12 Step Guide to Tactics

[Rashidi]

12 Step Guide to Tactics

STEP 1 Understand what Mentality, Shape, Roles and Duties do for your team

Mentality affects HOW a team plays, do they have a higher appetite for risk, do you want them to be more aggressive going up or do you want them to be calculated in possession? Mentality affects closing down, width, length of passing, tempo and defensive lines.

Shape affects how a team plays during transitions. On lower shape players will stick to their duties more, whilst on higher shapes a team is more likely to play as a unit. So if you want your team to play by sticking to the shape of the formation then you want to play on the more structured shapes.

Roles and duties serve to create individual distinctions in mentality, and shape acts to distribute it within the team. 

For Example:

Defensive - Highly structured - Attack duties will be further away, their risk appetites will be higher and you are likely to need them to be good at using the ball on their own. It may take time for others to come up and support them. If you don’t use the shout play out of defence you could see quick counter attacks.

Defensive - Very fluid - most of the team will be playing on the same mentality, the side will appear compressed, it will move as a unit. Since you are so calculated in your movement up the pitch, you could find that the opponent is already firmly in their defensive positions when you get the ball up the pitch.

A poacher in a Defensive Highly structured system will always have a higher mentality and a greater risk appetite to do things than one in a Defensive/Very Fluid system

As you increase mentality, the teams style of passing, closing down, its defensive line, tempo will all change. How the team plays as a unit however will stay the same, unless you change mentality or duties.

STEP 2 Analyse your squad

1. Check Season Preview to determine how you rank vs the other teams

2. Study your squad to identify strengths and weaknesses:

Use Team Reports - a simple snapshot that gives you a good indication of overall things like work rate, decisions, jumping reach etc.
Use Squad Comparison - to give you a comparison to the rest of the league, always use the highest value.
Use Squad Depth - to find out how many players you have and how they stack up on current ability. Remember to use the option to show Roles currently selected for your tactic.

Use a Club DNA view - Break your side down by attributes and analyse their strengths

3. Once you have identified your team : draw up a list of positions and rate each one with what you have

The game is all about defending space, controlling space and attacking space. To that end we need to know how the players can perform defensive and offensive tasks on the pitch.

Rate them according to how well they can perform these tasks, when a transition fails I will look at these attributes when I analyse why, please understand attributes are relative for the league you are in!! :



DEFENSIVE TASKS

a. How good your central defenders are at dealing with crosses - Jumping Reach, Heading, Positioning, Anticipation

b. How many players you have good enough to get back quickly and play on support to help out the defence - Concentration, Acceleration, Stamina, Determination, Work rate,

c. How good your players are at tight marking their opponents - Concentration, acceleration, marking, strength.

d. How many players you have good enough to spot a danger before it happens - Anticipation, Concentration, Positioning

e. How many players  you have who are good enough to put in a challenge if needed - Bravery, Strength, Tackling

If you have central defenders who are strong aerially and good positionally then you can play on various mentalities. Your side can adopt defensive postures and allow the opposition to cross the ball. However if the players attributes are just average vs the league, then you will need to adapt dynamically and decide on a per game basis whether its too risky to sit back and allow the opposition the time and space to cross the ball.

When your team has low acceleration and poor positioning they are going to find it a challenge to play on higher shape settings. Determine if your players have good acceleration, determination and work rate too since these will influence whether you can play a game on higher shapes and higher mentalities as support and defend duty players may need to get back quickly when defending.

If your team is average or below average at defensive tasks, then you are recommended to play with at least a defensive midfielder so that your backline gets more support. Here you need to recognise your sides weaknesses and be prepared to deal with them if necessary.

OFFENSIVE ASPECTS

Creating chances is all about controlling space and using space. We need to know what kind of players are at our disposal, and what they are capable of.

Players who can exploit space and what the attributes influence specific action during an attacking phase.

Those who go into and attack the spaces (eg, Players who may be expected to play either attack or support duties on the flanks or are expected to move into channels centrally )- Acceleration, off the ball, anticipation, determination, work rate
Those who can control the ball  - First Touch, balance, agility
Those who can control and work the space ( Players who have been given the support duty and are expected to drop deep or hold up the ball) - Strength, balance, first touch, decisions, off the ball, determination, work rate, composure
Those who can find players in spaces - (Players who are expected to be making risky passes) First touch, decisions, passing, vision

Understanding what the players are capable of will influence your decisions on what kind for tactical formations you can use and how you can use the space. If you opt to use a structured shape, then players in attack duties will be expected to either attack space or control them, depending on the role. If their roles demand they dribble or move into channels then you will need to make sure they have the attributes to do their roles well. Technical attributes such as crossing, dribbling, finishing will need to be taken into account for specific tasks you have in mind for them.

For example, I want to play a winger in a structured shape and I want him to attack the space out wide. Then I will need him to have 

Go into and Attack Space - Acceleration, off the ball, anticipation, determination.

Once he gets there, I need him to control the ball - First Touch, balance, agility. 

Finally I need him to dribble with the ball go down the flank and cross - Dribbling, Crossing.

When you have a systematic way of analysing whether a player can perform a role within an overall shape it becomes a lot easier.

In more structured shapes, players in attack duties are more likely to wait for support, these players will need to be able to attack the space and control the ball.  In more fluid shapes, players will need to be able to move around, control and work the space.

Regardless of shape you will always need players to find others in spaces, these will most likely be your playmakers, or any role that has been assigned risky passing.

Why is this important?

You've heard the advice, "give passing options", "defend against the cross", but how do you do this effectively? Understanding how a play breaks down gives us insight into what actions could have failed.
- Did a player get closed down too fast and lose the ball, because his support players didn't come up quickly enough?
- Did his control of the ball let him down?

Knowing if your defenders can deal with the cross allows you to use defensive strategies more effectively. Knowing that you have players who can win balls in the box and clear them allows you to play a conservative strategy, knowing fully well that on defensive strategies you give up the flanks. Understanding how attributes kick in on defensive and offensive phases will help you. FM18 also makes it easier for you to compare players in specific roles along key role attributes. Click on a position in the tactical grid, now go to the squad list and drag someone over and study the comparison tab that pops out on the right. 

STEP 3 Create a balanced tactic with more than one route to goal

Tactics don’t need to have 10 attacking duties to score, a tactic with no attacking duties can do just as well, provided you have considered carefully what your players are capable of.

Always think about how you are doing to defend the spaces vacated by your attacking duties. If you are using a Complete Wingback, understand that he will venture forth aggressively on an attacking duty. So how do you defend that space in his absence?

Is your tactic capable of creating more than one type of goal? Don’t be too one-dimensional with your tactics. You could create a tactic that has one flank delivering crosses while you have another flank crafting short little passes that serve to drag a team around. 

A balanced tactic is all about controlling the space. Worry about keeping a clean sheet first. Sort out your defensive shape before you create your attacking shape. The with and without ball screens only give you a general guide on what your team looks like in attack and defence.  Look at passing network diagrams in Team Reports to see what your key pass combinations look like to make sure players are using the space effectively.

When you create a tactic consider how you place your duties first. When deciding how to set up your duties, account for the attacking duties and make sure that you have adequate support to cover for them when they go off attacking. When creating a balanced tactic, we are always trying to balance duties to make sure there is enough cover to account for these attacking duties. For example if you choose to use an attacking duty on a side midfielder in a 3 man midfield, consider using a support duty behind him to cover for him when he goes attacking. This way during a transition from attack to defence, you will have cover on that side of the pitch. Once you have distributed your duties, you can then think of the roles that your tactic may need.

Remember that you have the option of using Match Plans in FM18, this powerful tool gives you the ability of saving pre-sets of your tactic with different team instruction combinations. This allows you to create scenarios to make subtle changes to your system under certain circumstances.

STEP 4 Adapt the roles to the player
Many roles in the game may not suit your players strengths and weaknesses. Use the player instructions to fine tune the players skill to the role requirements. If a player can’t dribble, then choose a role where you can get him to dribble less. If he has poor vision and decisions then don’t give him a role which requires him to take risky passes.

You can even look at your tactic and set specific roles for specific players in your formation. If you are playing a 442, then one player can be set up as a Winger and if you have a plan b, where you need to bring on a defensive winger in the second half, then set a specific role for the second player in the player instructions sub panel. This way you don’t need to fiddle with player instructions each time a player is brought on. 

STEP 5 Focus on how the roles and duties work together in your tactic

Roles and duties can work together to create effective passing triangles on the pitch. If you want a tactic that attacks space in wide areas you may want to use attacking duties in wide areas.  Duties can be combined together to make sure you have as many players split across different stratas of the pitch. For example you could have one defend duty in defence followed by a support duty on a fullback. 

Together they have been offset to provide support to each other. The same holds true in a two man strike partnership. One striker could work off another, as one striker could play a deeper role holding up the ball for another player who is in a more attacking role. 

When you think of roles and duties you need to think of effective combinations that work the ball seamlessly through transitions.

STEP 6 Use Team Instructions Wisely

Team Instructions allow you to create styles, but not understanding what they do can be even worse. When in doubt, don’t use any instructions. If you are not sure what these do, choose one at a time and watch the effects. Most of the Team Instructions are self explanatory. 

There is no hard and fast rule on which team instruction to use in the game. As long as you think about it logically and keep it simple you should be fine.

Whenever you play with a fluid setting always remember that higher defensive lines combined with offside traps can be risky as you are compressing your side even more. The best option when using team instructions is always to keep things simple by observing how these changes affect your team and do these changes liberally in pre season.

STEP 7 Analyse the Opposition

Before each match, check the weather conditions and check the scout reports on the opposition. Pay close attention to their key pass combinations and try and identify how they move the ball around and who their creative players are. 

You can elect to use a strategy of shutting them at the source or defending against their threat. If you choose to shut them down at the source then you want to isolate key pass combinations that indicate where most of their support play is occurring and this will be the area you disrupt, either by overloading or by reducing the influence of their creative players. 

If you plan to sit back and defend against their threats then you will need to focus on roles and duties in the team that can perform this task by being positionally good and/or aerially strong. 

For example, you could adopt a plan to sit back and defend, by allowing them the freedom of the flanks. Here you could be playing a game of sit back and soak, without the need of countering. A suitable mentality may be defensive/fluid. Then you would be making sure that your defenders are aerially strong and positionally  suitable for the task. It’s definitely one way of playing if you are the sort that like to shout “backs to the wall”.

STEP 8 Understand Transitions

So we have analysed our players, now how do we know when our tactic isn’t working? We need to look at how our team transitions the ball from defence to attack and how the team transitions from attack to defence. 

When attacking we want to see a seamless move from defence to attack. Whenever each move breaks down we need to find out what has happened. Once the event occurs we need to look at it carefully and track back a few moves. You could have conceded a goal, not because your defender failed to tackle a player in time but a midfielder 5 moves back could have failed to move into position allowing the ball to be intercepted.

When you have identified these transition failures as I like to call them, then you should revisit Step 2 and try and use those guidelines to understand how and why those transitions failed.

STEP 9 Don’t be rigid in your approach, prepare to adapt
This means you may need to change your approach in a game. If the AI is attacking you down the left, you may need to change duties there to compensate. Or you may find that the opposition is sitting back and this may require you to push up, go wider or even get more players up in support.

When the AI scores a goal its prepared to change mentality, shape even roles and duties to maintain the lead. When it expects to win it could even decide to go attacking and fluid on you. The AI manager plays dynamically to get a result, we should be prepared to do the same whether its a slight change to roles and duties or a significant change like changing the style of play altogether.

Get into the practice of trying strategies where you push up to try and score a goal and then sit back to defend. You can make tactical changes to play more defensively by telling your team to retain possession and work ball into box to encourage your side to hold onto the ball. Or you could have a strategy where you switch to counter and structured and pass into space if you expect the opposition to push forward for the flank.

STEP 10 Learn to use Opposition Instructions

Opposition Instructions act to target a specific opposition player as opposed to player instructions like tight marking and closing down which are more zonal. Consider using OIs to put opposition backlines under pressure. You can also use them to hard tackle dangerous crossers of the ball, put players under pressure who are unfit or even tackle harder players who are carrying an injury. Who said we have to be nice?

STEP 11 - Have a bench strategy
The players on the bench can present an effective change in strategy for you. If you find that you need to stick a strong player upfront to hold the ball up and play others in. Don’t be afraid of thinking of different players who can perform different roles to create varied styles of play.

Consider as well, the possibility that you may want to bring on players just to waste time to hold on to a lead.
 

STEP 12 Never ever forget to set up your set pieces

If you have a player who can take long shots then set him lurking at the edge of the box, and hurl corners to the penalty area for him to take strike. You can also set corner routines up to help with keeping possession of the ball. And never forget to check attacking routines to make sure you have enough cover in case the opposition launch a quick counter.

[Armistice]

Yeaaaah this is great.

[sgevolker]

On 27.9.2017 at 22:05, Rashidi said:

You can elect to use a strategy of shutting them at the source or defending against their threat. If you choose to shut them down at the source then you want to isolate key pass combinations that indicate where most of their support play is occurring and this will be the area you disrupt, either by overloading or by reducing the influence of their creative players. 

 

Hi Rashidi,

great guide. One Question. I play with FM Touch. How can I analyze key pass combinations? 

[Alekos]

All those info are great but it would be more helpful to discuss what what we have to do in those situations..

My problem is the failure to realise what is going on on the pitch and what you have to do to counter it

Am bringing just an example of what you mentioned above "If you choose to shut them down at the source then you want to isolate key pass combinations that indicate where most of their support play is occurring and this will be the area you disrupt, either by overloading or by reducing the influence of their creative players."

Well..How am I supposed to do that?

Same applies to all the other examples you have provided

Tactical experts just like you are easily able to understand what you have to do in every situation and a more analytical post should be made with different examples and how to react in every situation 

[Cleon]

3 hours ago, Alekos said:

All those info are great but it would be more helpful to discuss what what we have to do in those situations..

My problem is the failure to realise what is going on on the pitch and what you have to do to counter it

Am bringing just an example of what you mentioned above "If you choose to shut them down at the source then you want to isolate key pass combinations that indicate where most of their support play is occurring and this will be the area you disrupt, either by overloading or by reducing the influence of their creative players."

Well..How am I supposed to do that?

Same applies to all the other examples you have provided

Tactical experts just like you are easily able to understand what you have to do in every situation and a more analytical post should be made with different examples and how to react in every situation 

There are already lots of threads discussing the more intricate ways on how to spot issues, fix them, nullify specific threats etc. They're all in one of the pinned thread at the top.

[Alekos]

9 hours ago, Cleon said:

There are already lots of threads discussing the more intricate ways on how to spot issues, fix them, nullify specific threats etc. They're all in one of the pinned thread at the top.

Thanks for the reply Cleon but i forgot to mention that I have already read those threads (yours too of course), but still struggling..

Also what about this year's match engine..Do the same tactical info apply to FM2018 since there are some new roles already?

[Rashidi]

1 hour ago, Alekos said:

Thanks for the reply Cleon but i forgot to mention that I have already read those threads (yours too of course), but still struggling..

Also what about this year's match engine..Do the same tactical info apply to FM2018 since there are some new roles already?

Cleon and I have been here writing since 2003, that's a long time and over the course of more than 14 years we've seen ourselves repeat the same written content over and over again. Each year we write the same stuff about tactics. Granted they introduced roles, but tbh it was just a couple of instructions grouped together with some hardcoding to make them work in a specific way, to give the AI a chance against humans.

When it comes to the game itself, the concepts are timeless. The notion that you need balance in your tactic, that you should have enough support duties to anchor your side, all this information is as relevant today as it was in 2009 when the TC came out. So to answer your question its the same.

The real challenge isn't making the game easier for you, its actually to make the game easier for the AI. The AI has to handle the human user who has an infinite number of ways to set up a tactic by manipulating player roles, instructions, ti's and pis. Concepts like overloading, double flank attacks or a lopsided attack, and then swinging around and using analysis in a game to stymie the AI is the edge a human has.

So yes, everything you could do in FM17 you can do in FM18, but now there are more options, including new instructions. This gives you more latitude, but the kind of decisions you make are still the same.

When I wrote the 12 step guide, its meant to be a simple check for people. A checklist of sorts for you to assess your own progress. When I talk about attributes, its not a new subject, there are threads on this that go back years. The information is nearly the same. Maybe in 2003 my fashion was first touch, but by 2016 I was firmly on determination. When I ask people to check the attributes of their players its not a list that you go through to find the best players who fit all those attributes...that list is for you to use to understand why your transitions fail. Its written like an action list, so you need to go through the transition and ask yourself those questions. Finally every attribute needs to be scaled to the league you are in. SO the information itself is relevant for all levels of competition, because the attributes affect everyone the same way.

To answer your question after all my verbiage, is yes. Apart from the new roles the way we play is the same, the approach hasn't changed. For those new roles all we need to do is to find out how they can work within our system and thats the same approach we take with any role. Does that role fit into your system? Cleon has already written a good starter guide for each role which is meant to encourage people to go try this out, and I am doing videos on how I use those roles within my own tactics. At the end of the day our approach hasn't changed.

[NabsKebabs]

I'm finding the AI is a bit more challenging tactically in FM18. How are you finding the AI Rashidi? 

[Rashidi]

37 minutes ago, NabsKebabs said:

I'm finding the AI is a bit more challenging tactically in FM18. How are you finding the AI Rashidi? 

I am finding this to be the easiest version of FM since FM 13, probably down to the fact that there is waaaaay too much information to help people. I do think that they will fix some of the stuff that are in the public beta.

[forlegaizen]

43 minutes ago, Rashidi said:

I am finding this to be the easiest version of FM since FM 13, probably down to the fact that there is waaaaay too much information to help people. I do think that they will fix some of the stuff that are in the public beta.

Damn, even easier that 15 and the magic press and shape setting?

What you think it's the problem this year?

[Rashidi]

3 minutes ago, forlegaizen said:

Damn, even easier that 15 and the magic press and shape setting?

What you think it's the problem this year?

Its not a problem, there's just a tonne of information now in the game, makes things easier and some of the advice you get in the game is decent.

[forlegaizen]

1 hour ago, Rashidi said:

Its not a problem, there's just a tonne of information now in the game, makes things easier and some of the advice you get in the game is decent.

Ah, I see easier in the sense that the game it's better explained and more user "friendly" . I thought i was some dumb exploit like we had in previous years.

Good news then!

Edited October 30, 2017 by forlegaizen

[Alekos]

5 hours ago, Rashidi said:

Cleon and I have been here writing since 2003, that's a long time and over the course of more than 14 years we've seen ourselves repeat the same written content over and over again. Each year we write the same stuff about tactics. Granted they introduced roles, but tbh it was just a couple of instructions grouped together with some hardcoding to make them work in a specific way, to give the AI a chance against humans.

When it comes to the game itself, the concepts are timeless. The notion that you need balance in your tactic, that you should have enough support duties to anchor your side, all this information is as relevant today as it was in 2009 when the TC came out. So to answer your question its the same.

The real challenge isn't making the game easier for you, its actually to make the game easier for the AI. The AI has to handle the human user who has an infinite number of ways to set up a tactic by manipulating player roles, instructions, ti's and pis. Concepts like overloading, double flank attacks or a lopsided attack, and then swinging around and using analysis in a game to stymie the AI is the edge a human has.

So yes, everything you could do in FM17 you can do in FM18, but now there are more options, including new instructions. This gives you more latitude, but the kind of decisions you make are still the same.

When I wrote the 12 step guide, its meant to be a simple check for people. A checklist of sorts for you to assess your own progress. When I talk about attributes, its not a new subject, there are threads on this that go back years. The information is nearly the same. Maybe in 2003 my fashion was first touch, but by 2016 I was firmly on determination. When I ask people to check the attributes of their players its not a list that you go through to find the best players who fit all those attributes...that list is for you to use to understand why your transitions fail. Its written like an action list, so you need to go through the transition and ask yourself those questions. Finally every attribute needs to be scaled to the league you are in. SO the information itself is relevant for all levels of competition, because the attributes affect everyone the same way.

To answer your question after all my verbiage, is yes. Apart from the new roles the way we play is the same, the approach hasn't changed. For those new roles all we need to do is to find out how they can work within our system and thats the same approach we take with any role. Does that role fit into your system? Cleon has already written a good starter guide for each role which is meant to encourage people to go try this out, and I am doing videos on how I use those roles within my own tactics. At the end of the day our approach hasn't changed.

First of all thanks for your reply and at the same time I have to let you know that I am following your posts for almost 11 years (since I became a member here) even if I do not appear so active in the forums..

I have also a collection of printed archives of your posts which are very very helpful but in the last two versions of the game I feel that I have not the influence on the pitch that I would like to and my wins are not from how good I understand how the ME works but moslty based on luck..

To be honest I have not played this version yet and am really looking forward about all those new informations you are mentioning that will make the user understand better what it's really going on on the pitch...As I said I don't really care if I win or lose because this is the game..I just want to find out how I won or how I lost..This is what makes the game so magical and addictive

[Hdefte]

How many highlights are you guys watching from the games, to determine where  the flaws in the tactic are? And also making small changes during games.

Are you watching the full game or is key highlights enough?

Edited November 11, 2017 by Hdefte

[Codename47]

On 27/09/2017 at 21:05, Rashidi said:

Defensive - Highly structured - Attack duties will be further away, their risk appetites will be higher

From my understanding, I would have thought that playing Defensive/Highly Structured would mean that 'risk appetites' would be lower not higher.

Please explain?

[Rashidi]

29 minutes ago, Codename47 said:

From my understanding, I would have thought that playing Defensive/Highly Structured would mean that 'risk appetites' would be lower not higher.

Please explain?

Set a tactic up, attack structured and then set the same tactic attack fluid, now compare the W(A) duty, his individual mentality is actually higher on structured than it is on fluid

[Codename47]

Ok, understood, I don't doubt you one bit Rashidi in terms of how the game is set up, but I was always under the impression that playing 'structured' (same/similar as 'Rigid' / 'Disciplined'), would limit the team/player attitude to risk?

(I haven't played FM17/18 btw, last one was FM16 - unless it has changed)

Edited November 14, 2017 by Codename47

[Rashidi]

Shape re-distributes mentality, hence risk.  Lower shape settings are inherently less risky that is true, but depending on how you set up your duties in the final third. Attacking duties there can be more "riskier" than they would be in a fluid system

[Laze]

Nice reading this, and some very helpfull tips, but I do wonder about all this focus on the opposition. I've never done mutch adapting on previous FMs, and I mostly played the same way against everybody. Do I realy have to analyze the crap out of every opposition? And is it ok to let the assistant take care of OI?

I've always played with flexible style, but after reading this I changed to structured. It helped a lot in defence, but I still need some work to get the tacktic to work in attack. I dont know if this is the right place to ask for a spesific tip, but is there anything very wrong with theese Team Istructions? (I play a 4-3-2-1, if it matters) 




 

[Tunes10]

On 15/11/2017 at 07:38, Rashidi said:

Shape re-distributes mentality, hence risk.  Lower shape settings are inherently less risky that is true, but depending on how you set up your duties in the final third. Attacking duties there can be more "riskier" than they would be in a fluid system

Hi Rashidi. Congratulations for your website (fmaddicted) that I follow and this post.

 

I still have a doubt (indeed i have a lot :p): do we have more risk (and an attacking football) playing with attack/fluid or attack/structured? 

 

 

Edited December 26, 2017 by Tunes10

[Rashidi]

Simply put, it will. be more risky with attacking fluid than on attacking structured, since more players will be involved in transitions on fluid.

[dankrzyz]

On ‎11‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 06:42, Laze said:

Nice reading this, and some very helpfull tips, but I do wonder about all this focus on the opposition. I've never done mutch adapting on previous FMs, and I mostly played the same way against everybody. Do I realy have to analyze the crap out of every opposition? And is it ok to let the assistant take care of OI?

 

There's probably a middle ground between analyzing the crap out of everything and punting it to the assistant. Perhaps pick out one or two really key features of your opponent's tactical approach - such as a focus on wide play, a key playmaker, a high defensive line, etc. Then make just one or two impactful strategic adjustments accordingly and see if that helps. That's what I've been trying to do lately to better learn the game and it feels more manageable to a novice like myself.

Edited December 27, 2017 by dankrzyz

[Rashidi]

Agreed, you don't need to swoop in and do a detailed analysis, I find that understanding how they play is far more important, this largely impacts how its gonna affect your setup

 

[deanpr]

Great post, and very helpful. Thanks.

[Rashidi]

I have released now 3 books on the game, and I don't wanna tout them on the forums, people who are keen on finding out can always find me on Twitter or find my patreon site for more information, but this post is not about that. There are always going to be people who find it hard to either buy a book or support me on patreon, and I totally understand that and I don't want them supporting me. These people may still need help with the game, and I have made this information available on my youtube channel in the form of video guides. So these video guides closely follow my book, or have content that is covered in the book, and in some cases have content not in the book, and in the case of one video, needs to be visually done cos it can't be done in a book format..Overloads!, which my patrons have said is the best video I have ever done.  I am just glad it helped. 

For the rest of the world, I do want to help you too, so if you are finding specific parts of the game challenging, please let me know, and I will cover that in a video and do a guide on it.

If you want to jump to my wordpress site which has all these videos, just click anywhere on this sentence.

Section One - The Tactical Creator
- How to use the Tactical Creator: 
- How to Master the Tactical Creator:  
- Mentality Explained 
- How to use Mentality to affect Width: 
- Shape A Short Guide for FM:  
- How to use Shape in FM:   

Section 2 Understanding Player Attributes:
How to Use Attributes in the Game : 
How to Choose the Right Roles:  
How to Choose the Right Duty:  
Assessing your squad for the first time: 
How to use Player Traits:  
Fullbacks and Every Back in Between : 
Guide to the Mezzala: 
Guide to the Carrilero: 
Complete Wingback Guide (FM15) 
Strikers who play it safe (FM17): 
Ball Winning Midfielder (Also happens to my first video on YT) 
Preparing For Promotion I: 
Preparing For Promotion II: 

Section 3: The Basics of Making Tactics
Tactics Getting Started: 
Exploiting the Golden Zone:
How to Create Overloads: 
How to Set up A set-piece routine : 
Quick Guides Set Pieces: 
Positions and Personalised Instructions: 

Section 4: Moving to the Big Picture
Transitions 
Understanding Transitions : 
How to Transition - Gloucester Special 
How to use Powerful Analysis Tools in FM: 
How to Stop Losing to the AI (25 step guide) 
How to Stop losing to the AI - 
How to Stop Losing to the AI - Pre Match and Match Day: 

Section IV : Making the SuperSystem
SuperSystems in FM Introduction: 
Narrow Supersystems 4132, 4312, 442 Diamond: 
4231 Deep for FM18:
Columbus Crew 4231 Deep Playthrough:
Crew go 433 Playthrough: 
Tim's 4312 vs PSG Playthrough:
How to build a 41221 - 
How to Build a 4231 - 
How to Beat a 4231 with Playthrough- 
4231 with Inverted Wingbacks Playthrough - 
Callamity's 4231 Playthrough- 
Gloucester 4231 Explained Playthrough: 
Spurs Get Overloaded 4231 Playthrough:
Torino Diaries - SuperSystem Explained 

 Section V: Training: 
Facilities and 5 Star Coaching: 
Player Development Cycle: 
Retraining Tips and Tricks: 
Training Schedules: 
Tutoring: 
Loaning Players: 
Match Preparation: 
Scouting Guide:

[Pablo Sanchez]

Still struggling with structured vs fluid. in game it says fluid players will be given more creative freedom yet on forums everyone says fluid plays will have less risk appetite...

 

 

[Cleon]

4 minutes ago, Pablo Sanchez said:

Still struggling with structured vs fluid. in game it says fluid players will be given more creative freedom yet on forums everyone says fluid plays will have less risk appetite...

 

 

No-one is saying that on the forum at all. Ignore what you think you have seen on the forum and just concentrate on what the game says and you're on the right tracks. Don't over complicate things like most do around these parts. Especially when you're struggling to get your head around it.

Structured - The players mentality will be vastly different based on the role/duty/position a player plays. 

Fluid - Players mentalities throughout the team will be similar/same so this brings players closer together. They'll also see the base role you set, get more creative freedom.

That's the gist of it and there is no reason to go anymore indepth than that unless you really feel the need to. 

[Pablo Sanchez]

Makes alot more sense that. Def need to filter out all the noise haha

[Zemahh]

4 hours ago, Pablo Sanchez said:

Still struggling with structured vs fluid. in game it says fluid players will be given more creative freedom yet on forums everyone says fluid plays will have less risk appetite...

@Ö-zil to the Arsenal! explains it really well here: https://community.sigames.com/topic/401273-what-is-team-shape/

[Atarin]

I definitely agree that Shape is nebulous. If you want to keep it super, super simple then think of it like this...

Shape tells your players whether to prioritise their Duty or the team Mentality.

So on a Fluid setting team Mentality comes first. With a Defensive-Fluid combination your Attack duties are going to be a lot more conservative, they'll play a lot more like Support duties. It will also effect your support players in attacking positions (AMR/AMC/AML/ST) who will be a bit more team-orientated. 

A structured setting tells your players that their Duty comes first, so with an Defensive-Structured combination your Attack duties' job is get forward early and attack space. Your Support duties in attacking positions (AMR/AMC/AML/ST) will also focus on supporting the Attack duties over and above being part of a disciplined defensive unit.

A Flexible shape means that your players are trusted to use their own judgement (their intelligence and decision making) and balance the team's mentality with their own Duty.

So in short the more fluid the setting the more Attack duties play like Support duties, the more restrained attacking Support players are and the more team orientated all other Support players and Defend duties will behave like regular Support duties. A more Structured team shape will see Attack duties and attacking Support duties on their toes ready to attack, regular Support duties will be a bit more restrained will stay back and do their job.

I hope that helps.

 

Edited July 15, 2018 by Atarin

[Francesco1983]

Il 30/10/2017 in 23:46 , Alekos ha scritto:

Prima di tutto grazie per la tua risposta e allo stesso tempo devo farti sapere che sto seguendo i tuoi post da quasi 11 anni (da quando sono diventato membro qui) anche se non mi sembra così attivo nei forum ..

Ho anche una collezione di archivi stampati dei tuoi post che sono molto utili, ma nelle ultime due versioni del gioco sento che non ho l'influenza sul campo che vorrei e le mie vittorie non derivano da quanto sono bravo capire come funziona il ME, ma basato sulla fortuna ..

Ad essere onesti, non ho ancora giocato a questa versione e non vedo l'ora di conoscere tutte quelle nuove informazioni che farai capire che l'utente capirà meglio cosa sta succedendo sul campo ... Come ho detto, non mi interessa davvero se vinco o perdo perché questo è il gioco .. voglio solo scoprire come ho vinto o come ho perso ... questo è ciò che rende il gioco così magico e avvincente

It's what I want too.Probably we should "study" real tactics and then put them into practice (as far as possible) in FM

[Experienced Defender]

On 22/11/2017 at 14:42, Laze said:

I dont know if this is the right place to ask for a spesific tip, but is there anything very wrong with theese Team Istructions? (I play a 4-3-2-1, if it matters) 

 

Play narrower and Look for overlap are illogical TIs given that you already play with a narrow formation (I guess you mean 4321 with 2 AMCs, not wingers?), plus defensive mentality inherently makes your formation comparatively narrower. And whom are your FBs supposed to overlap? So these 2 TIs are first that I would remove.

Further, I don't see logic behind using higher d-line and less closing down at the same time. If you want to play with a higher d-line, pressing should be either normal (default) or also higher (which can be risky though). Conversely, a more logical option is a deeper d-line coupled with (slightly) higher pressing.

Also, exploiting your flanks in a system where your full-backs are the only wide players can compromise your defensive solidity, because it increases the mentality of your fullbacks, especially as you don't have a player in DM strata to provide more immediate protection to your back line. Exploit the Middle would be actually more logical, since it's the middle where most of your players are concentrated.

As for the tackling section, I think "Stay on feet" is unnecessary, primarily because defensive mentality already makes your players less aggressive. Be More Disciplined is probably also not needed when you use structured shape, and with defensive mentality at that.

Pass into space? Not sure whether it should be part of your basic tactical setup. You can always employ it at some point in a match if you notice that the opposition is leaving enough space behind that you could exploit. However, this is also closely related to your roles and duties (how many players you have who attack the space and where on the pitch).