ZaZ
juliius said: Do you notice anything different when you try mixing them up? Of course testing would be nice, but have you noticed anything when using it?

I actually tested with half season each only, and results were very good. However, I don't have the tools or time to test in the same level as they do here, so I don't consider those tests very reliable, but more of a personal feeling. I assume doing one week each would be the same, but I couldn't test yet. I use that way in my save, but I didn't pay much attention to results to say anything.
lasko911 said: Are there any changes to set pieces since your old(er) tactics?

No, it is the same.
debelizec19 said: @ZaZ oh, you did't understand me well :) I know how to set up but what training do you use for u18 and u21. do you use rebalance or growth or something else?

I do rebalance on youth setup, to maximize pace and acceleration, but I also bring up any super kid to train in the upper team. I do that because I often give them some play time to help growth even further, and seeing them in main squad helps me remember they exist.
I am currently mixing two training schedules, one for reallocating attributes to pace and acceleration, and another to grow CA. Basically, 1x Endurance, and 6x Attacking. I want to know if there is any difference between using each of those for half of the season, or alternating them every week. Is it possible to test, please?

If the combination of schedules work like an average, it would probably open space for optimizing training even further.
debelizec19 said: @ZaZ  Congratulations on excellent tactics!!
Just one question, how do you set up training for u21 and u18? do you use same training as mention in post.
Thank you!


Thank you!

About training, you need to first get control of youth training in staff responsibilities. Then, in your Squad screen you will see the training box, with some circles on top. Just click there, then click in the box again to set up the training.
Testing wingers crossing from byline.



Just testing balanced crosses, so players can cross any way they want.





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

Opponent Instructions: None, and only recommend people to do so 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 Balanced, and change IFs to IWs. The goal of this version is to avoid injuries and cards, at the cost of performance.

Set pieces and training are in the attachments. Training uses two schedules, one for rebalance (Endurance x1) and one for growth (Attack x6, or 2x in three different days), and they are divided equally (half a season each, or alternate one 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 - Set Pieces.fmf
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ZaZ - Rebalance.fmf
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ZaZ - Growth.fmf
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ZaZ - Autumn 1.71 Light.fmf
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I took some instructions from the top tactic into Autumn, and will test if Step Up More is actually helping or not. Results in my experiments were not great, but I like how goals scored are evenly distributed through a high number of players.




It is funny how some things that got exhaustively tested in the same patch suddenly create synergy together and become meta. I took some instructions from the top tactic into Autumn, and will test if Step Up More is actually helping or not. Previously, with IFs staying narrower, it harmed the performance, but maybe with wingers wide it help them reach the byline and cross the ball. Anyway, this is the version without Step Up More, to be compared to the version with it.




IlPadreMogens said: Hi ZaZ

Can you tell a little about the choice of choosing CHM contra AM role in midfield?
I mean are there any difference in choosing one role over the other?
maybe some fits some players better?


i ask because i might try a combination between CHM and AM


CHM drifts to the flanks, opening space for in the middle for other players. It is a role with higher focus on creation. AM will move more in the direction of the goal, getting in better positions to score. Either can work well, as you can see in the top tactics.
Reference for SK test. OCBs set to shoot less often.



Testing the influence of SK vs GK.



Xavinwonderland said: Following a discussion with some members of the forum on what would be the impact of retraining on the CA of a player I realized that there were opinions on the subject but little data.

So I decided to conduct a little test to clarify the situation.

The starting hypothesis was the following: when player gain attributes it will cost them CA points, that cost is not the same for all the player and is driven by their position. As an example it is more expensive for a defender to train tacking than it would be for a striker because that attribute is considered by the game to be useful for the position while it is considered to be much less useful in the case of the striker.

There was therefore a theoretical possibility to exploit that by retraining a player for a position very different of his. For instance you take a striker you teach him tackling which is pretty much a free attribute for him and then you turn him into a defender.

For that test you are going to take a player put him in a position different than his with the editor while erasing his natural position to simulate the perfect training that we could have achieved (like a natural defender with striker stats) and then we are going to reintroduce a position familiarity in the striker role up to natural.

I took one of the striker from my AJAX save. Based on his attributes when he is playing as a natural striker with no other roles he has a CA of 125. When I erased the striker familiarity to 1 and instead puts him as a natural defender his CA is 103. There is no magic here this is just the application of the different weights for the different attributes and it shows that our starting hypothesis is valid.

Now this is what happens when I start retraining him as a striker:




What you see in the defender/strikers columns are the position familiarity for the role.

The RCA is what the game would see as the new CA, if that value is above the CA of the player we have 2 options, either the player is maxed out in terms of PA and he will has to lose attributes to compensate until he reaches back his CA, if he is not maxed out it will cost him CA in term of developement and will not be able to reach the same level of attributes than he would have had he not been retrained.

The delta is the impact on the RCA of 1 point increase in the similarity when we retrain him.

I also did another simulation with another player with better stats and a natural CA of 144 as a striker instead of the 125 that we have in the first set of data to see if the move are consistent for different player ranges.

What we can see is that retraining someone up until 8 is free but then some costs start to appear for the better subject when we reach 9.

Then the cost of retraining is not linear with the bulk of the cost happening between 10 and 16 familiarity which means that is basically always worth it in a more normal scenario to retrain someone from accomplished to natural in a position as the cost for that upgrade is almost free.

We can also see that retraining someone with 2 opposite positions seems to take to worse of the 2 weights and not the average. It can be shown that when our subject was a pure defender he was CA103, a pure striker CA125 and when he was natural in both he was CA133. So retraining someone to an opposite position is never worth it from an optimisation point of view.

Also when you scout and you see players able to play different positions (even if they cant play them well) it will have an impact in terms of development vs someone that can only play 1. The more opposite the position the worse the impact will be. So for instance an advanced midfielder that can play as a striker will cost you virtually nothing, while a player being able to player being able to play as a DC and all the midfielder roles will cost a lot.

So the test clearly goes in the direction that some people had hinted to in their comments but at least now we have data to back it up :)


I have tested that before and can confirm, it takes the highest weights of all positions for CA calculations. That is why it is free to train flank players to the opposite side, because they costs remain the same.
Testing the influence of shoot less often in AWB.




Testing the impact of Take More Risks on OCBs.




You test the same way as tactics, but check different things, like goals from free kicks or corners. Keep in mind that some set pieces might increase goals from corners, for example, but reduce your points in the league or goal difference, by exposing you to counter-attacks. That's why your key statistic should always be points and goal difference.
Backline set to shoot less often, SS set to dribble more, and everyone other than SS set to take more risks.



Good job!
Pushed wingbacks forward so they can participate more in scoring. That also allows them to not lose the ball in dangerous areas when they make mistakes.




Same as 1.59, but with AM instead of CHM.