CVass

Every year, I love to start my save as the manager of a club and international teams. In years past, I would start a save with my own tactics for my club team; they would stink, and then I would find some meta plug-and-play tactic, which became stale (for VERY OBVIOUS reasons). I would then find players to match my meta tactic for my international team, and usually, the international players would fit to a large degree. This year, I have taken a different approach and am doing everything from scratch, including tactics, scouting, etc. I have searched over the years, and there is very little info on it (or I am a dummy looking in the wrong places). This save, I am managing England, and I decided to list my best attackers in order of importance and tweaked the best I could. We won the Euros with great luck and off of set pieces - a lot of smash-and-grab going on... So, I want to make it better... My question is, how do you go about building tactics for your international management? Do you pick a tactic that is how you want to play and then place the best players in those roles? Do you load in your best 11, let the Assistant Manager tell you their best roles, and then tweak from there? Do you pick their best roles based on their comfort with club tactics? Does role comfort/familiarity even really matter, and am I overthinking it? Where do you start your process, and who gets priority for their preferred playing style? What positions get priority? For example, Declan Rice is far and away the best DM, but he is the second-best CM at the moment. Is it better to get him in the middle, more advanced in a 4-3-3, or keep him as a DM as the single pivot? If roles and duties are overwhelmingly crucial in international management, who changes to complement the tactic? Who plays out of the comfort zone? Are certain positions affected less when tweaking roles than others? For example, I have a very talented bunch of players, but their roles don't jive. My five best attackers, Bellingham, Saka, Foden, Kane, and Rice (if you play him as a CM), all have support duties, with Rice being defensive. Also, Foden and Bellingham are best as AP-S, making matters even stickier with Kane as the DLF-S and Saka as a W-S. Who is best to leave in their favored/most comfortable role and duty? Do you tweak the most adaptable player, the role that would make the tactic come to life, or am I asking dumb questions to begin with? I know these are a lot of questions, and some may not even matter one bit. But I don't see this topic discussed much, and I wanted to throw some things out. I know international management gets a lot of stick, and I know it could be way better, but I wanted to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks for indulging me!

This is fantastic, thank you again. If I am playing against a back 5, and I want to get an extra attacker in my setup to get into a 3-1-6, what would be the best way to do this in my current setup without drastically changing formations & roles and reducing familiarity.

I briefly touched on this earlier in the thread, but I was wondering how teams that build up in this formation adjust to different defensive shapes. I know I read one article that said if the author came up against a 4-2-3-1, they would go from playing through the middle with underlaps on to playing through right/left and turning the underlaps off. What other defensive shapes would necessitate a change in tactical approach or instructions? I know that some teams will change to a 3-1-6 build-up against certain formations or a diamond (3-Diamond-3). When does this usually take place? I am trying to learn the "if-then" of some tactical approaches.

What's funny is, I usually play with AF-A and I was experimenting.

Do you think that, in a 3-2-5 build-up shape, something like Advanced Playmaker would be better for Bruno as a CM?

I will give it a shot. How long would it take for a player like Bruno Fernandes to learn the role? Is that something I could switch to and try out without fully retraining him for the role?

Again, such great information. Thank you so much. I have learned so much just from this thread.

Would the Pressing Forward (his strongest role) do some of this without going on a Support role?

This is all GREAT information! I had Mount on a BBM but moved him to a Mezzala. Why do you like the BBM more for him? Lack of dribbling?

Makes sense, but isn't it all the same if you are in a 3-2-5 build up? Just different people in different spots? I don't know about Lisandro Martinez or Antonio Silva playing Libero, what do you think? Do you play this shape? If so, how do you adjust it against different formations?

I will give this a try, thank you!

Thanks for the insight! I put hold shape so they don’t counter when they lose the ball and get into the new shape. Maybe I am not fully understanding what it does. Second, although it’s not a single digit, Mount is a 10, and Bruno is an 11, and it has caused problems. Maybe I am overthinking it, though. Lastly, Shaw’s traits negatively affect both the IWB and IFB roles. If I play him on Wing Back, it ruins the 3-2-5 shape I am trying to use to build up. I felt like playing him at IWB was better because he was more creative there than Dalot and Wan Bissaka were as an IWB. I guess I could flip it and put Kayode as the IWB, and put Shaw as the IFB. I just felt it was more problematic for him to roam forward as part of a back 3, than part of the middle 2, in the 3-2-5. Again, I could be completely wrong! Thank you for your response and for giving me some things to think about!

P.S. I Would love some feedback @Rashidi. Also, where can I view all of your tactic writeups? I read this article and was BLOWN AWAY

Hey guys, I am playing as United in my second season and doing well, but I want to tweak my tactics. I started with a vertical tiki-taka style with a Pep-like influence but a tad more direct. My question is, is anyone playing a back 3 in build-up like this, and do they have any tips for getting the back 3 completely stable in possession? I realize having two BPD-D might be the issue, but Martinez likes to bring the ball out, and Silva has good passing range. I have Kayode on Take Fewer Risks and Dribble Less. I posted the ideal team when everyone is fit and would love to hear your thoughts! This is my first experiment with getting into 3-2-5 build-up shapes. My question is, do you have any advice for the back 3 here to maximize effectiveness? My second question is: Fernandes and Mount aren't particularly good dribblers (being nice here), so do you think this may hinder the tactic from being as good as it can possibly be? Does turning on dribble less have an adverse effect? Lastly, would you advise making Kayode the IWB and Shaw as the IFB? I did this the previous season, but his get-forward/run with the ball down the left traits would disrupt the shape a bit. But I had someone else tell me to take a look at it, so I am throwing this out there! Thanks so much!

Hey Knap! I was wondering if you had a tactic out of 4-5-1 (4-3-3) where you shift to a Back 3 in attack to get to a 3-2-5 formation. I was working on something where the DR went to an IFB-D, and the DL goes to an IWB-S. Do you have anything like that?