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The Manchester City Project - A discussion solely about creating a tactic to fit the team
Hello!
I'm relatively new to the SI games forums, but I'd like to think myself a fairly successful manager in FM 2007 terms. Over the past couple of days I have been talking a fair bit to Cleon about tactics and have run this idea past him. He seemed to think it was a good idea and as long as the thread gets the backing it needs we should be able to create an interesting little project here.
The Premise
I have chosen Manchester City as an average Premiership side to use for this project. Quite simply load up the English leagues from League 2 up, with attribute masking, real players and a medium database. Go straight to the tactics screen then build one tactic which best suits the players at your disposal. At this stage no players should be bought!
Why? What's wrong with other similar projects?
As an idea, the West Ham project set up by Cleon and Hammer was fascinating, but where it fell down was on the differences each manager employed beyond pure tactics alone. Cleon's man management, media interaction and training undoubtedly made his game more succesful. I am not denying that these elements are key to a successful management campaign, but that is not the aim of this project. By individuals offering their own personal insight into how they would set up the tactic, it will help tacticians who are eager to learn by seeing how the real pros do it. It should also spark an interesting discussion on how each of us interpret team and player instructions and the best way to use these to good effect.
Who is this of interest to?
I put the tacticians who use this forum into three different camps:-
1) the mods and pros - you know who you are. Your articles have inspired many of us
2) your average FM tactician - like myself, we may have had moderate success at various levels of the game but there is still def room for improvement
3) the 'quick fixers' - these are the boys who post threads asking for one tactic to win them the Premiership with Scunthorpe, rather than looking at tactical theory itself
This project will undoubtedly benefit group 2 the most. If you are interested in the technicalities of the game and want to learn more, then participating in this should give you a real insight into tactics and improve your ability and enjoyment in the game
To start us off!
Ok, this is my own take on how I would set the team up without bringing anyone in.
At this stage, the only setting I have altered is Closing Down. I believe the others all relate to the style of football you are playing and I won't know this until I have a scout report on next opposition.
I have set the mentality at the first notch of defensive as I want him to be thinking of defending. The player instructions I have kept negative, as I essentially want him to keep goal and not much else. I have told him to get the ball up to my target man however.
I have given them mentality at first notch of normal. I want them to defend but also to go forward at times so I think this is well balanced. As for player instructions, I use a certain rule for deciding whether to give often, mixed or rarely:-
16+ often
11-15 mixed
10 and below rarely
This is something I have used for all outfield players so I won't repeat myself. Finally I have the full backs crossing from deep, aiming at the target man so they keep their position
I have them very defensive as they are the last line of defence before the keeper. I actually have Micah Richards slightly less defensive, as he with his pace I'm hoping he'll get in and make an interception first. All the player instructions are negative, except for through balls where I use the 16+ etc test mentioned above
Mentality is the same as the full backs - I want him to defend but also attack a little. I keep forward runs on rarely so he holds his position and the rest of the instructions are based on the 16+ test.
Normal mentality - I want them to spend equal amounts of time attacking and defending really. All instructions based on 16+ test. I have them crossing from the byline and aiming for the Target Man, as I figure this will help advance them into threatening positions
Mentality just above normal. I don't want him too attacking, I need him to drop deep and pick up the ball from the midfielders. Forward runs are also on rarely so he is there to support. The rest of the instructions are based on the 16+ test
Attacking mentality as he is my main outlet for goals. The rest of the instructions are based on the 16+ test
Finally, in terms of tackling, I look at the players stats. If they have decent tackling I leave their setting on normal, whereas if they have tackling 10 or less I slip it onto easy. The team is set up on global passing ( to be determined by the opposition) except for the defence who all have direct passing - this is so they get the ball out of the danger zone as quickly as possible.
Right, that concludes my post. I really think that if this takes off we could be onto a real winner so I encourage everyone to get involved. If this initial stage takes off, then we can look at progressing the game and seeing how we'd respond to different opposition. In theory, we should hone a near perfect tactic for the team and learn a great deal about each other's approach to the game.
Cheers,
Seb
08-29-2007, 02:52 PM
The Manchester City Project - A discussion solely about creating a tactic to fit the team Post #2
That squad is a bit out of date. Why not use then weeGIE database?
I assume because Man City are no longer an average Prem Team, they are better than most teams in the Prem. The challenge here is to make this mediocre side punch above it's weight.
08-29-2007, 04:41 PM
The Manchester City Project - A discussion solely about creating a tactic to fit the team Post #5
Originally posted by Mushroom1711:
That squad is a bit out of date. Why not use then weeGIE database?
hi mushroom - i use the weegie update myself for personal games but the point of this was to get as many people involved as possible, so I didn't want to choose an update loads of people would not have
08-29-2007, 04:43 PM
The Manchester City Project - A discussion solely about creating a tactic to fit the team Post #6
I assume because Man City are no longer an average Prem Team, they are better than most teams in the Prem. The challenge here is to make this mediocre side punch above it's weight.
And that's a good point dave. I think the interesting thing here is that Cleon could undoubtedly win the Premiership with this side and his tactic whereas others could not. By choosing a mediocre side we can allow for larger discrepancies between managers and get down to what really works best
Seb
08-30-2007, 12:37 AM
The Manchester City Project - A discussion solely about creating a tactic to fit the team Post #7
I would join in. However watching you all sale to victories and attain good success. While i'm bottom of the league trying to implement tactics that work for other but wont work for me. Would probally just be the incentive i need to finally break the cd.
The Manchester City Project - A discussion solely about creating a tactic to fit the team 
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