Experimenting with CHOPIN in order to replace underachieving DM with another CM. Nice results in holiday testing with Brighton. Won PL and got to two semi finals in domestic cups.
Back again with playing with strikers and wide midfielders. In this holiday testing didn't win any trophy with Brighton, but looking at xG table and overall results (even the losses) this may be kind of viable tactic.
CHOPIN evolved into SOBIESKI. Could not figure out a proper role for DM, so i decided to get rid of him and throw another soul forward. For this reason i opted for WCBs not OCBs, just to create a little bit more stability in defence. Good results in Brighton holiday tests, so im curious to see if thats better than CHOPIN in a long run.
Another tweak of CHOPIN, changed CB to BCB and added Stay Wider for CMs. In my test results were not incredible, especially start of this testing season was awful. The xG table makes me think it might work better if tested properly so im giving it a shot.
Another take on two striker-no FB system. This time i just forgot about defending. Lots of goals, lots of fun. Honestly i wouldn't be surprised if this ends up as worst CHOPIN version i uploaded here, but i thought it is worth giving it a try after this decent of a holiday test.
Yeah, i mean there are limits to non-meta things You can do to still be plug n play succesfull tactic. I did a lot of testing with shorter passing, lower tempo or higher def line but with every change in those directions results got way worse. So I'm not saying that this is 100% anti meta, because its still strongly inspired by meta, but i did what i could to at least use two strikers or Wide Miedfielders role and still perform quite decent.
Another tweak of CHOPIN (https://fm-arena.com/thread/16867-chopin/), this time CB changed to BCB and CHF changed to CFD. Removed any in ball instructions for CFD. Nice results even though AI ended up with playing players like Welbeck or Milner much more than it should. No set piece routine were used in testing.
BTW in all CHOPIN tactics it is really good to have decent strikers, Brighton doesn't have them but in my other testings with Man United strikers were goals galore in this system. This is mostly why I'm loving it so much and spamming variations here
Tweak of my CHOPIN (https://fm-arena.com/thread/16867-chopin/), OCBs switched to WCBs, all PI's same as original. May be a little more stable in defence while producing similar results.
Two strikers in a strikerless world. Run Brighton holiday test twice, won PL both times - sharing screenshots of the second try. Not sure if I got lucky (defensive XG makes me think so a little bit) or is it actually viable. Surely it will not be any kind of competition for the strikerless tactics, but may be decent for those like myself who are not enjoying the current meta.
Player Instructions
Tackle Harder for all but WMs OCBs - Stay Wider WMs - Stay Wider AMs - Make more runs, shoot less often CHF - Make more runs
@Zippo i just realised that when i load my own tactic there is a bug/my mistake with OOP positioning. It switches CF with LF. Not sure if that is just happening to me, or it was uploaded here and tested this way. I'm pretty sure that this is not a big game changer for the tactics result, but I would be grateful if You could look into it.
Three strikers in a strikerless world (Read it in the voice of the trailer guy.)
Decent results with Brighton holiday test, won PL and FA Cup but got embarassed in Carabao. WBs and wide strikers absolutely key players.
Player instruction for console players
Wing Backs - Stay wider, Dribble more, Shoot less often, Take more risks, Channel Midfielders - Make more runs Channel Forwards - Stay wider, Make more runs Centre Forward - Move into channels
Still dedicated to short passing and using strikers, but i broke my principle of high def line. Dropping deep is too good to pass right now. Done holiday testing with Brighton, didn't use any set piece routines, pretty much everything apart of tactics was delegated to staff (they made some signings in january, but none of them was impactful). Not sure if that was fluke or I'm onto something.
Player instructions for console players: Spoiler
Wing Backs - Stay wider, Dribble more, Shoot less often, Take more risks, Channel Midfielders - Make more runs Attacking midfielder - Move into spaces, Make more runs Channel Forwards - Make more runs
This worked really well in my main save, helping me dominate Europe in a few seasons so i thought I'll give it a go on holiday mode. Made two tests, with Liverpool and Brighton. I didn't make any screenshots from Liverpool save so it is not really relevant, but I've won evertyhing aside of Carabao Cup. Got 96 pts, 120 scored, 28 conceded.
Here i provide some Brighton screenshots. Honestly, the team isn't really suited for three strikers, Mitoma and Minteh were unused, but still got respectable results. In defence there is a work to do, i tried with lower defensive line but the results wasn't great. I will be working on it in the future for sure. I took defensive shape from the Trap Outside tactic (https://fm-arena.com/thread/16075-trap-outside/) so shoutout to creator dakwatalgojo.
At this point I'm dedicated to creating a strong not strikerless nor low def line tactic, so You'll probably hear more from me in the future. For now, I would love to have this tactic tested <3
For console brothers - player instructions Spoiler
GK - default FBs - Stay wider, Dribble more, Shoot less often, take more risks CBs - Default DM - Default CMs - Stay wider, make more runs, take more risks Wide strikers - Make more runs, Centre forward - Default
SalientSalmorejo said: I understand that. But the game is not random. When you are setting sliders, instructions etc, you do that because you spot a weakness in the match engine. For example, high tempo & high press have been unreasonably strong because of how fatigue works, for a while. But in FM 24 for example, high press + low line works worse than high press + high line (as it should, since you get to press with more players, and win the ball higher).
So, I was merely wondering if there is something specific about the FM26 ME that makes this work, or if it was an impactful setting OP came across by trial and error, or if it actually has no bearing on the results. Expand
Despite low line isn't really working for me, I would say that for my understanding it is the best way of countering that perfect through passes that AI is capable of making. Im a dedicated high line player, but i have to admit that it is quite often that it bites me in the ass. I can be super dominant the whole game, and then one long ball happens aaaaaaand it's 0-1 out of nowhere.
Yeah, i mean there are limits to non-meta things You can do to still be plug n play succesfull tactic. I did a lot of testing with shorter passing, lower tempo or higher def line but with every change in those directions results got way worse. So I'm not saying that this is 100% anti meta, because its still strongly inspired by meta, but i did what i could to at least use two strikers or Wide Miedfielders role and still perform quite decent.
BTW in all CHOPIN tactics it is really good to have decent strikers, Brighton doesn't have them but in my other testings with Man United strikers were goals galore in this system. This is mostly why I'm loving it so much and spamming variations here
Run Brighton holiday test twice, won PL both times - sharing screenshots of the second try. Not sure if I got lucky (defensive XG makes me think so a little bit) or is it actually viable.
Surely it will not be any kind of competition for the strikerless tactics, but may be decent for those like myself who are not enjoying the current meta.
Player Instructions Tackle Harder for all but WMs
OCBs - Stay Wider
WMs - Stay Wider
AMs - Make more runs, shoot less often
CHF - Make more runs
Decent results with Brighton holiday test, won PL and FA Cup but got embarassed in Carabao.
WBs and wide strikers absolutely key players.
Player instruction for console players Wing Backs - Stay wider, Dribble more, Shoot less often, Take more risks,
Channel Midfielders - Make more runs
Channel Forwards - Stay wider, Make more runs
Centre Forward - Move into channels
Player instructions for console players:
Spoiler Wing Backs - Stay wider, Dribble more, Shoot less often, Take more risks,
Channel Midfielders - Make more runs
Attacking midfielder - Move into spaces, Make more runs
Channel Forwards - Make more runs
This worked really well in my main save, helping me dominate Europe in a few seasons so i thought I'll give it a go on holiday mode. Made two tests, with Liverpool and Brighton. I didn't make any screenshots from Liverpool save so it is not really relevant, but I've won evertyhing aside of Carabao Cup. Got 96 pts, 120 scored, 28 conceded.
Here i provide some Brighton screenshots. Honestly, the team isn't really suited for three strikers, Mitoma and Minteh were unused, but still got respectable results. In defence there is a work to do, i tried with lower defensive line but the results wasn't great. I will be working on it in the future for sure.
I took defensive shape from the Trap Outside tactic (https://fm-arena.com/thread/16075-trap-outside/) so shoutout to creator dakwatalgojo.
At this point I'm dedicated to creating a strong not strikerless nor low def line tactic, so You'll probably hear more from me in the future. For now, I would love to have this tactic tested <3
For console brothers - player instructions
Spoiler GK - default
FBs - Stay wider, Dribble more, Shoot less often, take more risks
CBs - Default
DM - Default
CMs - Stay wider, make more runs, take more risks
Wide strikers - Make more runs,
Centre forward - Default
So, I was merely wondering if there is something specific about the FM26 ME that makes this work, or if it was an impactful setting OP came across by trial and error, or if it actually has no bearing on the results.
Despite low line isn't really working for me, I would say that for my understanding it is the best way of countering that perfect through passes that AI is capable of making. Im a dedicated high line player, but i have to admit that it is quite often that it bites me in the ass. I can be super dominant the whole game, and then one long ball happens aaaaaaand it's 0-1 out of nowhere.