I’ll try to describe my approach to LFC game this year. I have to admit that new match engine has surprised me in a very positive way because I hate any kind of exploitable tactics and I hope that such tactic will never be invented.
I’ve played a half of first season already till the end of January and my team takes a proud 2nd place in the league just after Man City which loses points very rarely.
I didn’t buy any new players (I’ve ticked such option before starting the game which forbids buying new players) and loaned out some youngsters and unnecessary players (Pacheco, Downing, Cole).
The most important: tactics. Liverpool suffers from lack of strikers and has a good amount of decent defenders (and several prospects). So my main tactic looks very defensive:
SC
AMC
MC MC MC
DML DMR
DC DC DC
GK
Reina – Agger, Coates, Skrtel – Enrique, Johnson – Gerrard, Sahin (DLP), Lucas (Allen) – Suarez – Borini (poacher)
Team Instruction: style balanced, strategy standard, everything default.
I’m watching the game on full at least 15 first minutes and adjust my team to the current situation on the pitch using shouts (always), individual instructions or sometimes I have to change a bit my formation (for example 2xSC instead of AMC + SC).
All youngesters play a lot games (Wilson, Kelly, Robinson, Shelvey, Hendo, Suso, even Yesil and Flanagan) what makes board very happy.
I’m always pay much attention for setting marking for my players properly. If my rival plays with one slow striker, I set my center DC as a stopper and man marking his SC (cover if this striker is very fast). If there is 2 SC, my center DC has set zonal marking and both remaining DCs are marking both strikers individually. The same with midfield – I force my center MC (DLP) to man marking AMC. If my rival don’t use AMC, my center MC has zonal marking. I think that marking settings can have a crucial impact for the game. It’s also important to react when AI change its tactic – if you don’t, your defenders will probably lose themselves.
This style of play is very enjoyable for me and it results with very high place in the league. Finally I feel that most of matches are under my control.