Tactical Advice With Valencia C.F. (1st season)

[danielloureiro]

Hey there,

First of all, sorry if my thread is placed wrongly, this is not only the first time I start a thread but also my first time on the forum! Though I've read the rules and it seems to be alright..

Anyway, I've decided to come here and ask for some help after the third time trying (unsuccessfully) to work a good tactic and therefore a good run with Valencia. I'm using the last Marshall's summer update, where the club already comes in a bad financial situation and I was hoping, after making some money selling some players that IMO were replaceable for cheaper options, I could get the team back on the good tracks of the start of last decade and, in a long-range planning, become one of the biggest in the continent.
I really think the club has potential to accomplish that, but I can't get a good tactic fitting to any squad I build.

Here are some pics from the last time I tried, my tactics and my transfer history:

Formation/Squad:
View attachment 464042
(the selected players are the first team I use to pick)

Instructions:
View attachment 464041

Transfers:
View attachment 464040

Notes: Before, I tried Fernando (from Porto) instead of Nordtveit; Tried keeping Parejo instead of buying Cabral. Also tried the 4-2-3-1 narrow formation and pretty much all the kind of roles for the midfield/attacking players.

That's pretty much it, if someone can advice me or point me something I'm doing wrong, either regarding tactics or transfers, that would be more than appreciated! I'm really struggling with this one but at the same time i don't feel like giving up since it's a team I've always had a sympathy for.

Thank you all for reading and eventually helping

 

[Anfield_Mojan9]

hello mate, this tactic looks fairly similar to one i made with Liverpool which i have had phenomenal success with. one thing i would advise against so many transfers in the first period as it can just upset the squad a little i feel. also if you are playing a fluid philosophy i dont think more creative freedom is needed. its already fairly creative.

if you like i can post the tactic im using and then talk you through how i made the decision to have things how they are because thats the one thing i have found with this years fm, if you dont really understand what you are doing and what your tactic is doing its hard to work out where things are going wrong.

 

[andy1972]

Hi, Now this is similar to the tactic what im just testing on FM13 to use on FM14. You have DLF and im using a AF. At the moment I have issues scoring. Anfield_Mojan9 I would be interested at taking a look at your tactic and see what your set up is.

 

[space]

Probably just the first season syndrome. Try to customize your tactic, it seems too default for me. Not the formation, i'm talking about the team instructions. But if you fail to do it, there is plenty of good 4-3-3 here, you can learn something from them.

 

[danielloureiro]

Anfield_Mojan9
Yeah, man, that would be really cool if you could do that! You are right, the main thing is to understand why the team is behaving one way and not the way you wanted. If you could just post your tactics with some explanation about the changes and choices you made, that would be really helpful. Cheers!

 

[Anfield_Mojan9]

im having some trouble uploading the tactic so i will just give you the details and feel free to create it.

try fluid and control. shorter passing, press more, zonal marking and more roaming.

it is the 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 or however you choose to say it. 4 at the back with a DM, 2 central midfielders, 2 wide players in the aml and amr spot and one striker up front.

my roles are GK on defend, both the DL and DR are fullbacks with a support duty, 2 central defenders on defend. The DM set to a defensive midfielder on defend, one CM as a central midfielder on support and the other an advanced play maker on support. my CMR is the play maker but im not sure that makes a difference. the wide players are wingers on attack and the lone striker is a deep lying play maker on support.

how i achieved coming to those conclusions was my liverpool side has good decision making, pace, passing and work rate so we can press harder for longer and more effectively. with a fluid strategy i feel you need a more attacking set up but control provides a good balance for attack and defense i find.

basically my first step was looking at my team along with the coaches suggestions in the pre season meeting regarding formation. 4-3-3 suited us and can allow the attacking football the board wants me to play. that was another factor the board wanting attacking football forces your hand slightly and limits your options a little so it was then about finding the attacking football that would best suit the squad.

next step was picking the style and strategy which also suits my team. most decisions was made by looking in the team report on the comparison page and seeing how you go against other teams, our skill, fitness and smarts allow me to trust the players with more creative freedom that they will make the best decisions, so a smart fit team can press and pass and move but a team looking to be more solid will sit back and play a bit more defensively.

the roles i decided by making the team decisions like the style and strategy and passing etc then going back to the tactic screen and auto assigning the roles and duties. you will find the fullbacks and one midfielder go to automatic and this gives me my gauge on how they should play.

if you then click on the roles you will see they all the same as support anyways with a control strategy so i then pick what roles can support best that will suit the tactic and my players. fullbacks on support for more defensive cover and the wingers are attacking and the fullbacks will still overlap when they see fit. the advance play maker because i want that midfielder to push up more into the forward 3rd as my DM occupies the space in the defensive line and with a deep lying play maker you would have more defensive cover but i want the ball the be passed around higher up the pitch so with the advanced play maker the focused passing is more in your attacking and midfield third and not the midfield and defensive third as you might find with a deep play maker.

the key is really just looking at the squad you have and then going through and reading all the information fm gives you. like read the attacking style and control and balanced and rigid philosophies etc and think which suits what i want to do and what will get the best out of my team?

one problem i really found i had was already having the idea of the tactic before i had made it and decision making became difficult as naturally i just wanted everything to attack and score 100 goals a year but after doing some reading and thinking and not worrying about the sliders or anything i just went about making the tactic really just based on the report in the comparison page, control suits shorter passing as you want to keep the ball but you could play more direct on attacking to force the issue more, it just depends on what you think your squad can actually do and who you have to do it against.

that is really all the information i can think to provide and i hope this gives some insight in to how to go about at least creating the tactic. if you need anymore help just let me know.