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Requoting again, but the is my biggest weakness in the game. I just don't understand the positions well enough. I could be doing the same thing or worsemand not even realize it. A lot of the tactic guides I watch are good, but not as in depth as I need.
Any suggestions or required reading material to gain a better understanding?
Thanks
I think when it comes to creating tactics there are two things you need to know.
A) The basics of positioning, tempo and pressing
B) In all likelihood, you will not create as strong a tactic as you can find from the people who test theirs and post online, and this is not anything necessarily to do with your football knowledge
I will address B first.
Currently the best performing tactic that has been simulated over a number of seasons is a 3 4 3, available here
Mr L Tactics - 3-4-3 Watford System V2
This is a great forum in general, as people submit their tactics and this dude runs sims to test them before putting them here
Mr L Tactics - in a league table.
But to examine point B, let’s go through the best performing tactic, the Watford 3 4 3.
This tactic has two wing backs on attack, a two man central midfield, a poacher and 2 false 9s. To an extent I consider this a ‘game breaking’ tactic. Not because it is so broken that you win every game (you don’t), but because it essentially ‘games’ the match engine, without referencing trends that are relevant in actual football. This tactic makes all teams over perform, with Watford winning the league without signings in the first season, for one player (allegedly). Let’s go into this in a bit more depth, so we can examine how unrealistic it is.
Firstly, there is a two man midfield, with one of those players oriented towards creativity as a DLP on support. The false 9s rarely track back in the same way that say, Willian or Pedro or Hazard might have to for Chelsea, where they play as inside forwards. The two man midfield can work, but usually where it is successful it works with 2 sitting midfielders. Herrera & Carrick, Wanyama and Dier, Matic and Kante, with additional tracking cover from inside forwards/wide players.
There are no wide men in the Watford tactic. One of the central midfielders is a playmaker. Wing backs provide the majority of assists, and yet don’t get caught out on the break despite pushing so far forward there are times you are playing with 5 strikers.
False 9 is an extreeeeemely specific role, probably only properly applying to Messi playing in a strikerless Barca, Pedro in a Chelsea without Diego Costa, David Villa or Fabregas up front for Spain, or other such examples. This Watford tactic has two False 9s. Two. What does this even mean?! On the pitch, they look like interchanging deep lying forwards. They often switch places with your poacher, who, contrary to his role description, drops back to shoot from range or play through balls to your Wing Backs.
What I am getting at, is that FM, much like real football, doesn’t play out according to what is written down. I suspect what is really important about the Watford tactic is the philosophy, the pressing style, and, to be honest, breaking the game engine. What I think happens is that your false 9s drift all over the place, pulling the defence out of position, and for some reason are tracked by full backs. This allows your wing backs acres of space to drive the ball across goal. Because you move the ball so quickly in the game, you can get the ball accurately up to your forwards with a decent degree of regularity. In real life, very few teams play 3 up front, and if they do, they play with 3 in midfield so they don’t get swamped.
In the game however, the midfield is bypassed swiftly, as long as your DLP as good passing accuracy, and you often have a 5 vs 4 at the edge of the opposing penalty area.
Long story short: there is ‘understanding the game’, and ‘understanding what is game breaking’. In this version of FM, I’m seeing a lot of tactics with False 9s, a lot of tactics with attacking wing backs and a lot of tactics with 3 up front. Almost every successful tactic plays a high press with short passing, so this is quite similar to real life at least. The False 9s and 3 up front? Less so (unless you count players like Hazard and Mkhitaryan as strikers).
What I tend to do is download a successful tactic like the Watford one, using it as my main tactic, and then create a separate tactic to have fun with, or for more defensive games for example. In my current save I use Watford and then spent ages creating a deep lying counter 442 for playing tough games away from home, and that was a lot of fun. For me the best part of the game isn’t necessarily the tactics, it’s the squad building and almost ‘role playing’ of a successful manager. Bringing through young players etc. After my current season I’m going to spend the whole off season working on a new core tactic of my own, so I’ll go back to Point A!
I think positioning is really important. The worst tactics I have created involve players stealing eachother’s space and clumping up. Understanding the player roles is important because you need to know where your players ‘want’ to go. An Inside Forward and an AP can work, but be aware that there will be instances they will be using eachothers space, i.e. between the lines in front of the back four. There will also be competition between say, a DLP and an AP. At one point I had a Regista, a DLP and an AP and then finally realised I had gone insane and went back to basics. Space, tempo and pressing. Just read the role descriptions and try not to have the lads hog eachother’s space.
Apologies for the essay!
