4132 - Strikerless Mayhem with a Solid Defence

Mavster said:
I have played FM way back since the originals in the 90's, i have used many tactics off various websites and never felt compelled to post about it, but here i am as a fist time noob!

I have always loved strikerless tactics, first tried it in fm14 and fell in love with them, however in my experience they were a little hit and miss at times.

The reason for posting is the amazing success i have had with this tactic.

I started as my boyhood team Aston Villa, the challenge to get them back in to the premiership at the first time of asking and make them a force again.

I am 3-4 games from the end of the first season and the results generally have made me smile, so i thought i would share an amazing first season.

For reference i used the strikerless (Wing back / Half back) for the first quarter of the season, the Wing back / Anchor Man for the second Quarter, and the Full Back / Anchor man tactic for the second half of the season.

My core team is as follows: Gollini, Amavi, Chester, Ephlik, Richards, Diego Poyet (DM), Grealish, Carlos Soler (CM), Adomah, McCormack, Kodjia.

Signings:
Carlos Soler (2m) - Valencia B
Diego Poyet (Free)
Vitor Bueno (2.5m) - SAN
Fabian Sambueza (Free)

Soler and Poyet only became first choice later in the season after i had trained them and developed them a bit, Mile Jedinak did a really good job up until that point.

I also singed a couple more free transfer squad players, but nothing really to speak about.

Jordan Ayew was my top scorer up until January (25 games, 13 goals, 9 assists), but i sold him to Dortmund for 18m in the Jan transfer window, although 3-4 other players scored 10-12.


So....currently:

1st Place in the Championship
Played: 43
Won: 32
Drawn: 9
Lost: 2
For: 97
Against: 25


I won the championship with 8 or 9 games to go, my results tailed off after that in the League, 3 draws in a row, i'm assuming this is actually a thing? (players being complacent?), so im not too worried.

I used Standard for 90% at least in the Championship, i found both the WB/Anchor and the FB/Anchor did a really good job, super impressed, i honestly cant decide currently which tactic sits my players best as results were so good with both.

Now, the above isnt amazing in itself, but here is where it got amazing....the EFL Cup and the FA Cup.

I played Counter for virtually every game in the Cups. (versus Premiership sides).


EFL Cup.

How far did i get? - WINNER

Some of the games to get to that are as follows:

3rd Round: Aston Villa 1 - 0 Leicester
4th Round: Arsenal 0 - 3 Aston Villa (granted Arsenal played what i thought was a weakened side...but still.....wow)
Q Final: Tottenham 1 - 3 Aston Villa
Semi Final: Aston Villa 3 - 0 Middlesborough (over 2 legs)
Final: Sunderland 2 - 3 Aston Villa (i was 2-0 down then they had a player sent off just before half time, i scored 3 in the second half)

AMAZING!, i am in Europe for my first season back in the Prem!


FA Cup.

4th Round: Aston Villa 1 - 0 Man City (they attacked me from the off and the counter tactic worked a dream)
6th Round: Arsenal 0 - 3 Aston Villa (virtual repeat of the EFL fixture as above)
Semi FInal: Aston Villa 1 - 0 Tottenham (Counter tactic works its magic again)
Final: in one month, versus either Stoke or Middlesborough....wish me luck!


i have really enjoyed this tactic and will deploy it next season in the Prem, still 3 games left of the 2017 season though.

So in closing, super impressed, although i cant yet decide whether i prefer the WB or FB version with Anchor Man, also i have noticed Counter is super effective, so much so i nearly moved to it permanently, but decided to stick to Standard and only use it versus a team i consider bigger than myself.

On another note, is it natural for results to go a bit to pot in the league when you have won it?, i was a little concerned with my 3 draws in a row where we played pretty badly, but i convinced myself to chalk it up to having won it with 8 or so games to go?

One question if you dont mind, do you have any preferred player traits?, ie: plays one twos?, places shots?, etc?

Thanks
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awesome feedback mate, cheers :) even better results though :p especially if you bag that fa cup win!

managed a very similar first season with wolves in the championship where we won all competitions - second season we went on to win the prem, euro cup, community shield and efl cup, only to lose the fa cup in the final, so push on you villains!!! :D

in regards to player bsgetting sloppy after winning the league earlt on, it is common and has happened to me a couple of times - try to manage it with team meetings or more assertive team talks, expecting the team to perform and win.

in terms of PPM's, place shots, beat offside trap, play one two's will all enhance your forward play and efficiency

i've also not decided which one works best, FB's or WB's, although the FB version has some tweaks in other positions that i consider favourable - still working on the FB instructions though

once again, thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience and results with the tactic, especially being your first time posting, despite playing the game for years. hope your keep upb those results!

also, i recommend arranging 2 friendlies between the last championship game and the FA cup final, just to keep the player son their toes, as you have around 15 days where the promotion playoffs are being played
 
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I can understand the logic of 'beat offside trap', but it is quite possibly my least favourite PPM out there.
So many chances/goals are wasted when I have had players with that PPM. It frustrates me so much!
Tries killer balls is personally my favourite with this tactic, it's my number 1 go to PPM. I try and make sure all players have it except GK and DC, although DM I am 50/50 on.
Places shots, 1-2s, moves into channels & shoots with power are others I have found to be very favourable.
Gets forward whenever possible works well for the CM too I find, but if the Shadow Strikers have it, it can mean the CDs play deeper than you would like.

Always enjoy reading these thread and finding out how it goes for other people - please keep them coming!
 
veez said:
great results from both of you!!

might be worth trying a test save with the highly structured approach simply to see how it fares in the long run and if it's worth putting more work into

the first strikerless (and most successful) tactic that i made, with romian a few years ago, was with a highly structured approach and counter attacking mentality, and it was absolutely insane! but SI caught on to it and updated the ME after a while, coz the way we exploited playing deep with through balls in behind the defence gave opponents no chance

i remember the SS used to score 40/50 goals a season (playing alone in the n10 role) with 2 offensive CM's in behind and a line of 4 behind them, 2 BWM's and 2 CWB's that scored 10/15 goals a season and 3 CB's in behind them. was very solid at the back and lethal going forward

anyway, just reminiscing a bit :p
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Man there were some fun tactics on that match engine!
 
Just starting a save with this , could you tell me if team talk guide is overall or for individual team talks ? Thanks
 
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No glorious/stunning QF result for us here, however, I was pleased about many things.
CCC. We created 3 against Man U (and their side was not all that weak, although not their strongest 11 I am sure) and they didn't create any.
I wouldn't say we were the best side, although I don't think we were outclassed in any shape or form either.
Their shots were often long range/overly ambitious.
They finally scored the winner in the 110th minute when our players were getting very tired.
We did all of that with our reserve keeper, who is not very good at all.
 
QuirkyFaranger said:
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No glorious/stunning QF result for us here, however, I was pleased about many things.
CCC. We created 3 against Man U (and their side was not all that weak, although not their strongest 11 I am sure) and they didn't create any.
I wouldn't say we were the best side, although I don't think we were outclassed in any shape or form either.
Their shots were often long range/overly ambitious.
They finally scored the winner in the 110th minute when our players were getting very tired.
We did all of that with our reserve keeper, who is not very good at all.
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unlucky mate, it definately looks like you deserved more from that game

want to start a new save today to plough through the weekend, but baffled as to where or with who to start, any suggestions?
 
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veez said:
unlucky mate, it definately looks like you deserved more from that game

want to start a new save today to plough through the weekend, but baffled at where or with who to start, any suggestions?
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Long term or short term? Long term the lower leagues can be rewarding.
Shortish term, can always start off with a poor Championship side (Barnsley) and try and win the CL within 3 seasons. I am sure you can do it! ;)

I normally just start off as unemployed when I have a long term save, and see which job I can get, and take it from there.
 
QuirkyFaranger said:
Long term or short term? Long term the lower leagues can be rewarding.
Shortish term, can always start off with a poor Championship side (Barnsley) and try and win the CL within 3 seasons. I am sure you can do it! ;)

I normally just start off as unemployed when I have a long term save, and see which job I can get, and take it from there.
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i'm not sure lol all i know is i want a fresh start

never actually started unemployed so it might be an idea

but i usually only take control of teams that i relate to or that have some interesting feature or history that will give it some depth in a long term save, such as the portuguese connection with wolves

gonna have a quick browse to see if i can find something interesting
 
veez said:
i'm not sure lol all i know is i want a fresh start

never actually started unemployed so it might be an idea

but i usually only take control of teams that i relate to or that have some interesting feature or history that will give it some depth in a long term save, such as the portuguese connection with wolves

gonna have a quick browse to see if i can find something interesting
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How about managing in Brazil? Bringing São Paulo FC back to the glory days of Tele Santana in 92/93, or rebuilding the Chapecoense team devastated by the plane crash.
 
galego25 said:
How about managing in Brazil? Bringing São Paulo FC back to the glory days of Tele Santana in 92/93, or rebuilding the Chapecoense team devastated by the plane crash.
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i had actually thought of that, but it will probably make more sense to invest in a long term save with chape after the winter update comes out
 
View attachment 105789View attachment 105788

started a season with vigo - they have a special place in my heart coz they once beat my team's bitter rivals benfica 7-1 in the eufa cup :p
they also have a great squad, although their chairman is stingy on the wage budget which made it dificult to manouvre in the transfer market, although i'm happy with the deals we did manage to get in

View attachment 105787View attachment 105786

think managing to rival real and barça for the la liga title first season with this squad would be quite the achievement - its looking good so far
 
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