsight, if we're looking to dominate the ball, then the midfield needs highly technical players, like De Bruyne and David Silva, rather than Nainggolan and Brozovic. 

I gave up on possession at half time against Sassuolo when we were 1 goal up, and proceeded to score 5 in the second half  

So it looks like, so far this method has been successful. I think that we're only going to get better after i replace Perisic with someone who's faster but has slightly more pace, and obviously as Tonali naturally improves. I would like to see more long balls from Tonali, but at 19 years, his passing attribute isn't quite world class yet, at only 15. So maybe we just have to wait, I might also experient with taking off play out of defence to increase the defensive player's passing length. But I would've though that Tonali's stats of Brings ball out of defence and tries long range passes would override this anyway

 

 

 

 

[davidbarros2]

@Jack722 I'm trully loving this thread.

However, I'm curious why you have chosen some roles and TI...

For instance, why the maximum pressing + counter-press? Tonalli doesn't seem like the physical player to chase balls right, left and center... wouldn't it be better suited to give player instructions to the players you actuall wanna do the press? And perhaps you could do the focus play through the middle which would bump up his mentality in order to unlock more riskier behaviour?

 

Any real reason for not playing perisic as an IW instead of winger? You already have a wing back stretching the play on the left, why not make perisic cutting inside on the final third so tonalli can have another central target to hit from distance? I'm saying this without knowing what player traits does perisic have...

Keep up doing this! Looking forward for the ozil one 

[Jack722]

6 minutes ago, davidbarros2 said:

@Jack722 I'm trully loving this thread.

However, I'm curious why you have chosen some roles and TI...

For instance, why the maximum pressing + counter-press? Tonalli doesn't seem like the physical player to chase balls right, left and center... wouldn't it be better suited to give player instructions to the players you actuall wanna do the press? And perhaps you could do the focus play through the middle which would bump up his mentality in order to unlock more riskier behaviour?

 

Any real reason for not playing perisic as an IW instead of winger? You already have a wing back stretching the play on the left, why not make perisic cutting inside on the final third so tonalli can have another central target to hit from distance? I'm saying this without knowing what player traits does perisic have...

Keep up doing this! Looking forward for the ozil one 

Thanks!

The only reason I play with the counter press and the intense pressing settings are because I play as Inter and we are strong team that won the league last season. This means that when my players sense a chance to win the ball back, I want them to take it, as there's a higher probability that my players can win the ball back and start a counter attack, purely because theyre better than the opposition. If i was a side fighting relegation, I probably wouldn't do this as the players are more likely to miss a tackle and compromise the defensive shape. The low line of engagement still means that when a tackle isn't on, we will retreat and try to draw the other team out more.

The only reason I play perisic as a winger is that for some reason, that is his preferred role on the left.. despite the fact that he is left footed. He has the trait "likes to cut inside" so I'm sure that if i played him as an inside forward or inverted winger, he would mostly be doing the same thing, just with a lower familiarity.

[FMunderachiever]

On 14/04/2020 at 14:57, Jack722 said:

Go for it  

Once i finish with this save, I'm planning on continuing this thread with another team and player, maybe Ozil at Arsenal, as lots of people including myself seem to be having trouble with numbers 10's in FM19

Sadly, my ambition of building the team around a "star man" at Panionios isnt really working because the star man performs worse when the team is built around him to be the "star man" (if the way ive explained that makes any sense at all).

One thing i have learned so far in this experiment of about 1/4 of a season with Panionios is..... the report card is key, probably as, if not more important than the attributes.

Relishing big matches, high levels of determination, intelligence on the field..... huge necessities, and if the numbers are good, it still wont happen for a player without the under the hood attributes

[Jack722]

7 minutes ago, FMunderachiever said:

Sadly, my ambition of building the team around a "star man" at Panionios isnt really working because the star man performs worse when the team is built around him to be the "star man" (if the way ive explained that makes any sense at all).

One thing i have learned so far in this experiment of about 1/4 of a season with Panionios is..... the report card is key, probably as, if not more important than the attributes.

Relishing big matches, high levels of determination, intelligence on the field..... huge necessities, and if the numbers are good, it still wont happen for a player without the under the hood attributes

That's a shame.

It might be worth posting something about it anyway, in this thread or elsewhere, maybe someone could help you improve. Knowing that I was going to make this thread forced me to really think about all the decisions i was making, so that i could explain them, I'm sure that if I was just playing the save without documenting it then I wouldnt be playing as well

[zlatanera]

@Jack722 In my opinion if you want Perisic to play like an Inside Forward, just use the role. He's good enough (and I believe quite two-footed) that slightly less full circle isn't going to harm him significantly. But Winger + Cuts Inside can be a nice variation so I'm not going to advise changing something that doesn't work.

With Tonali you might want to take a closer look at his player instructions screen. I also play an Attacking mentality with Play Out Of Defence in my current save. A DLP-De in the DM position looks like this:

Play Out Of Defence naturally sets his passing shorter, and although he has some direct traits his individual mentality is only Balanced so not necessarily the keenest to take risks. You could use the PI Take More Risks, but my preference is to use the team instruction Focus Play Through The Middle leaving the DLP looking like this:

No instructions have changed but the mentality of the player is now Positive which will naturally make him more likely to play more adventurously than before. Obviously there are other changes with the instruction to how you build up play, and it also increase the mentality of your CDs and GK so that BPD might sometimes look to bypass the midfield as well - not necessarily a bad thing though. 

Just some food for thought  

[Ö-zil to the Arsenal!]

Interesting idea  I've often thought it would be interesting to focus on a player with an in some way unusual skill set but am always too perfectionist when it comes to the rest of the side.

[Spiegel]

I've had luck using support roles for the DM in a 4-3-3. May offer some more progressive play while still providing a reasonable amount of defensive stability?

[Robson 07]

Nice thread, keep exploring it.