I've been playing FM a lot more recently and decided to design a tactic inspired by Andre Villas Boas' Porto and Chelsea systems. They may have variations but the fluidity of both is clear to see, despite it not always going well for their high line in reality I still aspired to create a high line offensive set up on Football Manager. The beauty of the 'Freedom' system is it mixes everything about coaching, you need to be hands with private chats and encouragement for individuals. You need to inspire with your team talks, whilst monitoring training ground progress making sure the workrate is kept up. Whilst, so far, I have only tested with Chelsea the plan is over the next week to test this system in Portugal, Italy and Spain which is doubtful given I spend maybe 2 hours a day maximum on FM. I was going to hold off on posting it until the new year in the Chelsea season to give it a good run, but the amount of rotation and tweaking I've found this system capable of adapting to whilst still dominating every game I've found remarkable. I'll post all of my results up until now at the bottom of this post but the perfect example is away against Manchester City in the League Cup where I bled in 3 U-19 players and rotated almost half my first team against an almost full strength City side and still managed to win the game with 10 men after Luiz got sent off. I'll be placing below the philosophy behind the tactic, the opposition instructions, the recommended player roles and flexibility in those roles along with tips on game-game situations.
The pressure system I've designed is all about the 'hunt the ball' mentality, the opposition rarely get time to get their heads up. The reason this is possible is a high focus on teamwork in match preparation up until mid September, to improve cohesion both on the ball and off the ball, along with man management of players. I constantly encourage the players, I do recommend the general mentality amongst the squad is 'ambitious', both in team talks and in private chats. I do also recommend a young team with a lot of energy and self belief, they seem to enjoy the freedom more whilst carrying an unpredictability factor for you. Both CB's will push up and get tight to people so I recommend players with good mental attributes and preferably semi good pace. The full backs do most of the pressing and running up and down the wing, this is mainly down to them being the primary out-ball for anyone across the pitch from the striker to the AMR/AML. The wide attacking midfielders are set to 'move into channels' which allows them to pick up more through balls and impact the game more. The primary playmaker is the AMC who has complete freedom, I use a Trequarista but an Advanced Playmaker support is also viable, he will often be the one to pick out the runs of players in the final third.
Possession is at the forefront of this tactic, the anchor points of the team are the ST; AMC and DM. Any roles around those 3 positions can be adapted from game to game, the wide players can be given more or less freedom depending on how you judge the situation. The fluidity in the system combined with the attacking threat and adaptability makes it what it is, a system that combines both possession football with goal scoring chances and entertainment. Either way, win or lose, the guarantee this system gives is good entertainment.
Below left is a ball distribution graphic, the black line represents primary distribution and the grey secondary distribution. Below right is a pressure system graphic demonstrating where the pressing occurs and the amount of pressing each individual contributes.
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The AMR/AML are flexible, you can play a right footer on the right or left. I prefer Willian/Costa to be stronger foot inside too help them with their finishes but Anelka/Malouda have done fine in those settings as well. In games where possession will be more key, I suggest 'retain possession' as a shout it works very well and exploit the flanks in narrow games works excellently (Works very well against Manchester City). You can change the CM role depending on opponent, against lower opposition I also recommend unticking the setting I have put on the full backs. It allows them to get to go forward that little bit more, against teams like QPR the more attacking players the better the chance of chance conversion there is. The goals you will score, should, be great on the eye. Often the best passing moves I've seen have been finished by Mikel so don't be afraid to play with license and on the surface the instructions of anchorman restrict Mikel but he has been sublime in the system.
GK Advised Attributes - Agile with good reactions to save long shots. Role is flexible as it can be played with sweeper keeper or goalkeeper defend, I use the latter with defender collect distribution.
Fullback Advised Attributes - Quick, attacking ability and competent in defence.
Centreback Advised Attributes - Passing, heading, concentration, marking, pace, acceleration.
Defensive Midfield Advised Attributes - Passing, tackling, heading, marking, anticipation. Creativity is optional, despite the instructions he does get forward and dictate attacks when you're dominating the opposition in their half.
Central Midfield Advised Attributes - This is the fluid role, I use Lampard as a box to box most games or free him up in others to CM attack. I'd advise workrate, stamina, passing, technique and vision but this is the most adaptable role in the team so from game to game you might want to change to a ball winning CM in which case tackling and marking will be needed.
Wide Attacking Midfield Advised Attributes - Creativity, flair, pace, technique, composure, finishing.
Trequarista Advised Attributes - Finishing, passing, vision, composure, dribbling, creativity, anticipation.
Striker Advised Attributes - Another flexible role but poacher attributes work best: Pace, composure, acceleration, strength, anticipation, finishing.
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I have tried targetman and had success but it's far from perfect and I'm still working on this system with a targetman role striker. It's not too far off in this system when you changed the ST role to targetman attack. Match Prep - Teamwork on high until mid September then attacking movement/defensive positioning. The set pieces are set to default except for corners which are aimed towards the BP CB at the near post with others in the box deep/keeper/far post. I recommend any new foreign players you bleed into your team gently and not throw them in because a lot of them will ignore the long shot instructions for the first few games and just hit them from 40 yards. Another piece of advice is the team tempo, I find it useful to adjust 1 click left or right depending on the situation if the game demands a slight change.
I'll update this post more when I get a chance later, below is some season screenshots. If you want to give freedom a go and give some feedback on tweaks/targetman advice then by all means post below. All of the goals except the goals against Bolton and Vitesse have been individual errors or freak goals. Against Vitesse the entire defence got caught out by an offside free kick over the top to Wilfried and Tuncay scored when the line pushed up and offside didn't. Luiz was responsible for the goal conceded against the chinese team, he tripped over and the striker ran through and scored. Individual errors are attributes to most of the goals, from Mikel losing his man at the corner to Terry kicking it off Silva's back and it going in the goal. I accept that I will concede chances against big teams, I recommend using a ball winner CM like Ramires over Lampard in those games (Solidifies the midfield) but often I just go out and attack them. West Brom's goal was a backpost free kick that Scharner diving headered home, which I accept because I do have a small team and set piece defending is going to be difficult when it's Bosingwa vs Scharner. Stoke's, surprisingly, was not a set piece it was a throw in on the right hand side of my 18 yard box and Ivanovic was receiving treatment, they played it short and Etherington passed inside to Fuller who was in the inside right channel and Fuller powered it home. Nothing that I could account for in my tactical setup in my opinion, we dominated both games with a Douglas Costa hat trick and Torres brace. Out of the CCC's created around 3 of them were missed or saved by Ben Foster so, again, I'm not too worried about the attacking set up. Match Prep for both games was mixed between attacking movement and, for 2 days before Stoke, defending set pieces.
OI wise close down the wide players and always show onto their weaker foot, close down strikers unless it's a targetman in that case hard tackle and weaker foot.
I should probably say, expect to get the odd sending off. I've finished 3 games so far with 10 men, Luiz got sent off vs Manchester City and again against someone else for 2 bookings but the team seems to play better with 9/10 men bizarrely. The game opens up more and if you have pace out wide the counter attacks launched can be deadly I assume that's why. But just a word of warning about the intensity of closing down, it will inevitably lead to the odd sending off. If you're willing to give this a go and test it for me I'd appreciate it, I'll update the post with more graphics/info/further test feedback and results from myself when I get a chance.
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Download Here - Freedom - To Win With A Certain Amount Of Flair - Downloads - Football Manager 2012 Tactics, Wonderkids & Cheats
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