Just wanted to post, since I've used this tactic for a little over a season and really love it.
I had gotten fired from BSS and was offered the job at Arzanese in the Italian C2 league. Signed some free transfers in the summer using the stated roles for the tactic as the basis of my search. Overall I would say my squad strength was probably average (the media prediction was probably off because I signed alot of players after the predictions went out). I won the league on the last day of the season with a +50 goal differential, in the top 3 of both scored goals and least goals against.
Goals are varied. Yes, the striker scores alot, but the AMC, AML, and MR all put in around 10 goals for me. The striker was at about a goal a game. His most was 4 in a match. He is probably one of the best strikers in the league so it's not unbelievable.
I used defensive positioning for match prep. For a while I was trying out other match prep and Def Pos definitely seems to be the way to go.
It is MADDENING the way the defense in this game plays wingers. Fullbacks seem to just let a guy run right past them for an easy cross. And defenders seem to be much worse in the air than in years past. I only really conceded two types of goals:
1) two defenders close down one player leaving a wide open hole for a CCC.
2) a FB just runs right next to and/or behind a winger running with the ball and allows an easy cross, which none of my players bother to attack and it turns into a goal.
Still, I can't complain much about defense. I mean I won the league and the other guys get paid too, right? I just really question the way the ME looks when it handles winger/defender interactions. It looks awful. But in reality I'm not sure that defending is too terrible. Wing play and crosses have been underrepresented for years.
Sometimes I thought the DMC had too much of a tendency to bomb forward and leave the defense out to dry. He had no ppms. However, I thought the midfield pivot was awesome to watch. I've never seen a midfield in FM play so fluidly and intelligently together. It was alot of fun. Just occasionally too many players would get forward.
I found that motivation and team talks were insanely important. If I let my assistant do it, he always used assertive, and my team would get nervous and anxious and all that bad stuff. But if I used calm, and took his advice, my players were always composed or better, for the most part. Literally if I had one bad match and yelled at my players, we would go on a run of 4 or 5 games of bad form. It was really, really hard playing the motivation game for this team. But very rewarding in the end, because I felt my attention to detail was what really won us the league. Before, I had thought that tactics were the reason everyone is saying fm13 is so hard. But I am starting to think it's motivation. I've really had to change up my process from years past.
Last thing, I played much, much better in away matches than at home. At home, I would usually score early, then almost ALWAYS I would get hit back in the second half. It was really frustrating playing at home. I LOVED going away though. Most matches I was up 2-0 or even 3-0 before 30 minutes. I am guessing this is just the average quality of my squad and the AI playing a bit more defensively and counter-attacking. This tactic can definitely be counter-attacked and that's usually how most of my concessions happened.
Anyway I love this tactic, it's one of my favorites that I've ever used in FM. This season was one of the most fun I've yet played. Thanks for the great work!
