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Having played the game for many years and taking the time to get to know how the tactics work, I considered myself to be average (or maybe slightly above) in terms of getting the tactics right for games.
However, this latest version had me confused - like many others I'm sure.
In previous versions I adopted a formation (usually 4-5-1 or 4-3-2-1) and then used the tactics sliders to get the most out of the team.
What I am finding with this version however is that the formation itself seems to have a massive impact on the outcome of games. This is leading me to believe that the effect of the sliders has been reduced.
I'm not sure if this is a good or a bad thing, but to try it out and set myself a little test.
I played a whole season (not a great test I know but just wanted to try something simple and repeatable) where I selected a formation and then set all sliders to the left. I then played another season (starting from the same position) and set all sliders to the far right. In both cases, the outcome of the league was fairly similar. The points difference between the two was 5 and the difference in goal difference was 9. [Note that I went on holiday for the season and set AssMan to use current team and tactics].
I then started a new league with a different formation and did the same thing. If you try this for yourself you'll see that the difference in tactical slider positions does not make nearly as much of a difference as the formation does. This is a big change from previous versions.
So, having done this I decided to try to find the best formation and see how things went. Having tried a few of my usual favourites, the one that seems to work best is the:
I tried to work out why this was the case and it would appear that the intelligence in the game for the players has been reduced alot. What I mean by this is that previously I relied on the sliders to dictate how well someone was marked, or closed down, etc but now you seem to have to place the players where you need them most because the effect of the sliders is diminished.
The biggest difference with this formation seems to be that the opposition team seems to be unable to cope with the 4 attacking players (as do the user managed teams) unless they specifically have DMCs to help out.
Similarly, opposition MCs seem to have a problem in getting forward to help the FCs without FARROWS to force this to happen more effectively.
So, having done this (in an attempt to get a good working tactic), I've come to a conclusion I'd like to get your feedback on and this is that MCs without BARROWS or FARROWS (Back arrows or Forward Arrows) appear to be relatively ineffective compared with previous versions.
Has anyone else found this? If not, how are you getting the MCs to perform for you?
Also, you'll notice that AMCs and DMCs will consistently get higher match ratings than MCs do. Strange ?!?!
p.s. You can also try this. If you have MCs, the shots (on target) to goal ratio seems to be around 1:9, but if you have just AMCs and DMCs, the average is around 1:5.
Yeah I seem to have AMC and DM's perform better than natural MC's in the MC position, which is strange?
There's also a distinct lack of decent natural MC's in the game, far too many AM's imo, and DM's that can't seem to get above a 7 rating in the DM position!
It seems that SI has made alot of players into a AMC/R/L who would previously be considered either a MC or a FC, hence the saturation in those positions and a lack of natural MC/R/L's
There are few top MCs on the game and a DM or AM will not perform as well as at MC, for example VDV.
The best formation for your team will be the one that uses your best players in their most natural position.
IMO in the demo the AMC was the dominant player and a formation with a DM was essential but that has been adjusted in game.
I'm not sure about holiday option as a test but I have tried all sliders to left with no noticeable difference.
If you take into account the complaints about players not following instructions, you have to question what effect if any the sliders have on the outcome of game compared to positions.
The AI also now often barrow MC to DM and with 424 Farrow MC, so maybe more a bias to formation.
Originally posted by knap: IMO in the demo the AMC was the dominant player and a formation with a DM was essential but that has been adjusted in game.
I must admit that I tend not to play the demos so I didn't notice this at that stage. I have really noticed it since the patch because before then it was well publicised that closing down wasn't working so I stuck with FM2007 until the most recent patch came out.
It had been really frustrating playing the game with MCs until I noticed this strange difference. But since I made all midfielders DMs or AMs (regardless of whether their "best" position is MC or not), the tactics seem to be getting results.
I appreciate the match engine is complex and this is perhaps something that will be fixed in the next patch or at least looked at, but I thought I'd share it anyway because it may help many of the old timers like me that have found some things in this latest version a little bizarre. It's now made the game really playable and fun even if a little less realistic.
p.s. You'll remember in FM2006 (I'm sure) that the AMR/L was the most effective player you could have and in FM2007 it was the goalkeeper. Perhaps they are just giving all positions a chance by giving it to the AMC now !?!?
I have to disagree on one thing: The "try through balls" slider seems to make a massive difference to the way my team plays.
On the other hand, I find your experiment kind of weird. Although the two cases are indeed a bit different, I am not persuaded that they are THAT different. In the first case, you gave your players no options at all, while in the second case you gave them all the options in the world. It wouldn't be out of the question that the first case would transform into the second!
What would be more interesting would be to have some sliders like this and some sliders like that, i.e. giving your players different options. As you did it, their options were basically the same in both cases (someone would try to run with the ball at some point, if nobody else did).
Having said all that, I don't necessarily disagree with you.
Originally posted by Lyssien:
I have to disagree on one thing: The "try through balls" slider seems to make a massive difference to the way my team plays.
On the other hand, I find your experiment kind of weird. Although the two cases are indeed a bit different, I am not persuaded that they are THAT different. In the first case, you gave your players no options at all, while in the second case you gave them all the options in the world. It wouldn't be out of the question that the first case would transform into the second!
What would be more interesting would be to have some sliders like this and some sliders like that, i.e. giving your players different options. As you did it, their options were basically the same in both cases (someone would try to run with the ball at some point, if nobody else did).
Having said all that, I don't necessarily disagree with you.
Good points. I hadn't appreciated just how confusing both tactics would have been for the team - hence resulting in a similar tactic.
The through balls slider does make a difference. One of the things I have struggled with is getting myself familiar with the weightings applied to each one. Some have had their sensitivity increased while others reduced quite significantly. This is nothing new since the 2D match engine was introduced - it just takes time to master.
In the interests of coming up with a tactic that works for me I'm going to try some other combinations and in doing so determining how the engine decides what takes priority. The danger is that we spend lots of time coming up with a tactic that works, then SI release a new patch and the work starts all over again. I'll play around with it for a few hours more and then get back to enjoying it as much as possible even with these frustrations.
Formation - Is this the end of MCs? 
Linear Mode
