Thanks for the reply
I didnt want you to make a tactic for me, but reading what you wrote here, and the opening post (which is amazing) I'm thinking that I should get some indebt knowledge of what each setting does and how it affects the gameplay. From there I can work my way through and figure out what benefits a group of player.
There's a lot of things to thing about, for instance fullbacks vs wingbacks. One is better, regardless. 3 central defenders vs 2 central defenders and 2 backs/wingbacks. One, two or 3 strikers? How to get them to link good?
One thing is 100% sure, it will take time to make a good tactic like this, but I'm up for it as it interests me a lot
ah right, okay.
full backs and wing backs? well, personally if i'm a team like Arsenal for example i'll use wing backs and not full backs, because in most games i will be the favourite and should be attacking the opposition and trying to overload them in my attack, so wing backs are better here as they are more aggressive going forward compared to full backs and with the right stats can get quite a few assists from crosses.
full backs are better for teams like Fulham for example, Fulham are a decent team on FM but are a team that will hopefully finish 10th/9th at best usually, unless the correct signings are made along with a very good tactic. This therefore means in about half of your games with Fulham in the league you'll probably be the least favourite, with you defending and trying to counter to opposition, so you won't want to commit any players too much who should be defending, so putting a player on full back for this would be better. of course if you're playing a team where you're the favourite, feel free to go with wing backs, Fulham have a few good players who can play it that role anyway, such as Shorey (loan on 10.3), Konchesky, Kelly and Pantsil, but be careful as no doubt that opposition will be looking to counter you and could take advantage of you committing players forward, so maybe using a centre midfielder in a ball winning midfielder role with 'defend' on (Dickson Etuhu etc) would help negate the effect on the counter with him sitting deep and slowing down the play a bit more when necessary.
strikers? there a few obvious 'combinations' in my opinion, the target man + poacher (like Bent and Jones for Sunderland) is always a good old fashioned simple partnership and can do damage against oppositions, or combinations such as deep lying forward + advanced forward, this can work as the advanced forward can drag defenders away from the deep lying forward who then has more space to play in team-mates, mostly wingers or his other striking partnership.
one partnership i've been using as of late, is complete forward + poacher. this seems to work quite nicely if you're complete forward has the technical ability, and if your poacher has the movement off the ball and finishing qualities it can be a good partnership (i used Henry and Hulk in this, Henry as the complete forward and Hulk as the poacher).
3 cb's vs 2 cb's? i like to keep my tactics simple, so i'd go with a 2 man central defensive partnership, but there is no doubt 3 man centre defensive partnership can work, as seen in JP Woody's 'Total Football' tactic, which is quality. if you are going to use 3 cb's, i'd take a leaf out of JP's book and have atleast 1 or 2 of those 3 as ball playing defenders, for a bit more creativity. it all depends on your formation though and what players you have at your disposal.
1, 2 or 3 strikers? again, i keep things simple mostly, so i'd go with the simple 2 man partnership, and not 3, but, 3 man partnerships can work, as you can tell by the Mr Hough tactic. A lone striker can work, as I've had great success with a 4-4-1-1 formation before, but you will really have to have a hard working midfield, and give your midfielders roles like box to box midfielders, and wide men as wide midfielders, preferably 'attack'. also your lone striker cannot afford to be wasteful in his goalscoring opportunities, if a chance comes, he needs to take atleast 1 or 2 of them. I used Nikola Kalinic as my lone striker, he was good, but he was much better when he had a striker up there with him in a 2 man partnership.
how to make them link well? it all depends on your players really, a mix of a big, strong, and tall target man with a small, pacey, and intelligent striker can be a massive hit.
anything else, just ask.
