sarge0

I have neve been able to fully grasp making tactics so I have always used someone else's and gone from there. In my 2nd season my tactic that I used to win the EPL was not working and I was struggling mid table. So I read some messages on the forum and thinking I had somewhat of an uderstanding, I tried to create one. I figured it would be best if I just tried to find something that worked and build off of that.

So I started with a normal 4-4-2 tactic, no forward, backward, or sideways arrows. Just basic formation setup. Now these are the settings that I used:

Team Instuctions

Mentality - Normal
Creative Freedom - Normal
Passing style - Mixed
Tempo - Normal
Width - Normal
Closing down - Mixed
Time Wasting Mixed
Defensive Line - 6 clicks (Normal)
Tackling - Normal
Focus Passing - Mixed
Marking - Zonal
Target Man Supply - Mixed

Like I sadi I was going to go with basic and see what dd and what didnt work. After reading some things that Cleon had posted, I decided where my defensive line was to be. Seems to be working great there, I dont get too many guys getting behind my defense so that is working really well

Player instructions

Goalie - Mentality - purely defensive, lttiel as possible on creative freedom, rarely forward runs & rarely runs with the ball - O noticed this seems to keep him well back by the goal. I have Akinfeev and he always seems to roam around but in this setup, he seems to stay right where he needs to

DL & DR - Mentality 6 clicks (Defensive)
Creative Freedon - 6 ciicks (Little)
My guys in these positions are solid but not spectacular. I didnt want them trying to do anything fancy. They always seemed to sneak up on the wings and I was getting burned on counters on the wings. Now they seem to stay well back and normally dont get beat.

DC - Mentality - 6 clicks (Defensive)
Creative Freedonm - 6 clicks (Little)
Forward Runs - Rarely
Run With the Ball - Rarely
I always seemed to give up goals from right in front of the goal no matter what I did so this was the first position I messed with. With these settings once my guys get position, they seem to look for the open man and move it out fast. I was losing possession because they always tried to do too much but now this has been cut down dramatically I think. My DC's have good passing so they seem to move the ball pretty easily from danger

ML & MR - Menatlity - Attacking
Closing Down - Often
Forward Runs - Often
Run with the Ball - Often
Cross Ball - Often
Cross From - Deep
I wanted the best of both worlds with this tactic in scoring many and concedeing few. My forwards have good pace and such so I uleash them. I wanted them to drive deep and maybe pull the defense out to them and then send the ball towards the goal. Is working well in that my strikers are scoring on a good pace. I rotate 3 strikers and this formations has donw that. On a avg of 18 games a piece, they each have 17 goals so they are scoring well. My best winger which has all the skills, also has 11 goals in 20 games so the scoring has been spread around a bit. On defense, I wasnt sure what to do with these guys. I decided to put them to closing down simply as a slow down tactic. I think this has helped greatly in that it gives my defense time to get back and get settled.

FC - Mentality - Attacking - Highest Setting
Creative Freedom - Much - Highest Setting
Forward Runs - Often - Highest Setting
Run With Ball - Often - Highest Setting
Cross From - Deep
Gave them free role
Now I have Rooney and Villa so Iknow this plays a big part here. Basically here I just turned them lose to do nothing but think offense. Im not sure but it seems that by setting them on forward runs, that they drive to the goal more when they dont have the ball. I dont know if this is true but it seems like they are always where I want them, right at the goal mouth. They just seem to make things happen with their runs and then they cross deep across the goal mouth and I have gotten a few own goals. I dont know if this is the cause but it would make sense in a way I guess.

Now I have been using this tactic for my last 25 games. My record is 18W - 3L - 4D. I have scored 55 goals and conceded 18 so it seems to be working well. In that span I have beaten Chelsea(2), Arsenal(3), Liverpool(5) but lost to West Brom (League Cup), Evton (4) so it seems to be working well. I am playing Man Utd so Im sure this has something to do with my players because I have a solid foundation there as well.

I guess Im just curious on other people's thoughts. I know there are a lot of people who are very good at tactics so I would be interested in what changes you could recommend. Im not chaning anything while Im winning but when it starts to crumble, I will need some ideas. Hope I didnt wast too much of everyone's time with this book, just kind of suprised on how well its working for me at the moment.

Tips would be appreciated

Beevster

Yeh im suprised its working for you so well, looking at your mentalitys for your attackers, and the creative freedom it brakes all the rules about keeping player within a decent distence of each other, altho you have give them free role, so maybe this cancels out mentality possability worth testing out

for fullbacks if you want them to get into the action a bit more give them a higher personal mentality i have mine on 10-11, i found this is the only way to get my fullbacks to get above a 7 rating, for the first time in 07 i have 2 fullbacks one with 7.19 and the other is on 7.44, there set up is mixed fwd run rwb ttb cross and rarely longshots 1 notch cf, and its working well defending and attacking.

Beevster

i noticed you forgot to put what settings your mc's are on btw

Titicamara

Wait till you get to second season.

Wes_Coulam

Really Constructive.

Beevster

seen as you know so much maybe you should share with us why we should wait till the second season

Scally Of The Wag

if you do well team will severly tweak the way they play against you, so you will need to play around with your tactics if you want the same sort of success in the 2nd season as you did in the first

Ans Gulrik

As long as it works, just play on...

My own experience tells me that tactics simply can not be tested with the stronger sides. I played my FM06 formation with Spurs when I first bought FM07, and I won the 4 competitions they play in, in the first season.

Playing the same tactic with different weaker sides it turned out to be a disaster.

But enjoy as long as it works :thup:

sarge0

I guess I got too excited when I was typing and just overlooked my Center Midfielders:

MC - Mentality - Attacking
Closing Down - Often
My left side midfielder I have crossing from Deep while my right side midfielder is crossing muxed. I like this because it seems that more times than not I have 1 MC who is back from the goal area while the other seems to drive in deep. I have noticed that when I get a run going from my goal to the opponents goal, there is around 5 or guys going in deep. I think this puts a lot of pressure on the defense and goalie to have so many bodies drigin in on them.

I agree with giving this some time as I know the AI will eventually start doing difetne things against me. Ive noticed this already but it still seems to be holding up well.

As of right now I have played an additional 17 games from my last post, here is how it stands: 11W, 2L, 4D. Goals - 34 scored 12 conceded. So it seems to work well still which really amazes me.. I think I noticed is that it seems that when I do lose its in a cup. Ive lost in the FA Cup to Chelsea and West Browm in the League Cup. I guess I will see how well it really does as in my next 3 games I have Chelsea. First game is Leg1 of the Champions League then 4 days later I play them in the Premiere League then 3 days later the Leg2 of the Champions League. This should be the true test I think.

Just funny that this is working so well right now against all normal logic. Of course I have never been known as a logical person :p