Tactical Central and Insight: Implementing Tactics for FM09

[Loversleaper]

Intro: NB:Finished entire thread...

This thread is designed to explain how to combat the AI teams. I am going to try to keep explainations as simple as possible because in all honesty it is quite simple, you just have to adapt to situations that the FM (AI) will present to you during the course of the game. Today's AI has types of behaviors and it shouldn't take long for you to catch on to these AI 'patterns' which gives strong indications on what one can do in certain given situations. If you don't begin to notice these 'patterns' you will struggle in understanding why one's tactics will fail from time to time. Let me get back to the AI's 'behavior patterns' after we look at the tactical aspect of the game. All of these tactical settings can be found in the FM editor under the different managers and clubs. I have taken some examples from some of the more serious managers/clubs in the database so I can explain why these different tactics work (and why they might not work) and most importantly: WHEN. From this you can either : #1 use the tactics as they are or #2 use them as inspiration/ideas to make your own tactics because they do have certain rules and they can only be 'broken' when you have obtained a form of "World Class" status.

First step in structuring tactics

Lets start out basic with a classic flat 4-4-2. Easy to adapt your players into this formation as you can use a broad variety of players. Other formations crave more 'natural' positioned players to be tactically successful. All of these settings will be the base of all the tactics that we will use or make in the future and they will (maybe) include some minor changes (tweaks) in the different tactics which will be explained later.

The Goal Keeper: Quite simple and straight forward. Keep all intructions (mentality, creative freedom, passing & closing down) on team (team settings explained later) and rarely on all individual instuctions (forward runs, run with ball, long shots, try through balls & crossing). Let's keep 'distribution' on mixed for now.

The Full Back: Also all instructions on (team). Keep all individual instructions on mixed except for crossing(often). Keep crossing from (mixed) for now. The Attacking Full Back will have Run With Ball (often) and Crossing from (byline) but this should be implemented into the tactical ideology you will attempt plus it, of course, has to be a quality player (speed, dribbling, stamina, ect...). Tweaking the fullbacks individual setting can have huge impact on the outcome of a match and I will explain this a little later.

The Center Back: Mentality(Mnt) should be (3) less *(less is to the left on the slider and more would be to the right)* than the Team Mentality on the slider. The individual Closing Down(CsDw) is very important and this is the ideology I have been working with:

Team Closing Down:

(18-17 on the team slider) = (8) on the Center Backs individual Closing Down.

(16-15) = (7)

(14-13) = (6)

(12-11) = (5)

(10 and below) = (4)

Passing(Ps) and Creative Freedom(CrFr) should be on (team). Rare Forward Runs(FwRns), rare Run With Ball(RwB), mixed Long Shots(LnSts), mixed Try Through Balls(TTB), and mixed Crossing(Crss).

The Central Midfielder: In the 4-4-2 I usually implement a more defensive minded player with a Mentality setting of (2) less than the team and a more offensive minded one with a Mentality setting of (2) more than the team setting. It's up to you which combination central midfield you want to implement as they all have pretty much same individual settings which is mixed except Try Through Balls which should be on (often). I advise that an Attacking (AMC) that has very good dribbling (and maybe some good pace/acceleration) skills has Run with Ball on (often) as well. I suggest the more defensive midfielder on the left-center side and the attacking one on the right (optional of course, but I am just explaining in detail the set-up I have tested).

The Wingers: They are also on (team) instructions. Mixed on all individual settings except for Run with Ball (often) and Cross Ball (often). Crossing should be from byline unless you are playing incredibly defensive or your wingers are of very poor quality.

The Strike Force: Their Mentality should be (3) more than the (team) settings, rest of the settings are on (team). Normally the striker has mixed Forward Runs, mixed Run with Ball, rare Long Shots (except when playing very defensively - mixed), mixed Through Balls, and rare Cross Ball.

The 'Bojan/Aguero' type of striker (dribbling/speed) should have Run with Ball (often).

The 'Bendtner/Carew' type of striker should have Hold up on Ball and if he is slow and poor dribbler - rare Run with Ball.

To get the most out of a strike force I suggest that one has them swapping postions unless you have the BigTargetMan/PaceyDribbler combination. They are harder to 'Man Mark' when swapping postions and offer a visually nice variety when attacking. Also I usually use the pacey/dribbler on the left side of attack and the bigger stronger one on the right (but this of course is optional) if I use this attacking combination.

The Player's settings: Reasoning

You have noticed by now that the whole team is on (mixed) Forward Runs except Center Backs. The ideology behind this is that the team plays more as a unit. The problem I have had with Forward Runs is that (more than often) my players are caught out of position and this set-up has 'fixed' that and hopefully you will experience less of those 'freak' instances that occur from time to time. Your players will attack just as much but still keep a structured formation which alows your team to play a more passing game. The slight Mentality changes in the team offer more positioning structure so the players are not all on a, more or less, 'straight line' (which is best "visually" seen when defending around your own area and your entire team is set to 'pure global' mentalities, you should notice that they are more 'crowded' together than with a split-mentality system). Also the more "mixed" ideology offers a lot more 'match option/chances' when attacking, for example sometimes your Center Back gets the ball somewhere to the side of the opposition goal after a corner kick and stalls because he has rare individual settings causing him to 'not know what to do with the ball'. I have seen Center Backs make nice crosses and 'cutting' Through Balls adding more 'flavor' (so to say) to the Match Engine if need be... instead of 'clearing the ball' or 'back-passing' in odd circumstances.

The Full Backs have a huge impact on the game and this is the reason why: When you want to attack with more players you have to give the full backs Run with Ball and Crossing from byline. You will make many more chances given the fact that you have super Full Backs (Dani Alves springs to mind) with pace and dribbling (of course). When your opponent has very Attacking Wingers you want to remove any type of Forward Run + have rare Run with Ball and Crossing from deep (creating the Defensive Full Back), especially 4-3-3 formations and the dreaded 4-2-4. Generally you should be 'visually' noticing if your Full Backs are 'trailing' behind an opposition winger that has the ball which is indicating that they are being caught out of position. Don't panic because it happened once, but more if you notice a 'pattern' emerging (take a look at the formations option sometimes when playing games). These 'Tweaks' can make a world of difference on final results. As a rule I will remove them BEFORE the AI changes to one of it's attacking formations when I am up by a goal. The AI will usually wait untill the last 10 minutes before they go to 4-2-4 (but watch out for the occasional incident - Bayern M, Reading, ect...) so you will probably look to implement the Defensive Full Back somewhere around the 70 minute mark to be safe.

Anything else not mentioned in the Players setting is pretty much on normal/mixed. Feel free to experiment but I have had no poblems with these basic settings so far.

[Loversleaper]

The Tactics

As mentioned all these tactical settings can be obtained in the FM editor but behind all of these tactics there is a reason why I implemented the tactic which I will explain as they all have purposes. Now I am not saying that you have to use all of the tactics because they are designed for the broader FM Gamer and can be 'tailored' more into your own tactical philosophy (tailoring tactics is something I will explain after this section). I have given the tactics names from where they materialised. I have decided to start with the defensive formations and gradually go more attacking.

The Defensive Ideologies:

The Athletico:

Mentality: (6) or (11)

Creative Freedom: (6)

Passing: (14)

Tempo: (13)

Width: (3)

Closing Down: (11)

Timewasting: (14) or (9)

Defensive Line: (6)

Focus Passing: Though the middle.

Tight Team Marking (yes).

Counter Attacking (yes).

The reason I chose this tactic: Playing as Watford just after promotion to the EPL I was facing Totenham away from home. Heavy Under-Dogs Match-Odds. Wet weather conditions.

Looking at this tactic tells me several things. This is a deep lying D-line which draws the opposition on to you and it is very narrow (width 3) giving the opposition less room to 'exploit' in your defense. The passing setting of 14 is a direct passing game which helps you get the ball quick up the pitch (tempo 13). The lower Creative Freedom (6) will restrict your players from trying those risky actions which should minimise those instances that can cause your team problems. This is a very defensive formation, the tactical settings indicate that you are strong underdogs away from home. There are two versions, one with mentality (6) and one with mentality (11). The mentality (6) is my usual starting point when starting out the match and I will keep an eye on match stats. The mentality (11) is more attacking and I will switch to this as my attacking option. It is not something I will do emediatly after I go down by a goal, but will attempt this later on (match stats should give indications how well I am doing in the game and if you are creating chances I wouldn't change right away), going attacking too soon against super opposition can be fatal.

Example: Arsenal - Watford(me) I go down 1-0 in first half using mentality (6). After 55-60 minutes switched up to mentality (11) + time-wasting (9) and got this message "Arsenal looks uncapable in dealing with Watford at the moment". This is a good indication that these types of settings work well in this situation against this type of opponent (world-class). You can attempt the mentality (11) framework from the start if there is a important reason (for example: need points to avoid relegation late in competition or a cup tie where you have to win away from home). I would also advise you to use one of these tactics at home if you are really up against it (virtually no chance). You can also implement team settings Closing Down (9) and D-line (4) which makes it even more defensive *(keep D-line 5 less than Closing Down)*. Best played with the Defensive Full Back, but get to know your team and opponent.

General effects on the match stats: you won't always be controlling possession but usually you should be close to the opponent. The one thing that should be visual on the match stats is the Clear Cut Chances, you should do just as well as the AI or better.

The Capello:

Mentality: (6)

Creative Freedom: (9)

Passing: (7)

Tempo: (13)

Width: (16)

Closing Down: (16)

Time-wasting: (14)

Defensive Line: (11)

Focus Passing: Mixed

Team Tight Marking (yes).

Counter Attacking (yes).

Reason why I chose this tactic: Playing as Barcelona I was playing away from home to Real Madrid. Slight Under-Dog Match-Odds. Sunny weather.

This is the most defensive tactical out-look for the better teams. Capello's ideology is quite advanced. Shorter passing with counter attacking, wide width and 'whole pitch' Closing Down requires a talented team. Playing wide generally is a bad idea if your team dosen't have high stamina players with lots of other qualities and I think many people have a problem being realistic when assessing their squad. If you have problems with this tactic it can be one of two things: either your team is not strong enough so you should be playing more like The Athletico Tactic or you are attacking too little so you should play a higher Mentality Framework. Now, as a manager you should have general ideas how (realistically) you should be doing against the current opponent and the Match Stats offer several indications on this, the ME key highlights also gives strong indications on how you should be doing. Generally with this tactic you should be playing controlled football and you should dominate possession when getting the tactic right on the day. I would recommend the 'Nomal' Full Back (remember explained tweaks). Also if you have a great team and you have been playing a more attacking Mentality framework away from home it is a good idea to change 'down' to this tactic sometime in the second half and you are leading the game. You can attempt to give the Goal keeper Distribution to 'defender collect' which should help a little with possession stats. Generally a good away tactic to opponents that are close to you in ability. I would not recomend to play this tactic on an awful and wet pitch though...

General effects on the match stats: you should be controlling possession and shots on goal. If you are only controlling possession but the opponent has had far more chances indicate that your mentality framework for the given match is too low (this should be apparent on the half-hour mark in the first half at the latest).

The Anchelotti:

Mentality: (8)

Creative Freedom: (9)

Passing: (5) or (12)

Tempo: (13)

Width: (13)

Closing Down: (16)

Time-wasting: (16)

Defensive Line: (11)

Team Tight Marking (yes).

Counter Attacking (yes).

Reason I chose this tactic: Playing as Watford in season one I was top of the league and was going to face a middle-low Norwich Team away from home. Slight/Comfortable favorite Match-Odds. Passing (5) sunny weather and (12) for wet weather or general passing assumption (explained later*GPA*).

Another one of those high-class Counter-Attacking Italian tactic. Plays good football and is slightly more attacking than Capello but a good option if the Capello seems a little to defensive (lacking Shots on Goal in Match-Stats is a good indication to switch up). Passing (12) in this formation should move more on goal but you will loose a little more possession (but do the Italians care about possession?). Like the Capello you need a more talented squad and being favorites away from home indicate that you can attempt these type of settings and get away with it. Use the Normal Full Back in this formation and as explained earlier remember the important tweaks when need be. Generally this is a good tactic if you are a top team contender (or there abouts) and you are playing against some of the middle range Teams in current competition away from home.

General effects on the match stats: you should be in control of the game. If you are loosing too much possession it indicates that you are too high on the mentality framework for this given match. If you trail with shots on goal only then, like the Capello, you are not attacking enough.

The Middle Ideologies:

The Benitez:

Mentality: (10)

Creative Freedom: (10)

Passing: (14)

Tempo: (13)

Width: (15) *I implement (14)

Closing Down: (14)

Time-wasting: (14)

Defensive Line: (9)

Team Tight Marking (yes).

Reason I chose this tactic: Playing as Watford I was facing Doncaster away from home. Comfortable Favorite Match-Odds. Wet weather.

I needed a tactic that reflected match situation and had to be played in rainy conditions. Direct passing works better on wet pitches, so the 50-50 (attacking-defending) Mentality-framework works very well when you are big favorites away from home. Not such a 'beautiful' passing tactic and Match-Stats won't always be that appealing to the User, but this tactic is none-the-less incredibly effective. These settings (a little wide and direct) will create some high quality chances. Your team doesn't require super-star players to perform in this tactic. These tactics are also the tactics you would switch up to if you were playing more defensivly and you have to go more attacking. If you go more attacking than this (NB: except for very late in the match when the AI goes really defensive on home turf) too early you could experience some difficulties. There is an alternative ideology to Middle tactics and this is what I tried with great success: Playing as Watford first season in the EPL after promotion I was facing an unbeaten Arsenal on home field. My team is not as talented as Arsenal so I decided direct passing would be the way forward and this Mentality Framework suits this type of cicumstance. Worked stunningly good so I advise Relegation Battling Teams to use this Mentality Framework on Home Field against top League Teams and you are a strong underdog at home. One can easily implement Counter-Attacking (which I will do if I am in front and there is no real indication that I have to change to a lower Mentality tactic, but you will find that it is not always necessary). Just a quick note: in the editor Benitez has a (15) but for my experiences (14) worked a little better for me, but I think people should try (15) if you have high class away team and are forced to use this tactic, for example due to weather conditions.

General effects on the Match Stats: When you are huge favorite away from home you should be dominating your opponent all around. At home against top League teams you should match them (especially in Clear Cut Chances) or be close. If you notice that they are running through you then I would suggest you change down to The Athletico tactic that implements the (11) mentality.

The Italy:

Mentality: (10)

Creative Freedom: (9)

Passing: (6)

Tempo: (8)

Width: (7)

Closing Down: (14)

Time-wasting: (13) *although the Italians will quickly change this to 20!

Defensive Line: (9)

Team Tight Marking (yes).

Reason I chose this tactic: I was Barcelona and had to meet Recreativo away from home. I thought about using the Benitez but I wanted a more short passing so I found these settings apropriate for the occasion. Huge favorites. Sunny weather.

I think this tactic reflects how the Italians play IRL. They play more narrow to close the opposition out of the match even though they always have squads that can play wide/attacking football they always choose not to. Slower tempo with shorter passing + tighter width formations play decent football (these setting can make a moderate squad play 'visually' better football). Typical Italian results but usually good enough for a 1-0/2-0 win. Has basically the same ideologies as The Benitez, but I personally think you need better technical players (passing, technic, first touch, ect...) to fit the tactic. Goal Keeper can Distibute to 'defender collect' if you feel comfortable.

General effect on the Match Stats: it will most likely be a tight game but you will have better Clear Cut Chances. When you win you will feel like a true Italian! Results out-weigh Beauty although you will play good football at times.

The Attacking Ideologies:

The Brazil:

Mentality: (13)

Creative Freedom: (15)

Passing: (4)

Tempo: (4)

Width: (6)

Closing Down: (14)

Time-wasting: (10)

Defensive Line: (9)

Team Tight Marking (yes).

Goal Keeper Distribution 'defender collect'.

The reason I chose this tactic: I, as Barcelona, had to play Athletico Madrid in the Spanish Cup Final. Remembering from the last FM version you can't attack too much on Neutral Pitches even though you are larger favorites, this Mentality Framework of (13) fits the bill (plus I have always admired the Brazilians). Favorite Match-Odds. Sunny weather.

"The Brazilians can't defend". So the Narrow width compensates for their use of the more attacking types of players. They love to hold on the ball which explains the slow tempo with the short passing. Great visual football, and in this tactic I have implemented the Attacking Full Back (run with ball + crossing from byline). I wouldn't advise people to use a Mentality Frame-work of (13) on Home Field if you are large favorites, although I have had success with this tactic on numerous occasions due to me having a young/talented team at times (works well*young-talents). But this is definatly a good tactic for all those games where you are favorites and the match is played on a Neutral Pitch (cup finals, ect...). In the (near) future (presumible 2nd season as a World Class Club) you can use this tactic at times to win away from home against those clubs that just don't want to loose...trial/error.

General effects on Match Stats: Controlling in all departments if used in given situations. If somehow it is failing then check the weather/pitch.

The Claudio:

Menatlity: (13)

Creative Freedom: (13)

Passing: (12)

Tempo: (12)

Width: (12)

Closing Down: (14)

Time-wasting: (13)

Defensive Line: (9)

Team Tight Marking (yes).

Goal Keeper Distibution 'defender collect'(*optional)

The reason I chose this tactic: Bacelona(me) was facing Manchester United in the Champions league final. My original plan was to 'unleash' The Brazil on them but to my huge dismay the game had to be carried out in rainy conditions, so these settings pretty much 'fit the bill'. Slight Favorite Match-Odds.

Another Neutral Pitch tactic for those who naturally 'prefer' more direct passing or if the weather forces you to. Also a futuristic attacking away formation which was explained in The Brazil.

General Match Stats: Controlling all aspects of the game but expect a close result.

The Argentina:

Mentality: (15)

Creative Freedom: (10)

Passing: (5)

Tempo: (7)

Width: (10)

Closing Down: (16)

Time-wasting: (5)

Defensive Line: (11)

Goal Keeper Distribution 'defender collect'.

The reason I chose this tactic: As Watford I was going to play Fulham on Home Field. Favorite Match-Odds. Sunny weather.

This is the general settings that are good for all those teams out of the *World Class Elite* when on home ground. Even as slight underdog you should be implementing these type of settings on home ground. You can see that you are not too Wide (10) but still Closing Down all around the pitch (16) and the tempo + passing works well together. Creative Freedom (10) holds your team more in position to minimize chances of mistakes, but be aware of weather conditions (as usual when you want to play shorter passing).

General effects on the Match stats: your opposition will get some chances but you should generally be doing better in all departments. A typical 2-1 result tactic, but geneally you should be winning by a goal or two.

The Milan

Mentality: (14)

Creative Freedom: (16)

Passing: (16)

Tempo: (12)

Width: (14)

Closing Down: (15)

Time-wasting: (15)

Defensive Line: (10)

Team Tight Marking (yes/no*optional).

Goal Keeper Distribution 'Defender colloect'(*optional).

Reason why I chose this tactic: Playing in England offers lots of those rainy matches/wet (bad) pitches so I needed a attacking/direct tactic Home Field against Stoke. Big Favorites Match-Odds. Rainy weather.

This is a lethal tactic. The high time-wasting (15) offers two advantages: #1 because we are direct passing + tempo (12) it causes the players to hold more onto the ball untill your attacking players are in decisive positions and #2 it is hard to control possession stats with direct passing so the time-wasting also helps in this department. I recomend these tactical settings for all games where you are slight underdog all the way up to clear favorites on Home Field where there weather is bad. Also a good tactic for those lesser Quality technical teams that want a result orientated tactical out-look. It is also a good tactic to use in the last 10 mins on out field to get a result if you are behind or should be winning the match. Also a bonus tactic for the relegation battler in the last ten minutes as a last gap chance to get a goal on home field against the superior teams. Another setting one can try if you like this tactic but you want to play more short passing you can try to implement Anchelotti's passing setting (5). Tight Marking unless you are Clear Home Favorites then I would say that it is not necessary

General effect on Match-Stats: not so pretty match-stats but this tactic is none-the-less lethal (Clear Cut Chances).

The High Pressure Ideology:

The Arsene:

Mentality: (18)

Creative Freedom: (19)

Passing: (1)

Tempo: (18)

Width: (16)

Closing Down: (18)

Time-wasting: (6)

Defensive Line: (13)

Goal Keeper Distribution 'defender collect'.

The reason I chose this tactic: as Barcelona I will be meeting a lot of teams playing very defensively, so these setting are the settings I will use on Home Field. Clear Favorites. Generally in Spain weather is good.

This is the type of tactic one starts to use when the other mentioned tactics above The Arsene starts to fail because those settings won't necessaily over-ride your opponents' defensive capability (settings). The Arsene settings can but, of course, require quality players or that you are far superior to your opponent in a given match. Visually offers the best football in the current ME. I, of course, have implemented the Attacking Full Backs. The high tempo (18) and Creative Freedom (19) contributes to the attacking 'breaking down' of tight/defensive opponents. The high Closing Down (18) + higher D-line (13)gives the opponents less time to pass the ball around their defense and try to 'pull' the tempo out of the match and try to dominate the ball. If the weather is really bad (if you haven't noticed it pre-match, you usually early on get this message in the current match: "XPLAYER strides forward on the rainy pitch) you will have to bite the bullet and play The Milan. Also a good indication that one can start to use The Arsene tactic on Home Field (and you are unsure of your team's capability) is when you notice your opponent Time-Wasting early in the match: "He knows he is in no rush to kick the ball" or "He is taking time with the throw-in"...trial/error

General effects on the Match Stats: if you do not win comfortably against poor teams I can only suggest you sell your players and buy Torres, Aguero, Ronaldo, Messi...ect

The All Out Attack Ideology:

The England '66 (4-2-4):

Mentality: (21*)

Creative Freedom: (5)

Passing: (18)

Tempo: (20)

Width: (15)

Closing Down: (18)

Time-wasting: (1)

Defensive Line: (13)

The reason I chose this tactic: there always comes a time when one has to throw it all forward.

Just in case the FM Gamer doesn't know this, the Team Mentality slider has two more notches than all of the other sliders. Farthest left on this slider is Ultra Defensive (0*) and farthest right is the All Out Attack (21*). Remember it is a 4-2-4 formation so you will have to move your left and right Winger forward to the left and right Forward positions respectively. I would be looking to implement this tactic around the 70-80 minute of a match. You could attempt it ealier if you, for example, go down by 2 goals on home field against very poor opposition to grab a quick goal back, but usually implementing this tactic too early can have a negative effect. I use the Attacking Full Back also here regardless, because this tactic actually can be used by most teams the last 10 minutes of a match no matter what level. I say this because lets say that you are behind 1-0 and are looking to loose the match anyway as you can see your team simply can get past the opposition then it's either loosing (maybe) 2-0 (which I would say is not much difference than loosing 1-0) or hope that a long ball ends up somewhere one of my players can do the unbelievable and get one back. It won't always work but it's worth a shot when you have nothing to loose.

NB: I realise I have forgotten to mention that you will run out of Mentality Notches Individually in The Arsene and The England '66, so I have just implemented the little more 'defensive' Mentality settings compared to the Team Mentality.

You can now download them here:

Quick note: I have only implemented the Attacking Full Backs in the following tactics: The England '66, The Arsene, and The Brazil. I felt it was most 'natural' to put them here, but feel free to inlude them in the others and remember when you do to add 'cross from byline'. I haven't included the Defensive Full Back as it is up to you when and which tactic you need to include them (as I usually use it later on).

Also I haven't added the settings I would on a good Attacking Midfielder (perferably right MC), as you need quality if you do. So remember to add Run With Ball if you have him.

The attacking concelation is a Forward type on the left-side (Aguero/Bojan type) and the right-side a (fast) striker type (E'too type) and I usually have them swapping positions. I have left that out in case you have a Target-Man type, in this case add Hold On Ball, and if he is slow and poor dribler then Run With Ball(rarely) which should be on the right-side of attack.

You can always swap players instructions with it's counter part (maybe due to perferred foot) to fit your squad. Pease read the thread it will take only 15 minutes so you understand the implementation of them and have fun...

http://www.mediafire.com/?klkfd91wm8y

http://w13.easy-share.com/1903315087.html

[Loversleaper]

Tactical Overview: Tailoring tactics

In this part I will talk about which type of tactics could work for the team you are using. One should always keep an open mind as you need to know how strong your team is compared to opponents, but usually when you start getting them right it will become easier to follow the pattern.

The Relegation Battler: This is when you have taken over a poorer side and the media prediction have you in the relegation area. You know you will stuggle most matches so I suggest the following tactics for this ideology.

The Milan: for a lot of your home matches when you think you should have a chance against your opponent.

The Benitez: for those tough home matches or for late in the home games where you implement the Defensive Full Back and try to grind some results.

The Athletico: for out field matches use the Mentality (6) version and the Mentality (11) vesion later on in a match to see if you can press them a little and go for a goal if you are behind. Use also the Mentality (11) on home field if The Benitez isn't quite working for you.

The good thing about these tactics are that you don't have to worry about the weather as they suit all kinds. If you are away from home and your opponent gets a man sent off you can go with The Athletico that implements Mentality (11) but if you go one goal up switch down agains and change the Full Backs to the Defensive one. I would also recommend that you have the 4-2-4 as a weapon for the last 10 mins (only) to try and get an impossible result. If you aquire good players you will find you will overperform, the opposition teams will then play more tactical against you turning you into...

The Tactician: This for all the teams thinking about getting their team into the Play-Offs in the lower leagues or the European competition spots in the top leagues. This is the most difficult manager to be. You will being using the vast variety of tactics and also changing frequently during matches (unless what you are doing is working, of course). You might be thinking "oh no, I have a lot of work to do now" but it won't be that bad, it's a matter of some days maybe, but I think you will surprise yourself (get an indication in the Tactic Suggestion farther down this page). During matches you will do more to grind in results when need be during matches and sometimes changing tactics and/or using the Full Back tweaks will contribute to this. You are not alone as The Tactician and there will be other teams going for the same spots as you and they won't give it up too easily. You have to costumise yourself to the ME and the Match Stats and really make an effort in noticing when you change something you see what it effects and possibly why, as this will really help you getting the tactics right on the day, and if not today then the next time you meet your opponent. You might decide to play the more direct passing style for your team but your *GPA* general passing assumption should reflect which style that would complement your team most. A lot of trial and error but if you read all the tactics mentioned you should have a good indication on what direction you will be going when choosing tactics. Rarely will you be playing The High Pressure Ideology, but this will most likely slowly start to change the more better your team gets. When you master the art of being The Tactician you will find yourself being...

The Master: This is for when your team and tactics have most teams 'running away scared'. In other words, you don't need any advice on what tactics to use because you know that since you just taught your opponent a 'lesson' in football he will be playing much more tactically defensive/high-timewasting formations the next time you meet him. You will be playing The High Pressure ideology on home field for most of the time. You will find yourself time to time in the uncharted territories of playing the more Attacking Mentality Tacitcs away from home (or switching to) during matches. A good indication is when playing away you see your opponent time-wasting early on in the match, but it won't really happen until either the second half of the Competition, or the following seasons where you have been very dominant Home and in Europe. I think it's most responsible to have all the ideologies even though you might use some of the tactics very rarely, but could make the difference in tight title races or situations where you maybe have a red-carded player. But generally:

The Arsene: home.

The Italy: away.

The England '66: agaisnt those teams who just don't want to loose (late in match).

The General Manager: Should always be looking to improve everything in the club.

Part one: Players

You have to get good players so I suggest every-one to go look in the Good Player Forum and get some of the shortlists. Particularily the one with all the young future stars because this is quite a good 'tactic' for your long term planning. Either you can sell them later for big money or have an established star in your squad and you are going for honours. It is not the best idea to field a full squad of young talents unless it is your only option (some of them will buckle under pressure). Some players perform, others just have limited talent and there are those that underperform. You have to 'hang' some of them out in the press (player interaction) from time to time and this is what I suggest: if a regular team player has, for example 6-7-6-7-6 (or simular) average form I would at one point say "below par", if it is 6-6-5 then it's "unhappy with form". This usually helps and they should pick up form. If some-how it doesnt help you should go with "deeply upset" and bench him. Give him a couple weeks break and let him play in the reserves and check his form there. If nothing helps sell him and get someone who will as there is plenty of talent in this game.

Part two: Press and Team Talks

Personally, I am quite lazy when it comes to the press so I send the assistant. But if I have to play against a class opponent or generally away from home against a better opponent I will show up in person. This is because the assistant usually says we will favor an 'attacking' out look on the game which could make some players uneasy. I tend to be incredibly 'Cagey' but I will have made sure I have checked in on the assistant's press statements from time to time and see how they effect the squad, this would be the easiest way to figure out what to say because many players react differently so this way you can have a general idea when it's your turn. Usually you have to be kind in the press and to the players in team talks unless you have a Star Struck Squad, in this situation you have to be more doubtfull and less kind in the press. This actually motivates your players to proove you wrong (hopefully sometimes you will get the player's match ratings up in the world-class zone). Team talks I will always check what the assistant and I would argue that 95% of the time it's ok suggestion, but have on rare ocasions changed them. Half time usually it's good to give some of your players 'disappointing' personal statement to motivate a player that doesn't seam to be in the match. I always give one of the strikers this if he hasn't scored and his rating is under 6.6 and generally all other players under 6.3 then maybe 'prove point'. You must be more gentle on young players unless he is like Messi and established star on your team. The half time talk that the assistant rarely uses is the 'don't let your performance drop' or 'don't get careless' and this I use a lot. Suggest you do the same if you are The Tactician or The Master managers, lots more of the 'pleased' for The Relegation Battler or teams doing well against superior opposition.

Part three: Coaches and Training

Get good coaches and make sure they are doing the right training regime (training/coaches). Check out the FAQ for what coaches to look for and what they effect because it helps strengthen your tactics which will make impact on long term result over-view. There are plenty of good training schedules around (I am currently using Tug's Training and have no complaints) and it is good to have a Strength/Stamina training regime which I recomend you use the entire July month, and then switch to the personal player training regimes. When you have the required information on how to set this part up it shouldn't take anyone more than 10-15 minutes to have this over and done with (and rarely you will have to alter things afterwards).

Part four: Tweaks and Free Roles

Using small tweaks can make huge impacts when all the settings have been placed as described in this post. I always at one point acquire good Full Backs and use the Attacking Full Back as much as I can (usually the Attacking tactics) as it really gives the game an extra demension. I know I didn't specifically include them in the writen explainations in the tactics but that is because if your Full Back doesn't have the Quality (compared to current opponent) then it could back-fire. Get a good AMC with dribling and swap your attackers postions which will also have it's dimension. In the top leagues you will find that your attackers might have low ratings but that is because good defenders can 'man mark' your player out of a match and this is one way to combat that. Also a good tactical suggestion one could try later in a match is throw in a tall striker when your opponent is playing very defensively and you are pressing high up the pitch. Activate the 'use target man' option and hit balls up to his head and have the other striker (perferably the Forward type) with a free role, this can do the trick for the better squads to change things up because still for me the best strike force is the Torres/Aquero types of players with a Bendtner type for the back up. To get used to the Free Role implementation I would start out by using them later in matches to see what effects it has on a player (after I have an idea how he is doing so far). Things might not be that 'visual' to start with but during the course of time you should pick on up because I personally feel that from the start of a new game they are not that important and the game itself gives you time to get used to them for the future where you will implement them more to help 'break down' Ultra Defensive formations. SirAlex uses Free Roles on wingers and thats why he always has the best of the best in those postions (NB: you will encounter a Man U team using 4 Free Roles).

Part five: Tactic Suggestions

This is just to give an idea how I would have played a game in the current situation I was facing. It is generally not necessary to change the Mentality drastically to attack more or defend more, but changing to similar tactics or close mentality-wise is something I have tested and recommend from time to time to see the effects (good in friendlies). It is just so the User sees the differences which can clarify a lot of how the ME is built up. Wide or narrow, slow or quick, short or long...the combinations have effects and thats why I have chosen the tactical settings explained above (in the Tactic section), because they include all the ideologies that build up tactics through certain tactical 'rules', which can then be translated into your own tactics as long as you have understood the Mentality 'reality'. One can break these tactical 'rules' but it requires generally World Class players. I will dwell into this later on.

Up against it at home: The Athletico.

Up against top teams and/or you are big underdogs at home: The Benitez, The Italy, *(Alternative trial/error: The Claudio, The Anchelotti).

Slight underdogs/Slight favorites at home: The Argentina, The Milan

Clear favorites at home: The Arsene

Up against it away: The Athletico

Slight underdogs away: The Capello

Slight favorites away: The Anchelotti

Clear/large favorites away: The Italy, The Benitez, *(Futuristic temptations: The Brazil, The Claudio, The Milan)

In case you have to play in one of the Cup Finals you will usually be playing on a Neutral Pitch:

Big favorites (rarely): The Argentina, The Milan

Slight favorites: The Brazil, The Claudio

Slight underdogs: The Benitez, The Italy, *(Alternative trial/error: The Anchelotti or attempt to 'act' like a Slight favorite)

Big underdogs: The Anchelotti, The Capello

Remember these are just guide-lines on how one can play on Neutral Pitches but you can always attempt to charge your way back into a match by using The Milan. I play these matches on full so I have much more time to make assumptions/changes because usually here you will be playing against competent teams.

Part six: Reading the ME and Match Stats

Generally the one thing that they all share in the 'Assistant's View' during matches is that your players should be 'up for it and tackling superbly'. If this is not apparent then you are using the wrong tactic. The other indication is the Clear Cut Chances which I rate higher than other stats, and this goes both for your team and the opponent. Expanded high-lights when playing matches gives strong indications if your tactics are working. You should be noticing who is getting the majority of chances (regardless of possession) and if your opponent is getting several quality chances in a row take a 'time out' and hit the 'pause' button, take a look at the different things that could be causing you problems and change to something more attacking or defending. A manager should know how the match should be going before making this decision because it could be one or the other, and learning from the effects of these decisions can be rewarding for the future (this game is not all about one match).

To be sure if one's counter attacking settings are correct it should show that your opponents start with the ball (in the high-light) but it is your team that is ending the attack in that high-light sequence. Reading the match messages during a match should give you ideas if you are playing on a rainy pitch (and you forgot to notice before this point) or that the opponent is time-wasting which indicates that they could be playing more defensively than your attacking settings can over-ride. But one shouldn't panic if one is creating quality chances because it might be a question of time, you can wait with changes until later or you unluckily go behind. You don't always need perfect possession or connecting passes, or worrying too much about the opponent stretching your D-line if the match stats don't indicate you could go behind, but I would sometimes listen to the Assistants view on regards to what players you can go hard on and close down those slow opposition MC's if the opponent is causing some problems. Don't show on to weaker foot unless that player looks very dangerous because the ME has flip side alternatives, so I advise not to fix what is not broken. But generally it is a good idea to implement the 'weaker foot' option on an opposition striker or Full Back with only one foot. But I don't do much in this department but will keep notes on players that destroy me (which is honestly rare).

[Loversleaper]

Playing The ME:

I suggest that at the beginning one takes a little more time when learning about these tactical ideologies. Extended high-lights is the minimum requirement to have a good 'visual' impact, one should start noticing the 'patterns' the ME offers you (because it actucally is telling us a lot on what is happening). I, personally, play the match on Full in the start of the match when I am familiarising myself with a new tactic (and make a note on the type of manager/team I am up against) and when I feel 'comfortable' with the different aspects I have quickly zoomed through, I will switch Match High-lights back to extended. Extended also offers a better view on those instances that occur when the AI team might start to play more offensive later on in the match.

The AI has behaviors and this is the reason that tactics eventually fail if one does not know what to do. If you understand the ideology of the different types of managers you are, depending on your Club/Squad (explained in The Tactical Over-view above this post), you will be able to work around the AI's Re-Ranking ideology. Re-Ranking is actually a true fact through-out the entire football-world and it shouldn't be a problem, because the only effects it has how much you should attack or defend, and I would argue the fact of attacking or defending does happen week-in and week-out in every league in the world (rarely does your local team play only attacking mentalities for every match or defensive for that matter). Good managers know when to attack or defend (and how much) because when this is clear then you will unlock the secrets of the ME. Handling a World Class Club is different than other clubs because there are more expectations and you have players/coaches that help tactics break the 'tactical rules' the AI allows (so to say).

Let me emphasize that it is not an exact science when applying the sliders that create good tactics, but you should follow the general rules to maximise results. The problems people will have when they build tactics is: if they don't follow these certain *tactical rules*(which I will describe under this part), you might create 'Contradicting' instructions which will cause the famous 'random' result ideology that some people have claimed or the eventual crash of their tactics (remember it takes time for players to get used to formations). Learning how to use the Players Invidual instructions is quite simple: just start out with mixed ideologies on them and then tweak slightly from there, although you might have 'personal rules' in the first place, and then see how the do with the settings. Free Roles is really trial/error and something that shouldn't be applyed as 'set-rules', but more for alternating current tactic to unlock the opponent's defense. Sometimes you are using the right Mentality frame-work and seem to lack goals, this is a tool I might implement to see how they react (perferable a Forward type).

Building Tactics Part one: The Sliders

As explained in Players Settings: for any tactic I build a base-set up mostly of mixed/normal/default (look for my explaination in The First Steps In Structuring Tacics section) for the players instructions and leave all the team instructions sliders in the middle of the bar. I suggest also you include set-piece instuctions in the base set-up so you don't have to change them individually everytime you create new 'Team Settings'. Sliders work in conjunction with one and other which translates into what effects occur in the Match Engine (ME). This is the reason why that there are no 'magical combinations' that make tactics work and if you look at the tactics I have discussed in this thread should illustrate this (that was my aim, though). Combinations of the sliders determine if you can over-power the settings that the AI applies against you. It is not a question of "should it be 14 or 15 on the slider and how should I know which is best", but more "14 in conjunction with what?".

Mentality: This is the first most important part when one has to 'over-power' the AI's capability (settings) during a match. Understanding mentality can be hard at the start but as soon as you know (hopefully after this post) how it works it, and it's changes, are easy to handle. Testing shows that if you can equal or over-power the AI's Defensive Capabilty (mentality setting) by a small margin it has good effects on the match stats and combined with other simple rules (passing and width) makes the tactic functionable. Too much contrast causes the mentality part to fail which is the base of any tactic (because then it doesn't matter what other settings you use, the main cause is this).

Let me explain: 1-20 notches. Another way we can look at it is every increase of a notch is actually increases its value with 5% (20x5%=100%). To follow through just so you know how my mind works on the above assumption: this is actucally the way that the AI over-powers your settings but if you know what to do you can easily combat this.

Let's say that normally the AI attacks you with mentality (15) and you normally defend with mentality (6). So let's look at this for a minute:

AI (15)= 75% attack and 25% defend

You (6)= 30% attack and 70% defend

You can see that you are over-powering the AI's defending pocent with 5% which is actually good for your Match Stats. But what happens when the AI switches to a mentality (13) and you are still on mentality on mentality (6). Lets take a look:

AI (13)= 65% attack and 35% defend

You (6)= 30% attack and 70% defend

Here you can see that you are no longer overpowering the AI and this is why the whole Re-Ranking is an issue. This 'gave birth' to more attacking defensive formation that had mentality (8) (remember The Anchelotti's settings?) which again is: 40% attack and 60% defend which then again can over-power the setting of AI mentality (13).

This pattern gradually goes up the Mentality Chain, and the AI actually doesn't have as many options as first thought. Lets look at the AI's possible Mentality Settings:

Home: (15) or (13) or (10). The type of opponent should at least exclude one of these mentalites if not two, so that would maybe leave you two choises defending (as Cloen has always stated: "small changes can make the difference once you know how you are attacking or defending) and it will be a mentality setting close to the one you chose.

World-class sides attack differently than other teams and the common 'trait' they all have is they attack (18) at home against you. Now the ME doesn't react well if you give your players too defensive settings to start a game with and this collided with the mentality (18) which is attacking 90% and 10%. This is were defensive width (narrow) came into the picture (explained in width section) and this allowed you to still attack 25% and defend 75% which is the most responsible balance to go (except late in the match) when away from home.

Away: (10), (8) or (6). Again you as a manager should guess which one it is and gamers should easily find these options and (maybe) have an 'alternative' option if one fails becuase it will be a mentality setting close by (re-read The Tactical Overview -part six- to have indications on how the AI is playing).

Having said all this there are few exceptions because maybe the circumstances might slightly change (triggering Re-Ranking) during the course of the game, and maybe it is just because an opponent decides to play tactical and get a vital point for a play-off or a Relegation Battler goes a little more attacking (as I explained in The Atheltico tactic part) and attempts to steal a point to avoid relegation. So watch out for the odd situation if you want to totally maximise results and watch out for when you drastically over-perform with a poor squad *(Example). The better you get as a manager the more defensive the AI will attempt to be to over-power your attacking settings this causes your tactics to fail and not because you are a bad manager. That is why I claim learning Mentality is vital.

*(Example) After promotion to the EPL with a young and exciting Watford team I climbed up to 7 and was facing an underperforming Tottenham team (16th) at home and the match odds said I was comfortable favorite. Just because you are comfortable favorite you shouldn't go High Pressure, but if I were a World-class squad like Barcelona then I would. The point is always try to be realistic at times.

Concluding the Mentality part: I would like to point out that you don't have to be precise and get Mentality 100% accurate. But being in the right mentality area is important. You can always attempt other strategies but if you don't have a good reason for doing so I can imagine that the results will be, more or less, random result-wise. Having very good squads can allow you to be a little more offensive mentality-wise, but if the contrast becomes too big (compared to opponent) I think your team will suffer result-wise.

Creative Freedom: Don't confuse this with free-role. Creative freedom allows your players to be more daring in passing and movement. It is a 'tool' to unlock Defensive AI Formations, and to implement in the high area (15+ on this slider) you need to have a very good/world class team otherwise they will most likely be throwing the ball away and get more caught out of position. You need a good balance because if you go to low then you will have an 'uninspiring' team having difficulties 'surpising the opponent' which can be rewading for your team. This (low creative freedom) can be handy against the more of the top teams when you are playing defensive so you minimise 'risk' but going too low causes a 'Player to not know what to do with it' and will clear the ball more when under-pressure. But to implement a setting of (18+) you definatly need a world-class team. Creative Freedom is usually no too far away from your Mentality setting (usually not more than 5 motches).

Tempo: This slider is very influencial when implemented correctly. It is only the world-class teams that can really use this in the (16+) area and they use it to 'tire' out the opponent team with constant fast-play which the less talented players will have difficulty stopping. Tempo as a 'usual' rule should follow the Passing Setting (general area) and can ONLY be broken if your team has considerable talent (perferably world-class). This could cause your tactic to fail if you haven't assessed your teams overall strength (compared to opponent) and followed the 'rule'. Even though you want to play quick and short like Arsenal if your team lacks quality they will really struggle. Tempo has two effects when you implement it with time-wasting: #1 slower tempo with higher time-wasting is what you can do later in the game to give the opposition less 'time' to get a goal back or #2 faster tempo with lesser time-wasting makes your team use less time to get forward to goal chances to get you back into the game or you want a goal up.

Passing: You can determine this several ways. #1: Generally it is best to play short(er) passing in good weather and direct(er) passing in rainy. #2: Generally poor teams play more direct(er) and good teams play more short(er). #3 Generally short(er) passing is better with narrower width and direct(er) passing is better with wider width. #4 Generally attacking teams play short(er) passing and defensive teams plays more direct(er). #5 Generally slower tempo teams play short(er) passing and quicker tempo teams play direct(er) passing. To break these general rules you need a really good team generally or you can use the 'compared to opponent' theory. If you are a very poor team you can break rule #3 where you will play direct and narrow (this helps poorer teams connect better), but these settings don't really compliment better teams.

Width: As mentioned it is a good idea to follow the passing setting which should help in possession stats, so don't have them too far appart. Only go really narrow (4 or less) if you really need to because you might not want to 'crowd' the middle of the field and giving less space to you and your opponent becoming a more or less random game, but you can see this is helpful if you are playing a much stronger team which might cause you to pull off an unexpected result. Too wide (16+) needs a World-Class team and the players need good stats (again you can use the 'compared to opponent' ideology when need be). Wide gives your opponent much more space and if your players can get back into position due to stamina and decision making (and a couple of other atributes) they will eventually be caught out of position and the opposition will run through you. Generally the width is mostly center-ish and a little to one side or the other in conjunction with passing, these settings react best in the match stats.

Closing Down: To be high on this slider (16+) you need high stamina players or your team will tire out and you will most likely conceed late in a match. Generally it is best to wait with High Closing Down (High Pressure) until you have a full, more or less, World-Class squad with top Fitness coaches or you could have difficulties with results due to poorer fitness. Generally in a 4-4-2 formation it is best to have the Closing Down (5) Notches above the Defensive-line.

Time-Wasting: Has some strange ideology behind it. If you leave it dead center on the slider, the players pretty much decide what tempo suits the score-line so they will slow down when they are in front or speed up when they are behind. But it isn't always a good idea to let them decide (their decesion making effects this presummably) and you can use it as a tool. So it is wise to not let your players waste too much time when you want to win, and on the other hand you might want them to drag the game out getting more possession allowing less time for your opponent to score. When you are time-wasting it has a different effect if you use it with attacking mentalities or with defensive mentalities. With defensive mentalities it is simple because you don't want the opponent to have the ball. But when you implement high time-wasting with direct passing and attacking mentalities you have a team more holding on to the ball 'waiting' for your team to get into dangerous positions which is one of the reasons that The Milan tactic can be lethal. It can be implemented with a certain style/type of play...

Defensive-Line: This is easier to apply if you think about the overall game plan. You could also look at what type of opponent strikers you will be up against to determine this as you want to be lower if they have rocket type forwards. But if you have fast defenders then you should be able to push further up the pitch and that's one thing a lot of the top clubs try to acquire. Rarely does any of the AI teams push up too much. SirAlex usually has his D-line set at (10) and I think this has something to do with allowing a 'natural' space he can take advantage of with his quick wingers when he is focussing passes down the flanks as he is hoping to draw the opposition further up the pitch. Other high class teams usually press the defensive line up to (13) so they can implement the high closing down (High Pressure ideology).

Conclusion: For those that are building your own tactics you should have a check list and see if you might be 'breaking' any of the rules. I would like to always keep an open mind and these conclusions are rushed on my part to try and explain what I have experienced so far. I might be missing some things and I will always be looking for upgrading possibilities, so please feel free to ask any questions but remember to look through the post if you haven't already as I may have answered your question somewhere. All the rest of the issues like tackling and other options is pretty much up to how you see things as a manager because you should notice what your players are doing contra your instuctions. Just always start out basic, like the tactics mentioned in this thread, and when you change things away (tweaking) from the more or less 'base-set-up' of any tactic, be sure to know why you are doing it and check the effects it has when playing a match. You might take a little time but shortly you should be able to see if what you are implementing is working and when it does work you won't be wasting too much time with assumptions. The Final Rule: have at least three tactical ideologies (a defensive, a middle, and an attacking) to maximise results and never be afraid to use extreme settings to break down those teams that just don't want to loose. Good Luck...

[Loversleaper]

Conclusion:

The hardships of a manager: You will encounter difficulties from time to time and they will be annoying. Some of them you can do something about and some of them you have to deal with it untill it changes, let me explain:

Descipline and hair-dryers: You need to have this in your team. You have to fine players for several things or they become un-desciplined which causes a big problem. You might be thinking "does the AI players actually think and have behavior? that's impossible"... but it's not. When you have an un-desciplined team they are actually 'dis-obeying' the instructions you give the players causing your tactics to not function 100% like they should (NB: coaches also help with tactical accuracy, sounds weird maybe but none-the-less true). The game itself gives you the option to give a fine for 'poor performance' to a player and when it does I advise you to take it and fine him. You have to hang underperforming 'Star Players' (usually strikers and offensive midfielders) out in the press from time to time for underperforming and you will most likely see a change. You have to keep your players on their 'toes' or they will just carry on being the way they are. You will encounter situations where you just have to get rid of a player a get a new one who will fight for your team.

Reshaping the Squad: This is the most impossible thing to get around and I know that many will find this fact incredibly annoying. When you are changing your team drastically either through too much rotation or if you just bought a new 'team' you will struggle the first 10-15 matches regardless of what you do. This is actually due to the players not 'gelled' into the team which translates to 'not obeying' tactical instructions. To be successful you need to build a stabil squad (with minor changes if necessary) over a period of time and they generally have to be 'established' status. Younger and poorer players swing more in quality and they 'dis-obey' instructions more frequently.

The transition to World-Class status: This might be difficult for some teams going up 'through the ranks' as you will be changing players frequently untill you have a 'Star' team and you need the results that back up the type of player you need to acquire. In the transition periode you need to be very aware when the AI opponent is over-riding your settings (explained in the Mentality section) and you need to be more daring and go more attacking. But I would recommend that you do this during matches opposed to from the start of a match just to make sure and be 'safe'. You will see that they need to get used to the higher closing down, tempo and creative freedom but it does not take that long. The whole theory is that you need to get 'good form' status so you have your opponents on the 'defense' which will make it easier to really attack them. Remember to experiement with the Futuristic Away ideologies at times because although I explained (in the Tactical Suggestion part) that they have a 'home' and 'away' ideology in reality it's just an 'attacking' or 'defending' game-plan (also during matches) so you might run into these type of instances and it shouldn't cause too much of a problem (if you have read the 'Reading the ME' part).

The End: I hope that I have made sense and in the first post I hope to add a link where a User named Pendant will make a 'eye-pleasing' version of this thread that should be easier to print out/read. I know it looks like a lot but most of what I have written is already know to the Community, but for someone who really want's to know what he is 'getting' himself into then it is a good read which shouldn't take more than 15-20 minutes. The only thing I can promise you is that the way I have seen the game played out with the ideologies I have mentioned and the weather, referee, pitch, ect... in front of my eyes makes for the best Manager Game of all time. The ME could be better but what in this world couldn't use a little upgrading from time to time.

I think that the FM game today follows more of the patterns and stats that occur every-week in every league and the whole ideology behind the sliders creating different styles of play is better than first thought. It's funny I read the 'News of the world' (english sunday newspaper) and a lot of the things going on in there (manager interaction or several tactical attempts that managers explain after the match) reflects, maybe primatively, into this game. I hope when you see things the way I have you might have as much fun/success as I have (from time to time, of course). All the best...

[Finknottle]

Welcome back, Loversleaper. I look forward to you presenting us with another set of your very good tactics, as previously in the game.

[rick59]

"yep!!",, agree with oescus, nice to know your still around LOVELEAPER, & hope to see you produce another wonderful set for this new episode of fm.

[Ron_Susie]

So far it was a brilliant read. I'm going to give them a little tester in my game. Thanks.

[velja_tw]

Just want to make sure,how many sliders are there when you count?For example when it's set on a minimum do you count it as 1 or 0?

[Loversleaper]

Just want to make sure,how many sliders are there when you count?For example when it's set on a minimum do you count it as 1 or 0?

On all sliders it is 1-20, except the Team Mentality slider which I count as 0-21 so that the team and individual numbers still match eachother...

[Hektor]

Excellent reading...I was just testing out the Benitez tactic and I have a question though: do we leave 'focus passing' on mixed?

[Loversleaper]

Excellent reading...I was just testing out the Benitez tactic and I have a question though: do we leave 'focus passing' on mixed?

Sorry that I left out many things, but it is because they are then on *Normal/mixed* if not mentioned.

[Asim]

excellent guide mate, very helpful indeed.

tactics are a good template to follow and tweak to your own team/players.

i like the italian tactic, as one thing i have learned since playing fm, i hate conceding a single goal, so i find myself really happy with 1-0 and not so with 5-1.

well done.

3 questions for you,

am i right in assuming this is all zonal marking, i dont think u mentioned it in your article if u did then sorry.

when swapping positions for the strikers, do you have to tick 'swap positions' on both the players or just one? iv always done both, but some times i find once they swap over they never swap back.

and secondly,

i play with 2 strong centre mids, rather than the 1 defensive and 1 attacking combo most people use. at the moment i have Gareth Barry and Ramires in the centre, another player as an example would be xabi alonso. good tackling, good passing. how would you implement this in your tactics?

i have them on the same mentality and same instructions. i want them to sit in the middle and control the play. i have good wingers and fast strikers around them.

[Beevster]

Great post

[Beevster]

I'am playing with Cambridge city in BSP we got promoted last season, Currently 15th in the league, we are relegation candidates.

So i employed your Althletico idea into a tactic, it was the very low mentality one, and we just beat top of the league hehe gj man!.

More over in the post match report, "we tought Chester a lesson today" HAHA quality 3 ccc's for me 0 ccc's for them love it!

Im going to look forward to making up allsorts of tactics now with this idea, when and where i need them.

[Loversleaper]

excellent guide mate, very helpful indeed.

tactics are a good template to follow and tweak to your own team/players.

i like the italian tactic, as one thing i have learned since playing fm, i hate conceding a single goal, so i find myself really happy with 1-0 and not so with 5-1.

well done.

3 questions for you,

am i right in assuming this is all zonal marking, i dont think u mentioned it in your article if u did then sorry.

when swapping positions for the strikers, do you have to tick 'swap positions' on both the players or just one? iv always done both, but some times i find once they swap over they never swap back.

and secondly,

i play with 2 strong centre mids, rather than the 1 defensive and 1 attacking combo most people use. at the moment i have Gareth Barry and Ramires in the centre, another player as an example would be xabi alonso. good tackling, good passing. how would you implement this in your tactics?

i have them on the same mentality and same instructions. i want them to sit in the middle and control the play. i have good wingers and fast strikers around them.

When using 'swapping' positions I only tick the one of them, I know this should be enough and they should be swapping positions ca. every 10 minutes match time.

The mentalities differences are not because you have to use a defensive midfielder and an attacking midfielder in the formations, they are more to give your team 'positioning structure' so you would still play like this even though you are using, for example, two attacking midfielders. It is just so the two midfielders are not 'stepping on each others toes' so to say, and adds some dimension to the game.

I always use zonal marking, because it holds your team more in formation as sometimes 'man marking' has your players all over the place (expecially when playing against top teams).

[marioneta]

great post mate!!!

Just one question shall we use any kind of arrows on the tactics?

[Asim]

When using 'swapping' positions I only tick the one of them, I know this should be enough and they should be swapping positions ca. every 10 minutes match time.

The mentalities differences are not because you have to use a defensive midfielder and an attacking midfielder in the formations, they are more to give your team 'positioning structure' so you would still play like this even though you are using, for example, two attacking midfielders. It is just so the two midfielders are not 'stepping on each others toes' so to say, and adds some dimension to the game.

I always use zonal marking, because it holds your team more in formation as sometimes 'man marking' has your players all over the place (expecially when playing against top teams).

thanks for the response, i will try and change a few things around with my own tactic based on your advice.

1 more thing, do you use any opposition instructions or leave it to the tactics?

[Loversleaper]

great post mate!!!

Just one question shall we use any kind of arrows on the tactics?

I, personally, don't think it is necessary (please read the Player Settings: Reasoning section-first post- where I explain why).

[Loversleaper]

Asim- for your last question look in the General Manager part six -second post-, where I give some insights (I rarely use them though).

[Jay1992]

hi loversleaper, thanks for the advice, just one thing, where can i find these tactics in the FM editor, as you said they can be found in there?

[Loversleaper]

hi loversleaper, thanks for the advice, just one thing, where can i find these tactics in the FM editor, as you said they can be found in there?

You have to translate the Managers'/clubs' tactical attributes into the sliders.

[marioneta]

Loversleaper if we have super Full Backs like sergio Ramos and good regens could we play with the attacking instructions for them in every tactic?Or should we keep in some off the tactics the defender type?

[Loversleaper]

Loversleaper if we have super Full Backs like sergio Ramos and good regens could we play with the attacking instructions for them in every tactic?Or should we keep in some off the tactics the defender type?

I think it has something to do with your opposition winger (and where he is placed). If you can see your opponent playing defensively...then why not. If he is getting caught out of possition then no...

[Jay1992]

Loversleaper,

im starting a new game with arsenal, so which tactics would you recommend to use home and away? against smaller teams and the other top 4 teams?

[marioneta]

thks mate, so far performances are impressive.....played 10 games, 10 wins with my man city side.

Scored 28 and sufered 7, so will carry on and most of all i'm really enjoying the way i'm playing always dominating every game.

[cagri]

again great work lovesleaper.many thanks!i'm already taking pages of notes and find that once neglected weather conditions can play a great part in game.also happy with 10 match testing the tactics.i got a massive victory of 5-1 with Galatasaray against Besiktas (one of the title challenger) with completely dominating the game and having 7 CCC.but lost against Arsenal 3-0 in emirates although i found tons of counter chances but failed to score so i was still happy with the football.one question is i want play lone striker formation with a free roled highly creative AMc and two box-to-box midfielder.also i have wingers who suits free roles and almost acting as wing forwards.so a 4-2-3-1 is what i want to shape.how shall i give the mentality instructions to AMs?keep wingers on team still and using AMc as a link between midfield and attack so team +1 or 2 mentality while ST is team +3 mentality.:confused:

[Loversleaper]

again great work lovesleaper.many thanks!i'm already taking pages of notes and find that once neglected weather conditions can play a great part in game.also happy with 10 match testing the tactics.i got a massive victory of 5-1 with Galatasaray against Besiktas (one of the title challenger) with completely dominating the game and having 7 CCC.but lost against Arsenal 3-0 in emirates although i found tons of counter chances but failed to score so i was still happy with the football.one question is i want play lone striker formation with a free roled highly creative AMc and two box-to-box midfielder.also i have wingers who suits free roles and almost acting as wing forwards.so a 4-2-3-1 is what i want to shape.how shall i give the mentality instructions to AMs?keep wingers on team still and using AMc as a link between midfield and attack so team +1 or 2 mentality while ST is team +3 mentality.:confused:

The thing is that I have spent so much time on the 4-4-2 and setting them up (and testing them) that I have not had much time to dwell into other formations. I have left some posts open at the top so I hope soon (...need time) I can describe how one can use alternative formations. Looking at other AI managers has suggested that they play a little different ideologies, especially in the Closing Down and Defensive line set-ups, and I have some few ideas. Having said that I would like to know what I am talking about before I open my mouth and I can only do this after some trial and error.

If you do get the tactics right then you should always 'feel' as your team is still in the match. Against Arsenal I would have suggested you play The Athletico tactical settings away from home and The Benitez at Home (and maybe had The Milan as back up if things are not going my way) because (unfortunatly for you) Galatasaray doesn't have that good a Reputation (yet, but you will change this of course) in Europe.

[Jay1992]

Loversleaper, i don't understand about translating the attributes into the sliders? how do you do it?

[Loversleaper]

Loversleaper, i don't understand about translating the attributes into the sliders? how do you do it?

Check out this thread: TacGraber - Steal the AI's tactics - Experiments & Discussion, and look on page 4, there should be a post by a User named K-otic. He has a great screen shot on how you can 'translate' AI tactical settings into your settings...

[Keniris]

Will there be a tactical set available for download soon?

[Loversleaper]

Will there be a tactical set available for download soon?

I am not always that technical, but would argue that it won't take more than a few minutes to create the above tactics. The explainations might be long - but the work minimum. I have just been detailed in the descriptions so they look advanced but are actually (really) simple to make...

[Jay1992]

yeah please make sum tactics to download, im struggling to find out which tactics are best for arsenal!

[Loversleaper]

yeah please make sum tactics to download, im struggling to find out which tactics are best for arsenal!

I have explained (in detail) which tactics that could work. If you have time re-read the post, it might seem like long reading but all the same, quite simple to understand. I know that many might think this is overly advanced since I have written so much, but the whole ideology behind what I have writen is very straight forward and you will realise that you don't have to do endless tweaking and such. I just wrote things in detail so the FM Gamers will have a good idea what I am talking about (and situations that people will recognise)...

[Code]

I love this idea Loversleaper and I just implemented these tactics. So am I right saying that I now have 9 tactics depending on odds, 4 if it's bad weather (Athletico, Ancelotti, Benitez, Milan), 5 if it's sunny (Capello, Ancelotti, Italy, Argentina, Arsene)? 2 Neutral tactics, 1 sunny (The Brazil), 1 rainy (The Claudio)? And finally, one all-out-attack, the England '66. Equals 12, which you've mentioned (if you split Ancelotti's). Well that's a very lovely set if I got that right, will try it as I know how succesful AI tactics can be and even more if they're splitted in sections like you did. Wonderful work

[marioneta]

jay do yourself the tactics mate, i've done it after read and only take 15 minutes it's very easy and in meanwhile while you read and put the tactics into the game you understand the tactics more and how to use it.....

[amirko]

Loversleaper, it is something special. I have read a lot about creating tactics but this what you wrote here is something the best I have ever read. Thank you and I am hoping that you will do same thing in the future.

Thanks

[Jay1992]

i am creating the tactics now, i was getting so confused with so many different posts ive read. So when making all of these tactics, you always use the player settings that were mentioned in the first step for structuring tactics, am i right?

[Code]

i am creating the tactics now, i was getting so confused with so many different posts ive read. So when making all of these tactics, you always use the player settings that were mentioned in the first step for structuring tactics, am i right?

Yes, this is what I did.

[marioneta]

The Tactics

General effects on the match stats: you should be controlling possession and shots on goal. If you are only controlling possession but the opponent has had far more chances indicate that your mentality framework for the given match is too low (this should be apparent on the half-hour mark in the first half at the latest).

Loversleaper when you say this should we increase the mentality?for example in capello tactic mentality is 6 if this hapens we should increase it to what number?or is the trial/error until he can dominate the chances?

[Loversleaper]

i am creating the tactics now, i was getting so confused with so many different posts ive read. So when making all of these tactics, you always use the player settings that were mentioned in the first step for structuring tactics, am i right?

Yes, and then from there (save this base set-up, remember to add your set-piece instructions so you won't have to do it individually afterwards) . Once this is done then implement the team settings one by one and save them. Third step is the Individual Mentalities and CB closing down described in the first post. Finished...

[Loversleaper]

.

Loversleaper when you say this should we increase the mentality?for example in capello tactic mentality is 6 if this hapens we should increase it to what number?or is the trial/error until he can dominate the chances?

I find it better then to switch up to The Anchelotti, because it is tighter and the passing (12) makes a change that might 'surprise' the opponent. But still I would suggest you try it and report back (if you like) because I actually haven't dwelled on this because I am still in the 'testing phase' and this would add new dimensions to the tactics...

[Jay1992]

Just used anchelotti tactic on my man utd save, against chelsea at stamford bridge (im doing a test with the tactics to see how they work), i won 2-0 and dominated the whole game. Quality!!!

[Loversleaper]

I love this idea Loversleaper and I just implemented these tactics. So am I right saying that I now have 9 tactics depending on odds, 4 if it's bad weather (Athletico, Ancelotti, Benitez, Milan), 5 if it's sunny (Capello, Ancelotti, Italy, Argentina, Arsene)? 2 Neutral tactics, 1 sunny (The Brazil), 1 rainy (The Claudio)? And finally, one all-out-attack, the England '66. Equals 12, which you've mentioned (if you split Ancelotti's). Well that's a very lovely set if I got that right, will try it as I know how succesful AI tactics can be and even more if they're splitted in sections like you did. Wonderful work

That is one way to look at it, and it can also be how you personally want/need to play due to Club Ability. Good work also on your part. I would never have used so much time with all these explainations, but I was down-hearted by so many FM Gamers having difficulties. This post just sums up all the different things already floating around the forum, and just tried to structure it all as sensible as I can. Many tactics are on the right track, but many of the FM Gamers need to understand the Mentality structure that makes up the whole Foot-Ball game...

[Smac]

Great stuff Loversleaper. Your writing is so clear and enjoyable, and heh, the tactics ain't bad either!

[Code]

That is one way to look at it, and it can also be how you personally want/need to play due to Club Ability. Good work also on your part. I would never have used so much time with all these explainations, but I was down-hearted by so many FM Gamers having difficulties. This post just sums up all the different things already floating around the forum, and just tried to structure it all as sensible as I can. Many tactics are on the right track, but many of the FM Gamers need to understand the Mentality structure that makes up the whole Foot-Ball game...

And you did exactly hit the point with what you did, I think.

I've splitted these tactics even more to be not so complex (I can still change if nothing works, but until now it worked). I play with Hamburger SV so not a world-class side yet but I'm already in year 2021 and I'm developing something there (originally it was a Vauxhall save but I've slept ahead ). Now I have these (according from defensive to attack) -

Home #1 (Sunny) - The Argentina

Home #2 (Rainy) - The Milan

Home #3 (Sunny) - The Arsene

Away #1 (Rainy) - The Athletico - (Sunny) the Capello

Away #2 (Sunny&Rainy) - The Ancelotti

Away #3 (Rainy) - The Benitez and sunny the Italy.

So far it is working very good, scored 25 in my last 5 matches IIRC, never had something like that before. We lost 1-2 against Real away though, but we were dominating shots 16:13, so very unlucky.

[Code]

The nice thing is, these tactics are that realistic, more realistic isn't possible in my opinion. And they are working! Exactly what I wanted from my tactics. Realistic and working. Fine

EDIT: I'm thinking to translate your posts into german to post it in our german community - if you allow so. You'll take all the credit obviously.

[Loversleaper]

The nice thing is, these tactics are that realistic, more realistic isn't possible in my opinion. And they are working! Exactly what I wanted from my tactics. Realistic and working. Fine

EDIT: I'm thinking to translate your posts into german to post it in our german community - if you allow so. You'll take all the credit obviously.

Thank you for your kind words and please feel free to translate this into any launguage. All of this is not mine and just informatation that has been gathered on this forum, so they should be shared by all as it is many people's work included here. I am not quite finished yet as I have to finish the 'Building Tactics' and 'Tactical Rules and Slider Effects' + a short conclusion. I will get around to this later or tomorrow.

[Jay1992]

1 thing i dont get is, for example, on the athletico tactic, it says "Mentality: (6) or (11)", what is the difference between them?

[wwfan]

Excellent thread. Most enjoyable read.