Anyone try this?

[IndyManager]

For creating a new tactic. What about looking at your squad on the Tactics page, experimenting with the highest Roles ratings (the little green or red spiral that shows how well they play at Target Man, or in support vs. attack) and just finding the 11 overall best roles you can find, then making that your formation and tactic accordingly. I mean it would take a long time of tinkering, but presumably having your entire 11 playing the best role for each one should be a plus to team performance, yes?

Just restarted playing the game so apologies if this is way off. Your input is appreciated.

 

[WJ]

No, because it's not very wise to do it. The tactic needs to function as a whole, not just sending 11 individuals out onto the field.

 

[Bigpapa42]

WJ is dead on - that's not effective tactical thinking. Rocheyb sums it up nicely in another thread, here.

Focusing entirely on the players best role is basically telling them go out there and do whatever they do best. That's it. Not trying to create any sort of cohesive tactical vision, unified approach, or anything. "Oh, you're a fast winger, better run down the line and knock in a cross. Don't have anyone in the box who can do anything with it? Ah well, keep doing what you're good at."

Don't get too caught up on players best roles. Not to say they are irrelevant, but they are recommendations and relative. Its more about fitting the player into your overall tactical approach considering what you need them to do and what they are capable of doing. There are reasonable considerations - don't ask your converted center back to be a Complete Wing Back and then wonder why they aren't playing like Dani Alves in his pomp. An example from my current save.... I use a 4-1-4-1 with a Complete Forward. Other forward roles could work but I like the diversity that role provides - it fits the approach. But I don't have any players at the current club that "can play" as a Complete Forward. I have 3 senior team strikes and one youth, and they are all quite incomplete. The best of them is a big forward who isn't terrible, but he's limited by the standard of the squad. On FM16, he would start in the reserves, and he was 25 years old (he's been improved a smidge on FM17. If I listened to the in-game roles he can play, I wouldn't use CF. Yet he has scored 5 in 5 and is tops in the league. He can't do everything a more rounded and skilled forward would in that role but he does the stuff I need well enough.

 

[IndyManager]

OK - thanks for explaining so well. Related to this, I have a player listed as a WB/M R. The best formation for the team seems to be a 4-1-2-3 and as this guy is my fastest and best crosser of the ball on that side, I'd like to use him as an AM/R instead, but I see all of that red on his readout in the Tactics page and it scares me off (I have a better right back). I went ahead and used him there in a couple of matches and he did alright. I know in a real match a manager wouldn't look at a right sided player and say, you can play wide in a 4-4-2 but not pushed a little further up the park. Still feeling my way around that kind of stuff, so thanks again.

WJ is dead on - that's not effective tactical thinking. Rocheyb sums it up nicely in another thread, here.

Focusing entirely on the players best role is basically telling them go out there and do whatever they do best. That's it. Not trying to create any sort of cohesive tactical vision, unified approach, or anything. "Oh, you're a fast winger, better run down the line and knock in a cross. Don't have anyone in the box who can do anything with it? Ah well, keep doing what you're good at."

Don't get too caught up on players best roles. Not to say they are irrelevant, but they are recommendations and relative. Its more about fitting the player into your overall tactical approach considering what you need them to do and what they are capable of doing. There are reasonable considerations - don't ask your converted center back to be a Complete Wing Back and then wonder why they aren't playing like Dani Alves in his pomp. An example from my current save.... I use a 4-1-4-1 with a Complete Forward. Other forward roles could work but I like the diversity that role provides - it fits the approach. But I don't have any players at the current club that "can play" as a Complete Forward. I have 3 senior team strikes and one youth, and they are all quite incomplete. The best of them is a big forward who isn't terrible, but he's limited by the standard of the squad. On FM16, he would start in the reserves, and he was 25 years old (he's been improved a smidge on FM17. If I listened to the in-game roles he can play, I wouldn't use CF. Yet he has scored 5 in 5 and is tops in the league. He can't do everything a more rounded and skilled forward would in that role but he does the stuff I need well enough.

 

[Bigpapa42]

OK - thanks for explaining so well. Related to this, I have a player listed as a WB/M R. The best formation for the team seems to be a 4-1-2-3 and as this guy is my fastest and best crosser of the ball on that side, I'd like to use him as an AM/R instead, but I see all of that red on his readout in the Tactics page and it scares me off (I have a better right back). I went ahead and used him there in a couple of matches and he did alright. I know in a real match a manager wouldn't look at a right sided player and say, you can play wide in a 4-4-2 but not pushed a little further up the park. Still feeling my way around that kind of stuff, so thanks again.

That's exactly the kind of thing you need to recognize as the manager. And yes, if he makes a good winger, he would be fine in the AMR spot. I prefer the MR spot because they contribute a bit more defensively, so if this is a well rounded player, his defensive skills might be used a bit less, but he will get involved in attacks even more.

Playing someone out of position affects their decision making, but its usually not a huge issue. Even if they have no rating at all for the spot. You might get Assistant Manager feedback that "we would do better to play them in a more familiar position". Ignore that. If its something that will be on-going, retrain them. It will take a bit of time, depending on whether have any positional rating for that spot to begin with and what their hidden Versatility trait is. They certainly don't need to be a natural in the new position.

Re-training and moving players is part of the fun of being a manager. Recognizing where a player has more value to you and the side. If you have an extra central defender of quality, you might be able to convert them into an anchor man style defensive mid, and avoid having to buy a new player. For example, in my most recent save, the youth intake gave me a high potential striker and I found another one that I sniped from a small club. But both are small (like 5'6") dribbly forwards, which doesn't fit my tactical preferences. I could either adjust my tactics to suit them - once they are developed - or convert them into wingers, which is what my intent would be.