First game with this tactic. We were expected to win but last time we played Middlesbrough it was very close. We created loads of really good chances and restricted them almost entirely to long, low XG shots.
Can someone test this to see if results are on the level of Blue 3.2 or Blue 3.2 AW? (P.S.: I don't post directly to test because I'm still doing some final experiments.) Expand
Giving this a go with my Sunderland side, currently over-performing in the Championship. Initially we were conceding lots but scoring more. Looked great going forwards but were getting carved open at the back. Dropped the d-line to Standard and added Tighter Marking and all of a sudden it looks much more solid, we're now winning 2/3-0/1 rather than 4/5-2/3.
If you need the player instructions just click here.
This tactic evolved over four seasons with Sunderland which included back to back promotions to the Premier League, finishing 5th in our first season and 2nd in the next season.
The team is set up around a distinct attacking and defensive unit, with the DLP helping to link the two.
I ended up going with fullbacks rather than wingbacks because with no other width in the team I don't want them committing too far forward. Their aim when we have the ball is to take a position around the half way line and either recycle balls back towards the DLP or playing deep crosses/through balls for the front three to run on to. They will still pick up plenty of assists, in the Liverpool test Trent Alexander-Arnold hit 27 assists.
In attack your SS is the main goal threat, the more pace you've got the better but a slower, more creative player does also work because they have three other players looking for chances around them.
Your two trequartistas need to be very fit, probably the fittest in your team. They are set to mark the opposition DL & DR for two reasons. When we lose the ball it makes them track back a lot more than they normally would which helps to prevent the fullback being outnumbered. When we gain the ball back you'll often see counter attacks resulting in them getting chances as they start out on the flanks and often make diagonal runs in behind the DCs.
If you do not have a goalkeeper capable of playing SK(A) well then switch them to SK(D).
Testing Results
I performed two holiday tests with this tactic, one with Liverpool and one with Sheffield United.
An editor was used before the season started to make the team familiar with the tactic and to heal the squad to start the season fresh. I then went on holiday until the end of May with nothing else being touched.
To avoid cluttering this thread so much the link above is to some more images from this test.
I wasn't expecting this given the media prediction of 17th, but it was a nice surprise. Reached the semi-finals in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, being knocked out by Arsenal and Man City respectively. 2nd in the league for XG and the fourth best XG Against.
To avoid cluttering this thread so much the link above is to some more images from this test.
116 goals for, 12 goals against and a quadruple isn't too bad! Annoyingly the Carabao Cup knockout was this match where apparently we decided we didn't like to score.
Player Selection
For the attributes I generally just go by what the game suggests for each position.
A fast Shadow Striker is very useful but not essential.
If you can play inverted footers as the trequartistas it does seem to be a bit more effective, but it doesn't make a lot of difference.
If you do not have a goalkeeper capable of playing SK(A) well then switch them to SK(D).
Training
I personally use the RDF Training Schedules. From that pack I use the 5 week pre-season routine, then during the season use Balanced One Match, Balanced Two Matches and Development No Matches based on how many games are in each week.
Opposition Instructions
I don't use them at all.
Thanks for anybody who tries this out, I hope it works for you as well as it does for me.
Admins - If you do test this, please test the standard version! A test would be very much appreciated. Thanks!
First things first, if you just want to look at screenshots of how this tactic performed in my testing, the links below will take you to a bunch of pictures.
All tests were done on holiday mode. An editor was used at the beginning to set team familiarity to full and to heal all players in the squad so the season was started in peak condition.
All tests were conducted with the base tactic, when in reality you'll use all three especially with smaller clubs like West Brom where the Cautious version would be used frequently.
Liverpool - 111 goals in the league, only 11 conceded. 4 trophies in the bag including taking the Champions League with an 8-0 win over PSG in the final.
Leicester - League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup. Best attack in the league, 2nd best defence in the league. 60 goals in 58 games for Vardy!
West Brom - Despite using the standard tactic in every game, when if I were managing I'd have used Cautious in at least 50% of matches, West Brom still finished 10th, 10 places ahead of their media prediction. Only side outside the top 7 to have a positive goal difference and had the 5th fewest XG Against in the league.
Now, on to the tactic itself.
I'd like to say that there is a philosophy behind it, that I was trying to achieve a certain style of football, but I'd be lying if I said that! The reality is that this tactic started off as a 4-4-2 with my Sunderland side. We had a major injury crisis and had no strikers who even knew which direction the goal was in so I stuck two AMC in there. The defensive structure mostly just came out of frustration with wingers not involving themselves in defence, and so out of desperation I decided to throw four wide defensive players on to the pitch and it somehow worked! Defensive stability and still a decent attacking threat.
What kind of players should I pick?
As with every tactic in FM, pace is king, at least one fast shadow striker is essential. Defensively you'll want an anchor man who can head well as they are vital for cutting out attempted balls over the defence.
Other than that, just go for the best players you can for each role!
Should I use opposite footed players (left footer on the right, right footer on the left) for the IWB roles?
Probably.
Personally I don't pay any attention to what foot my wide players use and the tactic still works well for me! Opposite footed players may work better but you'll have to experiment with that yourself.
When should I use each tactic?
Standard tactic - Games where you expect to be able to win.
Cautious - As the name would suggest, this is primarily for games where you are the weaker team by some margin. The big changes are setting the mentality to cover, changing the anchor man to a half-back, dropping the tempo by one notch and adding in a little bit of timewasting.
I also switch to this in the last 20 minutes if we're winning by a couple of goals, and in the last 10 minutes if we're only up by 1. This tactic is hard work for the players so slowing it down a bit at the end helps see out games when your players are tiring.
Attacking - I never start games with this tactic. I use it as a counter-punch tactic, if we concede a goal which puts us behind I'll switch to the attacking tactic for 5-10 minutes in an attempt to hit back straight away, then drop back to the standard tactic.
What training schedules do you use?
I use the training schedules by RDF which you can find here.
Summary
If you've read this far, thank you!
This is the first tactic I've shared online, it probably isn't great but it's worked for me at Sunderland and worked well in my testing so maybe it'll give you some success if you try it.
Please ask any questions you have, and if you do test it I would very much appreciate some feedback.
First game with this tactic. We were expected to win but last time we played Middlesbrough it was very close. We created loads of really good chances and restricted them almost entirely to long, low XG shots.
Very interesting tactic.
Do you know that it's pretty much impossible to create a tactic that doesn't work well with PSG?
You can literally pick any sensible formation from the in game presets and do as well as you did.
2nd worst defence in the league!
What a joke of a tactic.
Can someone test this to see if results are on the level of Blue 3.2 or Blue 3.2 AW? (P.S.: I don't post directly to test because I'm still doing some final experiments.)
What are the main changes?
Do you think it's better?
That's what you uploaded.
Not in the version I downloaded. D-Line is set on Higher.
If you need the player instructions just click here.
This tactic evolved over four seasons with Sunderland which included back to back promotions to the Premier League, finishing 5th in our first season and 2nd in the next season.
The team is set up around a distinct attacking and defensive unit, with the DLP helping to link the two.
I ended up going with fullbacks rather than wingbacks because with no other width in the team I don't want them committing too far forward. Their aim when we have the ball is to take a position around the half way line and either recycle balls back towards the DLP or playing deep crosses/through balls for the front three to run on to. They will still pick up plenty of assists, in the Liverpool test Trent Alexander-Arnold hit 27 assists.
In attack your SS is the main goal threat, the more pace you've got the better but a slower, more creative player does also work because they have three other players looking for chances around them.
Your two trequartistas need to be very fit, probably the fittest in your team. They are set to mark the opposition DL & DR for two reasons. When we lose the ball it makes them track back a lot more than they normally would which helps to prevent the fullback being outnumbered. When we gain the ball back you'll often see counter attacks resulting in them getting chances as they start out on the flanks and often make diagonal runs in behind the DCs.
If you do not have a goalkeeper capable of playing SK(A) well then switch them to SK(D).
Testing Results
I performed two holiday tests with this tactic, one with Liverpool and one with Sheffield United.
An editor was used before the season started to make the team familiar with the tactic and to heal the squad to start the season fresh. I then went on holiday until the end of May with nothing else being touched.
Sheffield United Results
Click here for more images.
To avoid cluttering this thread so much the link above is to some more images from this test.
I wasn't expecting this given the media prediction of 17th, but it was a nice surprise. Reached the semi-finals in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, being knocked out by Arsenal and Man City respectively. 2nd in the league for XG and the fourth best XG Against.
Liverpool Results
Click here for more images.
To avoid cluttering this thread so much the link above is to some more images from this test.
116 goals for, 12 goals against and a quadruple isn't too bad! Annoyingly the Carabao Cup knockout was this match where apparently we decided we didn't like to score.
Player Selection
For the attributes I generally just go by what the game suggests for each position.
A fast Shadow Striker is very useful but not essential.
If you can play inverted footers as the trequartistas it does seem to be a bit more effective, but it doesn't make a lot of difference.
If you do not have a goalkeeper capable of playing SK(A) well then switch them to SK(D).
Training
I personally use the RDF Training Schedules. From that pack I use the 5 week pre-season routine, then during the season use Balanced One Match, Balanced Two Matches and Development No Matches based on how many games are in each week.
Opposition Instructions
I don't use them at all.
Thanks for anybody who tries this out, I hope it works for you as well as it does for me.
First things first, if you just want to look at screenshots of how this tactic performed in my testing, the links below will take you to a bunch of pictures.
All tests were done on holiday mode. An editor was used at the beginning to set team familiarity to full and to heal all players in the squad so the season was started in peak condition.
All tests were conducted with the base tactic, when in reality you'll use all three especially with smaller clubs like West Brom where the Cautious version would be used frequently.
Liverpool - 111 goals in the league, only 11 conceded. 4 trophies in the bag including taking the Champions League with an 8-0 win over PSG in the final.
Leicester - League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup. Best attack in the league, 2nd best defence in the league. 60 goals in 58 games for Vardy!
West Brom - Despite using the standard tactic in every game, when if I were managing I'd have used Cautious in at least 50% of matches, West Brom still finished 10th, 10 places ahead of their media prediction. Only side outside the top 7 to have a positive goal difference and had the 5th fewest XG Against in the league.
Now, on to the tactic itself.
I'd like to say that there is a philosophy behind it, that I was trying to achieve a certain style of football, but I'd be lying if I said that! The reality is that this tactic started off as a 4-4-2 with my Sunderland side. We had a major injury crisis and had no strikers who even knew which direction the goal was in so I stuck two AMC in there. The defensive structure mostly just came out of frustration with wingers not involving themselves in defence, and so out of desperation I decided to throw four wide defensive players on to the pitch and it somehow worked! Defensive stability and still a decent attacking threat.
What kind of players should I pick?
As with every tactic in FM, pace is king, at least one fast shadow striker is essential. Defensively you'll want an anchor man who can head well as they are vital for cutting out attempted balls over the defence.
Other than that, just go for the best players you can for each role!
Should I use opposite footed players (left footer on the right, right footer on the left) for the IWB roles?
Probably.
Personally I don't pay any attention to what foot my wide players use and the tactic still works well for me! Opposite footed players may work better but you'll have to experiment with that yourself.
When should I use each tactic?
Standard tactic - Games where you expect to be able to win.
Cautious - As the name would suggest, this is primarily for games where you are the weaker team by some margin. The big changes are setting the mentality to cover, changing the anchor man to a half-back, dropping the tempo by one notch and adding in a little bit of timewasting.
I also switch to this in the last 20 minutes if we're winning by a couple of goals, and in the last 10 minutes if we're only up by 1. This tactic is hard work for the players so slowing it down a bit at the end helps see out games when your players are tiring.
Attacking - I never start games with this tactic. I use it as a counter-punch tactic, if we concede a goal which puts us behind I'll switch to the attacking tactic for 5-10 minutes in an attempt to hit back straight away, then drop back to the standard tactic.
What training schedules do you use?
I use the training schedules by RDF which you can find here.
Summary
If you've read this far, thank you!
This is the first tactic I've shared online, it probably isn't great but it's worked for me at Sunderland and worked well in my testing so maybe it'll give you some success if you try it.
Please ask any questions you have, and if you do test it I would very much appreciate some feedback.