Alex900

Perhaps there's somebody who plays with Ajax as me, but i might need some ideas. I developed a good tactic for Ajax with FM 2007 and use it now in the beginning of the season, but 2008 is a bit different story.
At first, I didn't buy practically any players before season, so I have the same bunch that real life Ajax has atm. I play them in 4-2-3-1 system as following.

.............S.............
...........................
AML.........AMC.........AMR
...........................
.......MC.......MC.........
...........................
DL.....DC.......DC.......DR
............GK.............


GK: Stekelenburg
DL: Emanuelson
DC: Stam
DC: Vermaelen
DR: Heitinga
MC: Maduro
MC: Vertonghen - Davids injured for 2 months at the beginning of the game
AMC: Donald
AML: Mitea
AMR: Bakircioglü
S: Huntelaar

Subs:
GK: Gentenaar
DR: Ogararu
MC: Sarpong, Davids, Gabri
AMC: Krohn-Dehli
AML: Luque, Leonardo
AMR: Delorge, Rommedahl
S: Manucharyan, Suarez

I won first 3 league games but then lost 3-5 to Feyenoord. Managed to get to CL group stage, so I'm doing OK. But now comes the problems part.

1) Which tactics would you suggest to get the most out of this guys? This one-striker-system works well, but it means that Suarez will start mostly from the bench and Manucharyan gets too little playing time
2) I don't have good enough AMC to play this tactics well in higher level - Donald is too young and Krohn-Dehli sucks even more. Tried to sign Defour, but no success.

So, how would you use those guys to get the maximum out of this squad. All ideas are welcome

retired_cnote357

First off Suarez and Manucharyan are nowhere near the standard of Huntelaar so maybe send one of them on loan.

Secondly I'd play a 4-3-3 until you get a good enough AMC.

retired_virginialaitano

FL..........S..........FR
...........................
.......MC.......MC.........
...........DMC.............
DL.....DC.......DC.......DR
............GK.............

I play like this with players getting arrows as i see fit for each match. Short passing, quick tempo, lots of creative freedom and high closing down. Works like a charm.

GK: Stekelenburg
DL: Emanuelson
DC: Vermaelen
DC: Stam
DR: Heitinga
DMC: Maduro
MC: Vertonghen
MC: Bakircioglü
FL: Mitea
FR: Manucharian
S: Huntelaar

(good starting 11)

subs:

GK: Gentenaar
DL: Slijngaard
DC: Schilder
DC: Wormgoor
DR: Ogararu
DMC: ...(Anita)
MC: ...(Sarpong)
MC: Gabri
FL: Suarez
FR: Rommedahl
S: Urzaiz

( Weak subs )

I have a good quickstart you can have, sacked bad coaches and new ones are being hired, +1 scout, board is looking for satelite club and they just increased the transfer fund to 19 million and on top of that after the first turn the youth and training facilities are increased.

From there on out you can just manage ajax however you want. Contracts arent prolonged yet nor are there players on the transfer list.

I ussualy try to sign Banega as DMC, Defour as MC, Radu or Garay as DC and last but most certainly not least VAN DE VAART !!

Vd vaart - Maduro - Defour is a heavenly midfield.

From the second season on out I try to fill the blanks with youth from the hypermodern academy : D. Best in the world !

Alex900

So far I'm doing good with this tactic. At least until October.
Huntelaar has scored 13 goals in 6 league games, his like an assassin in front. I also managed to hold Barcelona to 0-0 draw in ECC group.

Btw, why do you regard Sarpong as weak sub? I play him as 3rd MC atm because of Davids injury and in October his value popped from 240k to 2,2m !! His performances are fairly good as well, at least in Eredivisie.

Alex900

Also, a few words about my tactics in the 1st post.

Defensive line - Deep (4-5)
Tempo - average (10)

Mostly use individual orders, but.

DC: mentality defensive, passing mixed, close down own half, tackling hard, marking zonal
WB: mentality normal, passing mixed, close down always, marking zonal (man mark if opp. is going to 4-2-4 or pushes wingers too forward), cross often (deep)
MC: mentality normal (change it during the game depending on the score), passing mixed, through balls often, closing down always (need hard working players for that) tackling hard or normal (dep. on stats, easy when booked)
AMC: mentality attacking, passing short, through balls often, closing down whole pitch, forward runs often, run with ball dep. on stats
Wingers: mentality attacking, run with ball often, forward runs often, cross often (byline)
FC: mentality attacking, passing short, through balls often, closing down whole pitcn, forward runs often, run with ball mixed, hold up ball

To each player use long shots or creative freedom according to their stats (exc. defenders - they have always little creative freedom)

retired_eagethe3

i am playing ajax too
players are not as strong as in fm07

fc fc
amc
ml mc mr
dl dc dc dr
gk
i won league with 20 points more than psv.
but didn't entry champion league
now, it works well

retired_eagethe3

Gabri palys better as MC than Vertonghen
in my tactics