Attacking tactic/formation -
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MWO6810J
Notes/recommendations -
1. Employs a Playmaker, so choose a Playmaker and drop his name into the relevant box. This can be either your midfielder (the more attacking minded of the two) or your free role attacking midfielder who plays behind the frontman. I have enjoyed success with both but have played more games with the normal midfielder as Playmaker so can vouch for that option more.
2. Place your striker in the -Target Men- box, but leave the -Use Targetman- unticked. The default setting for -Target Man Supply- is "Mixed". I have found that works well with a creative AND pacy striker, as that way he will sometimes receive the ball to feet AND be running onto the ball, even if balls "to head" won't be much good when they are used. Of course, feel free to choose your own setting.
3. This tactic is set-up for a skilful/pacy striker but can be used with a big frontman (I have Sergio Aguero in my first eleven and Emmanuel Adebayor as squad player) by making the following simple tweaks:
(a) Lower Targetman's -Run With Ball- to "rarely".
(b) Tick -Hold Up Ball-
(c) Tick -Target Man Supply- to "Head" (if you wish).
(c) That's it, just make sure to drop his name in the -Target Men- box if he's coming on as a sub, and remove your original targetman's name from the box.
4. A general tip - Note that all the players are on some form of "Attacking" mentality. This helps them to play as a unit. There are 6 players (Goalie, 2 Fullbacks, 2 Centrebacks, Defensive Midfielder) on the lowest notch of "Attacking" mentality, and 5 players (Midfielder, Attacking Midfielder, 2 Wingers, Striker) on the highest notch of "Attacking" mentality.
I mention this as a tip because you will enjoy more success by at least always sticking to this one rule (having all your players on the same type of mentality even if to differing degrees), even if you wish to use different formations and tactics (unless they are crap to start off with
)
Another important "rule" is to have all your players on the same kind of PASSING. In my tactics, the defensive players are always on the highest notch of the chosen passing style (so they are more direct in getting the ball forward and don't mess about so much at the back) and the attacking players are always on the lowest notch of the chosen passing style (so they use their creativity better and play more one-two's).
These two "rules" are, I believe, the two most important factors in resolving the shooting-straight-at-goalkeepers issue and too-many-long-shots issue. Why? I can only guess it is because there are 5 attacking players all on exactly the same mentality and passing style, and therefore working better as a team, with more options to put some great moves together instead of one of them deciding to whack the ball forward because he feels he has no support/the others are not "in synch" with him.
5. Another general tip - look at the set-piece instructions for each player, and the team set-piece instructions, in this tactic. I'm getting lots of goals from corners for example. At half-time of every match, I tweak the team set-piece instructions from:
(a) Corners Left - near post, to = Corners Left - penalty area.
(b) Corners Right - far post, to = Corners Right - 6 yard box.
(c) Freekicks Left - cross near, to = Freekicks Left - cross centre.
(d) Freekicks Right - cross far, to = Freekicks Right - best header.
Again, use any variation you might prefer, but by having 4 different varieties of corners and freekicks respectively, throughout the 90 (or more) minutes, it improves your chances of scoring from them.
The throw-ins are set to "mixed" by default, but if you have say a fullback who is seriously good at Long Throws, it would obviously be good to set the ones he takes on "Long". Otherwise, best leave it to the player to decide, and get some variety in.
6. Team Tackling - every player's tackling except for the goalie who is specifically set at "easy" to try and avoid penalties, in all 3 of my tactics, is set to "Team" and "normal" by default, so you decide whether you wish to increase or decrease the tackling, depending on the opponent and the weather conditions or ref (if you actually check who the ref is and how harsh he is, I don't).
7. Zonal or Man marking? - I used to tweak these settings depending on the style of play of the opposition, and it worked well in FM 2007, but I had no success doing this in FM 2008, and it doesn't matter anyway now because the default settings for -Marking- and -Tight Marking- in these 3 tactics deal very well with any kind of play. 5 outfield players (the defensive ones) are all on "Zonal" and "Tight Marking YES", whilst the other 5 outfield players (the attacking ones) are all on "Man" and "Tight Marking NO". Tinker with this at your own risk.
8. Since Team Tempo is "Slow", and Team Passing is "Short", Goalie's distribution is set to "Defender Collect".
9. Opposition instructions for each match (suggestions) -
(a) Strikers: Tight Marking "Always", Show Onto Foot "Weaker Foot".
(b) Midfielders/Attacking Midfielders/Wingers: Closing Down "Always", Show Onto Foot "Weaker Foot".
(c) Goalkeepers, Defenders & Defensive Midfielders: No Instructions.
(d) The "Dangerman"/"Potential Threat" player: Tackling "Hard".
10. This attacking tactic is best employed against weaker teams when you play at home, or when you desperately need to try and score. It is not advisable to keep using this tactic when you are 2 or more goals in front, or when you need to hold on to a result. When you are say 2 goals in front, changing to a more defensive minded counter-attacking tactic will actually end up in more goals for you most of the time.
Normal tactic/formation -
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RBSE37CW
Notes/recommendations -
1. This one is a real gem.
Can be used in any kind of match really, except perhaps against very strong teams who like to play attacking football, when you play away from home. Most games I start off with this normal tactic. If I go one (goal) behind then I might switch to the attacking tactic, or if I go one or two or more ahead then I switch to the defensive tactic. But even when I have gone one behind, this normal tactic can still put 2 or 3 past the opposition, and win you the match, if you choose to stick with it. It has everything, attacking capability and defensive.
2. This tactic uses no Playmaker or Target Man, but please stick your Target Man in the -Target Men- box, as your fullbacks' and wingers' instructions are set to "cross to target man" (do the same for all 3 tactics).
3. Since Team Tempo is "Normal" and Team Passing is "Mixed", the Goalkeeper's distribution is "Quick Throw" but "Mixed" can also be set if you prefer.
4. For other tips and instructions, please refer to the notes for the Attacking tactic above.
Defensive tactic/formation -
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9X6V8JYZ
Notes/recommendations -
1. The shut-up-shop tactic, but on default it is set to "counter attack" in case you wish to start off a match with it and maybe grab a goal or two if you're lucky. Then, untick the "counter attack" option, and maybe slide the "Time Wasting" up to "Mixed" or "Often" to hold onto the result.
2. This one DOES "Use Targetman" (and no Playmaker), it is already ticked so just place your Target Man in the -Target Men- box. See previous Target Man instructions for other advice if necessary.
3. In this formation, your free role attacking midfielder takes up a second striking position, still with a free role. There's little point in playing a defensive, direct, high tempo game if your target man is going to be all on his own up there, PLUS - since in theory the opposition's defence is going to be pretty high up the pitch... your most creative and skilful player, if he gets the ball, can break past the last line of defenders and have a clear path to goal, if he doesn't hit a lovely through ball to your target man first, that is. Or when he gets to the goalkeeper and side foots it for the target man who has accompanied him on his run and is unmarked.
4. Since Team Tempo is "Quick" and Team Passing is "Direct", Goalkeeper's distribution is "Long ball". The "Distribute To" option is none by default, because say one of your wingers happens to be completely unmarked because the opposition's fullback is staring at a pretty girl in the stands :cool: , would you want your goalkeeper to ignore that option, or another option like it, and just stick to hitting it to the player you have designated regardless of the fact he has 3 opposition players marking him? Having said that... if you're playing with a big targetman, and have -Target Man Supply- "To Head", AND you have another striker right beside him (which you do in this formation...) to run onto the flick ons, then it is worthwhile to set your Goalkeeper's "Distribution To" [select your Target Man].
5. For more advice/instructions, please refer to the notes/recommendations for the previous tactics.
APPENDIX -
Presumably, if you've come this far, you will want to have an idea of which kind of players have made these tactics/formations work, and remember, they were designed to help out top teams who are struggling, so have not been tested with teams/players that are not in the same category. So, if you wish to see if they will work with the latter kind of teams, you're on your own, and I dare say you will need to tweak some instructions to find what works best for you. e.g. In my attacking tactic, my fullbacks are set to -Run With Ball- "Often", because they happen to be pretty good. Do you want your Dribbling Attribute "4" fullback on -Run With Ball- "Often"? Maybe not, right?
The following is my "weakest" eleven of the senior squad, with whom these tactics have (also) worked a treat, just to give you an idea of the minimum "stereotype" player for each position (that I have tested successfully):
GK - Fabianski.
DR - Sagna.
DL - Traore (Armand).
DC - Richards (Micah).
DC - Senderos.
DMC - Flamini.
MC - Rosicky.
RW - Walcott.
LW - Eduardo (Da Silva).
AMC - Van Der Vaart.
SC - Adebayor.
Van Der Vaart was getting 6's all the time prior to these tactics, even with Long Shots "rarely" and Creative Freedom "normal". Now, he's on Long Shots "Mixed" and Creative Freedom "Much (MAXIMUM)", and he's getting 8's or 9's in succession, and the fans are finally starting to be pleased with him (and me too
).
Before I finish, I'll stress a few things again - the Normal tactic of the above 3 tactics, is the best one to use frequently (out of those 3). The other two are more of a gamble and could go horribly wrong or amazingly right, although up to now I've managed to correct things (IF they happened to go wrong) and get a good result in every game. Have now climbed to the top of the Premier and am rocketing away from the pack. Also increased my goals tally. The match engine play is awesome to watch now and I'm punching the air again just like I always hoped I would do when I bought FM 2008.
I do feel sorry for those gamers who have individual problems which this advice cannot help to solve though, and I hope they will be helped out ASAP, but my intention in preparing this post was to assist those in similar circumstances to me (managing top team in English Premier), who are just about ready to throw in the towel but have not lost faith completely and are still willing to give something new a try.
Remember THIS though -
4. A general tip - Note that all the players are on some form of "Attacking" mentality. This helps them to play as a unit. There are 6 players (Goalie, 2 Fullbacks, 2 Centrebacks, Defensive Midfielder) on the lowest notch of "Attacking" mentality, and 5 players (Midfielder, Attacking Midfielder, 2 Wingers, Striker) on the highest notch of "Attacking" mentality. I mention this as a tip because you will enjoy more success by at least always sticking to this one rule (having all your players on the same type of mentality even if to differing degrees), even if you wish to use different formations and tactics (unless they are crap to start off with ) Another important "rule" is to have all your players on the same kind of PASSING. In my tactics, the defensive players are always on the highest notch of the chosen passing style (so they are more direct in getting the ball forward and don't mess about so much at the back) and the attacking players are always on the lowest notch of the chosen passing style (so they use their creativity better and play more one-two's). These two "rules" are, I believe, the two most important factors in resolving the shooting-straight-at-goalkeepers issue and too-many-long-shots issue. Why? I can only guess it is because there are 5 attacking players all on exactly the same mentality and passing style, and therefore working better as a team, with more options to put some great moves together instead of one of them deciding to whack the ball forward because he feels he has no support/the others are not "in synch" with him.
I hope I have not broken any rules with what I have posted (I'm not too clear on some of the things I read in that rules thread here), and that it is understood that my intention is to help out people who are seriously peeved off with FM 2008 so far. But if I have broken any rules, please let me know.
I just decided to play my latest match right now, and I told myself I would post the results no matter what. So here are the stats -
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/2...tatsmatzo9.png
Match Stats.
I played with the Normal tactic and was patient, scored the first late in the game, then switched to the Defensive tactic and grabbed another. This was the kind of game (against a rival, away from home too) that would prove difficult before, but we ended up winning comfortably in the end.
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/4...tatsactdq9.png
Action Zones.
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/1...tatshomjj4.png
Home Stats (West Ham)
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/4...tatsawads5.png
Away Stats (Arsenal)
And to give you an idea of results in general ever since I started using these 3 tactics (1st January 2008 onwards, in the game) -
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/3...ixturestn5.png
13 wins. 2 draws. No losses. In the draw against Chelsea, Cech "put on a goalkeeping clinic". But we slaughtered them really. The draw against Roma, away, I wasn't as cautious as I should have been (they were stronger than I thought) and they scored first, but we clawed one back, then finished the job at home.
P.S. If the pics haven't posted, then obviously I haven't figured that out properly yet and I would be grateful if someone showed me how. If they did post, then woohoo.
I've come up with 3 tactics (Defensive, Normal and Attacking) that resolve the shooting-straight-at-goalkeepers issue, too-many-long-shots-issue, etc 
Linear Mode
