FM24: Positional Play, Rotations, and Relationism (Tactic Added)

04texag · October 19, 2023

First off, so thrilled to be playing FM 24 today, and right off the bat, I have to say I'm extremely impressed with what I'm seeing. The game has loaded up well, runs extremely quick and looks fantastic.

Already, with my initial first few games and tactical tweaking, the potential for replicating positional play and JdP (Juego de Posicion) is off the charts. I'm extremely excited for this new addition, the new player roles, and the ME updates.

Coming very soon, I'll post an FM24 JdP Tactical recreation update. This thread will house my tactical musings on this play style and how to get the most out of it, in FM24. Of course, this will just be my interpretations, and I am nowhere near the level of player or tactician as many others. But, my threads have had some decent views and participation in the past, so I figured it'd be fun to give a go.

Edit and Info

I've realized I work much slower than I used to, and blame kids and life responsibilities. That said, below is an outline of my plan for the thread, which I'll eventually use hyperlinks to link to the posts.

Thread Outline/Plan:

Postional play, relationism and rotations - My goals, general tactical notes Click Here
Organized Structure and Building around Key players Click Here
Defensive Organization/Early Build-up - Click Here
Attacking Third - Then Vs Now - Attacking trident and a #10 Vs creative attacking wingers, hybrid 8/10s in the middle Click Here
Relativism - The ball and players, Area of Mutual Help, Flank variability, intro 3rd man runs Click Here
Possession Levers - Adjusting a tactic during the game to impact a different result Click Here
Final team instructions - Tactical Examples, a few tested through my playthroughs
325 Shape - Why progress from 235 to 325, explore 3 Box 3
Finding players - Impact of players on gameplans

I've come to realize, participation on a lot of threads goes way down if you don't share the tactic front and center. So without further ado (this is an edit btw) see the below tactic. The rest of the thread talks about the decisions made that led to this tactic, both from a football philosophy and FM gameplay standpoint.

Edited November 7, 2023 by 04texag
added outline

Aoyao · October 19, 2023

play with PEP

Rashidi · October 19, 2023

Looking forward to it!

04texag · October 19, 2023

Postional play, relationism and rotations

I've written on positional play for years. I went back and found my first thread, and a little surprised this was back 3 years ago for FM20. My first thread is linked here:
https://community.sigames.com/forums/topic/528821-tactical-series-juego-de-posicion-fm20fm21/

I feel I did a pretty good job in that thread of laying out some key principles of positional play. I still believe to recreate this style, we need to focus on three things: Organized Team Structure, Relationism (between players and to the ball), and creating superiority (numerical, qualitative and positional). Back then, and in subsequent year's with their own threads, I feel like I really nailed down the team structure components of positional play.

But every year, the one thing that has continued to evade me, has been good relationism. Players within the match engine have never truly played as they should. You would either have to force things in the tactics creator and end up with a rigid structure, or turn things loose for more creativity to get roaming players, but lose all structure in the process.

What I'm excited about for FM24, is that the new match engine has code updates that enables players to rotate and cover for each other naturally, effectively positional swapping based on player movements. This is a huge development. I believe even more so than the new position and position updates. Don't get me wrong, the inverted fullback, new libero in a double CB, and altered inverted wingback, are all fantastic. I think these will be keys to unlocking the bigger picture, but without the ME having good natural positional fluidity, none of those things would matter.

So, within this thread, I will attempt to show a few tactical examples that use the tactics creator to create effective overall team structures, good positional relationism between players with natural interchanges, and swapping. All designed in order to create superiority in games.

The main goals will be to achieve the three key principles of positional play, all whilst building upon the previous foundation with the new ME updates.

Three key principles

Organized team structure - I'd like to experiment here. I love to use both the 433 and 4231. The newer 3 at the back systems are interesting too. Ultimately, what matters is designing a tactic around the in-possession shape. I'll look to create some options with either 2-3-5 or 3-2-5 shapes. Then within those structures, I will aim to have good established team organization based around the ideas in the link above, the areas of cooperation and areas of mutual help.

Relationism - I want to get the players within the tactics, setup by there PRD (position, role and duty) along with PIs (player instructions), to act closer to real life expectations. This is the category where I'm hopeful that FM 24 will show the biggest improvements, because you could not achieve this without manually forcing it before. But even then it was artificial. Essentially though, relationism will explore how players make moves into free space, or towards the ball carrier in support, or as a 3rd man, and then subsequently to that movement, another player will then move to cover the space vacated. I can't wait to figure out how this will work.

Superiority - Overloading channels, loading up flanks, these things were all possible before now. However, it was again more forced by usage of certain PRD's, like Mezzala's. I'm hopeful that a smart combination of PRD's within a tactic, and utilizing better ME relationism, we can really capitalize on superiority of numbers, quality and position in FM24.

Goals - My goals for this thread will be to take the above philosophies and implement them with solid tactics that anyone can build a team around. But each expression will aim to do the below. Each of these goals are resultant from my past efforts and shortcomings, or walls, that I ran across while implementing the tactic in FM.

Utilizing the new match engine updates and positions in order to have greater relationism and rotations.
How to use that relativity within a greater team structure and shape
How to build from the back, controlling possession, without being stale, predictable, and lacking attacking impetus. It's important to build slow, but attack lethally

I hope others are as excited as I am about this new version. I invite anyone to give constructive feedback and also post there own experimentations.

Edited October 19, 2023 by 04texag

04texag · October 20, 2023

Organized Structure - As the first key principle, I wanted to do a large post with information on my thoughts on this topic. But first, a caveat.

So much of playing FM is based upon personal preference, layered on top of the team you are managing and players available to you. Taking the structure of your team as a first main point, there are countless variations and decisions available. As such, even within this first topic, there is no one size fits all. Everything I write up will just be some examples to get people playing with their own ideas.

Also, when talking about shapes, the expression is usually represented in the build-up phase of attacking possession. Once the team enters into the final third, due to off ball runs, overlaps, etc, these shapes often breakdown and look lopsided, particularly when on one of the flanks.

235 shape (the focus of this post, I'll likely do a 325 later if there's interest)

There are many ways to get a reliable 235 attacking shape in FM. Here are some common examples.

433

Systems like this can work, better than before, because of the positional rotations. @Rashidi has already done a brilliant job of detailing which positions rotate and create new partnerships with other players, so I don't need to get into any of that do to his wonderful work. Instead, I want to focus on, for positional play, why would you choose any one setup over another? This comes down to the third key fundamental of positional play, understanding qualitative superiority.

Qualitative superiority is about getting the most out of your best players. You want to have your best player enabled by the team structure to have the biggest impact on the game. Is your best player a playmaker or a goal scorer? An on the ball dribbler and creator, or a runner who wants to get on the end of things and put the ball in the net?

What about your other great players, your supports, your creative engine? Who are they and on what areas of the field do they want to operate?

I believe that good positional play team structures are designed to create a positional backbone for a team to play the game under a defined ruleset, but then within that overarching structure, the players of quality are given more license, or freedom, to move within the overall shape and structure to impact the game with their quality.

Let's say your best player is like a Kevin de Bruyne. You want him finding space, the attacking transition to move through him, and then for him to make key passes and create chances for his teammates on goal. Additionally, as a player who is good with both feet and crossing, you might want him roaming and able to move wide with or without the ball. So with KdB as a key piece of your puzzle, you would want to place him first and then design around him. You'd probably want him setup as a Mezzala. If you want him driving forward more and scoring himself, try an attack duty, or if more of a playmaker like KdB, then on support duty.

So, you start making decisions for your setup based on your key personnel, but you have to understand the overall setup and greater structure too. Nothing can be decided on isolation, especially with a style like positional play, as even a super star like KdB is a part of a whole.

Drawing upon my article from 3 years ago, a key fundamental of positional play is that the overall team structure should be designed to accomplish a few goals. Let's discuss those.

First, the team structure allows the attacking team to dictate the terms of engagement. In a lot of ways, think of it like Alexander the Great wanting to show up first to the site of an impending battle, deciding where is most advantageous to setup, where the weakness of the field of battle are and how his army can utilize that to strengthen their advantages and shore up weakness. Using a hill or river bed to his advantage.

A good football tactician will do the same. Creating and managing space is paramount. It almost goes without saying, but for a lot of reasons, positional play should really only be employed by teams with the quality and breadth of talent to dominate a game and dictate the terms of play. However, on a football field, a dominant team still only has a predefined amount of space to work within, the boundary on the pitch. So to control space, you must then setup your players in a way that will draw defenders out in marking positions to maximize the creative space you want to get your players to and move the ball through.

So how is this done?

First a picture from before which shows the core principles of positional play in action:

All three core principles - In the above picture, I have drawn some lines to illustrate the core principles. This is taken in the approach play where we have already made 3-4 passes playing out from the back, moving the ball along the right flank. The ORANGE lines represent the players who are creating the team's area of cooperation, which basically means the teams organized structure. This is the field of play the team is defining for itself, in other words it's team shape/structure. We have employed a tactic to utilize a 235 shape.

Normally the striker is a part of this group, and will play high up the pitch to hold the defensive line back, but you can see that the number 9 has dropped deep in order to offer assistance, which is a function of the second part of organized structure, the area of mutual help, which is drawn in yellow. Each of these players are more immediate to the ball, drawing from the second core principle of understanding the ball's location and what your role is in relation to the ball. These players are all immediately available to the ball carrier to receive a pass.

These players have all drifted into "space" in order to be open, but also to create the third core principle, superiority. You will notice the two defenders are outmatched in essentially a 5v2. This small little field is basically a "rondo", which we all know is the hugely favored training drill of Pep, the master of positional play.

Referencing back to that picture as needed, for a good organized structure, we need to focus on three things, creating width, depth, and internal open space.

Width - According to Juanma Lillo (whom I hope all now know), due to the offsides rule, the opposing team can restrict vertical space, shortening the field by pushing up. But the width of the field is determined and cannot be changed. Thus, it's important for the attacking team to make full use of the width of the field in order to create more space in the middle of the field. By staying out wide, for example, a winger hugging the touch line will require a defender, typically a full back, to stay out wide to mark him. This opens up the half space/or channel, for other players.

One of the things I will explore throughout this series is a mix of static players and roaming players. Static players will be used to establish our team structure. So, in order to maintain width, I'm going to need at least 2 static players who will be instructed to play wide. Because I'm wanting variability in the different levels of my shape, I will opt to use a Winger, attacking midfield strata, on one side of the pitch, and a wingback, defensive strata, on the other side. Think of this as one player in the 3 line (of the 235) will maintain width on one side, and one player on the 5 line (235) will maintain width on the opposite flank. Both players can be told to stay wide and to hold position. These two players will be key to keeping the overall area of cooperation wide.

Depth - As mentioned above, the offside rule means that the defense can dictate one end of the pitch, thus impeding our team's depth. Because of this, it is important that we consider the positioning of our own defense, lest we compress our own team shape by having our defenders too high up the pitch. So, in our tactic, we will be looking to have at least one static CB, and the opposing fullback (not the width creating WB mentioned above) told to hold position and dribble less. For variability and tactical flexibility, we will allow one of the two CB's to move to more advanced ball playing positions (which we will cover later).

Additionally, our choice of forward role and duty will have a great effect on the defensive line of the opponent. Because we want to stretch the depth of our area of cooperation, I will refrain from using roaming roles up top. My first choice is the advanced forward without any PI's. This is still an area that FM24 has not addressed. A lot of total football, positional play variants, will often allow a central striker to drop deep occasionally to help with building up when the defense has settled back into a solid structure. This is great for variability, but doing so in FM compresses the space far too much, and it only works well in brief spurts. Normally, I like to run an Advanced Forward as he sits on the shoulders of the CBs and pins them in place. This is important for width in creating channels, but also in providing more space between the back and mid lines of the defense, which we definitely do not want those lines to compress or we will be completely devoid of space.

Space - If we accomplish the first two objectives while in game, then the result is the amount of space the team has to work within. Here is where we will look to establish positional play, some roaming movement, all trying to find and assert superiority. In order to accomplish this, we will use multiple roaming players and 2 playmakers. We will talk much more later about playmakers, positional roaming, and relativity, but know now that the above width and depth is how we create the space we are looking for by properly setting up our team structures.

Back to the key player position

Now, let's return back to our KdB like Mezzala. That player is a key piece, we want to channel attacks through him, which means he needs space to operate in, to get onto the ball and then space around him for his teammates after he is on the ball.

Assuming I want this player to be on support, as more of a creator, then we could try to build the below.

I really like wingers, and a small change to their instructions in FM24 finally let's them play more in line with positional play.

Think about Riyad Mahrez. He is a classic example, and someone who would link up with KdB. He would setup very wide, hugging the touchline, but as an opposite footed player, when he received the ball in isolation, he would look to cut inside just as much if not more than taking the ball to the byline. To do this previously in FM, you had to use an IW l, with PIs to stay wider, and if on support you could tell him to hold position. This worked pretty well, but that particular role wants to be more of a prime creator and can conflict some with a Mez. Instead, a winger on support will be less of a focal point. Now, within FM24 PI window, you can tell a winger to cut inside with the ball as opposed to being hard coded to run wide. This is awesome.

So, playing beside a Mez, you might want a Winger, and since we don't really want to put lots of crosses in, we don't really want that player always running wide and to the line. So you can now have him cut in. This will also allow the Mez on support to move wide outside of him when he makes this move, as a good outlet to continue probing.

Without the ball, or deeper in the build up phase, the winger on support can maintain the team width on his side of the pitch. Which looking back above, is important for our structure to maintain width with one player, in this case, a winger staying wide will hold the width on the right flank in the 235 strata. Mahrez was always a great example of this, and quite different from how Bernardo would play whilst in the same position. By staying high and wide, the winger is stretching the opposition fullback out wide to mark him. This will naturally open up the channel, or half space, between him and his CB teammate. Which is exactly the space we want to exploit with our Mezzala.

As our structure and PRD starts to take shape across our team, we have to consider the relationship between players. How will they move around each other? Which players will be static, which will have positional freedom? Also, which players are creators, runners, defenders, scorers, etc?

So, to finalize out this post, let's consider the immediately surrounding players to our Mezzala.

In our hypothetical example, I want a Mezzala on Support, who will be out prime creator and focal point for creativity. So I would want my Winger to potentially be on Attack, especially if I have a player in that position who is a moderate goal threat. This will give the mezzala a player out wide who is willing to make off the ball runs, which is super important to avoid stale predictable attacks. You obviously could tweak this, and based no your available players, you should. You could try him on Support, more like an alternate play maker a la bernardo silva. You can mess with the IW on support or attack, both of which you can tell to stay wider.

Up top, for reasons stated before on depth, I like the advanced forward, as he his an attacking spearhead. He will create our channel, but once the Mezzala is on the ball in the channel, he will provide an important attacking threat, with runs or positioning setup for crosses. You can try occasionally using a CF-A, or adding roaming PI to the AF-A, as this will increase some positional variation if things are getting stale, but I wouldn't start there.

Behind the Mezzala, in the three strata of the 235, we need to understand how the DM and right sided full back are going to play.

Starting with the right full back, a lot of people will use the IWB-S. This is a great position, and has updated coding for rotations in FM24. I like it. However, I think there's a key decision point here. Do you as a manager, based on your players and preferences, want more fluidity, or more directed attacks through your key player Mezzala?

If you want more fluidity, the IWB-S is great, as this player has roams from position hard coded. However, if you want to really focus on that channel, you might want a more rigid structure on this one flank to really funnel things through your primary creator. In that case, I like using a Fullback on Support (or automatic), as you can set PI's for him to sit narrow and hold position. I do like to add run wide with the ball, so that when he has the ball he has the option to dribble out wide, as this can pull a defender to him (remember that the ball is an attractor), which can help to open the channel up instead of collapsing.

So what about the DM?

At times I have messed with a lot of positions here. I think you can debate a lot here, based mostly on what the opposition is trying to do (attack with 2 strikers, explore HB, star AMC, use a defensive heavy marking role), as well as your available player pool. But, for this specific example, let's just compare the DLP and the basic DM. The main difference that I see is how each of these PRD's is going to play in relation to the ball. Relativity, to players and the ball, is very important in positional play. If you were building your team around a very good creative #6, you would likely want to use a DLP, as the player will work in the match engine to attract the ball, and also the opposition with marking. The DM will do less of that, instead sitting more as an anchor of shape in the center of our 3 strata (235), offering an outlet for possession recycling. One nice thing I have seen within FM24 is how these two roles will play different.

As the ball is moving up the pitch, with your team in possession and in controlled buildup, the dlp will drift further forward to offer himself as an option to the less creative players, so that he can take on the role of creativity. Whereas the DM will prefer to drift back or stay static, even on support duty he is less willing to open up to receive the pass. So, returning to our example, if the Mezzala is to be the focal point, why would I want a DLP next to him who is going to be likely to crowd his space, and be an eager receiver of possession which might otherwise go through the Mezzala. For this reason, I would go with the DM-S, which I like to add some PIs to.

So, to conclude this post. We have decided on a lot, all based on determining who our key player is, building a shape around him, and exploring some key tenets of positional play. The below picture is almost half of a tactic all built based upon this exploration. But for time reasons, and length of post, this is a good stopping point. Next time, we will continue exploring team shape, and I'll continue working on the other flank of this tactic. And finally, we will do some exploration of team instructions.

Edited October 20, 2023 by 04texag
formatting work

coach vahid · October 20, 2023

I didn't play on fm 23, and surely i will not play on fm 24 too.

But it's a very good article. Thanks.

Diverisma158 · October 21, 2023

hace 21 horas, 04texag dijo:

Organized Structure - As the first key principle, I wanted to do a large post with information on my thoughts on this topic. But first, a caveat.

So much of playing FM is based upon personal preference, layered on top of the team you are managing and players available to you. Taking the structure of your team as a first main point, there are countless variations and decisions available. As such, even within this first topic, there is no one size fits all. Everything I write up will just be some examples to get people playing with their own ideas.

Also, when talking about shapes, the expression is usually represented in the build-up phase of attacking possession. Once the team enters into the final third, due to off ball runs, overlaps, etc, these shapes often breakdown and look lopsided, particularly when on one of the flanks.

235 shape (the focus of this post, I'll likely do a 325 later if there's interest)

There are many ways to get a reliable 235 attacking shape in FM. Here are some common examples.

433

Systems like this can work, better than before, because of the positional rotations. @Rashidi has already done a brilliant job of detailing which positions rotate and create new partnerships with other players, so I don't need to get into any of that do to his wonderful work. Instead, I want to focus on, for positional play, why would you choose any one setup over another? This comes down to the third key fundamental of positional play, understanding qualitative superiority.

Qualitative superiority is about getting the most out of your best players. You want to have your best player enabled by the team structure to have the biggest impact on the game. Is your best player a playmaker or a goal scorer? An on the ball dribbler and creator, or a runner who wants to get on the end of things and put the ball in the net?

What about your other great players, your supports, your creative engine? Who are they and on what areas of the field do they want to operate?

I believe that good positional play team structures are designed to create a positional backbone for a team to play the game under a defined ruleset, but then within that overarching structure, the players of quality are given more license, or freedom, to move within the overall shape and structure to impact the game with their quality.

Let's say your best player is like a Kevin de Bruyne. You want him finding space, the attacking transition to move through him, and then for him to make key passes and create chances for his teammates on goal. Additionally, as a player who is good with both feet and crossing, you might want him roaming and able to move wide with or without the ball. So with KdB as a key piece of your puzzle, you would want to place him first and then design around him. You'd probably want him setup as a Mezzala. If you want him driving forward more and scoring himself, try an attack duty, or if more of a playmaker like KdB,  then on support duty.

So, you start making decisions for your setup based on your key personnel, but you have to understand the overall setup and greater structure too. Nothing can be decided on isolation, especially with a style like positional play, as even a super star like KdB is a part of a whole.

Drawing upon my article from 3 years ago, a key fundamental of positional play is that the overall team structure should be designed to accomplish a few goals. Let's discuss those.

First, the team structure allows the attacking team to dictate the terms of engagement. In a lot of ways, think of it like Alexander the Great wanting to show up first to the site of an impending battle, deciding where is most advantageous to setup, where the weakness of the field of battle are and how his army can utilize that to strengthen their advantages and shore up weakness. Using a hill or river bed to his advantage.

A good football tactician will do the same. Creating and managing space is paramount. It almost goes without saying, but for a lot of reasons, positional play should really only be employed by teams with the quality and breadth of talent to dominate a game and dictate the terms of play.   However, on a football field, a dominant team still only has a predefined amount of space to work within, the boundary on the pitch. So to control space, you must then setup your players in a way that will draw defenders out in marking positions to maximize the creative space you want to get your players to and move the ball through.

So how is this done?

First a picture from before which shows the core principles of positional play in action:

All three core principles - In the above picture, I have drawn some lines to illustrate the core principles. This is taken in the approach play where we have already made 3-4 passes playing out from the back, moving the ball along the right flank. The ORANGE lines represent the players who are creating the team's area of cooperation, which basically means the teams organized structure. This is the field of play the team is defining for itself, in other words it's team shape/structure. We have employed a tactic to utilize a 235 shape.

Normally the striker is a part of this group, and will play high up the pitch to hold the defensive line back, but you can see that the number 9 has dropped deep in order to offer assistance, which is a function of the second part of organized structure, the area of mutual help, which is drawn in yellow. Each of these players are more immediate to the ball, drawing from the second core principle of understanding the ball's location and what your role is in relation to the ball. These players are all immediately available to the ball carrier to receive a pass.

These players have all drifted into "space" in order to be open, but also to create the third core principle, superiority. You will notice the two defenders are outmatched in essentially a 5v2. This small little field is basically a "rondo", which we all know is the hugely favored training drill of Pep, the master of positional play.

Referencing back to that picture as needed, for a good organized structure, we need to focus on three things, creating width, depth, and internal open space.

Width - According to Juanma Lillo (whom I hope all now know), due to the offsides rule, the opposing team can restrict vertical space, shortening the field by pushing up. But the width of the field is determined and cannot be changed. Thus, it's important for the attacking team to make full use of the width of the field in order to create more space in the middle of the field. By staying out wide, for example, a winger hugging the touch line will require a defender, typically a full back, to stay out wide to mark him. This opens up the half space/or channel, for other players.

One of the things I will explore throughout this series is a mix of static players and roaming players. Static players will be used to establish our team structure. So, in order to maintain width, I'm going to need at least 2 static players who will be instructed to play wide. Because I'm wanting variability in the different levels of my shape, I will opt to use a Winger, attacking midfield strata, on one side of the pitch, and a wingback, defensive strata,  on the other side. Think of this as one player in the 3 line (of the 235) will maintain width on one side, and one player on the 5 line (235)  will maintain width on the opposite flank. Both players can be told to stay wide and to hold position. These two players will be key to keeping the overall area of cooperation wide.

Depth - As mentioned above, the offside rule means that the defense can dictate one end of the pitch, thus impeding our team's depth. Because of this, it is important that we consider the positioning of our own defense, lest we compress our own team shape by having our defenders too high up the pitch. So, in our tactic, we will be looking to have at least one static CB, and the opposing fullback (not the width creating WB mentioned above) told to hold position and dribble less. For variability and tactical flexibility, we will allow one of the two CB's to move to more advanced ball playing positions (which we will cover later).

Additionally, our choice of forward role and duty will have a great effect on the defensive line of the opponent. Because we want to stretch the depth of our area of cooperation, I will refrain from using roaming roles up top. My first choice is the advanced forward without any PI's. This is still an area that FM24 has not addressed. A lot of total football, positional play variants, will often allow a central striker to drop deep occasionally to help with building up when the defense has settled back into a solid structure. This is great for variability, but doing so in FM compresses the space far too much, and it only works well in brief spurts. Normally, I like to run an Advanced Forward as he sits on the shoulders of the CBs and pins them in place. This is important for width in creating channels, but also in providing more space between the back and mid lines of the defense, which we definitely do not want those lines to compress or we will be completely devoid of space.

Space - If we accomplish the first two objectives while in game, then the result is the amount of space the team has to work within. Here is where we will look to establish positional play, some roaming movement, all trying to find and assert superiority. In order to accomplish this, we will use multiple roaming players and 2 playmakers. We will talk much more later about playmakers, positional roaming, and relativity, but know now that the above width and depth is how we create the space we are looking for by properly setting up our team structures.

Back to the key player position

Now, let's return back to our KdB like Mezzala. That player is a key piece, we want to channel attacks through him, which means he needs space to operate in, to get onto the ball and then space around him for his teammates after he is on the ball.

Assuming I want this player to be on support, as more of a creator, then we could try to build the below.

I really like wingers, and a small change to their instructions in FM24 finally let's them play more in line with positional play.

Think about Riyad Mahrez. He is a classic example, and someone who would link up with KdB. He would setup very wide, hugging the touchline, but as an opposite footed player, when he received the ball in isolation, he would look to cut inside just as much if not more than taking the ball to the byline. To do this previously in FM, you had to use an IW l, with PIs to stay wider, and if on support you could tell him to hold position. This worked pretty well, but that particular role wants to be more of a prime creator and can conflict some with a Mez. Instead, a winger on support will be less of a focal point. Now, within FM24 PI window, you can tell a winger to cut inside with the ball as opposed to being hard coded to run wide. This is awesome.

So, playing beside a Mez, you might want a Winger, and since we don't really want to put lots of crosses in, we don't really want that player always running wide and to the line. So you can now have him cut in. This will also allow the Mez on support to move wide outside of him when he makes this move, as a good outlet to continue probing.

Without the ball, or deeper in the build up phase, the winger on support can maintain the team width on his side of the pitch. Which looking back above, is important for our structure to maintain width with one player, in this case, a winger staying wide will hold the width on the right flank in the 235 strata. Mahrez was always a great example of this, and quite different from how Bernardo would play whilst in the same position. By staying high and wide, the winger is stretching the opposition fullback out wide to mark him. This will naturally open up the channel, or half space, between him and his CB teammate. Which is exactly the space we want to exploit with our Mezzala.

As our structure and PRD starts to take shape across our team, we have to consider the relationship between players. How will they move around each other? Which players will be static, which will have positional freedom? Also, which players are creators, runners, defenders, scorers, etc?

So, to finalize out this post, let's consider the immediately surrounding players to our Mezzala.

In our hypothetical example, I want a Mezzala on Support, who will be out prime creator and focal point for creativity. So I would want my Winger to potentially be on Attack, especially if I have a player in that position who is a moderate goal threat. This will give the mezzala a player out wide who is willing to make off the ball runs, which is super important to avoid stale predictable attacks. You obviously could tweak this, and based no your available players, you should. You could try him on Support, more like an alternate play maker a la bernardo silva. You can mess with the IW on support or attack, both of which you can tell to stay wider.

Up top, for reasons stated before on depth, I like the advanced forward, as he his an attacking spearhead. He will create our channel, but once the Mezzala is on the ball in the channel, he will provide an important attacking threat, with runs or positioning setup for crosses. You can try occasionally using a CF-A, or adding roaming PI to the AF-A, as this will increase some positional variation if things are getting stale, but I wouldn't start there.

Behind the Mezzala, in the three strata of the 235, we need to understand how the DM and right sided full back are going to play.

Starting with the right full back, a lot of people will use the IWB-S. This is a great position, and has updated coding for rotations in FM24. I like it. However, I think there's a key decision point here. Do you as a manager, based on your players and preferences, want more fluidity, or more directed attacks through your key player Mezzala?

If you want more fluidity, the IWB-S is great, as this player has roams from position hard coded. However, if you want to really focus on that channel, you might want a more rigid structure on this one flank to really funnel things through your primary creator. In that case, I like using a Fullback on Support (or automatic), as you can set PI's for him to sit narrow and hold position. I do like to add run wide with the ball, so that when he has the ball he has the option to dribble out wide, as this can pull a defender to him (remember that the ball is an attractor), which can help to open the channel up instead of collapsing.

So what about the DM?

At times I have messed with a lot of positions here. I think you can debate a lot here, based mostly on what the opposition is trying to do (attack with 2 strikers, explore HB, star AMC, use a defensive heavy marking role), as well as your available player pool. But, for this specific example, let's just compare the DLP and the basic DM. The main difference that I see is how each of these PRD's is going to play in relation to the ball. Relativity, to players and the ball, is very important in positional play. If you were building your team around a very good creative #6, you would likely want to use a DLP, as the player will work in the match engine to attract the ball, and also the opposition with marking. The DM will do less of that, instead sitting more as an anchor of shape in the center of our 3 strata (235), offering an outlet for possession recycling. One nice thing I have seen within FM24 is how these two roles will play different.

As the ball is moving up the pitch, with your team in possession and in controlled buildup, the dlp will drift further forward to offer himself as an option to the less creative players, so that he can take on the role of creativity. Whereas the DM will prefer to drift back or stay static, even on support duty he is less willing to open up to receive the pass. So, returning to our example, if the Mezzala is to be the focal point, why would I want a DLP next to him who is going to be likely to crowd his space, and be an eager receiver of possession which might otherwise go through the Mezzala. For this reason, I would go with the DM-S, which I like to add some PIs to.

So, to conclude this post. We have decided on a lot, all based on determining who our key player is, building a shape around him, and exploring some key tenets of positional play. The below picture is almost half of a tactic all built based upon this exploration. But for time reasons, and length of post, this is a good stopping point. Next time, we will continue exploring team shape, and I'll continue working on the other flank of this tactic. And finally, we will do some exploration of team instructions.

Hi mate! You gonna upload all the tactics for test it? Thx in advance!

Generation-Next · October 21, 2023

4 minutes ago, Diverisma158 said:

Hi mate! You gonna upload all the tactics for test it? Thx in advance!

You could just read through what they’ve put and implement it into your save/tactic.

nikolaj760 · October 21, 2023

How do you utilize the attacking width TI to achieve the width and/or encourage play through the middle?

04texag · October 21, 2023

29 minutes ago, nikolaj760 said:

How do you utilize the attacking width TI to achieve the width and/or encourage play through the middle?

I'll get to this. Short answer, I often will just use the default width setting.

w_x · October 21, 2023

Really good stuff and exactly how I like to play

jc577 · October 22, 2023

Looking forward to this!

04texag · October 23, 2023

First off, a quick apology, as I'm working quite slow here, due to the fact that with a young kid, an older kid with crazy extra curricular activities, and just life in general, I don't routinely have as much time to write whilst playing as I used to. But, as an offering of penance, I figured a roadmap of planned posts and discussion points might help.

Thread Outline/Plan:

Defensive Organization/Early Build-up - see below notes
Attacking Third - Then Vs Now - Attacking trident and a #10 Vs creative attacking wingers, hybrid 8/10s in the middle
Relativism - The ball and players, Area of Mutual Help, Flank variability, intro 3rd man runs
Possession with intent - Playmakers, Support pieces, Ball Recycling, and increasing the 3rd man runs
Final team instructions - Tactical Examples, a few tested through my playthroughs
325 Shape - Why progress from 235 to 325, explore 3 Box 3
Finding players - Impact of players on gameplans

Defensive Organization/Early Build-up

The next post will be about the back 4 roles (5 incl Keeper) and how will we look to organize the backbone of our team. This will include discussions of our defensive shape, our early possession build up approach, and pos/role/duty options for the back four. We will get into some discussion of team settings as well. Goals of the post will be to cover these topics:

Defensive organization and early build up play
How to build from the back without "Play out of Defense" TI, and why
Some other team settings, low tempo setting, creative freedom
Refresh/New thoughts on Team Structure, including revisiting area of cooperation
Variable possession goals, use of playmakers

Ambitiously, I would like to get this next post done later today. Might be tomorrow though. I will also update the first post on this thread with the outline/plan, and will use hyperlinks as I develop these posts.

04texag · October 25, 2023

This is going to be a long post, and a lot of theory, before ever really getting into much for FM. I apologize ahead of time if this is worthless drivel to most of you, but hopefully at least someone takes something away from my ramblings.

Defensive Organization -

The advantages of a 433 are manyfold, but generally it’s a good pressing formation with 3 at the front, 3 in a midfield triangle that can support the press and cut off passing lanes, and 4 at the back to organize rest defense and matchup against 2 or 3 attacking players.

But why are we diving into defensive organization as we are building out our tactical foundations for positional play? I believe looking at some weaknesses first is important, but also, by talking about our overall organization, we can lay the proper foundation of our overall team shape, which is the blueprint for how we are going to dictate the play of the game to our opponent.

I like this quote from Jamie Scott: “Top teams need to account for all phases of the game - while very top teams can manipulate the phases of the game. The 235/325 dynamics are conducive of establishing this manipulation.”

Additionally, this one: “Simply broken down, the 235/325 is ideal in possession, because the team has occupation of all five lateral zones, which is conducive of good spacing and balance, while maintaining overloads and security in deep central areas.”

Finally, here is a great picture that supports some of what we are going to dive into:

To dive deeper into defensive structure, I want to talk about a weakness, and then also and advantage.

One of the weaknesses of the 235 that City for example have encountered is that it can be weak to the counter. This is a main reason why changes to their shape in recent times has moved to a 325. A big part of this is that with a 235 shape, the rest defense is more prone to counter attacks that can lead to 1v1 situations against isolated centerbacks. A 325 shape can help with that by having more defensive players who are static in the back line.

As such, I think a limitation of the 235 should be acknowledged and discussed to know when it might be better to employ it over the 325, and when the other should be used. First, lets define rest defense, and then let’s look to a wonderful article from the byline about it.

Rest Defense - Rest defence refers to the defensive structure that “rests” (remains static) while the remainder of the team is in the attacking phase. The term comes from the German Restfeldsicherung and the Dutch Restverdediging, literally translating in both cases as “remaining defence”

Byline article on rest defense

Drawing from the article: a team needs to have a good balance. Not only do they need players positioned between the defensive and attacking third but also centrally to block off passing lanes. This is designed to push the opposition wide, where the risk of conceding a clear goalscoring chance is lower.

I’d add, that pushing the opposition wide is another good fundamental of positional play, as it is advantageous to use the touch lines as another defender. In some ways, a 1v1 out wide at the touchline is more like a 2v1 in the defender’s favor, as the closer to the side the attacker gets, the less his options become. Which is of course much different than in the middle of the pitch.

Looking at the analysis button, you can see where you are exposed on different areas of the pitch.

You can see here that we have a pretty covered pitch, we are very strong in central defense and in the center of the midfield. Our weakest areas are at the extreme corners of the field. I don’t mind this on the attacking side, but it is worth watching on the defending side. You could potentially play around with the TI to stop crossing to overcome this, but it’s probably not worth messing with if we are a dominant side. It would also be worth watching if the opposition has a very explosive winger with a lot of speed.

Taking the analysis feature off, here is the back end of my tactical setup. I think it’s good to consider how we plan to build up and attack, and visualize where these players are going to move to and setup rest defense.

So if we are sitting in rest defense in a 235 like the above images all show, what is our weakness? I would posit that we have two. The first would be against two striker formations like a 442, as there are two attacking players higher up the pitch looking to make runs on counters. They will typically position themselves behind the DM, or right on his shoulder, so that they can run at and isolate the CBs. Another would be against other high quality teams with fast and technical wingers. Think about Liverpool with Salah and Sane (Jota, et al). They are in a 433 with a lone striker, but that striker often plays very deep as a support piece and Liverpool will use their fast and lethal wingers to make teams pay.

In both of those above examples, the two CBs are much more likely to get isolated in 1v1 scenarios. So things you might consider would be to either shift to a 325 but again we'll focus on that later so in the confines of a 235 you might want to change your defensive midfielder to make sure that they are a stronger piece in the rest defense and are going to hold their position more. Another option would be to just change your duty for the defensive midfielder from support to defend to prevent this player from supporting the attack too much and varying his position to the flanks or further up the pitch in the center areas. He will be better able to track back if he holds his position, so the defend duty can help with that or you could even go to the extreme of using a roll like the halfback which will naturally want to stay much deeper almost like another center back.

Let’s shift our focus now to a benefit of our 235 shape.

The area of cooperation, and indirect supporting players

As a reminder, the area of cooperation is basically the defined structure of the team, their overall shape when in possession. This is the shape the team uses to create width and depth, and where the team will be structured and more rigid. Look at the orange lines drawn to the 235 below, this is the area of cooperation, and this is what a team should always look to maintain. (below images from David Garcia’s wonderful crash course)

Look at David Silva in the below picture, on the ball in space, and the area of cooperation is defined, which helps hold the defense wide to mark all of these players.

Now that you have visualized the area of cooperation and hopefully can see the importance of team structure, what is the role of different players. Later we will talk more about the area of mutual help, and direct supporting players. For now, let’s talk about indirect supporting players, which is those typically in the back of the shape, the defenders and other off ball players.

The first job of indirect supporting players is to maintain the team shape. Opposite side wingers must remain high and wide to pin opposition FB’s. The two defenders in the back need to always be providing their rest defense function, whilst also keeping an eye on maintaining depth for the team so that the field of play does not get to vertically compressed. Think here about Pep’s infamous practice field.

The generally recognized “rules” of positional play say that the team’s structure should follow the below:

There should be no more than three players on any horizontal line.
There should be no more than two players on any vertical line.
Ideally, each zone out wide should only have one player.
Players should create the best passing angles and keep triangular shapes.

Maintaining the above rules falls to indirect supporting players. This is their second task, adjusting their own position in response to the movements of their own team. If a player in the area of mutual help (the space more immediately around the ball) moves his positioning in order to support the ball carrier, either to drag a marking defender to a new position, or to move himself into an open space to receive a pass, then the other indirect supporting players might need to move themselves 10-20 yards in order to maintain the team position and the above rules.

If the winger steps towards a midfielder in the half space, you’ll often see the fullback on his flank step out wide to maintain width, etc.

Now, for the backfield players, the above is very important, especially as the ball is rotated to one flank as the team looks to exploit space and create overloads. The opposite side players and the defense need to move accordingly.

Lastly, indirect supporting players need to be available for long passes, switches, and possession recycling. The last one is key for our back 4 players. When an attack fails to materialize on one flank, the attacking team will often reset play backwards to the CB’s or even goal keeper, and then look to either play back down that flank or move towards the other. So the back 4 players, and the central pivot, all need to be available to receive the ball if a player in front of them runs out of space and needs to recycle possession.

This leads into team settings that I believe work the best in football manager. But first some examples.

We were making an attacking transition, the striker played it out wide to the right winger, who quickly ran out of space, so he is passing the ball back to the right WB (Sabba) to recycle possession. You can see Xaba and Bastoni, the CBS, are forming the back of the 235 shape and maintaining team depth, as their is a striker between them and the DM Proshin. Pedro (IWB) has tucked in next to him as a temporary double pivot with the ball on the right flank. This is something I’ve noticed new in FM24, the team will really shift the overall shape heavily towards one flank or the other. As you can see the midfield 3 have done some here, really favoring with a lean and shift to support the ball out wide on the right.

Here’s what happens next:

The ball continued backwards with another pass to Xaba. The Striker was mid run towards Sabba, being drawn towards the ball, and then he reversed to press Xaba with the ball. Proshin, our DM, shifted down to remain a central pivot and position himself between the two strikers (they are in a 442 btw). Can you guess where the next pass is? I’ve marked Pedro here, he is positioned perfectly in space, between lines of the defense, and he has moved himself into that space to offer himself for the pass. The ME even has him calling for the ball, beautiful.

0

Look at that, wide wingers maintaining width, 235 shape that has moved it’s balance to support the right flank, ball recycling and then finding space in the middle to orchestrate a new attack, this is lovely.

How to build from the back without "Play out of Defense" TI, and why

I don’t believe that using play out of defense is worth using, in most cases, in FM. I have found, particularly when playing a 433, that you can really struggle for results, playing with lots of possession but with no teeth. The ME will pass the ball around in the back far too often until a player gets “frustrated” and hoofs it long. Your experiences very much might differ here, but I’ve felt for 2 eidtions now that you can’t use this TI or you will really lack enough forward movement and building up vertically.

So how do we play a controlled possession game and build from the back without this instruction?

I’ve found that the right roles and duties and playing on low tempo, and with shorter passing are the key. I use ball playing defenders. This PRD ensures that my CB’s will look to make passes, typically following the passing and tempo instructions in the TI’s. with lower and shorter (I vary between all settings below the half mark). Depending on players there might be a mix of one BPD and one CD, but I’ll always have one BPD.

This also I’ve found helps in that forward players are more likely to recycle possession if there is a player in the back who is comfortable on the ball.

Another thing I’ve been messing with in the last two editions of FM is my default being much lower on tempo. I want to patiently build from the back (again, without the TI play out from back) and then once the ball gets forward to my more creative players, have them spring forward. I’ll start games with the left setting, and then if we are getting heavily pressed, i’ll move tempo up to adjust to the press.

Ok, this post is way too long and sprawling. So I'm going to stop it here for now, probably revisit and edit some. But for the most part, this sums up the defensive organization, some general team settings and how to build out from the back. And since I feel like I haven't given much tactically yet, here are my back 6 players in the tactics creator which I've been using to great effect so far in the game. You'll notice I have shifted and been using a BWM in the DM strata much more lately.

Thanks for reading!

04texag · October 25, 2023

One thing I'd add about that last picture, is that that is meant to be used against single striker formations. If you use center-backs on stop and cover against two strikers they will struggle to keep a solid defensive line, and I also would recommend not using things like step up more as you can get disorganized and end up getting beat in behind.

Another team instruction that I should add some commentary on is that I often will still play with a standard defensive line so that my center-backs do not get too far up the pitch I do sometimes use step up more but again only with single strikers.

vrig · October 25, 2023

Finally, someone else who uses lower tempos! It's very satisfying when you have creative players who can flick the switch and turn a settled spell of possession into a direct attack in an instant.

Very nice write up.

jc577 · October 25, 2023

2 hours ago, 04texag said:

I apologize ahead of time if this is worthless drivel to most of you, but hopefully at least someone takes something away from my ramblings.

Quite the contrary! I love the real-life/in-game images side by side; the attention to detail is fantastic. Really got me thinking about the game in a different way and looking forward to more.

Great write-up!

04texag · October 25, 2023

40 minutes ago, jc577 said:

Quite the contrary! I love the real-life/in-game images side by side; the attention to detail is fantastic. Really got me thinking about the game in a different way and looking forward to more.

Great write-up!

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback.

The last post was going too long and I had to go to work. I would like to add more detail on the PRD selections of the back 6 players as that may help it be more applicable to the game.

Also, I've realized if you don't front load a thread with a tactic, a lot of people click on through and never engage. So tonight I'll probably just post the full tactic in the first post and spend the rest of my time detailing why I've built it the way I have, and then how to adjust it based on the positional play principles for different situations like variable player types and opponents.

w_x · October 25, 2023

25 minutes ago, 04texag said:

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback.

The last post was going too long and I had to go to work. I would like to add more detail on the PRD selections of the back 6 players as that may help it be more applicable to the game.

Also, I've realized if you don't front load a thread with a tactic, a lot of people click on through and never engage. So tonight I'll probably just post the full tactic in the first post and spend the rest of my time detailing why I've built it the way I have, and then how to adjust it based on the positional play principles for different situations like variable player types and opponents.

It's always worth reading through people's thoughts and why they have made specific choices in tactics, imo

OldManPar77 · October 25, 2023

I'm working my way through this thread - just wanted to say cracking work @04texag

bennymc · October 25, 2023

This is a fascinating read @04texag. I've understood the basics about positional play, but never seen someone really try and dig into it in FM like this.

Have applied what you've said so far into my own save specifically for big matches using different roles and I'm already finding my mind racing with new ideas. Very much appreciate your efforts and looking forward to reading more.

oj2006 · October 26, 2023

Brilliant read! Keep up the work

michael_richie0 · October 26, 2023

one of the best articles I've read, as a newbie to tactics you really helped me understand a few things and enjoy the game more. Thank you very much. I can't wait for the sequel

04texag · October 26, 2023

Thanks all for the feedback.

Here is some additional information on my defensive setup to expand upon the last post.

In FM24, due to the positional rotation that has been added in, I have noticed that if you use an IWB, then that player will settle next to the DM, but the DM doesn't hold his position, forcing the IWB to position based in relation to him. In past editions, the DM would be more static. In other words, the positional placement seems to follow a different priority. Previously, the DM's position would be established first, and the IWB would be in relation to him. Now, the IWB pushes the DM to the side. See the below pictures, probably better than I can explain. The third picture is often what you will end up with, a very shifted 235, where the midfield strata is very much leaning towards the right flank.

Now, this may or may not be a problem for you, but you need to be aware that it's happening.

If you wanted to be more stable, and less susceptible to a counter from the oppositions right wing, which could take advantage of this shifting, then what you need to do is change to a position that doesn't force rotation like the IWB. You could run the left back as a full back with some custom PI. I'm currently testing this, out. For a few editions now, since my first De Zerbi tactic when he was at Sassuolo, I've enjoyed using fullbacks on Automatic. You can tell them to hold position and sit narrow. Now with FM24, this could work better if you want a more balance midfield that doesn't shift too hard to one flank. The below template is really good for a more static ball recycler, good to offer rest defense cover; however, when he has the ball, or the team is attacking on his flank, he will be more likely to contribute and move up his flank.

Another option if you wanted to keep the IWB on the left, but not be so unbalanced with the shift, would be to have two IWBs.

So why then might you want to shift the midfield strata to the right like in the first example and my starter tactic?

I'll give two reasons which have influenced my choices, which are the two player profiles below. Sabba is my right wingback, and he's one of the best players on the team. I want him to play down the right flank and naturally overlap to take advantage of his skill set (attributes, favored role, and player traits). The second player is the Mezzala on Attack. Casadei is a great modern total footballer. I want to use his skills, which are creative, but can lean more attacking because of his high finishing, great anticipation and off the ball movement, and he naturally will want to move into channels.

Based on these two players, I'm fine with most of the time having play shift towards the right, where my playmakers are designed to be supportive of overloads on the right, with runners, etc. But it's important to understand why it's happening, and what the potential impacts are. In this case, I've designed it to play this way, and if I need to alter it because of the flow of a game, or player substitutions, I know what levers to pull to adjust things.

The other two roles here are the BPD's. I like using the stopper on the right, as if we are playing down that flank often, and potentially losing the ball on that side of the pitch, I want the stopper there to cut off passing lanes and quickly when the ball back. If we are weak to the counter on our left, I'd like the Cover player over there as he will be in a better position to make recovery runs where I have less players and more exposure. Again, as I have noted previously, if playing against two striker sides, I would even these two out and have them both on Defend duty.

Lastly, I almost exclusively play with these instructions.

I like to leave my defensive line on Standard, so that we aren't compressing our own field of play too much. I do want my players to step up more to try to cut passing lanes and win the ball, but not from a natural position too high up the pitch. I also want to trap outside, as mentioned before, to use the touch line to our advantage. This also makes our central areas of defense more packed and congested. i dont' want teams to play through our middle.

I've whited out the pressing instructions, as I'm playing with these and either pressing a ton, or almost none at all. (Counter pressing is always on btw).

Edited October 26, 2023 by 04texag

cmonreds · October 26, 2023

1 hour ago, 04texag said:

Thanks all for the feedback.

Here is some additional information on my defensive setup to expand upon the last post.

In FM24, due to the positional rotation that has been added in, I have noticed that if you use an IWB, then that player will settle next to the DM, but the DM doesn't hold his position, forcing the IWB to position based in relation to him. In past editions, the DM would be more static. In other words, the positional placement seems to follow a different priority. Previously, the DM's position would be established first, and the IWB would be in relation to him. Now, the IWB pushes the DM to the side. See the below pictures, probably better than I can explain. The third picture is often what you will end up with, a very shifted 235, where the midfield strata is very much leaning towards the right flank.

Now, this may or may not be a problem for you, but you need to be aware that it's happening.

If you wanted to be more stable, and less susceptible to a counter from the oppositions right wing, which could take advantage of this shifting, then what you need to do is change to a position that doesn't force rotation like the IWB. You could run the left back as a full back with some custom PI. I'm currently testing this, out. For a few editions now, since my first De Zerbi tactic when he was at Sassuolo, I've enjoyed using fullbacks on Automatic. You can tell them to hold position and sit narrow. Now with FM24, this could work better if you want a more balance midfield that doesn't shift too hard to one flank. The below template is really good for a more static ball recycler, good to offer rest defense cover; however, when he has the ball, or the team is attacking on his flank, he will be more likely to contribute and move up his flank.

Another option if you wanted to keep the IWB on the left, but not be so unbalanced with the shift, would be to have two IWBs.

So why then might you want to shift the midfield strata to the right like in the first example and my starter tactic?

I'll give two reasons which have influenced my choices, which are the two player profiles below. Sabba is my right wingback, and he's one of the best players on the team. I want him to play down the right flank and naturally overlap to take advantage of his skill set (attributes, favored role, and player traits). The second player is the Mezzala on Attack. Casadei is a great modern total footballer. I want to use his skills, which are creative, but can lean more attacking because of his high finishing, great anticipation and off the ball movement, and he naturally will want to move into channels.

Based on these two players, I'm fine with most of the time having play shift towards the right, where my playmakers are designed to be supportive of overloads on the right, with runners, etc. But it's important to understand why it's happening, and what the potential impacts are. In this case, I've designed it to play this way, and if I need to alter it because of the flow of a game, or player substitutions, I know what levers to pull to adjust things.

The other two roles here are the BPD's. I like using the stopper on the right, as if we are playing down that flank often, and potentially losing the ball on that side of the pitch, I want the stopper there to cut off passing lanes and quickly when the ball back. If we are weak to the counter on our left, I'd like the Cover player over there as he will be in a better position to make recovery runs where I have less players and more exposure. Again, as I have noted previously, if playing against two striker sides, I would even these two out and have them both on Defend duty.

Lastly, I almost exclusively play with these instructions.

I like to leave my defensive line on Standard, so that we aren't compressing our own field of play too much. I do want my players to step up more to try to cut passing lanes and win the ball, but not from a natural position too high up the pitch. I also want to trap outside, as mentioned before, to use the touch line to our advantage. This also makes our central areas of defense more packed and congested. i dont' want teams to play through our middle.

I've whited out the pressing instructions, as I'm playing with these and either pressing a ton, or almost none at all. (Counter pressing is always on btw).

Good explanations and logic behind your tactic,

The thread as a whole is suberb in all possible ways :applause:

jc577 · October 27, 2023

16 hours ago, 04texag said:

The below template is really good for a more static ball recycler, good to offer rest defense cover; however, when he has the ball, or the team is attacking on his flank, he will be more likely to contribute and move up his flank.

Did someone say Ben White?

Fantastic post again - I hadn't previously considered the 'shift' that an IWB has on the directional flow of play (left or right) and how to take advantage of this, as you have done with the MEZ + WB + Winger combo, and also how to mitigate the defensive weaknesses this might cause. Great stuff.

04texag · October 27, 2023

Attacking Third - Then Vs Now -

Attacking trident and a #10 Vs creative attacking wingers, hybrid 8/10s in the middle

I'm not the best to speak about soccer history in depth, as I'm pretty recent as far as watching and studying soccer (summer 2018). So I will touch on this briefly, although I find it super interesting and impactful to the modern game.

Where has the classic #10 gone?

A classic #10 would often be paired with attackers who were very focused. 10 was a playmaker, the wingers and forwards were attackers. Those days are gone as more well rounded skill sets have become the norm. But why? A lot has to do with the way possession tactics have shifted. Positional play and other systems like to press high up the pitch, requiring all players to be hard worker. The days of a number 10 being lax on defense and only worrying about space, transitions, and orchestration are gone. There are always exceptions of course. Most teams though, want high pressing, and ask a lot more out of players. Wingers are asked to be more creative, central mids are asked to be more technical, and fullbacks are sometimes asked to be quasi playmakers on their assigned flank. All in all, most teams are using more of a total football approach wherein they are asking each and every player to play with a more broad skillset. On some teams, you could positionally swap a lot of the forward players and there would be little differences, but nothing major. Bernardo Silva can play on the wing, drop back and almost play like a 6 helping early play out, attack channels and arrive late as a goal scoring threat. These types of players are much more the norm now.

All of those things have led to a shift away from 10s and towards hybrid players. Free 8's in central midfield, who are industrious, but are very creative, almost like box to box hybrid 10's. Wingers are not just wingers anymore. They need to stay out wide, but when the ball is on their flank, they should work overloads, positionally rotate, move into channels, pass to runners and be runners themselves.

Personally, I love this wider spread adoption of total football type of play where any player can and should offer multiple skillsets and support to the overall team goals.

Back to FM

So, what does this mean for us? The 433 is a great system to make use of these tactical ideologies expressed above. The 3 midfielders offer up defensive solidity in the DM, and then two CM's who can play as free 8's. The AML and AMR offers great width, but both players can play as great rotational players who offer attacking and supportive play. Here's the fun part, if you get the overall team structure and rest defense sorted well, there is a lot of flexibility for implementing the front 5. You can truly mix things up based on players, personal preference and perspective on attacking play.

Let's look though at my setup, and talk about what I'm looking to do and why.

When considering my attack, I need to think through several different things, like who is going to create chances, who is going to get on the end of them, and who is going to be a support player, linking attack and defense. Now, especially as Positional Play is a fundamental off shoot of total football, and for reasons we have described above, most players are going to serve more than one purpose. Here's some examples:

The DLF is going to be one of my main goal scorers. With him on the DLF role, he should be able to also serve the role of being a link, as he will drop deep in transitions, but then only offer quick simple passing before launching himself forward to get into threatening positions to be a goal scorer.
The Mez is going to be a creative player, looking to play higher up the pitch and not worry as much about transitions. But he will get into channels to receive the ball and then either create a chance for others, or take chances for himself.
The RPM is going to be a link, with high work rate to link between attack and defense, worrying a lot about transitions, but as a playmaker, he is also going to try to create chances and make higher risk passes that might unlock the defense.

So let's look at the balance we have between these things.

Supports - RPM, W-Su, and slightly out of DLF and BMW

Creators - RPM, W-Su, Mez

Attacking threat - W-At, DLF, Mez

I have several options that can serve these roles. Additionally, when you think about the position of these pieces, we have pretty good coverage for different areas of the pitch. We have an attacker on the left flank, in the middle, and through the right channel. We have creative players wide right and on the left channel, who also can roam and cover broad areas of the pitch. Additionally, not pictured we do have the WB-s on the right. There is a lot of versatility here.

Also, we need to remember one of the first posts where we talked about the Wingers in this system. Aside from the above roles (support, create, attack), the wingers are already serving another purpose in maintaining team width. Both players are staying high and wide to pin the opposition fullbacks to open up the channels.

I'm going to keep this post shorter and stop here, but next up we have some more fun things to talk about if you reference are post outline in the first post.

04texag · October 27, 2023

Here is an unplanned but interesting thing I've noticed.

I'm playing in a champions league game against Lazio. We are the better team, but with increased stakes bc of CL, I have slightly shifted some duties. I've noticed that since my left back is on auto with hold position, and this particular player is quite defensive, he is basically being entirely ignored. As such, he's completely unmarked and the opposition winger is actually dropping deeper to mark my Winger with an attack duty on this flank. Due to this defensive shift, the oppositions right FB is now able to sit deep and tuck in narrower, not allowing for the space in the channel that I would normally be looking for.

In response, I'm going to tweak my tactic mid-game to try to exploit this. This is experimental, so we shall see if it works, but it's cool seeing some different ME stuff play out in FM24

My thought is that to be disruptive, and at least cause some different chaos on the left flank, we are going to switch some roles and duties around. The back 5 are unchanged (except the DM is now a DLP here to make use of Enzo's creativity and hope he can unlock a pass in the space we create. The left winger will now drop deeper and hopefully pull more marking, the mez is going to try to run in behind.

Whether or not this works, it's worth exploring how the FB has impacted the defenses marking here. Another option could be to sacrifice some of our rest defense (which shouldn't be a problem as the opposition winger isn't looking to exploit that space), and change this left FB to a support, a WB, or even an Attack duty.

oj2006 · November 1, 2023

Eagerly waiting more from you @04texag

04texag · November 1, 2023

Relativism - The ball and players, Area of Mutual Help, Flank variability, intro 3rd man runs

Time for another post, this time, I want to talk about relative positioning to the ball, and the defense.

Let’s start with defining 3rd man runs, drawing from an article on the coaches voice: https://www.coachesvoice.com/cv/third-man-runs-football-tactics-explained-gasperini-guardiola/

Third Man Runs - A third-man run happens when the team in possession attracts an opponent towards the ball. Two players exchange passes before a third makes an off-the-ball run into space to receive. Third-man runs are therefore crucial to finding a player in a better position who cannot be found with a direct pass.

Third man runs are used to exploit the space that is created by a team in possession. I’ve said before, but the ball has a magnetic effect. The ball draws players to it, and so do a ball carrier. The defense is naturally drawn to defend the player with the ball. And so, a team in possession can pass the ball around, and by doing so draw the defense to them and out of their own shape. The third man is the player who moves into previously occupied space once the defender has left his assigned spot.

This is a key to understanding positional play. Take this quote from Juanma Lillo: “It’s not about moving the ball, it’s about moving the opponent.”

By moving the ball, we are merely using the best tool in our arsenal to achieve the goal of moving the opposition. When we move the opposition, we can disorganize their defense and then play through them.

Another way to achieve the above, is to have a player move into the spaces between the defenses lines. A midfielder or attacker dropping deep is a common way to do this. The player drops into space to receive the pass, which then asks a big question of the defense. Who is going to respond and step out to press this open ball carrier. That will now further disrupt the defense’s shape and a new third man can now take advantage.

Within Football Manager, there are some positional roles which are better than others at accomplishing all of these types of tasks. A simple way to think about it is to think about the duties assigned to roles. Typically, a support duty player will be a player who will look to play the passing game with other fellow team mates. Offering themselves for passes and working together to link between defense and attack. Attack duty players will look to make runs and find open space.

However, not all support duty players are the same. A BMW on support will play much differently than a DLP on support. And this is where we can combine roles and duties in our tactics to get the tactical flexibility we want.

If the midfield is in a 2v2 with a BWM and a DLP, both on support, they are both likely to pass to each other (team instructions and player traits obv play a big part here); however, the DLP is much more likely to spot a team mate further up the pitch making a run or settling in to open space.

To achieve our goals within a positional play framework, we need a mix of player types, roles and duties, ideally spread across different areas of the pitch. But before we go further, let’s recall an old discussion about the area of mutual help.

In the team organization post, we defined the area of cooperation as the larger area on the pitch where the team is defining the overall play space. This is how the team manages the width and depth to their advantage. The area of mutual help is the much smaller area more immediately around the ball carrier. Think of this as the ball carrier and the closest 2 to 3 other team mates. This is the confined area of the pitch where the attacking team will look to establish passing lanes and triangles amongst themselves to draw the defense towards them, thus opening other space for attacking moves and third man runs.

In the above picture, the orange is the larger area of cooperation, and the area of mutual help are the yellow lines). We have players holding our team shape, then other players moving in supportive manner to support the ball carrier.

Flank Variability - Finally, before tying this all together, let's look at variability. Within the course of playing a game, you cannot always determine for play to move through a single player or area of the pitch. Thus, you must be able to play flexibly using the whole pitch. So, you need to have a mix of roles and duties across your team so that areas of mutual help can form and function well independent of the phase of buildup or location on the field.

So on each flank, we should have at least 1-2 supportive players, playmakers, and runners. This way, we can always look to exploit the defense by passing, moving, and threading more difficult defense unlocking passes. But, in order to prevent becoming to static and predictable, it's good to have a varied approach to each flank. You don't want to have the same patterns of play and ball movement on each side.

Tactical settings -

Ok, now let's look at some tactical settings. Here is the base tactic we posted before.

We discussed in the previous post how we have a mix of players who are scoring threats, playmakers and links. So what I want to talk about now, is how I would expect these things to take shape.

When we play down the right flank, the BMW will drift over and create a base, the BPD-St will sit below him, and the two will create our main rest defense on this flank, as well as some ball recycling functions. Generally, they will be much more static. In the initial build up, the WB will look to link defense to attack and support the ball carrier, with the Winger holding position high and wide an not offering much support early in the buildup. However, later in the build up and into the final third, the Winger should drift narrower and the WB should naturally overlap.

The RPM has a lot of rotational fluidity, so he will move all the way to the right flank to support a ball carrier, and make himself available to receive passes, and then quickly turn to find a runner or another layoff pass. The others previously listed, will prioritize quick passes moreso than through balls (PPMs withstanding). The RPM will opt instead to try to find 3rd man runners and more progressive passes due to his settings determined by the playmaker role.

The DLF will drop deep early, but in the final third he will operate in the box. The Mez on attack duty will function much more like an AMC and stay quite high in early buildup, looking for space in the channel to run in to. Finally, the Winger on the left flank should stay wide as well. When attacking down the right flank, the Mez and W-At are the main players who will make 3rd man runs.

You can see how there is a lot of built-in support, roaming movement, running players, etc here.

Now, you have to start looking at the team tactic settings as well. We play on Positive mentality as it's really the way the ME is designed for this type of team to play. Just simply hover over the tooltip info.

Now, to build on that, here are our in possession instructions

I use the fairly narrow width, as I've found this best encourages good interplay for your team, which we are wanting as ball carriers should not be too isolated, but rather players should draw in towards them to support them. I sometimes play with fairly wide and focus through the middle, but this doesn't work quite as well or realistically to this style IMO. The wingers are already told to stay wide and will create the width we need in most scenarios.

I like the slightly lower temp and standard passing directness. This is a change more recently but I've found it to offer the best mix of slow build up, faster tempo in the final third.

Finally, the be more expressive is important to prevent your team from being to stale in possession. You want players to be much more flexible in the area of mutual help, but rigid in the overall shape. Be more expressive to me seems to really strike the balance within the overall tactic we've built.

Work the ball into the box is not turned on by default, as it can again make you prioritize possession too much and we do want to cross and attack when appropriate. IF your team is launching tons of long shots, then i check this TI during a game.

Lastly, I love to use pass into space when we need to try more through balls and 3rd man runs. This can work very well with the right players and within a game if you are winning the possession battle but struggling to find a break through.

I hope this post has had something interesting. I'd love to see some more questions and discussions about this take on positional play I'm putting together, so please feel free to comment away.

Rowingkid · November 1, 2023

Great stuff this. Defo given me some ideas i want to try out . I'm currently playing 3 CBS with WBs so will need to see what i can apply to that as I don't particularly want to change that set up.

kalongtongan · November 1, 2023

Your writing is refreshing and very helpful about how ME has evolved this time and what tactics we should apply in terms of PRD.
Yesterday I just bought FM24 and your article is one of my favorites as a guide on this version.

04texag · November 2, 2023

20 hours ago, Rowingkid said:

Great stuff this. Defo given me some ideas i want to try out . I'm currently playing 3 CBS with WBs so will need to see what i can apply to that as I don't particularly want to change that set up.

Thanks for the feedback! Yes, I think a 3 cb formation could work very well in this FM. I'd use the back three as a solid base for a rest defense, with a lot more flexible, roaming players in front. Maybe a 316 attacking formation with the right players, to really push it. Try an anchor or DMD, then a bunch of fun in front of that.

HanziZoloman · November 2, 2023

Thx for all input and further explanation. Just read your posting @04texag, you know how to set up teams. Thanks much!

i am playing in a 4231 and want to create the 5221 attacking patterns, what do you think (?):

right side create/ left side score

P
IF(A) AM(S) WP(A)

DM(S) DLP(S)

WB(S) NCD CD WB(S)

WB(S) give width and support build up play through midfield (Play from the back). DLP and WP attract the Defense and overload right side. AM supports and IF makes the runs. Also WP is on (A) to make runs as well from DLP through balls. P IF and WP form a trident like P SS and AP in the 5221 trident.

WP AM DLP and WB Form area of close support

Attacking shape is like:

IF P WP

WB AM WB

DM DLP

NCB CB

If my team (League two) is not capable of doing this, I can change playmaking roles into DM(S) with switch ball ppm and IW(A).

Any suggestions?

Edited November 2, 2023 by HanziZoloman

popolski · November 3, 2023

@04texag Great work ! Could you share your PIs, I don't see them for all postions... Btw, sorry for my english, I'm french ;)

Rowingkid · November 3, 2023

On 02/11/2023 at 12:57, 04texag said:

Thanks for the feedback! Yes, I think a 3 cb formation could work very well in this FM. I'd use the back three as a solid base for a rest defense, with a lot more flexible, roaming players in front. Maybe a 316 attacking formation with the right players, to really push it. Try an anchor or DMD, then a bunch of fun in front of that.

I started a Barca save and started a 3CB formation and it's working well. 14 unbeaten in the league and through to KO's of CL. Obvs Barca are quality regardless of formation but to see the players play how i've set them up is really good.

GK

WCB-BPD /CB-ST / WCB-BPD

LWB-S / RWB-AT

DM-DLP-S / SV-AT

AM-C/AM-C

ST

Working really well as Balde and Cancelo are class WB's. And in the midfield we have quality but they can all kind of interchange and also Joao Felix is better as an AM then as LW which he would be in a 433

Only thing i've noticed is that i constantly come up in the analysis emails as the leagues worst defensive team but i haven't conceded many and have the best GD in the league. Wondering if because i have 60 - 70% possession in most games it means i'm not making tackles/clearances etc which is keeping my stats low compared to the league average and therefore they consider the team not good defensively? . Not really fussed about it but just seems weird

04texag · November 4, 2023

On 03/11/2023 at 11:57, Rowingkid said:

I started a Barca save and started a 3CB formation and it's working well. 14 unbeaten in the league and through to KO's of CL. Obvs Barca are quality regardless of formation but to see the players play how i've set them up is really good.

GK

WCB-BPD /CB-ST / WCB-BPD

LWB-S / RWB-AT

DM-DLP-S / SV-AT

AM-C/AM-C

ST

Working really well as Balde and Cancelo are class WB's. And in the midfield we have quality but they can all kind of interchange and also Joao Felix is better as an AM then as LW which he would be in a 433

Only thing i've noticed is that i constantly come up in the analysis emails as the leagues worst defensive team but i haven't conceded many and have the best GD in the league. Wondering if because i have 60 - 70% possession in most games it means i'm not making tackles/clearances etc which is keeping my stats low compared to the league average and therefore they consider the team not good defensively? . Not really fussed about it but just seems weird

You mean something like their announced lineup for today?

04texag · November 6, 2023

Coming soon.... A 4231 variant tactic that is absolutely dominating in my save right now. Champions League Quarter final first leg, 10-1 win! I'd say that's impressive. And those goals by the DM's are not from corners, but open play.

04texag · November 6, 2023

Here's a lovely goal. This was so nice I just had to capture and share it.

LukeSavo · November 6, 2023

4 hours ago, 04texag said:

Coming soon.... A 4231 variant tactic that is absolutely dominating in my save right now. Champions League Quarter final first leg, 10-1 win! I'd say that's impressive. And those goals by the DM's are not from corners, but open play.

Once again @04texag threads give me hope and motivation. Intrigued by this 4231 in particular :hammer:

Broabander · November 7, 2023

Very nice informative thread!

04texag · November 7, 2023

I've been absolutely slammed, but wanted to post for fun the 4231 I've been using at the end of my latest season. It's been really fun and playing an absolute dream.

You need to load it up and try it out just to see for yourself, IMO. But it does use a lot of the same principles from this entire thread with the instructions and mixing of roles and duties.

I've been working on developing a 3 box 3 formation, and this one plays a lot that way. I love seeing the pentagon in the middle during buildup

Edited November 7, 2023 by 04texag

04texag · November 7, 2023

Possession Levers

One of the things I like to do with my base tactic is try to keep the amount of instructions more limited. I want the mentality, to match with what I want to do, my PRD to determine my overall player strategies, then dial in the specifics with TI's. I don't like seeing tactics posted everyone online that have every box checked seeking to break the ME.

So, my base tactic has Positive play, players roles setup to play how I want with mixes of support players, creators, runners, scorers etc. I want us to play a possession game and build from the back, but as discussed, we don't even use that instruction. But it's very important to remember that we are building a system, and not a ME breaking tactic. And so you must sometimes slow down and watch the games play out, and then adjust accordingly.

Below our some common tweaks I'll make, which I call levers. I try to envision making these changes as throwing switches/levers, where I know what I'm seeing, and if I throw a lever, I should see an immediate impact or direct result. I'm trying to work within known boundaries of causation, and not just willy nilly selecting stuff at random, throwing mud to the wall to hope something sticks.

First step

If we are struggling for any reason in a game, or I feel we might need a switch, I will immediately slow the sim down and watch highlights, sometimes at full game. I'll often look at the score, possession percentage, passing percentage, and for any standout performers. Below are two common occurrences when using my positional play tactics and then some of my decision logic based on watching highlights.

Possession but no intent

The challenge in FM, especially with 433 shapes over the years, is it can be easy to dominate possession in a game, but look very plain while doing so. I've found this to often be the case, and thus my base tactic tries to avoid this. That said, usually, we dominate against most teams. Especially deeper into a save when you've had time to build your squad around your playstyle. So in games where you are dominating and seeing possession hovering around 60%, you likely need to take some more risks. After confirming that our possession is high and we are not offering enough threat, I will secondarily check the shots before making a change here. Are we belting a lot of long shots with a low shots on target percentage? If no, then I will not change much other than adding Pass into space. This instruction will encourage our playmakers to try more through balls and longer passes onto runners looking to make threatening runs. This is one of the most direct ways in FM I have found to increase the 3rd man runs. This instruction will increase risk and lower our possession generally, but hopefully unlocking the defense for a scoring chance in the process. Additionally, I may add the counter instruction on to add some attacking edge, but you really need to watch the ME highlights to see if this is appropriate.

If our shots on target % is low, I will add Work the ball into box, as this will minimize long shots and needless crossing, instead opting to work harder for a better opportunity closer to the goal. This will slow us down and increase possession though, which may not be what we want if we are searching for a goal. If we are ahead in the game, then go for it. This can be advantageous. If we are tied or *gasp* losing, this may not be smart. Instead, you might try Play for Set Pieces if your team is decent at them.

Struggling for Possession

Usually in champions league play, or in matches against other league title contenders, the games will be close fought affairs. Often in these matches, I'll find we are struggling for possession and need to make some tweaks to be more cautious or encourage a slower more methodical build up. Again, it's best in these scenarios to slow down the ME highlights and watch for a bit to see why first.

Are we getting pressed heavily? Then it may make a lot of sense to increase our tempo slider by one. Ideally, we do not want to increase this too much, as it will have a big impact, especially without plays out of defense on. We do not want to completely bypass our playmakers, which a higher tempo is more prone to doing. So you must watch and adjust tempo so that your players are holding the ball until pressed, then passing just before the pressing defender gets to them. In some scenarios I will even lower tempo to the lowest setting if playing against a parked bus where the defense doesn't press hardly at all.

Alternately, sometimes we will be playing at a fine tempo, but our players are making too many risky passes. We do not want to just ping the ball around needlessly, as you must remember the Lillo quote, we want to move the opposition, not just the ball. I've found while playing with these tactics that sometimes the Be more expressive instruction causes more players to play risky passes and we can lose out on some build up even when not being pressed hard. In these scenarios, I just untick the instruction.

Another final thing I will watch for in the ME is our transition game. If we are playing well defensively, but triggering counterattacks too often, we can lose possession again before we have had much of a chance to get into our shape and build up overloads. When I see this occuring, I will add the instruction Hold Shape to discourage needless counter attacking. This will directly improve our possession percentage in most scenarios, allowing us to slow down and try to unlock the defense with our system and not pure chance upon a counter.

Final action

Sometimes, you just simply need to swap players around or make a substitution. A final thing I will look at, often pausing the game and taking a moment, is the current match ratings and performance of both teams. I'll look at my players first, are any of my stars struggling? If so, why? Tired players need substitution, and over played players, if not playing well early in a game, I do not hesitate to bench them so they can get rest and a fresher pair of legs can come in. Our system will work to our advantage and we must let it.

I look then to the opposition team as well. If there are any standouts, especially if they have a playmaking role or I've seen them routinely feature in highlights, I'll use Opposition Instructions and select to Mark tighter and Press more often.

And that's about it for some possession levers I use in game to impact the overall pace and result of a game. I'd love to see some responses to this post and hear what some of you all do in similar scenarios to adjust on the fly within a game.

Diverisma158 · November 7, 2023

hace 5 horas, 04texag dijo:

I've been absolutely slammed, but wanted to post for fun the 4231 I've been using at the end of my latest season. It's been really fun and playing an absolute dream.

You need to load it up and try it out just to see for yourself, IMO. But it does use a lot of the same principles from this entire thread with the instructions and mixing of roles and duties.

I've been working on developing a 3 box 3 formation, and this one plays a lot that way. I love seeing the pentagon in the middle during buildup

there are PI in all the tactics u posted here? i've been reading all and i cant find it haaha, i love JDP

04texag · November 7, 2023

35 minutes ago, Diverisma158 said:

there are PI in all the tactics u posted here? i've been reading all and i cant find it haaha, i love JDP

Pretty much the only two with PI are the AMC, with roams from position and moves into channels, and the AMR with stays wider. That's it.

LuboM25 · November 7, 2023

Amazing work, thanks for taking the time to share.

bababooey · November 8, 2023

Fantastic post, thank you very much for sharing this!

shaunwwfc · November 9, 2023

These posts are absolutely fantastic @04texag but I must admit would be brilliant to see all tactics posted with TIs and PIs. Would be great to give them all a good runout

04texag · November 9, 2023

59 minutes ago, shaunwwfc said:

would be brilliant to see all tactics posted with TIs and PIs

Thanks for the feedback.

Yes, I can post tactics soon. I really wanted to write more of an article to get people thinking about tactics so that they can adapt these ideas for their own teams and saves. But a starting point is helpful.

Come to think of it, the 433 in the first post and the 4231 posted recently are both very good IMO for getting started.

Jambo98 · November 10, 2023

On 07/11/2023 at 14:38, 04texag said:

I've been absolutely slammed, but wanted to post for fun the 4231 I've been using at the end of my latest season. It's been really fun and playing an absolute dream.

You need to load it up and try it out just to see for yourself, IMO. But it does use a lot of the same principles from this entire thread with the instructions and mixing of roles and duties.

I've been working on developing a 3 box 3 formation, and this one plays a lot that way. I love seeing the pentagon in the middle during buildup

Great writing and explanations as ever........but are you really creating that shape using those roles and duties?

I struggle to see where the CWB would fit into the desired shape and the HB might drop into the backline, but the Libero will step out... so how do you get your "3"?

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FM24: Positional Play, Rotations, and Relationism (Tactic Added)

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