Do you hate getting scored on? Do you not want to plug and play a 343 Strikerless tactic for the one millionth time? Was Louis Van Gaal's Manchester United team the pinnacle of football for you?! If so, boy are you in for a treat! I present to you "The Durdle Turtle"
"DURDLE: TO STAND AROUND AND DO NOTHING; TAKING A LONG TIME DOING AN ACTION OR SET OF ACTIONS AND ACCOMPLISHING NOTHING. WASTING TIME." -DEFINITHING.COM/DURDLE/
"Turtling is a gameplay strategy that emphasizes heavy defense, with little or no offense. Ostensibly, turtling minimizes risk to the turtling player while baiting opponents to take risks in trying to overcome the defenses. In practice, however, games are often designed to punish turtling through various game mechanics." -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtling_(gameplay)
Below is the TL: DR plug and play."DURDLE: TO STAND AROUND AND DO NOTHING; TAKING A LONG TIME DOING AN ACTION OR SET OF ACTIONS AND ACCOMPLISHING NOTHING. WASTING TIME." -DEFINITHING.COM/DURDLE/
"Turtling is a gameplay strategy that emphasizes heavy defense, with little or no offense. Ostensibly, turtling minimizes risk to the turtling player while baiting opponents to take risks in trying to overcome the defenses. In practice, however, games are often designed to punish turtling through various game mechanics." -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtling_(gameplay)
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Above is the TL: DR plug and play.
Background:
Anyhow, in my pursuit, I started with the defenders. I tried many different combos but was always disappointed with how they functioned in game. In possession the back 3 split to the touch lines and constantly gave up long balls through the now 20 yard wide channels for clear 1v1s on goal. Once wingers came charging down the sidelines, my terrified fleeing centerbacks would completely forget that there were players on the other team in the middle of the field. A simple cross played to the penalty spot for on rushing forwards or AMCs would lead to goal after goal, after goal. The fixes to these issues were 2 fold. 1st you have to keep them from spreading out by getting rid of the all pervasive Wingbacks (in the DM strata) and going to a 5 man back line. Even though the Fullbacks are rarely ever on line with the CDs, the CDs will now stay in the center of the pitch. The 2nd change was to tweak their instructions to both handle long balls over the top, and simultaneously close down players who are rushing forward.
As for the FB[A]s that I have gone with here, there is a very distinct reason for that too. You see I started out trying to make WBs and CWBs work. And let me tell you, they finished almost every game with 8.00 ratings! The problem was that they didn't really perform like it. Their ratings were always inflated from completing "Dribbles" and making "Runs". But rarely do those translate to anything. In fact, if you watched what happened, they only ever tried one move! Knock ball past opponent (to touchline side, never inside) and then try to throw a Hail Mary cross. It was worst with CWBs because apparently that's a "playmaker" role so every player would try to pass to them no matter where they were. No need to shoot from inside the 6 yard box when I can pass to the corner kick spot right!!! The other issues were that if the defender was equally as skilled, they could simply tackle the WB as he made the move and start a quick counter attack. Even if the WB beat his man, often times they would recover and get in front of the cross turning it into nothing more than a free corner kick. Or the WB would blow by the man and... stop running because he had no more passing options since he just voluntarily face-hugged the touchline. This would cause them to stop moving, turn their backs to goal, and wait 5 seconds to get tackled... starting the other team on a counter attack. The FB duty does not auto tick "runs wide with ball" or "dribble more". Because of this he can go wherever, whenever, or even pass the ball if there is an opponent standing in front of him, as opposed to having no option but to bulldoze forward 1v1.
The midfield I spent the most time on. I wanted them to move side to side as a unit. I started with BWM(S)s where the AP[A]s are now and loved them. They just wouldn't get into the attack enough for me (even with get further forward ticked). I tried everything. Eventually I settled on using MC[A]s. They worked great, but for some reason no one ever passed to them. Everyone just tried hoofing it to the strikers even though they were wide open in channels directly in front of them. I couldn't take it so I switched them to AP[A]s as a joke to make people pass to them... It worked. And not only that, but they retained the defensive ferocity of the BWMs. I've settled on using BWM, or BBM type players in these roles instead of the fancy "all flair, no blue collar" Messut Ozil types here and they work great. They don't have to be able to unlock a defense, just pass some to other people while durddling around until someone rips a long shot and you curse at the screen.
The DLP(D) started as my Pirlo player. Only again no only ever passes to him (even with the playmaker distinction sadly). He ends up mostly just screening the back line and recycling possession. Basically what an Anchorman should be if that role wasn't trash and didn't actually do anything. This role started as CM(D) which was fine honestly, but he got ignored a lot, so I switched to DLP so he could maybe touch the ball some. Again use an aggressive bulldog type ball destroying player with good tackling and positioning here instead of a Pirlo type.
The strike partnership never worked no matter what I tried. Everyone just hoofed it forward if there were 2 of them up there. Also even as Defensive Forwards with Defend duty, they never tracked back far enough. That allowed the opponents to build play up with their center mids while they waited for my midfield screen line to crack under the match engine and open passing lanes. The solution was to drop one of them to the AMC strata and make them close down much more. SS role didn't work very well in my testing. AMC[A] did. It was more mobile and offers a better link up player between our mids and defense and the forward. I use someone creative here that has good finishing stats. Basically play the "ideal SS" type player here because they end up getting many chances to score. Again don't use the Ozil type of player... we don't play beautiful football, we're blue collar here in these parts.
F9(s). This worked better than a DF or DLF at dropping back to be involved in the play while drawing the defense out of line. I mainly play lower leagues, but I'm sure a Complete Forward(S) could work here too. You probably don't want anything with an attack role here as they will just turn into an isolated Targetman for your Center Backs with "pass shorter" to launch long balls at while you curse at your screen. This guy is you primary goal scoring threat (base stat searches accordingly) but he also banks quite a few assists. Despite that usually these guys don't usually finish with high average ratings.
Anyways, enough with the boring stuff, let's get to the action.
Formation:
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It's a 532, 352, 5311, whatever you want to call it, but there it is.
Team Instructions:
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I honestly was playing counter and direct at first, but I realized I finished every game with 55% possession and decided to go all on in the tiki-taka "they can't score if they don't have the ball" to see how far I could get it to go... The answer is 70+% in some games. Turns out it works really well too. I'm sorry ManU fans with LVG PTSD. I didn't mean for this to happen. It just kind of did. I DON'T USE OIs. Please for the love of God before you flame me, at least get the tactic to fluid and test it. If you try to play defensive and your players aren't used to it, you'll get roasted. Trust me that its solid if you give it a shot. Understand that your big shot club is probably used to playing very fluid and expressive, not structured and disciplined. Because of that it will take a while before they are solid.
Set Pieces:
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I have DR take left side corners and right side throw ins. Everything is mirrored for the other sides. I don't like getting hit on the counter after a failed corner kick so I keep the big guys back. The defending set pieces sucks. Feel free to change these if you don't like them.
Training:
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This tactic is defensive at heart. Does putting attacking mentality get a bigger goal differential you ask? I don't know. I wanted to create a Catenaccio/Cholismo tactic so I never take it off defending unless I'm trying to get the tactic fluid in the preseason. When playing anti football, you play anti football, not Arsenal ball. I train players in BBM roles so that they still get better at defending while also getting some passing skills. I explicitly look for players who are ball winners and target them in the transfer market. I want 8 vicious tacklers (+1 keeper) standing behind 2 "cultured attackers" (aka goalscorers).
To expand on this section. I prioritize Marking, Positioning and Tackling skills over creativity and flair. Your FBs MUST BE GOOD TACKLERS AND HAVE HIGH MARKING or else you will lose players on crosses to the back post. CDs should have good positioning and Jumping Reach too. All players should be good at marking and tackling and their associated skills (positioning, anticipation, composure, strength, etc). I promise you will notice a difference (in a surprisingly refreshing way) once you build a midfield with 3 natural BWMs, 2 Defense first FBs and 3 CDs with strong positioning and tackling skills.
This is an example of me scouting for players:
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I use this as a base for All potential CDs, FBs, and CMs. I can't stress this enough, you want people that can tackle, above natural Playmakers. If you get a BBM type player, great. But if you can't, use a BWM.
Results:
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Well that's not good...
You see, what had happened was that I was managing another small club. 3rd division, get promoted. Season 2 Come in 2nd place (3rd on goal differential so no top flight promotion) despite being pegged to drop due to semi-pro status. Halfway though season 3 the big boy here fires its manager and I get the call. This is here to give you an idea of the squad I inherited.
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Here's what it looked like once I took over.
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From 14th to 4th in less than half a season. Not bad at all. Only gave up 6 goals for the rest of the season after 39 in the first leg even with no transfers in. (3 from run of play, 2 free kicks, and 1 game glitch that is actually hilarious and happens fairly often with this tactic). If you are playing Lower Leagues you will give up a lot of penalty kicks. It's ok though, you'll be fine. I have tested this in Lower Leagues too. This is Portugal's L1. #6 in the world rankings when I was testing.
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And some specific matches:
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Bonus section:
Thanks for reading this far if you made it. I use Wannachup Instant Result FM17 - All Default Skins | FM Scout for my instant result button. I just click simulate match (not instant result) for every game. I don't pick a special game plan when I do it either (I.E. I dont click "leave it late" or "play for the draw" or "smash and grab")
The once per season goal glitch that I keep getting goes as follows. The keeper holds onto a save. Before the Central Defenders can clear the box the keeper rolls it to one (usually the middle guy). Now mind you this guy is all of 5 yards away from the keeper at this point. He miss touches it because I assume his first touch attribute is rubbish. Because he is still in the 18 yard box, the keeper springs into action to get the "loose ball". Only because it came from our defender's foot, the keeper cant just pick it up! So instead he slide tackles my own CD... and as he does this, the ball squirts to the top of the 18. The opposing CF or AMC rushes to it, while everyone else stands around looking at him and he places a shot into the empty net (the keeper is still on the ground after his viscous tackle on my CD). It's happened often enough that I am used to it... I really hope y'all get this too, because as rage inducing as it is, it's also pretty funny to see happen.
Ummm...
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The Tactic again for those who didn't TLDR
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