Looking for tactic testers for a novel formation

  • Thread starter Felley
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Felley

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Hello all. I'll start by saying that i've never posted a tactic on here before, but then again I usually work from the perspective of creating an individual tactic for each team. Things have changed very recently (today) where I happened across a pretty novel tactic that seems to be working a treat. I'll give you a bit of a background to how I came up with it...

After struggling with a team called Coxyde (Belgian third tier) for an entire season and with the club now on the brink of financial collapse, I have been forced to become very creative when it comes to tactical tinkering. I originally had just one player suited to playing in Central Midfield, one on each wing and three strikers of pretty equal ability, so I had to find a way to play three up front with Defensive Midfielders/Wing Backs. As you can imagine, it gave me quite a headache. The first season was pretty terrible and we managed to avoid relegation by 7 points.

But then I tried a new formation that has been made possible by the new player roles in FM14. Ladies and Gentlemen (mainly gentlemen, let's be honest), my gift unto you is the 2-3-2-3.

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The problem is, I don't have the time to start a load of new games to test it out, so i'm asking very kindly for anyone who has the time to give it a go and see what you think. I've had incredible results using it (apart from the 3 lost in a row which were due to a raft of 4 injuries which seriously depleted my 17-man squad), bearing in mind that the team are essentially relegation candidates.

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It might be that i've happened across something that isn't actually that good, but the uniqueness of the formation drew me towards sharing it as I know there will be plenty on here that will love to dissect, criticise and rejig the tactic.

As for the player instructions, I will list them below. I originally set them up to suit my players but after considering them as a whole, I think they add to the strength of the tactic:



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GK - Goalkeeper (Defend)
LCB - Limited Defender (Defend)
RCB - Limited Defender (Defend)
LWB - Complete Wing Back - Run wide with ball
DM - Half Back - Shoot less often, More direct passes, Tackle harder
RWB - Complete Wing Back - Run wide with ball
LCM - Box to Box Midfielder - Shoot less often, More direct passes
RCM - Advanced Playmaker (Attack) - Close down more
STL - Poacher - Move into channels, Hold position
STC - False Nine - Close down less
STR - Advanced Forward - Fewer risky passes, Hold up ball, Hold position, Move into channels



So that's it. Please have a blast with it and see what you think. If it's a load of garbage, then fair play. Otherwise, let me know how it's going and if you need it, i'll try my best to help with my limited knowledge of the new FM.



DOWNLOAD TACTIC BELOW

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Quick update. Played the next 11 games and got the following results:

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Pretty impressed to be honest. Maybe ever so slightly vulnerable to counter attacks, but all in all great football played. The tactic is in general very attacking with what usually seems like 7 or 8 of the 10 outfield players bombing forward and creating space with their runs. The Wing Back's are crucial and have been enjoying lots of space and popping up with plenty of goals and assists. Most of the opposition defenders are preoccupied with the midfielders and forwards, allowing gaps to form relatively easily. Many a goal has also exploited the sheer weight of numbers around the 18-yard box.

I have conceded quite a lot of goals, but the tactic seems to be all about outscoring the opponent. Hopefully some of you guys can take up the offer of testing, if I have chance I might try and burn through a season with a top team in the next few days.
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Barcelona

I just plugged in the tactic, and then went on vacation until end of season. Title won with 6 draws and 3 defeats, went out in CL from the first eliminatory round, cup lost in the final to Real Madrid. Strikers had an awful season.
View attachment 462495View attachment 462494View attachment 462493
In the first knockout round of the CL, it went out loosing to Dortumnd, after coming second in the group, with heavy losses to Manchester City, and a draw to OM which almost made it go home after the groups.

As I checked, when playing the big teams, expecially away, the defence is ravaged, with very many clear cut chances from the opponents.

Spanish Cup final lost to Real Madrid, RM having much more chances and clear cut chances. As it can be seen, overall the strikers had a not so good season, with Neymar in particularly having an awfull one. I will test the tactic with a small team too, a relegated one from the primera.
 
Only half way with Almeria in primera, we are above the demotion line, but again, same problem, big teams, and this time medium teams, have a really high clear cut chances rate. I will post results at the end.
 
First of all, I have an update on the progress of this tactic for the rest of the season. Here are the results:

View attachment 462448

Mostly good results as with the majority of the season, but I did find that the team struggled massively in the last two games (For those who don't know, the belgian third division is split into two seperate leagues. Each has an individual champion who is promoted, but the two champions then playoff to decide an overall winner of the trophy). Deinze were clearly a much better team than mine and had no trouble overcoming the tactic. My players had excellent morale, were highly motivated and the squad was fully fit, so to be comprehensively outplayed is entirely the fault of the tactic. I'm starting to think it's not too great...

Which leads me onto responding to StefanCP. Cheers for testing the tactic, though it appears that my concerns have been realised. It seems very vulnerable to fast attacks and counter attacks. The only way I seem to have stemmed the flow on my game is by havin impeccable Wing Backs and an awesome Half Back. But even that wasn't enough to stem the tide against a much better team.

I guess it's back to the drawing board.

One question for StefanCP, where were Almeria expected to finish?
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I think they were expected to drop :) So they managed to remain in the Primera.
 
StefanCP said:
I think they were expected to drop :) So they managed to remain in the Primera.
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Well I suppose that's a small victory for the tactic maybe 8-|

Let's see if some tweaking does the business. I'm gonna give it another run with Coxyde in the higher division. I'm expecting to get battered! Wish me luck...
 
About to test this formation in my Rotherham United save (League 1 team in the BPL).
 
I played two matches with this formation last night (I was ****** tired) and lost both of them. Lost the first match 1-0, lost the second match 2-1. I think this is a good formation for Rotherham United because they have a lot of players that are good in the midfield as well as defense. Their attackers aren't half bad either. I think the lads need more time practicing the tactic considering I just installed it. What do you think Felley?
 
JMocks said:
I played two matches with this formation last night (I was ****** tired) and lost both of them. Lost the first match 1-0, lost the second match 2-1. I think this is a good formation for Rotherham United because they have a lot of players that are good in the midfield as well as defense. Their attackers aren't half bad either. I think the lads need more time practicing the tactic considering I just installed it. What do you think Felley?
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I would definitely wait until they are pretty used to the formation until you take the results too seriously. Any chance of a screenshot to see how well they are getting used to it?

That said, I am aware of it's deficiencies and the next season I am completing in my save will hopefully highlight some tweaks that could be made.

The last thing I will say is that you need really good attacking Wing Backs. If you wish to take the pressure off them, maybe drop the False Nine into an AMC as an Attacking Midfield on Support, or a Trequartista.

Like I say, working on it this eve! If you're really bothered about the Rotherham save and it's looking bleak, maybe try something a bit more conservative as this tactic is VERY attacking.
 
Felley said:
I would definitely wait until they are pretty used to the formation until you take the results too seriously. Any chance of a screenshot to see how well they are getting used to it?

That said, I am aware of it's deficiencies and the next season I am completing in my save will hopefully highlight some tweaks that could be made.

The last thing I will say is that you need really good attacking Wing Backs. If you wish to take the pressure off them, maybe drop the False Nine into an AMC as an Attacking Midfield on Support, or a Trequartista.

Like I say, working on it this eve! If you're really bothered about the Rotherham save and it's looking bleak, maybe try something a bit more conservative as this tactic is VERY attacking.
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Not really bothered. Don't care about results. Its more of a test save. I think Rotherham United fits the formation well. Like I said their midfield is stacked, solid attackers, and two great defenders. They also have two wing backs that have an ability of 3 stars and higher. Once they learn the formation, I should start seeing results. But we'll see what happens.
 
Just a quick update regarding the performance of my team using this tactic. As you will see, we are finding it very difficult, but as I will explain, there are other forces at work:

View attachment 462250

Essentially, i'm thinking that this save is not a fair test for the tactic, so i'm gonna start something else. As we all know, it's very easy to get attached to your saves and with this team winning promotion, I was intrigued to see what we could do. Unfortunately, I underestimated how much of an impact the finances would have. With the club already in dire straits, the board thought it would be a great idea to loan ?8m to build a new stadium. Consequently, I lost some good players due to their contracts expiring, I couldn't bring in any new faces and I am forced to try and stick out the tactic test with a 16 man squad (including a couple of loans). Add to this the utterly devastating injury crisis and it becomes nigh on impossible to establish this as a fair test.

Just check out how bad the injuries have got (all 6 are starting 11):

View attachment 462249

As for the football played, it's the same story, excellent going forward, but easily exposed on the break. Something that has been particularly problematic in this league is my keeper's inability to kick the ball further than about 50yds, meaning I have conceded quite a few goals from the opposition breaking fast after a goal kick. This is an obvious inefficiency in the tactic when playing better teams, as the Central Defenders are not fast enough, the Wing Backs too far forward, and the Half Back pushed slightly further forward on goal kicks.

So all in all, bit of a drab time at the moment, but like I say, I don't consider this season as a fair test. I want to try it with a relegation candidate in a top division. Usually separates the wheat from the chaff.

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