ZaZ - Blue 3.0

This is Blue 3.0, a high intensity tactic that I have been using with great success. Other people have also tried it and confirmed the efficiency, consistently delivering good results with very entertaining football, from semi-professional teams to the crowd favorites. Without further ado, here is the tactic.

Since some people on consoles were asking for the team instructions, they are presented below.
Spoiler



The formation is a 4-4-2 with Shadow Strikers instead of conventional forwards. When in possession, the Inverted Wing Backs become midfielders and the Central Midfielder becomes an attacker, working effectively as a 2-5-3. The Central Midfielder and Shadow Strikers score the majority of goals, while the assists are evenly distributed among all players, mainly using through balls to the center.

For player instructions, all player have Get Further Forward, Dribble More, Shoot Less Often, Take More Risks and Tackle Harder (except goalkeeper), when available. Other than that, Ball Playing Defenders get Stay Wider, Central Midfield gets Move Into Channels and Defensive Wingers get Cross From Byline.

There are no opponent instructions or set piece takers, and wingers should have the same foot as their side. Feel free to change DW for W or DLP to DM if it fits your taste, since it makes little difference as long as you keep the player instructions.

Main attributes for players are Pace and Acceleration. Agility and Dribbling come next in importance. More information in the link below.
https://fm-arena.com/table/9-important-attributes/

Here are the results of a holiday test with Manchester City and Fulham, predicted 1st and 20th respectively. Manchester City also won the UCL. The stats of Best XI (picked by assistant manager) and performance analysis are also below.




My training schedules are available below. In-Season is focused in increasing chance of winning during current season, including attacking movements, defensive position and teamwork for next match bonuses, quickness for most important attributes, match practice and team bonding for happiness and cohesion, and recovery to prevent injuries. There is also a schedule for two matches, with lighter training so the best eleven can be used in both matches. Pre-Season focuses in quickness for most important attributes and endurance to improve condition and avoid injuries during season, with one friendly per week (I also usually do pre-season in double intensity). Move training sessions if your match days are different and use friendlies on reserve/youth team to keep secondary squad players fit. I always set up position training to tactic role and individual training to quickness (or GK reactions).

Below are the training schedules for those on consoles.
Spoiler Pre-Season

In-Season, one and two matches. For two matches, I left training light since some people like to play the best eleven in every match.


Below are the set pieces, for those on consoles. They are a tweak from set pieces from earlier versions of Blue, Void from @Cyborg, Motion from @Egraam and Phoenix from @Magician. More information in this thread.
Spoiler












Against stronger teams, a good trick is to start the match with Cautious mentality (Solid Blue), then change back to Positive (Blue 3.0) or Very Attacking (Dark Blue 3.0) on the second half. It works because players from stronger teams crack down at half time when not winning, or get complacent when winning even by one goal. Then you can surprise them and snatch a win while their performance goes down. Against weaker teams, it's often better to just start with Very Attacking mentality. If you are also training Light Blue and Dark Blue, the change in mentality won't affect your tactical affinity.

In my case, I usually train three tactics: Blue 3.0, Solid Blue 3.0 and Light Blue 3.0. I use Blue to maximize my chance to win, Solid Blue to minimize goals conceded and Light Blue to save energy and avoid bookings. As a basic rule, I use Blue by default, Solid Blue when winning by two goals and Light Blue when winning by three or more. Against stronger teams, I use Solid Blue in the first half, then Blue in the second half, as described in the above paragraph.

Changes
V2.1
- Improved set pieces

V2.2
- Added Use Tighter Marking

V3.0
- Removed Use Tighter Marking

Leave a comment below if you liked the tactic and make sure to share your results. Enjoy!

- Use Light Blue 3.0 when you have a comfortable lead. It's a tactic developed to concede less goals, receive less cards and save some energy, at the cost of less scoring opportunities.
- If your only objective is to concede less goals, then use Solid Blue 3.0. It's Blue 3.0 with cautious mentality and Slow Pace Down, so it defends better without decreasing your chance of winning.
- Use Dark Blue 3.0 when you are desperate for goals. It's Blue 3.0 with very attacking mentality.

I can declare — this is the best tactic i used this FM, atleast for me.
I made a couple of holiday tests besides my main save and look at results!

Elche, 20th place predicted, took 4th!

What do you do for individual training?
Player roles or playing position?
General training by assistant?

skywalk3r83 said: What do you do for individual training?
Player roles or playing position?
General training by assistant? Expand

I do player roles for individual. For general training, I always have Attacking Movement, Defending Movement and Teamwork before every match. Before decisions, I also add Set Pieces Delivery. Other than that, I add Match Practice and Team Bonding for cohesion and happiness, and Recovery to prevent injuries. All the rest is usually optional, like one physical if I have full weak of training, overall or outfield.

Thanks!

Added Light Blue 2.0, a tactic to save energy, concede less goals and make less fouls, to be used when you have a comfortable lead (I use when winning by two goals of difference).

Great tactic,it's like made for West Ham too

@ZaZ
I saw in the Corner Set Piece that MR and ML take the corners. But sometime when watching the highlight the AMC take it. Is it a bug ?

ta2199 said: @ZaZ
I saw in the Corner Set Piece that MR and ML take the corners. But sometime when watching the highlight the AMC take it. Is it a bug ? Expand

My set pieces were based on Duke's, then I made experiments until I started getting good results. I didn't pay much attention to what you said, only numbers by the end of a season. I will check during matches if it really happens, then try to understand why it happens. I believe it might have to do with difference in attributes or maybe substitutions during the match. I will check and let you know.

P.S.: I usually play with key highlights and never noticed. I might be blind.

ZaZ said: My set pieces were based on Duke's, then I made experiments until I started getting good results. I didn't pay much attention to what you said, only numbers by the end of a season. I will check during matches if it really happens, then try to understand why it happens. I believe it might have to do with difference in attributes or maybe substitutions during the match. I will check and let you know.

P.S.: I usually play with key highlights and never noticed. I might be blind. Expand
I started a save with Man Utd and sometime not Rashford ( ML ) and James ( MR ) take it, but Bruno ( AMC ) take it

Hi, I'm an old time player, I have played every edition from the old days of CM up until FM 2018, and actively participated in forums like the official SI Community and FM-Base. Due to lack of time in real life I skipped the last two versions but got back now in FM 2021. However with less time to play I searched for a really good plug and play tactic and found this. I signed up to this site just to say thank you to ZaZ for creating and sharing this tactic. I'm still in the beggining of my save but results have been far better than expected. I know it's only the state championship, but look at the table:

Mrcl25 said: Hi, I'm an old time player, I have played every edition from the old days of CM up until FM 2018, and actively participated in forums like the official SI Community and FM-Base. Due to lack of time in real life I skipped the last two versions but got back now in FM 2021. However with less time to play I searched for a really good plug and play tactic and found this. I signed up to this site just to say thank you to ZaZ for creating and sharing this tactic. I'm still in the beggining of my save but results have been far better than expected. I know it's only the state championship, but look at the table:

Expand

Thank you! I suppose Palmeiras is the favorite in the championship, right? Good results there. Remember that the most important attributes for any player are Acceleration and Pace, with Agility and Dribbling right after. You can check those stats in https://fm-arena.com/table/9-player-attributes-importance/. Also, I am optimizing the set pieces for Blue 2.0, so I might release a 2.1 version soon, improved in that area. Have fun!

@ZaZ 
Any ideas to improve DM position ? I even have De Jong played there but still ~6.8 6.9 point

ta2199 said: @ZaZ 
Any ideas to improve DM position ? I even have De Jong played there but still ~6.8 6.9 point Expand

Can you please open the page of your DM, then hover your mouse over reports (at the top) and click form? Then send me a print screen to analyze, please. Knowing what he is doing wrong will help finding a way to improve.

ZaZ said: Can you please open the page of your DM, then hover your mouse over reports (at the top) and click form? Then send me a print screen to analyze, please. Knowing what he is doing wrong will help finding a way to improve. Expand
This is with De Jong
I've tried change to DM(De) - The goal concede is less but still get bad point.
I got 2nd with Fullham, only 1 point behind Liverpool

ta2199 said: This is with De Jong
I've tried change to DM(De) - The goal concede is less but still get bad point.
I got 2nd with Fullham, only 1 point behind Liverpool Expand

Gonna watch a couple of matches to see if I spot something. I tried different roles for DM and only DM - Su had similar results to DLP - Su. That doesn't mean there isn't anything better, just that I couldn't spot the improvement. The low grades might just be because it's a transition role, doing short passes instead of key actions. If you check the numbers, it doesn't tackle much, it doesn't dribble, doesn't shoot or do other active actions, but it has a very high number of passes made per match, around double of other players. Maybe it just performs bad against teams with crowded midfield, or with good individual marking on him by some quality player. Anyway, I will watch in matches and see what causes the bad grades, but I have a feeling that it's just missed passes, since that position has the most passes made

ZaZ said: Gonna watch a couple of matches to see if I spot something. I tried different roles for DM and only DM - Su had similar results to DLP - Su. That doesn't mean there isn't anything better, just that I couldn't spot the improvement. The low grades might just be because it's a transition role, doing short passes instead of key actions. If you check the numbers, it doesn't tackle much, it doesn't dribble, doesn't shoot or do other active actions, but it has a very high number of passes made per match, around double of other players. Maybe it just performs bad against teams with crowded midfield, or with good individual marking on him by some quality player. Anyway, I will watch in matches and see what causes the bad grades, but I have a feeling that it's just missed passes, since that position has the most passes made Expand

I think It because all the key pass doesnt come from DLP. He only there for filling the hole between midfields and defenders

ta2199 said: I think It because all the key pass doesnt come from DLP. He only there for filling the hole between midfields and defenders Expand

There are two things that I would test. First is to set DLP pass to shorter in player instructions. Second would be setting it to DM - Su to use the player instruction take less risks. Then  I would see if any of this improves the tactic or if they make it worse.

However, I am currently testing some new set pieces. Can you test those two options instead and tell me if any of them is any good, please?

P.S.: There's a possibility that it just can't be improved for this tactic, because of the role it plays. How many times have we seem a real life manager insisting in a player that the supporters hate, but he keeps saying that player is fundamental to the tactic?

ZaZ said: There are two things that I would test. First is to set DLP pass to shorter in player instructions. Second would be setting it to DM - Su to use the player instruction take less risks. Then  I would see if any of this improves the tactic or if they make it worse.

However, I am currently testing some new set pieces. Can you test those two options instead and tell me if any of them is any good, please?

P.S.: There's a possibility that it just can't be improved for this tactic, because of the role it plays. How many times have we seem a real life manager insisting in a player that the supporters hate, but he keeps saying that player is fundamental to the tactic? Expand

Yeah I've tested and I do beleived It can't be improved

ta2199 said: Yeah I've tested and I do beleived It can't be improved Expand

Then it's just that, the transition position that doesn't shine, but makes everyone work well.

Switched to this tactic midseason, changed from the Defensive Winger role to Winger, did great for me, won the Champions League and FA Cup in my Forest Save! Unfortunately lost the Premier League title on the last day to Derby even though we had a way better xG than them, nonetheless its a great tactic

@ZaZ
If I want more attacking power, should I changed mentality to Attacking or Very Attacking ?

infxamus said: Switched to this tactic midseason, changed from the Defensive Winger role to Winger, did great for me, won the Champions League and FA Cup in my Forest Save! Unfortunately lost the Premier League title on the last day to Derby even though we had a way better xG than them, nonetheless its a great tactic Expand

Who cares about the League when you win UCL, right? Good results there, gratz!


ta2199 said: @ZaZ If I want more attacking power, should I changed mentality to Attacking or Very Attacking ? Expand

I would only change that if you are desperate, then you probably should go with very attacking instead. I might try to make a more attacking version for people that wants entertainment, but I tested before and it didn't get a good balance, performing worse than positive mentality. I will try to adjust some stuff like pass directness, width and such and see if I can make it perform well with attacking, so people can use it that way even when not desperate. But first I must finish my set pieces, it's looking good right now.

Just did a holiday run to see the impact of new patch. Results are still acceptable. I will run more tests to see how it's performing, then try to find some improvements in the tactic.

ZaZ said: Just did a holiday run to see the impact of new patch. Results are still acceptable. I will run more tests to see how it's performing, then try to find some improvements in the tactic.
Expand

Ok, I guess we can confirm that it still works.

Today I discoverd that If I only set the match plan like this

The AM will change the mentality to Balance instead of Positive during the game

ta2199 said: Today I discoverd that If I only set the match plan like this

The AM will change the mentality to Balance instead of Positive during the game Expand

Try to add Blue 2.0 when winning 1+ or not winning. Not sure if that's the problem, but it shouldn't go to balanced ever. Bad programming there.

ZaZ said: Try to add Blue 2.0 when winning 1+ or not winning. Not sure if that's the problem, but it shouldn't go to balanced ever. Bad programming there. Expand

Yeah, so you guys have to be cautious about that.
Even when you are drawing or losing 1,2,3 goal or winning 1 goal the assistant will change mentality to Balanced
But still I have good result with it, so @ZaZ maybe have a look with Balanced mentality

ta2199 said: Yeah, so you guys have to be cautious about that.
Even when you are drawing or losing 1,2,3 goal or winning 1 goal the assistant will change mentality to Balanced
But still I have good result with it, so @ZaZ maybe have a look with Balanced mentality Expand

Gonna check everything as soon as I am done with set pieces. Had to redo everything. Two more batches to go before I am done.