loisvale

Thanks for the detailed reply. look forward to more updates on the OP. The more info around how to tinker for certain situations the more I learn. Don’t quite understand the point you make about use of 4231. Understand when trying to force things but are you suggesting to use against a back 3 or back 4 that’s not clear? thanks again look forward to using. keep up with the info it’s an interesting set up.

Interesting read. Always interested in how tactic creators adapt in game as I don’t like just leaving tactics as plug and play. Don’t believe any real managers do that. if reading correctly in summary with either tactic changes include; - if you are being heavily pressed and other team is pushing up then remove play out of defence and add pass in to space. -if up against a 3 at the back system with single players on flank or a diamond type formation then consider increasing width, overlaps and focus on flanks. -no real changes to transition. Do you ever remove counter press? - against weaker teams push up. Increase loe and def line? -consider an AF when underdog and there are options of DLP and Regista if pressing higher. -play IFs with their strong foot on outside. Thats what I’m reading. other questions~ -do you ever change mentality? -what circumstances do you employ the 4321? -If you are really trying to push for a goal do you do anything different? -same question for really trying to soak up pressure and hit on the break? - is the CWB attack because of a player you have. I presume you could mirror the tactic to suit stronger right wb and add variety? -if down to ten men what changes do you make? sorry for all the questions but am genuinely interested especially with tactics that have been developed over a number of years. Thanks for sharing. Happy to try when have more info.

Tried cm defend last time. Will try this next time! Thanks.

Appreciate the reply. It works very well. Well done. Have been getting great results. The only game so far where I’ve had any trouble is when I had a man sent off. Should it happen again I will try something different than I tried the first time and work it out!

Important This tactic isn't plug and play, it'll outperform anything that is if you put some effort in though! Great (and quite amusing read as ever). If it isn’t plug and play what tweaks/ changes do you make? Is it just changing the mentality to attacking if not winning at 70mins and rotating the two 11s or are there any other thoughts you can share? What do you do if a team is all over you for instance? Do you do something different to avoid the press from stronger opposition? Your results are insane. I am almost glad I’m not that successful from the start - don’t know how you stay motivated to play it! brilliant stuff and thanks for sharing.

Brilliant. Thank you. Just the type of advice and content I was after. Appreciate it.

Been away for a few days but thanks for the reply. I have been trying your less complicated style which I do find interesting and effective. One question I would have is what is your thought process when you really need a goal towards the end of the game and you need to chase?

@Justified was looking through some old threads today and came across your “Rome wasn’t built in a day” thread. Wish I had read it at the time! Is that how you still play today in terms of roles, shape TIs etc? The content in there is exact what I was looking for and referring to above. I am always trying to build a base formation with simple TIs and PIs and then have a more positive attacking one and a more dialled down countering one in the two other slots. Any updates on your previous thread would be devoured by me.

@Johnny Ace @Justified Thanks both for the replies That is is the sort of stuff that I find to be so useful. I have always been fairly decent at putting balanced roles together but can struggle in adapting in game to certain scenarios. Appreciate these thoughts

Enjoyable read. Nice work. Love the 433. Often have a midfield of DM(D), CM (S) and AP (S). Otherwise similar. When I am trying to to be more attacking or defensive I change the duty on the CM. Will try some of the roles you have suggested and see how they work out. Particularly interesting to read how using DM(s) when using a Mez in the midfield 3 keep things together better. Some good learnings in here. I love threads like this but am always interested to see ideas expanded to see how people use roles or TIs to dial risk up and down depending on the opponent (ie how to approach better opponents, similar opponents or teams you expect to beat). A great example that I often come across with tactics I have done myself is when I am being overwhelmed by a great team like Man City- pressing high and constantly pinching the ball of me. Not always obvious to me what I should be doing to slightly alter my tactic without making large changes to soak it up and hit on break. Hope that makes sense.

Goodness me. There are a few tactics here. Do you have personal favourites? Any good home and away combinations? 3 tactics that gel well together and could be used in match strategies and used in all 3 slots? Good effort churning them all out.

Thank you very much for the response. Like you I am trying another homemade tactic and playing around with the different blocks and applying them sensibly. Working well. Enjoyed your tactic set though. Have always enjoyed you stuff. Keep posting!

Thanks. What I was particularly interested in was if you did anything different in terms of tweaks when away to the good or elite teams? How is your save going?

@burnum are you still using these? I do like the football played. More challenging away from home against elite opposition though. Using the base on balanced or cautious can still be very tough which is realistic I suppose. However is using the control version rather than the base from the start a viable option in this circumstance or is better to use the base but change to an HB and Mez on support and drop into a mid block a better choice? Any tips from your own experience would be welcome.

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated. Fair play to you it is a nice system. Plays football I like. Even prefer it to the one I created myself (which is rather annoying!) Well done I really like it. Have put my 3 tactics below which may be or may be not of interest. They are similar.

Apologies. Posted in wrong place. Could this be moved to the general tactics thread?

I have two tactics that are working pretty well for me. Had a lot of success in Portugal with 3 leagues in a row. Now moved to Roma and after a shaky start have recovered well. Have a positive mentality tactic with a high block and a cautious mentality version with low block. Have gone for the style of using technical players using creative expression, dribbling skills, playing from back and cutbacks. in cautious mentality have added attacking duty to right wing back but calmed down the mez and IW on the right and changed the AF to a PF. Have removed the pass into space and play out of defence. Also speeded up the distribution and changed loe and block. Finally have also removed prevent GK distribution. Have tried to retain the style though. Basically looking for thoughts as to if I am on the right track though and how I might improve the two tactics and even create a mid block version. Thanks in advance.

Very interesting and thanks for sharing. I have a very similar set up.However I have a wb support on the right and fb attack on left. IW attack on the right and IF support on the left. I do play a PF attack but often an AF attack up front as well. Mostly play with a DM support( sometimes an Anchor if under pressure) and one of the defenders is a CD rather than BPD. I have less PIs but do have sit narrower for the WB an FB and the IF sits wider. Have a high , mid and low block versions. interested that your mid block control version is on the same positive mentality and DL as your base. Do you ever drop it? finally what do you do when players sent off? I usually change the BBM to cm support and remove the DM.

Very interesting read as always. I have also started with Sporting, but I am using a 433. I have a high block, low block and mid block version depending on the scenario. Wait till Tiago, Thomas comes back from loan. He is an absolute beast (although I play him as an advanced forward and taught move into channels trait) Unfortunately, I was unable to hold onto Ugarte as Man United made an offer that the board just accepted without any consultation! Won the league in year one as well as the league cup and got to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Really enjoying the save, particularly as they have a lot of young talent. Very tempting to look into using your tactic, but I am enjoying the one I created too much at the moment. Will continue to read with interest.

Ok no worries. Have plenty to go on. Good luck with the rest of this project.

Ok. Did you ever post the notes you began around this save as you allude to below: If so can you repost as can’t find them This thread will get added to over the next few weeks with lots of tactical stuff and player development articles. Remember the Ajax thread I did? Yeah that will have nothing on this These are just some of the articles to expect to see in this very thread in the coming weeks and those are only the player development and training side of things

@CleonGreat stuff as always. Interesting read. Loved your forged in steel blog a few years back and still find myself playing that way. would love to know what team instructions you would use for that 352 in todays creator as you wrote that before this version of the TC. Also would love to see you write more on the attributes you look for to play the same role differently with substitutes given this is how you impact a game 90% of the time as well as player instruction changes given it is the other thing you tend to do.

Thank you very much for such a detailed response. Much food for thought in there. Both my familiarity and team cohesion are good. I am at the beginning of a new season. (I posted those pictures by loading the tactics into an old save file just to put them up!) I agree that the team has some some short falls in terms of attributes to play this type of football but I do want to persevere as it is a style that I like and believe will ultimately be successful. Will certainly take on board the comments on handling expectations of the team away from home and lowering tempo and experimenting with the loe. thanks again for the comments.

For a few versions of FM I have used a 442 and a 5212 inspired by the great FM tactician Bophonet's replication of Naglesmann. They both play the football I like - , playing out the back ,fast transitions getting the ball forward quickly. not giving the opposition time on the ball. They work well and play good football but due to fatigue need to be managed. I reduce the intensity by lowering tempo, lowering the press, reducing dl and loe, removing counter press etc. The difficuty can be when away from home and against better opposition. Have tried dialling down and in the 442 dropping the two midfielders into the DM strata as DLP (D) and VOL (s) but thoughts from anyone as to how they could be improved away or against better teams without completely changing the philosophy would be welcome. The two versions with similar team instructions are below. There are a few PIs for certain individuals to get crosses at near post, roam and direct pass.

Good advice as usual. Will try using cautious more. Finished 5th with Leeds last season using my own tactics will have a full season on the Jose M set and see if we can break in to the Champ league spots. Doesn’t feel quite at Master class yet. Will let you know.