[Have You Chosen Your FM22 Save Yet?]

Crystal Palace look interesting this year

 

I will probably do a season with City on the beta to get used to the game - this save never really carries on due to some annoying bug. Fingers crossed it doesn't this year and I can play it every now and again.

 

I think this edition I want to keep one save throughout, and just move clubs from there. Might start in the Championship or League 1 and move up the ladder so to speak and keep it realistic, take Sunderland back to the premier league then survive, jump to an Everton type club and try and break into the top 4 and win a couple of cups ala Leicester. Then move to an 'elite club' and bounce around the top clubs when I've achieved what I want to achieve with each one.

Last season I managed to take Huddersfield from the Championship to consistent top 4 and a Champions League win, setting up a very strong infrastructure from the first team to the academy, new stadium, selling developed players for high and then re-buying young talent to develop again. 

I think I'd like to spread my time amongst a few clubs this time.

[[England Premier Division] Data Issues]

I’ve done a season at city and in my save Leeds had the option to buy for 10m and Harrison himself turned it down? Always under the impression we loaned him out with an obligation tbf 

[When's the BETA out speculation thread FM 21]

Soooo the forum can wait,

we know it’s too late,

8pms slipped on by,

Miles refused to say,

but we’ll play tomorrow,

i heard you say

[When's the BETA out speculation thread FM 21]

Got 6am tomororw morning written all over it this

[When's the BETA out speculation thread FM 21]

Baby we done it

[Players that deserve a Boost for FM 21]

Tariq Lamptey! At Rochdale at mine at the age of 22. I also expect Grealish, Davies and Adama to be higher rated.

[Suggestions for improvement for my tactic]

33 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

If you have been successful with the tactic, why are you asking for advice? I mean, why would you want to change something that already works well for you and your team?

Because there's no such thing as perfect and if you can improve, why not? 

Feedback and analysis from knowledgeable posters on a tactic I've made from the ground up which involved a lot of experimentation I'm also finding insightful. I do have fm21 in mind, If a change to the match engine tweaks something which makes my tactic less successful, the feedback I get here will be important then. 

As it stands I'm happy with my tactic but other input is always a good thing. Managers in real life have often said advice or reccomandations from their backroom staff have made their set ups better. I think of Pep at city in this one, since Torrent and Arteta have left I think he's lacked someone to challenge his ideas and push them along!

[Suggestions for improvement for my tactic]

25 minutes ago, zabyl said:

Out of team instructions i must say your tactic only uses wide areas or right & left half spaces when attacking. PFa gets further forward into penalty area, 2 MEZs go wide to half spaces, IFa goes through penalty area, Wa goes wide, DLPd stays deep to be a pass option on central areas. This tactic will work with top teams but it needs someone on the front to drop deep between 2 MEZs. 

Changing PFa to a more supportive role and duty will provide this. My suggestions are F9, CFs, DLFs.

Thanks for your suggestion, and I'm open to giving this a try. I will note however that I do sacrifice dominating possession, I normally average about 53%, as my play is more direct and really the main tactic is to overwhelm with constant attacking and pressure, every play is to spring another attack. The reason I have short passing and work ball into the box, which are more possession based instructions, as shoot on sight and direct passing means I lose the ball more and am more vulnerable to the counter, which I admit is the set ups biggest risk factor. Having said that, the striker does appear in the 'hole' at times, especially when I'm getting numbers up in a new attack, and both Mezzala's do operate more centrally when I have created an overload. 

[Suggestions for improvement for my tactic]

It does work very well and perhaps Im not looking to change, bur rather discuss and see if I can improve it anyway.

I agree with you on the press. We are more vulnerable to counters when the front press is broken as my last tactic, which sounds more similar to the one you're suggesting. However, I think this is most likely due to my players collectively having a high work rate, there is an awful lot of covering. For example, the opposition has the ball, and Haaland and Sterling are dragged from the shape to press. There is gaps behind, but the RB, RCM are straight in there to cover. The team pushes up and even If a long ball comes over, the instruction to press very urgently means that the CDM CB and RB are then containing the opposition wide, and they usually end up giving the ball back to me. 

The interesting thing I have noticed with this set up is the differing formations depending on if the team is in possession or not. This is a feature Id love to see in FM as alot of real life set ups have two different shapes depending if they are in possession or without, and by fortunate accident ive managed to find something that somewhat resembles this. In possession, the formation is a 2-3-2-3 and out of possession it is 3-4-2-1. I think this is because of the duties and roles, as when I tweak these slightly this gets a little messed up. 

I agree completely with your assessment with the opposition not springing the long ball as often as they should, and perhaps this is a big factor of why I'm not being punished. Although I do win back the ball high sometimes, I'd say most turnovers in my favour come from the opposition panicking from the press and kicking the ball long, out of play or back to my centre backs. This is why I have two BPD instead of one and a CD, as I need them to bring the ball back out and trigger the attack again. 

 

EDIT

@sporadicsmiles still new and something messed up with the quote!

[Suggestions for improvement for my tactic]

4 hours ago, PatrickReynolds said:

I was just asking in another thread if the 4-1-4-1 works well for higher pressing up the pitch. You're liking it? Do you find the Mezzala's on support drift around too much to execute an organized press? With all your Attack duties high up the pitch, you might have a lot of gaps between the lines when you lose possession, which might hurt the press. What if you made one of your IF or W to support, and the opposite side mezzala to attack?

Ive found it works really well. Ive used this formation for four seasons, and this tactic with variations throughout, but high pressing has always been a constant as that's my ideal style. 

I watch a lot of games in full match, and Ive found the front players are very aggressive when out of possession. When playing a team such as Watford who arent great at playing past the press, many times they resort to booting the ball out of play or back to my centre backs or keeper, who then start the attack again. When playing a team great at playing from the back, I do tweak things slightly, I drop the urgency of pressing to avoid creating two many gaps, and even sometimes change to a 4231 and bring in Douglas Luiz to sit alongside Camavinga. 

 

As for the Mezzalas, I really couldnt use any other role. Ive experimented with most of them, and the Mezzala is the closest thing to the 'free 8' Guardiola has used at City for the past 4 years or so. When on attack, the Mezzala leaves a little to much gaps in the midfield for my liking, so have them both on support now. I used to play Bernardo with an attacking duty, but with Felix lack of work rate, the press was easily broken from that side.

As for organised press, I find alot of the team cover each other, especially in lateral areas. I find the Mezzalas dont really drift too wide, when they do get into a more classic wing postion I find the winger on that side drop back as an option, which provides a degree of cover when the oppostion break. The wing backs occupy most of the wide area however, I never really see my Mezzalas drift any wider than the side of the 18 yard box unless they're creating an overload which I encourage. The press is very organised, often two players at a time will press and the rest of the team shifts across, I suspect this is due to the high rate of pressing.

 

I have sometimes played with the RW on support, which I find interferes more with the free flow strangely enough.  The main thing I want from the RW is to penetrate the backline of the oppostion, there he will often pass back to the RB who crosses, or the Mezzala in the half space who switches the play, crosses, or lays it off. Cancelo and De Bruyne are better crossers than Sterling on my save, on a support duty I notice Sterling crossing more and trying to pin back and isolate the LB, which helps De Bruynes game, but I feel lacks more of an attacking threat as Sterling isn't one of the options closer to the goal. It also means Cancelo is further back, and his runs around the final third are a real threat.

[Suggestions for improvement for my tactic]

Used this set up on this years game, and been successful with it. Would hugely appreciate any recommendations or suggestions anyone has though, if anything else for the discussion!

Having to use ratemytactic.com to show the tactic as I'm away from my save. I'm playing with Manchester City, and the players I use mostly are:

GK: Ederson, RB:Cancelo/Aarons, RCB:Koulibaly/Dias, LCB:Laporte, LB:Chilwell/Mendy, CDM:Camavinga, RCM: De Bruyne, LCM: Bernardo/Foden, RW:Sterling, LW: Felix/Jesus, ST:Haaland/Aguero  

 

Thankyou!