W-M Discussion Thread. An attempt to recreate the historical formation.

[mag man]

hi rossoneri gunner, can you post the download link for the tactic???

R/Gunner has posted his settings earlier in the thread - Post 268 I believe and I have posted mine on this page in post 426.

Both of these posts give you enough to start with and hopefully as you implement the settings you think about them and why they are there and post back on here with some ideas/discussions.

[mag man]

A few questions so I can figure out how to do this right.

Position stats? I don't know what that is.

Your post makes sense in a way, but it shouldn't be that way at all. If Shorey has all the right attributes (and not just a couple) he can play the position. If he hasn't before, he can learn.

If a player has attributes you think will suit a certain position but he doesnt have a green dot you can re-train him.

[mag man]

What do I need to do to survive this game? They just play a 4-4-2, so I have my defensive line set real deep (notch 3 according to Gunner's guidance). I regularly see messages about Beograd time wasting. Am I not playing aggressive enough on defense? Can I push the D-Line up to squeeze out their working space? I noticed that, in looking at the match preview, Beograd's players are all at 100% fitness. My guys are somewhere around 90, this being their third game in about 12 days to start the season. I made heavy substitutions in my friendly and in between that game and this second leg I gave my starters rest from training. Is this enough to explain how they so severely outplay me? Or is it simply a matter that I am putting in a new system? Or are my players crap? I wouldn't think so, since Villa is 5th in real life.

I have made no transfers, as I said. I have the following players as my Best XI: GK-Brad Friedel, DL-Luke Young, DC-Carlos Cuellar, DR-Nigel Reo-Coker, DMCL-Gareth Barry (set to playmaker), DMCR-Stiliyan Petrov, AMCL-Nicky Shorey, AMCR-Ashley Young, FL-James Milner, ST-Emile Heskey, FR-Gabriel Agbonlahor.

This is where me and R/Gunner really have different views. I dont play deep, I tried and found there was to much space between defense and midfield. I use D-Line normal against 442 and play through middle, against other formations I go to push-up. Because of this I use fast defenders so I dont get caught out in behind.

I would probably set up Villa differently. Off the top of my head:

GK - Friedel

DR - Bouma/L. Young

DL - L. Young/Shorey

DC - Laursen/Cuellar

DMC - Barry(playmaker)/Sidwell/Reo-Cocker

AMC - Petrov/Milner/Sidwell

FR - Agbonlahor/Milner

FL - Young

ST - Heskey/Carew

They look like they lack decent AMC's. I think not playing A.Young on the wing is a waste of his pace and he will get a fair amount of assists crossing to Gabby.

[GuruStew]

Ok, one more thing.

What do people do when you are leading, in the final 10 minutes or so of a match, when your opponents are still playing 4-4-2 but are pushing up a lot more?

I only ask because I have had a few games now where my opponent has used 4-4-2 for the whole match but has dominated the last 10 to 15 minutes when they start using a more attacking style.

Thanks.

I know that it makes me less of a pure W-Mmer, but I have taken to dropping my two wing forwards into the midfield, wide in the middle of the field. I leave everything else the same, resetting my D-Line to about a 4. It closes off the game well, giving me two layers of defense against their wide game AND has proven an effective counter-attack formation. More often than not I will ice the game with an extra goal and have only dropped a goal from this formation a couple of times.

It might help that my striker is grabbing loads of goals for me, which may be more down to his quality compared to BSP defenses rather than my tactics. I have Wesley Ngo Baheng as my ST for Gateshead and he's gotten something like 20 goals in 30 games for me. Signed, not loaned, I will add.

Finally, I seem to come from behind more often than not. I tend to spot the opposition a goal early on before my team starts clicking. I suspect that having the experience and Determination of Dean Windass in the side helps with the spirit when a goal down. Every now and then when 2 or 3 goals down, I just throw a few things around at half-time and the team responds well. The W-M certainly gives us every opportunity to grab as many goals in one half as we gave up in the other.

~Stew

[fdawsoniv]

This is where me and R/Gunner really have different views. I dont play deep, I tried and found there was to much space between defense and midfield. I use D-Line normal against 442 and play through middle, against other formations I go to push-up. Because of this I use fast defenders so I dont get caught out in behind.

I would probably set up Villa differently. Off the top of my head:

GK - Friedel

DR - Bouma/L. Young

DL - L. Young/Shorey

DC - Laursen/Cuellar

DMC - Barry(playmaker)/Sidwell/Reo-Cocker

AMC - Petrov/Milner/Sidwell

FR - Agbonlahor/Milner

FL - Young

ST - Heskey/Carew

They look like they lack decent AMC's. I think not playing A.Young on the wing is a waste of his pace and he will get a fair amount of assists crossing to Gabby.

You're right, there really are few good options at AMC. That's why I put Ashley Young there, as I felt I had more depth at the three forward positions. He and Barry are the stars of the team; Young can play anywhere in the W.

When it comes to re-training someone at a new position, I have two questions: 1)About how long does it take? I reckon this relates to their mental attributes. 2)Where do I play someone while they're in transition? Should I keep them at their current position where they're more useful, or would that stunt their training?

I appreciate you guys' patience with me. I probably ask some basic questions in your minds, but I barely feel like I can breathe under all this new information. I find it exciting, though. This is helping me to unlock a whole world I knew too little about. Many thanks.

[RossoneriGunner]

When it comes to re-training someone at a new position, I have two questions: 1)About how long does it take? I reckon this relates to their mental attributes. 2)Where do I play someone while they're in transition? Should I keep them at their current position where they're more useful, or would that stunt their training.

It makes it all worthwhile when someone appreciates it...thank you...also we all had to learn, so its no problem. Anyway I am not sure how long it takes to retrain as I have never really monitored it. But I do tend to play them in the position that I want them to play in. So if I am training someone for a DMC then I play them at DMC.

[mag man]

You're right, there really are few good options at AMC. That's why I put Ashley Young there, as I felt I had more depth at the three forward positions. He and Barry are the stars of the team; Young can play anywhere in the W.

When it comes to re-training someone at a new position, I have two questions: 1)About how long does it take? I reckon this relates to their mental attributes. 2)Where do I play someone while they're in transition? Should I keep them at their current position where they're more useful, or would that stunt their training?

I appreciate you guys' patience with me. I probably ask some basic questions in your minds, but I barely feel like I can breathe under all this new information. I find it exciting, though. This is helping me to unlock a whole world I knew too little about. Many thanks.

It makes it all worthwhile when someone appreciates it...thank you...also we all had to learn, so its no problem. Anyway I am not sure how long it takes to retrain as I have never really monitored it. But I do tend to play them in the position that I want them to play in. So if I am training someone for a DMC then I play them at DMC.

I find it depends on the player and how much knowledge of the position he already has. If he has a red dot will take longer than a yellow/orange. I think mental attributes must also come into play with how quickly they can learn a new position.

If re-training a position I also play him in that position before he has learnt it.

[mackemforever]

As you can see, its going pretty well so far.

I am predicted to finish 8th however expected to be well below that due to pretty much having a complete new squad.

As for team settings I now focus passing down the centre all the time and use counter attack on all away games.

[nen]

Can upload tactic??

[mag man]

Can upload tactic??

I guess you havent read through the thread. See here and here!

[Toin]

I have played a few matches now with my Arsenal side, and I'm doing fine.

But I have a few problems creating changes. I got around 15 changes per game, but I'm having like 65-70% possession so I feel we could create more.

Although I have won all my matches and scored 14 in 5 matches and only conceded 2, I'm not really happy how I score my goals. I scored 7 times in the last 2 matches, but they all came out of corners, penalty's or free kicks. It's good to know I can also score out of this kind of situations, but I would like to score after a beautiful attack.

I'm going to give my AMC's a free role and see what happens.

[mag man]

I have played a few matches now with my Arsenal side, and I'm doing fine.

But I have a few problems creating changes. I got around 15 changes per game, but I'm having like 65-70% possession so I feel we could create more.

Although I have won all my matches and scored 14 in 5 matches and only conceded 2, I'm not really happy how I score my goals. I scored 7 times in the last 2 matches, but they all came out of corners, penalty's or free kicks. It's good to know I can also score out of this kind of situations, but I would like to score after a beautiful attack.

I'm going to give my AMC's a free role and see what happens.

Nice one. It's all about trying things and discussing them here I have both my AMC's on free role.

[RossoneriGunner]

I have tried my ST (Adebayor) with different Mentality and CF settings, with and without HUB and free role, I tied his legs together and put him in a straightjacket and gave him a general anaesthetic and he still scores goals and does not seem to change his style at all, so I may try with Bendtner and see what happens.

I have even been playing with d-line at normal (11) and have been impressed so far....Pssst! dont tell mag man ...LOL.

[Toin]

I have tried my ST (Adebayor) with different Mentality and CF settings, with and without HUB and free role, I tied his legs together and put him in a straightjacket and gave him a general anaesthetic and he still scores goals and does not seem to change his style at all, so I may try with Bendtner and see what happens.

I have even been playing with d-line at normal (11) and have been impressed so far....Pssst! dont tell mag man ...LOL.

Adebayor is playing well for me, he isn't involved a lot in the game but he has scored 5 out of 5.

Next match I will face Spartak Moscow away from home. They play a defensive 4-1-4-1 and try to beat you with a counter attack. Their pitch is long. I'm not sure about my def-line here. I could play with d-line about 17, to put pressure on them, but on the other hand I would be very vulnerable to the counter, so it would be better to play with a deeper d-line. Would like to know your views about it.

(Sorry, my English can be bad sometimes, it's not my first language )

[mag man]

Adebayor is playing well for me, he isn't involved a lot in the game but he has scored 5 out of 5.

Next match I will face Spartak Moscow away from home. They play a defensive 4-1-4-1 and try to beat you with a counter attack. Their pitch is long. I'm not sure about my def-line here. I could play with d-line about 17, to put pressure on them, but on the other hand I would be very vulnerable to the counter, so it would be better to play with a deeper d-line. Would like to know your views about it.

(Sorry, my English can be bad sometimes, it's not my first language )

Your English is fine against a 4-1-4-1 I always push up but I have quick defenders so don't get caught in behind to often.

R/Gunner finally come round to normal D/Line I have started going deep when I want to suck opposition out.

[RossoneriGunner]

I usually go to the first push up on the slider (15) and then see how things go and take it from there. I bet your English is better than us trying to speak to you in your language.

[RossoneriGunner]

Adebayor is playing well for me, he isn't involved a lot in the game but he has scored 5 out of 5.

Adebayor is also playing very well for me, so I have decided to go back to the settings I posted (444) and changed the Creative Freedom from 11 to 14 and have decided to leave it for the time being as he is banging in goals left, right and centre. So if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[mackemforever]

Ok, this tactic is really frustrating me now.

These are two screenshots showing my home and away stats.

As you can see, I am dominating at home but am really struggling away from home.

I have tried a lot to get it working away but wondered if anybody could give me some suggestions as to what to do?

Btw, look at Chelsea at home, played 10, won 10, bloody insane.

[mag man]

Who have you played away, if its all the top teams then not so bad.

I struggled away in one save and then in another save I was fine without any changes. I think I was putting to much pressure on the players with team talks.

Do you play narrow and through the middle?

[mackemforever]

Width is set to narrow and I have tried all passing settings, down the wings, mixed and through the middle.

My away games have been:

Bolton 1-2

Everton 1-1

Middlesbrough 2-2

Tottenham 0-1

Stoke 1-0

Liverpool 4-2

Blackburn 1-1

Newcastle 1-1

Arsenal 2-4

West Brom 0-1

As you can see, very few top class teams and a lot of teams I should have beaten fairly easily.

[mag man]

Hmm, like I mentioned I had this in one save for no reason that I could work out was just unluck away. Have you played about with the D-Line?

[RossoneriGunner]

I dont think it will take much to turn these results around because mostly there is only one goal in it either way, except the Arsenal game. What team talks are you using?

[mackemforever]

Team talks are usually the following:

Pre Match

Close matches - do this for the fans

Against much better teams - wish luck

Against much worse teams - expect to win

Half time

Always encourage if available

If 2 goals down or more - expect better

If winning by 2 or more - don't let performance drop

[Cardiovascular]

I'm going to give this a shot with Hull, try and save them form inevitable doom.

[RossoneriGunner]

Apparently 'Do this for the fans' is for when you are playing a local derby or one of your rivals, in Sunderlands case Newcastle, Middlesborough etc and it is supposed to make your players tackle and fight that bit harder. When at home I only use Expect a win, even against a team like Chelsea. Sometimes if I am playing friendlies against say Barnet or Boreham Wood I usually use 'go out and enjoy yourselves'. My half time team talks obviously depends on how I am doing, if playing badly and losing then 'I want to see more of you' and if I am winning I have stopped using pleased or thrilled and am now trying dont let your performance drop. If drawing then I have used 'Only need one more goal' to good effect. I have just played Barnet and was 3-0 up at half time and used 'Pleased' at half time to see what would happen and yes as expected I did not score another goal, which is why I have stopped using it.

[Toin]

Apparently 'Do this for the fans' is for when you are playing a local derby or one of your rivals, in Sunderlands case Newcastle, Middlesborough etc and it is supposed to make your players tackle and fight that bit harder. When at home I only use Expect a win, even against a team like Chelsea. Sometimes if I am playing friendlies against say Barnet or Boreham Wood I usually use 'go out and enjoy yourselves'. My half time team talks obviously depends on how I am doing, if playing badly and losing then 'I want to see more of you' and if I am winning I have stopped using pleased or thrilled and am now trying dont let your performance drop. If drawing then I have used 'Only need one more goal' to good effect. I have just played Barnet and was 3-0 up at half time and used 'Pleased' at half time to see what would happen and yes as expected I did not score another goal, which is why I have stopped using it.

Usually, if I use 'Pleased' or 'Delighted' during halftime against bad teams, my players just seem to stop playing... We don't create any changes anymore. My opponent also doesn't create anything so I won't conceed but that's just because their lack of skill.

[RossoneriGunner]

There are quite a few threads on these forums discussing team talks and there are many people who say that using 'pleased' and 'delighted' has stopped their team playing in the second half so surely we all cant be wrong.

[RossoneriGunner]

Macka, what d-line settings are you using at the moment?. Also take a look at the Liverpool game where you won 4-2 and see how it compares with the games you lost. If against Liverpool you had a lot more space, then did you get closed down more against teams like Bolton and WBA. If you have teams closing you down quickly, then you may need to up your tempo because it could be that you are getting caught in possession so you need to move the ball about quicker and get it to your forwards ASAP. Also where are you losing possession the most, are your defenders punting the ball out of defence, thus giving possession away?, what is your goalkeeper's distribution's set to?, I have mine set to defender collects and is set for my right back, that way I am keeping possession. I could give it to Clichy and let him fly up the wing with it but both my full backs are fast and good Clichy (DL) Torres (DL/R) and Sagna/Jihnson, the reason I give it to Sagna/Johnson is my playmaker is based as my DMC/R so it is easier to get the ball to him to start an attack. Check your throw in takers as well, these are usually set to the FB's, so if you get a throw in around your opponents penalty area or goal line then your FB's will be out of position if you lose possession. I set my throw in takers as my DMC's.

[mackemforever]

Well the liverpool game was luck. I was dominated and Craig Gordon played a 9.3.

I currently us a normal d-line but am not quite sure whether pushing up or dropping back works against more aggressive teams.

I do use defender collect using my DC as he has the best passing in my back 3. I do find that my full backs punt it too much but they already have pretty short passing set.

Throw in takers are sorted out as I had that problem before.

[RossoneriGunner]

Are your FB's and DC set to stay back on everything? If you are using your defenders on man mark are they being pulled out of position?

[RossoneriGunner]

If your not sure about the d-line then play safe and sit deep/normal. The only time I push up is if my opponents are playing with a single striker, 4-3-2-1, 4-2-3-1, 4-4-1-1. Liverpool played a 4231 against me at Anfield and I pushed up to 16/17 and won 4-0 with Torres, Gerrard and all their other star's. Push up usually starts at 15 and I usually start at around 15/16 and if it seems that I start dominating then I have pushed up as far as 18/19, but if it looks like it is not making a lot of difference then I will go back to normal. If during the match my opponents change formation I immediately stop the game and change tactics straight away.

[Toin]

If your not sure about the d-line then play safe and sit deep/normal. The only time I push up is if my opponents are playing with a single striker, 4-3-2-1, 4-2-3-1, 4-4-1-1. Liverpool played a 4231 against me at Anfield and I pushed up to 16/17 and won 4-0 with Torres, Gerrard and all their other star's. Push up usually starts at 15 and I usually start at around 15/16 and if it seems that I start dominating then I have pushed up as far as 18/19, but if it looks like it is not making a lot of difference then I will go back to normal. If during the match my opponents change formation I immediately stop the game and change tactics straight away.

I just played a match against Portsmouth, they play with Crouch as lonely striker. I pushed up my d-line to 16. At halftime, I was heavily dominating possession, but Portsmouth had 6 shots against mine 4. So I changed the d-line to normal (11) and the second half I played much better. Created more (clear cut) changes and possession was still around 65%. Adebayor delivered me the win with 2 goals. He has scored 10 in 11 matches now.

Still very impressed by this tactic.

[RossoneriGunner]

Toin do you use the OI's?. When I play against Portsmouth I always use tight marking and close down together and hard tackling and show to weaker foot and I do the same with the 2 wingers so they dont get crosses into Crouch. I love this tactic and have never played with a tactic for long before, but I think it is because we have all started from scratch and I enjoyed making this tactic and discussing it with everybody on here.

[Toin]

I dont use OI's often but this match I used some:

Crouch; Show to weaker foot.

Krancar; Show to weaker foot, Tackling hard.

Diarra; Show to weaker foot, Tackling hard.

Utaka; Show to weaker foot, Tackling hard.

Don't know if it made any difference actually

[Cardiovascular]

Hull game started brightly, using the squad from the beginning with a few changes. Dominated pre-season bar our last match, which was close. Our first game against Chelsea ended brightly, with a respectable 2-1 defeat, after we took the lead.

[fdawsoniv]

Haven't had a chance to play the game this week. Might Sunday. I think I'll settle in at USA for awhile and get more familiar with things before trying Villa again. I need to make sure I'm not trying too much at once. With Team USA all I have to worry about are picking the right players and learning how to make in-game adjustments.

I've been on key highlights only so far because of my time constraints, but I might try watching more of a couple of my upcoming matches so I can get more in tune.

[RossoneriGunner]

Haven't had a chance to play the game this week. Might Sunday. I think I'll settle in at USA for awhile and get more familiar with things before trying Villa again. I need to make sure I'm not trying too much at once. With Team USA all I have to worry about are picking the right players and learning how to make in-game adjustments.

I've been on key highlights only so far because of my time constraints, but I might try watching more of a couple of my upcoming matches so I can get more in tune.

I dont know if you already do it, but when you make adjustments to your tactic keep a copy of it so you can go back and use it or view it again later. I have AFCWM_Ver1.0, then AFCWM_Ver2.0 etc and also keep a note of what the changes were, also if you are not happy with the way things are going you can always go back to one that you are happy with and start again...it does not hurt to go back to basics now and again I know I do sometimes. I usually watch my matches in Extended.

[mag man]

I dont know if you already do it, but when you make adjustments to your tactic keep a copy of it so you can go back and use it or view it again later. I have AFCWM_Ver1.0, then AFCWM_Ver2.0 etc and also keep a note of what the changes were, also if you are not happy with the way things are going you can always go back to one that you are happy with and start again...it does not hurt to go back to basics now and again I know I do sometimes. I usually watch my matches in Extended.

I also have a version system similar to this, every minor change gets a .1 increase and then when I happy I go to the next 1. and delete all the previous saved tactics so I dont go back.

I watch games on full when building the base tactic then when happy switch to key.

[RossoneriGunner]

Mag man, are you still using individual marking instead of OI's?, if so how are you implementing this please. Thanks

[mackemforever]

I am now having some success with using a more aggressive D-line, as in pushing up more, passing down the centre and a very quick tempo.

I also increased the wing backs passing a bit as I had a problem with them hitting too many long balls and it turned out the reason was because their passing was set so short that they couldn't find any passes that were short enough so they ended up hoofing it out of defense.

I am also using an entirely zonal marking system with every player on tight zonal marking.

My results since I have got the tactic to a point I am happy with are below:

The game against fulham was a bit of a shocker. I pretty much played my reserve and youth team because of fixture congestion so I needed to give my best players a rest for the Man Utd game that followed.

In that game I was very impressed. I wasn't dominant but I did have almost 60% possession and was level with them on shots so was pretty pleased.

It seems to finally be coming together and Sunderland are sat 3rd in the Premiership with 61 points from 31 games. Unfortunately any higher seems unlikely as 2nd place is on 68 points but its still damn impressive.

[mackemforever]

Just got a result that cemented my belief in this formation.

I know they had a lot of shots but out of those 10, 8 of them were from 25+ yards out and a lot of their possession was in their own defence.

Love it.

[mag man]

Mag man, are you still using individual marking instead of OI's?, if so how are you implementing this please. Thanks

Every player is on zonal marking. The back 5 are on tight marking.

If I was a poor team I would probably use OI against the big teams but I tend to never touch it if I can help it.

[mag man]

Just got a result that cemented my belief in this formation.

I know they had a lot of shots but out of those 10, 8 of them were from 25+ yards out and a lot of their possession was in their own defence.

Love it.

Result... Just wait for the influx of people asking you for your tactic now

[mackemforever]

Forgot to say, there is one formation that completely rapes me every time.

This was in an away match against Aston Villa, I should have won fairly easily. I ended up winning 1-0 but they had 23 shots to my 7.

I don't know what to do against this formation.

I have tried playing around with D line, have used normal, push up and deep. I have tried focussing passing down the wings and the centre. Have changed the tempo.

Can you suggest anything to try against it?

[mag man]

Forgot to say, there is one formation that completely rapes me every time.

This was in an away match against Aston Villa, I should have won fairly easily. I ended up winning 1-0 but they had 23 shots to my 7.

I don't know what to do against this formation.

I have tried playing around with D line, have used normal, push up and deep. I have tried focussing passing down the wings and the centre. Have changed the tempo.

Can you suggest anything to try against it?

You could try specific man marking?

[RossoneriGunner]

I must admit I have some problems with Aston Villa, but I use OI's on their ST, wingers, MC's and DMC as he is usually their Playmaker and I also push up to around 17/18 from the start. I usually end up winning, but it is usually tight 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 etc.

[RossoneriGunner]

Hi Mag_Man. In the words of 'God' "What a 42 carat plonker I am". Am I thick or what?, (this is a rhetorical question and does NOT need answering...LOL) I use closing down and tight marking as normal, yet for some reason I have been using OI's as well and it has just dawned on me WHY!?. By using the closing down and tight marking of the OI's am I confusing my players?. The reason I ask is I have just played Bordeaux away in CL and drew 1-1, I then closed FM without saving and played the game again without using OI's and won 4-1 and played like I used to. So now I have found out why AFC have not been playing their usual game, so now I will only use hard tackling and show to weaker foot when needed.

[mackemforever]

During pre-season in the new season I have made a few more changes to this formation.

I no longer use a target man or playmaker, I have a very quick tempo and I start matches with the d-line pushing up.

This seems to be working pretty well and I have beaten Hertha BSC, mallorca, newcastle and portsmouth with pretty much my under 18 team.

[RossoneriGunner]

...I have a very quick tempo.

How quick is your tempo at the moment (on the slider). When I read this it gave me an idea and I pushed up my tempo to 17 and my players were one touch then pass and they seemed to be finding their targets better. I was playing a league cup tie away at WBA and won 3-1, but I had 4 goals disallowed in the first half for offside, so how have you guys coped with the offside's. I have cut my AMC's, wingers and ST's creative freedom by 1 to see if that helps as they seem a bit quick off the mark at times.

[fdawsoniv]

Team USA update!

I played the last three games in my second phase of World Cup qualification yesterday. I am using the half and half combined Gunner/mag man with the D-Line adjusted to normal as my default instead of deep.

USA 3-0 Costa Rica

All you need to know about this game is Costa Rica had a red card within 40 seconds. They were duly dominated after that.

Jamaica 1-2 USA

Closer than it should have been. Jamaica had one shot in the first half, which they converted at about 15m for a 1-0 lead. Typical statistical dominance, though. Possession about 65-35, shots about 20-5 with on-target half that and CCC's something like 3-1. Our comeback and triumph were inevitable and we cruised after taking the lead midway through the second half.

This win secured our place in the third phase of qualifications so I did something a bit unusual for the final game against Panama. Normally I go through my national pool and select the top two players for each W-M position and fill the roster with the four best remaining players. This time, though, I skipped over the best XI, giving the backups a chance to be starters and calling up all new players to be backups and possibly earn an international cap they wouldn't normally see. I was definitely questioned at the press conference, but who cares? While I wanted to get back at Panama for having the nerve to draw me that one game a while back, we were set in the Hexagonal, so why not give some new blood a chance?

I kept checking motivation to see if my guys were hyped up for their chance to represent USA, or if Panama was real down since they were eliminated from qualifications, but everything seemed to be normal. So it was somewhat surprising to see:

USA (no starters) 3-0 Panama

Definitely the most satisfying win so far, even though statistically it was the weakest. Possession fell to about 55%, with shots standing at 20-10. So Panama definitely had more chances than normal, but my guys held up. The goals came from three different players, none of whom had scored in international competition before. Two of the scorers were making their first international appearance. One even did well enough I'm going to include him as a backup on the regular team with the hopes he'll continue to develop and take over for one of the older guys. I was definitely happy to see I didn't have to field my best players to see success with this formation.

I checked players morale as we approached the final phase. The guys selected for Panama were obviously thrilled. The regulars who were left out didn't seem to mind at all, so the ploy worked.

USA results so far: In 8 games played, won 7 tied 1, aggregate score 21-2. Current world ranking: 15th.

More on topic, if anyone's looking to give this a try, I recommend the settings posted on #286 or wherever it was, with the D-Line changed to normal. Make changes as needed based on what happens in each match, but use this as a default and you won't go wrong.

I'm going to have to go back through the thread and see if there's anything else needing updated in my base tactic. The only complaint I would have is the number of shots coming from distance, as a higher goal conversion rate would see us winning more comfortably. I'll of course let you know what happens once I play a game against a team ranked much closer to me (probably Mexico coming up, then the Cup itself, which I should easily qualify for at this rate). As it is, though, I would like to say well done to the guys who did the dirty work putting this tactic together. It plays a good looking, successful game. If you put it in place and don't win, chances are it's another part of your game that needs to be adjusted.

Thanks again guys for all your hard work. The success of the W-M must be especially satisfying for you.