FM21 for Dummies - A simple approach to FM21

[Zemahh]

FM21 for Dummies

A simple approach to Football Manager 2021

 

 

Introduction

As someone who's been addicted to this wonderful game for nearly a decade, I thought why not compile my knowledge and tips and tricks I've learned along the way into a somewhat readable thread (my personal scribbles can be a mess!) and share them with the community. Writing is something I enjoy doing and if a single person finds it useful, it's worth the effort.

With the arrival of Football Manager 2021, there's sure to be plenty of new players who don't know exactly where to begin, or would find some general pointers useful. If I was to run the game for the first time today, I'd be intimidated! I will attempt to keep this as short and concise as possible, without leaving out any key elements of how I personally approach Football Manager.

This is not supposed to be a guide, however. Over the years, many fantastic ones have been written on this very forum, so if this is not the thread for you, take a look around and you're sure to find something better suited to your experience or playing style—Tactic and Strategy Guides thread should be a good start.

Should you have any questions or a better way of doing things you want to share with me and the rest of the community, please feel free to comment!

Disclaimer: This thread is not an official guide. Everything I write about is coming solely from my personal knowledge and interpretation.

 

Index

To make it easier to read, this thread will be split into multiple posts. All of them will be linked in the index below, should you only be interested in particular topics.

1. Backroom Team - Importance of signing optimal staff members
2. Scouting Assignments - Identifying optimal transfer targets
3. Player Personalities - Key to optimal player development and easy management
4. Squad DNA - Knowing your squad's strengths and weaknesses
5. Tactics - Creating a sensible starting point
6. Training - Developing your players
7. Watching Highlights - Identifying issues
8. Team Talks and Press Conferences - Saying all the right things
9. Dynamics - Creating positive relationships
10. Board Requests - Improving on and off the pitch
11. Footnote - Final words
12. Miscellaneous quick-tips - Various quality-of-life tips
13. Theory in Practice - Assessing the squad and creating a tactic

Edited January 2, 2021 by Zemahh
"NEW" tag removed

[Zemahh]

1. Backroom Team

Importance of signing optimal staff members

 

 

Let's start with the most tedious part, shall we?!

The very first thing I do when starting a new save, is replace any pre-existing staff. I swiftly offer Mutual Terminations and start assembling the backroom team I can rely on. Club finances might take a slight hit initially, but setting up good foundations can be hugely beneficial long-term. How am I to identify good signings, if I can't trust my Scout's judgement? What use is there in signing Hot Prospects, if they won't develop under suboptimal Coaches? What if injuries stifle their development significantly, due to poor Medical Staff?

Put together a good backroom team on the first day and you can keep it for years to come!

 

Scouting Team

 

 

Director of Football and Scouts are the first thing I tackle. Having capable Scouts with good Scouting Knowledge of various nations can be very beneficial for our scouting process. Our staff's Scouting Knowledge will slowly transfer into our club's World Knowledge during their first 100 days at a club, which will uncover previously unknown players and staff, as well as their attributes.

Scouting Packages do this as well, but in order to uncover as many players as possible, which gives us extra flexibility on the Player Search screen, we want both—the best Scouting Package we can afford and the most World Knowledge we can gather.

Depending on the stature of our club, we may have to reach compromises, but we'll try finding a decent mixture of both—Scouts from different nations with different Scouting Knowledge and decent attributes. All we need is one Scout with good JPA/JPP attributes that we use for final Scout Reports and the rest can be there solely to provide our club with their Scouting Knowledge—nicknaming capable Scouts can help you can identify them quickly when requesting Scout Reports:

 

 

The same goes for Director of Football. The more Scouting Knowledge he has, the more players from different nations he will recommend should we ask him for Transfer Suggestions or allow him to initiate signings on his own.

 

Coaching Team

Coaches will directly impact our player development, so it's worth signing the best we can attract. The more stars they reach in their Coach Assignments and the lesser their Workload, the better the player development. Overworked Coaches can lead to unhappy players.

 

 

Medical Team

Physios and Sport Scientists will help preventing injuries, as well as reduce recovery times of injured players. We'll fill all empty staff slots with the best candidates we can find, to give our players the best chance of avoiding injuries.

[Zemahh]

2. Scouting Assignments

Identifying optimal transfer targets

Now that our new staff is in, let's quickly assign our Scouts. I suggest you don't overlook this part of the game, as it could make a huge difference to your success—discover and sign good players and their quality may bail you out at times when your tactic isn't optimal!

I suggest you take full control of your Scouting Assignments. For discovering optimal transfer targets, you want to be able to set the exact parameters your Scouts should look for, as well as increase your club's World Knowledge with keeping Scouts on Ongoing tasks, so they can gain maximum knowledge of previously unknown countries before moving to new ones.

If you're managing a lower league club, you may not have a lot of flexibility due to a limited number of Scouts or restricted scouting access, but for moderate or elite clubs I suggest assigning them to Ongoing tasks in different regions—if possible, you want to cover the whole world.

 

 

If you're managing an elite club with 20+ Scouts, you can afford to be extra surgical when it comes to increasing your club's World Knowledge. You can assign each Scout to one or two nations and gain knowledge of new countries very quickly.

[Zemahh]

3. Player Personalities

Key to optimal player development and easy management

The value of positive Personalities is not to be underestimated; they can improve the chances of players reaching their Potential Ability significantly, as well as make them handle difficult in-match situations better. Positive Personalities will also be more receptive of Team Talks and one-on-one Interactions, which can spare us a headache or two.

 

 

(The above Player Search filter can be downloaded here: Personalities_Elite.fmf)

 

The good thing with Personalities is that once you start signing Influential players with positive ones, they start rubbing off on the rest of the squad naturally. You can use Mentoring to target them a bit more specifically, should you have a Hot Prospect whose Personality you wish to improve.

Edited November 21, 2020 by Zemahh
Personalities filter added

[Zemahh]

4. Squad DNA

Knowing your squad's strengths and weaknesses

 

 

Before we move on to create our tactical plan, it's crucial we know what our players can and can't do. As of Football Manager 2021, Role Ability ratings take Current Ability into account when rating players for different Roles, so even just selecting your squad based on those should give you a good enough starting point. However, I still recommend you get fully familiar with your squad.

Although a player might be considered decent in his Role, he could be missing some key attributes and still be a huge liability; no one wants central defenders with poor Jumping Reach, midfielders with poor Work Rate, or strikers with poor Off The Ball movement. Creating a custom Squad View can help you identify such weaknesses at a glance.

 

 

(The above Squad-DNA view can be downloaded here: Squad-DNA.fmf)

 

You can create your own custom Squad view, or download mine. It includes attributes I deem key for:

• Defend Duties
• Support Duties
• Attack Duties

Edited November 21, 2020 by Zemahh
Squad-DNA view added

[Zemahh]

5. Tactics

Creating a sensible starting point

 

 

Option A: "Tactics don't tickle my fancy, but I still want to do well!"

In that case, I suggest you download a pre-made one. There's plenty of good tacticians around who're creating and testing tactics all the time and if that's how you want to play the game, who's there to stop you. In fact, if you're completely new to the game and want to ease your way into it, it's what I recommend doing—download a tactic that's been tested to do well, focus on bringing in the right players and get familiar with the game slowly.

However, I do recommend you do some research. Different tactics perform differently with different teams and you need the kind that fits yours. For example, you don't want to use tactics only tested with elite teams, if you're managing a lower league club; the AI will approach games differently based on your club's Reputation and Form.

 

Tactics Sharing Centre

 

Option B: "I'd like to create my own tactic, but don't know where to begin!"

Now, don't expect this to be any sort of a complex tactical guide, there's plenty of those out there already. If you're an experienced player, you may very well already be familiar with most of the points I'm about to list; my aim is to help inexperienced players create a simple and sensible tactic that can serve them as a good starting point.

• Start simple. This can't be stressed enough. Don't feel under pressure to select a plethora of Team Instructions just because they exist—select two or three absolutely key for your desired playing style and leave the rest alone for now.
• Roles and Duties are key. Select coherent ones and your tactic will do well, mess them up and you're likely to encounter issues. Each Role has its own description—read it and read it more than once. There's many clues to be picked up from descriptions and movement animations alone. Pre-selected Player Instructions can also be key to understanding how certain Roles behave.

 

Roles and Duties

Let's quickly stop on the topic of Roles and Duties. Firstly, let's try to understand their behaviour.

A quick generalization:

• Defend: Stay behind, take little risk
• Support: Offer yourself for passes, take moderate risk
• Attack: Run off early, take high risk

Now that we know roughly how different Duties behave, let's try balancing them out in our tactic. To make this process easier, we will break our pitch down into three categories:

• Left side: left full back, left winger, left central midfielder, left striker
• Right: right full back, right winger, right central midfielder, right striker
• Center: central defenders, central midfielders, central striker

Some example questions we should be asking ourselves:

• Do our Roles cooperate well together in terms of space creation (e.g. left IW cutting inside, consequently dragging opposition defender with him and opening up space for left FB to run into)?
• Is there enough defensive cover for our attacking players (e.g. left CM on Defend Duty to cover for left FB on Attack Duty)?

If we've selected any Roles with pre-selected Player Instructions, we should also take a good look at those and try picturing them in action.

Some examples:

• Roam From Position: we can expect this player to leave his designated position often—is there enough defensive cover, or could we get hit on the counter if he losses possession high up the pitch?
• Take More Risks: we can expect this player to attempt riskier through balls—who is trying to capitalize on those passes (e.g. regular forward runs)?
• Dribble More: we can expect this player to often run with the ball on his own—is he good enough to beat his man regularly or could his dribbling attempts result in needless losses of possession?

 

Mentality

In simple terms, Mentality sets your general risk-taking profile. Ignore the names and imagine it as a lever you can pull up and down, depending on how risky you want your team to be—with (forward runs, dribbles, passes, shots) and without the ball (marking, closing down, tackling).

The higher the Mentality, the more options a player will consider in any given situation, because his risk-taking threshold is high (he will consider most options, because he doesn't mind if some are risky).

The lower the Mentality, the less options a player will consider in any given situation, because his risk-taking threshold is low (he will only consider options he deems safe).

Now that we understand this, we can understand how every individual Role in our tactic will behave, based on its Individual Mentality description (Very Defensive, Defensive, Cautious, Balanced, Positive, Attacking, Very Attacking)—click on every Role you've selected and try understanding just how much risks it will be willing to take. As you change your Mentality and Duties, those will change, so check on them often!

 

 

How It All Works Together

One thing to keep in mind, is that all tactical instructions are interconnected with each other. For example, a player instructed to Take More Risks on a Cautious Mentality, will not take the same amount of risks as he would on an Attacking one. Defend-Duty player will be less defensive on an Attacking Mentality, than he would be on a Cautious one. Attack Duties will be more attacking on an Attacking Mentality, than they would on a Cautious one. And so on and so forth; never look at any tactical decision you make in isolation, as ultimately they all work together.

 

Understanding Your Formation

While Roles and Duties define instructions and attacking positioning of our players, Formation defines their starting defensive positions—the shape players will generally look to retreat into after losing the ball.

Before deciding on one, we should understand the style of football we want to play, based on the quality of our squad and expectations.

Some examples:

• If I want to play a high-pressing game and engage opposition high up the pitch, I will select a top-heavy Formation, which gives my players advanced starting positions (e.g. 4-2-3-1, 4-2-4)
• If I want to defend in a low block and invite opposition into my half, I will select a bottom-heavy Formation, which gives my players deeper starting positions (e.g. 4-4-2, 4-1-4-1)

Generally, I would avoid low-block systems unless your players are defensively capable—it makes no sense to invite pressure onto yourself intentionally, if your players aren't good enough to cope with it. I suggest you always play to your strengths and if you're not sure, adopt a balanced approach (i.e. mid-block).

 

Opposition Instructions

I would highly recommend you leave Opposition Instructions alone until you're comfortable with the game—don't assign them to your staff, leave them empty or only select the ones you're sure about.

Some Opposition Instructions can work against you, if you assign them without taking your playing style and players into account (e.g. players getting pulled out of positions due to Close Down Always, opposition players getting funneled into your weak areas due to Shove Onto Foot or slow players getting beat easily due to Mark Tighter).

 

[Zemahh]

6. Training

Developing your players

• Pre-season: Focus on improving players' ability to withstand fatigue with heavy Physical sessions
• Mid-season: While Assistant Manager can do a decent job in pre-season, I recommend you take charge of your training as soon as the season begins. You don't want him scheduling demanding Physical sessions during busy periods, not focusing on attributes you wish to improve or not scheduling any Match Preparation sessions before difficult matches. Staff members have preferences of their own and those may not always align with yours.

Creating your own schedules isn't nearly as daunting as it may look and can be very rewarding; you don't need a different schedule every week, a single balanced one that ticks all the boxes will do just well!

 

Creating Training Schedules

There may be plenty of different options for you to select, but all different sessions do is put different amounts of focus on different attributes. As long as you maintain a balanced approach and stick to General sessions, you can do no wrong. For now, our goal should be to create two variations of one balanced schedule—one for 1-match weeks and another for 2-match weeks.

Personally, I like to make sure every 1-match week includes at least:

• One session that works on Physical attributes (Physical, Overall)
• One session that works on all Outfield attributes (Outfield)
• At least one session that increases Happiness of all players (Match Practice, Attacking, Defending)
• One Attacking Movement and one Defensive Movement Match Preparation session, to increase Tactical Familiarity, Team Cohesion and get Upcoming Match effects
• Match Preview and Match Review before and after matches, to increase Tactical Familiarity and Team Cohesion

Since that covers all the basics, we can fill the rest with whichever sessions we want, as long as we keep an eye on our Intensity bar.

This schedule can now get copy-pasted throughout the whole season, as we've covered all the basics—holistic focus on attributes, enough sessions that increase Happiness and plenty of sessions working on Tactical Familiarity, Team Cohesion and Upcoming Match effects.

 

Individual Training

• Playing Position: work on all attributes required for Position (e.g. central defence)
• Specific Role: work on all attributes required for Role (e.g. Ball-Playing Defender)
• Additional Focus: put additional focus on specific area (e.g. Shooting)

Example Individual Training strategies:

• Focus on biggest weakness surgically: Playing Position + Additional Focus; put all increased focus on two or three specific attributes
• Focus on more weaknesses at once, but at slower rate: Specific Role; put increased focus on more attributes at once
• Focus on all required attributes at once, but at slowest rate: Playing Position; focus on developing all attributes required for position

Note: While training can aim focus towards certain areas, it's Training Facilities and Coaches that dictate how quickly those areas actually develop.

[Zemahh]

7. Watching Highlights

Identifying Issues

Our staff is sorted, we created a sensible tactic, we know which players we can rely on and our first competitive match in charge is right around the corner. But what do we look for, once the action starts?

This point may be straight forward for some, but if you're struggling identifying issues while watching Highlights, hopefully some of the bullet points below can point you in the right direction.

On limited Highlights (Key, Extended), we shouldn't treat any as random. There's most likely a reason the game decided to show us exactly the Highlight we're watching and our job is to figure out what that reason is.

Here's some example questions we should be asking ourselves:

• Is the highlight showing my team attacking or defending?
• If attacking, did the transition go as planned or did it break down prematurely?
• If the transition broke down prematurely, why? Player dribbled himself into trouble? Made a bad pass? Was it the pass that was bad, or was the support not close enough? Did he shoot aimlessly from distance? Could it be that his risk-taking is too high? Did he have any other options?
• If defending, does our defence look stable? Do Highlights end with us winning the ball back successfully or is opposition creating scoring chances? Are their dangerous passes coming from flanks or middle areas? Are Roles and Duties in those areas too aggressive or do players simply not have the defensive attributes to cope? Are we getting caught out by balls over the top? Perhaps because our Defensive Line is too high? Are we committing fouls in quick succession? Is it our instructions that are too aggressive, or are we constantly on the back foot because we're losing possession too easily?

If you can't figure it out immediately, rewind the action. Pause the action a few times and observe your players' positions.

I suggest watching Highlights on at least Extended, so you can get a general feel for the match. You can switch to Key later on, but I recommend you don't limit yourself too much in the initial part of the season.

In terms of widgets to keep an eye on, I highly recommend Action Zones. It tells you which team has possession in which areas of the pitch—is the opposition keeping possession inside our half, or are we dominating them? Is this how you planned the match to go?

 

 

With Football Manager 2021 seeing a big improvement in data presentation, Analyst Report can help us identifying tactical issues as well. Are our Attacking and Defensive Efficiency graphs where expected? Which area of the pitch are assists for conceded goals coming from? Are our scorers spread across multiple positions, or are we dependant solely on one? How do our xG Match Stories look like? Are we creating multiple good chances per match?

[Zemahh]

8. Team Talks and Press Conferences

Saying all the right things

 

 

I admit, I'm not the one to handle every Press Conference myself, but they have an effect. As with Team Talks, we need to be careful not to put too much pressure on our team when we're expected to lose, and crank it up a notch when we're comfortable favourites.

For example, being all lovey-dovey when the Morale is already high and we're expected to win, can be a sure-fire way to spark complacency. On the other hand, being demanding when we're expected to lose, either in Press Conferences or Team Talks, could make our players shake in their boots before the game has even started. Chuck a water bottle every now and then to keep everyone on their toes, eh? 

Note: Player Personalities can impact how players respond to different interactions. Controversial or unprofessional players could lash out often, so tread with caution!

[Zemahh]

9. Dynamics

Creating positive relationships

 

 

Having positive Relationships with your players will boost your Dynamics and Managerial Support, which could be essential should you hit a rough patch.

Interact with your players often:

• Comment on their Training Performances
• Comment on their Match Performances
• Comment on their Form
• Comment on their Conduct

 

 

However, make sure you keep note of who you interacted with and when. Nagging your players too often, even with praise, could result in them respond negatively. Create monthly Inbox Reminder items to make sure your interactions are spaced out enough.

[Zemahh]

10. Board Requests

Improving on and off the pitch

Just as players, club Chairmans come in all shapes and sizes—they have hidden attributes of their own. Should you be especially unlucky, you might get one with no patience for bad results or requests involving increased financial commitment.

It's important our club keeps improving on and off the pitch. If our finances are in order, we should remember to request improvements often. Some are easier to get than others, but if granted, requests like improved Youth Recruitment or Training Facilities can do long-term wonders for our club.

Not only facilities, we should also be staying on top of our own contract. Being on a cheap one that's about to expire will reduce our Job Security, as replacing us wouldn't be too expensive—we shouldn't let that be the case during rough runs of form!

 

[Zemahh]

11. Footnote

Final words

If you made it this far, I applaud your dedication! Hopefully you enjoyed the read and if there's something you don't understand or want to comment on, please feel free.

[Zemahh]

12. Miscellaneous quick-tips

Various quality-of-life tips

If you have a quick-tip of your own, feel free to post it and I will add it to the list below. My goal with this part is to compile a long list of quick, yet useful tips players of any experience level can find useful.

• Attribute colouring - changing values and colours to your personal preference can help you judge players at a glance
• Nickname your players/staff to stay organized - Scouts based on their Assignments or Scouting Knowledge, so you know what to look for if they leave/players based on their Coach Report weaknesses or undesirable Player Traits
• Having a custom Player Search view that includes Media Description and Release Clause columns can help you identify Wonderkids and bargains
• Stay on top of your youth teams - get rid of players that will never be good enough, so they don't steal playing time from your hottest prospects
• Gaining Work Permits - try getting an Affiliate Club from Spain, Serbia or Poland (lenient nationality conditions)
• Use Screen Flow (Options -> Most Common) to track foreign youth leagues and scout best performers
• Continue Game Timeout (Options -> Interface) can save hundreds of clicks
• ...

[herne79]

Great job, always good to see new articles being written, especially when things have been thought through and presented well .

I know it's a description of your personal experiences so if you don't mind I'll just make a couple of observations.  I'm probably teaching you to suck eggs here, I just didn't really get enough of the following from your great write up.

Regarding players and tactics.  I know you have laid out specific sections for each - for me it's important to bring them together as they are intrinsically linked.  So for example the tactical settings we use are the tendencies with which we ask our players to do something.  Whereas the player's attributes determine how well (or differently) those "instructions" are carried out on the pitch.  As an example, if you instruct your winger to dribble often via his role and/or additional team/player instructions, he'd better have the attributes necessary to be able to carry out those instructions if you want him to do it with a good degree of competency.  I did kind of get the vibe above that you were trying to say this, but I just felt it could be brought out more.

It's perhaps also worth noting, while I'm banging on about players, the impact of player Traits.  In effect they are another tactical instruction, albeit built into the players themselves rather than allocated on the tactics screen.  You mentioned TI and PIs (and OIs), don't forget Traits as well !  So to carry on with the dribbling example above, if the player you intend to use already has the "run with ball often" Trait, consider whether it's necessary to also give him an additional PI to dribble more.  It's these type of combinations which can sometimes really switch on (or off) a system.

There's a silly example I tend to give here to demonstrate this - if you use the Attacking Mentality (as you rightly say, lots of risk + players are encouraged to get forward) in combination with the Complete Wingback role (which has the PI to get forward lots), give that role the Attack duty (so yet more forward runs) and then use a player with the Trait "gets forward often", you don't really have a defender anymore, so do you really need all of those instructions in combination with that player?  (btw, guess how some people get FM'd...)

Sorry, I'm getting too wordy .

One final observation regarding Training (I'll try to be brief!):

43 minutes ago, Zemahh said:

While training can aim focus towards certain areas, it's Training Facilities and Coaches that dictate how quickly those areas actually develop.

Training is indeed important for player development, but don't forget playing matches at an appropriate level as well.  And this importance changes depending on a player's age.  For players below the age of 18, Training takes precedence.  Playing matches is still important but Training is the "alpha" aspect here.  Once they hit 18, this flips.  Playing matches at an appropriate level now takes precedence, while Training - although still important - becomes the beta rather than the alpha if you see what I mean.

So yes, Training Facilities and Coaches are two aspects which absolutely are vital to player development, but don't forget match time too .

Anyway, I hope you don't mind the input.  It's totally meant in a constructive manner, hopefully I managed to come across like that.

[Carambau]

Great article! I still could take a lot from this

[PequenoGenio]

Great reading. Perfect for every player.

[Zemahh]

30 minutes ago, herne79 said:

Anyway, I hope you don't mind the input.  It's totally meant in a constructive manner, hopefully I managed to come across like that.

Absolutely not, appreciate the feedback!

Admittedly, I didn't give Player Traits the attention they deserve. I should have touched on them in the Tactics part, which is usually where I'll make note of any conflicting ones after selecting my starting XI for the first time, but they sort of slipped through my mind. You're absolutely right in that they can change the tendencies quite a bit, so one should always keep note of them; thankfully, the game is quite helpful nowadays, as hoovering over them will show descriptions and any conflicting ones will be marked with the warning sign (⚠️) in the Player Instructions menu. One can also use them to introduce some individualism and variety to their tactic (one common example being Wingers with Cut Inside Player Trait), but that'd probably be too big of a can of worms for a beginner-friendly thread. 

[yipster1986]

Thank you for this @Zemahh

[coach vahid]

Thanks. 

[Zemahh]

13. Theory in Practice

Assessing the squad and creating a tactic

In this part, I'll assess my squad, figure out a fitting tactic and try detailing my thought process in as much detail as possible. Please feel free to comment, should something about my approach not be clear or you have a better way of doing things!

 

VfB Stuttgart

 

It's currently February, but for the sake of this thread let's imagine I just walked through the door; I'm not yet familiar with the squad and I don't have any ideas about what tactical system I'm going to use.

Firstly, I'll identify my best players. They're the ones I'm going to try building the tactic around, so I need to be aware of their strengths and weaknesses. I use the Reports Squad view and sort it by Ability.

 

 

Right on top of our Assistant Manager's list is Morten Thorsby, an industrious midfielder I've picked up in January. With exceptional Work Rate, Team Work and Stamina, he should make a tidy BBM, which is the Role I'll place him in for now. There's one thing I should take note of, however—his Does Not Dive Into Tackles Player Trait:

 

 

 

The above description lets me know that, while he might be willing to work his socks off, he will not be tackling too often. In order to make up for that, I'll be pairing him up with a proper destructor (either alongside or behind him).

Next up, is Marc-Oliver Kempf. With 16 Composure, 13 Passing, 13 Technique, 13 Vision and Tries To Play Way Out Of Trouble Player Trait, he is a Ball Playing Defender. Being left-footed, I place him in the left DC slot.

Knowing that I've got a BPD who will be attempting defence-splitting passes from deep, I immediately start thinking about how to make best use of those. In order to give him at least one passing target for now (player making frequent forward runs), I decide to go with an attacking LCM.

This is when I start thinking about possible Formations:

• I've got a BBM who needs another central midfielder for defensive cover
• I've got a BPD who can play out of defence and needs enough passing targets (CM-Attack + wide forward/striker?)

Knowing that I need at least three central midfielders, I choose the 4-3-3 DM Wide. It enables me to utilize a defensive midfielder (defensive cover for the BBM unwilling to tackle); knowing that I'll Play Out Of Defence to make the most of my BPD, I decide on a HB—a role very suitable for possession play.

After fitting the rest of my best players into their best roles, this is what I end up with:

 

 

While I fit Fernandes, Mavropanos and Anton into the Roles I already decided on (CD, HB and CM-Attack), Connor Roberts was another player that gave me an idea where to go next. With good Work Rate, Stamina, Off The Ball movement and Gets Forward Whenever Possible Player Trait, he should make a decent attacking wide defender. Since he lacks in Dribbling and Flair, and also possesses the Runs With Ball Rarely Player Trait, an attacking Wing Back Role might perhaps be too demanding; I settle on an attacking Full Back instead.

In order to make the most of his frequent forward runs, I will be using an Inverted Winger ahead of him. A Role that cuts inside frequently should also fit my Formation nicely (provide striker with more support centrally).

 

 

And just like that, the jigsaw is starting to come together. I'm left with empty LWB, LW and ST positions.

Knowing that my left CM is on Attack Duty, I opt for a defensive WB—a Role that mostly stays behind, but isn't afraid to put in a cross should a right opportunity arise.

Ahead of him, I decide on an IF-Support. With higher Individual Mentality than any other wide forward Role, it should act as another passing target for the BPD (frequent forward runs). Having Take More Risks Player Instruction pre-selected, it should also help creating chances for the attacking CM and a striker, which is now the only empty Role left.

With a supporting IF behind him, I choose a Pressing Forward on Attack Duty. With 17 Acceleration, 16 Pace and 18 Strength, 26 y/o Brayan Riascos should fit the mold perfectly.

That completes the tactic:

 

 

• Positive: slightly increased risk-taking profile
• Shorter Passing: in order to get my FB-At and central midfielders involved, I decide on a more patient build-up style (Shorter Passing also lowers Tempo down to Standard)
• Play Out Of Defence: make the most of my technical BPD, as well as prevent needless long clearances that could bypass the hard-working midfield
• Higher Defensive Line: defensive line positioned slightly higher, which gives my attacking FB and central midfielders less ground to cover and gets them involved in attacking transitions faster
• Higher Line Of Engagement: engage opposition higher up the pitch to force mistakes or long clearances
• Split-press: in order to try winning possession back more aggressively, the front four (PF, IF, IW, CM) were individually instructed to Close Down More; aim is to force long clearances and win second balls with the rest of the team positioned in deeper areas

 

Initial Results

 

Four games in, things are looking good! Despite being expected to fight against relegation, we're currently sitting 3rd in February.

 

 

Our most notable performance so far came against Hertha Berlin—multiple good chances our forwards would have converted on another day and a solid defensive display:

 

 

I also thought it was worth sharing the following goal against Schalke. It demonstrates the split-press described above perfectly; opposition tries playing out of defence, CB gets pressed and forced into a clearance, our defence wins the second ball and triggers the counter-attack from which we end up scoring:

 

 

Final Words

Although explaining thought process in text can be quite difficult, hopefully you get the idea. If I was to summarize the whole post, my initial squad assessment would look something like this:

1. Sort Squad view (Reports) by Ability, identify best players
2. Place them in their best Roles, start thinking about the rest of the tactic as you go
3. Don't take star ratings at face value, make sure to compare similar players manually
4. Take special note of key attributes and Player Traits

 

End-of-season update

Edited November 24, 2020 by Zemahh
End-of-season update link added

[axehan1]

Great read, one question,how, on positive mentality do you get to instruct those players to all close down more?Aside from the PF on attack duty who already is on close down more and the CM on attack(the same)how do you get the wide players to close down more?

[Zemahh]

1 hour ago, axehan1 said:

how, on positive mentality do you get to instruct those players to all close down more?

If you click on any Role in your tactic, you can modify its Player Instructions:

Also, keep in mind those work in conjunction with your Team Instructions; if your Closing Down is already maxed out, you will not be able to increase it any further.

[Zemahh]

On 23/11/2020 at 01:40, Zemahh said:

Four games in, things are looking good! Despite being expected to fight against relegation, we're currently sitting 3rd in February.

A quick update, before my Stuttgart save comes to an end:

As expected, Bayern ran away with the title, but we managed to finish third and secure Champions League football.

 

 

 

In terms of our tactic, the only change I made was drop the Line Of Engagement back to default (Higher D-Line + Standard LoE + split-press). I found that our midfield was getting pulled out of positions too easily, as they were stepping up to press opposition who could then play right through us. I made the change early in the first half against Bayern and since it made us look more defensively stable, I stuck with it.

End-of-season stats:

 

 

 

I'm a sucker for clean sheets, so conceding least goals in the league was certainly pleasing.

Not only that, apparently our bog-standard 4-3-3 is starting to catch eyes; journo that came up with that name deserves a firing though. 

 

[alanfishead]

This is such a great write up. I've fallen into the trap before that I think a lot of people do. I used to think the tactic was the be all and end all and would get frustrated when I had a seemingly balanced and solid tactic but would lose a lot of games. I always had my preferred formation (433) and would set it up with decent roles and duties but not really pay attention to the players strengths and weaknesses. 

If you're managing an established team (doesn't even need to be top flight) you'll find quite easy to build a balanced tactic by using the current players best roles. 

Another thing that made a huge different to me was watching as much of the game as possible. I started watching the entire game as it was so easy to adapt to what's happening but also it's so satisfying to see your analysis and changes turn into a goal. 

The next stage of this is to then to transition and adapt your tactics and players as you improve. I'm still unsuccessfully working on this 

[isignedupfornorealreason]

Worth considering that it's not always ideal to fire off the backroom staff (don't do a Moyes), because some of them may be exceptional anyway.

 

I've always found the hardest staff to find tend to be Attacking and possession coaches for whatever reason. Defending coaches are a dime a dozen and the Fitness/Goalkeeping coach market is saturated with top tier coaches. So, if you get a Possession/Attacking coach that is 15+ in key attributes, hold onto him!!!

 

I like your training suggestions - I've never really paid much heed to them. I think personally I'd just stick with the default pre-season (heavy) schedules as they look fairly suitable for pre-seasons anyway.

I'd also suggest modifying the balanced training session - seems an easier thing to do than start up a new schedule, but that's swings and roundabouts I guess. 

 

Last I heard, staff only need a 15+ in Physio and Sports science to be considered PL level (from one of the SI staff, two or three seasons back), I wonder if that has changed by now? Still, no harm in aiming for the highest attributes.

Do an annual review of the staff (use notes to track their key attributes) as staff member attributes can decrease over time and you may not notice it. If you have notes, you can identify who is declining and shift them on. (I vaguely remember something about this happening to members of staff who stay at a club for so long, they get complacent and don't evolve their own sessions and so decline temporarily until they bugger off to new pastures.)

[PequenoGenio]

Em 21/11/2020 em 17:22, Zemahh disse:

12. Miscellaneous quick-tips

• Continue Game Timeout (Options -> Interface) can save hundreds of clicks

Intriged by this. Can you explain more about it?

Edited December 1, 2020 by PequenoGenio

[Zemahh]

1 hour ago, PequenoGenio said:

Intriged by this. Can you explain more about it?

It's basically an option that can press Continue for you, so you don't have to click it yourself. Kind of like holidaying, but it stops at Inbox items where your response is needed.

You can set it to different time periods, as well as specify a whole bunch of other parameters. Search for "Continue" in the Preferences and it should pop up.

[steve.battisti]

Just wanted to say "thanks" for this whole post. I'm going to take some time to digest it. I also want to try starting in non-league, so a lot of what you wrote will have to be modified, but I appreciate the overall approach very much!

I know in some of my practice saves firing the staff on day 1 has backfired, because then it takes some time to get staff re-hired, and if you have games in the interim it means you have to do everything manually. Not always great if you're a rookie!

[Zemahh]

On 07/12/2020 at 20:51, steve.battisti said:

I know in some of my practice saves firing the staff on day 1 has backfired, because then it takes some time to get staff re-hired, and if you have games in the interim it means you have to do everything manually.

A handy thing to know for when you want to sign someone quickly (staff or player), is that you can make them accept the offer immediately with offering them enough money ("I'm very happy with offer" response):

I tend to do that quite often with staff, since their wages are paid by board and don't affect your budget. Not only to make them join immediately, but to also have them on big enough contracts to where not everyone can poach them easily. Scouts with vast Scouting Knowledge, or good Coaches can be quite hard to come by, so I don't want them leaving two months later for a better job.

That said, you definitely have a point, I wouldn't do any staff overhauls blindly (without double-checking whether they're any good and making a quick search to see if you can attract someone better first). But these days I rarely do journeyman saves or start outside lower leagues, so I'm kinda used to having to build things from the ground up. 

[steve.battisti]

16 hours ago, Zemahh said:

A handy thing to know for when you want to sign someone quickly (staff or player), is that you can make them accept the offer immediately with offering them enough money ("I'm very happy with offer" response):

I tend to do that quite often with staff, since their wages are paid by board and don't affect your budget. Not only to make them join immediately, but to also have them on big enough contracts to where not everyone can poach them easily. Scouts with vast Scouting Knowledge, or good Coaches can be quite hard to come by, so I don't want them leaving two months later for a better job.

That said, you definitely have a point, I wouldn't do any staff overhauls blindly (without double-checking whether they're any good and making a quick search to see if you can attract someone better first). But these days I rarely do journeyman saves or start outside lower leagues, so I'm kinda used to having to build things from the ground up. 

Oh wow, definitely didn't know that! In vanarama north, there are hardly any staff who have vast any kind of knowledge, (and when there are, they  certainly aren't interested in my club) but I will keep this in mind! 

Thanks for the tip!

[Gee_Simpson]

On 08/12/2020 at 20:30, Zemahh said:

I tend to do that quite often with staff, since their wages are paid by board and don't affect your budget.

Oh really? I didn't even know that 

[felley]

Shocked that this thread hasn't gained more traction. Apart from the few pointers from Herne, this is a fantastic guide for beginners and exactly the sort of writing people need in order to get into the game.

I'm really not a fan of the seemingly constant bombardment of users with complete tactics and role combinations on the forum, as it promotes confusion and gives the impression that there are discrete solutions rather than the set of options that you outline here. Starting by assessing your squad and building something that maximises their strengths is the tried and tested method when it comes to learning the game comfortably and step-by-step and you nail it in your follow up posts.

Once again though, great guide for beginners and hope it gets the attention it deserves at some point 

Edited December 31, 2020 by felley

[Zemahh]

4 hours ago, felley said:

Once again though, great guide for beginners and hope it gets the attention it deserves at some point 

Appreciate your comment. 

[sKyer_xD]

Thanks

[J-Hood]

Although an experienced player, I still found a few tips is this guide. The way you have presented this is excellent and then applying your guide to to a real examples definitely a plus. 

There are many knowledgeable people on here but they don't always explain things in a way that others can understand or make the effort to apply live examples.

Again,  great work and thanks.

[Zemahh]

8 hours ago, J-Hood said:

Although an experienced player, I still found a few tips is this guide. The way you have presented this is excellent and then applying your guide to to a real examples definitely a plus.

Appreciate your comment!

[Magisterial]

This is great thanks 👍🏻 Will there be any sort of update for FM22 or not as most the same principles apply? Thanks 

[Zemahh]

2 hours ago, Magisterial said:

Will there be any sort of update for FM22 or not as most the same principles apply? Thanks

Honestly, not much has changed in terms of basic principles around squad building and tactics. Personally, I still approach the game in the exactly same way.

Data Hub would probably be the biggest change, but @LPQR has already written a fantastic thread on it. I recommend you check it out:

[Magisterial]

1 minute ago, Zemahh said:

Honestly, not much has changed in terms of basic principles around squad building and tactics. Personally, I still approach the game in the exactly same way.

Data Hub would probably be the biggest change, but @LPQR has already written a fantastic thread on it. I recommend you check it out:

Okay that’s what I thought 😁 and yes I read it just this morning! Thanks 

[fc.cadoni]

Will be great if you update it for FM23, @Zemahh

Helped a lot many newcomers to FM!