My tactic has been found out by AI - how to change as little as possible?

[danej]

The situation: I am close to the end of season 4 in my Sunderland Save, March 2025. The save has overall been going quite well in spite of harsh restrictions. Back to back promotions through the Championship in season 1 and 2. Finished around 10th in the Premier League in season 3. Now around 13th but only 3 points clear of relegation.

The problem: AI seems to have found out my main tactics. My form has been dreadful since about November. I am very much a one tactic kind of guy and prefer it that way, like to keep the game simple (preset 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress with lots of rotation, works quite well). But I must probably switch more. I recently switched to my B tactics for 4 matches and than switched back. If it helped it was very short term, soon the form was dreadful again.

The question (several related questions):

1) How and how much does one need to switch/twitch tactics if one prefers to change as little as possible, if one prefers to use a main tactic as much as possible throughout the save? Is it enough to swicht tacticis temporarily for a set amount of matches? If yes, how many matches? From my experience 4 matches is not enought. A 4 match switch worked perfectly and was enough during season 3, but not anymore.

2) Does AI find out your main tactic more and more over time? My experience suggests that since a 4 match switch was enough in season 3, but not now. Now I also play in the same league for more than one season, so I have played the same teams more times. If AI has such a mechanism, what to do about it? Does one need to switch tactics for, say, at least 3, 6, 12 months before your preferred main tactic is not found out anymore?

3) How much do you need to change in these situations? For example, is it enough for me to switch from my preferred preset 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress to the very similar preset 4-3-3 Gegenpress DM wide? How much change is enough if you basically prefer to play as much as possible in a one tactic manner?

[Egecann]

AI can't find out your tactic. Your clubs reputation goes higher over time so they are playing more defensive and more direct against you. Try to lower your defensive line; that would be the most basic solution imo.

[danej]

This piece seems rather convicing to me that in FM22 (not FM21 and before), AI can find out your tactic, less effective to be a one tactic manager in FM22. Unfortunately for me who prefer one tactic and not caring about tactics. This piece also corresponds with my own experience and every FM content creator I follow on Youtube.

Football Manager Guide to Rotating Tactics | FM Blog (footballmanagerblog.org)

[danej]

25 minutes ago, Egecann said:

AI can't find out your tactic. Your clubs reputation goes higher over time so they are playing more defensive and more direct against you. Try to lower your defensive line; that would be the most basic solution imo.

In any case this is interesting advice. Perhaps I should have a b tactics almost identical to my a tactics, but with a lower line of engagement.

[herne79]

17 minutes ago, danej said:

This piece seems rather convicing to me that in FM22 (not FM21 and before), AI can find out your tactic, less effective to be a one tactic manager in FM22. Unfortunately for me who prefer one tactic and not caring about tactics. This piece also corresponds with my own experience and every FM content creator I follow on Youtube.

Football Manager Guide to Rotating Tactics | FM Blog (footballmanagerblog.org)

The blog makes some interesting points, but the AI being smart enough to figure out our tactics isn’t one of them.  The AI is smarter in terms of making adjustments to it’s own playing system, but that does not equate to being able to understand our tactics.

What it is getting better at is adapting it’s playing style during matches depending on how matches play out, as well as how our teams have been performing in the league.

It’s still perfectly possible to play with a single core tactic over the course of a season - just be prepared to make small adjustments to it during matches as a game develops to become more passive or aggressive as needed.  Of course if you want to set up a second or third tactic that’s also perfectly viable.

Sudden losses of form or AI adapting during matches can easily be seen as the AI figuring out how we play and is a natural, common sense response.  However technically speaking the AI simply isn’t coded like that and is rather always related to how your team is performing along with other factors such as player fatigue, injuries, morale, complacency and so on.  And that’s become more prevalent in FM22 due to changes made to such factors as pressing, fatigue and how the AI adapts.

[jens_dewit]

From my experience this year, a lot has to do with form and morale. It's been suggested around here (and I tend to agree) that it's hard this year to get out of a rut, just as much as it is easy to keep winning once you've a nice streak going. 

As for one tactic: I've played 14 seasons in one save using just one tactic that was perfect (for me) from around the 4th season. Didn't change a thing since then as we went up from 3rd to 1st division and eventually champions. Though, from a certain point the quality of your players is a major factor. Even if your tactic is solid, you'll need better players than your opponents to keep improving. 

Finally, in my experience again, if your tactic is pretty solid (which means no OP tactic you can download here), it'll keep working. Results will pick up if you rotate to players with better mroale. Or at least that's what's worked for me  

[danej]

14 minutes ago, jens_dewit said:

From my experience this year, a lot has to do with form and morale. It's been suggested around here (and I tend to agree) that it's hard this year to get out of a rut, just as much as it is easy to keep winning once you've a nice streak going. 

As for one tactic: I've played 14 seasons in one save using just one tactic that was perfect (for me) from around the 4th season. Didn't change a thing since then as we went up from 3rd to 1st division and eventually champions. Though, from a certain point the quality of your players is a major factor. Even if your tactic is solid, you'll need better players than your opponents to keep improving. 

Finally, in my experience again, if your tactic is pretty solid (which means no OP tactic you can download here), it'll keep working. Results will pick up if you rotate to players with better mroale. Or at least that's what's worked for me  

This is highly interesting. Perhaps I don't need to tweak tactics after all then. If you were rather succesful for somewhere between 10 and 14 seasons without touching your tactics, that tells a lot I guess.

Yeah, maybe it is just a form issue, who knows. Morale has seemed fine throughout my bad streak, but perhaps there some hidden attributes in that domain, I don't know.

Yeah, I don't just OP plugin tactics, just the preset 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress.

[danej]

23 minutes ago, jens_dewit said:

From my experience this year, a lot has to do with form and morale. It's been suggested around here (and I tend to agree) that it's hard this year to get out of a rut, just as much as it is easy to keep winning once you've a nice streak going.

This part is also very interesting btw. I won League One in season 1 and won the Championship in season 2. In season 3 in the Premier League I only had 20 points for the first 19 matches, then got 35 points or so in the following 16 matches. I started season 4 very well, had 16 points after the first 7 matches. Overall poor form since then, 14 points from the last 19 league matches.

So this all seems to support your view. Incredible streaks both good and bad, Perhaps that is just the name of the game in FM22.

[jens_dewit]

18 minutes ago, danej said:

This is highly interesting. Perhaps I don't need to tweak tactics after all then. If you were rather succesful for somewhere between 10 and 14 seasons without touching your tactics, that tells a lot I guess.

Yeah, maybe it is just a form issue, who knows. Morale has seemed fine throughout my bad streak, but perhaps there some hidden attributes in that domain, I don't know.

Yeah, I don't just OP plugin tactics, just the preset 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress.

I've seen it suggested a lot that the preset tactics are good starting points but that they always need some tweaking to fit your style/level/players. Maybe try dialling back a bit on some of the options?

[danej]

12 minutes ago, jens_dewit said:

Maybe try dialling back a bit on some of the options?

What does that mean?

In any case, I am considering continous tweaking according to the "red" negative suggestions in the "last 5 matches" panel in the Data Hub. For example, in my current save the ass man suggest the I lead the opposition out wide and have a lower line of engagement. Perhaps that is an easy solution - continous implementing those "red negative" suggestions.

I am just guessing/considering though. I have zero competence regarding tactics. I don't care about tactics either, find it boring. I like to play the game in a simple manner, delegate almost everything to staff except for picking the team and deciding whom to buy, sell, retain, release. I even delegate everything regarding scouting and training etc. just to make the game harder.

However, I see that I might need to make at least some occasional minor tactics tweaks, otherwise there might be too many bad streaks.

[danej]

23 hours ago, jens_dewit said:

From my experience this year, a lot has to do with form and morale. It's been suggested around here (and I tend to agree) that it's hard this year to get out of a rut, just as much as it is easy to keep winning once you've a nice streak going. 

As for one tactic: I've played 14 seasons in one save using just one tactic that was perfect (for me) from around the 4th season. Didn't change a thing since then as we went up from 3rd to 1st division and eventually champions. Though, from a certain point the quality of your players is a major factor. Even if your tactic is solid, you'll need better players than your opponents to keep improving. 

Finally, in my experience again, if your tactic is pretty solid (which means no OP tactic you can download here), it'll keep working. Results will pick up if you rotate to players with better mroale. Or at least that's what's worked for me  

I gave this some more thought, thanks for this great reply btw.

A couple of follow up questions:

1. Does that mean that you think I should just persist with my main tactics no matter what? Even when I get the email saying that the fans are sceptical towards my tactical rigidity, they say that I am unwilling to experiment?
2. If tweaks are needed, how/when do I tweak if I want to tweak as little as possible? As I have probably mentioned before, I find tactics super boring and I would prefer to just play the same tactics throughout the save and never touch it, except going attacking for the last 20 minutes when behind.

In any case, yeah, you might be spot on in what you write about good and bad streaks.

It reminds me - the quality of my squad has been rather poor throughout the save (Sunderland, starting in League One, almost 4 seasons into the save), partially because I have been very stingy with wages. In other words, on paper I have been vastly overperforming for the first three seasons.

Judging on squad quality I shouldn't have been promoted from League One in season 1.

I certainly shouldn't have been promoted from the Championship in season 2, I actually should have been in a relegation battle. I had on of the lowest wage expenditures in the league.

I shouldn't have finished 9th in the Premier League in season 3 and close to 7th and a Conference League spot. And I certainly shouldn't have had such a tremendous run in the 2nd half of the season, obtaining 35 points from the last 16 matches (I was sort of in a relegation battle in the 1st half of the season, 20 points after the first 19 matches). I should have been in a relegation battle that season. I had by far the lowest wage expenditure in the PL, just one third of Norwich, the team with the second lowest wage expenditure. A meagre 375k p/w.

I shouldn't have had the amazing start to season 4 that I had, obtaining 16 points in the first 7 matches, getting high hopes for a European spot.

Perhaps I just started expexting too much from myself and my squad. I probably thought I was an amazing manager and that my squad would keep overperforming.

In any case, I am still very uncertain about how to proceed with this and future saves. As mentioned I prefer to tweak as little as possible tactically. But the question is whether tweaks are needed to an extent.

Up untill now, I have pretty much stuck with the same tactics with no tweaks ever, sort of what you write Jens. The only tweaks being

1. Going attacking with 20 minutes to go when behind.
2. Playing a the preset low intensity park the bus 4-1-4-1 tactics when up by 4 goals, or when up by 3 goals with less than 15 minutes to go.
3. When receiving the email regarding that the fans think I am tactically rigid and unwilling to experiment (this email of course only arrives after a long and terrible run of form), I temporarily switch tactics to my b tactics with is rather randomly a 4-3-3 DM wide tiki-taka. I use this tactics for at least 4 matches or as long as it is effective, whichever is longer.

As I have probably mentioned before, I also wonder whether I should frequently check the "last 5 matches" panel in the Data Hub, use any "red negatives" suggestions as tweaks. That might not be too time consiming and complex, and it could ensure ongoing minor tweaking as some people seem to suggest. But then again, I really don't like having to do continuous tactical tweaking. And you jens seem to suggest that it is not necessary.

 

I don't know what to think.

 

One one hand the complexity of this game is intriguing. On the other hand, in some ways I have the complexity and that one might be forced to play in a perfectionstic manner to be succesful.

[herne79]

44 minutes ago, danej said:

Perhaps I just started expexting too much from myself and my squad

51 minutes ago, danej said:

It reminds me - the quality of my squad has been rather poor throughout the save

There’s your problem.

You’ve had so much success recently you’ve now come to expect it and are disappointed by recent results.  By any measure you have been wildly overachieving and been hugely successful.  Be proud and don’t be so hard on yourself.  You’ve done well !

To continue your achievements, buy better players.  Your tactic is clearly solid otherwise you wouldn’t have achieved so much so quickly, so start spending some money.  If, in a couple of seasons time you feel like you are underperforming with your shiney new improved squad, perhaps then consider tactical changes 👍.

[jens_dewit]

45 minutes ago, danej said:

I gave this some more thought, thanks for this great reply btw.

A couple of follow up questions:

1. Does that mean that you think I should just persist with my main tactics no matter what? Even when I get the email saying that the fans are sceptical towards my tactical rigidity, they say that I am unwilling to experiment?
2. If tweaks are needed, how/when do I tweak if I want to tweak as little as possible? As I have probably mentioned before, I find tactics super boring and I would prefer to just play the same tactics throughout the save and never touch it, except going attacking for the last 20 minutes when behind.

Keep in mind that what I'm about to write, is all just me. I'm far from a tactical genius, so in some ways this is the blind leading the blind  

1: I got that email a couple of times during my first three seasons too. I used to have 1-2 ruts per season where at its worst I would lose 4/5 games in a row. I kept using the same tactics and eventually results picked up again. Then I cleaned my slate, got rid of everything I thought wasn't actually good enough both for the league and for my specific tactics and got in a lot of free new players. We won the next season by storm, only losing once. 

The thing you have to keep in mind is that it's not just you against a static AI. It will analyse your game and try to adapt, just like a real manager would. That doesn't mean that 'the AI finds you out', it just means that Atletico Madrid will play differently against Dortmund when they're destroying the Bundesliga then they would against a Dortmund battling relegation. It's about reputation and form.

2: What I meant with 'dial back' some of the settings of the standard gegenpress tactic is to look at your players and find out if, for example, they have ****** stamina. If they do, such an intense tactic will have your players beat by the 60th minute. Most OP tactics out there tick EVERY box (counter press or not, counter or not, everything execpt just leaving it blank and up to your players). They try to overwhelm the opponent simply by throwing bodies at their opponent, pretty much like the French did at Crecy and Azincourt against the English  Not the perfect analogy, but you get the idea, I think? A balanced tactic will take into account the risks vs the benefits, while OP (and standard tactics do that too I think) are too busy checking boxes. For the standard tactics I believe they did that because they want to help players play a certain way - mainly for people not looking at tactics or new players who don't know (or want to know) how to get those dynamics by balancing tactics and players. I'm not perfect there either, still a lot to figure out. 

55 minutes ago, danej said:

It reminds me - the quality of my squad has been rather poor throughout the save (Sunderland, starting in League One, almost 4 seasons into the save), partially because I have been very stingy with wages. In other words, on paper I have been vastly overperforming for the first three seasons.

Judging on squad quality I shouldn't have been promoted from League One in season 1.

Perhaps I just started expexting too much from myself and my squad. I probably thought I was an amazing manager and that my squad would keep overperforming.

In any case, I am still very uncertain about how to proceed with this and future saves. As mentioned I prefer to tweak as little as possible tactically. But the question is whether tweaks are needed to an extent.

Lower elagues have always been easier to get smash results. If you have a halfway decent tactic, you should be able to wing it. The challenge starts in the first division, where you'll still overachieve in your first season as your opponents will be taken by surprise. Getting better players will help you climb up and up. If you're not willing to spend money, then it'll just take you more time by signing talents and training them until they're ready to take on the challenge. Or you sell them and buy what you need  

58 minutes ago, danej said:

As I have probably mentioned before, I also wonder whether I should frequently check the "last 5 matches" panel in the Data Hub, use any "red negatives" suggestions as tweaks. That might not be too time consiming and complex, and it could ensure ongoing minor tweaking as some people seem to suggest. But then again, I really don't like having to do continuous tactical tweaking. And you jens seem to suggest that it is not necessary.

I don't know what to think.

One one hand the complexity of this game is intriguing. On the other hand, in some ways I have the complexity and that one might be forced to play in a perfectionstic manner to be succesful.

Don't know about the data hub. In many ways, I'm like you: find what works for me and then focus on building the squad/the club/the legend. Of course, to get there, I insist on finding the way myself rather than use plug and play tactics (but I don't mind asking for advice here, of course  ) 

What you can't lose focus of: yes, I played with the same tactic for 14 years, but that doesn't mean I went straight to the top. 1st season: champions in 3rd division. Seasons 2 and 3: nada. Season 4: champions in 2nd. Seasons 5 through 12: nothing, execpt a cup here and there. Season 13: champions in 1st and won the conference league. Seasons 14 and 15: champions again. 

If you do it our way, you have to be patient and build your squad up, which becomes more of a challenge the longer your save goes on, since the top teams above you have time to keep building and becoming richer themselves. At least that's what happened in my Belgian save, because of 'play-offs'...

Hope any this helps you find a bit of perspective  

[danej]

1 hour ago, herne79 said:

There’s your problem.

You’ve had so much success recently you’ve now come to expect it and are disappointed by recent results.  By any measure you have been wildly overachieving and been hugely successful.  Be proud and don’t be so hard on yourself.  You’ve done well !

To continue your achievements, buy better players.  Your tactic is clearly solid otherwise you wouldn’t have achieved so much so quickly, so start spending some money.  If, in a couple of seasons time you feel like you are underperforming with your shiney new improved squad, perhaps then consider tactical changes 👍.

So does that mean that I don't have to do any tactical tweaks? Or perhaps it suffices to just stick to my current regime of marginal tweaks, which is to switch to my b tactics (a 4-3-3 DM wide tiki-taka) temporarily, for about 4 matches, when I get the email saying that the fans are sceptical towards my tactical rigidity and they think I am unwilling to experiment. As mentioned, I have done so once in the save so far and might do it again now (just got that email for the 2nd time this save, had the first one some time during last season/season 3.

 

In other words, what is the minimum tactical tweaks required to avoid getting totally derailed?

 

But then again - as you imply, perhaps I don't even want a "tweakish" reply to these questions. Perhaps I should just stick to my current regime. Perhaps I have been succesful enough as it is. Perhaps optimizing my tactical tweaking would just make me so succesful that the game would become boring for me subjectively (I hate it when succes is almost a foregone conclusion).

 

I really hope that I can stick to my current regime. Making marginal or no tactical tweak, to a large extent being a one tactic manager. I find tactics super boring, and generally I like playing the game in a very simple way. Outsourcing almost everything to staff, including everything regarding, scouting, training and hiring/firing of staff. And including barely touching the tactics, except going attacking when I am behind with 20 minutes to go. I love playing this way. It makes for faster gameplay. And it also makes the game much more challenging, I also have many other self imposed restrictions when I play. Including restricionts similar to lollujo's non-league to legende style, but even more. I only press on grey buttons so to speak. I never praise/critisice players outside of that. I never ask DoF for player suggestions.

 

For me personally, the game would be boring and way too easy if I didn't play with such harsh restrictions. I feel that it is very easy to dominate your saves if you don't have such restrictions.

 

Btw., an interesting side note. In my previous save (also with Sunderland), I got sacked midway through season 1. Performed terribly, was 14th in League One or something. Just terrible form that I couldn't get out of. The interesting part was that I played that save excactly like I play the current one. I actually had a much stronger squad in the previous save. I remember signing a few extra strong players that I didn't sign in the current save.

 

I actually like these wild swings in performance. Guaranteed succes would be boring. Unpredictability makes the game more exciting. So at the end of the day I think I quite enjoy the seemingly big impact of random good or bad streaks, and the wild variations that can occur from save to save, and within the save.

[danej]

1 hour ago, jens_dewit said:

1: I got that email a couple of times during my first three seasons too. I used to have 1-2 ruts per season where at its worst I would lose 4/5 games in a row. I kept using the same tactics and eventually results picked up again. Then I cleaned my slate, got rid of everything I thought wasn't actually good enough both for the league and for my specific tactics and got in a lot of free new players. We won the next season by storm, only losing once. 

 

2: What I meant with 'dial back' some of the settings of the standard gegenpress tactic is to look at your players and find out if, for example, they have ****** stamina. If they do, such an intense tactic will have your players beat by the 60th minute. Most OP tactics out there tick EVERY box (counter press or not, counter or not, everything execpt just leaving it blank and up to your players). They try to overwhelm the opponent simply by throwing bodies at their opponent, pretty much like the French did at Crecy and Azincourt against the English  Not the perfect analogy, but you get the idea, I think? A balanced tactic will take into account the risks vs the benefits, while OP (and standard tactics do that too I think) are too busy checking boxes. For the standard tactics I believe they did that because they want to help players play a certain way - mainly for people not looking at tactics or new players who don't know (or want to know) how to get those dynamics by balancing tactics and players. I'm not perfect there either, still a lot to figure out. 

Lower elagues have always been easier to get smash results. If you have a halfway decent tactic, you should be able to wing it. The challenge starts in the first division, where you'll still overachieve in your first season as your opponents will be taken by surprise. Getting better players will help you climb up and up. If you're not willing to spend money, then it'll just take you more time by signing talents and training them until they're ready to take on the challenge. Or you sell them and buy what you need  

---

What you can't lose focus of: yes, I played with the same tactic for 14 years, but that doesn't mean I went straight to the top. 1st season: champions in 3rd division. Seasons 2 and 3: nada. Season 4: champions in 2nd. Seasons 5 through 12: nothing, execpt a cup here and there. Season 13: champions in 1st and won the conference league. Seasons 14 and 15: champions again. 

If you do it our way, you have to be patient and build your squad up, which becomes more of a challenge the longer your save goes on, since the top teams above you have time to keep building and becoming richer themselves. At least that's what happened in my Belgian save, because of 'play-offs'...

Hope any this helps you find a bit of perspective  

Very interesting. So if I understand you correctly, you totally ignored those emails regarding tactical rigidity. Perhaps I should start doing the same. I certainly prefer that subjectively. For me, the game is the most fun and the most challenging when I ignore tactics as much as possible, touch tactics as little as possible. For some reason I just thought that I had to tweak when I received such an email. I though that ignoring that type of email would mean certain derailment untill I would eventually get sacked.

 

Regarding your 2nd point:

- I don't think stamina is a problem. I always rotate heavily. I mostly field players with peak stamina. Players are rarely knackered untill the last 10 minutes, in spite of the extremely intensive Gegenpress tactics. All because of my heavy rotation I think.

- So you suggest that I should use a more balanced core tactics than the preset 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress if I understand correctly. Any specific suggestions? I guess something the a more normal balance between pressing and not pressing, more normal balance between high tempo and low tempoe for example. I guess the Gegenpress is extreme when it comes to intense pressing and high tempo. But then again, subjectively I really enjoy the Gegenpress playing still. I also enjoy the tiki-taka, although I guess the two are quite similar, IIRC, the tiki-taka is also demanding regardng pressing and tempo. In any case, I don't know whether I would enjoy playing with a more slow, balanced tactic. But I could give it a try if you or anyone else have specific suggestions. In any case, I don't want to use OP tactics, for me that would make the game too easy and boring.

 

Regarding your point about easier lower league succes etc.: Yeah, you seem absolutely spot on. I am quite new to the game. This is my first save lasting more than 1 season. And the save has developed excactly as you describe. Incredible succes untill I arrived in top tier. A quite succesful first season in the top tier. My worst season so far being the present one, the 2nd in the top tier.

 

Btw. I am not against spending big money on wages etc. The thing is, untill I am proven otherwise, I believe it to be sound to adhere to a tight wage structure, as desribed towards the bottom of this link, that is pretty much excactly what I do: https://www.guidetofm.com/squad/wages/
The problem is, very few players are interested in joining my team for a reasonable wage that fits my wage structure. I imagine it would be too risky and problematic in the long run to sign new players on higher wages than they might deserve, and certainly much higher wages than what similar quality players already at the club are earning. Not least because I imagine that signing such high level players would create a spiralling effect where many or all of my current players would demand similar wages. In other words, I imagine that such a policy would mean a drastically increased wage expenditure with very little gain to show for it.

A specific excample: In principle at the moment i am willing to give potential star player signings a wage of up to 76k p/w. But the potential signings good enough to warrant such a wage either don't want to sign, or the demand even more.

 

I also very much appreciate your final comments. I have pretty much excactly the same preferences as you I think. I don't like quick, easy, chronic succes, boring. I don't want it to be any easier than what you describe. I prefer the save to have its lows as well, its periods of stagnation or worse.

 

So when I think about it, perhaps I actually prefer my save to be excactly like it is. As herne mentioned, I have probably become accustomed to succes. But when I think about it, I want to be challenged.

 

I don't think I want to make tactical tweaking to become more succesful than I already am. At the end of the day that would make me bored.

 

In any case, thanks to you and herne for all your great input so far. It helps me think and find my path.

Edited June 20, 2022 by danej

[herne79]

2 hours ago, danej said:

I actually like these wild swings in performance. Guaranteed succes would be boring. Unpredictability makes the game more exciting. So at the end of the day I think I quite enjoy the seemingly big impact of random good or bad streaks, and the wild variations that can occur from save to save, and within the save.

You’re kind of answering your own questions here 😊.  Play the game how you enjoy playing it.  If you don’t enjoy mucking around with tactics and like giving yourself restrictions such as a wage structure, then crack on 👍.

It seems to me that you’ve already found how you enjoy playing the game but perhaps got yourself a little concerned when you read/saw how others have been playing.

2 hours ago, danej said:

So does that mean that I don't have to do any tactical tweaks?

I wouldn’t say that but how you’ve been playing already has brought you both success and enjoyment, so why change?  As I said, bring in better players as/when you can - which is what you’ve already been doing as you’ve progressed through the leagues.

There may come a time in the future when you might need to consider further tactical changes, but cross that bridge if you come to it.  Bring in new players suitable for your existing system and you may not need to make changes.

TL;DR - carry on doing what you’re doing now 👌.

[JAwtunes]

I haven't read all the comments fully, but just to chip in to say I am in my 22nd season and have used the same tactic for almost all of my games. It's an asymmetric 442/433, and the other tactic was just the kind of inverse of the main, so pretty much identical. I've had big swings in form but the tactic still works. I play the youth academy challenge and someone pretty experienced on there described the game as Morale Manager shortly after release, which pretty much sums up my experience this year too. I spend so much time praising my players for their training to try to prevent big slumps in form. I go through the ritual before most games now.

[Rashidi]

On 19/06/2022 at 15:25, danej said:

This piece seems rather convicing to me that in FM22 (not FM21 and before), AI can find out your tactic, less effective to be a one tactic manager in FM22. Unfortunately for me who prefer one tactic and not caring about tactics. This piece also corresponds with my own experience and every FM content creator I follow on Youtube.

Football Manager Guide to Rotating Tactics | FM Blog (footballmanagerblog.org)

The AI has never ever worked to suss out a person's tactics, that 'programming logic' has never been in the game, and believe me for the last 20 years I have been pushing SI to incorporate a smarter AI, one that adapts to every change you make. If you are playing a 4312 it switches to a system like a 433 to exploit your flanks. That won't happen because it will push the AI to a level which makes it unplayable. There was a time many years ago when I think SI did try something like this and only 2 players in the early testing stages of the game were good enough to take the AI on, the rest found the AI unplayable.

I have been using my Box system with Palermo for a long time, switching out of it when I have an injury crises and the AI still doesn't play systems that can counter it. When I bring in better players for my system, its unplayable. I do end up having bad runs, its natural since we are favorites for relegation, who doesn't?  Fact remains, if you find yourself a good team its possible to play this game without even lifting a finger to change tactics.