retired_kellyk

excuse my punctuation..its all over the place. Wish I could edit it..ah!

liamashley

screw punctuation, great post

It's nice to see you posting frequently again about tactics after all those crazy-but-excelent tactics & posts you made in the FM05 era(or was it CM4? :s )

Mark86

Currently trying 4-4-2 Diamond with blackburn, and its all going wrong

Almost as soon as we score we let a goal in. Sometimes i cant even get a chance to tweak my tactics

Im using most of the suggestions in this thread, keeping CF and tempo the same, DL and CD, no joy. Blackburn have a pretty crap squad in this version :/ and the amount of stupid mistakes are annoying..almost every goal is down to a mistake

Think im gonna start my tactics from scratch tomorrow..Diamond isnt the way to go with this team, does anyone have any suggestions?

retired_ning

Right, so my defensive record is appalling. I'm playing as Palace and I've conceded 10 goals in 5 games.

On the plus side, I've also managed to get myself the best scoring record in the league.

Thing is, I'm not even playing that attacking, diamond formation (with wingers) with barrows on the wingers and AMC.

Team mentality (which is also the targetman's and 3 attacking midfielders' mentality) is just 12.

Any ideas?

Kimmi201

I'm having the same problems but with Portsmouth. Tried everything in this thread and nothing.

retired_kellyk

How I Build a Solid Defence

Whoa we can actually edit our posts!!!!Yeehah..its bout time..!!

There goes my post boosting

retired_kellyk

How I Build a Solid Defence

There are some things I take as a given, one if I make any ingame tweaks I need to check my "defend free-kick settings" as they change sometimes in the game. In my defending free kick set up I had 2 players on the post, when I noticed there was only one, I quickly went in to change but it was too late. The best way around this is to ensure that when you save the tactic you reload before you click continue.



Closing Ranks

Setting up a solid defense is not unlike playing actual footy. You want to make sure that when you close down the hard work is done primarily by the mids and forwards. Average sides normally upset the tempo of really good teams by giving them little or no time on the ball and this usually starts from the front. In modern day football, the first line of defence starts from the front.

Whether they have high or low closing down, Central Defenders will close down opposing players when they enter their zone. The key is to ensure they either support the midfielder who is closing down first or to cut off passes. To do this employ a staggered closing down strategy. As if there aren't already enough numbers in this game to turn your head around, I'm tossing in some more

The closing down of the lowest placed defender and the highest placed midfielder should not be more than 10.

I set up like this:

DR/DL 5
DC 5
DC 1
DMC 9
MR/ML 11
AMC and FCs: Max

I'm not too fussed about the strikeforce as I want them to harry the defense, their closing down is set to everywhere. But they still make themselves available, because once a player leaves their zone, he is picked up by another player. The goal is to make sure the overall shape of the formation is not compromised.


Setting Mentality Up
Do you need to set up a global mentality for the whole team? No. What you need to do is to make sure that the gap between the lowest placed defender and the highest placed Midfielder is not more than 10. This way your midfield and defense should play together.

Tackling
I set up my tackling on normal for almost the whole team now. I will try to move a couple of them on easy. Cos I think the level of tackling may have an impact on the game. My only concern is that tackling does contribute to injuries and cards as well.

Tight Marking
I put tight marking on for MR/ML and both DCs, so far it seems to work when it comes to interceptions.

Set Piece
I see a lot of tactics uploaded where not a lot of thought goes into making a good set piece. And I think this is one area where you will get punished in the game if your attention to detail is lacking. A good routine should allow you to counterattack from defending a routine, and should allow you defend while you attack someone else. You will concede an awful lot of silly goals in a game if you ignore this.

Defending Set Pieces I completely disagree with how SI has set up the routines as they do not mirror anything IRL. In fact I thinks its compromise. They have set up the routines in the most defensive way possible but you will struggle. When defending a set piece, make sure that

A) you can counterattack easily. To do this choose a ML/MR with good decisions and a forward with great OTB nd pace and stick em forward.

B) Have the right people for the right job.
Make sure that your best jumpers mark the tall players. If you are defending a corner, have the fullbacks (ONLY) marking the near and far post. If its a freekick...have about 3 in the wall and the rest manmark. I usually have 3-4 in wall.

Attacking setpieces

You need to score goals or hit the target, if you aren't the wrong people are set up in the wrong places. Make sure when using an attacking setpiece, especially corners that you have a few players lurking around the box. This will allow you to hold possession when you lose the ball. Just have your best header attack far and near post. And your fullbacks on stay back duty.

retired_mgavlick

I've always been fascinated by your closing down set up as it is almost diametrically opposed to my system. I can see the logic in how yours works and love the fact that FM can support such tactical variants.

I have a few questions.

1) When your defence wins the ball do they play keep ball between them until the attack reorganises?

2) How often do your attackers win the ball high up the pitch and create chances for themselves?

3) Do the high pressing attackers force hurried clearances that are easily mopped up by the defence, or is there a fight for possession?

4) What do you think would happen if your midfield pressed more heavily?

retired_kellyk

I have a few questions.

1) When your defence wins the ball do they play keep ball between them until the attack reorganises?

Yes they do, and its something I like to watch happen. They usually move up together with the midfielders and support the attack. In a diamond formation, when faced with a defensive setup, they literally park themselves in the opposing half.


2) How often do your attackers win the ball high up the pitch and create chances for themselves?

On average a goal a game. If you have the players for this its a real upside.


3) Do the high pressing attackers force hurried clearances that are easily mopped up by the defence, or is there a fight for possesion?

Depends on the opposition. One teams hurried clearance can be another teams phenom thru ball. If you are facing an inferior opponent, chances are you will dominate. This happens because more often than not the ball is punted. You will mop up and in most cases set up camp, but there is a risk depending on your D-line. I sometimes set up with a normal D-Line and sometimes I actually push up. Using the D-line well becomes important. Imagine if you are pushing up against Arsenal, you're closing them down, but all it takes is one good ball into space and chances are you'll get beat. Which is why I have TM on some DCs, but even that may not be enough. So managing your D-line becomes important. Thus far I've employed this and without the game at my disposal I can't run a season to find out, need another ten days or so I guess.

4) What do you think would happen if your midfield pressed more heavily?

We'd lose shape in a hurry and in some formations it would be devastating. If your mid closes down very heavily, th dot commits itself too fast, and you actually see it in-game. The dot makes a kinda check and passes the ball to another player and then attacks your space. When that happens your mid is rushing back to close down space and your defender is pulled into action, allowing a FW to move into space. Imagine the whole team linked by a string, too much tension in one spot, will either lead it to lose its shape or it will snap. My idea is to make sure the "Route" to pass is closed down not the player.

I figured this out when I tried to recreate Scramjet which is an attacking 343 formation, when I set up my mids to close down heavily the whole formation fell apart. We did score goals but we conceded a lot. I do believe that different formations demand different kinds of set-up, and its possible to have variants on this. I just haven't set about making more. But I have finished one tactic already and its the 442Diamond

retired_mgavlick

I find your system very innovative. I generally work on the assumption that Closing Down limits space and Creative Freedom opens it up. Therefore, I use heavy CD and Tight Marking for 5 defensive players and lower CD and Loose Marking for the attacking 5. This is my standard home system as it tends to win the ball quickly and recycle it to attackers who are constantly looking for space. However, away I tend to sit back and hold ranks a lot more, although, unlike you, I don't CD with the front three.

How do you set CF for the front three? I assume it is high to counter the high CD? My only doubt with your system is the lack of space the attackers will have when you win the ball, which means you must be able to play possession football from the back. However, high CF may counter this, as may the amount of chances the FCs create by winning the ball quickly. Do you score many goals on the quick counter from defence? I assume you don't but may well be wrong.