Tactics creating guide by Igneos Eructid - short and sweet

[Igneos79]

Attacking:

If you are up against a team weaker then you, you should attack them. The execution is fairly simple. Press high up the pitch, win the ball before it gets to your third, and then attack fast. Higher tempo will help catch the opponent off guard and tire them out after a while, probably helping you score late in the game. You should be pushing up the defence line and use more agressive defending and offside trap and limited defenders in this case.


Countering:

If you feel you are up against a stronger opponent, I suggest you attack them on the break and primarly defend. This is done by dropping the defence line and ordering your defenders to keep hold of the ball to invite opposition forward, and then sending a killer ball forward when opponent has commited enough players forward. That means being more patient and using a lower tempo to keep your defenders passing amongst themselves. You can either use a DLP to send those killer balls, or use pass into space instruction to order everyone be in charge of unlocking defence. A DM player or even two of them are needed to releive pressure on your defence. Less agressive defending is needed for this style.


Standard mentality:

By going more agressive, you will build a positive spirit in your team, and is probably necessary against weaker sides. Going less agressive might be usefull against better sides, but will probably demoralise your team against lesser sides. If you really want a one size fits all tactic, you should order your players to play their natural game against everyone, and that means standard. I would suggest slightly more agressive TI's with this approach, to try control at least 50% of the game against everyone, and not let the opponent have initiative.


For both styles:

Going fluid will ask the players to give 110%. It may be difficult to motivate them against lesser sides. Very fluid means giving 150%. Going more structured will probably not yield good results, except maybe in LLM. Flexible means asking players to give 100% and is a safe choice for most sides.

Stick to position and be more disciplined will work for all clubs, it will help them create triangles and keep possession, while more roaming, more expressive and run at defence will work if you have great players and will add to unpredictability of your attack helping you to brake down the best defences.

Going route one or more direct passing will work on a long pitch. Shorter passing or retaining possession will work everywhere. However, shorter passing might be difficult with more agressive mentalities for weaker sides.

Shoot on sight will work against poor defences or opponents parking the bus. If your scout suggests attacking movement training it might be usefull to use it, otherwise work ball into box to reduce waste.

Harder tackling might work with more agressive, attacking style, and will win you the ball early, however playing with ten men is no good. Staying on feet might help you pack your box with bodies and not conceede, however it will make your players make many fouls. Therefore I suggest not touching tackling instruction.

I suggest not using crossing instruction. Float will work if you are taller, drill will work if you are faster, and whipped will work if you are smaller. Either you adapt this with each sub or not touch it.


If you opt for a target man role, either wide or central, you will not need to use any exploit options, the players will automatically send the ball to him. Otherwise it might be beneficial to use exploit middle if you want to focus passes to your great striker, or exploit flank to focus passes to your great winger, regardless of your playing width.

Playing narrower will focus passess to central players. Your striker will be more involved and will have more support from other players. It will also help you defend the middle, and press more efficiently. You will also be less reliant on crossess.

Playing wider will focus passess to your wide players. Your sidebacks and your wingers will get more support from central players and will be your main source for creating attacks. You will be more reliant on crosess.

Tempo is an instruction that determines how fast will your players do things on the pitch. Be it closing down, passing, decisions, everything. They will either do everything more patiently if you order them lower tempo, or be quicker. If you want the fans to fall asleep, use very low tempo, if you want the opposition on their toes, use very high tempo. It usually goes hand in hand with team mentality, with more agressive mentality meaning higher tempo and vice versa, and should be set accordingly.

 

[Fusershift]

If a small team is parking the bus then don't attack them make them attack YOU by playing on the counter and drawing them in.

 

[Igneos79]

If a small team is parking the bus then don't attack them make them attack YOU by playing on the counter and drawing them in.

and what happens if they refuse to commit players forward?

 

[RonaldoReal9King]

But what about teh player roles?? Gaaawwwd xD
You know what would be super helpful, if one of those guys who make FM videos on youtube made a guide video where he explains player roles and what they actually do on the pitch and how they interact with each other. Maybe having example videos of each role (short video of how the role moves in certain situations) while he explains the role would be very helpful as well. Im kind of shocked how noone has done this already haha.

 

[WJ]

and what happens if they refuse to commit players forward?

Then going all out attack is the dumbest thing you can do. You don't pick a lock with a hammer.

You play patient football, pulling defenders and creating your own gaps with good movement between the lines.

 

[Igneos79]

Then going all out attack is the dumbest thing you can do. You don't pick a lock with a hammer.

You play patient football, pulling defenders and creating your own gaps with good movement between the lines.

It usually ends up in a draw that way....if they defend deep, you should push more men forward, it's a natural thing to do, that any schooled manager does...

 

[WJ]

It usually ends up in a draw that way....if they defend deep, you should push more men forward, it's a natural thing to do, that any schooled manager does...

That's obvious, but you don't over-commit and you stay patient. This is why you see the idiots in the frustrations thread with 40+ shots still lose the game to a team with 1 or 2 shots - they did exactly what you recommend.

Committing players forward and playing an Attacking mentality is 2 different things, by the way.

 

[Igneos79]

That's obvious, but you don't over-commit and you stay patient. This is why you see the idiots in the frustrations thread with 40+ shots still lose the game to a team with 1 or 2 shots - they did exactly what you recommend.

Committing players forward and playing an Attacking mentality is 2 different things, by the way.

Soo, uh, how do you commit players forward then?

 

[WJ]

Soo, uh, how do you commit players forward then?

Uh.. duties. If you're going to do guides, you at least need to know what Mentality and Fluidity means.

 

[NezzaNUFC]

In all the years on FM Iv'e never once countered a bigger team, if you want results attack the bigger teams don't counter them because pressure will be all on you.

Bigger teams won't expect you to attack them, they expect you to counter and they will counter this problem.

 

[Igneos79]

Uh.. duties. If you're going to do guides, you at least need to know what Mentality and Fluidity means.

so how much influence do duties have, in lets say very fluid style? And how would you commit players forward with it?

 

[Fusershift]

Attacking players will attack on any fluidity...

 

[WJ]

so how much influence do duties have, in lets say very fluid style? And how would you commit players forward with it?

Duties have all the influence! Attack duties are generally ahead of the ball, Support duties keep up with play and Defend duties are behind play. So a few Attack duties and you're set.

Mentality and fluidity are separate. Mentality affects reisk/reward and fluidity mostly affects creative freedom.

 

[Igneos79]

Duties have all the influence! Attack duties are generally ahead of the ball, Support duties keep up with play and Defend duties are behind play. So a few Attack duties and you're set.

Mentality and fluidity are separate. Mentality affects reisk/reward and fluidity mostly affects creative freedom.

Nope. In a very fluid style all duties are equally shared, and everyone is expected to do everything, depending on situation on the pitch. Very fluid + attack mentality = total football. If you want the team to commit forward you tell them to attack, duties are there just to create movement and specific tasks, like defending or transition or attack. They have nothing to do with telling your men to commit forward. A player with defend duty is also expected to commit forward in total football. Perhaps you should try a thing called reading before letting everyone know the level of your knowledge?

 

[WJ]

Nope. In a very fluid style all duties are equally shared, and everyone is expected to do everything, depending on situation on the pitch. Very fluid + attack mentality = total football. If you want the team to commit forward you tell them to attack, duties are there just to create movement and specific tasks, like defending or transition or attack. They have nothing to do with telling your men to commit forward. A player with defend duty is also expected to commit forward in total football. Perhaps you should try a thing called reading before letting everyone know the level of your knowledge?

No. That's not even close to true. Very fluid just means you're giving everyone high levels of creative freedom to express themselves. You'd use fewer specialist roles in it because everyone would be creatively contributing.

Duties have everything to do with attacking. In general, the attack duties have RFD = Often, Support on Mixed/Sometimes and Defend on Rarely. If you don't believe me, watch a match or go back to an older FM where you could still see the sliders.

Although, you pretty much defined duties the same way as I did.

 

[Igneos79]

No. That's not even close to true. Very fluid just means you're giving everyone high levels of creative freedom to express themselves. You'd use fewer specialist roles in it because everyone would be creatively contributing.

Duties have everything to do with attacking. In general, the attack duties have RFD = Often, Support on Mixed/Sometimes and Defend on Rarely. If you don't believe me, watch a match or go back to an older FM where you could still see the sliders.

Although, you pretty much defined duties the same way as I did.

yes, and if you looked at the sliders, you would have noticed that with very fluid, everyone is on same mentality, a global mentality if you wish...everyone is expected to create movement, defend and transition, regardless of what duty you gave them, but that global slider is set as high or as low as your strategy, or if you wish, team mentality, is. Therefore, you can play very fluid counter for example, and everyone will be more cautios, including the attackers, or you can order attack and everyone will commit forward, including the defenders...

 

[macca72]

Posted by a guy who knows what he's talking about (not me)

The TC's descriptions of the various styles aren't entirely accurate. Specifically, attacking players in more fluid styles become less inclined to contribute to defensive and transition play as you use more aggressive mentalities whereas defensive players in more rigid styles become more inclined to contribute to other phases of play as you use more aggressive mentalities. The reverse is also true. Defensive players in more fluid styles become more rigidly defensive as mentality gets less aggressive just as attacking players in more rigid styles become more willing to contribute in transition play as mentality gets less aggressive.

In other words, it doesn't always hold that all players will contribute to all phases of play in a very fluid system nor does it always hold that players will necessarily be restricted to one phase of play in a rigid system. Mentality affects the point of reference that determines the phases of play to which each unit will contribute. You note that the mentality settings are more plastic than their names imply, and this is also true of fluidity. A very fluid Contain tactic, for example, will not have defenders getting forward. Rather, it will have the whole team focused on implementing a Contain strategy at the expense of attacking and, to a lesser extent, transition play. With this in mind, it may be more helpful to think of style in terms of the player's willingness to contribute to the core strategy. For example, players in a very fluid system will all focus on carrying out the basic strategy (be it defending, controlling, attacking, etc.) whereas attacking and defensive players in a more rigid system will be less inclined to focus on the basic strategy (but also won't necessarily be solely focused on just defending or just attacking).

To this extent, it's important to emphasize that style and mentality interact in ways that may contradict the basic descriptions in the TC. For example, while the description of Control says that fullbacks will generally only get forward in risk-free situations, it ignores the fact that a fullback in a Rigid Attack tactic operates at the same mentality setting as a fullback in a Very Fluid Control tactic and a lower mentality setting than an attack-duty fullback in a Balanced Control tactic. Again, the TC glosses over these subtle interactions, and especially with the new tactics system, it's important for new players to understand how mentality affects each style's point of reference.

 

[WJ]

I'll ask you this, Igneos:

- define mentality
- define fluidity
- define duties

Try and do it as simple and clear as possible, please, so there's no confusion.

 

[Igneos79]

I'll ask you this, Igneos:

- define mentality
- define fluidity
- define duties

Try and do it as simple and clear as possible, please, so there's no confusion.

Team mentality = strategy = ammount of agression = doing everything either earlier and faster or slower and later= risk more or less

fluidity = team shape = sharing of responsibilities = expressing yourself more or less

duty = are you in charge of braking up attacks, transition, or scoring

 

[WJ]

Team mentality = strategy = ammount of agression = doing everything either earlier and faster or slower and later= risk more or less

fluidity = team shape = sharing of responsibilities = expressing yourself more or less

duty = are you in charge of braking up attacks, transition, or scoring

I'll give you the first 2. We mostly agree there. Risk and Creative Freedom.

The Duties definition isn't correct though. They're pretty much what I said earlier:


Attack duties are generally ahead of the ball, Support duties keep up with play and Defend duties are behind play.