Frustration grows in the tactic department

[Sindre Alsos]

I have been having problems creating a tactic that will work with my Finnish VPS team. Have been trying both Gegenpress 4-1-4-1, Tiki Taka and Controll possession, but none works well; team doesn't attack, doesn't score and loses every match. Is it simply because I don't have the right players in my team or are setting up tactics in FM20 more difficult?

In earlier edtitions of the FM-series, I have at least seen my team attack a lot and score a few goals, and losing now and then - but this time I'm getting pretty frustrated by the whole thing. I have played FM for several years, but never experienced such frustrations when setting up tactics - and I don't really want to use tactics others have made either….

[Atarin]

We can't really tell you what's wrong without seeing your tactic and knowing a bit more about your team.

[Kick Wilstra]

Can't really say anything specific without more information. However...

Gegenpress, Control Possession and Tiki-Taka are all tactics that tend to take the play to the opponents half, thus tend to compress the space in which to play. You need a squad with players that are good at playing in small places. That means Technical players in fm terms. You also need a few creative players, so high flair and vision, who are able to still find an opening in that compressed space. If you don't have these type of players you get into the situation of the backs passing the ball to each other, not able to find an opening, until one of them makes a mistake and gives away a counter opportunity.

If you do have these type of players, the problems might be that your tactic is to static, so check your player roles, what would be the interaction between them. It could also be a morale issue. If you burn them down after every match lost they won't play with any confidence anymore.

Also keep in mind that it can take while to build familiarity with your tactics. In my beta save I was expect mid table but was find myself battling relegation at the end of september. Had long look at my trained tactics but couldn't find that much wrong with them. I was close to giving up but decided to give one last chance. Organised team meeting, was bit nicer than I wanted to be in team talks to give them back some confidence. Suddenly they started winning some matches and I ended the season just 2 points shy of promotion play-offs. way above expectation with still the same tactic I used at the start of the season when I lost every single match. It can take while before a tactic clicks with the players.