CARRERA

to be fair, every corner and indirect freekick does count as a cross. So its around 40-45 which still is pretty high...

idk, there might be a general thing with pressing going on at FM. havent seen a "low perssing tactic" for quite a while. There are some with a balanced pressing mentality, but most of them do either use a high press or at least counterpress.

its not removed it is just set up in a different way. while you could just pick it on earlier versions on FM you now have to set up player duties accordingly to achieve a more structured <-> fluid shape. Team Shape will still affect player mentalities, creative freedom and how players will line up on the pitch. And while im sure someone will join this thread and tell you im wrong you can just go ingame and check the effects by yourself. its not a miracle to find out that team shape hasnt been removed from the game / ME

I honestly doubt this tactic will work for top teams, especially if you play against weaker sides. Maybe on CL matches where you face Liverpool, Barca or whatever as a slightly "lower side". There is actually not enough penetration either from runs or passes that could break a defense down. I know its not meant to, but where will you be using it? If you play ManUtd or whatever Top Team, there will be just a very few matches where this could actually work. Also i made the experience that on test games basicly everything works. Dunno why this is tho, but it seems like your own players do take the match way more seriously then the Ai does. It could be nice tho to surprise an even better side.

Thats the Deal They overload central midfield which is quite OP

Ok I'm really interested in how this will work out, Because I feel like for a "Counter" Tactic your transitions might be too slow and it will play out more like a possession based tactic. Much shorter passing, play out of defense and WBIB will slow down your play pretty much, especially as you are playing in a Fluid shape with almost no (space) attacking players.

Well I didn't really use too much DL tactics, but i know how frustrating it can be to create your own tactic especially if you want implement a certain style or philosophy of play. I can just hand you the properbly best ever written an complete guide to FM. (suggest to DL the PDF) Also I can just suggest you to really start from scratch. Sometimes i catch my self starting a new safe or joining a new team, open the tactics editor an click man of the nice buttons without really thinking about the team and players i have. I always had a good time when first thinking of my defensive shape and then opt in the duties and roles to create my offensive style of play. After then watching the test games i make general adjustments as Defensive style and passing.

Did you actually test that tactic for a longer term yet? Or is it yet just "on paper"?

?????????? see quote of SI staff, its a known issue. Hey guys, We are aware of the issue, we are looking to make balancing improvements for future iterations of the game. Thank you for your information, Cheers, Hugo

I think you got a good partner here for help just one thing tho. You have to get over the "blocked crosses thing" as it is stated as a bug or at least not working as intended by SI at the Bugs/ME forums. So you wont be able to fix the problem.

While I appreciate your posts and this series it kinda is a pity that there is not much insights on how that team actually plays irl and how you try to replicate it on FM. This would be really interesting as I (and I think many others) don’t follow EPL too much but like to start a save there. Especially if it is as you said basicly the same as your tactical approach on Arsenal was.

yeah however its called, fluidity actually you are right. in the end it basicly is the same tho and does affect creative freedom. While in FM18 you could use any shape with any duties and mentality assigned in fm 19 it is connected to the number of support duties and mentality. Basicly what i just wanted to say is that decreasing creative freedom (in which whatever way) will lead to a more precise execution of your match plan and instructions.

Just one thing to add, if you want your players to basicly only act how you set them up you should concider of playing on a structured or very structured shape to limit the creative freedom and improvisation players are allowed to do. You can also just "Be more disciplined" in the final third. Just always remember the higher the mentality and the more fluid your team shape is the ore the players are allwoed to do whatever they want or think will be the best.

no really, i mean they will but quite close to eacht other from time to time but a BBM or CMa will attack central areas of the pitch while IFs will attack the wide and halfspace.

i would properbly just switch left winger to IFs and your DLFa to either a Poacher or CFa or PFa a advanced forward is actually pretty advanved as a single striker not sure how this would work out.