Chewbacca said: Hi, ZaZ. Apologize, if I might sound stupid but what do you mean when you say player instruction are from Blue? Where I can find those player instructions?
Thanks. Expand
You can find those player instructions in most tactics these days. I say they are instructions from Blue because it's the tactic that made those instructions popular, but I have no ownership over instructions. They just got so close to optimal that it's very hard to create a top tactic without them. If Blue didn't exist and I had never made any tactic, people would still have reached a similar set of player and team instructions.
DoubleR said: What about the green 5.0 tactic you posted?? Expand
Green 5.0 is a natural upgrade from Green 4.0 after inverted players started performing well again in new patch. However, @Geek posted a tactic with the same shape before that, and since player instructions and set pieces are also from Blue, it would make no sense to test Green in FM-Arena.
I actually stop posting lots of tactics because someone already posted a similar one. For example, I didn't post Yellow 3.0 because it got the same shape as this tactic (however, my version uses Vol-Su instead). Other examples are Orange and White, that people posted similar tactics to what I was testing and I also avoided posting. I only posted Green because some people that tried it thought it was really good and wanted me to post, but results will obviously be very similar to that from Geek.
alexej said: Hi Zaz, you working on anything else or does this seam to the peak performance in the current match engine? Expand
I'm trying some tactics, but only subpar results. Lots of people are also trying, but since performance is already very close to optimal, it gets pretty hard to find improvements.
G1102 said: A little update . I was expecting to boss the league , but not like this . Trashed Grimsby , at that moment in second place 6-1 in their home. Exceptional tactic ZaZ. Expand
Gratz! As long as you remember to rest players individually after matches and praise every week after training review, you will keep overachieving for sure, since morale and physical condition are the main reasons why you could go downhill.
robertsseu said: @ZaZ Hi Mate, I know you have added in an attribute sheet about the best possible attributes for those players in the positions. Have you thought about creating a shortlist for some good players that would suit the tactic significantly? I know this could take some time, but it would help massively and I am sure a lot of people with respect it. OR Does something like this exist as I am hoping?
Thanks. Expand
You can ask @Mark about that. He got the best filters for FM Genie Scout, then it's just about searching the best players and saving as a shortlist.
NiD2103 said: I concede a lot of goals atm with Blue 4.0 (playing SC Freiburg in the Bundesliga) and i also have the problem of many offside goals, which in the end sometimes even cost me the game.
Is there anything i might miss? As i said, i'm using the Blue 4.0 Tactic and didn't really changed much (I'm using Light and Solid from time to time like your description said) but i struggle a lot (8 wins, 2 draw, 8 losses currently). Expand
Other than what @Lapidus said, you have to keep in mind that the tactic doesn't make miracles. It will help you overachieve in the league, but if your team is predicted to end last, you will probably end mid table or around the top, but hardly champion (unless it's a very even league).
pixar said: What kind of training program did you use during and before the season when you were a semi-professional? Expand
When you are semi-pro, training for gaining attributes is useless. Your facilities are poor, your staff sucks and your players have low PA. For that reason, it's always better to focus in match bonuses like Teamwork, Defensive Positioning and Attacking Movement. That makes three out of four sessions of the week, considering you have a match during the third day. I use the last session for match practice, because it gives happiness and cohesion.
Droid said: @ZaZ, how is it going in CL? Have you managed to win it yet? Expand
I'm taking it slowly, because I limit myself to play only around 10 matches a day. More than that and I can lose the entire day or weeks in the game, which isn't a good idea for me. I also test some new tactics when I'm not playing, but I didn't get much luck in anything new yet, only subpar options.
I'm now reaching half of the season, 20 matches in the league, and things don't seem so good. I mean, I'm not doing badly, barely the same points per match as last season, but opponents seem to be doing a better job. Since my rep went up, they are now taking me more seriously, so I hope to have a better second half of season. Maybe I'm paying for focusing on UCL and using reserve team in 14 of 20 matches, but it couldn't be helped since I have two matches per week. If I repeat main team in the league, I'll end up tired and injured for the later stages of UCL.
Transfer window opens in one week and board increased my budget to 40mi euros, so I might bring one new face and see how it goes.
xamnat said: Is Blue 4.0 better than Blue DM on the latest patch? Blue DM worked extremely well for me and it seems to be more effective than 4.0 for me so far. Expand
It's better. It's the same tactic, but with improved set pieces. It uses AML/R instead of ML/R, but they have similar performance.
G1102 said: Congrats zaz for a terrific job.I wonder how your third season is going to go , because that's where i stumbled with both Dulwich and Blyth. Anyway, i started a new season , playing with zaz 4.0 , light blue and solid blue and the results have been spectacular. As you can see . When i started to play(picked the team) my media prediction was 5th , but at the start of the season i was somehow predicted 1st. Nontheless the results have been spactacular. Looking forward to Vanarama National which I expect to boss without problems. I started with 13 wins in a row. Expand
Thank you and good luck on your run! As long as you manage well the physical condition and morale of your players, I'm sure you will breeze at least until Sky Bet Championship.
It's also because after so many seasons, I would rather take a break and start in a new setting. AI teams are pretty stupid buying new players, so their teams usually get weaker as time passes.
Obviously, the reputation of your teams has increased after you won the league in the previous so now your opponents take you more seriously which means the difficulty of winning the league will increase gradually. Expand
Thanks! There is a lottery component to cups, since one bad day can make you lose the entire season. That's why I will only try once, so if I win or lose, that's it for the run.
This final season of Concord run will probably be very anti-climatic. Since I won the league last season with points to spare, I expect it to be even easier this time after improving the team. My plan is to use first team on Champions League and in the league when possible, and second team for other cups (and league when there is a Champions League match within three or four days). In the first ten matches of the league, I played most of them with second team and got seven victories.
My last level of training facilities got done, which means I am definitely leaving a legacy to the club other than just bringing them from lowest division to Premier League champions. The team is also very rich and stadium is on the way.
Lucky for me, scouts are doing a very good job at recommending players spontaneously, so I already know who to go for next transfer window (it's currently closed) without even needing to scout manually. I'm not sure if they are recommending better players and more often because scouts have good attributes or if it just got improved in FM22 compared to FM21. Anyway, make sure to always have most scouts in assignments and a couple free for when you want to manually reveal someone.
At continental level, matches went very easy in the group stage and I'm already qualified to knock outs. I expect to have an easy time until it comes to the big teams like PSG, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid or Manchester City, but even then, I think I have a good chance in two matches. My biggest problem will be the finals, so I'll cross my fingers.
If anyone doesn't understand how my team can overachieve despite being weaker than most at Premier League, remember that good tactics can bring the best out of players. We are talking about the top tactic in FM-Arena, so it's only natural that I can compete against stronger opponents and even beat them easily as difference between players shrinks. Other than that, it's just about managing players. Feel free to share your experiences here too, so people understand they can also do the same or even better if they try.
Just started the new season to try winning the Champions League. I hired three new players for the team, all suggested by my scouts since I was too lazy to go head hunting (they are pretty good). Pre-season went fine, scoring 134 goals in 6 matches. To be fair, I played those matches with Light Blue since they were weak teams. Below are the three new transfers and the match with 34 goals.
Season is finally over and Concord finally made it from rags to riches! This season was a bit too easy and I didn't even focus much during the last matches, leaving the game minimized when the my team was winning by two goals. We won the league with a couple of points to spare and a huge difference in goals. As a bonus, we also won the Euro Cup, even though I played it mostly with reserve team (except when league was already decided).
It feels really nice that supporters want to build my statue at the stadium (which is funny since it's in someone's else stadium since ours are still under construction). Other than that, I would like to talk about the match against Porto, in which I was doing bad until the very last minutes, when I did two goals in a row and qualified to the finals. That was a very nice feeling!
Anyway, that was a nice journey. I guess I will try one more season to see if I can lift the Champion's League, but my goal for the run was already achieved.
Below is the FM Scout of my team, if anyone is curious about CA and PA of my team. They are not anything special, so anyone using FM Scout and following the tips I gave in this thread should have an even easier time than I did. I didn't know Peter Smith was so much worse than Gavin Kilkenny, I kept the former because he was the team vice-captain, but would have used the latter if I knew.
If you have any questions or comments about the run, leave it below.
Now at 25 matches in the league and leading by 4 points. I don't want to talk too early, but this season is going easier than I expected. I mean, I lost in both Carabao and FA Cup, but I expected to be fighting head to head in the league until the last match. To be fair, I was expecting to only win Premier League in my third season coming from the bottom. Maybe I got better at choosing players to hire, or better at managing in general, or I'm just having luck with RNG, or maybe the tactic is just better than I expected. Anyway, I guess I'll be able to win the league this season, which was one of the main goals of this run. After that, only Champions League to go, which will depend way more in RNG.
I want to talk about how important it is to choose players properly. First, I will let you compare a young striker from Manchester City (wonderkid) with my best striker in the pictures below. As you can see, there is nothing to compare there, he is better in every single way. When the difference between CA is that big (not sure about exact numbers, but I would assume his striker is 180+ while mine is around 120-130), you need to focus on attributes that really matter. If you check the table of attributes in the first post of Blue, you will see that the priority for ST are acceleration, finishing, dribbling, pace, technique, stamina and work rate, all of which are well covered by my player. Focusing in the right attributes is key to overachieve when you play a weaker team, as well as using a strong tactic, and managing players physically and emotionally.
Another point is that I don't see the CA or PA of players, which means I don't have attachment with anyone. I hire players for the attributes they have right now, not by the attributes they might have in two or three seasons. If I find a player with better attributes and good cost, I just hire him and kick the weakest of my team for that position. I can consider the growth in case there are only options of similar ability, then I keep those that are still growing instead of those that stagnated for several months.
Speaking of choosing players properly, I hired two new players this transfer window, one left wing back (Rayan Aït-Nouri) and one left winger (Bryan Gil). The same day as the winger signed his contract, he got injured for two months. Just my luck! To make things better, my defensive midfielder also got injured for two months, so I recalled a player on loan (Gavin Kilkenny) to replace him. My best defender (Tenden Mengi) also got injured for around two months, but he was easier to manage since I could rotate with the other reserve.
Nebuuuu said: I don`t have these probs. They are usually good on my Offensives. Only classical DCM, sometimes.
I finally finished my 1st season and wow, what a rollercoaster. Bayern was so damn strong and Lewandowski 37 Goals in the Bundesliga. Last Bundesliga game day... I`ve lost (a) 4:6 to Dortmund (Haaland is such a beast..went for 200+Mio. to PSG, when Mbappe went for 0€ to Bayern next season)...had 0 chance (1st season with Hertha) because of Injuries and yeah..player were nervious af.
BUT...Bayern also lost 2:3 (a) to Wolfsburg, so i still won the Bundesliga with only 1p+.
My team had an awesome run with a 4:2 (h) win vs Dortmund, 7:3 win (h)@the german cup vs Dortmund (what a match!), 3:1 (h) win vs Leipzig, 6:2 (a) win vs Gladbach, 5:2 (a) vs Leverkusen etc. But at the final phase of the season, it was getting harder to win. 1:0 vs Mainz, lucky. 1:0 vs Union. 1:0 vs Bielefeld. 0:2 vs Stuttgart.
Bayern went out in the german cup, so it was kinda "easy" after i beat Dortmund 7:3 and then RB Leipzig in the quarterfinal, 113. Min, Gnonto 2:1! Stuttgart in the half-final 1:0, should be a way higher score for us. Bielefeld in the final 3:2, my OMEGA-Talent Brenner(Brazil, young talent 22y, BUY HIM!♥) with a hattrick.
So far, this 1st season was overwhelming good and my squad is pretty good for the 2nd season, even when i will try to sell 3-4 players.
Also the first 2 matches (German-Supercup + 1st League-Match) were already played and it looks promising.
I still don`t had so much impact on the corners, idk why. My CD have good header-stats but yeah. Let`s check the 2nd season. So far, great tactic, again ZaZ. Thx and stay safe everyone. ♥ Expand
Thanks and gratz! The corner routine should score around 10-20 goals a season, depending on the quality of your team. That's around one goal every 3 or 4 matches. Not a lot, but not so little either.
Just some extra insights of things I usually do. In the picture below, you can see I finished the match with one striker in each wing and a defender playing as defensive midfielder. They are all proficient in the positions, just not being trained to play there. For context, this match was played with reserve team because I had an important match against Tottenham (3rd place) after just two days, so I wanted to have main team in good condition. The reason why I used strikers instead of wingers is because they use less energy during a match, meaning they would be able to recover better to next match than if I used wingers. For the defender in defensive midfield, the other player was just suspended, so it was lack of choice.
In the following match against Tottneham, you can see at half time that all players were at very good condition, which allowed me to completely dominate them. Since I didn't have anyone tired, I chose to substitute the guy with yellow card and low rate during half time, to avoid getting someone sent off and because he was probably in a bad day due to consistency / important matches.
I also wanna show something very hard to get, but every manage should try to achieve. After a couple of victories and lots of praises to training, I managed to finally get perfect morale on the team.
Also, I already told here that I always give rest to tired players, usually two days off for those at half heart condition, one day off for those at 75%. However, here I have eight days until next match, so I decided to give three days off to all tired players (half heart) and two days off to everyone else. This is done to reduce fatigue, since by the middle of season you can see most of my team with low fatigue (instead of fresh), even though I'm rotating a lot (players with most matches have around 15 while those with least matches have around 10). The next picture show the results, with everyone fresh before the next match (I gave one extra day off for those that were still fatigued four days before the match).
Thanks.
You can find those player instructions in most tactics these days. I say they are instructions from Blue because it's the tactic that made those instructions popular, but I have no ownership over instructions. They just got so close to optimal that it's very hard to create a top tactic without them. If Blue didn't exist and I had never made any tactic, people would still have reached a similar set of player and team instructions.
Green 5.0 is a natural upgrade from Green 4.0 after inverted players started performing well again in new patch. However, @Geek posted a tactic with the same shape before that, and since player instructions and set pieces are also from Blue, it would make no sense to test Green in FM-Arena.
I actually stop posting lots of tactics because someone already posted a similar one. For example, I didn't post Yellow 3.0 because it got the same shape as this tactic (however, my version uses Vol-Su instead). Other examples are Orange and White, that people posted similar tactics to what I was testing and I also avoided posting. I only posted Green because some people that tried it thought it was really good and wanted me to post, but results will obviously be very similar to that from Geek.
I'm trying some tactics, but only subpar results. Lots of people are also trying, but since performance is already very close to optimal, it gets pretty hard to find improvements.
Trashed Grimsby , at that moment in second place 6-1 in their home.
Exceptional tactic ZaZ.
Gratz! As long as you remember to rest players individually after matches and praise every week after training review, you will keep overachieving for sure, since morale and physical condition are the main reasons why you could go downhill.
Thanks.
You can ask @Mark about that. He got the best filters for FM Genie Scout, then it's just about searching the best players and saving as a shortlist.
Is there anything i might miss?
As i said, i'm using the Blue 4.0 Tactic and didn't really changed much (I'm using Light and Solid from time to time like your description said) but i struggle a lot (8 wins, 2 draw, 8 losses currently).
Other than what @Lapidus said, you have to keep in mind that the tactic doesn't make miracles. It will help you overachieve in the league, but if your team is predicted to end last, you will probably end mid table or around the top, but hardly champion (unless it's a very even league).
When you are semi-pro, training for gaining attributes is useless. Your facilities are poor, your staff sucks and your players have low PA. For that reason, it's always better to focus in match bonuses like Teamwork, Defensive Positioning and Attacking Movement. That makes three out of four sessions of the week, considering you have a match during the third day. I use the last session for match practice, because it gives happiness and cohesion.
Can still be used, but not the most effective in FM-Arena test anymore.
I'm taking it slowly, because I limit myself to play only around 10 matches a day. More than that and I can lose the entire day or weeks in the game, which isn't a good idea for me. I also test some new tactics when I'm not playing, but I didn't get much luck in anything new yet, only subpar options.
I'm now reaching half of the season, 20 matches in the league, and things don't seem so good. I mean, I'm not doing badly, barely the same points per match as last season, but opponents seem to be doing a better job. Since my rep went up, they are now taking me more seriously, so I hope to have a better second half of season. Maybe I'm paying for focusing on UCL and using reserve team in 14 of 20 matches, but it couldn't be helped since I have two matches per week. If I repeat main team in the league, I'll end up tired and injured for the later stages of UCL.
Transfer window opens in one week and board increased my budget to 40mi euros, so I might bring one new face and see how it goes.
It's better. It's the same tactic, but with improved set pieces. It uses AML/R instead of ML/R, but they have similar performance.
Anyway, i started a new season , playing with zaz 4.0 , light blue and solid blue and the results have been spectacular. As you can see . When i started to play(picked the team) my media prediction was 5th , but at the start of the season i was somehow predicted 1st.
Nontheless the results have been spactacular. Looking forward to Vanarama National which I expect to boss without problems.
I started with 13 wins in a row.
Thank you and good luck on your run! As long as you manage well the physical condition and morale of your players, I'm sure you will breeze at least until Sky Bet Championship.
Obviously, the reputation of your teams has increased after you won the league in the previous so now your opponents take you more seriously which means the difficulty of winning the league will increase gradually.
Thanks! There is a lottery component to cups, since one bad day can make you lose the entire season. That's why I will only try once, so if I win or lose, that's it for the run.
My last level of training facilities got done, which means I am definitely leaving a legacy to the club other than just bringing them from lowest division to Premier League champions. The team is also very rich and stadium is on the way.
Lucky for me, scouts are doing a very good job at recommending players spontaneously, so I already know who to go for next transfer window (it's currently closed) without even needing to scout manually. I'm not sure if they are recommending better players and more often because scouts have good attributes or if it just got improved in FM22 compared to FM21. Anyway, make sure to always have most scouts in assignments and a couple free for when you want to manually reveal someone.
At continental level, matches went very easy in the group stage and I'm already qualified to knock outs. I expect to have an easy time until it comes to the big teams like PSG, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid or Manchester City, but even then, I think I have a good chance in two matches. My biggest problem will be the finals, so I'll cross my fingers.
If anyone doesn't understand how my team can overachieve despite being weaker than most at Premier League, remember that good tactics can bring the best out of players. We are talking about the top tactic in FM-Arena, so it's only natural that I can compete against stronger opponents and even beat them easily as difference between players shrinks. Other than that, it's just about managing players. Feel free to share your experiences here too, so people understand they can also do the same or even better if they try.
It feels really nice that supporters want to build my statue at the stadium (which is funny since it's in someone's else stadium since ours are still under construction). Other than that, I would like to talk about the match against Porto, in which I was doing bad until the very last minutes, when I did two goals in a row and qualified to the finals. That was a very nice feeling!
Anyway, that was a nice journey. I guess I will try one more season to see if I can lift the Champion's League, but my goal for the run was already achieved.
Below is the FM Scout of my team, if anyone is curious about CA and PA of my team. They are not anything special, so anyone using FM Scout and following the tips I gave in this thread should have an even easier time than I did. I didn't know Peter Smith was so much worse than Gavin Kilkenny, I kept the former because he was the team vice-captain, but would have used the latter if I knew.
If you have any questions or comments about the run, leave it below.
I want to talk about how important it is to choose players properly. First, I will let you compare a young striker from Manchester City (wonderkid) with my best striker in the pictures below. As you can see, there is nothing to compare there, he is better in every single way. When the difference between CA is that big (not sure about exact numbers, but I would assume his striker is 180+ while mine is around 120-130), you need to focus on attributes that really matter. If you check the table of attributes in the first post of Blue, you will see that the priority for ST are acceleration, finishing, dribbling, pace, technique, stamina and work rate, all of which are well covered by my player. Focusing in the right attributes is key to overachieve when you play a weaker team, as well as using a strong tactic, and managing players physically and emotionally.
Another point is that I don't see the CA or PA of players, which means I don't have attachment with anyone. I hire players for the attributes they have right now, not by the attributes they might have in two or three seasons. If I find a player with better attributes and good cost, I just hire him and kick the weakest of my team for that position. I can consider the growth in case there are only options of similar ability, then I keep those that are still growing instead of those that stagnated for several months.
Speaking of choosing players properly, I hired two new players this transfer window, one left wing back (Rayan Aït-Nouri) and one left winger (Bryan Gil). The same day as the winger signed his contract, he got injured for two months. Just my luck! To make things better, my defensive midfielder also got injured for two months, so I recalled a player on loan (Gavin Kilkenny) to replace him. My best defender (Tenden Mengi) also got injured for around two months, but he was easier to manage since I could rotate with the other reserve.
Only classical DCM, sometimes.
I finally finished my 1st season and wow, what a rollercoaster.
Bayern was so damn strong and Lewandowski 37 Goals in the Bundesliga.
Last Bundesliga game day...
I`ve lost (a) 4:6 to Dortmund (Haaland is such a beast..went for 200+Mio. to PSG, when Mbappe went for 0€ to Bayern next season)...had 0 chance (1st season with Hertha) because of Injuries and yeah..player were nervious af.
BUT...Bayern also lost 2:3 (a) to Wolfsburg, so i still won the Bundesliga with only 1p+.
My team had an awesome run with a 4:2 (h) win vs Dortmund, 7:3 win (h)@the german cup vs Dortmund (what a match!), 3:1 (h) win vs Leipzig, 6:2 (a) win vs Gladbach, 5:2 (a) vs Leverkusen etc.
But at the final phase of the season, it was getting harder to win.
1:0 vs Mainz, lucky.
1:0 vs Union.
1:0 vs Bielefeld.
0:2 vs Stuttgart.
Bayern went out in the german cup, so it was kinda "easy" after i beat Dortmund 7:3 and then RB Leipzig in the quarterfinal, 113. Min, Gnonto 2:1!
Stuttgart in the half-final 1:0, should be a way higher score for us.
Bielefeld in the final 3:2, my OMEGA-Talent Brenner(Brazil, young talent 22y, BUY HIM!♥) with a hattrick.
So far, this 1st season was overwhelming good and my squad is pretty good for the 2nd season, even when i will try to sell 3-4 players.
Also the first 2 matches (German-Supercup + 1st League-Match) were already played and it looks promising.
I still don`t had so much impact on the corners, idk why.
My CD have good header-stats but yeah. Let`s check the 2nd season.
So far, great tactic, again ZaZ. Thx and stay safe everyone. ♥
Thanks and gratz! The corner routine should score around 10-20 goals a season, depending on the quality of your team. That's around one goal every 3 or 4 matches. Not a lot, but not so little either.
In the following match against Tottneham, you can see at half time that all players were at very good condition, which allowed me to completely dominate them. Since I didn't have anyone tired, I chose to substitute the guy with yellow card and low rate during half time, to avoid getting someone sent off and because he was probably in a bad day due to consistency / important matches.
I also wanna show something very hard to get, but every manage should try to achieve. After a couple of victories and lots of praises to training, I managed to finally get perfect morale on the team.
Also, I already told here that I always give rest to tired players, usually two days off for those at half heart condition, one day off for those at 75%. However, here I have eight days until next match, so I decided to give three days off to all tired players (half heart) and two days off to everyone else. This is done to reduce fatigue, since by the middle of season you can see most of my team with low fatigue (instead of fresh), even though I'm rotating a lot (players with most matches have around 15 while those with least matches have around 10). The next picture show the results, with everyone fresh before the next match (I gave one extra day off for those that were still fatigued four days before the match).