LLM the old fashioned way

[johnnyyakuza78]

LLM (Lower league management) seems to be a playstyle that many people are afraid to try, its not something Ive done a lot of during my years of playing FM, but recently I've had a bit of a stab at it and thought I would post up my tactic and thoughts about WHY I made the tactic in the way I did. My ambition is to get feedback on my choices and spark a discussion on LLM in general. 

So I thought I would start with my assumptions about what makes LLM different  ( I'm talking about playing in the lower reaches, not the role play version of the game style BTW)

1) The most obvious difference here is that the players are worse, much worse, that I am used to selecting. All of their stats are incredibly low. However the opposition is also in the same boat, so things are all relative. 

2) However, there is a difference I feel in LLM that I think isn't mentioned so often. Stat distribution is not even with each player. Most players have a good couple of stats but the rest are average or awful. 

3) Physical stats are much easier to come by than mental or technical. They are also quite simple to take advantage of.

4) Since mental and technical stats are generally much worse, my feeling is that it can be better to find ways to minimise the damage of the lack of stats, and take less risks.



All this is perfect for me because anyone who saw my Pulis thread would know I love trying to recreate that horrible style of football, so this would be a really good excuse to really make the most of Longball pub carpark football. 

I'll start with my Club, WestonSupermare in the Conference South. Predicted to fight off relegation. They have a small set of relatively poor players to choose from. However where they do excel, is that they have a few veteran defenders like Tom Jordan:

Tom is on old tough geezer, a total leader on the pitch, has good teamwork and is great and jumping, very strong. Hes also as slow as my gran. 

At the other end of the pitch is Tristain Plummer


Tristain doesn't look like very much but what he does have is a bunch of good physical stats, a bit of flair, off the ball and finishing. He is basically my star striker as sad as that sounds.

The rest of my players look a bit like Jamie Edge..

by that I mean they are rubbish. Jamie has some decent stats here and there but not the sort I'd want to build a team around. 

The Tactic

So bearing all that in mind, that my players are bad, slow defenders, fast attackers, a midfield who can't do much of anything, I have a good basis for creating a tactic that should help them play to their strengths:




I made this sketch to illustrate what I want to happen. Unlike most tactics, which want everyone to play as a cohesive unit, I think I want more of a broken team, which sounds bad, but in my head it makes sense because I don't want players who cannot attack or are too risky high up the pitch, from joining in the attack. I want to have a back 6 and a front 4 in attack, and 9 behind the ball when I'm defending. That means that when we have the ball I want my midfield to shoot up the field and chase after the lone striker or smashing into the opposition back 4.  I need my central striker to be harassing their defenders or giving us an option for a long ball over their defence if they push up too high.

Meanwhile my back 6 stay put. The central mids are my 'Cage', their only job is to break up play in the centre and launch it back at our attackers. 

So thats the sketch and this is how I see it working in FM16:



What we have is a deep 4231, a bit like how Tony Pulis would set up a side :). It is however more extreme in some ways to compensate for the stat problems. It features:
 

- A flat back four, all limited defenders. Many people cannot see the point of a limited defender, and don't like them because they just lump the ball. However it has its uses. Ticking limited defender gives you the following instructions:

Less Risky Passes
Hold Position
Dribble Less
Shoot less often
Increases passing directness.

All of which I want. Why? Because my defenders do not possess the skills to do anything like dribble or shoot, they are very one dimensional. So his instructions dissuade him from doing anything he is bad at. This applies even to the fullbacks, who mainly there to defend and do little else, I do not want them rushing upfield because they don't know what to do when they get there.

- 2 BWM in the DMC position. Often people say don't play BWM in a midfield 2, but what if they both are BWM? Having them on defence seems to make them patrol that area in midfield without going crazy, but also lends just enough aggressiveness. I've found having played two DMCs in the past that they usually stand off too much to keep shape, giving the opposition loads of space. This works better. The concern however is how to keep them pressing and hounding when their stamina is so crappy.

- The Midfield band of 3's just is to run upfield when we have the ball. Left wing player cuts inside, right wing player is more of a winger. For me this is so that they don't all get clumped together, especially when the fullbacks arent going to provide any width. The central mid player I'm not sure about. A BBM or a CM-A or CM-S depending on the opposition I think.

- The striker I use the thinking from Cleon, using a a Defensive forward on Defend if the team are pressing us, and a DLF-A if I feel they are sitting back. Sometimes I reverse it because quite frankly its hard to see if its working. I do like to have him make runs in behind however.

Instructions are:

Highly Structured: This makes sense to me because as I said I want my team to be reasonably spread apart and quite distinct in their roles. I want my attack and defend roles to have maximum impact and be quite extreme. I also don't want players doing anything I haven't asked of them. Defenders need to purely defend, attackers need to attack more. Its a simple way of playing for simple players. 

Counter Mentality: Again makes sense. Need the team to sit back and draw the opposition to them. Defenders are too slow to push up. Need to create space for my faster players to run into. Defensive players hit longer balls, exactly what I want.

Route One passing: No risk football. Its not always that aimless either.

Narrower Width: Long ball football seems to be narrower naturally, I guess because it needs forward players to be near the centre of the pitch, so I went even narrower to enhance this. 

Defend deeper: Just because I'm so slow at the back.


So thats how I've set it up. So far its working well, I'm top 6 in the Conf South and barely concede goals. I don't score many but enough. I'd be interested to see how other people handle LLM tactics as well. I know there are many who create free flowing football with tiny sides, which I find very impressive.