Tactical Central & Strategy Design by LL

[qadsawee79]

@Loversleaper Really appreciate your threads through out the various iterations of FM. I wonder if you are planning to have something about Conte this year ?? 

[Kung]

another thing i notice, should the howe sets defensive version have standard mentality?

[Loversleaper]

4 hours ago, Kung said:

another thing i notice, should the howe sets defensive version have standard mentality?

Arggghhh! I noticed several times when I save a tactic and then when I re-load it again some of the settings change - especially the set-pieces, and it's starting to annoy me :(

 

I shouldn't be uploading so late at night either because when I am tired I can make a real mess of things. Thankfully you put this to my attention just before I put up the Mourinho tactics so I can just run through them again before I upload them and now I have time to fix that link. You can easily just use the drop down menu to change from Standard to Defensive or just download - up to you. As far as I can see that is the only mistake so it is a simple fix...  

[Kung]

2 hours ago, Loversleaper said:

Arggghhh! I noticed several times when I save a tactic and then when I re-load it again some of the settings change - especially the set-pieces, and it's starting to annoy me :(

 

I shouldn't be uploading so late at night either because when I am tired I can make a real mess of things. Thankfully you put this to my attention just before I put up the Mourinho tactics so I can just run through them again before I upload them and now I have time to fix that link. You can easily just use the drop down menu to change from Standard to Defensive or just download - up to you. As far as I can see that is the only mistake so it is a simple fix...  

no worries,figured it was a small error,thnx for the tactics

[Loversleaper]

On ‎2‎/‎1‎/‎2017 at 18:22, qadsawee79 said:

@Loversleaper Really appreciate your threads through out the various iterations of FM. I wonder if you are planning to have something about Conte this year ?? 

For sure, I have already the 5-1-2-2 DM that Juventus was using during the Conte years basically set up, but need to run through them and hope they will be up soon. I have also dabbled a little with the current Conte formation at Chelsea - which is a more 3-4-2-1 formation - but I am no where near finished with that yet. I still have to complete Arsene first because that one is almost complete, I just need to check how they react with a less reputation team (than Arsenal, of course). I was also going to add a simple 5-3-2 direct tactical set that could also be used by lower league teams. But first things first

[Loversleaper]

Just included the links to the Mourinho tactic set.

Here we have multiple formations (4-4-1-1 / 4-2-3-1 / 4-1-4-1) so it's a good idea to have a few players in key positions that can play in the DM/MC and MC/AMC slots so that during matches you have the option to switch formations. Quite a lot of work in the tactical department before and during games if you want to get the most out of this style of playing - emulating Mourinho will be difficult but on the otherhand, the range that these tactics offer can basically suit any team (relegation battler, tactician or master-class). Effective football (lethal touch) and if you stop the clock sometimes during matches and do some minor formation/mentality changes then you should do quite well.

You will notice that there are two Control tactics (the 4-2-3-1 and the 4-4-1-1) and two Counter tactics (4-4-1-1 and the 4-1-4-1), there is a special reason for this. To be thoroughly tactical, you might find it fun to use the formation changes to your advantage either selecting them before a match or switch during a match to change things around a little (many AI managers do this as well). On Control the slight change is moving the wingers forward and turning the one winger (left in this case) to an Inside Forward. I personally used this switch with these tactics frequently depending on the scoreline and/or what I wanted to get out of the match - 4-4-1-1 is slightly more 'reserved' even with the same settings as the 4-2-3-1, which tends to be a little more 'daring' which was evident when reading the match stats. In the Counter you have one tactic with a Attacking Midfielder and the other with a Defensive Midfielder - here it is kind of important to know your opponent and use one of those players (DM or AM) to try and nullify the opponent's formational strengths. Usually if you do chose the best starting strategy (Mentality) for the game then I find it hard to move to a whole new Mentality Strategy because it can sometimes cause that randomness that I always try to avoid as much as possible. Switching formations can really do the trick on it's own and is something I can recommend for Gamers looking for the tactical challenge. If you want to play somewhat like Mourinho, then using the more 'reserved' version of these Strategies generally could add a little to the experience ;).

If you are Master-Class, then the three strategies you probably want to familiarize your team with is < Attack_4-2-3-1 / Control_4-4-1-1 / Counter_4-1-4-1 >. I think this is a good way to familiarize the three different formations so you can switch without suffering too big loses in the familiarity department. Here you are basically playing Attack at home unless you meet one of the other absolute world-class squads that are ranked higher than your team, then play it safe and start with the Control and use a little time getting to know your team's strengths against these type of opponents. Away when large favorites Control otherwise keep Standard in a backup file so you can quickly load it if you want to play more safe against opponents where you are slight favorites (maybe change down to Counter during the match if things are going well, like a couple of goals up, around the 60-70 minute mark). Away as underdog one of the Counters, usually it would be the 4-1-4-1 unless you might have an advantage with the other formation (4-4-1-1) over your opponent or you just really need a result and might decide to play more risky and abandon the 'Bottom Heavy' formation and go for a more 'Top Heavy'.

As a Tactician team I would recommend < Control_4-2-3-1 / Standard_4-4-1-1 / Defensive_4-1-4-1 >. Covering the formation bases because Tacticians have a lot more tactical work to do than the Master-Class. Home Control unless you are large underdogs then I would go with Standard. Defensive away for the most part (underdog) until you start getting really good result form then it is a good idea to have the Counter somewhere close by as slight underdogs. Away slight favorites then I would go with Standard unless huge favorites, then just go with the Control (might keep the formation switch in mind here). As a Relegation battler you are going to play pretty similar to above, but one change I might consider would be to choose the Control 4-4-1-1 instead of the 4-2-3-1 formation.

Almost as a rule, I would - for the most part - switch to Contain in the last 10 minutes with 1 goal advantages to try to secure results, or going to Overload with 1 goal deficits if I consider it essential to try and get back into it. Generally to keep it tight, I would chose the more reserved tactical options and pushed up or pulled back formation-wise during matches, and it proved to be quite effective. With Match Preparation I did quite a lot of switching around during the season in a bid to strengthen my game plan where Attacking Set-Pieces and Defending stance were a lot on the menu.

Good luck!

Edited February 3, 2017 by Loversleaper

[loisvale]

The updated Mourinho sets our very interesting. I particularly like the differing formation options with counter and control. This gives plenty of options at your disposal. Will the updated Wenger sets have similar formation options under these mentalities? It always feels safer to tinker with the formation than the mentality during a match if at all possible.

 

Whilst on – I have a query whether anyone ever finds themselves using touchline shouts during a match? I have never been able to establish if this has any material effect on the team instructions or whether it is purely a morale effect. Any thoughts?

 

 

[Loversleaper]

Talking of Wenger, I just included the Arsene 4-2-3-1/4-1-4-1 set. I wanted to make a full short passing set and it was quite difficult to achieve this in the more defensive strategies. These tactics work very well with world-class talented teams. Facilities, club set-up, reputation are a big plus as well, of course. A team like Arsenal would easily just play Attacking at home but in that rare case where you might be slight underdog you can easily just start with Control. Away you are going to find yourself large favorites most of the time so using the Control should do the job. Standard as away slight favorites otherwise as underdog away the Counter. I can't really imagine you would be large underdog away from home, rare for sure, but here the Defensive strategy is a good starting point. Might also be useful if you were Countering but went a man down. This is something I haven't mentioned yet, but I find that when you get red carded, it's a good idea to change down a Strategy (like Counter to Defensive as an example) or change up a strategy if the opponent is a man down. If I do go a man down, usually I change the formation to a 4-4-1 with a Deep Lying playmaker on Defend duty and otherwise try to keep the roles initially used as much as possible - the striker left on the pitch is always the Support duty one for me. Cup finals (Neutral pitches) I use Control when favorite - Standard when the odds are very close - and Counter as bigger underdog.

 

Full on possession game, even when playing Defensive you will be trying to control the game as much as possible. So, this part will be difficult for teams that don't have sufficient talent and you will notice this if you look at match stats and seeing that the opponent is getting a real high CCC count despite having otherwise really good stats. Short passing with retain possession and play out of defense can really backfire if your team cannot pass their way around the opposition's pressure (Closing Down). I am not saying it can't be done, but there is a adjustment phase which might even take a season or two before it becomes your club's DNA, and you need talent that's close to maturing at least. Creates lot's of possession and quality football where you mostly will be using the Top Heavy formations so the defensive side might have it's scary moments - but as long as you keep trucking along, you should score plenty. If you do want to try this with a team outside of the world-class, then you will get most out of these three primary Control, Standard and Defensive, but keeping the others close by.

 

Rarely need for any changing once you have decided on which strategy would give the AI opposition a good battle. Almost 100% Attacking Movement for Match Prep and off you go...

[Loversleaper]

The Highly Structured 5-1-2-2 DM (& 3-5-2) tactic set has just been included. Remember that these tactics (as the others) have specific set-piece set-ups and it is important that you have your best jumping and heading DC attacking the far post because that is where the team is instructed to cross the ball in set-plays. 

 

Here you have two Attack Strategies, one is the normal 5-1-2-2 which is more reliant on a form of attacking Counter-Attack - Retain Possession so you hold onto the ball and then make that slicing pass that cuts open the opposition defense. This formation, though, can be a little hard to over run those really stubborn 'park the bus' teams so that is why you can easily switch to the 3-5-2 version. The 3-5-2 (no retain instruction) is a lot more daring and creates a lot more chances but at the same time your back 3 doesn't really have cover that the wing backs and the Anchor Man offer. I switched between them depending on what I needed from the match and switched between them during matches sometimes to change the game. As an example, I could start with the 3-5-2 and if I am in front by a few around the 60th minute then would switch to the 5-1-2-2, tighten the back and hit more on the counter when the opposition is trying to get back into the match - or if I started with the 5-1-2-2 and felt I wasn't making an impact, then I would switch up to the 3-5-2.

 

The strike force of the False9 (Tevez, Del Piero, Dybala types) and the Poacher (Inzaghi, Higuaín types) resembles the types of forwards Juventus usually likes to use, but have the Target Man (Llorente, Mandzukic types) as an alternative. The False9 suits both of these striker types (Poacher and Target Man on Attack Duty) and it is an easy switch either before the match or during where you throw on a Target Man later on to change the dynamics of the game. 

 

These tactics can be used at all levels but the stumbling block might be that it could be hard to have enough cover for the roles that is required to play Highly Structured football. Remember to use the Strategy 'theory' mentioned in the thread regarding strategy choices because you will naturally be playing differently if you are a Master-Class team or a Tactician/Relegation Battler. This tactic set is going to evolve later on into Conte's current tactical outlook he is using at Chelsea.

 

Good luck!

Edited February 6, 2017 by Loversleaper

[carloshcorbalan]

Hola.

Estoy atento a las presentación de las tácticas Simeone.

Gran trabajo en las anteriores.

Gracias.

[melogroovy]

Love your stuff, LL.  I created a 4-2-4 wide based on your guide from 2016.  Newcastle won the Championship with 110 points and the finished 3rd back in the premier league. 

[Loversleaper]

In the full game, familiarity is a huge aspect one cannot ignore. Let's say that you start using these tactic sets and in pre-season you don't want to play a good 10-15 friendly games - when the season starts you are going to be pretty low in familiarity. Here you most likely will notice that your team might not respond too well with tactics (and that's in general) if you use the normal starting Strategy 'theory' mentioned in this thread. Usually I make sure I have enough friendlies, but on the off chance that I don't, then it is wise to start more cautious strategy-wise - in other words, I would start with the strategy lower than what I normally would. This periode can be quite a struggle until these two things basically happen: 1 = the familiarity aspect and 2 = result form starts to kick in. This is trial and error, and usually it can take up to around 16 matches before the AI opponent recognizes that you are tactically competent and will start playing more safe against your team - equally, it could also take that long before your team starts to respond to instructions. The more advanced your settings are (like in the Arsene) the longer it will take for your team to adapt, especially if they are playing with settings that they are not familiar with (for example going from direct passing to short passing). Settings like short passing and wide width or short passing and more defensive mentalities are very hard to adapt to and that is why I suggested that tactics like Arsene is something you would use more 'down the line' with great talent as a must. You can 'tone' down with settings and then work your way toward these type of settings over a periode of time, and this is something I strongly recommend. At the start of your managerial career, it's always best to start with settings that teams respond more quickly with (like Direct passing as an example) and avoid those settings that crave certain talent/familiarity (like retain possession/work ball into box).

 

When you are reading the Match Engine and Match Stats, there are several things you might want to take time to notice. First of all, the ME is usually telling you something with the highlights. Secondly the Match Stats are also giving indications of your mentality choice (especially the Tackling % stat). What happens after Goal Keeper distributes the ball? What happens in the Set-Plays and in the aftermath of them? Which team started the Attack and which team finished the move at the end of the highlight? You see, the ME gives us feedback on the success rate of the settings you use - you will see them attempting something in your settings/instructions and kind of letting you know if they work or not, but you can't draw conclusions too quickly either. A lot of the representation in the ME can look incredibly unfortunate due to it trying to simulate success rates of actions and familiarity adds to that when it's low. The success rates of actions on the pitch is how I read the ME - and I have to also take things like poor mistakes from players and wonder goals out from the equation to get a better picture of what is going on because not every incident is an outcome of the ME calculation in the success rate department.

 

So, when you see, for example, your right winger bombing down the flank and crossing towards the near post and looking kind of dangerous although you don't score could mean two things. Firstly it could be just telling you that the winger is familiar and responding well with Mentality and the team in general and sooner or later you are going to profit from this. The second thing it could be telling you is that everything is fine but since you have a Lone Striker staying more centrally and not getting to the near post, maybe you should try to get the winger to cross more into the center. It's simple things like this that are going on the ME and as soon as you see the patterns, it becomes a little more easy to know what you can do. So, that's why it is a good idea to slow things down every so often and take a longer look at specific games to see what is going on. When things look good, then you can easily fly through matches if that suits your way of playing...  

Edited February 7, 2017 by Loversleaper

[karax268]

LL,

I'm trying to create tactics based on your ideas. is the post you had for FM16 also aplicable to 17?

Also, is there a general rule you use to decide upon closing down, width and tempo etc?

[carloshcorbalan]

Interesante post.

Estoy a la espera de publicación táctica Simeone y su desarrollo.

Gracias

Edited February 9, 2017 by carloshcorbalan

[loisvale]

The Arsene set is exceptionally good – but you have to have a good team. Working very well with Napoli in my long-term save. However, even with a very good team you can let in more goals than you would like due to the high line and top-heavy formation in the upper strategies. I find that swapping the AM support for a DM defend and the DLP defend for a AP support can help shore things up and works very well with everything else the same and the same team instructions. I am also working on how this can be integrated into the set pieces and this is becoming my preferred formation.

All of these tactics are very much appreciated.

 

 

 

[tote]

Really appreciate your great work  @Loversleaper. One question about set pieces. Do you have specific set pieces strategies in your sets? 

[carloshcorbalan]

Hilo interesante. 

ESTAMOS esperando las Tácticas de Simeone,  analizar y probar ...

gracias ...

 

 

Edited February 13, 2017 by carloshcorbalan

[Loversleaper]

I would like to share a quick save that shows basically how I play the game. Since carloshcorbalan mentioned Simeone's tactics, here is what one could do until I have the Simeone tactic set ready for download. Mourniho's tactic set works very well with a team like Atl Madrid and here below I will run through the steps and also have the game link so people who want to go and check it out can do so;

 

One thing I did find incredibly annoying is that somehow the Mourinho tactic sets need a really small adjustment. In the Attacking strategy the Complete forward is on Attack duty and that is not correct - it should be on Support duty. In the Standard strategy there is a small mistake in the attacking corner set-piece where only one of the full backs stay back where in reality both should be staying back. Small mistakes but I hope some of you noticed them and have corrected them, I will refresh the links so that future downloaders should have the correct settings. Not sure how it happened because the screen shot I took has the right duty and I uploaded the tactic from that save, have no idea how it happened but fixed both small mistakes now in the links...

 

Atl. Madrid is a pretty injury-prone squad so you have to really pay attention to training loads, but generally any team I manage I will use a good 10 minutes making sure I am getting the most out of them and protecting players with too high work loads so the injury frequency will be lower. Another thing that really bugs the hell out of me, is that when you switch strategies or simply when moving players to other positions - then the set-piece positioning gets muddled up, so every time I make one of these adjustments in the match I have to run through the set-plays and put players in the correct places... Something I need to mention in the Feedback Thread...

 

So, to get things started here is the Transfer page and as you can see, not a lot of money to spend but brought in some young talent that can cover just in case. All Spanish speaking so they gel more quickly:

 

 

Edited February 14, 2017 by Loversleaper

[Loversleaper]

Next is the Tactics Screen, as you can see I have chosen the 4-2-3-1_ATTACKING_Direct_Mourinho, the 4-4-1-1_CONTROL_Direct_Mourinho and the 4-1-4-1_COUNTER_Direct_Mourinho. At home I used the Attacking strategy for all home games except the Barcelona match where I used the Control strategy (I was slight underdog which was the only time so far). Away matches was played pretty basic, as large favorites went with Control and slight favorites used Standard from the drop-down menu once I entered the Match (before pep-talk, of course). I am going to keep training Counter because it is going to be important in the later stages of the Champions League and I still have to meet Real and Barca away in the second half of the season.

 

Here is also a little detail that I do with the tactic sets if necessary. That is that in the download set, as in the Mourinho set for example, the left winger is a Inside Forward, but because I mainly use Gaitan over there - he is better as a simple winger. So, I changed that role to fit the player - but I did use the Inside Forward if I moved Griezmann over there. The normal line up was Wingers (pushed up) on the sides and if I did use an Inside forward then it would only be one side so that the attacking play has a little diversity - having two Inside forwards is usually not a good idea because you might crowd the middle a little too much in this formation due to the Attacking Midfielder. Wide play has it's importance...

 

Edited February 15, 2017 by Loversleaper

[Loversleaper]

The fixture list is up next, and as you can see things went pretty well. It went into the 9th game before I even conceded a goal in the League. Lots of clean sheets and have, of course, one of the best Defensive records in the league. The one match I did lose away to Villareal was a disaster - my left back was red-carded early in the match and we couldn't get back into it once we went down. I played exactly like described above, the only time I did change during the match was in the Malaga game - I started with the 4-4-1-1 but was down 1-0 at half time. Here I changed to the 4-2-3-1 formation (but still same strategy: Control due to being large favorites) and it did the trick. I didn't have to really do this formation switch so far, but will monitor the situation in the second half of the season where teams will start playing more cautious against me due to my result form and opponents taking my tactical game much more seriously - let's see when that time comes...

 

Edited February 15, 2017 by Loversleaper

[Loversleaper]

In the Champions League, I was handed a pretty easy group - but we did the job and won it comfortably:

 

[Loversleaper]

In the League, it pretty much looks like it's going to be us and Barcelona that is going down to the wire on who will win the league. Real could get back into it and they have a few games in hand, but it might be too late for them if my team and Barcelona keep the current form:

 

 

 

Home and Away stats:

 

[Loversleaper]

Here is the last screenshot for the 1st half season and that is the Game Status page to show when I saved last. As you can see, the last save was made just after pre-season and before the first important match - I have it here so that I can go back at one point to try the upcoming Simeone tactic and see if it can emulate the Mourinho tactics. So, half a season with no save and this is important for me to show so that the people following this thread can see that this style of playing the game (with strategies) is a perfectly sound and effective way of playing, At the bottom of this post I will include the link so you can download and look through the save:

 

 

 

DOWNLOAD LINK - http://www.mediafire.com/file/a5shipdq2qdwmg1/AtleticoMadrid2.fm

 

Edited February 14, 2017 by Loversleaper

[carloshcorbalan]

Hola Loversleaper.

Buen comentario sobre tácticas Mou - Simeone, pero no puedo abrir archivo del enlace...

Se podrá modificar ???

Gracias....... 

 

[Loversleaper]

On ‎2‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 19:03, loisvale said:

The Arsene set is exceptionally good – but you have to have a good team. Working very well with Napoli in my long-term save. However, even with a very good team you can let in more goals than you would like due to the high line and top-heavy formation in the upper strategies. I find that swapping the AM support for a DM defend and the DLP defend for a AP support can help shore things up and works very well with everything else the same and the same team instructions. I am also working on how this can be integrated into the set pieces and this is becoming my preferred formation.

All of these tactics are very much appreciated.

 

 

 

That is going to be the next project for me for sure. The 4-1-2-2-1 (or the 4-1-2-3 DM Wide) is my personal favorite when it comes to having a structurally balanced formation. I have the first steps already down 'on paper' and this will eventually lead into a Barcelona type football tactic set. This weekend I hope to have time to try the Lower League (Truro City save) with a basic 4-1-2-3 DM Wide set-up and then evolve it for the really huge reputation teams...  

[Loversleaper]

On ‎2‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 14:35, tote said:

Really appreciate your great work  @Loversleaper. One question about set pieces. Do you have specific set pieces strategies in your sets? 

 

Every set has a different set-piece set-up. I found that the set-piece becomes more efficient to put the players in certain areas depending on where you are kicking the ball - also for the aftermath of the set-plays. It is a good idea to look at your players and make a good selection to compliment your team, for example, if you have short players you won't want to kick the ball into the 6yard box and better to try to get the ball around the penalty spot and have a decent striker try to run into it or have a good long shooter on the edge of the area... Little things like this can make any tactic slightly more efficient result-wise.

 

Just be aware that if you change player positions during a match or make strategy mentality changes - then you might want to look at set-plays again to see if the player have moved from the original assignments. Annoying and hope that SI fix it asap...

 

 

On ‎2‎/‎9‎/‎2017 at 14:08, karax268 said:

LL,

I'm trying to create tactics based on your ideas. is the post you had for FM16 also aplicable to 17?

Also, is there a general rule you use to decide upon closing down, width and tempo etc?

 

Yes, I am basically using everything from the FM 16 thread, maybe some small changes but overall still very relevent. The general rule is simply to make the tactics as sound as possible, my experience is to leave them more where they are on default and see how things go. Make subtle changes and see how you team reacts to them - some teams work well with high tempo and others simply fall apart with high tempo. Pretty much trail and error, but if you have a general idea how the default works then it is easy to see how the add on settings compare to the original - then you know if you are moving in the right direction or not. One general rule, if you can call it that, is that I tend to notice tackling % as the first observation and then look onto other stats to see if the settings are making sense for the team...

[Gavinwwe]

Hey mate How could a Klopp Gengen pressing work in a 4231 would it work??

[loisvale]

Very interested in your comments about looking at stats in games. Why is tackle completion% key for you? What does it tell you about the starting mentality? If the % is low or lower than the opponent do you tend to go down a mentality or up or change something else? What other stats do you concentrate on? Have always had great success applying your theories but always interested in learning more!

[Loversleaper]

14 hours ago, loisvale said:

Very interested in your comments about looking at stats in games. Why is tackle completion% key for you? What does it tell you about the starting mentality? If the % is low or lower than the opponent do you tend to go down a mentality or up or change something else? What other stats do you concentrate on? Have always had great success applying your theories but always interested in learning more!

Well, there is a saying in football that you have to try to win your 50/50's. If you are not at least winning half of your challenges then you are simply not doing it and your team will suffer in the long run. That is why I generally chose the settings that create the highest % that is available (average stats over a longer periode of time, of course) - one of the reasons my tactics usually do quite well in not letting in way too many goals. If you are in the best possible starting strategy and you do notice that the tackling % is lower than 50% - then I would say that there is something wrong, and it probably has something to do with one of your team instructions that has to be removed or maybe added to compliment your tactic. Tackling % doesn't tell you much about the Mentality unless you are playing a much more attacking mentality than is required or deemed the more 'safe' option to use for the match. If you are way too high, then your team will be trying to press the ball against an opponent that is running rings around your closing down settings - naturally giving you very low stat in the won challenges. To determine if you are too low on the mentality ladder usually is seen in the possession stat. If you are playing away to a team you know has the quality to play you off the field and you notice that (compared to other similar situation matches) you are actually having more possession than your vastly superior opponent. You don't have to change if things are going well, but it is an indication that your opponents are starting to play more Cautiously at home against you. You will have high possession stats because the opponent is basically allowing you to play the ball around above their closing down settings - this frequently happens to human users that play Control Strategy against a very defensive opponent on home ground. Control will usually do well in the possession department against counter attacking teams, but if your possession is worryingly low - then you are allowing your opponent to play the ball around above your closing down settings.

 

Over time you kind of start seeing the patterns, and that is why it is always a good idea to start out default with settings as step one, step two would be finding what strategy works good in the upcoming match situation. Step three would be adding on the team instructions/settings to see what direction you are going, so monitoring those stats I mentioned above you can kind of determine if you are going in the right direction or not. Some of the settings have attacking traits and others have more defensive traits - they are easy to guess which is which. You can easily adopt your playing style, but you have to keep in mind your team's overall capability - this kind of puts on natural restraints to what you can and can't do in the short term, but if you have patience and are good at assembling squads then you can easily evolve your tactics in the direction you want to go... 

 

Strategies have descriptions and they give kind of an indication of when you can use them. From that point anyone can easily work themselves towards sound tactical systems, the only important advice I think I can give is from this 'point' that you take small steps in regards to settings and avoid going over the top by adding too many before you know how they work...

Edited February 16, 2017 by Loversleaper

[Loversleaper]

So, finally managed to have a little time to finish the Atl. Madrid save. Started out having to sell Tiago and Cerci because my deficit was really heavy in the financial department and it was getting last call to sell these players (especially taking their wages into account). Brought in some players that star-wise were basically the same as these two players sold but had bigger potential - naturally included the optional future fees so I can purchase them later on. The Brekalo kid is someone who I am really going to concentrate on getting (if I were to continue this save) because he can play both wings (MR, ML, AMR & AML) naturally and this is something that Atl. Madrid needs in the long run.

 

 

In the long run, this team really needs to have cover in certain areas because the lack of this is the main reason that one could suffer result-wise. This team was also incredibly injury-prone so depth is a must.

Edited February 17, 2017 by Loversleaper

[Loversleaper]

Won the league with several games left (4 or 5 iirc) after having incredible result form. Real Madrid were surprisingly poor and Barcelona were very strong but dropped some weird points gifting me the League Title...

 

 

Home and Away:

 

[shaunwwfc]

When are the Athletic/Simeone tactics to be uploaded then LL?

[Loversleaper]

As predicted, I did have to start playing the 4-2-3-1_Control instead of 4-4-1-1_Control because as large favorites my opponents started using more and more bottom heavy formations against me indicating that I needed to work more offensively to break them down - which top heavy formations generally helps doing... Around the games against Shaktar tiredness started to kick in and in both games against them I was down a man due to red cards - but did well in the situations and progressed. It was total heartbreak that after looking in great shape, won the league early and was in the semi final of the Champions League that - well, you can say that 'when it rains, it pours' - I was incredibly unlucky. I lost Gabi and my three more attacking midfielders - Gaitan, Griezmann and Carrasco - that were responsible for most of my goals and assists were all ruled out injured. Not only that, in the semi final return leg I was again down to 10 men. We were so close, down to 10 men and was up 3-1 and on track to progress, typical that I was just going into Contain mode when they scored. Stupid me for not pressing the pause button and they scored while I was in the tactic screen making the Contain ready for use...

 

The injuries meant that I didn't have them available for the cup final and despite me having the game and were bombing attack after attack - the lack of (matured) quality led us to not scoring enough and the opposition scored 2 of their 4 shots on target. Weirdly enough, Oblak (the GK) who played great all season until that point, suddenly decided to play the worst game of the season in the final making two mistakes that cost the game...

 

If I had the three players in the offensive positions at my disposal - I am near totally sure that I would have progress to the CHL Final and I would have easily clinched the Spanish Cup... That is why I really need that quality cover so that when the game throws you a curb ball (like I experienced with injuries and suspensions) that you are ready for it - my team could clearly not handle that aspect and we suffered on the goal line. Next year I would have a more balanced squad with more depth and without a doubt will do better and already from the start of next season we are talking about the start of world domination...

 

 

CHL Semi Final heartbreak:

 

 

Amputated Cup final heartbreak:

 

Edited February 17, 2017 by Loversleaper

[Loversleaper]

Now to the last screen, the Game Status and the Download link for the game. I will most likely not continue this save due to having set my sights on other things and because I know where this game is going in the next seasons where I will be dominating all tournaments. I know it looks like I played a good 16 hours in a row - but the reality is a little different... I fell asleep! Just before the Quarter Finals I managed to nod off and my wife woke me up in the morning asking what on earth I was doing...  ... and took the day off to complete the save (my co-workers seemed pretty happy I didn't show so it was win-win for everyone)

 

 

Download Atl. Madrid full season - http://www.mediafire.com/file/msy8nefgtaaffrd/AtleticoMadrid3.fm

 

 

Edited February 17, 2017 by Loversleaper

[Loversleaper]

LL's post season analysis:

 

Atl. Madrid are bleeding money and this could be quite dangerous if you don't get it under control. The deficit was around 10 million euros a month and this has to change. That is why I sold the deadwood with huge wages and was grateful to get rid of them when I could. Before the season starts and a lot of those players who were out on loan are going to go through an evaluation and for sure some of them are going to get the boot to free up some finances and I can bring in a few players that really have real quality.

 

 

 

We scored most and conceded least in the league. Until the last two league games I had only lost 2 matches, and generally it is very hard to motivate your players to win after they have won the league - other teams will have more to play for, so your team will basically not show up for these matches. Even if I didn't lose my main goal scoring/assisting threats for the last League games, it would be tough to get them to perform in my experience - although for the away Valencia match I did rest every single player so that I hoped to have as many fit players for the return leg in the CHL and for the Spanish Cup final. Didn't work this time around because I lost my main important players anyway - if I lost one or two I could have coped, but losing those three and Gabi was way to much for this Atletico side.

 

 

 

I managed to turn Gameiro into the league topscorer even though he is definitely one of the players I would like to change out and replace with a more World-Class striker. Despite him winning the golden boot, he had sometimes some truly awful games and this is quite worrying if you want to be totally dominating on the football scene. He falls short of what I would want up front...

 

 

As you can see in the screen shot below, losing these three players at the crucial time of the season was devastating. I need to find players that can back them up when needed and hopefully this was a 'one-off' that I would lose all three at the same time and at the most important part of the season (FM hates me ) so this won't happen again...

 

  

 

In corners and indirect free kicks did fairly well with the standard '6yard box corner' and 'best header free kick':

 

 

 

So from the 21st August to 21st May with only one save between should give some form of insight how things can be done. I can do better (I went on a 28 match unbeaten run and had the most clean sheets before disaster struck) but these things take time because first season will always be hard as a rookie foreign manager and it took around half a season before my assistant was even slightly happy with the tactical familiarity. As long as I keep the opponents on the back heel, then I will be able to tactically continue to push the opponents back so I control most of the games - and this is where you really want to be as a manager...

 

Now let's try something harder

 

 

Edited February 17, 2017 by Loversleaper

[carloshcorbalan]

Hola.

Se puede modificar archivo de descarga,  el .fm  no se ejecuta.

Gracias......

[Finknottle]

Loversleaper.  I used the Eddie Howe 4-4-2 set for my first Hull City season and managed a respectable 12th at the seasons end. I started the second season using the Juventus 5-1-2-2DMsystem. While it sees us playing some decent wide spreading football with the wingbacks, I'm finding that we don't score many goals, three in five games. I've won two by 1 to nil and lost the other three. I've invested in the team and bought some decent players: Marco Sportiello, a GK who is first class, Michael Keane from Burnley, Another first class player, a Brazilian CD named Wallace and a decent striker named Mattia Destro. I also have Ben Gibson from Middlesbrough and a RWB named Klosterman.

The team is playing well enough with decent football but we seem to be stuck in a rut of, usually 0-1 defeats. Have you or anyone have any ideas of how to break this run, please?

[Loversleaper]

6 hours ago, Finknottle said:

Loversleaper.  I used the Eddie Howe 4-4-2 set for my first Hull City season and managed a respectable 12th at the seasons end. I started the second season using the Juventus 5-1-2-2DMsystem. While it sees us playing some decent wide spreading football with the wingbacks, I'm finding that we don't score many goals, three in five games. I've won two by 1 to nil and lost the other three. I've invested in the team and bought some decent players: Marco Sportiello, a GK who is first class, Michael Keane from Burnley, Another first class player, a Brazilian CD named Wallace and a decent striker named Mattia Destro. I also have Ben Gibson from Middlesbrough and a RWB named Klosterman.

The team is playing well enough with decent football but we seem to be stuck in a rut of, usually 0-1 defeats. Have you or anyone have any ideas of how to break this run, please?

 

Firstly, it's a good sign if the feedback is positive regarding your play on the pitch - so, in that sense you might have to wait for your team to gel more and the familiarity levels go up... Usually I can't make my teams play too well until the familiarity bars (on the tactic screen) next to your players are at least at 50%. Secondly, you brought in a bunch of players and if bring in around 6 players or more into your squad then I guess it will take at least 15 games before these players start to perform. Especially foreign players who don't speak the language, they can even take much longer before they start getting comfortable. This gelling and familiarity aspect is something you really have to take into consideration, with foreign players I usually won't use them until they are fluent in the language so that is why it is always a good idea to send them on intensive courses to get them ready quicker.

 

Lack of communication within the players on the pitch and lack of a gelled squad and familiarity is what I guess is the big issue you are fighting with right now because these issues mentioned usually causes the players to disobey tactical instructions and settings. This could be causing your players to miss something in the build-up of play (play out of defense instruction) although it seems like defensively you are doing okay (which kind of supports my evaluation). The first season you went with a 4-4-2 and now you want to play a whole different formation. Patience might be required and I imagine that if you end up only in mid table (even with those players you mentioned) then you are doing quite well. Hull have a pretty poor reputation and there are several upgrades you need to make before you can aim higher - training facilities and players coming through the ranks are both important to get to the next level. A couple of seasons won't change these things that much...

 

The strike force of a False9 and Poacher can be quite difficult to get rolling because these two roles usually require special talent that can handle those roles. The poacher, I find, tends to play poorly (due to the nature of the role) if they don't have speed and good movement off the ball. When I tried with Watford (similar reputation) I tried out the alternative strike force of a False9 and a Target Man (on attack duty) and it did much better than the other combination - maybe it was due to the players where I didn't really have a decent poacher. Juventus have a super False9 (Dybala) and an exceptional Poacher (Higuain). This bottom heavy formation will rely on a strike force to do the job because most players will be in more defensive positions. Maybe a good Target Man might give you that edge until your team are more gelled and familiarized - and you have real class players to operate the False9/Poacher combination...

 

The games you played - how did you play them? The games you lost, what was the match situation (home or away - favorites or underdogs and how big) - who were your opponents and what did you do in terms of strategies? Let's take a look....

 

 

Edited February 20, 2017 by Loversleaper

[Sparky_07]

Im playing lower league football with FC United, going to try and implement the Eddie Howe set myself. Do you think this could work?

[Loversleaper]

5 minutes ago, Sparky_07 said:

Im playing lower league football with FC United, going to try and implement the Eddie Howe set myself. Do you think this could work?

I would think that Mixed passing setting might be a little too ambitious for lower leagues, in the long run I guess you could get it to work but you will have to do a good job in finding talented players. The sets can easily be adjusted so my suggestion would be to just change the Mixed passing to Direct passing for a while and see how they get on. When your familiarity levels start getting high with the formation, tempo, mentality and some of the other settings then I suggest you try them out during the game - like if you are in front with a couple of goals and you can play more freely in the second half. See how they react, if the reaction is good then evolve into more possession type of football that the EddieHowe offers. Also tying to get a false9 and a poacher in the lower leagues will be quite a miracle - my advice would be to change the poacher into a target man (on attack duty) for starters and slowly try things along the way because there are always times where matches offer you options to try other things and it's here you can make evaluations on what direction you want to move toward...

[Sparky_07]

34 minutes ago, Loversleaper said:

I would think that Mixed passing setting might be a little too ambitious for lower leagues, in the long run I guess you could get it to work but you will have to do a good job in finding talented players. The sets can easily be adjusted so my suggestion would be to just change the Mixed passing to Direct passing for a while and see how they get on. When your familiarity levels start getting high with the formation, tempo, mentality and some of the other settings then I suggest you try them out during the game - like if you are in front with a couple of goals and you can play more freely in the second half. See how they react, if the reaction is good then evolve into more possession type of football that the EddieHowe offers. Also tying to get a false9 and a poacher in the lower leagues will be quite a miracle - my advice would be to change the poacher into a target man (on attack duty) for starters and slowly try things along the way because there are always times where matches offer you options to try other things and it's here you can make evaluations on what direction you want to move toward...

Thanks for that advice mate, going to try it i think this season and move away from my 4312. Im in my 3rd season now so I have picked up a few decent players for lower league football. 

[Azza2306]

I am in my 3rd Season with Middlesbrough after taking them to eight in the Premier League and winning the FA Cup. I would like to give one of these a go and was after some advice. I have an ok side but our work rate and team work is low which I am slowly improving. I was thinking of using the Mourhino set do you think this could work with a midtable side

[MrMourinho]

I just wondering if you're about to show us your interpretation of Antonio Conte's Chelsea any time soon?

I am about to start a new save and it would be nice to start with Conte's Chelsea tactic!

[Finknottle]

12 hours ago, Loversleaper said:

 

Firstly, it's a good sign if the feedback is positive regarding your play on the pitch - so, in that sense you might have to wait for your team to gel more and the familiarity levels go up... Usually I can't make my teams play too well until the familiarity bars (on the tactic screen) next to your players are at least at 50%. Secondly, you brought in a bunch of players and if bring in around 6 players or more into your squad then I guess it will take at least 15 games before these players start to perform. Especially foreign players who don't speak the language, they can even take much longer before they start getting comfortable. This gelling and familiarity aspect is something you really have to take into consideration, with foreign players I usually won't use them until they are fluent in the language so that is why it is always a good idea to send them on intensive courses to get them ready quicker.

 

Lack of communication within the players on the pitch and lack of a gelled squad and familiarity is what I guess is the big issue you are fighting with right now because these issues mentioned usually causes the players to disobey tactical instructions and settings. This could be causing your players to miss something in the build-up of play (play out of defense instruction) although it seems like defensively you are doing okay (which kind of supports my evaluation). The first season you went with a 4-4-2 and now you want to play a whole different formation. Patience might be required and I imagine that if you end up only in mid table (even with those players you mentioned) then you are doing quite well. Hull have a pretty poor reputation and there are several upgrades you need to make before you can aim higher - training facilities and players coming through the ranks are both important to get to the next level. A couple of seasons won't change these things that much...

 

The strike force of a False9 and Poacher can be quite difficult to get rolling because these two roles usually require special talent that can handle those roles. The poacher, I find, tends to play poorly (due to the nature of the role) if they don't have speed and good movement off the ball. When I tried with Watford (similar reputation) I tried out the alternative strike force of a False9 and a Target Man (on attack duty) and it did much better than the other combination - maybe it was due to the players where I didn't really have a decent poacher. Juventus have a super False9 (Dybala) and an exceptional Poacher (Higuain). This bottom heavy formation will rely on a strike force to do the job because most players will be in more defensive positions. Maybe a good Target Man might give you that edge until your team are more gelled and familiarized - and you have real class players to operate the False9/Poacher combination...

 

The games you played - how did you play them? The games you lost, what was the match situation (home or away - favorites or underdogs and how big) - who were your opponents and what did you do in terms of strategies? Let's take a look....

 

 

  loversleaper, thank you for your swift response.

Here is the 'stuff' you requested. Games lost,

Spurs (A) 0-1.

Man. Utd (A) 0-3.

West Ham (A) 1-5 and Liverpool (H) 1-2 Games not lost,

QPR (H) 1-0.

Swansea (H) 1-0.

Newcastle (H) 3-1 and Brighton (H) 2-0.

In all games I stuck to the 5-1-2-2 defensive in away games as I was underdogs in them all. In the home games I stuck to the 5-1-2-2 control as I was slight favourite in those. Of the players I brought in, Sportiello and Destro spoke only Italian while Klosterman and Wallace both spoke basic English.

As I did not make written notes, where applicable I'm going from memory but I don't think that I'm far out from using it. What I now intend to do is to go back to the start of the second season and try not to bring in players who do not, at least, have a grasp of basic English. Although Destro speaks only Italian he is doing rather well and Sportiello is not too far behind him. I will use the TM and F9 as well. I shall do this until the January update is introduced, not for a week or so I hope. This may give me time to get the team 'gelling' better by getting in players who, at least, can speak basic English.

 

[Loversleaper]

5 hours ago, Finknottle said:

  loversleaper, thank you for your swift response.

Here is the 'stuff' you requested. Games lost,

Spurs (A) 0-1.

Man. Utd (A) 0-3.

West Ham (A) 1-5 and Liverpool (H) 1-2 Games not lost,

QPR (H) 1-0.

Swansea (H) 1-0.

Newcastle (H) 3-1 and Brighton (H) 2-0.

In all games I stuck to the 5-1-2-2 defensive in away games as I was underdogs in them all. In the home games I stuck to the 5-1-2-2 control as I was slight favourite in those. Of the players I brought in, Sportiello and Destro spoke only Italian while Klosterman and Wallace both spoke basic English.

As I did not make written notes, where applicable I'm going from memory but I don't think that I'm far out from using it. What I now intend to do is to go back to the start of the second season and try not to bring in players who do not, at least, have a grasp of basic English. Although Destro speaks only Italian he is doing rather well and Sportiello is not too far behind him. I will use the TM and F9 as well. I shall do this until the January update is introduced, not for a week or so I hope. This may give me time to get the team 'gelling' better by getting in players who, at least, can speak basic English.

 

Using those foreign players will only cause problems as long as they are not communicating and their familiarity levels are low - usually I keep them for those easy cup ties or bring them off the bench. You can also wait until they start asking for playing time and give them more chances around this time and see how they get along. If you have the players for the false9/poacher combo then I wouldn't totally scrap that because I really think that the familiarity and getting used to the tactic is your biggest issue. This formation is really hard to get working, trust me I know, and you have to take some big bumps before it becomes your clubs dna...

 

If I understand your post correctly, then you are winning mostly home and losing mostly away... This got me thinking, maybe since the Juve version has short kicks in the Defensive Strategy that it could in reality be something like this that is causing your team to lose the ball to close to your penalty box --- Juve have world class center backs so they can always play out of pressure when they receive the short passes from the keeper, so I am wondering maybe you could try to simply change the goal keeper distribution to long kicks instead... 

 

Regardless, my experience is that playing this highly structured bottom heavy formation requires a lot of patience to get working and players generally have to be exceptional, gelled and familiar...

Edited February 21, 2017 by Loversleaper

[Finknottle]

Loversleaper. I'll do as you suggest and stay with it and put the GK on long kicks. Also leave the strikers as is. Many thanks. I'll keep you posted after about fifteen games.

[Loversleaper]

21 minutes ago, Finknottle said:

Loversleaper. I'll do as you suggest and stay with it and put the GK on long kicks. Also leave the strikers as is. Many thanks. I'll keep you posted after about fifteen games.

Long kicks for the Defensive Strategy - the rest of the strategies I would keep as is unless you notice that your keeper doesn't have good kicking skills. I remember, although I can't remember which goal keeper it was, that the goalie I was using had throwing(16) and kicking(6) --- so naturally it is better for him to throw the ball... Sometimes with those games you tend to struggle in, I would watch the game for a while and see exactly what is going on. Sometimes you can spot that it is the goal keeper distribution or build up of play that keeps losing the ball in vital situations and here it is good to check your settings. Always a good idea with these tactic sets just to run through the instructions and see if the players attributes suit the situation - and that is quite important with the set-play area as well...

 

Good luck!

 

[Anaconda Vice]

@Loversleaper

What is your favorite set out of all them? I have found the Arsene one plays some exceptional football.

Edited February 21, 2017 by Anaconda Vice

[shaunwwfc]

@Loversleaper

In the Arsenal system, what type of players would you recommend for the CF (S) and AM (S) positions? Do you see them flexible? Could I pretty much experiment with different types of players, even perhaps tweaking the roles, ie False 9 along with a Shadow Striker, or even a Poacher?

[ceadie5]

@Loversleaperi just wanted to say what a fantastic set of posts. This has totally changed my outlook on the game. I'm really looking forward to implementing this into a new save. Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing!