Hoofenballen

Hello Everyone Without using a cheesy exploit tactic, im struggling with this one. At Arbroath we have a tiny budget, hardly any staff, and only train 4 sessions per week on two days. I just feel its extremely difficult to attract the calibre of player needed to get us into the Premiership. Likewise, with no youth set up, barely any coaches and no training time, you cant really develop players either. When I ask the board about expanding the coaching team, or going full time, they keep knocking me back. Any ideas what to do?

Anyone with any thoughts on Arbroath as a club to manage? seem like big overachievers and a difficult next step tp get them to the Premier League?

Hello Everyone I have screenshots of the tactic ive been working on. I am a real life Leicester City fan, and have set a game up as Leicester with the intention of trying to recreate Enzo Maresca's tactics which see the foxes top of the Championship table. Before I post anything, has anyone attempted an Enzo Maresca recreation, and how are you getting on if you have? Thanks!

It does but the attributes worked on are so broad that in the example of a generic session, surely you arent going to see big gains across all of those attributes if you keep running those sessions? Surely if you want to really boost someone attributes, its individual training you need, right?

Can anyone explain what "Defensive Shadow Play" and "Attacking Shadow Play" sessions do, and what attributes they develop? If im only playing one game per week, i run a custom "Big Match Prep" schedule, and it looks like this (sorry for no pics): Monday: 1. Overall 2. Outfield 3. Goalkeepers Tuesday: 1. Attacking Shadow Play 2. Defensive Shadow Play 3. Chance Creation Wednesday: 1. Defending Engaged/Disengaged (depending on tactic for match), 2. Trainsition Press/Restrict (depending on tactic for match), 3. Chance Conversion Thursday: 1. Attacking Shadow Play 2. Defensive Shadow Play 3. Team Bonding Friday: 1: Set Piece Routines 2. Rest 3. Match Focus Game Day Sunday: 1: Recovery 2. Match Review 3. Rest This is just a basic schedule that is tailored around big match prep, so is this actually improving anyone? Some players do show green arrows to suggest attributes have gone up, is that to do with individual training more so than the overall schedule? or match time? all 3? Its a bit of a grey area this one i find

What difference does it make when choosing generic sessions eg "defending" rather than a specific session such as "defending from the front"??? Logically i would suggest the generic session has a tiny effect on a broad set of attributes, whereas a specific session would improve specific attributes but might even hurt others? I tend to think of the generic sessions as lower league sessions which could be totally wrong

Just from my perspective i like work ball in box but not for the reasons you may think. For me, i think its a great way to attack and press as a unit. I find working the ball into the box is great for transitional situations where its wasier to retrieve the ball back

what player instructions do you use? One obvious issue might be your vulnerability down the flanks because youve got both wingbacks pushing forward. Id say theres not much support around your target man either. Going to put a huge emphasis on him to hold the ball up to get you uo the pitch.

I want to preface this by saying i am Bayern Munchen, which is an easy save in terms of winning things, but one where id really like to implement different styles of play and see exactly what each instruction does on the game. Im also not an expert by any means on the game. I took a few years off the game. I developed this tactic for hard away games like away games in the Champions League or really tough Bundesliga away games where maybe the squad is tired and i cant rotate, or im looking to counter specific threats they have up front, usually 2 players in the attacking mid positions is the one that is particularly tricky. It works around the principle of defending firstly. The two full backs are told to sit narrower, but both perform different roles. Davies sits narrower, but then runs wide. This is to provide extra width down the left and to work in tandem with Sane, so if we do get a bit of possession it can act as an overload/overlap down the left. Davies has excellent dribbling and can carry the ball up the pitch after winning it back deep. Mazraoui sits narrow but then runs inside, so he goes to sit in a more orthodox central DM position where I ask him to cross from deep. Produces lovely through balls. I go with narrow attacking width as a starting point but players can be told to "run wide" with the ball. This coupled with "invite crosses" i think helps keep a narrow "two banks of four"structure to our defending, no spaces in between the lines. I also feel the instruction "be more disciplined" helps keep the solid team structure. In attack, ive sent the mentality to attack, despite the tactic being defensive. Ive heard the game has changed around this, where cautious mentality works well, and ive used this in other tactics at other teams. But i like attacking to encourage fast transitions, and once the players get back into position, an aggressive deep block. All players who arent "sitting" players are told to dribble more, as they are winning the ball back from a deep position and I want them to carry us up the field. Plus it works well with traits. Goretzka has a trait to get into the area, so with box to box he can pick the ball up deep a bit like a volante and get on the end of things in the box. Kimmich has traits to come deep and switch the ball to wide areas, so he acts like a DLP which is ideal. This tactic ive adapted for other clubs, Atletico Madrid i used a similar type structure in a 4-4-1-1 and it made me the highest scorer in the league despite playing on the counter attack (its in the la liga thread), whereas this tactic is solid for clean sheets.

To achieve the shape youre after, id suggest pushing your fullbacks into the wingback slots with the role of WB/D but then have them sit narrower. I think this should do the job for you. Id combine with a DM in the DM slot, perhaps a DM or DLP on support

Quite a few teams use a 4-4-2 defensive shape. I like using 4-4-2 on the game as for me its great in defending space between the lines and in half spaces. I can compress the lines between midfield defence and attack, and tuck the wide players inside with player instructions and trapping instructions, and for me, its led to lots of clean sheets. I agree with @Cloud9 that in this edition of the game, 4-4-2 can be a really effective tactic when setting up the central midfield 2 correctly.

Hello Everyone If youre playing 4-4-2, how are you getting on with it in FM24? Are you using it primarily to defend space in two banks of four? are you trying to bring back old school wing play to a tall striker in the box? Maybe going for something that resembles a Leicester title win or A Fergie era Man Utd tactic? Would live to see your 4-4-2 set up if youre using one

Im currently managing Bayern Munich as a bit of an ego massaging project to be honest. Their squad seems so SLOW, its weird. You have pace out wide but up front and in centre midfield, no pace at all

Hello Everyone What do you think about utilising Harry Kane as a trequartista? If he plays as a trequartista, will his goals output suffer much? In an out and out forward role, his lack of pace annoys me, ive played him quite a bit as a poacher to use his off the ball movement but hes got more to his game than that. Id like to use him as a number 10. Any thoughts?

Hello Everyone Ive got an atletico madrid save i love. Just wondered are there any good teams in europe preferably (but not exclusively) who are in the top division who have priorities for defence first and direct football? Thank You