How often do to change and adjust your Tactic Style In-game?

[Speedyol]

Hi I was wondering how often people change tactics. I created a poll just for fun. You can select multiple answers if you agree with more than one answer.

Is it better to have good Tactical familiarity (fewer changes) or use a "counter" tactic by changing it often. Perhaps both are good options for different reasons.

[XaW]

You really don't have an option for how I do it.

For your questions:

1. I change tactics whenever I feel my current one could be improved, or change inside a match if I feel my team is being exploited in any way.

2. I decide my tactical strategy/philosophy based on how I would like the team to play before doing anything else. Do I want to control the ball? Counterattack? Long balls? Etc. If I don't know what I want, there would be just instructions upon instructions without any thought behind the whole.

I also never change any instructions if I cannot explain WHY adding it would help the tactic as a whole. WHY do I have a higher/lower LOE, and how does it effect all my other instructions. Looking at my current tactical setup I have 4 instructions for "in possession", 1 for "transition" and 3 for "out of possession". I also only have 1 single player instruction (to get a MC further forward) since he seems to be just a tad too far back for my likening.

That said, I'm moving this whole thread to the tactics subforum since it belongs there, and not in GD.

[Pasonen]

Answered 

I usually change tactics at half-time depending on results. but usually I don't make tactical changes at half-time but later in the game. Also some role tweaks to interfere opponent buildup plays.

[Speedyol]

Thanks for moving it to the correct sub-forum.  I like the way you change it when you understand why you do it. I don't know if I am able edit/add it to the poll and how to word it simply as an option.

[XaW]

I'll actually add a bit to my former post. I have a base of what I want the team to do; formation, philosophy, etc. From there I usually create one for games I'm favoured and one for when I'm up against a favoured opponent. Based on how well I expect I do in any given game, I'll swap between those two. Inside each match, I will tweak things if I see something particular and sometimes I will implement those to the base tactic. Over time that develops two different, but similar tactics for two main expectations matches. Then I switch between these for 99% of all matches.

In the 3rd slot, I usually have something completely different for when I feel I need to really shake things up in a game. Often a 4-4-2 that's based on hoofball towards a targetman since that's usually quite far from my favoured base tactics. I do this if I run into a match where I cannot understand what the opponents are doing and they are still winning/controlling. I rarely do this though, and consider it a desperate measure for me.

[Experienced Defender]

I personally tend not to change my tactic once I have sorted it out. I can occasionally make a rather small subtle tweak or two as I see fit (depending on an opponent or in-match situation), but I do not make any big changes. Therefore, my core tactic remains essentially unchanged (apart from those minor occasional tweaks). 

[CARRERA]

Dont Change my tactics too often once I found the right set up. After that only in preparation for the next season especially if I found something not to my favour. 
 

i always try to create a tactic that fits to my key players and the overall strength of my club 

[lfds89]

1. I have my base tactic, then I make adaptations regarding opposition (distribute to fbs instead of cbs if they play 2 strikers, for instance). During the game, I keep making changes when I see fit (usually PIs or OIs)

2. I have developed a sort of plug and play tactic that works for me. Then I adapt to my team. For instance: when I was managing FC Porto, I played with high lines, with Carlisle I had to drop to lower lines, now I'm trying with Karlsruhe and I'm with standard lines. With Karlsruhe I made more changes since the league has a very different type of players than the other ones.

[Keyzer Soze]

It's very rare for me to change team instructions. From the point that I'm happy with the way my team plays, and from the understanding that I have from those instructions, I'll stick to them and never change them. 

I'm my current tactic I have 1 possesion instruction, 2 in transition and 2 in out possesion and that's it. 

Now, for players roles and duties I change them alot. Winger to IF, wingback to inverted wingback, support to attack, and so on... 

[Angus Osborne]

I run two a system with two formations (4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1) which I'll switch between based on my opponent's formation, and I have three different tactics which I switch between based upon the quality of the opposition. At the moment, running a pretty good PL team I've got an attacking, low temp possession tactic, a positive, high-pressing tactic, and a "balanced" one, which is the defensive setup

[Falahk]

I thend to create a tactic during preseason (often inspired by something I observe while watching football) and then stick to it for a full season, I might make minor tweaks if I spot something that don't work as well as I anticipated but that's about it really 

During matches I never make tactical changes, I just alter how the team is playing with player selection and substitutions 

I might make a new tactic to accommodate how my squad is developing between seasons or if I'm bored with how my team is playing 

 

[mc22]

This is missing the important, look up recreation tactics of real managers, and try to do it on your team in fm

[toshimitzou1]

On 02/04/2021 at 22:57, Experienced Defender said:

I personally tend not to change my tactic once I have sorted it out. I can occasionally make a rather small subtle tweak or two as I see fit (depending on an opponent or in-match situation), but I do not make any big changes. Therefore, my core tactic remains essentially unchanged (apart from those minor occasional tweaks). 

Ditto with a few extra points.

The only tweaks I tend to make before or during a game are to either:

1) The defensive line and/or the line of engagement.

2) Defensive Width

3) Offensive Width.

In order to ensure my players can switch seamlessly as required I use my three tactic slots not for drastic tactical shifts, but for these slight changes. This ensures full tactical familiarity, thus optimal execution, when making changes.

Example:

Slot 1: Default Tactic.

Slot 2: Default Tactic with Narrow attacking Width, Higher Line of Engagement and Higher Defensive Line.

Slot 3: Default tactic with Wide Attacking Width, Lower Defensive Line and Lower Line of Engagement.

In practice:

I do not switch to the tactics 2 or 3 during a match. I make tweaks to the Slot 1 tactic during the match that reflect the familiarity gained by training them in the other tactical slots dependent on the in-game's situation.

Also, defensive width is not affected by tactical familiarity and can be changed without prejudice.

 

[Tsuru]

I have been testing a three tactics system: a Positive, direct, intense and high press one, another one that is almost the same as the first but on Balanced mentality - to reduce risks but keep attacking when we are winning - and a Cautious one to use at end of the matches. Normally I switch between the first two ones during games according to what is happening on the pitch.