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A Tactical Learning Curve


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Introduction

I have just realised that my previous thread did not go into much depth about my tactic of the reasoning behind it. I figured I should start a fresh thread. Over the past two seasons I have made the transition from 442 to 4141. I then modified the 4141 to give me three different formations I could use depending on the opponent. I've always knew enough about tactics and FM to be pretty successful. I wasn't ever very good at creating a tactic from scratch in previous versions of the game. I usually downloaded one similar to how I wanted to play and then adjusted it to suit my needs. Now that they have replaced the sliders with player and team instruction, I find it much easier to translate from 'real football' to 'FM tactics’.

Now I am going on a journey to discover exactly what each instruction does the ME and how they interact with each other.

Celtic Football Club

2013/14 - Scottish Treble Winners

2014/15 - Scottish Premiership and Europa League Double

2015/16 - Euro Super Cup Runner-up - ongoing...

I am going to leave the 2015/16 season about a week until I what happens with real life transfers and see if its work mimicking any. Over the next few days I will focus on the tactical side of things.

Upcoming Posts

1. Choosing A Formation

2. Team Instructions

3. Player Roles and Instructions

4. Squad and Team Selection

5. Transfer Policy and Squad Building

6. Undecided

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1. Choosing A Formation

It is the summer of the 2015 and I have built a squad of my own players. These players have been carefully selected to suit the 4141 formation. Within this formations I can accommodate the DM triangle and this is the foundation of the team. I also have other variations of the tactic set-up (asym 451 and 433) so that I can chop and change as the opponent dictates.

As I said the DM triangle is the foundation of the tactic. This is where the strength in the team lies. My first choice partnership of Stefan Johansson, Hunam Tariq and Scott Brown is pretty meaty.

  • Johansson - I want him to sit deep and dictate the play in and around the centre circle. His PPM’s are ‘come deep to get the ball’ and ‘tries killer balls often’.
  • Brown - He is the heart of the team, I want him pushing forward when we are attacking and helping out in defence.
  • Tariq - I want him to be pushing up supporting the forward and wide midfielders. He can also be used further up the pitch in a AM role.

Below is the basic formations I have set up to start the season with. Please note that these are not the roles I will be using and that I will develop another after these are set up.

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2. Team Instructions

Once the formation has been set up, on to the squad mentality. With the club ethos to play attacking football the only two options really are ‘control’ and ‘attacking’. I could use ‘overload' but that would be crazy. I have settled on ‘control’. Through my understanding this means my defenders will build on play from the back, my midfield/supporting players will prefer to play it short but through in the odd long ball and my attackers will be more direct but not long balls.

As for fluidity, I have heard countless definitions. I have opted to go from 'balanced' to ‘fluid’. My understanding is that the squad is split into two units attacking and defending. This will allow them to play more free flowing football and have a bit (but not too much) creative freedom.

Now this is where it gets complicated, TI. I want to build play form the back to the final third. For this the options ‘retain possession’, ‘shorter passing’, 'play out of defence' and ‘work the ball into the box’ all seem suitable. However though my experience ‘retain possession’ just does not have the penetration in the final third I am looking for. 'Shorter passing’ is not really suitable either. With a controlling mentality passing will already be pretty short for the players I want, if tweaking is needed I will use PI. ‘Play out of defence’ and ‘work the ball into the box’ is what I will go for the seem to complement each other very well.

Penetration TI will vary match to match. However shape, I want to stretch the opposition. Tire them out chasing the ball and then pounce. So 'play wider’ will be used. No need to touch how high up the pitch we play or positioning/roaming as the squad mentality already means we are pretty high up and have a bit of freedom. I do not want to go into overkill with TI so that will do for now.

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3. Player Roles and Instructions

Goalkeeper - What you see is what you get. Standard goalkeeper with 'pass the ball short' and 'distribute to defenders' selected. Quite tempted to try out a sweeper keeper if I can bring in the right player.

Right back - I want to mould this position into the form of Leighton Baines, I will be looking to create the "underlap" with the right winger. To this I will try 'get further forward' and 'cut inside with the ball'.

Centre back - Standard centre back with no extra instructions, this will be my biggest and stingiest centre-back in this position.

Centre back - Decided to go with a ball playing defender here. This is where I want my attacks to start from, the keeper gives it to him and on to the central midfielders.

Left back - I went with a wing back here as I want them to just get up and down the left wing trying to get the ball into the box.

Defensive midfielder - This was a tricky one and will have to rotate as I change the player. The default selection will be a deep lying playmaker and switch to ball winning midfielder when I need to. This position will be moulded around Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Right winger - Just a winger to provide width along with the left wing back, 'cross from the byline' has been added.

Centre midfielder - Another compacted on, depending on the line ups above. With the 4141 I will use a attacking central midfielder and in the asymmetric system I will use a trequartista.

Centre midfielder - Here we will usually have a box-to-box midfielder with no instructions as it is a pretty free role in my opinion.

Right winger - This will be a wide midfielder/inside forward hybrid. I am looking got copy Thomas Muller here, 'cut inside with the ball' and 'get further forward' will be used.

Centre forward - A complete forward will be used with come deep to the ball.

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4. Squad and Team Selection

I have built the squad around the roles I set for the tactic, every player can play at least one role very comfortably. It has cost a total of £12.1m to assemble the squad I want and if I can keep them together I see no need in any major purchases.

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As you can see, the squad is fairly young and strong. The average age is just 23 so I think I'm set, unless clubs come if with some big bids. We have the hardest working team in the league, something that is fairly vital to my game plan. Our worst attribute, height, does not bother me too much as I like to keep the ball on the ground. My defenders are tall enough that I do not need to worry.

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As a rule I like to have a 25 man squad, I usually go for two players from each position and a few utility players. My reserve includes mostly loaned out player and an extra keeper. If I do not think a player is good enough by the time he is too old for the u19's I tend to try and find him a new club.

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STARTING XI

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5. Transfer Policy and Squad Building

At this point I have spent just over £12m and sold players worth a total of £30m. Now that I have the squad I want and am happy with, I will be implementing a one-in-one-out policy. Or rather one-out-one-in. With the current climate of Scottish football I have a few guidelines that I play the market by.

- Maximum transfer of £5m

- Wage cap of £30k p/w

- Any bid over £10m will be accepted

- Try get 25% sell on of any player under 25

This is my signings over the past 3 seasons and they all match my guidelines.

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There is a few players who I face losing over the next few years, in particular; Fraser Forster and Virgil van Dijk who have been attracting attention and also Scott Brown and Kris Commons who are on the wrong side of 30. I have made up a shortlist of players who I would like to bring in these players along with others.

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Squad building is my favourite part of FM. Like a transfer policy I will play with a squad building policy, this will not be limited to transfer but also; size of squad, youth development, etc.

- Maintain an average age of under 25

- Have a squad size of 25 players

- Keep player turnover as small as possible

- Promote at least one youth player per season

- Try find clubs for players who won't make it rather than let them leave on a free

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Quite a few people are down on the Assymetric formation so I am keen to see how you do with it.

I like it, it closes the gaps between the defence/midfield/attack without leaving you too exposed in midfield.

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I like it, it closes the gaps between the defence/midfield/attack without leaving you too exposed in midfield.

This was my thinking too, I also thought it would be an ideal formation for forming good passing triangles etc

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These are not from the same save

These two Liam Henderson screenshots are from different saves. The first is from this save where I am focusing on player development and the other is from an older save (year 2018 I think). 19 year old Liam has played 30 SPL matches in two season and 21 year old Liam has played as many games in 5 seasons. 19 year old Liam is much better technically and physically and I have no doubt will catch up with the few mental stats that are lower in a few seasons.

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October 2015 Update

Decided to give an update of results as the result screen was full. Only two losses in competitive games so far, to Real Madrid and Man Utd so nothing to worry about. Results are looking very good thus far. We are socking plenty of goals and keeping a lot of clean sheets.

On the tactical side of things we are dominating possession and completing +85% of our passes.

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