Dr. Hook

I addressed that in the post above- there isn't any point in creating an argument or ill-feelings over it.

Okay, it isn't for you, we get it, but no need to keep banging on about it. FOr the OP, no need to go into this. We don't do gaming the tactics engine in here.

Thread lock per use request- no need to troll

It is a guideline for you. I don't know the exact percentages here, but if I get that message, the odds of successfully getting the player to learn the new trait are lower, and in my experience quite a bit lower. That doesn't stop me from trying though, because sometimes it is a trait you absolutely want the player to have. The only downside to it being unsuccessful is the time wasted, it won't hurt the player any.

As a starting point for roles and duties, the first thing I would do is look at how I want to the play to look in an ideal situation. You've listed some of your key players above, so start there. Who is going to responsible for what? If you have a Salah pushing the line and being ready to run onto balls or get it in scoring areas, who is getting it to him? Build front to back in thinking about what you want each player to do out there. Things can and will go pear shaped in the course of a match, but you have to start somewhere, so idealize things. Then you can figure out who your playmakers are, who is covering what areas when the attack goes off, where do you want each man when it comes back the other way. If you get a sense of what each position should do in your system (and you've gotten off to a good start in thinking about a style) it becomes easier to design mentalities, shape, roles, and duties. With mentality, remember that it is essentially a risk level- how far players go forward, passing styles, risky plays, all are affected by the mentality, so you have to decide what your risk tolerance is. That's pretty much the basics of mentality. Shape will govern how your team transitions from attack to defense and back- if you want your defenders to be more involved in transitions moving forward, you want fluid (and attackers more involved in transitions to defense). Obviously there are a lot nuances, but hopefully it will get you jumping off on creating your system.

This trait (PPM as it used to be known) means that if he is closed down, tightly marked or pressed he will try to take the ball to a safer place through dribbling or a risky pass before getting rid of it. Without it, he would be more likely to clear it out of bounds or launch a ball to nowhere.

If you get them promoted and have packed attendances the board could opt to build a new one

To be honest, it's been some time since I went with a single striker and no AMs, so I am probably not the best one to ask in this version- in the past I would look to use the flanks more so the striker can connect with the play, in current FM a wide playmaker could be an option, or using direct passing for the midfielders so they can transition it more quickly. One possibility that comes to mind is to go strikerless (on paper) and use an F9 type of role in the AMC spot. Hopefully someone else can chip in with some ideas about this.

Best answer outside of heavy rotation is to sign players with high stamina and nat fitness if you can. I tend to always look for a high natural fitness for signings. Critical players if it is possible, I like to sub out early -55-60 mins- sometimes if I have another game coming up that I need him fresh for and the game situation allows for it. Lots of times you just roll a tired squad, it's part of football, and hope you don't get a rash of injuries

The amount of CF with the shapes is incremental, so while there can be a noticeable difference if you go from Very Structured and Very Fluid, it isn't a great gulf. If you have a playmaker getting marked out of the game you have a couple of options (I like to funnel my plays through specific players as well): add another playmaker is one way to do it, and (and perhaps change your original guy to a "normal" role), move your playmaker around if he's being marked specifically by an opposition player, sub him out if it might be a bad day for him and not what the opponent is doing. Stop using a playmaker at all. You can set any player with PI's of "more direct passing" and "more risky passes" to make them a playmaker, just without the ball magnet happening, and you will get someone who will do creative things. In short, you don't need a second playmaker in a structured system, you just need to adapt to the circumstances as they are happening.

Look at your players- do you have a good passer in your midfield (look for attributes of passing, vision, decisions for starters). If you have a player like this, you have a potential playmaker and so you would want to funnel the ball through him to get it where you need it to go. If you lack a good midfield playmaker, you might have a creative type with the same attributes on the wing for a wide playmaker role, or if you have speedy, good crossing wingers, you might look to get the ball out wide to them to send it in. Your creative force could be a forward you could use in a deep lying forward role, or as a Trequartista (See the role descriptions for a basic idea of what it does). Again, knowing your players a bit will help sort this out for you.

More or less, though I think you could probably define more broad play styles and then there are hybrid styles also. But to keep it simple, you can start with these four and go from there. The important thing is to select a play style that matches your personnel. One thing that can really help is figuring out who your playmakers/ball distributors are and who you want scoring your goals. This goes a long way to sorting out what style to play.

When thinking of a style to play, you are basically looking for such things as : a counter attack style, where we sit deep and hope to win the ball back in our third and then launch a quick counterstrike; a fast attacking system that uses direct passing in an effort to move the ball forward quickly; a patient passing game where you control possession and look for openings to get quality chances; a long ball game where you look to bomb it up field toward the box. There are thousands of variations, honestly, These are some of the tactical styles you might want, but first . . . If you are starting almost completely from scratch, my advice is to take stock of your players. Get an idea of what your strengths and weaknesses are as a club, and what types of individual players you have also. This will help you define the roles you might want to use. Use the team comparison screens to see how you match up with other clubs in your division and get a sense of where you fit- mid-table, relegation fighters, etc. The main thing will be to set up a style that plays to the strength of your squad. If you have a strong midfield of passers and creative players, then you want to build your tactic around that. If you have a speedy team with wingers and fast forwards, you will want to play to that. If you have slow defenders, that will help you think about how to set your defensive line. Your formation will to some extent be self-selecting based on the players you have. If you don't have any decent attacking mids, for example, then you won't use a formation that employs one. I guess what I am really getting at here is to go step by step until you get more comfortable and familiar with the tactical options you have. One way to get some help is to get a basic setup around the ideas I posted above, then post your tactic up here in the forum and you will get some more specific advice, or have a set of questions that can be specifically answered. In my own case, I knew almost nothing about football/soccer when I joined the forums but after a little while it started to make more sense.

Andy has a nice setup there for a counter system. In general, "bottom heavy" formations work best for the counter as the idea is to have more men behind the ball so that you can trigger the fast, direct breakout. 3-5-2 with WBs works well, 4-5-1 etc. At the same time, you need to have roles and duties that complement the counter style, so for example if your 4-5-1 really plays like an attacking 4-3-3 it won't work as well.

Of course it all depends on what players you have- I ran a 4-3-3 at one time that used two IFs and I had a DLF(S) that dropped off. False NIne is a good choice, but I found that he came too deep for my liking with already a midfield three behind him. If you don't have a MC who is actively pushing up and linking the play, then F9 is a good role. The other slightly out of the box thing you can do is move the CF into the AM slot (strikerless formation I guess) and actually use the AM to feed the IFs.