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wwfan (A Parting Plea to SI, p. 2, 11-5-2007):
Let's get rid of all the rubbish suggesting you need 10 plus tactics, multiple tweaks, massive differences between minor slider positions, lack of consistency in tactics. It's not rocket science.
Basic strategies:
Defend: I will keep everyone back to prevent a goal
Counter: I will mainly defend but try to score on the break
Possession: I will balance defence and attack
Attack: I will mainly attack but maintain some defensive solidity
Chase: I'll throw everybody forward in a last ditch effort to get something out of the game
I challenge anyone to deny that these are not realistic footballing strategies that ALL managers cycle through during the course of a season. They are not hard to design. They work. That's five (5) tactics, all logical, all realistic, all effective. All you have to do is work out when and how to use them.
Millie or WWFan could you please take a look at the table below, ive wrote down what i think needs to be set
and would like your opinion on wehter these are the right sort of
team settings needed to be set, to create the five styles of tactics noted above.
These are the team settings i plan on using, every other setting will be set
individually so that they are set to my players strengths.
i admit that im not the best at knowing what i need to set to make a good tactic, so ive wrote down
what settings i think need to be set. I would be grateful if you could take a look at them to see if im
thinking in the right direction in terms of setting up the right style of tactic.
DefendCounterPossessionAttackChase
menatlity2-74-99-1415-2017-22
passing stylenot sureDirectmixeddirect/shortDirect/long
(not sure onshort ordepends onshort for big
this one)directteam strengths against small teams
FA cup for e.g
tempoQuick/slowmixed to QuickShould dependQuick/Mixed-shortquick 16-20
(not sure hereon players andMixed-shot for big
either)Passing styleteams against small
teams FA cup for e.g
width1-66-119-1514-1816-20
(depends onor play wide
teams strengths)not sure on
this one
time waistingOftenMixedMixed-LowLowReally
(I dont often go
extreme on this
whats your opinion)
defensive line2-62-87-11
(would depend on
defenders pace,
possibly)
focus passingmixed/DownDown Bothmixedmixedmixed
(not sure if you'dboth flanksFlanks
go through middle
unless you have a
narrow formation)
(this would also
on your teams
strengths if you have
good wide men for
example)
play offsidenonoyes/noyes/noyes/no
(i think it would
go on your defense)
counter attackyesyesyes/noyes/noyes/no
(might as well use
unless you dont want
teams to come onto you)
I would consider using variations of one brand of football, rather than 5 different tactics.
Passing, tempo, width, d-line, creative freedom is chosen based on the players. I would then suggest tweaking these by no more than 4 notches in either direction.
This way you team will be playing to its strengths rather than radically changing its brand of football due to match circumstances.
I would consider using variations of one brand of football, rather than 5 different tactics.
Passing, tempo, width, d-line, creative freedom is chosen based on the players. I would then suggest tweaking these by no more than 4 notches in either direction.
This way you team will be playing to its strengths rather than radically changing its brand of football due to match circumstances.
i can see the reasons for doing this, why play a fast tempo game with slow players right?
would you do this all the time until youve brought in new and different players?
also i guess youll still want a 424 formation for the desperate last few minutes in a game when you need to score.
I have a question, though. How does this approach gel (if it does at all) with other popular approaches to the game?
Was it Cleon? I can't recall right now, but it could have been him in his Sheffield project. I'm talking about the suggestions to play to one's strengths, counter the opposition's approach and maybe even go by pre-match odds?
Your Tactics+ idea sounds pretty good because it avoids, as you say, the need to have a large number of tactics. But I'm wondering, if to this we need to add the 'extra' layer of having to play direct when the other team plays short, short when they play direct, quick when they're slow and slow when they're quick, etc... in the end we'd be back at square one. Having to use ten tactics to cover any given situation.
Wwwfan's five basic approaches are sound and make sense. But don't we have to add this extra layer of 'always countering the opposition' at some point to fine tune things and improve our chances? And if we have to do it, how do we not end up with 10-15 tactics again?
Nice post Millie interesting train of thought and funny I have just started a new game going down this road after reading the sheff utd project for the second time although I dont have the tactics pre set i make team changes as and when they are needed depending how the game is going. I am actually getting some sort of enjoyment out of the game now.
@ ROO123 - I will properly read your post and digest it in the morning. It was my second anniversary with my girlfriend today, and I've been in the restaurant and pub quite a while, so I'm not in the best of states for analysis!
@ Chand - I see what you're saying about countering the opposition's style. How I've gone about it is playing pretty much the same tactic only on a few different settings. So far, I've come accross a couple of teams who play a style I've found no answer to, and this is, admittedly worrying. Perhaps creating a different setting - perhaps one with quicker or slower tempo/passing will be needed.
However, so far the same tactic basically with different mentalities and width/defensive line changed to accomodate this has worked a treat. One of the reasons for posting this has been to see what other people think of the approach and how it works for them. Personally, I want as few settings as possible, but if others can make 7-10 tactics work for them, then go for it.
As I say - 4 tactics worked for me basically in season one, and the extra "attacking" tactic is getting me results in season 2. Beyond that, countering the opposition in situations where none of your tactics are working is probably a case of a complete "think outside the box moment" - perhaps that separates the "gurus" or great players from mortals like us.
I think what you've posted there is a really good basis for the tactics if you're going to follow wwfan's route.
My tactics do get more attacking and slightly wider as they go up through the scale just as you've outlined, though my width settings are only one or two clicks wider on each successive tactic to keep the shape of the side reasonably the same.
However, your ideas of getting wider, more attacking, higher def. line etc. are excactly how I would approach it.
I keep my passing and tempo the same - but that's because I wanted the same tactic, just slightly more attacking. Were I to create a "possession" style variant, I would probably do exactly as you outlined in that table.
thank you for taking a look at that Millie. so rather than making major changes from one tactic to the other more gradual changes are better, so that your team doesnt get too confused over sudden drastic changes.
i do plan on modifying the individual tactics in game if needed so i can then go more extreme if needed.
i guess passing and tempo will go mostly on the type of players you have, as you cannot play like arsenal will a poor passing team with low stamina.
Originally posted by ROO123:
thank you for taking a look at that Millie. so rather than making major changes from one tactic to the other more gradual changes are better, so that your team doesnt get too confused over sudden drastic changes.
i do plan on modifying the individual tactics in game if needed so i can then go more extreme if needed.
i guess passing and tempo will go mostly on the type of players you have, as you cannot play like arsenal will a poor passing team with low stamina.
Well, my approach went along these assumptions, yes, but I think it's a case of trial and error.
I was lucky that my original "tight" tactic was solid and did what it needed to do with the players I had. From there, I made little changes (apart from mentality, where I made drastic changes) to keep the "feel" of the tactics very similar so as not to confuse the players.
I will, if this and the next couple of seasons continue to be successful, upload the set for people to take a look at. However, as you can appreciate I don't really want to upload an unfinished product only to get pages and pages of moaners complaining that they can't win the league with it...
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