How I play beautiful attacking football and why False 9 systems struggles in fm 20

[Nes1995]

 

Hi and welcome, I've recently had a foot injury from work and I've had a lot more time in my hands then normal and I wanted to share and explain to people how I play this amazing football game because there's only one reason why we are here and that is our love for football.

 

I'm going to show you an example why false 9 systems struggle in FM 20

 

Here we have a typical system with a False 9, there's nothing wrong with this system its well balanced

The opposition as you can see is clearly the underdog defending and playing mainly on the counter.

Now can you tell me why this system would struggle against the opponents system?

Spoiler

If you have answered, the false 9 will struggle to make an impact and the IF A will struggle as well then you have answered correctly.

Generally playing with a false 9 this player becomes the main creator of your team.

This is one of the reasons why you don't see the false 9 dropping deep enough or having bad ratings simply because HE HAS NO ESPACE! what can he do 1 vs 4?

You will see a lot of wasted shots and most of your play will be focused on the flanks

So how could you improve or change this ?

You could change the IW to a IF A and swap CM A to a BtBM perhaps for more penetration but the same problem will happen the F9 is locked in a cage "as mourinho would say"

Remember the F9 is hard coded to attract the ball and players will always look for him but if he cant join the play then the role becomes useless.

 

How do I create good football worth watching something that looks pleasing to the eye.

After playing this game for so long I become abscessed with making the F9 work some games it would work and my team would play nice football then some games my team was winning with individual efforts from players or set pieces nothing pleasing to the eye.

I kept saying to my self I WANT TEAM EFFORT GOALS HOW HOW HOW 

For that I had to Evolve as a coach if the opponent adapts to my tactic I must create new ways to make my playmaker shine and connect the system just like pep him self and even Klopp you sometimes see klopp placing salah up front and firmino in the AM slot.

 

Example of how I create a tactic that connects everything and make sexy football

Spoiler

Its a more attacking system then a possession type but

Look how much more space your playmaker has.

When you play a playmaker in any kind of system they become ball magnets so this is why I put the BWM next to him he will help him out with support and if the AP looses the ball the BWM will be there to apply pressure straight away to stop the opponent from counter attacking

team instructions I always keep it simple, I ask my self what type of football do I want to play.

Example: If I want to play attacking football I use, positive mentality, higher tempo, play out of defence, counter counter press, higher defensive line. There's plenty other instructions but this MY main ones. At the end of the day player roles and more important and is what decides what type of football your team plays.

In terms of pressing you must be wondering what I do

Before I use to give all my front players "close down more" but now its different

I ask my CFA to close down more, my Winger s to close down more and that's all 

Remember you want balance in your system.

I want my attacking players to be in good positions to attack

 

 

 

Its a short topic but I just wanted to share my knowledge to everyone who has struggled this year because the way this game is going it's turning into more realistic every year and I don't think its going to change so we all must adapt and evolve our self's 

I would love to see what football you guys create, Any questions please ask I will do my best to answer <3

 

 

[NotSoSpecialOne]

As a higher reputation team, you do increasingly face teams that like to congest the midfield and in particular the playing area a F9 occupies. For this reason, I shy away from utilising a F9 as a sole striker unless the player I'll be using there is an exceptional talent. Most recently I re-trained a central midfielder to play in that role and after a slow start adjusting, he finished the campaign with 25 goals in 36 matches (I left the club after that season and the AI went back to playing him as a CM heh). So with that in mind, I may opt for a CF(S) or Trequartista instead (There's always the strikerless route with a Shadow Striker or Treq to sort of fulfill that F9 desire). MEZ(A), CM(A) and BBM(S) in no particular order, all do great and helping out the F9 to not be so isolated, from experience.

 

I think best mileage out of a F9 though is not using him as a lone striker but in some form of partnership. Whether that is by partnering him with another striker up front, with something in the AM slot behind him (such as a shadow striker) or a combination there of.

Edited October 15, 2020 by NotSoSpecialOne

[Keyzer Soze]

In your system, i would probably change the right inverted winger to a winger on suport to give a little more width in attack.

Now, i agree with you that your system is balanced, but you are only showing the formation, roles and duties.

And what about the team and player instructions? Are you choosing the right instruction to face a team that, like you said, is clearly the underdog defending and playing mainly on the counter

And on top of that, do you have the right players to play those roles?

With that formation, and against defensive teams, you will pretty much camp on the opponent midfield, so your players must be in constant movement to get space, attributes like of the ball, vision, composure, decisions are vital.

So, i think that F9 can work... you just need the right player and instructions, but that's true to any other role and tactic. 

Edited October 15, 2020 by Keyzer Soze

[Nes1995]

1 minute ago, Keyzer Soze said:

In your system, i would probably change the right inverted winger to a winger on suport to give a little more width in attack.

Now, i agree with you that your system is balanced, but you are only showing the formation, roles and duties.

And what about the team and player instructions? Are you choosing the right instruction to face a team that, like you said, is clearly the underdog defending and playing mainly on the counter

And on top of that, do you have the right players to play those roles?

With that formation, and against defensive teams, you will pretty much camp on the opponent midfield, so your players must be in constant movement to get space, attributes like of the ball, vision, composure, decisions are vital.

I used that system with ajax squad and It worked for a couple of games until the Ai found out my system, I had more success using a playmaker on the flanks then in the centre because the playmaker has more space on the flank then he does in the central area especially against teams who park the buss

[Bot Makel]

It is not true that the AI discovers your actic, it will get defensive because you have more reputation. You just need to find better ways to destroy the defenses.
And that's what you did.
It is not true that a fake 9 does not work in general. It may not work in certain situations.

[Nes1995]

4 minutes ago, Bot Makel said:

It is not true that the AI discovers your actic, it will get defensive because you have more reputation. You just need to find better ways to destroy the defenses.
And that's what you did.
It is not true that a fake 9 does not work in general. It may not work in certain situations.

I'm not saying the false 9 doesn't work, it works beautifully but its easier to nullify a f9 on the centre of the pitch then it is to nullify a playmaker on the flank, there is more defence duties in the centre then there is on the flanks unless the Ai use a defensive winger 

[Bot Makel]

4 minutes ago, Nes1995 said:

I'm not saying the false 9 doesn't work, it works beautifully but its easier to nullify a f9 on the centre of the pitch then it is to nullify a playmaker on the flank, there is more defence duties in the centre then there is on the flanks unless the Ai use a defensive winger 

Absolutely, I like the way you have adapted your game based on the opponent.
I just wanted to point out that AI doesn't discover your tactics but it's a question of reputation.

[_Daniel_]

If you wanted to keep the false nine as a lone striker you would need to find some way to pull the opposition apart.

I would start with a W(S) on right wing, WB(A) on the left. Change the CM(A) to a MEZ(A).  DLP (S) to a Carrilero and the HB to DLP(D). Right WB as an IWB(S). Play wider.

That would hopefully give you width and depth in attack, with players running both outside in and inside out causing the defence into difficult decisions and hopefully pulling them out of position, thus giving the False Nine space to operate. 

You could also give the false nine PI's such as move into channels and/or roam from position to make him harder to mark and a bigger area in which he can operate.

 

Alternatively, you could place the F9 in one of the left or right striker spots with stay wider, move into channels etc.. to make him operate wide of their defensive block.

 

This is all just theoretical as I haven't used a false nine in the last two versions lol