It seems as though I might have finally cracked this blasted game. I am sure that I will be brought back down to earth soon enough though, but for now I am enjoying it. I still have a lot of testing to do using other teams and other divisions, so I will let you know should I discover anything else, or I'll yell for someone to rescue me from the pit of despair.
Firstly, I MUST mention that on Monday, for the first time ever, I decided to have my assistant take control of team talks. I was in the middle of a slump with Sunderland in another save game—I hadn't won in 4 and I slipped down to 11th place. I had my assistant take control away to Southampton and amazingly I won 8-1! As ridiculous as this sounds, I was extremely p'd off. P'd off because there was no reason for me to win so heavily other than the fact that my assistant had said the right things. This is incredibly annoying because of the heavily weighted impact that team talks have on the game, and because all of this time, I realise now that my results may have been different if I had set my assistant to take control. I went on to win 9 out of my last 12 with Sunderland and I put this all down to team-talks. So, I can't conclusively state that the following tactic is successful mainly due to the tactic itself becuase I played a whole season with my assistant dishing out the talks. I can conclude though that the ass man improves your chances of winning over a season. How ridiculous and how bloody frustrating that this has such an impact on games. I am furious. Anyway, the tactic:
Using my global home formation (another thread), and the updated away version, below, I managed to win the Championship in the first season with Crystal Palace. This is some achievement I am sure you agree, but this was achievement relied heavily on away wins.
My Team
Kiraly (GK)
Granville (LB)
Ward (CB)
Borrowdale (CB)
Butterfield (RB)
McAnuff (LW)
Watson (CM)
Noble (CM) on loan from the Hammers
Ifil (RW)
Morrison/Fanghuzo (on loan from Man U) (ST)
Kuqi (ST)
My Thinking
I was tired of trying to implement a formation away from home that was based around not conceding, so I wanted to go with a cautious, defensive approach that could still get goals.
Formation
4-4-2 flat. No arrows.
Mentality
Whole team on global normal (default setting) except STs who were set high attacking (2 notches from the right)
Creative freedom
Back 4: Very little (3 notches from the left)
Midfield: Normal (default setting)
Strikers: Very high (matched mentality, 2 notches from the right)
Tempo
Default setting
Defensive Line
Deep, although I convinced myself that the defensive line setting does not do a damn thing. I ALSO discovered that the sweeper position does not make your defender act differently from the regular position. As an experiment to implement a defensive and deep back-line, I placed my back 4 in the sweeper positions (one more place below the regular back-four positions) and set defensive line to all the way deep, and I watched the full match for 3 games. The back 4 behaved exactly as if they were in the regular position, and they still held a high line susceptible to the ball over the top. To repeat: the defensive line and sweeper positions are USELESS.
Closing Down
Back 4: Very little (4 notches from the left)
Rest of team: Mixed (default setting)
Tackling
All hard except CBs (normal)
Width
Narrow (4–7 notches from the left)
Passing
full backs: Direct
CBs & Midfield: Mixed
Strikers: Very short (3 notches from the left)
Forward Runs
Back Four: Rarely
Midfield: Rarely
Strikers: Mixed
Note:
Forward runs played a massive part in the structure and organization of my formation. I noticed that having wingers not run forward was effective for when I lost the ball. Forward runs, I think I can conclude, refers to players getting in the box, where as the forward arrow communicates where the player should be when the team wins the ball. Thus, having a winger with a forward arrow and on forward runs will ask him to be in the position denoted by the arrow, and then make a forward run from that position. Having your wingers play in a flat 4-4-2 with no forward runs is extremely effective in keeping a solid midfield line.
Cross Ball
Full backs: rarely from mixed position (didn't want to give ball away needlessly)
Centre backs: rarely
Centre mids: rarely
Wingers: Mixed from mixed position
Strikers: Often from byline (The byline is the optimal position for a cross—easy decision)
Through Balls
back four: rarely
Midfield: mixed
Strikers: mixed
Playmaker: yes (Mark Noble or Ben Watson)
Observation/Notes/Opinions
• I only lost 3 games away from home all season. Due to its cautious nature and rigid structure, my defence was solid and I barely conceded more than 1 in a game.
• Importantly, I only ever switched between my global attack (another thread), and my global defence systems. It's written in other threads that it's vital to tweak your heart out for every game. I aplogise for the sharpness, but this is absolute nonsense. It doesn't matter what system, tempo, passing, etc etc your opponent plays. You can win without paying any attention to scout reports and all that. I don't even have my scouts on 'scout opposition' because the info is useless and irrelevant.
• When my team had the ball, there was always a passing option because the midfield were so close together. Noble was a great playmaker, and he simply spread it to the wingers who usually cut back inside to give it him back. It was nice to watch.
• When I would lose the ball, there was constantly 2 banks of four that the opponents simply could not breach. This was because none of my players committed to forward runs so I could not be caught out. It's worth noting too that my wingers still attacked, but when one was on the ball attacking the full back, the other, plus the 2 CMs, would sit snuggly and cautiously in the event that I lost the ball.
• I must repeat that these results, I feel, relied heavily on the assistant team talks. I recommend that if you don't already, have your ass man take control of team talks. It's simply one less 'outside variable' that you have to contend with.
"Great Success"—The Updated Global Away 4-4-2 and a note on team talks 
Linear Mode
