Yet another 4-2-3-1

[cthuerter]

This is the first tactic I have publicly released, so go easy on me.

I created a wizard tactic utilizing two MCs and three AMCs. The 5-man midfield controls possession and creates goalscoring chances for the poacher to convert. The fullbacks also get involved in the attack and will chip in with a fair number of assists and the odd goal. For a highly attack-minded tactic, it is actually very solid defensively, as you can see in the screenshots. One nice thing about this tactic is that most of the team and player settings are not individually tweaked, which means that you can easily change strategies and use touchline shouts depending on what situation you find yourself in.

Note that the settings were tuned on my Bundesliga save (where I have a quality squad) and then I tested it for a full season with Liverpool, which is where the screens come from. Because of this I am fairly confident it will work well with top teams but I don't know how weaker teams will fare - I'm interested to see your results. In the test season with Liverpool I won the PL, Champions League, and both cups while scoring 3 goals and conceding 0.4 per game.

As you can see, the league race wasn't even close. I had the title wrapped up in March.

You would expect Torres and Gerrard to star, but Mascherano and Aurelio really shined as well. I was surprised they could average ratings close to 8.0 over the season with a relatively low number of goals and assists.

No corner exploits.

I let my assistant manager choose opposition instructions and occasionally used touchline shouts. If I went a man up I would use retain possession and pass into space. When protecting a lead against stronger teams (especially playing away) I sometimes switched the strategy to counter with pass into space for the last 10-15 minutes.

Note: the corner routine needs one of the MCs as the taker. In my case I used Mascherano, who doesn't have great corner attributes but is supposed to pass to the short option (Gerrard) who then delivers a cross into the box. I scored a decent amount of corners using this setup but Liverpool's CBs aren't the best jumpers. I think you could score a fair bit more on a team that has CBs with 17+ jumping/heading.

Download: http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/downloads.php?do=file&id=3317
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Fixtures and results

I posted this draw to help show the tactic's defensive quality. I think it's impressive to hold ManU to 1 shot on target. Foster got an 8.7/MoM which explains the result even though they got dominated in every statistical area.

Bordeaux not the easiest team to beat up on. Again 1 shot on target.

Honestly one of the more impressive results in my opinion, winning 4-0 away against a good team after going a man down.

Away at Chelsea was my only league loss, I got some revenge in the FA Cup Final.

Thanks for trying out my tactic and please post your results and feedback!

 

[prigrajf]

looks good will try it out

 

[*JK*]

Some excellent player ratings there, might give this a try!

 

[hellroker]

Just started a new game so trying this out for Wolfsburg

 

[JackL]

Awesome stats you got there...Trying it out...Signed Turan..But i Purposly didnt sign Gourcuff...Would Ozil do good in that spot? Or Toni Kroos? Dont want to Sign them Both..Which one do you Recomend?

 

[reginald]

i try it and this tactic for my hercules team. i had lot of shots but very small percentage in shot on target. i control it all of the game but the score wasnt like your score. i just won 2-1, 1-0
but the overall of this tactic simply brilliant i think (Y)

 

[cthuerter]

Awesome stats you got there...Trying it out...Signed Turan..But i Purposly didnt sign Gourcuff...Would Ozil do good in that spot? Or Toni Kroos? Dont want to Sign them Both..Which one do you Recomend?

I am sure that either would do great, I would probably take Kroos over Ozil because he has slightly better defensive stats and is two-footed. The left and right AMCs are set up to swap so having a good weak foot is a nice bonus. If you're starting from the beginning remember that Kroos is on loan at Leverkusen and you have to wait a year to get him, so if you need someone right away then just get Ozil.

i try it and this tactic for my hercules team. i had lot of shots but very small percentage in shot on target. i control it all of the game but the score wasnt like your score. i just won 2-1, 1-0
but the overall of this tactic simply brilliant i think (Y)

Thanks for the feedback, can you give more specifics about the shots on target? Maybe post a few screenshots? Who is taking most of the shots and from where?

Looking through my past results I usually had 35-50% of shots on target so something within that range is normal. Gerrard (center AM) and Aquilani (left MC) had the most attempts per 90 minutes followed by Torres, so I would try and put players with high long shots and finishing in those two midfield positions (and get them to learn "shoots with power"). The striker should score nearly all his goals from inside the box so long shots aren't as important for him.

I think the left MC position is especially crucial, because the LB and left AM frequently draw their defenders to the byline and can square the ball back to the MC who more often than not is uncovered and can get a good look at goal. The left MC also sees more of the ball than anyone else, Aquilani had 67 pass attempts/90 minutes (Mascherano was second with 55).

 

[retsinnab69]

Going to try this tactic and will report back in 10 games with screenshots cheers

 

[hellroker]

Could you post your first season transfers as Im curious what you did in the market.

 

[retsinnab69]

me too as Liverpool doesn't have much money???!!! Trying the tactic's out had to change a few things seen better now will post results soon

 

[simunovic1986]

I am going to try this out with my Ajax team im mid november and my current tactic works but im not really happy with the performance and not making enough chance...so this seems ideal and suits my players (well i hope)....will let you know how I get on!

 

[cthuerter]

Could you post your first season transfers as Im curious what you did in the market.

Sure, Gourcuff and Arda I bought with payments over 48 months.

 

[hellroker]

Hey mate what shouts do you use if you go down in a match? As my team never seems to recover from it. Im Liverpool as well.

 

[Alcaraz]

seems impressive...athough loads of chances are created it works best with bigger teams and for matches against the likes of Man Utd and Arsenal u really need to observe the game carefully and make tweaks

 

[cthuerter]

Hey mate what shouts do you use if you go down in a match? As my team never seems to recover from it. Im Liverpool as well.

I generally didn't use any. If you are very desperate (down by 2 goals or more or losing with 10-15 minutes left in the match) then you might think about going to overload mentality and get stuck in to win the ball back faster.

However one thing I didn't mention in the original post was the importance of team talks, and not just when using this tactic, as they are important no matter what you are using. I more or less go by WoIfsong's guide (http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/f72/woifsongs-teamtalk-guide-t29092.html). But to sum up what you should do in that scenario:

If you are losing at halftime, or even tied when you are favored to win, use the disappointing/where's the passion/I want to see more option. Especially with a highly professional, ambitious, and determined squad like Liverpool, at least one or two players are likely to respond by being "fired up" and significantly improve the performance of the team as a whole.

One thing I do differently from what the guide recommends is that at halftime I use "I have faith" on any players that are over 7.0 rating or have scored. The guide recommends it for 7.5+ rating and scorers, but I find that you can inspire players to a better/good/great performance even if they only have a 7.0 at halftime, and again that lifts the whole team.

Edit - also make sure you are using subs effectively. Not trying to state the obvious but I'm not sure how much FM experience you have. I would usually make two subs at 60-65 minutes for low condition and/or underperforming players. If you're losing the game at that point you will want to think about subbing Aquilani/Lucas out of the left CM spot or some of the front 4. The last sub I save for the 80 minute mark or later in case of an injury. Of course if you are chasing a game it probably makes more sense to use all three subs early enough so they can make an impact and accept the risk of an injury.

---------- Post added at 05:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:19 PM ----------

seems impressive...athough loads of chances are created it works best with bigger teams and for matches against the likes of Man Utd and Arsenal u really need to observe the game carefully and make tweaks

Thanks for the feedback, to be fair I was trying to get through the season as quickly as possible so I put matches on the fastest speed with key highlights so I basically only saw the goal replays. I have no doubt you would do even better if you slow it down enough to be able to make tactical adjustments

 

[momento]

in Attack awesome, but in defence fail