Testing some variants for different styles of play. The three variants are focus on Inside Forwards, focus on Volantes, and focus on Wingbacks, and this is the one with focus on Wingbacks. The idea here is to use IF to cover the flanks defensively, and allow WB to get further forward to supply strikers with crosses. Passing was also changed to shorter to reduce risk of interception.
Testing some variants for different styles of play. The three variants are focus on Inside Forwards, focus on Volantes, and focus on Wingbacks, and this is the one with focus on Volantes. The idea here is to use IF to cover the flanks defensively, and open the central area to Volantes. Passing was also changed to shorter to reduce risk of interception.
Testing some variants for different styles of play. The three variants are focus on Inside Forwards, focus on Volantes, and focus on Wingbacks, and this is the one with focus on IF. The idea here is to bring IF closer to the goal and open the flanks to WB. Passing was also changed to shorter to reduce risk of interception.
Season 1 is done. We finished 4th and got a spot in UCL, which is obviously a good result. It wasn't a very good run, with a very bad spell without victories during the middle of the season, but still ended up 4 points above tests from FM-Arena. Notable results were a big victory away against Chelsea, and a humiliating defeat against Crystal Palace at home in the last match (player sent off at 3 min).
For this season, I only got one transfer, which was a reserve defender that was barely used. Now I got over 60 Mi for transfers and wages, so I will be checking thoroughly the suggestions from scouts, and pick a focus for the positions I want to improve for UCL. Since I have two years to win UCL, my goal is to improve at least half of my team on a standard that can also be useful for next season. That means my goal is to hire five players, one for each position (defender, wingback, winger, defensive midfielder and striker), and leave the other five positions to hire next season. This is possible because I train my wingers and wingbacks to be good in both sides, so it doesn't matter what side I hire them to play.
As usual, here is the save file in case anyone wants to check the state of Bournemouth.
66connor66 said: Thanks! 1 question. I know you said you are not focusing on youth in this save. But do you generally like to loan players out or just develop in u21/18s? Expand
For development, the best is to loan them to an inactive league. That apparently makes them count as used for all matches, which increases attribute growth.
As a note, I corrected the impact of loyalty and agent fees to the transfer budget. The value is not paid immediately, so it was 300k instead of 2.3m. Sorry for the amateurish error.
I'm also currently testing Water 5.4 with shorter passing and trying to get wingbacks a bit closer to the goal.
66connor66 said: This has been really good. Gave me the motivation to play especially you doing it with the team I played/support. Im doing similar to you but with Burnley (with your training and tactics). Won the champ on 111 point and now sitting 3rd joint on points after 10 games in the prem! Expand
Played ten more matches into the league. Results were below expectations, but my chances to qualify to UCL are still alive. The only match we excelled was against Leicester, when we didn't let them shoot a single time during first half.
I have decided to talk a bit about signing contracts to get the cheapest impact on wage budget. Here is an example of renewing contract with my goalkeeper, but the same logic can be used as well for transfers. The initial demands for the player are presented below. As you can see in the bottom left, it has an impact of 6.39M per year in my budget, as well as 2.31M in fees to player and agent (300k impact to transfer budget).
My first step is always to strip all bonuses, clauses and fees, then add a 5% sell on fee clause to the player (this helps reducing their demands). After that, I offer some acceptable value so he doesn't backoff immediately from negotiation. This value is often around 10% more than his initial demands, which would be around 5.7M. Below are my offer, and their counter-offer.
Next, is all about keep removing the fees and offering a value close to what they would accept. Below is the next round of offer and counter-offer, and the final value they accepted.
After they accept, you can change the offer and try to increase contract length, and if they would accept without an increase in wage, they will have no problem with that. If they complain about the change in contract, then that means they would want higher wage for a different duration in contract, so it's better to just accept the duration he wanted.
Following those steps, I reduced the wage cost of the player in around 10%, and avoided reducing transfer budget by 300k, which could be converted to wage budget (5% of what the player asked for wages). If you do that to every player you hire or renew, you will have around 15% more wage budget to invest in players (and wage budget can be converted into transfer budget, to hire more players). Benefit is even bigger compared to leaving contracts to Director of Football, since even the best will always overpay.
For other interesting details that happened in the run, I managed to get rid of two deadwood that were eating wages without playing, and there was also a board change, with new expectations. Up to know, I only made one transfer in, by loan, because I didn't have money, and because I am satisfied with the current squad. If I was a bit smarter, I would also hire a few more players by loan.
Hopefully, I can finish the season today, and qualify to UCL. For anyone interested in checking the players or other details, here is the save file.
Itsyaboy420 said: yes i agree, using promotheus 2.0 just loses the possession like mad. but it produces goals, unlike the 4-2-4 alhamdulillah when against giants. so my possession would be like 43 but the shots produced and xg rating is higher than what 4-2-4 alhamdulillah would produce. even if most of those shots missed at least my player are still shooting compared to when using 4-2-4 balanced i would only have like 3 shots for an entire half against teams like man city. possession is important when you are at least even with the other team, but when against teams like man city and you are the underdog, i would usually just ignore my horrid possession and look to my shots stat Expand
You do realize that you are normally expected to lose with underdogs against teams like Manchester City, right? If a tactic allows you to be even with them or even win, you should celebrate.
Itsyaboy420 said: yes that's what i meant, thank you. basically my team is decent and should have a chance against those giants but when using balanced mentality the xg table just make my team looked like they don't even have a chance. it's confusing to me as well, why balanced mentality just does not work against giants. another thing i want to say as well is that your tactics is awesome delicious and i never meant to disrespect or insult any of your tactics. i even used your 3-4-3 extreme suplex to the wind and 4-3-3N extreme swanton bomb and they were amazing. Expand
Interceptions were buffed in this patch, so having a solid defense is more effective than having a strong attack. That's why the top tactics will have two DMs and even three defenders. More attacking approaches will lose more possession, causing more counter-attacks, which are also more effective since dribbling got buffed as well.
You can open FM22, load any tactic and take note of dribbles made and interceptions, then put the same tactic on FM23 and check the difference. FM23 will have at least double of those statistics.
Middleweight165 said: @ZaZ Hey mate, is there anything you would add to Solid Blue 4.0 from Green 5.0 to make Solid Blue more defensively stronger. I don't imagine you updated Solid Blue 4.0 so was just wondering if there's anything from the more defensive tactics that could be incorporated to make it more resilient? Thanks Expand
Sorry, Green is better defensively and I added a version to use together with Blue. If you just want to use the same shape, then Solid is the best I could do.
Itsyaboy420 said: some people do be sensitive, alright then I'll make my statement, stop it with the balanced method and similar shape, get creative people. try making different shapes and method works. if anybody is hurt by this comment then I am truly very sorry. Expand
Why are you so fixated on the mentality? What matters is how the tactic plays, not the overall team mentality. We have very defensive tactics and very offensive tactics without using Attacking or Defending mentality. Also, it's not like other mentalities are not being tested, they are just not scoring enough to be at the top.
I quoted wrong, sorry. I was actually answering someone asking people to test other mentalities, but I guess I clicked wrong somewhere (it wasn't even this comment section).
The Beast said: Make your own tactic, no one is forcing you to read or download any tactic from a tactician. Don't go into bitchboy mode and complain when you're not putting up any tactics Expand
People are testing other mentalities, they are just not getting good rates, so they don't appear at the top.
Milakus said: It could be the 4.2 hit the highest RNG. I think it can be as high as 3 points. Expand
There is a good chance of that too. I will keep working on Water before I can play again the career on weekend, and I think it works better without shorter passing and with wide IF. However, after testing a bit more, I think Counter-Press gives some interesting moves in game that match what I am looking for. I also want to play without Roll It Out, because I want faster counter attacks. I hope things work well on that direction.
Keep in mind that it is possible that overlap is just better. I am exploring the other road because I think it matches more what I'm trying to accomplish on the field, and I believe it has potential to good results. However, my beliefs are worth nothing if tests prove me wrong.
keithb said: What about distribute quickly? I have removed it and find it better
No 'run at defence'? Expand
Players already have dibble more, so no need for run at defense. That gives me more freedom to tweak them individually on testing. About distribute quickly, this patch is pretty counter-attack oriented, so the faster you get back to the game, the better.
For this season, I only got one transfer, which was a reserve defender that was barely used. Now I got over 60 Mi for transfers and wages, so I will be checking thoroughly the suggestions from scouts, and pick a focus for the positions I want to improve for UCL. Since I have two years to win UCL, my goal is to improve at least half of my team on a standard that can also be useful for next season. That means my goal is to hire five players, one for each position (defender, wingback, winger, defensive midfielder and striker), and leave the other five positions to hire next season. This is possible because I train my wingers and wingbacks to be good in both sides, so it doesn't matter what side I hire them to play.
As usual, here is the save file in case anyone wants to check the state of Bournemouth.
You can switch without any further change.
Yes, it's the one with best results in FM-Arena. However, 5.4 has similar results.
For development, the best is to loan them to an inactive league. That apparently makes them count as used for all matches, which increases attribute growth.
I'm also currently testing Water 5.4 with shorter passing and trying to get wingbacks a bit closer to the goal.
66connor66 said: This has been really good. Gave me the motivation to play especially you doing it with the team I played/support. Im doing similar to you but with Burnley (with your training and tactics). Won the champ on 111 point and now sitting 3rd joint on points after 10 games in the prem!
Glad to know! I hope you have lots of fun there!
I have decided to talk a bit about signing contracts to get the cheapest impact on wage budget. Here is an example of renewing contract with my goalkeeper, but the same logic can be used as well for transfers. The initial demands for the player are presented below. As you can see in the bottom left, it has an impact of 6.39M per year in my budget, as well as 2.31M in fees to player and agent (300k impact to transfer budget).
My first step is always to strip all bonuses, clauses and fees, then add a 5% sell on fee clause to the player (this helps reducing their demands). After that, I offer some acceptable value so he doesn't backoff immediately from negotiation. This value is often around 10% more than his initial demands, which would be around 5.7M. Below are my offer, and their counter-offer.
Next, is all about keep removing the fees and offering a value close to what they would accept. Below is the next round of offer and counter-offer, and the final value they accepted.
After they accept, you can change the offer and try to increase contract length, and if they would accept without an increase in wage, they will have no problem with that. If they complain about the change in contract, then that means they would want higher wage for a different duration in contract, so it's better to just accept the duration he wanted.
Following those steps, I reduced the wage cost of the player in around 10%, and avoided reducing transfer budget by 300k, which could be converted to wage budget (5% of what the player asked for wages). If you do that to every player you hire or renew, you will have around 15% more wage budget to invest in players (and wage budget can be converted into transfer budget, to hire more players). Benefit is even bigger compared to leaving contracts to Director of Football, since even the best will always overpay.
For other interesting details that happened in the run, I managed to get rid of two deadwood that were eating wages without playing, and there was also a board change, with new expectations. Up to know, I only made one transfer in, by loan, because I didn't have money, and because I am satisfied with the current squad. If I was a bit smarter, I would also hire a few more players by loan.
Hopefully, I can finish the season today, and qualify to UCL. For anyone interested in checking the players or other details, here is the save file.
You do realize that you are normally expected to lose with underdogs against teams like Manchester City, right? If a tactic allows you to be even with them or even win, you should celebrate.
Interceptions were buffed in this patch, so having a solid defense is more effective than having a strong attack. That's why the top tactics will have two DMs and even three defenders. More attacking approaches will lose more possession, causing more counter-attacks, which are also more effective since dribbling got buffed as well.
You can open FM22, load any tactic and take note of dribbles made and interceptions, then put the same tactic on FM23 and check the difference. FM23 will have at least double of those statistics.
Sorry, Green is better defensively and I added a version to use together with Blue. If you just want to use the same shape, then Solid is the best I could do.
Why are you so fixated on the mentality? What matters is how the tactic plays, not the overall team mentality. We have very defensive tactics and very offensive tactics without using Attacking or Defending mentality. Also, it's not like other mentalities are not being tested, they are just not scoring enough to be at the top.
https://fm-arena.com/tactic/3913-424-alhamdulillah-ii/
424 Alhamdulillah II
(W/O Focus Play Down The Flanks)
Yeah, I have been testing that for the past week and it was really bugging me, because it didn't seem to make difference.
I quoted wrong, sorry. I was actually answering someone asking people to test other mentalities, but I guess I clicked wrong somewhere (it wasn't even this comment section).
People are testing other mentalities, they are just not getting good rates, so they don't appear at the top.
There is a good chance of that too. I will keep working on Water before I can play again the career on weekend, and I think it works better without shorter passing and with wide IF. However, after testing a bit more, I think Counter-Press gives some interesting moves in game that match what I am looking for. I also want to play without Roll It Out, because I want faster counter attacks. I hope things work well on that direction.
Keep in mind that it is possible that overlap is just better. I am exploring the other road because I think it matches more what I'm trying to accomplish on the field, and I believe it has potential to good results. However, my beliefs are worth nothing if tests prove me wrong.
No 'run at defence'?
Players already have dibble more, so no need for run at defense. That gives me more freedom to tweak them individually on testing. About distribute quickly, this patch is pretty counter-attack oriented, so the faster you get back to the game, the better.