Englishhammer

With Opposition Instructions, am I missing something simple or do I have to go into OI before EVERY match and click my pre-set positional preferences? Such a ball ache doing it every time.

Always up for detail if you can be bothered.

This is probably a massive gem in how to make it successful imo. With the minor tinkering I’m doing now that would seem to be the suggestion anyway. I try and make a working Catenaccio and a 442 Counter Attack every FM. The latter is far easier. Still to this day I’ve never done a successful Catenaccio that lasted a full season.

Every FM I always do a 442 and with low blocks being ok this should be good. I’m going to borrow some of these ideas. Never really stressed all the wide areas to cross to TM before believe it or not which sounds like it should be a no-brainer. I was always cautious on Wide Midfielders but on FM23 I don’t think they’re too bad.

Let me know how it goes, I spent most of FM22 trying something similar. Worked for a while until an update unfortunately

I play the following possession based system and thought I’d try the 3 playmaker approach to add a bit of space usage and unpredictability for the enemy. (I only ever used 1, if any on my other tactics.) SK-A WCB-S NCB-C WCB-D IWB-A DLP-D IWB-S AP-S AP-A (both in CM strata) DLF-A DLF-S Overall it’s been performing well. But despite having great attributes my AP-S rarely ever does well. (Eg misplacing passes and bad decisions even though both are 15). Not sure what other role would be better. I was thinking BWM rather than B2B as the IWB is on attack. Defence is surprisingly solid apart from the NCB sometimes. Might change that role too?

Yes but the OP is talking about FM, not real life. No one asked anyones opinion on real life. Please stick to the topic.

I believe counter attacking can be a full time plan with the correct players to a degree (I don’t believe the OP ever mentioned possession but i could be wrong). With the plan B literally shutting up shop with the same formation. It’s important not to shut up shop until 85mins though. That’s where people make a mistake. If you go a goal down…..leave the tactic, people panic and mess it all up. My plan is to literally only score on counter attacks and set pieces which is what happens. My only loss so far was a friendly. I am in March and have won the Pointless Cup, still in the FA Cup and Europe while being consistently 2nd in the Prem with West Ham in my first season. Although through fatigue alone I expect a loss soon. Strikers/Defenders good at Heading/Jumping Reach and Wingers with Crossing/Acceleration are essential. Sometimes it’s not pretty football but you win most headers and have a great defence. Plan and experiment

I had a successful 4141 with 2 attacking IW’s and a Striker with the rest of the team conservative. You may try adding another attack duty in your setup (IW probably). but then that may mean making your LB a WB (S) or FB (A) too. You need to watch a match with lots of highlights to compare. Personally I would never play out of defence for C/A as it limits the fast transition from your goal a little. However in my current save I’ve gone back to 442 and I feel I don’t invite pressure as much but still have great counter attacks. My style is literally 2 amazing heading strikers and 2 amazing Wingers who cross well. Some games are goals galore, others just enough but it’s good in that the GK assists a lot as well as wingers and the other striker (I have 2 TF). Set pieces are key as my strikers/CD are the best at heading and i shove them in the box. I am currently top of the league with West Ham after 15 league games and not had a loss in the league or any of the other 2 competitions.

I find a good basis for playing about with 442 is roughly GK-D FB - S x 2 (On attack or use WB Support if you have IW in front of them) CD x 2 W or IW x 2 2 different duties in CM (so a Defend + Support, Support + Attack or even a Defend +Attack depending on the roles. I usually have a B2B or CM on support and CM Attack/Mez Attack depending on what football I want to play and what roles I use on the wings. Up front the most common is AF with a DLF or TF. setting something like that up on balanced and watching the match usually helps you decide what needs improving/changing. Then if you have OCD like me - once you’re happy with the tactic, start a new game and implement it asap so the team gets used to it I also rarely have both wings on attack, but that’s not a hard and fast rule. For instance, and order of IW-A….CM-S….CM- D….IW-A worked wonders in one save, but only because of the rest of my setup. by the way…..this is my 69th post

The Board want attacking football but the fans complain when we don't have possession too, what style would comfortably cover both?

I play with them every FM but have avoided 4231 in recent seasons due to me being bored easily and wanting to implement other styles/formations etc. However next season I may revert back.

Every other tactic I’ve seen people used Cover so I always stayed away from Stoppers. However I decided upon a DLP-S in CM so placed a CD-Stopper in the middle of my defence and they work really well together. Weirdly yesterday, FM Scout on YouTube released a video about pressing. Apparently high pressing doesn’t wear your players out as much as you think which surprised me. So while I won’t counter press, my trigger press is bolder than I originally would’ve gone for. But again, when defending a lead, I slide it down a notch again. I’ve kind of gone down this route but with a DLF/AF who as I suspected mainly score the goals along with my Mez-A. Early days but I think I’m managing what I wanted so far. Hard workers playing it safe and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Risky football for getting wins, but safe for draws and cheekily nicking a win. I know it’s only Watford and Wolves but i always found Wolves a strange one on FM22. I either easily beat them or they easily beat me. Thanks to everyone.

Great info so far, will try tomorrow - thanks.

I’m simple and need this explaining. Basically I wish to create a 352 WB formation, so the 2 strikers/CM-A are the ones that score (set pieces aside) and I don’t wish them to move out of position. My wing backs will be wing backs doing their thing, which leaves the remaining 3 x CD and 2 x MC (or 1 x MC and 1 x DM perhaps). My question is this:- how do I ensure the best defence using the remaining players (and GK)? I get confused as there seems to be a lot to consider and surely some decisions affect others. I’m not a fan of many, if any instructions. 4231 OP tactics bore me. So where possible I let players make their own decisions on passing, don’t play high lines etc… In my head all the following can shape how I defend. counter press button, trigger press slider, stay on feet/tackle harder/neither Individual player instructions opposition instructions lines of engagement/defensive (I nearly always leave them as they are or lower the LOE Is it possible with a mid table team, with good but not fast defenders to be defensively solid? By that I mean in the sense that they won’t needlessly give penalties away, but also won’t chase every player as soon as they see them. Sorry I’ve been at work all day and not sure if I’m writing this while making sense. Don’t ask me to produce a tactic as I haven’t yet. This is merely me asking for help to understand the basic principles of how my instructions and decisions could help/hinder the less risky defensively solid aim I wish to achieve. Cheers in advance

4411 with wingers both sides TF-A as the striker Low block What would be a good role for the AMC?

Yeah I think you’re right. He gets all his balls from any of the Midfield 4, IW on attack mainly

1) What striker role would work well in a counter attacking 4141 DM? (He’d have 2xIW, Carrillo and mezzala behind him) 2) Having a 442 as an alternative tactic, would a TM and AF be the way to go? Counter attacking too.