Faker said: so which is your ideal set up for traning? i can see 4 shedules, how doo i use for one match day and two while maintaning match sharpness Expand
The ones with 1 are for one match a week, and the ones with 2 are for two matches.
BaZuKa said: Morten Hjulmand starts the game at 23 years old and, after 3 seasons, his CA only went up by 1, but his attributes adjusted and, after those 3 seasons, he is a clearly superior player. Expand
Thank you for testing! Here are the initial attributes for reference, so other people can see what is expected from these training schedules. I moved him to Burnley with in-game editor to reveal the player.
P.S.: Oops, just noticed the different version of FM. Training was not changed much, so results should be similar (but attributes are different between the versions).
A high intensity tactic that scores goals from inside the box, with most assists from the middle. Goals and assists are well distributed between all players. This tactic was created as a counter to Autumn, but I did not have time to test them against each other yet.
Player Instructions, Opponent Instructions and Light VersionPlayer Instructions All: Tackle Harder BCB: Pass Shorter, Trigger Press Less Often DM: Pass Shorter, Trigger Press More Often AWB: Sit Narrower, Cross From Byline and Shoot Less Often, Trigger Press More Often IF: Stay Wider
Opponent Instructions Only recommend people to use if they know what they are doing. You can read about how I use opponent instructions here.
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
You can read more about my suggested training schedules here. Schedules Ideally split 3:1 during the season, with Rebalance is used around once a month. 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 AttributesTop 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.
juliius said: Personally i only really use the opposition instructions to help with making a pressing trap. My favorite way to do it, is to show left sided defenders onto their right, and right sided defenders onto their left. Then i have tight marking on all the central midfielders, so the only real passing option is back the centre backs. This is how i set it up mostly.
Combining this with some man marking assignments it's impressive how much you can stifle the opponents build up. Expand
It makes sense. When you block the outer side of flank players, you make easier for them to pass to the middle, which traps them into the tightly marked players. I will give it a try some time.
Many people ask how to use Opposition Instructions properly and it has always been one of the most obscure features of FM, with very few information online and extremely hard to test. So, I decided to share how I use it in FM26. This is just me sharing my experience, and I have no proof that this method is actually effective.
Personally, I apply OIs around the half time of matches, after I learn how the opponent's tactic work against mine, and only when I am not already dominating (no need to change what is working well). The key information for me is the pass map, where I can identify which opponent players are being activated more, either because they are the brain of the opponent tactic, or because my tactic is giving more space to those players. You can see who those players are by the size of their circle in the Pass Map. After I identify those players (usually the one or two biggest circles), I set OIs to mark those players tighter, so my players have a better chance to intercept balls in their direction or to disarm with tackles.
In the pictures below, you can see a practical example of how I use OIs. During the first half of the match, the opponent (yellow team) had much more momentum than me, and the pass map shows their number 7 was the most activated player (picture 1). I then set the OI to mark it tighter (picture 2), and you can clearly see the momentum shifting mostly to my side during the second half of the match (picture 3).
It is very hard to test if OIs were the cause for the shift in momentum, as it could have been team talks, players getting tired or substitutions. However, my momentum gets consistently better after I change OIs to mark tighter their key players, based on information of the pass map during half time.
I tried trigger press, tackling and show onto foot before, but could not notice any huge improvement since their efficiency depends on the type of opponent, but it might be worth investigating later in what situations each instruction is most effective.
Let me know how it works for you, or if you use opposition instructions in any other way!
After using this training system for 1 year, the maximum improvement was 7 CA. Strange case: Ousmane Diomandé had no improvement whatsoever in a year, especially considering he is 19 years old and has 35 Ability points still to develop.
Expand
Thanks. If possible, check how much they improve pace and acceleration, which are the focus of those training schedules.
TactocTestor said: From what i read up on harvestgreen22 findings. He only did a brief findings on FM26 before refunding and moving back to FM24.
It seems the recommended attribute list slightly different from this findings. For example, balance and dribbling based on the attached link is important to have above baseline (like 12-13) but dont really become overpowered at high stats. Do you think the rec attribute list should be changed?
I also read on Harvest green later findings, and it seems to be FM24 centric tested while fm26 stuff mostly inference.
I can only do those things based on the data available, so I might change after someone does a similar study on FM26. So far, it is working as intended for me, so I do not think they changed training very much.
I hope you’re doing well. I’ve been following your work on FM Arena for a while, and I really appreciate the consistency and quality of your tactics, especially how well they perform across different patches.
I’m currently running a long-term save with Wolves on FM26.3, and I’m trying to build a system around a target forward (Lorenzo Lucca type profile). I know it’s not exactly the most meta-friendly approach, but I’d really like to make it work competitively rather than just defaulting to a strikerless or full meta setup.
I’ve tested a few things myself, including adapting existing top tactics and running some simulations, but I feel like I’m missing a deeper understanding of what really makes a system stable in the match engine.
If you don’t mind me asking:
Do you think a target forward–focused system can realistically compete with the current meta in 26.3?
When you test tactics, what are the key indicators you trust the most beyond raw results?
Would you recommend starting from a proven meta base and adjusting it, or building something more custom from scratch in this case?
I’d really appreciate any insight or advice you’re willing to share. Thanks again for all the work you put into the community.
All the best, Alexam Expand
Thank you, Alexan.
About your question, tactics with striker cannot compete with the current meta, unfortunately. That does not mean they are useless, just that they perform worse, but you can still overperform (have a win rate higher than expectation) with them. However, target forward usually perform worse than other strikers, both as a role in the tactic, as well as a profile in players. Pace and acceleration are the attributes with highest impact in performance, and unless the target player is fast like Haaland, they will not perform as well as other fast players.
With that being said, my advice is for you to simply play the game the way you want. You can still overperform even with a target player, and there is not much issue if you are playing single player. The top rated tactic in FM-Arena has 73% win rate, while the top rated tactic with a striker has 69%. There is a difference, but it is not as massive as it was in the earlier patches. I still recommend you to aim for fast target players like Haaland, but I understand that is not an easy profile to find.
So, my suggestion is to get the top tactic with a striker and change the role to target forward, and see how it goes. You can submit the tactic to be tested and see how it compares, if you are interested.
About key indicators, the most important to me are points and goal difference. If you want to improve the defense of a tactic, you can check goals conceded, and if you want to improve the attack, you can check goals scored.
The ones with 1 are for one match a week, and the ones with 2 are for two matches.
Thank you for testing! Here are the initial attributes for reference, so other people can see what is expected from these training schedules. I moved him to Burnley with in-game editor to reveal the player.
P.S.: Oops, just noticed the different version of FM. Training was not changed much, so results should be similar (but attributes are different between the versions).
A high intensity tactic that scores goals from inside the box, with most assists from the middle. Goals and assists are well distributed between all players. This tactic was created as a counter to Autumn, but I did not have time to test them against each other yet.
Player Instructions, Opponent Instructions and Light Version Player Instructions
All: Tackle Harder
BCB: Pass Shorter, Trigger Press Less Often
DM: Pass Shorter, Trigger Press More Often
AWB: Sit Narrower, Cross From Byline and Shoot Less Often, Trigger Press More Often
IF: Stay Wider
Opponent Instructions
Only recommend people to use if they know what they are doing. You can read about how I use opponent instructions here.
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 You can read more about my suggested training schedules here.
Schedules
Ideally split 3:1 during the season, with Rebalance is used around once a month.
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.
Tested with Burnley on console and achieved 4th with no transfers
Thank you for testing!
This is how i set it up mostly.
Combining this with some man marking assignments it's impressive how much you can stifle the opponents build up.
It makes sense. When you block the outer side of flank players, you make easier for them to pass to the middle, which traps them into the tightly marked players. I will give it a try some time.
https://fm-arena.com/thread/18744-opposition-instructions/
Personally, I apply OIs around the half time of matches, after I learn how the opponent's tactic work against mine, and only when I am not already dominating (no need to change what is working well). The key information for me is the pass map, where I can identify which opponent players are being activated more, either because they are the brain of the opponent tactic, or because my tactic is giving more space to those players. You can see who those players are by the size of their circle in the Pass Map. After I identify those players (usually the one or two biggest circles), I set OIs to mark those players tighter, so my players have a better chance to intercept balls in their direction or to disarm with tackles.
In the pictures below, you can see a practical example of how I use OIs. During the first half of the match, the opponent (yellow team) had much more momentum than me, and the pass map shows their number 7 was the most activated player (picture 1). I then set the OI to mark it tighter (picture 2), and you can clearly see the momentum shifting mostly to my side during the second half of the match (picture 3).
It is very hard to test if OIs were the cause for the shift in momentum, as it could have been team talks, players getting tired or substitutions. However, my momentum gets consistently better after I change OIs to mark tighter their key players, based on information of the pass map during half time.
I tried trigger press, tackling and show onto foot before, but could not notice any huge improvement since their efficiency depends on the type of opponent, but it might be worth investigating later in what situations each instruction is most effective.
Let me know how it works for you, or if you use opposition instructions in any other way!
They are in the first post.
Sorry, I do not do videos.
After using this training system for 1 year, the maximum improvement was 7 CA. Strange case: Ousmane Diomandé had no improvement whatsoever in a year, especially considering he is 19 years old and has 35 Ability points still to develop.
Thanks. If possible, check how much they improve pace and acceleration, which are the focus of those training schedules.
It seems the recommended attribute list slightly different from this findings. For example, balance and dribbling based on the attached link is important to have above baseline (like 12-13) but dont really become overpowered at high stats. Do you think the rec attribute list should be changed?
I also read on Harvest green later findings, and it seems to be FM24 centric tested while fm26 stuff mostly inference.
https://fm-arena.com/thread/15933-i-tested-the-attributes-of-fm26-and-some-other-things/page-1/
I can only do those things based on the data available, so I might change after someone does a similar study on FM26. So far, it is working as intended for me, so I do not think they changed training very much.
I hope you’re doing well. I’ve been following your work on FM Arena for a while, and I really appreciate the consistency and quality of your tactics, especially how well they perform across different patches.
I’m currently running a long-term save with Wolves on FM26.3, and I’m trying to build a system around a target forward (Lorenzo Lucca type profile). I know it’s not exactly the most meta-friendly approach, but I’d really like to make it work competitively rather than just defaulting to a strikerless or full meta setup.
I’ve tested a few things myself, including adapting existing top tactics and running some simulations, but I feel like I’m missing a deeper understanding of what really makes a system stable in the match engine.
If you don’t mind me asking:
Do you think a target forward–focused system can realistically compete with the current meta in 26.3?
When you test tactics, what are the key indicators you trust the most beyond raw results?
Would you recommend starting from a proven meta base and adjusting it, or building something more custom from scratch in this case?
I’d really appreciate any insight or advice you’re willing to share. Thanks again for all the work you put into the community.
All the best,
Alexam
Thank you, Alexan.
About your question, tactics with striker cannot compete with the current meta, unfortunately. That does not mean they are useless, just that they perform worse, but you can still overperform (have a win rate higher than expectation) with them. However, target forward usually perform worse than other strikers, both as a role in the tactic, as well as a profile in players. Pace and acceleration are the attributes with highest impact in performance, and unless the target player is fast like Haaland, they will not perform as well as other fast players.
With that being said, my advice is for you to simply play the game the way you want. You can still overperform even with a target player, and there is not much issue if you are playing single player. The top rated tactic in FM-Arena has 73% win rate, while the top rated tactic with a striker has 69%. There is a difference, but it is not as massive as it was in the earlier patches. I still recommend you to aim for fast target players like Haaland, but I understand that is not an easy profile to find.
So, my suggestion is to get the top tactic with a striker and change the role to target forward, and see how it goes. You can submit the tactic to be tested and see how it compares, if you are interested.
About key indicators, the most important to me are points and goal difference. If you want to improve the defense of a tactic, you can check goals conceded, and if you want to improve the attack, you can check goals scored.