mattyd

First let me say hello to everyone as this is my first post on the forums, i normally just read here, but after finally making a tactic that works (atleast for me ;-)), i wanted to share it with you.

After having several seasons and games played, i finally decided to get away from the boring 4-4-2 i used, because i wanst winning many trophies with it. To be honest i actually only won 2 trophies at all (2x Copa del Rey).

So getting away from the 4-4-2, made me try several ideas like 5-3-2, 4-2-2-2, 4-1-2-2-1 etc.
Somehow though, i got to the point where i said to myself "why defense why?" and had an approach at 3-2-2-1-2 system i will explain in this post.

Lets get to it.

Tactical Formation
3-2-2-1-2
3 DC's, 2 DM's, MR & ML, AMC, 2x FC

Style of Play
I mainly designed this Tactic after losing possesion in the midfield very often, so therefore I use 2 DMC's to try and overpower the midfield. It is based on a direct attacking style as soon as possesion is gained.

Team Instructions
Attacking Mentality (13-14), with a low Creative freedom (6-8)and a direct passing style (14-16) seemed obvious to me, when playing with a 5 man midfield.
Width and Closing down are moved slighly forward (12-14), whereas Time Wasting, Tempo, Defensive Line and Tackling are left normal.
I use Counter Attack to get a quick advantage when gaining possesion, which also reflects the direct passing.
On occasions, depending on my opponent i like to use a Playmaker (Aimar or D'Alessandro), to get some creative moments into the match. Mostly vs. stronger opponents.

Individual Instructions
My GK isn't the best so i set him to be just a "normal GK", via the pre-defined setting in the game, except for the Mentality being moved up to around 7 and the CLosing down being around 4.

The Defenders are all set to
Mentality: 4-6
Creative Freedom: 3-5
Passing Style: Team
Closing Down: 7-9
Tackling: Team
Forward Runs: Rarely
Run with Ball: Often
Long Shots: Rarely
Through Balls: Rarely
Cross Ball: Rarely
The outer Defenders follow a Man Marking system to close down the opponent when playing a 4-4-2
If the opp chooses not to do so, i still have my central defender to deal with it.
The outer DC's are also forced to stay Back at Corners, to not invite the opponent into a counter attack. Whereas the Central moves forward.

The DMC's
Mentality: 7-8
Creative Freedom: Team
Passing Style: Team
Closing Down: 14-16
Tackling: Team
Forward Runs: Rarely
Run with Ball: Mixed
Long Shots: Often
Through Balls: Mixed
Cross Ball: Rarely
At corners they lurk outside the area to maybe get an advantage with a long shot at the goal.

MR & ML
Mentality: Team
Creative Freedom: Team
Passing Style: Team
Closing Down: Team
Tackling: Team
Forward Runs: Often
Run with Ball: Often
Long Shots: Rarely
Through Balls: Rarely
Cross Ball: Often
At Freekicks i use them to disrupt the wall and as short options for corners.

AMC
Mentality: 12-14
Creative Freedom: 14-17
Passing Style: Mixed
Closing Down: Team
Tackling: Team
Forward Runs: Often
Run with Ball: Mixed
Long Shots: Mixed
Through Balls: Often
Cross Ball: Mixed
Free Role
He tends to be a match decider in some of my games as he is unpredictable when it comes to attacking.

FC's
Mentality: 16-18
Creative Freedom: Team
Passing Style: 2-4
Closing Down: Team
Tackling: Team
Forward Runs: Often
Run with Ball: Often
Long Shots: Rarely
Through Balls: Rarely
Cross Ball: Rarely

Home or Away or both?
The basic of this Tactic can be used for any situation whether its home or away, whether its a strong opp or a weaker one. I packed 4 diferent slightly tweaked versions of it together. I normally use the Attack version most of the time. If i get to be the underdog i change to Normal.
In the match being 1-0 ahead like 15 mins before the match ends i swap to the defensive or even ultra defensive version to save the victory. (which works roughly 80% of the time)

Player Attributes
As said earlier, the GK is nothing special. I currently use Abbiati and a youth keeper with normal attributes.

The Defenders should all be strong at Heading, Marking, Positioning, Tackling, Anticipation and Strength.
My current ones are Milito, Moretti and Aythami.

The DMC's take a very important Role in this tactic, they should have a good pasing, Decisions, Creativity, Long Shots, Positioning, Bravery and Anticipation. Basicly they are 4th and 5th defender AND ur creative team when it comes to opening the game.
I'm having Distel Zola and Matteo Paro play in those positions ATM.

MR and ML should be pacey and good at crossing. I mostly swap them around often to give the backups a chance.
Xabi Prieto, Luis Hernandez, Angel Lafita and Lucas Moya.

AMC, should be a player with a high Creativity, Decisions and Passing rate or in other words, a player with similar attributes as Riquelme, Aimar or D'Alessandro

The FC's basicly only need to be above average in pace and acceleration + a good composure.
Mine are Milito, Oberman, Mido & Sergio Garcio. i also swap them around often to not be too predictable.

Track Record
By now after reading the players i use, i guess most figured that i play as Zaragoza.
I started as Leeds United though, with a 4-4-2 tactic, gaining promotion and nearly getting relegated in the first season in the premier league.
Then i resigned and Zaragoza hired me, where i started to design the 3-2-2-1-2. I'm in the 3rd Season now with those tactics, taking over Zaragoza being at the bottom of the table after 18 games with 8 points. I managed to get them to 8th position and won the Copa del Rey. In the 2nd season i had a major Injury Crisis with both Milito's, Aimar, D'Alessandro and Abbiati being injured for 2-5 months, but still won The UEFA Cup and came 5th in the league. In the last season i played i signed Nilmar and Naldo and dominated the League, ending it with 89 points as champion and Winning the UEFA Cup again, winning all matches without a draw or loss.



So i hope some of you might wanna try this Tactic and hopefully it will get u trophies aswell.

Download Here
TLWs Tactics.zip

mattyd

Feedback would be nice

retired_lauraxmully

Well I tried your tactic. I´m managing Almagro in the second division in Argentina. My team isn´t very good and 28 games into the season I found myself in 17th place and in real danger of relegation. Since I was already playing a 3-4-1-2 formation I had exactly the type of players needed for your formation and with ten matches to go I thought I had to try something. After losing the first game we went on a small run up the table by winning three and drawing one. Since the team was also playing well (creating lots of chances) I started to think that I was really on to something. Unfortunately it didn´t last as I lost four of the last five games and ended the season in 16th place. I did have a lot of injuries and the players were tired at this point som maybe that contributed to the poor finish (I desperately need a better fitness coach). Anyway, the results are mixed sofar but I´m planning on staying with the same tactics for next season, I guess the players need some time to get used to it before I can get the most out of it. Maybe I can even find a decent player or two during the offseason but with no money to spend I´m not counting on it. Like I said before, my team is pretty poor to begin with so I probably souldn´t blame the results on your tactics.

retired_dpw202

I've been playing like this since FM2005 actually. Went 100 matches undefeated without reloading in many savegames in fm2005 and fm2006, but haven't managed to make it work that good in fm2007 unfortunately. You might want to try "optimizing" one of your strikers so that the overall plan is to make him score the most goals. My record with this in mind was 82(!) goals in one season by Adriano in fm2006 hehe.

mattyd

The Tactic itself was just created for Zaragoza, as they have a massive amount of top players. Each Team basicly requires its own individual tactics, so you mite wanna try setting the player instructions to fit your players better.
See, i had Aimar with a creativity of 18 and set his Creative Freedom to max, that might not work for you, as the player u use in that position only has a creativity of 10.
Tweak around a little with the player instructions and u will find success.