FM18 - The community formation experiment

[Deisler26]

14 minutes ago, craiigman said:

First friendly vs Shakhtar and this has been thrown out right away.

I know they a decent side, but based on that I don’t see me keeping my job till the end of the season. 

This formation is horrible.

Shakhtar walked all over me in the first friendly too tbh.

[craiigman]

6 minutes ago, Deisler26 said:

Shakhtar walked all over me in the first friendly too tbh.

I just lost 2-0 vs Ligue 2 side.. this is rough haha

[Deisler26]

OK, right. 

Setup is just the top two German leagues, no extra players.

The Manager:

The Tactic(s)

For when I want a goal

For when I need to keep it tight

The Signings:

Louis Schaub, £3.4m, SK Rapid Wien

André André, loan, FC Porto

Alessandro Diamanti, free

[Jambo98]

Right, so finally a chance to start looking at my own system, the 4222 DM. 

Initial plan is this: 

 

Based on an attacking, high tempo game with a slight left side overload (the W + Vol + DLF) hopefully leaving the Poacher some space to operate. Have had great success with Poacher in a 2 man forward line in other setups, so keen to see how this works. 

Two potential issues right away though:

1) I dont have a natural left footed LM, which would be nice to keep the play stretched. Bittencourt at least does not have "cuts inside" PPM so see how it goes

2) I am not actually sure the IWB works properly when there are 2 DM slots in the formation. The idea here is that Hector moves into cover for Jojic when he goes attacking, but the role description seems to suggest that it only works with 1 DM, so will need to monitor.

My shopping list:

• A poacher
• Cover for CM, probably a VOL type if possible
• either another CM or a left footed LW 

[jc577]

9 minutes ago, Jambo98 said:

Right, so finally a chance to start looking at my own system, the 4222 DM. 

Initial plan is this: 

 

Based on an attacking, high tempo game with a slight left side overload (the W + Vol + DLF) hopefully leaving the Poacher some space to operate. Have had great success with Poacher in a 2 man forward line in other setups, so keen to see how this works. 

Two potential issues right away though:

1) I dont have a natural left footed LM, which would be nice to keep the play stretched. Bittencourt at least does not have "cuts inside" PPM so see how it goes

2) I am not actually sure the IWB works properly when there are 2 DM slots in the formation. The idea here is that Hector moves into cover for Jojic when he goes attacking, but the role description seems to suggest that it only works with 1 DM, so will need to monitor.

My shopping list:

• A poacher
• Cover for CM, probably a VOL type if possible
• either another CM or a left footed LW 

How comes you’re using Córdoba at DLF rather than Pizzaro? Too slow?

[Jambo98]

4 minutes ago, jc577 said:

How comes you’re using Córdoba at DLF rather than Pizzaro? Too slow?

Will probably try out both, quite different attributes but both have the "plays with back to goal" PPM so be interesting to see what variety each brings

[Jean0987654321]

2 hours ago, craiigman said:

First friendly vs Shakhtar and this has been thrown out right away.

I know they a decent side, but based on that I don’t see me keeping my job till the end of the season. 

This formation is horrible.

Its a friendly. The players need to get used to the tactics...

[herne79]

Sign me up @Jambo98, see if I can get interested in FM18.

[chrislaz]

Count me in @Jambo98 (assuming I'm not too late?!) 

[aRj00]

What are the rules (if any) about your HoYD signing youth players? My HoYD has just offered contract to a 15  year old, are we classing him as a 'signing'? Is it worth me just vetoing the transfer?

[Tactics Tom]

I'd like to join aswell! @Jambo98

[Jambo98]

@herne79 - 3412

@chrislaz - 4231 Narrow

@Tactics Tom - 4132 DM Narrow

 

[Jambo98]

1 hour ago, aRj00 said:

What are the rules (if any) about your HoYD signing youth players? My HoYD has just offered contract to a 15  year old, are we classing him as a 'signing'? Is it worth me just vetoing the transfer?

You should cancel it (veto) really, but i cant imagine it makes any difference really to what we are exploring here

[Egecann]

 

 

Here is My tactic. I would go with SS but AM-A doesn't have Dribble More. Obviously i don't want any dribbling from Pizarro so i went with AM-A with move into channels

 

 

And here is the Friendly fixture. We scored 19 and conceded 4 goals. I'm not impressed by the way we play but i'm happy with the results even though there are weaker teams than us. Any tactical advice would be appreciated

[wynter]

@Jambo98

 

Just figured I'd grab confirmation, seeing as there isn't a 4-2-4 WB option can I use WBs or stuck with the Flat 4? 

[Deisler26]

Pre-season

FC Köln 1-3 Shakhtar Donetsk

Well, this wasn't fun at all. We were not creating anything and playing trialist Diamanti in the middle meant we looked to break well, but the ball kept coming back due to the weakness of Diamanti and the slowness of Pizzaro. The defence was excellent, funneling Shakhtar into the middle of the pitch where we were strongest. Their first goal came because I hadn't set up my corner defence and we were punished. We got one back, thanks to an OG, which was possibly our best attack of the night. We conceded the final two goals on 89 & 92 minutes to the same substitute ghosting in at the far post. 

Pros: 

• We looked defensively solid. Crosses into the box were easily dealt with by the central defence pairing. 
• We seemed to break well from defence, crisp passes and good positions

Cons:

• Lost two goals to far post crosses. I need to be more-proactive in watching for opposition subs, otherwise it can lead to imbalances like this one
• We created almost nothing throughout the game. Diamanti and Pizarro were very poor throughout.

 

AFC Ajax Amsterdam 1-2 FC Köln 

This was instantly better. Whether a) we are inherently weak against 4-2-3-1 formations, b) Shakhtar are an excellent side, c) My tactical instructions come from my main save in Holland or any combination of the former, I don't know yet. But we certainly looked better. New signing Louis Schaub made his debut in the SS position and made it his own with two goals on his debut. The first was on 4 minutes, and we seemed to move forward with a bit more purpose. Once we had drawn the Ajax team into the middle of the pitch usually occupied by their DM, we pushed the ball out wide to the full-back and his cutback to the penalty spot found the on-rushing Schaub. 1-0. The Ajax equaliser seemed to be a case of the LB Rausch losing concentration. He didn't follow the winger on his initial run and stopped after the winger had crossed it in, meaning that he couldn't get up to speed to stop the return, 1-1. Schaub's second and the game winner, was again the midfield drawn into the middle and the ball played out wide. The only difference this time was the ball back was played square to the AM on the edge of the area and HE laid it off to Schaub to score. 2-1.

Pros:

• We won
• We seemed to use the flanks a little more on this match. Playing narrower drew Ajax in and we exploited this.
• Schaub's skillset seemed to be an instant mesh with the SS position, so this will be something to look at

Cons

• We still let Ajax have 21 shots. Most of them missed the target and came from outside the area, which is what I'm looking for, but it's still too many shots to be allowing.
• The full-backs pushing on more in this game meant that the opposition wingers had a field day and the movement is what contributed to their goal.

FC Dordrecht 0-2 FC Köln

TuS Koblenz 1-6 FC Köln

Both of these matches were played with the higher tempo version of the 4-3-2-1 DM Narrow, which seemed to give us the same results as of the last match, but just quicker. Louis Schaub scored in both matches, which seems to justify his purchase, but Claudio Pizzaro was awful. Ratings of 6.5 & 6.4 in both games didn't help him and the fact that the higher tempo version relies on balls into space and making runs, he just isn't cut out to play either the F9 or Advanced Forward roles within this tactical setup. Jhon Cordoba came in for the second half of the Koblenz match and nabbed a hat-trick, showing that his Pace/Acceleration (17/14) was far better suited than Pizzaro's (8/8). The one goal against was because of Schaub's weak header from a corner being smashed back into the net. This shows that I need to move a better player defensively into the six-yard box zone to defend corners.

Pros:

• Team looked good. I think we've found our starting XI and roles. 17 year old Nikolas Nartey will play a decent role in this side. 
• Playing faster seemed to play into Jhon Cordoba's hands with his quicker movement causing havoc.

Cons:

• Still some tweaking of the set-pieces needs doing, as evidenced by the goal conceded. 
• If Cordoba goes down, we may struggle as both Pizzaro and Diamanti look ill-suited to the formation.
• Alessandro Diamanti needs to improve and fast.

C.F Os Belenenses 1-3 FC Köln

Our final friendly match was about playing some of the other players in the formation. We moved back to the more conservative version of the formation for this one and it was over within 25 minutes. My free-kick setup lead to the first goal within 2 mins. The second on 11 minutes was all about the quick movement of Cordoba & Schaub on the break, before teasing the opposition DC into putting through his own net. The third goal was all about Cordoba's reactions as his header from a deep full-back cross (both full-backs have the instruction Cross from Deep) was saved, but he pounced on the rebound from a tight angle. 

Pros:

• Even with a lot of players who won't be in the starting XI on the pitch, we still seemed to play with a confidence and fluidity.
• Cordoba's line-leading has been fantastic.

Cons:

• Another goal conceded from a cross. We were undone by the same method in which we were scoring. Maybe the full backs need to stay wider?
• I'm not sure whether this will stand up to the Bayerns and Dortmunds of the league.

[craiigman]

On 23/01/2018 at 19:24, craiigman said:

5-2-2-1-0

The setup:

 

 

The manager:

 

The system(s)

  

They are all very similar, to a degree. TI's the same for each, that's my style of play. A few PI's on them to try and make roles similar to those I cannot use.

No signings as of yet. Not played first friendly yet, but that's the gist of it.

and I'm out. Feel free to re-allocate this formation to someone, but I see no point of carrying on with it. I just checked on last years version, and guy had exact same issues. Feel it should be excluded from next years version if there is one. I don't think even @Cleon or @Rashidi would be able to do much with it.

[Deisler26]

9 minutes ago, craiigman said:

I don't think even @Cleon or @Rashidi would be able to do much with it.

I would take that bet in a heartbeat.

[Jambo98]

Im pretty sure any formation can be made to be somewhat effective, but you need a lot of tactical thought and knowledge (not saying i  have that btw).

but as a starting point, that formation is tailor made for a possession game, but doesnt look like you went that route. 

Might have a side project blast with it for fun  Of course that requires me to actually get beyond just the first friendly with my actual setup /  game  

[Jambo98]

1 hour ago, wynter said:

@Jambo98

 

Just figured I'd grab confirmation, seeing as there isn't a 4-2-4 WB option can I use WBs or stuck with the Flat 4? 

You must use the formation as set out in the default.

 

You can use WB roles as long as the players stay as DL / DR and not moved to WBR / WBL on the formation screen 

[Fosse]

Can I have a formation please Jambo? Returning for my third (or fourth who knows) instalment 

[Jambo98]

@Fosse - 4213 DM Wide

[Fosse]

1 minute ago, Jambo98 said:

@Fosse - 4213 DM Wide

Cheers Jambo, certainly more workable than a horrendous five at the back formation I had with Etienne.

[Fosse]

This is what I've briefly settled upon having a cursory glance at the squad.

It's not too unusual and the idea is that in possession it is essentially a 433.

Standard - I quite often use standard and I get the impression that it's almost stigmatised on the forum as everybody is search of an absolute style, FM players want to replicate Pep's Man City or Mourinho's Inter side against Barca at their peak so it's less common for posters to choose a happy medium. I'm only half familiar with Köln's squad so using a balanced approach makes sense and it's easier to scale up and be more aggressive or perhaps tone our mentality down slightly that being one or the other right off the bat.

Fluid - Again this isn't set in stone but the formation is marginally bottom heavy and I'd like the defence to be slightly more aggressive which should mean that the midfield are slightly more forward thinking in turn to help link up with the front three. However midfield player's mentalities don't increase or decrease with changes relating to team shape like forwards or defenders do (which creates shorter or longer vertical distances between players) but the midfield theoretically act accordingly. The triumvirate up front should have slightly reduce mentalities which should help reduce the distances the midfield runners have to cover to support the forwards and also slightly mitigate an aggressive lone forward.

GK - D, fairly obvious role choice - could have elected to use an SK but I don't think they're really any different to a conventional one in FM unfortunately. Shorter passing and Distribute to defenders are the only PIs I'm using across the board. Perhaps unrealistically there's not really a downside to doing so in game as I want safer, slower build.

FB - A, here I wanted an aggressive fullback that supports the winger but doesn't make him redundant, the fullback PIs are less winger-like but he could still end up being more of a hindrance than help to a winger so this is another area to keep an eye on.

CD - D, The most logical choice as with a Deep Lying Playmaker ahead Ball Playing Defenders would sometimes look to go beyond him which I don't want to happen.

CD - D, As above.

WB - S,  There to retain the width with an IF-A likely to be high and narrow most of the time but without being too aggressive.

DLP -S, There to help form the 433 shape by dropping and collecting the ball, selected as a support duty to increase the mentality which should foster more positive passing as defend duty playmakers are usually quite safe on possession. Still has the hold position PI so offers coverage centrally and is playing with another DM so should be stable enough.

Vol - S, not a role I've tried extensively so I'm intrigued to see what it does more intimately, should be a deep runner offering the DLP an option to progress the ball up the field and really link up play as we transition forwards.

CM - A, a pivotal role with an attack duty striker so this chap has to aggressively get forwards otherwise there'll be a large space and our play would be too dysfunctional without a player looking to get in the box and occupy opposition midfielders too.

W - S, our forwards are largely physical and good in the air so the winger is the man to do winger-y stuff like getting the ball in, the personnel are quite well equipped to do this too.

IF - A, the secondary goal scorer there to put the ball in the back of the net and trouble the defence, possibly might get in the way of the forward which is a no no and additionally it might be more beneficial for him to drop deeper and link play more as a support duty.

DLF - A, the man tasked with putting, firing, rifling, slotting, heading, blasting or whatever your verb of choice for putting the ball in the net, onion bag, between the sticks, or home if you will. A elf will do a bit of everything but will be advanced enough to be a target in the box, hopefully.

 

All liable to change though so by this time tomorrow I might launched my laptop out of the window and into the river below.

[Pattric_b]

Here's my starting tactic:

The idea was to create a diamond in midfield in an effort to control the middle of the field with numerical mismatches. We are clogging the middle and forcing the opposition to defend narrow. If they sit off then that allows my central players to camp in the opponents half and move the ball around. Once a defender loses his patience and tries to close my player down that opens up space for our midfielders and forwards to exploit. If they do stay disciplined and stay in shape then we have our CWB's running from deep to receive the ball and deliver a cross in. So far it's been working very well. 

The CWB- At is easily my favorite role on FM. If you have the right players for the role I highly recommend trying it. Also I needed to make use of all the wingers on this team, I couldn't let them go to waste 

This is average positions with and without the ball. Look at the amount of ground the complete wingbacks cover! I anticipate I'll be subbing them off nearly every game though. 

Results:

I made one permanent transfer (Sebastian Maier) and one loan deal (Vladelen Yurchenko) and that's all I'll be doing. I am slightly worried about the lack of central players I have who are ready for the first team though. A few injuries could derail what I have going so far. Either way I am enjoying this so far I had a lot of success with the 4-3-1-2 in FM17 and this seems to be a good shape still in FM18

[Deisler26]

I'm not surprised. For such a good pre-season, it devolved into this..

We lead for precisely 40 mins all season. I could not get it to work. So it's getting in the 'ol time machine and going back to try to change history

 

[warlock]

9 hours ago, Deisler26 said:

I'm not surprised. For such a good pre-season, it devolved into this..

We lead for precisely 40 mins all season. I could not get it to work. So it's getting in the 'ol time machine and going back to try to change history

 

Commiserations, but at least you've made me feel better about my attempt. Currently sitting in 8th position. Just suffered a 3-1 home defeat against Bayern - no surprises there!

Here's how I've set up:

And results so far:

Switched to the counter formation from the Napoli game onwards (having started on control-flexible) and it's been a bit more robust. The Hajduk game might look like a romp, but we were hanging on to a 1-0 lead until the last 15 minutes and then Hajduk just fell apart, including a 91st minute penalty that added to a very flattering result.

There's a surprising lack of quality throughout the players, I think - particularly in passing. And in general terms Bittencourt is carrying the team while Pizarro and Cordoba are getting the goals.

[YasoKuul]

5122 Sweeper DM WB

I played the pre-season and the 1st cup game yesterday evening with mixed results in pre-season - hopefully to the fact that my tactics aren't fluid yet. The cup game was a nice 5-0 win, but against a lower-league team. I'll continue this evening and posts some screen shots after the first games. The formation is sitting deep and therefore started with a counter attacking setup (Counter + Strict). The passing was horrible as my players tried many long passes without anyone in AM strata and lost possession easily. So I added a few TI: Retain Possession and Higher Tempo + Play Wider (Counter is already narrow and slow and my team should operate with more space and speed).

This is my actual formation:

               GK(d)

               LIB(s)

          CD(d)   CD(d)

WB(d)     DM(d)     WB(s)

          MEZ(s)   BBM(s)

 

          DF(s)   DLF(a)

[Lambo95]

Get me signed up for this! Tried it last year but things went pretty disastrously and I was sacked after 5 games. Hoping for some redemption 

[reerdo]

16 hours ago, craiigman said:

and I'm out. Feel free to re-allocate this formation to someone, but I see no point of carrying on with it. I just checked on last years version, and guy had exact same issues. Feel it should be excluded from next years version if there is one. I don't think even @Cleon or @Rashidi would be able to do much with it.

@craiigman Do you want to take my 4-1-4-1 and I will have a dig at your tactic? As this is alongside my Journeyman so i am happy to be rubbish lol Obviously if its also ok with you @Jambo98?

[Jambo98]

2 hours ago, reerdo said:

@craiigman Do you want to take my 4-1-4-1 and I will have a dig at your tactic? As this is alongside my Journeyman so i am happy to be rubbish lol Obviously if its also ok with you @Jambo98?

Yeah no probs if you want to do that lads

[Jambo98]

14 hours ago, Deisler26 said:

I'm not surprised. For such a good pre-season, it devolved into this..

We lead for precisely 40 mins all season. I could not get it to work. So it's getting in the 'ol time machine and going back to try to change history

 

Ouch man, you had really good detailed thinking / write up as well.

 

I feel your pain though. This same system drove me to distraction last year (its the one i drew myself). It had so much promise. There are a series of posts by me on the page linked below where you can see some of what i tried, the at times promising results, and the utter frustration  

https://community.sigames.com/topic/396858-fm17-the-community-formation-experiment/?page=6

 

 

[Jambo98]

@Lambo95 - 3142  DM

[reerdo]

1 hour ago, Jambo98 said:

Yeah no probs if you want to do that lads

Cool as I never got a chance to start last night (bloody man flu) I will go straight in with 52210 tonight and see how I get on if you want to put my name against it @Jambo98

[Deisler26]

3 hours ago, Jambo98 said:

Ouch man, you had really good detailed thinking / write up as well.

 

I feel your pain though. This same system drove me to distraction last year (its the one i drew myself). It had so much promise. There are a series of posts by me on the page linked below where you can see some of what i tried, the at times promising results, and the utter frustration  

https://community.sigames.com/topic/396858-fm17-the-community-formation-experiment/?page=6

 

 

I just couldn't get it forward. It would reach maybe halfway into the opposition half and break down.

I conceded so many from knockdowns on set pieces, I maybe conceded 3 or 4 goals in the entire run from open play.

[Deisler26]

So, I'm back. Take two.

Same manager

Same formation. But I'm just going with the basic formation this time and tweaking as I go.

[aRj00]

Just realised i'm an idiot, an thought mine said 4312 narrow instead of 4321 narrow

Luckily I've not finished my friendlies yet! Time to make some alterations

[Jean0987654321]

I'm challenging for the league so far. I guess I gotten lucky

[Deisler26]

Slightly edited my old attacking version

The main everyday formation I'll be using.

Pre-season went well, but I've been here before.

The main idea behind this incarnation is strangle the life out of the game. Low tempo, short passing, just creep up the pitch really. Because if we have the ball, they don't basically.

[Deisler26]

And I'm giving up.

I can't seem to a) stop full backs crossing for headers/far post tap ins, b) I can't get my AM's wide enough to cross in and c) I STILL have the issue with my players not being able to make it past the opposition DM strata

[Deisler26]

OK, so there was a fair bit of dramatics mixed up in the last post. But, having spent most of the previous night going over and over my failure, to see my carefully constructed idea get thumped 0-4, it was extremely irritating.

But then it hit me. What if I was being blinkered? What if I was letting the predisposition to narrowness rule my head? It was like a lightning bolt. Each time we’d been beaten heavily in the previous attempt, it was against a formation that had wide wingers. So, why not try playing wider? Seems so simple, but I was letting the narrowness blind me.

Also, I couldn’t get any kind of creativity up front. Why? Why? But, following on from the last revelation, it made sense to give the AM’s INDIVIDUAL instructions to move out wide with the ball. That would leave a gap in the middle of the pitch, but by changing the midfield roles to Ball-Winning Midfielders meant that I had some steel in the middle of the park. Finally, I went with Pizarro playing as TM (A) up front to pick up on the ‘wide’ players balls into the box.

 

These changes led to a 0-0, my first point in trying this challenge. Then led to a 1-1. Then finally

My first win. I literally leapt up in the air. Magnificent. It was scrappy and unconvincing, but I don’t care!  Then came this...

I have no words. We actually looked good from minute one. Our goals were exactly how I wanted them to happen, with the AM’s peeling out wide and either crossing to Pizarro or through balls to Cordoba. Their goal was a flick header that looped in from the tightest of angles. We did ride our luck as they missed a late penalty, but to go from the last save to beating Bayern in this one, it’s such a magical feeling.

[GylfiAsCharged]

5 hours ago, Deisler26 said:

OK, so there was a fair bit of dramatics mixed up in the last post. But, having spent most of the previous night going over and over my failure, to see my carefully constructed idea get thumped 0-4, it was extremely irritating.

But then it hit me. What if I was being blinkered? What if I was letting the predisposition to narrowness rule my head? It was like a lightning bolt. Each time we’d been beaten heavily in the previous attempt, it was against a formation that had wide wingers. So, why not try playing wider? Seems so simple, but I was letting the narrowness blind me.

Also, I couldn’t get any kind of creativity up front. Why? Why? But, following on from the last revelation, it made sense to give the AM’s INDIVIDUAL instructions to move out wide with the ball. That would leave a gap in the middle of the pitch, but by changing the midfield roles to Ball-Winning Midfielders meant that I had some steel in the middle of the park. Finally, I went with Pizarro playing as TM (A) up front to pick up on the ‘wide’ players balls into the box.

 

These changes led to a 0-0, my first point in trying this challenge. Then led to a 1-1. Then finally

My first win. I literally leapt up in the air. Magnificent. It was scrappy and unconvincing, but I don’t care!  Then came this...

I have no words. We actually looked good from minute one. Our goals were exactly how I wanted them to happen, with the AM’s peeling out wide and either crossing to Pizarro or through balls to Cordoba. Their goal was a flick header that looped in from the tightest of angles. We did ride our luck as they missed a late penalty, but to go from the last save to beating Bayern in this one, it’s such a magical feeling.

Brilliant stuff. 

I'm using the 4-1-3-1-1 DM Narrow myself and having a bit of difficulty, so I may well try something similar.

[(sic)]

I took a small break from FM last week.

This seems really interesting, definitely enough to get me back to playing again.

Count me in!

[Jambo98]

@(sic) - 352 Sweeper

[Jambo98]

Still not even made it through pre-season in my attempt I foolishly went for the very early season start date so got lots of friendlies. The annoying is, i still find friendlies to be a complete waste of time in terms of assessing tactics.  Across all saves, i never see any corrolation between how we play pre-season and how it looks when the real games start!

Currently experimenting with the concept of a WP in my MR slot, dont have a player suited to it overly, but have only made one transfer so far, so could be scope to bring someone in if i settle on this approach. 

[YasoKuul]

Am 25.1.2018 um 14:21 schrieb YasoKuul:

5122 Sweeper DM WB

I played the pre-season and the 1st cup game yesterday evening with mixed results in pre-season - hopefully to the fact that my tactics aren't fluid yet. The cup game was a nice 5-0 win, but against a lower-league team. I'll continue this evening and posts some screen shots after the first games. The formation is sitting deep and therefore started with a counter attacking setup (Counter + Strict). The passing was horrible as my players tried many long passes without anyone in AM strata and lost possession easily. So I added a few TI: Retain Possession and Higher Tempo + Play Wider (Counter is already narrow and slow and my team should operate with more space and speed). ...

I played approx. 15 games with this setup and couldn't win a single match. Especially the WB as lone wide men seems to be a problem as most suitable players have bad offensive stats (dribbling, crossing, etc). I'll restart next week and see how it goes with a different approach.

[(sic)]

I know it's preseason but damn...I didn't expect this at all...not with that formation.

 

 

 

I'm probably going to mess with strikers a bit more but at the moment I really like MR crossing into CF-S, scored some really nice goals from deep crosses.

[Knivez]

Hey can I still sign up for a formation?

[Jambo98]

@Knivez - 3421

[Jambo98]

Ok, finally moved on a bit with my first attempt at this (if previous years are any indication, i will have at least 4 "fresh" save attempts at this ) 

The Tactic

The base tactic i have now designed:

 

I decided to take a different approach to what i normally would. Often i start with pre-conceived ideas of what will work for me, based on totally different tactics  / systems and sets of players. This time i decided to step back and start with the basics. Namely:

Formation - (Pre-decided)

Mentality - Start at Standard 

Team Shape - Start within the middle 3 options (no extremes) -  I opted for Fluid, as it more reflects my preferred style and i believe bringing the lines closer together is important with this formation

TI - Start with a base set which reflect my footballing vision, with a sense check that they do not contradict any other elements

Roles / Duties - This is the key, before worrying about TI/PI or further tweaks to shape or mentality, construct a set of 11 roles and duties which will fit together in defence, transition and attack. 

To that end, the roles and duties are above, and the vision for movement is as follows:

At the moment probably the only part that looks "wrong" and i will almost certainly tweak, is swapping the poacher and DLF. I did have them originaly set to the DLF to the left side, so he had the space behind to use up (with the Anchor man staying deep). I changed it when i noticed my WP was apt to ping lovely balls over the top, but they were always going to the path of the DLF not the poacher. HOWEVER, at  that point my WP was right footed. A left might be more inclined to ping into the inside right channel. 

In terms of TI:

Play out of defence / Work ball into the box - Probably the 2 most TI in the game, I always feel without them we play hoof ball then shoot from 40 yard ball. I may revise the former, as the Poacher does lend itself to the occasional long early ball.

Push higher up / Close down more / Higher tempo - These are my 3 "core" instructions  which reflect my preferred footballing style. Impose ourselfs, unsettle the opposition is the target and with a nice basic "standard" mentality I am comfortable deploying them here. A quick check on the roles / duties makes me feel we are ok here and whilst the A(d) will not close down, i am fine with that. If there was a slight concern, it would be that the higher Dline restricts vertical space for the Poacher, and i will monitor that

Whipped crosses - I find this works well with a Poacher / AF, no other reason. Got 2 players with good crossing ability in the wide areas so why not

Stick to positions - This is a wildcard and may be removed. I noticed an annoying issue where in defensive transition, the 2 CMs were spending time stood on top of each other, and decided to whack this on to see if it prevented it. Seemed to work and combined with "fluid" i am fine that it does not overly restrict us. 

 

The Squad 

Transfers 

After constructing my tactic (which of course involves looking at the squad first), I felt 3 key roles in the tactic needed filling, and the 3 signings cover those areas.

Oribe Peralta - The signing i already regret to some extent. I was desperate for a poacher type, the squad massively lacks it, and i made this purchase early before fully working out that i could sell a number of others to raise funds for someone better. Has some good poacher attributes but not the PPMs i like, and his age might be a worry

Louis Schuab - This guy, on the other hand, has the perfect set of PPMs for the role i want him. He will be my WP(s) operating out of the RM slot

Damian Suarez - My one loan. I felt i lacked a really good attacking RB option in the squad, and given it is a key role to bomb on and supply crosses ,went for someone with good attacking qualities

 

On the outward side, 3 guys who were surplus to requirements. We dont need 4 "top" DC's, an AMR is not much use to me, and wasnt a fan of his attributes, and the signing of Suarez meant we could sell one of our existing RB's

From Koln II (u23s) i also promoted 3 guys:

Joao Querios - Will serve as the 4th DC and looks to have some promise

Nikolas Nartey - Only 17, will act as depth in CM and could also be a nice WP 

Sehrou Guirassy - Originally was going to use him as backup Poacher and sell Zoller, but his attributes arent great so kept Zoller. This guy will mostly be for depth / emergency use 

Lets see what happens now........