lomekian

See my tactic on the previous page....

Didn't take it as anything bad, don't worry! Just saying that this isn't a god tactic like Diablo...I've not got the time to find all the game exploits that might be out there! ;-)

Not in April yet - and its not just the tactic - its smart recruitment and bulking out the squad with non EPL registerable freebie veterans to take the pressure off the cup fixtures. also, FM never gives Arsenal the '5 injuries in the same position at once' thing, and I bung loads of points into discipline etc as a manager to keep everyone motivated and firing. And obvs, as Eden Hazard has been carrying Chelsea, he's significantly improved my team...

Have to confess the throw in set up is NOT my own. (and influenced the corner set up). The rest is just tweaks to the same tactic I've been spanking FM with for the last few editions now - which is basically how I think Arsenal should play with the squad we have - its basically a more balanced and more efficient way of playing than late Wengerball, with a slight influence from the side 97-2005 side (and the odd specific instruction nod to GG's Arsenal). Funny thing is, you guys have had more time to 'test' it than me - I still haven't even got to April season 1 yet! Though I'm currently at 100% win rate, and in danger of beating my best ever GD record on FM (largely due to that freak 16-0 vs huddersfield!)

Looking at your squad positions, are you using my tactic? ;-)

Glad its working for you! Re Huddersfield, it has to have been a freak result! After all, Arsenal's record win since 1886 is 12-0 - I've never got beyond 10 before!

Me too - work and all that!

Downloads fine for me - not at that computer at the mo, but I can try later

My main one - Unai.fmf

Sadly due to a crash due to updating skins, my save got corrupted, so I've started again - a couple of people were asking about my tactics after I listed my first (now defunct) half season. I've tweaked these a little and uploaded them below. My main tactic is a tweak of my FM17 & FM18 tactics, with a slightly greater hint of Unai Emery's influence, which is almost what Emery was playing at the start of the season...Its what I think he would play if the likes of Mustafi and Kolo were as competent defensively in real life as they are in game! The latter is a more possession based version of the tactics employed by Arsenal under George Graham in 1991 and Wenger in 1998. It still needs a bit more tweaking, but it allows 2 up top. I've also attached my 4th EPL home game in my new game with my main tactic...my best ever win on FM by some distance, even if it was just Huddersfield. You'll notice that on my new game I've bought Eden Hazard, and again recruited Assombalonga and Sissoko. Power and pace kids, power and pace! I wasn't intending to buy Hazard, but I gave my backroom more control this time, and Raul whacked in a bid for Hazard, which I tweaked to spread payments. Rather wonderfully, they wouldn't sell without signing a replacement first, and then decided Welbz was that replacement (and wouldn't discuss a renewal). So on deadline day, Hazard came in for £30m +£70m over 3 years, and Welbz left for £48 + £20m over 2 years! So I essentially paid £32m + signing on fees for Hazard and actually increased my short-term transfer budget! Unai.fmf Arsenal 90s.fmf

ha! Next game we gub Man U 4-0 at home (another 3 for auba taking him to 14 in his last 6 after 5 in his first 12) and Mourinho gets the heave ho - to be replaced by Sam Allerdyce

Early January in my first season on FM18 - getting great results but not convinced about the match engine. Lone strikers just don't make good runs, but 2 up top is deadly. Also FAR FAR too easy for central midfielders to score from range. Elneny wasn't getting a look in, but in 2 starts and 2 sub appearances recently he has 5 goals, 4 of which were crackers. Still 20 wins out of 20 in the EPL is pretty sexy, even if I can't get the team playing the football I did on previous FMs. Seems easier to exploit the ME in this one, and get good results with lesser players with certain skillsets. Which has worked out well for me, as some of those have been cheap signings to bolster the squad. Apart from a few prime targets I intentionally went after 'interesting' signings. Helps that the old deferred payment options seems more palatable to teams this time than FM18. Ins - quite a few, some purely to be sold later and fill out in the cups: Kik Pierie £1m - young version of Monreal Pelayo Morilla £1.1m - don't know anything about him, but my scouts got excited, and always good to have players who can fill multiple roles coming up Gnoukouri - Free - loan fodder - those MLS teams love paying £250k p/m loan fees it seems Antonio Marin - £2.3m recommended by a Croatian mate and used to pick him up in FM18 - seems better this time. Youssef Msakni - £1.5m - killer wages, but wanted to sign him for years, and the squad needs wingers BADLY and thought he could cover AM & RM - Hope I can flog him at seasons end, as he's performed great in a limited role Jan Kirchoff - Free - was thinking of cups, but he requested a move when I didn't immediately register him and Fulham immediately bought him for £11m add ons - bizarre - £10.5m profit in about a week! de Ligt - Ajax - £25+3m - Love this kid - wanted to get him at 18 so he can become homegrown. Tasci - Free - to replace Kirchoff - see above! Mario Vuskovic - £300k (no good centre-halves coming through the system and he looks a no nonsense stopper to compete with Mavrapanos down the line Jores Okore £850k - don't know why he was so cheap - always thought he had promise at Villa - almost immediately loaned him out to Everton for a good loan fee. Wanted a possible future cover option if Kos doesn't pan out. Sigurd Gronli £140k - might never make it but that free-kick stat is worth a punt! Sandro Tonali £12.5m (over 3 years) - looks like a mini Pirlo, right down to the hair, but a bit better defensively. Alex Robles £1.6m - wanted more cover at full-back (before Jenkinson's transfer to the US fell through) - Newcastle took him on loan, basically covering the transfer fee for a year, and he's getting decent game time Moussa Sissoko - £8m - Rambo wasn't talking contracts, and I felt one midfield option with genuine power might add something to the squad, and he's always wanted to play for Arsenal - so far 5 goals in 2 starts and 9 sub appearances, and he's doubled in value. His positional flexibility has been useful off the bench So far some kids, and some options for much needed positions. Then things got weird...I was planning to just look at maybe a few extra kids until.... After some knock backs, Bayern offer £49m+5m in potential add-ons for Mustafi - I don't quite drive him to the airport, but lets say I take the money and run. He's played for them 4 times so far...bizarre As deLigt will be jumping into that squad space (and not counting against the domestic squad size limits), I look for a cheap centre-back to give me cover til Kos returns - then realise that with this Arsenal squad we are a bit short on the home-grown quota after recent departures - so in comes ex chelsea youth player Jeffrey Bruma for £4.3m from Wolfsburg. He's got enough pace for a high line and can play the ball out from the back, so can basically be Mustafi-light for £45m less than I sold the German for. Then things get even weirder...Welbz keeps refusing to renew because he's been unsettled by other UK teams wanting to bolster their home-grown options, but I'm reluctant to sell, as I know he's useful in FM, and I like him. To try to stop Chelsea bidding for him every 5 mins, I ask them for £40m+£20m. They accept. Now I like Welbeck, but he won't renew with me and £60m for an injury prone reserve with 10 months left on the contract is an absolute no-brainer to sell. See ya Welbz - best of luck competing with Morata, Giroud & Hazard. (with 11 goals in 18 in all competitions, its been a good move for him). So now I'm flush and need a wide man and striker. Now I know I should just do the Pavon thing, but I'm getting into the unexpected signings game. So in comes my favourite Portuguese nut-job, Ricardo Quaresma for £5m. Gotta love that crossing stat, and he's a creative winger which is what I want there, pulling slightly inside to free Hector. In all comps 13 games, 7 goals, 8 assists - I'm happy, though he's starting to decline. So...dosh to spend on a striker cover option...nice! But then I realise that Welbz is home grown and i need another home-grown player or my squad situation is going to get tricky. After much searching and declined bids, I take a punt on a Championship player with much unfulfilled potential but some nice raw abilities. In comes Britt Assombalonga from Middlesbrough for £5m. Turns out FM19 LOVES a bit of runs into channels and shoots with power. EPL - 3 starts, 2 subs = 5 goals. Europa League: 6 starts = 13 goals and 4 assists. So suddenly having got good numbers in I have the £109m (or at least 90%) from my 2 big sales to add to my almost empty transfer budget - ka-ching! But I've full squad numbers.... So its the entirely unplanned Wunderkid splurge! - In comes Frenkie De Jong for £30m over 3 years + 9m in possible add ons. Rambo departure contingency plan - and possibly a playmaker for the next decade. But I'm still worried about long-term HG quota, so my record signing happens - Jaden Sancho for £20m up front + £45m over 3 years. Budget splashed (but with 3 year time delay) but I'm hoping to bed him in and then have him on one flank and Riess Neslon on the other next season, with Iwobi and Smith-Rowe covering each. British Core #2 meets project youth #2. I also brought in Lucas Piazon for £375k as part of longer term experiment to see if I can rescue more of the kids that Chelsea never gave a chance to - their youth team crushes everyone most years, but none of them get a game. Lets see if I can get their academy to start working for me! Lastly, in came Kevin Mbabu £12.5m - I still needed one more HG player, and frankly Lichsteiner's legs won't be much use in year. Plus he can play WB or CB. The rest of my transfer budget left over due to installment transfers became my wage budget along the way to be able to pay people! So far the team is performing ridiculously well, but I have some concerns about end of season fixture pile-ups and my random reserve signings being effective at crunch time. Have had some amazing results though... Beat Spurs 8-1 at home - they only had Kane missing. Particularly enjoyed Sissoko coming of the bench to get number 8! Man City 6-0 at home - No Debruyne or Sane, but Mesut had one of his random genius days. Liverpool at home 6-2 Fenerbace 8-0 (including a club first for Smith Rowe) & 7-0 away (Assombalongo hat-tricks in both) 6-1 away at Wolves (Ramsey Hat-trick) 7-1 away at Entracht Frankfurt (6 different scorers) LC 3rd round 7-0 at home vs Liecester (sancho hat trick) & just beat them 6-0 away in the league with 4 from Auba (who started really slowly, and suddenly has 11 in his last 5 games - I've no idea why!) Obvs away games vs Liverpool, Spurs, City & United will probably stop my unbeaten run, but i've a 21 point lead after 21 games which is the best I've ever had at this stage. Its odd, i don't really feel i'm in control, or that my tactics are working as they should, but I'm stuffing teams. I'm rather confused to be honest.

The key thing is really to ensure that the different roles your players fulfill complement each other. How are you attempting to create chances and how are you attempting to stop chances being created against you? I think these are the key things to decide and should inform your choices more than anything else. But while it is possible to create tactics that pick holes in the match engine like all the 3 striker overloads this year, if you are creating one from scratch, you need to consider your personnel as well as your system. For example you have a right footed winger playing on the left in both formations, but they are very different players. Iwobi is a ball carrier who likes quick interplay or coming inside on his right foot and combining. Pavon is a more old school winger, whose shooting ability can make him dangerous as an IF, but is more inclined to try to beat people on the outside than Iwobi. On the opposite flank you have Asensio who is a player who wants the ball at his feet as much as possible, and Luan who is a bit more of an all-rounder but has a slightly more off the ball game. Neither combo are naturally inclined to work together. If you want your IFs to score goals efficiently in combination with a winger, you ideally want that winger to be playing on the side of their strong foot so they can deliver the ball in without having to beat players (unless you set up very specific player instructions). If you want the IFs to be more creative, then you want to make sure the player on the opposite flank is going to get into more goalscoring positions, so probably not a winger unless you have a narrower team set up. Elsewhere, your two central attacking combos of a Treq & Poacher or a AM(s) and a Treq, when combined with your personnel are problematic. Lacazette isn't really a poacher - he's much better as a complete forward due to his more rounded game. But if you want a poacher, you probably want a player role with a greater creative focus behind him as a poacher tends not to drop off and link as well. Also Treq's like to get into the box too, so IMHO aren;t the best combo's with poachers if there are also IF's and opposite-foot wingers - things can get congested, and its not clear how you intend to create chances. Sure, a winger/poacher combo is nice, but you have opposite footed wingers or IFs so those whipped crosses that poachers love are a little short on the ground. Also with the combo you have, its not clear to me what you want the treq to do? Maybe with the other three a AP might work better.Alternately the Treq could work more efficiently if your striker has a more varied role? Likewise with the Treq/AM combo you have. Theoretically could work, but the players utilised will not combine as efficiently in those roles - Neither Ozil or Mikhi are goalscorers really, so with a combo where the striker is more mobile to facilitate the AM getting into the box, you probably want a more creative striker and a more goalscoring AM. Again you still have the issue outlined above with the wide men, which can nullify your space. This congestion can also make it easier for you to lose possession and get caught - and with your CMs in deeper roles, you are ceding space to the opponent between your lines. On top of that, while excellent players, your DLPs are not particularly good defensively, and are paired with partners for whom defense is an after thought - Both Ramsey and MLKS are likely to be caught between trying to support your congested attack (while further congesting it if they get there) and trying to retain a defensive role. They will either be too far from your attackers to support them and will cede a lot of space to the opposition, or they will leave massive gaps behind them to allow the defence to get at your defensively weak DLPs. To add to the confusion you are telling players in mobile roles to stick to their positions - it seems like you don;'t know whether to stick or twist. At the back, I;m not a great fan of a CD (D) and Stopper combo. With a stopper I like the other defender to be a covering one (not so bad if both are really quick). Also De Ligt and Mammama are perfect ball playing defenders, who should be able to feed your DLP or even your SV better than with Stopper duty. IT seems to me like you are trying to find a system that does a bit of everything without really committing to any particular style or structure. The player roles seem to contradict the team instructions a little, and the roles accentuate the gaps you are leaving for the opposition to exploit. Added to this, don't forget the impact of players' traits. Some of the traits of the players you have are contradictory to the roles you have them in, and will cause problems. Also, some of the players and some of the roles you've selected, when combined, would work better in a more fluid system. I think you are better off either fully committing to style or having two different systems with slight changes in team selections (horses for courses). Me? With Arsenal (most of the time) I basically go attacking with a 4-2-3-1 with lots of fludity, creativity and width OR I drop back to a 4-1-2-2-1 or a 4-3-2-1 with more defensive roles in midfield. Of course you don't have to have straight horizontal lines. Some of the most successful formations I've had have been asymmetrical. But I always have at least one lightning quick player in the attacking third as it gives more tactical options. Despite all I've said, Cleon is largely right, but even if you were to directly lift their advice it would be affected by personnel and their traits etc. With Arsenal, I think this game is fairly easy as long as you keep your players fit and look to focus on addressing squad weaknesses, but they are different discussions.

The thing about transfers on FM is its all about timing. You can get a club demanding £100m+ one week and then a week or two later get a bid of £30m accepted. Its partly because its too easy to unsettle players.