UPDATE 27/02: UPDATED WITH MOST STABLE VERSION OF TACTICS AND TIDIED UP FIRST POST - sorry if any confusion.
I've had a lot of success with tactics download from this forum since FM '15 but was a little annoyed that this year they all seemed to use "non-standard" formations so I created my own. I've been having success with them and am hoping they will bring good results to others who use them as well. I also want to put down a few little things I've been doing in my game which I feel have helped to produce the results. Anyway enough rambling....
I've so far completed 1.5 seasons with Arsenal and played a network game with friends in which I won the quadrouple with Man Utd in the first season (Unfortunately I don't have pictures as I was not hosting the game, you'll have to take my word for it
)I use two tactics, one for away games and one for home games.
Credits:
TTF - these tactics both originated from his demolisher tactic and lots of trial and error.
Knap - Set pieces and corners came from one of his tactics (Can't remember which one, sorry!!)
Download:
Home: View attachment 64526
Away: View attachment 64525
Home Tactic: 4-2-3-1 Wide:
The aim of the tactic is to play controlled, possession football in the opposition's half. The two DLP in centre midfield protect against counter attacks and recycle possession. They also allow for the WBs to push forward. Although the width is set to narrow, the WB and AM R/L are instructed to play wider, giving width. The striker plays a false 9 with roaming, as the shadow striker pushes beyond him and the DLPs are set to defend duty, he has a lot of space to work with.
View attachment 64524
View attachment 64523
Results: As you can see from the below, we have rarely been threated at home. This tactic has therefore not been tweaked very much. I've put a few below which I have used a couple of times - I'm not saying this is what you should do, just that it's worked for me when I've done it.
View attachment 64521
View attachment 64520
Tweaks:
If chasing a result at home, I change one of the DLPs to AP support and add instruction "Hold Position". I change both AM R/L to attack duties. If I really need to chase the game, I change the WB R/l, AM R/L all to Attack Duties and amend one or both DLP to support duties.
Away Tactic: 4-1-2-2-1 Counter:
I really struggled to get a counter tactic working on this match engine. The aim of the tactic is to remain solid at the back, playing safe low risk football in the defence, and the spring quick direct counter attacks, led by the two inside forwards, from the centre of midfield. I know a lot of the instructions seem counterintuitive, but the team plays the football I was aiming to play on the pitch.
View attachment 64519
View attachment 64518
Results: I've found away games quite difficult on this year's game. Using this tactic, you will lose games, however I've found this tactic allowed me to win the majority of games, with some good results away at the big teams. I also used this tactic in all the neutral games (cup semis and finals) and so far, have won them all.
View attachment 64517
View attachment 64516
View attachment 64515
Tweaks: I generally don't teak this tactic that much at all. If I'm losing I will change to the home tactic around the 65-70th minute. You can also play around with the CM positions. In the CM Support position. I've tried a BBM in there also a CM Attack with good results. In the AP position, I've used a RPM, also with good results. The fist iteration of this tactic also had WB R/L (Defend) instead of FB (S) so you could try that tweak as well (I thought their mentality looked a bit too defensive).
In-Match:
I give in-game team talks to on 5, 20, 35, 50, 65, 77 and 90 minutes. These will 95% of the time be "encourage" but if losing or drawing a game I should win I use "show some passion" (if a derby game I use this from 5 mins) or "demand more". On 90 minutes I use "tighten up" if winning or "push forward" if losing".
If any player gets booked, I make sure they have "ease off tackles" checked in individual instructions.
If a red-card, I switch to the counter tactic but amend into a 4-4-1. I drag both AM R/L down to M R/L and have both set as Inverted Winger Attack with individual instruction "stay wider" only. I change the 2 CM so the left one is a DLP on defend with no change to player instructions (leave whatever is already set) and I either leave the CM on the right as CM Support or I will change him to a BBM.
Overall League Results:
View attachment 64514
View attachment 64513
Pre-season/Training:
This has been mentioned loads of times but always play 8-10 friendlies in pre-season against rubbish opposition to ensure tactic fluidity is high before the season starts and team morale is high.
Team Training - I have the slider one click away from full match training, on the left, for pre-season and then move it so that the slider is one click away from the right once the season starts.Team raining I use "team cohesion" pre-season and switch it to "balanced" for the season (both at average intensity). I don't think this really affects much. For match training, it's "tactics" in pre-season. During the season I use "Defensive Positioning" if I am the underdog or "Attacking Movement" if I am the favourites - I base this off the pre-match odds, which you can see in the schedule.
Morale: I think this is really important!!
After every game you get a match report - I individually praise every player above a 7.5 rating and criticise every player who gets a 6.4 or below - from player screen chose "interaction" dropdown, then "praise player" or "warn player" last game. If a player reacts badly to either praise or criticism, I will then praise that player's conduct and training level to get is morale back up to a decent level (this seems to be a free morale boost every couple of days so use as much as you need). I will also praise his form if his last 5 games is above 7.3 if he reacts badly.
I hold a team meeting on 1st of every month - generally I've been able to say I'm delighted with how things are going, however this will obviously depend on how you are doing.
Staff:
Personally I get bored of doing the press conferences and tunnel interviews so I leave these to one of my coaches. Stats - Motivating and Man Management
Opposition instructions - Leave to a coach with high "tactical knowledge" and "judging player ability"
Tactical briefings - High "tactical knowledge, man management, judging player ability and motivating.
I do all team talks myself.
Injuries:
I hire good sports scientists at the beginning of the game. After each game, will select all players that have either "Very High", "High" or "increased" risk of injury and will rest them from training for 2 days. This boosts the player condition for the next game and I "think" has reduced the amount of injuries I receive.
Note that these are not wonder tactics and you will lose games with them. I also have only tested with Arsenal and Man Utd, aka "top teams" for a relatively short period of time. I know I will asked what the results are like with smaller teams or that these haven't been truly tested. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to play the game a lot and prefer to manage the larger teams. I would be interested to know if these work with the smaller teams so if anyone tests them please let me know if you have good results.
Hope some of the above information is useful even if you are not going to use the tactics and wish any one who does decide to use them good luck and good results!
I've had a lot of success with tactics download from this forum since FM '15 but was a little annoyed that this year they all seemed to use "non-standard" formations so I created my own. I've been having success with them and am hoping they will bring good results to others who use them as well. I also want to put down a few little things I've been doing in my game which I feel have helped to produce the results. Anyway enough rambling....
I've so far completed 1.5 seasons with Arsenal and played a network game with friends in which I won the quadrouple with Man Utd in the first season (Unfortunately I don't have pictures as I was not hosting the game, you'll have to take my word for it
)I use two tactics, one for away games and one for home games.Credits:
TTF - these tactics both originated from his demolisher tactic and lots of trial and error.
Knap - Set pieces and corners came from one of his tactics (Can't remember which one, sorry!!)
Download:
Home: View attachment 64526
Away: View attachment 64525
Home Tactic: 4-2-3-1 Wide:
The aim of the tactic is to play controlled, possession football in the opposition's half. The two DLP in centre midfield protect against counter attacks and recycle possession. They also allow for the WBs to push forward. Although the width is set to narrow, the WB and AM R/L are instructed to play wider, giving width. The striker plays a false 9 with roaming, as the shadow striker pushes beyond him and the DLPs are set to defend duty, he has a lot of space to work with.
View attachment 64524
View attachment 64523
Results: As you can see from the below, we have rarely been threated at home. This tactic has therefore not been tweaked very much. I've put a few below which I have used a couple of times - I'm not saying this is what you should do, just that it's worked for me when I've done it.
View attachment 64521
View attachment 64520
Tweaks:
If chasing a result at home, I change one of the DLPs to AP support and add instruction "Hold Position". I change both AM R/L to attack duties. If I really need to chase the game, I change the WB R/l, AM R/L all to Attack Duties and amend one or both DLP to support duties.
Away Tactic: 4-1-2-2-1 Counter:
I really struggled to get a counter tactic working on this match engine. The aim of the tactic is to remain solid at the back, playing safe low risk football in the defence, and the spring quick direct counter attacks, led by the two inside forwards, from the centre of midfield. I know a lot of the instructions seem counterintuitive, but the team plays the football I was aiming to play on the pitch.
View attachment 64519
View attachment 64518
Results: I've found away games quite difficult on this year's game. Using this tactic, you will lose games, however I've found this tactic allowed me to win the majority of games, with some good results away at the big teams. I also used this tactic in all the neutral games (cup semis and finals) and so far, have won them all.
View attachment 64517
View attachment 64516
View attachment 64515
Tweaks: I generally don't teak this tactic that much at all. If I'm losing I will change to the home tactic around the 65-70th minute. You can also play around with the CM positions. In the CM Support position. I've tried a BBM in there also a CM Attack with good results. In the AP position, I've used a RPM, also with good results. The fist iteration of this tactic also had WB R/L (Defend) instead of FB (S) so you could try that tweak as well (I thought their mentality looked a bit too defensive).
In-Match:
I give in-game team talks to on 5, 20, 35, 50, 65, 77 and 90 minutes. These will 95% of the time be "encourage" but if losing or drawing a game I should win I use "show some passion" (if a derby game I use this from 5 mins) or "demand more". On 90 minutes I use "tighten up" if winning or "push forward" if losing".
If any player gets booked, I make sure they have "ease off tackles" checked in individual instructions.
If a red-card, I switch to the counter tactic but amend into a 4-4-1. I drag both AM R/L down to M R/L and have both set as Inverted Winger Attack with individual instruction "stay wider" only. I change the 2 CM so the left one is a DLP on defend with no change to player instructions (leave whatever is already set) and I either leave the CM on the right as CM Support or I will change him to a BBM.
Overall League Results:
View attachment 64514
View attachment 64513
Pre-season/Training:
This has been mentioned loads of times but always play 8-10 friendlies in pre-season against rubbish opposition to ensure tactic fluidity is high before the season starts and team morale is high.
Team Training - I have the slider one click away from full match training, on the left, for pre-season and then move it so that the slider is one click away from the right once the season starts.Team raining I use "team cohesion" pre-season and switch it to "balanced" for the season (both at average intensity). I don't think this really affects much. For match training, it's "tactics" in pre-season. During the season I use "Defensive Positioning" if I am the underdog or "Attacking Movement" if I am the favourites - I base this off the pre-match odds, which you can see in the schedule.
Morale: I think this is really important!!
After every game you get a match report - I individually praise every player above a 7.5 rating and criticise every player who gets a 6.4 or below - from player screen chose "interaction" dropdown, then "praise player" or "warn player" last game. If a player reacts badly to either praise or criticism, I will then praise that player's conduct and training level to get is morale back up to a decent level (this seems to be a free morale boost every couple of days so use as much as you need). I will also praise his form if his last 5 games is above 7.3 if he reacts badly.
I hold a team meeting on 1st of every month - generally I've been able to say I'm delighted with how things are going, however this will obviously depend on how you are doing.
Staff:
Personally I get bored of doing the press conferences and tunnel interviews so I leave these to one of my coaches. Stats - Motivating and Man Management
Opposition instructions - Leave to a coach with high "tactical knowledge" and "judging player ability"
Tactical briefings - High "tactical knowledge, man management, judging player ability and motivating.
I do all team talks myself.
Injuries:
I hire good sports scientists at the beginning of the game. After each game, will select all players that have either "Very High", "High" or "increased" risk of injury and will rest them from training for 2 days. This boosts the player condition for the next game and I "think" has reduced the amount of injuries I receive.
Note that these are not wonder tactics and you will lose games with them. I also have only tested with Arsenal and Man Utd, aka "top teams" for a relatively short period of time. I know I will asked what the results are like with smaller teams or that these haven't been truly tested. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to play the game a lot and prefer to manage the larger teams. I would be interested to know if these work with the smaller teams so if anyone tests them please let me know if you have good results.
Hope some of the above information is useful even if you are not going to use the tactics and wish any one who does decide to use them good luck and good results!
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