retired_maggie92

Introduction

I’ve always taken an interest in tactics, right back to the days of Cm 01/02 I used to sit in my room planning how I would conquer the world with Exeter City using one tactic, sometimes worked and how things have changed. The match engine last year was brilliant in my opinion, it offered a lot of difference to the previous incarnations and for many people (including myself) it was very challenging to succeed. A few people will have triumphed, notably Cleon in his ‘Sheffield United Project’, due to persistence and general knowledge and understanding of both the game and real world tactics. FM ‘08 is expected to be just as difficult for myself and others, and from what I have seen so far it has fulfilled this specific criteria, understanding being the key to cracking it. Time and dedication is required to succeed in many games and FM is no exception, playing a match in full mode can open up a lot of ideas and general observations of the match engine itself, but obviously takes time.

In ‘07 I struggled to put together a decent tactic and therefore found myself starting a new game every two months (game time), taking the enjoyment factor out of the game. What I was doing wrong wasn’t easy to recognise either, was I over complicating things? Was I making stupid errors such as; giving a player high creative freedom when he clearly didn’t have the ability to be warranted it? I read, re-read, and re-re-read the different articles that wwfan, Cleon, and Rashidi had posted and gained a lot of the required understanding, but my tactics still seemed rushed, over complicated, and undeniably poor. It took me seven months (real time) to realise what I was doing wrong, by then I had given up on the game. Analysis was the key, if only I had taken the time to check the stats at HT and FT, to see where I was going wrong, who the weak links were. My only decent long term game on ’07 was with Aston Villa, a team that I like in real life and this only lasted a season, but it was enjoyable and that is where I will begin my ’08 reign.

Analysing the squad

The Villains have a good squad, there is no doubting that, strength in depth and quality to match, a perfect team to start with to be honest. Picking the right players is almost as key as the tactic, so I look at the squad and make a quick assessment. A few questions I ask myself are; can I cover every injury? Is my side capable of keeping a clean sheet? Do we have a strong creative force? Can we score goals? The second and fourth are in my opinion the most important of them all, if a team can successfully shut out the opposition and score in the process then there is nothing better, whether it be one-nil, or five-nil I couldn’t care, as long as we get the win. Do Villa have these capabilities? In my opinion, yes. A decent defence, Knight and Laursen make an interesting centre halve partnership, with Davies and Mellberg also capable of playing here, four good defenders there. The full back positions aren’t the strongest however, on the left – Barry or Bouma seem a good couple of players, but on the right – Mellberg or Gardner, neither of which have RB as their natural position, could do with strengthening here.

The midfield seems decent enough, players capable of breaking up the play, and numerous able to burst forward and offer and attacking threat. I won’t dwell too much on players though, as this is a tactics forum after all. Striking options seem a little slim, so maybe look to improve here also.

Picking a formation and the right players

There is one formation that is perfect for Villa, and Martin O’Neill uses this to great effect in the EPL. The 4-3-3, a simple formation, strong central midfield, good attacking threat via the wings, and a solid back four. The formation can easily revert to a 4-5-1 in defensive situations, so the versatility of it makes it even better. As I mentioned earlier, picking the right players is just as important as the tactic itself, do I want 3 ball winning central midfielders? Or do I want 1 and 2 that are more attack minded? Questions that I need to think about when selecting the starting formation. Bearing in mind that my first competitive match is at home to Manchester City, I will go with neither of them, and instead use 2 ball winning midfielders and allow 1 to roam forward and join the attack. Attacking options will be important for me when I come to playing this first match, I need to choose a striker who can both, win the ball from crosses and finish chances off if the ball falls to him one on one with the keeper. Villa have this player, John Carew. He will be pivotal to my tactic either failing or succeeding; the wide players just as important, they will be the main creative force and will need to supply decent deliveries for Carew. Young on the left, Agbonlahor on the right seem the obvious choices. Anyway, here is a screenshot of the side I hope to start the game against Man City, depending on no injuries in pre-season.

Formation

Choosing the right tactic

This is the point where things went wrong for me in ’07, I made the wrong choices before the game and before I knew it I was down by 2 goals at HT. I hope to make ’08 a completely different story, the time I put in will decide whether I do well or if I crash and burn like before. My general formation won’t change too much during the season, but the instructions I partner it with will. At home I need to be winning; no doubt about that, to fulfil the ambition of a European spot I need to make Villa Park a fortress, an attacking 4-3-3 will suffice against most opposition. Away from home may be slightly different, against most of my opponents I will play a slightly less attacking variant of the 4-3-3, not defensive, but just not as attacking. Against the big four (Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool) I will play a defensive, counter-attacking 4-5-1, hoping to keep it tight at the back and hopefully create chances of my own on the break.

The Team Instructions

Get these right and I have a chance of doing well, make a minor error and everything that could go wrong probably will, so I will think about these carefully, both the team and individual instructions. I must take into account who I am playing, my own player’s abilities, the morale of my team, the morale of the opposition and numerous other factors to succeed. Something that the likes of Cleon etc... do well at, and may well have to give me a push in the right direction, especially if I completely fail.

The 4-3-3 is predominantly a wide formation that uses the wingers to great effect, along with the style of EPL football (Direct and Quick). So I will set each of these (Width, Tempo and Passing Style) at 15. Away from home the width may decrease slightly, along with the tempo and passing. The team mentality will stay as it is, creative freedom will be at 12 but many of these will be done individually. Defensive Line will be set at 15 at home with offside trap ticked, 10 away, and around 7 or 8 against the big four with counter attack ticked. Closing Down will also be done individually.

The Individual Instructions

These instructions will change every game, even during the game if a substitution is made. This is because no two players are the same, every player needs a different instruction, for instance, one player may have 18 for tackling and decisions and have hard tackling, but then I could replace him with someone with 10 for both and could get sent off within 10 minutes if I leave him on hard tackling, so he needs to be changed to easy or normal. Hope that makes sense.

Here are the settings I have for mentality;
GK – 2
RB – 11
CB – 4
CB – 7
LB – 11
CM (defensive) – 8
CM (attacking) – 16
CM (defensive) – 8
AMR – 13
AML – 13
FC – 15

For creative freedom I have put the two centre halves on 3, the full backs on 6, the two defensive midfielders on 9, the attacking midfielder on 14 and left the rest on team (12).
Here are my closing down instructions;
GK – 4
RB – 14
CB – 5
CB – 10
LB – 14
CM (defensive) – 14
CM (attacking) – 7
CM (defensive) – 14
AMR – 17
AML – 17
FC – 19

I have also given my two defensive minded midfielders hard tackling, in order to put lots of pressure onto the opposition, in a hope to keep possession.

Final Words

So, that’s what I have planned, whether it goes tits up is down to me and I hope that you guys can get involved in trying to sort and problems etc.... I will report back on my findings after or during each match. I hope to gain knowledge of the match engine from this Villa experiment and the main thing I hope to get is enjoyment. Wish me luck, about to start pre-season, going to use Cleons training from his new Sheffield Utd project thread.

retired_Katrina

Quality post. I think I might give Villa a go on the demo now. I, like you, have always had little problems with getting the tactics right. I've tried lots of different approaches, so I'll give this one a go as well. If it works with Villa then I might try it with some other teams aswell.

Keep us informed :thup:

retired_BrownVanilla

Great post :thup: although I do think the creative freedom for some players is a bit high, but that's what you've gone for so good luck with it

KUTGW and keep us posted

retired_maggie92

Nice on, keep us informed aswell mate. The thing is to take your time and anaylyse your opponents and make sure you are set for the match ahead. Hope it goes okay for you.

Just won my first friendly 3-0 against Walsall, won't get too carried away obviously, but it was a good performace nonetheless.

retired_maggie92

Not much of a response from this so I think I will leave it until a patch is released with a decent match engine, wtf is wrong with the closing down, so annoying. :thdn:

retired_elpata

Don't give up threads like this take time to get interest in them. This is by far the best post we had this month imo nice work

retired_roshawnda82

Don't give up threads like this take time to get interest in them. This is by far the best post we had this month imo nice work </BLOCKQUOTE>

Once the full version (and patch) is out these kind of threads will be invaluable and really popular I think. I plan on doing one myself with my team Bolton Wanderers. I think most people are just biding their time till the full version with a patch is out.

retired_maggie92

Definitely will continue this guys, but want to wait until all the creases in the match engine etc.. are ironed out when the patch is released.

Glad it's good Cleon, took a while to write lol.

May update this thread once in a while, similar to what you are doing with the Sheffield Utd Project. :thup:

Alpha 60

fantastic thread oba, i am going to try this with spurs and see where it gets me. most of the good players are injured at the moment so i might need to get some good players for the defence. i will keep you informed how it is going.

retired_kellyk

Very good thread...keep it up..cleon and I want to find more time to play the game LOL