Rowingkid

2nd this stuff and would also add my worst hate - free kick on my own touchline , always passed straight to the OP forward for a goal. never once has that happened for me (TBH shouldn't happen at all they would just pass to GK or boot up field) happens two or three times per season too In general you can pretty much tell as soon as the clip starts what is going to happen once you've played for a bit. Also 2026 summer window, a load of the saudi players are all going out of contract. you go to get them and they want 400K PW. based on their current wage i get it, but logically they all know that european clubs aren't going to pay that so they would have to adjust coming back/ Also odd they aren't being extended by Saudi. Neymar ended up free agent last year, i tried to get him before he expired and he had no interest. When he expired i could have got him on 39K P/W haha

Interesting ideas. How does it work when the OP have the ball? feel like a narrow 3 at the back could easily be countered on by teams with wingers

I managed to add promotion via the editor . can;t wait to finish 2nd and miss out on it

I'll post in there when i get home. Tbh the Rico thing was a bit of a throw away comment in my post but then your reply made me think about it a bit more. I would guess any City players / Chelsea players (and other clubs with that set up) would really be sent to their feeder clubs IRL

He's been on the loan list as long as i can recall, certainly since start of season 2 if not earlier. I'm now Jan 1st 2026. Not once has anyone loaned him either. So it's probably a bigger issue than him just being on the list, surely if they wanted to develop him he would just be sent to another City Group team rather than sit on the loan list for 1.5/2 years.

Agree on the AI. If they didn't score the spawny goals where your player turns into a moron i think i'd win every game haha I'm season 3 in La Liga and Atletico have the same starting X1 as season 1 (except Saul because i bought him). I think they're on their 3rd manager too so you would expect even that alone would bring changes (also Simeone will probs never get sacked anyway IRL) Sociedad are 3rd in the league and Kubo has played every game but is transfer listed as not needed. Rico Lewis has been listed for loan for at least 2 years A lot of the players in Saudi seem to be some of the best on the game - Ruben Neves / Malinkovic-Savic etc seem way overrated to me. Bellingham is way overrated from the off too. I know he's having a killer season but if you attribute compare him to Pedri or Gavi he's literally about 40% better than both of them in every area haha I'd not played FM for about 10 years before this one. I'm surprised at how many issues there are.

I've noticed in the wages part that some of my B team players are counted twice

I started a Barca save and started a 3CB formation and it's working well. 14 unbeaten in the league and through to KO's of CL. Obvs Barca are quality regardless of formation but to see the players play how i've set them up is really good. GK WCB-BPD /CB-ST / WCB-BPD LWB-S / RWB-AT DM-DLP-S / SV-AT AM-C/AM-C ST Working really well as Balde and Cancelo are class WB's. And in the midfield we have quality but they can all kind of interchange and also Joao Felix is better as an AM then as LW which he would be in a 433 Only thing i've noticed is that i constantly come up in the analysis emails as the leagues worst defensive team but i haven't conceded many and have the best GD in the league. Wondering if because i have 60 - 70% possession in most games it means i'm not making tackles/clearances etc which is keeping my stats low compared to the league average and therefore they consider the team not good defensively? . Not really fussed about it but just seems weird

Great stuff this. Defo given me some ideas i want to try out . I'm currently playing 3 CBS with WBs so will need to see what i can apply to that as I don't particularly want to change that set up.

I'm trying to play a different way too but it's frustrating as in some games literally nothing happens and then i concede the only chance the opposition get. Thanks for the info in this post. Just wondering if you can confirm a few things as i've not played FM for about 10 years until this year so obviously a lot of it is new to me and i;m feeling like knowing the ME or the game is a big part of creating these "super" tactics. Playing w/out counterpress will prevent your boys from getting beat so often.You probably want to use it as a in match TI, not as a permanent staple of your tactic. - is this the PI trigger press option and you mean to leave it off or low for all players? If you are going for a high press, don't use counter and drop your tempo (both these things will see your boys keep the ball). One approach on a low tempo system is to use the width of the pitch, pinning the fullbacks wide to create space for inside runners who can unlock the defense(CM(a), SS, SV etc). That's an extremely effective approach against low block, compact sides. TI's like Hit Crosses Early combined with a low tempo/high width work very well. I've got my WBs wide as they can be when we have the ball and low tempo & short passing but whenever i put early crossing on my assistant says it isn't work and to remove it? should i ignore them or are they usually right about what to add and remove? I'm finding the creating a tactic the most interesting part and also the most frustrating. Some games i'm 70% possession 3/4 nil and other games i create nothing and concede the only chance against me. The temptation to just click 433 gegenpress looms large but i think i'd rather not even play the game really haha.

Update - I'm at work bored so some of the info is a bit vague haha Results - I'm currently 2nd with about 6 games left. 3 points behind Real and i have them at home last game of the season. They haven't set the word alight which has kept me in it. Although i haven't lost many games i've had a fair few toothless draws which has cost me (and frustrated me). I lost in the CL R16 to City 4-2 over the two legs which i felt was OK given my tactic and formation is home made. In previous saves i've lost worse playing the 433 presets Tactics/Formation - I've stayed true to the formation & tactics i mentioned with some tinkering but still don't have it nailed down fully which is frustrating. Some games we win 3/4 nil 70% possession hardly give the opponent a sniff which is great as it's showing me this can work and others we create hardly anything and concede the only chance or chances we give up. Given we are already better than every team except Real (debatably) then i'm not sure where to take the tactic going forward. Recruitment - Raphina booted off in Jan but nobody would pay what i wanted to he's currently the sub RWB - he's actually came on and done well but as he's on 200K and worth 25/30 mil he will be sold in the summer. I signed Badashile on loan as more cover and that was it as had no money. I have some big money loans coming back at the end of the season so will be selling most of them except Ansu who will probably replace Felix. I'll be looking to add more depth as i think this will hep tactically as there is a drop off from De Jong to Romeu - Pedri to Fermin etc (although hopefully Fermin is better on the release as he looks really good IRL and i don't like him not being good enough to play) I'll probably sell Inigo & Romeu and maybe Gundo &Ferran so will probably have a bit of money for some players. Also got Vitor Roque coming in

I'm playing as Barcelona as although they are obviously still really good, it's quite restrictive in year 1 with basically no budget and you can only keep 25% of transfer income so it makes it pointless even selling a Ferran or Raphina right now as you'll not see the benefit. There's lot of expensive loans coming back after season 1 so will review my transfer activity then. All the squad is on huge wages too so might look at selling off older players Gundo/Lewa/Inigo I did sell Roberto & Alonso and bought Barco and got a few mid level players on loan to pack out the squad for rotation- Lemar / Munier / Moreno My main focus is trying to play the possession game they are known for but also be solid defensively, especially when it comes to high level CL games or playing Real as i found in previous saves the top teams could be 3-0 after 20 minutes just playing a standard 433 Gegenpress or Tiki Taka - also found Gegenpress was too intense to maintain over the season or i had to keep manually giving the players 2/3 days rest after a game which just seems unrealistic and stupid tbh. I do rotate but you can't afford to rest too many key players as more than a few defeats will leave the league out of reach so a solid tactic that can keep players fresh is a must. I also found Real become even better in season 2 (101PTS after several signings in one save so basically as soon as you draw or lose , season is over haha) Tactics wise i've stayed away from trying to copy someones super tactic from here and have worked on my own which is below. it's custom with a focus on keeping the ball to not concede loads of chances so essentially still the Barca way. Possession so far is 60% plus against all teams (havent played Real yet but played Inter,Atelti,Newcastle), we don't concede many chances and Xg is around 2+ per game although in some games we seem a bit toothless so i'm trying to improve that aspect whilst keeping possession. Mats Araujo Kounde Christensen Cancelo Frenkie Balde Gavi Pedri Gundo/Felix Lewa Balde and Cancelo cook in this tactic. Pedri also really good. Lewa scores in any formation i've tried. Defence is pretty solid in terms of not giving up chances but we are conceding 1 per game usually which is a worry if we have one of our toothless games. Rest of the players i'm not getting the most out of but tactics are a work in progress and i'm enjoying knowing i've created my own. Aside from that i am focusing on the youth players as there are some unreal prospects - to aid with their development i've been selling dross B team players and didn't register any of the players they had on loan so that the best U19 prospects get game time. also added them into first team training and will play a few in the cup or dead games. Will add screens once i get a but further into the season

How much impact does training actually have? i have created a tactic where i have a lot of possession 60%+ against most teams home and away but find that some times we dont create enough chances. I was thinking of upping the attacking training but wondering how much that would help and would it then just mean i start conceding more? I would say i'm quite restrictive with my players as well as i have had a few saves where my teams have been sliced open by the better sides so would i just be better off taking the handbrake off some players instead? Thanks