Puzzled?!?!?

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banger93

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I’m a bit lost with tactics atm.

Started a new sAve with Havant and waterlooville in conference prem.

expected to get relageted.. tried a couple of tactics I’ve put together not much success.

I was was just wondering is there any guides out there to help me.

for example explaining each role in more details, or what works well together.

also something to help change things during the game like if a team is dominating possession and j can’t get the ball.. what do I change to help, or teams keep getting in down the wings etc.

Im no fool when it comes to football but on fm struggling a bit on instructions etc. I think I interpret them different to what they actually mean.

Any help would be appeecoated thanks
 
Might seem obvious. But try a google search. I have done so before and learnt a lot.
 
try a search for Cleon or Guido 's guide on fm.
 
Basic logic goes a long way with FM. We tend to overcomplicate things. A LOT. Applying the basic logic we have from even just watching football can real do a lot.

Cleon is a great shout. There are some amazing blogs out there focusing to various levels on tactics. The Bust the Net video series on Youtube is great. Even watching a streamer on Twitch like Teach.

My basic advice is consider how you want to play. How do you expect to defend, how do you intend to attack, and how are you going to transition between those? Not what formation am I going to run, because any formation can play any type of football (some easier, some harder), but where how am I expecting to succeed? This is key to my mind - you will need to tweak and adjust the tactic as you go, and that is vastly easier you have a clear idea of how you want things to work.

Consider the quality you have available - probably a bit unrealistic to try to turn non-league amateur players into Barcelona version 2.0. Consider your strengths and weaknesses of the squad when deciding on how you want to play.

Keep things simple. Don't add a bunch of Team Instructions or Personal Instructions just for the sake of it. Pick a formation, Team Shape, a mentality, and then the roles and duties. TI and PIs are tweaks and should be added (in my view) after determining how the tactic plays without them. Look for balance, especially with roles and duties. Bear in mind that each change has knock-on effects. A tweak might solve one problem and create another.

Most of the explanations in-game are solid. A few are not as clear as they should be. Mentality doesn't actually fully dictate the style of play - roles and duties still play a big part of that. So you can still be very attacking even with a Counter mentality. Mentality impacts a number of things, but its easiest to look at it as "risk". So an attacking approach with a Counter mentality will be relatively low-risk, where as an Attacking mentality will make it much more risky.

Perhaps most important.... watch the matches and look to tweak.
 
View attachment 37242

SO this is the formation ive gone for.

Want the from 3 to push high and win ball back in opp half. Them 3 will be my main source of goals too.

Midfield too will try win ball higher too one cm to help mainly att and second to contribute to both att and def.

DLP at cdm will hopefully dictate play when we have the ball and drop into make a back 3.

Full backs will support going forward.

Any help and suggestions will be appreciated.
 
A few quick thoughts...

-the front three won't close down / press without being instructed to. You either need Team Instruction or Personal Instructions to do so. Bear in mind that unless you have unusually skilled forwards and wingers, those three are likely your least defensively effective players in the whole squad. Your prototypical attack-minded winger is not going to be real strong in Aggression, Work Rate, Team Work, Positioning or Marking. Forwards that really excel in pressing - like Roberto Firmino - are kind specialists. And the front three all on Attack means that they won't do that much off the ball when you are defending. They won't help your defensive shape a lot.

-how exactly are the wingers going to contribute goals? The traditional winger is a set-up man and stays wide. That's what you are asking them to here. If they both have PPMs to cut inside, they will do that.... but then why have them as wingers in the first place? They may come inside enough that they can hit the occasional far post cutback, but that's not going to be a regular thing. Its just not their focus.

-it looks like your primary chance creation is going to come from crosses from wide - from the wingers or the fullbacks. That's fine, but crosses are a low-percentage method of creating goals. And you aren't increasing those percentages in any real way. Who are the crosses going to? The single forward. The opposite winger is staying wide, as is the fullback. The central mids aren't really runners. Mazzala gives you a bit of that, but they also focus on covering the half-space. You aren't likely going to consistently get late runners into the box to provide an additional cross target. Unless your lone striker who is going to be against two or even three opponents in the box is Jan Koller.... very low percentage....

-the DLP doesn't drop into the backline. A Halfback does. But a HB isn't a playmaker. A DLP, even on Defend duty, isn't a true holding player. So he is only going to shield the defense so much. Think of the prototype DLP, Andre Pirlo. He was always part of a double-pivot because he didn't do the defensive grunt work.

Now, these are POSSIBLE concerns I see. They may not be happening. It all depends on what you are seeing in matches. For all I know, you've used this for a dozen competitive matches, found great success and no issues. But if you are seeing some issue, some tweaks I could suggest would be flipping at least one winger - maybe both - to Inside Forward. Try a midfield three of something like DLP-S in one MC spot and either MC-A or B-2-B in the other, with the DM spot as just as a Defensive Mid - Defend.
 
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That’s a great overview Bigpapa42 and it pleases me that whilst I never had the same in-depth thinking as you’ve just explained, you have described exactly how I have set my Hull City team up in the championship as far as inside forwards and the midfield 3 go. I have a complete forward up top, my full backs are FB(S) (I tried FB(A) but they were always up with or more advanced then my inside forwards when attacking). A ball playing defender and a central defending pair and it looks pretty solid after only a few games.

Banger93 i’d suggest go with the tactic you have created, watch the games and pick an area to focus on and make some tweaks and see how it changes then go to the next one. My mistakes in the past have been making 5 or 6 major changes and getting frustrated at why it doesn’t seem to be working.

Good luck.
 
Bigpapa42, Thanks for the reply!

Front 3 are all on close down much more as pi's, and the tactic is working better.

I changed the dlp to a half back before i had read this lol and seem to have more control and working better.

I have notcied that my goals are highly reliable on my af so maybe will change a winger to if.

im worried with a cm on att and mezzala it will be to aggressive the midfield 2?

thanks again though guys i apreciate it
 
Generally, a good rule of thumb is that if you have 3 in midfield (whether its 3 MCs, 2 MCs & 1 DM, 2 DM & 1 MC), a nice balance is having a runner, a creator, and a holder. Your first setup didn't really have that - you had a passing player and a runner (Mezzala) and a mixed role (MC-Support). No real holding.

Switching the HB is a good start. You are likely right - Mezzala and MC-A might be too aggressive. With them both looking to move forward and your HB dropping back, you might concede too much midfield space. So I would probably look to switch one of the MC roles to be a passing player. DLP or Roaming Playmaker. Even Advanced Playmaker. the in-game descriptions lay out the differences reasonably well. A DLP beside a Mezzala should work pretty well.

One thing I'd keep my eye on - whether the Mezzala is doing what you want the player to be doing. I haven't used the role a ton, but its basically an inside winger. You have both a winger and a FB, so an inside player doing the same might be unnecessary. They look to operate in the half-space and cover laterally - you don't need the cover there with the wide players you have. Its great if you have a narrow formation with limited wide players but you don't. Might work wonderfully, but just watch it.
 
Didn't read the whole thing, but, BigPapa as usual has given really good advice,, as have others. I would, however, disagree with the Mezzala comnent in his last paragraph. I used Mez to great effect with the 4123 DM you have. In conjunction with a W/A and FB/S - the Mez moved nicely in the half space and created a triangle with the FB and Winger.
 
Snorks said:
Didn't read the whole thing, but, BigPapa as usual has given really good advice,, as have others. I would, however, disagree with the Mezzala comnent in his last paragraph. I used Mez to great effect with the 4123 DM you have. In conjunction with a W/A and FB/S - the Mez moved nicely in the half space and created a triangle with the FB and Winger.
Click to expand...

Definitely possible. This is why I said to watch it, not that it would definitely be a problem. I've only used the Mezzala a bit. But how much they go wide and whether fits with the other players out there or clashes is probably impacted by the overall tactics and the others roles and duties.
 
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