Choosing your match approach? - Discussion

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benshuff85

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Hey there ppls!

I just wondered if i could pick the brains of some more experienced and knowledgeable players!

I was wondering how you approach each game because it is fair enough trying to create some wonder tactic but that (A) is not how its done in real life and (B) does not work all time!!

So what im asking if your a real manager! how do you decide how to play and which players to pick etc depending on who your playing and where as i dont find the scouts team reports very helpful half the time and often they all same!!

Any feedback would be much appreciated!!

Cheers benshuff85
 
Entirely depends on the team you are, who you are playing and what players you have available.

For example, I have an upcoming game vs Man City (as Utd), and have been in good form, winning the last 8 matches. So for this, I want to preserve the winning streak somewhat, but I don't want to go out and attack.

So my approach is a standard 4-4-2 (Seabear gave me his tactics from his Utd story) playing controlling football. The first team for the most part stays unchanged.

De Gea, Rafael, Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra, Valencia, Fellaini, Alaba, Nani, Hernandez and Rooney.

Valencia has outperformed Young on more than 1 occasion, so is my first choice. Nani has a solid game, thus demoting Young to the bench.

But that's just me..
 
@shaktardfc1

So you try to keep formations and philosphys the same?and how does playing 4-4-2 go for you cuz i not had much success? especially playing teams with 5 in midfield!!
 
The 4-4-2/4-2-4 type formation works pretty well for me. 4-4-2 (balanced, control) is for teams like City, who I am not confident attacking against. 4-2-2-2 (fluid, attacking) works even better, provided Valencia and Alaba are on form.

A little run down of my stats so far (1st season): 27 games. 21 wins, 2 draws, 4 defeats.

Drew against Sunderland (grr @ bogey teams) and Rangers (ECC). Defeat against City (Community shield), Arsenal, Dortmund and Wolves (League Cup). Both draws were 0-0. Defeats were 1-0 (Ferdinand o.g.), 2-1, 2-0 and 4-1 (we were ridiculously bad that day).
 
oh right fair shout, that seems interesting!!

I fiddling with the idea of keeping my playmaker in space at mo, so for example i train in 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation, also 4-2-3-1 wide, so if i playing a team who uses a dmc i play the 4-5-1 and my dm is playmaker so he free!if i play someone using diamond so they have dm and amc i make my cm the playmaker, and if the space between there defence and midfield so against 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 too my amc free!! only just started with idea tho so dunno how it will go, good so far tho!!
 
I generally keep the 4-5-1 for teams like Barca (who I haven't played yet, thankfully). The DM is Anchorman. My playmaker has always been a CM, be it Alaba, Scholes, Carrick or someone else.

Also seems an interesting idea you have there. Your playmakers being where the space is.. Will look into that
 
just had to make new one too, cuz i played rochdale in friendly and they went to a narrow diamond so had dm, cm, and am all marked so used lw mata as playmaker
 
I don' think I have ever played a save with the same formation... ever. I take a look at my squad, get a general idea of their best strengths and playing philosophy, and adapt accordingly, even for future signings. I've tried to massively revamp sqauds all in one go on a few times now and it has never worked once yet :-)
 
I just focus on the extreme basics, since the match engine isn't smart enough for anything too complex. You'll get far with having too basic approaches, one for playing out of the back kind of style, and another for hoofball. It's almost the opposite of real life management, since teams tend to stand by their philosophy and make minor(ish) tweaks depending on opponent, but it doesn't translate all that well to FM.
 
I basically setup My team with à core tactic. If I am à topnotch team, this core tactic or framework Will be more adventourus and if being à bottom team its really rigid and cautious.

When tweaking the strategy and using shouts, I tend to look for two things
1. How can I exploit any opponent weaknesses
2. How should I handle their main threat

This means that if I ( Arsenal) are playing at home to à team like Aston Villa, I would .....

1.) play à control based approach with lots and lots Of Width....but.. I would let one MC play deeper and use à deeper d-line as they have pacey attackers.
2.) make ingame ingame changes. If we are 2-0 up and they start to attack, I know that playing à quick and mord direct counter strategy Will probqbly see use scoring 3-0 as they have à slower DC and we have walcott.
 
It depends entirely upon who the opposition is. I'm playing as Swindon, and am in my fourth season and currently top of the Championship heading into March. I started off (back in League 2) by playing to my strengths. The team was new so I played a rigid 4-4-2 (my favoured formation) with a 2(CB)-3(DM+WB)-2(MC)-2(AMR\L)-1(Poacher) for the better teams in the division, who I needed to quickly counter attack. The right side of my team was stronger than the left so I played through the right. Going up to League 1 I reverted to a defensive\counter attacking 4-4-2 with the core of the team being a ball winnign midfielder and a box to box midfielder. This changed to an attacking Diamond formation once my team realised that we were one of the better teams in the division. On promotion to the Championship, I reverted to my trusty rigid 4-4-2 counter which has served me well. This has progressed into a fluid 4-4-2 formation which focuses around passing and possesion retention. Once promotion is achieved to the promised land, I am expecting to revert back to a rigid 4-4-2 with a quick counter attack or a 5-3-2 with wing backs which I have used in cup competitions against premier league sides.
 
thanks for the feedback ppl, lots of interesting points there!!

also anyone managed to master the english style 4-4-2 meaning flat back four with 2 tall strong center backs and a flat midfield with a targetman & poacher combo upfront, i cant get my head around how to make it work with the space between the lines especially linking your strikers to midfield as most targetmen dont come deep to get ball (well ppms anyway)!!!
 
benshuff85 said:
thanks for the feedback ppl, lots of interesting points there!!

also anyone managed to master the english style 4-4-2 meaning flat back four with 2 tall strong center backs and a flat midfield with a targetman & poacher combo upfront, i cant get my head around how to make it work with the space between the lines especially linking your strikers to midfield as most targetmen dont come deep to get ball (well ppms anyway)!!!
Click to expand...

It's difficult to get to work properly, since 4-4-2 is all about controlling the space, yet the match engine doesn't understand the concept too well. In practice, there's no such thing as zonal marking in FM, it's rather man marking vs. tighter man marking. I've had some results with ''defensive'' gameplan, along with minor tweaking to particular players' mentality. But it's not really what it should be.

The thing that makes target man ineffective, is his partner's (whether ST or AMC) willingness to drift so far way from the designated target man. It's understandably difficult to make 20yard cushioned headers or chest flicks. Narrowing the whole team's shape has some effect, but it's not quite enough. Perhaps reducing the poachers creative freedom to minimum could do the trick, but I wouldn't expect it to make a drastic difference.

Also, I don't think it's necessarily a good thing to have a target man with ''drops deep'' PPM. After all, it means that:

a) He's even further away from his striking partner when receiving the ball
b) He's even further away from a dangerous position
c) It requires quite a bit of skill to trap the ball quickly enough and make a good decision on the ball, closer to your own goal (=counter threat)
d) It requires higher value in passing and creativity to make a beneficial decision in deeper position, compared to the obvious pass to the closest player in your attacking third.

Sure, it could be a good thing if your target man is a good footballer in addition to his rather limited ''target man'' skills set, but those striker are a rare and expensive breed.


Sorry if I come across overly negative, but the game simply has it's flaws and restrictions. But hopefully you'll succeed!
 
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