Fundamental Football Manager - Making that basic 442

[Chivas]

Has anyone succeed with 4-4-2 diamond?. Ä°n game Werder bremen doing it well.I try do good 4-4-2 diamond it works but ball possesion is low.I want to manage game ,high ball poss,and good attacking. (with diamond) .Please answer.

[Rashidi]

Differences between narrow and wide diamond

A wide diamond demands more from your defensive players, so make sure they are positionally able, have good pace and have a very good dm in front of them

The wide mids should be very good wingers.

In a narrow diamond you need high workrates, players with good passing, and it gets better if you have players with very good off the ball running. Formations here can be played with narrow to normal width. Rarely will you play a narrow diamond with high width.

The AMC is a deadly player in this formation, if he has FWR often then he WILL come into the box to score, so make sure you read through this thread and pick up on the pointers on how to get a fast-paced Arsenal styled one-touch passing game working.

If you want to get a possession based game going then read through the thread...its already covered. Its all down to how you set up your passing patterns and also mentality. Make sure your players do not give the ball away needlessly and the diamond becomes too potent a weapon.

[dogs]

lads using this thread i have managed to develop a fantastic 442 flat which could quite possibly be the best tactic i have made.

The key elements i used which have had a dramatic effect is

the knowledge given on space between fbs and wingers.

My tactic has no farrows and all wide men are mixed for fwr runs. mentatilties are devised in a way to keep them working together, my fbs are on 8 my wingers 10

i have allocated one creative mid, he is the only player in my team with high creative freedom 15, he is the only player in the team with ttb often with every one else on rare ttb and creative freedom of 2/3

I have impacted this tactic on a low morale underachieving farsley celtic side in EL1 2012 we have drawn 1 and lost 5 so far and were bottom. Squad is decent tho. I was really struggling. Next game was against runaway league leaders Carlisle 6 wins straight. I beat them 4-0 with everything going through mouritsen my "creative" midfielder, funnily enough playmaker wasn't ticked. He was intelligent on the ball finding wingers and strikers with nice interplay, first time in ages i loved FM08 .

I used OI heavily, tight/closing on all wide players and mids. I tight marked strikers and isntructed easy tackling.

since this post i have won my next 4 games on the bounce. i'm delighted.

Not trying to crow here just wanted to say what things that had been discussed on here had had a major impact on my tactics.

I play a flat 442, with one mc barrow to dmc only.

Cheers

[Old Git]

Dogs, glad to hear that the info imparted here works for lower league teams, though I myself are struggling atm with Cowdenbeath! My Atletico/Zaragoza 442 just won't work for them so it's back to assessing the squad abilities and finding a blend that works. And that I think is particularly relevant, not all tactical/instructional set-ups will work with every team due to the ability level, thus the battle to defeat the Galactic War Machine that is the AI continues!

[Rashidi]

Originally posted by Old Git:

Dogs, glad to hear that the info imparted here works for lower league teams, though I myself are struggling atm with Cowdenbeath! My Atletico/Zaragoza 442 just won't work for them so it's back to assessing the squad abilities and finding a blend that works. And that I think is particularly relevant, not all tactical/instructional set-ups will work with every team due to the ability level, thus the battle to defeat the Galactic War Machine that is the AI continues!

LLM is a bit more of a challenge, the key only lies in finding the right player for the right job, pretty sure you'll get the

[Old Git]

Rashidi, sure I will, eventually, managed to get into The Scottish First Div with Cowdenbeath and stay there for two years, this third year has been a real struggle though, with very little consistency.

One of the problems you face at that level I believe is obviously the level of player willing to go to a club with such a low rep, thus the constant re-working as any decent players want to move on after their one year contract. The Beath are now financially secure, have a semi decent transfer budget and better than average trg facilities.

The old saying "If you build it they will come" has not worked in terms of trg facilities, thus my comment in my previous post of back to the beginning.

As it stands, I have a decent set-up for teams who have good to world-class players, a LL set-up requires something else which I have not yet figured out, but I will! Hopefully before I lose any more hair!

[Siddo]

Just came across this and would like some help. Doing poorly in this version of the game and its annoying but i'm going with the "Surely its me and not the game".

Playing as Notts County in the 1st season and using 8.0.2. Have created a 4-4-2 using ideas from various threads but i'm struggling to win and most importantly stop conceding and scoring goals. My system and tactics are as follows

- 4-4-2 with farrows for the wingers to the AML position

- Direct style (14) Normal tempo (10) and Focus Passing Mixed

- Width Normal (12), Creative Freedom Low (3) Defensive Line Normal (7)

My individual mentalites are

DR DC DC DL

07 06 06 07

MR MC MC ML

12 08 08 12

FC FC

10 14

Forward runs: Mixed for DR/L, MR/L Often, one FC (which side depends on the players foot is strongest), MC's one Rare one Mixed

Run with ball: Mixed for the Wingers and Rare for everyone else.

Cross ball: Mixed for wingers and full backs Cross from Mixed positions and aimed for the Target Man

Try though balls: One MC has this and tends to be the my best player Creativity 9, Decisions 12, and Flair 13

Closing down: Own Area (6) for back four and both central midfielders. Own half (13) for Wingers and Whole pitch (14) for strikers

Can anyone see any problems or suggest any improvements? tried my self and cannot seem to get anywhere

[Tom Leeburn]

Originally posted by wwfan:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by philwood:

How about someone designs a 442 that works consistently throughout the season. I'm not saying wins every game but if you have a superior team then you really should be beating Wigan at home.

I would be very interested to see if the "gurus" are able to achieve a consistent 442 as in my opinion FM08 is not suited to the formation which is a major flaw in the game.

A consistent 4-4-2 that is the same, every match, with no tweaks, and nearly always wins? I certainly couldn't do it. I very much doubt anyone else could, simply because the engine doesn't work that way. You need to tailor the tactic to the match, either by pre-match tweaking, designating opposition instructions, or loading a tactic pre-designed for the situation.

However, a 4-4-2 set that works. Been there, done that. Philwood, if you can't reconceptualise the game as at the very minimum requiring a home and away approach, you won't get very far. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

i have to disagree with wwwfan (though i am a big fan of his writing!)

i am i guess a fairly lazy guy, thus i can be bothered with constant tweaking, and multiple tactic sets. I want to get through seasons reasonably quickly as i enjoy long career games developing regens, turning west ham into a superclub etc

I design a tactic in preseason, tweak it a little until it is working as planned and then essentially run with for a few seasons until i get bored and design a new one.

I never use opposition instructions as having to set them up before every game is too much of a faff.

this approach has worked fine for me e.g i came second with west ham first season and won the league next season.

what i will say is that i dont believe in plug and play tactics - particularly for 442. my tactics are set up around my players and there is no reason to expect it will work as well with somebody else side.

[jaycar]

Bump.

To good to go imho.

[ron.e]

Dlines affect closing down and how you defend. The higher it is, the more attacking your set up and the more vital it is that your attacking force is closing down heavy.

So let me get this right rashidi - If you have your whole defence on close down own area and you've got your defensive line high, They will obviously hold a high line but wait until the opponents get to the 18 yard box to close down?

If i am right wouldn't it make sense for everybody in the team apart from the centrebacks and dmc on high line and high closing down so you could defend from the front?

[ron.e]

Also when you say to tightmark wingers and strikers do you mean your fullback specifically marking them or as a team in the opp instructions?

[Rashidi]

Originally posted by ron.e:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Dlines affect closing down and how you defend. The higher it is, the more attacking your set up and the more vital it is that your attacking force is closing down heavy.

So let me get this right rashidi - If you have your whole defence on close down own area and you've got your defensive line high, They will obviously hold a high line but wait until the opponents get to the 18 yard box to close down?

If i am right wouldn't it make sense for everybody in the team apart from the centrebacks and dmc on high line and high closing down so you could defend from the front? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Generally, if you play an attacking game there is one surefire way of doing it...you need to have a normal to high defensive line and you need players pressing in the AI's half so it will lose the ball.

As defensive systems are zonal by nature, players only make challenges when they enter a players zone, so if you have a highmentality and are playing with high closing down, players tend to get dragged about a lot, which is why I recommend only having strikers and attacking players on high closing down.

The higher your defensive line the higher your closing down. So if you play a normal controlled possession type of game, then you would do this:

Strikers - often

Attacking wingers - often (first notch often)

DMC - Own half (first notch)

Fullbacks Own area

DCs - Own area last notch

I would probably play a narrow- normal width, normal-high tempo game. My defensive line would be somewhere in the region of last push up. I wouldn't have by backline on high closing down as they would begin their tasks too early.

If I wanted to play a controlled CA game, then I would have a low normal defensiveline, closing down own half for almost all the players except for the 2 DCs and the strikers and play on normal width.

[Rashidi]

Originally posted by ron.e:

Also when you say to tightmark wingers and strikers do you mean your fullback specifically marking them or as a team in the opp instructions?

I'm a great proponent of the Opposition Instructions screen. I have never used manmarking extensively in this game.

[Siddo]

Originally posted by rashidi1:

If I wanted to play a controlled CA game, then I would have a low normal defensiveline, closing down own half for almost all the players except for the 2 DCs and the strikers and play on normal width.

So the 2 DC's closing down Last notch of own area? and the strikers last notch of own half or first notch whole pitch?

[Rashidi]

Originally posted by Siddo:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by rashidi1:

If I wanted to play a controlled CA game, then I would have a low normal defensiveline, closing down own half for almost all the players except for the 2 DCs and the strikers and play on normal width.

So the 2 DC's closing down Last notch of own area? and the strikers last notch of own half or first notch whole pitch? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

DCs last notch own area

Strikers - Depends.. you could use the one on higher mentality to do closing down all over.say first notch of whole pitch and the other striker can be on own area and have a lower mentality.

That way they play off each other with one dropping deeper.

[jaycar]

Originally posted by rashidi1:

DCs last notch own area

If I read that right, d you recommend closing down of literally 1 for DC's these days Rash?

[Rashidi]

No...own area last notch not first notch which should be roughly 6 notches I reckon

[jaycar]

Yeah, I thought I'd read that wrong, thanks

[ron.e]

For anyone who thinks its not possible to make a decent 442 formation, here's a EPL premiership game against C.Palace.

Both the AI and I started with a 442 formation, the third goal we scored is the beaut..you will see a pass threaded to a winger who cuts in and runs into the box to score.

Its possible to make a good 442 formation, read through the thread. When in doubt always start conservatively, which I did, allowing the AI most of the possession, but they were not getting a lot of good one on ones. The play is patient and built up slowly. The most important thing to remember about any 442 formation is the mentality sliders. Alway set up your mentality right, especially for possession based games. In this one the backline was on one mentality, the midfield on one and the attacking pack on one.

Closing down was the easiest to do, but if you find that your defenders are closing down too earlier or are chasing after a ball that's gone behind them ,you need to adjust your defensive line.

I know a lot of people have been asking me to look at their tactics while some are ok, some of other tactics look too adventurous, with arrows from here to yazoo.

Unless you want to exploit the fact that the AI can't handle overattacking formations, I'm not too keen on discussing them. I have every intention of preventing games like that cos it just isn't fun.

Towards the end of this game, the AI literally gave up, already down to 10 men, it set up a defensive wall at the back which was the first I've ever seen, a formation I have used before in online games for a quick counter attacking game.

Anyways here's the link.. Tigers vs Palace.

Incidentally I think I removed all my tactics from the domain.

How did you upload your pkm files rasidi1?

[ron.e]

rashidi1 - The things you are saying on this topic is so much common sense. For example, I've never known how to break the AI's 4-2-4 formation, not even in 07, until now. It's only until you said it that it sounded and look obvious. Of course they have gaven up there midfield for all out attack. So obviously you would exploit the space while tightening up your back-line. Focus passing down the wings to exploit the space they have left and tight mark the 2 cm's and fullbacks because that is where the supply is coming from. My question is, how did you get to the stage where you look at things like that so literally and then be able to know what to do? Thanks

[ron.e]

I've finally taken on board a lot of your advice and it's finally paying off. But what do i do when the AI plays 4-4-2 with long farrows? It's not strictly 4-2-4 but it's similar. Any ideas rashidi1? thanks

[Old Git]

Ron, essentially it's a case of removing forward runs on the FB's and TM the wingers. At this stage I still won't specifically CD the two CM's, only when the 4-2-4 is in full swing. But I would quickly get the ball to your flanks when you break down the opposition attacks, exposing the weak area, as there CM's will drag out to the wingers, leaving you space in the middle, hopefully!

[Old Git]

Originally posted by ron.e:

My question is, how did you get to the stage where you look at things like that so literally and then be able to know what to do? Thanks

Thats when a little bit of common sense comes in, looking at where the opposition players are likely to be and adjusting/tweaking your own instructions to counter/exploit I suppose.

[ron.e]

Ron, essentially it's a case of removing forward runs on the FB's and TM the wingers. At this stage I still won't specifically CD the two CM's, only when the 4-2-4 is in full swing. But I would quickly get the ball to your flanks when you break down the opposition attacks, exposing the weak area, as there CM's will drag out to the wingers, leaving you space in the middle, hopefully!

Thanks for the advice but how do i instruct the players to move play to the wings? Is it focus passing down the flanks?

[Old Git]

Yep. thats something I do when the opposition have pushed there's high up leaving the space. Particularly useful if you have no farrows on your wingers, then you have a 4 on 2 in the middle and it forces the CM's wide or the FBs up to cover, and the strikers can move into the space. If you have intelligent players (depending on the level you are playing with) then they will use this space accordingly.

[ron.e]

What does it mean and what is the AI doing when it's playing 4-4-2 with farrows on both wingers and a barrow on a mc? How is it best to counter this? Thanks

[Old Git]

With farrows on wingers it means that is where they want the player to be when they have the ball offensively, the barrow on the CM turns him into a DM playing in front of the back four. Playing it wide uses the space and takes the DM out of the play. IMO.

[Rashidi]

Originally posted by ron.e:

What does it mean and what is the AI doing when it's playing 4-4-2 with farrows on both wingers and a barrow on a mc? How is it best to counter this? Thanks

If you're playing a 442 v that 442 example you just used, its important to know that the AI is positioning its players for quick attacks down the flanks. So you have several options:

The first thing you'd need to understand is that its wingers are going to be a problem if your fullbacks are on attacking runs, so remove FWR off your fullbacks and if they aren't already on tight marking set them to it. You need to see how the AI is getting the ball down to the flanks, if you find that your players are ALWAYS having to track back when the ball is on the flanks then your Dline is too high. So reduce it.

The barrowed DMC will turn out to be its outlet , it sits in front of their backline and tries to distribute the ball. Old Git is right, if its a 424 you pay attention to the 2 MCs if its a 442 then don't bother; one reason being that the AI likes to swap the MCd and the MCa around.

Just focus on keeping your shape at the back and concentrate down the wings, if you have players who can run the ball in the centre, even better. Then also remember to set one attacker on a deeper mentality and with HUB, if you have good players and if one of your wingers is not on RWB often but has FWR often, he will lay off the ball to the Hold Up striker and cut in. You either get a corner or you get dangerous crosses.

[ron.e]

rashidi1 thankyou for opening up this topic it has been so helpful in helping me understand the game and the AI. I'm getting so much better that i even understand what a anchor man is and what settings i need to use. An anchor man is someone that you just want to sit in the midfield, not do anything fancy and pass out to the wings. His setting will be as follows:-

def mentality/low creative freedom/passing mixed(if he has a good passing stat)/no fwd runs/no run with ball/3 notches above normal for closing down/normal tackling/no through balls. Am i right?

[ron.e]

And by the way, I'm near the end of september in my new season and i've only conceeded 3 goals in all comps. 2 of them were against barca in the super cup. Normally by now in any season i would of conceeded about 10-15 goals so once again thanks for all your advice

[Guest Smary]

I've read through seven pages of this thread and come to the following conclusions:

1) Rashid has a girlfriend

2) This game is much more complex than just hammering that Continue-button and "Make Offer" once in a while

3) farrow and barrow are not some english words that I never learnt in school, it means forward-arrow and back-arrow (took 3 pages to figure that one out)

4) I'm spending too much time in the kitchen while my matches play themselves on fast settings

5) How does one play 23 seasons in less than a year!?

[Siddo]

Just to clarify then. For a counter attacking tactic (My team is poor btw)

- First Notch of Normal for the Defensive line

Closing Down - 4-4-2 Formation

DCs - Own Area Last Notch

Fullbacks Own area Last Notch

Central Midfielders - Own Half First Notch

Wide Midfiekders - Own Half Mid Point

Strikers - Own Half Last Notch/Whole Pitch First Notch

Others settings i can play with but the above i need help with. Seem like a good start point?

[ron.e]

how best do i break down the AI's 4-1-2-2-1 formation where the 2 wingers have farrows? It's sort of like the chelsea formation? Is it best to play wide and down flanks or what? Thankyou

[Siddo]

One other query - Marking

1, Would you advise Zonal across a conference/league two back four or Man?

2, Tight Marking set as default on player instructions or used selectively by opposition instructions

Thanks in advance

[andrewyo]

rashidi1

rashidi1 can you post your .tac?

[_Agalloch_]

I read through every page and decided to use the tips to help my team defensively, we can score lots of goals but we ship loads.

So from the 4 matches I've played -

Forest Green AWAY - They lined up with a 4-4-1-1 so I barrowed my defensive midfielder and it worked for about 20 minutes, but all of a sudden we capitulated. We lost 5-0. In hindsight it would probably have been better to go 4-5-1.

Bury HOME - One of the top teams at home and they played a 4-5-1 but they just showed their class and took their goal, my mistake, I should have closed down the tall striker but accidently tight marked him instead. We lost 1-0.

Dorchester AWAY - Very annoying team. They lined up with a 4-2-3-1 so I decided to play a 4-5-1 and tight mark all their attacking players. It worked...except they scored from two set-pieces. We lost 2-1.

Aldershot HOME - Again one of the best in the league and don't concede much. Thankfully they played a 4-4-2 (finally) and so I tight-marked all 6 attacking players and it worked perfectly. We won 3-0 and kept a rare clean sheet.

Interesting results and I'll stick with it and see what happens. I never really used OI instructions before but it does add more control to the game.

Cheers for the tips. Much appreciated.

[Old Git]

Agalloch, personally speaking I wouldn't change my formation to match the AI's. To me it's a case of identifying how the 442 can deal with the various formations. If you think of most formations as variants of 442, then you are halfway there in my opinion.

For example the 4231 is merely an attacking 442 with one of the strikers dropped in the hole. As long as he does not switch with on of the wingers, man-mark CF and TM the AM. With the 4411, pretty much the same thing really.

Closing down strikers can be fraught with problems as has been highlighted throughout this thread, because more than one player will attempt to do so, leaving some-one open. I personally avoid CD unless the AI is 424 and I close down only the CM's and FB's!

Hope this helps.

[Moodster]

sounds stupid but what does TTB stand for?

[axehan1]

tetleys tea bag...no wait, try through ball

[_Agalloch_]

Originally posted by Old Git:

Agalloch, personally speaking I wouldn't change my formation to match the AI's. To me it's a case of identifying how the 442 can deal with the various formations. If you think of most formations as variants of 442, then you are halfway there in my opinion.

For example the 4231 is merely an attacking 442 with one of the strikers dropped in the hole. As long as he does not switch with on of the wingers, man-mark CF and TM the AM. With the 4411, pretty much the same thing really.

Closing down strikers can be fraught with problems as has been highlighted throughout this thread, because more than one player will attempt to do so, leaving some-one open. I personally avoid CD unless the AI is 424 and I close down only the CM's and FB's!

Hope this helps.

Interesting, I'll give that a try. It's still strange that we lost so resoundingly despite me doing what you said except I used zonal-marking for that one striker, may that have been the problem then? And should I have barrowed one of the MC's to the opposition AM position? Because I think it must have left one of their CM's completely free in hindsight.

Yeah, it might have not been to do with TM looking back, their striker just had better Jumping than mine.

Cheers for the advice.

[Rashidi]

Originally posted by _Agalloch_:

I read through every page and decided to use the tips to help my team defensively, we can score lots of goals but we ship loads.

So from the 4 matches I've played -

Forest Green AWAY - They lined up with a 4-4-1-1 so I barrowed my defensive midfielder and it worked for about 20 minutes, but all of a sudden we capitulated. We lost 5-0. In hindsight it would probably have been better to go 4-5-1.

Personally, I wouldn't have changed formations. In FM I prefer using these formations..the 4312, 433, 442 and the 4132. I've generally only changed formations cos I got bored. Away from home I would have been tighter and perhaps TMed their lone AMC and tightmarked their two wingers. In every game I play I look to controlling the midfield.

Bury HOME - One of the top teams at home and they played a 4-5-1 but they just showed their class and took their goal, my mistake, I should have closed down the tall striker but accidently tight marked him instead. We lost 1-0.

Why worry about the tall striker? Its ok if you have the defenders who can tightmark him, closing him down would not have been ideal as this would have let your defenders lose their shape. I'd look at denying the wingers a chance of getting the balls down to him

Dorchester AWAY - Very annoying team. They lined up with a 4-2-3-1 so I decided to play a 4-5-1 and tight mark all their attacking players. It worked...except they scored from two set-pieces. We lost 2-1.

I like the 4231, its a very fast narrow attacking formation that depends exclusively on short passing. The danger will come if the fullbacks are attacking as well. If they like to bomb up, you'll be constantly under pressure. Not sure if I personally like the 451 formation in situations like this since it doesn't pressure their fullbacks UNLESS it has long farrowed ML/MR. My default reaction to a 451 is to close down the 2 MCs and pressure their fullbacks. In the hands of a good team, this is easily one of the hardest formations to play. You need to have good width to get around it and you may need to TM their two outer wingforwards if they do get up to play the ball. The solo striker likes to hold up the ball and play it to the incoming wingforwards. So you need to make sure your fullbacks aren't overworked by excessive closing down. The 433 or the 451 with an AML/AMR would have destroyed this formation. The 451 would have the 2 outer MCs on mixed FWR and RWB mixed and the central AMC on FWR often and RWB mixed.

Aldershot HOME - Again one of the best in the league and don't concede much. Thankfully they played a 4-4-2 (finally) and so I tight-marked all 6 attacking players and it worked perfectly. We won 3-0 and kept a rare clean sheet.

Interesting results and I'll stick with it and see what happens. I never really used OI instructions before but it does add more control to the game.

Cheers for the tips. Much appreciated.

[Guest cobra_1903]

where is the rashidi tactic? I can'download?

[Rashidi]

No such tactic has ever been made for uploading.

[Monki]

I was wondering if someone could post up some basic settings for a 4-4-2 wide diamond, for a newly promoted Southampton side that are strong relegation candidates.

Before i get crucified for not reading, not searching, i have. I read and read and read. My problem is i read so many different things that it amalgamates and my tactic ends up being a mass concoction of different opinions and theories.

I really want to make my own tactic.

I am hoping to just get a point in the right direction. I don't want a detailed click by click description. Thanks for any response.

[Rashidi]

For a basic 442 and depending on how offensive you want it to be. Start by:

Dividing your team into two groups.

Defensive Group should include the DCs, DLs and the DMC. Now take this group and set them to defensive mentality for the fullbacks and Ultra defensive or first notch of defensive for the dcs. Ideally if you want to hold your shape, set their closing down instructions to own half and rarely.

Now the DM depending on how you want him to play..you can set his mentality to first notch defensive or normal (neutral). The difference between the two lies in his behavior. The former makes him stay close to the defensive line and the latter makes him play in both halves. Closing down can be often.

Upfront have the wingers on attacking mentality with FWR often and RWB mixed. They will break behind the defensive line to cross, if you want them to carry the ball and dribble then you need the fullbacks to fwr normal, and the wingers to RWB often and FWR mixed. That way they work in concert.

The AMC instructions are standard attacking AMC ones, and you can have one striker Hold up Ball and play on a lower mentality than the next

[BigAir360]

Hi rashidi, i was wondering if you could give me a hand with something, ive been looking at making a 4-2-3-1 for a while now, a lot like Liverpool in the CL, would you be able to give me a hand on this please. As i have not a clue on how to make one, been reading through every page and im just so lost haha

thanks mate

[Monki]

For a basic 442 and depending on how offensive you want it to be. Start by:

Dividing your team into two groups.

Defensive Group should include the DCs, DLs and the DMC. Now take this group and set them to defensive mentality for the fullbacks and Ultra defensive or first notch of defensive for the dcs. Ideally if you want to hold your shape, set their closing down instructions to own half and rarely.

Now the DM depending on how you want him to play..you can set his mentality to first notch defensive or normal (neutral). The difference between the two lies in his behavior. The former makes him stay close to the defensive line and the latter makes him play in both halves. Closing down can be often.

Upfront have the wingers on attacking mentality with FWR often and RWB mixed. They will break behind the defensive line to cross, if you want them to carry the ball and dribble then you need the fullbacks to fwr normal, and the wingers to RWB often and FWR mixed. That way they work in concert.

The AMC instructions are standard attacking AMC ones, and you can have one striker Hold up Ball and play on a lower mentality than the next

Thank you. During the time the boards were down i got relegated. I tried using wwfan's 4-4-2 Ro0 set but my team failed to get past the blending stage and a sheer lack of quality except for Luis Jimenez and Artur Sorin proved to be my downfall. I went 33 games without a win.

I'm resigned to losing Jimenez which sucks, but this new season in the championship will prove to be a good fresh start with my own tactic, thanks again.

[Rashidi]

Hi rashidi, i was wondering if you could give me a hand with something, ive been looking at making a 4-2-3-1 for a while now, a lot like Liverpool in the CL, would you be able to give me a hand on this please. As i have not a clue on how to make one, been reading through every page and im just so lost haha

thanks mate

Try following some of the suggestions in the thread for now, use the same ones I outlined for the backline and then for the 2 MCs you can give them mixed forward runs, if you need one to hang back give him no fwr. For now, I really don't have much time with the new forums, so I'm fairly busy and won't be online much till monday.

[archival]

FWR is forward runs right?

what does TTB stand for?

[davehanson]

FWR is forward runs right?

what does TTB stand for?

Try through balls