I've been tinkering with all sorts of non-usual tactics lately. No-strikers- 4330 in all its wide/narrow variants, 4240 which was interestingly effective, and I was thinking about overloads while watching a team play a man down, and having two players take on a couple of roles to cover and basically do the work of 3 using specific instructions.
Having used a narrow 4330 effectively having the outside two AM's track the opposing fullbacks to create some great shapes and runs, I figured I could use that to my advantage.
I started off with my usual 343 and just shifted it left, slid a DM up, moved the left WB to LM, and then moved the forward 3 to the left.
It creates a nice 333 from the Left to the Center-Right. Which leaves just the one wingback to cover the entire right flank. This image shows a new AC Milan save where I took over AC Milan in February when they were in 9th place, but I've run off 5 straight wins... The key was finding out which players are best for the AMCR spot- a higher work rate is important as they have to track back on the opposing DL.
Ideally, this is how I setup... it took 3 seasons with West Brom to nail it down to all green familiarities and lots of connector bars between players, but they ended up finally taking a top-4 Champions League spot.
GK- Sweeper Keeper Support- throw it to the LM quickly.
CBR- ball player, right footed ideally, set as Stopper, and FAST- has to chase some wingers due to RWB issues.
CBL- ball player, left footed ideally, set as Cover, good positioning, decisions and passing.
LB- wing back defend is ideal, not too adventurous but sends a decent cross and can tackle.
RWB- complete-wing back attack. key player, needs to have good decisions, positioning, off the ball, work-rate, and is FAST. covers the ground of 2 players. Fitness trumps technical stats.
DM- i set it to Segundo Volante support. I like how they make runs up the middle but still tackle and battle from deep.
CM- mezzalla is ideal, though box2box works. typical of those two roles.
LM- I actually am enjoying the inverted winger with AC Milan here, but have usually stuck to the Wide Mid support, or Wide Playmaker support. cutting inside to make a triangle with LB and LW is key. Typically I have used Center Mids retrained to LM here. Think Koke at Athletico.
AM- shadow striker is my usual, but attack mid attack works too. high work rate, willing to track the LB is key.
LW- ramdeuter is best, as this is the role that sees the most action- so the mental stats come in key. but that poachers mentality is important.
FW- a target man support, false nine are great... but deep lying forward support has worked best, but it is a NIGHTMARE to find a player to adapt to that role. It's such a weird quirk of fm18 that players are more adept at 'complete forward' than deep-lying.
As for Team Instructions, I kept ratcheting up the attacking till I got to the standard instructions of a lot of the tactics I see online- just attack attack attack.
play out of defence, run at defence, work ball into box, exploit left flank, look for overlap, close down more, get stuck in, use tighter marking, be more expressive, much higher d-line, higher tempo, low crosses, prevent short GK distribution, play much wider
I think the above Team Instructions alone are a quirky cheat for the game... so perhaps that's the whole of it, and the shape/roles matter little. It's a sneaking suspicion, but whatever. I am enjoying this shape. I have a mirror image and have rotated while at West Brom, as I had 3 players playing the CWB role, one who could play on either side, and one R sided WB, and one L sided WB, so the team shape took on whichever player was freshest.
Here's the basic shape
View attachment 47287
The other one I had fun with was a rotating 3-tactic setup. I switched them throughout the game, with one 'Floating Trequartista'. Obviously, players swapping positions with each other is a nightmare in FM18. So I did it manually.
3 tactics- Left, Center, Right.
The basic roles were a 4-3-2-0 shape. Two ball-playing defenders, two wing backs/cwbs, two segundo volantes (I am obsessed with this role lately), and a deep lying playmaker set to defend. Then up-top in the AM two, both players need to be OK at SSA and AMA roles.
The floating TQ plays LW, AMC, and RW depending on the tactic, Left, Center or Right.
When TQ is on LW, the lb is set as CWBA, the rb is set to WBS, the left dm is SVA, the right dm is SVS, the AMCL is set to AMA and the AMCR is set to SSA.
This overloads the left side, and the team instructions are to focus on the left. The entire left side of the formation goes forward, supporting the TQ. the right sided attacking mid plays the SSA role and everyone crosses to the back post, low.
Everything flip flops for the Right tactic.
For the central tactic, the fullbacks play WBS, the outside DM's go up and play B2B, with the central DM playing a HBD role, and both outside AMs go to SSA, focused passing down the middle.
I was originally thinking of Ozil in this, but it worked out that Griezmann was amazing at it. I had a lot of fun. (These pics are from my test/play saves, so the players positions are edited to make them 18-20's at the required positions).
View attachment 47286 View attachment 47285 View attachment 47284
I have also played a bit with the two static AMs being more supportive types, so set to APS and AMS, with the 'floater' being a SSA and RMDA depnding on location. That works less well. I think you need a couple of scorers on the field. One isn't enough. I suspect the SSA/RMD would work with the two static players being able to play a F9 and DLFS rather than at attack mid.
Anyone else have any success with rotating tactics in match? I found that it made me look at scouting reports with more detail, and I ended up prioritizing a specific overload based on the weakest link in the back line of the opposition, but moving it randomly to keep the AI guessing.
Having used a narrow 4330 effectively having the outside two AM's track the opposing fullbacks to create some great shapes and runs, I figured I could use that to my advantage.
I started off with my usual 343 and just shifted it left, slid a DM up, moved the left WB to LM, and then moved the forward 3 to the left.
It creates a nice 333 from the Left to the Center-Right. Which leaves just the one wingback to cover the entire right flank. This image shows a new AC Milan save where I took over AC Milan in February when they were in 9th place, but I've run off 5 straight wins... The key was finding out which players are best for the AMCR spot- a higher work rate is important as they have to track back on the opposing DL.
Ideally, this is how I setup... it took 3 seasons with West Brom to nail it down to all green familiarities and lots of connector bars between players, but they ended up finally taking a top-4 Champions League spot.
GK- Sweeper Keeper Support- throw it to the LM quickly.
CBR- ball player, right footed ideally, set as Stopper, and FAST- has to chase some wingers due to RWB issues.
CBL- ball player, left footed ideally, set as Cover, good positioning, decisions and passing.
LB- wing back defend is ideal, not too adventurous but sends a decent cross and can tackle.
RWB- complete-wing back attack. key player, needs to have good decisions, positioning, off the ball, work-rate, and is FAST. covers the ground of 2 players. Fitness trumps technical stats.
DM- i set it to Segundo Volante support. I like how they make runs up the middle but still tackle and battle from deep.
CM- mezzalla is ideal, though box2box works. typical of those two roles.
LM- I actually am enjoying the inverted winger with AC Milan here, but have usually stuck to the Wide Mid support, or Wide Playmaker support. cutting inside to make a triangle with LB and LW is key. Typically I have used Center Mids retrained to LM here. Think Koke at Athletico.
AM- shadow striker is my usual, but attack mid attack works too. high work rate, willing to track the LB is key.
LW- ramdeuter is best, as this is the role that sees the most action- so the mental stats come in key. but that poachers mentality is important.
FW- a target man support, false nine are great... but deep lying forward support has worked best, but it is a NIGHTMARE to find a player to adapt to that role. It's such a weird quirk of fm18 that players are more adept at 'complete forward' than deep-lying.
As for Team Instructions, I kept ratcheting up the attacking till I got to the standard instructions of a lot of the tactics I see online- just attack attack attack.
play out of defence, run at defence, work ball into box, exploit left flank, look for overlap, close down more, get stuck in, use tighter marking, be more expressive, much higher d-line, higher tempo, low crosses, prevent short GK distribution, play much wider
I think the above Team Instructions alone are a quirky cheat for the game... so perhaps that's the whole of it, and the shape/roles matter little. It's a sneaking suspicion, but whatever. I am enjoying this shape. I have a mirror image and have rotated while at West Brom, as I had 3 players playing the CWB role, one who could play on either side, and one R sided WB, and one L sided WB, so the team shape took on whichever player was freshest.
Here's the basic shape
View attachment 47287
The other one I had fun with was a rotating 3-tactic setup. I switched them throughout the game, with one 'Floating Trequartista'. Obviously, players swapping positions with each other is a nightmare in FM18. So I did it manually.
3 tactics- Left, Center, Right.
The basic roles were a 4-3-2-0 shape. Two ball-playing defenders, two wing backs/cwbs, two segundo volantes (I am obsessed with this role lately), and a deep lying playmaker set to defend. Then up-top in the AM two, both players need to be OK at SSA and AMA roles.
The floating TQ plays LW, AMC, and RW depending on the tactic, Left, Center or Right.
When TQ is on LW, the lb is set as CWBA, the rb is set to WBS, the left dm is SVA, the right dm is SVS, the AMCL is set to AMA and the AMCR is set to SSA.
This overloads the left side, and the team instructions are to focus on the left. The entire left side of the formation goes forward, supporting the TQ. the right sided attacking mid plays the SSA role and everyone crosses to the back post, low.
Everything flip flops for the Right tactic.
For the central tactic, the fullbacks play WBS, the outside DM's go up and play B2B, with the central DM playing a HBD role, and both outside AMs go to SSA, focused passing down the middle.
I was originally thinking of Ozil in this, but it worked out that Griezmann was amazing at it. I had a lot of fun. (These pics are from my test/play saves, so the players positions are edited to make them 18-20's at the required positions).
View attachment 47286 View attachment 47285 View attachment 47284
I have also played a bit with the two static AMs being more supportive types, so set to APS and AMS, with the 'floater' being a SSA and RMDA depnding on location. That works less well. I think you need a couple of scorers on the field. One isn't enough. I suspect the SSA/RMD would work with the two static players being able to play a F9 and DLFS rather than at attack mid.
Anyone else have any success with rotating tactics in match? I found that it made me look at scouting reports with more detail, and I ended up prioritizing a specific overload based on the weakest link in the back line of the opposition, but moving it randomly to keep the AI guessing.
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