So, sliders are almost history, and I have just gotten the hang of them. I think. Mentality slider, for example determines your players position on the pitch, so I have learned that with different philosophy, it helped me recreate a tactic. For example, I read in an article, that bayern's wingers drop deeper to create a permanent line of four. I have been trying to recreate their tacitc with very fluid philosophy, and by using sliders, I found out I should use fluid instead, because when I do set fluid, those four players have same mentality. I guess I should always go back to fm2013 when creating a tactic, if there wont be sliders in the new ones. Just for error checking, if nothing else.
Anyway, I have been surfing the net in search of tactics. I normally don't use other people tactics, but I do download them and see how they set up things, hoping I will learn something from them. But, most of them have plenty of errors. So I thought I should write down a sort of a guide for those following this blog, and help you create your own tactic, without errors, as this games punishes you hard for making errors. I have spent 2500h in fm2013, without playing a career, as my own errors in my own tactics, kept me going back to the drawing board. So below will be a description of my thinking when I was recreating Barcelonas and Bayern's tactic in fm 2013.
Barcelona:
So I googled barcelona, and there were all sorts of managers and formations used, and styles of play, but the tactic creator offers 4-5-1 as a default tactic, and it is to my knowledge a tactic that is both fit for keeping possesion, with 3 in the middle, and fits current barcelonas players, so it is my chosen formation.
Next up is philosophy. By changing to more fluid, the sliders of mentality, creative freedom and closing down all change. It seems very fluid offers the most closing down, highest creative freedom, and also makes your defenders more aggresive, while making your attacking players more defensive. So if defence is pushing up in terms of positioning, and strikers tracking back, that would sqeeze the players together. Since barcelona is playing short passing, I should prolly use very fluid, as I want the players close to one another to incorporate short passing. That would also make defence better but shortening the gaps opponents could exploit, and also make pressing more efficient.
In team settings, I have chosen shorter passing. The slider of both my width and tempo changed to lower values when I chose shorter, and that is exactly what I want. It seems both tempo and width should be equall no matter how you set up your game. Creative freedom and roaming are two things that should be moved together, meaning if you go more expressive, you should chose more roaming aswell, to take full advantage. But, I have already chosen a philosophy that increases creativity, and more expressive would prolly make my team ignore my tactical instructions, Barcelona has some very creative players, but also very disciplined. So I have chosen stick to position and more discplined here, although it might work with default. I don't want them doing anything outside my tactical plan, and I also want to use this tactic with clubs that don't have so creative players as Barcelona does.
We want high pressing to regain possesion when the ball is lost, so I have chosen more pressing.
Tackling I have set to more cautios, as I have found out Barcelona is staying on feet in RL. I don't want yellow cards, and I don't want to give away freekicks.
Marking is set to zonal, as team shape is important, as well as players condition, although we will be playing a slow tempo, with no counter attacks, so man marking can be used also.
Crossing I have set to drill, as my striker (Messi) is small.
Player roles:
We will be playing narrow, so that means most threats will come from the side, and so It is important to have someone with heading and jumping in CB role. It is also important to close down empty space that the fullbacks will leave when going forward, so I have chosen a BPD stopper and CD stopper. The BPD can also take the ball out of defence, so I have set my Sweeper Keeeper to defender collect to him. SK performs sweeper role, and takes care of any through balls. It is important to have one sweeper in the team, as you want both high and low balls cleared. The right back is a wing back attack, and goes forward on a regular basis, to provide width for attack, while the left back is a full back, who does the same, but is a bit more carefull. It is my understanding this is how Barca plays.
So barca uses a false 9. That means this player needs all attributes except perhaps heading and jumping. It also means this player will drop into space, so a complete forward support is closest to this. He feeds the ball to flanks, and this formation effectively goes to 433 when in possession, so I have chosen 2 inside forwards attack on the wings. Deep lying playmakers fit a direct passing game, so in CM position I have used AP support on MCr, and AP attack on MCl. Fabregas, xavi and iniesta can play here. So I have a passer and a creator, I need a destroyer. Anchor man is the obvious choice.
Strategy is set to standard, as that gives slow tempo, narrow width without counters on.
Shouts:
Play out of defence shout would shorten passing and increase through balls for defenders. The two other options increase passing length so can't use them.
Push higher up would increase closing down and defence line, which is exactly how barca plays.
Stay on feet is also how barca plays, as it sets everyone to low tackling. PPM's might override this.
Pass into space increases through balls. With players running from deep, and creative players with good passing skills, there is no reason not to use this.
Play narrower is what I want for short passing
Play through defence will lower dribbling, and make sure my players rely on off the ball movement and chose to pass the ball instead of dribbling with it.
Work ball into box will lower all players long shots, to make sure the team creates chances
If I used look for overlap, that would mess up mentalites for one, lower my inside forwards off the ball movement and runing from deep, so I don't want this, although my team will still rely on overlapping with fullbacks on attack duties.
Retain possession would shorten passing and lower tempo to match my play narrow shout. Yes!
Exploiting anything would mess up mentalities, and barca controls the ball, not the space, so wont be using this.
Bayern
By googling bayern, and looking at the nice pictures, I have noticed they used a 4-2-3-1 deep formation.
Philosophy is fluid as with used shouts later on, that will set up the mentalities like bayern plays.
Shorter passing, narrower width and all that applies for Bayern aswell.
Creative freedom and roaming I have left to default, as their fullbacks are supposed to have much creativity, and this formations utilizes a player in AMC position, and he will roam and unlock defences.
High pressing, more cautios tackling, zonal marking are to be used aswell. The defensive forward used in this formation is of average height, so crossing left at default aswell.
Player roles:
Bayern plays with offside trap, so that means attack strategy will be used, overload wouldn't work as that will increase width to wide, and lower strategies simply dont have the high defensive line required. That also means using two CD defend, to stay in line. Two fullbacks on automatic duties, but they will be on attack with this strategy. Sweeper keeper to take care of the through balls. So we will once again rely on overlaps, but wingers wont be inside forwards but advanced playmakers. Advanced playmakers have lower mentalites and so help with defence, while with support duty they cut inside, and with attack duty even cross the ball from byline, so the left one is AP attack, and the right one is AP support. We need a destroyer and passer, so left DM is anchor man, and right dm is DM support. Once again, DLP role doesn't fit short passing. The creator is in AMC position being an Att Midfielder support, to make sure he helps with defence and don't stay to high up. The striker is a defensive foward support, to put pressure on opponents DM's.
Shouts.
Shouts are the same as barca's, with exception of using exploit the flanks, and overlaps shouts in bayern's case. Bayern controls space by using exploit the flanks, but that makes the wide players play withe more wider play, and we want them cutting inside, so therefore the overlap shout.
Anyway, I have been surfing the net in search of tactics. I normally don't use other people tactics, but I do download them and see how they set up things, hoping I will learn something from them. But, most of them have plenty of errors. So I thought I should write down a sort of a guide for those following this blog, and help you create your own tactic, without errors, as this games punishes you hard for making errors. I have spent 2500h in fm2013, without playing a career, as my own errors in my own tactics, kept me going back to the drawing board. So below will be a description of my thinking when I was recreating Barcelonas and Bayern's tactic in fm 2013.
Barcelona:
So I googled barcelona, and there were all sorts of managers and formations used, and styles of play, but the tactic creator offers 4-5-1 as a default tactic, and it is to my knowledge a tactic that is both fit for keeping possesion, with 3 in the middle, and fits current barcelonas players, so it is my chosen formation.
Next up is philosophy. By changing to more fluid, the sliders of mentality, creative freedom and closing down all change. It seems very fluid offers the most closing down, highest creative freedom, and also makes your defenders more aggresive, while making your attacking players more defensive. So if defence is pushing up in terms of positioning, and strikers tracking back, that would sqeeze the players together. Since barcelona is playing short passing, I should prolly use very fluid, as I want the players close to one another to incorporate short passing. That would also make defence better but shortening the gaps opponents could exploit, and also make pressing more efficient.
In team settings, I have chosen shorter passing. The slider of both my width and tempo changed to lower values when I chose shorter, and that is exactly what I want. It seems both tempo and width should be equall no matter how you set up your game. Creative freedom and roaming are two things that should be moved together, meaning if you go more expressive, you should chose more roaming aswell, to take full advantage. But, I have already chosen a philosophy that increases creativity, and more expressive would prolly make my team ignore my tactical instructions, Barcelona has some very creative players, but also very disciplined. So I have chosen stick to position and more discplined here, although it might work with default. I don't want them doing anything outside my tactical plan, and I also want to use this tactic with clubs that don't have so creative players as Barcelona does.
We want high pressing to regain possesion when the ball is lost, so I have chosen more pressing.
Tackling I have set to more cautios, as I have found out Barcelona is staying on feet in RL. I don't want yellow cards, and I don't want to give away freekicks.
Marking is set to zonal, as team shape is important, as well as players condition, although we will be playing a slow tempo, with no counter attacks, so man marking can be used also.
Crossing I have set to drill, as my striker (Messi) is small.
Player roles:
We will be playing narrow, so that means most threats will come from the side, and so It is important to have someone with heading and jumping in CB role. It is also important to close down empty space that the fullbacks will leave when going forward, so I have chosen a BPD stopper and CD stopper. The BPD can also take the ball out of defence, so I have set my Sweeper Keeeper to defender collect to him. SK performs sweeper role, and takes care of any through balls. It is important to have one sweeper in the team, as you want both high and low balls cleared. The right back is a wing back attack, and goes forward on a regular basis, to provide width for attack, while the left back is a full back, who does the same, but is a bit more carefull. It is my understanding this is how Barca plays.
So barca uses a false 9. That means this player needs all attributes except perhaps heading and jumping. It also means this player will drop into space, so a complete forward support is closest to this. He feeds the ball to flanks, and this formation effectively goes to 433 when in possession, so I have chosen 2 inside forwards attack on the wings. Deep lying playmakers fit a direct passing game, so in CM position I have used AP support on MCr, and AP attack on MCl. Fabregas, xavi and iniesta can play here. So I have a passer and a creator, I need a destroyer. Anchor man is the obvious choice.
Strategy is set to standard, as that gives slow tempo, narrow width without counters on.
Shouts:
Play out of defence shout would shorten passing and increase through balls for defenders. The two other options increase passing length so can't use them.
Push higher up would increase closing down and defence line, which is exactly how barca plays.
Stay on feet is also how barca plays, as it sets everyone to low tackling. PPM's might override this.
Pass into space increases through balls. With players running from deep, and creative players with good passing skills, there is no reason not to use this.
Play narrower is what I want for short passing
Play through defence will lower dribbling, and make sure my players rely on off the ball movement and chose to pass the ball instead of dribbling with it.
Work ball into box will lower all players long shots, to make sure the team creates chances
If I used look for overlap, that would mess up mentalites for one, lower my inside forwards off the ball movement and runing from deep, so I don't want this, although my team will still rely on overlapping with fullbacks on attack duties.
Retain possession would shorten passing and lower tempo to match my play narrow shout. Yes!
Exploiting anything would mess up mentalities, and barca controls the ball, not the space, so wont be using this.
Bayern
By googling bayern, and looking at the nice pictures, I have noticed they used a 4-2-3-1 deep formation.
Philosophy is fluid as with used shouts later on, that will set up the mentalities like bayern plays.
Shorter passing, narrower width and all that applies for Bayern aswell.
Creative freedom and roaming I have left to default, as their fullbacks are supposed to have much creativity, and this formations utilizes a player in AMC position, and he will roam and unlock defences.
High pressing, more cautios tackling, zonal marking are to be used aswell. The defensive forward used in this formation is of average height, so crossing left at default aswell.
Player roles:
Bayern plays with offside trap, so that means attack strategy will be used, overload wouldn't work as that will increase width to wide, and lower strategies simply dont have the high defensive line required. That also means using two CD defend, to stay in line. Two fullbacks on automatic duties, but they will be on attack with this strategy. Sweeper keeper to take care of the through balls. So we will once again rely on overlaps, but wingers wont be inside forwards but advanced playmakers. Advanced playmakers have lower mentalites and so help with defence, while with support duty they cut inside, and with attack duty even cross the ball from byline, so the left one is AP attack, and the right one is AP support. We need a destroyer and passer, so left DM is anchor man, and right dm is DM support. Once again, DLP role doesn't fit short passing. The creator is in AMC position being an Att Midfielder support, to make sure he helps with defence and don't stay to high up. The striker is a defensive foward support, to put pressure on opponents DM's.
Shouts.
Shouts are the same as barca's, with exception of using exploit the flanks, and overlaps shouts in bayern's case. Bayern controls space by using exploit the flanks, but that makes the wide players play withe more wider play, and we want them cutting inside, so therefore the overlap shout.
Last edited: