Formations. Setting a proper philosophy and strategy for a formation used to be a mistery to me. But, I have spent more then a year studying football tactics, in terms of the football manager game, because, i wanted to be good at this game. I bought fm 2013 about a month ago, and I have about 500h of playing. To some it's a lot, to some it's not that much, but it doesn't matter, because half of that time, game was on, and I was reading. Reading forums, books, and absorbing every kind of info about tactics. Because that's what it's all about. Tactics and motivation. Both of those are the reasons for not winning the game, and the source of my frustration. So, I am currently managing Arsenal, and I'm winning every game. Not because I change my tactics to my opponent, but more because I have set up my own correctly.
So, you are wondering what kind of team instructions, what kind of player instructions, what kind of match preparation, what kind of shouts you need to use, right? This is what I have "discovered", and might help you.
1) If your desired formation is using one defensive midfielder, you should play rigid philosphy and counter strategy. The reason why this is true, is because, if you are playing with a defensive midfielder, and go anything else but counter, you will probably push the defensive line to deep or to high, and he will be "lost", and if you are doing anything else but rigid, your players wont be defensively solid, or will be to solid to do the attacking part (stupid).
2) If you are using 2 defensive midfielders, you should play rigid philosophy and defensive strategy.
3) If you are not using a single defensive midfielder or a single attacking midfielder (right, left or centre), you should play balanced philosophy with standard strategy.
4)If you are not using a single defensive midfielder, but are using one attacking midfielder (right, left, or centre), you should play fluid philosophy and control strategy.
and 5) if you are not using a single defensive midfielder, but are using more then one attacking midfielder (right, left, or centre), you should play fluid philosophy and attacking strategy.
For all of the above, I suggest leaving playing style as it is, default. You may get better results with changing something here, but it will work for only one match, and for other it wont.
For all of the above, I suggest leaving player roles and duties as the creator suggests. You may get better results with changing something here, but it will work for only one match, and for other it wont.
As for training, I have learned that setting tactics as general training, and moving the slider to most match training as possible, and then then setting match training to tactics, will get your players to be fluid in your tactics in the least ammount of time. After that is done, I suggest the opposite of above, and team cohesion.
I know there are more then one way to play this game, and I know most of you wont agree with above, as you have your own vision of how game should be played, and that's fine. This is simply what's doing it for me.
Edit: I want to explain the reasoning of this, so I decided to do a little edit.
So you probably have both attacking midfielders and defensive midfielders, but don't know which way to go? This is how I think it works: You are for example a weaker team in the upcoming match. So you think you should go rigid counter with a dm, and you end up losing the match. Why is this happening? Well, when you set counter as your strategy, the creator will move the sliders so your team is doing more man marking, more standing off, less creativity, lower mentality, deeper defensive line, and more direct passing for your defenders, and shorter passing for your attackers. This all in general means that you will invite your opponent to attack you. This goes for defensive strategy aswell, but with greater effect. The benefit of inviting your opponent to attack you is that most of their team will be in your half, and you have a chance to anticipate their pass, break up their attack, after which your defender sends a long ball to your winger, or target man, and score on the counter. For this to work you must have a speedy, top notch winger or a speedy top notch target man (poacher with run onto ball) AND great defenders. Your defense will be pressed by their attack, and if you don't have top notch defenders, they will fail at defending and concede. If you have all of the above, a top notch team, you will probably stand a great chance of winning every match by chosing defensive or counter strategy. Still, some goals cannot be avoided, and your long balls to your winger or target man can be intercepted, so you probably wont win by many goals. I recommend using counter or defensive strategy only to top notch teams playing against great opponents, when you want to draw, or simply not lose the match. Against a team like Barcelona, for example.
On the other hand, if you go attacking, you will need great offensive players. The creator will set up everything accordingly.
So that leaves us with the standard and control approach. If you are a mid table table team, or a relegation candidate, one of these two should work for you. If you don't have players that can play to deep or to high, withstand pressure or put on pressure, this is the best strategy for you (this is all IMHO, btw).
Well, there you have it, this is the best advice I can give atm.
So, you are wondering what kind of team instructions, what kind of player instructions, what kind of match preparation, what kind of shouts you need to use, right? This is what I have "discovered", and might help you.
1) If your desired formation is using one defensive midfielder, you should play rigid philosphy and counter strategy. The reason why this is true, is because, if you are playing with a defensive midfielder, and go anything else but counter, you will probably push the defensive line to deep or to high, and he will be "lost", and if you are doing anything else but rigid, your players wont be defensively solid, or will be to solid to do the attacking part (stupid).
2) If you are using 2 defensive midfielders, you should play rigid philosophy and defensive strategy.
3) If you are not using a single defensive midfielder or a single attacking midfielder (right, left or centre), you should play balanced philosophy with standard strategy.
4)If you are not using a single defensive midfielder, but are using one attacking midfielder (right, left, or centre), you should play fluid philosophy and control strategy.
and 5) if you are not using a single defensive midfielder, but are using more then one attacking midfielder (right, left, or centre), you should play fluid philosophy and attacking strategy.
For all of the above, I suggest leaving playing style as it is, default. You may get better results with changing something here, but it will work for only one match, and for other it wont.
For all of the above, I suggest leaving player roles and duties as the creator suggests. You may get better results with changing something here, but it will work for only one match, and for other it wont.
As for training, I have learned that setting tactics as general training, and moving the slider to most match training as possible, and then then setting match training to tactics, will get your players to be fluid in your tactics in the least ammount of time. After that is done, I suggest the opposite of above, and team cohesion.
I know there are more then one way to play this game, and I know most of you wont agree with above, as you have your own vision of how game should be played, and that's fine. This is simply what's doing it for me.
Edit: I want to explain the reasoning of this, so I decided to do a little edit.
So you probably have both attacking midfielders and defensive midfielders, but don't know which way to go? This is how I think it works: You are for example a weaker team in the upcoming match. So you think you should go rigid counter with a dm, and you end up losing the match. Why is this happening? Well, when you set counter as your strategy, the creator will move the sliders so your team is doing more man marking, more standing off, less creativity, lower mentality, deeper defensive line, and more direct passing for your defenders, and shorter passing for your attackers. This all in general means that you will invite your opponent to attack you. This goes for defensive strategy aswell, but with greater effect. The benefit of inviting your opponent to attack you is that most of their team will be in your half, and you have a chance to anticipate their pass, break up their attack, after which your defender sends a long ball to your winger, or target man, and score on the counter. For this to work you must have a speedy, top notch winger or a speedy top notch target man (poacher with run onto ball) AND great defenders. Your defense will be pressed by their attack, and if you don't have top notch defenders, they will fail at defending and concede. If you have all of the above, a top notch team, you will probably stand a great chance of winning every match by chosing defensive or counter strategy. Still, some goals cannot be avoided, and your long balls to your winger or target man can be intercepted, so you probably wont win by many goals. I recommend using counter or defensive strategy only to top notch teams playing against great opponents, when you want to draw, or simply not lose the match. Against a team like Barcelona, for example.
On the other hand, if you go attacking, you will need great offensive players. The creator will set up everything accordingly.
So that leaves us with the standard and control approach. If you are a mid table table team, or a relegation candidate, one of these two should work for you. If you don't have players that can play to deep or to high, withstand pressure or put on pressure, this is the best strategy for you (this is all IMHO, btw).
Well, there you have it, this is the best advice I can give atm.
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I applaud you for taking the time to learn the game and tactics!