Alright, I'm not sure if this has been done before but I'd like to help others and expand my own FM tactical knowledge through a detailed analysis of a match which can hopefully shed some light on how to dissect what's wrong with a tactic, be it over the course of a season or in a match, and get the alterations right without innane guesswork.
As such, I hope all discussion in this thread can be civil and productive and that all suggestions are made with analysis and justification (not just, try using a targetman, it should be why with evidence from the match).
So the game i'd like to use is a game I just finished between two comparable class teams; Atletico Madrid (me) and Lyon in the champions league.
Background Note that this is only given as an indication of how and why the squad has/should be performing (you can omit it).
This is early season two on a game with atletico madrid. Season 1 i won the cup and league in a photo finish against real madrid and barcelona (with valencia close behind). The key players were Sergio Aguero (35 league goals), Maxi Rodriguez (captain and match winning performances), Leo Franco (consistent season as GK), and my CB pair of Pablo and Colocinni. The other key was depth in the midfield with players who could easily cover a lot of positions (Simao, Reyes, Luis Garcia). The signings made last season were Colocinni, Javi Martinez (Athletic Club) and Rafael Van der Vaart, Martinez was injured most of the year, while the other two were key first team players (although Van der Vaart was disappointing). Flamini was signed on loan from Arsenal in January and became the 1st choice for DM. Since last season I have flogged off a couple of squad players (Cieber Santana, Thiago Motta, Valera) as well as being forced to sell Reyes due to him being unsettled and serious financial troubles (ironically enough, he was sold to Lyon for 30mil). Adding to the squad, I have brought in Gyan from Udinese, D'Allesandro from Zaragoza as my left-wing replacement for reyes (although he is a different player) and Cassani as a new RB, although he has been injured so far and is yet to start. Signed on free transfers were Flamini (on loan from last season) as well as Gorlitz as RB from Bayern, and Edmilson from Barca, the last two in particular just to add to squad depth.
Gyan has settled well as an explosive striker very similar to aguero, and has scored 8 goals from 9 matches, D'Alessandro has been a regular starter and has been okay (a few assists, no MOTM or goals).
So far this season, the form has been okay and a bit patchy in places (not quite up to last years standards). We just overcame Athletic in the Super Cup and since then are sitting in 4th place, 6 points off an undefeated Real Madrid. Key results have been a league season opener loss 3-6 to Sevilla away followed by a 3-2 win against barca at home.
Match Lead Up
Following a string of 6 wins (including wins against Steau and PSV in my two ECC games so far), I lost 2-1 away to almeira, beat Getafe 3-0 at home and then drew against betis 1-1 in the lead up to this game. Morale in the squad is great, with most on Superb, a couple of V.Good and one or two on Good. In terms of injury, Cassani is yet to play, Seiteraids was out for this game and Maxi Rodriguez was just recovering from an injury and so he wasn't in good enough condition to use (I have tough away game against Villareal and the real madrid as the next two). No player has been in standout form and no one particularly bad.
Knowing I had some tough games coming up (and i'm fairly confident of qualifying from my home games in ECC), the squad i opted for this match was:
GK: Franco
DEF: R: Gorlitz C: Coloccini C: Pablo L: Antonio Lopez
MID: DM: Flamini R: Simao L: Luis Garcia AM: Van der Vaart
FOR: S: Gyan S: Forlan
BENCH: Bernabe (GK) Perea (DEF) Pernia (DEF) Martinez (MID) D'Alessandro (MID) Raul Garcia (MID) Aguero (ATT)
Due to injuries and for resting purposes, my midfield was a little weak (on the R and DM), RB gorlitz was largely untried and a key change was that Aguero was on the bench. Everyone on the bench was match fit and had a good level of recent game-time (except Bernabe).
With regards to Lyon, they were in 6th place but this was due to the inconsistency in the number of games played in the French Ligue (they were only 3 points off the pace with a game in hand), there recent form was a long string of five draws, a loss to St.Etienne and then two good wins. There squad was full strength bar injuries to Milan Baros (4th string striker) Grosso (2nd best LB) and their backup keeper (didn't matter in the game). They put forward their best XI on the day.
The key things i picked up about the team were the incredibly solid CB pairing of Cris and Squillaci, decent attacking fullbacks. They had an extremely strong attacking midfield in Reyes, Keita, Kallstrom and Toulalan and world class pacey attack in Benzema and Fred. They were a top quality team which was probably a little higher standard than mine.
Tactics
Alright so this is the important stuff. Lyon were playing a fairly conventional 442, but i won't comment on the actual tactics as i'd like to here what other people think about it.
On my side, my tactic was a fairly defensive, controlling 442 with very attacking midfielders, a diamond midfield and very defensive CBs. Counter-attacking is on and where i score a lot of my goals on. One of the more unique aspects (i think) is that i play with narrow width but passing down the flanks, this seems to allow me to use the talent of my strikers to run onto the ball and take on the keeper. My wingers are also able to play as a more midfielder role.
Otherwise I'll let the tactic speak for itself:
Atletico MkIV
This is a tactic i've been developing steadily since the release of FM08 with a fair amount of success. I was able to dominate with Roma, become a contender with Napoli and then of course, win the double last year with Atletico. I've been growing the tactic over that time, making tweaks from my results, letting them settle and then moving on. However the tactic was almost unchanged for most of last year as it was so successful (there was no team i couldn't compete with). This year, I've been trying to vary it up a bit after a series of poor performances at the end of last season (that almost lost me the title) and the start of this one (despite some wins). The majority of the defensive slow tempo nature of the tactic is a new addition from early this season, attempting to keep more possession and deal with the "reputation based reranking". Very recently, i've been tweaking the AMC role to get more out of Van der Vaart (who has been average and very disappointing compared to how well he was doing for me prepatch). As such, I've made him playmakers, reduced his creativity and given him a lot more attacking mentality.
Well that's enough about the match, here's the match as it happened, i'll post what i thought of the result and the changes i made during the game shortly but i'd love to hear what everyone else thinks.
ECL: Lyon VS Atletico