crusadertsar

So in honour of Pele, I decided to release another little update on my Magic Box tactic. It was a very sad news yesterday but gave me great inspiration to continue testing and writing about this little tactic. And to really try to make it into my best tactical system in FM23. The Two Central Midfielders - The double pivot is a key pairing in the tactic. The two central midfielders help out by protecting the central space in front of the centrebacks. They also help in the wider midfield space where we have least coverage due to the narrow formation. Hence the choice of a carrilero role. I find that carrilero, which was a role that was added to FM a few years back, is practically irreplaceble when one tries to craft narrow formations. These formations will have no dedicated wide midfielders or wingers to occupy the flanks. With such deficiency you need a hard-working midfielder that is dedicated to both covering the general central midfield area and overlaping into the wider flank space. The fullback will help in that coverage in both attack and defence but will do so only partially and will mainly stray into opposition half (less so on support duty). The carrilero on the other hand is hardcoded to act as a sort of wide box-to-box midfielder. In the sense, that he will "shuttle" from centre of the pitch to his respective flank. And in doing this he will mainly stay in his tactical strata (between DM and AM strata). Sort of in the way that B2B midfielder covers the pitch from box to box vertically, the carrilero will work equally hard horizontally. Thus you can see why carrileros are so unevaluable to a narrow 4-2-2-2 tactic. Using a pair of carrileros for my double pivot is great because they help bring balance to the part of the tactic that is lacking (width). Also by its under-the-hood coding carrilero is a more conservative role. It is not a holding midfielder (one with defend duty) but a covering one. Which means that the carrileros will try to regain the ball as soon as they can (dictated by our pressing instructions) and then launch it to the closest advancing teammate, be it the two AMCs or the fullbacks. Because they are both on Support duty, the carrileros are not limited to only side-to-side shuttling movements. At times, one may drop back after the full-backs have pushed forward. Alternatively, one of them may provide a delayed forward run to join the attack. Essentially my dual carrileros are perfect for my formation. The can protect the central spaces in front of the centrebacks, but will also push forward to support a high press if I want them to. They will also be responsible for tracking runs from opposition midfielders beyond the midfield line. The two midfielders are the only real specialists the system requires. Their main responsibility is to provide cover for the defense. What is crucial here is for them to possess great passing ability. It's up to them to compensate for the system’s weakness between defense and attack. So if you can get two players who are comfortable with long-ball passes then it will make the job easier for your strikers and attacking midfielders. The Two Fullbacks are under huge pressure in this tactic. They will get forward and overlap with the attacking midfielders, seeking out the free space their teammates leave behind. In doing this, they also have to be constantly aware of what’s going on behind them and should track back to provide wide cover for the two central defenders. To recreate this dual purpose I decided to try the roles of fullbacks (support) with the added instruction to get further forward, stay wide and overlap. Naturally your fullbacks should posses tons of stamina and very good crossing abilities. The Two Centrebacks. Finally, regarding the centrebacks, I would keep it simple. Just get two of the best you can find. They need to have the classic centreback attributes. That is, they absolutely need to be strong, good jumpers, positionally aware and excel at tackling and marking. In addition to the high-pressing nature of the tactic, you will need relatively fast (acceleration and pace) players here. Of course it is all relative to your league. I always prefer the stopper/sweeper combo but it is not absolutely necessary. Having one centreback who is more comfortable on the ball however is a very good addition to the tactic. If you can set your best passer as a ballplaying defender in either cover or stopper duty it will aid greatly with your build-up from the back.

HA! Beat my old club Sporting while using the new Magic Box tactic. Using "Portugal's Arsenal" Braga which is actually not a bad little club but definitely does not possess the same quality of players as Sporting. Two other interesting things to note here is that: It was AWAY game and that the Sporting red card actually came late in 84th minute and none of our goals were scored after that time. Our xG was really impressive too. Anyway I am excited to write more about this tactic in the future updates.

The Brazilian Box - The Best Things Come in Pairs And now for Christmas, it is time for something different, and fun hopefully While the 4-2-3-1 might require a stronger team (like Sporting for instance) to really make it shine, the Brazilian 4-2-2-2 ("The Magic Box") is probably the easiest entryway into Jogo Bonito. I love the simplicity of Brazilian Magic Box system! And especially because it is easy to set up with almost any team, at any level. You do not need as many specialized attacking players. And especially if your team lacks technical and fast inside forwards, you can make due with two slower (but still quite creative) Number 10s behind two strikers. Then the whole tactic is grounded upon the the strong defensive double pivot either in central midfield or defensive midfield. And in the lower leagues it's usually easier to find good (and affordable) hard-working defensive midfielder types rather than more flashy attacking-focused mezzalas or segundo volantes. The Introduction to The Tactic The whole formation is built around complimentary interactions between five pairs of players. There is the midfield double pivot of course. These two defensive midfielders are key to the whole formation as they protect the back-four and basically give the front four the freedom to attack (with the support of the two full-backs). The pair of attacking midfielders further up the pitch can move wider but mostly cut inside to support the duo of strikers. At the same time the pair of fullbacks are encouraged to overlap the centrally-positioned AMCs, adding another dimension to attack. And finally the final pairing is the centreback duo which is another important tactical duo. With the midfield double pivot and the solid centreback duo, the attack can truly be freed and the idea is to overload the opposition defences with no less than six players. Due to the narrow nature of the tactic, your flanks might seem vulnerable. But thanks to a strong combination of defesively-minded double pivot and tall, strong centrebacks, most the opposition threat can be neutralized. You could technically allow the opponent the advantage of the flanks (and invite low-chance crosses from the byline) safe in the knowledge that they will have little chance getting through your four defending players (especially if all of them have good positioning and jumping reach). Such flank attacks are thus left as collateral and only capable of doing limited damage. In the end, the opposition still needs to move centre-wise to score. To score from crosses they would require trully great crossers and tall, clinical strikers, a combination that is rare even for the top teams. The 4-2-2-2 was most famously used by Brazil's National Team at 1982 World Cup. Brazil might not have advanced past the 2nd group stage but their on-pitch magic definitely made it into a memorable tournament (who can forget that 3-1 beating of Argentina!). And once again the chemistry between the pairs of the players in Brazil's 4-2-2-2 is what made the tactic stand out. The 4-2-2-2 formation was chosen by Telê Santana, Brazil's 1982 manager, because it could accommodate his best players. This was no easy task as he had two of the world's best attacking midfielders. Zico, who at the time was the world's top footballer, and Socrates, the most cerebral player of beautiful game. Zico was a phenomenal fantasista who could string passes, dribbles and score goals like no other footballer at the time (with the possible exception of Maradona). On the other hand there was Socrates - a trained medical doctor and political activist, and Brazil's answer to Holland's Cruyff. The Brain of the formation. Socrates saw the field like no other, putting together complex passes with sublime ease of a general. This was only matched by his precision in hitting the ball. The Player Role Combinations The Two Strikers - Because by nature Jogo Bonito football is very fluid, the strikers are not required to be specialists. If anything more well-rounded complete strikers (especially with good passing, work-rate and physicals) will do well here. As such they wil need to be comfortable dropping deep and playing in midfield too. Or if you do not have tall strikers then definitely someone in the mould of Wayne Rooney or Carlos Tevez will do wonders in this formation. This is because one in the striker pair will need to drop deep to support the other striker (who due to his skill might be the primary goal-scorer) and also allow for the attacking midfielders to overlap. While one of the two strikers may come deep to create space for the attacking midfielders to run in behind, the two forwards are mainly tasked with remaining central and high up the pitch. From here, the strikers are responsible for creating and finishing chances. They can occupy the opposing centrebacks, link play with midfield runners, attack crosses, through balls and cut-backs. And just generally stretch the opposition centrebacks by threatening the space directly in front of the goal. The central striker threat is great in freeing up valuable space for your other players, like AMCs and fullbacks, who prefer to attack the half-spaces and flanks. The Two Attacking Midfielders - have multi-functional responsibilities and for that reason they need to be very well-rounded midfielders – good technical ability, passing and clinical in front of the goal. They are also required to be relatively tireless. This is because on attack they have the choice to either run wide to the wings, move into the half-space channels or stay inside to support the strikers. But during defence your #10s need to track back (either to the flanks where the system is most vulnerable or to the deeper midfield in an attempt to overwhelm the opposition with superior numbers there). This is where the fluidity of the system comes into full effect. The two #10s also need to be your most "roaming" players. I really like the Trequartisa (the more technical passer/creator of the AMC duo) and Shadow Striker (the stronger goal-scorer) combo here. Why? It is the only two AMC roles that allow the unique combination of "stay wider", "move into channels" and "roam from position" instructions. The three things that I need from my AMC strata players. The number 10s are the tactic's primary creators. And this is both the most interesting and unique aspect of the Brazilian 4-2-2-2. The two AMCs aim to get into positions between the opposition fullbacks and centrebacks and try to pick up the ball in these less well-defended half-space channels. Thus besides being the two creators they are also the two primary "channel runners". From this strategic space they try to avoid opposition markers and try to link the defence and double pivot to your centre-forwards. While at the same time also offering an additional goal threat. If they have good Off The Ball and Anticipation, then you will often see your AMCs bursting forward during counter-attacks and subsequent moves to pick up passes and shoot from distance (so Long Shots attribute is also a bonus). Finally, when appropriate, the #10s will decide to move wide to support the advanced full-backs. Similar to a deeper-sitting mezzala half-winger, the #10s may deliver crosses or make decoy runs to create space for the full-back to cross. The Midfield Double Pivot - To Be Continued...

Yeah unfortunately Rasmus is only a one year loan. But I'm hoping that as our rep goes up we will be able to keep him more permanently. Or at least extend the loan. He is a really great young striker. In terms of combination of physical power, work ethic and technique he is a very rare commodity. Especially for a 19 y.o Regarding the goalie situation, I heard of the feud haha. It doesn't seem to be reflected in the game however. I'll probably use both with more preference to Grabara simply because he seems better in his attributes. Also it will interesting to get them both to mentor young Andreas Dithmer. He looks like a tremendous prospect at 16 y.o (like so many of these young players at this club haha). Dithmer is the future of the club so I'll focus on that.

Haha I have to stop writing and finally get to playing then It's an eternal dilemma for me

Why Use The Pressing Forward on Support? FC København has a reputation of developing and employing some very strong (in the physical sense) strikers. And I love it! Players like Andreas Cornelius, Jonas Wind and Rasmus Hojlund (recently moved to Atalanta) instantly come to mind. In the era where central forwards are often diminutive, agile and creative False 9s, this Danish club has not forgotten that throughout most of football history central strikers were hand-picked to be very strong, tall and generally physically-imposing. Especially in a single striker system like 4-3-3. There you need a player like that to spearhead your assault simply because you don't have the luxury of balancing the smaller agile forward with another striker to distract the harassing defenders. No, in a classic 4-3-3, the central striker has to be able to take on the defenders all by himself, often occupying as many as two centrebacks at the same time. Didier Drogba's exploits at Mourinho's Chelsea 4-3-3 system instantly come to mind. I think that is number one requirment in any effective 4-3-3. You will need a big strong striker to lead the line. Of course, because he is alone up front, he will need decent technical ability to be able to craft out the chances for his attacking teammates. But his raw physicality should go a long way to compensate for any shortcomings in the technical department. On the other hand, mental attributes are a must. Hence a Pressing Forward role is a great fit here. For my tactic I chose a Pressing Forward on Support Duty for two reasons. It is the only central striker role that is both hard-coded to hold up the ball and does not inherently move into channels. In Football Manager there are not a lot of strikers that by design stay out of channels. Sure you can add that via a trainable trait but that takes time and I don't like the trait opposing the individual instruction because it will just dilute the effect. As it stands there are only four striker roles that do not move into channels. False 9, Poacher, Target Forward and Pressing Forward (only on Support and Defend Duty). For my high-pressing possession system the Pressing Forward makes most sense. It is also the only forward role that has work-rate as one of its key attributes. That's just the kind of striker I love. Hard-working beast of a player who uses his greater physical presence to both create goal-scoring opportunities for himself and bring teammates into play (Teamwork is his other key attributes). If you have a player that blends the goal-scoring ability of an Advanced Forward with the physicality of Target Forward then you are set. Furthermore if he is at least decent dribbler and passer than you are golden! IW and IF - there is not much more that needs to be said about these roles that I haven't mentioned already. Generally you will want them to compliment each other. IW should be stretching the play and providing support out wide with crosses and cutbacks, especially because you will have IWB going inside to act as another midfielder and AM occupying the right half-space. Also, ideally I want a player that plays on the same flank as his favoured foot like Paul Mukairu in my comment above. For my IF I would play the kind of agile creative forward that would generally pair well with a beastly Target Forward/Pressing Forward who spearheads the attack. In an ideal world, I would love to have Messi cutting inside from the flank while Haaland scares the centrebacks at the front. Instead, I have to make due with what I have. Which isn't so bad in the case of Copenhagen actually. My first choice of striker is no other than Andreas Cornelius, repentant son of København, who has returned to the club for the third time. And his backup, is the young breakthrough star, Rasmus Hojlund. After having left for the sunny shores of Italy last season, he makes his triumphant come back to Copenhagen. I am excited to see how he develops as he has the potential to overtake Cornelius by quite a bit. Both Rasmus and Andreas are just the right kind of hard-working teamplayer with the necessary physical attributes (balance, jumping reach and strength) to be able to hold up the ball. In holding up the ball he will take more time on the ball and slow down the speed of the game. And thus gain a better perspective over the game. The trait "play with the back to the goal" is ideal in such a player. When using a tactic with wide attackers cutting inside and/or onrushing central midfielders (mezzala) you absolutely need a "hold-up" type striker. And the best "hold-up" strikers are those with great balance, strength and jumping reach. Finally by using a role that does not move into channels you are ensuring that the striker will stays central. I could even use "hold position" instruction to accentuate this tendency even further. In this way the striker will mainly focus on bringing his teammates into play and giving them time to get forward. Both channels can be occupied. Just not by the striker but the half-space runners, your two "free 8s" roles.

Magnifico!

How about Eintracht Braunschweig?

Yes! Anything that has a yellow and blue is beautiful in my books

This guy! And that beard! Looks like he just jumped off a longship and is charging up a cliff to pillage a small English village. And maybe burn a monastery or two

Haha great minds think alike eh I was thinking, since we already have a couple of Icelandic wonderkids (how amazing is Isak Bergmann by the way!?) then why not go one step further and just try to amass all of the Nordic young talent at one club? And then scare the other "big" clubs with our crazy Viking football army

That's exactly what I'm looking for in my IW!

Actually I have my eye on this guy as my prime right flank IW candidate. Great Acceleration, Pace, Agility and Technique. Also good Crossing, Dribbling, Off The Ball and Work Rate. All the prime winger attributes. His Finishing is not the best but then scoring goals won't be his main task. I'll leave that to the IF, Pressing Forward and perhaps the AM. Speaking of AM, I think Viktor Claesson is better off in the more creative role as AM and one of my "free 8" half-space operators. He will basically act as one of the two midfield playmakers without actual playmaker role. His Acceleration (10) is unfortunately too low for the IW role. While all of his key technical and mental attributes are 15+. Very good player! Daramy will probably be a backup for either IW or IF positions. He won't be my first choice in either case because he is: 1) Short-term loan 2) Doesn't have attributes as good as Mukairu for the IW role - which will be primarily a role for a fast crosser/passer/support winger to give width on that flank. 3) I foresee two other players flourishing in my left flank IF position. Firstly, Roony Bardghji. So I definitely have BIG plans for this amazing 16 year old (is it me or is Copenhagen FC unbelievably full of wonderkids!?). Roony already has decent striker-type attributes like Finishing, Composure and Off The Ball in addition to his creativity. Just need to improve his physicals. To aid his development he will be getting as much playing time as possible. Secondly, I have an important transfer planned for a young player from another Danish club. He is already making a name for himself so probably won't be a big surprise. I just hope he doesn't get snapped up by a bigger club before. You could try to make a guess who it will be I'm just going to say that he is a very well rounded inside forward already at a very young age (18!). So hopefully he can help us become more threatening in the Champions League.

Rebuilding The Tactical Foundation Why attempt another 4-3-3 recreation in yet another FM game? Those who have been following me for a while, probably know that I have attempted something similar a few times already. Particularly in my long-going Total Football thread (link on one of my comments above, if you are interested). As well as the Swiss Knife thread (which was more focused on the mid-block Mourinho-style 4-3-3). What can be done different in FM23 to merit another thread? And there are only a few variations that one can do with the classic 4-3-3 before starting to sound like a broken record. From the onset there were a few things that I wanted to include in my FM23 4-3-3 recreation. From the instruction perspective I really wanted to create the style of defending through possession. In my opinion 4-3-3 is one of the best formations for this. That is, defending progressively by controlling the ball rather than the more reactive defending of sitting back and waiting for the opposition to enter you half of the pitch. I'm one of those managers that likes to set up my tactic and have it work against most opposition and in varied tactical situations. Of course one must be ready to make tactical tweaks here and there, but I am not one to completely change how we play based on what the opposite team does. I rather be confident in how my team is set up and instead force the opponent to deal with us and change their own game plan. So when I set up a 4-3-3 then I want to use that formation all the time. And my instructions will also stay largely the same for most matches, whether domestic or in Champions League. This is for one simple reason. To me 4-3-3 is a formation that is made for controlling the pitch. It is perfect for defending and attacking in a proactive, progressive fashion (there is a good reason why Pep Guardiola favoured 4-3-3 shape when he perfected his Positional Play philosophy). A well-run 4-3-3 that presses high and has technical players in every position to control the ball both in defence and in attack, will work equally well against elite opposition in Champions League and the underdog parking the bus domestically. On the other hand, low-block 4-3-3 (4-5-1) will play very differently from the classic high-pressing 4-3-3. It would not be the same tactic any more. And this thread is about a classic 4-3-3. I am not going to say Total Football, because you are probably tired of me writing about that. But you could read between the lines From onset, I wanted a tactic that defended proactively, in the opposition half. And do this on the ball rather than reactively off the ball. I want my team to defend by controlling the ball. In this way possession is a means to an end, and not the other way around where managers get hung up on totally meaningless statistical data like % percentage. I just want possession to help us defend and attack. So I don't care if the opposition has higher percentage number. They could have it. As long as it's meaningless possession. Especially, if all their possession amounts to is wide runs by their wingers and fullbacks and low-chance crosses into our penalty area. While messing with tactics this weekend, I decided to try something different. Give the tactics templates/presets (that come with a game) a chance. The tactic presets are often frowned upon by some users on this forum. They are often viewed as somehow inferior to self-made tactics. I would like to disagree. The presets actually set a good base to build upon, and arrive at the specific tactical system suited to your team. You just need to be ready to make a few adjustments. The presets are made to recreate the specific tactical style, such as Tiki-Taka football, but do so in very broad strokes. As such they always need to be adjusted to your specific team. Unless you are a top team like PSG or Bayern. With the players those clubs have, you could probably win the Champion's League with the unmodified vanilla preset tactic. Hell, if you are Bayern you could probably win it with a simple Positive mentality tactic without any team instructions. Try it! I like those instructions! Even without tweaking for my chosen team, I can already visualize the kind of football it can create. Short passing, methodical build-up where your success is not left up to chance or opposition mistake. Instead you press and dog your opponent into making a mistake and create your own opportunities through superior movement and ball control. At first, it might seem like a lot of team instructions but they are actually all well-chosen to really accentuate your team's tendency to prioritize holding on to the ball and moving it up the field in a very methodical, calculated manner. Simple Pass and move and outplaying your opponent at every step. You win purely through the technical and mental prowess of your players. Provided you have the right players to fill the roles of course. AHA! So you do need to be a club like Bayern or PSG to use this tactic to its fullest potential then!? Nope. Not at all. You can use this kind of "extreme" 4-3-3 with a club that is 1/12 the value of Bayern. A giant in its league mind you, but still a little fish in the Champions League. Or should I say little cat But anyway, let's go back to the tactic. As you can see I made some very minor tweaks to the instructions - adding three and removing one (low crosses). All of these changes were made to better fit my players at FC København. I have two tall Target Forward-type strikers so low crosses had to go. And my two starting centrebacks are very tall and strong so staying on feet and inviting the opposition to cross both made sense. The rest of the instructions I kept the same. In terms of the roles however my tactic gravitates rather far from the source material. The premise is pretty conventional (and perhaps predictable to those experimenting with recreating 3-1-6 shape in attack). I like to think of this formation as a sort of cross between Pep and Klopp (Pelopp?). And naturally it is full of hybrid roles, and players smartly moving into space liberated by others. One fullback goes central to become a sort of hybrid Defensive Midfielder. The other acts as a more conventional wingback by pushing forward and providing width on the left flank. I instruct him to overlap to give him a higher mentality and exaggerate the tendency to operate in the final third even further (but without making him into a crossing machine). At the same time you have an attacking inside forward type coming inside on the side of the attacking wingback. And a more traditional winger (represented by player in an Inverted Winger role because I don't just want him to dribble to the byline and cross all day) staying mostly wide and stretching play on the right side. First important thing to note is that I instruct my right wide player (IW) to stay wider. This is done to offset the inverted wingback moving into the central area. I also make sure to play a player whose favoured foot is the same as the flank he is on. So in this case, right-footed. The strong, tall, hard-working striker (the more technically complete player you can get the better), two playmaker-type "free 8s" (mezzala and AM), half-back (to create the back three in attack) and two tall centrebacks (after your free 8s these two positions is where you should spend the rest of your transfer kitty). Ideally you want one fast cover duty centreback, complemented by a stopper. Your Ball-playing defender can be on either duty but I prefer to play my BPD as a stopper because it allows him to push higher up to link better with the wingbacks and half-back. Of course, if your more technical ballplaying defender is a natural covering sweeper then play him as such and leave the stopping duties to the more traditional defender. And that is just a little summary of the tactic. I intend to discuss some of the roles at more detail. Especially my rationale behind setting up the two "free 8s" in the rather unusual manner that I did. My role choice for the central striker. Why the asymmetric position of the Half-Back (you might guess that one little clue: look at the player on his extreme right) And what I expect to see from my right flank inverted wingback. That's a tricky one. Honestly I need to do more testing to see whether Support or Defend duty (with added underlap instruction) will be better to create the kind of central movement I want from this player. So stay tuned to find out these things and more

It's been a long time coming but I will be releasing a long-overdue update to my 4-3-3 experimentation. The goal is still to try to combine effective attack with a solid defence and make 4-3-3 into an all-around good tactic to tackle most opposition. I'm planning to release something here before the middle of the week hopefully Thank you to all those who patiently kept this thread going with their questions and advice. All the passion in here really shows why 4-3-3 is such a beloved formation. I might not show it lately (with my other tactical distractions) but it's still my favourite and most used tactic in FM since days of Football Manager 2014.

Sorry didn't see your message last night. Will upload it here late today after work. It's pretty much as it is in the screenshot with very few individual instructions.

Mini-Update: We Won the League! I am the dude in the bright blue polo shirt Really didn't think it was going to happen as Benfica and Porto are very tough competition in the first season of the game, but somehow Sporting did it, repeating the miracle of two years ago. We definitely clinched it in style with one more match to go (against Porto, so that will be a very fun one with no more pressure for us) with an emphatic 6-0 win against Portimonense. I believe that our Brazilian-inspired 4-2-3-1 performed very well and had a big impact over the course of the season. It especially helped our Front Four to score consistently. Even the aging Paulinho (mostly playing as a sub) chipped in with a decent return. And Marcus was stellar in his creative role with 13 goals and 15 assists. Pedro Goncalves with 25 goals is only one away from tying the record of the current top league goalscorer (Benfica's Henrique Araujo), so here hoping that the final Porto match goes well for him. Statistically I cannot be more happy with the tactic. Despite being a more attacking top heavy formation, it was very solid defensively. We were second (27) with the fewest goals conceded and had the fewest shots against! Not a bad record for 4-2-3-1. And we had most points per game and most goals scored. And this is what the tactic looks like at the end of the season,

Unfortunately it was put on hold because of the recent focus on my jogo bonito tactic and the narrow diamond (lately i am actually trying to combine the two to create some kind of tribute to 2002 Brazil). I do intend to go back to my prague save eventually but i would have to rework my 4-3-3 approach because it was not getting the results I wanted. @MegaAlbin_88 To answer your question about the marking instructions. Basically if you look at the tactical depiction of the midblock in the tactics screen, it would be the three central midfielders and the two centrebacks.

Yes, i'm considering going back to 4-3-3. It is my favourite shape afterall. It's just after testing it I find it to be rather "toothless" in attack in FM23 ME. And harder to break down parked buses, which is what I mostly face now. At least when compared to the two other tactical systems I tried so far in FM23, 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond. They are just more enjoyable to play and watch.

Thanks mate for the backup. I think some people don't realize that's it's not that easy to maintain a tactical thread long-term. And how much time can go into writing, testing. And the pressure to put our constant updates when you barely have to time to just enjoy playing the game.

Is this "complete" enough for you? 25 pages of discussion so far

How do you "complete" a thread actually? Would love to know that. What i like to do is motivate tactical discussion and inspire other people to try different things in their own saves. As long as that happens, which seems to do more often than not, then I'm happy. So sorry you are not happy mate. Maybe you can go and read some more of those "completed" threads instead then.

Oh my god that sounds like a second coming of Cristiano to Sporting. Wow, I really had the wrong of idea of this word all these years. For some reason I thought it indicated that his in-game consistency would be crap. It's actually not that bad! Thanks!

I had my first youth intake at Sporting and was lucky to get this gem of a player. Joao is labelled as one of the best players of his generation, which is game's way of saying that he could turn out to be one really special player that you only get every few decades. His attribute profile looks very similar to Anderlecht's Julien Duranville, who if you don't know already, is probably one of the best wonderkids at the start of the game. Joao is only a few months away from his 16th birth day and his attributes already look good enough to play as a sub in Portuguese League. The only problem is that he has the dreaded "fickle" personality . I am haunted by this personality since FM21. Every time I found a truly great player he happened to be fickle. And in the past two games even after 2-3 years of mentoring I could not get rid of it. I know it's gotten pretty hard to change player's personality in the last couple of FM games. Gone are the days of mentoring your youth until they are all determined, driven bastards. But shouldn't it be possible to improve personality even just a little bit, especially at such an early age? So is there any hope for this player? In your own experience in FM22 or FM23 were you ever able to retrain a newgen from fickle to something better. I could even settle for "balanced" haha.