Southern Buddie

I'm currently using this with Liverpool on FM11 and it works an absolute treat, even with players that aren't perfectly suited.

Who do you sacrifice when going down to ten men?

I play with a 4-1-2-2-1/4-3-3. I'm never sure what changes to make when I get a player sent off. What formation to change to. Any suggestions?

In my opinion he is either a ball winning midfielder or just a simple central midfielder. He's definitely not a playmaker or roaming midfielder.

*reserved*

Before I start any save on Football Manager, before I even load up the game, I liketo have a plan. As my first save to write about, I have decided to play as my beloved St. Mirren. With no money, a relatively poor squad and the powerhouses of Celtic and Rangers to compete with, this isn’t going to be an easy one. I have to be realistic, live within my means and take what I can get in terms of results and bringing in new players. FIRST SEASON OBJECTIVE As a team that is expected to avoid the drop, in my first season in charge I intend to do just that. Concentrating fully on the league and build a core of players that I am confident will take us on to the next level. With no money to spend and my self imposed handicap of transfers in the first window (which I always do) it does make that hill a steeper one to climb. So, how am I going to go about doing this? To explain, I will break this down into 3 sub-headings. Squad management Tactics Scouting & Transfers SQUAD MANAGEMENT Ideally I like to have a first team squad of 25 players. This consists of 11 first team players, 7 substitutes and 7 promising youngsters (21 years and under) looking to break into the first team. I like to have a balanced substitute bench and the 7 promising youngsters’ playing positions should mirror those of the players on the bench. For example, if I was using a 4-4-2 formation as my primary system, then my bench might look something like this:- Goalkeeper Full Back Centre Back Central Midfielder Winger Striker Striker This gives me 2 players for each position, plus an extra keeper and couple of strikers. I find it best to have a striker heavy squad when playing with a 2 striker system. Just from my past experience. Obviously players can move between the first 11, substitutes and the ‘other 7’, due to form, squad rotation or injury. However, if one of the first 11 or substitutes find themselves permanently overtaken by one of the youngsters, this is when I start to think about moving them on. As as far as reserve and youth teams are concerned, it’s simple. The reserve team consists of 4 players plus the 7 young players in the first team squad (who are made available for the reserves), making an 11. Any young players over the aged 18 or over that do not make this 11 are loaned out. My youth team consists of 22 players under the age of 18. 2 players for each position, ideally. This gives me a total of 51 players at the club, not including players that have been sent out on loan. I find that setting the 3 squads up like this ensures that every player at the club gets enough games over the season, to stay match fit and get enough match experience to improve. That’s all for now. In part 2 I will be discussing my thoughts on tactics, how I set up my scouting network and how I go about buying and selling players.

This is taken from my new blog https://fm11adventures.wordpress.com and although I am writing about my saves on Fm11, I believe a lot of it is relevant still to FM16. I hope some people might find this helpful....

I'd like to introduce myself. I am Fraser aka 'Southern Buddie', a St. Mirren supporter living in England and a long term fan of the CM/FM series. I've been playing since I was a nipper, back in 1993. Due to my wife's Mac not having the right spec for FM15 and 16, I have taken a step back in time and have reloaded Football Manager 2011. To my surprise, this earlier version of the game has proven to be just as enjoyable as the later versions. It's because of this enjoyment and decent success I've had on a few 'test saves' that I've decided to give this blog business a go. Everyone seems to be doing it these days and there is some really interesting and helpful pieces out there. I cannot promise anyone anything mind blowing like the work of Rashidi (www.addictedtofm.com) or Cleon (sisportscentre.com). I don't have the time or their vast knowledge of the game, but if you are patient with me, I might be able to produce some helpful or at least interesting stuff. I will be starting a new save this weekend and writing about it on here. I will hopefully be able to get the time to explain how I play the game. How I set up my squad, my tactics, my scouting network, how I handle transfers, club finances etc. Thats all for now, just a quick hello to start with and I should be posting over the next week. Let's see how this goes. Southern Buddie - https://fm11adventures.wordpress.com

Adding 4-1-4-1 into the mix too haha! So if a 4-5-1 is only seen as a flat 4-5-1, do you think there are even any teams in real life that set up that way? Are there any teams that actually set up with a 4-2-3-1 as it is on FM? Or would that be seen as more of a 4-2-4 in real life? (Which I'm sure very few teams would actually play with these days)

I'm in the process of trying to replicate real life tactics. I've just finished making a 4-4-2 tactic based on Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United. It was challenging when applying the final touches, but the base was easy. I understand the flat 4-4-2 in terms of players positioning and what to look for in the match engine. My problems come when trying to accurately replicate other 'modern' systems in FM. The main problem is where to position the players on the tactics screen. For instance, I've read that on FM the 4-2-3-1 should be set up as a 4-4-1-1 or 4-2DM-3-1 (with the 3 being positioned in the midfield strata. Some see 4-4-1-1 as more of a 4-4-2 and think that the 4-2-3-1 is more a variant of a 4-5-1. Then there is the 4-3-3. In my understanding the wide players in a 4-3-3 play further forward than they do in a 4-2-3-1 (in real life). However, I read a lot on here that it is a good idea to set up a 4-3-3 as a 4-1-4-1, morphing into a 4-3-3 in attack. Which makes me wonder what is the difference between that interpretation of a 4-3-3 and a 4-5-1? All very confusing. I'd love to hear people's opinions on their interpretations on the difference between these 3 formations.

Mahrez id play in the MR and maybe even just use WM or W A.

In my opinion although both strikers are very hard working, I would just use a simple AF (Vardy) and DLF S for the other striker.

If you play with a TM on Attack Duty then I'd pair him with a F9 and on support duty, I think an Advanced Forward would work best.

With a back three, would you have all 3 on defend duty? Would you still have all three close down less and mark tighter?

Loversleaper, do you think if I applied the same logic from the opening posts to FM2011 it would still work?