“Facts are more important than opinions” is something I have learned already a long, long time ago.
I read on so many tactic postings that this particular tactic is the “best ever” etc. And I wondered how there can be over 20 “best ever tactics” out there. This triggered me to have a closer look at them all, see them in action with the same team and compare the performances of each tactic.
When you ask 100 people what to their opinion the best tactic is out there I bet you get 85 different answers, maybe 15 people mentiona tactic already mentioned.
Everybody wants a tactic that makes them win 100% of the time and I can honestly say, for sure in FM 2014 that is simply not going to happen. First of all, it wouldn’t be realistic and secondly: depending on the team you choose (like in this case with one of my test teams with a media prediction 12th, it is unreal to expect a win against the big teams all the time). Maybe with a team like Barcelona, Real Madrid or Manchester City/United you will be able to dominate almost every match and win 95% of them, but that is regardless of which tactics you’ll use, that is why I selected a weaker team, where good tactics are needed to achieve something. I also ran the same tests with a team in a different league and a media prediction of 4th. Not a European top team, but still, a higher ranked team that actually has a chance of winning the local competition.
I tested 51 (yes fifty one!!!) popular and deemed to be “top” tactics for patch 14.3.1, after playing 15 matches with each tactic I eliminated the bottom few and di the same afteranother 10 matches.
In the end (I added a few recently released, very strong tactics) I tested a total of 23 tactics for the full 50 matches.
I have gathered and analysed the most important stats one ach game I played with every tactic, and ended my analyses after playing a lot of games with each one of them with the exact same team.
Every tactic has its own strengths and weaknesses and even though a particular tactic might have been “build around a certain team” I wanted to make a fair comparison between the tactics I tested for this purpose. When you play 20+ time the same match over and over again with each time a different tactic it showed me very easily which tactic is showing consistent results. Some tactics show consistently higher possession stats, other ones more CCC etc. Which tactic is good for you all depends on your personal preference and the team you have chosen.
You might say “luck also comes into play” which of course is true, football is not an exact science and even though you dominate and have the best chances, it happens that you still draw or even lose the match. That is why I have played 45+ games with each of the tactics, just to get the “luck factor” (or “bad luck factor”) out of play.
So what is a “good tactic”? For me, but that is just me, I prefer to lose a game with 0-1, after completely outplaying the opponent and having 8-1 balls on goal, 4-1 CCC etc. My board probably would still be unhappy, but if these stats would be there, it shows the tactic is actually working quite well.
In between matches I went “on holidays” and left all actions (with exclusion of buying/selling players) to my assistant manager. The actual games were played, not simulated for a realistic experience. In generated matches the tactics chosen play a lesser role. When a player’s fitness dropped under 70% I substituted him, when possible. When a player was sent off with a red card in the first 70 minutes of the game, I replayed the match as it wouldn’t be a “fair comparison” in my own test environment.
The test was run with 2 teams; one had a media prediction of12th, the other one a prediction of 4th in their respective leagues.
7 matches were played with tactic not being fluid, in all other matches the tactic was fully fluid.
No injuries or bans in effect (used FMRTE for this purpose, again.......to create a fair comparison)
As you all may know, if you play a certain match and for some reason you replay that particular game 3 times, you will get 3 different results even if you play with the exact same players and tactics. For that reason I decided to analyse 50 games and not only review the results but basically all stats and involved these in the evaluation.
For example: there was a match in an earlier test game I played in which my team lost with 0-1, but my team’s possession was 55%+,CCC 4-1 and shots on goal was 8-1. (yes………………..it was the “1% chance“ that killed me).
Does that mean that if you lose 3 games in a row like this that your tactics is always awful???? No….of course not. You can always have a bad result because of a big error/blunder in defence. Main thing is that you know if the tactic is good, that you will win 95 out of 100 times that match and losing it is hard, but always possible, even with the best tactical approach.
I actually would prefer to play with a tactic that creates lots of shots on goal and CCC’s instead of only looking at the results. Winning 3 times with luck while your team gets completely outplayed is a sign that your tactic is not good, but you might just have luck on your side. In some “tests postings” I found on the internet the main focus was on how many points were gathered in a certain number of matches and for the reason just mentioned I decided to take adifferent approach. Yes….in the end it is nice to see how many matches/points you gained but it should be more focussed on how effective you play with a tactic.
When you have the right players on the right spots and a tactic that works, the results will come automatically even when you lose a game or two due to bad luck or terrible blunders in defence.
I think this makes all perfect sense, but just wanted to make this clear here.
All tactics were tweaked or made for and tested with FM 2014 with patch 14.3.1. When multiple versions of the same tactic existed, I chose for either the one which was “the best” according to the creator, or the one that was the newest/latest version, as it would be virtually impossible to test all tactics let alone…….all versions of just one tactic out there ;-).
All team talks (half time and after the match) were done by the Assistant Manager.
No OI (opposition instructions) done
Tactics were tested as “plug and play”, no shouts, no substitutions (except when players condition was under 70% or player was injured/took a knock and needed to be taken off). For your own reference please check the creators’ blog or posts to see if shouts are needed or even wanted, sometimes shouts can interfere with the tactic, instead of helping you play better.
Pitch sizes as indicated by creator of tactics, if not provided I used the standard pitch size.
Identical players were used on positions where possible during matches, when for example a 2-7-1 formation was chosen instead of 4-4-2 the needed changes were made to have the right player on the right position.
No individual talks with players, no team meetings or backroom staff meetings.
Press conferences all done by the Assistant Manager
Of course when you chose a certain tactic for your team a lot of factors come into play. You might have your own personal preference of the formation or line up you are looking for, you might prefer a counterattacking style above a “Tiki Taka” or an “all-out attack” formation. Maybe your team has a lot of DL or DR suitable players and you prefer to play with 4 defenders for that reason. Your chosen team might also be well known to play better in a certain system (Barcelona “Tiki Taka” is an obvious example) and you want to stick to that. But again, the statistics say it all. Some tactics show that they create a lot more chances for your team, some cause a lot of headaches because of a leaky defense etc.
When choosing a tactic a lot more factors come into play than just test results.
Of course I could have chosen another, more reputable, team. But I decided to take a team that is a clearly not an “easy winner” and see what can be achieved despite a low prediction (12[th) at the start of the season.
It’s not hard to win games with teams like Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. Claiming you have found the “best tactic” and posting only your season result from one of the above teamsis not conclusive “evidence” that your tactic did it all.
The scores in the tests I did could have been better if I would have subbed players that were having a bad day, looked exhausted or if I would have made other adjustments to the team based on performance, which everybody does in real. I decided however to keep playing with the same 11 as Istarted with whenever possible, to maintain an honest comparison.
DISCLAIMER:
It is not my intention, and never will be, to imply that certain tactics are better than others. The test was run over 50 games to ensure that the “chance factor” was eliminated as much as possible. My tests will only show which tactics worked best with my test teams (media prediction 12th and 4th) without any players sold/bought during the season, and without any interference or input during the matches. All based on a “plug and play” scenario.
I have/had no personal preference on any tactics and my testing has been done as neutral as possible.
*“It's a mariolicious xmas tree 3-4-3-0 (3T’s)” is an edited version of the original. I changed the position of the 2 AM - 1 ST set up with one with 3 AMs with “Trequartista” role and found out it worked even better than the original set up (from 3-4-3-2-1 to 3-4-3-0)
**I created and perfected “Antonio Conte 3-5-2 EDITED T22AM-ANCH v11” with my testing, however the credit for this one goes to the creator of “UMBRELLA PINBALL (TIKI-TAKA) 2323 T3 (14.3.1)”. It is a beautiful passing style tactic that worked only with one of my test teams. As I loved the positioning and the “CCC ratio” of “Antonio Conte by ARTISAN” I recreated this one with completely different roles but with the mentality of “Umbrella”.
I have included the results of the 4th media prediction team as well as the 12th media prediction team so you can see that some tactics performed great with these teams, and some performed pretty badly.
As I wanted to create a test result with an underdog (12th) and semi top (4th) combined though the above results are the main ones.
Included for download are both spreadsheets with all results,so you can review all test results yourself closely. All tactics in one download (at popular demand): http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=09188444207622544427 Spreadsheets: http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=24007953815747163442
http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=54682496402195997749 (spreadsheet only with "underdog team, media prediction 12th)
I read on so many tactic postings that this particular tactic is the “best ever” etc. And I wondered how there can be over 20 “best ever tactics” out there. This triggered me to have a closer look at them all, see them in action with the same team and compare the performances of each tactic.
When you ask 100 people what to their opinion the best tactic is out there I bet you get 85 different answers, maybe 15 people mentiona tactic already mentioned.
Everybody wants a tactic that makes them win 100% of the time and I can honestly say, for sure in FM 2014 that is simply not going to happen. First of all, it wouldn’t be realistic and secondly: depending on the team you choose (like in this case with one of my test teams with a media prediction 12th, it is unreal to expect a win against the big teams all the time). Maybe with a team like Barcelona, Real Madrid or Manchester City/United you will be able to dominate almost every match and win 95% of them, but that is regardless of which tactics you’ll use, that is why I selected a weaker team, where good tactics are needed to achieve something. I also ran the same tests with a team in a different league and a media prediction of 4th. Not a European top team, but still, a higher ranked team that actually has a chance of winning the local competition.
I tested 51 (yes fifty one!!!) popular and deemed to be “top” tactics for patch 14.3.1, after playing 15 matches with each tactic I eliminated the bottom few and di the same afteranother 10 matches.
In the end (I added a few recently released, very strong tactics) I tested a total of 23 tactics for the full 50 matches.
I have gathered and analysed the most important stats one ach game I played with every tactic, and ended my analyses after playing a lot of games with each one of them with the exact same team.
Every tactic has its own strengths and weaknesses and even though a particular tactic might have been “build around a certain team” I wanted to make a fair comparison between the tactics I tested for this purpose. When you play 20+ time the same match over and over again with each time a different tactic it showed me very easily which tactic is showing consistent results. Some tactics show consistently higher possession stats, other ones more CCC etc. Which tactic is good for you all depends on your personal preference and the team you have chosen.
You might say “luck also comes into play” which of course is true, football is not an exact science and even though you dominate and have the best chances, it happens that you still draw or even lose the match. That is why I have played 45+ games with each of the tactics, just to get the “luck factor” (or “bad luck factor”) out of play.
So what is a “good tactic”? For me, but that is just me, I prefer to lose a game with 0-1, after completely outplaying the opponent and having 8-1 balls on goal, 4-1 CCC etc. My board probably would still be unhappy, but if these stats would be there, it shows the tactic is actually working quite well.
In between matches I went “on holidays” and left all actions (with exclusion of buying/selling players) to my assistant manager. The actual games were played, not simulated for a realistic experience. In generated matches the tactics chosen play a lesser role. When a player’s fitness dropped under 70% I substituted him, when possible. When a player was sent off with a red card in the first 70 minutes of the game, I replayed the match as it wouldn’t be a “fair comparison” in my own test environment.
The test was run with 2 teams; one had a media prediction of12th, the other one a prediction of 4th in their respective leagues.
7 matches were played with tactic not being fluid, in all other matches the tactic was fully fluid.
No injuries or bans in effect (used FMRTE for this purpose, again.......to create a fair comparison)
As you all may know, if you play a certain match and for some reason you replay that particular game 3 times, you will get 3 different results even if you play with the exact same players and tactics. For that reason I decided to analyse 50 games and not only review the results but basically all stats and involved these in the evaluation.
For example: there was a match in an earlier test game I played in which my team lost with 0-1, but my team’s possession was 55%+,CCC 4-1 and shots on goal was 8-1. (yes………………..it was the “1% chance“ that killed me).
Does that mean that if you lose 3 games in a row like this that your tactics is always awful???? No….of course not. You can always have a bad result because of a big error/blunder in defence. Main thing is that you know if the tactic is good, that you will win 95 out of 100 times that match and losing it is hard, but always possible, even with the best tactical approach.
I actually would prefer to play with a tactic that creates lots of shots on goal and CCC’s instead of only looking at the results. Winning 3 times with luck while your team gets completely outplayed is a sign that your tactic is not good, but you might just have luck on your side. In some “tests postings” I found on the internet the main focus was on how many points were gathered in a certain number of matches and for the reason just mentioned I decided to take adifferent approach. Yes….in the end it is nice to see how many matches/points you gained but it should be more focussed on how effective you play with a tactic.
When you have the right players on the right spots and a tactic that works, the results will come automatically even when you lose a game or two due to bad luck or terrible blunders in defence.
I think this makes all perfect sense, but just wanted to make this clear here.
All tactics were tweaked or made for and tested with FM 2014 with patch 14.3.1. When multiple versions of the same tactic existed, I chose for either the one which was “the best” according to the creator, or the one that was the newest/latest version, as it would be virtually impossible to test all tactics let alone…….all versions of just one tactic out there ;-).
All team talks (half time and after the match) were done by the Assistant Manager.
No OI (opposition instructions) done
Tactics were tested as “plug and play”, no shouts, no substitutions (except when players condition was under 70% or player was injured/took a knock and needed to be taken off). For your own reference please check the creators’ blog or posts to see if shouts are needed or even wanted, sometimes shouts can interfere with the tactic, instead of helping you play better.
Pitch sizes as indicated by creator of tactics, if not provided I used the standard pitch size.
Identical players were used on positions where possible during matches, when for example a 2-7-1 formation was chosen instead of 4-4-2 the needed changes were made to have the right player on the right position.
No individual talks with players, no team meetings or backroom staff meetings.
Press conferences all done by the Assistant Manager
Of course when you chose a certain tactic for your team a lot of factors come into play. You might have your own personal preference of the formation or line up you are looking for, you might prefer a counterattacking style above a “Tiki Taka” or an “all-out attack” formation. Maybe your team has a lot of DL or DR suitable players and you prefer to play with 4 defenders for that reason. Your chosen team might also be well known to play better in a certain system (Barcelona “Tiki Taka” is an obvious example) and you want to stick to that. But again, the statistics say it all. Some tactics show that they create a lot more chances for your team, some cause a lot of headaches because of a leaky defense etc.
When choosing a tactic a lot more factors come into play than just test results.
Of course I could have chosen another, more reputable, team. But I decided to take a team that is a clearly not an “easy winner” and see what can be achieved despite a low prediction (12[th) at the start of the season.
It’s not hard to win games with teams like Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. Claiming you have found the “best tactic” and posting only your season result from one of the above teamsis not conclusive “evidence” that your tactic did it all.
The scores in the tests I did could have been better if I would have subbed players that were having a bad day, looked exhausted or if I would have made other adjustments to the team based on performance, which everybody does in real. I decided however to keep playing with the same 11 as Istarted with whenever possible, to maintain an honest comparison.
DISCLAIMER:
It is not my intention, and never will be, to imply that certain tactics are better than others. The test was run over 50 games to ensure that the “chance factor” was eliminated as much as possible. My tests will only show which tactics worked best with my test teams (media prediction 12th and 4th) without any players sold/bought during the season, and without any interference or input during the matches. All based on a “plug and play” scenario.
I have/had no personal preference on any tactics and my testing has been done as neutral as possible.
*“It's a mariolicious xmas tree 3-4-3-0 (3T’s)” is an edited version of the original. I changed the position of the 2 AM - 1 ST set up with one with 3 AMs with “Trequartista” role and found out it worked even better than the original set up (from 3-4-3-2-1 to 3-4-3-0)
**I created and perfected “Antonio Conte 3-5-2 EDITED T22AM-ANCH v11” with my testing, however the credit for this one goes to the creator of “UMBRELLA PINBALL (TIKI-TAKA) 2323 T3 (14.3.1)”. It is a beautiful passing style tactic that worked only with one of my test teams. As I loved the positioning and the “CCC ratio” of “Antonio Conte by ARTISAN” I recreated this one with completely different roles but with the mentality of “Umbrella”.
I have included the results of the 4th media prediction team as well as the 12th media prediction team so you can see that some tactics performed great with these teams, and some performed pretty badly.
As I wanted to create a test result with an underdog (12th) and semi top (4th) combined though the above results are the main ones.
Included for download are both spreadsheets with all results,so you can review all test results yourself closely. All tactics in one download (at popular demand): http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=09188444207622544427 Spreadsheets: http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=24007953815747163442
http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=54682496402195997749 (spreadsheet only with "underdog team, media prediction 12th)
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