4-2-3-1 Unbeaten League Season

PeteMacD

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Hello all

I am uploading my tactic that I used for my Rangers game after going undefeated in the league 1st season as well as win the Betfred and Euro Cups. Now before I get comments saying so yes I was Rangers and should be dominating teams given I am one of the best teams in the league. However the reason for uploading the tactic is the European results culminating in lifting the trophy. Now it took me a while of tweaking the tactic for me to be happy.

The tactic is a 4-2-3-1 with inverted wingers and 2 attacking full backs, DLP & BWM. I play my striker as a pressing forward as I found this suits the tactic better (I did experiment with a few different roles but found this the best). I also use an AM with attack just as a personal preference as I don't like 2 playmakers in the team. You will see from the tactic screen picture attached the specific instructions but the main aim for me was to play fast paced football with plenty of goals and have a good defensive record. I also wanted to utilise the full backs given how attack minded Tavernier and Barisic are. I have offside trap and get stuck in selected which people may be dubious about. I have debated with the get stuck in instruction myself and will be trialling the tactic without it as I accept it could lead to lots of cards (this hasn't been the case for me but again I am Rangers I know). I would be interested to see how the offside works in different leagues but it worked well for me in Europe with VAR.

Tactic Screen.png



In terms of the player instructions I kept them in the whole pretty standard except for really the wingers. I read about the marking of position online (cant remember exactly where and thought I would give it a go and it worked really well)

Winger Instructions.png



In terms of corners we will start with the attacking corners which have contributed to quite a few goals for me. I found that this works best when you have your most dominant CB at the far post as even if they don't score they will knock it back in to the middle and usually your other CB will then score. Given I was Rangers I had Katic at the far post. The CB at the near post will also regularly score direct as well. I will also include the stats for both my main CB's to show goals.

Corners Attack.png



Goldson stats.png



Katic stats.png



In terms of results I obviously won pretty much every league game as expected but also done really well in Europe.

League Results.png


League results (2).png


Euro Results.png



In terms of the striker he will get plenty of goals in this tactic. I prefer to have mobile strikers rather than a target man (you could alter this by taking off the low crosses instruction and test it out). As you will I have now sold my star striker for a major profit.

Morelos Stats.png



One of my most satisfying results was my result in Euro Cup against Man Utd

Mn Utd Result.png



Given obviously I was Rangers it would be interesting to see people testing with different teams and leagues to see how this works and also to see any tweaks people make. Any comments, tweaks and suggestions people make would be appreciated and I hope people try out the tactic.

Thanks
 

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Now before I get comments saying so yes I was Rangers and should be dominating teams given I am one of the best teams in the league.

I am happy to admit I follow the otherside of the city but any time someone goes undefeated in a Season in FM is ****** brilliant.

Well Done and Thanks for sharing your tactic and what you learnt about the game.

Cheers
Lost
 
Now before I get comments saying so yes I was Rangers and should be dominating teams given I am one of the best teams in the league.

I am happy to admit I follow the otherside of the city but any time someone goes undefeated in a Season in FM is ****** brilliant.

Well Done and Thanks for sharing your tactic and what you learnt about the game.

Cheers
Lost

There were a few hairy moments along the way such as against St Mirren is one I can remember off the top of my head. Getting beat 1-0 and score 2 late goals to win.

The main reason I posted was due to the Euro success. I had a terrible time attempting and experimenting with an away tactic for the European games. I was attempting to create a 3 CM tactic similar to Gerrard at Rangers where the away game is suffocated and held tight but I just couldn't find a tactic and set up I liked.

I'm currently doing the second season of the Rangers save (well trying to in between work). Will also be starting a new game in the near future maybe with a lower table English side in the prem or championship or maybe even further down the ladder to test the tactic out.
 
Tested with several teams (Bayern, West Ham, Brentford) and this really works very well. While most tactics on FM20 are based on high tempo attacking, high pressing, dribbling and crosses, this tactic provides a great alternative for players who want to play more of a passing-based game with high possession numbers.

If you're a smaller team you probably won't have the players needed to use this tactic successfully. But if you're a bigger team who are favourites in most of their matches and you want a possession based passing game, this is the way to go!

Some tweaks I have made to suit my preferences:
- remove 'Get Stuck In' as it leads to too many yellow/red cards
- switched GK to Sweeper Keeper on support duty due to the high D-Line. He needs to come out and clear long balls on occasion.
- use defensive width based on the opponents tactic: If they attack narrowly, leave it at 'narrow', if they attack the flanks, switch to 'standard'.
- use 'Pass Into Space' if the opponents Fullbacks/Wingbacks are attacking down the flanks. If they sit back, leave in unticked.
- if you're chasing a goal late in the game, tick 'Be More Expressive' and/or switch DLP to support duty and/or switch the AMC to a Shadow Striker.
- if defending a lead late in the game, remove overloads and switch both Fullbacks to support or even defend duty. Increase 'Time Wasting' to your liking.
 
Tested with several teams (Bayern, West Ham, Brentford) and this really works very well. While most tactics on FM20 are based on high tempo attacking, high pressing, dribbling and crosses, this tactic provides a great alternative for players who want to play more of a passing-based game with high possession numbers.

If you're a smaller team you probably won't have the players needed to use this tactic successfully. But if you're a bigger team who are favourites in most of their matches and you want a possession based passing game, this is the way to go!

Some tweaks I have made to suit my preferences:
- remove 'Get Stuck In' as it leads to too many yellow/red cards
- switched GK to Sweeper Keeper on support duty due to the high D-Line. He needs to come out and clear long balls on occasion.
- use defensive width based on the opponents tactic: If they attack narrowly, leave it at 'narrow', if they attack the flanks, switch to 'standard'.
- use 'Pass Into Space' if the opponents Fullbacks/Wingbacks are attacking down the flanks. If they sit back, leave in unticked.
- if you're chasing a goal late in the game, tick 'Be More Expressive' and/or switch DLP to support duty and/or switch the AMC to a Shadow Striker.
- if defending a lead late in the game, remove overloads and switch both Fullbacks to support or even defend duty. Increase 'Time Wasting' to your liking.


I'm glad it worked well for you and you had some success with the tactic. Some very interesting and constructive points you have raised which will help improve the tactic so thank you for this.

I will be testing out the tactic in the EPL and other leagues as i go on but finding it difficult to get the chance to ply the game at the moment due to work.
 
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