Cloud9

Also! If your playing w/ Saint-Maximan training the "rounds the keeper" trait onto him is simply superb.

In a double pivot try Dekker's as a Halfback, his mental attributes will make him stellar at the role. A BWM in a two will get pulled out of position all the time. In a three I'd go Carrilero 100%. He'll provide you performances that fit the player (high mentals, high stamina, well rounded passer/tackler), as a BWM you won't utilize those mental attributes he has. A good Carrilero is the lungs of a team and can be tailored to go after a problem player in your opposition setup in his PIs. If you want to play w/a BWM specifically, I'd recommend moving on Rice for a player with the physical attributes that suit the role: like Lavia at Southampton. Couple of side notes: If you're experimenting w/ a CWB he'll have "Roam from Position" in his role, which means you'll be building the tactic around him-- rather than other players. I'd recommend keeping Saint-Maximan on attack, his flair and ability to beat players in a 1v1 make him super in the attack role. Trippier is a perfect fit for FB (a).

The F9 will already drop deep to get the ball, by telling him to roam your telling him to do other things as well instead of doing that. He's like the DLF but without the strength required to hold up the ball and play with his back to goal. On a side note the SS is perfect match for the F9, as they'll move into the space the other one previously occupied.

Can someone explain to me what flair does on a gk. What's going on here? Ederson has extremely high eccentricity (15) and no flair (2) Oblak has no eccentricity (4) and really high flair (15)

I'd consider putting Isak on a complete forward on support, think he's a bit wasted as a PF. I'd also build the tactic around kvara and have him on attack all the time. Super star he is. At the moment willock is given a lot of license to attack and he's maybe the weak link in your team. Try swapping Declan rice into a position that takes advantage of his mental attributes? He's perfect as a Carrilero. BWM position is great for physical players who lack mental attributes.

Shouldn't be too hard, it's effected by their hidden attributes though. Praise conduct on all, criticize anyone whose got a card in their record Praise them if training is in Green, criticize if in red praise recent performances/criticize performances is a little more dependent on who the player is Also I think changing your outlook going into matches could help. You're relegation candidates, literally you've got a bottom 3 side in the league, every match you go into you're probably projected to lose. If you don't have the moral you've got 0% chance staying up. Play one match at a time and take a break, watch the full match, try to make changes in game. At the moment you've got to stop the losing streak or you're in big trouble. Trust the process, keep the boys happy and try to scrape some wins when you shouldn't, otherwise you might be backdown to the championship for a season. I can't emphasize enough how important the moral of the squad is to your chances of survival.

That set up looks like a strong starting point, Yea you've got to turn around a bad run of form which is tricky. The moral of your boys is still really low, you'll need to talk to them as much as possible before each game. That's really the thing that will make or break the season and will be much more impactful than even the tactics changes. Utilize Team Meetings but mostly It'll be a huge grind of you talking to them one on one to get them to "Superb" before each game you'll be in with a chance. Make sure you're doing training that boosts their performance in match and ups team cohesion, "Team Bonding," "Match Preview," "Match Review," "Teamwork," "Defensive Movement," "Attacking Movement," and "Defending and Attacking Corners." Play with a medium defensive line and distribute quickly on the GK. Go into games on "cautious or balanced" mentality and make changes from there. Make sure you're watching the whole game and not just highlights. You've got to make the boys happy or none of that matters. Literally make sure they're all at "Superb" before every single match.

Try taking off move into channels and roam from position on him. If he's not dropping back into the space there's a big gap between your midfield and front line. Move into channels seems redundant with the SS. He's also physically quite poor and can't handle additional movement.

Side tactical note, weird that your DM doesn't go to the danger in that second clip once they've won the ball. What roll is he on?

It'll cause them to kick the ball up the field a lot, if you're playing with a target man you'll do excellently. There's a lot of really cheap target forwards in the game who you can pair with an AF to great success at lower levels of football. One thing you can do is to set your team passing to very short. Then go to the players you want have kick it up to the target man set to "very direct" and "distribute to target man" in their PIs. This works very well.

Yea I totally know what you mean on this. I watched England struggle in the World Cup, and one of their huge problems was they couldn't pass through the middle of the park in transition from defence. They kept having to go wide which really weakened their attacks. Yes attacks out wide that cut in are super in real life but those are in the final third. Great teams are able to control the center of the park and win the game by forcing their opponent outside. One of the big takeaways for me was how England have a great DM in Declan Rice but he can't receive the ball under pressure and turn in tight spaces to progress the ball in transition. This means it was almost impossible for them to play through the middle. A player like Veratti on the other hand, press resistant and tenacious, is hugely underrated in FM because his first touch isn't valued and tackling isn't affected by technique. In FM playing down the flanks in transition is a positive, which is super frustrating. The press is overpowered, but as it's the in vogue tactic irl I think that's alright. It's more that the press should be extra effective on the wings as it is in Irl (less passing lanes, easier to create pressing traps). For me the problem is more that the match engine doesn't differentiate enough between world class and championship level midfielders. IRL players have to have a great first touch and it's a key attribute for any midfielder, probably the first thing you'd look at in a player. In FM you'd hardly ever get excited because you found a youngster with a good first touch. This bleeds into how rare and valued players who you can pass the ball to when everything sucks are, and how important players are who can make progressive passes rather than passing it sideways or backwards to the defenders. On a side note, love Koke. What a cool player he is.

Not sure, couple thoughts on ideas you could try: Training "play-one-twos" and "comes deep to get ball" onto your players as traits Attacking width to very narrow Turn off run wide with the ball in the PIs Turn on "play out from the back" Turn off "counter when possession in won" Shorter passing Another idea is asking the wide players to sit narrow on their PI Focus attack through the middle Reducing the tempo at which your going forward I find setting wide players onto tight marking creates a pressing trap that forces opposition into the center of the park, if that's where you want to play this could work Something to try might be playing without a playmaker all together in your tactic? That could be effective way of forcing other players to get involved.

Hmm, I see what you're saying but I think mentality is better thought of as the "risk" your team will take. I do think it's true that it's the first fm where you can play a defensive mentality and still have strong attacking moments though! Defensive + low block is great against far superior teams.

I think the problem can be boiled down to: You've got talented wonder kids who could become good, but they're not there yet. They need time to develop, most of your players are championship level in terms of current ability. Young players get tired really quick, having a wonderkid team when your trying to stay up is extra difficult, you'll need to throw cup competitions for them to get through the season. You're in a relegation battle with pretty poor defensive players. Biggest thing you can fix here you can fix is the players moral. For the tactics, your set up to play like one of the best teams in Europe, try making these changes: Take the Sweeper Keeper off attack Midblock, with a mid defensive line Remove play out from the back Take off counterpress, you'll get exhausted and pulled out of shape Keep Endrick on AF, looks like you're trying to counter attack and an AF role is perfect for pass into space Fullbacks on attack instead of WB, they'll got forward on the counter and provide a strong defense You're playing with 3 strikers. IF (s and a) and IW (a) provide almost 0 defensive help, tryand IW (s) on at least one side Try a halfback role for the DM, he'll hold position (which the bwm won't) and help you transition defence into attack. Benedetto looks like a weak Defensive Midfielder, I'd look to upgrade him for a hard hitting senior pro with good leadership in January. Check if Bodo/Glimt captain Patrick Berg is available in your save, he's a model citizen DM with great leadership who can bring a young squad together. If he's too pricy there should be plenty of old pro's in that model you can pick up for cheap. Play more direct CB partnership of a BBD and a CD Avoid BBM and RPM (player has to be super to play them). Try out roles like mezzala (s), DLP (s), Carrilero Hope some of that's helpful, good luck staying up!

Wingback (and esp Complete Wingback) on attack are hugely physically demanding roles. I'd distribute the ball to a fullback on support and tell them to cross early to the target forward. Route one Burnley style.

I think both depend, they can used to circumnavigate weaknesses in your squad or to exploit weaknesses in the opponents squad. I would use distribute quickly if you're trying to counter attack (100% of the time), if you've got a good target forward and strong fb/wb with good crossing it's great as well. If your wing backs are great at dribbling/good athletes don't go for it (let them beat their man before they cross). Example: If I had slow fullbacks with wonderful crossing in a counterattack tactic, hitting crosses early sounds like the dream.

I always try playing counter attacking football in my saves, couple of tricks I've found: If you aren't putting enough pressure on their backline (an attacking forward is super useful here) or dropping too deep at the end of the match you can invite a lot of pressure. I find a low block can be effective in this FM but dropping the defensive line behind standard is tricky. It can also help to have your third tactic be a last 10 minute park the bus formation so they're tactically familiar with it when you ask them to do it. If your players have attacking mentalities (which you can see in the PI's) and poor defensive attributes they'll struggle to park the bus. When you're parking the bus, sic a player on their players that are making dangerous passes. Seeing out a match is a lot easier if you do personality based recruitment, inconsistent/rash players in your squad will kill you in these situations. If your players are gassed you'll concede goals late on, leaving counter-press on can really drain their stamina and leave you vulnerable.

The great man

Are defensive attributes that are unhighlighted on attacking player roles (tackling and aggression) wasted CA if I'm not specifically telling the player to press/dive into tackles? For example: if I toggle a mezzala (s) to (a) is his tackling ability negated and a total loss in the new role?

Do the personality of my staff influence the personality of players in my senior squad?

How do you decide the attacking width in your tactic?

Thanks! I'll check it out.

How much PA does retraining a player to a new position actually take up?

It's a combination of "pass into space," a higher tempo, and "counter" when possession is won Have you experimented with putting "play out from the back" on while having "more direct" passing?

I see, so It's not possible to have an Antonio Conte style pre-season where you buff your players endurance, aside from visual improvements to attributes like natural fitness then. Do you have a visual barometer for knowing if you've over worked them going into a season?