Silk & Steel - The Quickening......... exclusively for 14.3

[Mr U Rosler]

Quickening - "to revive, stimulate, enliven, intensify, to be stronger than before"

Greetings fellow addicts,

Lets face it, anyone hanging around here in mid - March is well and truly addicted to their daily dose of gaming 'heroin' in the form of the mighty FM14

First of all i'd like to thank everyone who has made a contribution to my threads, If I thought no one was interested I wouldn't start or support them so my hats off to you guys

In particular i'd like to thank MTM1977 for his long term contributions and unbound enthusiasm and Burnum and Braumiller for there diligent testing and sound ideas.

Getting down to business, 14.3 has kept me busy for a while now and anyone who has followed my other threads knows i've been down many a cul-de-sac in search of my 14.3 tactic.

Setting out with massively high and unrealistic expectations I was seeking to win every game and win it well, pushing and pulling the match engine to its limits in search of the magic formula which will open the door to footballing nirvana.

Did I succeed???? ........... no i didn't.

Why???? ............ because SI have done there job properly.

There are no easy wins any more, all exploits have been locked down and rightly so.

Sure there are no 'easy' wins, but their are certainly hard 'fought wins' and they are all the more satisfying for it.

Now I know that is only half a season but I've played over a hundred games with a few slight variants of this tactic as part of my testing and results have been consistently good.

This test I just plugged the tactic in on the first day of pre-season and left it well alone and rattled through the games.

I will of course complete the season and update the results.

To be honest, this morning is my 'window' to put the tactic up and I just wanted to get on with it.

I will come to why I test with a 'Big' team later, I will also commence testing with a small team shortly.

Ok, I want to run through a few observations I've noticed on 14.3 and more generally.

CLEAR CUT CHANCES

Not all clear cut chances are equal. I soon learned that classic 'one on one's', Striker running in on Keeper, are logged as a Clear Cut Chance but in reality I would estimate about 1 in 7 of these chances are converted in 14.3. That makes playing thru the middle, releasing advanced forwards, no longer a viable approach at the moment. When your strikers are 'hot' you can rack up some good wins but this is not a consistent way to approach goal scoring.

'Proper' clear cut chances come in from the 'flanks' either a 'classic' cross or pass or a 'chip' cross from inside the penalty area which I have noticed a lot. This is what we are after.

FORM

There seem to be subtle forces at work here, 'form' seems to come and go often without an obvious reason, your team sometimes just gives 'flat' performances which leaves you scratching your head. I'm sure this is not tactical, its just the way the game works and reflects real life football pretty well in my opinion.

Their is a 'grinding' quality about my tactics which should enable you to get through these periods with 1-0, 2-0, 2-1 wins (relative to expectations) without playing your best football. I had a spell of this after the Tottenham defeat above.

TESTING WITH 'BIG' TEAMS

I often hear 'its easy with 'Big' teams, why don't you do it with a small team?'.

I do and will test with a 'small' team but i've found its much better to get a good tactic going for 'Big' teams and work from there for a number of reasons. Primarily as expectations are so high with a 'Big' team a draw can be a devastating result.

You MUST have a tactic which guarantees you will score in just about EVERY game and ideally 2 or more goals in the vast majority of games. In the 19 games above I only failed to score in one game and scored 2 or more goals in 16 of the remaining 18 games. In other words I scored a minimum of 2 goals in 16 out of 19 games. That's how you build a winning tactic. This is VERY important to me.

I spent a long time developing tactics with Norwich which worked great, I then transferred them to Chelsea thinking that with the higher quality of player i'd be flying only to find i'd draw far too many games and have to 'bin' the tactic.

And of course many of you support and play with the bigger teams and due to the relative ease with which you can build quality squads all of you on a long term save will BE A BIG TEAM sooner or later anyway.

Now for the Tactic.

[Mr U Rosler]

Ok,

I've had to move away from the trusted 4132 of my original tactics primarily as currently strikers become very isolated from the rest of the team UNLESS you have at least 1 player operating in the AMC strata. Even then 2 strikers in tandem are prone to low ratings hence we have only one player in the classic striker position.

UPDATED TACTIC - 2252 - 14/3/2014

https://www.mediafire.com/?2byoruvl2ncb3zt

We then feature 2 Inside Forwards, a Deep Lying Playmaker, two of our favourites the CM/A and then a standard back 4.

I want to talk about the new roles.

DEEP LYING PLAYMAKER

This guy is going to see a lot of the ball so make sure yours can pass.

136 passes in this game. 100+ is the norm.

This guy makes the tactic tick, he has 'direct passing' switched on so his full passing range is open to him. We are building from the back so he is key in assisting us in getting our attacks off the ground feeding balls into the inside fowards, the FB's or into one of the CM/A's. Once he's done that he takes a defensive covering position in case the attack breaks down and offers support from deep.

INSIDE FORWARDS

I've been delighted with the way the Inside Forwards operate. I was concerned that they would run straight into an already congested central midfield area but in fact I would estimate that they go around the 'outside' approximately 60% of the time which is exactly what i wanted. They are genuine goalscorer/creators. They have the advantage over standard forward players of shooting on an angle ACROSS goal keepers and often into the corners instead of strikers who are 'head on' and have more difficulty beating keepers. Your gonna like these

THE OVERALL SYSTEM

This tactic is 'tuned' to be more attacking than my other Silk & Steel tactics but it remains solid at the back although you will give up chances. But guess what, we have a Goalkeeper too!

We essentially have 5 creator/goalscorers. The F9, x2 Inside Forwards, x2 CM/A's. None of these have sole responsibility for goalscoring, the workload is well spread. All of them will contribute well to general attacking play, goal scoring and assists. Working in harmony.

Every one of these players have close 'down more' on their players instructions, mostly by default with the role. That's why I don't get hung up on Formations and never use them in my tactic names, during sustained attacks the tactic is often 2-1-7, under sustained pressure it can be 10-0-0. Its a 'fluid' system.

Defensively the FB's are on 'support' which is my preferred setting and offers balance to both defence and attacks.

I will likely flesh out a bit more and will look at players attributes below in the meantime here is the tactic........ and enjoy!

14.3 TACTICS GRAVEYARD

ORIGINAL SILK & STEEL - THE QUICKENING (don't bother)

R.I.P - 14/3/14

https://www.mediafire.com/?1a6e31y5tjqqf87

[Mr U Rosler]

reserved 2......................................................................

[Mr U Rosler]

reserved 3.............................................

[MTM1977]

Finally, took you long enough.

Just kidding, really appreciate the hard work you have put in to creating this and many other great tactics before

I will put my team training this and hopefully be able to get at least one player for AML and AMR during January transfer window (my save is in early december now).

Luckily i have a few players that are already competent/accomplished on those positions, now just need to find a few naturals and should be good to go.

My team will surely show how this works for smaller teams as we are supposed to finish last in the Portuguese premiership. Currently holding 5th position, after 12 rounds. Tactics currently in use S&S v2 and TFF_Cross_v3 (Cross at home, S&S v2 away).

I will set this as third and probably try it at home first, if that goes well, then away also.

I will keep the other tactics in play also, so i have three different formations / approaches to choose from. Should be beneficial in the long run.

[ChefRobGaming]

picked a good day to be off work \o/ gonna try this with my newcastle save in jan 2019 at the moment, will post how i get on as the season progresses thanks for sharing the tactic

what training do you use please mate ?

[Mr U Rosler]

Finally, took you long enough.

Just kidding, really appreciate the hard work you have put in to creating this and many other great tactics before

I will put my team training this and hopefully be able to get at least one player for AML and AMR during January transfer window (my save is in early december now).

Luckily i have a few players that are already competent/accomplished on those positions, now just need to find a few naturals and should be good to go.

My team will surely show how this works for smaller teams as we are supposed to finish last in the Portuguese premiership. Currently holding 5th position, after 12 rounds. Tactics currently in use S&S v2 and TFF_Cross_v3 (Cross at home, S&S v2 away).

I will set this as third and probably try it at home first, if that goes well, then away also.

I will keep the other tactics in play also, so i have three different formations / approaches to choose from. Should be beneficial in the long run.

I'm gonna do a bit on this on the player roles but DONT BE AFRAID TO RE-TRAIN PLAYERS.

Its works great on FM14, the only 'hit' you take is on the decisions attribute until they are 'accomplished'. So look at players attributes and judge based on them. Strikers to AMR/AML, AMC to MC etc.

[Eleanor_Rigby]

I come out in a cold sweat when i don't have an anchor man sitting in front of the back 4.

[deki43210]

make tact for small team,thise tact not worke for small team

[Eleanor_Rigby]

You couldn't have possibly given the tactic a fair chance. Here's a better idea, why don't you make a tactic for a small team?

[MTM1977]

You couldn't have possibly given the tactic a fair chance. Here's a better idea, why don't you make a tactic for a small team?

I was thinking that this guy is ultra fast. Already played a full season with a small team, although the tactic has just been released

edit:

I will try to retrain my AMC's in to AML/AMR, they already have quite good attributes for IF role.

Also need to get rid off some "deadwood" players, because i don't have free wage budget otherwise.

[Mr U Rosler]

make tact for small team,thise tact not worke for small team

I defer to your superior knowledge.

Please could you elaborate?

[Samir Nasri]

First game played as newly appointed Manager of Napoli

Napoli 6-4 Crotone, we had to come back twice, very tense game, but a briliant performance from Higuain who netted in 4 goals.

[Mr U Rosler]

First game played as newly appointed Manager of Napoli

Napoli 6-4 Crotone, we had to come back twice, very tense game, but a briliant performance from Higuain who netted in 4 goals.

Not really supposed to work like that

But you can't be close to fluid yet.

[Samir Nasri]

Not really supposed to work like that

But you can't be close to fluid yet.

Yeah, it's barely fluid, will keep using it.

[Marchw]

Damn, going to have to sign some wide attackers now! Looks good though, will give it a test run later. Given v2 gave me a league and cup double with Leverkusen the season after someone else almost got them relegated, I'm not going to change my main game just yet! Might dig out an old save and give this a whirl for a season though. Cheers Mr Rosler.

[Spikester]

Looks like a cracking tactic, although wouldn't it be better defensively if you moved the DLP do the defensive mid position?

[Spikester]

P.S. Highlander rocks!

[Mr U Rosler]

Looks like a cracking tactic, although wouldn't it be better defensively if you moved the DLP do the defensive mid position?

I wanted the 2 CM/a to sit wider. Having the DLP in the middle of them forces this.

Having the DLP slightly higher brings the AMR/AML and even the F9 into his passing range when building attacks. I didn't want him taking too many easy backwards/lateral passing options which he would be inclined to do if he's too deep.

p.s i got as far as January in one save with just that set up before starting again with this version. I was clear at the top of the Prem but a bit goal shy.

[WillMcG99]

This is a bit of a mixed emotions moment for me!

As a fan of your tactics in the past, I was looking forward to this, but as it was taking you time, I went away and tried to meld my own tactics

And came up with the almost identical tactic to you! With even the same thinking (1 on 1's are not as good as the chip crosses).

I tested mine with Noriwch (Came 6th) and am currently testing with Lpool (Currently 5th and in final of FA cup).

But still, I'm going to run yours for a while and see the differences to see if I can make better with some of your learnings.

[GJHowell]

Mr Rosler - do the Inside Forwards need to be opposite-footed to the side they are operating on??

Already have a couple of wingers in my squad who haven't featured since I took over at Villa, was going to offload them in the close season but will retain them now.

[Braumiller]

Looking forward to playing with the final product tonight

(Damn you power being out, so I cannot log into my home PC from work today.......)

I hope my avalanche of stats and tests didn't hinder your process too much

[Mr U Rosler]

Mr Rosler - do the Inside Forwards need to be opposite-footed to the side they are operating on??

Already have a couple of wingers in my squad who haven't featured since I took over at Villa, was going to offload them in the close season but will retain them now.

Good question, the short answer is no.

If they are 'opposite footed' they tend to run inside more which we dont especially want, if they are right footed playing on the right they tend to go around the outside a bit more which i prefer.

Having said that, i'm using Schurlle on the left and he is right footed and he's been murdering teams.

You set this up to suit really, maybe one opposite one natural to mix up the play a bit but i wouldnt stress about this.

[GJHowell]

Good question, the short answer is no.

If they are 'opposite footed' they tend to run inside more which we dont especially want, if they are right footed playing on the right they tend to go around the outside a bit more which i prefer.

Having said that, i'm using Schurlle on the left and he is right footed and he's been murdering teams.

You set this up to suit really, maybe one opposite one natural to mix up the play a bit but i wouldnt stress about this.

Excellent, thanks for that.

[Mr U Rosler]

Looking forward to playing with the final product tonight

(Damn you power being out, so I cannot log into my home PC from work today.......)

I hope my avalanche of stats and tests didn't hinder your process too much

Not at all

And the Enganche nearly made it. I also know what your gonna do.......... (F9 to Enganche??)

[MTM1977]

I did something i am not usually keen on doing, traveled back in time.

Meaning of course that i loaded an older save, to get this tactic in to use.

The reason for that was that i actually had a DM and CM already joining on jan 1st and they were the reason i had no wage budget to spend.

So, i am back at september, but at least i now have AML and AMR joining on jan 1st, instead of DM and CM.

I will now try to go with S&S v2 and S&S Q and see how it goes.

Probably going to use S&S Q at home and S&S v2 away.

I will give up Cross_v3, i do like the tactic, but my team is too weak for it and we end up conceding a lot in matches that should be fairly even.

My DM's are luckily also able to play CM position, so when using S&S Q, i will probably use them as DLP.

[Braumiller]

Not at all

And the Enganche nearly made it. I also know what your gonna do.......... (F9 to Enganche??)

That is an outrageous (and true) accusation of what I will be doing tonight!

[WillMcG99]

Well I took a few of your changes (Took off sit narrow from IF's), added Run wide on FB's. Changed to Control & added drop deeper and put them into my tactic and the results have been great.

Won 5 on the bounce and now have an outside chance of winning the league!

So thanks again

[wanderer89]

I know it's only 6 games, but never had such results before, unsure as to where it's going wrong.

[Mr U Rosler]

I know it's only 6 games, but never had such results before, unsure as to where it's going wrong.

Plugging it in mid season right before the arsenal game probably isn't a great idea,

I'd give it a few more games to get going. You should get on a run.

[wanderer89]

Plugging it in mid season right before the arsenal game probably isn't a great idea,

I'd give it a few more games to get going. You should get on a run.

Oh I know that, I was actually unlucky against Arsenal, their goal came from Gary Cahill slicing a clearance into his own net. Will report back at the end of the season, should be enough time then I think.

[jamesh2k]

Yeh im finishing my current season with west ham before i start using it, and be interesting to see how it does with the midtable type premiership teams

[stg34tx]

At work now but looking forward to giving this a go when I get home. Excited to try a new formation.

Mr. Rosler, thanks for all your work on this. You said Schurlle was doing great for you as the left sided IF. How did Eden Hazard do out there?

[Mr U Rosler]

Used Hazard in AMR slot. He is 2 footed.

Schurlle goalscorer (coming inside), Hazard more of a creator.

[Mr U Rosler]

Oh I know that, I was actually unlucky against Arsenal, their goal came from Gary Cahill slicing a clearance into his own net. Will report back at the end of the season, should be enough time then I think.

Yeah, Please report back

[stg34tx]

Used Hazard in AMR slot. He is 2 footed.

Schurlle goalscorer (coming inside), Hazard more of a creator.

Thanks! Goalscorer and creator on either side is a nice combination to have.

[snowymuk]

Hi U rosler can you please confirm what all the players filters for each position please on this new tactics.

[Mr U Rosler]

Hi U rosler can you please confirm what all the players filters for each position please on this new tactics.

Will do. At work now until 8pm but will get to it later,

[MTM1977]

I wanted the 2 CM/a to sit wider. Having the DLP in the middle of them forces this.

I am not sure, but wouldn't DLP(S) in DM position do the same thing?

I am not sure if it's my team or something else, but at times there seems to be too much free space between midfield and defence.

[snowymuk]

thanks spk later

[MTM1977]

I think i will have to give this another try with another team at some point. Really didn't get going with my current team.

I loaded my save from the beginning of the season. Played 8 matches and ALL of them ended up in draw. I don't think i have ever seen a 8 matches draw streak before

I think the tactic has good potential, but probably doesn't suit all teams like S&S + RM combo did before the patch.

I am actually starting to think that with the current ME, it's not possible to have a tactic that will work perfectly with every team.

[jamie c]

done a full season, it has promise, but it lets far far too many goals in for me like, same types as well.

[Mr U Rosler]

done a full season, it has promise, but it lets far far too many goals in for me like, same types as well.

Which team?

It would be easy enough to tighten up but it would inevitably take something from the attack and it's supposed to be an attacking tactic.

I'll wait for a few more opinions to come in before I decide anything.

[wanderer89]

done a full season, it has promise, but it lets far far too many goals in for me like, same types as well.

Should upload a picture of the type of goals you're conceding, should help Mr Rosler then.

[jamie c]

Needs extra support down the wings, too easy for opposition to beat your fullbacks and get balls into the box

[jamie c]

Ah sorry mate, usually down the wings.

I will take a step back and wait for more feedback to come in, started off well initially but can't buy a win, might just not be suited to my lads.

[jamie c]

One point I would make is, I am a 15 to 10th premier league side. Very strong at home but away from home it is just a bit much, going to try make some tweaks to make myself more solid away from home.

[gedro2]

Going to try this on my celtic save because as in real life I am winning every thing domestically but cant buy a point in the champions league, keep you posted with results.

[Eleanor_Rigby]

I kinda go along with the whole "conceding too many", however, it does score a lot too. I'm Fiorentina and still have all the original squad, so whilst they aren't a poor team they're not exactly world class either. Saying that, Gomez is an absolute beast in this game so he may be covering up cracks elsewhere. But so far, so good. Gomez has netted 16 in 11 league games.

[NCFC Gee]

Have to say i'm very disappointed that you're taken to using wingers, i can't stand using wingers which is why i started using your tactic in the first place, hope this works for others though.

I managed to get yor S+S v2 and rainmaker v3 working a treat though with a couple of tweaks so wanted to place on record my huge thanks for making this game enjoyable again and for all the hard work you put into your tactics