ZaZ
Testing increased pressure from all players.



Testing increased pressure from backline against increased pressure from all players. This one has only in the three defenders.





Player Instructions, Opponent Instructions and Light Version In Possession
OCB: Shoot Less Often and Take More Risks
AWB: Sit Narrower, Cross From Byline and Shoot Less Often
IF: Stay Wider

Out of Possession
All: Tackle Harder
OCB + BCB: Press Trigger More Often

Opponent Instructions
None, and only recommend people to use if they know what they are doing.

Light Version
The goal of this version is to preserve players, saving condition while avoiding injuries and cards, at the cost of performance. Use when you have a comfortable lead.
All: Ease Off Tackle
Team Instructions: Positive mentality, Stay On Feet, one step below in Trigger Press and Tempo.

Training and Set Pieces Schedules
Ideally split evenly during the season, alternating every week or month. (Experimental: Using one Rebalance for every two growth sessions, to improve dribbling in long term.)
Rebalance ([Resistance]): Redistributes CA among the most important attributes.
Growth ([Physical]x5[Attacking]x5 for one match or [Physical]x2[Attacking]x2 for two matches): Improves secondary attributes, with focus on key attributes.

Rest and Recovery
Three Rest sessions are used after every match to trigger super-rest, and Recovery sessions are used to reduce the loss of match sharpness in days without training.

Automatic Intensity
Double when full energy, and no pitch or gym training when below full condition.

Individual Focus
Quickness, or Agility/Reactions for goalkeepers

Roles
Not needed, but you can pick any role with highlighted Pace and Acceleration to train new positions

Set pieces and training are in the attachments. Pictures for people on consoles are below.








For youth teams, I usually do just the rebalance routine (Resistance x1), to ensure players grow Pace and Acceleration without compromising their potential attributes.

Preferred Player Attributes Top priority: Pace and Acceleration are by far the most effective attributes.
Minimum requirements: 6 in Work Rate, Agility, Concentration and Stamina. These attributes hurt a lot when low, but do not improve performance significantly at higher values.
Only look below if still in doubt between two players.
Priority #2: Jumping Reach (especially for defenders).
Secondary requirements: 10 in Balance, Dribbling (especially for flank players), Work Rate and Anticipation.
Only look below if still in doubt between two players.
Priority #3: Dribbling and balance.

Example of ideal player
Pace: 18+++
Acceleration: 18+++
Work Rate: 10
Agility: 6
Concentration: 6
Stamina: 6
Anticipation: 10
Jumping Reach: 10++
Dribbling: 10+
Balance: 10+

There are two player filters in the attachments. You can use them in Recruitment > Player Database > Edit Search, loading them in the cog icon by the bottom left. One filter is to remove bad players, while the other is to show very good players (but might filter out some good outliers).

Credits to everyone in FM-Arena who did small experiments which gave hints to what might be working well in this patch. Probably there will be a better tactic inspired by this one in the next hours or days, so I am just happy to contribute.
ZaZ - Rebalance 2.fmf
Downloaded : 286 times
Uploaded : Mar 16, 2026
ZaZ - Rebalance 1.fmf
Downloaded : 208 times
Uploaded : Mar 16, 2026
ZaZ - Growth 2.fmf
Downloaded : 231 times
Uploaded : Mar 16, 2026
ZaZ - Growth 1.fmf
Downloaded : 220 times
Uploaded : Mar 16, 2026
ZaZ - Player Filter.fmf
Downloaded : 485 times
Uploaded : Mar 13, 2026
ZaZ - Player Filter Elite.fmf
Downloaded : 458 times
Uploaded : Mar 13, 2026
ZaZ - Autumn 2.32 Light.fmf
Downloaded : 571 times
Uploaded : Mar 10, 2026
ZaZ - Set Pieces.fmf
Downloaded : 1,100 times
Uploaded : Mar 10, 2026
A small fix to Autumn 2.11, because apparently one of the wingbacks is set to shoot more often instead of less often.



I lost track of what was tested properly because of the rollbacks, which messed up the standard of comparison. Here is 2.3 with CHFs moving forward.



Ooops, I guess I cannot recommend this anymore.
Testing different defensive line instructions with Very Attacking mentality. This version has Drop Off More with Trigger Press More Often.



Testing different defensive line instructions with Very Attacking mentality. This version has Step Up More with Trigger Press More Often.



Testing a defensive variant of Autumn without sacrificing much performance. It is what I do when I want to concede less goals, switching mentality to positive and IFs for IWs, so I want to check how well it works in the tests (or if it does not work well at all).



dywan said: I would like to ask what I should change in ur tactic to hold the result?

Mentality to positive, and IF for IW.
Antal said: I often start games in England's sixth division with the weakest and poorest team.
I've wondered about this too, but I've come to the conclusion that training without a good facility and without good coaches, working part-time and with no training days in the schedule, won't develop stars from my young players; my team is rising faster than these players.
Therefore, the only correct solution is to create two squads of players from available players, add a third squad of players on trial (for friendlies), and play one or two friendlies and one or two league games each week, so that each squad gets to play once a week. That's three games a week. The goal is to earn the maximum amount of money to improve the training facilities.


It is pointless. In semi-pro teams, the players are so bad that it is often better to hire a full team of free players once you get promoted. Sometimes you keep a few of them after promotion, but the training is not so efficient when you barely have enough staff or training grounds.
The idea here is to recover possession as far away as possible from my line of defense, trying to keep the ball closer to my strikers instead of the defenders.



azuldan14 said: will you be doing another warrior 442 tactic? i dont see many flat 442 tactics around

Yes, I will.
dakka said: Why this Tactic status become Not Tested Yet? :shock:


https://fm-arena.com/thread/18047-another-tactic-resting-is-coming/
azuldan14 said: i play on console, but will have a look, iv usec your 4-2-4 tactics

My plan is to test a 424 tactic tomorrow, to see if this improvement in defense can be applied to tactics without three defenders. If results are good, I will also add versions with strikers. I have decided to use one daily slot for trying to improve the top tactic, and another for creating different ones.
azuldan14 said: these strikerless tactics are getting boring now, there all the same

You can use the table "Plug and Play" to find tactics with strikers.
Snoop said: I wonder whether there'll be another patches with ME changes for FM26

To be fair, I wish they had a UI patch, because the interface makes the game sufferable to play.
I am testing playing through the flanks instead of middle, with flank players cutting inside and underlapping, since I only tested this in the previous patch. The goal is to make the game flow to the middle, instead of through the middle, and see if starting plays in the flank gives any advantage.



TurboHips said: Congrats mate back on top ! The new meta is so different to most fms it’s crazy. Can you post the instructions for console players :)

Thanks! I am just making the light version, then I will post the details.
Testing the trio of defenders pressing less. The idea is for them to delay the opponents so the others can recompose during counter attacks, from any side.





Player Instructions
All: Tackle Harder
BCB: Trigger Press Less Often
OCB: Shoot Less Often, Take More Risks, Trigger Press Less Often
AWB: Sit Narrower, Cross From Byline and Shoot Less Often
CHM: Make More Runs
IF: Stay Wider

Opponent Instructions: None, and only recommend people to use if they know what they are doing.

Light version when you have a comfortable lead: Ease Off Tackle for all players, Stay On Feet, reduce one step in Trigger Press and Tempo, set mentality to Positive, and change IFs to IWs. The goal of this version is to avoid injuries and cards, at the cost of performance. If you just want to become more solid on defense, simply change mentality to Positive and change IFs to IWs.

Set pieces and training are in the attachments. Training uses two schedules, one for rebalance (Physical x1) and one for growth (Attack x6, or 2x in three different days), and they are divided equally (alternate every week or month). Make sure to leave three rest sessions after every match, double intensity when full energy, and no pitch or gym training when below full condition. I also set everyone for Quickness focus, and train them in any role of their position with focus on pace and acceleration (highlighted attributes). Pictures for people on consoles are below.
Training and Set Pieces






Credits to everyone in FM-Arena who did small experiments which gave hints to what might be working well in this patch. Probably there will be a better tactic inspired by this one in the next hours or days, so I am just happy to contribute.
ZaZ - Rebalance.fmf
Downloaded : 52 times
Uploaded : Mar 5, 2026
ZaZ - Growth.fmf
Downloaded : 51 times
Uploaded : Mar 5, 2026
ZaZ - Set Pieces.fmf
Downloaded : 115 times
Uploaded : Mar 5, 2026
ZaZ - Autumn 2.24 Light.fmf
Downloaded : 65 times
Uploaded : Mar 5, 2026
juliius said: Do we know how the oop roles/positions impact it now?

I don't, but I would say only IP position counts.