I developed this tactic with a few inspirations from others. The 4141 seemed to be the most stable for me no matter what I ended up doing or what team I had and since I generally play with Newcastle I started building around what they had. I wanted to play possession football that built up to score, but not necessarily tika-taka. Eventually I ended up with a 4141 that has served me great for going on three seasons. I've won EURO Cup twice and just finished 2nd in the EPL.
Here is the tactic:
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Current season:
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It is built around having strong dribblers at the wide positions and in the midfield. This is very important because all of your midfielders are expected to dribble with the ball (all have "dribble more" ticked) and they find space to pass the ball to. I didn't go out looking to dominate possession, but it typically does.
I didn't use this tactic solely until about mid-way through my second season. I was working things out with different tactics and figuring out my style of play during that time. After that however, I have used only that tactic. Every so often if I am struggling I will change to KUN's tika-taka at halftime, but otherwise I used only this tactic. I also rotate my squad quite often and use group matches after I've already qualified to play my CUP team, which is a mix of backups and youngsters.
If anyone has any suggested tweaks for taking on 4-2-4's (2 CM, 2 wingers, 2 ST) that seems to be the formation I struggle against the most. Narrow 4-2-3-1's can be troublesome too, but I ticked "exploit the flanks" and it seemed to work out fine.
Here are my transfers season-to-season. I, for the most part, tried to stay breaking even in the transfer market. By far my biggest purchase was Maximillian Meyer, but that was only after I surprisingly lost Bruma to PSG for 40M because I forgot he had a release clause in his contract, so I just decided I would splurge and buy a big-time young player:
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OI I left to my assistant manager. If you do so, make sure they have at least 15 judging player ability and tactical knowledge. You also need to RE-ASK for OI at halftime or if they opposition changes their tactics mid-game or make substitutions. This is important.
Pre-season training I did FITNESS VERY HIGH for about 2-3 weeks, then swapped to TEAM COHESION AVERAGE until about December. Train tactics for match prep until fluid, then I use either ATT MOVEMENT or DEF POSITIONING depending on who I'm facing.
Position training I train the players in the positions they're playing. Though, for youth players I train all the midfielders as roaming playmaker and the strikers as complete forwards (just because of the stats).
No special corner instructions or short lists. Basically I look for strong dribblers with high teamwork and vision/passing.
Here is the tactic:
View attachment 316737View attachment 316732View attachment 316731View attachment 316730
View attachment 316729View attachment 316728View attachment 316727View attachment 316726
Current season:
View attachment 316725View attachment 316724
It is built around having strong dribblers at the wide positions and in the midfield. This is very important because all of your midfielders are expected to dribble with the ball (all have "dribble more" ticked) and they find space to pass the ball to. I didn't go out looking to dominate possession, but it typically does.
I didn't use this tactic solely until about mid-way through my second season. I was working things out with different tactics and figuring out my style of play during that time. After that however, I have used only that tactic. Every so often if I am struggling I will change to KUN's tika-taka at halftime, but otherwise I used only this tactic. I also rotate my squad quite often and use group matches after I've already qualified to play my CUP team, which is a mix of backups and youngsters.
If anyone has any suggested tweaks for taking on 4-2-4's (2 CM, 2 wingers, 2 ST) that seems to be the formation I struggle against the most. Narrow 4-2-3-1's can be troublesome too, but I ticked "exploit the flanks" and it seemed to work out fine.
Here are my transfers season-to-season. I, for the most part, tried to stay breaking even in the transfer market. By far my biggest purchase was Maximillian Meyer, but that was only after I surprisingly lost Bruma to PSG for 40M because I forgot he had a release clause in his contract, so I just decided I would splurge and buy a big-time young player:
View attachment 316736View attachment 316735View attachment 316734View attachment 316733
OI I left to my assistant manager. If you do so, make sure they have at least 15 judging player ability and tactical knowledge. You also need to RE-ASK for OI at halftime or if they opposition changes their tactics mid-game or make substitutions. This is important.
Pre-season training I did FITNESS VERY HIGH for about 2-3 weeks, then swapped to TEAM COHESION AVERAGE until about December. Train tactics for match prep until fluid, then I use either ATT MOVEMENT or DEF POSITIONING depending on who I'm facing.
Position training I train the players in the positions they're playing. Though, for youth players I train all the midfielders as roaming playmaker and the strikers as complete forwards (just because of the stats).
No special corner instructions or short lists. Basically I look for strong dribblers with high teamwork and vision/passing.
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