Íbis Sport Club - The Attributeless, Blind Scouting, 5-2-2-1 Years!

[nick1408]

@Cleon - do you use specific opposition instructions to help your gameplay or only to negate dangerous players?

[Cleon]

34 minutes ago, nick1408 said:

@Cleon - do you use specific opposition instructions to help your gameplay or only to negate dangerous players?

No I never touch OI’s at all. 

[Bigshow1]

Just finally caught up with this and can honestly say it’s a brilliant piece yet again. As  was said earlier, it’s a shame a lot of the younger players these days just want a list of tactics to plug and play and don’t seem to have the time to absorb the detailed posts on here. I’m coming up 43 now and love the fact I’m still learning new stuff each year. 
 

I’ve only ever succeeded with a direct tactic a couple of times over the years and always felt the last few releases were favoured towards high pressing and short passing. I still have loads of ideas how I’d like my team to play but struggle to implement them so this post has really helped! Keep up the good work Cleon 👍🏻

[redNgreen]

It was an interesting reading. Could you share these two types of tactics?

[nick1408]

I've been using a 5-3-2 that @Rashidi did a video on a while back. It's also possession-based similar to the second one @Cleon wrote about here (@Cleon - if you want me to delete this post let me know). While I'm still working on the tactic I did want to post something that is important to me when building tactics. 

Disregard the score and xG for a minute (I won with a penalty) - 6 shots to 5 with the same on target isn't something to write home about. There is a glimmer of hope for my poor Hellas Verona side though.

of those six shots five were shots from outside the box. I really like this as a metric as it's a simple guide that lets me know I am really only letting Sampdoria have speculative shots. If I then have a look at clear cut chances I can confirm they really didn't get a good shot away.

The average positions also show I am strong in defence. Offence isn't looking great but I am weak and need to build the squad a bit. 

Finally, having a look at the actual shots Sampdoria took I can see by stifling their possession and being strong in defence lead to the poor shots the stats actually showed above. For comparison, I've put my shots up as well. 4/5 shots came from the strikers. Unfortunately, it was from the targetman rather than the pressure forward.

 

Like I said, I need to fix offence but this post was more about using some simple metrics to show how I look to see if defence is working while using concepts posted above.

Edited January 9, 2023 by nick1408

[Cleon]

1 hour ago, redNgreen said:

It was an interesting reading. Could you share these two types of tactics?

All the info is in the post already. I won’t be putting a download link if that’s what you’re asking. This is a topic trying to generate discussion about the principles of football.

[Guest]

@Cleon This has been brilliant and I am really looking forward to part 2. I have noticed my possesion tactic was far too staid in a creating opportunities way and it's been a lot of fun tweaking to find that sweet spot that still controls possesion but is not blunt in attack.

Btw I think the lack of tweaking and indeed using stats to analyze whats going right or wrong is why so many people lose faith in their tactics and then just stumble from tactic to tactic 

Edited January 9, 2023 by Crazy_Ivan

[_Ben_]

On 08/01/2023 at 08:43, Cleon said:

No I never touch OI’s at all. 

As an intense user of OI’s and, for the benefits of some good discussion here, can I please ask why?

[Cleon]

1 hour ago, Crazy_Ivan said:

@Cleon This has been brilliant and I am really looking forward to part 2. I have noticed my possesion tactic was far too staid in a creating opportunities way and it's been a lot of fun tweaking to find that sweet spot that still controls possesion but is not blunt in attack.

Btw I think the lack of tweaking and indeed using stats to analyze whats going right or wrong is why so many people lose faith in their tactics and then just stumble from tactic to tactic 

In part two I discuss in detail about making changes to have a bit more umph in attack. There was nothing wrong and I was still winning. But I saw something in the data that suggested we could be better.

34 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

As an intense user of OI’s and, for the benefits of some good discussion here, can I please ask why?

Purely because I have confidence in my tactic and how I've set up. Every player is required to do something really specific with the role they have or I need them to be in particular positions. If I use OI's it alters your team settings and structure because the OI's are forcing these action more often than usual. I don't want that. I also don't particular care for what the opposition is doing in general. I focus on my own side and what we do well and don't do well. If I focus on the opposition all the time then I won't get to create a playstyle as I'll always be adapting to what they're doing/going to do. If my side does the things I've set up to do, well, then we'll win most games.

[Cleon]

In the first part, we spoke more about what to do before a match and studied the weakness and strengths of the opposition. While also talking about general metrics and suggesting what could or couldn’t be wrong with something. 

In this next part of the article, we study the actual football matches and use the data to refine our tactics and spot/fix potential issues before they happen. We also look at how we can use this data to evolve our systems and become even better.

FM23: Match Analysis

Match analysis can provide a more nuanced and qualitative understanding of a match that may not be captured by purely statistical data. For example, match analysis can help to identify patterns of play, tactical decisions made by managers and players, and the overall flow of the game. It can also help to identify key moments in the match that may have had a significant impact on the outcome, such as a red card or a penalty kick.

Additionally, match analysis can provide insight into the physical and mental states of the players, which can be difficult to quantify with data alone. This can include factors such as fatigue, injuries, and psychological factors such as confidence and motivation.

Overall, match analysis can offer a more complete picture of a football match, helping to understand not only what happened on the pitch, but also why it happened and how it impacted the outcome of the game.

In Game

First up I’m going to be looking at the matches just to see if I can spot any glaring issues before using the data to delve further. There are also three things from the first article I’ll be keeping an eye on here and those are;

• Not many final third passes attempted
• Low shot quality
• Defensive actions

The first two are likely issues, we determined that in the first article. The third one is a non-issue but just want to double-check.

FM23: Match Analysis - Final Third Creativity

Since we’ve switched to the possession-based system, we have favoured possession above all else. The main aim was to keep the ball as long as we could while maintaining a large number of passes. We’ve achieved that here but when watching games, it feels like we are lacking that creative spark in the final third.

For chances created we are all the way down to 13th in the table, which could be quite telling, especially based on the “feeling” I have when watching games.

As we can see here, for the final third passes we seem to be quite high with being 3rd on the table. What is interesting here is we are high for final third passes yet low for chances created. This seems to suggest that we are prioritising passing the ball over being creative with it. This could be down to a number of factors.

Perhaps it’s down to the players being unable to create chances and the players are poorer than I realise. It is possible, after all, I am attributeless. Let’s take a look;

For open-play key passes per 90, our central midfielder on support duty is ranked 4th. Which is pretty good considering.

Our advanced playmaker is ranked 15th for key passes per 90. Again this is decent for my side and where we are but still far behind a lot of other teams. A few of the teams have multiple players here, something I was hoping we would have. But this is likely part of the problem too that we are having. So far we seem reliant on specific players when I need other players on the side to help with the burden too.

For chances created by individual players, the advanced playmaker has ranked really high again, being 3rd in the table.

What we’ve learned up to now is we do have people creating but it mainly seems to be just two players. We need to perhaps look at spreading this load out more. But first, we need to look at how the others on the side hold up in the creative department.

We also don’t have many shots per game either, we rank 18th in the entire league. But for the percentage of shots on target from the shots taken, we rank 5th with 39% We clearly have issues and are painting a vivid picture of what is at fault here based on the stats.

Team Instructions

Maybe our possession team instructions are too cautious now and not allowing us to take advantage of the opposition's defensive line being out of sync or any positional advantage we have. It is possible we tend to take extra passes rather than releasing the ball to the attackers. 

This is a reminder of the team instructions we are using;

• Much shorter passing
• Play out of defence
• Low crosses
• Dribble less
• Works ball into box
• Lower tempo
• Fairly narrow

Out of all of these team instructions, I think it’s only likely that the issue is two or three of them. Possibly all three of them combined. But I think much shorter passing might be making players dwell on the ball more and not being direct enough in their passing, which means we can waste good opportunities in favour of the pass.

Dribble less is an interesting one too as this could be one of the major factors at play here. We don’t allow players to dribble so maybe they can’t create the space we need or create chances themselves because again, we are telling them to pass the ball more than dribble with it.

The last one I think could be and the likely real issue at cause here is; works ball into the box. Again we are asking players to reign back the shots and take extra touches and passes to retain the ball.

Every team instruction I’ve mentioned so far is focused on encouraging more passes or touches over dribbling and taking shots. This suggests the gut feeling about us overplaying the ball is true. The next step now is to see if this is the case in the game and prove the gut feeling as a fact.

Pass Maps

The majority of my pass maps are like the above. They show that we play centrally and then out to the wings and then back centrally. There aren’t many penetrations or pass combinations in the final third centrally. This is a real problem as we have two attacking midfielders who should be able to dominate here and dictate the game in the final third.

It seems that the central midfielders have all the influence and everything is going through them. That in itself isn’t a major issue but the fact the attacking midfielder and the advanced playmaker aren’t having the kind of influence I hoped, that’s a real issue. Not just because this is likely why we don’t create much as the team's creativity is far too deep to do anything noteworthy. But more because how we are playing isn’t really matching the football philosophy I wanted.

Or maybe, it actually is but now I have something else in mind and need to evolve it. That’s probably a better way of looking at it here. At first, we wanted to retain possession at all costs because we didn’t have the players to compete with teams by allowing them the majority of the ball. Perhaps now, we need to take that next step and turn that possession into shots and goals rather than possession.

Before that though, I need to gather some screenshots from a few games to confirm why we aren’t creating much and what we can do to fix it.

Earlier on I mentioned the gut feeling we had about passing the ball around too much and taking extra touches. So here is an example of play I see happening 20+ times a game. I should note that I left it this long before investigating and fixing for the content and examples throughout this article. If you see something you are not happy with happening regularly, do not wait to investigate and potentially fix it. Try to sort the issue out before it becomes a major issue.

In the above image, the advanced playmaker receives the ball and is pushed out towards the wing, as that is the only free space he has. He’s also being double marked so he can’t really do much else. But even without that, if you look at the forward options he doesn’t actually have any realistic options, even if he was facing forwards.

The wingback is lagging behind play so in this scenario, he is only ever going to be a safe sideways/backward pass. Rather than playing a forward pass. Every single option to the wingback requires the wingback to run with the ball once he gets it, to create his own space and movement.

If the advanced playmaker could have got the ball to the striker, then that would have been wasted as he’s actually offside. So again not an option.

The central midfielder with a support duty is also marked so he isn’t an option either.

Options-wise, the attacking midfielder is interesting as he has lots of space and is unmarked. But he isn’t actively involved in play because the advanced playmaker is going towards the wings.

So if we refer back to the pass map above, you can now begin to see why we don’t really have forward passes deep in the opposition's half. Due to the ball being played out to the wings, then back inside and backwards. With us being deep here then this is clearly a role issue. Yes, we have team instructions that tell us to retain the ball but even if they were not selected, it doesn’t really change the player positioning.

Using the right player roles and duties: Different player roles and duties can affect the way your team plays and the type of passes they will attempt. For example, using a "playmaker" role in midfield can encourage more creative passing, while a "support" duty for your fullbacks can encourage them to get forward and provide attacking options from deep areas.

What we see here is this playing out. The players are just doing what they’ve been instructed to do. We aren’t actually focusing on getting the ball forward with any real intent. This has a knock-on effect on everything else in the tactic and the way we play. When we started out retaining the ball above all else was fine. As we are now getting better, we need to be more proactive with it.

We might have just won the league but the context here is everything. We did it by being clinical with the chances we got which is fine. But then you remember we are passing the ball around more than other teams and struggle to create chances in general. Add this to the shot quality issue we mentioned in the last article too and we have real underlying issues.

We’ve been lucky this season for sure and the strong defensive unit gave us a chance. But what happens when we become less clinical, less solid defensively and create even fewer chances? We’d likely struggle and playing this way with those underlying issues is a disaster waiting to happen. When it all goes in your favour it’s fine but when it goes against you, we’d be in real trouble. The contrast between things going for you or against you is the difference between winning the league and struggling near the bottom. I’m not exaggerating when I say that. In a different season with not as much luck, we could have easily been fighting relegation. This is why I always bang on about the context of the match, statistics and everything in general.

All of our issues are linked and part of the same thing. You’ll have heard me mention before during my articles about the domino effect and how if a player is caught out of position then someone elsewhere on the side, has to cover and then that means someone has to cover for him and so on. This issue here is the same kind of principle. We are passing the ball sideways and backwards, we aren’t aggressive enough with our roles, and we aren’t creating much or taking many shots. It’s not a sustainable way of playing.

This all stems from what we are doing with the ball and the sideway passes, especially when our creative players who have creative roles are in possession of the ball.

Fixing The Issues

There are a number of options we can explore here to improve us as a team and create more chances and score more goals. So what are the options?

Risky approach: Working the ball into the box is a risky tactic, as it involves attempting to pass the ball through a congested and highly-defended area of the pitch. This can lead to turnovers and counter-attacks for the opposition, especially if your passes are not accurate or your movement is not well-coordinated.

Can lead to over-dependence on crosses: If your team is overly reliant on working the ball into the box, it can lead to a reliance on crosses from wide areas.  While crosses can be effective at creating chances, they are also relatively low-percentage plays and can be easily defended against by well-organized defences.

If you don’t have players positioned correctly in the attacking phase then it can be quite tricky to retain the ball when you want to work the ball into the box. It can actually see an increase in bad-quality shots and crosses. If the players don’t have options then they’ll revert to these two things by default because what else can you do when you have no other options?

I’m sure my side has been impacted by this and the stats seem to suggest so too, especially with the low-quality shots we have. I could remove works the ball into the box team instruction. We don’t actually create many chances as it is, this will encourage us to take more shots if the player thinks that is the best option. This is likely to impact other areas of the tactic too, especially the player roles. The advanced playmaker might be more open to attempting through-balls without this team instruction activated.

The wingbacks might be happier to whip crosses into the box too or get to the byline and cut the ball back across the goal. I could also change the duty of one of the wingbacks and change it to attacking. That should make him a bit more advanced meaning the advanced playmaker can pass the ball to him in higher positions. Rather than what we see currently, sideways and backpasses. I feel it’s obvious but I’ll still mention it in case;  if I do go this route then it’ll be the wingback on the right side of the pitch I change, as he is the one closest to the advanced playmaker.

If I’m more proactive in the final third then I also need to have players in positions to make use of this. Currently, I use an attacking midfielder on support duty. I could change his duty to an attacking one or I could consider changing his role. If we change the role, it kind of picks itself too as there aren’t many role choices. The roles that can be used in the AM slots are;

• Attacking Midfielder
• Advanced Playmaker
• Trequartista
• Enganche
• Shadow Striker

From these options, we can eliminate most of them. We already use an attacking midfielder that is the role we are talking about changing. The same can be said for the advanced playmaker, the other attacking midfielder we use in the tactic currently has this role. I don’t feel this setup would work that well with two of them.

The enganche doesn’t feel like a good fit either and is more of a static playmaker, who will just sit and play the ball. I’m not sure this fits to sit alongside the advanced playmaker either. We need more of a runner and someone who can get high up the pitch and act as a second striker.

We could consider a trequartista but he’d likely detract from the advanced playmaker's game because it can be quite a selfish role. What we want is to pick a role that compliments the advanced playmakers game not take away from it. The role needs to shine and because it’s a highly creative role, ideally he needs runners so he can create for them.

That leaves the shadow striker, who is basically a second striker and will constantly be inside the box. This will add another dimension to our setup, a much more aggressive and direct approach. It comes down to a choice between the shadow striker role or changing the duty of the current role, the attacking midfielder to an attacking one.

I’ve used the attacking midfielder role the entire of this save game so far and it’s done well. But now we are looking to move on from being a side that retains possession above all else and I’m looking to create an attacking identity. I think the shadow striker fits the new philosophy and will give us another direct goal threat. The role also compliments the attacking playmaker, which is a bonus.

In the first article I also said that an advanced forward was an option to use but the reason I didn’t, was due to liking the pressing element of the pressing forward. But if we remove works ball into the box and use a shadow striker, perhaps the advanced forward will be better now. In theory, he’d occupy the defenders and keep them busy while the shadow striker is making surging runs into the box. It just seems a better fit cohesively and each player does something specific that enhances the other roles in the side.

Defensive Actions And Pressing

Opposition passes per defensive action is a statistic that tracks the number of passes made by the opposing team (the team on the attack) for every defensive action made by the team being tracked. A defensive action can include tackles, clearances, interceptions, blocks, and other plays made by the defence that disrupt the opposing team's possession.

This statistic is a way to measure the effectiveness of a team's defence in terms of how well it is able to disrupt the opposing team's passing game. A lower number of opposition passes per defensive action is generally considered to be a positive sign, as it suggests that the team's defence is able to make more frequent and effective interventions to disrupt the opposing team's passes. On the other hand, a higher number of opposition passes per defensive action indicates that the defence is not as effective at disrupting the opposing team's possession and they are allowed to complete more passes.

The opposition passes per defensive action metric can also be attributed to a team's press, which is a tactic that involves applying high defensive pressure on the opposing team in the early stages of their possession in an attempt to win the ball back quickly. Pressing can be an effective way to disrupt the opposing team's passing game and prevent them from building up their attack.

When a team presses effectively, they can force the opposing team to make mistakes in their passing, rush their decisions, and limit the number of passes they can make before being dispossessed. The team that press can make the opposing team feel like they have no time or space to pass or build their attack, this is why the press can have a major impact on the opposition's passes per defensive action metric.

A team that presses high and well can make their opposition make fewer passes, so the ratio of passes vs defensive actions will decrease. In other words, if a team that presses high and well manages to win the ball more frequently, this will decrease the amount of passes the other team is able to make.

 

We rank the highest in the league for OPPPDA so this shows that our press is working. But again this is an area where I feel the data perhaps doesn’t tell the whole story and my gut is telling me something else.

When watching games, at times, it looks like my players are charging around attempting to win the ball high up the pitch but is sometimes bypassed or unable to get to the player they are pressing. The data suggest we are fine though but I don’t think we are. Let’s have a look at the strengths and weaknesses of a high press;

Strengths:

• Forces mistakes: By applying intense pressure on the opposition's players, a highly aggressive press can force them to make mistakes or play risky passes, which can lead to turnovers and scoring opportunities.
• Can win the ball back high up the pitch: A highly aggressive press can win the ball back in advanced areas, close to the opposition's goal, which can create good scoring chances.
• Can disrupt the opposition's build-up play: By pressing high up the pitch, a highly aggressive press can make it difficult for the opposition to build their attacks from the back and can force them to play more directly or play the ball long.

Weaknesses:

• Can leave your team exposed to counter-attacks: If the press is not executed well or if the opposition is able to play through it, it can leave your team vulnerable to counter-attacks and expose your defence to dangerous situations.
• Can be tiring: A highly aggressive press requires a lot of physical and mental effort from your players and can be tiring over the course of a game. This can affect your team's performance in the latter stages of a match.
• Can be ineffective against well-organized defences: If the opposition is able to defend well and maintain their shape, a highly aggressive press may not be effective and can lead to gaps and openings in your own defence.

I’ve mentioned it a few times but you should always trust your gut feeling. Or at the very least, look more in-depth at what is making you have this type of feeling. I wanted to include this example because I think it’s important and highlights why you need to pay attention to what is happening in game. Again, focusing on the actual context.

In the above image the player closest to number 1, starts to close him down as we are using a very aggressive press. As soon as he moves to close him down, he passes the ball to number 2.

When number 2 receives the ball then my player immediately goes to shut him off too. But a simple pass to number 3 and they have the ball deep in my own half. Not only that but they’ve bypassed my entire midfield and initially have a 1v1 down here on my right.

Quite a number of factors can play into why this is happening though. Your press will work differently against all different types of shapes. Here, Santos is using a 4-2-3-1 formation and we are lining up in our usual 5-2-2-1 shape. Naturally, Santos has the advantage in wide areas and this is why our press is easy to play through as they’re using the width of the pitch.

This is why at times I feel my players are running about like headless chickens. But the data overall show we have a really good press on face value. But when our press fails like in the above example, we are left vulnerable. So what can I do about it?

One thing would be to pay more attention to what is happening during the game while it happens. If you see this happening in real-time, you can simply alter your press in general. As we use counter-press, I’d likely remove that and either leave it blank or ask the players to regroup. We’d still concede the same space but the two players who originally went to press the ball, would be in better positions centrally and able to pick up any runners.

If we regroup then I’m sure Santos will find it very difficult to attempt to play through us centrally. This also means any crosses from wide we would be better placed to deal with and we reduce the risk of counterattacks against us because player positioning is just better.

Other options would be to reduce the trigger press and try and engage the opposition in lower areas of the pitch instead. Again keeping our defensive shape allows us to stay compact. If I made this type of change I’d also move to a mid-block. I’d go mid-block as we have four central players with the two central midfielders and the two attacking midfielders. So we have the numbers to dominate the ball in a mid-block against the 4-2-3-1 formation.

If we played in a lower block we’d likely allow the wide players to see more of the ball and we already know, I struggle for numbers outside already. So we’d end up with too much pressure in a low block and that’s why a mid-block would be way more suitable. As that should allow you to cut off the supply to the wide players too.

There is still lots more to cover and we’ve only just scratched the surface so far in terms of data and analysis. But this seems like a good place to end this current article. Then in the next one, we can look at the changes made and see how they’ve impacted the shape and results. We can also have a lot more match analysis too as we discuss more issues.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the article. If you want to chat with us more why not check us out on Discord?

Join Discord

[robot_skeleton]

Really loving the direction you are going with this thread, I faced the exact same issues with my possession tactic, but for me it remained unsolved because I had an issue with the database I used so I abandoned the save.

One thing I noticed was that it is somewhat easy to create a tactic with crazy high possession numbers in FM 23 but it is often just sterile, toothless possession and in such cases it almost always comes down to roles/duties.

For me it feels like roles and duties make or break a tactic and they should function without the TIs, I feel like if the player nails the roles/duties they usually can't go horribly wrong with the other stuff.

[phnompenhandy]

Very useful and very timely article. I started with a very similar formation, a 5-2-1-2 and pretty much followed your tactics. A critical year-long injury to my best player has caused a rethink and shift to a 4-3-3, but still overall the same philosophy. The change has plugged a gap in my defence but made the attack a bit toothless, so I'll take on board all your analyses and observe the issues in my team through your lens.

By the way, in my narrative (here - The Evolving Story of DUNVEGAN CASTLE FC), the coaching staff and I are doing our national badges at Burton, learning a combination of Jack's [@TheCult0f] England DNA and your philosophy, and our Continental badges at Madrid and Manchester, due to Jack's previous YouTube series recreating Simeone's and Guardiola's tactics!

[Manden]

@Cleon Fantastic rundown on how to fix the possession without intent. I have had the exact same issue in my deportivo save, sometime running 70% possession and end up having to score from set-pieces to be able to get something from matches. I have been running a mix of 4-1-4-1/4-4-2/4-4-1-1 but have been lacking something in attack  when my initial counter has failed. 

Did you consider making the forward a support role, so he would be more likely to be open for a pass from the AP? maybe drawing a defender with him so there is more space for the shadow striker?

[Yisz]

Brilliant read, thanks Cleon!

[Cleon]

16 hours ago, robot_skeleton said:

Really loving the direction you are going with this thread, I faced the exact same issues with my possession tactic, but for me it remained unsolved because I had an issue with the database I used so I abandoned the save.

One thing I noticed was that it is somewhat easy to create a tactic with crazy high possession numbers in FM 23 but it is often just sterile, toothless possession and in such cases it almost always comes down to roles/duties.

For me it feels like roles and duties make or break a tactic and they should function without the TIs, I feel like if the player nails the roles/duties they usually can't go horribly wrong with the other stuff.

For me the roles and duties have always been key. The rest of the things like PI's and TI's are all about refining/creating the style of play you want. But the roles and duties are key to getting the actions and movement you need.

2 hours ago, phnompenhandy said:

Very useful and very timely article. I started with a very similar formation, a 5-2-1-2 and pretty much followed your tactics. A critical year-long injury to my best player has caused a rethink and shift to a 4-3-3, but still overall the same philosophy. The change has plugged a gap in my defence but made the attack a bit toothless, so I'll take on board all your analyses and observe the issues in my team through your lens.

By the way, in my narrative (here - The Evolving Story of DUNVEGAN CASTLE FC), the coaching staff and I are doing our national badges at Burton, learning a combination of Jack's [@TheCult0f] England DNA and your philosophy, and our Continental badges at Madrid and Manchester, due to Jack's previous YouTube series recreating Simeone's and Guardiola's tactics!

One injury made you make a total tactic shift? What was the thought process there? Seems a bit extreme.

1 hour ago, Manden said:

@Cleon Fantastic rundown on how to fix the possession without intent. I have had the exact same issue in my deportivo save, sometime running 70% possession and end up having to score from set-pieces to be able to get something from matches. I have been running a mix of 4-1-4-1/4-4-2/4-4-1-1 but have been lacking something in attack  when my initial counter has failed. 

Did you consider making the forward a support role, so he would be more likely to be open for a pass from the AP? maybe drawing a defender with him so there is more space for the shadow striker?

I originally used a support duty on the pressing forward with the low possession tactic. But because I wanted more attacking threat, ideally, I want 2 of the front 3 to be attacking. If the lone striker drops deep he's dropping into an area where the AP already operates and this can take away any space he has. You can do it that way if you want but it wouldn't be much different to how we play now. Still only 1 real attacking threat in the box all the time. That was one of the issues we were having, not enough attacking threat. It would just be like for like going the deep striker route.

If you wanted to go that route then if it was me, I'd have both attacking midfielders on attack duty and attacking the box. So would change the AP to a AM attack likely as you wouldn't need a creator if the striker is dropping deep and being the link player.

56 minutes ago, Yisz said:

Brilliant read, thanks Cleon!

Thank you

[Guest]

Really interesting read and you have made me think about my pressing vs certain formations. It makes total sense that some formations will be easier to bypass a high press. Do you change the pressing game to game or are these changes permanent?

Regarding your strikers and how you moved a striker from a support to attack duty, is it who your most lethal scorer is that decides what role you give him and players surrounding him?

[Cleon]

Just now, Crazy_Ivan said:

Really interesting read and you have made me think about my pressing vs certain formations. It makes total sense that some formations will be easier to bypass a high press. Do you change the pressing game to game or are these changes permanent?

Regarding your strikers and how you moved a striker from a support to attack duty, is it who your most lethal scorer is that decides what role you give him and players surrounding him?

Just for this game only. If I made a change it's only usually during that game. Most of the time it's fine and I don't change often but on occasions, especially against really good technical sides then I will adapt if they're hurting us like in the example above.

As for the striker, no, what we do with the ball determines the striker not the player. It doesn't matter what striker I use the system is set up to score a similar amount of goals regardless of who plays the role.

[phnompenhandy]

32 minutes ago, Cleon said:

One injury made you make a total tactic shift? What was the thought process there? Seems a bit extreme.

I'm in the second season of my Academy Challenge. With my first intake being poor and only retaining 5 kids, my squad is very thin. My star striker is out for a year with a damaged spine, leaving me with two forwards in a formation that uses 2 forwards. I'm taking a lot of injuries so it was too risky to depend on a 2-up-top system. As it happens, the change to a 4-3-3 with wingbacks further back has solved my defensive problems (it's all explained in exhaustive length in the ongoing career update). If I get the right personnel in my next intake, I could revert, but I'm very restricted to the kids at my disposal.

 

[Cleon]

12 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

I'm in the second season of my Academy Challenge. With my first intake being poor and only retaining 5 kids, my squad is very thin. My star striker is out for a year with a damaged spine, leaving me with two forwards in a formation that uses 2 forwards. I'm taking a lot of injuries so it was too risky to depend on a 2-up-top system. As it happens, the change to a 4-3-3 with wingbacks further back has solved my defensive problems (it's all explained in exhaustive length in the ongoing career update). If I get the right personnel in my next intake, I could revert, but I'm very restricted to the kids at my disposal.

 

Could you not just have dropped the striker back to AM? So you can use almost anyone in the role and go 5-2-2-1 instead?

[phnompenhandy]

45 minutes ago, Cleon said:

Could you not just have dropped the striker back to AM? So you can use almost anyone in the role and go 5-2-2-1 instead?

Maybe. Like you, I can't see their attributes, and it seemed to me some of the players are very specialist in their roles and not flexible in others. I was pretty confident they fitted into a 4-3-3 and not so sure about others. But it was connected to my defensive issues - we were by far the highest scorers in the league, but top 3 in terms of goals conceded - the Back 5 just wasn't working defensively. I'm still bedding the 4-3-3 in; it's taking longer than I'd hoped because I have an injury crisis, but in time I'll make a decision which one to stick to - it will probably depend on my next academy intake.

[Skora11]

On 09/01/2023 at 09:37, Cleon said:

Purely because I have confidence in my tactic and how I've set up. Every player is required to do something really specific with the role they have or I need them to be in particular positions. If I use OI's it alters your team settings and structure because the OI's are forcing these action more often than usual. I don't want that. I also don't particular care for what the opposition is doing in general. I focus on my own side and what we do well and don't do well. If I focus on the opposition all the time then I won't get to create a playstyle as I'll always be adapting to what they're doing/going to do. If my side does the things I've set up to do, well, then we'll win most games.

Sorry to jump into someone else's question but just like to see how you would approach this tactically. 

Currently I use OI's to trigger the press to a specific area, so teams playing with 2 DM's and WB's I might trigger the press on all and occasionally tackle harder for it to be more aggressive. Or if using a back four I might trigger the press on all 4 defender's if I am looking to completely dominate some of the weaker teams at home. Would you use the 'mark area' part of the player instructions to achieve this instead?

[Cleon]

9 minutes ago, Skora11 said:

Sorry to jump into someone else's question but just like to see how you would approach this tactically. 

Currently I use OI's to trigger the press to a specific area, so teams playing with 2 DM's and WB's I might trigger the press on all and occasionally tackle harder for it to be more aggressive. Or if using a back four I might trigger the press on all 4 defender's if I am looking to completely dominate some of the weaker teams at home. Would you use the 'mark area' part of the player instructions to achieve this instead?

It depends. Just because a team might use 2 DM's and WB's it doesn't mean they'll be hard to break down or that each that uses these, utilise them the same way. It's not an always thing. But you could ask your AM's to man mark the oppositions DM's yeah.

Edited January 11, 2023 by Cleon

[The3points]

Curious as to why PPDA in the game is so low when in Real life it barely ever goes below 9

[Cleon]

43 minutes ago, The3points said:

Curious as to why PPDA in the game is so low when in Real life it barely ever goes below 9

Likely different calculations compared to real life and probably doesn't count 60% of the pitch like real life. Some PPDA metrics have them below 6 for some teams in the Prem. But most places have the league average as 12.8 for this season with Leeds the lowest at 9.8.

Also have to remember it's hard to replicate real life too, last year when defenders passed the ball around in their own final third constantly everyone moaned that it was bugged and overkill. 

Edited January 14, 2023 by Cleon

[Fritz13]

@Cleon    I think part 2 might be some of the best stuff I’ve ever read on FM 

Loving the rationale for some of your tactical and player role changes.

I know you always use different roles when you set up your MCs, FBs etc (e.g. a RPM and a MEZ as the CMs) and I remember one of your tactics years ago where the IF would be the main goal scoring threat.

I use the same roles for both of my FBs, CBs, CMs and Ws - so 2x BPD-D, 2x IWB-S, 2x MEZ-A & 2x W-S 

…. Would this makes a tactic too predictable do you think?

 My logic for doing this is that I can play the same down both flanks and the middle but unclear if this might be flawed 

 

[Cleon]

3 hours ago, Fritz13 said:

@Cleon    I think part 2 might be some of the best stuff I’ve ever read on FM 

Loving the rationale for some of your tactical and player role changes.

I know you always use different roles when you set up your MCs, FBs etc (e.g. a RPM and a MEZ as the CMs) and I remember one of your tactics years ago where the IF would be the main goal scoring threat.

I use the same roles for both of my FBs, CBs, CMs and Ws - so 2x BPD-D, 2x IWB-S, 2x MEZ-A & 2x W-S 

…. Would this makes a tactic too predictable do you think?

 My logic for doing this is that I can play the same down both flanks and the middle but unclear if this might be flawed 

 

Thanks

If it works for you sure. But personally speaking, I don't like to mirror roles on both sides. I much prefer variety and to attack sides in different ways. This is just my preference. But the benefits for how I play and approach games of not mirroring roles are;

• Keeping the opposing team on their toes: By using different attacking strategies, it can be more difficult for the opposing team to predict what your team will do next, making it harder for them to defend.
• Creating opportunities for different players: Different attacking strategies can create opportunities for different players on your team to shine.
• Exploiting weaknesses in the opposing team: By using different role/duty strategies, you can better exploit any weaknesses in the opposing team's defence
• Keeping the game unpredictable and exciting: By mixing up players role and duty strategies, it can make the game more unpredictable and exciting for both the players and the spectators. As players make runs at different times, use the ball different and create space different.

 

 

[Diverisma158]

hace 54 minutos, Cleon dijo:

Thanks

If it works for you sure. But personally speaking, I don't like to mirror roles on both sides. I much prefer variety and to attack sides in different ways. This is just my preference. But the benefits for how I play and approach games of not mirroring roles are;

• Keeping the opposing team on their toes: By using different attacking strategies, it can be more difficult for the opposing team to predict what your team will do next, making it harder for them to defend.
• Creating opportunities for different players: Different attacking strategies can create opportunities for different players on your team to shine.
• Exploiting weaknesses in the opposing team: By using different role/duty strategies, you can better exploit any weaknesses in the opposing team's defence
• Keeping the game unpredictable and exciting: By mixing up players role and duty strategies, it can make the game more unpredictable and exciting for both the players and the spectators. As players make runs at different times, use the ball different and create space different.

 

 

Hi Cleon!! U good? Can u share us the file with the tactic to 2023 version pls? Thanks!

[Cleon]

18 minutes ago, Diverisma158 said:

Hi Cleon!! U good? Can u share us the file with the tactic to 2023 version pls? Thanks!

All the details are in the post already, so you can make it yourself. This thread is for a discussion around the tactic, the principles of it etc and not a download. A download defeats the purpose and aim of the thread.

[Diverisma158]

hace 2 horas, Cleon dijo:

All the details are in the post already, so you can make it yourself. This thread is for a discussion around the tactic, the principles of it etc and not a download. A download defeats the purpose and aim of the thread.

I get it! The thread is great. I did what you say in FM22, but in FM23 I don't know if you changed any instructions or something I missed.

[Cleon]

37 minutes ago, Diverisma158 said:

I get it! The thread is great. I did what you say in FM22, but in FM23 I don't know if you changed any instructions or something I missed.

This entire thread is for FM23. Every setting I used is in the thread already.

[Vizzini]

Just wanted to say thank you for a great write up! Made me realise I was trying to force the issue too much. After removing a couple of TI's my tactic has a much better balance to it. 

[Cleon]

I've started writing the next chapter today;

[Cleon]

I'm hoping to finish this, this weekend and be able to release it Monday or Tuesday.  It's turned out way more detailed that I imagined it would. So it'll be a really lengthy deep-dive again.

[HanziZoloman]

Thanks @Cleon tried this with Braunschweig in 3rd division and works well with some tweaks.

 

[Cleon]

FM23: The Secrets of Successful Goalscoring - In Football Manager, finding consistent goal scorers can be challenging. Many forum threads, blog posts, YouTube videos, and streamers discuss the difficulty of getting players to score frequently. With a lot of attention given to the striker position. But the problem may not lie in the player's role, duty, or settings, but rather in the type or level of support, they receive. This article will provide tips on how to give your strikers the best chance of scoring goals, regardless of the team, league, country or level you are managing. While initially, this will be a topic about the 5-2-2-1 formation I've been using, the principles apply to all formations.

FM23: The Secrets - The Obvious

A successful goalscorer has key characteristics such as finishing ability, movement, aerial ability, mental strength, and physical attributes. To evaluate these characteristics, we can use the following statistics; 

• Goals scored: The most obvious and important statistic for a goalscorer is the number of goals that they have scored. This can include the total number of goals scored in a season, as well as the number of goals scored per game or per minute played.
• Shots on target: A good goalscorer will be able to convert their chances into goals. So they will typically have a high ratio of shots on target. This can be measured by dividing the number of shots on target by the total number of shots taken, and it can give an indication of the player's accuracy and finishing ability.
• Conversion rate: Another key statistic for a goalscorer is their conversion rate. Which measures the percentage of chances that they are able to convert into goals. This can be calculated by dividing the number of goals scored by the number of chances created. It can give an indication of the player's efficiency and effectiveness in front of the goal.
• Minutes per goal: For players who have scored a significant number of goals, another useful statistic is the number of minutes that they take to score each goal. This can be calculated by dividing the total number of minutes played by the number of goals scored. It can give an indication of the player's ability to score goals quickly and efficiently.
• Expected goals: Expected goals (xG) is a statistical measure that estimates the likelihood of a given shot being scored. Based on a range of factors such as the location of the shot, the type of pass or cross that led to the chance, and the type of shot that was taken. A good goalscorer will typically have a high xG, indicating that they are able to create and convert high-quality chances.

These statistics provide insights into a player's ability to consistently and effectively score goals for their team.

What is good?

In football, there's no set number of goals per game that defines an acceptable level for a goalscorer. It depends on various factors such as the level of competition. Or the quality of the team and the playing style and tactics of the team. Generally, a player who scores more than 0.5 goals per game is considered to be performing well. This means they score at least one goal every two games. However, this may vary depending on the league and team. 

For example, a player in a lower-level league or weaker team may score at a higher rate and still perform well. Likewise, a player in a more defensive or possession-based team may score at a lower rate. But still, be effective if they make a significant contribution to the team's attacking play.

FM23: The Secrets of Successful Goalscoring - Types of Goalscorers

Strikers aren't the only goal-scorers you can have. You can make a midfielder or even a wide player the main goal scorer of the team, which may be harder but it's still possible.

A goalscoring midfielder is a player who consistently and effectively scores goals for their team. They have a range of skills and attributes that allow them to contribute to the team's attacking play and score goals regularly. Some of the key characteristics of a successful goalscoring midfielder include:

• Finishing ability: This includes being able to shoot accurately with both feet. Being able to finish with power or precision. And being able to make good decisions about when and how to shoot.
• Movement: They will be able to create space for themselves and get into scoring positions. This includes making runs off the ball, anticipating passes and making intelligent movements to create space for shots or passes.
• Aerial ability: Many goals are scored from crosses or set pieces. So a good goalscoring midfielder will be able to score with their head. This includes being able to jump and head the ball accurately and with power, as well as being able to time their runs to meet crosses at the right moment.
• Creativity and vision: The midfielder will also have the creativity and vision skills to create chances for themselves and their teammates. This can include the ability to pick out a pass, dribble past defenders, and create space for others to score.
• Physical attributes: These enable them to excel in the demanding physical environment of football. This can include being quick and agile and having good stamina. While also having the strength and power to hold off defenders and score in challenging situations.

Differences

Some of the main distinctions between a goalscoring midfielder and a goalscoring striker are;

• Position: The most obvious difference between a goalscoring midfielder and a goalscoring striker is their position on the pitch. A goalscoring midfielder is typically positioned in the middle of the pitch, either as a central midfielder or as an attacking midfielder. While a goalscoring striker, on the other hand, is positioned at the front of the team, either as a lone striker or as part of a front two or front three.
• Role and responsibilities: The midfielder is typically expected to contribute to the team's attacking play by creating chances for themselves and their teammates. As well as by scoring goals. A goalscoring striker, on the other hand, is typically the main source of goals for the team. They are expected to score the majority of the team's goals.
• Types of goals: Another key difference between a goalscoring midfielder and a goalscoring striker is the types of goals that they are expected to score. A goalscoring midfielder may be expected to score a wide range of goals. Including long-range shots, volleys, and headers, as well as tap-ins and close-range finishes. While the striker, on the other hand, is typically expected to score a higher proportion of goals from inside the box, such as close-range finishes and headers.

Overall, the two roles may have similarities. But there are also key differences in their position, role, and responsibilities within the team. As well as the types of goals they are expected to score.

A wide goalscorer is a player on the flanks of the pitch. They can be a winger, inside forward, wingbacks or fullbacks and so on. They consistently and effectively score goals for their team. They can be an important part of a team's attacking play. Providing an additional goal threat from wide positions and creating space for other players to score.

FM23: The Secrets of Successful Goalscoring - Is It Really That Simple?

The answer is no, it is possible to create a system on Football Manager that scores goals regardless of the striker's skill level. My approach to building tactics is to create as many chances as possible in various different ways. The striker in these systems I create usually finishes off the chances and may not be involved in the build-up. Their job is simply to finish the chances.

Individual players aren't as important as the system overall. A bad striker can score lots of goals if all they have to do is put the ball in the net. In my opinion, the real secret to successful goalscoring doesn't start with the striker, it starts well before that. Let's explore what I mean.

FM23: The Secrets of Successful Goalscoring - Understanding the System and Striker Roles

No matter the system you are using, the fundamentals of goalscoring remain the same. This applies to any country or level you are playing in. When I first started playing, I was in the 6th tier of Brazil and these principles still worked.

 

These topics are all about the tactic I am using and also give you an insight into how the tactic is and has evolved over time. As well as giving you an idea of the issues I’ve faced so far and how I’ve fixed them.

For me, the striker roles are split into three different kinds of strikers;

• Creative strikers
• Support strikers
• Attacking strikers

Some of the roles can overlap with others, especially with the change of duty. But I still think it’s a good way of understanding a role, by thinking of them in either a creative, supportive or attacking way.

For a better understanding and more in-depth explanation check out this article I recently wrote;

https://www.viewfromthetouchline.com/2022/09/09/choosing-the-best-striker-role/

 

FM23: The Secrets of Successful Goalscoring - Creating Space

Creating space for a goalscorer in football is an important part of attacking play. There are a number of tactics and strategies that teams can use to create space for their goalscorers, allowing them to get into scoring positions and convert chances into goals. Some of the key ways to create space for a goalscorer include:

• Movement and positioning: A good goal scorer will be able to create space for themselves by making intelligent runs and movements off the ball. This can include making diagonal runs behind the opposition's defence. Or making runs into the channels between the fullbacks and the centre-backs. Or making runs into the space between the opposition midfield and defence. By making these runs, goalscorers can create space for themselves and give themselves opportunities to score.
• Attacking midfielders and wingers: Attacking midfielders and wingers can also be used to create space for a goalscorer. By making runs down the flanks, these players can stretch the opposition's defence. This then creates space in the centre of the pitch for the goalscorer to exploit. This can be particularly effective if the attacking midfielder or winger is able to deliver a good cross into the box. Giving the goalscorer a chance to score with a header or a volley.
• Decoy runs and dummy runs: Decoy runs and dummy runs can also be used to create space for a goalscorer. By making runs that are intended to distract or confuse the opposition defence. The players can create space for the goal scorer to move into. For example, if an attacking midfielder makes a run into the box, the opposition defenders may follow them. Leaving space for the goal scorer to move into and score.
• Set pieces: Set pieces, such as corners and free kicks, can also be used to create space for a goalscorer. By delivering the ball into the box from a wide or central position. The attacking team can create confusion and chaos in the opposition's defence, giving the goalscorer an opportunity to score.

FM23: The Secrets of Successful Goalscoring - Applying This To Football Manager

To achieve success in Football Manager 2023, it is imperative to devise a tactic that utilises a diverse array of attacking strategies. The more varied the approach to ball movement and attacking, the greater the likelihood of achieving consistent and successful results.

From the analysis articles above and another one that will be released shortly, the tactic I am currently using is the one above. 

FM23: The Secrets - The Defence

Mainly I’ll just be focusing on the attacking metrics as we covered the more defensive ones in the previous analysis. I use six central defenders in total and they all get plenty of games a season. As we have games every 2-3 days, I rotate the whole defence rather than sub players off. This is the same all throughout the squad.

Whichever three centrebacks play, they all have specific tasks to do in this setup. They’re a big part of why we are successful and why we attack the way we do. Realistically they aren’t going to be creative from deep in our own half. Instead, the job of the central defenders is to move the ball forward. They’re also allowed to be risky with it too, that’s why we use a wide centre-back and a ball-playing defender. The metric that matters here the most for how we play is progressive passes.

A "progressive pass" is a term used to describe a pass made by a player that moves the ball forward towards the opposing team's goal. And increases the attacking potential of the team. A progressive pass is typically longer than a short, lateral or backward pass, and has the potential to lead to dangerous attacking opportunities. This is where the ball-playing defender and wide centreback come into their own.

In the top eleven in the league for progressive passes per 90, I have eight players. Of these eight players, five of them are central defenders. The other three are central midfielders. So already we are building a picture of how we attack from the back and progress the ball forward. 

Why is this important and how does it help create a goal threat?

First, when a defender is able to make a progressive pass, it can allow the team to quickly transition from defence to offence. And put pressure on the opposing team's defence. This can create space for the striker to receive the ball in a dangerous position, closer to the goal.

Second, a defender with a high progressive pass metric is likely able to play the ball accurately and effectively over long distances. This can allow the team to bypass the midfield and quickly get the ball to the striker in a position to score.

Third, a defender who is comfortable making progressive passes is less likely to play the ball safe and make short, lateral or backward passes, which can slow down the game and allow the opposing team to regroup.

In summary, having defenders with high progressive pass metrics can help the team to play more effectively and efficiently, create more attacking opportunities, and put pressure on the opposing team's defence, all of which can benefit the striker.

In-Game Example

We see how space opens up when the wide centreback receives the ball. Now he can drive forward here if he wants or has multiple passing options. He can choose the safer passing options like the wingback or the attacking midfielder. But this isn’t why I’m using the roles of the wide centre-back and ball-playing defenders. I want them to be riskier to open up the entire pitch with quick switches of play. What he does here is dwell on the ball for no more than a second or so.

Once the opposition has shifted over more, he hits a risky ball between the pressing forward and the advanced playmaker, to run onto. One simple pass and he’s taken out five opposition players in one move. Now we are on the front foot and a possible 2v1 scenario.

This is why progressive passes are key here, as they’re another tool for supplying the striker or causing movement from players that could benefit him.

Wingbacks

The wingbacks play a critical role in supporting the striker and building up play. This is because the formation places a lot of emphasis on the midfield and attacking players, with just 2 defenders and 2 midfielders in front of them.

The role of the wingbacks in this formation is to provide width to the team's attack, as well as to support the midfield and striker. The wingbacks are often the only players on the field who are in a position to stretch the opposing team's defence and provide an outlet for quick counter-attacks.

The wingbacks also play an important role in the build-up play by providing an additional passing option for the defenders and midfielders. They are also responsible for making overlapping runs and crossing the ball into the box to create scoring opportunities for the striker.

Wingbacks in this formation are also asked to support in defensive situations, therefore they need to be able to defend, but also to quickly transition to offence.

The graphic above only shows three players as the other right-sided wingback was sold before I took the screenshot. As we can see they have a fair few assists between them. A decent amount of crossing and a really high completion rate. In fact, if we use @FMStags metrics we can rate them for their contributions. This article explains more on that front of how the metrics are measured etc. I’d highly recommend reading it;

https://fmstag.com/statistics-what-does-good-look-like-in-fm23/

 

Using Stags metrics we can see what they excel in and what is “considered good” because his metrics have been added to various skins. The attributeless one made by Gaz which I use was the first to incorporate them. That skin can be found here;

https://community.sigames.com/forums/topic/571014-fm23-hodr-skin-attributeless-starless/

Wingback Metrics

"Open play key passes per 90" is a statistic that measures the number of passes that a player makes that lead directly to a shot during open play, on average per 90 minutes played. "Open play" refers to the moments of a match when the ball is not in a set-piece situation. A key pass is a pass that leads directly to a shot, either on goal or off target.

This statistic is often used to evaluate a player's ability to create scoring opportunities for their team during open play and is typically used for midfielders and forwards. A higher number of open-play key passes per 90 indicates that a player is more effective at creating goal-scoring opportunities for their team.

It's important to note that this metric does not take into account the quality of the key passes, the position of the player when making the pass or the success rate of the key pass. It only measures the number of key passes made per 90 minutes.

So to see wingbacks score high here is really pleasing. As it shows they’re a creative outlet from out wide and are able to create chances.

Another metric they excel in according to Stags metrics is xAssists (P90). For the role they play in the side, on Stags scale they’d be rated as creative wingers.

"xAssists per 90" is a statistic that measures the number of expected assists a player produces on average per 90 minutes played. Expected assists (xA) is a metric that estimates the likelihood that a given pass will lead to a goal. It's based on several factors such as the location, pass type and the receiver of the pass. The xA value is determined by using a complex mathematical model that takes into account the historical data of shots taken after a specific pass.

xAssists per 90 is used to evaluate a player's ability to create scoring opportunities for their team and to find players that are creating chances but are not getting credit for assists. Typically, midfielders and forwards will have higher xAssists per 90 than defenders.

It's important to note that xAssists per 90 is different than assists, since an assist is awarded when a pass directly leads to a goal, but xAssist only estimates the likelihood of a goal based on the pass.

That’s two really important metrics that both players who play the left wingback role score highly in. Again providing support for the striker and attacking players. The right side of the pitch though doesn’t score as highly.

On the right side of the pitch, the wingback has a support duty so this impacts what he does. He also has an advanced playmaker on this side of the pitch too. Everything the player does on this side of the pitch drastically differs from the left side. The entire build-up and link-up play aren’t the same.

He isn’t terrible in the other metrics and still contributes to play, just in a different way. This is why he scores higher for dribbles per 90 than the other two players. As he’s more involved with the actual build-up due to being deeper. So he’s in scenarios where he is encouraged to dribble with the ball more.

In-Game Example

Having one wingback deeper than the other can provide a number of benefits for a team.

First, it can create an asymmetrical shape on the field, which can make it more difficult for the opposing team to defend against. The deeper wingback can drop back and help the team to maintain possession and build up play, while the higher wingback can push forward and provide an outlet for quick counter-attacks.

Second, it can provide additional defensive cover. The deeper wingback can help to protect the team's defence by tracking back and marking the opposing team's midfielders or forwards, while the higher wingback can focus on getting forward and creating attacking opportunities.

Third, it can create numerical advantages in the midfield. The deeper wingback can drop back and create an extra man in midfield, which can help the team to maintain possession and control the tempo of the game.

Fourth, it can provide different kinds of attacking options. A deeper wingback can provide different types of crosses for the striker. For example, crosses from deeper positions, or crosses with more power, making it harder for the goalkeeper to reach the ball.

Having one wingback deeper than the other can also encourage the deeper wingback to dribble more. When the deeper wingback has more space in front of him and less defensive pressure, he is more likely to take on opposing defenders and try to beat them with his dribbling skills. 

This can create more attacking opportunities for the team, such as by drawing fouls, or creating space for the teammates.

Additionally, a deeper wingback who is encouraged to dribble more can help to break down the opposing team's defence and create space for the other attacking players. This can create scoring opportunities for the team and put the opposing team under pressure.

This is why productivity varies on both sides of the pitch. The right side is focused on the supply to the attacking players above all else. While the left side is focused on creating movement by running with the ball.

As you can see in the screenshot above, one simple pass inside and he’s taken out three players on the right. Or if he dribbles deeper with the ball, he commits them to come across to cut the cross out. Whether this move is successful or not here doesn’t matter on this occasion. 

All that matters is we see him committing the opposition players time after time. As this means fewer players to mark the striker or defend deeper in more central areas.

We’ve covered the defence now and seen how they help the striker or create movement around him. Remember that giving the striker the best chance of scoring lots of goals, all starts from the back. If these players don’t create movement or aren’t able to provide support then that means all creativity falls on the midfield.

This can mean attacks are more predictable. When building a tactic you want to supply, support and movement from every single area of the pitch. Not only that but the more varied the play, the better. This is why for most parts, I’m not a fan of mirroring roles on both sides of the pitch. I want variety and varied play. I achieve this by using different roles or duties.

FM23: The Secrets - The Midfield

The top two players are the players who play the segundo volante role in the side. While the bottom two are the players who play the defensive midfielder role. 18 goals and 44 assists between the four of them is an excellent return.

The two defensive midfielders are responsible for controlling the tempo of the game, maintaining possession, and creating attacking opportunities for the team. They can do this in a number of ways:

1. Covering: The defensive midfielders are responsible for covering the space in front of the defence and helping to protect the defence from the opposing team's counter-attacks. They can also help to mark and neutralize the opposing team's midfielders and forwards.
2. Ball-winning: The defensive midfielders are responsible for winning the ball back for the team and starting counter-attacks. They can do this by making tackles, intercepting passes, and pressuring the opposing team's midfielders and forwards.
3. Possession: The defensive midfielders are responsible for maintaining possession of the ball and helping to build up play. They can do this by making simple, accurate passes and recycling the ball.
4. Distribution: The defensive midfielders are responsible for distributing the ball to the other players on the team. They can do this by making long passes to the wingbacks or forwards, or by playing the ball through to the midfielders.
5. Support: The defensive midfielders are responsible for supporting the attack and creating attacking opportunities. They can do this by making runs forward, making accurate passes, and creating numerical advantages in midfield.

In the previous article I spoke about how we dominate the ball so have fewer tackles and interceptions than the average. That’s why the defensive metrics might look a bit underwhelming because we just have so much of the ball. Every game we tend to have 71-77% possession.

While the ball share metric is somewhere between 74-90% too. "Ball share" is a metric that measures the percentage of total possession that a team or player has during a match. It is calculated by dividing the amount of time a team or player has possession of the ball by the total amount of time played.

The ball share metric is often used to evaluate a team or player's ability to maintain possession of the ball and control the tempo of the game. A team or player with a high ball share is likely to have a lot of the ball and be able to dictate the play, while a team or player with a low ball share may struggle to maintain possession and be more reactive.

It's important to note that having a high ball share doesn't necessarily mean the team or player is playing well, as it's also dependent on the strategy and game plan of the coach, and the opposing team's tactics. A team with a high ball share but no clear strategy or game plan, may not achieve much with possession, while a team with a lower ball share but an effective counter-attacking strategy may score more goals and win the match.

This is part of the reason the defensive metrics are lower than the average for the league as we don’t have to do them as often as other clubs. But we can still top the pressures per 90 metrics.

"Pressures per 90" is a statistic that measures the number of defensive actions (pressures) a player makes on average per 90 minutes played. Pressures are defined as defensive actions taken by a player to win back possession of the ball, such as tackles, interceptions, and challenges.

Pressures per 90 is a metric that is often used to evaluate a player's work rate and defensive ability. A player with a high pressure per 90 is likely to be very active defensively, putting pressure on the opposing team's players and making it difficult for them to maintain possession. A player with a low pressure per 90 may not be as active defensively and may not be as effective at winning the ball back for their team.

It's important to note that Pressures per 90 is not the only metric that measures a player's defensive ability. It should be used in conjunction with other defensive metrics, such as tackles, interceptions, and clearances, to get a better understanding of a player's overall defensive performance. Additionally, having a high pressure per 90 doesn't necessarily mean that the player is a good defender, as it also depends on the efficiency of the pressures, and the success rate of the pressures.

I bet you’re wondering why I’m focusing on pressures per 90 and what it has to do with creating a goalscorer right?

Pressures per 90 are important for supplying the striker with the ball because they help to win back possession of the ball and create attacking opportunities.

When a player makes a pressure, it can force the opposing team to make a mistake and lose possession of the ball. This can create an opportunity for the team to counter-attack, and quickly get the ball forward to the striker. Additionally, pressures can disrupt the opposing team's build-up play and make it difficult for them to maintain possession, which can lead to more opportunities for the team to win the ball back and attack.

Another aspect is that pressures can also push the opposing team's defence deeper and create space for the striker to receive the ball in more advanced positions, this can lead to more goal-scoring opportunities.

In-Game Example

This is a simple example from in-game that we see happen often. But it highlights two key things. Originally the segundo volante won the ball back from a pressure. He then played the ball to the advanced playmaker. There was nowhere for the advanced playmaker to go.

So he plays the ball back to the volante. When he receives the ball he has two passing options. He can play in the striker or the shadow striker. Whichever option he chooses, he plays the player in for a 1v1.

Earlier on, I spoke about having variety in your play and the way you attack. I touched upon why it’s important but I didn’t say why it was vital. The reason I believe it’s vital to have as much variety as possible is that you want to force the opposition into making bad decisions. 

Take the above example for instance. Whatever decision the opposition’s defender makes here, it is the wrong one. It’s a two-on-one situation already. But when the volante receives the ball, the defender has to make a decision. Does he;

• Stay and try to mark the striker and shadow striker
• Does he try to press the volante

Ultimately it doesn’t matter which he chooses, as we have options. Every decision the defender can make will be the wrong one because we’ve variety in our attack. Due to us winning the ball back high up the pitch, we gained the positional advantage. That’s why the AI is so disjointed as they’d committed men forward ready to play out from the back. But they lost the ball.

Decisions are the key to Football Manager. I’m not talking about the attribute. I’m talking about giving the opposition multiple-choice decisions and everyone being the wrong one. Due to how you’ve set up and the way you attack.

Attacking Midfielders

The attacking midfielders are responsible for linking up with the wingbacks and forwards, and creating scoring opportunities for the team. They can do this in a number of ways:

1. By providing accurate passes and through balls to the striker, the attacking midfielders can help to create goal-scoring opportunities for the striker by putting him in on goal.
2. By making runs forward to support the striker, the attacking midfielders can create additional passing options for the defenders and wingbacks, and can also make runs into the box to create scoring opportunities.
3. Linking up with the wingbacks to create width and stretch the opposing team's defence, can open up space for the striker to receive the ball in dangerous positions.
4. By providing accurate crosses, the attacking midfielders can help to create goal-scoring opportunities for the striker by putting the ball into the box.
5. By creating space for the striker, the attacking midfielders can draw the attention of the opposing team's defence, and open up space for the striker to receive the ball and create scoring opportunities.

The top player is the advanced playmaker. The second one is the shadow striker and so is the bottom one. Leaving the third one, to be the backup advanced playmaker. They all have similar numbers for goals and assists apart from the top player. He’s been phenomenal with assists and is the team's main set-piece taker.

Cano is Elite. We are a passing team so he doesn’t have to dribble much, especially when he is positioned high up the pitch. His passing is perhaps lower than I’d like but then this is a byproduct of allowing him to do risky passes. 

It comes to dow risk vs reward and the reward is definitely worth it, as is reflected by his stats.

In-Game Example

In this example, we’ve just won the ball back from a goal kick. The volante gets the ball and immediately plays it to the advanced playmaker. Once he receives the ball there is only one thing on his mind and that is playing a ball over the top to the striker. It’s the risk vs reward I spoke about before. On this occasion, the defender beats the striker to the ball. But that’s not the end of the move...

We win the ball back again high up the pitch and the ball is played back to the advanced playmaker. And just like last time, he attempts the same pass again. But this time to the shadow striker who runs onto the ball and slots it home.

This was a great example because we saw all sides of the advanced playmaker's game here and the midfield in general. We won the ball back with pressures and then gave it to the most creative player on the side. He failed with the first attempt, which is unusual. But then at the second time of asking, showed his pinpoint passing ability. This highlights why he gets so many assists. He constantly has the advanced forward and shadow striker making runs into the box.

FM23: The Secrets - The Striker

When creating a tactic, it is essential to consider the specific roles and how they interact and complement each other. An unbalanced distribution of roles, such as having everyone designated as a playmaker, can lead to a lack of support and cohesion in the team. 

Support refers not only to pass the ball to a player but also to create opportunities for him by building play around him and providing him with multiple options when in possession. A useful approach when planning a tactic is to ask yourself questions such as:

• Who is going to score the goals?

For the system, I’m using, that is the striker mainly with all other players chipping in.

• Who will supply those balls?

The ball-playing defender, a wide centreback, wingbacks, segundo volante, shadow striker and attacking playmaker.

• How will they provide that support?

It’s all varied. We have risky balls from the ball-playing defender and advanced playmaker. We also have crosses from the wingbacks for him to get onto the end of.

There is also good play that comes from just passing and moving throughout the team too. The attacking patterns are varied and we don’t follow one type of support of a specific way of attacking. We do it in many different ways as highlighted throughout the articles.

• Does the role allow the player to create his own space or does he need it created for him?

All we need the striker to do is be the end of the moves. Anything else he does is a bonus i.e creating his own chances. All he is needed to do is be in the box and the ball will find him. He doesn’t need to be involved in the build or anything. Just score the chances you get.

• Will this happen from deep positions or will he be positioned high up the pitch?

He needs to stay high up the pitch ideally. If he’s lower than the other players or drops deep and is in line with them then he cannot do what he has been tasked with.

• Does he have options behind him, alongside and more advanced than he is?

He should always strive to be the most advanced player 90% of the time. He has options like the shadow striker getting alongside him inside the box. Behind the has the advanced playmaker, volante and wingbacks too.

Scoring Stats

In the last two analysis articles I wrote, which are linked at the start of this article. I spoke about changes I needed to make to the system to make it more efficient. After making those changes this happened;

This was a phenomenal season but also an anomaly so far. The strikers have always scored goals though all throughout the levels. Even when we were in the 6th tier of Brazil. Perhaps not this many but still score a lot of goals.

51 goals in 49 appearances.

59 goals in 54 games

Historically, my striker has always scored roughly every game. The reason for this is the system I’ve created. Doesn’t matter who plays the role, they’ll score goals.

So what makes a good goalscorer?

The answer is everything we have discussed so far. The player you use doesn’t really matter as much, as all the support and supply do. Everything we’ve spoken about throughout this article is the key to creating a goalscorer. Regardless of the level you’re at, the league you’re in and so on.

But to answer the question, the system makes a great goalscorer.

1. Attacking width: The team should have a good attacking width, with the wingbacks providing width and crosses from the flanks, this can create space for the striker and midfielders to make runs into the box and score goals.
2. Midfield support: The midfielders should provide good support to the striker, making runs forward and creating scoring opportunities with accurate passes and through balls.
3. Possession-based play: The team should have a good possession-based play, maintaining possession of the ball and controlling the tempo of the game can tire out the opposing team's defence and create more opportunities to score.
4. Counter-attacking play: The team should have a good counter-attacking play, winning back possession quickly and getting the ball forward to the striker can create scoring opportunities.
5. Direct play: The team should have good direct play, getting the ball forward quickly and creating goal-scoring opportunities with through balls and long passes.
6. Set-pieces: The team should have a good set-pieces play, with good delivery and good movement off the ball, this can create opportunities to score from free kicks, corners, and throw-ins.

You can do all the points above without playing that specific playstyle. By that I mean, you can play a possession game like I do but still have a direct play too when it’s needed. This is the job of the ball-playing defender and wide centreback for me.

The same for possession play. That doesn’t mean you have to dominate the ball. It just means retaining it as well as you can for what you are needing. If you play counter-attacking football then you still need to have possession of the ball at times. You aren’t constantly going to counterattack, you still need to pass and probe yourself when a counter isn’t on.

Vice versa with possession too, you still need to attack and use the ball while taking risks. If not you’ll just be passing the ball around with no product.

Perhaps this didn’t quite turn into the topic you were expecting eh? If so, the reason is probably due to you focusing on the individual rather than the system. The key to scoring goals is all down to what the team is doing and the way you attack.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the topic. It’s another deep dive, so apologies if it’s got quite long again. 

In the next article, we’ll talk about breaking sides down, isolated strikers and incoherent setups.

 

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by Cleon

[Cleon]

I really enjoyed writing the above, like really enjoyed it. I always enjoy writing about FM. But this felt different, on a personal level I think it's the best thing I've written in a long time. I've enjoyed the entire series so far to be fair though. Hopefully you all enjoy it

[Vizzini]

Brilliant! Reminds me of the "where are the goals going to come from?" after Fergie sold Ruud in 06. As you said, it is not about one player but the whole system. 

[axelmuller]

Another brilliant example of how a cohesive system is greater than the sum of its parts.

Intrigued by this new system, it looks like possessional football on steroids. Creating multiple types of goalscoring chances and still managing high possession numbers. In the last piece, you contemplated upon dropping some team instructions such as Work Ball into Box - did you make those changes also?

[Cleon]

1 hour ago, axelmuller said:

Another brilliant example of how a cohesive system is greater than the sum of its parts.

Intrigued by this new system, it looks like possessional football on steroids. Creating multiple types of goalscoring chances and still managing high possession numbers. In the last piece, you contemplated upon dropping some team instructions such as Work Ball into Box - did you make those changes also?

I did yeah, I removed that. It's the reason why my striker scored a ridiculous amount. He doesn't take many shots still, it's just when he does, it's usually a goal.

The system itself is still largely the same in the way in functions at the start of the thread. It's just that I found the CM's were getting too close to the SS/AP even though slightly deeper. I felt the space was too close and taking away from the game of the AM's. So I decided to make them DM's instead just so everyone has more space to play in or drop into

[HurkaDurk69]

12 hours ago, Cleon said:

To achieve success in Football Manager 2023, it is imperative to devise a tactic that utilises a diverse array of attacking strategies. The more varied the approach to ball movement and attacking, the greater the likelihood of achieving consistent and successful results.

From the analysis articles above and another one that will be released shortly, the tactic I am currently using is the one above. 

what are your tactic settings? Since you want a tactic with a diverse array of attacking strategies, is everything in the middle or do you still try and "force" a way of play?

[Cleon]

8 hours ago, HurkaDurk69 said:

what are your tactic settings? Since you want a tactic with a diverse array of attacking strategies, is everything in the middle or do you still try and "force" a way of play?

The settings can be seen on the first page of the thread. It's the second part of this;

I have a very specific possession based system that we use. But how we create and use the ball is not forced.

[phnompenhandy]

I’m now ready to apply your analysis wholesale to a save. I’ve started and abandoned three lower-league saves all on the basis that they were too easy -unfeasible recruitment, mostly. I believe I’ve now hit on the ultimate formula – HEAD COACH (manager responsible for team selection and tactics only), YOUTH-ONLY (no recruitment other than youth intake), LOWEST-LEAGUE (level 10 and all that implies facilities, staff and player-quality wise), ATTRIBUTELESS and minimal qualifications and experience – hence I’m not allowed near training until I’ve got some badges.

I got my first job in February 2023 near the end of a season, so the squad and staff are established and can’t be altered. They are as bad as you’d imagine.

My players don’t appear to be suited for your system; however, I’ve spent hours trying to fit them into other systems and nothing has worked, so I’m going for a ‘nothing to lose’ attitude and am due to implement your philosophy lock, stock and barrel!

I’ve copied & pasted your series into a Word.doc to carry around and study when the wifi is down – up to 64 pages so far, without the screenshots!

 

My save L10 Head Coach Academy-Only Challenge: FM for Masochists

[Yisz]

So you had 3 issues that highlighted your first data post (below). So what changes did you make to counter them? Why did you drop your 2 cm’s back to DM strata? Did the changes that you made work?

• Not many final third passes attempted
• Low shot quality
• Defensive actions

[Cleon]

47 minutes ago, Yisz said:

So you had 3 issues that highlighted your first data post (below). So what changes did you make to counter them? Why did you drop your 2 cm’s back to DM strata? Did the changes that you made work?

 

• Not many final third passes attempted
• Low shot quality
• Defensive actions

I spoke of the changes in that post you've quoted. I said what changes I was going to make. I changed the AM to a SS and striker to a AF.

And the CM question was answered 4 or 5 posts above.

And yes they worked, as highlighted in little bit about the striker and him scoring over 100 goals. I pointed out there is another analysis post coming that talks about the changes

Edited January 24, 2023 by Cleon

[Yisz]

1 hour ago, Cleon said:

I spoke of the changes in that post you've quoted. I said what changes I was going to make. I changed the AM to a SS and striker to a AF.

And the CM question was answered 4 or 5 posts above.

And yes they worked, as highlighted in little bit about the striker and him scoring over 100 goals. I pointed out there is another analysis post coming that talks about the changes

You’re right, in hindsight a very dumb question, haha.

i must’ve forgotten that you had talked about that in the previous post and didn’t bother to read it back. Once I get home I’m gonna read the last 2 posts from beginning to end :-)

[Cleon]

5 minutes ago, Yisz said:

You’re right, in hindsight a very dumb question, haha.

i must’ve forgotten that you had talked about that in the previous post and didn’t bother to read it back. Once I get home I’m gonna read the last 2 posts from beginning to end :-)

Ha not dumb at all. It's quite an in-depth thread/series, so lots to digest. I get confused myself 

[robot_skeleton]

Unparalelled post, as always.

I remember a long time ago you said you don't like 4 defender systems. Do I remember correctly? And if it is true, why do you like 3 man defences? Is it just the variety?

[Cleon]

35 minutes ago, robot_skeleton said:

Unparalelled post, as always.

I remember a long time ago you said you don't like 4 defender systems. Do I remember correctly? And if it is true, why do you like 3 man defences? Is it just the variety?

Indeed, I dislike back 4's. I just like the extra man you can have elsewhere when you use a back 3. As you don't have to use wingbacks in some set ups.

[bababooey]

Brilliant work as usual, Cleon.

Quick question. If you were to select a preset from the tactical creator, with the intention of "feeling a game out" (similar to like, using the balanced mentality), which preset would you pick? In other words, which preset do you think gives the most balanced approach that you might want to use in, let's say, a match away from home against a team that isn't necessarily better, but isn't significantly worse either?

Cheers

[Cleon]

23 minutes ago, bababooey said:

Brilliant work as usual, Cleon.

Quick question. If you were to select a preset from the tactical creator, with the intention of "feeling a game out" (similar to like, using the balanced mentality), which preset would you pick? In other words, which preset do you think gives the most balanced approach that you might want to use in, let's say, a match away from home against a team that isn't necessarily better, but isn't significantly worse either?

Cheers

That's not really how I play. But the simplest thing to do would be to look at the TI's they all have. There is no style. It's just a name given to a specific set of TI's that are grouped together. And choose the ones that fit the shape the most.  Gengen for example Id never use that in a 4141 as everyone will be too deep initially for the intense press and they'll be chasing shadows. Especially the striker. A bit like the example I posted in the analysis in this thread.

If you really want to feel a match though you'd just use clean slate and add instructions based on what you want the players to do, that they currently arent. That is the most balanced because it's the most natural one due to not having any TI's.