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“Quantum CS” (4-1-3-2 DM Narrow) Tactic for FM19 Revision 2019.3 (Nov-6-2018) (c) 2013-2019 Xeewaj Q. Intro It’s “Quantum” ‘cause it’s full of superpositions and controversies. Be more disciplined but roam a lot? Sure. Defenders attacking, strikers defending, midfielders are everywhere? Of course. It’s called in-game “4-1-3-2 DM Narrow”, but it’s actually very wide. You get the pattern. CS stands for “Creeping Suffocation”. Why? ‘Cause it slowly suffocates opponents, restricting them from playing football as much as possible. Even top opponents will often fail to do a single shot on target (sometimes even just shot). Often they’ll enrage and get red cards. I played variations of this tactic for years, from exotic lower divisions to top European leagues and it gave excellent results everywhere. Especially well it does against (undeservedly) popular nowadays 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 variations. In general, every tactic with wingers is highly vulnerable. The only tactics which can cause struggle are classic 4-4-2 and its variations (4-1-4-1, 4-4-1-1 etc), but you may never see it during the whole season (in any case, doing right changes will solve the problem). Proof of Concept As a top team, it’s easy and boring. Average-promotion-candidate dominating the league. Most games were lost after securing the title (you can see it in the “Form” column). There are some demo matches in “matches” directory. Philosophy Balance, discipline, possession, fluidity, restricting the opponent as much as possible. Sounds boring enough, but board and supporters will praise you for the attacking football. Theory A key concept is overloading zones 2 & 5 while defending, zones 14 & 17 while attacking and eliminating opponent presence in the middle (zones 8 & 11) by pressing them out to sides. We’ll use flanks occasionally, mostly for crossing and/or stretching defense, but as a whole, it’s a center line strategy. Pros One tactic to cover them all. You don’t need alternative tactics, just do some minor changes. Almost plug-n-play, it works well for top clubs and relegation candidates with minimal tweaking. You don’t need wingers (though you may use them until they’re sold). High possession. Graphene-strength defense, you’ll concede mostly flukes. Ideal for “Play attacking football” philosophy (again, quantums of discipline and possession do the magic), but board and supporters will be extremely happy anyway. Cons Can be vulnerable to counter-attacks if you have low-quality center-backs. Heavy rotation is required to keep players alive during the season. Dealing with 4-4-2 may require some extra clicking. Tactic Tactics itself looks plain enough, but don’t be fooled. It transforms to 5-3-2, 3-5-2, even to 2-4-4 or 5-5-0 when needed. Team Instructions The mentality is ALWAYS "Balanced". Don't touch it. There is a new "Positive" mentality in FM19, but from what I saw, it's too positive and lowers discipline too much. May work for playing against weaker teams, but use it on your own risk. 1) In Possession: We playing cautions football focused on possession and teamwork. No brainless longballs, we play out of defense with patience. Though we may use direct passes when appropriate or passes into free space if there's an opening. Constants: Width, all Approach Play instructions except Overlap Left/Right, Passing Directness, Creative Freedom. Tweakable: Overlap Left/ Right, all Final Third instructions, Play For Set Pieces, Dribble Less. Not recommended to touch: Tempo (tactic itself is quite intense and you’ll just kill your players with the high tempo, though it’s possible to slow down when you in total control of the match), Run At Defense (we play team passing game), Time Wasting (especially!). So, basically, you need to tune cross type, overlapping and long shots/working balls into the box. Using “Play For Set Pieces” is generally not recommended unless you have problems scoring normal way and/or already scored from set pieces. 2) In Transition: We press opponents as soon as they get the ball and counter-attack quickly. Generally, you don’t need to change anything there. Though you may use “Regroup” if playing vs much stronger team and/or want to play safe. 3) Of Possession: We press high and play offside. Constants: Defensive Width, Prevent Short GK Distribution. Tweakable: Use Offside Trap, Line of Engagement, Defensive Line. Not recommended to touch: Use Tighter Marking, Tackling. Using offside traps and defensive line depends on the quality of your defenders, though tactics work better with high lines. We don’t use global tight marking and hard tackling. Though it’s possible to use easier tackling when you in control of the match and want to prevent any unnecessary suspensions. Player Instructions You should not touch instructions/roles/mentality except for Full-Backs, Ball Winner and Strikers. There are 2 types of instruction sets for those players, more cautious and more attacking. Choosing the right one is depends on the situation. You can found instructions in “player_instructions” directory (they’re loadable from instructions edit dialog). Keeper "Cautious Sweeper Keeper": Keeper plays safe, sweep when needed and distributes the ball to full-backs with long throws (somehow it's now moved to "In Transition") Full-Backs They stay wide, dribble forward and cross a lot. "Attacking Full-Back": going forward often and cross close to the byline. "Cautious Full-Back": playing more carefully (works well with "Hit Early Crosses"). Centre-Backs “Ball-Playing Defender”: They obviously defend but may start counter-attacks with through balls and go forward for set-pieces often. Defensive Midfielder Tries to win the ball asap, tackles and presses hard. “Cautious Ball Winner”: stays back, acts more like third center-back/stopper. "Adventurous Ball Winner": goes forward more often, similar to Box-To-Box. Playmaker “Roaming Playmaker”: team brain. Does anything he wants. Central Midfielder “Box-To-Box”: they move all around the pitch, press and tackle hard, helping both with defense and attack. Striker Attacking all-rounders who shoot, pass, cross and press opposition defense. “Complete Forward: default balanced variation. “Pressing Forward”: acts much more aggressive. Stays slightly wider than “Complete Forward”. Alternate Tactics & Plan B You don’t need one. This tactic covers (almost) everything. When the team has a ball, it's extremely attacking. When not, it's extremely defending. Use Player/Team Instructions to make it more attacking or defensive. Be creative, use non-standard moves. For example, put center-backs into BBMs positions, turn on Float/Early Crosses from the Deep etc. Familiarity, Cohesion, and Partnership This tactic is focused on teamwork so it may require some time until it starts to give the best results. Usually, pre-season is enough for the start. Focus on establishing partnerships asap (especially for central defenders). Opposition Instructions It’s a complex topic and you can read about it here or there, for example. If you have a decent assistant, let him handle this. Yellow Cards By default, BWM and BBMs (and “Pressing Forward”) use hard tackling, so be careful. Man Down (Red Card) An obvious solution is take off one of the forwards. But if the match is going well, it’s possible to take off BWM, set playmaker role to DLP/Defend and set strikers to Pressing Forward (Defensive Striker). This is particularly useful when you still need to score. Rotation As this tactic is quite intensive, a rotation is very important. Generally, you should have two full line-ups. At the start of the season good rotation is 25%-33%, but close to the end of the season, it may require 50% rotation sometimes (packed schedule, important/cup matches etc). Pitch Size It’s important. Basic rules are: max size if your team is among the favorites, max width and normal length for midtable teams, min size for relegation candidate. Assistant Just ignore him in most cases. “We being terrible overrun at midfield” and “We need to use more direct passing” when your team is winning 2-0 with 65% possession and opponents have 0 shots on target. Training & Match Preparation Prior to FM19 most important were teamwork and attacking movements. In FM19 training was completely reworked, so no real data on training efficiency exists. To be honest, I’m quite intimidated by the new training and prefer to leave it to the staff for now. Some recommendations may come soon. Team Talks Don't be harsh. Don't yell. Be calm and motivate. Remember, usually, the team who scores “pep” goal during 46-49 min, wins. Set Pieces Tactic includes some decent set pieces, but you may want to tune them for players you have. The playmaker is default taker (except for throws, full-backs obviously do them). Also, note that offensive set pieces are quite risky with many players going forward. Protecting Lead The tactic itself does it very well, but for more safety switch to Defensive Striker and bring on fresh fullbacks (with possible changing them to “Supportive”). Never touch mentality. Consider turning “Work Ball Into Box” on for more possession. Breaking the Crossbar Bus Sometimes it’s hard to score even if your team is dominating. Before going postal and moving all attack-related sliders to the right and subbing all the strikers, check your midfielders and full-backs, the problem is most likely there. Still, it may not help. They say "nothing is scripted in FM", but you may get something like this: Just laugh and move on. Players Don’t let the color of suitability circle distract you. Usually, I have only 2-3 players with more or less green circles, the rest are orange/red. Role/duty circle is a good reference, but again, don't worship it. A typical setup for teams I manage: You may check how they perform by watching a demo match, first goal especially. 1) GK Any decent keeper will do. Green circle of “Sweeper Keeper” is not necessary, but don’t touch role. Example: Gianluigi Buffon 2) DC * The position where the green circle of BPD is a good indicator. Though generic quality limited defenders may perform well. Example: Leonardo Bonucci, Matthijs de Ligt** 3) DRL * Fast players with good dribbling and crossing and decent defensive skills. Some wingers may be used there even with a red circle. Example: Marcelo, Daniel Alves, Alex Sandro, 4) BWM A defensive midfielder with good technical skills. Example: Arturo Vidal, Matthijs de Ligt** 5) MC/Playmaker * It’s hard to find a player with a green circle for that role, but DLP usually performs well there. Default set pieces use playmaker as default taker, so consider that. Example: Miralem Pjanic, Ruben Neves 6) MC/Box-To-Box Again, it’s hard to find “green circles” for that role and it’s no guarantee they’ll perform well. Look for MC, DM or DC/DM/MC with well-balanced stats. You may use wingers there if you don’t have other options. Example: Paul Pogba, Adrien Rabiot, Matthijs de Ligt** 7) ST Powerful pressing (“defensive” prior to FM19) forwards. You may use any advanced wingers (sic!) there, but pressing forward will score much more. Proof: Example: Edinson Cavani, Mario Mandjukic * Centre-Backs, Full-backs, and Playmaker are a top priority in that order. ** Should be transfer target #1 due to his skills and versatility. General Recommendations Try to avoid one-footed players. Make exceptions only for VERY good and/or young players (and immediately start developing their weaker foot). Try to avoid midgets, except for full-backs. Height must be 180+cm. Very important attributes: Team Work, Workrate. Installation Unpack archive and copy directories “matches”, “tactics”, “player_instructions”, “set pieces” (or select only files you need) to your FM19 directory (usually “C:\Users\[your_name]\Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2019”). Anomalies 1) Players on set pieces may behave not like they supposed to do (usually, players with attacking roles stay back). Set pieces rework in 19.1 supposed to fix that problem, but it still may occur. 2) Taker instructions may reset after loading set pieces. This bug is acknowledged so we may expect a fix soon. Changes 2019.1 (Oct-28-2018): First version for FM19. Tested on beta match engine 1900. 2019.2 (Nov-1-2019): Update for FM19 release. Changes: player instructions (BWM), set pieces, better demo match. Tested with match engine 1913-1914. 2019.3 (Nov-6-2019): Changed attacking corner set pieces (removed bugged role “Mark Keeper”). Downloads Another download link: https://www.filedropper.com/quantumcs2019-3 Quantum CS Demo.pkm quantum_cs_2019-3.zip

Hi Everyone So not a lot of people seem to be using registas in their tactics. I was wondering if someone can provide some information on how best to use the role as part of a midfield trio. What would be the best formation en player roles to compliment a regista? I have been trying to use the following formation without much success: GK WB: S..........CB: D..........CB: D..........WB: S REGISTA: S CARRILERO: S..........MEZZALA: A CF: S..........CF: S..........CF: S Mentality: Positve In Possession: shorter passing, play out of defense, work ball into box, be more expressive, play through the middle, slightly lower tempo In Transition: take short kicks, distribute to centre-backs, counter, counter-press Out of Possession: extremely urgent, prevent short GK distribution Any advice?

Hi, i was wondering if any of you could help me with my team goal inneficiency. Here is my tactic And here are my players My highest problem here is my Shots on target ratio: What can i do to improve it? i'm main focusing on attacking at a high intensity level. If you know how can i improve this i would really appreciate, thank you for your time. And sorry for my english

I want to preface this by saying that i've only been playing FM for about 6 months, and i'm at best a casual (definitely fairweather) football fan. I might be making bad assumptions about what is possible or how FM works. I have been reading some threads and trying to deepen my knowledge of the plug n play tactic i used on FM17 (The Reckonist's Scholes Can't Tackle), but a lot of the theory still seems like black magic to me. 433 (ish) Tactic goals: I want to develop a tactic that i could consistently use, starting in the lower leagues. In the game i would want to shape my team around the tactic, not the other way around - I'll gladly sell players that do not fit the system. I'm an Ajax fan, there's aspects of their play that i want to preserve in my FM playthrough, like a 433(ish) formation, and to play a passing game. I'd also like to preserve Peter Bosz' 5 second rule (If the opponent has the ball, we want to get it back in 5 seconds - regardless of the quality of the opposing team). Lately i've been reading Soccernomics, and from that i've learned that both crossing and shooting from distance are very inefficient modes of attack in real life, so i'd like to avoid them. I also feel that the Fullback is an underrated position in football, and i would like to leverage them into playing a key part of my teams. However i'd consider this idealism and i'm not married to having to preserve this in the game. It's hard to find great players that a natural to the position, especially in lower leagues. I'd want to play possession football, but i'm not married to the idea of it having to be a quick passing game. Long term i would like to transition a quick passing game, but that would be contingent on the quality of my players available to me. The base concept is a considered game where most risks are taken in front of the opposing teams goal. I've started out with a 4123DM Wide formation, as i feel 4213DM might not be positive enough. Passing/possession: Short to mid-range passing - no long balls/route one. This also goes for Goalkeeper distribution. Not (overly) rely on crossing, and when they are made, they have to be in a controlled fashion, so low/on the ground. Using possession as a defensive instrument (If the other team doesn't have the ball, they can't score) Attacking: Shots outside the box should be mostly avoided, but players who do well at shooting from distance should use good opportunities. Wingers/Inside Forwards cut inside to create overloads, supported by a fullback coming forward. Midfield: I'm having a lot of trouble understanding what roles to pick here.. What i'd like them to do and what would actually work in the game are two very different things, i assume. 1 player to aid the attackers, moving from a central position to attacking midfield/shadow striker like position (or go out wide maybe?) 1 player to bridge the gap between attack and defense. a DM to compensate for the absence of a Fullback when one of them bombs forward EDIT: Fullbacks: I'm not sure which role to choose here. Ultimately i've opted for Fullbacks with a support duty - i want them to come forward to support attacks, but the attack duty emphasises crossing, which i would like to minimise. Choosing the support duty here seems to be the best compromise, where they will provide width to compensate for the IF's cutting inside, and play through balls to the attackers, and cross when the opportunity arises. Defending: Upon losing possession, press the other team immediately, giving them little space/time to transition to an attacking shape. (Bosz' 5 second rule). I've chosen the CD/stopper and BPD/cover roles because apparently it is a 'classic' combination, but i can't say i fully understand it's function. I do understand the BPD would help in quickly transitioning from defending to attacking, but that's pretty much it. Goalkeeper: I'd love every keeper i have to be a Neuer-like Sweeper, just to have more help at the back, but i don't think that's a realistic expectation. Short distribution, long kicks are too much of a crap shoot in my opinion. Since Onana is a decent passer, he has the Take Short Kicks instruction. If he didn't, i'd probably ask him to roll it out. After reading some of the descriptions for GK roles, i opted going for the standard goalkeeper role in my most recent test. I'd love Onana to be more involved, but since the tactic has worked i'm unsure if i should make him a Sweeper,and if so, what duty to select. Team Shape: Since i want to keep hold of the ball even when it might be more difficult to do so, and want to quickly transition from defending to attack and vice versa, Going towards a more Fluid team shape seems to be the best course of action. However, in the lower leagues the players i have might not have enough quality to function decently outside their roles and duties, so i've decided to go with "Flexible". Mentality: I would like to use the Control mentality, because it seems to underline the general concept i'm going for, but in my most recent test i opted for Standard, and it's been quite successful. Obviously, Ajax is going to be the stronger team in most of their league games, but in Europe we'll meet more teams that are equally strong or stronger than us. The tactic and test results: After doing some reading and testing, this is the most successful tactic I've come up with (tests were done by going on holiday for the first 4 months of the season): I'd really love some feedback on this, and maybe a bit of guidance as to how i could identify weaknesses of my tactics. Obviously, by prioritising preserving the tactic over tailoring it to the team will require me to recruit players that excel at executing their chosen roles and duties. The way i currently test tactics is to go on Holiday and let the game sim 4 months of play, so we come up against a decent mix of teams... but when adjusting i'm just trying stuff out without really knowing what part of the tactic is or isn't working. Whatever generates the least amount of lost points, is the best, i guess. If i'm playing the game myself, often i'll just mess around with the team instructions until i find something that starts generating shots on goal. I honestly have no idea how to properly identify the consistent weaknesses of a tactic, or why my team might be failing to be successful. I understand that there's probably plenty of information out there that could help me, but i just haven't read enough yet, and i'm not exactly sure where to go from here. Any help or comment is greatly appreciated!

This season, I’ve been really taken with Real Betis and their attempts to play attacking football that utilises the technical abilities of their players. Setien is a maverick, a man who has stated his sole purpose is to produce produce entertaining football and score goals, even at the expense of getting results. A man who has said he is left cold by modern football, he is a purist, a man who idolises Johann Cruyff and Luis Aragones. His Betis side, at times have played football at least comparable to anything produced by Guardiola’s City and Sarri’s Napoli. Here’s a video from Tifo, attempting to explain the principles behind the thinking of their manager Quique Setien. It is important to note that Betis have moved away from that 4-1-2-2-1 formation now, and are playing a 3-5-1-1 or 3-4-2-1, which is what i’m aiming to create with Inter Milan in my first season. The move to the back 3 has massively improved Betis’s defensive performance, and enabled them to push on and challenge for a European place. Tactics is available for subscription from Steam Workshop here. Please see opposition instructions below for the tactic. Blog post for this tactic available at https://footballmanager2017dotblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/09/quique-setiens-3-5-1-1-possession-based-tactic-title-italian-cup-in-first-season/ Inter are a good team to try this with, because in Perisic, Valero, Brozovic, Skriniar, and Icardi they have some players who have good technique. Rafinha is also there on loan for the first season, and they have a lot of talented young players. Their current U20 team is arguably the best in Europe right now. All in all, a great team to start FM18 with. The Formation Betis play either a 3-4-2-1 or a 3-5-1-1 which I will use for this tactic, given the player’s I’ve got at Inter in the first season. To recreate this tactic in FM, I’ve used a DLF-Su to essentially recreate the Boudebouz position. This is because at Inter, you’ve got Icardi, Pinamonti, and I signed Martinez as they have in real life, none of which are adept at playing in the AM role. But obviously if you had the players to do it, then the AM-A can work quite well. Occasionally, i’ll drop the DLF-Su into an AM-A if i’m playing Franco Vazquez there, and he feeds the AF-A quite nicely. To play as Betis do, as you can see I’ve signed ball playing centre-backs with good first touch, composure, decisions, and passing. Given the high line it helps if the BPD-Co has good pace, and you don’t really want any CB’s who are slow. I have a better keeper, Rulli, although Handanovic is a world class stopper. I’ve also signed two new wing-backs, with good dribbling, crossing, first touch, composure, passing, and off the ball. You want your AF-A to have good pace, finishing and heading, and your DLF-Su to have good passing and vision as well as dribbling and off the ball. Central midfielders should all have the standard attributes for ball playing teams, e.g. passing, first touch, decisions, composure, technique, off the ball. I’m pretty happy with this team now, have some other unavailable players (Frenkie de Jong, and Carlos Soler in CM). Team Instructions Mentality I would say control is the best tactic to recreate Setien. Perhaps you might deem his tactics “attacking” in orientation, but we all know that Attacking is a VERY attacking orientation in FM. You can set up an attacking version of the same tactic, just for games in which you are losing, but attacking basically causes too many forward passes and the tempo to be far too quick, you’re going a bit too direct with it. Remember Setein cites Aragones as his major influence. BUT you do want to use pass into pass here, Setein I would say is a little more direct than the traditional tiki-taka ball retention styles of Spain in the early 2010s. I mean you could use attacking, slowing the the tempo and restricting width ticking off “pass into space”, you might get the same effect. Attacking also has the effect of intensifying the press and raising the defensive line. And yes, there are many ways to create the same style. This is just one. If you toggle between control and attack, you will see many things happen to the other instructions, it’s good to understand the linkages. Team Shape Having a fluid team shape does two things crucial to Setien’s style. Firstly, it raises the creative freedom of the players, and secondly, it ensures that Defenders and particularly full backs make attacking contributions, whilst attackers will contribute to the defensive phases also. Tempo Having a normal tempo was the best way I found to recreate the appropriate passing speeds. Setien does not rush things, but he is far from slow possession for possession-sakes passing we see at teams like Swansea. Having normal tempo allows a team full of good decision makers to make decisions about the speed of the game and make passes which are appropriate to the situation, as per Setien. If you create an attacking version of this tactic, the tempo will automatically rise. Width The wing-backs are an important feature of Setien’s betis in this 3 at the back system, therefore it’s important I think to get a balanced approach here. Possession based control tactics can function better playing with less width, especially with 3 CM’s and 2 strikers, but I think if you have two good wing-backs you gain fidelity to Setien by using balanced. If you’ve got an AF-A with good heading, you’ll score a few from crosses also, and get some nice triangles with the CBs, CM’s and WB’s. Defensive Line & Offside Trap Highest line you can have with control is slightly higher. If you use attacking you can go one higher. I wouldn’t say Betis use as high a line as Sarri, so perhaps slightly higher is OK, i’d like to go one notch higher though still. Again, offside trap should be ticked, although I wouldn’t say Setien is as obsessive as say, Saachi in his use of the offside trap. Would be nice to have different measures of offside trap, e.g. Aggressive, moderate, weak offside trap. Closing Down & Prevent GK distribution. Again, Betis do a lot of closing down and the attackers contribute to this. See the opposition instructions will help achieve the desired effect of closing down in the opposition defensive areas and attacking wide areas. If you use attacking, you can go one notch more aggressive in your press. Note, you need to have players with high team work and work rate to execute pressing properly, if you don’t have these players it won’t work properly. Even 12’s are not good enough, hence I sold Icardi, Perisic, and Candreva second season. Use your pre-match sessions also to focus upon the pressing. GK distribution will help press the opposition back line, and you will recover a ball once or twice a game doing so, obviously tires your strikers out doing this, and you’ll need to keep an eye on their fitness. Get Stuck In I wouldn’t say this is a feature of Betis’s play, I just like to have it ticked. You could undo it if you wanted to, and you wouldn’t lose fidelity. Build Up play To get the Setien build up style, you’ll first need to ensure that the GK is playing the ball out to the central CB. This can be done in player instructions as follows. The use of sweeper keeper in FM is interesting, because you can’t have a sweeper keeper who plays no risky passes, so arguable a Goalkeeper will give you better fidelity in the playing sense. Although there are times that you can get caught out when your CB’s are high, and the GK is too withdrawn. But if you use a Sweeper keeper, you will find him playing too many long passes, like Ederson does for Man City. It’s a trade off I guess. The other features of build up are obviously, play out from the back, with shorter passing and retain possession ticked. I’ve ticked pass into space, just so that we get the verticality we see with Setien’s style. I’ve ticked more expressive as Setien does like his teams to entertain, and has even said he prioritises entertainment over results, we want to maximise flair for sure. Attacking In terms of our attacks, obviously we want to work the ball into the box. I’m not sure if overlap does anything when you are not playing wingers, but it might help the wing-backs overlap the wide CM’s possibly, so I’ve left it ticked. Again, we want to see fluid and creative movements from our players, so I’ve ticked roam from positions. Opposition Instructions Purpose of these instructions is to recreate the tight closing down on opposition defenders and deeper midfielders, and the pressing of wide players. Players are also either to be shown inside, or pushed onto their weaker feet. All players are to be greeted with aggressive tackling. Training I would argue that general training on Team Cohesion at High Intensity should be done until you get to Very Good Match cohesion. At this point, you can then switch to a mix of attacking, tactical and ball control training, which will develop the attributes needed to play this tactic. Player training will be by their roles, and firstly focus upon compsure for defenders, off the ball for midfielders and strikers, at whatever intensity level you can get them to train before they start moaning. ALSO GET GOOD COACHES IN ON THE FIRST DAY YOU ARRIVE THERE. Five star coaches are easy to find, just go into staff search and select filter, and click on attributes, and select motivation, determination and level of discipline at 15, and click match 2 from 3. Then you need a coach that has a sum of 60 across four attributes; (i) for the thing you want him to coach, e.g. attacking, (ii) motivation, (iii) determination, and (iv) level of discipline. So you could have 20 for attacking coaching, 20 for motivation, and 19 for determination, and 1 for discipline, he’d be a 4 star coach. Also always ask your board for extra coaches, so you can get the workload down ASAP. Check this every month or so, to keep getting more. I’ve got like 15 now at Inter in two years, we started on nine. Also once you’ve won a fair few games, say, around Xmas, ask them to improve the training facilities. If you’re like me, and focus upon young talent, the training facilities have to be very strong, or you won’t improve the players quick enough to justify selecting them over established players. Use tutoring also, select older players over 25, with outstanding mental attributes, and try to tutor every youngster at the club at least once. Determination is one attribute that get’s passed on well in training, so use highly determined players to develop less determined youngsters PPM’s All CB’s Brings ball out from the back Tries long range passes (if good passing stats) Switches ball to the other flank Runs forward with ball often (if good dribbling) Both WB’s Gets forward whenever possible Plays one-Twos Runs with ball down their flank (if good dribbling) or Knocks ball past opponent (if good pace but poor dribbling) DLP-D Comes deep to get ball Stays back at all times Dictates tempo Plays simple short passes DLP-S Comes deep to get ball Dictates tempo Plays one-twos Tries long range passes & switches ball to other flank & tries killer passes (if good passing /. vision) or shoots from distance (if good long shots) CM-A Arrives late in opposition area Plays one-twos Tries Killer Balls DLF-Su Drops deep to get ball Dictates tempo Runs with ball often Tries Killer Balls Plays one-twos AF-A Beats the offside trap Plays one-twos Tries first time shots

would love to ask a question from tactic gurus around. I am pretty good with ral life tactics, however I struggle with the game. It is either because the game can't replicate real life instructions or I am unable to do it. Hence the thread. So, if it isn't game to blame, how do I set up my full backs to keep the width? I don't need them to cross, run down the line or anything special, I just want them to advance far up the pitch and hug the touchline so they stretch the opposition defensive line. My inside forwards are meant to play narrower while CM's are supposed to run from deep through the gaps created. Whatever I do, I can't find a way for full backs to position themselves high enogh (in line with opposition D-Line) to make my idea work. They venture forward only once the ball is already in attacking third which is way too late. Something like this in possession FB--------------------ST---------------------FB --------IF---------------------------IF----------- ------------CM-------------CM--------------- ---------------------DM----------------------- ------CB-------------------------CB---------- any advice?

4-2DM-3-1 Control Inspired by the tactic Cleon created in his art of possession article. The roles, duties and formation are different, but the mentality and the team instructions happen to be the same. I thought attacking mentality would be over ambitious for my Liverpool side, so went with Control, like Cleon. In terms of the team instructions, I find leaving out work ball into box and shorting passing to be more logical for the way we want to play. I want my players to shoot, and throughout the season there were quite a good amount of long shots scored by my players as well. My coaching staff tell me that most of our goals have come from crosses, although it’s a little bit misleading, because most of these have been low crosses or even passes, through balls from wide. His how the formation, roles and duties look: No extra individual instructions for players apart from the SK(D), which has: Pass it shorter, take short kicks, distribute to centre backs and fewer risky passes. The way are defence and midfield is set up we have sufficient cover. I only started using this tactic at the Arsenal match, after realising my Attacking/Flexible tactic was no longer working with the new patch update. I lost my first two matches with it, but I was impressed by the side, after hovering around mid-table during the early stages of the season, I ended up finishing third behind Tottenham and Utd. I use a lot of passionate shouts. I try vary my team talks so they don’t become repetitive. I think this tactic can win the league for me, but when I started at the Arsenal match the tactical fluidity was really low. So with a full season who knows? I train Team Cohesion on high all the time, with a least one day before the match dedicated to attacking movement. Possession is highest in the league…hopefully it will improve next season as well, closer to the 60% mark. image url 4-2DM-3-1 Control_03A14FA6-D5A4-415D-A51F-DE5D145A422E.fmf

I'm going to try and play possession football in my new save. My wingers aren't very good and I'm playing in a weak league so I've decided to give this formation a bash: GK CB CB WB (A) DM (D) WB (A) BWM (S) CM (S) AM (S) AP (A) AF (A) TIs: shorter passing, slower tempo, work ball into the box, slightly higher line, play out of defence Is this tactic viable? Are there any major issues that you can see with it?

I'd like to start a discussion about during match changes with certain tactics that I use depending on tactic AI lines up. Beside winning matches mine other goal is to create overloads and to unlock the golden zone and get most assists and defense unlock passes from there, which is contrary to long ball assists, crosses are fine since I scored a good amount of goals from crosses whcih were created by actually exploiting golden zone and making that runner free to do his thing, also transitional attacks which occur from time to time are also fine, but main goal for me is possession and goals with sturdy defense. Mine first tactic which I made from scratch by reading Lines and diamonds, reading Cleon's stuff about art of possession, and listening to Rashidi's YT channel is 41221, I'm quite proud of mine achievements with that tactic, I went unbeaten for a season with 2 draws and in second season I managed to win all of the games, but I noticed I struggled vs certain formations 4231, 4141(not all the time, tore RM in finals and they used 4141), 4132, these tactics posed quite a challenge on mine team and I had to really really micro manage team to get a wing from those, especially vs Man City 4231, now I could've camped and countered them, I have players for that, but I want to win using certain system. The system: https://ibb.co/ccCpFb basically this is mine system with minor PI's like ones for high block, medium block, dribble less for DM , Shoot less often for RB/LB and both MC's, sit narrower for AMR so he draws LB for WB(A) to run into space and GK distribution PI's During games I used TI's to adapt to certain treats and to exploit oppositions weakness, for example, droping D-line to normal vs Utd, passing into space, roaming from position TI's and changing RB role to WB(S) to counter Martia threat (utd played high press 41221 with def line standing off) so to avoid that high press I used roam, to exploit space they left I passed into space, and because I feared of Rashford Martial combo pace I went with normal D-line instead of slightly higher vs 442 I went with slightly deeper D-line, much wider, lower tempo shorter passing and patiently dragged their defense around the pitch until mine players found a hole in defense(IMO 442 is weakest formation vs good 41221) during matches I made changes to counter all sorts of threats and I can say game is really amusing when AI gets serious(like Pochetino for example) the highest threats I faced were 4231's and 4141's, Bayern gave me trouble with 2nd ECL game since they used 4141, I won in the end, but they choose to stand off and to wait for a chance to counter me, 4231's game lots of trouble to control midfield and exploit half spaces at same time, worst game of the season(game said so) was vs west Hams 4231 which used target man, I barely scraped trough them by going lower tempo shorter passing retain possession, roam from position and dropping deep, I basically lured them to me and forced them to close me down eventually which they did and I managed to score 2 times, city did different style of 4231 relying on creativity which was imo worst game, if I'm to be realistic that's only game in season I should have lost since they almost outsmarted min side, they had 2 CCC's which I think no one else had unless I had like 6, and that made me worry, in truth I could possibly change RPM(S) to CM(S) and use strong type mid to cover the ball and use him as secondary pivot in mid for higher up the pitch possession recycling, but I had a different idea. Idea: https://ibb.co/cUnjgG This is specific idea to counter 4231's Wide, I know 442 or any other 2 striker formation would work the best, problem is I don't have the players for 442 and I feel I can do mine style of play(which I described) better with 4231 Narrow, so that's why I made decision to use 4231 narrow, but min concern is it set correctly? Idea is that RB provides width and AM(S) opens space for him while CM(D) covers his runs, AP(S) should be able to work with them since he is positioned central, on other side WB(S) will bomb forward but not that often and Idea is that AM(A)(AMCL) uses the overload on right to find space which can lead him to goal scoring position, DLF(A) also has same goal as AM(A) but isn't involved as much in build up play as AM(A), so basically right side creates space for left side which scores, as how it will help me battle 4231 Wide? Well idea is to nullify their AML, AMC and AMR positions by passing trough middle and pressing their whole back side and exploiting the fact that they have only 2 CB(S) without proper DMC cover(I'm also considering dropping MC to DM strata and using HB RGA combo and changing wide AMCR and AMCL to playamker roles while switching AMC to AM(A)). So I want to hear opinions from other players about this idea of mine. https://ibb.co/bKgkMG Version with RGA idea 2nd Idea: the other idea is the one to break down 4141's and the formation which I'm considering to use is 4231 Wide, the reason for using these 3 formations is specifically min player choice, with these 3 formations I have the possibility of countering most of in game formations and mine players on the pitch can play those roles so it is easy for me to switch between formations and get that upper hand over basic formation setup. https://ibb.co/bXM8ab That's basically it, I'm confident in mine 41221 and I know with mine squad and quality in players I can out turn most formations, but after learning how mine 41221 works I want another challenge with 2 new formations for mine team. PS. I tried 4231 narrow with 2 MC's in setup versus Porto in friendly and we won it, but I'd like to hear 2nd opinion. Porto PKM: Arsenal v FCP 4231Narrow.pkm cheers and thanks for reading

Hello, I'm trying to create Pep's Barcelona. Which team shape and mentality are best to use? Please give me good answers with explanations. I looked around forums, but found several answers.

Long-time reader, infrequent poster. I thought I ought to share this league and cup double winning tactic having benefited from the insight of so many people on here. I built this tactic having taken the Arsenal job two years into the save following Wenger's retirement. (I started the save unemployed before getting the job at Swansea City and winning the Europa League and European Super Cup) Fortunately, the squad was pretty much in tact with only Monreal sold by the time I took over. I wanted to play a controlling style of football with emphasis on possession, pressing and fluidity - an attempt at emulating the 'Total Football' utilised by Michels/Cruyff. PS - I'm posting this tactic a season after I won the double. Since winning those pieces of silverware I also bagged the League Cup before losing the Premier League to Chelsea on goal difference last season - three goals, to be precise. *sob* I set my team up as follows: I find that when my team attacks and reaches the final third it becomes a 3-2-4-1 of sorts with my left back often overlapping the inside forward. The combination has proved fruitful and that is shown by the number of assists from the left wing area. The most common types of goal I score tend to be through balls from Ozil, WIlshere and Coutinho to Giroud and Oxlade-Chamberlain or crosses from Davies headed in by Giroud or finished by Ozil. Obviously there are several other types but these two seem to crop up quite a lot. I rarely score from outside the area though and would like to add that as another string to my team's bow. I haven't tweaked the Fluidity setting at all so far but do vary my side's mentality quite frequently in matches. I start most games with Control but have sometimes used Counter when playing difficult opponents, particularly away from home. If I'm looking to shut out a match, having secured a lead, I will switch to Counter or Defensive and adjust my other TIs accordingly. Usually I do this by adding Retain possession, Much lower tempo and Waste time. When I'm chasing goals I switch to Attacking and employ Higher tempo and Much higher defensive line to try and compress the opposition's space further and use the ball more urgently. If I'm really desperate and in the last 15 minutes I'll go to Overload and use Much higher tempo, Get stuck in and Shoot on sight. (I'm still tweaking my tactics for chasing goals and try different combinations as I play more of the save) Team instructions: I settled on these TIs quite quickly having read through a series of really useful posts (linked to below) but some variations that I've used in the past, with differing success, are Pass into space and Use offside trap. The latter requires a change in PIs for my centre backs from Stopper and Cover to Defend and Defend. Player instructions: GK: Goalkeeper (Defend) - Pass it shorter // Default role for the tactic which I use for Szczęsny and Mannone. However, when I use ter Stegen I employe him as a Sweeper keeper (Support) because of his unique skill set. I have found there isn't too much difference between the two roles but there are moments when an SK is particularly useful in a team playing with a high defensive live. This includes intercepting long balls sent over the top of your defence and instigating counter-attacks. DR: Full back (Support) - Run wide with ball // I used Sagna here until he got a bit too old and then switched to Stones last season. I prefer tallish full backs in this position as they don't get forward as much as the left back and often deal with aerial clearances from the opposition. DRC: Central defender (Stopper) - Mark tighter // I use Koscielny and Vermaelen here who are getting on a bit but have great mental stats, useful for tutoring younger players, and can still get the job done. DLC: Central defender (Cover) - Mark tighter // Eventually I'm hoping to make Dier a Ball playing defender with Cover duty as he has the required skills and gives me another creative option from deep. My first choice until recently was Nkoulou but he's upset I rejected an offer from Monaco and his performances started to drop. DL: Full back (Attack) - Run wide with ball // A really important attacking outlet for this tactic, as odd as it seems to say for a defender. Constantly provides overlaps and crosses into the box for Giroud and Kane. I use Davies and Gibbs presently but used to have Bernat who was one of the best performing players in the Premier League for the two seasons I had him. Average rating was 7.38 in his final season with us before Real Madrid bought him for £36.5m - kerching! MCR: Central midfielder (Support) // I try not to have more than one PI for each position as I have quite a lot of TIs for this tactic and don't need any in this position. Wilshere is really good from deep and gets further forward to support the attack when I use Attacking or Overload mentality - has scored some crucial goals at the death. Ramsey is the other player I use here and he brings distance shooting and long range passing qualities I otherwise don't have. I'd like to be able to play both at the same time. MCL: Central midfielder (Defend) - Mark tighter // I like tall players here as I've noticed a lot of what they do is dealing with aerial clearances from the opposition's defence when I have them under the cosh. Enriquez and Rodwell work well in winning the ball in the air and laying it off to one of the attacking players to start another attack and keep the pressure on. However, I got Bender in this year as he was available for a good price and he brings a more physical defensive presence - a couple of times his challenges high up the pitch have led to quickly taken goals. I play him as a Ball winning midfielder with Defend duty. AMR: Winger (Attack) - Get further forward // Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott give me width, pace and crosses from the right hand side but their main threat is running in behind defences and finishing in the corner. Ox scored 28 goals (all competitions) in the season I won the double. I instruct them to Stay forward in Set pieces and they have picked up a good few goals, corners and free kicks by attacking on the break. AMC: Advanced playmaker (Attack) - Roam from position // I have Ozil - the Kings of Assists. Basically, he's brilliant and scores goals as well as creating them. In the last two seasons his average rating has been 7.67 and 7.41 with Cazorla relieving him when he's rested. AML: Inside forward (Support) - Sit narrower // Coutinho and Rotariu are becoming really good in this position and it's fun to see them pick the ball up in the final third with lots of options available. Davies running down the left, Ozil and Giroud in front of him, Ox to the right and Wilshere square. One of the main strength's of this tactic is the consistent overload it creates down the left hand side and, touch wood, will continue to be a reliable supply of goal-scoring opportunities. ST: Advanced forward (Attack) - Shoot more often // Default role for the tactic but I always put Giroud and Kane as Target man (Attack) because of their skill set and it's really useful to have an aerial threat up top. Giroud has scored 29 and 24 goals in the last two seasons with Podolski also banging in a few before he was sold. (Got old and fell out with me) The added height also gives me extra protection at defensive set pieces which is useful in a team with quite a few short players and particularly when playing the likes of Pulis / Alladyce. Thanks for reading and I hope I've included everything that's needed. Feel free to ask any questions about the tactic or pass on some advice, best of luck! Recommended reading: How to Play FM14: A Twelve Step Guide How to Play FM14: A Twelve Step Guide [Ext] Shouting Strategies: Defensive Counter-pressing; Or Why Aggressive Is An Absolute Pre-Requisite In FM14 Football Manager 2014 Staff Requirements Youth In FM14: Getting 5 star regens How To Develop Youth In FM 2014

I don't know why I find this save so much fun but it's rapidly consuming any time I spend playing FM. You'll be joining me from the 2nd Season onwards. After a first season of massive highs where we finished 2nd against pre-season expectations of a disappointing 8th. Led by a fantastic cohort of Youth that's injected the club and it's supporters with hopes of ending a 21 year long drought. Into the 2nd Season we've kept up that momentum, launching a great Europa League campaign. Setting up a Playoff vs Croatian side Rijeka Next batch of updates will be more History behind the club, the squad, including transfers in and out that I and the board (Prepare for despair) have conducted and the Europa League Playoff as we target the Group Stage.

@Cleon @Rashidi Maybe you guys can help me or anyone else for that matter Hi, So I've started a new game after testing out some tactics with a previous save. I've started a Possession based 4-2-3-1 there are no shouts except for: Possession Short passing Offside trap Low pace Depending on the opposition either exploit the center, or the wings. started with cleaning up the team a bit, sold Elneny and Sanchez(since you can't offer him a new contract) . bought Kasper Dolberg, Mathijs de Ligt and Thomas Lemar. what i want to create is: slow paced possession build from the back creativity clever trough balls I've let the assistant handle the friendly matches because i want players to get fit. and not focusing on tactics. i've played a few games now; (watched them all extended) Chelsea community shield. Neutral p0-0 win (they played without Eden Hazard and Alexis Sanchez) Bournemouth Away 2-2 (played deeper, defending wingbacks because of the fast paced counters they play) Liverpool Home 3-1 ( fantastic game, possession wise, chances created, and defending) Manchester United Away 1-2 (this was a Stalemate although they hardly created any real chances, finally score the 1-0, Pogba gets a red card in the 60th minute, they score the equalizer from a killer [blind] pass, in the 94th minute Giroud shoots, hits the aluminium, the ball rolls against De Gea, into the goal 2-1) Chelsea PL Home 0-1 (Alexis Scored a rebound goal) (we have the majority of possession, Chelsea get hardly any chance. their leftback (i think it was Azpilicueta) gets a second yellow. but we can't seem to turn the game around. Buducnost Home 2-0 i played a complete B-squad (we had 65% possession, 30 shots far to few CCC's, first goal came from a direct free kick in de 70th minute or so (thanks Lemar) (worrying, but playing a very small league club so understandably they park the bus) Southampton Away 0-0 (this is where is started to notice the problem, because i play slow paced possession football, there is great build-up from the back. but no real chances. the wingers either throw the ball terribly in the box, or go inside (as IF) and get stopped by the wall of defenders) parts of what i want to see works the ball is distributed to the the center back or the wing backs, they build up to the midfielders, to the Advanced play maker or wingers, into the box and either a chance is created or it is defended. the opposition either plays a long ball which is defended by the center back and picked up by the midfielders or striker/winger. then the build-up starts all over again. i have the striker and wingers to press more same with the ball winning midfielder the center backs don't press much and don't close down (i don't want fast strikers or wingers break on a deep ball i play with a offside trap the full backs are one defense because I've noticed the wings to be weak (I've noticed way too many goals come from low crosses into the box to the near post) most touches and combinations go between Ozil and Ramsey / Xhaka what i want to achieve is, just like the actual Arsenal is to play slow paced, possession football, with trough balls around the opposition box. but now there is too much played to the wingers that either go wide (Winger support) or go inside, and run with the ball (IF support/attack) i want them to take time and look for better passing options or, play back and shift the play to the other side of the field. please let me know if i need to give additional information! the general setup is:

Mediafire link: https://www.mediafire.com/download/4hwzwd7i2ofaya4 Hi guys, I'm new to this and I thought it would be nice to share the formation that has worked wonders for me in my save in FM16. I manage Arsenal, and I've played for three seasons and am in December in my fourth. I've won the following 1 Champions League 2 EPL titles 3 Capital One Cups 1 FA Cup 1 Club World Cup The tactic has proven to be very effective against all kinds of teams including possession based sides and counter attacking teams. I seem to score all kinds of goals from counters, or during a lengthy possession spell. It is very important to have pacy fullbacks who can beat their man, and that's why Bellerin and Jorge are two of my best players. Also having a pacy striker with good dribbling and passing ability as well as teamwork and vision is paramount even if he's not the best finisher around. My top striker is Gabriel Barbosa who is also a pretty good winger, and has all the qualities listed above. Another important aspect is ensuring that my AMC is playing a role that means he comes deeper to get the ball, because my defensive midfielder will rarely get forward or run with the ball. This is why I use advanced playmaker with attack duty. I don't play my AML & AMR as wingers because my fullbacks can fulfill those crossing duties. All I need is one extra ball player and one player who looks to get into the box and support the striker which is why one of my wide midfielders is an advanced playmaker and the other is an inside forward with support duty (Not attack because I need him to track back often). I also have the "look for overlap" instruction enabled so my fullbacks look to get forward and deliver deadly crosses into the box. The play out of defence instruction means the team will often look to build play from the back and my defenders will not immediately play a long ball after my goalkeeper has played it short to them. The control mentality means my team will look to hold possession, but paired with higher tempo, the team also does well on counters. You could also use an attacking mentality, it has worked for me when I've tried it, but I'm too chicken to use it consistently, even though I know it doesn't mean I'll immediately be open at the back. I've given my center backs instructions to close down less so as to avoid them getting caught out of position. This is very important as I've tried it without the personal instructions and we would always get opened up by teams with fast strikers and good AMC or teams that played 4-1-1-1. I hope you have fun with it, and please feel free to leave a comment if you feel it can be improved upon. Also feel free to look at the player instructions and let me know if any changes can be made to do better. PS: I'm a bit of a novice at FM games, I only started in 2013, and as such, my tactic may not be universal. I've only used it in this save and with Arsenal, and so I don't know how it would work with other teams.

I'm trying to create a possession playing style in which the team play a mid-high block with a slight pressing preference off the ball, and play controlled football through a deep-lying playmaker before playing more expansively when an opportunity arises. Ideally I'd like the team to concentrate on playing in and around the opponents third, and exploiting the space they make if they try to pressure my team off the ball. The creative, expansive movement of my forward players would be crucial to unlocking a team that is happy to allow us to control the game. Currently I'm thinking: Mentality: Control Team Shape: Fluid Formation: Any with at least a four man back line and a minimum of three midfielders Team Instructions: Retain Possession, Exploit the Middle I'm confused because of the idea that mentality is about risk, meaning that higher mentalities make possession retention and a lower tempo a bad choice, yet with mentalities such as Counter, I can expect less time on the ball because of a more consolidated approach to defending. How can a good possession game be possible? Is my idea of playing even typical possession football? Does my setup look right? What would you guys recommend I consider? Any help will be hugely appreciated!

Hello guys, I'm new to the forum but I certainly am not new to Football Manager. I've been playing it with love and dedication for a decade. And yet, since a few years, I'm having some difficulty in recreating *my* kind of football. I like the fact that the IA is now actively trying to counter your tactics, and I like spending my time to watch the games in "extensive mode" and do the nedeed tweaks to win a match. What I don't like is my inability to recreate the kind of football I want with my team. ---SMALL COMPLAINT ABOUT THE GAME-- (skip it if you want to read the actual tactical question) I think it's because you don't have the freedom with tactics you had in previous versions. Stupid example: I can't ask my wingers to dribble less. All wingers must dribble a lot, that's it. If I want them to simply stay wide and pass back instead of going on their little adventures on the flank all on their own, I can't do that without completely changing their role and mentality - thus changing the overall tactics and positionings, too. Other examples: fullbacks with attacking mentality will always cross a lot, you can't ask them to go up and yet cross less at the same time. Or, you can't have a creative player with "flair freedom" (which has become a "secret" instruction, but I'm sure it's still there in the game engine) without making him a playmaker, or raising the flair freedom for the whole team. It's a bit frustrating, and it's very unrealistic. --TACTICAL QUESTION-- This is the main focus of this thread. I want to make my team play like this: - patiently keep the ball, with quick but simple passes, until you bottle your opponents in their own box - break the opponent's defense with quick one-twos, movement off the ball and through balls, with the main objective of feeding the striker with easy, one on one chances with the opponent's keeper - off the ball movement is therefore very important; most of my attacking players, even the creative ones, should regulargly attempt to make runs past the defense and give their teammate a passing opportunity - my flank players should stay wide to prevent the opponent's box from becoming too congested, but attacking on the flanks should be limited as I don't like to force crosses until one connects... it's not my philosophy and I think there's no place for such a tactic in modern soccer. What shape should I use to obtain this? Which instrusctions should I prefer? Because I can't, for the love of me, create such a kind of soccer, that ironically should have its main strenght in its semplicity. -- WHAT I DID (AND FAILED)-- I'm playing with Lazio, and I'm on my third season. I'm actually competing for the first place, but results are not an issue. I play with a 4-2-3-1 formation, with three very creative and techinques center offensive midfielders. I have Immobile as a striker, and he's a guy who scores most of the chances he gets - even though he's not extremely fast and mostly useless with headers. Most of the time my opponents park the bus, completely isolating him, and my offensive midfielders either try to reach him with long passes (in spite of me trying every way to tell them to be patient and slowly cover the distance) or pass to the fullbacks, who inevitably make bad crosses to my aerial inept lone striker. Moreover, my three creative players rarely do one-twos, or through balls into the box for that matter, even though I can see many opportunities to do so - and besides, my opponents do that just fine, so why can't I? What am I doing wrong, what should I look for? Is my kind of foobtall still feasible in football manager, or is the game made so that if you don't like a certain kind of football (which is, in my opinion, old-fashioned and ineffective, at least in real life) you'll get punished? Thank you for reading all this, I'm eager to read your opinions on the matter

So I bought the new Football Manager and tried to play the Swansea Way. And of course failed miserably once and again, the highlights being 0-4 home defeats to Huddersfield and Sunderland. Inspired by both of Cleon's Art of Possession and the Back to Basics by Herne, I created a possession tactic using defensive mentality: Highly Structured / Defensive Retain Possession, Push Higher Up, Roam From Positions, Close Down Much More The possession numbers have been good, usually around 60% but it seems like possession for the sake of it. We can't create any clear cut chances and the shots on target percentage is far from the 50% Cleon always mentions. When the striker or the winger gets the ball, he usually just dribbles until he loses it and nobody is making forward runs, not even the CM Attack. Defensively we keep making stupid mistakes and sometimes it seems they are not even trying. All in all, the system reminds of Aitor Karanka's Middlesbrough in real life. No penetration at all and very poor defending. How to make Swansea great again?

So mine question or a matter I would like to receive advice in is mine Half Back in high press system, I'm aware that defense wise Half Back mainly acts as a screen and shifts his position like sort of anchorman and closes down opposing player with the ball, now mine question would be would he and mine time in general benefit from setting him to close down even more and tighter marking? but that draws another question, would mine CBs benefit from close down less instruction then? if he is already closing down opposition and limiting their passing lanes would it be beneficial if CBs closed less and remained in ther spots so that they don't come after same opponent as HB leaving me exposed? Next question on matter would be how would them 3 perform in offside trap system? And final would be would WBs(FBs) take the same benefit from close down less if it is possible or would it be better for them to have more closing down so that they press higher up the pitch? On note mine system uses: Mark tighter, slightly higher def line, Offside trap, be more disciplined, stick to positions on Control mentality with fluid team shape I think those are all of the TIs that affect defence. P.S. I cn provide screen shots of current TIs and PIs of players spoken of if needed

Thanks to @Cleon, I have created a very good possession-based tactic. I am in my second year ingame (16/17), FM16. I had this tactic from a previous save and I haven't changed anything in my second ingame year, it's the same from day one. As you can see in the images below, it's working: The problem? My problem is that my wingers and my complete wing backs tend to not cross while in position of crossing. They are in the following area: and instead of crossing, they prefer to pass the ball outside the penalty area to my DLP, BWM or AMC. It's happening very often (I would say 8 times out of 10) and it's getting very annoying. My Control 4-2-3-1 Wide tactic: -Formation and Team Instructions: -Player Instructions (Complete Wing Back R and L are the same, Winger R and L are the same): And my Attacking 4-2-3-1 Wide tactic (in case it's informative): -Formation and Team Instructions: -Player Instructions (Complete Wing Back R and L are the same, Winger R and L are the same): What I always do, in terms of approaching matches, is to play 15'-30' with my attacking tactic and 60'-75' with the control tactic. I never use the control tactic for the whole 90 minutes and I never change TI's or PI's while in a match. What I sometimes do, is to swap my wingers and change them to IF's (both on support duty in my control tactic and both on attack duty in my attacking tactic) and I am doing that because in the Greek league, the opposition tends to use a very defensive tactic against me. But I am doing it for a maximum of 15'-30', most of the times I am playing with wingers. I know that, the way the control tactic is set up, it's not that risky. But, as you can see from the PIs, even those aggressive ones don't help. This thing doesn't happen with my attacking tactic, but I can't use my attacking tactic it for the whole 90' cause it's very aggressive and doesn't help with possession. What can I do about it? PS. The problem didn't appear in my second year. It was happening in the first year as well.

PRESS & PASS for FM2017 I had huge success in FM2016 with a very similiar tactic taking Ipswich to Champions' League glory and domestic dominance and I've updated and tweaked it for FM2017 with some successful results. My Ipswich team has one of the lowest wage and transfer budgets but sits in 2nd place and is in the final of the EFL Cup. The formation is a 433 with with an emphasis on a high press and short passing possession football played at a high tempo (I could envisage a top side playing in a similiar way to Klopp's current Liverpool team). With my relatively poor Ipswich team I have the top scorer, top assist maker, top team possession, top completed passes, top team goals only the 7th best defence. It's set up as counter attack mentality but I do switch to control against significantly weaker opposition. Player Requirements: Goalkeeper: Nothing particularly special though I do place a premium on reflexes and one-on-ones Centre Backs: Your usual defensive stats but have at least one relatively quick player with good anticipation and positioning in the 'cover' role as the higher line and pressing of the team will leave room at the back for the opposition to exploit and this guy is key to stopping those iritating break away goals Full backs: These guys are key to your success, I have one decent fullback and he's in double figures for assists, look for pace, off the ball, crossing and workrate - Jack Hunt absolutely smashed the assists when I had him on 2016 but he's well out of my price range at the moment. Central Midfielders: The key attribute for these guys is work rate, if you have a lazy guy in any of these positions it will kill your team. Look to place the most attack minded player in the advanced play-maker role and don't be frightened to tweak it to a roaming play-maker if it suits the attributes; this chap is the creative hub that keeps the ball moving and laying on the passes for the false nines and full backs to set up chances. Your best finisher should be your box to box midfielder, especially if he has good long shots. Your most defensive minded guy should be in the ball winning role. False nines: The guys are your second key player, like your full backs, they create chances for your team and they score them too. Look for good off the ball, first touch and passing as your key attributes; pace, passing, crossing and finishing are a bonus. Advanced Forward: The goal Machine, my one signing for cash (£750,000) has 25 goals in 30 games in all competitions. You have a choice here, you can go for out and out speed and finishing to latch onto the chances your FBs and F9s will create, this works well but if you have a strong player who is still fairly quick for your division they will be able to hold off opponents and score. Please feel free to download and let me know how you get on. 433 press & pass_2017.fmf

HEl **For download link, please read disclaimer at the bottom of the article** **Scroll down for TACTIC TWEAK, better results slightly less possession** I’ll start off and state possession stats mean NOTHING, as Wigan recently proved after pipping Pep in the Fa Cup, but it’s nice to have possession and control the tempo of a game, right? This is the idea behind this tactic, my sole focus is on playing possession football and hoping results will follow. It’s too easy to exploit the match engine on FM18 (3 striker formations), so instead I’m aiming to play beautiful football. So before I go into the tactic and how we’ll be playing, here’s the final league table and the average possession stats after 38 games. 1 point separating 1st and 4th. 7000 more passes than any other team in the league. This is the base of this FM18 Tactic, it’s not to win every game 6-0 (though 3 central strikers exploiting the broken match engine would probably achieve this) it’s to control the tempo of every game we play, regardless of the opposition. Shape is everything, and I wanted to create a system where my players always have more than 1/2 options to pass the ball, I therefore needed a shape with as many ‘triangles’ as I like to call it, as possible. Here’s the shape, the most eye catching part of our tactical set up is the 2 red zones on each wing, where we seem to be missing wing backs! I do tend to ignore these warnings, as generally my wide midfielders will fill in with their defensive duties. Instruction wise, here is how we’re setting up: As you can see, we’re playing SO narrow and the reason behind this is to completely overload the midfield so we can gain control. If we for example were to play wide, then our weaknesses (red zones) would be open for exploitation. A much lower tempo allows us to control the game and frustrate the opposition. IMPORTANT **Tip #1** As with any FM tactic, we’ll have games where it just isn’t going to plan. As this is a very expansive formation, we’ll get picked off if for example, we are down to 10 men. It’s so important to manage these situations. If we can pretend Ozil is invisible(which he’s pretty good at for Arsenal in real life in some games), here is how I tend to change when down to 10 men > **Tip #2** Away from home, if you’re struggling results wise please do consider using the v2 of this tactic which is the 3-5-2 for more solidity. Also, there’ll be games when we’re not playing well, this happens regardless of what tactic you use or what style of play you operate. A key switch of shape is needed to stabilise the performance, again I switch to a 3-5-2> If for example we’re only 1-0 down or we’re drawing on 70 mins, I’ll tend to change back to a 3-4-2-1 and take a risk for a potential victory. **Tip #3** This is all about key player attributes to look out for when signing players. As this is an expansive formation, our transitions from attack to defence and from defence to attack is so important. Therefore, this tactic is more suited to players with HIGH natural fitness and stamina. Please do bear this in mind when selecting your team and picking out transfer targets. Match Stats So you’ve seen how the league table ended, but below are some example matches and match stats> # Download link? Please do download here > https://defencefirstfm.com/2018/02/21/my-fm18-possession-tactic-3-4-2-1/ (scroll to the bottom) Thank you for reading and I hope this draws some tactical inspiration for your own saves. **Disclaimer** This tactic is designed for teams predicted to finish near the top of the league and is solely focused on possession football, so please bear this in mind. Share this:

I'd like to share a tactic I made for mine Arsenal side, I'm not after likes or sorts I'm mostly after seeing is it good on overall base since it was made around mine current squad. The ones I'm most interested about are PRESA series of tactics which are Control based 451, Attacking based 451 and Control based 4231 DM WIDE, so if anyone has spare time on his hands and is willing to try them out and provide info here is a link to FM base where I posted whole description and analysis on the few tactics I made: http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/share-download-fm-17-tactics/366119-little-mozart.html Cheers and thanks for your time

So I've started a new game after testing out some tactics with a previous save. I've started a Possession based 4-2-3-1 there are no shouts except for: Possession Short passing Offside trap Low pace Depending on the opposition either exploit the center, or the wings. started with cleaning up the team a bit, sold Elneny and Sanchez(since you can't offer him a new contract) . bought Kasper Dolberg, Mathijs de Ligt and Thomas Lemar. what i want to create is: slow paced possession build from the back creativity clever trough balls I've let the assistant handle the friendly matches because i want players to get fit. and not focusing on tactics. i've played a few games now; (watched them all extended) Chelsea community shield. Neutral p0-0 win (they played without Eden Hazard and Alexis Sanchez) Bournemouth Away 2-2 (played deeper, defending wingbacks because of the fast paced counters they play) Liverpool Home 3-1 ( fantastic game, possession wise, chances created, and defending) Manchester United Away 1-2 (this was a Stalemate although they hardly created any real chances, finally score the 1-0, Pogba gets a red card in the 60th minute, they score the equalizer from a killer [blind] pass, in the 94th minute Giroud shoots, hits the aluminium, the ball rolls against De Gea, into the goal 2-1) Chelsea PL Home 0-1 (Alexis Scored a rebound goal) (we have the majority of possession, Chelsea get hardly any chance. their leftback (i think it was Azpilicueta) gets a second yellow. but we can't seem to turn the game around. Buducnost Home 2-0 i played a complete B-squad (we had 65% possession, 30 shots far to few CCC's, first goal came from a direct free kick in de 70th minute or so (thanks Lemar) (worrying, but playing a very small league club so understandably they park the bus) Southampton Away 0-0 (this is where is started to notice the problem, because i play slow paced possession football, there is great build-up from the back. but no real chances. the wingers either throw the ball terribly in the box, or go inside (as IF) and get stopped by the wall of defenders) parts of what i want to see works the ball is distributed to the the center back or the wing backs, they build up to the midfielders, to the Advanced play maker or wingers, into the box and either a chance is created or it is defended. the opposition either plays a long ball which is defended by the center back and picked up by the midfielders or striker/winger. then the build-up starts all over again. i have the striker and wingers to press more same with the ball winning midfielder the center backs don't press much and don't close down (i don't want fast strikers or wingers break on a deep ball i play with a offside trap the full backs are one defense because I've noticed the wings to be weak (I've noticed way too many goals come from low crosses into the box to the near post) most touches and combinations go between Ozil and Ramsey / Xhaka what i want to achieve is, just like the actual Arsenal is to play slow paced, possession football, with trough balls around the opposition box. but now there is too much played to the wingers that either go wide (Winger support) or go inside, and run with the ball (IF support/attack) i want them to take time and look for better passing options or, play back and shift the play to the other side of the field. please let me know if i need to give additional information! the general setup is: So I've been tweaking my tactics a bit. to get a bit more depth and dare in the game the first match was against a Sky bet 1 team so a good opportunity to try it out a simple 4-0 victory with some B-squad players. although I'm not happy about the possession % The next match was a great test to tweak some more a Home game versus West Ham as you can see they have had a great run. time to end it. I watched the whole match again and did some on the go tweaking. tighter marking on Sakho and Obiang. the first 2 goals came from corners so that's not all tactics. during the second half, I switched the wingers back and put Lemar as a Raumdauter since Zabaleta was winning every duel. i changed Ozil back to a playmaker role instead of Trequerista, and Ramsey to Box to Box midfielder West Ham created nearly nothing, and most of West Ham's attacking situations we're created from own mistakes or loose balls Seems like the tactics are coming together now, except for the following problem; I seem to own home games, and mid-tier away games.. but I could use some help tweaking for teams parking the bus. playing 5-2-2-1 or 4-4-1-1 any suggestions are welcome

I posted a tactical update in my AEK career update thread but thought I would post a copy here to try to elicit some discussion about my tactics I use with AEK Athens. Tactical Analysis: Controlling the possession. Counter-attacking at pace. Creating Clear Cut Chances. I manage AEK Athens in the Greek Superleague OPAP. I am in the second season and the bookies don't give me much of a chance for the league title. Which is fair, given the players at my disposal and the fact we finished quite far off Panathinaikos last season. Compared to teams in the Champions League and we're given even less of a chance. The football I want us to employ is very basic. Sit back when in possession, keeping the ball away from the opposition. Draw out the opposition and work the ball around them in the middle of the pitch using our numerical advantage afforded to us by having three midfielders and three attacking midfielders. I want slow, methodical passing at the back and between the midfield. When the opposition is forced to commit more players forwards in an attempt to win the ball back from us, this is when we need to catch them on the break using a range of quick passes, fluid movement and through-balls. In the Superleague, most teams play with two central defenders, so we play with three attacking midfielders to overload them. Most teams play with two central midfielders, so we play with three central midfielders to overload them. What this allows us to do it build up play easier through the middle by making use of the extra man. Because we have this extra man it will typically pull in an opposition wide player, and this is where my wing-backs come in handy. Their job is to exploit the vacant space out wide. Whilst we typically will only play through the middle, it is useful having that option when things get a little congested. It also helps to stretch the play when we need a bit more room to work in. Now for the hard part. Putting those thoughts into practice. Playing Style As discussed we are looking to create a playing style that: Has a defensive line that recycles possession, plays with a much lower tempo and draws out the opposition. Looks to exploit the numerical advantage we will have through the central areas with short passing. Affords the players a level of creativity to pick the right passes when unlocking the opposition defence. Not being afraid to play a risky pass to reap to the high rewards. Free flowing movement, creating multiple passing options for the man in possession. Surging runs forward to break offside traps and create one-on-one opportunities when the through ball finds its intended target. To achieve this, I employ a Very Fluid team shape along with the Control mentality. I want us moving up the pitch together when we're attacking and working as a unit together when defending, we're going to be somewhat exploitable on the wings so we need more bodies at the back to protect from the crosses. However, the central midfielders should move across to cover the wings. The Team Shape instructions look like this: Tempo: Much Lower. This allows us to retain possession of the ball, without using the retain possession instruction. I don't want to retain possession all over the pitch, for example, I don't want us keeping the ball in the final third of the pitch. I want us to keep the ball at the back and work the ball around the midfield, but when the opportunity comes for a quick break I want my players to have the freedom to play a risky ball to unlock the defence. Width: Fairly Narrow. Whilst we will inevitably be narrow by virtue of the player positions and roles, I want to enforce the mantra of keeping the ball flowing through the middle of the pitch The Defence instructions look like this: Use Tighter Marking. As I alluded to earlier, we have limited presence on the wings, so I use tighter marking to ensure my defenders stay with their man when the balls are crossed into the box. This is perhaps a contentious issue, given the effectiveness of crossing, but I like to believe the fluid team shape allows for more bodies in the box and this helps keep the opposition covered. I also want to suffocate opposition attacks and remove passing options for them to force them into making a mistake. Tackling: Stay on Feet. A simple one really. I don't want my players diving into challenges. If you're on your feet when winning the ball you can distribute it a lot quicker and maintain possession rather than sliding in and losing control of the second ball. The Build-Up instructions look like this: Passing: Play out of Defence, Exploit the Middle. With the low tempo encouraging possession football and the controlled build up I want to employ, it makes sense to ask the defence to play their way out from the back. Our fluid shape allows for options to do this. The Attack instructions look like this: Dribbling: Dribble Less. I don't want the team looking to retain possession of the ball in the final third by dribbling their way out of trouble. Rather I would prefer them to look to the extra man to make a pass to, or to fire a through ball over the defence to create a better opportunity. It is going to get pretty congested in the middle of the pitch and we don't have a Messi. So this instruction should make the players look for better options. Freedom of Movement: Roam from Positions. It could be argued that our fluid shape allows for more freedom of movement. But I want to emphasise that we should be looking to move freely and draw the opposition out of position. The players need to be available for each other in order that we don't concede possession cheaply. The formation, the player roles and their duties This is the team starting formation. The defence: Our back line is fairly standard. Either side of our central defenders are Wing-Backs on a support duty to offer some width when there the central areas become too congested. My Wing-Backs are afforded a lot of space out wide due to the opposition wide players being forced inwards to cover the extra man we will have against their central players. On a support duty the Wing-Backs contribute to the through balls to the Shadow Strikers further ahead. The are instructed to keep wide, cross more often and to try more risky passes. The central midfield: A very simple three across the middle. A Deep Lying Playmaker is flanked by two Central Midfielders. I don't have any specific instructions for my Playmaker. I think the Central Midfielder role is so undervalued. It is so dynamic and allows you to make changes to the role in game if you need to as you're not restricted to any instructions imposed by the role type. They will balance their attacking and defensive duties, and are perfect for pinging through-balls into my attacking midfielders. To promote this I ask them to play more direct and risky passes. They are also instructed to move into channels to try and stretch the play a little, and to mark tighter. The attacking midfield: The glue that holds our attacking play together is my Enganche. Vieirinha. With 6 assists in 8 games and a 91% passing accuracy, he is key to everything in the final third. He will sit in the middle, drawing out the opposition, creating space for my Shadow Strikers to burst through on goal. He doesn't have any specific instructions and neither do my Shadow Strikers. So, with an explanation of the setup, here is how all of that translates where it counts. On the pitch. The Result of our Play From the league so far we dominate possession, with over 61% on average each game. This is helped by completing 88% of passes, which is also the highest in the league. The quality of the chances we're creating also translated into our superior shooting accuracy. We have more shots on goal than any other team and the best accuracy, due to the quality of chances being created. It is not just the league where we are ahead, in the Champions League we have the highest passing accuracy of 87% and the highest average possession of over 63% during games. To give you an example of the chances we create, this is from my last match. where all but one of our attempts was from inside the box. A few most stats from the current season. Most of our goals are placed shots created by through-balls. Analysis of our Attacking play When we have the ball, we're setup as you would expect. A lot of our build up play is similar to the below. I have provided a couple of examples from the same match. Goal one. In this, my Deep Lying Playmaker (Enzo Zidane) starts with the ball in the middle of the pitch. My Wing-Backs begin to move forwards and my central midfielders are looking to come and offer options for the pass. In this build up, the Deep Lying Playmaker passes to his left to the Central Midfielder who forwards the ball to the Shadow Striker offering himself (shown by the red dotted lines) When the Shadow Striker receives the ball he is immediately looking for the Enganche. And whilst it doesn't look like the pass is possible here, the fluid movement of the team creates space for him to receive the ball. Once in possession of the ball, the Enganche is facing goal and looking for passing options forward. My Central Midfielders and Shadow Strikers are all running forwards ready for a splitting pass. Already the opposition Full-Backs are far too wide here, meaning their two Central Defenders are going to have to contend with four rushing midfielders. My Shadow Striker receives the ball to the right. The Full-Back has been drawn inside now, but the Central Defender doesn't have the positional sense to drop infield to cover the on rushing players. As you can see there's a huge gap that has opened up by our quick counter-attacking play. The opposition does not have time to get back into their defensive shape. The Shadow Striker plays a perfect ball into my on-rushing Central Midfielder for an easy goal. As you can see from the above, a lot of our play is predicated on slow build-up from the back, fast play in the final third to disrupt the opposition. Retaining possession wouldn't allow us to do this, but playing with a lower tempo and the roles we have allow for this type of play to flow. Here are some more examples from the same game, in which we created 27 chances, despite being away from home. Goal two. Here again, we have the ball deep, we've moved it quickly to the Enganche who has spotted the runs of my players and manages to play a lovely ball over the top for the Shadow Striker to run onto. We have a three against one overload here, and although the covering defender manages to get back, the simple pass is on to create an opportunity for the other Shadow Striker. Another simple goal. Goal three. And this time slightly deeper, my Central Midfielder who is instructed to play more direct and risky passes, picks out my Shadow Striker yet again. Another simple goal scored by being patient, keeping the ball and then being explosive when the exploitable opportunities arise. Analysis of our Defensive play It's a lot easier showing defensive shape and play with videos. Unfortunately, SI are yet to fix video exporting for mac. So, I will highlight with a picture and some GIFs to try and show you how we are always swarming the opposition, giving them no time or space on the ball. Restricting their options before forcing them into a mistake. Defensively the shape is quite standard as you'd expect from the formation and instructions. Our back four is easily covering the onrushing attacker. The midfield three create a second wall to force them to try and pass through and the attacking three block the ball moving backwards. The only option is the inside ball (which is this scenario was cut out by my player) or a long cross field ball to the spare two on the other side of the pitch. But the ball isn't there so we don't worry about that. From the below it is easier to show the players movement towards the man with the ball. Always staying on their feet waiting for the right opportunity to nip the ball away before launching into a quick counter attack. This starts from a throw, they manage to move the ball about quite nicely, but we remain patient and when the right time comes we step in, take the ball away and then we're launching into another devastating counter attack and create a new opportunity to score. In this example, their wide player has no space to move in-field and no passing options. He is forced out wide where he eventually crosses into the box for an easy catch for my keeper. Finally, the opposition works the ball wide again here, but their wide player has no options ahead. He has a choice to dribble wider or pass in-field. He managed to find a player to pass to, but our numerical advantage is too much and again we easily win the ball back from them. The Conclusion We've managed to create a system that floods the central areas of the pitch and overloads the opposition defence, making it hard for them to pick up a man each as it leaves a free man. Moving the ball about quickly with fluid movement allows us to disrupt the opposition system and exploit the free man. Defensively, we're a little vulnerable on the wings, but we pack the defence enough to cope with crosses and my central defenders. Thank you for reading. I'd welcome any comments, questions or corrections to anything I've written above. Oliver Jensen