TESTUDO for FM16

[Mr U Rosler]

My Maidstone team are hanging on to a play off spot with 10 games to go but we are 'trending' downwards so i don't think we'll make them.

Still, predicted 18th so not a bad first season, next season will be interesting, my 3 best players won't re-sign for me so i've got my work cut out maintaining my current squad quality into next year never mind improving it.

Like Shirajzl i have a good defensive record, if i can only add a few goals a lot of those draws could be wins.

Will really focus in on a better Striker and 2 wide players in the hope we can kick on. Maidstone are well supported, we have a bit of cash so if need be i can maybe buy someone instead of relying on free transfers.

Tactically, whilst not dominating every game we are creating more & better quality chances in 75% of matches, not sure what else we can reasonably expect.

[sheeshy]

Actually winning streak interrupted by ridiculous drawing streak, 8 draws in a row most massively one sided games in terms of chances/possession etc, normally in my favour.

I'm on 6 draws in a row with Bishops Stortford currently too. They're doing pretty much as well as they can be right now, until the tactic becomes fluid and I can either train up who I have or buy players to fit.

[Keani]

I am going to start a new game with Bologna using the original tactic. But considering to change CM (a) to AP (a) to get some more creativity in midfield, wondering if this would ruin the tactic tho?

[Mr U Rosler]

I am going to start a new game with Bologna using the original tactic. But considering to change CM (a) to AP (a) to get some more creativity in midfield, wondering if this would ruin the tactic tho?

I don't think it would ruin it.

I personally try and avoid using playmakers unless i have a player who is truly head & shoulders above everyone else in the team.

I'd rather the ball go to the player in the best position to receive it rather than 'looking' for a particular player.

[Mr U Rosler]

It just occurred to me that we probably don't want 'play narrower' as a team instruction, this is a legacy of an earlier tactic before i ended up at a 451.

I'm going to take it off and possibly try 'play wider' as it should suit the formation, i have a feeling this may free up the attacking play a little.

Will trial it tonight and report back.

[thegatherer]

don't forget every team has a "preferred tactic"

[TheDentalist]

It just occurred to me that we probably don't want 'play narrower' as a team instruction, this is a legacy of an earlier tactic before i ended up at a 451.

I'm going to take it off and possibly try 'play wider' as it should suit the formation, i have a feeling this may free up the attacking play a little.

Will trial it tonight and report back.

Do you mean for the original or non-league version?

[Mr U Rosler]

I was thinking non-league but probably applies to both.

[Mr U Rosler]

Season 1 Maidstone.

Predicted 18th, finished 10th.

Decent result but massive inconsistency ensured it wasn't very enjoyable, just didn't know what you where going to get on any given day.

However, season 2 with a slightly stronger squad.

REMOVED 'play narrow'

CHANGED 'passing to MIXED'

Much better, pinging the ball around really nicely.

Will continue season to see if we drop off before posting updated lower league tactic but would suggest the changes above based on this.

[Whiskeyjack]

Hey Mr. U Rosler,

I thought I would provide you, and others, with some feedback from my current game. I rarely post but, after spending time developing my own tactics I realised I was getting nowhere, so I jumped on here for a look and thought I would give yours a try as you've certainly had some success in the past.

I'm in my second season with Man Utd. My first season saw me win the Premier League but I struggled in the other competitions and found that my tactics were sound at home but I really struggled away. Your tactic has certainly improved my fortunes. Here are a few things that jumped out at me:

1. - You are spot on when you say that the tactic is defensively sound. In around 15 games I haven't conceded more than 1 goal against the opposition. They rarely take more than 10 shots and only a few are on target. The times they do score goals it is generally down to a defensive error or a sensational goal from distance.

2. - I do find it hard sometimes to score and I've had a number of games where I'll have, for example, 22 shots on goal but only 5 of these are on target. I've had some frustrating 0-0 draws but I guess that's football. Getting a few more of those shots on target would certainly improve my results further, although I'm not sure as to how I should approach that.

3. - As others have mentioned I've also had games where I'll have 6-7 yellow cards. It doesn't happen all the time but my players are certainly close to the edge with the cards they receive.

Overall this has been a terrific tactic for me, although admittedly I'm using a very strong team that should succeed with most tactics. I feel like it's a few tweaks away from being brilliant, but messing with the formula could hurt other aspects of the tactic, so I'm loathe to do it.

Thanks for sharing it mate.

[Mr U Rosler]

Hey Mr. U Rosler,

I thought I would provide you, and others, with some feedback from my current game. I rarely post but, after spending time developing my own tactics I realised I was getting nowhere, so I jumped on here for a look and thought I would give yours a try as you've certainly had some success in the past.

I'm in my second season with Man Utd. My first season saw me win the Premier League but I struggled in the other competitions and found that my tactics were sound at home but I really struggled away. Your tactic has certainly improved my fortunes. Here are a few things that jumped out at me:

1. - You are spot on when you say that the tactic is defensively sound. In around 15 games I haven't conceded more than 1 goal against the opposition. They rarely take more than 10 shots and only a few are on target. The times they do score goals it is generally down to a defensive error or a sensational goal from distance.

2. - I do find it hard sometimes to score and I've had a number of games where I'll have, for example, 22 shots on goal but only 5 of these are on target. I've had some frustrating 0-0 draws but I guess that's football. Getting a few more of those shots on target would certainly improve my results further, although I'm not sure as to how I should approach that.

3. - As others have mentioned I've also had games where I'll have 6-7 yellow cards. It doesn't happen all the time but my players are certainly close to the edge with the cards they receive.

Overall this has been a terrific tactic for me, although admittedly I'm using a very strong team that should succeed with most tactics. I feel like it's a few tweaks away from being brilliant, but messing with the formula could hurt other aspects of the tactic, so I'm loathe to do it.

Thanks for sharing it mate.

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm now wondering if removing 'play narrow' and changing the passing to 'mixed' on the main tactic might improve the goalscoring.

Its improved my non-league performance a lot, although that doesn't guarantee it will translate to a top league.

Probably worth a go though.

[shirajzl]

My results since applying "REMOVED 'play narrow', CHANGED 'passing to MIXED'" tweaks have been really bad. I seem to have lost defensive stability, while it added nothing going forward.

[Mr U Rosler]

My results since applying "REMOVED 'play narrow', CHANGED 'passing to MIXED'" tweaks have been really bad. I seem to have lost defensive stability, while it added nothing going forward.

Very odd.

I made the change at the back end of last season and it didn't make much difference either way then.

But ran it all pre-season and have got off to a 'flier' and the football looks really good.

However, i started really well last year as well before dropping off.

I get a feeling Human Managers might have an advantage pre-season in getting fully fluid, match fit and with good morale (on the back of playing weaker teams in friendlies) therefore arriving at the start of the season proper in much better shape than the AI teams.

Its possible i'm riding this wave fairly deep into the season (14 league games now).

Time will tell i guess.

[shirajzl]

If you get over the December-January lunacy on top of the league, then you might be on to something. It's that time of the season where problems often arise. Curious to see how you'll finish your season.

[gbaby610]

Congratulations on sucking the life out of a game.

My champions league team is sitting in 7th in the league with 8 0-0 draws in 11 fixtures. 4-5-1 with a lone striker and instructing the team to 'pump the ball into the box', are you Fat Sam in disguise?

[Mr U Rosler]

Congratulations on sucking the life out of a game.

My champions league team is sitting in 7th in the league with 8 0-0 draws in 11 fixtures. 4-5-1 with a lone striker and instructing the team to 'pump the ball into the box', are you Fat Sam in disguise?

I'm not aware of any way to set up a 4-5-1 without a lone striker

And 'pump ball into the box' isn't in the tactic.

Great post

[thegatherer]

ha what a troll..the 451 is superb...its in effect a 433 as the 2 wide players play almost like inside forwards...im top scorer in the champs with 10 do go...

[CarlosEsDios]

Can anyone help me in downloading this file please? I've recently purchased a gaming laptop but when i go to download it, it won't work. I've tried changing browsers as well!

I love Mr Rosler's work!

[Mr U Rosler]

Can anyone help me in downloading this file please? I've recently purchased a gaming laptop but when i go to download it, it won't work. I've tried changing browsers as well!

I love Mr Rosler's work!

When you say the download doesn't work, whats actually happening?

[saxon_hook]

To be honest I'm struggling wit this tactic in the lower leagues with Salford, a lot of 0-0 games and also somehow still shipping goals

[shirajzl]

I'm sad to report I can see absolutely no consistency with this tactic in Vanarama South. It doesn't matter whether you're playing against a league leader or a rock bottom team which is winless for 10 games. You never know what to expect on any given day.

[paulbhoy67]

I have had great success with original tactic with Stirling Albion. Two successive promotions which were comfortable considering small budget and being part time. I'm now struggling in the Scottish championship possibly due to step up in quality and being part time but will look at your changes to see if that helps. What is your set piece set up as I play using iPad and unable to download. Continue the good work.

[Sussex Hammer]

Mr Rosler. Trying out the standard tactic and my Assistant keeps banging on about the gap between midfield and forwards. Is that an issue ? It's probably as it's a 451 on structured.

[Mr U Rosler]

Not sure what level Salford are but the non league tactic is still a WIP. I assume you're using the lower league tactic?

Have you tried changing the passing to mixed?

[Mr U Rosler]

Mr Rosler. Trying out the standard tactic and my Assistant keeps banging on about the gap between midfield and forwards. Is that an issue ? It's probably as it's a 451 on structured.

First thing i do on any save is turn off the assistant advice.

[Mr U Rosler]

I have had great success with original tactic with Stirling Albion. Two successive promotions which were comfortable considering small budget and being part time. I'm now struggling in the Scottish championship possibly due to step up in quality and being part time but will look at your changes to see if that helps. What is your set piece set up as I play using iPad and unable to download. Continue the good work.

Away from my PC, will get to that later.

[Mr U Rosler]

I'm sad to report I can see absolutely no consistency with this tactic in Vanarama South. It doesn't matter whether you're playing against a league leader or a rock bottom team which is winless for 10 games. You never know what to expect on any given day.

They were my own experiences 1st season.

2nd season still top of league at half way although we know form can drop off a cliff down here.

Will take a view at the end of season.

[Mr U Rosler]

I have had great success with original tactic with Stirling Albion. Two successive promotions which were comfortable considering small budget and being part time. I'm now struggling in the Scottish championship possibly due to step up in quality and being part time but will look at your changes to see if that helps. What is your set piece set up as I play using iPad and unable to download. Continue the good work.

Here you go.

[paulbhoy67]

Thanks for that will give it a go

[safeer4567@gmail.com]

have any of you guys having problems getting players trained for wide midfielder

i have a situation where they are accomplished as wide midfielder but not as attacking wide mid as well as poor suitability

not sure whats going on here

[shirajzl]

Mr U Rosler, I'm curious. How come you don't do tactical sets like you did on FM 14? Tactics for home games, for away games, against much better sides etc. FM 15 was easy so there was no need for that, but FM 16 so far has proved to be much tougher, so maybe the quest for one plug and play tactic could be fruitless. What are you thoughts on that, taking into consideration all the experience you've had with tactics creation on this ME?

[Mr U Rosler]

Mr U Rosler, I'm curious. How come you don't do tactical sets like you did on FM 14? Tactics for home games, for away games, against much better sides etc. FM 15 was easy so there was no need for that, but FM 16 so far has proved to be much tougher, so maybe the quest for one plug and play tactic could be fruitless. What are you thoughts on that, taking into consideration all the experience you've had with tactics creation on this ME?

I think in FM14 there were certain patterns of play which made it obvious which approach to adopt in which situation.

As you say, FM15 was fairly straight forward in the end.

FM16 is pretty hard to figure out, just getting anything to work is a big effort.

The attacking mentalities (Attacking, Control) don't seem to be as effective as more conservative approaches (Counter/Standard) so the obvious candidates for an attacking home tactic are immediately not very appealing.

+ its double the work and double the testing.

[Mr U Rosler]

Strange thing happening in my Maidstone save.

Halfway thru my second season the transfer market has just opened up, players rated as good for the National League (the league above me) will now consider signing for me.

I've even just signed a midfielder rated as decent for league 2 (2 leagues above).

I've hung onto 2nd place with my old squad, i've brought in that much better midfielder, a better striker and i have budget for a couple of new wingers, gonna see if i can push for promotion.

Tactics might be a bit iffy non league but it looks like squad building might be easier than recent years if you can stick around for a couple of seasons.

[SMT2013]

Gonna give this a try with my Getafe save I'm currently 9th in the League using my own tactic (predicted to finish 20th) so will experiment with your original version while I have some job security for the last 16 games. I have Andrija Zivkovic and Ryan Gauld on loan so I think these will work very well as the WM (A) roles but I'm going to set these to swap position through the match, just wondering though if you have ever tried this?

[FloydRix]

Trying this on my Lower league save and its nothing going well at all, this is with the tweaked changes. 1 goal scored in 7 matches and conceding goals everywhere. Good thing is we aren't losing by many goals and the tactic is not fully fluid so there may be some hope yet.

[Mr U Rosler]

10 games to go season 2 with Maidstone.

All to play for.

It can go well non-league, been able to build the team around the tactic and having a bit of quality in key areas has improved our performances a lot

.

[Lucentio]

Hey Mr U. Great work on the tactic. Thanks for spending the time to develop and share it. I have done a little test on a few of the tactics in the forum and this came out pretty well. Check it out.

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/445692-FM16-Comprehensive-Tactics-Comparison-Which-came-out-on-top-!

[Mr U Rosler]

Hey Mr U. Great work on the tactic. Thanks for spending the time to develop and share it. I have done a little test on a few of the tactics in the forum and this came out pretty well. Check it out.

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/445692-FM16-Comprehensive-Tactics-Comparison-Which-came-out-on-top-!

Interesting, did you use the lower league version?

[Walrus]

Have you got the mentality, structure, team instructions and any other info that is needed to recreate?

Unfortunately the iPad FMT doesn't like FMF files so I can't download. Thank you.

[Lucentio]

Interesting, did you use the lower league version?

Yeah. It worked well. Had a little dry spell but finished promisingly.

[Mr U Rosler]

Have you got the mentality, structure, team instructions and any other info that is needed to recreate?

Unfortunately the iPad FMT doesn't like FMF files so I can't download. Thank you.

Lower League or Standard Tactic?

[Walrus]

Standard please.

I'll put it all together and then upload the tactic here for iPad users.

[jinxwhitsmith]

In the earlier post you said to remove 'play narrow' however I don't seem to be able to remove it only change it to another option such as play wide, balanced, etc. What do I need change it to?

[Mr U Rosler]

In the earlier post you said to remove 'play narrow' however I don't seem to be able to remove it only change it to another option such as play wide, balanced, etc. What do I need change it to?

Balanced.

[Mr U Rosler]

Standard please.

I'll put it all together and then upload the tactic here for iPad users.

Standard/Structured

Team Instructions

Player Instructions

Wide Midfielders - Sit Narrower, Cut Inside

Central Midfield/Attack - Roam from position

Goalkeeper -Roll it out, distribute to full backs

All other roles standard PI's

[CarlosEsDios]

Hey Mr Rosler, finally figured out the downloading issue

[Mr U Rosler]

Hey Mr Rosler, finally figured out the downloading issue

Good skills

[Mr U Rosler]

Updated standard tactic to version v1a (removed 'play narrow', improved corner routines attacking & defending)

Updated Lower League tactic to version LL v1a (changed to mixed passing, improved corner routines attacking & defending)

[CarlosEsDios]

THanks Mr Rosler. Just loading up the game so i'll download the updated tactic.

[Mr U Rosler]

Ok,

2nd season with Maidstone.

Smashed league.

Wasn't as easy as it looked, was in the balance until 3 games to go.

We were 2nd place halfway thru the season, essentially grinding narrow wins but as i mentioned above it became clear that some higher quality players were now interested in joining.

So i took my own advice and signed some better wide midfielders which suited the tactic.

This had a massive impact with the tactic essentially 'coming to life' transforming from a reliable 'grinder' to banging 4 and 5 goals past teams which i had never done non-league before.

I will do a post on lower league recruitment over the next couple of days as there are a few 'mechanical' things to be aware of.

But the bottom line is, the tactic responds really well to adding a little quality, especially in the attacking roles, eventually hitting a tipping point where it plays differently and you start to see free flowing attacking football.... even non-league.

My key January signings.

Essentially a 'non-league' Raheem Sterling, very quick and agile for this level, 2 footed with decent first touch and tecnique.

The '4' finishing nearly put me off but i figured he was so quick he'd get a load of tap in's just by beating defenders to thru balls/rebounds etc which proved to be this case.

15 goals and 11 assists in 25 games

And on the other flank...

Not as quick, but plenty quick enough for this level. Good passing, crossing, finishing, first touch and technique and along with high determination and work rate.

13 goals and 7 assists in 24 games

My squad in average rating order if your looking for a heads up on some players.

Bottom line is, as i've been advocating for years, which ever tactic you use, recruit to the strength's of that tactic and you'll reap the rewards.

Even if it means you have a couple of mediocre seasons in the meantime.