moggydave

Hey I'm quite new to the forums and FM, having bought it bout a month ago. After much much fustration and shouting at my laptop (how did he score that?????), I have decided to get hep in a more direct way (I've read a lot of the stuff here, and yet had no success).

A bit of history. I'm a Blackburn fan and played lots of games with them with no success, giving up mid-season. I've tried a few times with Valencia and Arsenal but again no luck. The only game I've had success with was Bayern, where I won the Bundeliga twice and look set to do it again. But I don't want to use the same tactic on every game (it wouldn't work and would get boring). I setting up tactics and in tweaking I have had much trouble.

I have thus decided to do a "play with me" type game. I have chosen international management as tactics ar the main focus with it. Also it's something I've never done before so there are some unknowns. I have chosen England despite being Welsh because I like the team,the style of play should be quite middle ground and mixed and the pressure to do well will be great. Also their won't be too many games which I have to keep updating about (I do have a life...).

The goal is World and Euro Cup glory.

Here's the idea, I'll give my own ideas and if you're interesred you can respond and give me advice on whats good and whats not. If you are a beginner like myself hopefully you can gain something from what other people say here.

To begin then. Greece is the first game to get going. The first few fixtures are nice and easy which is good.

New job

Here is my provisional squad and formation. I haven't changed any instructions - everything is default for now. I'm looking for advice on more specific tactics.

Provisional squad for Greece

My main issues are:

- I haven't either of the first choice strikers obviously. Is Crouch and Defoe good? I always feel that chalk and cheese works well. Looking for flickons and using Crouch as a TM seems the way to go.

- Joe Cole is described as "unconvincing" in LM, and Stevie G isn't a winger either. I'm thinking of moving both in CM and getting the full backs to be very attacking (Chelski style), but this may compromise defence.

- How simple should I go (or how complex?). Lots of individual instructions or is there really a need?

Hope lots of people get interested

Dayle Wood

joe Cole is a brilliant left winger... easily the best in the country for that position... His understudy would be Downing.

On the right you can play either Beckham or Lennon. Wright-philips is an option if the other 2 are injured but with him you really have to hope someone buys him of Chelsea because if he does'nt play then he will never get good enough.

Up front having a target man is quite effective for England... Crouch is the obvious choice but as a backup Alan Smith is also very good and he can be a good utility player off the bench as a midfelider or DMC. The other position is obviously Rooneys with Owen as backup.

Up and coming players are Sturridge and Luke Moore.

In the midfield Gerrard and Lampard are the obvious choices. If you employ a DMC one of them might have to be sacrificed for the likes of Carrick, Hargrieves, Micah Richards or King.

For tactics I would play a possession game. If you have a DMC have him close down and tackling hard. Only go down to medium if he gets a yellow card. This is a DMC working at his best imo.

You could have a flat back 4 with the fullbacks making forward runs (mixed). If you are playing tougher teams make them cross from deep rather than mixed or byline.

Give the back four direct passing, the middle four mixed passing and the front 2 short.

moggydave

Eager to move on I will play the Greece game. I've gone for a narrow diamond formation and hoping for the full backs to provide the width. Here's the squad and formation (the screen was taken a bit too early so a few changes have been made in the subs due to injuries).

Team for Greece

I've followed the above ideas partly with regards to tactics, with a possesionish game nd quite narrow. Attacking off course at home. The screen also shows the player mentalities? I've mde the fullbacks quite attacking with regards to my plan. Is everything OK here do you reckon?

Tactics for Greece

Player instructions are quite normal. Highlights include:

-Hargreaves being very defensive to allow for the full backs to attack.
-Crouch as a target man to head and Defoe with often forward runs. Will this work?

I'm thinking of giving Joe Cole a free role. I've never used this intruction before. Would it work?

I'll now play the game and be back shortly with how things went.

If you need advice, like to give people advice or see people who need advice, please notify people of this thread and spread the word to make it a useful learning tool for all (and also so I'm not wasting my time).

moggydave

England 0 - 0 Greece

Well it was a perfect example of why I need help with this game. I'm fine with defence tactics, but awful with attack and midfield. I am the master of the 0-0 draw.

First half was very boring and dull. The midfield barely had any possession and I created 3 shots. Another example of a tactic that I thought sounded good but didn't work in the end. However I'm not sure if it was the theory that was wrong or just putting it into practice. I need help here. I may upload the tactic for people to look at.

Halftime I just made some substitutions like for like as many players had 45 mins only. I then switched to 4-4-2 diamond attacking standard with all player instructions default and the team instructions the same as before (see previous post). I was a bit annoyed so I was trying to see how simple I could dare to go.

Things were better and I got more shots, but barely any on target.

Match Stats

Player Stats

Despite playing a reasonable possession game (so I thought) my midfield (ie Lampard) had barely any ball.


You can see now how much help I need.

Meitheisman

I became England's manager in 2008 right after the European Championship so some players might have evolved a little differently in my game.

I personally play a 4-4-2 like you had in the first place with 2 wingers and offensive arrows for both wingers and my 2 full backs.
I play an attacking mentality, direct passing, give my players a lot of creative freedom, closing down often, defensive line push up, rarely waist any time, fast tempo, wide and normal tackling.
I DO NOT use a target man since England's midfielders are just as good as the strikers when it comes to taking a shot so why make them pass it when they could give it a go?
I do not use a playmaker either have a mixed defense, no focus passing and I play counter attack.

As for the squad I play Wayne Bridge as a left back since he became better than Ashley Cole. My right back is something Philip if I remember correctly and his backup is the British/Nigerian strong back (Sorry can't remember his name)
Hargreaves or Tom Huddleston work as defensive midfield and I like to have Ledley King on the bench since he can come in as both a DC or DMC.
Cole on the left (Downing as a back up), Gerrard on the right (Lennon as a back up), Lampard AMC (sometimes I can play Rooney there if too many midfielders are injured - did it twice he scored 3 goals and had 2 assists!)
As for the strikers I usually play Rooney and Andrew Johnson with Luke, Bentt, Sturrige, Crouch and Owen as very equal back-ups also I would assume Owen to be better in 06. (I'm in January 2010 in my game)

Playing like this I've only lost 1 game out of the world cup qualifiers (0-1 at home to Serbia... and I had like 60% possession and 25 shots that day... boy I was angry!) and won every other one scoring an average of 5 goals per game and giving less than 1 away. Off course in the world cup qualifiers I played teams like Luxembourg or Slovakia so it's very easy to score a bunch of goals but I still believe England to be one of the strongest side in the game and you should dominate pretty much any other team with this tactic and players on the pitch.

Nathan mufc fan

It looks like your players are rushing shots, as you only had two on target. I think you must be playing a fast tempo. A fast tempo isn't how Arsenal play (quick passes). It's getting the ball forward quickly. You want to play a slow tempo game with England. They'll plass the ball around more and pick out a good pass when they see one.

Numio

I normally play a 4-5-1 when managing England which I've found works brilliantly:

Target Striker like Crouch or Smith up front. Rooney playing in the AMC positions as secondary striker/midfield playmaker. (Lampard as backup in this position)
Downing and Joe Cole in the AML and AMR positions respectively.
Gerrard and Hargreaves (or Beckham) in the MC positions.

I normally play attacking football as most of the teams England face will be inferior to them.