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FM 2008: My aproach to creating tactics and all round gameplay, The Watford Project
Introduction
Okay so I have decided to writ this thread to show the detail and the approach I use in this game. I have started a game with Watford who are expected to finish 6th.
First Things First
The first thing everybody should do is look at the messages and see what is expected and have a look at the budget and the team report. The board only wanted a top half finish but I wanted to state my ambition so I replied with a title challenge response.
Okay so the first thing I do when starting up a new game is get some training schedules together and then I go on the hunt for new coaches. I put everyone on a pre season schedule which is focused on strength and fitness this is to improve the players conditioning for the upcoming season. When the season arrives I will put all players on positional schedules I have them for the following positions.
Full Back
Centre Back
Defensive Mid
Centre Mid
Attacking mid
Winger
Target striker
Fast striker
I managed to bring in a whole host of new coaches, in fact so many that the board would not allow me to bring in any others.
The next thing to do is decide my base tactic for the upcoming season the reason for this is I can see where I need to improve the squad then I can test during friendly and tweak for the upcoming season.
I decide on a 4231 because I had a very good fast striker and a few good attacking midfielders I need to buy a new left back and an immense attacking midfield centre.
The Tactic
The basics of the 4231 are that there are 2 hardworking DMs who spread the ball across the pitch. There are 3 AMs so the attacks are varied with the 4 attacking players having a pass n move style. The defence Is solid and in theory this is a hard tactic to break down. It uses a fast target man with run onto ball as I want plenty of through balls.
The tactic is a 4 man defence with 2 defensive midfielders with farrows going forward the two wingers have barrows to the normal ml/r positions.
Mentality- This is basic the defence is on defensive with the full backs on a slightly higher setting. Both DMs have normal mentalities however one is set slightly higher and of course all attacking players are set to attacking mentality.
Creative Freedom- Everyone is set to little apart from the 4 attacking players who are all on much.
Passing Style- The DCs are on direct while the full backs are on mixed however the slider is close to short. Both DMs have mixed passing as I want them to spread the play and all attacking players have short passing as I want a pass n move type of play from them.
Closing Down- The DCs are on rarely while the full backs are on mixed. One dm is on max while the more attacking of the two is high on the slider as he is a link player. The lone striker is on max while the other attacking players are on high.
Forward runs and Run with ball - For forward runs the FBs are mixed with the DCs on rarely the more attacking dm is on mixed with the other on rarely. All attacking players are on full. Run with ball is easy DCs on rarely with all other on mixed with attacking 4 on often.
Other- The attacking mid centre has a free role.
The team instructions are change game by game depending on how I want to play.
Transfer Market
OK now the fun begins as I said earlier I need a left back and a top class AMC. But I will look to beef up the squad and have now set up my filters.
I manage to buy a player from my left back filter but I just couldn’t get my hands on an AMC, however I went against my other thought and did not invest in the squad as I though mine was capable of promotion easily.
Pre Season
Ok so Pre Season has two purposes to me.
1.To get the squad fit and ready
2.To tweak the base tactic.
Even though I don’t always watch the games I do look at the after match stats and tweak from there however if the tactic is doing what I want, then I leave it till the full season.
As you can see my results weren’t great however I like the look of my side and I believe this will be a good base tactic before I create a more adventurous tactic later in the season after some good results and after morale rises.
Opening Results
I have decided to keep my 4231 but have made some big changes, I might eventually release this for download, but it is not downloadable yet.
QPR(A)- This match was put down as a draw by the pundits, but the tactical skill and teamwork of my boys pulled through. We dominated from first to last and BOOM final result 5-0.
Peterborough(H)- The pundits gave us an easy result. We passed the test, Final result 2-1
Sheffield UTD(A) – The pundits said we would lose and it looks like they were right but my boys tried and it was an incredibly hard fixture, I was happy with the performance. Final result 2-2
Bristol City(H) – The pundits predicted a close match with a 1-0 win going my way, however I was quietly confident and we dominated, Final result 4-1
Conclusion
Okay so I will be updating this when I see fit, I will post results and new tactics I make will be posted as well as how they did.
I hope you enjoyed reading this.
Feedback and discussion on how I do things would be appreciated; I will also answer any questions you have.
11-02-2007, 11:55 PM
FM 2008: My aproach to creating tactics and all round gameplay, The Watford Project Post #2
Carslile- The pundits said we would win and for once they got this one right, Final result 4-1
Burnley- The pundits predicted a win and we delivered a great result, Final result 3-0
Cardiff- Even though we werent favourites, the pundits said we had enough to win. I was expecting a tough game and Cardiff delivered, Final score 3-1
Hull City- We were favourites and the pundits said we would win, the team performed and got the result which is what I wanted, Final result 3-1
The Future
As you can see our results are good and our goal difference quite incredible, I am happy with our boys start and I hope it continous.
If I put together some more solid results, I will turn to be more adventurous and create a few more tactics which I will explain.
If there is enough interest some tactics will be put for download although my main aim from this thread was to generate discussion about the way I play and how you play the game.
My tactic looks good and it looks like this league cant handle Marlon Kin who is on 8 goals already.
I will be adding a few updates shortly and if people want I will be adding articles on different parts of the game to this thread. Stay Tuned
11-03-2007, 01:32 AM
FM 2008: My aproach to creating tactics and all round gameplay, The Watford Project Post #3
O.K although some people ignore things like this I feel it is an important part of the game.
Performances
Poor performances are hard to judge as it largely depends on the quality of the player, however these are my guidelines.
5 = and below 1-2 weeks fine (better player = more weeks)
6 = warning-1 weeks fine (Better player = more fine)
Sending offs
As far as I am concerned any sending off should be punished with a 2 week fine, I hardly get any red cards any more so the players have obviously learnt their lesson.
Other options
If a player misses training players should be punished according to morale in my opinion and if the player is unhappy or not.
Superb Morale = 2 week fine
Good Morale = 1 weeks fine
Anything Lower = 1 weeks fine
If a player has Superb morale they are unlikely to miss training so this should not be needed.
If a player does not accept his fine and say he will improve in the future you might want to note this down and give less punishment in the future, on the basis that a happy player is a good player.
11-03-2007, 01:41 AM
FM 2008: My aproach to creating tactics and all round gameplay, The Watford Project Post #4
We are sitting nicely at the top of the table and I have finally decided to make an adventurous tactic which I will use in my next match against Leicester away.
I will play with a 3-4-3 which I will explain at a later date because of the amount of detail needed.
Anyway here is the result
As you can see we dominated which is what I wanted the tactic to do.
Here is the league table
I will update again tomorrow as I feel I have done enough today and I need to rest.
Enjoy
11-03-2007, 04:53 AM
FM 2008: My aproach to creating tactics and all round gameplay, The Watford Project Post #7
Originally posted by miked2006:
Im watford, i won promotion and came 12th in the prem and now im 8th. The secret? A little player called alex and another player called mota =)
Great result! However I am trying to help people maybe not as good as you.
Mostly i wanted a discussion but it doenst look like im going to get one.
11-03-2007, 12:48 PM
FM 2008: My aproach to creating tactics and all round gameplay, The Watford Project Post #9
The defence defends, with the outer DCs man marking and they have a highish closing down which is on own half. One Dm stays back while the other helps in attack, they both have mixed passing to spread the play and have a highish closing down.
The mr/l have team mentality with short passing they have normal creative freedom and have FWR often as well as RWB and Cross ball.
The central striker has normal mentality so he drops back to link in the two outer quick strikers. He has TTB often to put them through he has FWR rarely and RWB mixed all others are mixed. He has CD just inside whole pitch.
The outer strikers have Normal-High CF and a free role they have FWR often and all others mixed.
Passing is short with tempo on low normal. Width is high normal with CF little. Defensive line is dead centre with offside ticked.
11-03-2007, 01:02 PM
FM 2008: My aproach to creating tactics and all round gameplay, The Watford Project Post #10
FM 2008: My aproach to creating tactics and all round gameplay, The Watford Project 
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