beverage1982

Great achievement. I'm playing something very similar and won the league 3 years in a row with villas startin xi still my strongest. It almost feels like cheating. 🤣

Hi folks. Quick question about creating an offside trap. I know step up more / drop off was put in to replace this and I've always just ticked step up more by default in order to play offside. But now I'm wondering if that's right? After all step up more condenses the space whereas real offside traps tend to hold the line. So would I be better playing a high defensive line, or even much higher, with nothing ticked? Basically I'm trying to build an old school arsenal or current villa side offside trap and am not quite sure if I'm getting there. In fact what I see when I have step up more ticked is my defenders moving out of their positions to close down rather than holding a high line to catch players offside.

What kind of PIs have you got with this. I've played something very similar with huge success. Villa great fun to manage this year

So after the full game release I've come up with a tactic that is somewhat different from where we were at before. There are a few reasons behind the changes. 1 - Defensively it just didn't look like Villa. There was just too much pressing. Ifg you watch us at the moment we barely press when we enter the rest defence, instead we sit in shape and try to force a mistake. 2 - Passing. Diving into the stats we are one of the league's most direct teams. Not long ball direct but breaking the lines direct. We still build up slow and considered but we're not afraid to break the lines. 3 - Luiz. I just did;t like how he was playing for me as a DM and after reading a great bit of analysis on the premier league website I relaised he has to be a playmaker (he has the most passes into final third for us and third most long passes in the league). So I ended up on this. It's been hugely effective so far, not least in the way that Luiz has played. The rest of the team is performing well too, though Ollie is hit and miss and will often get low ratings which is something to keep an eye on. Give this a try though, a key change defensively has been to take step up more off (I've realised it makes the defenders charge out when we want to hold the line) and the press less. It makes no sense with a high line, but then, neither does Emery's approach in real life and that works

The trick was to kind of give up on that bit tbh. Still plays really well though.

Very good. I like how we've both arrived at near enough the same tactic, shows were both on the right track. I finished my Beta season with this tactic winning Carabao cup, conference league and finishing second in the league. Am looking forward to giving it a proper play through when the full fat game is released tomorrow. Great work on this and thanks for sharing. Btw I have the starting embers of the Kamara HB version working too

Well the man marking worked a treat in this one (the 2 goals we conceded were from mistakes playing out from the back). One thing I'm currently toying with is upping the width one notch. It means a little less central play from the wingers, but I'm just not seeing the kind of fullback overlaps we do IRL on the extreme narrowness, even with PIs. But notch it up and they're more frequent. Another one that will probably be a game by game change. +

Loving the look of this. I'm leaning towards something very similar but with mcginn on support and kamara on support. Great work though.t he man marking to achieve the back 6 is genius so I'm stealing that

Tbf if you want info on how to set up a Villa tactic on FM then @HowzatFM is the person you want it from. Absolutely bang on with the PIs though sometimes I take sit narrower off McGinn. And yes McGinn isn't a wide player and yes it's very narrow. That's kind of the point under Emery though. To condense the play into the middle.

Ha yeah that was one of the most surreal moments I've ever witnessed in a game. Off to Luton game tomorrow so can do some firsthand scouting.

Yeah read that. I like counter, I have both blank to add that flexibility. I have had counter press on at times too. But found on Positive that kind of counter press that we sometimes see in the opponent's half (which I'm not sure irl is a counter press like FM defines it) happens naturally so the TI is not needed.

So the reason I changed Luiz is partly because the secundo and RPM now move into the AM position with the new positional play and that blocks the LW from coming in. Also read a great piece on opta that basically profiles Luiz as a DM / bwm. His tackling is up there with best in league. I think it's easy to get caught up on his goal contributions (of his 5 this year 3 have been pens) but he arrives much later than a SV does. The DM is also hugely customisable but maintains the pivot. iW on support just makes that digne overlap easier. Also staggers the attack. But to be honest I tweak game to game. Favourite thing at mo is Mcginn goes to support and Diaby to attack duty for tough games. Whole thing is working a treat soo far...

Think after much consideration (and a huge helping hand from Dan Gear over at the wonderful view from the Touchline) I've finally cracked this. Will probably do a separate thread once I've played a bit more but it's looking so much more like Villa IRL>

Very true. Are you playing on full narrow? Also what mentality you on? I think balanced is best but I could also see cautious or positive

Well I'm having no success at this. Just can't get the wide players to drift narrow enough at all. Have tried all manner of TIs and roles but I think unless I start with a box I can't achieve that shape.