How to get out of a rut

[SLHammer]

 

I've been an infrequent FM player since FM14 but lockdown and Stadia enabled me to play again on my old macbook air. I have started a save with Ebbsfleet in the national league. I set up a direct counter attack tactic in a 4-2-2-2 formation and things began amazingly. Straight to the top of the league beating teams 4-0, 5-0. Everyone playing brilliantly. Suddenly a 3 match ban for one of my best players Islam Feruz signed on a free and i capitulate. The team now struggles against even poor teams and my forwards can't score anymore, and my defence can't be trusted. It's now the end of December and I'm sitting in 7th. I've tried different tactics to limited success. How do i resurrect the old form?

Edited May 2, 2020 by SLHammer
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[Justified]

You're going to have to post a SS of your tactic if you want any help.

[SLHammer]

11 minutes ago, Justified said:

You're going to have to post a SS of your tactic if you want any help.

Thanks, I've added one in.

 

I have Umerah and Egan instructed to push wider left to cover that wing.

Edited May 2, 2020 by SLHammer

[Justified]

I don't know where to start with that tactic tbh. Congrats on making it work for as long as you did but it's horrendously unbalanced. You have noone holding in midfield, left flank horribly exposed and you're inviting pressure onto yourself by sitting deep in defence. If you want to play counter attacking football you're going to have to pick a formation that will work with that style. The one you have won't and especially not the way you've set it up. Try either a 4-1-2-3 or 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 depending on your playing staff.

[SLHammer]

13 minutes ago, Justified said:

I don't know where to start with that tactic tbh. Congrats on making it work for as long as you did but it's horrendously unbalanced. You have noone holding in midfield, left flank horribly exposed and you're inviting pressure onto yourself by sitting deep in defence. If you want to play counter attacking football you're going to have to pick a formation that will work with that style. The one you have won't and especially not the way you've set it up. Try either a 4-1-2-3 or 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 depending on your playing staff.

Thanks for your reply! 

Knew I was being a bit risky but felt like being a football revolutionary haha.

The tactic below was another I experimented with. Would you think this has potential to work?

T

[Justified]

I'm not the one to ask about diamond 4-4-2's tbh. I don't think I'd attempt one in LL as it gives up the flanks and I doubt I'd have FB's with the quality to deal with that. In LLM it's paramount to keep things very simple, even player roles. Mez is a very demanding role and I doubt you have anyone to pull it off consistently.

[SLHammer]

Ok, cheers. As mentioned, haven't played FM properly in a few years so appreciate the advice.

[Experienced Defender]

4 hours ago, SLHammer said:

As mentioned, haven't played FM properly in a few years so appreciate the advice

If you are not an experienced FM player/tactician - and especially if, on top of that, you are managing a LL side -  the best piece of advice I can give you at the moment is to keep it as simple as possible, at least initially.

First, pick a formation that is optimally balanced, because such a formation offers more room for maneuver when creating a tactic (learning through trial and error). I would suggest the 4123 wide (or 4141dm wide, as the game calls it "officially").

Secondly, try to avoid any exotic, fancy roles. And pay equal attention to attack and defense (balance between attacking penetration and solid defensive shape).

Thirdly, start with the Balanced team mentality and either no instructions at all or just a couple basic ones that would loosely define your desired style of play. But keep in mind that in a lower league that style of play should not be anything adventurous or demanding (especially given your lack of tactical experience).

Once you create that simple starting tactic, come back here and post a screenshot so that we could tell you if there are any glaring issues/flaws. 

[SLHammer]

12 hours ago, Experienced Defender said:

If you are not an experienced FM player/tactician - and especially if, on top of that, you are managing a LL side -  the best piece of advice I can give you at the moment is to keep it as simple as possible, at least initially.

First, pick a formation that is optimally balanced, because such a formation offers more room for maneuver when creating a tactic (learning through trial and error). I would suggest the 4123 wide (or 4141dm wide, as the game calls it "officially").

Secondly, try to avoid any exotic, fancy roles. And pay equal attention to attack and defense (balance between attacking penetration and solid defensive shape).

Thirdly, start with the Balanced team mentality and either no instructions at all or just a couple basic ones that would loosely define your desired style of play. But keep in mind that in a lower league that style of play should not be anything adventurous or demanding (especially given your lack of tactical experience).

Once you create that simple starting tactic, come back here and post a screenshot so that we could tell you if there are any glaring issues/flaws. 

Thanks, that's really helpful. I've put together a 4123 tactic based on the preset direct counter tactic with a few of the instructions removed to make it a bit simpler.

 

Unfortunately my best centre-mid (had the highest average rating in the league) got seriously injured but these things happen.

!

[Experienced Defender]

3 hours ago, SLHammer said:

!

 

3 hours ago, SLHammer said:

I've put together a 4123 tactic based on the preset direct counter tactic with a few of the instructions removed to make it a bit simpler

Okay, if you want to play a direct counter style, then you definitely need to set roles and duties differently. The striker needs to be on the attack duty. And given how much defensive compactness and solidity is important for this style of play, at least one wide forward - and ideally even both - should be on support duties. You did quite the opposite.

Anyway, to cut a long story short. Here is how I would tweak your roles and duties to make the setup better suited for a counter style:

PFat

IWsu                                 Wsu

BWMsu   CMat

DMde

FBat    CDde   CDde    FBsu

GK/SKde

The Balanced mentality is a good choice 

Let's now see about the instructions. 

In possession - I would start with (slightly) more direct passing and hit early crosses (higher tempo can be added during a match if needed)

In transition - distribute quickly is okay; the Counter looks like a logical choice, but is not always necessary (however strange it may sound for a counter-minded tactic)

Now come the out of possession section, which is very important (perhaps even the key one). You need to be defensively compact and defend deep enough to draw the opposition into your half before engaging them aggressively to win the ball and launch that "lethal" counter. Hence, these would be logical out-of-possession TIs under the Balanced team mentality (but not under any mentality):

- lower line of engagement and get stuck in (nothing else)

So that would be what a decent starting direct counter tactic could look like. You can then make small occasional tweaks as you see fit. Therefore, watch the matches and tweak accordingly, but only if tweaking is really necessary. Do not make tweaks purely for the sake of it.

P.S: One problem with counter-attacking tactics - even if you manage to create a really good one - is that they usually do not work in all matches/against all opponents. Therefore, you'll probably going to need a non-counter plan-B tactic in addition to the counter one. However, that other tactic should be basically similar to this one, with just a couple of rather small changes. If you want some help on that other tactic as well, please let me know 

[SLHammer]

2 hours ago, Experienced Defender said:

 

Okay, if you want to play a direct counter style, then you definitely need to set roles and duties differently. The striker needs to be on the attack duty. And given how much defensive compactness and solidity is important for this style of play, at least one wide forward - and ideally even both - should be on support duties. You did quite the opposite.

Anyway, to cut a long story short. Here is how I would tweak your roles and duties to make the setup better suited for a counter style:

PFat

IWsu                                 Wsu

BWMsu   CMat

DMde

FBat    CDde   CDde    FBsu

GK/SKde

The Balanced mentality is a good choice 

Let's now see about the instructions. 

In possession - I would start with (slightly) more direct passing and hit early crosses (higher tempo can be added during a match if needed)

In transition - distribute quickly is okay; the Counter looks like a logical choice, but is not always necessary (however strange it may sound for a counter-minded tactic)

Now come the out of possession section, which is very important (perhaps even the key one). You need to be defensively compact and defend deep enough to draw the opposition into your half before engaging them aggressively to win the ball and launch that "lethal" counter. Hence, these would be logical out-of-possession TIs under the Balanced team mentality (but not under any mentality):

- lower line of engagement and get stuck in (nothing else)

So that would be what a decent starting direct counter tactic could look like. You can then make small occasional tweaks as you see fit. Therefore, watch the matches and tweak accordingly, but only if tweaking is really necessary. Do not make tweaks purely for the sake of it.

P.S: One problem with counter-attacking tactics - even if you manage to create a really good one - is that they usually do not work in all matches/against all opponents. Therefore, you'll probably going to need a non-counter plan-B tactic in addition to the counter one. However, that other tactic should be basically similar to this one, with just a couple of rather small changes. If you want some help on that other tactic as well, please let me know 

Thanks that's really great! Much appreciated!

Yes I have struggled against weaker teams and at home playing on the counter. I'd prefer to use the same 4123 formation for the plan B, but unsure as to the tactical style. 

[Experienced Defender]

3 hours ago, SLHammer said:

Yes I have struggled against weaker teams and at home playing on the counter. I'd prefer to use the same 4123 formation for the plan B, but unsure as to the tactical style

As I said, that plan-B tactic should basically be fairly/very similar to the main one. I'll give you an example so that you can see how little difference there is compared to the counter-based one:

Roles and duties - same as in the counter tactic.

Instructions:

Mentality - same (Blanced)

In possession - standard (or shorter) passing (and nothing else)

In transition - distribute to CBs and FBs (and nothing else)

Out of possession - standard D-line, standard LOE (and nothing else)

You can see that I only tweaked passing, keeper distribution and line of engagement, and removed the early crosses and get stuck in (and the counter, in case you decide to use it in the main tactic)

In terms of player instructions, you may add the roam from position to the striker.

And that's it.

[SLHammer]

1 hour ago, Experienced Defender said:

As I said, that plan-B tactic should basically be fairly/very similar to the main one. I'll give you an example so that you can see how little difference there is compared to the counter-based one:

Roles and duties - same as in the counter tactic.

Instructions:

Mentality - same (Blanced)

In possession - standard (or shorter) passing (and nothing else)

In transition - distribute to CBs and FBs (and nothing else)

Out of possession - standard D-line, standard LOE (and nothing else)

You can see that I only tweaked passing, keeper distribution and line of engagement, and removed the early crosses and get stuck in (and the counter, in case you decide to use it in the main tactic)

In terms of player instructions, you may add the roam from position to the striker.

And that's it.

Thanks that's really useful! Just to let you know your advice helped pick my form up. Got back into the play-offs but unfortunately lost in the semis. A good foundation for next season.

[Experienced Defender]

Glad to hear that (in spite of the play-off defeat)