FM21 - Total Football, A club dna project with positional play

[-Jef-]

Decided to take a punt on this.

PIs:

BWM- hold position, shoot less often

AP-more direct passes, get further forward, roam

CM-get further forward, move into channels, shoot less often

IF-roam

IW-take more risks, roam

AF-dribble less, shoot more often

There's also missing whipped crosses TI that is for some reason missing

Some of the goals

 

 

 

 

Edited November 20, 2020 by rosque

[04texag]

Those goals look good @rosque There are some similarities in instructions I see but of course a quite different shape. The results look nice though, well done!

 

Quick update, last one before end of season. We have been rolling, performing quite well with our base positional play tactic and the more recent enganche tactic. The tough schedule though is wearing on us as we have some very tired legs. We were able to do very well in our Champions league first knockout round against Chelsea.  We won the first leg at home 3-1 and then lost the away leg 1-2. Tight matchup with two teams playing fairly similar with our competing 4231's. Both were really good games. 

We have now drawn Liverpool for our next match up, and should we win, we will play either Man City or Club Brugge.

As for league play, it looks like Juventus is going to run away with the title, but we are sitting very well to finish in second. 

We also have had some developments on the new player fronts. First, we had an opportunity to sign Sergio Gomez on a free, as his contract is expiring in a few months. I think he looks quite promising and will be a good development target for our more attacking/creative player in the central midfield slot. So now we have a young high potential player at CM, AML, AMC and AMR. I'm very happy with this during the first season, especially at the very low cost we were able to get all 4 of them. This bodes very well for our club's future.

And then, we just got our first youth intake, and I was pleasantly surprised to see the young 5 star Mr. Simmo:

 

[04texag]

It's been probably one of the slowest seasons I've played in FM in awhile, but with RL drama, a baby who doesn't sleep, and my novel, it's been tough to get time in game. That said, it was a fantastic first season for the Biancocelesti

Italian Cup Win

We absolutely THRASHED Atalanta in the final, 5-1.

We had momentum in the cup after beating Juventus 3-0 in the semi-final, but that was over a month before the final. We had a lot of injury issues down the stretch, with both Ciro Immobile and Luis Alberto missing about a month each. Both were back healthy for the final, and Otavio has been on fire lately. They carried that into the match, with Otavio getting a very early hat trick and being able to rest for a youth sub at 55 minutes. Alberto had 4 assists on the match, two from set pieces and two from open play.

Our cup win satisfied a long term club objective, 6 years ahead of schedule. Sweet!

FM21 solves the central play issues

If you need proof of this, check out the stats from the final for Luis Alberto, our classic number 10 who plays at AMC, as an Enganche. This is the type of play that I have yet to see since FM18, and it makes me so very happy.

On the season, Alberto has been fantastic, he's my favorite player on the squad, and as such, imperative that we keep him. 

With stats like that, teams were starting to circle. Man united showed up to watch one game in early may and I immediately hit the panic button. But thankfully, this happened:

I elevated him to Star playing status, as to lose him would be crippling. 17 assists across all competitions would be very difficult to replace with just one man.

Season Review

All in, it was a great first season. I feel like we made excellent progress on and off of the field. We hit all of our board objectives, finishing in 2nd place with record numbers of wins and points for the club. We played above expectations in the champions league, making it beyond the first knock out round, beating Chelsea, but failed to get past Liverpool. Our Italian cup win got us a trophy on the year, well ahead of schedule.

Off of the field, we made several key signings of potential future first team stars. We have signed players for all of our most important attacking positions, and even got a cherry on top with a 5* rated youth striker. After this post, I'll do a club DNA update and focus on our new signings once they are all at the camp starting 7/1.

 

Results on the pitch and our reputation and finances look good. I'm excited about this as we have made some key future signings, and survived COVID year without much issue. I'm hoping our attendance gets much better next year because 70% at home should be much better for how well we did.

 

 

 

[axehan1]

Are you using imgur to post your screenshots?I haven't used it for a while and when i tried posting on a forum last night my screenshots weren't showing(they weren't embeding!!!)any ideas why?thanks.

[04texag]

6 minutes ago, axehan1 said:

Are you using imgur to post your screenshots?I haven't used it for a while and when i tried posting on a forum last night my screenshots weren't showing(they weren't embeding!!!)any ideas why?thanks.

No, I just copy and paste using windows built in screen grab tool. Hit windows key+control+s, then click and drag. Then I come to the forum and control+v to paste. Simple as that. 

[04texag]

QUICK TIP

Here's something I've never noticed before, might be a well duh from some of you, but this is cool IMO. One the scouting report cards, if you hover your mouse over the "score" on the recommendation on the bottom, a pop-out window shows up. It shows you both the scout and analyst scores and information. This is super helpful. I really like this. It's interesting in this case, as my scout and analyst are at complete opposite ends of the spectrum on if we should sign Christensen.

[nick1408]

Results look amazing @04texag. Your DNA update will be interesting and I am thinking it will link in well with the two tactics you are currently using. 
 

Have you settled on the two tactics yet or are you still experimenting a bit with the players available?

 

Again, well done.

[04texag]

Club DNA update

So, there were a few things I wanted to do in my first season and I feel like we are off to a good start.

• Address average age of squad
• Release/transfer out high wage old players
• Identify future prospects for important positions/roles
• Improve depth for 4231/433, as opposed to 532 shape Lazio was accustomed to

Average Age/High Wage veterans

On the main squad, we had a lot of older veterans, with great mentals and personalities, but not physical enough to keep up with our new style of play. We still don't press as much as I would like, but hopefully as we get more depth over the save and a younger squad, we will be up to up this.

Marco Parolo - a B2B midfielder, 36 years old

Senad Lulic - 35 wing player, right footed but plays on left flank

Lucas Leiva - 34 defensive midfielder

Francesco Acerbi - 33 BPD

Stefan Radu - 34 LB/CD

All of these guys should have been starters last season. They each got a fair amount of play, but with the youngsters growing up some over last season and more new blood coming in, I just can't simply keep all of these guys around. In my opinion, keeping two on the squad makes sense. It's really good to have some veterans who have high determination, good mentals and personality, especially on a team with younger players. The last two in bold, whom provide much needed depth for my defense, are going to stay. The others I'm moving on, even though I won't get good value for them, getting their wages off of the books will help a lot. Acerbi is also a professional, and Radu is a perfectionist, so happy to have them.

 

Identify future prospects for important positions/roles

I already have shared three incoming players, but as a reminder, Robert Navarro (19) joined in January as my future AML, and Franscisco Gonzalez joined in January as future AMR. Thiago Almada signed in the winter but joins in July, he's my long term replacement for Luis Alberto.

Gianluigi Donnarumma

He is our first big surprise signing of the off season. He opted to not resign with Milan and we signed the future world class GK on a free transfer! I'm super excited about this signing, and hope that he will lock us down in the net for the foreseeable future. We had to offer him a large salary, but it's worth it IMO, especially as we did not have to shell out big $ on a transfer for him. This means we are shipping out Strakosha, who was goalie of the season in Serie A for us, and had 22 shutouts. But Donnarumma is younger, already better, and still has room to grow.

 

Sergio Gomez

Next up is our next free transfer. Again, super happy to be signing fantastic prospects for the team on free transfers. Saving on transfer fees I think will be huge for us down the road. Sergio is now my number 1 prospect for the playmaker spot in the central midfield. He will immediately be Sergej Milinkovic-Savic's backup. He's only 20 and has room to grow, but already looks like he could start for most sides.

Samuele Ricci

Next up, we needed a good prospect for the CMd position to play alongside Sergio. We were able to sign Samuele Ricci, bonus points for being Italian. He is very well balanced for a 19 year old, is a natural at CM and the DLPs role, so should be a good fit to be a holding player with decent technical ability.

 

Yeremi Pino

Early in the fall of season 1, I saw Pino's scouting report come across and knew I wanted to sign him. He's 18, a left footed technical player who prefers the right wing. That's perfect for our setup. The Scouts rate his PA as 4.5 star potential, but he's already on his way looking at his development and stats from the season. We watched him throughout and not much to hold us back. 

 

Hugo Guillamon

Next up, is more depth for our defense. I don't anticipate that Hugo will grow into a world class player, but I believe he is well rounded and is the right type of defender for us. He looks good on and off the ball. I'm hoping with some of our stellar mentors to go with his spirited personality, and some good training, he will develop well enough to be a long term rotation player for us. We signed him for 6m from Valencia, which was more than I wanted to pay, but since we are locked out of non-eu and there weren't a lot of other budget friendly options, I took it.

 

Lastly, existing youth prospects

We signed Nicolo Armini to a new longer term deal. He just finished a successful loan and looks ready to stay at the squad, potentially coming off of the bench during cup games. He'll be playing/training as a BPD and working on his passing.

 

Raul Moro is another player who was out on loan and will be staying home next season. He's right footed and I need to spend all next year training him to play on the left flank instead.

 

Finally, Andre Anderson needs to have a big pre-season, he looks closer to his PA than the rest. He looks good but needs to perform or I might let him go.

 

All in all, the players we have found within the squad and from without are all steps in the right direction for the long term future of the club. We have found good technical smart players. The next step will be proper training and tactical familiarity for them. My plan is to have all of these players listed above to be starters on the U20 team. They will be training with the senior squad but made available below. As needed due to injury or fatigue, they should each get some senior squad opportunities, especially for cup games. 

Tactics for year 2

Going into year two, we have two main tactics. I will be running both of them equal amounts during pre-season, but with the goal of shifting one to being our main tactic, for use in home games and games where we should win. The second tactic will be more cautious, used for CL games and the tough top matchups within Serie A (juventus, napoli, inter, milan).

Tactic 1

 

Tactic 2

[04texag]

Well that was unexpected. Real Madrid came in with a 97 million offer for Sergej. He was adamant he wanted to go on the initial offer. I countered at 110 million, they accepted. That's just too much to not accept. So, a big outgoing signing that wasn't planned.

Before accepting, I asked the board to increase our retained transfer revenue, which they agreed and moved it up to 90% retain. So the deal netted us 96 million added to our transfer budget. I'm now shopping for a replacement. Each possible replacement I'm comparing to Sergio Gomez, as I want to make sure they are a clear upgrade, and not too expensive, else I might could better do something else with the funds.

[alanfishead]

Great thread @04texag.  Any plans on detailing your approach to training from youth teams up to first team? It's something I've never quite grasped!

[04texag]

1 hour ago, alanfishead said:

Great thread @04texag.  Any plans on detailing your approach to training from youth teams up to first team? It's something I've never quite grasped!

Thanks!

Yes actually. I pretty much skipped this year one as Lazio had no one at home really in season one, with over 40 or so players on loan at the start of the save. Now that I have my identified youth prospects, as soon as preseason is over, everyone will be getting their squad and playing assignments. I'll try to map all of this out in a post explaining my thoughts and process for it. 

[Fantasista10]

19 hours ago, 04texag said:

 Tactics for year 2

Going into year two, we have two main tactics. I will be running both of them equal amounts during pre-season, but with the goal of shifting one to being our main tactic, for use in home games and games where we should win. The second tactic will be more cautious, used for CL games and the tough top matchups within Serie A (juventus, napoli, inter, milan).

Tactic 1

 

Tactic 2

Great stuff as always, it’s really fun to create an ‘identity’ and mould players to fit that style. Look forward to seeing how you fit some of those wonderkids in! 
 

I have a quick question regarding your setup which I couldn’t help notice. In your first tactic, you have set Attack duties for both your wide players - how do you find they behave defensively? 
 

I almost always set wide players to support to ensure there’s enough defensive cover but also to have plenty of support duties for a Fluid/Very Fluid shape (which doesn’t seem to matter so much these days). 
 

You did mention this is used for games you expect to win so I guess it’s a trade off to get more aggressive movement from them?

[04texag]

5 hours ago, Fantasista10 said:

Great stuff as always, it’s really fun to create an ‘identity’ and mould players to fit that style. Look forward to seeing how you fit some of those wonderkids in! 
 

I have a quick question regarding your setup which I couldn’t help notice. In your first tactic, you have set Attack duties for both your wide players - how do you find they behave defensively? 
 

I almost always set wide players to support to ensure there’s enough defensive cover but also to have plenty of support duties for a Fluid/Very Fluid shape (which doesn’t seem to matter so much these days). 
 

You did mention this is used for games you expect to win so I guess it’s a trade off to get more aggressive movement from them?

I really found I needed more attack duties so that I had player looking to make runs into open space, giving my playmaking players targets to play through balls for. I have been playing with a change to the main tactic so far in the pre-season and seeing some really good results overloading the right flank with the below. There is a not pictured CWBs still on that flank also. 

Overall, I have enough players on support and defend that our defensive cover has been quite well with the tactic and previous iterations. My CM-d usually will cover both flanks well, surprising Alberto offers a lot of support to both flanks, and my two wb's both also offer a lot of versatility.

Edited November 23, 2020 by 04texag

[Fantasista10]

38 minutes ago, 04texag said:

I really found I needed more attack duties so that I had player looking to make runs into open space, giving my playmaking players targets to play through balls for. I have been playing with a change to the main tactic so far in the pre-season and seeing some really good results overloading the right flank with the below. There is a not pictured CWBs still on that flank also. 

Overall, I have enough players on support and defend that our defensive cover has been quite well with the tactic and previous iterations. My CM-d usually will cover both flanks well, surprising Alberto offers a lot of support to both flanks, and my two wb's both also offer a lot of versatility.

That makes perfect sense to be fair, thanks! I'm tempted to try something similar with a 4-3-3 shape but it's also been a while since I got a No. 10 working and your tactics of late have made that very tempting to try again - especially with the 'focus play' and creating overloads. 

 

[04texag]

8 minutes ago, Fantasista10 said:

That makes perfect sense to be fair, thanks! I'm tempted to try something similar with a 4-3-3 shape but it's also been a while since I got a No. 10 working and your tactics of late have made that very tempting to try again - especially with the 'focus play' and creating overloads. 

If you want to get a #10 working, I really can't suggest trying this enough. I've been wanting to get some good Number 10 working for two years and finally feel like it's there. It's been great to see in the ME and getting good results/ratings to go along with it is awesome.

[04texag]

The Mezzala is playing fantastically in this overload the right half spaces version of this tactic. With the ungodly amount of money we got from the Sergej transfer, we were able to bring in a few more 4.5-5 star 17-18 year olds. And then we also signed Gaetano Castrovilli for under 40m to be our first team replacement for Sergej. We are still in the preseason, but in the first half against Sevilla, away, Gaetano got a hat trick with some beautiful play.

 

[lipebtavares]

On 22/11/2020 at 18:41, 04texag said:

Club DNA update

So, there were a few things I wanted to do in my first season and I feel like we are off to a good start.

• Address average age of squad
• Release/transfer out high wage old players
• Identify future prospects for important positions/roles
• Improve depth for 4231/433, as opposed to 532 shape Lazio was accustomed to

Average Age/High Wage veterans

On the main squad, we had a lot of older veterans, with great mentals and personalities, but not physical enough to keep up with our new style of play. We still don't press as much as I would like, but hopefully as we get more depth over the save and a younger squad, we will be up to up this.

Marco Parolo - a B2B midfielder, 36 years old

Senad Lulic - 35 wing player, right footed but plays on left flank

Lucas Leiva - 34 defensive midfielder

Francesco Acerbi - 33 BPD

Stefan Radu - 34 LB/CD

All of these guys should have been starters last season. They each got a fair amount of play, but with the youngsters growing up some over last season and more new blood coming in, I just can't simply keep all of these guys around. In my opinion, keeping two on the squad makes sense. It's really good to have some veterans who have high determination, good mentals and personality, especially on a team with younger players. The last two in bold, whom provide much needed depth for my defense, are going to stay. The others I'm moving on, even though I won't get good value for them, getting their wages off of the books will help a lot. Acerbi is also a professional, and Radu is a perfectionist, so happy to have them.

 

Identify future prospects for important positions/roles

I already have shared three incoming players, but as a reminder, Robert Navarro (19) joined in January as my future AML, and Franscisco Gonzalez joined in January as future AMR. Thiago Almada signed in the winter but joins in July, he's my long term replacement for Luis Alberto.

Gianluigi Donnarumma

He is our first big surprise signing of the off season. He opted to not resign with Milan and we signed the future world class GK on a free transfer! I'm super excited about this signing, and hope that he will lock us down in the net for the foreseeable future. We had to offer him a large salary, but it's worth it IMO, especially as we did not have to shell out big $ on a transfer for him. This means we are shipping out Strakosha, who was goalie of the season in Serie A for us, and had 22 shutouts. But Donnarumma is younger, already better, and still has room to grow.

 

Sergio Gomez

Next up is our next free transfer. Again, super happy to be signing fantastic prospects for the team on free transfers. Saving on transfer fees I think will be huge for us down the road. Sergio is now my number 1 prospect for the playmaker spot in the central midfield. He will immediately be Sergej Milinkovic-Savic's backup. He's only 20 and has room to grow, but already looks like he could start for most sides.

Samuele Ricci

Next up, we needed a good prospect for the CMd position to play alongside Sergio. We were able to sign Samuele Ricci, bonus points for being Italian. He is very well balanced for a 19 year old, is a natural at CM and the DLPs role, so should be a good fit to be a holding player with decent technical ability.

 

Yeremi Pino

Early in the fall of season 1, I saw Pino's scouting report come across and knew I wanted to sign him. He's 18, a left footed technical player who prefers the right wing. That's perfect for our setup. The Scouts rate his PA as 4.5 star potential, but he's already on his way looking at his development and stats from the season. We watched him throughout and not much to hold us back. 

 

Hugo Guillamon

Next up, is more depth for our defense. I don't anticipate that Hugo will grow into a world class player, but I believe he is well rounded and is the right type of defender for us. He looks good on and off the ball. I'm hoping with some of our stellar mentors to go with his spirited personality, and some good training, he will develop well enough to be a long term rotation player for us. We signed him for 6m from Valencia, which was more than I wanted to pay, but since we are locked out of non-eu and there weren't a lot of other budget friendly options, I took it.

 

Lastly, existing youth prospects

We signed Nicolo Armini to a new longer term deal. He just finished a successful loan and looks ready to stay at the squad, potentially coming off of the bench during cup games. He'll be playing/training as a BPD and working on his passing.

 

Raul Moro is another player who was out on loan and will be staying home next season. He's right footed and I need to spend all next year training him to play on the left flank instead.

 

Finally, Andre Anderson needs to have a big pre-season, he looks closer to his PA than the rest. He looks good but needs to perform or I might let him go.

 

All in all, the players we have found within the squad and from without are all steps in the right direction for the long term future of the club. We have found good technical smart players. The next step will be proper training and tactical familiarity for them. My plan is to have all of these players listed above to be starters on the U20 team. They will be training with the senior squad but made available below. As needed due to injury or fatigue, they should each get some senior squad opportunities, especially for cup games. 

Tactics for year 2

Going into year two, we have two main tactics. I will be running both of them equal amounts during pre-season, but with the goal of shifting one to being our main tactic, for use in home games and games where we should win. The second tactic will be more cautious, used for CL games and the tough top matchups within Serie A (juventus, napoli, inter, milan).

Tactic 1

 

Tactic 2

did you add any instructions for the player?

 

 

 

 

 

[gunnerfan]

On 20/11/2020 at 07:18, 04texag said:

So playing a little looser with some of the hard stance on principles and allowing some of my players to play in more natural positions, while focusing more on overloads. Which of course are still an integral part of positional play. 

Luis playing as an enganche is quite amazing to see. He is really roaming a lot more than I thought he would. I think there's something about the role, but also removing the RPM. He's all over the field. Funny enough, he is moving wide and helping to overload in all areas of the field, and our ability to create a free man has really started happening across multiple areas of the pitch. It's still most often the AMR. 

The cwb on the right is playing lazzari in the role that helps him truly shine. The LB is now a wb and providing width on the left. 

Try it, tell me what you see, I think you'll like it. 

 

Oh ya almost forgot to mention, Berardi at AMR has had 5 goals in 3 games. 

But neither wb now has the "hold position" instruction, correct?

 

[04texag]

1 hour ago, gunnerfan said:

But neither wb now has the "hold position" instruction, correct?

 

The CWBs certainly does not, but the left WBs does. That said, my wingbacks all have player traits where they will still get forward, it's just not all of the time. 

[gunnerfan]

23 hours ago, 04texag said:

The CWBs certainly does not, but the left WBs does. That said, my wingbacks all have player traits where they will still get forward, it's just not all of the time. 

I'm in the process of trying this approach with my new Celta Vigo save in FM21 (after starting it with the same club in FM19), and playing matches in "classic" 2D. In FM19, I started at the beginning of your first thread with similar settings, and found that my squad's AoC was similar to yours and could see the AoMHs form as play developed. In FM21, I don't see nearly the cooperative play I did earlier. I put this down to the fact that it's a different ME, as well as the quality of the roster at the beginning of the game being much lower than in FM19. I'm still playing around with it.

[04texag]

6 hours ago, gunnerfan said:

I'm in the process of trying this approach with my new Celta Vigo save in FM21 (after starting it with the same club in FM19), and playing matches in "classic" 2D. In FM19, I started at the beginning of your first thread with similar settings, and found that my squad's AoC was similar to yours and could see the AoMHs form as play developed. In FM21, I don't see nearly the cooperative play I did earlier. I put this down to the fact that it's a different ME, as well as the quality of the roster at the beginning of the game being much lower than in FM19. I'm still playing around with it.

I'd love to hear how your save is going with Celta Vigo.

So, as opposed to in the tactical series with FM20, where I had gotten Portsmouth to the number 2 team in Europe, and we were a total powerhouse, this is still a long term work in progress, with a mix of youth and non-ideal players. I think that is a part of the reason for some differences. But, in general, I'm looking for more team fluidity then I had before. I still have the width and depth being established by my team, so that the AoC is how I want it, but I'm really using Luis Alberto, my number 10, as the main focal point of the team. Playing him as an enganche, especially with FM21's ME changes, has been really great. I've adapted the playmaking CM player from a RPM to a Mezzalla to have him be more of a runner, although I'm still using playmaker players in this position. And then on the AMR/AML wings I've got players roaming and making runs. All of it centers around Alberto. He will drop really deep to connect play in transition, and then in the final third, he will move all over the pitch to recycle possession. But he will make aggressive passes like an AP once he's on the ball.

If you can get your number 10 to be a great technical playmaker, then this version of the tactic can really shine. I would love to test this out with other squads, maybe soon.

[gunnerfan]

2 hours ago, 04texag said:

I'd love to hear how your save is going with Celta Vigo.

So, as opposed to in the tactical series with FM20, where I had gotten Portsmouth to the number 2 team in Europe, and we were a total powerhouse, this is still a long term work in progress, with a mix of youth and non-ideal players. I think that is a part of the reason for some differences. But, in general, I'm looking for more team fluidity then I had before. I still have the width and depth being established by my team, so that the AoC is how I want it, but I'm really using Luis Alberto, my number 10, as the main focal point of the team. Playing him as an enganche, especially with FM21's ME changes, has been really great. I've adapted the playmaking CM player from a RPM to a Mezzalla to have him be more of a runner, although I'm still using playmaker players in this position. And then on the AMR/AML wings I've got players roaming and making runs. All of it centers around Alberto. He will drop really deep to connect play in transition, and then in the final third, he will move all over the pitch to recycle possession. But he will make aggressive passes like an AP once he's on the ball.

If you can get your number 10 to be a great technical playmaker, then this version of the tactic can really shine. I would love to test this out with other squads, maybe soon.

Well, I lost my opener at home against Real Madrid. But it was 0-1 on a fluke goal in the 84th minute, so I can't be too upset. At times, it took me back to the days when I coached my son's travel team. I used Gabri Viega as my AMC based on his skill ratings, despite him being only rated at 2 stars. I've got a few good young AMCs, so I'll be doing some experimenting. One thing I've noticed is that the in-game ratings system for the players seems different than in FM19. I suspect it has to do with FM21 embracing the xG concept of analysis (not sure they use it correctly, but I'm still learning about it). Do you find yourself ignoring your coaching staff's suggestions? Before the RM match, they suggested that my Cautious mentality was "too offensive". A few of my players agreed. But I stuck with it.

BTW, based on your comment earlier, I grabbed Navarro. Promising player.

[nick1408]

I'm curious about your player instructions in the enganche tactic. I get why you have chosen particular roles for players but I'm not sure if your previous tactic PI's still suit.

 

My feeling is the enganche likes space and lots of it. I would have thought you would have achieved this by either asking the IF to stay wider or having the attacking width as wide as possible. Previously you had the IF as sit narrower and the attacking width is also narrow. I feel the mezzala (who you had run wide with ball on previously as a RPM) and the IF will overlap nicely with their particular PI's. While this may happen I feel it may crowd the enganche a fair bit and close up some of the passing options he would usually have.

 

The switching of the CM's you posted on Tuesday may have lead to some more space opening up for the enganche to play balls into. I am curious if you kept the run wide and dribble more on the mezzala as well and if the IW has been asked to sit narrower as a result.

 

I have a feeling all the PI's and with the ball instructions play a vital role in getting the right movement to open up the play for the enganche to exploit.

[04texag]

14 hours ago, nick1408 said:

I'm curious about your player instructions in the enganche tactic. I get why you have chosen particular roles for players but I'm not sure if your previous tactic PI's still suit.

 

My feeling is the enganche likes space and lots of it. I would have thought you would have achieved this by either asking the IF to stay wider or having the attacking width as wide as possible. Previously you had the IF as sit narrower and the attacking width is also narrow. I feel the mezzala (who you had run wide with ball on previously as a RPM) and the IF will overlap nicely with their particular PI's. While this may happen I feel it may crowd the enganche a fair bit and close up some of the passing options he would usually have.

 

The switching of the CM's you posted on Tuesday may have lead to some more space opening up for the enganche to play balls into. I am curious if you kept the run wide and dribble more on the mezzala as well and if the IW has been asked to sit narrower as a result.

 

I have a feeling all the PI's and with the ball instructions play a vital role in getting the right movement to open up the play for the enganche to exploit.

A lot of the PI's have stayed the same. The right flank and left flanks are the same. The Mez has dribble more and close down more. I have occasionally watched games and made adjustments to overload different areas on the pitch. Below are some in-game common changes I make.

 

Opponent has a good DM

In this case, then I no longer play narrow, as Luis Alberto will likely get marked out of the game. I will go wider, and take off focus play through the middle. When doing so, Alberto, the enganche will roam to the flanks and better support play in transition. He goes from getting a 6.5 rating and doing basically nothing, to around a 7 and keeping our engine working.

Opponents tired or playing poor

I use the tablet a lot for this, especially at the end of the first half, and throughout the second half. If we have scored a particularly good goal from a wide position, if they have someone sitting on a yellow, or very tired or poor performance. Any of the above and I will go to wide play, and focus play down the appropriate flank. I'm naturally overloading the right flank with my base tactic, so no worries there. But, if the left flank is where I want to attack, then I will switch the sides of my two central mids so that the mezzala is now on the left and holding mid on the right.

Stale attack, opponent does not have a DM

In some cases like this, after I've already tried some overloads, I'll change my number 10 to a Trequartista. I've noticed that when Alberto is an enganche, he drops really deep, and plays between the first and second lines of defense. When we are dominating possession, and they are sitting back, switching the 10 to a Treq will often have the treq now try to find space between the 2nd and 3rd line of defense. I'll change to focus play down a flank, and then if Alberto finds the open space in the 14, then he usually will have a knock on to an attacker for a shot on goal.

Edited November 27, 2020 by 04texag

[04texag]

Beginning of Season 2 Update

It's been a good start to season 2, mixed with all sorts of fun: multiple injuries and tired players, a VERY DIFFICULT Champions League draw, but some great wins nonetheless. 

Serie A

So far in the league, we are undefeated with one away draw. But with Inter and Juventus both playing stellar, that sees us drop to 4th after that last game draw. It's still very early as it's end of September.

But the team is playing well. Ciro Immobile is knocking in goals like normal, but we are also getting better performances from our AMR and AML, with Correa knocking in 3 with 2 assists. 

Luis Alberto continues to shine. In 5 games in the league, our number 10 has 5 assists and a 7.78 average rating. With this, I'm extremely pleased.

 

Champions League

Look at this draw, ouch! Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Olympic Marseilles. We opened up play with a 2-2 draw to Arsenal at Home. We played fantastic, and unfortunately ceded a late equalizer. Our second game was a thriller away at Bayern, which we won 3-2, dominating them through most of the game. Very encouraged by our play away there, and feel hopeful we can make it through the group after that big win.

 

Youngsters

So far, due to some injuries, but also due to rotation in league play against lower table teams, we have gotten some good game time in for some of our youngsters. So far, those with the most game time are Thiago Almada, who has played at AML and AMC, mostly playing for Luis Alberto to keep him rested. Thiago has been playing the enganche role very well. There's definitely a drop off, but as he is only 20 years old, this bodes well for his future. Currently he is training as an AP-A in the AMC slot. I've had him working on passing up until now and just switched him to work on his attacking movement next. 

Yeremi Pino

Yeremi is playing well at the AMR position as an IW-S. His training is going well. He's only 18 and still has a PA of 4.5 stars. He's playing at least two games a month for the U20's to supplement his first team game time.  He has been training at his playing PRD so far. Although I'm contemplating very soon switching him to the other flank. He has a very strong left foot, and a fairly strong right foot. Once he is older, he will definitely get training for his weaker foot, just not yet.

Others

Others are developing well, but not getting enough games yet. They are playing u20s but not the main squad. Although they are training with the main squad and being mentored there. We have an abundance right now of really great talent, perhaps the best combination of youth I've ever had in a save, so it's going to be a big test to play them all enough and train them well. 

Fransico Gonzalez is 20, so I'm probably going to prioritize playing him on the right flank more than Yeremi Pino over the next month, to see how well he can do. I have 2 4.5 star players out on loan, 2 17 year old 5 star players at home, and a few more 4-4.5 stars at home. I'll post some individual updates when they merit it with performances or good development periods. Here's an example of our season one 5 star youth academy product, the forward Smimmo. He's still only 16 and starting to really show some progress.

 

[gunnerfan]

38 minutes ago, 04texag said:

I use the table a lot for this...

Not catching the reference. What table? Have I missed something?

[04texag]

8 minutes ago, gunnerfan said:

Not catching the reference. What table? Have I missed something?

Sorry about that, the TABLET in game, the match analysis window where you can see the opposition formation and match ratings. 

[gunnerfan]

23 minutes ago, 04texag said:

Sorry about that, the TABLET in game, the match analysis window where you can see the opposition formation and match ratings. 

Okay, thanks!

[nick1408]

3 hours ago, 04texag said:

A lot of the PI's have stayed the same. The right flank and left flanks are the same. The Mez has dribble more and close down more. I have occasionally watched games and made adjustments to overload different areas on the pitch. Below are some in-game common changes I make.

 

Opponent has a good DM

In this case, then I no longer play narrow, as Luis Alberto will likely get marked out of the game. I will go wider, and take off focus play through the middle. When doing so, Alberto, the enganche will roam to the flanks and better support play in transition. He goes from getting a 6.5 rating and doing basically nothing, to around a 7 and keeping our engine working.

Opponents tired or playing poor

I use the tablet a lot for this, especially at the end of the first half, and throughout the second half. If we have scored a particularly good goal from a wide position, if they have someone sitting on a yellow, or very tired or poor performance. Any of the above and I will go to wide play, and focus play down the appropriate flank. I'm naturally overloading the right flank with my base tactic, so no worries there. But, if the left flank is where I want to attack, then I will switch the sides of my two central mids so that the mezzala is now on the left and holding mid on the right.

Stale attack, opponent does not have a DM

In some cases like this, after I've already tried some overloads, I'll change my number 10 to a Trequartista. I've noticed that when Alberto is an enganche, he drops really deep, and plays between the first and second lines of defense. When we are dominating possession, and they are sitting back, switching the 10 to a Treq will often have the treq now try to find space between the 2nd and 3rd line of defense. I'll change to focus play down a flank, and then if Alberto finds the open space in the 14, then he usually will have a knock on to an attacker for a shot on goal.

 

Thanks for the details. It all makes sense. Especially the changes you have listed. It all seems to drive the space for Alberto to operate in.

 

As you've probably guessed I'm giving this a run as well. I'm playing as Everton and have James Rodriguez as the enganche. Calvert-Lewin is something pretty special in this tactic. I have two ball-playing defenders but I prefer the cover to be a plain centre back due to the available players (although I play Holgate as a ball-playing defender).

 

 

The overloading on the right really opens the space for the inside forward and enganche to operate in. I'm thinking of making the right back into a inverted wing back as my previous tactic used one and I purchased a left footer to play here. It may be a change I implement on a game-by-game basis depending on if the opposition have a winger rather than someone who cuts inside. With the mezzala moving wide it just feels right:

 

 

Cacace is my IWB-Su here. Fulham are playing an IW on their left in a 4-4-2. The space opened up is exactly what I wanted to see and then meant that Cacace had plenty of options to play the next ball to (it ended up with James who is to the lower right of Calvert-Lewin but also finding space as the enganche).

[04texag]

1 hour ago, nick1408 said:

I'm thinking of making the right back into a inverted wing back

I like this too, last year I would play an IWB behind a mezzala and it works well. If you're dominating the game you can even add the overlap right with that setup.

For my Lazio squad, I have two really good complete wingbacks so I've just been using that and it's been working well. I may give it a shot on the left side and flip the overlap as Senad Lulic is a right footed left back. 

[BrickCommo23]

I absolutely love this thread - it's exactly what I was trying to do with Arsenal on the Beta.

Starting afresh this weekend and this is so helpful, so thank you! If you don't mind I'll do a few small updates in here?

[Ewan0404]

15 hours ago, nick1408 said:

 

Thanks for the details. It all makes sense. Especially the changes you have listed. It all seems to drive the space for Alberto to operate in.

 

As you've probably guessed I'm giving this a run as well. I'm playing as Everton and have James Rodriguez as the enganche. Calvert-Lewin is something pretty special in this tactic. I have two ball-playing defenders but I prefer the cover to be a plain centre back due to the available players (although I play Holgate as a ball-playing defender).

 

 

The overloading on the right really opens the space for the inside forward and enganche to operate in. I'm thinking of making the right back into a inverted wing back as my previous tactic used one and I purchased a left footer to play here. It may be a change I implement on a game-by-game basis depending on if the opposition have a winger rather than someone who cuts inside. With the mezzala moving wide it just feels right:

 

 

Cacace is my IWB-Su here. Fulham are playing an IW on their left in a 4-4-2. The space opened up is exactly what I wanted to see and then meant that Cacace had plenty of options to play the next ball to (it ended up with James who is to the lower right of Calvert-Lewin but also finding space as the enganche).

How did DCL and James do in their roles throughout the season? 

[04texag]

57 minutes ago, BrickCommo23 said:

I absolutely love this thread - it's exactly what I was trying to do with Arsenal on the Beta.

Starting afresh this weekend and this is so helpful, so thank you! If you don't mind I'll do a few small updates in here?

Glad you're finding it helpful! Of course, is love to see how you make on with it. I think arsenal could work well with this.

[BrickCommo23]

9 minutes ago, 04texag said:

Glad you're finding it helpful! Of course, is love to see how you make on with it. I think arsenal could work well with this.

Just one question... Do you have any PIs in the most recent two versions? Sorry if I've missed it.

[04texag]

18 minutes ago, BrickCommo23 said:

Just one question... Do you have any PIs in the most recent two versions? Sorry if I've missed it.

Most of the PI's are all the same from the Tactical series I did. If you haven't read this yet, I highly suggest it as I go through a lot of the positional play concepts, which are important to understand. The PI's are pretty much not changed. If I'm using an IW on the right flank, he's going to have the same PI's as a base instruction, although I might adjust them during a game. So for this whole tactical experiment, if I'm using a particular PRD, I'm pretty much using that PRD with the base instructions, as I've found them to more or less play like I want.

 

One quick squad note. I'm continuing to get really good minutes for my youngsters when facing the lower table teams in Serie A. But, here's the important point, I make sure to include some team leaders with them. If you recall from my end of season 1 summary, I made sure to keep two important older veterans, Senad Lulic and Stefan Radu. When I'm playing my youngsters, I make sure to include these two players so that I have some veterans with amazing mentals and experience to keep the youngsters in control. So far, it's been working great. 

On 22/11/2020 at 15:41, 04texag said:

Average Age/High Wage veterans

On the main squad, we had a lot of older veterans, with great mentals and personalities, but not physical enough to keep up with our new style of play. We still don't press as much as I would like, but hopefully as we get more depth over the save and a younger squad, we will be up to up this.

Marco Parolo - a B2B midfielder, 36 years old

Senad Lulic - 35 wing player, right footed but plays on left flank

Lucas Leiva - 34 defensive midfielder

Here is the most recent example:

Although Frosinone is a newly promoted side, they are sitting 9th on the table after an excellent start to the season. If you look at this game, we steadily controlled it, and the 4 playmakers/runners were all youth, and all had over 7.1 ratings! Pino and Gomez each scored their first senior squad goals as well!

[BrickCommo23]

1 minute ago, 04texag said:

Most of the PI's are all the same from the Tactical series I did. If you haven't read this yet, I highly suggest it as I go through a lot of the positional play concepts, which are important to understand. The PI's are pretty much not changed. If I'm using an IW on the right flank, he's going to have the same PI's as a base instruction, although I might adjust them during a game. So for this whole tactical experiment, if I'm using a particular PRD, I'm pretty much using that PRD with the base instructions, as I've found them to more or less play like I want.

 

One quick squad note. I'm continuing to get really good minutes for my youngsters when facing the lower table teams in Serie A. But, here's the important point, I make sure to include some team leaders with them. If you recall from my end of season 1 summary, I made sure to keep two important older veterans, Senad Lulic and Stefan Radu. When I'm playing my youngsters, I make sure to include these two players so that I have some veterans with amazing mentals and experience to keep the youngsters in control. So far, it's been working great. 

Here is the most recent example:

Although Frosinone is a newly promoted side, they are sitting 9th on the table after an excellent start to the season. If you look at this game, we steadily controlled it, and the 4 playmakers/runners were all youth, and all had over 7.1 ratings! Pino and Gomez each scored their first senior squad goals as well!

That's great and really appreciated.

I'm conscious not to just copy and paste and rather work through things myself (which should be part of the fun of course) but just checking there was nothing glaringly obvious!

Thanks again - will make a start in the next day or two. First decision - can Ozil play in that Number 10 role....?

[04texag]

3 minutes ago, BrickCommo23 said:

That's great and really appreciated.

I'm conscious not to just copy and paste and rather work through things myself (which should be part of the fun of course) but just checking there was nothing glaringly obvious!

Thanks again - will make a start in the next day or two. First decision - can Ozil play in that Number 10 role....?

Oh no doubt he can. I think he'll be an assist machine for you. I would play Lacazette up top, Aubamayeng on the Left wing and Ozil as number 10. Definitely post about how it goes, I want to hear how it works there.

[04texag]

Mid Second Season update

Eventually, I imagine spreading updates out more, but I think enough has happened to warrant an update.

The biggest thing that happened IMO in the fall of the second season for us, is the board actually got very displeased with our management of one area, which happens to be a new feature of FM21. Spend the original transfer budget. Now, I have to say that I did spend our original transfer amount, but once we sold Sergej for that record amount, our transfer budget got a big fat 90 million added to it. I did not consider that original, so only spent a small fraction of it, but I'm guessing since it did get added to the budget, that meant the board wanted me to spend it. So, what to do with just over 70 million? Well, how about the below spend?

I decided to spread the money out over multiple players instead of one or two big buys, which I feel will be better for the immediate impact at the club in terms of games won, as I'm upgrading some positions either number 1 or number 2. Also, this lowers the burden on the young guns to perform really well early on. It might rob them of some senior squad game time, but we still have the Italian cup to play and a lot of lower table matches left. Additionally, some of these were new finds by my scouts, who I have to say have been performing fantastically. Both in new players for the senior squad, but also we have signed a number of under 17's with 4-5 star potential for the future. Things really are starting to look VERY BRIGHT for the biancocelesti.

Marcos Antonio - He is our biggest spend, spending just over 35 million for him, but I couldn't help but start salivating over this guy's profile. Just check this out for the 21 year old. He will immediately push Gaetano Castrovilli for game time and probably beat him out, which means I'll start training both of them at one of the attacking midfield positions for versatility.

 

Nikola Vlasic - Next up, is a long term starter for the AML spot. Joaquin Correa has been playing phenomenally, but he doesn't do well when he's getting too many minutes. He has been getting lots of little injuries. I need Correa healthy to play as the AF-A more in the future, as Ciro is not getting any younger. SO Nikola is my guy to really lock this down, signed him for 24 m.

Victor Tsygankov - I've been extremely disappointed with Domenico Berrardi. He has really struggled for the past 1 season's worth of games. He's rarely playing as he gets a sub 6.6 every time out. It's time to move him on as he still have high value, so in comes Victor with a profile that says he and Otavio can continue to split first team starts at AMR.

 

David Silva - Last but not least, one of my all time favorite players, the aging David Silva. He was transfer listed for a steal from Sociedad, and likely will only play one year, but I love the guy. He can be a perfect one for one swap for Luis alberto for the remainder of our big games, or as needed. I'll probably bring him on for the last half hour in games we are winning, so that Alberto can get rest. This also means that Thiago Almada can be available to start more U20 games, as most of our games are always on the same day, so Almada is not served well only getting minutes off of the bench. Also, Silva will be a great mentor.

 

And now, the big awesome CL update, we have qualified for the knockout round, coming out of a very difficult group. Bayern has really struggled in the group, and Arsenal has surprised. In my save at least, season 2 Arsenal is a FORCE. They are the best team we've faced hands down, as they are crushing it with their three at the back gegen pressing Arteta style. We lost to them 2-0 on the road.

 

We had a VERY difficult stretch of games from november into December. Look at this packed schedule of powerhouses, multiple away games back to back. We struggled at the start but then crushed Juventus and carried that momentum into the huge home win against Bayern.

 

No time for it just now, but our youth are developing well and excited for the second half of the season. With the Serie A title in play, and CL later stages in play, it's going to be packed full of difficult games, but we now have some really great depth to help see us through.

[Fantasista10]

1 hour ago, 04texag said:

Spend the original transfer budget. 

That’s a cool addition to the game, I haven’t seen this yet! I often find when managing big clubs that I can sometimes have funds just sitting there. 
 

Also I love the irony of the David Silva signing after the fiasco that happened in real life 😂 

[04texag]

32 minutes ago, Fantasista10 said:

Also I love the irony of the David Silva signing after the fiasco that happened in real life 😂 

I'm glad someone noticed, yes it is pretty ironic!

[BadAss88]

2 very interesting threads..but I'm finding it difficult to implement. I don't just want to copypaste your tactic. But what would be a good base to start from?

[04texag]

47 minutes ago, BadAss88 said:

2 very interesting threads..but I'm finding it difficult to implement. I don't just want to copypaste your tactic. But what would be a good base to start from?

It would help to know where you're starting at and what you're struggling with. What team and can you share your tactic?

[04texag]

On 14/11/2020 at 13:16, 04texag said:

Club DNA Attributes

Our general team DNA will establish our core fundamentals as five key attributes for total football success. Then based on our team groups, we will have some additional key attributes to further pursue our style of play.

• Core Attibutes - Passing, Technique, Decisions, Off the ball, Work Rate - I believe these five are core to our ability to maintain possession, working hard as a team both on and off the ball, and also having the off the ball ability ability to make
• ourselves available to maintain possession and progress the ball up the pitch.
• Minor Core Attributes -  First touch, anticipation, composure, Determination, Team work, Vision, Balance and Stamina. 

So let's talk training for a moment. I've used this planning tool in previous versions, but it's just been updated for FM21 here, and I highly suggest you use it: 

 

So, drawing from our club DNA which I quoted at the top of this post, I wanted to make sure I was actually training my players in the attributes I care about. Turns out, my random assigning of stuff really wasn't cutting it. We have been getting ok results so far, but it's time we turn this up a notch, especially since we have so many good youngsters at the club now. I downloaded the spreadsheet and for starters I now have 4 training schedules. I'll put more detail in for the first, but the rest I encourage you to do your own tinkering with the spreadsheet.

Senior Schedules - Aside from my 4 main youngsters, Thiago Almada, Sergio Gomez, Yeremi Pinto, and Francisco Gonzalez, the rest of the first team is all well developed and past 26 or so in age. So most of our team training for the first team needs to be match prep focused. Thus, the below two schedules I'm aiming to use twice a month, with the other 2 game weeks etc using pretty much match prep only. I also in pretty much all schedules want some solid focus on individual roles as well.

1 match home

When you plug this into the spreadsheet, you can see the traits developed by this. I've highlighted the club DNA attributes (except for physicals)

As you can see, this schedule is going to hit the highlights of what we are wanting to train. I'm pleased with this.

I have another senior squad variant of this that makes some slight changes for away games. 

 

Youth Schedules

Now, for youth, physical training is MUCH more important. I have removed the general physical module and will be doing the individual physical sessions, with endurance and quickness prioritized. 

Here is the Youth 1 match schedule

And what this is doing attribute wise, notice the increase to physical attributes yet still getting the club dna focus.

I also have a Youth mental 1 match schedule. This focuses more on tactical familiarity with the shadow play sessions.

 

 

For the youth teams, I'm using the 1 match schedule 2-3 times a month, and the mental schedule 1 time a month.

 

So far, I've only been using these schedules for one month, so not sure yet if they are working supremely well, but I feel good about it, as it's more focused than what I was doing before. 

What I've been doing every month is on the last day of the month, I ask my HOYD for a training report on all of my top young prospects. This is the great thing about a HOYD with high judging player ability and potential, as the HOYD is actually a coach, and only coaches can do training reports. So you are getting as close to accurate attribute information from this report. At the end of the month, you will see their progress arrows and can track how things are going. May be random, but I've noticed a few times that the arrows seem to reset on some months, so last day of the month works for me. It's also a great time to praise the training when you read the report themselves, assuming it's a good report. You don't want to over praise, but once a month has not caused me any issues.

Here are some sample reports for our young stars.

 

 

Oh yes, one other note, as for the individual role training. For the first half of the season I train players in the PRD of what they will actually be playing, as this should help more with tactical awareness. The second half of the season I train them for positionally variation, so a second position. I also try to train players on specialist roles that train a wide variety of attributes. So for attackers I do complete forwards attack or false nine, depending on if scoring focus or playmaking. Then for mids I do mezzala or roaming playmakers. Defense I do complete wingbacks or call playing stoppers. 

Edited November 30, 2020 by 04texag

[04texag]

On 23/11/2020 at 05:49, alanfishead said:

Great thread @04texag.  Any plans on detailing your approach to training from youth teams up to first team? It's something I've never quite grasped!

FYI, just finally did that training post just before this one.

[shadow1812]

Amazing thread @04texag I've been trying out your shape in my LT mainly youth chelsea save and been rather successful. Oddly enough we play better against the big sides than against the lower teams. though i suspect that has to do with their defensive shape. I found that a BWM-d to be more effective than a CM-de, especially with players like Kante though. The CM-de tends to sit too deep for my liking  leaving too big a gap in attack. 

Edited November 30, 2020 by shadow1812

[nick1408]

On 29/11/2020 at 02:00, Ewan0404 said:

How did DCL and James do in their roles throughout the season? 

Calvert-Lewin fantastic, James not enough games to make an opinion really.

 

Richarlison I found really dynamic with his movement off the ball. That was what probably surprised me the most.

[BadAss88]

10 hours ago, 04texag said:

It would help to know where you're starting at and what you're struggling with. What team and can you share your tactic?

I haven't decided on a team yet.. As I probably gonna go for a team that suits this style of play although I want to implement this at all my teams. First save will probably be RSC Anderlecht. 

Don't have a tactic either since I'm not so sure what the base formation for this style of play should be. So I was hoping you could point me in the right direction. 

[milestobudapest]

12 hours ago, 04texag said:

So let's talk training for a moment. I've used this planning tool in previous versions, but it's just been updated for FM21 here, and I highly suggest you use it: 

 

So, drawing from our club DNA which I quoted at the top of this post, I wanted to make sure I was actually training my players in the attributes I care about. Turns out, my random assigning of stuff really wasn't cutting it. We have been getting ok results so far, but it's time we turn this up a notch, especially since we have so many good youngsters at the club now. I downloaded the spreadsheet and for starters I now have 4 training schedules. I'll put more detail in for the first, but the rest I encourage you to do your own tinkering with the spreadsheet.

Senior Schedules - Aside from my 4 main youngsters, Thiago Almada, Sergio Gomez, Yeremi Pinto, and Francisco Gonzalez, the rest of the first team is all well developed and past 26 or so in age. So most of our team training for the first team needs to be match prep focused. Thus, the below two schedules I'm aiming to use twice a month, with the other 2 game weeks etc using pretty much match prep only. I also in pretty much all schedules want some solid focus on individual roles as well.

1 match home

When you plug this into the spreadsheet, you can see the traits developed by this. I've highlighted the club DNA attributes (except for physicals)

As you can see, this schedule is going to hit the highlights of what we are wanting to train. I'm pleased with this.

I have another senior squad variant of this that makes some slight changes for away games. 

 

Youth Schedules

Now, for youth, physical training is MUCH more important. I have removed the general physical module and will be doing the individual physical sessions, with endurance and quickness prioritized. 

Here is the Youth 1 match schedule

And what this is doing attribute wise, notice the increase to physical attributes yet still getting the club dna focus.

I also have a Youth mental 1 match schedule. This focuses more on tactical familiarity with the shadow play sessions.

 

 

For the youth teams, I'm using the 1 match schedule 2-3 times a month, and the mental schedule 1 time a month.

 

So far, I've only been using these schedules for one month, so not sure yet if they are working supremely well, but I feel good about it, as it's more focused than what I was doing before. 

What I've been doing every month is on the last day of the month, I ask my HOYD for a training report on all of my top young prospects. This is the great thing about a HOYD with high judging player ability and potential, as the HOYD is actually a coach, and only coaches can do training reports. So you are getting as close to accurate attribute information from this report. At the end of the month, you will see their progress arrows and can track how things are going. May be random, but I've noticed a few times that the arrows seem to reset on some months, so last day of the month works for me. It's also a great time to praise the training when you read the report themselves, assuming it's a good report. You don't want to over praise, but once a month has not caused me any issues.

Here are some sample reports for our young stars.

 

 

Oh yes, one other note, as for the individual role training. For the first half of the season I train players in the PRD of what they will actually be playing, as this should help more with tactical awareness. The second half of the season I train them for positionally variation, so a second position. I also try to train players on specialist roles that train a wide variety of attributes. So for attackers I do complete forwards attack or false nine, depending on if scoring focus or playmaking. Then for mids I do mezzala or roaming playmakers. Defense I do complete wingbacks or call playing stoppers. 

When the players begin training in their second position, do you find they start to lose tactical familiarity in their original, playing position?

[04texag]

7 hours ago, shadow1812 said:

The CM-de tends to sit too deep for my liking  leaving too big a gap in attack. 

I've noticed this at times too. I initially tried using the CM-S, vanilla but with hold position and dribble less, but my guys still got too far forward. I am using players though that could quite feasibly play a more expansive/playmaking role, so that's probably the problem. I still think I could use an actual destroyer type player, but just don't have any. There's a 16 year old BWM that I'm hoping to groom for this role.

5 hours ago, nick1408 said:

Richarlison I found really dynamic with his movement off the ball.

Is he playing on the left wing? AML? I like that he's an either footed player, good pace, dribbling and work rate.

 

4 hours ago, BadAss88 said:

I haven't decided on a team yet.. As I probably gonna go for a team that suits this style of play although I want to implement this at all my teams. First save will probably be RSC Anderlecht. 

Don't have a tactic either since I'm not so sure what the base formation for this style of play should be. So I was hoping you could point me in the right direction. 

Ya, it's probably best to settle on a team and see how their starting roster looks. I would do one of these two tactics. 

Currently, my backup senior tactic is my FM21 take on the JdP tactic from my tactical series on positional play. I use this often with my senior squad. It also is the tactic that my U20 team uses, as I want these players to all have familiarity with it. I believe this should be a good base tactic without too much specialization. But for a team without great players, you coudl change the RPM to a dlp-s with dribbles more.

 

Another option if you don't have a good AMC to start would be my first version of the 433. This tactic is much more simple, and I use this for my U18 squad. I have the FBs advanced to Wingback positions, as I want youth training and playing this role to boost their offensive training/crossing/work rate, etc. You could easily just drop those back to the regular defensive line spot.

2 hours ago, milestobudapest said:

When the players begin training in their second position, do you find they start to lose tactical familiarity in their original, playing position?

So far it has not been an issue, and I imagine that's because the players are still playing games in their primary position. This probably hurts their taking up the new position, so I try to get some game time at each. I'm sure there is an optimal way to approach this, so if anyone else has knowledge on this, would love to hear advice here.

 

[milestobudapest]

21 minutes ago, 04texag said:

Another option if you don't have a good AMC to start would be my first version of the 433. This tactic is much more simple, and I use this for my U18 squad. I have the FBs advanced to Wingback positions, as I want youth training and playing this role to boost their offensive training/crossing/work rate, etc. You could easily just drop those back to the regular defensive line spot.

 

I see a lot of similarities with your youth tactic and my current Barca 2011 replication, such a fun system! I opted for a SS rather than DLF as I preferred the initial deeper position and later surges in the box.