Adonalsium

The Roaming Playmaker was excellent in FM21 from what I recall. But in FM23, I find that just a simple Central Midfielder actually does the job a RPM is supposed to do but often simply much better.

How about trying inside forwards on sit narrower instead of attacking midfielders? They tend to get to the byline in the box.

This system is not an overpowered or unrealistic one, but rather one which I've crafted over a few seasons to play with possession and solidity in a philosophy of Total Football. It nevertheless gained me back-to-back promotions from the 3. Liga into the Bundesliga, where currently I am somehow at 2nd place thanks to some horrible seasons for other clubs despite my squad being mid-table at best. First, let me give you some ideas of how this system plays. The tactic itself is below. As you can see, Balanced Mentality and a Mid-Block doesn't seem too radical, right? Well, it achieves a roughly 60% possession rate for me in my games as well as 90% pass completion. Dominating possession and suffocating opponents is one of the main draws of this formation. Be careful of when playing teams that are much better than you, as well: it is very possible that trying to play Total Football against top sides when you are not a top side yourself will earn you a 4-0 drubbing. But that is a part of the game really. If you want to control the game more, you can tick "Slow Pace Down" and "Hold Shape" in transition. That might help. Also, if you feel that the opponent is not pressing you much and three center-backs is not required to progress the ball, you can sub a center-back out (leave two BPDs with "Stay Wider" instructions) and sub in a more attacking-minded player. I often sub in an Attacking Midfielder, and it is even possible against teams that sit back a great deal to move your CM (su) up into Attacking Midfield if you are chasing a goal. This is quite risky though, and you should monitor what happens in-game. There are a lot of tweaks you can make to this tactic. Though I would not recommend "Work Ball into Box" unless you feel it is necessary because somehow the Match Engine tends to interpret this into conceding more counter-attacks. An important tweak could also be the lower the tempo if you feel that the team is not keeping possession enough! And one last important note. If you are being pressed high and relentlessly, you can try playing with a higher tempo and possibly tweaking some forward roles to be slightly more aggressive to exploit the disorganization left behind by their press. Below is a pass map of a recent game, it is very typical for the tactic. Below I have some goals from a recent game for you, quite typical for this tactic. This one is a long possession sequence where a ball is sent down the channel for our IW (Su), won back again by the WCB (Su) after it was cleared, and finally worked into the box relentlessly for the False Nine to score. A fluid give-and-go between the False Nine and the left WCB turning into a goal: As with any total football system, you want to recruit players for this system who are good at everything as well as hard workers. And since this is a Possession system, you will want to especially prioritize possession attributes such as Technique, Passing, Vision, Off the Ball, Anticipation, Decisions, Composure and Teamwork. Of course, Football Manager's match engine is not perfect and you cannot replicate very complicated tactics such as Total Football in its confines. But this is a very fluid system which produces eyecatching football. Results are best when you manage games yourself in the match engine instead of using Instant Result, but in good form you can trust Instant Result to give good results too. I will talk a little bit about the individual player roles, instructions and expectations now. I will separate the roles in this system into central roles and wide roles. They have no individual instructions unless stated. As such: Central roles: Ball-Playing Defender (co), Segundo Volante (su), Central Midfielder (su), False nine (su) BPD (Co): The ball-playing defender is the deepest ball-recycler of this system and should have excellent ball-playing skills for a center-back. Also in this system they tend to have the highest interception numbers, so this position should probably go to your best defender. Put the player you can always rely on in this position. SV (Su): The slightly more defensive player in the double pivot. If you have to choose, put the player with the better defensive skills in this role. They should still be good passers of the ball, and as a double pivot player, they have "Take Fewer Risks" as their individual instruction. Dictates Possession is also useful here. CM (Su): The slightly more advanced of the double pivot, this player is usually at the heart of possession in your game. Put your most ball-secure midfielder here. They also have "Take Fewer Risks" as their individual instruction, but don't be afraid to put a player with traits like Tries Killer Balls here. Dictates Possession is of course a very good trait here as well. You want players in the middle of the park who can control games for you. It is very important to build a good relationship between your double pivot players. False Nine (Su): This is a role that has some key requirements, but how the False Nine plays will change greatly depending on the type of player you place there. You can easily play an Advanced Playmaker here, for example. But for this style of football the key attribute groups you want to prioritize are Mobility, Movement and Passing. Finishing and/or heading is a good bonus and if you have a player with all of these attributes then they will be a star. Dribbling, of course, is important here. You want a player here who is not easily muscled off the ball, as well, so that he can play possession passes backwards without losing it easily. Wide roles: Wide Center-Backs (su), Wing-Backs (at), Inside Forward (Su), Inverted Winger (su) Wide Center-Backs (su): These players, first and foremost, need the three Ps: Pace, Power, Passing. They can easily become deep playmakers, in possession they tend to sit at the bottom of a diamond out wide. They are important roles: you don't want someone prone to making mistakes out here. I would even prioritize recovery pace and good defensive skills out here over incredible on-the-ball skills. The match engine isn't very kind to possession tactics and as such you will need these attributes. Wing-Backs (at): These players offer width to your tactic. As such they absolutely need to be your paciest and hardest working players. Good Stamina, Acceleration, Work Rate and Pace are necessary. They don't necessarily need stellar passing, crossing or dribbling to be effective in my experience. Even Bundesliga 2 standard players can work well in the Bundesliga in this role if they have good physical attributes. The wing-backs in this system also tend to give many assists. Both Wing-Backs have the "Stay Narrower" individual instruction as well as "Cross Aim Centre" to encourage them to play cut-backs more. The idea behind this is to interchange with the inverted winger and inside forward, who cut inside with the ball from out wide, whereas the wing-backs will then run outside from a narrower position. It also helps you in possession. Inside Forward (su): As one of your three forwards, he needs to have good movement and finishing. If you study the typical pass map, you see he is also at the tip of the wide diamond just like the Inverted Winger on the opposite flank: good pace to run in behind is very useful. Physicality is quite important overall for your forward line so that they do not get muscled off the ball. I would not necessarily try a physically weak player here unless they are outstanding in other areas of the game and able to keep the ball with their skillset. Often this player does not move around as much as the Inverted Winger, but rather makes more runs in behind towards the goal. Often his assists are cutbacks. "Stay Wider" is the individual instruction here. Inverted Winger (su): This is the role where you want to put your best dribbler and ball handler in. I love this role because often at least once a game you will see the Inverted Winger cut inside from the flank and sometimes even dribble all the way to the other side of the pitch! This kind of unpredictable and fluid movement is key to this system and is the reason why it is often able to perform so well. This role has "Stay Wider" ticked on as well. The idea is, as I said before, for them to cut inside with the ball from wide areas to make room for the narrower Wing-Backs to run into. In summary, this tactic is my vision of a Total Football system interpreted into FM23. The Balanced Mentality is in my view a very important part of the philosophy. It gives you the greatest room to tweak individual PIs as well as mould each player's mentality on the pitch to your liking. As a final touch, here are some Player Traits which work well in this system and you should consider: Plays One-Twos, Tries Killer Balls, Dictates Tempo (midfielders), Switches Ball to Wide Areas (Wing-Backs or even Wide-Center Backs), Runs Through Middle (False Nine, Inverted Winger). I hope you all enjoy this tactic and my explanation of it! The download is below. The tactic also includes Set Pieces, which you can of course change if you like, but as default they are set to Short Corners, Short Throw-Ins and Short Free Kicks where possible. Please note this was not crafted as an overpowered tactic and you will need to pay close attention to player relationships, squad dynamics and club atmosphere. As in every tactic maximizing these will bring you the most success. In the spirit of Total Football, crafting a young team and then letting them grow together as a team is how I prefer to do it! Be careful of squad turnover! 3-3-1-2-1 Total Possession.fmf

This is my current attempt at it. It keeps possession very well. AMC role can be a Trequartista as well - could even be better than an AP (At). A typical pass map:

I have tried fiddling with this system as well. I have not found a way to implement in a way that felt right to me. But I think actually Balanced mentality is more promising than Positive.

What is the concrete difference between an Attacking Midfielder on Attack vs Support? In my current tactic, I have a 3-2-5 in possession with a single false nine and two attacking midfielders on attack, with two complete wing backs on attack too. Would it be possible to drop on attacking midfielder on support duty to offer a bit more possession in the middle of the park without sacrificing any penetration in the tactic? I'd ideally like to give them a lot more individual instructions, such as Roam from Position and Get Further Forward, but I'm not sure if this would really be wise. If anyone wants, I'd like a second set of opinions and ideas on this tactic, really. Maybe going Positive mentality, lowering the tactic width a little bit and then putting the AMs on Support duty with a bunch of individual instructions? I really just want this team to play a 3-2-5 in possession in a total football sort of style, and right now I'm in the second season so I'm still refining the tactic to find the best version of it. For reference, here's the tactic.

Hey there, is anyone else having this bug in the game? My corner routine is down there - I could use some help with it, to make it actually play out as a short corner. But every time, the ball is just punted into the 6-yard box instead. Is there some kind of hidden instruction? Is it a known bug?

Which year of FM is this current save representing?