Creating a Tactic – From the Beginning

[Cleon]

Possession football seems a desired play-style amongst the Football Manager faithful, yet it seems to cause a lot of confusion especially on a higher mentality structure like control or attacking. While possession tactics on Football Manager are simple to create, they’re not if you use a higher mentality due to higher the mentality, higher the risk and faster play will be. When thinking about possession on Football Manager you immediately think lower mentalities are better suited because they are more cautious. While this is true to some extent but it’s not the only way of having lots of possession. So for this article I will be using a control or attacking mentality to highlight how to have success this way. All the current tactics and articles we see always focus on the lower mentalities because it’s easier to achieve but that’s not what the user is always looking for.

One thing I would like to clear up before we start the article though is how possession works. People always throw real life percentages around when talking about Football Manager but don’t realise that how Football Manager and most analysis sites workout possession is very different. So if we start by looking at someone like Opta then we can see how they measure possession.

When you are watching a football match every once in awhile you’ll see flashed up on the screen a statistic showing how much “ball possession” each team has had. Opta explains how this statistic is computed:

There are several data providers out there in the UK and across the world monitoring games, from TV companies themselves for live games, to specialists like Opta. Each has their own method of working out possession. Some use calculations based on the data, but most use a “chess clock” approach where each team has a button which is hit when they are in possession. Some do this in the broadcast truck, others have analysts who call it out and inputters who hit the buttons.

Opta used this method originally, but the problem we found with a chess clock approach for time is that you are reliant on the person logging the data remembering to hit the button and the person doing it usually has other tasks to perform and other data to log.

Missing a couple of switches obviously skews the possession figures and it’s impossible to go back and change it. It may not sound much but one minute where the clock is wrong can affect the possession figures by two to three percentage points. Opta now record possession in a football match by means of an automated calculation based on the number of passes that a team has in a game. We have two analysts, each monitoring one of the teams and they log each event in a game, totalling between 1600 and 2000 events per match.

Each of these events has a timecode plus an xy co-ordinate and the collection system is rigorously monitored by our team of checkers. During the game, the passes for each team are totalled up and then each team’s total is divided by the game total to produce a percentage figure which shows the percentage of the game that each team has accrued in possession of the ball.

For Opta “ball possession” means percentage of completed passes, and is not a measure of time, though Opta does claim that the two are very closely related.

That is how Opta work their possession out which seems reasonable enough. However Football Manager handles it different to how Opta now works.

Football Manager still uses the old method of the ‘chess clock’ to record possession. But what does that mean? Well it means that the difference in methodologies between them and Opta cannot be accounted for. One of the main differences between the two methods but be an example like this;

Team A is under real pressure and the ball is put out of play by Team B. Team A could take a minute or longer to put the ball back into play and all of this would account for possession in Team A’s favor. Because it’s the amount of time that is calculated. Were as for Opta all of this would amount to nothing and is meaningless. But in Football Manager it’s counted as possession. It’s worth remembering that when trying to figure out possession on Football Manager based on real life percentage figures. If you realise this then it’ll save you lots of time that would normally be spent banging your head against the wall.

Before we jump into the analysis and seeing how I go about creating a possession style I would like to point out that the idea of this thread, is not for you to copy what I do. But rather for you to take elements of what I do and implement them into your saves. if you just copy what I did and expect the same results then you didn’t understand the purpose of the thread. This will also mean I won’t answer any questions you have when you post something along the lines of ‘You have success with Swansea but I tried and blah blah’. So please, use this article as it’s intended and take what you learn here and implement it into your own saves with your own systems. This article is about the ideas, principles and philosophy of possession football in higher mentality structures.

The Beginning

In Football Manager there is possession that is meaningful and possession that is meaningless. I see a lot of tactics and posts on a daily basis that fall into the latter. Achieving a high possession percentage is relatively easy but creating something that is still potent and uses that possession in dangerous areas is a lot harder. For any kind of possession strategy then something based on these Team Instructions would be a good starting point for such a system;

Highly Structured Team Shape – This would allow space to open in midfield and encourages players to keep it simple.

Lower Tempo – This encourages players to look for support and not to rush with their play. Players will be looking up and accessing their options more.

Roam From Position – Encourage players to make themselves available, keeping support options available. It’s probably one (if not) the most important aspect of ball retention.

Dribble Less – You don’t want many players dribbling with the ball because you want players in support and the idea is to retain possession. Dribbling can see passing options reduced.

Pass it Shorter – It’s all about keeping it simple with the ball. The longer the pass the more likely it can be under/over hit, mistimed or even intercepted by the opposition.

Retain Possession – Again it reduces passing length making it even shorter and cutting the risk of through balls out.

Work Ball Into Box – You don’t want players shooting from distances and wasting chances. Not only that but it would give the opposition the ball, which kinda goes against possession right?

Play Out of Defence – Building attacks from the back is basic possession football.

Distribute Short – If you don’t then you will often find your keeper booting the ball long and wasting possession. Your keepers distribution will likely have the single biggest impact on your overall possession. So make sure he isn’t wasting it.

Now if you used all the above in a system then likelihood is you’d see lots of possession but most of it pointless without the roles to utilise this possession. But these are the most (well, what I think anyway) are the most important team instructions when it comes to creating a possession brand of football.

After writing the last article that I did, the counter attacking one, a lot of people have been asking me how to make it more attack minded. So with that in mind, I had the idea of using the same tactic that I discussed throughout that entire article in this one. But the further I got into this new saved game the further it no longer resembled the original 4-1-4-1 so I abandoned it after about eight games. The more I changed the player roles the more it was becoming pointless. I don’t mean the shape was pointless as the 4-1-4-1 is a great shape to use for a possession based game. What I meant was, it was becoming boring for me to write about that shape yet again. So I mixed it up slightly but it’s still basically a 4-1-4-1 due to the roles and duties used.

The Club

As you will have seen above, I decided to take over Swansea this time to create a possession tactic. The reasons for doing this is because I like Garry Monk and Swansea, I like how they try and build a philosophy and stick to it regardless of the manager is. More clubs should look to this approach because it’s proven to work over time. So what better club on Football Manager to use right? They’re not a top side yet should have enough quality to avoid relegation. The media prediction is 10th in the first season, so it should be a challenge.

The Tactic

It’s worth noting that I didn’t just arrive at this tactic and it work instantly. In fact, I still think it needs work but it’s successful as you’ll see. All I wanted to concentrate on was possession for the first year and use that as the catalyst to build from. Getting high possession numbers was always the aim but that is always a challenge when you’re classed as weaker opposition to the rest of the league.

Mentality – The whole point was to show this on a high end mentality but due to the side I am I thought control would suit us better than attacking. Control is still attacking though so don’t be fooled by the name. It still plays fast, attacking football and uses a high defensive line. It’s really aggressive in it’s approach. It’s actually not that different to attacking.

Team Shape – I touched upon this earlier. I think team shape is the one setting on Football Manager that throws people off because it seems complicated. It’s really not complicated at all though, myself when deciding what to set the team shape as I simplify things and make the choice based on these;

Do I want players to be more creative than usual? If so I’ll go to the more fluid end. If not I’ll go to the more structured end. The hand of god on the SI forums was spot on when he said;

More structured team shapes will encourage players to keep it simple and more precise. You would choose this if you want players to stick to the basics and avoid losing the ball with technically difficult passing/dribbling. The downside is that you might restrict some players’ creativity and your team’s style can end up being rather workmanlike/boring.

While the more fluid approaches will make players try more tricks and play with more creativity, flair and pizzazz. There are a couple of reasons you might want this. From a tactical standpoint, it can possibly help players unlock defences by making play less predictable and harder for defenders to read. It also tends to be more fun to watch.

Honestly, it’s not a big deal and if you set team shape in accordance to the above then you’ll always be fine. If you’re not sure you can always leave it on flexible which is a bit of both approaches and is the ‘neutral’ point.

Team Instructions – These were the tricky ones because I mentioned earlier all the best TI’s to use. But using them all is overkill and would no doubt create a possession style that was creating possession for the sake of possession without ever being a goal threat. That’s not what I wanted so I narrowed it down to just five in the end.

• Retain Possession.
  
• Play out of Defence.
  
• Lower Tempo.
  
• Close Down Much More.
  
• Roam From Position.
  

Those are the five I ended up using. I mentioned earlier in the article about what these team instructions offer, so I’ll not go into those details again. However I will touch upon why I’m closing down more as I didn’t mention that above. The only reason is because remember how possession is calculated on Football Manager? Time. So the less time I can give the opposition on the ball the better. That’s my only reasons for using it.

That covers that side of things. So let’s focus on the roles and duties now.

The Defence

It’s nothing out of the ordinary here, in fact it’s rather conservative really and what you expect from most defensive players. None of them have any player instructions apart from the goalkeeper. Remember earlier, I mentioned how he was important to possession football. Well I gave him some instructions to ensure he wasn’t wasteful.

All those are focused on retaining the ball and passing it the shortest possible distance. The reason he is selected to roll it out is because when he was throwing the ball out, he was distributing it to full backs on the odd occasion when they were a bit too advanced. So I wanted to encourage him to play it to the central defenders instead and so far it’s working better. I didn’t want him to slow the pace down though because I feel he already plays at a slow enough pace. It is something you can consider though if you feel the player might benefit from a couple more seconds before releasing the ball.

Midfield and Attack

Those are the roles and duties that I use for the entire midfield. The interesting part is that the wide players have support duties. The reasoning behind this is that players on support duties in the wide areas will drop deep when out of possession. What this basically means is that out of possession I have a flat four in midfield so the shape resembles a 4-1-4-1 in defence. If these players had attack duties then that wouldn’t happen as the players would still more than likely be far too advanced.

While I am focused on possession I still want to actively set out to win games and in order to achieve this, I need support from the midfield. That’s why I’ve opted for a box to box midfielder because he will be the engine who goes up and down the pitch. Next to him we have the roaming playmaker, who is responsible for playing the ball around from a central position and also providing a thread in the final third.

Out on the wings we have an inside forward, who’s job is to support the striker and make himself an handful by making deep, late runs into the box. On the other side we have an advanced playmaker. He is both a creator and a goal threat. Remember I am focused on retaining possession so this role helps with this and between him, the false nine and the roaming playmaker, we see some interesting link up play which we will touch on a little later.

Up front we have a false nine, who will drop very deep out of possession and help the midfield. In dropping back with the other attackers, it stops him being isolated up front on his own at times. It means players are closer together when out of possession and this allows for better passing angles and options with ball retention being a priority.

That’s just a brief overview of things before we start the match analysis and see why this tactic works for the set of players I have. Speaking of players, it’s not been easy with Swansea on that front. Two of the biggest stars asked to leave when I rejected bids from PSG and Chelsea, so I had to sell. I could have hung on and kept them longer but I didn’t see the point in doing that, when I am trying to build a specific style of play. I need to build this around the players at the club and not base it on ones who would be leaving in the next window. So here are my transfer dealings, just so you can see the players I brought in.

I lost quality players in Ki and Gylfi but I reinvested the money well and bought players I expected to stay at the club for a very long time. I’m not sure why I did that though as this was only ever going to be a one season save to highlight how this brand of football works. But I guess it’s hard not to approach the game like I do every other save, so maybe that’s why?!

[Cleon]

Pick a Team

Any team can play any formation if they have the players to play the positions. But not every team can play an attacking style and be effective. The better the side you are the more creative you’ll be able to be with tactic creating. You still can be creative with the weaker sides as well but to a much lesser extent. There are four types of teams. Let’s take a closer look at what I mean by that;

Weak Teams

Teams like Hull, Stoke and Burnley are classed as weak teams in season one. So to begin with the options you have are already limited. You can still play any formation you wish player and transfer budget allowing. But the style which you play will be limited. If you want to be attacking then you need to ensure you’ve got a good knowledge of the match engine’s workings. If not then you’ll struggle especially against better sides. As these teams are classed as weak sides almost everyone in the league is better. So even before you start you’re already on the back foot.

Average Teams

These are sides that are expected to finish around the mid table; this includes sides like Sunderland, Fulham and Birmingham. If they have a good season they could possibly push for a European place. If they had a bad season they could be down in a relegation place. The choice of tactics for these sides is vital and it’s important you get the players playing well in most games to avoid a slump down the table.

Good Sides

Everton, Spurs and Man City are what I class as good sides. These sides have probably got too much talent to be relegated. But probably not enough to break into the top 4. That’s not to say with a couple of new signings and the right tactic that you can’t push all the way for the title. These sorts of sides can play attacking majority of the time and might only need to adapt against the bigger sides.

Top Sides

Teams such as Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal can dictate how they play. They can also be creative in their tactics and approaches due to the quality of players they have available. You have much more creative license when creating tactics for these types of sides due to most of the opposition playing defensive or counter attacking against you.

It’s really important you decide which category your team falls under. Then you should be able to be more realistic about how the team can actually play.

For the purpose of this thread I decided to go with Liverpool, as it’s easier to demonstrate how to create a tactic due to them already having decent players and I won’t need to bring many new faces in. As I am only playing to create a tactic to demonstrate how I go about it, it’s also easier for me by choosing them. As the majority of users seem to be using the tactics creator I’ll probably be showing how to create a tactic using that. I’ll also show how to translate it into the classic tactic system as well. This way the thread will cater for everyone and not be limited to just one way of doing them.

[Cleon]

Formation

Choosing a formation to play is the hardest part. So what I do is taking a look at the squad then decides.

As you’ll see Liverpool lacks any real wide players, so I am limited to what I can do unless I bring new players in. The more new players I bring in the bigger the disruption in will be especially with players gelling. So if I keep things to the minimum then there shouldn’t b any bigger issues than is needed.

Liverpool has a lot of attacking midfielders so it makes sense to utilise them in some way. They only have one real striker too. So from the players they have it seems going some kind of 4-2-3-1 would be wise. Although they lack wide players if I set the outer attacking midfielders up as inside forwards that shouldn’t be much of an issue.

This is what I’ve decided on as it’s playing to Liverpool’s strengths. For some games it’s also possible I could push the attacking midfielders left and right to the attacking midfield position. But I’m getting a bit ahead of things there. Choosing the shape is the easy part, now I have to decide how I want the players to play. Do I want to use creative players? Do I want to be attacking and so on? There are many things to take into consideration.

The thing to remember when creating a tactic is that it’s a long hard process and will take some considerable time to get it working how you want. You’ll not get it working properly if you don’t take time out to view games and take a look at the stats to see how the tactic is actually playing. Watching games are vital as they allow you to spot errors and possible improvements you can make. It’s also a good idea to view different types of games not only the ones you win or lose. As each game should tell you something different about the tactic you are using. I won’t go into detail about how to spot problems as I’ve already got another thread that is in the process of doing exactly that. The link for that is here; http://www.community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=182851

[Cleon]

Tactics Creator

If you were to create this using the tactics creator these are the settings I would start off with;

In fact I’ll only show you how to create it in the tactics creator. You can then just switch it to classic tactics if you wish to use that way. However for this experiment I used only the tactics creator as it was much simpler.

The reason I’ve gone attacking is there isn’t many teams who have a bigger reputation that Liverpool at the start of the game in the English premiership. So for that reason it will allow me to be very attacking. That is why I’ve gone for press more, as attacking teams close down a lot heavier than defensive teams. The tactic feedback from the backroom advice also mentioned I had some of the best passers in the league. Again that’s why I choose to play a short passing game.

In addition to them settings I also made some alterations to the defaults which the tactics creator gives you. They were;

As I plan on going attacking then it makes a lot of sense to play with a high defensive line so the gap between defence and midfield isn’t too large. It’s important we win the ball high up the pitch and put pressure on the opposition. Although I plan on been attacking I also want to retain possession and because I use short passing a slow approach seems the logical way to start off. Focus passing through the middle is due to me using the attacking midfielder’s right and left as inside forwards. So makes sense to play through the middle.

I’ve also made slight adjustments to the individual settings for the players. These also include my set pieces settings that I use on other saved games. These are still not perfect though and I normally perfect the set pieces for my side in season two. Season one is all about getting the tactic right and playing how I want. So I prefer to perfect that aspect the following season. These set piece instructions should still do an alright job to begin with but are from the finished thing.

[Cleon]

GK

For how I want to play its vital the keeper doesn’t give possession away cheaply, that’s why he’s instructed to allow a defender to collect. Rather than just booting it up field.

Full backs

They are just average full backs I’ve only changed their throw-in instructions.

Left Sided Defender

As you can see this is my stopper.

Right Sided Defender

This defender is set up as the covering defender.

[Cleon]

Right Sided Anchorman

His job is to hold play up and allow time for players to get in advanced positions when he makes tackles in his own half. His other job is to just sit in front of the back four and add that extra bit of cover.

Defensive Midfielder

More advanced than the anchorman and slightly more aggressive. This is to hassle the opponents around the halfway line and beyond.

Attacking Midfielder Left

Nothing special in all honesty and I’ll be changing the settings for him during the season no doubt to get the best out of him. I can only do that once I see them play though.

Attacking Midfielder Right

Slightly different from the left sided player, but like him no doubt I’ll be changing his settings as well.

[Cleon]

Attacking Midfielder

No doubt this one will raise a few questions. Especially as I have him set up on defensive mentality. I do this so he won’t be occupying the same space as my striker. By sitting deep he’ll be able to get on the end of any half arsed clearances or headers made by the opposition. He’ll also run from deep if he gets the chance and sees a good opportunity. Because he sits back he’s also hard to mark and pick up. He should also win the ball high up the pitch and start attacks.

Striker

It’s important he drifts wide and pulls the defenders with him. If he doesn’t do that than it’s a waste of time using inside forwards as the middle would be too crowded.

Now that the settings are sorted it’s all down to what I see happening in games now. Any future changes will be because of what I see happening.

[Cleon]

The friendlies are used solely to see good points and bad points in a tactic and for the fitness of players. The result doesn’t matter too much for me. Even if I were to lose by a big margin I wouldn’t change anything until the season was underway.

As you’ll see the games I played were against easy opposition and I managed to score a few goals along the way. Which I expected due to the poor quality of the opponents I faced. I watched 2 of the games back though after to see if I noticed anything. There wasn’t much wrong from what I saw, although the mentality of my attacking midfielder left and right were worth keeping an eye on once the season got under way. As they seem too far ahead of play at times. I’m not going to list how I spot potential problems as one of the links I provided earlier on in the thread, discusses that already.

I watched the first game of the season in full as it was playing out. I was impressed with what I saw but having 7 long shots could be cause for concern if it carries on happening depending on which players are taking them. In this game it turned out it was Torres but he did get them all on target and scored 2. So that’s not really a major concern at the minute.

[Cleon]

In fact for the first 15 games in all competitions I found the tactic was doing alright. The only things I had to change were my defensive line to be a bit deeper against the strong teams like Manchester United. It was only when I lost to Chelsea in the cup that I decided to change things. When I suffered this defeat I went back and watched a few of games I’d already played. I was finding that my left attacking midfielder was playing well but was too far advanced for my liking. It was working but I felt he could be more involved. Although I wish I had a better left sided player full stop, Babel doesn’t really have the stats I’d normally go for. But I was making the best of what I had available.

I didn’t have to change anything as the current set up was working, that’s evident in the results I had. But I like to get the best out of every player I have and a lot of time that means trial and error with the settings you give a player. I will carry on changing his settings every 10 games or so if I’m still not happy with what I see. So because of what I saw by watching the games back I altered Babel’s settings to get more out of him (well so I hoped).

That’s what I changed him to in the hope he hung back a little more and was involved in more of the play. I left the right sided player how he was as he didn’t seem to be as big of an issue. Not only that but I don’t like to make big changes in one go. I’d much rather do small scale changes to one individual for now. That way you know if something starts to go wrong which change it could be down to. If I did wholesale changes then it would be incredibly hard to pin point which change it was.

[Cleon]

The settings definitely made a difference but shortly after both my wide players had lengthy time off. And because I didn’t have good back up I just kept the settings and made do. It’s not perfect but it was out of my control and the players who came into the squad were doing alright, not brilliant but still enough to keep me winning.

I didn’t need to make anymore changes to the tactic as I was more than happy with how things went. I did in game tweaks like I do and used the shouts though, but I’ve posted about what I do in situations before so not going to repeat it again.

[Cleon]

League table and stats;

And people think free kicks and corners are impossible to score.

[Cleon]

These are the player stats;

I am more than happy with the striker and attacking midfielder. They scored plenty of goals and got a decent amount of assists. Steven Gerrard scored the most goals I’ve ever got a attacking midfielder to score before. The wide attacking players did alright and if I had the right two in the team to play this position then I could achieve a lot more and score quite a bit more than I did. If I carried on season 2 would definitely be interesting.

[Cleon]

Thread now open for discussion

[Corkey]

Cleon, If I was to copy this directly into my game, would it work for most teams?

[Cleon]

Cleon, If I was to copy this directly into my game, would it work for most teams?

Guess you didn't read the 2nd post then:D

[Corkey]

Guess you didn't read the 2nd post then:D

I did, I was just asking?

[Cleon]

Then read it again, it's already answered.

[Tubey84]

Excellent stuff

Two DFK's a season doesn't exactly make it prolific though!!! I do think that needs to be corrected for 10.3 - I miss the "Beckham vs. Greece" moments. IFK's work fine though.

Other than that, a fiercely logical post ^^

[Cleon]

Excellent stuff

Two DFK's a season doesn't exactly make it prolific though!!! I do think that needs to be corrected for 10.3 - I miss the "Beckham vs. Greece" moments. IFK's work fine though.

Other than that, a fiercely logical post ^^

But the AI isn't scoring many either. I'm sure I can score a lot more though if I work on them more. But that's normally season 2. Maybe if I had Gerrard as my set piece man he'd score even more lol

And thanks

[Corkey]

Then read it again, it's already answered.

Yes, you say you need a good understanding of the Match Engine to use it with a weak side, and I would think you have one?

[pilsken]

Excellent OP! Im really excited to create a new game and a new tactic.

[Cleon]

Yes, you say you need a good understanding of the Match Engine to use it with a weak side, and I would think you have one?

But you asked;

Cleon, If I was to copy this directly into my game, would it work for most teams?

That's why I told you to re read it. As I don't know how much of a understanding you have. So if you read post 2 it's upto you to decide if you can or cannot

Excellent OP! Im really excited to create a new game and a new tactic.

Thanks

[Tubey84]

But the AI isn't scoring many either. I'm sure I can score a lot more though if I work on them more. But that's normally season 2. Maybe if I had Gerrard as my set piece man he'd score even more lol

And thanks

That's my point though - the whole free kick mechanics needs looking at by SI; there's nothing wrong with your setup at all!

[Cleon]

That's my point though - the whole free kick mechanics needs looking at by SI; there's nothing wrong with your setup at all!

It's not bugged. I'd put it down to the same issue what stops direct CCC's hit at keeper going in. That'll be why its low. There working fine in beta. So it's probably down to the ccc issue which has been fixed and not freekicks

[Tubey84]

It's not bugged. I'd put it down to the same issue what stops direct CCC's hit at keeper going in. That'll be why its low. There working fine in beta. So it's probably down to the ccc issue which has been fixed and not freekicks

Excellent - that's great to hear

[pilsken]

One question Cleon, do you use OI's?

[stuartM]

great post cleon, really helped me a lot. i used to be one of those people who downloaded a plug and play tactic and nowe you've gave me inspiration to create my own tactic. i just have one question tho, why did you put gerrard's long shots on rarely, was it because you wanted to work you're way into the box???

great post congratulations:thup:

[Cleon]

One question Cleon, do you use OI's?

Not if I use classic tactics but I would if I used tactics creator. Because if I use classic tactics I set up a certain way and have more control to do those things manually. The tactics creator is more OI friendly imo than classic.

[Cleon]

great post cleon, really helped me a lot. i used to be one of those people who downloaded a plug and play tactic and nowe you've gave me inspiration to create my own tactic. i just have one question tho, why did you put gerrard's long shots on rarely, was it because you wanted to work you're way into the box???

great post congratulations:thup:

He's already got high creative freedom so he still tries them. If I left long shots on often he'd try twice as many. It was just to limit him really so he played others in, instead of shooting 24/7:D

And thanks

[pilsken]

Not if I use classic tactics but I would if I used tactics creator. Because if I use classic tactics I set up a certain way and have more control to do those things manually. The tactics creator is more OI friendly imo than classic.

Thanks. When it comes to shouts, do you start the match with certain shouts? Any recommendations?

[Kevaldo]

Very interesting post, particularly your attacking midfielder settings. On reflection it makes perfect sense - his defensive mentality will keep him 'in the hole' and he'll have the centre forward and two inside forwards to pick out in front of him ...

Quick question, is the attacking mid set as playmaker? I notice his role is of advanced playmaker which means he'll automatically be selected as a playmaker in the tactics creator unless you change it

[Cleon]

Thanks. When it comes to shouts, do you start the match with certain shouts? Any recommendations?

Just use them based on what you see, or the feedback the assistant gives you. Apart from that I wouldn't use them as soon as the match started though, as that would mean the orginal settings you used had some major flaws in them.

[Cleon]

Very interesting post, particularly your attacking midfielder settings. On reflection it makes perfect sense - his defensive mentality will keep him 'in the hole' and he'll have the centre forward and two inside forwards to pick out in front of him ...

Quick question, is the attacking mid set as playmaker? I notice his role is of advanced playmaker which means he'll automatically be selected as a playmaker in the tactics creator unless you change it

Yeah he is the playmaker.

And you're spot on with why he's defensive

[stuartM]

can i just say that this is a great addition to the forums and you have my vote for a sticky:thup:

[crazyscotsman]

Cleon:

Now you have played both classic and tactics creator do you still prefer the classic method?

[Cleon]

Cleon:

Now you have played both classic and tactics creator do you still prefer the classic method?

Yeah much more control imo. TC is good, it's just not for me.

TC is good for me to demonstrate stuff though as majority of people use this now

[Comedybegs]

But the AI isn't scoring many either. I'm sure I can score a lot more though if I work on them more. But that's normally season 2. Maybe if I had Gerrard as my set piece man he'd score even more lol

And thanks

After looking at your season stats I decided to look at mine to see where I was going right/wrong in set piece comparison. What I noticed was that in my game Man U only scored 2 DFKs which were definately against me in the league.

While the AI overall might not be scoring many free kicks could it be that they are scoring a majority against the users team? Overall 25 DFKs (excluding mine) and even if I only conceeded 5 in the league that would mean 20% of the DFKs scored in the season by the other teams were against me?

The facts are by no means definates and I fully except it could be a coincidence...

[tkaasa]

Hey Cleon! Great thread this one!

You inspired me to create a new tactic with a new team, and this time it's the Genoa team. I would rate them as a good team in Serie A, agree? I dream about playing a 3-4-3 with a narrow midfield and attacking mentality. I understand that this team is not Inter or Juventus, but still, they should be able to challenge for the title with bringing in some new players.

My squad and formation looks like this:

As you see, i have plenty of talent at the back with some nice looking stats. My forwards are ok, i need maybe an extra striker, and an extra midfielder or two to have the right players to fit this formation.

My question to you is do you think it is possible to make an attacking formation like this work with a team like Genoa? I was thinking of playing a rigid (possibly very rigid) philosophy, with limited creativity and attacking mentality. Any suggestions? I can upload more info if you need in order to comment on my plans.

Any advice is highly appreciated.

Cheers.

[Edle]

Very interesting thread and ill be trying my best to take these tips and put them into action.

[Corkey]

Cleon, why did you choose Rigid over Fluid?

[Besiktas_Turkey]

Playmaker player Amc. right ?

[Sammie B]

Awesome thread really helped ive struggled to create my own tactic so good to get some help from an expert! 1 question how much you drop the defensive line for tougher games also that home and away?

[Tubey84]

Oh good ******* God I just scored a direct free-kick!!! xD

[Cleon]

After looking at your season stats I decided to look at mine to see where I was going right/wrong in set piece comparison. What I noticed was that in my game Man U only scored 2 DFKs which were definately against me in the league.

While the AI overall might not be scoring many free kicks could it be that they are scoring a majority against the users team? Overall 25 DFKs (excluding mine) and even if I only conceeded 5 in the league that would mean 20% of the DFKs scored in the season by the other teams were against me?

The facts are by no means definates and I fully except it could be a coincidence...

I've just had a quick look through my games and only see 1 direct freekick scored against me in the league.

The only way for you to be sure is to look through each game like I did and use the analysis tab. It would be very unlikely for majority to be against you though.

As you see, i have plenty of talent at the back with some nice looking stats. My forwards are ok, i need maybe an extra striker, and an extra midfielder or two to have the right players to fit this formation.

My question to you is do you think it is possible to make an attacking formation like this work with a team like Genoa? I was thinking of playing a rigid (possibly very rigid) philosophy, with limited creativity and attacking mentality. Any suggestions? I can upload more info if you need in order to comment on my plans.

Any advice is highly appreciated.

Cheers.

In all honesty I'm unsure because I'm not famliar with Genoa as I've never played them or come up against them. But I see no reason as to why they cannot play the way you wish. Just do what I did and create the tactic and style you want to play then view the game and see if its working and changed based on that. You already know what you want to do, so now it's just trial and error really.

Very interesting thread and ill be trying my best to take these tips and put them into action.

Cleon, why did you choose Rigid over Fluid?

I wanted them to be limited in what they do on their own and follow how I've set them up to play. I like players to know which role they have to perform.

Playmaker player Amc. right ?

Yes the AMC.

Awesome thread really helped ive struggled to create my own tactic so good to get some help from an expert! 1 question how much you drop the defensive line for tougher games also that home and away?

last notch of deep mainly. Check out my Sheffield United Project thread, I talk more about it in that.

Oh good ******* God I just scored a direct free-kick!!! xD

My freekick instructions need more work on them and I could score bucket loads more I reckon.

[Tubey84]

Oh good ******* God I just scored a direct free-kick!!! xD

And then another...

Seriously, it's like waiting for a bus!

[Cleon]

And then another...

Seriously, it's like waiting for a bus!

Have you changed something? Or maybe you're just taking more notice today because it's been discussed.

[Tubey84]

Have you changed something? Or maybe you're just taking more notice today because it's been discussed.

Nah, it's literally been one DFK scored in five seasons, and then I score three in ten games -_-

[DocSander]

Excellent thread, useful for both beginners and hardened FM veterans...

Thanx!

[Cleon]

Excellent thread, useful for both beginners and hardened FM veterans...

Thanx!

Thank you

[makmak]

Great thread! That AMC mentality setting gave me an idea i would never had on my own.