El-Ahrairah

Remarkably similar sounding to my team last season. I set wide players Cross Aim>Target Man, and turned on Floated Crosses and Pass Into Space and it worked well for me. It manifested itself as my target man being my primary creator. If the ball came thru the middle, the target man would receive the ball, hold it up, and hit my other striker with a pass into space as he surges on the break. Or if the we transitioned down the wings, the target man would get in the box and head in the crosser himself. So since my target man was the main one doing the break out passing, I didn't have to worry about him being the target of said passes as much. I tried different combinations, but from what I saw, distributing to the target man, aiming crosses at him and allowing him to pass into space created exactly the result I wanted. Granted he had good playmaking attributes for a forward at my level and there are A LOT of other moving pieces happening I'm not accounting for. But those specific instructions seemed to give me more of that player style I wanted than other things I tried (aforementioned mixing crosses, not passing to space etc) Keep in mind this tactic was designed around running thru the Target Man entirely. I was running high tempo and basically spoon feeding him the ball in transitions. He led my team in assists and my team did pretty much what you are describing here. But again, it's not necessarily that simple.

I'm doing great in my save right now with a back 3. Granted I'm in the national league, but my first season after getting promoted from national South and I'm in a play off spot after about 15 games and my roster isn't insane either. I run either a direct 5-3-2 DM against stronger sides or a vertical Tiki Taka 5-3-2 AM against weaker sides or when I'm feeling confident in home games. The 5-3-2 AM formation is a new development for me but it has blown away expectations so far and got me a win against a league 2 team in the FA cup which is insane considering we are barely removed from the National South league. I love the three at the back, my middle CB is my captain and the staple of defense, it's my first time using 3 at the back and I love it on this team in this league so much i don't plan on changing any time soon. It has one apparent weakness that consistently gives me problems and thats diagonal runs and low thru passes between my middle CB and L/R CBs. Wide attacking midfielders with speed and strikers with the smarts to know when to break on the ball. But with some practice at opposition instructions I've learned how to take care of those threats as well. In my experience in lower leagues, if you get an athletic player with decent IQ on the pitch and AERIAL ABILITY (aerial ability is key) he doesn't have to have much else to be a stud middle CB. On your L/R CBs get a little more speed over aerial ability and some basic ball playing skills and your back 3 is set. You don't even necessarily need a DM in front depending on what else you do. I imagine it could lose some appeal as the quality of league increases as I feel it's strength is really in stopping more simple direct styles of play and you may want to go with 4 at the back as your quality increases. I for one, just love wing back, and enjoyed the type of creative flexibility I have when using 3 at the back with wing backs.

On my 5-3-2 squad right now I have 1 young starting GK and 1 old resolute GK as his mentor 3 good prime CB, 2 prospects that can play and 1 older mentor 3 good wingbacks, 1 young prospect, 1 older mentor 2 defensive midfielders that can also play midfield or defense in a pinch 3 prime CM, 2 young prospects 3 strong options at ST and 1 young prospect Also have one or two additional older players, that won't be seeing playing time under any circumstance that I brought in strictly for locker room, and mentoring reasons. Puts right around 24 or 25 players which is a very big roster for me, but I'm making a cup push this season so I need it. Id say because I usually play lower league sides, I'm in the business of saving money and will field a roster of less than 20 and just really scout hard for players with the adaptability and flexibility for multiple roles. If i have a player that could play LWB, RWB, DM, and CM all at a passable if not great level, that's guy is the perfect backup for me. He has two players utility in one and is saving me 40kp/a in wages for not having to sign another body. Get 7-8 backups with flexibility that can play 3 roles or more and you can skate with less than 20 players for sure. Just be attentive to how hard you push them because you can't afford a slew of injuries.

Love the bit about how your attacks don't need to be symmetrical. I came into FM with almost zero "soccer" knowledge (American) and had a tendency to make symmetrical attacks as my default until I thought about American Football one day which I am a huge fan of fan and thought "how stupid and predictable would it be for a team to run every play symmetrically? That coach would get laughed out of the league!" Ever since that I've primarily used asymmetric attacks from symmetrical formations I feel like it just gives you a built in plan b. To me there's no real use to attack symmetrically because asymmetric = more options = more ways to score = less defenses that can keep their sheets clean (both on the box score and their mattress covers) I had success in my last save with a similar tactic to this one. Same formation with the the IF on one side and either an AP or winger on the other. I would employ a target man or F9 as my striker depending who my opponent was. Had pretty good success. Got a lower end league 2 squad up to a respectable league 1 team with that tactic without overhauling the roster. My midfield mezzala was actually my leading player on offense. I was unsure at first as I already had a fullback and AML out wide on the formation, but it worked. He would come up in the space the IF vacated when he cut inside and this also allowed the fullback behind to focus on defending and helping inside (the space just opened up by the mezzala) instead of having to cover the wing in the advanced area. The mezzala loiters on the wing occasionally strafing across the front of the penalty area, facilitating chances and burying long shots. (He wasn't even a good shooter he was just getting prime long shot chances from the space he had.) If it sounds like it didn't have a great amount of penetration it's because it didn't. But I swear it consistently broke down defenses. I even mixed in a wide target man once because I was born with audacity. That was a fun tactic indeed. This post got me thinking of some new stuff to try.

I have a 6'5 French striker on loan in the English south national league. His finishing, dribbling, first touch, technique, anticipation, composure, flair, are all below the quality of other teams best strikers. Just looking at his attributes he has the skill and pitch IQ of a reluctantly rostered backup at this level and he doesn't have any traits either. He's huge tho, and pretty athletic. A tale as old as time, but I've never had dominance on this level. I don't remember exact numbers as I'm at work, but he currently has right around 15 goals and 10 assists in 9 games played. Far and away leading the league in average rating with damn near an 8.5. leading in goals. Might be in assists as well, don't remember. My other striker who I actually have under contract is a comparable athlete with better all around skills, and he's not performing on the level of his counterpart for some reason. But the guy is dominant. A target man on support duty. We lump the ball up the field to him, he wins the aerial possession battle and is a master of the flick on. (He does have like 10 passing which it great for a striker at this level) He just breaks defenses open like walnuts at this level and everyone is benefitting as well, not just a one man show. I'm not asking questions, just riding the lightning to promotion 😂