General rules regarding the 3 tactic slots?

[caldo7]

Are there any generally accepted schools of thought when it comes to how much variation you can get away with when using the 3 different tactics slots?

Will employing 3 wildly different systems induce some kind of penalty in game?

Just wondering if anyone might be able to share their wisdom and experience on this.

[Experienced Defender]

9 hours ago, caldo7 said:

Will employing 3 wildly different systems induce some kind of penalty in game?

I personally always look to avoid using tactics that are overly different from one another, but I cannot claim that there are not people who use very different tactics for the same team and still have success. So that's just my personal approach. Someone else might tell you quite the opposite. 

 

9 hours ago, caldo7 said:

Just wondering if anyone might be able to share their wisdom and experience on this

My philosophy is simple:

1. analyze the players carefully to see what style of football would optimally suit their strengths and weaknesses

2. then think which formations can be suitable for that particular style of play

3. pick one or two of these formations, taking also into account the factor of positional depth (do you have enough players in certain positions that are part of a given formation, including the necessary rotation)

4. create a tactic within the preferred formation that you intend to use in the majority of your matches (against most opponents) as your primary tactic

5. create a secondary tactic that is actually just a slight variation of the primary one (perhaps even within the same formation), which you can use only in tougher matches (against top/strong teams)

[Jack722]

I tend to make 3 different formations with similar mentalities and instructions for each tactic which are based on my team's strength and weaknesses. The different fomations also gives me a chance to help with rotation and to give me a better chance to avoid playing players out of position if I have an injury crisis. DIfferent formations also can help you with youth development. For example, if you want to give your young striker a chance, but your first choice striker is playing too well to drop, you can move from your normal 4231 into a 442, and drop someone else instead.

These formations also gives you more scope to make tacitcal desicions based on the opposition. If i normally play a 433 with an anchorman and I'm 0-0 at half time against a team that's looking to park the bus, my anchorman is pretty much redundant. I have more chance of scoring if I sub my DM off for an attacking midfielder and switch to a 4231. Now we have more natural attackers, and we shouldn't be easily exploited because our centre backs should be more than enough to deal with the minimal threat.

 

Edited April 19, 2020 by Jack722

[witticism]

I am of two minds on this, at the minimum I maintain two different tactics.

Whether the two tactics share a formation or a tactical style depends largely on the available players, sometimes your squad doesn't have many versatile players or conversely has few very good, but very specialized ones.

Either way the goal is the same, to have an alternative tactical option ready and being worked on by the players throughout the season.