How to pwn Football Manager - the walkthrough - tactics and scouting

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Wanted to make my first post a helpful one (A)


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Okay, Ive just gone and set the bar exceedingly high with the title. You are now expecting the impossible - a walk through of how to pwn Football Manager. Lets see how that pans out...


The first step in any "Invincible team" building escapade is to get the right players and the right tactics. The right club is also a factor given the fact that a lower reputation will only attract a certain calibre of player. However, fear not. You can build a team to pwn the league you are in.

Caution: If you dont read beyond this point you will make a massive error, not the mistake of ignoring a phenomenal writer (I thank you), no. The mistake of selecting tactics before you know your team. Now dont worry, you do need to know a basic outline of the tactics, ie. the formation you will play, the shape of the team.

Some of the more shrewd tacticians will opt for 433 or 442. Both of them impressive in both defence and in attack. I suggest either. Im not one for the most bizarre of shapes. Its a football pitch not a mock Picasso interpretation. The shape of the team is vital to success.

442 is a classic, people think its too box-ish and not original so they opt out of using it. Thats total rhubarb. 442 is solid. 4 defenders at the back will keep you secure. You can only become better if you play 5 at the back but thats only going to weaken the potency of your attack, so opt for a solid back 4.

4 midfielders will give you the same even coverage across the park. You have the ability to get up and down the flanks whilst holding the middle of the pitch in both defence and attack.

Now this is where you define your formation. Do you want more potency in attack or a less weakened center to the team? 433 will give you the best opportunity to win games but the issue is youre only playing with one forward. Your midfielders will need to work harder to get up and support the forward but the wingers have the freedom to out wide to not only get lots of crosses in, which will create more chances - something thats more evident in patch 9.0.3 but it will also stretch the opposition defenders and pull them out wide as they try to stop you from crossing the ball. This in turn allows your central players to move into the box with force and will ultimately give your front man the essential support he needs... click the bible cover to read the whole guide. :thup:
 
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well, i'm using a 442 with benitez flavour (the one that created zebeede) with bolton, 10 games and i'm at midle of the table in Premiership
 
Its not just picking a 442 formation. You need to read whats written in the guide fully. You cant skip parts and expect to understand it ;)
 
Silly guide tbh

Didnt tell me nothin i alredy didnt know.
 
You present a false dichotomy between 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 mate. I gave up reading properly after that, although I would say that although paying attention to pitch size can be useful, it's hardly critical to a decently constructed tactic and saying things like 'playing long ball on a short pitch will fail' is both ridiculous and very wrong. Short pitches actually help long ball tactics as they give the midfield more opportunity to get up to support the bean pole you're aiming to hit.

4-4-2 is 'solid' in some leagues because it's the simplest way to play and does not need much positional ability on the part of the players. Which 4-3-3 are you talking about for a comparison? What teams play with a single striker but two wing forwards nowadays? Do you mean a 4-3-2-1 formation? That's a totally different style of play from a 4-3-3 where the two wider forwards drift out to the wings from the centre.

I don't wish to be hypercritical, but you consistently say you need to know the basics. And you do if you are going to write a how-to guide of any worth. I'm sure your style of play does get results, but it won't be the only style of play nor will it guarantee results 100% of the time.

All the best, and I appreciate it takes time to write good how-to's and even longer if they are to be presented to a wide audience, but I'm sure people struggling to get to grips with the game and who have no basic knowledge of football will benefit from your guide more than those who have a smattering of knowledge of either or both.
 
Zebedee said:
You present a false dichotomy between 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 mate. I gave up reading properly after that, although I would say that although paying attention to pitch size can be useful, it's hardly critical to a decently constructed tactic and saying things like 'playing long ball on a short pitch will fail' is both ridiculous and very wrong. Short pitches actually help long ball tactics as they give the midfield more opportunity to get up to support the bean pole you're aiming to hit.

4-4-2 is 'solid' in some leagues because it's the simplest way to play and does not need much positional ability on the part of the players. Which 4-3-3 are you talking about for a comparison? What teams play with a single striker but two wing forwards nowadays? Do you mean a 4-3-2-1 formation? That's a totally different style of play from a 4-3-3 where the two wider forwards drift out to the wings from the centre.

I don't wish to be hypercritical, but you consistently say you need to know the basics. And you do if you are going to write a how-to guide of any worth. I'm sure your style of play does get results, but it won't be the only style of play nor will it guarantee results 100% of the time.

All the best, and I appreciate it takes time to write good how-to's and even longer if they are to be presented to a wide audience, but I'm sure people struggling to get to grips with the game and who have no basic knowledge of football will benefit from your guide more than those who have a smattering of knowledge of either or both.
Click to expand...

I had thought that originally but if you are looking to exploit the long ball you play on a long pitch, you execute the long ball from midfield. Exectuing the long ball from defense (which so many people do) on a short pitch will go directly to the oppostition. Think about England - they contantly hit the long ball to Crouch. Where did the ball end up? With the opposition 9/10 times. On a long pitch you can execute the long ball from midfield over the back line and with a pacey forward you are in on goal.

Maybe I wasnt clear enough about that :S


Of course this isnt the finished article. I am actually about to post the final piece now, but of course there are a lot of factors about tactics which come into play. I can assure you that pitch size is a massive part of tactics. If you logically think about it playing narrow football on a wide pitch will cause problems that arent there when playing narrow football on a narrow pitch - ie, exploitation of the wings.


Thanks for the feedback though mate :D
 
Long ball football doesn't retain possession on any size pitch mate. The whole purpose of long ball is to score with as few touches of the ball as possible. Not sure about England playing true long ball any more. Long ball is old 'crazy gang' Wimbledon or Olsen's Norway. Balls over the top are more direct football, and doing it down the centre was a bit bugged in 9.2 as it was too successful in getting through but that's been fixed in 9.3 so you'll see less results as would be true in real life. Direct football needs to be played down the wings (the channels) to give your strikers chance to take advantage of the zone of uncertainty between full backs and central defence. Teams playing narrow will negate it naturally.

Pitch size is definitely a factor which can improve your chances if you take it into account, but let's not overstate its importance. A well set up defensive tactics will be narrow, but not so narrow that it suffers on any size pitch. If you are getting done down the wings then by definition you're playing too narrow for any size pitch as the spacing between players should be constant enough to allow true zonal style defence.

All the best.
 
Zebedee said:
Long ball football doesn't retain possession on any size pitch mate. The whole purpose of long ball is to score with as few touches of the ball as possible. Not sure about England playing true long ball any more. Long ball is old 'crazy gang' Wimbledon or Olsen's Norway. Balls over the top are more direct football, and doing it down the centre was a bit bugged in 9.2 as it was too successful in getting through but that's been fixed in 9.3 so you'll see less results as would be true in real life. Direct football needs to be played down the wings (the channels) to give your strikers chance to take advantage of the zone of uncertainty between full backs and central defence. Teams playing narrow will negate it naturally.

Pitch size is definitely a factor which can improve your chances if you take it into account, but let's not overstate its importance. A well set up defensive tactics will be narrow, but not so narrow that it suffers on any size pitch. If you are getting done down the wings then by definition you're playing too narrow for any size pitch as the spacing between players should be constant enough to allow true zonal style defence.

All the best.
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All your points are valid in some context. I wasnt however saying the long ball was possessional football. Its as you stated, route one play. I was stating that on a long pitch its more effective than you suggested on a small pitch.

The long pitch gives you more space between the GK and the DF, with a fast forward you can exploit this immensely. On a short pitch the ball will go straight into the heart of the defence.

As for the pitches, they are very important to winning games. If youre playing a formation thats completely wrong for the pitch (IE. the long ball on a short pitch) then youre at an immediate disadvantage. This is what I was highlighting - or attempting to :p
 
The Game said:
All your points are valid in some context. I wasnt however saying the long ball was possessional football. Its as you stated, route one play. I was stating that on a long pitch its more effective than you suggested on a small pitch.

The long pitch gives you more space between the GK and the DF, with a fast forward you can exploit this immensely. On a short pitch the ball will go straight into the heart of the defence.

As for the pitches, they are very important to winning games. If youre playing a formation thats completely wrong for the pitch (IE. the long ball on a short pitch) then youre at an immediate disadvantage. This is what I was highlighting - or attempting to :p
Click to expand...

But that's my point, it's not quite as simple as that. :) Playing direct balls down the channels may not be as effective in creating a plentiful amount of chances for a fast front man to run onto, but on a short pitch if you do get a break then the defence have less chance to catch you up. What does happen on a short pitch, is that midfield becomes far more congested.

Long ball tactics are designed to hit a tall target man in the centre of the pitch. That player then heads the ball down for a team-mate. On a short pitch, this works much better as your midfield has less ground to cover to either run past or get up to the target man to take advantage of the knock down or knock on.

Where pitch size really has an impact is in the pressing. On a big pitch, your players will tire quicker than using the same level of pressing on a smaller pitch. It's about time and space in which to play the game. But a good formation and set of tactics will not be thrown out by the pitch size. It will be made more effective by tweaking for the pitch size, but not to the extent where not doing it will lose you games.

All the best.
 
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Zebedee said:
But that's my point, it's not quite as simple as that. :) Playing direct balls down the channels may not be as effective in creating a plentiful amount of chances for a fast front man to run onto, but on a short pitch if you do get a break then the defence have less chance to catch you up. What does happen on a short pitch, is that midfield becomes far more congested.

Long ball tactics are designed to hit a tall target man in the centre of the pitch. That player then heads the ball down for a team-mate. On a short pitch, this works much better as your midfield has less ground to cover to either run past or get up to the target man to take advantage of the knock down or knock on.

Where pitch size really has an impact is in the pressing. On a big pitch, your players will tire quicker than using the same level of pressing on a smaller pitch. It's about time and space in which to play the game. But a good formation and set of tactics will not be thrown out by the pitch size. It will be made more effective by tweaking for the pitch size, but not to the extent where not doing it will lose you games.

All the best.
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This is all true but your target man on a short pitch relies on three things (the long ball being accurate, the target man winning it, the ball coming to a player on your team), mine relies on two things (long ball being executed past the defence and then having someone get on the end - like a long through ball). Mine can be executed on the long pitch greatly, yours can be on any pitch but the chances of winning a header from two CBs is lower because the CBs are always excellent headers and in better positions as they attack the ball in the opposite direction to the target man).

I know thats all confusing stuff but what Im saying is that you are right to a degree but if you take time to implement what Im saying you will see benefits with any team.

We agree on a lot of the methodology but I think its just the differences in the long ball execution that we arent agreeing on. The main reason is because your aiming for the target man with your long ball, Im aiming over the defence to an on coming player.
 
Your long ball over the top worked in 9.2 because of an acknowledged glitch in the match engine. It will have very, very limited success in 9.3 as the glitch has been fixed. In effect, your methodology was taking advantage of a 'bug' in the engine, just as some corner routines do in order to score goals. That glitch no longer exists though with 9.3. In addition, if you are putting balls over the top through the middle then you will be creating very limited chances - so limited that world class strikers will struggle to put more than 1 in 4 of them away due to the angles favouring the keeper.

My version is real world and has been interpreted into the match engine and will work whatever the match engine providing there are no glitches to impact upon it.

All the best.
 
Zebedee said:
Your long ball over the top worked in 9.2 because of an acknowledged glitch in the match engine. It will have very, very limited success in 9.3 as the glitch has been fixed. In effect, your methodology was taking advantage of a 'bug' in the engine, just as some corner routines do in order to score goals. That glitch no longer exists though with 9.3. In addition, if you are putting balls over the top through the middle then you will be creating very limited chances - so limited that world class strikers will struggle to put more than 1 in 4 of them away due to the angles favouring the keeper.

My version is real world and has been interpreted into the match engine and will work whatever the match engine providing there are no glitches to impact upon it.

All the best.
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Its not about exploiting a bug. Teams still play like that in FM and real life. A high defence and a long pitch on FM will allow you to lob the ball over the defence, you just need a fast player to get on the end of the pass.
 
The Game said:
Its not about exploiting a bug. Teams still play like that in FM and real life. A high defence and a long pitch on FM will allow you to lob the ball over the defence, you just need a fast player to get on the end of the pass.
Click to expand...

And in 9.3 it will rarely be effective through the middle as flat, straight balls allow the defence to step up and catch your forward offside. Not sure what teams play in the style you are advocating here, but I've not seen them. Teams do try to ping the balls into the channels which allows the strikers to angle their runs to stay onside and also gives them an angle on goal as well as allowing support to get up to them for a simple assist. Teams play long ball to a tall target man not to try and beat the defence with one ball over the top. It just don't work. And it doesn't work in game any more either.

We've obviously a fundamental difference in our understanding of both the match engine and real football. So I'll wish you the best and hope your guides have every success :)
 
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