Logical set up and tactics

[Ciderarmy]

Hi I’ve had a few days off work and I have read a lot about fm tactics on the net and I keep reading and that you’re tactics don’t need a lot of team instructions or player instructions if you have a logical set up

So my question is what if we are managing a average English championship club that is middle of the road with no danger of being relegated and play offs would be a great achievement what formation/set up would we use and has anyone had any success with no ti and pi instructions?

[rockpie]

1 hour ago, Ciderarmy said:

if we are managing a average English championship club that is middle of the road with no danger of being relegated and play offs would be a great achievement what formation/set up would we use and has anyone had any success with no ti and pi instructions?

In short: analyze the squad and play to it's strengths while trying to cover for any weaknesses as best you can.

As another general rule of thumb, start the season on Standard mentality with just a few Team Instructions to encourage the type of play you want.

I won the Championship with a counter-attacking system like:

                                          SK (s)
FB (s)                CD (d)                    CD (d)                WB (s)
                                         DLP (d)
                 BWM (s)                              MEZ (s)
W (a)                                                                           IF (a)
                                          AF (a)

Team Instructions:

Play Wider
Higher Tempo

Counter
Distribute Quickly

Lower Line Of Engagement
More Urgent Pressing

Player Instructions:

DLP (d) = Take More Risks

BWM (s) = Take Fewer Risks

IF (a) = Roam From Position

AF (a) = Dribble More, Shoot More Often

Teaching them the right PPMs also helps. For example, I know I want my DLP (d) to be spreading passes everywhere so I taught him Try Killer Balls, Likes to Switch Ball to Opposite Flank and Attempts Long Passes -- since those suit the type of game I want that player to have in my system, basically an NFL Quarterback style, launching passes to any open runners about to break the opponent's defensive line.

Therefore it's also important that all 3 of my attacking players are taught Attempts to Break Offside Trap, so it encourages them to make such runs.

It takes time to get all this in place with the right players, but your tactical approach should always be a work in progress anyway.

Adjustments:

You can't expect this to work as a plug & play, win every game style of playing the game though.

For each match you'll have to put in a little bit of work to counter how the opposition is playing.

If they're going Route One or Direct-Counter Attacking, for example, you might want to remove More Urgent Pressing and add Regroup against those teams.

If they're playing out from the back, you might want to bump the LOE up by one and add Prevent Short Distribution.

As the season progresses and teams start to pay you more respect as a good team (if you're doing well), you may have to make more changes like upping the mentality in home games to Positive, etc.

During games, you should adjust your instructions based on what you see. I wrote a separate thread on that here:

But most importantly of all, I only decided to go for this kind of system because I could see that it would get the best out of the players.

Hope this helps. 

Edited December 24, 2019 by rockpie