Vadermage

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Hello again, some of you might remember me and mine Slix trio tactics from FM 16, I tried to lets say creae something of same quality this year...

When I started playing FM 17 with latest patch all I could see was that the only thing you fellas were playing is 3430, since I'm not big fan of Serie A and BBVA football and them strikerless things I went for rough standard English 451, well its based on a French fella who is in England for a long time, yup, you guessed it right, old senile Arsene is the man whose tactical ideas influence mine playing style. Arsenal are one of most famous clubs in world of football, and for a reason, they are probably first team that used quick short passes to offset defences around Premier League, the famous Bergamp Henry combo and the never forgotten Gilberto Silva - Patrick Vieira midlefield duo, well that's something I want to see from Arsenal even 14 years after their success, only thing I can do is see it on YT or see it in FM, I choose the latter, so lets get on to the tactic.

There are 2 tactics at the moment with plan for third one, these are both 4231 Wide while one could be called 2431 since it uses WB positions instead of FB ones.

View attachment 90864

First one is flat 4 in the back I intend to name this one away version, the answer why is that its better in keeping possession and WBs are in flat position which makes them less offensive and while you hold the ball they would advance further up the pitch, well thats what anyone would think, there is a little catch, although they are WBs in both tactics they act like WB to IWB hybrids, they defend your midlefield but make marauding runs when they see the space needed for them to work their magic, you will often see your LB and RB marauding and crossing low balls just from the edge of 16m box, reason for low crosses is mine main striker is Lacazette since Giroud has had few injuries his way.

View attachment 90863

The other version is the one I intended to dub the home version, its much more aggressive, ball is intented to be played quicker and supply your forwards, it still has the same instructions, well almost all the same as away version, the thing is positioning of players, if youmove your FBs to WB slots they also rise the bar of space for the mid duo, thus they make them go higher up the pitch and apply pressure sooner and also gives them the chance to be closer to your Attacking players enabling your BBM to pick them out or just supply AMC who will link the other 3 into play, now here come the WBs onrushing and swarming defence and this creates space for your players to unbalance the defence and make scoring chances, but, WBs higher up the pitch means they are more often ofset from their defensive position and makes you more vulnerable to facing counter attacks, thus this is Home version since its more aggressive than the other version.

Now I would be obliged to explain how all this works, the whole point is not a plug and play thing since there aren;t 2 of the same players in the world, first this tactic as all of mine I ever created need mental players, I like players who are high on Anticipation, Decisions, Off the ball and mid high on Teamwork, along with their positional attribute requiriments I dsire all mine attacking minded players to have all these attributes as highas I can get, I know this really narrows the pick of players who are suitable for the tactic.
As for defensive minded players (CBs BWM) I like to have Decisions, Anticipation, Concentration, Teamwork and Workrate, while I consider WBs the real magicians in the game of football I require of them set of both, they are your dynamos they run, they pass, they def, they cross, and then run to tackle or to mark their target, then they run again, so add Stamina to the list for these fellas. Thats how I like mine players in general.

The team is intended to work like a hurricane in offense, and like a Rock in defense, you will often see that your defenders have high interception count, for teams that play counter your CBs will cut most of the balls which are just plunged forward while BWMs and B2B will harass midfielders who try to work something out if they wait, for possession type teams your B2B BWM and AMC will harass middlefield while IFs watch out andcover mid space for onrushing FBs ,Striker will deal with CBs and DMs and apply pressure on them along with AMC, now the part where they shine is wide areas, WBs will get supported by IFs while CBs wont budge, its set that way so that they dont move, they wont close down, if there is a player they will hold their position until he is near them and then just pounce him and leave him on the ground, ofc sometimes a ball will find its way to your net, or sometimes Cech will make you want to eat some paper, thats just poor GK AI, atleast I think of it as that.

GK: best you can get, the worst position for me to pick someone, I usually go for scout report or for Rajkovic(fellow countryman and he knows how to keep)

LB(LWB): I already mentioned mine personal preference, it doesnt have to be it, I like players who are winger MC hybrids, something like Darijo Srna was at his peak, for existing players I picked Monreal simply cos he is insanely good in defending situations and he knows and isn't affraid to rush forward, as for backup I can suggest Coentrao, he is cheap for top teams considering Real M wants to get rid of him, as for lower tier teams which cant afford him I would suggest someone like: Andrew Robertson, Frederico Rica or Jonny

RB(RWB): same as above, I already spoke of it, here in Arsenal they have Bellerin, the light of hope for Gunners, Bellerin really looks like he will be a world star in coming years, as for backup I'm using Carmona, the players who can fit the role would be: Jonny(again he can play both sides), Hugo Mallo, Sidibe as for weaker budgets first one that comes into mine mind would be Nyom or Klosterman

CB: Now this is a tricky part, this is your defensive wall, along side with BWM but these guys need to be like a fortress, in mine Arsenal side I'm using Kosc, Mustafi, Paulista and Goldaniga, Goldaniga is doing good considering his age and stats, Gabriel Paulista gave me few good impressions, he even got MoM award for scoring in 2 games in a row, imagine that, as for recommendations I would pick Vallejo without a second thought, he got it all, in years t come you can develop some more speed for him and thats it, he can boss it, as for rest Pepe is nearing his contract end and would be pretty cheap, Khaceridi is beast this year, alongside with Jose Gimenez and Rugani sounds like a good pick, as for cheap recommends I think Jovanovic(Vukasin) would fare well, tho I usually invest into mine CBs first since the less I concede the more pts for the taking

BWM: Im a weird guy and on top of that Arsenal fan, that's double weird for ya The most defensive duty on the team other than CBs and he isnt just defender, to sum it up, this guy needs some passing ability, I'm not talking like make him Pirlo or Alonso, but some passing ability, for me Ive been using Maia, Coquelin and Elneny in this role and they have all 3 played good, you wontsee high rating from these guys since we all know how FM does their rating in weirdest possible way, the other fellas I could recommend would be Casemio(this year he is too good) and on other hand Ascacibar and late Cheick Tiote, they should be good for the role based on stats, it isnt htat hard to find hardworking leg breaker with some sense for pass, for weaker budgets Radoja should do the trick and I gotta honorary mention Camacho and Matic

B2B:This role can be changed round to DLP or RPM tho RPM sacrifices some of his defensive dutyes, as for this role I've been using Ramsey and Xhaka, I look forward to Nemanja Maksimovic joining with mine squad on the end of season since I can see amazing stuff coming from him thus I recommend him as a first, for top spenders there is no question on whom to ge for B2B role: Pogba(hate to say it he is good), Marchisio(old but gold), Vidal(he can also perform in BWM dty to some extent), Kimmich, Manu Trigeros should work good aswell, as for cheaper solutions Gudelj looks awesome on this year FM.

AM(BERGKAMP): This here fella is your link with attack and your presser in defence, he will make some neat passes some no look assists some awesome runs he will draw def to him he will supply link chain and do all the mgic, so thats why I proclaim this player here as Bergkamp, no more no less, the magician, Ozil is serving mine side in this position with Bernardo Silva while Ozil is on injury, Kuki has been perforimng well here aswell, as for recommends its not hard to find a good AMC out there, just take decisions, anticipation, off the ball, agility or balance and teamwork into consideration, he is your mental guy the mastermind which unlocks defences

IF: This role is self explanatory a "wrong" footet fella on a right side, so it would mean left fotted on right and vice versa, Alexis really shines for mine side, and Iwobi has been packing some really good games, while Im using Nelson as hot prospect(he even got MoM vs Wolves in FA cup), again for right side I got Bernardo Silva and Lucas on mine side, I would highly advise Andrija Zivkovic, he looks **** fine this year(he was out of price range for me :( ) its pretty self explanatory, look for Alexis look a like, he is tearing it down, he has awesome PPMs and awesome stats, anything near as that and you are set for good, same goes for other side.

CF:Here we come to striker, as a Arsenal fan Ive been looking foward to seeing Lacazette in North London(as Wenger is we might see some Myanmar wonderkid instead of Lacazette so I'm fullfiling mine dream in FM, take that Arsene), Lacazette has been serving me fine, he had 7 games and 7 goals in December in EPL, it took him some time to gel in, but now he is killing it, Giroud is fine in this role aswell, he tends to act more supportive than Lacazette, since he has more to his teamwork, but heplays others in really nicely and he gives you that insane height advantage(think of crossing types if you use Kane Giroud alike player), or striker I always look for Of the ball, anticipation, composure, some passing, some tehnical attributes, and strong mental image of a ruthless finisher who aint afraid to stick his head where no other would stick his leg (Dule Savic), here are so many good ST in the game this year, as for some help finding one, try looking for allrounder.

View attachment 90823

this is setup of instructions for away version, team should work ball into danger area fast and attempt to make space for your attacking players. Simple as that

View attachment 90861
I seems same as the away version, but it doesn't have work ball into box instruction, I want them to take more risks when they are home side, I want to utilize Ozil and RAmsey to max, no point in someone being open for their pass when they have the instruction to ignore him and play short passes between them and buff pass stats(yeah Uefalona that sucks), the passing is set to mixed in both versions, the shorter passing seemed to provide smaller number of chances than mixed ones.

Here are some screens of team performance this season and leagu table:

View attachment 90860View attachment 90859View attachment 90858


as for last match preps and training are done as always, try to have as many as you can with slider all left in preseason with atleast 3 days between them, I use team cohesion Very high in pre and team coh high in season, while I use Attacking movement during season(once all is gelled).

Feel free to tweak and tr the tactic, so far I have only tested it with Arsenal, the main problem I see in the tactic would be B2B role, Is it properly utilised by mineside since Ramsey ain't Vieira, as for rest I couldnt find too many complaints, feel free to ask questions and submit results.

I ain't gonna say its PERFECT DONIMATRIX DRAGON BREATH TACTIC WON ECL WITH PARTIZANI TIRANA!!!!11!! nopes, I won't say that. I'm just sharing a tactic I enjoy watching since it takes me back to the glory days...


px
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View attachment 90870 Home
View attachment 90824Away

EDIT: The "Away" version had 2 wrong team instructions that shouldn't be there, guess I uploaded earlier version of the tactic, sorry for that. Ill make it up by an advice xD If your B2B finds himself struggling to provide and clusters with AMC who is higher than him on pitch and gets in his way, remove move into channels instruction, if it still occurs remove get further forward instruction from him as well, that way he will provide back pass option instead of blocking play which AMC intends to make, its fairly rarely that I see that happening tho it happens with attacking minded B2B(Ramsey style B2B)....

They say picture tells 1000 words, I wonder how many does video tell? This pretty much sums up what to expect of this, everything I wrote, everything I tried to explain is in this video:
[video]https://youtu.be/dyDSjadM6Lk[/video]


UPDATE: V2 of home and away version, the instructions are now the same, difference between the 2 is WB vs FB positions

View attachment 90618 Home version
View attachment 90617 Away version

That's it for this update, the next one will be when I'm done with tweaking the promised 451 tactic, and no worries you story lovers, that one has quite a story behind it :)
 
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Can you see the images? I cant
Images are on links, wherever it says attachment #### its image link, some sort of glitch happened while I was making the post and it forced me to put them out that way...
 
Gonna test!
Thanks and lemme know how it unfolds, even if its bad :D Tho I didn't mention if you are playing away game vs Huddersfield with Arsenal the logical choice would be to use HOME version of tactic since the difference in quality is too great for you to consider them as a club who can threaten you :)
 
Thanks and lemme know how it unfolds, even if its bad :D Tho I didn't mention if you are playing away game vs Huddersfield with Arsenal the logical choice would be to use HOME version of tactic since the difference in quality is too great for you to consider them as a club who can threaten you :)

I'm already in november now, so gonna start with the away version, think it's more safe to start with that till tactic is 100% fluid ;)
 
nice to see a tac thats not 3 at the back or without st
 
Any OI - teamtalk?

Teamtalk is a tricky one, usually I go for full professional ambitious and dteremined squad, rarely I have more than 5 players with det under 15, so mine teamtalks are at start go on where you left off(calm) or if its big game vs rivals its for the fans(passionative) as for half time if its under 2 goals difference eg 2:0, 0:0, 1:0, 3:1 or if you are loosing I got for aggressive, the one that can be translated as dafuq you doing, if you are leading by more than 3 goals its asseritive im happy. If you dont have determined squad I would advise you to visit Raikans team talk guide from FM 15 or it was FM 14, mine style is to have blended squad and compactness

also don't forget to praise players till they have you as favored personel, if he has 8.00+ avg in 5games in a row praise form if he nets hat trick or brace or 2-3 assist and/or picks up MoM award praise his perfomance, all until you are in favored list.


As for OI, there is a set of experimental OIs that I'm using atm

View attachment 90825
This is still in experimental phase, so I didn't include it in OP, thing is I want to work that high Gegen pressing style but I want small risk of being countered, ths mine def line is set to normal and mine OI instruct them to close down all wide threats and GK CBs, the GK CB players are the ones you pray not to make mistake, if you put pressure on them its a sure thing they will break and you will have few scoring chances from that(talking few chances across 10 games, not few chances per game)
as for rest 0 time for decisions for all wide players and for midlefield players and tight mark from your mid to their AMC positions, he less time they have to htink the bigger the chance they will fluke it, ST are instruction less I want mine CBs to keep their near 16m box position and act as a wall I can;t stand them running around and opening space for onrushing players.
So thats mine philosophy for this set of OI.
 
Can you rename the files Slix_Away and Slix_Home for better understanding?
 
So I had an idea to do analysis from one of mine games, and as I gave myself that thought I saw I have a match vs always pesky Mumu and his high on testosterone Man Utd squad, so I thought that this game could be a perfect example how to deal with those top world managers and their tactical improvisations and of course the biggest pain of it all, the good experienced squad and some bad referee decisions, I don't know if its just me, but every time I play Utd in mine FM saves referee magically forget their cards in dressing room and on top aggressive hustling from Mumu coaching style in combination with that means a lot of little fouls which stop your play...

Mine decision was to implement 2 new instructions vs this style of playing, now I switched on exploit flanks and Work ball into box instructions while making Ozil play more risky passes, I want all of them to be more cautious and not get frustrated because the play was stopped, but I still want mine main passing machine to have all of his weapons at disposal, after first 20 minutes or so, I noticed mine players struggling to connect passes which could lead into danger(yes I watch mine games in COMPREHENSIVE) so I looked more into it and in next 5 minutes I made the decision, how did I knew it would work?
Simple, its Mumu side, formation is 451 and Man Utd lacks quality on wide areas, and on top of that their wingers are too aggressive up front so the FB is left to deal with at least 2 players therefore that was an easy decision,now the work ball into box was a trickier one, since I saw them troubling to connect I thought they need more time, no rush, therefore I set work into box instruct while giving Ozil the same level of freedom and passing range as he had previously, with this instruct their **** for finishing pass was lowered down, it meant they wont rush ball in and shoot like madman as soon as they see good enough opening, It was meant to lower the pace and frustrate their side instead of ours, its much easier to feel pressured when you are on defense then when you are on offense with 0:0 scoreline, and if you have 1:0 lead it becomes even easier.

These instructions weren't gamble, gamble is when you change style,these instructions could be described as tactical influence, you have a storm and I just shaped that storm to unleash most of its potential in certain areas, that's what happened. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it'll work each and every time, point is actively micromanaging to bring out the most you can from your players, know their qualities, think how game affects your players, will our striker feel down if he shoots 10 times and all shots are either saved or off target take those things into account when the game is on, try to always find an edge in opponent tactic.

The reason for this little update is the fact that I have truly been enjoying this save, and since Man Utd were only league game where I lost in first half I felt obliged to explain how and why you can loose, and how you can turn your game around.

View attachment 90768
we even played 10 man since Lacazette got injured in 60th min or so, and Bellerin had a knock for last 20 mins....

You can see clearly why I mentioned referees 17 fouls against and no yellow card...

For you who are trying tactic I can only say try tweaking it to sit you and your players, I'm repeating myself but there are no 2 players of the same kind out there, as for whole season preview its coming soon, I have 10-12 more games to play :)
 
would you mind sharing the skin that you're using please?
 
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