Claudio Ranieri's Leicester City 2015/16
After a long period of time out of Football Manager, I've decided to roll back the years and start re-creating real life football tactic variations to share. Back in FM13 (which was the last proper iteration of FM which I played extensively), I created and shared tactics such as Mourinho's Magical Madrid, Tony Pulis's Hoof & Hope & others. After being inspired by Ranieri's spectacular success at Leicester in real life, I couldn't help but dedicate one or two days towards challenging the FM16 match engine and trying to see if I could replicate his success in-game and as you may have guessed, I most certainly have.
I know I'm not top of the league but I think it would be wrong to really look too much in to that. Generally speaking, the results speak for themselves and if I were to play on, I'd have no doubt that we would indeed be challenging for the title going in to the end of the season. I would've liked Jamie Vardy to have scored more, unfortunately he went through a period where he got injured as well as a sending off which suspended him for three matches. Despite that though, he's still the 3rd top scorer in the league. We've also conceded a few more goals than I would've liked, but we've gone through periods where both Robert Huth & Wes Morgan have been out injured at the same time leaving us with a make-shift defence and despite that, we're still going strong. Manchester City are also ridiculously OP against other CPU sides which has lead to them leading the Premier League table much different to real life (let's not lie to each other, poor performances from the regular top 4 sides has helped Leicester ****** 1st/2nd place in real life atm. Whether they can maintain it we will have to wait and see.)
View attachment 193889
View attachment 193887
The tactic has THREE variations.
View attachment 193876
The FIRST variation is to be employed versus the mass majority of teams.
View attachment 193874
The SECOND UNDERDOG variation is to be employed against significantly stronger teams (e.g. Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea & so forth in this case).
View attachment 193873
The THIRD OVERDOG variation is to be employed when playing against significantly weaker teams (e.g. Teams in the relegation zone, Championship, League 1, etc teams).
During pre-season, it is important to prioritise learning the tactic. Once you have employed the three tactics for a whole season, it becomes second nature to most of your players and resultantly takes less the next season for them to learn it, allowing you more time to focus on regular training. For this reason, DURING PRE-SEASON set your training to 75% MORE MATCH TRAINING, MATCH TACTICS Match Preparation & DEFENDING General Training with a VERY HIGH Intensity Level (do NOT rest players after matches) and try to book a pre-season match every two days. Once you have achieved about 75% tactical familiarity, set your training to 75% LESS MATCH TRAINING and drop the Intensity Level to HIGH (ALLOW resting of players after matches).
There is no need to really change anything during matches unless you really feel the need to. I recommend using the in-match team talks. ENCOURAGE your team from time to time. Don't be afraid to DEMAND MORE or ask them to TIGHTEN UP.
OI instructions can be set by your Assistant Manager and if he suggests something logical during the match, agree with it.
The brand of football executed by the tactic is very similar to that of Leicester in real life. All players work hard as a unit behind the ball, closing down the opposition and aiming to not only punish the opposition on the break through the use of fluid counter-attacks but the tactic also plays nicely when a counter-attack isn't possible. The players work as a unit up the pitch and look to utilise the key men in Vardy & Mahrez accordingly. Expect your team to perform some deadly counter-attacking on the back of opposition corners too.
View attachment 193872
Jamie Vardy
View attachment 193871
Riyad Mahrez
At the end of the day, is this approach a miracle worker? Can you download the three tactics and magically expect magnificence? No, not really. However, if you want to implement an attractive counter-attacking and fast paced footballing philosophy then I definitely recommend you embed this tactical approach in to the players and work towards signing suitable players as every window comes. Leicester are lucky because not only is this approach perfectly designed for them but they already have ideal players. If I had to make any changes, it would probably be to bring in two new center backs who are slightly more athletic due to the high line that Ranieri employs to compress the midfield.
GK - The role within the tactic is that of a sweeper keeper, but any keeper will do.
RB/LB - Pace, Acceleration, Crossing, Tackling, Marking.
CB - Tackling, Marking, Jumping, Heading, Anticipation, Pace, Acceleration.
DM/CM - Work Rate, Strength, Passing, Vision.
LM - LEFT FOOTED, Pace, Acceleration, Work Rate, Crossing.
RM - LEFT FOOTED, Dribbling, Pace, Acceleration, Work Rate.
ST - Work Rate, Stamina, Pace, Finishing, Composure, Dribbling.
If in doubt regarding who to purchase with a team other than Leicester then navigate to the Leicester squad on your save and use the "Find Similar Players" function. You want strikers who have a high work rate like Jamie Vardy. If you can get someone tall and physical partnered with a more energetic pacey striker then you get a nice combination. The reason why the RM has to be left footed is because all the RM roles in the tactics are defined to suit Mahrez and get him cutting inside (even the wide midfielder roles). You could of course modify these to suit a right footed player more but expect to see less goals come from that player and more pressure put on your strikers to get on the end of a cross.
Let me know if you have any questions & how you get on.
RESULTS (It's worth noting we dominated Chelsea and lost to a 90th minute goal. The other top teams in the form of City, United, Spurs, Liverpool have all struggled against us.):
View attachment 193860
DOWNLOAD
DOWNLOAD (Mirror #2)
After a long period of time out of Football Manager, I've decided to roll back the years and start re-creating real life football tactic variations to share. Back in FM13 (which was the last proper iteration of FM which I played extensively), I created and shared tactics such as Mourinho's Magical Madrid, Tony Pulis's Hoof & Hope & others. After being inspired by Ranieri's spectacular success at Leicester in real life, I couldn't help but dedicate one or two days towards challenging the FM16 match engine and trying to see if I could replicate his success in-game and as you may have guessed, I most certainly have.
I know I'm not top of the league but I think it would be wrong to really look too much in to that. Generally speaking, the results speak for themselves and if I were to play on, I'd have no doubt that we would indeed be challenging for the title going in to the end of the season. I would've liked Jamie Vardy to have scored more, unfortunately he went through a period where he got injured as well as a sending off which suspended him for three matches. Despite that though, he's still the 3rd top scorer in the league. We've also conceded a few more goals than I would've liked, but we've gone through periods where both Robert Huth & Wes Morgan have been out injured at the same time leaving us with a make-shift defence and despite that, we're still going strong. Manchester City are also ridiculously OP against other CPU sides which has lead to them leading the Premier League table much different to real life (let's not lie to each other, poor performances from the regular top 4 sides has helped Leicester ****** 1st/2nd place in real life atm. Whether they can maintain it we will have to wait and see.)
View attachment 193889
View attachment 193887
The tactic has THREE variations.
View attachment 193876
The FIRST variation is to be employed versus the mass majority of teams.
View attachment 193874
The SECOND UNDERDOG variation is to be employed against significantly stronger teams (e.g. Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea & so forth in this case).
View attachment 193873
The THIRD OVERDOG variation is to be employed when playing against significantly weaker teams (e.g. Teams in the relegation zone, Championship, League 1, etc teams).
During pre-season, it is important to prioritise learning the tactic. Once you have employed the three tactics for a whole season, it becomes second nature to most of your players and resultantly takes less the next season for them to learn it, allowing you more time to focus on regular training. For this reason, DURING PRE-SEASON set your training to 75% MORE MATCH TRAINING, MATCH TACTICS Match Preparation & DEFENDING General Training with a VERY HIGH Intensity Level (do NOT rest players after matches) and try to book a pre-season match every two days. Once you have achieved about 75% tactical familiarity, set your training to 75% LESS MATCH TRAINING and drop the Intensity Level to HIGH (ALLOW resting of players after matches).
There is no need to really change anything during matches unless you really feel the need to. I recommend using the in-match team talks. ENCOURAGE your team from time to time. Don't be afraid to DEMAND MORE or ask them to TIGHTEN UP.
OI instructions can be set by your Assistant Manager and if he suggests something logical during the match, agree with it.
The brand of football executed by the tactic is very similar to that of Leicester in real life. All players work hard as a unit behind the ball, closing down the opposition and aiming to not only punish the opposition on the break through the use of fluid counter-attacks but the tactic also plays nicely when a counter-attack isn't possible. The players work as a unit up the pitch and look to utilise the key men in Vardy & Mahrez accordingly. Expect your team to perform some deadly counter-attacking on the back of opposition corners too.
View attachment 193872
Jamie Vardy
View attachment 193871
Riyad Mahrez
At the end of the day, is this approach a miracle worker? Can you download the three tactics and magically expect magnificence? No, not really. However, if you want to implement an attractive counter-attacking and fast paced footballing philosophy then I definitely recommend you embed this tactical approach in to the players and work towards signing suitable players as every window comes. Leicester are lucky because not only is this approach perfectly designed for them but they already have ideal players. If I had to make any changes, it would probably be to bring in two new center backs who are slightly more athletic due to the high line that Ranieri employs to compress the midfield.
GK - The role within the tactic is that of a sweeper keeper, but any keeper will do.
RB/LB - Pace, Acceleration, Crossing, Tackling, Marking.
CB - Tackling, Marking, Jumping, Heading, Anticipation, Pace, Acceleration.
DM/CM - Work Rate, Strength, Passing, Vision.
LM - LEFT FOOTED, Pace, Acceleration, Work Rate, Crossing.
RM - LEFT FOOTED, Dribbling, Pace, Acceleration, Work Rate.
ST - Work Rate, Stamina, Pace, Finishing, Composure, Dribbling.
If in doubt regarding who to purchase with a team other than Leicester then navigate to the Leicester squad on your save and use the "Find Similar Players" function. You want strikers who have a high work rate like Jamie Vardy. If you can get someone tall and physical partnered with a more energetic pacey striker then you get a nice combination. The reason why the RM has to be left footed is because all the RM roles in the tactics are defined to suit Mahrez and get him cutting inside (even the wide midfielder roles). You could of course modify these to suit a right footed player more but expect to see less goals come from that player and more pressure put on your strikers to get on the end of a cross.
Let me know if you have any questions & how you get on.
RESULTS (It's worth noting we dominated Chelsea and lost to a 90th minute goal. The other top teams in the form of City, United, Spurs, Liverpool have all struggled against us.):
View attachment 193860
DOWNLOAD
DOWNLOAD (Mirror #2)
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