Step by step guide to creating a tactic using Tactic Creator

Igneos79

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1. Introduction

I'm making this guide because I found tactics creator thingy implemented in FM11 to be very usefull. It may be of use to long time managers and newbies alike if you know what you are doing. Newbies may not know exactly what is it all for and how to make their team win, so I'm gonna do some explaining.

2. Tactic Creation

Start the tactic creator, and click next. You will be asked for formation.

You may have a vision in your mind of what tactic you need and I don't blame you for that, but there are some ground rules to choosing a proper tactic. First of all, you need to know where you are and what you are up against. If you are managing a good club with good players, you need to choose a tactic that will be with wide players. Wide players and ergo wide play, allows you to stretch your opponents defense and ergo, easily score a goal. Vice versa also applies, if you are managing a low club with very bad players, you need to give up on your wide players and play a narrow game, through the middle. 4-1-2-1-2 is an example of narrow play tactic, while 4-5-1 is an example of wide tactic. Second, if you do have good wide players, or for some reason don't want to leave them out, you may employ a wide tactic, but with worse results. If you are managing a good club, it is better to use a wide tactic with wide players and direct passing. But it may be better for both kind of teams to use what your advisors have suggested, as those are the tactics your players are familiar with.


3. Philosophy

I think you will all agree the objective of the game is winning. So, having that in mind, I will proclaim that possesion and domination over your opponent is the key to victory. And I will of course be damned for it, for it is not always true. But, if your team manages to have the ball more then your opponent, chances of you scoring a goal, and them not, are at your side. So if you are attacking it would be logical to set philosophy to fluid. But, it will leave your defense open and you will probably receive a goal. Tactic creator doesn't move the slider that much in any direction with any setting, and it is my opinion that rigid philosophy gives best results....your team keeps shape, you dont easily receive a goal, and you prolly will score if your strategy is set to attack, which is also my recommended strategy. Some may say that you need to defend yourself against better teams, but I disagree. Your players are much more agressive at defending with their mentality on attack and they fight for the ball more.



4. Playing Style

Passing should be set to default, no matter what kind of team you are managing. Your defenders need to do short passes, and your attackers need to do direct, so default is the best option.

Creative Freedom should be set to more disciplined by all teams. Being creative usually only means giving the ball to your opponent or shooting long shots miles away from their goal.

Closing Down should be set to press more by all teams. Don't worry about your players lacking stamina, the tactic creator doesn't push the slider that much high. If you stand off, you will ceirtanly have a chance to see opponent player come near your goal and take a shot at it with your players doing nothing about it. Press more means gaining more possesion by making your opponent make more mistakes. You only go stand off if you are using a defensive strategy.

Tackling should be left at harder by all teams. Easy tackling isnt sufficient to get that ball, meaning losing posession. You will prolly gain a few red cards at start, but when your players get used to this setting in a few games, it will be ok.

Marking should be set to default by all teams. With default marking, your two defending CB's are on man marking, and the rest of team is at zonal. Zonal is great when defending and intercepting their passes, while man marking allows your CB to stay with their ST and making it harder for him to score. It also allows you to implement offside trap. If for some reason, you want your CB's on stopper/cover duty, you need to turn off offside trap and set marking to zonal.

Crossing can be set either to drill or to float, and it's really up to you. If you set it to drill, your winger will prolly try a direct shot at goal or a cross to the nearer post, which is good since in doesn't require that high crossing attribute such as float crosses. Be sure to set your set pieces accordingly after you create the tactic.

Roaming will be best set to more roaming, If you set it to more roaming, it will give opponent a tough time guarding your players.

5. Player Roles & Player Duties

Think what you want to do on the pitch. If you are playing a 4-4-2, it is a good idea to have 2 CB's on defend, 2 FB's on support and 2 wide midfielders on support duty. You need to stop them from attacking through the middle, sou you need a ball wining CM in the middle, and you also need someone creative to start your own attacks, like adv. playmaker. I would set both of these 2 on support. In attack you need someone who will come deep for the ball, and someone who will score. DLF on support and advanced forward on attack are a good combo. Target man on support and a poacher are a good combo. Complete forward on support and poacher are a good combo.
 
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I'm sure it's not that simple.. :) Can't just win every game without approaching each game on an individual basis i.e weather, pitch, opponent's strength. Good effort though.
 
I never claimed you will win every game...I only claim that this will get you most out of your players. I'm currently managing AFC Telford, and I have won every season so far, and I'm currently at league 1...unfortunately, my players are now about 4 times less valued then my opponents, and I'm afraid I wont win the season again, but even now, I win 1 out of 4 games and draw the other two, while losing one. At all 4 games, opponent is heavy favorite. Can't do miracles.
 
there are a couple of good points in here that i never really implemented but will definitely give a go, for example i usuallt play a blanced attacking style of play with man utd and i get mixed results so i will try the standard very fluid approach and see if it makes much difference,

Regarding man marking though,i have a question,

usually i only have my two central defenders and defensive midfielder on man marking playing a basic 4-4-2 formations, would this be a mistake?
and if so how many players do i set on man marking and which players?
 
Sorry OP, but some of the stuff in that post is just wrong. What is more many of these tactical decisions are up to the player you should not be encouraging them to play your style because you think it is 'right'. There is no right way to play football. As long as you have an overall objective that you wish to achieve within your formation, and the player roles, duties and instructions fulfill that purpose, then the tactic as whole is good.
For example philosophy does not really have much to do with possession. Manchester United use a rigid philosophy, and I don't see them conceding much possession... Wenger arguably use a balanced philosophy, and Mourinho a very rigid. Are they wrong? No. Philosophy is how freely player move between the phases of play and how they behave relatively to one another. There is no right setting, the right setting is the one that fits your tactical plan.
 
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I would recommend setting your fullbacks,wide men and defenders to man marking, while leaving the middle ones at zonal...not always, but usually the centre midfield players and defensive midfield have high marking attribute, so you can go with zonal if yours do....

---------- Post added at 09:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:05 AM ----------

Sorry OP, but some of the stuff in that post is just wrong. What is more many of these tactical decisions are up to the player you should not be encouraging them to play your style because you think it is 'right'. There is no right way to play football. As long as you have an overall objective that you wish to achieve within your formation, and the player roles, duties and instructions fulfill that purpose, then the tactic as whole is good.
For example philosophy does not really have much to do with possession. Manchester United use a rigid philosophy, and I don't see them conceding much possession... Wenger arguably use a balanced philosophy, and Mourinho a very rigid. Are they wrong? No. Philosophy is how freely player move between the phases of play and how they behave relatively to one another. There is no right setting, the right setting is the one that helps your tactical plan.

actually, I wasnt discussing real life tactics, or strategies or philosophies....i just recommend whats best for this game, and I'm sure you will agree real life philosophy is a lot different than what is implemented into this game. I can't imagine my grandmother missing a whole empty goal standing 2 feet from it, but I saw it happen in this game. No hate please...
 
Sorry OP, but some of the stuff in that post is just wrong. What is more many of these tactical decisions are up to the player you should not be encouraging them to play your style because you think it is 'right'. There is no right way to play football. As long as you have an overall objective that you wish to achieve within your formation, and the player roles, duties and instructions fulfill that purpose, then the tactic as whole is good.
For example philosophy does not really have much to do with possession. Manchester United use a rigid philosophy, and I don't see them conceding much possession... Wenger arguably use a balanced philosophy, and Mourinho a very rigid. Are they wrong? No. Philosophy is how freely player move between the phases of play and how they behave relatively to one another. There is no right setting, the right setting is the one that fits your tactical plan.

This isn't a guide, it's an ultimatum!

Seriously though, a lot of the content posted is ignorant in every since of the word. XD

Sorry if the OP was offended, but you need more experience apparently.

---------- Post added at 08:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:12 AM ----------

I would recommend setting your fullbacks,wide men and defenders to man marking, while leaving the middle ones at zonal...not always, but usually the centre midfield players and defensive midfield have high marking attribute, so you can go with zonal if yours do....

---------- Post added at 09:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:05 AM ----------



actually, I wasnt discussing real life tactics, or strategies or philosophies....i just recommend whats best for this game, and I'm sure you will agree real life philosophy is a lot different than what is implemented into this game. I can't imagine my grandmother missing a whole empty goal standing 2 feet from it, but I saw it happen in this game. No hate please...

YouTube - Soccer Player misses an open goal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMZiNQcEang&feature=related

YouTube - WORST FOOTBALL MISS EVER!!!

YouTube - Worst Football Miss Ever!! Nov 15 2010

You fail

Yo mods, lock dis *****!
 
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This isn't a guide, it's an ultimatum!

Seriously though, a lot of the content posted is ignorant in every since of the word. XD

Sorry if the OP was offended, but you need more experience apparently.

none taken :D I don't take offense from people on the internet, and I think nobody should...i follow the basic rule that says opinions are like asholes, everyone has one, and they all smell...
 
Sorry mate, but Tharros is right. I appreciate you were trying to share what works for you, but you need to be careful when using absolutes - my playing style is completely different than yours, using a direct, fast-paced 4-4-2, and the results have been quite spectacular. There is no right tactical setup, there are many possible and equally valid combinations.
 
actually, I wasnt discussing real life tactics, or strategies or philosophies....i just recommend whats best for this game, and I'm sure you will agree real life philosophy is a lot different than what is implemented into this game. I can't imagine my grandmother missing a whole empty goal standing 2 feet from it, but I saw it happen in this game. No hate please...
1. Football manger is not a game. It is a simulation. It aims to mimic real life. Yes it has its limitations, but I believe it is mostly accurate. What works in real life should work in FM.

2. Your grandmother shooting from 2 feet has nothing to with a philosophy. And, for the record, missing from 2 feet does happen in real life.

3. There was not hate... I am just pointing out that you should try to tell people how to play the game your way.
 
Relax on the guy ,

far out i think he just wanted to share what has worked with him and see if it works with anyone else, if he posted his tactic on here and people downloaded it and they won every game it would be a different story so just give him a break i don't think he means any harm by simply just posting his experience and saying for people to try it.
 
Sorry mate, but Tharros is right. I appreciate you were trying to share what works for you, but you need to be careful when using absolutes - my playing style is completely different than yours, using a direct, fast-paced 4-4-2, and the results have been quite spectacular. There is no right tactical setup, there are many possible and equally valid combinations.

If you read this from begining, then you will have noticed that I said at start you need to go wide if your team is good, and that means direct football. I assume you are managing a very good club if you have good success with direct style. I would also advise you switch to short for even better results.


1. Football manger is not a game. It is a simulation. It aims to mimic real life. Yes it has its limitations, but I believe it is mostly accurate. What works in real life should work in FM.

2. Your grandmother shooting from 2 feet has nothing to with a philosophy. And, for the record, missing from 2 feet does happen in real life.

3. There was not hate... I am just pointing out that you should try to tell people how to play the game your way.

Simulation or not, it has coding in it, while life does not. I found out whats best to use to beat the game coding, and I posted it....that's simply it. I'm not trying to make people play game my way, I don't like this kind of football myself and it's not my style. But it gets the job done.


history_66f29.jpg
 
Simulation or not, it has coding in it, while life does not. I found out whats best to use to beat the game coding, and I posted it....that's simply it. I'm not trying to make people play game my way, I don't like this kind of football myself and it's not my style. But it gets the job done.
Why play the game then if you are just going to try to 'beat it'? That is not what football manager is about.
 
I play LLM a lot, and if you know how to successfully build a tactic, you can have success with any formation or style.

FM isn't a game where the square peg fits into the round hole.
 
Why play the game then if you are just going to try to 'beat it'? That is not what football manager is about.

I like to see my team win, that's all I care about. And I'm a LLM Manager. Since the first championship manager, I have always been taking the worst possible club I could find, or in the lowest possible league and bring it to Premier league. And with time and a lot of effort behind it, I found out the best way to do it is to beat the game, not just go for what I think is right. And so, I have managed to achieve my goal in the shortest period of time. And for fm11, I have posted my findings. Now, playing against human managers is a different thing alltogether, and a totally different philosophy behind it, where you will ceirtanly have more success then me, and I don't dispute that. I simply find the AI not worth my time.

---------- Post added at 10:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:17 AM ----------

I play LLM a lot, and if you know how to successfully build a tactic, you can have success with any formation or style.

FM isn't a game where the square peg fits into the round hole.


Well, if that is your experience, I bow to thee. In my experience, you cant attack a better club then yours, and if you play wide, or direct, you will surely lose. In my experience, you HAVE
TO play narrow and defensively if you want to win games against better clubs in LLM.
 
A good try but I feel that you have just posted a tactic which worked best for you and like best and you are ignoring the fact that there are other ways to make great tactics. I also use a 4-5-1 but however, there are people who use different style tactics and yet still get great results. For example, you stating that weak teams must play without wingers and strong teams should play wingers is one of the judgements which ignored other people's style. I myself used wingers who were one of the slowest players ever with Forest Green (prediction 23rd) and yet I still managed to win the conference. Still I enjoyed reading your guide and great effort.
 
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If you read this from begining, then you will have noticed that I said at start you need to go wide if your team is good, and that means direct football. I assume you are managing a very good club if you have good success with direct style. I would also advise you switch to short for even better results.
Nop, I play a crappy team. I did read from the beginning, and I agree on a couple of points. Mostly, however, I disagree with what you said.
- A more rigid strategy is a better approach is your players lack positional the positional ability and physical attributes to last the entire game. You will, however, concede more space between the lines - this does not really affect your possession. Always set it at very fluid, and you risk your two center-backs acting as DM's and exposing your goalkeeper.
- Passing settings on shorter work when you have good passers, play a low tempo and try to keep possession. A team with a short passing instruction where the average passer has a rate of 8 will give possession away far too cheaply and far too often. Mind you, the same could be true for direct, but I'd rather they lob the ball upfield and prey the striker gets to it first, then having my CB playing 1-2's with a DM, botching the pass and getting the other team a CCC.
- Creative Freedom: You claim in your post that with your instructions your team will play like Barça, yet you deny creative freedom. Barça play the way they do because they have extremely creative players who are afforded said freedom. No creative freedom, they pass where you want them to pass, more creative freedom, they analyze the game and pick a play for themselves. If you have good players, again, this is a far better option.
- Closing down: Here I'll agree with you, however once again you talk in absolutes. If I'm shutting up shop, "parking the plane" if you will, I don't want to have my players pressing up and risk dispositioning the team. I don't like "Stand off" instructions, but that goes with the tactic you pick.
- As per tackling, once again I agree with you, yet once again it relates to your tactic, how and who you're playing. Smaller opposition, bad players? Leave them alone. Bigger opposition, great passers and creative players? Get in dirty. I usually set this on the OI screen, as I believe in individualizing individualities (awsome combo of words there!), but it's equally as valid as a whole-team strategy.
- Marking, once again, disagree. And I'm confused. I assume you man-mark an 11-man squad, therefore your fullback's marking the winger. If the winger goes by, how does man-marking, aka having each of your players mark an opponent, help with the cross? If anything, I'd recommend man-marking when you have better markers, not worse. Then again, I'm no tactical genious...
- Crossing: You float them if you have tall strikers, you drill them if you have short strikers, wouldn't really dismiss it as "up to you" if you're doing a guide.
- Roaming's a *****, indeed, but it goes to the fluidity of your strategy, the positions and roles you assign your players and the overall quality of the team. Stick to position if they're slow dimwits, let them roam if you're playing a 4-2-3-1 with highly creative players.
- Strategy, once again, goes for what you want. Some love moving it around according to momentum and what you need in the game, I prefer to have them attacking at all times. Not the most interactive approach, I'll admit. But "always start as standard" is, once again, wrong. It depends on your team, your overall strategy, your formation.

Sadly time to work is upon me, so I won't go into greather depth. I've written a fair few words as it is :p


Simulation or not, it has coding in it, while life does not. I found out whats best to use to beat the game coding, and I posted it....that's simply it. I'm not trying to make people play game my way, I don't like this kind of football myself and it's not my style. But it gets the job done.
That coding distinguishes players as different, therefore teams as different, therefore it utilizes different strategies to counter yours. Once again, it all depends on a lot of factors you need to consider, there's no Philosopher's Stone on tactics.

Cheerios
 
there is no right or wrong to play footballI have played every style Zona Mista, Fergie, Mourinho, Germany WC 2010, Dunga's Brazil, totaalvoetbal etc everyone I have had success and failure in some shape or form if. I think morale has a big part I usall scrape through untill the morale is up then I start playing good but Im stopping replicating stlyes because I focus more on the performance then the win.

My style is simply I play in Defence alot so I like stong sturdy defence that keeps it shape, i only give 3 of my players high amount of freedom I also like to keep possession with a alot of movement off the ball I play narrow to make it hard for oppositions to break me down and force them out wide, When i play control or attacking I press more to win the ball back high up the pitch and catch the out of position flipside of the coin i normal pressing for counter and defence to draw the oppostion in and hit them in the counter.

But my style may not work for everyone think about Ian Holloway at Leicester his style didnt work took a year out and now look at his style of play at Blackpool
 
Nop, I play a crappy team. I did read from the beginning, and I agree on a couple of points. Mostly, however, I disagree with what you said.
- A more rigid strategy is a better approach is your players lack positional the positional ability and physical attributes to last the entire game. You will, however, concede more space between the lines - this does not really affect your possession. Always set it at very fluid, and you risk your two center-backs acting as DM's and exposing your goalkeeper.
- Passing settings on shorter work when you have good passers, play a low tempo and try to keep possession. A team with a short passing instruction where the average passer has a rate of 8 will give possession away far too cheaply and far too often. Mind you, the same could be true for direct, but I'd rather they lob the ball upfield and prey the striker gets to it first, then having my CB playing 1-2's with a DM, botching the pass and getting the other team a CCC.
- Creative Freedom: You claim in your post that with your instructions your team will play like Barça, yet you deny creative freedom. Barça play the way they do because they have extremely creative players who are afforded said freedom. No creative freedom, they pass where you want them to pass, more creative freedom, they analyze the game and pick a play for themselves. If you have good players, again, this is a far better option.
- Closing down: Here I'll agree with you, however once again you talk in absolutes. If I'm shutting up shop, "parking the plane" if you will, I don't want to have my players pressing up and risk dispositioning the team. I don't like "Stand off" instructions, but that goes with the tactic you pick.
- As per tackling, once again I agree with you, yet once again it relates to your tactic, how and who you're playing. Smaller opposition, bad players? Leave them alone. Bigger opposition, great passers and creative players? Get in dirty. I usually set this on the OI screen, as I believe in individualizing individualities (awsome combo of words there!), but it's equally as valid as a whole-team strategy.
- Marking, once again, disagree. And I'm confused. I assume you man-mark an 11-man squad, therefore your fullback's marking the winger. If the winger goes by, how does man-marking, aka having each of your players mark an opponent, help with the cross? If anything, I'd recommend man-marking when you have better markers, not worse. Then again, I'm no tactical genious...
- Crossing: You float them if you have tall strikers, you drill them if you have short strikers, wouldn't really dismiss it as "up to you" if you're doing a guide.
- Roaming's a *****, indeed, but it goes to the fluidity of your strategy, the positions and roles you assign your players and the overall quality of the team. Stick to position if they're slow dimwits, let them roam if you're playing a 4-2-3-1 with highly creative players.
- Strategy, once again, goes for what you want. Some love moving it around according to momentum and what you need in the game, I prefer to have them attacking at all times. Not the most interactive approach, I'll admit. But "always start as standard" is, once again, wrong. It depends on your team, your overall strategy, your formation.

Sadly time to work is upon me, so I won't go into greather depth. I've written a fair few words as it is :p



That coding distinguishes players as different, therefore teams as different, therefore it utilizes different strategies to counter yours. Once again, it all depends on a lot of factors you need to consider, there's no Philosopher's Stone on tactics.

Cheerios


1)CB's are by default set to get rid of the ball fast, unless they are ball playing CB's. No worries about them acting as DM's as the game sets their closing down slider to own area. Try to watch a game with very rigid setting and remember your possesion percentage, then reload and set to very fluid. Check percentage after that.

2) The problem is easily solved by implementing any kind of playmaker into your squad. They always look to pass the ball to him, and in my experience, they rarely keep it anyway. Even if they do, CB's and a DM usually have highest strength on the pitch, so they keep the ball easily.

3) Agreed. I ment that more in a way your team will be outplaying your opponent and creating some nice action moves. My own team proved you can play very pretty football even if you deny them creativity. But then again, my team is set to very fluid, which adds some creativity. I'm not sure where I read this statement, but somewhere in game or in the manual, it says if you set this to expressive, they don't stick to game plan and take risks.

4) Closing Down is good at stand off, when you are playing defensive football, meaning your players are set narrow, and not very far from ball. The more attacking you want your team to get, you need to set this to press more. But, I have found out it helps when defending wide aswell, so I set it to press more as it is a "beter" setting.

5) If you don't have a strict judge, you may get away with hard tackling, yes. But I get one of those judges and red cards far to often with this setting, and my players aren't that good with tackling either, so I set this on default. It might be a good idea to set your CM's and DM's to hard tackling, no matter how good they are at it, because I noticed it to be very important when you win the ball at the middle of the pitch.

6) Man Marking is easily implemented. If you tell your player to guard just one man, it's a helluva lot easier for him to do that, then to try marking all opponent players in his zone. With a few simple passes, they would drive him insane and he would be running from one opponent to next. Game manual also suggest this set to man when you have a weak team.

7) Crossing really is up to you. You can have both tall and short players on float and drill crossses. And you can set your set pieces accordingly. I haven't noticed any difference whatsover.

8) You are both right and wrong about strategy. Strategy needs to be set on defense if you are up against a stronger team, but if they score a goal, you need to set it back to attacking in order to gain anything from that match, and they usually means conceiding even more goals. So I found out defensive strategy is useless except maybe in the lowest league. Since i don't recommend direct passing, counter attack is also useless, so the only logical option is having it on standard. It may yield good results with control setting, maybe even a lot better with some teams, but I would never recommend setting it on attacking, unless you have a really good team.
 
Igneos I'm not going to bash you like others did, you may have some good points and I appreciate any idea to beat the ME and eventually re-affirm the power of Man over Machine...

Still I can't agree on some other points:

- short passing is generally good, but you need to take advantage of good passers and effective connections on the pitch (e.g. full-backs to winger/striker long pass down the flank, which works great with right players)

- press more can really destroy the balance of your team sometimes so I wouldn't suggest that as a rule

- hard tackling should never be the default setting, but can be useful against in some occasions (I like having fullbacks on hard tackling against skilled but diminutive wingers)

- using different strategies has been a key for me in every career, especially playing away. To say that "counter attack is useless" is simply WRONG, I achieved a number of unlikely results thanks to that. In my experience counter is actually a beast in this game...

I've led my San Marino team from C2 to serie A (italy) and every season I had to change tactics and strategies according to new players, new reputation, new division and new standard of football. I think that since serie B season I couldn't have won a single away game without using counter strategy.

That is just my experience, and I'm actually curious about your own tactic. You haven't changed that since your very first season? Can you upload it so we can have a look?
 
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