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Hello Mister Knap. What is the best 424 for underdog like Luton ?

I would definitely drop the wingers back to DM strata as wingbacks along with the overlap instruction as it’ll increase the wingbacks mentality slightly. Currently running a 3421 with some good wingers turned wingbacks and they’re good for 15+ G/A while also tracking back to form a back 5 which gives some nice solidity. In your set up they won’t track back naturally unless you’re manually using Opposition instruction to press/mark the opposing attacking winger/wingback and even that isn’t as reliable.

Mar 2023: Matches: League Table: Goal Scoring GK: Gladys Mbimbiangoye - 2/2

JAN 2043 - FA Cup 3rd Round - Vs Welling United Dominant! We were expected to win, and comfortably, but this was such a great performance, as the poor National League Wings were completely blown off the park in this one. Finnegan had two goals in the first 10 minutes, would complete his hat-trick by half time, going on to net a further two goals in the second half. His five goal effort broke the Club record for goals in a match. Always good to keep the bank balance rolling along. We are off to Nottingham to take on the Forest side of town in the 4th Round. Up Next League Cup Semi Final, 2nd Leg, as Bristol City come to the island for the return leg. It's all to play for, as neither side were able to find any goals in the 1st Leg.

Feb 2023: Matches: Only played the league match, absolutely hammered our opponent 4-0! League Table: Doesn't matter yet, but we're top of the table. That's always nice Goal Scoring GK: Gladys Mbimbiangoye - 1/1

Missile FC is a Gabonese football club located in the nation's capital, Libreville. The club currently plays in the top tier of Gabonese football and play at the Stade Monedang de Sibang. Club Info: Squad: Top Players: Got inspiried to do another save on here after reading through some old @Makoto Nakamura threads. Anyway, let's go!

Seriously, I thought this would be a straightforward query! A week and no response.

To be honest, it's not even letting me on the import screen now. This needs sorting for next year. It should not be such a pita to carry a game across phones, especially when it could be rectified by Netflix taking their inroads into the gaming provision sector seriously and facilitating cloud saves or an equivalent.

Ah, bummer. I wonder why they tied it to achievements with no other option. Thanks for the input!

For some reason I have a very common habit of typing down every time I write Swindon. I hope it's not premonition. I wanted to do strikethrough for down (to make the joke better) but I can't do that in the title, it seems. You'll have to pretend the joke is funny. Introduction I don't think Swindon is only famous for it's roundabout, but it's certainly well known for it. In actual fact, Swindon is old, being in the Domesday Book as Suindune. I believe the Harkonens were disposed of shortly after though. The town straddles the M4 in northern Wiltshire; a county famous for sheep and neolithic people. Swindon Town are the town's chief cultural export; a club famous for having spent a season in the Premier League under John Gorman. Gorman had taken over from Glenn Hoddle, but without Eileen Drewery the Robins were destined for the drop. Swindon have never been close to reaching the Premier League again and start the 2023-2024 season in League Two, a league the club have been in since suffering relegation from League One in 2022. In the real world, Swindon appointed Michael Flyyn as manager in May 2023. Flynn told the media he wanted to get the club "back where it belongs". Flynn was sacked halfway through the season and the club finally finished 19th. With Charlie Austin up front, the club probably hoped to do better. In fact, Austin had said the club should aim for promotion at the end of the 2022-2023 season. Also in the real world, there has been some scandal associated with Swindon and their Australian businessman owner, Clem Morfuni. In FM24 he's lovely though. Nid Rikson In the FM24 world, Swindon haven't appointed Flynn. They have instead opted for a rookie manager that had a good career as a hard working midfielder in the Football League. Nid Rikson is a Bournemouth fan; a fact that may anger some Bournemouth fans. There's always been a bit of a rivalry between the two clubs and to this day some Bournemouth fans like to see Swindon struggle. Nid proudly wears his Swindon Town hoodie... It's unclear if the players rate Nid and there is a strong case of 'whatever' from the dressing room. Getting Charlie Austin on side will be key for Nid. The fans remain quietly optimistic...I hope. Time will tell if Nid's Swindon career will be a success. Management can be a daunting gig for the rookie. Some Disclaimers I am a Bournemouth fan, but I never really hated Swindon. I don't think the rivalry has really had any bearing for the past 10 years, or so, in which Bournemouth have flourished and Swindon remain in the lowest reaches of the Football League. I managed Swindon once before in FM. I wrote about it here. I believe I had started at Eastleigh, impressed and gained the Swindon job. I think I ended up at Blackburn in that save. I'd enjoyed my time at Swindon then. I've struggled to get in to FM24. I tried a number of saves last year but ended up having a 5 month break from the game. With the end of the English season close I seem to have a desire to play the game. I wanted to tell my story here but I don't want it to diminish my interest in my save. Writing is something I enjoy, and that's why I'm here, but I'm going to post less and try to get through the save a bit quicker. Expect to see me for four or five updates per season. This isn't a Swindon story but a rookie manager wanting to prove himself story. Expect me to take new jobs if I'm offered them. To be quite honest, I wanted to get the Brisbane Roar job when I started this save. They didn't want me though. I didn't want to set my experience too high to try and force it that I got the job. Nid is not a former international and never played at the top level. Unlike Swindon. Introduction to Swindon Town - Season 2023-2024 I join a club that will probably struggle to keep its best players. In fact, I lost my standout ball winning midfielder just a few days in to the job. Saidou Khan being snapped up by League One Peterborough. Saidou Khan There was also a startling lack of quality at centre back when I joined. Key defender Tom Clayton could be out for 3 months. Tom Clayton This was the first thing I set about rectifying and ended up bringing in two young centre backs on loan. Owen Bevan joins us from Bournemouth and Tom Wilson-Brown joins from Leicester. Owen Bevan Tom Wilson-Brown In midfield I realy need a replacement for Khan but finding such a player was proving hard. Tom Brewitt is having to fill in for now, but he loves a yellow. What ball winning midfielder doesn't? Tom Brewitt I will introduce more players as the season progresses, but the key man in midfield in the early days of our season has been Ronan Darcy. Three assists from his first two games is a great start. Ronan Darcy There is a well known name that I have mentioned a few times and he has to be our star name. Charlie Austin is our captain and this is his second season at Swindon in this, his second spell at the club. Charlie is no speed merchant, at 34, but my hope is he can knock a few goals in. Charlie Austin I am a short way in to the new season and we're unbeaten to date. We had a fantastic result in our last pre-season friendly. ON my first day at the club I'd been told we'd be playing Manchester City in a friendly. "Hardly a way to instill confidence", I'd said. I needn't have worried as we secured a fantastic 2-2 draw with the English champions. We ended up taking a lot of confidence in to our first league game, away at Colchester United, and earned a hard fought 3-2 win over the Us. Second up, in a busy first week, was the first round of the EFL Cup and a tough tie against Pompey and Fratton Park. The confidence was still flowing, seemingly, as we secured a fantastic 2-1 win. Charlie Austin banged in a penalty to secure the win. Pompey may well feel aggrieved to have conceded the penalty but I don't think they can complain about the result. They had a lot of the ball but didn't do a lot with it. Our on loan keeper, Murphy Mahoney, has a had a great start to the season, making some key saves, and he kept Pompey at bay. He should be Irish with a name like that though. Murphy Mahoney As a rookie manager I wanted some experience in the coaching team. I certainly got that as the club signed Peter Reid as Technical Director. I also managed to get the experience of Richard O'Kelly as my assistant and Any Kalinis as fitness coach (he's not well known, but he has experience). To round things out we have acquired Darren Huckerby as a coach, and tough man, Guy Branston, will be scouting for us. I'll come back and continue the story around the time the transfer window closes.

Yea, I know I was big on forums back in the day, I just didnt realize this specific one was that old. Personally I think forums are much superior to discord and the other replacements.

After six successive clean sheets (granted against lesser opponents, an intra-squad friendly, and a testimonial match) in pre-season I thought I'd finally cracked it, but five games into the actual season I'm sitting 14th with one win (1-0 vs Brighton), three losses, including back-to-back 2-3 to Villa and Forest, and a draw (1-1 vs Everton). Initially I wanted to have a W - At on the right, but Olise has a long-term injury and Ayew is 45 years old so I pinched an idea I saw on another thread. (I'll edit in credit once I remember whose idea it was.) I think the tactic itself is on the cusp of being affective, but any insight into where the problems lie or any tweaks you think beneficial would be appreciated. Team Analytics (Suggestions welcome) Squad (View courtesy of @ultrAslan)

Forums were the main way to interract before these new fangled days of social media that the younguns love. This forum is one of the few that's survived the forum deaths. Probably because so many of us FM players are such old farts. When I was young we even chatted face to face...

Merthyr Town Season 14 2037/38 A very short one here. A run of bad results at the start of the season and a board takeover has cost me my job, very disappointed after so many seasons at the club and the growth I've overseen. But, we move! To Italy (hopefully), there's a team in my mind that have pretty slim odds of coming up to the playable leagues so I'll be spending the next few days reloading a save to try to grab them. Hope to get a new starter post up soon.

Haha, it takes me 30+ minutes to run a match, so a 10-12 minute week would be luxury. I like that someone's done such a vast game...and that is huge.

You can unlock the other levels as you play - they are granted as you unlock achievables. If you are over the threshold for an unlock already when hitting 'take coaching exam' will automatically promote you to the next rank (say if you've started a new game and already have a load of achievements). As you're doing a 'rags to riches' - I'd set yourself some rules and adhere to them, for instance 'I'll unlock the Silver coaching when the club turn professional' if you started in the lowest levels of the conference or whatever.

Did you manage to fix it, I'm a also having the same problem

Season 2 Update 1 - Summer Transfer Window The summer transfer window was a busy window. We brought in seven new players all on frees. We completely turned over our goalkeeper room with three brand new goalkeepers. Koen Casteels will be the number one after spending the last decade playing for Wolfsburg. The battle will be for his deputy. Arthur Okonkno, from the Arsenal youth academy, and Bailey Peacock-Farrell, from Burnley, are the combatants. They could very well split time as the back-up. With the goalkeeper position situated, we added Mattia Bani. Bani is a solid ball-playing center back in his prime. He gives us a great option to bring the ball out of the defense in both a two or three center back defense. Defensive midfielder Goran Cautic was a free transfer that was arranged before I got to the club. Cautic is on the older side but still will have some usefulness for us in a rotational role. We lost left back Emmanuel Longeio to Aberdeen. In his place, we brought in Souleyman Doumbia who was looking for work and we could offer him the playing time that he was looking for. Kevin Kelsy, a target man center forward from Shakhtar, comes in on a season-long loan to help shore up our attack. Three kids come up from the Birmingham academy. Mohamed Farah joins the senior team at just 16 years old and will provide the club with a high-ceiling depth option at the position. Also along the right side of the formation, 17 year old Romelle Donovan will split time with recent academy graduate George Hall at the right wing/forward position. Godfred Boskye is a good young depth option at the center back and defensive midfielder position. These 11 players represent almost half of the 2024-25 senior team roster so we have had quite the turnover with the squad over the summer.

Always a pleasure to read your adventures. I remember your article on Jean-Claude Suaudeau's tactic. Surely, one of the best football played by a team. Thank you.

** Update ** I've made some tweaks, and I thought I would share my thoughts with you here, along with some screenshots from a recent match. Okay so, as you can see, we've made a few adjustments. The Libero is now on a support duty. This is because I really want to see him push forward earlier, and more often. Typically on the defend duty, he waits until it's completely safe to move up. I dont need him doing that, so switching to support was a good move. We've changed the attacking winger to play on the right side, instead of the left. This is because I believe the RPM has a better combination with the support winger. Also, it suits the players we have. I switched the team mentality to positive. This has made the biggest difference. I'm usually reluctant to come off of balanced, but this has been something that I think held us back a bit. Positive has changed our play in a lot of good ways. We're just more proactive with the ball, taking more risks, and imposing ourselves on the opposition. Team mentality really does have a major impact on your overall approach. We've removed unnecessary instructions out of possession. Those were: step up more and higher line. We simply don't need them, and sometimes, less is more! Last thing I did, was add in "roam from position" and "moves into channels" for the AM-S. I don't really like the idea of a static #10 who can be easily marked out of a game. So giving him those instructions (combined with his own traits) encourages him to find those little pockets of space to receive a pass. Wingers are both told to cut inside. Here are some screenshots so you can see how this works in practice. This is what the team looks like out of possession at the very start of a match (Atletico had the kick off so they started with the ball) The back 4 looks like a typical back 4. The only interesting thing here is the RPM is aggressively closing down ahead of the midfield, while the AM-S drops in to the RPM's original spot. We don't actively look for counter-attacks (although we could), I prefer to let them happen naturally. The striker and right winger are both positioned well to get on the end of a direct pass after a turnover. When the opposition has kept possession long enough, our press drops back to consolidate in midfield. Here you can see a 4-5-1 shape has developed, with the AM-S dropping in to form a little triangle with the 2 DM's. Again, the back 4 is very traditional here, nothing weird. And you can see there is no real need for us to push up further or step up more. The space between the lines is not an issue. The player on the ball does have a passing option (Felipe to De Paul) but that can easily be dealt with because of our press. Here is an image of the team in the build up phase. Couple of things going on here worth noting... The RPM has dropped deep to form a triple pivot with the DM-S and L-S. This is not something that always happens, but it's because Gavi has the "comes deep to get ball" trait. I think it could also be part of the behavior of the role itself, but I dont know if that's true. Either way! It's kind of cool, especially against a team that uses 2 strikers. It just gives us more options to build play. The AM-S (Pedri) has shifted wide right, in the halfspace between the striker and the right winger. You could argue that he should be more central, but remember this just a screenshot of a moment in time. And his movement is not always the same. I quite like this, because if we can switch play quickly, then the opposition is going to have trouble. In fact, we scored a goal in that match where the ball went quickly from the center, into the feet of the right winger, who drove into the box himself, and scored. We're holding the width nicely here. The left winger is on the touchline, and the right winger is a little bit off his touchline, but still quite wide. The defense has to spread itself out a bit to compensate for this, which should allow us to more easily control possession in the middle of the pitch. Here is an image of the team safely in possession, and now in the chance creation phase of play. In this situation, the ball had been out wide with Kounde (IF-D) who briefly took on the attacking role of a normal fullback because he had space. The other team is playing without wingers in a narrow 5-3-2. But, even with Kounde moving out wide here, you can still see the 3-2 build out shape. Diomande (L-S) is firmly in position with the DM-S to form that double pivot. Gavi, the RPM, is roaming around doing his thing, available for a long pass, or to make a run. I like to let him do whatever he wants. You can also see how Pedri (AM-S) has shifted wide, and Ansu Fati (AF-A) is looking to break off the shoulder of the central defenders. Closing Thoughts And so that's it. There's really not much else to say here. It's a tactic that works for my team, and suits how we want to play. It's not designed to be plug in play, and it's certainly not going to guarantee success. There's nothing exploitative about it that I'm aware of. Something I am thinking about doing, is experimenting using a false 9 combined with a shadow striker. Keeping everything else the same, I wonder what type of attacking patterns that could provide? Or, we could turn one of the wide defenders from a IF-D to a IWB-D (or S), to experiment with more of a 2-3 build out shape, instead of the 3-2. That would probably expose our flanks, but if you've got the right players, you can do pretty much anything. Also, we could easily change to a more traditional 4-2-3-1 for tougher away matches by changing the libero to a standard central defender, and changing the roaming playmaker to a role that doesnt rotate forward. This way, we would have a more traditional 4-2 build up that could withstand heavy pressing, while still having 4 players up front ready to receive a pass. The 4-2-3-1 is super flexible, and small changes can do all sorts of crazy things to your tactics.

Season 5 Update – Standard Liege Transfer Update - January (The Big Splurge) So after I thought all my transfer dealings were done, with the money we had available, player discontent at the club, and the talent available I decided to go with an all out splurge to almost create my ideal squad. Isaac Price wasn’t happy at the club, and he seemed to have an issue with me as manager, classed as somewhat an adversary of mine! So yeah, although he was homegrown I don’t have time to have players who can’t appreciate their role in the squad. So he went out for 7.75mil GBP and in came Faticanti from Leece costing just 4.2mil. Although at aged 23, he appeared to have room to develop to a very good level so I figured he was worth a gamble. Having some very good teamwork characteristics and physicals to play in a demanding 2 man midfield, with some regular football with better players I hope in time he will become a first teamer. At the very worst, he’ll be a better squad player than Price. I've also been able to remove a negative trait too which should improve him when the ball is at his feet. The next player out was Zima. He didn’t stay long at the club at all, but we still ended up making a 4.5mil GBP profit on him with him moving over to the UAE. His replacement was a 19 year old Danish wonderkid from Copenhagen Mathias Vendelboe, costing 18.25mil GBP. Already with a couple of international caps to his name he appears to have great potential to grow. His strengths lay with his teamwork, positioning and anticipation. He can also play at DM as well, but with him being 191cm if he can develop a bit more physically and improve his composure over him he’ll be a very good CB long-term for us. And the final one – I really had to debate long with proceeding with this transfer. Ernst was wanted by Al-Nassr and offered a 21.mil GBP bid. I then saw a keeper I’ve not yet played with this year, in Guillaume Restes who seemed to have some really good attributes but he wanted to leave his current club Toulouse. Scouts reported he could be an upgrade and be a Star keeper in our division. Surprisingly no clubs were interested, and he was also out of contract at the end of the year. They also wanted 64mil GBP for him as well! So the options were wait till the end of the season and hope no one else comes in for him, not get him at all because Ernst had performed well for the club, or spend now ensuring he doesn’t get picked up by a bigger club at the end of the year, and place my faith in him he’ll be that upgrade I felt I needed in the GK position. Looking at the other keepers and their costs, and with Restes being only 22 years old at the moment and already having International Caps to his name, I’ve never been a risk taker so I decided let’s bring the fella in now and sell Ernst. Although Ernst was very commanding in the air and didn't have any real weaknesses to his game, Restes had many positive, despite perhaps not being the best aerially. I like having two tall centre-backs anyhow, so figured any slight deficiencies could be minimised by having CBs highly capable at dealing with crosses. So these ended up being my 3 out and 3 ins in the January window: Competition Progress Super Cup - Winners (3-1 vs Genk) Another good start to a season, with us beating Genk 3-1 at home to lift the Super Cup for a second year running. In a match we controlled for pretty much most of the game, we thoroughly deserved the win with Doyle continuing to be an important presence in our midfield. Croky Cup (Final - to be played May 2028) I haven’t got knocked out yet! So it’s been our best run in the competition since being Liege manager. We have had some very nice fixtures though, with only Anderlecht our rivals the tricky one, but for once we had a home tie and we comfortably went through. We are due to meet Genk in the final due to be played at the start of May. Jupiler Pro League There doesn’t appear to be the second season syndrome I suffered last year, where pretty much anything that could go wrong, did, along with indiscipline throughout the whole year. Our squad up till January did a fantastic job. After the first 15 of 30 games in the league phase we won 14 and lost the 1, being the first match of the season away to Club Brugge which was annoying – a super cup hangover I like to think. And with our tweaked squad, we currently have played 28 games and have already created a 20 points gap between us and 2nd. Just a couple more games left before the Group Phases begin and the points halved. Still, I’ll be distraught if we do not win the title from such a commanding position. UCL This has been a real highlight so far. We ended up finishing second in the league phase only behind Arsenal. We also shocked La Liga leaders Barcelona at Camp Nou winning 0-1 at their place. It was a real hard working team performance which saw Rayan grab us the winner in the second half – after I had a pop at him during Half Time! We also beat Roma 7-0 too in this stage. Both results came following our January dealings, so my hunch with Restes being an upgrade and Fatacanti with those combative midfield attributes has brought us up a level, and makes me wonder how far this squad can actually go. So we’ve surpassed last year’s performance and are in the Last 16 where we’ve been drawn to play Villareal. My aim has always been to reach the Quarters with this club as it is the most realistic goal, and if we can make it I’ll be ecstatic with that achievement. New Stadium? I also decided with us clearly maximizing attendances in our stadium already expanded, whether it was worth seeing if the board are open to building a brand new stadium – and they were very keen on this which I’m delighted with! Their plans are looking to have this stadium hold 45,000 in capacity, or thereabouts. This would be perfect as I then feel we finally have a large enough stadium to really have a structure good enough to compete with the better European sides. Our stadium for example would hold more than Chelsea or Juventus. However it is still at planning stage, so I can only hope that this will eventually be allowed to go through. I’ve had these cases in the past where for whatever reason they end up falling through. It would be a real significant step for the club if we’re able to move to a stadium of this size. I would have been more optimistic if I didn’t make the Restes purchase because we were financially in a good position. But with the purchase, this may negatively affect this going through at the very near future as we may not have the finances to support this. Time will tell on this one I guess. Other News I have tried looking to see if we're able to improve in any areas of our team, especially in midfield. But I honestly really struggled to find players that would fit the bill in how we play. And with Doyle being our best corner taker, with it being one of our strengths I would need someone capable of providing a good delivery into the box. So it feels like I'm not going to be able to locate that real top class signing to fill one of our central midfield spots. I wonder if it will hold us back. But with no one available, I eventually decided to renew his contract along with a few others that were due to expire end of next season - apart from one, and sadly that's our most important player, newly appointed Captain this year and I can only describe him as our John Terry at the back, Rafa Marin. Big clubs are interested and he wants a move. So if I can't renew his contract at the end of the year, which is after what I hope will end up being a successful season, I may have to consider selling him on so at least I get some money for him. Sadly it's going to be near impossible to replace him.

Feb 2056. Scottish Premiership. 3 wins to make it 7 wins on the bounce in the league move us 3 points clear of Hibs. UEFA Champions League. Arsenal were too strong for our 2nd Team and that's Europe over for another season. Scottish Cup. (The Big one). Now we're getting to the business end of the competition. Transfers. Goal-scoring GK's. (23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club). (23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club). (25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 46/52 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club). (26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 15/17 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club). (30a) Ogilvie (Fickle) 6'2" * is 47/64 from the spot at 73%. (Is no longer at the club). (31k) Lawrie (Unamb) * is 23/29 from the spot at 79%. (Is no longer at the club). (33a) Black (Fickle) 6'0" * is 2/3 from the spot at 67%. (Is no longer at the club). (37b) Niven (F.Loyal) 6'4" * is 24/41 from the spot at 59%. (Is no longer at the club). (39c) Telfer (F.Pro) 6'2" * is 29/44 from the spot at 66%.(Is no longer at the club). (40e) Qurbonov (UZB) (Res) * is 0/2 from the spot at 0%. (Is no longer at the club). (43n) Welsh (F.Pro) 6'4" * is 72/91 from the spot at 79%. (41h) Cairney (Unamb) 6'2" * is 7/12 from the spot at 58%. (Is no longer at the club). (46e) Hunter (Res) 6'0" * is 1/1 from the spot at 100%. (Is no longer at the club). Finances.

Yeah definetly I released him instantly ruins the immersion. then had a bug that ruined my whole save. cheers si

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