Is it possible to have success using out of the box tactics?

[DamianJMcGrath]

Hi

I'm playing FM19, and I started unemployed. I've got a job in the French National league with a team predicted to finish 1st! So, no pressure. 

I'm always awful of making tactics. I always think I'm being logical but manage to make teams like Man United, Barcelona, etc play terribly. I absolutely suck at the game with no reason why at all. 

So, I thought I'd imagine I was a total novice (which I clearly am, but I have some knowledge which must be even more dangerous!), and take the game at face value. 

So, in the tactic creator, I have a choice of Gengenpress, Route One, Fluid Counter, Direct Counter, Retain Possession etc. 

I set up 3 tactics for various game scenarios, so one was Gengenpress for starting a game fast, Retain Possession for controlling a winning situation, and Fluid Counter Attack for soaking up pressure from a bigger team, or drawing a little team to attack me. 

 

I changed nothing else at all. Literally just followed the game prompts and choose the Style and Formation. 

I selected players so all positions were green circles. 

Again, just following game prompts, and visual cues to what I need to do. 

 

However so far, my friendly results have been awful. I've played using Fluid Counter as my default for 5 games. It started ok, with a 2-2 against Swiss champions Basel (which seemed an incredible result!) but then I lost 2-0 three times to teams in a division below me, and 2-1 to a team in the same division. 

 

Often, I'll get in game prompts like "we're losing possession quite a lot but recovering it well" and I'm not sure what to actually do! Or "we're shooting from distance a lot" which makes me think we should be more patient but not sure what changes to make. 

It seems like just using in built prompts don't work that well. 

Has anyone had success going back to that level of basics? 

 

[yolixeya]

You said you are novice and indeed you made rookie mistakes. Presets aren't perfect and they are just for guidance as well as those green circles. It's better to have a yellow or a reddish circle but that the role fits in your overall system then to have something just for the sake of green circle. So you need to envision how you will distribute ball, how you will score and who will score those goals, how you will defend, who is going to be your runner, who is going to be you holding player etc.  and choose roles accordingly .

[Guest]

Putting a game style & having "green" roles in your tactic; does not mean that you will win.

Player Instructions, Team Instructions, PPM, Set Piece, Formation etc many things to consider about creating a tactic.

I am suggest you to start from here:

 

[MShing]

Yes it is possible to have success with the preset tactics. I have used the tiki taka 4141 tactic and changed nothing and have been very successful in my ultimate football manager challenge save. Throwing up some great possession stats of 70-80% some games, rarely giving up many shots against me. As long as you have the right players that fit