Forged In Steel - The Sheffield United Project

[Cleon]

 

This is taken from my blog https://teaandbusquets.com/blog/

For the past few week’s I’ve been going back and forth as to where I should start on Football Manager. At first I was going to start in Brazil with my mandatory Santos save but I then decided that this year, I wanted to do something slightly different so decided against that idea. So it might come as a surprise to you that I decided to start with Sheffield United. Playing as the Blades isn’t exactly different but what I have in mind is different for what I normally do and how I play the game. Usually I start at a club and never move around, I stay at that club forever and if I fancy a new saved game, I normally just start a new game rather than move clubs.

This year though, I’m  starting with Sheffield United and then when I start feeling I need a change or getting bored I’ll look at moving clubs. More often than not I always get bored in England after a while due to how easy it becomes with all the money available. I’ll be here for a while initially though as I want at least three Champions League titles before I consider walking away!

It’s been quite some time since I wrote about training in any kind of depth. I think the last time was probably three years ago when I did the Ajax project stuff for FM14 I think it was. Which was some of the best stuff I’ve ever written. So I thought it might be time to revisit training and see what has changed during those three years while at the same time, showing you my own approach to training and how I make the best of it. During the series you can expect to see;

• Tutoring - I'll explain why I'm tutoring and document any personality changes.
• Player development - I'll be tracking this really closely as I develop all players to be the best they can.
• Re-training - No doubt I'll change a few players positions to suit the tactical framework they'll be playing in. This is a big aspect of the game for me.
• Moulding players - This will focus on creating the types of players I’ll need for how I’ll be playing. I won’t be creating your typical players and will require many different types of players who might play the role within my tactic differently to what you might expect.
• The tactic - I'll mention in-depth what I’m using, how and why it works. Also I will be talking about how training and player development all fits in with the system I use and how it's all linked together.
• Staff Choices - This will include hiring and firing and what attributes to look for to get the best out of the players you have.

When I originally wrote the Ajax project it was a little rushed and while I feel it’s still the best work I’ve done, I know I can do much better and have many regrets about what I didn’t include. So think of this as the new improved version of that with even more depth to it hopefully. I have much more planned than is highlighted above though.

I want to dive straight into the save and save the detailed posts for once this introduction is out-of-the-way. But I also want to share what I do when I take over a club. I’ll not really do an introduce the squad type post, the next article in this series will be straight into the deep end and be a more in-depth look at a certain aspect that I’ll choose once the game is out on the 10th.

Day One

The first day at the club is one of the most important throughout my stay at a club, it’s a time for setting the foundations for how I want the club to be and more importantly, setting up a playing philosophy and style. Now a lot of people might think this means focusing on the tactical side more but for me it’s not about that just yet and I have other steps that are more important to begin with. So I thought I’d do a quick post explaining my steps as soon as I’m made the manager.

Custom Views

These can be downloaded via this link;

DOWNLOAD CUSTOM VIEWS LINK

The first thing I do on the game after being announced the manager is to create a set of custom views. I do this even before attending any board meeting or anything. It literally is the first thing I do because it takes a while to set up but it’s something I can benefit from straight away. I tend to use lots of these and I really do mean lots, maybe 30+ the deeper I get into a save. But to start off with I keep things simple and just have a few at the beginning. I should also point out that I’m not saying these are the best ones to use but rather they suit my needs perfectly. I’m showing you these just as a guide to give you an idea of how you might want to set these up for you and your needs on the game. These are all the ones I have to start with, then as the season progresses I’ll create a few more to give me variety for a variety of other things but these are the main ones for now;

    

This screen is my defensive one and is set up to show me who in the side is doing the defensive side of things like interceptions and the frequency of them. I also have the attributes showing in all of the screens like this, so I can have a quick overview of why someone might have a lower percentage for a particular aspect. If I can't see it being linked to attributes then I know I might have to look into things slightly deeper.

Exact same as above but this time for my attackers to keep track of who is taking shots and the frequency of those shots. I’ll be playing with the aim of getting 50% of all shots on target so this is likely to be one of my main focuses and something I’ll be using a lot of during the season. I want to see if I am being wasteful or not and this provides a great overview.

Again similar to the above two views but this time focusing on who the creative players are in the side and who is using the ball wisely and who isn’t. These views might make more sense to you when the analysis part of the articles are written up as they’ll show why I analyse something based on what these screens tell me.

The above custom view is the one I use for selecting who will play the next match, this is my match day screen. It’s nothing special and just has all the info on I need to see who is playing well, fit enough and so on.

One of the simpler screens, this one just focuses on injuries and everything linked to it.

It’s worth keeping an eye on the squads happiness so you can see if anyone is thinking about leaving the club or just trying to spot unrest as early as possible. This screen offers me everything to do with that side of the game.

The main overview screen for my players development. This allows me to see who is focusing on what and keeps me up to date with things. It also makes it very easy for me to switch things up, which I do frequently as you’ll find out in the player development articles.

At the start of every new game or season this is the most important screen I have for the next six weeks or so. I can see who is needing game time and might need extra matches. Preseason is all about player fitness for me and it’s important everyone starts the season fully prepared and match fit. If not then I’ve failed and wasted time so this screen is vital for keeping track of every player.

Friendlies

Once those are out-of-the-way the next thing I do before attending any board or staff meetings is to arrange friendlies. Depending on how you approach or view pre season this part will vary for everyone. But for myself, I like to use it to get everyone fit before the very first competitive game and to build up morale and tactical familiarity. So to achieve this I play a lot of friendlies against weaker opposition. I personally don’t see the point of playing tough opposition instead I choose the steamroller options and select to play against the weakest teams possible. The results themselves are not that important but I want easy games as this helps with morale and means I can give everyone game time no matter what their ability is like.

I tend to select 7+ friendlies if time allows. This way I can work on player familiarity (instead of tactical familiarity it's all linked to the individual player now). Obviously if you bring in new faces this will take slightly longer. So I always try to use my time wisely when it comes to arranging friendlies. My current list of friendlies looks something like this;

Obviously those games have already been played because I’m writing this part after playing rather than before starting the game. In an ideal world and time permitting I’d have played closer to 11 or 13 due to the size of my squad. The bigger the squad the harder it is to give everyone the game time needed to get match fit.

Training

Once I've arranged the friendlies the next step is to alter the training for pre season. I won't go into details here because I plan on doing an extensive post about this instead but for a simple overview it goes like this for me;

General/Match training slider - Set to the far left which means it's a 50-50 split. This is vital if you want tactics to reach fluid.

Match training - Set it to tactics, it's all that is important. If you don't want to get tactic familiarity fluid then you can select what you like here. But if you do want high tactic familiarity in the fastest way possible then this must be set to match tactics.

General training - If I have new players in the squad it will be set to team cohesion for almost the entirety of preseason due to me trying to gel those players into the team as fast as possible. If I didn't have any new players in the squad then I'd just leave it on balanced.

So it would look something like this;

Staff

Then it's onto one of the more important aspects of my save, the staff at the club. I'll also be doing a detailed post on this in the next couple of days. But I look through the staff and try to identify where I need to strengthen and who I might need to get rid of. This includes every single member of staff at the club as it’s important I can rely on them. I’m ruthless with staff and will always upgrade and get the best people I can into the club. Whether than be short-term or long-term, changes are nearly always made. How many changes I made tend to relies on the people I can attract to the club and finances available to me.

Board/Staff meetings

Then I attend the board and staff meetings to get a feel of everything and to see if I need to alter the board philosophies. If I’m being really lazy I can also instruct my staff to take control of the things I dislike like team talks etc. This isn’t something I do though as I like to be in full control.

Tactics

I always have a tactical vision in my mind before starting as it will make things easier. Again this is something I will be expanding on in great detail. But in order to keep with what I do on the opening day, I select my shape and the settings I think I’ll be using. So I create a base of sorts so the team can be training it. This year I’ll be going for a 352 loosely based on Sheffield United in real life, this is likely to be wrote about at the weekend and will be a big discussion about how I create it, how I think it’ll work and then comparisons to how it actually functions. It will also focus heavily on the player roles and show what the players actually do on the pitch.

The Squads

Once all of the above is done I then look at every single player at the club and decide which squad they should be, what I see their future as and to decide how I’ll train them. I’ll also try to identify what areas I might need to bring reinforcements in and then I can begin searching for those players.

Scouting

This is the thing I leave while last because it’s the part that probably takes me the longest to set up. I normally set up my scouts to scout the regions I want or for the type of players I need. Alongside this I also like to manually scout clubs and this can be very time-consuming. For example, in my current save I’ve spent 8 hour manually scouting many clubs looking for bargains who I might bring into the club to strengthen certain areas.

That’s about it for the first day at the club I think although me being me, I’ll have missed something very important here!

I just wanted to get the boring stuff out-of-the-way before I dived straight into the more length interesting posts. In the next post I’ll talk about my recruitment and show who I brought in and explain why, to give you a real insight into how I play the game. I will also link it to the tactic I am using and speak about that too as my recruitment and tactic goes hand in hand. Depending on how the article shapes up it might include something on player development too unless the article is dragging on. Then that would be a separate article.

My custom views can be downloaded here https://tinyurl.com/y9zjklc4

[Cleon]

In this article I will discuss my recruitment strategy and how it all links to the tactic I am currently using. Having a long-term plan and strategy makes it easier for me to squad build and gives me something to aim for. It’s basically what keeps me invested in the current save and adds longevity for me. So let's dive straight into it.

The Tactic

The tactic I am using is based very loosely on Chris Wilder’s real life Sheffield United tactics. I say loosely because it’s not a tactic that is actually able to be recreated in the current match engine due to the specific way we play. I cannot have overlapping centre backs who create overloads down the wings by playing in sync with the wingbacks. Sadly this is a limitation of the match engine, it’s just not sophisticated enough currently. I also can’t replicate the midfield because our midfield three change roles about fifty times a game based on what is happening or the current phase of play. So I am limited in what I am creating at the club. But I can take elements of our real life strategy and incorporate them though.

We tend to play an expansive passive game and play out from the back covering a lot of space while playing with an attacking intend. The side also puts a shift in, in terms or pressing and play a high pressing game. So these are the things I can incorporate into the tactic to create some kind of style while also adding other elements I want to see the team performing. This is what I use;

Mentality

I want to play with an attacking intent but people always think this means you have to play on a higher mentality structure, like control or attacking. This simply isn’t true at all. I can play defensive, counter or standard mentality and be just as attacking as anyone who uses those higher mentality structures. The reason for going standard is I want the overall mentality to not be too aggressive or too passive that is the main reason. Instead I want to focus on the roles and players I select to be the aggressive players.

One of the things I am wanting to add to the tactic is to not be wasteful. I want to be aggressive and create lots of good quality chances. I’m not bothered about creating chances just for the same of it, I want to be cut throat and finish the chances with goals. I’m looking to score lots of goals but want quality chances rather than quantity. This is another reason why I didn’t select a higher mentality because it’s easier to create quality on more well-balanced mentalities like Standard. The aim is to have 50% of all shots on target. This is quite high compared to the real life 34-37% iirc, but I have a high standard and to be successful you’d always take quality over quantity.

Team Shape

There is nothing too extravagant here in the reasonings behind why I went fluid. The first reason was I recently wrote about the 352 in great detail, so to use this shape again I wanted to play it a different way while staying true to some core elements of the Blades Way. Secondly someone mentioned about me not posting about using a fluid team shape, so I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone.

That aside, the other main tactical reason for going fluid was I want to stay compact and have players closer together that is the main factor in all of this. If I went very fluid I feel that would be far too extreme for what I want, I want players to be closer together and compact but I don’t want to suffocate my own players and remove every ounce of space they'll have. I still need space between players just not a vast amount of it, for what I have in mind.

Team Instructions

I mentioned that Sheffield United in real life like to press the ball so this is why I use both of these team instructions. The idea is I close down aggressive while not allowing the defenders to sit to deep and creating a gap between the defence and midfield. I want them to work as a unit. I know it's risky using a high line and I might get caught out with balls over the top etc but it’s a risk I’m willing to take. It’s all about the risk vs reward for me and the benefits of playing a higher line outweigh not playing one.

You’ll also notice that at the start of the article I mentioned we play out from the back yet I’ve not selected this team instruction. The idea behind not selecting it yet is I don’t know if it’ll be overkill so want to see how we play before i start playing out from the back. Not only this but new for Football Manager 2018 is a player preferred move (PPM) ‘Bring ball out of defence’ which is absolutely brilliant. You’ll see players bring the ball out (surprise eh lol) defence and join the midfield. Honestly if you’ve not used the PPM yet then you are missing out. Myself and others actually want this as a separate instruction rather than a PPM it’s that good. But instead of using the play's out of defence team instructions, getting players to learn this PPM might be a better option and is something to consider.

Player Roles

I’ve not been too flashy here but I want the central midfielder to be the main deep goalscoring threat while the strikers are both expected to score and be creative a lot. Those three players aside I don’t expect anyone else to score but if they do then that’s a bonus. The wingbacks should bomb down the wing and be really aggressive in their play. The central attacking midfielder will also be very aggressive while the one on a support duty, will be more relaxed and used as a passing outlet. Not only do I expect him to be a passing outlet but he is also a link player in that I expect him to link the midfield to the attackers and provide balls down the flank for the wingback, without the player himself being that aggressive. If he can support attacks then great but that isn’t his first job in this set up.

The deep-lying playmaker is the one who will make everything tick and be the one recycling possession and helping build attacks. Due to the central attacking midfielder and the one next to him on support, I didn’t want to put the deep-lying playmaker on a defensive duty. One of the reasons behind this was I wanted him to be placed high enough to be able to spread the ball around easily enough. On a defensive duty I think the split might have been too great to link up with the central midfielder, especially if the central player had gone forward himself. So for the benefit of playing as a unit, a support duty made more sense as to not isolate or restrict him from everyone else.

One important factor I need to consider here is the strikers and how they’ll use the ball. As I use complete wingbacks on an attacking duty, my forwards will see a lot of crosses so will need support and be able to use the ball themselves should they get on end of crosses. The players I select here will be really important especially long-term as I will rely on them to create for themselves and each other. This will mean I need them both to be creative as the only real initial support they have from midfield will be the central attacking midfielder. So the actual player choice will be vital here.

That’s a brief overview of how I see it all working out. We will discuss this more in a future post as I’ll show you how the roles all work together or talk about what I’ve had to change depending on how my season goes.

Player Recruitment

I mentioned this in the last article but I also manually scout teams looking for that cheap bargain or a specific player. I spend a lot of time doing this at the start of a save because I need to identify players for if I stay in this division, I am relegated or promoted. So I need to be aware of many different kinds of players for many different levels.

Before I can start with the player recruitment though I need to realistically assess what my goals are for this season because that will determine, who I try to recruit. Just like in real life, I am confident we are a good side and can get promoted even though the game has us down for relegation. We’re a really underrated side in the game with some really good players, therefore my aim is promotion.

Due to me believing we can get promoted, this means that I’ll be looking at bringing players in who improve us now and will be able to play Premiership football. This isn’t going to be easy with just £3 million to spend but it's possible. However I also need a backup plan for if I fail to achieve the goal I’ve set out. This means I will also be looking to get depth players in who can improve the squad for this level but have no chance of ever playing the Premiership. So the recruitment process will be looking at two specific sets of players.

This is my first target as I am weak in the goalkeeper department due to Simon Moore being out injured for a few months at the start of a new game. This means I am left with Jamal Blackman on loan from Chelsea who is decent but he’s lacking in the mental attributes. I could get away with just using Blackman until Moore is fit again but I’m thinking long-term here. This keeper looks good and is cheap, I think he can develop quite a lot in the future and has a good personality already.

I can see him starting games now because he is already better than Blackman;

For me Rok is already the better player so I’d be improving the squad and getting a permanent body in, for an area I’m short of players for. It’s a win/win situation really because when Simon Moore is fit again just before Christmas he will be able to be considered to play again. But Rok has enough about him to make me want to sign him.

I used to sign Jure on Football Manager 2017 too and found him to be a cheap (475k) reliable option to bring in. I already have two decent players for this position in Lafferty and Stevens but I see Jure as able to make the step up to Premiership football. Were as I think Lafferty will be weaker and not a premiership type of player. This allows me to strengthen the position for either staying in this division or promotion. Either way signing him would give me two great players for the left wingback position and both of them capable of playing at a higher level.

Sandi is another player I’ve used on an older version of the game but only once before. On that particular save he proved to be a good steady player and dependable. Now I have a fair few midfielders already at the club but signing him means I can play David Brooks as a striker and still have enough bodies to provide cover and rotation as the season goes on. I’m not sure if he can be a Premiership player just yet as it's still early and he lacks a few quality attributes. But for the wages he is asking for and the price it's worth taking a risk.

Now I’ve seen Christian Tue play a few times in real life over the past few months and he’s a really exciting player to watch. On Football Manager he is definitely one to purchase for the future if you are at Championship level. I expect he can improve a fair bit and his PPM’s are ideal for playing the central attacking midfielder role that I have set up. He will be more aggressive playing the role due to the PPM’s he possesses. He’s another cheap option but this time with the future in mind and not a right now option.

Due to playing three at the back I like to find someone who can be utilised in a few positions and cover at the back. It saves me having to have six centre backs who I have to rotate, I can have four or five instead and use players such as Victor to fill in when needed. I’m interested in buying him not only for the utility though, that’s just a great bonus. One of the other factors is he plays midfield and offers me a more defensive options. The others players I already have at the club are either attack minded or playmakers.

Nelson gives me a different option for the roles especially away in some of the harder games. I can see how I might use him in those games to give me a bit of bite and added defensive stability. He’s also a player very much for the now if I was to purchase him.

That’s it for the initial targets and who I am looking to bring in. As the season goes on I imagine the list gets much bigger but for now it's those players I’m looking to recruit. As the series develops my explanations will become more in-depth about recruitment as I'll be looking for players to do a specific job.

In the next article I’ll focus on pure player development and show how I develop the players I bring in and the players I’ve recruited and focus on the why I develop them that way.

[Cleon]

Understanding the player roles of on Football Manager can be hard to do especially as the descriptions aren’t always the best and can often ignore important factors about what they do or don’t do. So to give you a better idea of the roles and how they function, I’ve decided to write about them. I will be doing this for every role I use in the 3-5-2 that I posted about earlier in the series. People should then get a sense of what to expect from a specific role and allow you to understand the basics of the roles. Which will in turn help you out when deciding which role best suits your needs for the tactic you are creating or the style you are trying to implement. This should make creating tactics a less daunting proposition.

I’ll also be discussing how I utilise this role, how it links with the rest of the roles around him and explaining everything about how it functions. I’ll include examples too. I think it makes sense to speak about player development too in the article seeing as it’s all linked to how I play. I have no time scale for when this series will be completed though as it’s a lot of hard work to get done.

The Deep Lying Forward

This role is all about the link play and its primary goal is to provide a link between the midfield and attack. It’s a very creative role and is often used when you lack bodies in and around the attacking midfield areas of the pitch. The deep-lying forward will look to drop into this space and provide a link as well as looking to create chances for their teammates. You should expect him to be more focused on creating for others than scoring but that’s not to say he can’t score lots of goals.

In any two-man formation you’d look to use this role if you had him partnered with someone more attack minded like an advanced forward or poacher. It’s very rare in a two-man striker formation where this role is used that the second striker would be anything than an attack minded one. The only time he would be played alongside another deep creative type of striker would be if you was creating something specific or looking to use strikers but give off the effect of playing strikerless.

It could also be used if you had a rampaging attacking midfielder like a shadow striker or even a goal threat from wide like an inside forward. The main factor to consider when using the deep-lying forward role is, who are the support players going to be who are getting beyond him to be a goal threat, as you will need those types of players to play off the deep-lying forward.

This role comes with two duties;

Support - On this duty the player will have these instructions active, hold up ball and more risky passes. With this duty the player will be responsible for dropping deep and linking play. They can and will score goals but creating and playing others in is more the focus and aim of the support duty. You can expect to see them dropping off into little pockets of space and roaming around looking for the space. They’ll look to spray passes out wide or to the oncoming players who are looking to go beyond him into more dangerous positions.

Attack –  With this duty the player has three  player instructions active, hold up ball, gets further forward and move into channels. On this duty the player won’t drop as deep as the support one and he will also be slightly more greedy in terms of taking shots or having chances himself. He will still do the above but he’ll do them from areas slightly higher up field and might be slightly more biased and selfish towards taking shots and being a goal threat compared to the support duty.

Those are the basics of the role that should give you an understanding of how the role functions and what to expect. But for more advanced stuff you’ll have to read on.

The shape you use will also impact how the role functions as will the roles and duties used around him and in the setup generally. For example a deep-lying forward as a lone striker will act a lot differently that in a system that uses two strikers. The reasons for this are due to what the player actually does during the game and the space he’ll be dropping off into as well as the space he will be running into. The dynamics are vastly different when you add someone else into the mix alongside him or even just behind him from the attacking midfield position. We also then have the players attributes, which determine how he will interpret the role himself.

Lots of people think that a player must have ideal attributes to play roles and be successfully in them but that’s not true. A player with a different attribute set will still be able to play the role and do well but how he plays the role will be a very different interpretation. I find myself saying one sentence quite regular in comments on the blog and when replying to people on the SI forums. That sentence is - Any player can play any role, the only thing that differs is how he interprets that role. I think a few people forget this at times when you see them posting.

The Development Side

During the first season, Billy was the player I used as the deep-lying forward for most parts when he was fit. The image was him at the start of the game. I wouldn’t say he would be the first choice deep-lying forward for many, especially when I use an advanced forward in the side already and this is clearly Billy’s best position. One of the reasons for not using him was his PPM’s or more importantly a specific one of them.

The plays One-Twos PPM is great for the deep-lying forward role and allows a quick change of pace when he uses the PPM. I felt this was better utilised on the deepest forward and not the highest because space would be limited for this PPM to even work.

As for Billy’s training it was just relatively simple due to him being already developed and if I got promoted, likely surplus to requirements. However this is how he was set up;

In season two I brought a new player in for this role and we will talk about him in a later article when I really focus on the development because I approach it differently for this player. But for now, it was all about maintaining Billy’s attributes and just focusing on the advanced forward role.

The Analysis

Remember in the first article (I think it was the first one) I mentioned that I wanted to get at least 50% of all the teams shot on target. This means that the strikers are responsible for a lot of these shows and are the ones who will have the most shots as a rule.

The most important stat here is the shots the player has. Billy has only had 63 shots in 31 games, which doesn’t seem much at all but I wasn’t after quantity, I wanted quality. Scoring goals was only his secondary job, his first job was creating space and playing the other striker in on goal. His assist rate is low at seven but that doesn’t mean he didn’t do what was expected. He also scored 18 goals which is a decent return for someone who isn’t set up to be my main scorer.

Out of 63 shots though he had 45 of them on target and scored 18 goals. These are excellent stats especially as 71% of all his shots were on target. It shows that he wasn’t wasteful with his shots and when he did have them, he was being productive and hitting the target. Anything over 45% here is classed as really good, so to have 71% is exceptional.

To add real insight into these stats though we need to take a look at how he functions in the 3-5-2 system and see exactly what he offers the side.

This is the heat map and also shows where he had all 190 of his touches during this game against Millwall. As you can see he is very much playing outside of the box and taking up the kind of areas I’d expect a deep-lying forward to take up.

Average position screen just confirms what the heat map does and shows that with the ball he plays just outside the box. While without the ball he is deeper areas while searching for the ball.

On this screen we can see the passes completed that Billy Sharp has done. He completed 59 of them in total.

Those are his intercepted passes.

One of the most important analysis screens for any link player is the screen above, the passes received one. This tells you in what areas he receives the ball and give you a broader idea of how he is functioning with those around him. Above I’ve highlighted a specific area as the player seems to receive the ball frequently in this kind of area.

Now if you click on any of these dots you get an option to see linked events or watch the highlight of the move. If you choose the linked events then you will see something like this;

It’s a great screen for seeing the full move and seeing just how involved in the build up the specific player was.

If we click on the number 10 icon on the linked events screen, I can then watch the move that Billy Sharp was involved in and see what he did. In the above screenshot he is just dropping off the front to find a little bit of space.

By dropping off the front he became involved in play and was a passing outlet for my midfield to link up with. So when he receives the ball, he has a little look around and sees David Brooks in lots of space and a simple pass plays him in on goal. Brooks then scores by hitting it the first time.

When I selected the clip I didn’t know it was an actual assist for Billy as I was going to highlight the more dangerous passes in the key passes screen below.

Key passes are a great snapshot to show us the passes that are, well, erm key. We already saw one of these in the example above but let's have another look at a different example this time.

Here we have Billy dropping off the front again and taking the defender with him. You can also see the passing triangle we have here and options for retaining the ball or being attack minded.

Due to him dropping off the front and the defender coming across to mark him, this opens up a huge gap for my central attacking midfielder to run into. All Billy has to do is play a simple pass and he is through on goal, which he did. But unfortunately Carruthers wasn’t able to score. While the move is simple and very basic, it highlights how Billy creating space by dropping off the front and either taking his marker with him or making his marker shift across. This creates space for others to then run into.

In my set up you’ll remember that I don’t really have much support from my midfielders and just have one attack minded central player. However this is the reason why. It allows the other two central players to stay deep while the attack minded one bombs forward. And then if we add Billy into the mix, it’s a good strategy to use. If no move is on, then we can easily retain possession and play it safe if needed. But it’s the movement of Billy and the running of Carruthers that make moves like this possible.

Someone dropping off the front makes the defenders step up or shift across. While at the same time having players run towards the defence makes them make choices, which is what I mentioned I wanted to do in the very first article. The opposition's players then are either caught out of position, flat-footed and can’t change direction to deal with the second threat quick enough or get run ragged and stretched in doing so. This move doesn’t work all the time but is does frequently.

Hopefully this gives you a little insight into how he works in the 3-5-2 setup. I’ll be expanding on the players used in this role and their development in future articles. I will also cover the role again when I analyse the system and do a proper match analysis. But for now, I just wanted to share with you the above.

[Cleon]

For those who have followed me for a while on social media, you’ll have seen me mention David Brooks pretty much constantly for the past two years or so. He’s a special talent and when you see him play you can see. Even in training, he looks head and shoulders above everyone else technically and always has done since he joined the club. That’s not meant as disrespect to the other players, by young David just has an aura about him and looks different gravy with how he uses the ball. He’s technically the best player I’ve ever seen at our academy and I think it comes across that he was developed at a higher level/standard before joining us.

I always wonder what would have happened to Brooks if he was still at Manchester City when Pep took over. Thankfully for us he wasn’t but I think it would have been interesting if he was because on paper, he is the kind of player Pep likes. For me, he is the sort of player Pep would have taken under his wing and mentored him, helping him realise his talent.

On my current saved game on Football Manager 2018, David Brooks is one of the players I refuse to sell on the game and have built my team around him. In the third season I have rejected a £40 million offer from Arsenal for him already. He seems to have quite high potential on Football Manager 2018 and has had quite a big boost compared to Football Manager 2017, where he was really poor. Now on most saves I’ve started or seen people have, he develops quite well.

Season One Development

This is him at the start of the game on the save that I am playing. He’s nothing fantastic but has quite a few attributes that can be worked to be quite high and hopefully enough potential to bring a few of the lower mental stats he has, to a good standard. Before I talk about how I am developing him though, I think it’s best to explain his role in the side going forward and how I’ll be using him.

I want to build the side around him but I want him to score lots of goals. In the 352 I’m using most people would likely use him as the central attacking midfielder I use, or they’d use him as the deep-lying forward. Both of these are good sensible options and he is capable of doing both. In real life he is used differently too at times. At international level for the England u21’s he was played centrally and out wide. While for Wales he has been played as the right-sided attacking midfielder. He’s very capable anywhere really.

For Sheffield United he has played central and just off the striker. For me this is his best position, just off the striker. But I think he suffers from being able to play many different roles currently even for Sheffield United. I think this is down to not being in the clubs plans originally for this season but a great display in the summer for England and then impressing in the Blades pre-season friendlies made the club rethink the planned loan to Chesterfield which was arranged.

So I think he is suffering for this currently but it's a good thing for the club to have, it’s not a bad issue. I believe that come next season and if we have the player at the club still, then we will start to see the team being built around him. I know what you are thinking, what has this got to do with Football Manager 2018? Well, I have the same dilemma now in that he isn’t ready for the role I want him to fulfill but he is too good not to give him game time. Which means for the first season I will use him in a few different positions.

Long-term I see David Brooks as my advanced forward. Yes you heard me right, the advanced forward. Some of you might be thinking this is a waste of his creative talent however this is one of the reasons why he will be ideal. When using roles on Football Manager, I don’t play your stereotypical players in the roles. I find that boring and limited. In one of the earlier articles I mentioned that I wanted my strikers to both be creative as at times, they’ll have to create chances for themselves and offer me something different.

This will fit into my tactical plan and the style I am creating. Playing a creative player in the advanced forward role and ignoring the suggested attributes that the player needs, doesn’t mean he won’t fulfill that role and play it well. It just means he will play it differently to the more stereotypical players who are used for that role, which I believe is a good thing. A few people get hung up on the suggested attributes for roles or put too much focus on role suitability but I don’t. I use players in roles who have the attributes I want the player to have, to offer me a different take on the role.

If we look at David’s attributes he has most of the advanced forward attributes anyway (but even if he didn’t this would not be an issue at all)

As you can see he does have the attributes for most parts for the role anyway. However I’ve highlighted four attributes that will make him offer something different for the role.

Technique - He will be comfortable on the ball and this will allow him to use the ball well and if he tries something more tricky, then this attribute will allow that.

Vision - This will allow him to see the majority of the current options available to him.

Flair - Being creative is all about the flair attribute and this is high, so automatically he should play the role differently to what someone with a low flair attribute would. He should try tricks and do unusual things that a more conventional player wouldn’t even try.

Agility - This should allow him to turn or shift his body quickly which makes it easier for him to slip past his marker which is important, as he will be marked often by the oppositions defender due to him being the highest forward in the squad. So he needs the ability to move his body from stop, start positions and allow him to move in any direction faster.

Already you can get an idea of what I’m wanting the player to do and what he offers. As for the development side of things this is what I’ve gone for;

This is how I’m training him for now, the reason for this is the Trequartista will enhance all the attributes I explained the player needed above. It focuses on these a lot, so it makes the most sense as having this as the role training I use. I’ve gave the higher intensity level as the player can handle it. Also I’m working on the player's stamina because it needs to higher so he doesn’t tire as quickly. This isn’t the focus long-term though, it will only be short-term that we focus on the stamina side. Maybe three months at the maximum.  

End of Season One

This is what Brooks looks like at the end of season one.

You can see the improvements he has already made and he’s improved quite a lot so far. Playing the number of games he has during the season as definitely aided his development. He’s had a great season by all accounts, he’s scored a fair amount of goals and grabbed a few assists. All of this has helped in his development. Playing well should see the player make bigger and better improvements than someone who is playing poor.

Technical Attributes

• Dribbling 1
• Finishing 1
• First Touch 1
• Freeckicks 1
• Heading 1
• Long Shots 1
• Marking 1
• Penalty 1
• Tackling 1

Mental Attributes

• Concentration 1
• Flair 1
• Leadership 1
• Positioning 1
• Vision 1

Physical Attributes

• Agility 1
• Balance 1
• Natural Fitness 1
• Pace 1
• Stamina 1
• Strength 2

Those are the changes we have seen so far during the first season.

Season Two Development

Technical Attributes

• Crossing 1
• Finishing 1
• Freekicks 1
• Long Shots 1
• Passing 1
• Penalty 1
• Technique 1

Mental Attributes

• Anticipation 1
• Composure 1
• Concentration 1
• Decisions 1
• Off the Ball 1
• Teamwork 1
• Vision 2
• Workrate 1

Physical Attributes

• Acceleration 1
• Balance 1
• Stamina 1
• Strength 1

Again we have seen a lot of growth again especially seeing vision grow by two attribute points. Statistically he also had a fantastic season in the Premier league scoring 22 goals in 31 games and grabbing 17 assists along the way.

Season Three Development

Technical Attributes

• Dribbling 1
• Finishing 1
• First Touch 1
• Freekick 1
• Marking 1
• Penalty 1
• Tackling -1

Mental Attributes

• Anticipation 1
• Composure 1
• Concentration 1
• Leadership 1

Physical Attributes

• Agility 1
• Natural Fitness 1
• Pace 1
• Strength 1

We saw good development again this season and interestingly we saw a decrease in his tackling by 1. No idea why and I can’t really find out why but it doesn’t really matter I guess. I do think we’ve just about hit David Brooks potential ability now and I don’t think we will see much change moving forward. This season he also had a few injuries, much more than usual it seems. When I say more injuries I mean in the length of time he was out.

His injury history isn’t that bad at all considering the high amounts of training he receives and the amount of games he has played. I tend to keep an eye out though for players who are training heavier than usual and pay extra attention to their condition during games. Not only this but I also rotate them, especially if I have several games during a week. I do this for most players though and rotate an awful lot to keep players fresh and to reduce the injury risk. I’ll talk about this more in a separate article though at some point.

Three seasons is as far as I’ve played so far so this is the development side for this player, which bring it up to date with the in-game time. I didn’t change his training schedule and I didn’t reduce the intensity of it either. I did after the first three months, remove the individual focus for stamina. I didn’t work on any other individual focuses either after I removed stamina one.

I’m guessing that when season four starts I will likely remove the intensity now he’s reached his potential (so it seems at least) as there is no need for it to so so intense now. I’ll update this though if and when I start the season in a future update.

Now we’ve discussed the development side, what about what David Brooks offers the team and how does his role actually work. Let’s take a look shall we.

You’ll probably be a bit surprised at the kind of areas he passes the ball in and is probably deeper than most of you was expecting. But remember that I don’t play aggressively in terms of mentality and use a standard one. So naturally him and the whole side are deeper than they would be on a more aggressive mentality. If we take a look at one of these moves we can see him both receiving the ball and passing the ball to see the kind of things he does.

Here we can see Brooks as the highest player up the pitch and making a run into space and looks unmarked initially, which he is. But the opposition has two players going across to cover the space and halt his run.

By the time he receives the ball he is marked and checks his run. This is where having the agility I looked for becomes useful as he now has to shift his entire body around.

He then shift his body around and plays the ball to my left back who is surging forward into the space that exists. So you can already see that while he is a goalscorer with the role he has, he is also linking play and setting other people up.

That’s his passes received map and it shows why his passing map looks why it does further up. He’s very much involved in the actual build up play as any other player and is a good natural creative outlet in the oppositions half for players to play off and around.

In this particular game he had three key passes. Two of them he grabbed an assist for because we scored from two of them. The first one was a move from deep.

Isak the player making the central run had just passed the ball to Brooks. These two players link up ever so well and work in tandem through a match. He gave the ball to Brooks who is only too happy to turn and give it him back.

Isak then runs up the pitch and scores. Remember when I said both strikers needed to create chances for themselves at times? This is exactly what I was on about. I don’t want to always rely on supporting players catching up with play because at times this loses momentum. Obviously I do need supporting players as well but if a chance arises I don’t mind the forward players trying to take advantage of it themselves with little or no support at all.

The next assist sees a similar thing happening.

On this occasion Arthur is in possession of the ball and plays it to Brooks.

Then when he receives the ball a simple pass between both centre backs plays Pineda in on goal and he scores.

So we’ve seen a little glimpse into his creative side and how he links up with other players. But he also has an eye for goal too. He can often be found getting into the box on the end of crosses. Or running at players, taking them on and firing the ball into the back of the net. I will add some goals at a later date maybe in a kind of highlight reel. I definitely want to add more videos, clips and gifs to the articles to bring them to life more.

[Cleon]

Gaining promotion can bring about a lot of changes at a club, across all levels whether it be finances, players, staff or even scouting costs. The changes can come with a number of implications too. A quick example would be player contracts, any new faces you bring in will likely want bigger wages than you normally pay. While the existing players at the club will likely also demand a wage rise when it comes to contract negotiations.

On top of this clubs will also demand higher transfer fees which can be tricky for some clubs due to budget restraints set by the board. Especially when you need to bring in a new full team of players, compromises will have to be made somewhere along the line. So in this post, I will discuss how I deal with promotion and plan for another successful campaign.

One of the important factors for me with promotion is to plan early. So in essence, planning way ahead of time during the promotion winning season. If we take a look at my current save with Sheffield United, I achieved promotion to the Premier League in the first season. But my planning for the future started the moment I took over the club, whether I got promoted or not.

Scouting

As I stated above, the planning for the future phase started the moment I took over at the club. When I’m scouting players I’m looking for players who can do a job now, next season, the season after and so on. But first we need to know how scouting works and how to set it up. For this I’ll refer you to a post that Oliver Jensen (@fmFutbolManager ) wrote a couple of months ago. It saves me repeating something that is covered elsewhere already.

https://theresonlyoneball.com/2017/12/16/my-approach-to-scouting-in-football-manager-2018/#more-923

I’ll briefly touch upon how I breakdown scouting into a few different sections, it makes planning for the future simpler. Then I’ll go into greater depth and show examples a lot later in the article, as I want to write about stuff in order I do things. It will make it easier to follow.

I break it down to 3 simple key stages that determine which shortlist I put the player on;

Stage One

• Is the player someone who improves the squad now.
• Does he have much room for development growth?
• How likely is he able to make the step up to the league above.

That’s the first part of what I need to answer when looking at players. This will help me determine if the player is a possible candidate for now, the future or someone who might be a very short-term option that allows me to reach the goals I’ve had set by the club. Once this is determined it them comes down to other factors.

Stage Two

• If he doesn’t have room for growth, then how long will I likely have the player around the club.
• Does his value to the team and cost fit into my budget?
• Is there any resale value?
• If the player has room for development growth can he still do a job now?

Then we move onto stage three which determines if a bid is made now or in the future.

Stage Three

• How much will he cost
• What are the wages likely to be
• How do the wages fit with the clubs current structure
• If I was to buy at a later date, how inflated is the price likely to become
• Does buying now save me £££’s in the long run
• If he was bought now, how does he fit in my plans

All of the above determines which of my shortlists the player goes on. I have around eight different shortlists running at any one time. But only three of them are focused on the above to help me split the shortlists into long-term, short-term and maybe’s.

I’ll touch upon scouting again a little later. First I want to focus on if we’d just achieved promotion.

Expectations

This is likely one of the biggest things that ****s people over due to them over estimating how good they are at the game or how good the team actually is. Either way, it’s something that causes the user issues at certain times.

Realistic expectations are what people should focus on, this means accessing/knowing your squad inside out and not focusing on overachieving. By this I mean, in the current Blades save I have on the go, I am expected to be in a relegation battle according to the match odds and the games expectations. Now I know I can possible push the top 6 fairly close but these aren’t realistic expectations are goals/pressure I’m adding to the game but focusing on overachieving.

So don’t focus on what you think you can do. Instead focus on what the game expects of you, the rest is a bonus. By being realistic it keeps you grounded. I often see people with a side who have just achieved promotion and be in second place half way through the league, then moan when the wheels slip off and they end up sixth at the end of the season. Yes you was second at one point but compared to were you was expected to finish at the start of the season, you’ve had an incredible season. Yet they focus on the five games they lost in a row and become highly critical and frustrated that the game is somehow against them, despite massively overachieving with a relatively weak squad. Don’t ever lose sight of what the game thinks you should be doing, then on reflection you can decide if what you’ve just done is actually a good season or not. The game is the reference point and not what you ‘think should happen’.In most cases a newly promoted side is likely to be involved in a relegation fight or be towards the lower ends of the table.

Accessing The Squad - Early Planning

Another important factor to consider is the squad you have. This fits in with the scouting above and we’ll now explore how I approached the promotion winning season in greater detail. Some people like to leave transfers until the very last-minute while others like to get stuff done early. Myself I take an approach somewhere in the middle as we will find out.

In the first season I brought in this player with a focus on the future with the idea they’ll either play for the club at some stage or be sold for a tidy profit.

Christian Tue

Now I’ve seen Christian Tue play a few times in real life over the past few months and he’s a really exciting player to watch. On Football Manager he is definitely one to purchase for the future if you are at Championship level. I expect he can improve a fair bit and his PPM’s are ideal for playing the central attacking midfielder role that I have set up. He will be more aggressive playing the role due to the PPM’s he possesses.

He cost me £400k at the start of the season which was more than I wanted to pay. But he has resale value and short-term, his investment was worth it. I bought him with the future in mind and not to play straight away, which he hasn’t. In fact I loaned him out to help his development as I simply could not give him the games needed. A quick look at his attributes and you can see he is in desperate need to play games to develop.

For the Future and For Now

The next lot of players were all brought into the club with the future in mind but they also strengthened the side now.

Rok Vodisek

A long-term injury to Simon Moore at the start of the game and Jamal Blackman having rubbish attributes, forced me into strengthening in this area. He looked good and was cheap, I think he can develop quite a lot in the future and has a good personality. So I spent £375k on bringing him to the club. His wages are very cheap and I believe the fee was too, especially when I can see him being first choice even after promotion.

Due to low wages, the low transfer cost and him having room for improvement makes him a really good long-term investment. I can sell him in a few seasons for twenty times the value I paid for him easily I believe. Not only that but because he is a first team starter, his attributes will rise dramatically in the next few seasons. He is definitely a player for now and with the future in mind regardless of what level I’d have been playing.

Jure Balkovec

I used to sign Jure on Football Manager 2017 too and found him to be a cheap (475k) reliable option to bring in. I already have two decent players for this position in Lafferty and Stevens but I see Jure as able to make the step up to Premiership football. Were as I think Lafferty will be weaker and not a premiership type of player. This allows me to strengthen the position for either staying in this division or promotion. So already, I’ve determined what area I lack in and can fix it cheap so I have two brilliant players now for whatever division I am in.

Like the other players mentioned so far he also has resale value should the club outgrow him.

Sandi Ogrinec

Sandi is another player I’ve used on an older version of the game but only once before. On that particular save he proved to be a good steady player and dependable. Now I have a fair few midfielders already at the club but signing him means I can play David Brooks as a striker and still have enough bodies to provide cover and rotation as the season goes on. I’m not sure if he can be a Premiership player just yet as it’s still early and he lacks a few quality attributes. But for the wages he is asking for and the price it’s worth taking a risk.

He only cost £275k so again was cheap and I see profit in him, should he not be able to make the step up. But he could really go either way in the Premiership and be decent or be **** poor.

Victor Nelsson

Due to playing three at the back I like to find someone who can be utilised in a few positions and cover at the back. It saves me having to have six centre backs who I have to rotate, I can have four or five instead and use players such as Victor to fill in when needed. I’m interested in buying him not only for the utility though, that’s just a great bonus. One of the other factors is he plays midfield and offers me a more defensive options. The others players I already have at the club are either attack minded or playmakers.

Nelson gives me a different option for the roles especially away in some of the harder games. I can see how I might use him in those games to give me a bit of bite and added defensive stability. He’s also another cheap option with resale value after only costing £575k.

As you can see I’ve very much planned for the future from the very start. And because I haven’t broken the bank in terms of the fees paid out or wages given to players means I’ve used the little money I had available, very wisely. I’ve brought in young players who improve the current squad and give me options. Moving them on to other clubs, shouldn’t be an issue in the future if that’s the direction I take.

Every signing I made wasn’t with the focus of playing at a higher level. I also brought in a couple of players just to add a little bit of depth to the squad should promotion not happen. These players would never be regulars but for the fees paid (mainly free transfers) that didn’t matter much.

All three players are fairly average and nothing stands out about them. They’re more suited to League One than the Championship but for free transfers and the cheap wages it won’t cost much to release them. But I have to plan for all different types of scenarios while being on a budget. That’s why I brought them in even though they’re not that good.

That was my planning and thinking throughout the season. Once we had won promotion though it validated most of the transfers I did and set me with a decent base to start with. My issue now was I only had £33 million to assemble a Premiership team. £33 million might sound a lot but it’s not really when an average player will cost around a third of the budget. But with shrewd management can you make the money stretch? The answer is yes. But we need to look at the squad I had at the end of the season now and see where it needs improving the most.

End Of Season Assessment

Looking at the squad the key areas needing the most love are;

• Central defenders
• Right wingback
• Strikers

Apart from Jack O’Connell the other centrebacks are poor. I play a three at the back system, so I need to bring in two minimum, four ideally. This is a tall ask when I need to strengthen other areas too. Which is why I have to prioritise certain areas and make do elsewhere for this season.

The right wingbacks are George Baldock who can possibly do a job for this season but is weak. And the other is Keiron Freeman, who just can’t make the cut. Ideally I need to bring two in but due to budget restraints it might be one only and possibly someone else who can play right back and central defence. That would free some of the budget up.

During the second season, this was the time I played David Brooks as a striker which I wrote about earlier in the series. This means I need to bring in one really good striker so I can move Ched and Billy on. As both of those players aren’t going to be options very long at this level due to their average ability at this level.

Those are the immediate positions I need to fill which I class as being the critical areas. Due to me using a 3-5-2 formation then my wingbacks need to be above average because 90% of the play will come via them. Plus it’s no good them creating chances and crossing if my strikers aren’t able to finish off those chances, hence why strikers are a must too.

Ideally I’d like to bring in about ten new first team players. But you can only live within your means. Which means sacrifices have to be made. Now I’ve identified the critical areas though it’s time to bring the players in.

Planning for Life In The Premier League

The first thing I did was revert back to the scouting lists I’d created over the season and looked at people’s contracts that were ending for possible signings and those on the transfer list.

Jan Bednarek

As a newly promoted team, I expect to be under heavy defensive play at times so it’s important I have someone physically strong who can challenge for those aerial balls. His heading isn’t ideal but for £1.1 million off the transfer list, I couldn’t pass up on this deal. He is a massive improvement over what I currently have at the club and the price also makes him an even more attractive proposition.

Isaac Hayden

Isaac was another player from the transfer list that I signed, although a bit more expensive than I’d have ideally wanted to pay. He was still quite cheap at £3.3 million though. It was more that I saw it as expensive as I only see him at this club for 18 months maximum. He’s very much a player to fill a gap. The main reason for signing him though was he can play as a defender or midfielder and I like a bit of versatility.

Florinel Coman

I’d been tracking Coman since the first season but there was no way of affording him. As soon as I could at the end of the season though, I snapped him up for a really cheap sum of £3.3 million. I saw him as the ideal player to fill in for David Brooks when he was injured and also be able to hold down the other striker position if I wasn’t able to bring someone else in.

Vladimir Screciu

This was another player I’d been tracking throughout the first season and decided to sign. He cost £2 million which was a bargain I thought. Not only did he fit the positions I was trying to fill but I see him as a good upgrade on the current players. Him and Jan along with Jack would form a solid back three.

David Carmona

My scouts told me about David and suggested I could sign him for around £2 million. He isn’t the greatest player but he is young and has much better attributes than Keiron Freeman who was the second choice wingback. He ended up costing me £2.5 million to sign but I can’t grumble for that kind of money. Whether he develops or not, as a stop-gap he is a good signing.

Tobias Svendsen

When I saw this tricky playmaking winger I planned on using him as a striker. Then it dawned on me, that while the tactic I use needs a creative central midfielder I didn’t actually possess one. John Fleck had done the role fantastically during the fist season but Sven would be a big upgrade. Especially in the way he uses the ball, he is naturally a lot more creative. So I decided to retrain him as a central midfielder and move him infield to be the creative driving force in the side. An absolute bargain for £1.5 million.

Alexander Isak

As I was scrolling through the transfer list I saw Isak listed at £6 million. Even though I saw him listed, I honestly didn’t expect him to agree terms but somehow he did. In fact, as I bid for him I was expecting the usual plethora of clubs to also bid for him but they never did. I just couldn’t believe my luck that no-one bid for him and that he actually agreed terms! Definitely the bargain of the save so far.

As you can see I’ve bought smart and had a bit of luck with Isak. But even without him, I’d still improved the squad and what I had available before the window. I was confident I’d stay up and avoid what the board was expecting. It wasn’t only these players though that had now made us a decent side, it was the planning during the first season. The players I had brought in could play at this level and were developing nicely.

I did bring other players in too that I haven’t mentioned but none of them were worth discussing. I’ve tried to keep it to the players I’d be using heavily throughout the season. But for those interested, these were my dealings;

I spent a fair bit of money but I didn’t spend all the £33 million I had available and I also recouped £4.4 million. I spent the rest of the cash I had available on a new scouting package as I begin planning for season three and beyond. I’m going to talk about my actual scouting set up, shortlists and what not in a separate post as it's quite complicated how I do things.

Tactic Changes

One of the things I see talked about a lot when someone achieves promotion is, how they’ll play the following season. They start talking about changing from what got them promoted in the first place and going in a different direction, normally something more defensive. I don’t play this way though and I stick to the philosophy that has served me so well in the first place.

I’m a believer in creating a style and making the opposition adapt to you, rather than you adapting to them. If you upgrade the players you had and focus on your weak/vital areas the most like I’ve highlighted above then you should always be fine.

Better players in a system you’ve created to play a specific way just enhance and reinforce what you’re creating, that’s why I don’t change. I don’t add PI’s, TI’s and I don’t change mentality just because I’ve got promoted. I still play the same way as before and base any changes on what is happening during a game. I’ve wrote about this a lot this year so I won’t go back over old ground and repeat that stuff, as you can already find the posts in this series.

Have faith in what you create. It’s why I always tell people to have an idea of the way you want to play. That way you always have something to aim for and improve upon. A lot of people I see posting, think that a philosophy is something you start out with which it isn’t unless your lucky with the squad you inherited at the start.  But for most that should be the end goal and what you aim for long-term. Short-term is all about refining the players and how they play the roles and duties you use. At least for me it is...........

[Cleon]

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[Cleon]

This thread will get added to over the next few weeks with lots of tactical stuff and player development articles. Remember the Ajax thread I did? Yeah that will have nothing on this 

These are just some of the articles to expect to see in this very thread in the coming weeks and those are only the player development and training side of things

[Repsalty]

 

5 minutes ago, Cleon said:

This thread will get added to over the next few weeks with lots of tactical stuff and player development articles. Remember the Ajax thread I did? Yeah that will have nothing on this 

These are just some of the articles to expect to see in this very thread in the coming weeks and those are only the player development and training side of things

Really looking forward to all of it, having a look behind the curtain should be really interesting to see your approach. It will probably also show how much time you actually put in your setup and put that in perspective for everyone (including me) that wants a quick fix to their problems.

[herne79]

More than the Ajax thread?  Crikey 

[scott-h22]

Being a Wednesday fan it pains me to say how much I will enjoy this content.  Very intrigued as to how you play the game though so will be keeping tabs on this.  As for the 8 hours manually searching through clubs that is a crazy amount of time would you do that often or maybe once a season? 

[Cleon]

28 minutes ago, Repsalty said:

 

Really looking forward to all of it, having a look behind the curtain should be really interesting to see your approach. It will probably also show how much time you actually put in your setup and put that in perspective for everyone (including me) that wants a quick fix to their problems.

Apart from the initial set up, I probably don't put as much time into things as people presume. I play at quite a fast pace. This is why it takes me longer to set up than your average person because I like to do all the detailed bits at the start i.e put principles into practise early then it makes it easier over the season to play much faster.

13 minutes ago, herne79 said:

More than the Ajax thread?  Crikey 

That's the plan, hopefully it works out 

13 minutes ago, scott-h22 said:

Being a Wednesday fan it pains me to say how much I will enjoy this content.  Very intrigued as to how you play the game though so will be keeping tabs on this.  As for the 8 hours manually searching through clubs that is a crazy amount of time would you do that often or maybe once a season? 

All Blades aren't we 

The 8 hour manually searching for players is probably a bit excessive however I've identified players now for when I'm playing at a higher level. So it comes back to taking that little extra time now so I don't have to do these things once the games start.

[That There Phil]

Fantastic stuff. Can't wait to see your tactical thoughts on this. I tried to replicate the 5-3-2 on the beta, but really struggled, and had to switch to something I'm more familiar with to avoid the sack.

[Cleon]

UPDATED POST 2

Also those who have been asking for my custom views can now download them here https://tinyurl.com/ybomuat9

 

[gandrasch]

So no more deep 4231?  Was looking forward to it. Will still follow here too. Having started FM fairly recently compared to most others here (I think 14 was my first) things like making custom views to analyze better never crossed my mind. 

Really appreciate it. 

[Cleon]

3 minutes ago, gandrasch said:

So no more deep 4231?  Was looking forward to it. Will still follow here too. Having started FM fairly recently compared to most others here (I think 14 was my first) things like making custom views to analyze better never crossed my mind. 

Really appreciate it. 

Why is there no more deep 4231? That stuff is just a side project and not from a save I'm actually playing. It's a save created just to show the 4231 working. I'm not finished with it yet still have a lot to add. This Sheffield United stuff is my proper save file though

[gandrasch]

Just now, Cleon said:

Why is there no more deep 4231? That stuff is just a side project and not from a save I'm actually playing. It's a save created just to show the 4231 working. I'm not finished with it yet still have a lot to add. This Sheffield United stuff is my proper save file though

You sir, have way too much time and dedication for FM. In a good way though. 

Even more stuff to read \o/

[Rashidi]

Looking forward to this, I actually got a few Sheffield United videos uploaded so I could take a look at how they play

[herne79]

5 hours ago, Cleon said:

The tactic I am using is based very loosely on Chris Wilder’s real life Sheffield United tactics.

I think this is worth highlighting - heading into a save with an idea of what you want to do.  Not necessarily an exact replication of a real team, but at least a little inspiration to help give you an idea of where to start.  That can give us quite boost when starting out.

[Cleon]

10 minutes ago, herne79 said:

I think this is worth highlighting - heading into a save with an idea of what you want to do.  Not necessarily an exact replication of a real team, but at least a little inspiration to help give you an idea of where to start.  That can give us quite boost when starting out.

Indeed. I'd have loved to be able to replicate the way we play but its just not possible because for once we actually have a style that can't be replicated on FM. However I can replicate the team ethos and characteristics which is the part I've took and implemented. But everyone needs a start point no matter if its a particular style, approach, characteristic or something else. Finding that little bit of inspiration makes tactic building so much easier as you have a starting point and something to work towards.

[Bigpapa42]

Was reading thru the first post, enjoying it, but also thinking how I should probably update the custom views I've been using. And then BAM, they are posted. Awesome work as always, good sir. Appreciate it.

[Armistice]

How can I show you the love I've got for your work, guys? 

[yonko]

8 hours ago, Cleon said:

This thread will get added to over the next few weeks with lots of tactical stuff and player development articles. Remember the Ajax thread I did? Yeah that will have nothing on this 

These are just some of the articles to expect to see in this very thread in the coming weeks and those are only the player development and training side of things

Having more time now, eh? 

I'll be following with interest as always.

[Soviet]

I wonder how fast you'll be losing money with the costs of scouting in the new FM :). Anyway, I'll be watching for sure, and learning a lot!

[Cleon]

8 hours ago, Soviet said:

I wonder how fast you'll be losing money with the costs of scouting in the new FM :). Anyway, I'll be watching for sure, and learning a lot!

Why would I lose money? You have a budget, once that runs out the scouting stops. So I'd never go above or beyond what I could afford.

[Cleon]

When I discuss the tactic in great detail, would people prefer separate articles that focus on a specific role and look at how that works in my set up. And show examples of how they link up with the rest of the side and how it all forms part of the end product I produce? It would be something like this;

Quote

Understanding the player roles of on Football Manager can be hard to do especially as the descriptions aren’t always the best and can often ignore important factors about what they do or don’t do. So to give you a better idea of the roles and how they function, I’ve decided to write about them. I will be doing this for every existing role in Football Manager so people can get a sense of what to expect from a specific role and allow you to understand the basics of the roles. Which will in turn help you out when deciding which role best suits your needs for the tactic you are creating or the style you are trying to implement. This should make creating tactics a less daunting proposition. I have no time scale for when this series will be completed though as it’s a lot of hard work to get done.

The Deep Lying Forward

This role is all about the link play and its primary goal is to provide a link between the midfield and attack. It’s a very creative role and is often used when you lack bodies in and around the attacking midfield areas of the pitch. The deep-lying forward will look to drop into this space and provide a link as well as looking to create chances for their teammates. You should expect him to be more focused on creating for others than scoring but that’s not to say he can’t score lots of goals.

In any two man formation you’d look to use this role if you had him partnered with someone more attack minded like an advanced forward or poacher. It’s very rare in a two man striker formation were this role is used that the second striker would be anything than an attack minded one. The only time he would be played alongside another deep creative type of striker would be if you was creating something specific or looking to use strikers but give off the effect of playing strikerless.

It could also be used if you had a rampaging attacking midfielder like a shadow striker or even a goal threat from wide like an inside forward. The main factor to consider when using the deep lying forward role is, who are the support players going to be who are getting beyond him to be a goal threat, as you will need those types of players to play off the deep lying forward.

This role comes with two duties;

Support - On this duty the player will have these instructions active, hold up ball and more risky passes. With this duty the player will be responsible for dropping deep and linking play. They can and will score goals but creating and playing others in is more the focus and aim of the support duty. You can expect to see them dropping off into little pockets of space and roaming around looking for the space. They’ll look to spray passes out wide or to the oncoming players who are looking to go beyond him into more dangerous positions.

Attack –  With this duty the player has three  player instructions active, hold up ball, gets further forward and move into channels. On this duty the player won’t drop as deep as the support one and he will also be slightly more greedy in terms of taking shots or having chances himself. He will still do the above but he’ll do them from areas slightly higher upfield and might be slightly more biased and selfish towards taking shots and being a goal threat compared to the support duty.

Those are the basics of the role that should give you an understanding of how the role functions and what to expect. But for more advanced stuff you’ll have to read on.

The shape you use will also impact how the role functions as will the roles and duties used around him and in the setup generally. For example a deep lying forward as a lone striker will act a lot differently that in a system that uses two strikers. The reasons for this are due to what the player actually does during the game and the space he’ll be dropping off into as well as the space he will be running into. The dynamics are vastly different when you add someone else into the mix alongside him or even just behind him from the attacking midfield position. We also then have the players attributes, which determine how he will interpret the role himself.

Lots of people think that a player must have ideal attributes to play roles and be successfully in them but that’s not true. A player with a different attribute set will still be able to play the role and do well but how he plays the role will be a very different interpretation. I’m not too sure how many people remember the thread I did over at SI were I showed how I used three different types of trequartista and how each one played the role different and gave it a totally new dimension compared to the other players. Well for those who can’t remember that thread I thought I’d revisit the idea now and show a few examples of what a different attribute set can do for a role. I’ll also be looking at a few examples of the deep lying forward as a lone striker and with a strike partner to show you how he behaves differs. These will only be a few examples though to give you a general idea, if I attempted to cover them all I’d be here all day, the article would never end.

Before I do jump in with the examples though I find myself saying one sentence quite regular in comments on the blog and when replying to people on the SI forums. That sentence is - Any player can play any role, the only thing that differs is how he interprets that role. I think a few people forget this at times when you see them posting.

So it would start with a brief overview of the role and how it functions. Then I'll add examples of how it works for me and what the player is expected to do. As well as documenting the player development side of things as I require players to do specific things that are normally outside of the traditional responsibilities. 

[gandrasch]

Looks great. Maybe you could include other roles in the same position a bit more as well. Was differentiate the DLP from  "similar" roles like F9. Or why you picked the DLP instead of a CF(S).

[Cleon]

10 minutes ago, gandrasch said:

Looks great. Maybe you could include other roles in the same position a bit more as well. Was differentiate the DLP from  "similar" roles like F9. Or why you picked the DLP instead of a CF(S).

A DLP plays in midfield at the MC spots and a AF is a striker and because I wanted to use strikers, I choose the AF over the DLP  

[Ji-Sung Park]

1 hour ago, Cleon said:

It would be something like this;

Quote

Yeah, this is what I personally would prefer.

[gandrasch]

37 minutes ago, Cleon said:

A DLP plays in midfield at the MC spots and a AF is a striker and because I wanted to use strikers, I choose the AF over the DLP  

It's early and I haven't had coffee yet! DLF.

[Repsalty]

7 hours ago, Cleon said:

When I discuss the tactic in great detail, would people prefer separate articles that focus on a specific role and look at how that works in my set up. And show examples of how they link up with the rest of the side and how it all forms part of the end product I produce? It would be something like this;

So it would start with a brief overview of the role and how it functions. Then I'll add examples of how it works for me and what the player is expected to do. As well as documenting the player development side of things as I require players to do specific things that are normally outside of the traditional responsibilities. 

That would actually be great to read, but damn that would be a lot of work for you.

[BadAss88]

It would be interesting to read what makes you choose one role and not another, and what the subtle differences between the roles are and which one match very well together!

So I'm super curious about this part!

[Toffle]

This is going to be insane! Can't wait.

[warpedpolecat]

Would love to be able to replicate our movement on this game. Feel bad taking over United though as I can't stand the thought of our lord and saviour Wilder out of a job lol! 

[That There Phil]

11 minutes ago, warpedpolecat said:

Would love to be able to replicate our movement on this game. Feel bad taking over United though as I can't stand the thought of our lord and saviour Wilder out of a job lol! 

I felt the same. Then even worse when I almost got them relegated!

[Cleon]

33 minutes ago, warpedpolecat said:

Would love to be able to replicate our movement on this game. Feel bad taking over United though as I can't stand the thought of our lord and saviour Wilder out of a job lol! 

 

21 minutes ago, That There Phil said:

I felt the same. Then even worse when I almost got them relegated!

I felt really bad too, was almost going to call myself Cleon Wilder 

Instead I settled for Bertie Bassett 

[warpedpolecat]

1 hour ago, Cleon said:

 

I felt really bad too, was almost going to call myself Cleon Wilder 

Instead I settled for Bertie Bassett 

Hahaha quality. I don't think I can do a Blades save this year dude, I'm too attached to all the players after they finally hauled us out of league one! 

[Justified]

Nice to see you back active Cleon 

[Aquaplex]

I tried to follow this setup with Arsenal in FM17 and got sacked.. lol

[Cleon]

UPDATED POST 3 

[StereoMonkey91]

Really great read. Thank you very much. Being a United supporter it makes it so much more relate able. 

I've been doing a lot of thinking on how to implement our system which to me seems near enough impossible. The overlapping centre backs. The lateral movement of the Attacking midfield overloading the wide areas.

I know your system isn't a full copy of the Wilder one but will be following with great interest. Keep up the good work.

P.S Just promise me you'll never replace Coutts haha

[Gegenklaus]

Hey @Cleon,

Could you do me a huge favour? Uploading your excellent custom views so they can be imported to the game release. The ones from the beta is not working - or is there a solution to this? Thanks for all the work you do for the community, it is really appreciated.

[Pablo Sanchez]

Man this thread is gonna be the best thing in my life for a while lol.....

[Cleon]

41 minutes ago, Gegenklaus said:

Hey @Cleon,

Could you do me a huge favour? Uploading your excellent custom views so they can be imported to the game release. The ones from the beta is not working - or is there a solution to this? Thanks for all the work you do for the community, it is really appreciated.

The original post has already been updated. The views can also be downloaded from the Steam Workshop. This is a direct download though https://tinyurl.com/y9zjklc4