BJT

I have to say within my post I always considered plug n play to be based on playing a distinct style of football - bit like a Wenger Plan A, where you choose players suited to that style created. Game breakers are just purely designed for exploiting the game-engine. That's more like a PnE for me, plug n exploit.

A note this tactic has now been updated for 19.3.4. (v2.1), resulting in my best Serie A points total this FM.

Fortunately for me I've never really been into LLM. I've never liked the idea of using a tactic that exploits the game, and I'll only ever use a tactic I have created from scratch. Otherwise it defeats the object for me and I'd felt like I'd have achieved nothing. But don't get me wrong, if you're struggling to create something it is a good idea to try and download ideally a non-exploited tactic and try to learn from it. Though as a result, I've never experienced that type of success you have had before and I don't generally have the patience to play such a long game. Although for the first time I got myself to do that having played with Ayr United and ended up dominating Scottish football winning the CL a few times. I can certainly say too that the game seems geared to a 442 this year. But point is I guess it's all relative to what you expect and have experienced. I'd be over the moon finishing mid-table with Cardiff within the first few years. That for me is substantially overachieving and at that point as long as you're smart with your transfers you can really start to kick on and then play the type of football that you want to play and compete with the big clubs. My advice would be to always be realistic in your goals, especially as the game continues to develop to try and replicate real life football. And then naturally look to progress from here, like any real football club would.

Story is he's about to nail the Juventus job I'd love to play like TP and Big Sam...but to the topic . I create my tactics based on non-exploits, football logic and my own footballing vision. It's the easiest, least time consuming and effective way to go. My time is limited so I don't want to be tweaking all day like a real football manager and so Plug N Play is the only approach I can take playing this game. Well my view is that most successful teams nowadays in world football will play with a distinct philosophy and systems designed to press high up the pitch. Counter-pressing especially is also becoming very popular. Each one of those players in that system would need to fit into it. In order to achieve that, you need to identify attributes of players that suit the roles and system, and further have the funds to assemble the squad necessary. Don't disregard PPMs either, as if a player has something working against your style, it will significantly render the tactic less effective. If winning trophies is your objective like those teams irl, then you will need a squad of players of excellent ability and backup players that will be able to do a job filling in the particular roles in your system and philosophy. There is no other way, not if you want to compete consistently anyway. I can't see Leicester City ever happening again. Probably the best examples for an extended duration of success were SAF and Arsene Wenger. Although the later failed in his later years, that's because instead of having a combative midfielder in Viera, he wanted an Ozil like player to replace that position instead. to go with an Ozil higher up the pitch. Not a smart move at all and I really have no idea what he was thinking. There's less of a need to tweak playing in this Plug n Play way - and if you have a really strong plan A no need at all. Expect to lose some games during the year because you can't play well every game, but as long as you have the players fitting the system you'll still have successful seasons. I enjoy watching my teams play my style of football achieving decent success and it's what gives me my satisfaction in this game. Additionally in modern day football, teams expected to lose will park the bus. This means if you're wanting to win trophies you'll need to maximise your possession or recycle possession quickly and well, and have skilled technical creative players to unlock these teams that are happy to take a point all day long. The only way to achieve this is with a high pressing tactic and by playing at a higher tempo to unsettle the opposition's defence, or by taking a more patient creative approach trying to open gaps and constantly probe their defensive line. However if you don't have good enough players to break these teams down - they will simply hoof the ball over your back-line and score on the counter, just like irl. So it's imperative you have enough quality or the game will punish you. If you don't, you have to play a smarter and more reactive style that will require more in-game tweaking to dig out a result. And so on the flip-side, you have the TP and Big Sam styles. And with the above, that's probably why you will not find many negative tactics about. The best you'll ever be able to hope for with this style is a mid-table finish, maybe a Euro Spot if you've had an extraordinary year. However a plug and play should work okay in the lower leagues. ED is probably the man there to conjure something up. But more in-game tweaking would be required as you probably won't have a squad capable of playing in one distinct style where it may be more prudent to go more gung-ho in games you fall behind in or more defensive to hold onto a lead. But yes it does seem the game's getting harder each year if taking a non-exploit and a footballing approach. I'm just about keeping up with it all,..

Well it's designed to play the game in a particular way. So as long as you've got the right quality players for it, then it should work okay - it would probably only be less effective if the developers want to only allow more modern tactics and player roles to work rather than old skool roles that are now obsolete in the modern game. Which if you want greater realism that may be done, and especially in a system like this where nowadays fullbacks / wingbacks are very important. But I hope they'll allow some eccentric systems to still work! The only thing you may want to play around with are set pieces. But I've set them up in a way that should work decently and consistently rather than be designed to exploit the game engine.

Leeds (S2) “The Great Escape Complete” Final Day Joy BJT’s Leeds on the final day secured their Premiership status after an emphatic win and sterling performance against high flying Watford coming out 4-0 victors, with the Elland Road faithful there to witness this fine day for the club. After a horrific start to the season, BJT rallied his troops and ended up successfully turning their fortunes around. Despite losses to fellow strugglers Burley and Brighton, some good points gained against better sides compensated. With a considerably better goal difference compared to those around them, it meant the final day was a comfortable one. Fulham would have had to beat Chelsea at Stamford bridge by a good twenty plus goals with Leeds losing. Predicted 20th but finishing in 15th place, it ended up being a good season for the men from Yorkshire, and with this it meant the club debts have been able to be repaid which will hopefully enable further investment in the squad. The Key Men Captain Pontus Jansson played an excellent captains role this year, averaging 7.09 with Dael Fry putting in some good performance at centre-back with him whilst grabbing some important goals. Matt Philips the expensive 13.25million signing from WBA, despite a questionable price tag, his work ethic and performances justified the money spent. Averaging a 7.04 along with front man Roofe who grabbed an all important 16 league goals and ending as the club's top-scorer. Both helped bring potency to the Leeds attack which ultimately helped manoeuvre them to survival. After steering a bunch of Championship players and Premiership rejects to safety, this will undoubtedly boost BJT’s reputation, with his West Brom sacking now seeming a distant memory. Quotes from BJT’s post-season Interview: “There were times this year we could have got ourselves out of danger but didn’t perform in those important matches. We need to improve in playing better in those higher pressure games. However our 5-1 home win vs Bristol City was the perfect game at the perfect time, giving us some breathing space going into the final few games. Achieving what we have this year with the players we have at our disposal was excellent, and we’ve proved that on our day we can compete and give the top sides in this division a good game of football. Let's hope we can push ourselves up a level and bring a greater consistency to our game. That's the next stage for us. I have spoken with the board, and they’ll be able to invest around 50 million pounds for the year forthcoming. So we will be looking to strengthen in a lot of areas, but the players that have kept us up will have a chance to prove they can keep their spot in the team.” === So Leeds will be looking forward to next season. Man City took the title this year head of their local rivals United. Fulham, Brighton, and Bristol City filled the relegation spots up. Bournemouth had a fantastic season, but just missed out on the top four.

Leeds United (S2) “A Light starting to Shine?” Leeds 3 vs 0 Arsenal With nearly the first half of the season gone and Leeds being stuck in the bottom three throughout, it would seem a miracle if BJT could somehow turn around the injury, suspension and morale issues that have hit his squad from day one. Coming to Elland Road were the mighty Arsenal. A team still full of quality players, but somehow languishing outside the European spots. So their form has been a little patchy. Then came Leeds’ best performance of the season. Running absolutely riot, the two men up top finally found their shooting boots in the same game. Roofe chipping in and Bamford whom BJT was critical of very recently then bagged a double to give Leeds a 3-0 win over The Gunners. BJT will be hoping some momentum and morale can finally be built to give what seemed an impossible task at hand of keeping their premiership status alive, now becoming a slim possibility. The result has finally given the fans belief, and BJT hopes the squad too. Quotes from BJT’s Interview: “Very much so, it was a fantastic performance from the lads. We really needed to give them something to cheer about after the really poor performance at Turf Moor earlier this year. It’s a massive three points for us and hopefully we can try and build some momentum. It’s given us real belief now and was just the tonic we needed”. Leeds have now finally escaped the drop-zone, albeit by one solo single point. Next up is a trip away at fellow relegation contenders Bristol City who now after this result dropped into the relegation zone. It's a game BJT's side cannot afford to lose, or they'll again be drowning in the bottom three.

Leeds United (S2) “Pointing the Finger” Throwing away points The number of times I’ve felt like spitting chips is countless. We’ve got ourselves into good positions in a number of games, but have failed to keep the other side out causing us to drop points and mostly lose games. Leicester, Tedo’s Villa, and Spurs all prime examples. Spurs the worst, losing a game 5-4 where we had a two goal cushion early on. Head in hands, BJT at times has been left wondering what he has to do to get a single point in this division. Sitting rock-bottom with one single point from a possible twenty four and with two months of the season already gone, the signs look extremely worrying for the Leeds boss. Injuries, Poor Discipline & Dodgy Fixtures Nick Pope who was meant to play an important role this season has already missed 10 weeks of this season. The squad have had various knocks at different times so we’ve not had a first team out much at all. And a number of red cards already this season has just added to the hard times. But the cause of such difficulties was our dodgy fixture list. From the start of the year we had Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool all in quick succession, with only an away game at Everton separating the games before then having to face a Villa side on their turf. Man City followed soon after just to hammer it home. I predicted we’d have zero points from the first five games and that was proved right. Morale extremely poor throughout the squad, and the fans becoming highly critical of BJT’s tactics has meant questions have already been raised on his ability to keep Leeds up. Quotes from BJT’s Interview: “Our inability to hold onto a lead, along with injuries and ill discipline is always going to leave us with an uphill struggle. And yes, you’re correct our starting fixtures couldn’t have got much harder. I can only guess someone from Lancashire helped create the schedule for this season! One point from a possible twenty four is a bad start yes, but we are a team of fighters. We’ll continue to keep plugging away and battle to the end. Why? Because “WE ARE LEEDS”. -- In what appears to clearly be a bunch of Championship players and Premiership rejects at BJT’s disposal, can he pull of a miracle and keep the men from Yorkshire up this year?

Leeds United (S2) “ A Challenging Window” Pre-Season Transfers It was a very challenging market this year. Hoping to offload a number of players, several were just not willing to move to any clubs with accepted bids. This really meant I wasn’t able to get the squad I had hoped for despite having a 50 million chest. With that said, I was able to obtain a good amount of depth in case I endured any injury crisis. But unfortunately being unable to offload a number of players meant our first team only really changed defensively. Quality is lacking. I decided to invest in Fry at centre-back. Only twenty years old, I’m hoping he’ll improve over the course of the year and become an important player for the club over time. Risky business though to develop in such a difficult league. Generally, it’s been a window of investing of unproven premiership bench-warmers and Championship experienced players. Not ideal, but it is what it is. Board Objectives Premiership: Avoid Relegation FA Cup: 5th Round Carabao Cup: 4th Round The same mentality remains for me this year at my new club. Staying in the league is absolutely our priority. But it would be great if at least in one of the cups we could achieve or exceed expectations. This was one of the reasons why WBA had zero patience despite being in a playoff fight for promotion in my first year. Squad Not a lot of quality talent were interested in joining us. We also had problems with satisfying wages. So we have the numbers, but whether the players are good enough to keep us up is a huge doubt. A lot will depend on keeping Roofe and Bamford fit who are again my first team strikers. But this is a completely different level, and goals will most certainly be harder to come by. Fry will need to settle in quickly at centre-back. I also hope Nick Pope in goal will provide some stability for the new backline. I’ve invested in slightly quicker full-backs. No doubt the way we play we’ll leak goals, but I’m hoping we’ll have players that will bring us enough 3 pointers to keep us afloat. Are we ready? Not sure, but I’ll make sure my troops are up for the fight.

Not sure that will be happening in my case unfortunately, not any time soon anyhow. You'll see in due course!

Leeds – “BJT has the last laugh” After taking the helm at Elland Road, one defeat in twenty two games saw Leeds previously laying in mid-table obscurity somehow sneak into the playoffs, and to then produce their finest performance under their new manager BJT. Going on the offensive, BJT knew his slowish backline would let in a few. But with the talented Roofe and Bamford up front, and new signing Lolley and Macedonia international Alioski occupying the flanks, his side were always going to cause other teams problems. Having a leader in the team with centre-back Cooper was also important. And with no long-term injuries suffered, this all led to the miraculous late push eventually ending up in 5th spot. On the contrary, BJT’s old club West Brom fell even further down the table eventually finishing in 9th spot 8 points worse than Leeds. Sky Bet Championship Playoff Final = Leeds 4 – 0 Swansea Form going into this game was great, and with a fully fit squad to pick from Leeds saved their most damaging performance for the biggest stage at the Wembley arena. Pressuring the Swansea back-line who had the slow Bony up front on his own, this was a delight for BJT to see. With a fairly slow Leeds back-line in itself, it seemed the perfect setup for Leeds to be more solid against and be a great opportunity to clinch the last Premiership spot. This vision ended up being proved right. With only one shot on target from Swansea to Leeds’ nine, although the score-line was at 1-0 at the half-time interval, there was only one team performing on the day. Key playmaker Klich bossed the game superbly well in the middle of the park grabbing a goal and two assists. The trio of Alioski, Roofe and Bamford all chipped in with a goal making it a comfortable 4-0 victory. BJT had never been so nervous before his biggest game of the season – but it ended up being a very nice day out at a sunny Wembley. Quotes from BJT’s interview: On Promotion: “I never envisioned we would be able to get into a playoff position. It’s never easy for a squad to adapt to the new manager’s style quickly. Despite drawing our first 5 league games, not losing helped build confidence to take things to the next level. We never looked back from there, and all credit must go to the boys for that.” On West Brom: “Honestly I don’t want to say too much now. But it’s a great feeling to know that everything I mentioned previously was fully vindicated. At many clubs, the board do not know what happens on the training ground or have the knowledge to understand the game is decided by very fine margins. Their lack of patience meant they made a big boo-boo, and Leeds are the ones to profit. This is my home now, and I hope our board will trust me with some funds to give us a chance of staying up next year. We’ll be sitting down to discuss matters very shortly.” -- Interviewing him, BJT may have not wanted to say much, but you could tell he absolutely loved proving his old side wrong, finishing above them in the table and leaving them behind for another year stuck in the Championship. He absolutely "loved it" to put things into a two word perspective.

Leeds – (S1 BJT) I’m surprised to see Leeds currently in this position. After comparing this squad with the West Brom squad, the strikers are better at Leeds, the midfield is better all rounded at Leeds, and defensively the players at Leeds are better. So perhaps taking on this club is a blessing in disguise. With the talent and a slightly quicker back-line, I want to get this team playing more the football I’m comfortable with. Quick, high pressing, width, attacking football that both the fans and the board will most certainly appreciate. Here is an overview of the system, again 442 and a squad report of our key men: No transfers made by me, but I did confirm a transfer that was in progress that had begun prior to my arrival. Funnily enough after looking to bring in a right winger, the guy I was after was already in the processing of moving here! The name Joe Lolley. I am confident of meeting the board expectations, but lacking depth I don’t think any real late push for the playoffs is possible. But if we keep our first team fit, well you know this division anything can happen.

BJT Appointed Leeds boss Only a couple of weeks since BJT’s dismissal at West Brom, Leeds saw some potential in his management and decided to offer BJT the managerial position, greatly surprised at the Midland's club for dismissing him. Currently languishing in 11th spot, the board set out their expectations immediately with a top-half finish being the aim for the remaining part of the season. Significantly off the playoff spots, it look as if BJT will use the remaining part of this season to evaluate his squad and try his best to set things up for next season. Quotes from BJT’s interview: On BJT's Sacking: “I was hugely disappointed with the dismissal at West Brom. Why provide money to invest in the January window to then only sack me days after? The club needed to be rebuilt from the back, but I was not going to waste money immediately in the hope we could compete with what we had. I guarantee with the right club willing to provide patience, and a squad capable of playing good football, then WBA will most certainly live to regret their decision.” On Leeds: This club is a sleeping giant. I couldn’t have asked for any more to be given the opportunity to manage here. Great history and they have some good players in their ranks. With the talent on offer I hope to try an implement a more offensive game. This is also a club that should not be playing football in the Championship. I’ll be working hard with the players to try and instil a winning mentality and a style worthy of the Leeds supporters, and I can't wait to get started.

West Brom Lose Patience with BJT The date 5th of January 2019. After a promising start to the season, a loss to one of the promotion contenders Bristol City led to a downward spiral which BJT was unable to resurrect. Despite bringing financial security to the Midlands club, ultimately poor form, two poor cup runs, and the less than attractive football on offer led to his dismissal. By the time he left the club, WBA had just dropped to 7th in the league but still with a great chance of making the playoffs. Fellow manager Tedo felt it was very harsh from the club, especially given a lot of the poor results stemmed from one player significantly under-performing. Gayle, missing 5 from 6 penalties at crucial times in games caused great frustration. A striker had also been purchased to try and solve the problem, but there was no time to see it through. When playing a compact game, taking chances are critical. Unfortunately for him, Gayle was a big let-down, and those wanting to give BJT more time pointed the finger solely towards him. Will West Brom live to regret this on the spot decision? Time will tell as to how the season ends up panning out. Meanwhile, BJT is taking a break hoping a club of a similar stature will give him a second chance.

West Brom – Pre Season (S1) With the likes of Salamon Rondon and Alan Nyom off on loan elsewhere, I’ve had to try and bolster our depth in these areas. These would have been first teamers for me this year, and with a 10 million budget undoubtedly we’ll be shorter on quality. That said, it has been a productive window. We do have a much better overall squad depth to play my 442 hoof n play game. Centre midfield was an issue as we did not seem to have a natural playmaker, but my top signing will probably end up being Norwegian international Henriksen who is a great fit. Already trying to play the villain, the 'Villain Tedo' was looking to gazump this one. Lucky for me Henriksen was willing to take a pay cut given our wage budget isn’t the healthiest at the moment. Other key signings were Clarke and Griggs. I’m hoping they’ll provide sufficient backup to Rodriguez and Gayle up front who were the only two strikers in my squad at the start. Welsh international Richards at right back will also be first team this year coming on loan from Cardiff, allowing our best defender Dawson to play at centre-back. Here are my transfers done before the deadline: BJT 442 – "Hoof n Play" I always like to try and play some football in my tactics, so this isn’t all out hoof and hope. It’s designed to be quite flexible in the way it plays, but predominantly will look to play direct, hoofing the ball up to the target man who will hold up the ball allowing our team to gain field territory, moving up the pitch to provide close support so we can then play our shorter game. At the same time we’ll be looking to play on the counter and play that bit deeper and narrower, so if an opportunity does arise for a quick break hopefully we’ll have some natural pace down the flanks to exploit the space behind their pushed up fullbacks. My forwards are also expected to work the channels here, to help relieve any pressure that is bound to build by playing a classic 442. Bringing in Henriksen was important as he’ll be the man tasked to direct the play in the opposing third, controlling possession well that will allow our fullbacks to provide deep support and help free our wingers to get balls into the box. I don’t expect to be having much possession unless teams really do sit-back against us. So it needs to be of quality and high precision when we do. Here is a rough look at the tactic,and first team picked with Dawson the only absentee: Season Board Objectives Sky Bet Championship: Win Promotion FA Cup: 4th Round Carabao Cup: 3rd Round The media prediction has us coming in second. So we really do need to be challenging for automatic promotion this year. The importance of squad depth for me was critical to give ourselves a good chance of overcoming any injuries that may occur during the season. Already key man and captain Craig Dawson is out and will be missing several games at the start of the season. It was the purchase of a centre-back which was my failure in the transfer window, as my targets all cost a sufficient amount of money. If we can avoid any major injuries to our back-line, I’m confident we’ll be thereabouts pushing for promotion or at least ensure a playoff spot. Anything under, then I probably will deserve the boot! With the cups I’ve never been big on these. I’ll definitely use them to keep our squad players relatively fit for the important promotion campaign. It would be nice to hit our board objectives, but ultimately all I’m worried about is firstly keeping my job, and secondly trying to bring back Premiership status to the Albion.