@ Arsenal71: Since employing these tactics with Newcastle (2009/2010) I am on a marathon unbeaten streak (think I've reached 15 games with this tactic in all competitions now - PL/CL/CC) and I am absolutely dominating teams at home in terms of posession/shots/pass accuracy (even the likes of Man Utd and Liverpool). While away from home I sometimes have less posession, but always more shots on goal and a massively superior tackle/pass percentage.
Not only that, the football my team seem to be playing is electric when I compare it to the previous three seasons. My fullbacks are scoring from open play, my wingers are having a huge influence on games and my attacking midfielders are performing better than ever. The biggest difference, though, has come with using Zigic/Carew in the target man role that wwfan suggests - both are scoring/assisting loads and getting plenty of MOM awards.
I was doing pretty brilliantly beforehand anyway, but I've also had a run of 6 clean sheets (against some good teams) and it just seems to be such an exciting way of playing.
Here are the results of the 15 games:
And here are my 5 tactics:
<a href="http://www.fmdatahost.com/uploads/c25c53e74b231e6124375dda3e47f04c4-4-2-Newcastle-(H)-(Newcastle,-Dec-2009).tac">Home</a>
href="http://www.fmdatahost.com/uploads/7ece051a20a4f1481eed7018a780e42b4-4-2-Newcastle-(A)-UltAtt-(Newcastle,-Dec-2009).tac">Away - Ultra Attacking</a>
href="http://www.fmdatahost.com/uploads/14da67e43b2ed49735d9a12cb63320914-4-2-Newcastle-(A)-Att-(Newcastle,-Dec-2009).tac">Away - Attacking</a>
href="http://www.fmdatahost.com/uploads/6c5729cf7e7d618c652644a87dccd5394-4-2-Newcastle-(A)-Def-(Newcastle,-Dec-2009).tac">Away - Defensive</a>
href="http://www.fmdatahost.com/uploads/1bf6e6dccde75491ade739da890da3cb4-4-2-Newcastle-(A)-UltDef-(Newcastle,-Dec-2009).tac">Away - Ultra Defensive</a>
Here are a few descriptions of my preferred players:
GK - Shay Given / Tim Krul - nothing special to note.
RB - Eduardo Ratinho / Giles Barnes - both loaded with pace, with excellent crossing/dribbling/tackling/marking/heading/positioning/jumping, too.
LB - Fabio Aurelio / Gareth Bale - both are quick, deadly from set-plays and have good-excellent stats in the fields mentioned for RB.
RCB - Marco Andreolli / Steven Taylor - tackling/marking/heading/positioning/jumping/concentration/bravery/pace/acceleration all 15+.
LCB - Vedran Corluka / Curtis Davies - same as RCB.
RM - Rodrigo Palacio / Andrea Gasbarroni - typical winger stats are extremely high, 20/20 for pace/accel on both.
LM - Charles N'Zogbia / Mauro Esposito - same as RM, but slower.
DM - Papa Bouba Diop / Alou Diarra - excellent in the air, my two favourite DM's on the game due to their positioning/heading/jumping/tackling/marking, etc.
AM - Federico Insua / Belozoglu Emre - small midfield playmakers with good pace and high stats for creativity/set plays/decisions, etc. Both angry little wasps.
ST - Nikola Zigic / John Carew - classic target men, excellent jump/heading and decent acc/pace (12/15 for Zigic & 15/15 for Carew.) Also high finishing/composure.
FC - Obafemi Martins / Michael Owen - speed, finishing, composure, just the usual for small strikers.
Just thought I would post that to show what type of players I use within the tactics that I've posted. I always like to use big CB's/DM's and have fullbacks who are both good attacking and defensively. Cannot stand having FB's who can't do both.
Wingers should ideally be electric with high finishing stats and almost all of my team is 15/15+ for teamwork/workrate. I always use teamwork/workrate within my parameters for every single position that I spend money on.
Dusan Basta and Juan are both merely used as emergency players, although both are excellent, especially Basta due to the massive number of positions he covers. (Had Mark Wilson previously.)
Basically, your Arsenal team is probably better than my Newcastle team, so these tactics should be even more effective for you! I wish I had an Henry or a Fabregas...
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