retired_FitnessRub

Tonight, when I get home from work I'm planning on starting a new fresh game as Everton. I've only had the game for 2 weeks and my first game So, I'm hoping to use a 4-1-4-1 for away games and the a more adventurous 4-4-2 for home games. Or maybe stay with the 4-1-4-1 but make it a little more attacking. Is it wise to have 2 different styles of play? Something I've never been too sure of. I'll go with the more solid 4-1-4-1 as it seems a lot or solid and Everton seem to playing something like that system these days. Plus, 4-4-2 are difficult to master it seems.

The main problem I had with me previous save was making my tactics 'work'. I couldn't really find out why certain things wasn't working, and nothing seemed to click. I then started to download some tactics to see if I could get some ideas of other people tactics and implement them to mine. I didn't succeed. Which is fair enough as there weren't really suited to my team/players.

The tactic I had in mind for my new save is this. A back 4 with the fullbacks supporting when possible, one defensive midfielder who just sits and doesn't go forward at all. He's there to protect and help the defense which is important as hopefully my fullbacks will get forward when possible. Then a midfield 4, two wide players who I think won't be your traditional out and out winger (Everton wide players aren't that type I don't think). Then two central midfield players who are there to support the lone striker. These are going to hopefully get forward and provide support. One of these being Cahill who seems the perfect player for this type of roll coming from deep.

I haven't looked at the Everton squad list proper yet but this is the idea in my head.

So, we'll have something like this to recap.

• Flatback four.
• Holding def midfielder.
• 2 Wide players, with Farrows.
• 2 central attacking support mids. With Farrows.
• 1 Lone Striker.

The trick to getting this to work will be getting the lone striker into the game, and also having the 2 central midfielders to support when we have the ball.

Now that I've explained how I want to play, I'm hoping that anyone who reads this can give me ideas on how to implement the ideas I have into the game. As I said before, I'm new to the game so trying to get the ideas down just doesn't seem to happen for me. I never played FM07 either so I have some catching up to do.

So if anyone as any information for any of the roles I've mentioned please post your thoughts. Also, anyone who as ideas on the team instructions also please feel free to contribute. Hopefully with the information I gain here it will provide people with information on how certain roles are implemented.

Thanks for reading.

retired_barbiej

Sense we dont know how players learn the system so it is ok to have 2 systems of play as such but not necessarily a home and away tactic. I presume your 4-1-4-1 will be a defensive set up but it should have drastic changes from the 4-4-2 in that its probably advised to keep same back line instructions as such. But this system should be used for tough games in that even if your at home if the opponent is favorite in that game.
So your best approach will be to counter attack and hit opponents on the break. To do this effectively you need the midfield tro to stay there so you'll need your wingers to support the striker, so your 4-1-4-1 becomes a 4-3-3. This is done by having long farrows on wingers going to striker positions. Now as fas as some of the instructions are concerned, the striker will have to hold the ball up, teams closing down shouldn't be above the half way line in that you want your opponent to come at you.

Hopefully that will give you a basic set up that you need :thup:

retired_CardonaR

Some small advice I would offer then, if you're looking to have your two central midfielders support your front man rather than your wingers, is to have forward arrows (and forward runs often, in addition to a healthy attacking mentality) on your two central midfielders, with no arrows at all on your wide midfielders. And possibly forward runs for your wide men just on mixed.

I'd also keep the play relatively narrow and play through the middle. This ought to get the best out of your central midfielders.

With Everton, you have a talented set-piece taker (Arteta), with players better than average in the air (Lescott, Weir, Yobo, and Cahill), so you should try to maximise set-pieces.