Some help please :)

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RyanRealNice

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Hey guys, hope your all enjoying the new FM,

I need some help. I fancied a change from being a big club. So ive took a job at Weston-Super-Mare in Vanarama National League South. I want to make this my main game this year and lead this little sea side town to new heights and one day challenge for the premier league!

Before I even think of playing teams such as Manchester United and Chelsea I first need to conquer teams like Dartford and East Thurrock. Without players in my side like Pogba, Greizmann and Neymar its really showing how **** poor i am at creating tactics!

Im currently in 9th place after 12 games and I have just been beating 3-0 by Hythe in the F.A Cup 2nd qualifying round. They are 2 divisions below me and I have some very angry pensioner fans clutching their wooden fish and chip fork and making a beeline for my jugular.

Before I'm handed my imminent P45 and all season ticket holders start to sell their much cherished
tickets on Gumtree is there any tactics which i can use to give my squad of part time binmen a chance of stepping up, gaining promotion and to face the giants in the Vanarama National League?

Excuse my ramblings lol

any advice will be much appreciated
 
Personally, when I am in LLM I look at defence as the priority.

You don;t need great goalscorers as the level is pretty poor most forwards will manage to find the net for you. I would look mainly at the physicals for strikers, strength, size etc and accept a lower finishing attribute.

Technicals aren't as important either down here, the pitches are **** and the players are slow so again size and strength when looking for players become more important.

Pace is always useful at any level.

My defenders will be big, strong, DCBs - no nonsense brick wall.

Keep tactics simple, a decent GK with a solid line of four in front of him and I'd probably put a strong DM in front of them, someone who can tackle hard - expect a few yellow cards from this position.

Remember the players are usually fairly slow and kinda dumb so keep everything as simple as possible in terms of TIs and PIs.

You're not gonna get WBs and Trequiristas creating, so go for the sledghammer.
 
Gonna give the stock answer to that one - it depends on the players you've got!

If we're talking about a first-day build-a-tactic, then I would look at my three or four best players and put them in their favoured/best position and role then work from there.

General rule of thumb, and tactics I find I usually end up with in LLM is the 4-1-4-1 as the base, usually starts with solid familiarity and can be extremely 'agile' - in terms of whether it's a defensive or attacking approach. Keeping the midfield triangle solid helps, with usually only Support or Defend duties, allowing the wide midfielders to either be attacking or support roles, option for FBs to overlap as well if needed.

With limited subs, you can tweak the 4-1-4-1 fairly drastically without using up subs, however, if losing, take the DM off for a 2nd striker and put wingers on attack and you suddenly into an aggressive 442. You can be less aggressive and just push the WMs into the AML/R to attack more.

Pull a CM into the DM strata to create a deep 4-2-3-1 DM, or balance it out with a 4-1-2-3. From a 4141 with one sub you can tweak your match formation to pretty much whatever is needed.

I have seen an extreme 4141 with the four defenders and DM all on Defend duty, and the four midfielders and striker on attack duties but can't vouch for it's effectiveness.

Having as many options as possible with a smaller squad will also help long-term as any budget you get should be funneled into improving the first team. In LLM I never spend on a player unless he is at least 1* CA better than the current first choice.

Sorry, got a bit off-topic, but yeah, a simple but flexible formation with simple TIs should get you there. 4-1-4-1, 4-4-2, 4-1-2-3 in the UK leagues as there is a 'built-in' familiarity for the players. Big strong players in the key positions will help you win ball and they don't need to be technically gifted to hoof it into space for pacey attackers to chase - no need for pretty football down here.
 
View attachment 75307

LLM for me is all about the basics.

Currently 1st in VNN with FC United, but only after 13 league games. Won 8, Drawn 4, Lost 1

Tactics are a simple 4-4-2
Structured
Mentality depends on opponents
TI's: Shorter Passing, Stay on feet, Work ball into box and the occasional drop deeper if the other team is playing long ball.
PI's: Both CB's on fewer risky passes

Hope this helps!
 
Last edited:
Thanks guys. Im gonna try and simple 442 and il let you know how I get on
 
Still seem to be heavily under perfoming :/

any chance you could send me your formations so i can download and try them please chaps?
 
Sorry RyanRealNice, I am currently at West Brom and don't have any suitable files saved. As I said earlier, it will depend on the players you have already got, so what I might use at Borehamwood or Whitehawk probably wouldn't work at Weston for you anyway.
 
Had a quick poke around the tactic download section to see what was there. Give this one a go:

http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/share-download-fm-18-tactics/368374-li4ms-insane-442-a.html

Bear in mind this is quite a narrow, compact set-up so I might look at pulling the WBs back to being FBs or DFB, the wide midfielders into wingers.

Up front the Creator/Scorer partnership looks good, but you won't get many CFs in the lower leagues, look at an AF or Poacher instead with a big Target Man if you have one, if not, your creator can be a DLF perhaps.

Otherwise, it's tight and compact when without the ball but direct when you have the ball - could play Counter or Defensive against better teams, or Control/Attacking against weaker ones.

Otherwise I am afraid it is going to be back to basics, and build-from-scratch.
 
Another one that might be useful:
http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/shar...keeping-simple-recommended-smaller-clubs.html

I would change the striker pairing into a Poacher/Target Man (creator/scorer) partnership and look at maybe a DLP in the CM.

If playing Attack or Control the wingers can be on Attack duty, if defensive/counter then wingers on Support and FBs back on defend. If your FBs are quick, can cross and have stamina, leave the wingers on Support and push the FBs up on the overlap etc etc....

Honestly, the permutations are endless, which brings me back to the 'whatever suits your players' again.
 
Thanks buddy :)

I've had enough for one night now, but il be sure to give these a go tomorrow and let you know how i get on mate.

UP THE WESTON!
 
Just finished the season in 14th place, I was 3 points off playoff promotion then i lost 11 games in a row, before drawing the last game of the season.

I tried the 3 tactics suggested to me and nothing seemed to click. Im at a loss and dont know what to do, But im not quitting,

Ive been given a 3 year contract and the fans of Weston-Super-mare are counting on me lol.

Any suggestions on what to try in my second year?
 
OK, now I am probably reading a lot into your last post and may be way of the mark......

I am seeing a team whose final 12 games went L-11, D- 1 which is roughly the last quarter of the season, so to be flying fairly high and i with a chance of the playoffs would suggest you were doing pretty well for the first three-quarters. So, what were you doing before that changed?

Also, in twelve games, you wouldn't get anywhere enough time to familiarise the players to three tactics enough for them to be at their best with them. Before I unleash a new tactic i make sure the players have had chance to train it properly, watch the Familiarisation bar for each player - it sometimes worth playing a 'weaker' player who is more familiar with the tactic than a 'stronger' player who isn't.

Now you have a summer with no football, look back at the tactical analysis, over the past season, see which tactics worked best and what didn't - those that din't get in deep to them and see what it was - passes/possession won and lost/ where were the goals conceded coming from?/ the heat map and average position diagrams will show whether you were playing in the part of pitch you expected etc etc.

Look at any personnel gaps that might need filling - ie: that tactic was OK but would have been so much better with a winger who could cross, look at wingers to fill the gap in delivery options.

Decide on three tactics (might also be worth looking at your staff's formation preferences as well, your assistant and coaches will coach their favoured formations better than any other), have one for 'Standard', one for 'Attack' and one for 'Defending' and set them up in the Tactics slots, set the training for players to work on the roles and attributes to suit the tactic and for pre-season work on 'Team Cohesion' with Match training on the tactics.

The friendlies are pretty much only there to build match fitness, but do contribute to familiarity, so 5 or 6 friendlies and cycle through the three tactics before season starts.

Now, here comes the kicker, reading your post, I would also guess that the poor run was also, in part, the opposition managers working out a way to play against you, so you do need to be aware that the tactics will need tweaking throughout the season. But not too drastic.

Every few months or so I spend time in my tactic analysis screens and look at my team as if it were an upcoming opponent in a must-win game. If I can work out where my team's strengths and weaknesses are then the AI managers will as well. So how would you go about stopping your team from scoring? How would you go about scoring against your team? From there, work out how you can stop it/exploit it - and thereby you start to get an idea of the type of players to be bringing in for the next window.

Remember this is a long-term project, you have a three year contract so be patient. Ultimately, if you are in the play-offs by the time your contract is in the last year your board will find it hard to justify getting rid of you.

This is getting me tempted to start a WSM save myself lol..... just need to lead West Brom to European glory first.
 
Thanks Snorks :)

im going to try and get the players familiar with the tactic you suggested this season and see how we get on.

Ive brought in some new players which i think will help us step up a level :)

good luck on your european jounrey with the mights WBA!

Up the WSM!! lol
 
Good news chaps,

We've sold 55 season tickets, which is 2 more than last season!
 
Cool, the fans are showing their faith in you!
 
early signs aint great,

After 11 games im in 11th,

3 wins 3 draws and 5 defeats -_-
 
Wow you are really getting through the games. Can I ask how you are playing/watching the matches?

I would suggest taking some time to watch a few games to see where it works and where it doesn't. Many of the tactic guru s recommend watching in 2D but I find that view annoying so I usually play in3D wit Comprehensive highlights.

If you are going for 'instant result' I am afraid I have never played in that mode so can't be certain of any advice I give.
 
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