[Squad rotation]

I usually like to have between 23 to 25 players, 2 for each position and 2-3 players that are young and/or are versatile. Then, i try to rotate against lesser teams and when we have a congested fixture. Even when everybody is fully fit, i pay attention to risk of injury and how many matches they've been playing in the last 3/4 weeks. That way i don't overotate in a way that my players can't form relationships, but in a way almost everybody can play.

I try not to change too much of my first eleven when i rotate, 3/4 players are enough unless we are in a run of really important matches (Imagine February/March when playing against the big teams of your league, while champions knockouts and cup games) where in the middle you have a match agains a middle/low table club, in that game i would change 7/9 players of the starting 11.

Which ones i rotate comes down to low Natural Fitness and Stamina and of course how intense is my tactic.

[How to get the most out of a Wide Playmaker / Pass & Move football?]

You could try taking things down a notch instruction wise, i personally when trying to create a possession oriented tactic i try to not overkill my players with too many of them.

Try to see first how the roles interact between them and ask questions about your build up and initial plan like:

How does the ball gets to your playmaker? When it reaches him, does he has options? Can he combine with the SS that should be in the half spaces? Or does he have to recycle with the DM? 

The ask who is going to be your goalscorer and who is going to assist him. The WP(s) is not going to be in the position to make the last decisive pass but he is certainly help your team play and move the ball.

Them, when you find that roles are playing like you want, try using simple instructions.

My take would be to try starting with the base of what you're trying to achieve using:

Mentality: Standard/Positive; You can try both and see depending in how much risk are your players taking and if its enough or is it too much.

In Possession: Play Out of the Defense, Short Passes, Fairly Narrow; Staple Possession instructions without overkill, you can watch your games and see if you need something more but i think this is enough most of the time.

Transition: Counter-Press (If you have the players and the quality relative to the oppossition for it, if you don't you can play without it); Watch your build up and see if your players invite enough pressure or not and choose accordingly if you want to distribute to your defender/fullbacks.

Out of possession: Higher Line of Engament, Higher Defensive Line; You can try this alone with a split block but if you don't want your WP running too much, just use trigger press More Often.

I think that when you're starting to create a new tactic, less is more, because it lets you see what is going wrong and start adjusting with little nudges but with a good foundation you can analyze better what you're seeing.

If you try some of these please show us the progress. 

[Are we ever going to see Pep-like wingers FM?]

hace 11 minutos, soft tofu dijo:

I'm actually trying Wide Target Man at the moment. The role don't have dribble hardcoded, and I can tell them to stay wide, hold position etc. And I gotta say it's actually going quite well. Except of course when the team camp right in front of the goal.

Never used but i read here that it is a very underrated role. Can you show us with which players do you use it? And is he a "Ball Magnet" like the Target Man and the playmakers? Really curious about their behaviour. I always thought that is a role that you use with someone with great strength and height, kind of a Mandzukic type of player but how does a more "conventional" player acts with this role?

[Are we ever going to see Pep-like wingers FM?]

hace 4 horas, Jyuan83 dijo:

Maybe can have a future role in fm23 called the in-behind winger(IBW).

The IBW stays wide like a typical winger but instead of running down to the byline to cross often, he focuses on stretching the play to open gaps in the defence to run in behind to make cutbacks or score goals.

I think what we actually need in the wings is a "blank" role, like the Attacking Midfielder, the Wide Midfielder, the Fullback, etc. A role that have little to no PI hadcoded and can be highly customizable.

I found that you can emulate some movements with the roles at our disposal but its limited by the hardcoded behaviour of those roles (The IW can stay stay wide but has cut inside hadcoded, the Winger can hold position but has cross more often, etc), they may be cautious about this maybe because it would be hard for them to balance it. 

The lack of a "blank" role in the wings and in the striker position (We have the Pressing Forward on support which is the closest to this wish) is something that i would like SI to change in the next years.

[FM22 - Fast Counter Tactic]

You can search for "The Art of Counter Attacking" from @Cleon in this forum, but i think you should post more information like formation, which team you're playing, your players, how do you compare with the oppossition, etc.

With that info it would be easier to help you.

[Martin Ødegaard as a false 9]

Glad that helped you, i found in this year version really good success with the IW when the IF failed me, had a Barcelona save playing very similar to your tactic, a false 9 with a IF in the left(Ansu) and a Winger on the right (Ferran) and saw a massive improvement when i've changed to a IW. He sees the ball more and is more involved both in the build up and in the final ball/shot. Really interested to see how your team evolves now.

[Martin Ødegaard as a false 9]

I would play him as a Inverted Winger on attack maybe? Use more of his flair and vision while still getting in the box (You can also train the "Try To Beat The Offside Trap" PPM if he doesn't have it so he is more offensive with his runs)

[Raumdeuter vs inside forward with roaming]

hace 6 horas, TokyoWanderer dijo:

I don't think this is accurate. The Inside Forward cuts inside without the ball A LOT. This is very noticeable if you pair an IF-A with a lone support striker (TM-S ; F9-S ; DLF-S), as the IF-A will be looking for diagonals behind the defense very often.  What you mention there is the difference bewtween IW and IF

In my experience, the RMD role is an Inside Forward with more freedom to roam and more freedom to do whatever he wants on defense. It may have some hardcoded behavior that isn't obvious from player instructions, but I don't remember seeing an RMD playing different from how a fairly standard IF-S would (I don't really use the role much nowadays though)

Thats why i said generally, i think roles and players aren't one dimensional in a sense that a "rule" aplies in all scenarios. I think too that the IF(a) this year attacks the box more without the ball than in other years but in comparison with the Raumdeuter they take more risks with the ball.

This year IF is really different than other years, i personally find the IF(s) much more attacking than before and is why in certain cases i will choose an IW over the IF, but as i said before, the role of the Raumdeuter is nothing if you don't put in perspective the player that you're using there, their attributes (especially the mentals like Anticipation, Off the Ball, Decisions, etc) and their PPM (Move into channels is a great one that i used before for example).

I don't use this role since FM20 so maybe it has changed, so don't take what i say like a rule or anything of the sort.

 

This is a good thread i liked a couple years ago, you can see different ideas about the RMD.

I think the beauty of the role is how different it is depending in the player that plays there.

Now i really want to start a game and play with it again after a couple years, which players now have you come across that can play well there?

Sorry if something get lost in what i say, english is not my main language :P

[Raumdeuter vs inside forward with roaming]

I think the most important difference is Attributes and movement without the ball. The Inside Forward will generally cut inside WITH the ball, he will try to dribble into the box, make diagonal passes and shoot from that angle (Inverted foot from his position) while the Raumdeuter will do the same WITHOUT the ball, making movements to get in the end of chances and generally not being too interested in the build up phase (That doesn't mean he won't help your team with the ball but his main task will be to find space with his movement). It all depends in the player attributes + PPMs + what you want to achieve with your tactic.

 

As Andrew said the best definition for the Raumdeuter is of a "Wide Advanced Forward or Poacher" or you could even say a combination between a IF and a Shadow Striker. 

[Can you help me with my tactic to better run the trequartista role?]

The Trequartista works best when he has people making forward runs (Either from deep or in front of him) and making space for him. You have one in your leftback but both your forwards have holding roles, the TF(A) will get the ball in good spaces if he has good decision and off the ball but he isn't going to make too many aggressive runs, he will ask for the ball to be played to his body (He has a very similar behaviour as the playmaker roles where he will kinda be a ball magnet, but a more direct one) and the DLF(s) will occupy the same spaces as the TQ and will also hold the ball as the TF.

I would play on the right with the Advanced Forward (Poacher can be good if you need a simple role that doesn't run with the ball or the PF(a) which is very similar to the AF but he has more participation in the build up) and a PF(s) on the other side.

Also you're playing with an extreme tempo in an already very aggressive mentality, try to slow down you play a little, the TQ is a creative role who is very active in your team play in the last third and having such aggresive instructions can make it hard for your team to find him enough times in good spaces. I personally would slow the tempo so your players remain taking risks while controlling the game a bit more.

[How to Evolve a System Second Season & Encourage Wide Players]

I would personally change Diaby into a IW(a), i found that the Inside Forward is too aggressive and can get in positions that your poacher is already occupying, the Inverted Winger will be very good at cutting in with the ball and having options to play; the Winger out wide for stretching the opposition in the opposite side, the CM(A) making forward runs into the box and the Poacher doing the same, while in the same side he has a WB bombing forward and maintaining width. 

You should ask yourself why are you using the "Underlap left" instruction, i think its detrimental to your tactic because it lowers your Winger mentality and you already have a natural underlap with the roles you chose, the poacher creates space vertically while the Winger in support does the same horizontally. 

You could even get rid of WBiB when you're using a poacher who plays in the shoulder of the defence, and players attacking the space, maybe you're losing time when you get the ball and your wide players are not getting enough space to play their game. 

Other than that your tactic look very balanced. 

[Need tips for improving barcelona tiki-taka tactic]

You have a very attacking system with too many instructions, i think you have to make the tactic more balanced. I see 5 players attacking roles and 3 playmakers, i think that is overkill and you should make it more simple.

Start asking questions about ypur players attributes, their roles and how do you want to play.

Why do you need 3 PM roles in the same spot? Why do you want 2 BPD looking for long switches of play when you have a PM defensive midfielder that wants to get involved in the build up?

As you answer questions in your head you start to see what is important to tell the players to do and how can their "autonomy" as players help you get to your desired style of play without having to force them to do so many things.

I personally with this team would play like this

Positive

On possession, Play out of Defense, Work Ball into Box. //(Play with Tempo/Be more expressive depending in what you see in your games)

In Transition: Distribute to CenterBacks //(Counter-Press is good, but against really good teams that can beat the press it can leave you really in a bad shape, use it against lesser opponents and try how does it change your team against stronger ones)

Out of Possession: Higher line of engagement, Higher defensive line, prevent short GK //(You can use more trigger pressing, but i think Positive mentaility + higher lines will be enough for the pressing without wanting too much from a squad that doesn't have the legs to run 90 minutes, but you can still try it) 

    --------DLF(Y)--------

    IF(A)------------IW(Y)

    --CM(Y)----MEZ(A)--

   --------PVO(D)--------

FB(A)--CD(D)--BPD(D)--WB(Y)

    --------SK(Y)--------

Your players are good and intelligent enough to make good decisions without you having to give them so many instructions. 

And from there, i would see how its playing out and adjust based on a couple of games and if you make important signings.