Bust The Net

Daljit Singh / BUST THE NET - THE FOOTBALL MANAGERS GUIDE(K) / 1
Bust the Net

The Football Managers Guide
Daljit Singh Copyright © 2015 Daljit Singh
Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Dedication and Acknowledgments 6
1. The Tactical Creator 7
The Basics Explained 8
Player Instructions Explained 25
Opposition Instructions Explained 28
Set Pieces 31
2. Understanding Player Selection 34
Player Attributes 35
Choosing the right roles 40
Player Roles 42
Modifying Roles with PPMs 63
Modifying Roles with PIs 70
Core Role Attributes and Duties 73
3. The Basics of Making Tactics 86
Tactics - Things get interesting 87
Defend Combinations 91
Static Defences 95
Midfield Combinations and making them work together 98
Attack Combinations 107
4. The Big Picture 113
Understanding Transitions 114
The Fine Art of Attacking 125
The Fine Art of Defending 131
How to Make In-Game Changes like a Pro 137
Second Season Dilemma 143
5. The Super System 145
Making your Super System 146
Applications - 442 & 5122160
Application - 4231 170
Creating Unique Styles of Football 176
Let's Make Some Tactics 179
6. Training 185
Training. Newgens and Scouting 186
Why write a book on a game? 215
INTRODUCTION
It’s your first day, you’ve spent thousands on a new personal computer, and you can’t wait to
fire up Football Manager, the world’s best selling football simulation game. For months now
you’ve dreamt of taking your beloved club to the pinnacle of success, and you believe that
with the right mix of players and some hard work you will get it done. You’re stoked.
After spending a few hours setting the game up just right and satisfied that you have found
the best talents that your budget allows, you begin preparations for preseason. The future
looks good, you’re all set and the first couple of friendlies give you confidence for the season
to come.
Then the reality sinks in, the league starts and you begin to see things going wrong. You
can’t figure out why your players are not coming to support the defence as you begin to leak
goals. Chances are being created. After all, your preseason friendlies and the first few
matches of the season went well. What could possibly have gone wrong? Your frustration
grows, in desperation you download a tactic and follow the instructions implicitly. Things turn
around and you heave a huge sigh of relief, and then without warning, it all comes crashing
down again. The teams start playing defensively against you, if the artificial intelligence
inside the game was a real person, you’d want to lash out. Instead you smash the monitor.
In anger you start scouring the forums of Sports Interactive for help, and then you get even
more confused. There’s too much information, you don’t know where to begin, and now, the
game looks almost impossible to beat.
Well, this book is for you. It’s been a few years in the making and it's a collection of old
knowledge that I shared and some new insights. Football Manager is built on 2.7million lines
of bespoke code. Built from the ground up, the match engine has evolved over the years.
The match engine appears complicated to some people, but Sports Interactive (SI), have
said many times that they want to make the best football simulation in the world. And as
technology matures the engine evolves. However getting the engine and the 3D engine to
work seamlessly together is a huge challenge. SI make incremental changes to the engine
each year so that the challenges introduced by these changes are easier to manage. In
FM16, defensive reactions of players was a pet peeve for many, and SI worked to improve
them.
One might think that the changes introduced make it vital to re-learn how the engine
translates football, actually, that’s far from the truth. And that is one of the biggest myths in
the game. This book is about debunking myths. I endeavour to explain the elements of the
game so that you can enjoy it the same way I do.
If you want to be the kind of manager who wants to immerse yourself into the fantasy of
standing by the touchlines gesticulating to your team and getting them to play the way you
want, then this is the book for you. My goal is understand the language of the game, and
how that translates into real football. I don’t promise to be perfect, but I will do my best to
make it easy. In the pages of this book I will explain how you can make the game into a
simple dance between 4 parties : Roles, Duties, Mentality and Shape and hopefully you
don’t step on your partner’s foot.
When SI introduced the tactical creator, I was there as one of the midwives. We had a
simple goal, we wanted users to be able to make in-game changes easily without having to
dig under the hood. With a shout change here and a role change there, the goal was to allow
the user to experience the game in the simplest way possible. To do that however, the user
does require some fundamental knowledge, and this is where SI fell short.
In order for an FM manager to outperform expectations in the game, he needs to understand

how the different elements of the game interact with each other. He needs to understand
how a a simple shout, role change or even a slight change to player instructions, can
sometimes be more effective than changing a tactic. He also needs to understand what to
look out for when transitions fail. Over the years, SI have introduced in-game tools such as
in-game team and individual analysis features. These do help, but its hard for the average
user to know where to begin.
Within the pages of this book, I have tried to condense everything I know, and I would like to
add that I will be adding more and more content to this book, There is so much to write
about. As ideas go, sometimes they are hard to stop. I want to help you build your own
super-systems, by doing so you should be able to take the same principles you will
eventually build for yourself and use them again and again in every version of the game,
post FM15 of course. Why does this not really apply to games prior to FM15? That’s
because Shape was fundamentally changed in that edition.
I have several reasons for wanting to publish this book. First and foremost, it can’t be purely
financial, as these books may only help partially cover the cost of running BusttheNet the
Youtube channel and the hosting and development costs for Addictedtofm.com, my website.
In the long run, I want to develop more resources so that better quality videos and features
get written. I do coach people on how to play FM, for a token amount, and they have all
improved. All of them have now saved money on replacing the monitors they had smashed
out of frustration, and now they are in a position to enjoy themselves and even help others.
They have encouraged me to pen my thoughts, and so within the chapters of this books, you
will find, almost everything I know. I doubt that this book is comprehensive enough, and
while I keep adding more and more information, I do feel that at some time, it does need to
get published. I pray that there is enough information in this book to help you.
So what can you expect from this book?
When I play this game I keep thing easy. I set up one tactic, and hardly ever change things.
In order to be able to do things like that, you need to understand how to set things up. And,
that’s the purpose of this book or guide.
Within the book you will find explanations of player roles and how to decide what the key
attributes are for each role. I also break down the tactical creator and explain everything I
know. Then we put things together by helping you create a tactic that will outlast any team.
By then you should be able to create a template of success with your side.
1
All you need to do is identify the key qualities your side must always have, and this will
define how you scout players and fit them into your system. We then take a look how duties
combine together to create systems, and how these influence transitions.
Fitting all these together we then get a broader picture of how teams move up and down
together as a unit. These are all the ingredients of making a super system. We then take a
look at various tactics and how we could apply these. We also show how you can assess
your tactics, players and adjust things when the going gets tough.
Finally, we take a look at how you can develop your squad and what you can do to ensure
long term success. And the beauty of this way of playing is that you won’t need to change
things for future versions of the game
Before we begin, one piece of bad news. SI told me a few days before the launch of the
book that they would not be allowing me the use of any screenshots, l. Well I can
understand that, so this book will feature some diagrams I whipped up myself and others
courtesy of Tacticalpedia, who allowed me the use of the images from their app.
Dedication
There are a lot of people who have in one way or another contributed to this book's
existence. Without Cleon from Sisportscentre.com, I would never have thought of writing,
without Richard I wouldn't have bothered with gramma. You really need to read wwfan's stuff
to find out what I mean. Over the years both have ended up being friends of mine and Cleon
well we've both been through a lot over the years. Through it all, we've kept in touch and
shared the pain of being content creators.
Let's not forget all the mods present and past, here and in spirit. They put in the hours to
help a community in too many ways to describe.
A special group next - those who have kept me going; the guys at the Deep Lying Podcast -
Ed and George, who keep me company on long drives, Guido who deserves every
recognition for his work on Strikerless.com and the rest who have supported me and
encouraged me to go on when I wanted to stop.
Tim Clare, my very first "client", he kept prodding me to help him and finally suggested I
coach him, which was pretty much what I was already doing in real life, but for FM? You
encouraged me to keep plugging at my book even when I felt like it wasn't good enough, and
even insisted I release it when I thought that I could add even more.
Finally, I doubt she will ever read this, my beautiful wife Genevieve, who amazingly still
tolerates me and has never once thought of using FM as a tool for divorce, unlike my first
wife.
This book is dedicated to all of you and to everyone in the community who has kept faith
with me. Thank you.
Acknowledgments
This book was saved at the very last minute by Fernando Closs, CEO of Tacticalpedia. They
are a small company that has released an application for coaches to use for football drills.
Their app allowed me to recreate formations. I know that the app is able to do a lot more
simply by following their Twitter feed, and my use of it was limited, so I do apologise for not
doing it enough justice. I plan on doing a few videos using that app.
Over time I plan to fix that.
And to the few in a tower somewhere.

The Tactical Creator
In this section we explain the basic concepts behind the tactical creator
and how you can use it to set up the right roles and duties for your team. This
is the basic framework and understanding this section is crucial before
advancing to the more detailed sections
THE BASICS EXPLAINED - TACTICAL CREATOR

At the heart of tactics lies the Tactical Creator, we use it and so does the AI Manager. The AI
manager adapts to situations and the opponent it faces. So if you’re on a good run, then
there is a possibility the AI will switch to a defensive system against you. The AI does not
play one single tactic for a whole season. So expect the AI to change a tactic during a
season or even in a match. The AI can also use the same tactic and change mentalities/
shapes and role and duty combinations in a game. The AI uses the same tactical creator
that humans use, it does not have a magic “W” button, so whatever the AI can do to you, you
can do to the AI.
The first thing you should understand is that your style of football is determined by a
combination of mentality, shape, roles and duties, player instructions and team instructions.
A lot of managers mistakenly assume that the lower mentality scales will force a team to play
unattractive football. They are merely isolating one feature of the tactical creator and making
a false assumption.
When choosing any tactic the formation that you pick will determine the shape of your team
when you defend the ball in your half. That tactic on the grid you see after choosing a
formation indicates the positions the players will fall back into once you lose the ball. How
the team looks in attack depends on how you mix the cocktail : Mentality, Shape, Roles &
Duties, Player Instructions and Team Instructions. Even attributes and player preferred
moves need to be considered as factors that could cause a tactic to look different in attack
than expectations. A midfielder who’s more aggressive and has better anticipation, may
charge out earlier to close down someone than another midfielder with different attributes.
The relationship between Mentality, Shapes, Roles and Duties even individual Player
Instructions is important to understand. Each of these play a big part in making a tactical
system work. It’s the interrelationship that many managers have issues with and the
purpose of this guide is to demystify things as far as possible. Let’s begin by breaking down
the Tactical Creator options. You will find these on the Tactics page in the game when you
are trying to make a tactic. I am sure most of you can find where that is, without the need for
an image from the game.
ELEMENTS OF THE TACTICAL CREATOR
MENTALITY
Mentality is a risk barometer. It instructs the team on how much risk is acceptable. This will
affect the type of passes it will do, the direction the passes will take and how players move
on and off the ball.
To understand how mentalities affect your transitions I will be referring to transitions in the
defensive third, middle third and final third in this book. The football pitch is broadly divided
into thirds, and the goal of any system is to find ways of controlling space in these areas.
Let me go through some of the basic definitions and then I will delve into them and redefine
and explain them.
On defensive mentalities a team will defend with the ball and counter immediately if the
opposition defence is exposed. It plays on a lower tempo where passes are considered
carefully, and the narrow width allows a team to be more compact. The team will play with a
low defensive line and contain sides outside their defensive third. The side will try to play low
risk football and if a player is not an easy target to pass to, they could even end up clearing
the ball.
On counter mentalities a team will wait for openings, it will also consider options before
attacking, and the narrower width keeps the side compact. The side will play with a medium
to low defensive line and contain sides outside their defensive half
On balanced mentalities a team will consider options and stay compact, and play with a
balanced defensive line. This mentality is called Standard Mentality in the game and the side
looks to maintain an even risk profile. It's a good starting mentality to play when you aren't
sure.
On control mentalities a team will build attacks and move the ball quickly and attempt to
stretch the play out. They will play with a medium to high defensive line and pressure the
opposition in their half. Their passing may be mixed to direct.
On attacking mentalities a team will build attacks more quickly, there is more positional
fluidity and the ball will move much more quickly as the play is stretched out wide. The side
will play with a high defensive line and pressure the opposition in their defensive third
On overload mentalities they will counter attack immediately, the team will play on instinct
and will always use the full width of the pitch. The defensive line will be on the highest
settings and they will pressure immediately.
SHAPE
Shape affects how mentality and creative freedom are distributed across a team. On lower
shape settings there is more distinction in duties. This means that during transitions the
team will be more organised when they move in and out of a phase. On higher shape
settings, there is more creative freedom and mentality splits are not so common. More
players will share the same mentality, this means that during transitions a team will appear
to lose shape.
On more structured systems there tends to be more space to explore between duties, the
same cannot be said for more fluid systems. This gives the impression that fluid systems are
more compact. When playing fluid shapes, your team generally needs to be the technically
more proficient relative to its opposition. Your team does not have to be the most technically
proficient team, it just needs to be better than who they are playing against. On structured
shapes, because the side generally has lower creative freedom, teams will also need to
have some players acting in the role of playmakers and others ready to exploit space with
attacking runs. These attackers should have decent off the ball and acceleration.
Since FM16 Shape has grown in importance, a side can easily become unbalanced if the
wrong Shape settings are used.
Shape settings affect how much players are permitted to improvise on the ball and how
players are organised into distinct groups. More fluid setups encourage more player
improvisation and player expressiveness. Setups that are more structured will do the
opposite.
A fluid system will see players do things that they may not ordinarily try. In a structured
system play will be more precise and methodical, unless players are specifically instructed
by being given a more creative role within the system.
Consider for a moment that you are playing a 532 structured system with a regista and 2
complete wing-backs. These players will transcend the limits of expression because their
roles are hardcoded to be more expressive. If they are the only “creative” players in the team
then there will be fewer players overcomplicating play and this can result in more efficient
build up play. Structured systems are more reliant on creative players to pull off moves with
more flair.
Highly structured and structured systems are good for managers who want to build their play
around specific creative midfielders. The two shape settings are similar to the difference
being that the latter will see slightly more adventurous play from wide players.
Flexible shapes are a safe choice for the majority of managers who like to organise the side
around the strengths of individual players.
Fluid and very fluid shapes are fairly similar, the difference being that the latter is more
expressive and can suit teams playing with more flamboyant players.
TEMPO
Tempo affects decision making and penetration. Low tempo means that players will take a
moment or two and assess the situation when given the chance to do so. Higher tempo
settings mean that players make decisions quickly and this can affect how the ball may
move across the pitch. This can help create openings for penetration but it can also lead to
more misplaced passes or misjudging teammates movements off the ball.
In most cases you don’t need to adjust tempo unless you want to achieve something
different. Short passing style with higher tempo will place greater demands on teams. You
will be looking at your side to move off the ball fast, so the side must have the technical
ability to do so. Or you could play an intentionally low tempo game for sides who want to
play a long passing styles to invite pressure back on them.
DEFENSIVE LINE
All that any manager needs to understand is that there are broadly 3 defensive line settings,
within these 3 broad settings, there are sub-settings - Low, Medium and High. In the tactical
creator you may see this expressed in 5 settings. Simply put, a low defensive line is where
the team retreats into their defensive third, playing a deep defence. A medium line is when
they are positioned at or above the edge of their defensive third. And a high line is when they
are defending near the halfway line.
You can play a high pressing low risk style of football, by telling your side to play with a lower
mentality and a higher defensive line. This creates a patient build up with an aggressive
defending style. Or play with a higher mentality and a lower defensive line, which would
translate to a higher risk physical style of play.
CLOSING DOWN
Closing Down, Defensive line and Mentality are linked. Closing down affects how quickly a
team applies pressure. A balanced closing down setting keeps it close to the defensive line
settings. If you are playing a high defensive line, the team will be more compact when they
press, and this can be dangerous because they are vulnerable to over the top balls. If a
manager uses a low defensive line, with a balanced closing down setting, the team will
ensure that opposition players don’t get too much time on the ball to pick out a pass in the
final third.
If you increase this higher, the team will press higher up the pitch, usually committing a
midfielder or two to step out and apply pressure. This can stretch your defence and open up
space behind. If you adjust this lower, the team will stay compact for a longer time, inviting
the opposition to play through them
PASSING DIRECTNESS
This adjusts the team passing style, tempo and width. A lower setting will encourage the
team to play short passes while a higher setting will encourage them to go long. It does not
mean they will always play short or long, it just defines a general tendency. Playing longer
balls encourages a team to apply faster penetration to unmarked attacking players while a
shorter passing style encourages them to look for support close by and relies on off the ball
movement in midfield for the ball to move into attack.
Shorter passing, encourages more combination play like one-touch passing. More direct
passing will encourage more angled, early crosses and longer defence splitting through
balls. This will also affect tempo, Lower passing directness will result in a lower temp
ensuring that players are give time to pass the ball and move into space for the next pass.
You can manually adjust the tempo settings but this can result in misplaced passes, if the
players don’t have the attributes or are not able to get into position to receive the pass.
On higher passing directness settings players will look to make deep passes to forwards and
attacking players more often. There is a strong chance of misplaced passes if the attributes
of the players are insufficient.
WIDTH
This controls how a team is instructed to stretch play and utilise the flanks when they have
the ball. You can intentional adjust this for your formation. For example, you could be playing
a narrow 4312, but you can instruct your team to play wider to utilise the flanks. Or you could
narrow the width and keep your team compact to move the ball through the middle. This
setting should be applied carefully, if you are already using a narrow system, setting the
width narrow more could have detrimental effects on off the ball movement and passing
options.
TIGHT MARKING
The use of tight marking is associated with a more physical style of defending where there is
less emphasis on keeping a well organised team shape. When you elect to use tight
marking, your team can get pulled out of shape by an opposition that has good attributes in
off the ball movement and acceleration. Using tight marking and closing down much more, is
not a good way of protecting your flanks. In fact if you use that as a Player Instruction on
your fullbacks, you are more likely to give up space. Tight marking encourages a defending
player to stick close to his target, and for that to work, he needs the right attributes in
marking, anticipation and concentration. However, the player being targeted could easily turn
the defending player if he has higher acceleration, balance and first touch.
TEAM INSTRUCTIONS EXPLAINED
I can't use a screen shot here, because SI asked me to remove it. So you will need to
refer to the Team Instructions panel in your game.
The Team Instructions (TI) section is where you set up how your team is going to play. You
begin by selecting a Mentality and a Team Shape, before refining things further by
implementing a series of instructions, made easier by a series of graphical representations
of what you might be aiming to achieve. The available options and configurations are
described in this section.
I have seen many new players have as many as 17 Team Instructions in their tactic. Team
Instructions are meant to direct your team to play in unique ways. Mentality, Shape, Roles
and Duties have already set your team up to play a specific way. By choosing too many TIs
you run the risk of creating over-complication. This can have a bad effect on a tactic. The
best way to use TIs is minimally. In fact for most managers they can get away playing with
up to 4 TIs. Less is good in this case. The more you have, the greater the risk you run of
messing up your system. Let's now take a closer look at some of these instructions, we will
cover some of the more commonly misunderstood ones.
Mentality
The basic definition in the game is not ideal, as it seems to imply that each mentality
creates a specific style in the game, that can’t be further from the truth. Let me go into
them now in a bit more detail.
Mentality defines everything about how your team plays. The first thing you need to
understand is that mentality affects how much risk a team is willing to take to score goals.
The lower the mentality the less risk they are willing to accept. The higher it is the more
chances a side will take to score a goal. It also affects these areas:
• Tempo
• Width
• Passing Direction
• Time wasting
• Defensive line
• Closing down
So whenever you increase your mentality you will increase tempo, width, change your style
of passing, reduce time wasting, increase your defensive line and closing down. A team
playing at counter mentality is likely to take less risks passing the ball around than one that
is playing on an attacking mentality. If you use the Team Instruction Retain Possession with
that shout, you will encourage the side to keep the ball more, using this shout will reduce
tempo and passing directness. A team can play possession football with any mentality too,
but this requires that you may specific changes to passing directness and telling key players
to take less risks when passing. So while the attacking players are willing to take chances,
those on support and defensive duty will be more risk averse.
Team Shape
This instruction affects the distribution of mentality in your team. While specific roles and
duties all can impact a players mentality, team shape sets how the team works together as a
unit. There are 5 different shape settings, ranging from Highly Structured to Highly Fluid.
This along with specific roles and duties will affect your transitions through the thirds of a
pitch.
Highly Structured
With this instruction each player concentrates on his role within a highly structured system
A team that is playing this shape is more likely to see players on different duties stick to their
role. It's a shape that produces more gaps between defence and midfield. This system has
the lowest amount of creative freedom, and players are expected to stick to their assigned
roles and duties. Each duty is responsible only for their phase. Defend duties concentrate on
defend, attack concentrate on attacking and support players concentrate on transitions.
Structured
This shape is characterised by slightly more creative freedom. During transitions the
defenders are expected to contribute only to the defensive phase. Fullbacks and defensive
midfielders on support are involved in transitions. The gaps between defence and midfield
are still stretched but not as much as Highly Structured.
Personally, whenever I seek to make any system counterattacking in orientation, I usually

picked either a Highly Structured or a Structured shape. When teams are given this shape,
their transitions become more predictable since fewer players have increased creative
freedom.
Flexible
This is the median shape where a team is balanced in terms of gaps between defence and
attack. The team will try and keep its balance between the movement of players within the
system during transitions. It's the best shape to use as a starting shape for most systems or
if you are in doubt, because the mentalities are balanced.
Fluid
This is a shape where the gaps between defence and attack are reduced during transitions.
More players are expected to participate during transitions and the side has more creative
freedom. The team is divided broadly into attacking and defensive units. More players get
involved during transitions. When the AI is using Fluid you will notice that the team moves as
a pack. There are usually up to 4 players moving in an attacking transition and few if any
players are waiting for others to join in the play. A lot of top sides in the game like Real
Madrid use Fluid systems at home.
Very Fluid
This is the most compact shape that is characterised by the most creative freedom amongst
all shapes. It encourages players to exploit their creative freedom, attackers will be expected
to defend and defenders are expected to attack. They will rely on each others movement to
shift in and out of phases. When a team is playing on a very fluid setting, the lines between
defence and midfield will appear congested. If you take a look at the Team Analysis button
you will notice that with the right distribution of roles and duties, you can make a very fluid
system extremely compact and hard to break down. Conversely in attack you will need to
draw on the right roles that encourage players to find space.
Since more players get involved in transitions, a team will appear more packed. When this
happens you need roles that allow players to find spaces. Such roles may include those that
run wide, roam or drop deep. This allows an attacking team playing on Very Fluid to draw a
team out. This is the single biggest challenge about playing a Very Fluid system. One could
also create a high tempo, very fluid system that's characterised by fast short passing. We
could conceivably recreate the Arsenal Invincibles from 2003/04 with a very fluid system set
up for high tempo passing.
Which is the best shape?
Your style of play and your tactical roles dictate the kind of shape you are going to use. A
highly structured shape is not compact and is suitable when you want to sit back and soak
up pressure while sitting having the option of counter attacking football. A highly fluid system
is more compact, it can produce some brilliant football but it can also leave you vulnerable to
balls played over the top. When someone is using a highly fluid system, they are weak
against wide shapes and off the ball running. The system is also vulnerable to through balls.
A highly structured system is vulnerable to quick passing systems and requires stronger
players in individual units. The defence has to be able to defend without the support of
forwards closing down.
You can mitigate these by shoring up a highly structured system with:
• Having players with high work-rate and teamwork
• Choosing players with great first touch, acceleration, pace and decisions to be your
midfield attacking pivots
• Choosing the instruction “Be More Expressive” to give players more latitude in making
decisions
You can mitigate the weaknesses of a Highly Fluid system by:
• Defensive Line changes. A high line can make the side even more compact and
you can camp in an opponent’s half. However there is a risk playing a high defensive
line with a fluid shape — your flanks are vulnerable. Balls can easily be played over
the top and your defenders can end up being pulled out of shape. You could get your
side to play with a deeper defensive line, if you don’t have the right kind of players to
play a high line. Or, you could opt to keep a high line, but make sure your players
have great anticipation, concentration, positioning and solid physical attributes
• Stay on Feet. Since you are compact, players will need to pass the ball around your
congested team. However if you feel that suitable tackles are not going in you can
specifically assign players to hard tackle via Individual Player Instructions
• Defending from the front – There is no Team Instruction in the game to achieve
this, so you will need to set Individual Player instructions for strikers to close down
much more and tackle hard. I call this the "High Block"
Choosing the right shape also depends on your team. A team with high work rate and
teamwork will be able to play a highly fluid system a lot more effectively than a team that
isn't. A team needs to be athletic enough to cover wide areas of a pitch playing the highly
fluid systems, and they also need solid concentration and anticipation to intercept balls
played from the AI Manager.
When you play a structured shape, there are more visible gaps across the pitch. The
mentality splits encourage more space between the duties. So players on support duties that
involve defending (eg. Fullback on support) need to have good stamina and work-rate to get
back to defend during quick transitions. A good yardstick to follow is this:
If you want to play a counterattacking system and you have the legs to run in the final
third, then play a structured system. If you have a team that has great first touch and you
have really good defenders with great acceleration then you can go with a fluid shape to
camp in the opponents half.
What I typically do once I have nailed a tactical system I like is to make 3 different versions
of the same tactic each with different mentality and shape settings. This way my side gets
familiar quickly with the system and I can make shape changes during the course of a
season easily. You can do the same with mentality changes as well. In this example I would
create a 4312 on Defensive/Structured, save the same one on Control/Flexible and
Attacking/Fluid settings.
You can make some devastatingly good tactics using fluid and highly fluid, but these
systems are risky, since players can easily forget their instructions. A flexible shape is always
the best starting shape when you are in doubt.
Let's return back to the other Team Instructions.
Defensive Line
This is a shout that affects how close to the penalty box they are when they are with the ball.
A team that plays a high line is willing to push up higher as a team. A defensive line is an
imaginary single line across the pitch. Each player on the pitch has his own area of
influence. The team as a whole will move up and down as a unit, but within that unit,
individual duties and mentality will affect the defensive line. A team that is playing with a
much higher defensive line will adopt a position much closer to the halfway line, in a bid to
compress the space in which the opposition can play whilst remaining close to their own
team mates. When we talk about a team being more compact, one strategy is to raise the
defensive line. Another is to play with less width. Both open up areas on your pitch, so you
need to pay attention to these areas and make sure you have the right kind of players
protecting them.
When you play with a very high defensive line you will need players with high concentration,
work-rate, anticipation, teamwork. Defenders will need these attributes to get back quickly
into position during transitions. If your team has low acceleration, playing with a high
defensive line can be very dangerous. Furthermore, compressing the pitch against a
defensive team can also be an issue if you don't have players who can unlock a defence.
You will also need a tactic that has attack variations that you can use to unlock defences.
Playing higher up the pitch demands that a team has good composure, passing and off the
ball as well. We will discuss different kinds of attacking variations later in this book.
When you play defensive football and elect to play with a very deep defensive line, your
players will be closer to their own penalty area when they challenge for the ball, they will
revert to a more compact shape and try to deny an opposing team goal scoring chances.
The downside of this is that they could be too close, allowing an opponent time and space to
carve out chances. A good way to mitigate this is to set higher closing down instructions as a
player instruction for your forwards and attacking group of players. How does this help?
When you play deep, you are basically being defensive. When you ask your players in the
final third to close down much more, then you are getting your team to put pressure on AI
distribution. Sometimes defending your flanks doesn’t mean tackling the player with the ball,
but choking the supply line so that he doesn’t get the ball in the first place. When I play
defensive football I usually elect to close down very much with my two strikers. I will adjust
my flank players closing down, depending on how deep I am willing to let them go. If I close
them down too early, then my players could be leaving space open for the opposition to
exploit. Defensive line adjustments can be very effective in managing space, provided you
have decided which areas of the pitch you want to control.
You can’t control every blade of grass, and a lot will depend on your system. A 442 can
protect nearly every grid. A 4231 on the other hand is an overloaded system which has only
got 2 central midfielders, so here you may want to think about closing down aggressively
only in the final third and leaving the 2 in midfield and the backline on default closing down. If
the central midfielders’ closing down instructions are too high you could rip open central
midfield leaving the backline exposed
DEFENCE
Use Offside Trap
Instructs the team to operate with the offside trap. This is a good shout to use for systems
that are compact, and have distinctive weaknesses which could include flank vulnerability or
a high defensive line. If you are playing any kind of system which has a pushed up defensive
line, consider using this shout regardless of mentality. A defensive system can always be
played with a high defensive line, in this case you are advised to use the offside trap.
If you are playing a highly fluid system with a pushed up defensive line, I will recommend
you play the offside trap. Why? The offside trap will help make you compact.
For it to work well, your backline will need to have good teamwork, anticipation and
concentration
Closing Down
Instructs your players to close down the opposition to a range of intensities. At the extreme,
you can ask players to be relentless in their pursuit of chasing down the opposition, whilst at
the other end of the scale you might request that they sit off and afford them plenty of time
and space.
In attacking systems, the tactical creator will adjust the closing down settings based on
mentality. However you can choose to adjust closing down settings if you feel that more
pressure is needed. However doing so runs the risk of throwing your system out of whack.
An option that I use all the time is to adjust closing down individually by going to Individual
Player instructions. You also want to note individual roles as well. Certain roles (Ball Winning
Midfielder) have much higher closing down instructions.
Whenever you use these roles you want to pay attention to them during transitions to spot
whether their settings are causing a loss in shape. When you see a player go missing in the
middle of the park you may want to consider changing his role to one that does not employ
high closing down settings .Certain roles in the game employ generic settings which you can
adjust. These include the generic central midfielder role.
I am more inclined to change closing down via Player Instructions. I rarely use the Closing
Down shout and change it for the whole team.
Prevent Short GK Distribution
Instructs your forward players to press the opposition high up the field in order to stop the
goalkeeper being able to distribute the ball over shorter distances to defenders and instead
take risks or have to resort to a longer delivery. In my honest opinion, this is not an important
shout. It’s far more effective to give your forward players Player Instructions to close down
much more and hard tackle.
Use Tighter Marking
Instructs players to adopt a tighter marking scheme in defensive situations where players
are encouraged to stick particularly close to their assigned opponent in order to prevent
them from attacking the ball. This shout is basically tight zonal marking. You want to use this
shout carefully, it will instruct players to marshal targets as soon as they enter the zone. For
this to work effectively, you will need the right kind of players. These players will need to
have decent marking and acceleration. Whenever a target is tight marked, he can turn his
marker with a burst of acceleration, thus opening up space behind, So you want to ensure
that your team can play this shout well, otherwise, you could easily be gifting space.
Playing the alternative is frequently a better option. In this case I would recommend not
using this shout. A lot of FM managers default to using this whenever they make a new
tactic. You shouldn't use this shout unless you have the right players first. Its far better
playing a system where you force the other team to go round your players. This can be
achieved without tight marking and with medium closing down settings in midfield. This is
one of the most abused shouts in the game, and it can lead to messy transitions.
If you do want to tight mark someone, and that need may arise, use the Opposition
Instructions to target a specific player. It is possible to make a tight marking system with the
Team Instruction shout, but personally I have done that very few times in the past 10 years.
Get Stuck In
Instructs your players to be aggressive and strong in the tackle. This may increase the risk
of fouls and disciplinary action. You can use this shout if you are playing a defensive system
where you are playing deep with an aggressive defence, This means that your frontline
players are tackling hard as well. When you lose possession, your backline will be close to
their defensive line. Choosing to tackle hard ensures that you don't take unnecessary risks in
your final third.
This shout is a team shout and will instruct everyone to go in hard. Sometimes this can be
too risky, so what you can do is to go to specific individual players and tell them to tackle
hard. This ensures that you choose the right players to do the job and avoid giving this
instruction to players who have poor tackling, concentration or high aggression.
Stay On Feet
Instructs your players to stay on their feet when making a tackle and not go to ground
The two instructions to note are Get Stuck In and Stay On Feet, a team with less technical
ability should always try and Stay On Feet, this allows the team to control space and not
give up free kicks in dangerous areas. Furthermore if they lose the ball with a miss-timed
challenge along the flanks near the halfway line, you could leave your flank wide open.
BUILD-UP
Play Out Of Defence
Encourages defenders to pass their way clear from the back rather than clear the ball long.
Your backline will have the passing settings modified and they will play it short, however if
their passing targets are marked out of the game, then you can expect the occasional
hoofed ball. Make sure that central players are either on support or defend duties so that
they make themselves available for the pass. Roles that employ the Roam instruction can
also be useful for finding space.
Exploit The Left Flank
Instructs your players to look to take full advantage of the left wing, perhaps due to an
opposition weakness.
Exploit The Right Flank
Instructs your players to look to take full advantage of the right wing, perhaps due to an
opposition weakness. Direct passes will be played to the flank, requires players to be
making forward runs there. Exploit left and right flank shouts are not bad shouts to use when
you want to target specific areas of weakness on the pitch. For example, you could have a
great player with good acceleration down the flanks with forward runs on. He would be able
to force pressure on a fullback or a central defender in that area on a yellow card. It’s a
shout I have used liberally in the past when I spot a specific weakness created by an
opposition player who is off-form, in poor condition or on a yellow card.
Exploit The Middle
Instructs your players to look to take full advantage of playing through the middle, perhaps
due to an opposition weakness. Requires players to be making forward runs through the
middle. To work well, this shout needs players who have good off the ball ratings in the
middle, as well as decent acceleration to beat their markers. The game should ideally be
played at higher tempo settings and the players who are expected to pass the ball in the
middle, need good composure, decisions and passing. The tactical shape you choose will
also determine whether you can pull this shout off. Systems which employ an AMC in the
final third, benefit from such a shout. Furthermore expect your fullbacks and wingers to have
mixed forward running. These players will need to hold down the flanks.
Exploit shouts should only be used when the conditions favour it. Your players need to have
great acceleration and off the ball to exploit the space; you should also be playing
structured with some great passers in midfield. Alternatively, use it if the AI Manager has a
flank where they are picking up yellow cards and you have players who can take advantage
of it, otherwise don't use the shouts.
Clear Ball To Flanks
Instructs your players to look to make their clearances into wider areas to be picked up by
attacking players. A shout that instructs players to play direct passes to forward running
players. This is primarily a defensive shout. Teams that want to play dominant football are
unlikely to use this shout. Do not use this shout if you want to control the match.
Pump Ball Into Box
Instructs your players to launch high, long-range passes into the opposition’s penalty area.
This is a high-risk low possession shout. Its high-risk because you could easily lose
possession of the ball, gifting it to the opponent. To use this shout effectively you will need
players who are good at passing the ball. And, you will need targets who have good
anticipation, strength, jumping and heading to be targets. You will also need players to play
off them who have good anticipation in the final third.
Pass Into Space
Instructs your players to look to make passes into open space. This is a shout that increases
the likelihood of players playing more through balls. It’s a risky shout, and requires that
targets have good off the ball ratings, acceleration and good decision making. If this shout is
not used well, then you could see loss of possession in critical areas of the pitch.
Amongst these shouts, Play Out of Defence stands out as a possession shout. It
encourages your defenders to play their way out of the back, but for that to work well, you
need good "water carriers" in midfield who can receive the ball and distribute them. It's a
good control and attacking option. The exploit series of shouts are good to use when a flank
is suspect due to an injured opposing player. Clear ball to flanks is primarily a defensive
instruction, used when your outfield players can exploit the space to get to the ball. However
it's also a shout that could lead to turnovers in possession.
PASSING DIRECTNESS
Shorter Passing
Instructs your players to adopt a style of play based around shorter passing and greater ball
retention. This can sometimes be one of the better passing options in a game. The team
won’t be so direct moving up the pitch, but they will have decent passing numbers. You do
want some players in the team to be on mixed or direct passing. These would include
playmakers who can lob balls running into attacking positions suddenly when a suitable
chance presents itself. Sides with poor technique and passing should consider using these
shouts to control the game. Since passes are short, they are easier to make. What you need
to consider would be the right roles and duties to lend players support to make the passing
game easier.
Mixed Passing
Instructs your players to adopt a mixed style of passing appropriate for the situation. This
instruction does place a high burden on players attributes for success. If you find that
passing percentage numbers are low, then you want to focus on your playmakers and
ensure that they have good decisions and passing. You also want to be paying attention to
players running off the ball effectively making themselves good targets for passing. One way
of controlling the whole team's passing, is to assign short, less risky passing options to
players you don't want giving the ball away. This is done via Player Instructions. Then you
set default passing on the playmakers. This allows you control the kind of passing you want
the whole team to make. Whenever you change the passing shout, only the playmakers are
affected.
More Direct Passing
Instructs your players to adopt a style of passing based around a quicker transition from
back to front, with the ball covering long distances in a shorter amount of time. This shout
can reduce possession if the players are not good at passing, and if those running forward
don’t have good first touch.
Retain Possession
Instructs your players to prioritise keeping hold of the ball, they will avoid playing risky
passes, the width and the passing direction will change as a result.
Always remember that counter attacking transitions are hardcoded into the game, so if a
situation presents itself for a counter, the match engine AI will trigger it. When you want to
create a system that can help force those kind of situations, you can either use the More
direct passing shout or be more surgical with the application by opting to assign specific
players with that shout through the use of Player Instructions.
CREATIVE FREEDOM
Be More Expressive
It gives more creative players more latitude to express themselves on the pitch outside of
the confines of the tactical setup.
Some people have suggested that you can tell a structured team shape to be more
expressive. I rather not, its far more effective to assign roles that have high creative freedom
already hardcoded into them, like the Deep Lying Playmaker or the Attacking Playmaker.
This avoids risky play by everyone.
Be More Disciplined
Asks players to play as part of a robust and focused tactical shape in order to make the
team a stronger collective group. It may come at the expense of some individual expression.
ATTACKING - FINAL THIRD
Hit Early Crosses
Instructs players to get the ball into the penalty area with early crosses as soon as they
receive the ball in a position to do so.
Look For Overlap
Instructs your players to hold onto the ball and look for an overlapping player in support,
most likely a marauding full-back. This shout can be used when you are playing with
fullbacks and wide midfielders. You can also opt not to use it. When a fullback is put on
attack duty and the midfielder ahead of him is placed on support duty, that flank will naturally
overlap. In most cases you do not need to use this shout if you have an attack and support
duty on one flank.
Shoot On Sight
Instructs your players to shoot when the opportunity arises instead of waiting for a more
clear-cut opening.
Work Ball Into Box
Instructs your players to work hard for their opening, remaining patient and not forcing the
issue but rather retaining the ball until the breakthrough occurs, it also reduces crosses and
shots from range. If you want your side to be patiently probing and looking for chances in the
final third, this is a good shout to use. When you choose not to use the shout, players will
revert to making the decisions on their won. This shout is a good one to use to change the
focus of the game. You could be playing a 442, with attacking fullbacks, and its early in the
game. You could start out playing Control and Structured and Play Wide.
This will encourage your players to use the flanks. The fullbacks will look for a chance to
bomb down the flanks and do loads of crosses as you pressure the opponent. If you find that
you need to slow things down and become more deliberate, you could change to Standard/
Flexible and push up your defensive line and add the Work Ball into Box. The team will
switch and patiently try to carve out openings. Naturally you could do more to affect this, and
that is covered later in the book.
Mixed Crosses
Instructs your players to deliver a varied range of crosses from the options immediately
following this one.
Float Crosses
Instructs your players to play high, floating crosses into the penalty area with the intention for
the ball to hang in the air to allow a forward to position himself sufficiently to take advantage.
A float cross is good to use when you have strong players in the box who can take
advantage of them, however these kind of crosses are easy to read since they take a longer
time to reach their intended targets.
Whipped Crosses
Instructs your players to deliver balls with pace, dip and swerve in order to make it as hard
as possible for defenders to deal with them.
Low Crosses
Instructs your players to play quick and powerful crosses into the penalty area with the
intention of catching a defender off guard against a quicker forward with good movement.
Both whipped and low crosses are good options for sides who wish to attack and put
pressure on defences.
DRIBBLING
Run At Defence
This tells your players to run at the opposition more than your tactics allow by default. If a
team has poor dribbling, this could easily see your side lose possession. This shout can also
be used to put pressure on a backline that’s carrying a yellow card. Defenders who have
picked up a yellow card will be more risk averse in challenging a player who is dribbling at
them.
Dribble Less
Instruct players to adopt a pass-first mentality rather than retain possession and dribble their
way into attacking situations.
FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT
Stick To Positions
Instructs players to stick to their primary duties in their assigned position. It does not allow
for fluidity of movement.
Roam From Positions
Instructs players to be more creative and fluid with their positional locations on the pitch,
demanding sufficient tactical awareness so that one player is able to fill in for another who
has roamed from his position.
If you are playing a structured system, there will be plenty of space for your forwards to
exploit. If they have good off the ball and acceleration they can take advantage of it.
ADVICE ON USING SHOUTS
When you make a tactic for the first time, the best thing you can do is NOT to use any shout.
Play the tactic you want, and then use one shout at a time to see how it affects your team.
Shouts work together with Player Instructions and Roles and Duties to influence how your
team behaves on the pitch.
By limiting the use of shouts initially you will be able to gauge which shout works best.
Sometimes conditions in the match may change that will encourage you to use certain
shouts. Here are a few scenarios:
1. The AI Team has had a red card, and you still can't break them down. You are playing a
442 on Standard/Structured.
In this case you can widen your width, to encourage more play down the flanks. You can
also change your shape to Fluid to encourage more players forward and try harder to create
chances.
2. You have a red card, and your team needs to hold down a lead
You could go more structured in shape, and change one of you players to an attack duty in
the final third to encourage him to attack the flanks. In this case you can tell your team to
exploit that specific flank.
In some of the following sections of this book I will cover applications of specific tactics,
where I use specific shouts to get specific behaviours of my team. You can refer to them for
more ideas on how you can use shouts.
PLAYER INSTRUCTIONS
I would have loved to illustrate this with images from the game, unfortunately SI
declined to give permission to use them to illustrate my point. So I will make a simple
illustration, please forgive my graphic skills
Along with Team Instructions, Player Instructions allow you to give instructions to any player
on the pitch to customise their roles specifically. The player "sub-tab" screen is where you
can configure instructions on a player-by-player basis, as well as configuring rules for
anybody who happens to feature in that position in the team.
This is a powerful feature in the game that can create unique roles. The best roles that give
the most option for customisation are the generic ones eg. Central Midfielder. These generic
roles have most instructions unlocked, exotic roles like the Shadow Striker have locked
player instructions that aim to ensure that the player's performance closely mimics the
developer's expectations of how the role plays. In every edition of the game these can be
tweaked slightly by the developers. Some generic roles have locked certain instructions
because the developers don't want too much deviation from the role's purpose.
There will be times when SI will surprisingly change some of the Player Instructions, without
even telling you. The only thing that will change may be the Player Description. You need to
read the player description and check the Player Instructions for each role carefully every
time a new edition of the game goes out. For example, in this year's edition of the game
(2017) the Central Midfielder on Defend Duty will have a locked instruction for closing down.
You cannot issue him with Close down less like in previous editions of the game. SI
sometimes do this to ensure a role plays exactly the way they want.
You can do a fair bit on the Tactical Creator screen. When you first go to it you will see 2
main panels. On the left is the squad view and on the right is the formation view. When you
click on any role on the formation view, this will replace the squad view with a panel that
allows you to modify the instructions for the player you chose on the formation screen.
My apologies once again for the lack of screenshots, but this isn't allowed by SI.
On the panel on the left you should it called Role and Duty where it describes what the role
will do. On the extreme right you will also see a list of Player Instructions he has already. If
they are grey in colour, they are locked. These are hardcoded into the game and cannot be
changed. You however can ask him to do special little things. You could for example tell a
Defensive Midfielder to Play Less Risky Passes, and you could adjust his passing to short.
This will tell the DM to not through risky through balls and lay them off to someone near him.
Above that list of Player instructions there is a tab called "Player Instructions". If you click
that it changes to a very powerful part of the tactical creator.
On this page you will see 3 main panels. One narrow panel that has "Instructions for", and
another panel that allows you to issue instructions to anyone playing in the DM position. If
you have 2 players of similar abilities you can put their names on the list in the narrow panel.
Whenever you make a substitute you won't need to go in and tweak Player Instructions
again.
Furthermore it has another feature there is a small panel called "Swap Positions With". Now
this is another nugget of treasure. This swap function allows you to tell 2 players to switch
positions in a game on a periodic basis to throw the AI off. I will be writing an article on this
very soon as one of my monthly updates for the book because it plays a large part in how I
play some of my South American replication systems.
Apart from the outfield players the goalkeeper has a unique set of instructions and these
pertain largely to the way he controls his penalty box area and distributes the ball.
He has options for goalkeeper distribution : either roll it out to players or you elect to hoof
it up to a target-man. When choosing the option to play the ball over the defence, always
make sure that you have players who can hold up the ball to take advantage of it.
Most of the player instructions are self explanatory and there are sufficient tooltips in the
game to describe how they play out. We will deal with the more significant instructions in
this guide. One of these is the move into channels instruction. This instructs a player to
move into vertical spaces when the team has the ball, and move away to create space to
receive the pass. Remember that this is also a player preferred move that can be trained.
Other player instructions that are significant when your team has possession of the ball are
the " Stay Wide" and "Sit Narrower" player instructions. One instructs a player to hug the
touchline, the other tells a player to sit closer to his teammates. One has the ability to stretch
a team while attacking, whilst the other has the potential of opening up the flanks.
The "Sit Narrower" TI can instruct a Central Midfielder to sit closer to central midfielders so
that they can create more havoc through the middle. The Wide Playmaker has this player
instruction locked in. You can easily use a generic midfielder to create a role that plays
similarly by choosing this option. By choosing Wide Midfielder and electing to "Sit Narrow"
and "Cut Inside" you can get him to do the same, but now you have other options as well
that you can customise.
Customising Player Instructions is an advanced form of creating new roles for yourself,
whenever you are choosing to do these, please be aware that the best way to do them is by
testing them out on Football Manager Touch Mode of the game. This mode does not
penalise your team for a lack of tactical familiarity. In fact you can choose to use it with a top
class team and mess with these instructions to see how the roles can play out.
Certain player instructions are only available to specific roles, this is to avoid creating
unrealistic options in the game. Examples of these include:
• Move into Channels – is available only to Advanced Midfielders and Forwards
• Hold up Ball – Available only to Forwards
• Cut Inside/Run Wide – Available to wide players
For these player instructions to be used effectively you need to ensure that your players
have the right attributes. If you elect to assign a player with the instruction "Move into
Channels", then that player should have good off the ball and have good acceleration
attributes.
"Off the ball" is an attribute that affects how well the player is at finding space. Acceleration
will allow him to find that space quickly. If he has balance and first touch, then he makes a
good option to receive through balls because he will be able to quickly adjust himself and
bring the ball under control. His acceleration will also allow him to attack vertical space. If he
has dribbling he may take people on. If he has strength he can bring others in.
Understanding how the attributes all link together will make you a better manager.
The option in Team Instructions to "Play a Low Cross" can be used to take advantage of
strikers who have good off the ball and acceleration ratings to attack the box.
USING PI TO INFLUENCE POSSESSION BASED SYSTEMS
Retain Possession limits a teams use of Risky Passes, but it does more than just that. It
also reduces passing direction and width, which to be honest, isn’t something we want done
all the time. Reducing a teams width has the added impact of reducing a team’s likelihood of
stretching play. So while it helps in getting possession numbers it may also reduce a tactics
potency. There however is one way of increasing possession without reducing your bite.
Play Less Risky Passes is another way of telling your players not to try ambitious through
balls. This is a fantastic instruction for fullbacks who can use the pass like a heat seeking
missile targeting forward players who are heading into space. However, in the hands of the
wrong player this can also be a dangerous turnover. You don’t want someone to try a
Hollywood pass in a dangerous area of a pitch gifting the opposition a clear run at goal. And
this can be even more suicidal if you are playing a highly fluid system. These systems tend
to attack flamboyantly which a misplaced pass can easily rupture.
An important component of making control/attacking possession tactics actually lies with the
judicious use of roles/duties and limiting the use of this PI. What you need to do is to look
through your designated roles, you want to see your creative midfielders using this to unlock
defences, and you can specifically tell some fullbacks and midfielders to Play it Short and
Play Less Risky Passes. This will encourage them to play the shorter pass, and if the
creative players are near, the pass will end up at the feet of the right player.
OPPOSITION INSTRUCTIONS
Opposition Instructions are a feature available within the tactical creator of Football Manager
that allow you to target opposition players specifically during a match with several actions:
• Tight Marking
• Closing Down
• Tackling
• Show onto wrong foot
Opposition Instructions can be a quick fix in a game to handle specific threats in the game,
the downside of OIs is that they are risky and affect entire groups of player. They can lead to
a loss in shape and need to be used intelligently.
Tight Marking - targets a specific player on a match. It's a form of zonal marking instruction
that’s given to a team and instructs them to mark a player closely when he enters their zone.
If more than one player is defending a zone at any point then this could result in a few
players moving erratically to close down an opponent. This differs from the tight marking
instruction from the Team Instructions and Player Instructions. The tight marking TI instructs
the whole team to mark every opposition player closely when they practice zonal marking.
The Player Instruction tight marking instruction instructs only the player in question to mark
his opponent closely when he has entered their zone.
Tight marking is an instruction you assign your team when you target a specific player from
the opposition team. When you choose this instruction you are basically telling your team to
mark someone close and tight. This can have drastic impacts depending on your shape and
your defensive line. If you are using a high defensive line or one of the more fluid shapes,
you could run the risk that more than one player leaves his position. Since a higher
defensive line and a more fluid shape makes your team more compact, individual players
areas of influence overlap, so you need to be careful when choosing to use tight marking.
When tight marking you need to assess the targets acceleration, pace and balance. If the
opposing player has better acceleration he will turn your defender and leave him in his wake.
Tight marking with a high defensive line works well, when your team has better
concentration, anticipation, marking. This is good instruction, but can easily cause your side
to lose shape. If you are using OI tight marking on an AML then make sure your fullback has
good acceleration, balance and marking, otherwise remove the OI.
Closing Down - targets a specific player in a match with the instruction to have reduced
options of passing. This is done by players advancing to the opposing players and getting
close. Choosing who to close down is vital. If you elect to close down an opposition player
who is playing through the middle, and in your third, then this is an OI that can displace the
shape of your team.
If you want to play a high pressing game then you can choose to OI their entire backline. If
you have chosen to OI their fullback, then when he overlaps, your players will advance on
him to close down his options. In order to use this instruction well, your team needs
stamina, work-rate, teamwork, concentration, acceleration.
This instruction should be used sparingly as it can also lead to your team losing shape.
Tackling - targets a specific player in the opposition squad with tackling. There are
essentially 3 options, Normal, Easy and Hard. Normal leaves the decision making to your
player. Easy tells your player to stay on feet, and hard tells your player to slide and
challenge.
It's a little known fact that tackling can cause your side to give up space. If you are playing a
system where your team is technically not as gifted as the opposition and you elect to use
hard tackling, your team will either pick up cards, lose position or worse — both. Tackling a
specific player through the OI instructs players to treat an opposition player accordingly
when he enters their zone. If a player is having an influential time against your side, you can
elect to hard tackle him to reduce his influence. Choosing to use OI will affect your whole
team zonally. So whenever that influential player enters a players zone, that defending
player will tackle hard. Whether he tackles hard will be determined by his own attributes.
Show onto wrong foot — this is by far my favourite OI. It's a strategic as well as defensive
OI. It will tell defending players to force an opposing player onto his weaker foot. Now this is
good against strikers, but against wide players it also allows you to force them inside or out.
You need to observe players who you have chosen to "Show Wrong Foot". Some roles
specifically play by cutting inside. If he is playing as an inside forward and you have chosen
to show wrong foot, the attacker could still be cutting inside. His role dictates how he plays.
Other times I could want them cutting inside because instead of just facing a fullback, now
he could be facing a defensive midfielder and a fullback. Then in this case I want to "funnel"
him into an area I can defend and where is less likely to deliver a good cross. Naturally you
want to assess the target and decide what's a better way of handling him. For example,
Eden Hazard plays more effectively when he cuts inside, for him would probably not elect to
show him onto wrong foot.
There are essentially two ways you can set OI, you can do it during the match before kick
off. Or, you can preset it with the OI tool.… From the tactics page, select Opposition
Instructions from the tabs. And this will take you to the OI tool. You can preset your
instructions here and they will kick in for every match. It's always a good idea to scout the
attributes of the opposing team before electing to OI them. On match day, your opposition
instructions screen may show no OI being set, its normal. Just click on the opposing players
name and it will show on the individual panel.
There was an image here of the Opposition Instructions Panel, however I was forced
to remove it at the last minute, I am sure you can find it in the game. :-)
There is a tab that looks just like this at the top of your Tactics page. If you click on
the Opposition Instructions tab it will take you to a screen where you can set them for
all kinds of players you may face.
Tips: Choose strikers and wingers to show onto wrong foot. Tight mark slow wingers to deny
them time to cross the ball, and hard tackle players have poor match conditioning. If you are
into getting your Assistant Manager to set it up, then it’s a good idea to check on his settings.
You don’t want several players to be hard tackled if you team lacks technical competency in
that expertise.
Knowing how to mix all these together is the key to the perfect cocktail of success. However
never go overboard with it. Just stick to some basic logical concepts.
If your team is playing with a DM, then it makes sense for you to show wide players to wrong
foot since this should funnel players into a congested area. This can be done for AML/AMR.
You do want to check in game or via scouting reports whether an opposition player is
stronger on the opposite foot as well.
When you Show players to the Wrong Foot, you are basically turning them away from their
favoured foot. So if a player is a strong right footed player playing on the left flank, he could
be an Inside Forward you wants to cut inside and score. Or he could be a playmaker who
needs to cut inside and create chances. These are players like Eden Hazard of Chelsea.
You want to force them wide so they don't create pressure. Naturally it all depends on where
your strengths are. Personally I usually force playmakers wide and hope that I can get the
DM to double up with the Fullback to close them down.
Now that we have covered the basics of the tactical creator and its components, it's now
time to take a look at set piece instructions
SET PIECES
I guarantee this will be your undoing if you do not change the default set piece routines. A
sunny day will soon turn gloomy as your eyes stare at an AI launching a brutal counter
attack after you've failed to make the best of a corner. So if I were you, please learn from my
mistakes. If you've ever seen any of my youtube videos, I may go "Oh No", and then I hit
"PAUSE" to make a change to set pieces, that's because I feel like I've left the home
unlocked to go have a pint with the boys, and across from my home the robbers are
throwing their own thanksgiving party. And I tell you it almost always happens in games I
lose.
When you change your tactic or create a new one. Please check the set pieces they may
need to be done again.
SI may improve the match engine from time to time, but they do not make your default set-
pieces fantastic, that's your job.
Corners
Control the box. That is the goal. You want to ensure that your players crowd the penalty
area. When you are setting up the tactic, do not forget to set up your set pieces. A well
thought out set piece is definitely a good investment. There is a slight difference between
human vs human play and against the AI. The AI tends to be a bit more predictable keeping
a specific number or players back in most cases, human managers are a lot more crafty.
So the first thing you want to do is to ensure that you have three each attacking the near
post, far post and one to play flick-ons. Then you want to make sure that you have a good
number of players attacking the box. One player could attack the penalty area from outside,
and another that can lurk outside the box to allow you to recycle possession. Against the AI
you usually can leave one player back at all time and one can stay back in case he is
needed. By playing two players outside the box you assure yourself of retaining the ball.
Another option is to take one of those players and get him to play short crosses in. So you
will be setting your corner kick taker to always play it short.
In terms of skills needed. Apart from a good corner taking attribute for the corner kick taker,
he should also possess decent anticipation, composure, decisions and vision. If you do
decide to have someone standing beside the keeper for a short corner routine, make sure
he has good composure and can cross or pass the ball well.
You can also set things up for a short corner routine. Here you are playing to control the ball
even if the corner doesn't work. If the ball gets cleared, there are 3 players outside the box
who can recycle possession. I sometimes even tell the player who has the Get Forward
instruction, in this case the MCR, to Lurk Outside The Area, in very tough games. If my 3
best headers can knock the ball back, I should have ample threats in and around the box, to
score or hold onto the ball.
Default Set Pieces
The default defend free kick routine is shocking. You need to change it to give yourself
several options. SI expect every person in your team to defend which does not give you any
chance to relieve pressure. It's fine if its the 85th min and you are defending a slender lead,
but at other times you need the relief. You will note that nearly every default set-piece routine
in the game makes no sense. They have a few players attacking spots like the near and far
post, but all the set-piece tactics are too conservative. It's up to you the manager, and rightly
so to show some imagination! When you have some staying forward for defend set piece
routines, you really do have a change to trigger an automatic AI controlled counter attack. So
what you want to do with the defend corner routines is nearly the same thing.
Here's what I do, its a mix of zonal and man marking. I get 2 of my best jumper/headers
preferably they are strong too to MT( which is Mark Tall Player), if there is a third danger he
gets marked as well.
Now with the rest I zonally mark: the 6C (Box Centre), 6N (Box Near), 6FC (Box Far Post).
There are arguments to be made for standing on post, I have seen balls cleared off the line
by players doing this duty, so I adopt that too, by telling players to stand on each post. You
can tell I am a bit old school. You can't blame me, one of those jobs saved me a Champions
League trophy.
When it comes to the default attack routine for free kicks, you may want to change that too.
It has 4 players as Stand Back In case, which I absolutely hate. This is the one instruction I
totally detest. A player either stays back or he doesn't. So pick one. I tend to let 3 stay back
and add one to disrupt the wall.
You can opt to place your best headers in the box, and elect to keep between two to three
players back. However the attacking routine is a personal preference for most people. I
generally keep 2 back at all times and leave the rest attacking the AI.
However if you are playing against a human manager you should keep it on default settings.
As far as throw-ins are concerned, you can elect to modify them if you have a good long
throw taker in your team. In this case you should have your best players with jumping reach
and heading attacking the box.
Set pieces are an easy part of the game to ignore and I hope that the information I have
shared is helpful. In the following section we take a look at creating a club identity with the
use of attributes. In order to help you make sustainable long lasting tactics you will need to
learn how to identify the key attributes needed for the style of football you want to play. The
next few sections deal with Player Attributes, duties and club DNA.
Throw-ins are fairly basic, you can elect to set your best long throwers if you have any to a
specific routine, but I haven't done one in ages. The defend throw in routine is pretty ok. I
hardly ever change my throw in routines.
Understanding Player Selection
Central to the game, is choosing the right roles and duty combinations for
your players. Even before you decide on what tactic you are going to use, one
needs to understand what each role does. In the next section we take a look
at individual roles and what key attributes are vital and how certain player
preferred moves can influence them. The difference in duties for each role is
also explained.
This will culminate with how you can use this to set up a specific style of
football you want played for as long as you want. It's about building a long
term winning legacy.
PLAYER ROLES
All Roles are a composite of attributes, each role has 36 attributes and some are more
important than others. In the following section we list out some of the important attributes
that need to be clearly understood before we delve into Player Roles.
PLAYER ATTRIBUTES
Player attributes guide how well a player performs his core skills, this is perhaps one of the
single biggest reasons why some managers struggle with the game. Things can look good
with a solid tactic, in fact most tactics will come out looking solid, until you do player
selection. If you know what each role's key attributes are, then when things break down, it’s
going to be easier for you to understand why.
This is a “micro-aspect” of the game that is central to making tactics work. By and large the
Tactical Creator itself just aggregates all these player attributes when instructions are issued.
A solid tactic is easier to make than trying to identify which player is making the system fall
apart. And for long term success with the game, understanding which attributes are vital.
Back in the day when the game was identified as CM instead of FM all we had to tell us what
was happening was commentary mode, so all we did was pay attention to the commentary
and then analyse that against the match statistics. A typical analysis would begin with match
ratings, then we would identify the player concerned who was generating poor numbers. We
would then drill down to his in-game performance statistics. If it was a playmaker we would
be looking for pass completion rates, key passes made. If an anomaly emerged we would
then try to see why his pass completion rate was too low. Why were his passes not hitting
the mark? Then we would look at his attributes, if his attributes suggested that he could play
well in the position, we would start considering whether he had enough support. Was he
spending more time trying to win the ball, instead of trying to play the risky pass? Was he
under too much pressure? Did he get enough support? Without knowing what they key
attributes are for each role, it would be akin to looking for a needle in a haystack.
FM is a simulation game built on binary numbers, defined by simple logical conditionals. At

it’s basic core, FM is just a numbers game. Stick better numbers in and you should win. So if
you can rule out attributes, then its always going to be your tactic. This makes the
understanding of attribute relationships very important. It’s the single biggest reason why a
lot of novice players struggle. They are jumping in to the exotic creation of tactics without
considering the weight that attributes play in the game.
Since attributes play such a big part of the game, Sports Interactive introduced the Tactical
Creator. This allowed people to stop focusing on simply getting the perfect player for the
role, and instead introduced a system that was built around choosing the right role and duty
for the right player within a tactical system. Gone was the possibility of downloading a tactic
and sticking in the best players the creator of the tactic suggested.
A player’s attributes define his skill, these are the factors the match engine considers when
it’s determining the outcome of a match. How well you are able to match player instructions
and team instructions around the attributes at your disposal will define how well you do.
There are 36 attributes for players divided into Technical, Mental and Physical attributes.
These improve over time, and depend on the quality of training, the time a player spends
playing first team matches and the kind of training he gets. Goal keepers and outfield
players have slightly different attributes. This section details what some attributes are and
how they impact your players. We have excluded explaining the obvious ones, but gone into
detail with some that are often misunderstood.
Before we begin, there is something we need to establish-Benchmarks. A player with 15

First Touch will be considered good in a top league, and a person with 15 playing in the
lower leagues would be superhuman. Attributes are relative to the league you are in. So the
first thing you need to do is to do a league comparison every season to see how you stack
up against the rest of the competition. A good yardstick is to look at 9 being average in the
lowest leagues and then adding 2 for each league you are promoted to. It's tough finding
the right players but with time and effort its possible, and, sometimes you may need to
prioritise.
Goalkeeping
Aerial Ability - affects how high a goalkeeper's hands can reach when he jumps. For outfield
players this attribute is called Jumping Reach. The keepers one refers to how high his hands
reach, and the outfield players ones determine how high they can jump to head a ball.
Command of Area - How good the keeper is at controlling his area . How well he does at
claiming aerial balls depends on his Aerial Ability, Handling, Anticipation, Decisions and
Positioning.
Eccentricity - How likely a keeper is at doing unexpected and risky actions. This is a
negative attribute
Handling - How good a keeper is at handling a ball after stopping it. Can he hold onto the
ball after catching it?
Kicking - How far can he kick? His accuracy depends on Decisions, Technique, Teamwork
and Vision.
Rushing Out - Along with Pace and Acceleration, this attribute will influence how well a
keeper can leave his area to close down or come up to play as a sweeper keeper. If he has
good ratings for Anticipation, First Touch, Composure and Decisions he may have the ability
to be an effective Sweeper Keeper
Tendency to Punch - How likely a keeper is to choose to punch a ball. A higher rating could
put pressure on his defence if he fails to punch well. If a keeper has poor handling than this
attribute can help him at least punch the ball when he can’t catch it.
OUTFIELD PLAYERS
First Touch - This attribute is vital for a team that wants to keep the ball and distribute it
under pressure. Its also a good attribute for attackers. A team that has players with good first
touch can take control of the ball with one touch passing quickly and effectively. It is one of
the key attributes that influence the effectiveness of tactics. It’s also a key attribute that’s
needed if you want to play fluid systems. Creative players require first touch, its almost
mandatory to get the ball under control so it can be distributed. And for defensive support
players its of secondary importance, with Concentration being key.
Technique - How well players can perform more challenging actions. These include volleys,
taking control of difficult balls, making difficult challenges, using tricks and long cross field
diagonal passes.
Aggression - Is a misunderstood attribute. This is a good attribute for defenders provided

they have good tackling, anticipation, concentration and decisions. The chance that a player
will commit a violent challenge is influenced by other attributes such as Dirtiness and
Sportsmanship which are hidden attributes.
Anticipation - Is both a defensive and offensive attribute. Players with good anticipation,
acceleration and off the ball, make good players for running into channels. It's also a good
attribute to have for slower defenders who possess good positioning and need to be able to
step into covering areas earlier.
Composure - How well does a player handle himself under pressure. When a player has
composure and first touch he is able to take the ball down quickly. He can also control the
ball under pressure so that it can be distributed to other players. This is an important for
playmakers and pivots who are expected to provide effective links during transitions.
Decisions - This attribute influences how well a player considers his options, and this in turn
is also influenced by vision which allows the player to see more of the play on the pitch. A
player with good passing, visions and decisions has they key attributes to be a good
playmaker.
Teamwork - If you want a team to play as a unit then this attribute is key. A player with good
teamwork is also likely to sacrifice personal glory for the sake of the time. When you find that
your flanks are exposed, you need to look at Work Rate, Teamwork and Bravery to
understand why the support player didn’t show up.
Balance - This attribute influences how well a player can stay on his feet under pressure. A
player with great balance and dribbling speed can turn players around. Think of Diego
Maradona and Paul Gascoigne. A player with good balance is more dangerous when he has
good first touch.
Determination - This attribute does not play a part in training. It determines how likely a
player is try to put in an effort when the side is a goal down. A team with low determination in
key areas is likely to fold if they go a few goals down. The personality of a player determines
how well he handles training and not determination.
Bravery - This attribute indicates how willing a player is to take a necessary action which
may cause personal pain or injury. Lower bravery attributes are usually a sign that a player
is likely to hold back helping someone if there is a chance he will get injured. Low natural
fitness and low bravery are a double whammy. You want to avoid signing players with a
combination of low ratings in both.
Concentration - This is an attribute that indicates how well a player is able to maintain his
focus during a game. Players in key roles such as defensive midfielders, holding players and
defenders require good ratings in concentration. If they lose focus during a game, there is a
chance that they will not see a danger developing until its too late
Flair - This attribute deals with the extraordinary that a player performs and covers actions
like tricks and feints for example. These are unexpected actions that a player is likely to
perform that catch the opposition unaware. It's a good attribute to have for a certain creative
roles in a game, for e.g. Trequartista.
Off The Ball - This attribute describes how well a player moves and positions himself, to
either provide a passing option or create space for others to exploit, when he is off the ball. It
is probably one of the biggest attributes needed for fluid systems. For a fluid system to
operate well, players need to be able to move in and out of passing triangles, and into other
triangles. Coupled with the player preferred move “one-two passes” this attribute contributes
to players moving into positions and offering themselves up as passing outlets.
Positioning - This attribute describes how well a players moves and positions himself
defensively off the ball to handle opposition attacks when his side doesn’t have possession
of the ball. Any player assigned a Defend duty will require good positioning, however if you
don’t have players with good positioning, you will need players to have acceleration,
concentration to get back to position. If they are slow they will need concentration,
anticipation and positioning.
Vision - This attribute lets us know how well a player sees the actions available to him. A
player with higher rating is able to assess from a wider array of possible scenarios.
Decisions indicate how well he processes those observations.
Pace - How fast a player can run after he has achieved maximum speed, it his constant
maximum velocity. If you are trying to develop a counter attacking system that’s deep then
you will need some of your players to be blessed with pace, acceleration, first touch, balance
and dribbling
Acceleration - Is how quickly a player can reach his maximum velocity. If you want to beat
players on the turn then you need acceleration. Once you have beaten the player and are
heading to goal, then you need pace to keep that maximum speed going. If you are using a
fluid system and you need your players to beat tight marking, then acceleration, off the ball,
first touch, balance and dribbling are going to be important.
HIDDEN ATTRIBUTES
There are six hidden attributes, and when you assign your scouts to evaluate a player, their
reports give you an indication of what these are:
Adaptability - How well a player settles down after a transfer. A player with low adaptability
may have issues playing for another team in another country. For scouts and coaches, it
affects how easily they handle assignments when they move to a new country.
Consistency - This attribute affects physical and mental attributes. Players with good
physical attributes are less likely to be affected by consistency
Dirtiness - Players with high ratings in this attribute are likely to bend the rules in a match. If
the scout report states that a player has a competitive streak in him, then he has a high
rating in Dirtiness and is likely to commit more fouls
Important Matches - How well a player rises to the occasion. A player with low ratings is
likely to feel the pressure in big matches.
Injury Proneness - How likely a player is to pick up injuries, if a player has low natural fitness
and injury proneness its double jeopardy.
Versatility - Influences how well a player takes to a position he is not familiar with. This
influences how well he can learn new positions. This acts as a kind of limiting factor to the
amount of positions a player can master and how well he masters them.
Choosing the Right Roles
442
Successful tactics hinge on the right roles and duties for a team. It all begins with deciding
who should go up to attack and who should defend. This has to work hand in hand with
mentality and shape.
Each role and corresponding duty influences where the starting positions are on the
pitch. A fullback on Attack Duty will be a lot lower on the pitch compared to a Complete
Wingback on attack duty. That position affects when they close down, whether you need a
screen in front of them or whether you need a solid defender behind them. In the diagram
above, the Wingback on support on the left flank has a higher starting position than the
Fullback on Support on the right flank. This has several implications.
During an attacking transition when the ball is in the opponents half, the Wingback, by virtue
of his starting position will be in a better position to support the attack than the fullback on
support. However if the team loses possession then the fullback on support is better placed
to help the team defend.
When choosing whether to use a support or attack duty one also needs to consider the roles
that players are given. Some roles push the starting position of a player higher up on the
grid. In this example, the 4312 has an obvious weakness down its left flank. Since both
players are on attacking duty on the left flank, the central defenders will find that they are
under pressure on that flank whenever the opposition launch attacks there. That flank will be
vulnerable to balls played over the top. Furthermore because of the higher position the two
players take up, don’t be surprised that these two players also pick up yellow cards when
they are forced into making tackles when they are out of position.
Football Manager has generic as well as exotic roles. The Regista is one fine example of an
exotic role which has instructions that are hard-coded into the game. This means that SI
want this player to perform in a specific way and you won’t be able to affect this via Player
Instructions. You will find that a lot of his player instructions are “greyed out”.
Whenever you choose any role always study the attributes. Each role has specific key
attributes that are necessary for the role to perform well within your system. These roles
need to be complemented with other roles to balance they system out. The left is a clear
example of an unbalanced attack. The fullback on the right flank can easily be converted to
a wingback on attack, and that flank is considerably more balanced since there is at least
one player in the midfield area that is holding back to cover the team. Alternatively, the
central midfielder can be more attacking while the fullback is more conservative.
PLAYER ROLES
In the following section we list out the various roles you can choose for your team and list
out the key attributes needed. We also offer certain variations that can be achieved with
these roles through the use of Player Preferred Moves (PPM) and Player Instructions (PI)
Where some instructions are hardcoded and cannot be modified we refer to them as
“Locked Instructions”. Some roles are specialist roles that can’t be modified, and others are
generic roles which can be modified. SI are known to tweak these roles from time to time,
while the key attributes for each role will remain the same as far as I am aware their locked
instructions may not. So its a good idea to check these from time to time.
Regardless of the tactic you may choose, understanding which attributes are key to
performing the job you want will be important.
Goalkeeper (GK)
He plays simple risk-free football and looks to find open players to pass the ball to, failing
which he plays long. Under different match strategies the keepers distribution will change.
Cautious tactics will see him clear the ball whereas aggressive strategies will see him pass
the ball to the defence to start off passing moves.
Key Attributes: Aerial Ability, Command of Area, Communication, First Touch, Handling,
Kicking, Reflexes, One on One, Throwing, Anticipation, Decisions, Positioning
There are several ways you can modify the behaviour of a goalkeeper through the use of
Player Preferred Moves (PPM) and Player Instructions (PI)
Other Variations:
PPM: Uses long throws to start counter attacks.
PI: Distribute to Target Man or player if his kicking is good
PI: Roll it out to Defenders for Possession Tactics
EXAMPLES
In 2012, Cameroonian keeper Alan Tshoumi Tiko took the aerial route, when he performed
an amazing somersault to help launch a long throw downfield to launch his sides attack.
Unfortunately they still lost to Egypt.
There are many keepers who have used the long throw effectively to start counter attacks,
these include Germany’s Jais Lehman, Manual Neur and Iran’s Alireza Beiranvand.
If you like to play a direct style of football and you have a keeper who has good decision-
making and vision, then its always a good idea to have him learn the long throw.
Sweeper Goalkeeper (SGK)
The Sweeper Keeper aims to perform two roles: the Goalkeeper and the outfield Sweeper.
Apart from his usual goalkeeping duties, he will sweep up balls around the penalty area and
initiate counter attacking moves with direct through balls to attacking players.
The Sweeper Keeper is a popular choice among managers who seek to keep possession of
the ball and play a high defensive line. In these kind of systems, he is expected to act like a
last defender, and is expected to be comfortable stepping out of his area and controlling the
ball with his feet. It’s the reason why Pep Guardiola didn’t feel that Joe Hart could make a
contribution in his Manchester City side. Can you make Hart play like a Sweeper Keeper?
With the defend duty he will be more cautious, but will play the counter attacking move if its
on.
With a support duty he will stray outside the penalty box and look to play counter attacking
passes, these will be more risky passes
With an attack duty, the keeper will travel some distance outside his area and be
comfortable moving out with the ball at his feet, it’s the riskiest role of all keepers.
I do have to admit that this role doesn't seem to perform nearly as well as SI would have
hoped, but there is one thing I have noticed in the game. When I play a high line and the
through ball is coming in, I have seen my sweeper keepers step up to clear the lines and
play a pass out wide to a player.
Key Attributes: Aerial Ability, Command of Area, Communication, First Touch, Handling,
Kicking, Reflexes, One on One, Throwing, Anticipation, Decisions, Positioning, Composure,
Concentration, Positioning, Agility
If you want him to play on support and attack, he needs decisions as well and eccentricity,
rushing out and acceleration
Other Variations:
PPM: Uses long throws to start counter attacks
PI: Distribute to Target Man or player if his kicking is good
PI: Roll it out to Defenders for Possession Tactics
DEFENSIVE ROLES
Central Defender (CD)
His main job is to stop opposing players from playing the ball and clearing it from a
dangerous area when needed. In more aggressive tactics, he must also possess the
technique and composure to maintain possession and lay off simple passes to his
teammates.
With a defend duty, the central defender will stay in line with his defensive partner and look
to break up attacks, mark opposing forwards and prevent the ball from getting into the box
With a stopper duty, the central defender will push ahead of the defensive line and close
down players before they get into the area.
With a cover duty, the central defender will drop deep and sweep up through balls behind
the defensive area.
Locked Instructions: Shoot Less Often, Dribble Less, Fewer Risky Passes
Key Attributes: Heading, Marking, Tackling, Anticipation, Bravery, Concentration,

Decisions, Determination, Positioning, Jumping Reach, Strength, and Aggression
Cover Duty: Acceleration is a key attribute since he needs to recover quickly
Other Variations:
PPM: Plays No Through balls & Runs With Ball Rarely for Possession Tactics
Defend First PPM: Stay Back At All Times
Ball-Playing Defender (BPD)

dangerous area when needed. He is also encouraged to start defence-splitting passes from
deep to generate counter-attacking chances. He has an active instruction to play more risky
passes. This defender is expected to be comfortable on the ball.
With a defend duty, the BPD will stay in line with his defensive partner and look to break up
attacks, mark opposing forwards and prevent the ball from getting into the box
With a stopper duty, the BPD will push ahead of the defensive line and close down players
before they get into the area.
With a cover duty, the BPD will drop deep and sweep up through balls behind the defensive
area.
Locked Instructions: More Risky Passes and/or Hold Position
Key Attributes: Heading, Marking, Tackling, Anticipation, Bravery, Concentration,
Decisions, Determination, Positioning, Jumping Reach, Strength, Aggression, First Touch,
Technique, Vision, Passing, Composure
Cover Duty: Acceleration
Other Variations:
PPM: Tries Killer Balls Often, Stays Back at All times
EXAMPLES
When a defender can play killer balls from deep he adds something different to the team
He will initiate attacks from deep and can be highly effective especially in 3 man defences. A
very good example of a ball playing defender in the modern game is Borussia Dortmund’s
Mats Hummels. He averages 21m in passing length and was one of the primary playmakers
when Jurgen Klopp was managing them.
If a defender is given the stay back at all times ppm, he will seek to stay back all the time
instead of launching forward. This variation can ensure that he doesn’t go charging off from
the defensive line
Defensive Centre Back (DCB)
dangerous area when needed. He tries to win the ball without giving away free kicks and his
priority is to clear the ball to safety.
With a defend duty, the DCB will stay in line with his defensive partner and look to break up
attacks, mark opposing forwards and prevent the ball from getting into the box
With a stopper duty, the DCB will push ahead of the defensive line and close down players
before they get into the area.
With a cover duty, the DCB will drop deep and sweep up through balls behind the defensive
area.
Locked Instructions: Shoot less often, Dribble Less, More Direct Passes, Fewer Risky
passes and/or Hold Position (Defend duty only)
Key Attributes: Heading, Marking, Tackling, Determination, Positioning, Jumping Reach

and Strength
Other Variations:
No Nonsense Defender PPM: Plays no through balls, Refrains From Taking Long Shots,
Runs with Ball Rarely, Stays Back At All Times
Sweeper (SW)
He drops behind the defensive line, aiming to sweep up through balls, pick up extra
attackers and make goal saving tackles, blocks and secure possession
His exceptional athleticism and reading of the game allow him to cover for defensive errors,
take possession of loose balls from a deep position and secure possession. He rarely moves
forward. He acts as the last line of defence and was a popular role in the early 70s. In
modern football you rarely see teams playing with a sweeper.
Locked Instructions: Shoot less often, Dribble Less, Hold Position
Key Attributes: Heading, Marking, Tackling, Anticipation, Bravery, Composure,

Concentration, Decisions, Determination, Positioning, Jumping Reach, Strength,
Acceleration, Agility and Balance
Variations:
PPM: Refrains From Taking Long Shots, Runs with Ball Rarely, Stays Back At All Times
Libero- Support and Attack
The Libero drops behind the defensive line, aiming to sweep up through balls, pick up extra
attackers and make goal saving tackles, blocks and interceptions.
His exceptional athleticism and reading of the game enable him to cover for defensive
errors, take possession of loose balls from a deep position and secure possession. However
he will also roam forwards in support of the midfield when in possession
With a support duty, the Libero steps into midfield when possession is secured and look to
play balls through to attacking teammates.
With an attack duty, the Libero ventures much higher up the pitch to provide a goal scoring
threat from distance and play others in.
Locked Instructions:
Support: More Risky Passes

Attack: Shoot More Often, More Risky Passes, Get Further Forward
Key Attributes:
Support: Heading, Marking, Passing, Tackling, Anticipation, Composure, Concentration,
Decisions, Positioning, Teamwork, Acceleration, Balance, Jumping Reach
Attack: Heading, Marking, Passing, Tackling, Anticipation, Composure, Concentration,

Decisions, Positioning, Teamwork, Acceleration, Balance, Jumping Reach, Pace, Stamina
Examples
The Libero is one of the classic roles in football best personified by Franz Beckenbaur. This
role is slowly making some inroads after being a historical footnote. You can still get this role
to work with the right combination of ppms and player instructions. The best modern
example of a player who has the potential of becoming a Libero is probably David Luiz who
currently plays for Antonio Conte in his Chelsea side. That is also a coach who has
experimented with the use of the Libero.
Complete Wing Back (CWB) – Support & Attack
The Complete Wing Back loves to attack, and whilst he is capable of occupying his
defensive duties, his natural inclination is to affect the game in the opposition’s defensive
third.
Barcelona’s Jordi Alba started out as a winger with Valencia and then blossomed as a
wingback with Barcelona, his electric pace and wily trickery makes him one of the world’s
best in the position.
With a support duty, the CWB will look to combine his attacking instincts with some
defensive responsibilities in an effort to provide balance to the team.
With an attack duty, the CWB will be a little more adventurous in his attacking exploits as he
seeks to primarily impact the game in the opposition’s half of the pitch. He may frequently be
caught out of position and will be too far away during a quick defensive transition. If there
are no other players to assist him in support roles, then there is also the likelihood that he
will pick up yellow cards as he desperately tries to stop someone from getting past him.
Locked Instructions: Dribble More, Run Wide With Ball, Cross More Often, Cross From
Bye-line, Get Further Forward, Stay Wider, Roam From Position
Key Attributes: Crossing, Dribbling, First Touch, Passing, Tackling, Decisions, Off The Ball,
Positioning, Teamwork, Work Rate, Acceleration, Pace, Stamina
Full Back (FB) – All Duties
The Full Back is a key player in modern football, having to supplement his traditional
defensive duties with overlapping runs down the wing to support forward play and help
overload attacks in the final third. In the modern football game he is expected to create
opportunities for his team as well as protect the flanks. It’s a lung-bursting job.
Although primarily a defensive player, he must be prepared to get forward when the team
needs extra width. If you decide to widen your width with the shout, then make sure your FB
is on at least support duty to take advantage of it
With defend duty the Full Back will stay back at all times and make simple possession
passes down the flanks or to central midfield
With a support duty, the FB will support the midfield by providing extra width and will look for
crosses and through balls when the chance for each arises.
With an attack duty the FB supplements his defensive responsibilities by overlapping the
midfield and providing first time crosses into the area.
Defend: Fewer Risky Passes, Cross From Deep, Hold Position
Support: Cross From Deep
Attack: Cross More Often, Get Further Forward
Key Attributes:
Defend: Marking Tackling, Positioning, Teamwork,
Support: Marking, Tackling, Anticipation, Concentration, Positioning, Teamwork, Work Rate,

Stamina
Attacking: Crossing, Tackling, Anticipation, Positioning, Teamwork, Work Rate,

Acceleration, Stamina
Variations:
PPM: Get forward early, Likes to Dribble with the Ball, Does not Dive into Challenge, Likes to
Switch ball to other flanks, Plays simple one-twos
EXAMPLES
There are a variety of PPM you can use to generate different kinds of fullbacks, and you also
have the option of making unique styles combining that with Player Instructions.
This role by is easily the most versatile role in the game. A masterful manager will be able to
produce football in a variety of flavours with the judicious use of PIs and PPM. In one
example you can tell a fullback not to "play risky passes" and "play it short". This way the
fullback will not attempt to waste possession by playing long he will also look to pass it short
to nearby support players. This helps a team keep possession.
If he has good passing, vision and decisions then you can tell him to "switch ball to other
flank". This allows you to use the FB as an attacking pivot who begins attacking transitions
from inside your own half. If he has the PPM likes to dribble ball down the side and he has
good acceleration, you can put him on support so that he stays close to his midfield support
and bombs forward suddenly when the playmaker in his team releases him.
In this image you can get a fullback to hit

early crosses if you can manage to occupy
the opposing fullback. On the left flank you
can see that the opposing fullback has a
target in his zone.
This will allow the fullback with the ball to hit

an early diagonal to the forward who now
has two zones he can attack. He can either
move between channels or come out and
support.
This was a style of play used by Leicester

in their 2016 title winning side to get Jamie
Vardy on goal with diagonal early crosses.
In order to achieve this in FM, you need a forward with good off the ball and acceleration,
and you need fullbacks with good decisions and crossing. You will also need to find a way to
occupy the opposing fullback. This is best done by having an AM play in an attack duty in
the final strata or using an ML/MR on an attacking duty, or have a "Get Forward" ppm.
Defensive Full Back (DFB) – Defend
The Defensive Full Back is a player who focuses on his defensive duties and rarely goes
forward.
Locked Instructions: Shoot Less Often, Dribble Less, More Direct Passes, Fewer Risky
Passes, Cross Less Often, Hold Position
Key Attributes:
Defend: Marking, Tackling, Strength
Inverted Full Back (IWB) – Support
The IWB will function defensively much like standard Full Back or Wing Back. However,
while a normal Wing Back will offer width to an attack, the IWB will attempt to drift inside and
create space for players around him.
Supporting attacks by providing crosses is not his main job, instead he will look to carry the
ball and congest play in the middle as much as possible. This is a modern role, and can be
used to great effect, but it runs the risk of leaving your flanks vulnerable to the diagonal.
This is a relatively new role and may get adjusted by SI over time.
Locked Instructions: Dribble More, Cut Inside With The Ball, More Risky Passes, Cross
Less Often, Sit Narrower, Roam From Position
Key Attributes: Marking, Passing, Tackling, Anticipation, Decisions, Determination,

Positioning, Work Rate, Acceleration, Stamina
MIDFIELD ROLES
Defensive Midfielder (DM) – Defend & Support
His main job is to protect the defensive line from breaking attackers by closing them down
quickly and to support the creative midfielders when in possession. He aims to hold the ball
up while the defence and attack are reorganising themselves after a period of opposition
pressure.
With defend duty, the DM will hold his position between the midfield and defensive lines and
recycle possession from a deep position
With a support duty, the DM will step into the midfield line and support attacking moves
Locked Instructions: Dribble Less, Hold Position, Close Down More
Locked Instruction for Support only: Tackle Harder

Key Attributes: Tackling, Positioning, Teamwork, Work Rate, Concentration and Stamina
Deep-Lying Playmaker (DLP) – Defend & Support
The DLP operates in the space between the defence and the midfield and aims to start
attacking moves via pinpoint passes to players positioned higher up the pitch.
Although his main role is creative he also has the ability to defend
With a defend duty, the DLP will fulfil extra defensive responsibilities by holding position in
front of the defence and will rarely support attacks
With a support duty, the DLP will bring the ball out of defence look to initiate through balls
Locked Instructions: Shoot Less Often, Hold Position
Key Attributes: First Touch, Passing, Technique, Composure, Decisions, Vision
Ball-Winning Midfielder (BWM) – Defend & Support
Playing in central midfield, the BWM main role is to close down the opposition and win the
ball. He also needs the skills to help the team keep possession and pass the ball to more
creative players
With a defend duty, the BWM looks to win the ball in the centre of the park and quickly lay it
off to more creative players
With a support duty, the BWM aims to win the ball higher up the pitch and support resulting
counter-attacking opportunities
Defend & Support: Close Down Much More, Tackle Harder
Defend Only: Dribble Less, Fewer Risky Passes, Hold Position
Key Attributes: Tackling, Aggression, Bravery, Determination, Teamwork, Work Rate,

Concentration, Stamina and Strength
Anchor Man (A) – Defend Only
The Anchor Man is sometimes referred to as the “Water Carrier”, his main role is to sit in the
hole between the defence and midfield, intercepting moves, winning the ball and laying off
simple passes to more creative players.
He does not venture out far from his position in front of the backline either to close down the
opposition higher up the pitch or to support his more advanced teammates
Locked Instructions: Shoot Less Often, Dribble Less, Fewer Risky Passes, Hold Position
Key Attributes: Tackling, Anticipation, Composure, Concentration, Decisions and

Positioning
Half Back (HB) – Defend Only
The Half Back looks to play the role somewhere between that of an aggressive sweeper and
a defensive midfielder. With a Half Back, the central defenders themselves will push higher
up the pitch while the Half Back drops deeper than a standard defensive midfielder and, in
addition to his defensive duties, looks to offer an outlet for quickly recycling possession
when the team’s attacking play breaks down.
Locked Instructions: Dribble Less, Hold Position
Key Attributes: First Touch, Passing, Technique, Anticipation, Composure, Decisions,

Positioning, Teamwork, Concentration
Regista (RGA) – Support Only
The RGA is a more aggressive version of the DLP, suitable for possession-orientated
systems that press high up the pitch. Given complete freedom to dictate play from deep
positions, the RGA offers a dynamic and unpredictable creative outlet from behind the attack
that seeks to maintain intense pressure by constantly looking for new chances as his more
advanced teammates get into goal-scoring positions
The most recognisable Regista in modern football is Andrea Pirlo, what differentiates an
average midfielder from a Regista is his ability to control the flow of a game through his
passing, ability to tackle and his vision to find his teammates and these players do it from a
deeper position, sometimes from their own halves.
Locked Instructions: Roam From Position
Key Attributes: First Touch, Passing, Technique, Composure, Decisions, Off The Ball,
Vision
Roaming Playmaker (RPM) – Support Only
The RPM can be the heartbeat of the team, driving forward with the ball to spearhead
attacks as well as track back to cover defensively. Always offering a passing option to his
teammates, the RPM must have the physical attributes to maintain a high intensity as well
as the technical attributes to stamp his authority on the game.
He will look to pick up the ball in deep positions and urgently work the ball forward while
keeping up with play. The RPM will often camp on the edge of the penalty area looking for
room to shoot or to try the killer ball to prise the defence open.
A good example of someone who has the potential to be a great roaming playmaker in the
football manager game is Derby County's Will Hughes.
Locked Instructions: Dribble More, Roam From Position
Key Attributes: Dribbling, First Touch, Passing, Technique, Anticipation, Composure,

Decisions, Determination, Off The Ball, Vision, Work Rate, Acceleration, Stamina
Central Midfielder (CM)
The CM is responsible for providing an industrious and versatile link between the defence
and attack. Expected to perform a variety of tasks across the centre of the pitch, the CM
benefits from having the tactical awareness and technical ability to support both defensive
and attacking play as needed.
With a defend duty, the CM will focus more on sitting deep, curtailing opposition counter
attacks and controlling tempo of the game from the centre of the pitch
With a support duty the CM will look to judiciously balance his attacking and defensive
responsibilities. He will get forward when necessary but he will mainly keep to the centre of
the pitch and attempt to thread passes to the final third.
This is one of he most customisable roles in the game. And is usually one of my favourite
roles to pick if I want to be specific with instructions. You can create a Ball Winning
Midfielder without hard tackling by setting him up with Close Down Much More
Defend: Hold Position
Attack: Get Forward
The key attributes for the central midfielder will depend largely on how you choose to use
the role and if you decide to customise them. For example, if you wanted someone to be a
CM(A) who plays like Eden Hazard then you will need to determine the attributes by
comparing this to the Advanced Playmaker role and adding those to the list below.
Key Attributes:
Defend: Passing, Tackling, Concentration, and Teamwork, Aggression
Support: First Touch, Passing, Decisions and Teamwork
Attack: First Touch, Passing, Decisions and Off The Ball

Box to Box Midfielder (BBM) – Support Only
The non-stop dynamism of the BBM allows him to contribute greatly to both defending and
attacking.
In attack he pushes up to support the forwards, often surging late into the box to get on the
end of crosses and pullbacks as well as providing a threat from distance
In defence he harries the opposition and helps protect the defensive line
This is one of the toughest positions to master in the modern game as it requires both
attacking and defensive diligence. Physical attributes are vital for this role and so are
technical skills. While at Juventus, Paul Pogba played a key role in the side as a box to box
midfielder
Locked Instructions: Roam From Position
Key Attributes: Passing, Tackling, Decisions, Determination, Off The Ball, Positioning, Work
Rate, Acceleration, Natural Fitness, and Stamina
Advanced Playmaker (AP) – Support & Attack
The AP can operate in the centre of midfield, attacking midfield or wide forward positions.
The AP aims to drop into the holes between the opposition’s midfield and defence, making
himself available for his teammates’ passes and aiming to turn defence into attack in an
instant.
With a support duty, the AP will stay in the hole and look to spray passes to support players
and forwards
A modern day example of an advanced playmaker would probably be Liverpool’s Philippe

Coutinho. In Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool he plays primarily as a wide playmaker cutting inside
to create chances. You can also make him play more centrally from the flanks with the Sit
Narrower Player Instruction.
Locked Instructions: Shoot Less Often, More Risky Passes; Dribble More (Attack only)
Key Attributes:
Support: First Touch, Passing Technique, Composure, Decisions, Vision
Attack: Dribbling, First Touch, Balance, Passing, Technique, Composure, Decisions, Off The
Ball, Vision
Wide Midfielder (WM)
The Wide Midfielder performs defensive and attacking duties on the flanks, supporting the
forwards, midfielders and defenders when needed.
Lacking the explosive pace or exciting dribbling skills of an out and out Winger, the WM
relies on teamwork and work rate to get into dangerous areas without compromising his
defensive duties
With a defend duty the WM will sit back and launch crosses from deep
With a support duty the WM will stay deep and launch angled through balls into the box from
wide positions or cross when he needs to
With an attack duty the WM will look to play quick crosses from the final third
This is another generic role that can be modified through Player Instructions, so if
you need to make this role play differently you will need to add the attributes to this
list. For instance you could set this WM to play like Riyad Mahrez of Leicester city,
then he will need attributes like, dribbling,decisions, passing, finishing and off the
ball. You will also need to add specific Player Instructions like Dribble More, Sit
Narrower, Roam From Position and any other PIs you may wish to have. When you
want any wide player to attack centrally from a wide position you can tell him to Sit
Narrower and Cut Inside.
Defend: Fewer Risky Passes, Cross From Deep, Hold Position, Close Down More
Attack: More Risky Passes Get Further Forward
Key Attributes:
Defend: Passing, Tackling, Positioning, Teamwork, Work Rate
Support: Passing, Teamwork, Work Rate, Concentration
Attack: Crossing, Passing, First Touch, Teamwork, Work Rate
Winger (W) – Support & Attack
The Winger aims to beat his man on the outside and needs to be technically proficient as
well as quick in order to do so.
The Winger hugs the touchline when the team is going forward, ready to surge into space
and attack the bye-line
With a support duty the Winger’s job is to try and quickly get past his man and get in early
crosses for the forwards
With an attack duty the Winger will look to run at the defence in the final third, aiming to
cause panic, and indecision, prior to shooting or attempting to make a cross, through ball to
a teammate
Defend: Fewer Risky Passes, Cross From Deep, Hold Position, Close Down More
Attack: More Risky Passes Get Further Forward
Key Attributes:
Defend: Passing, Tackling, Positioning, Teamwork, Work Rate
Support: Passing, Teamwork, Work Rate
Attack: Crossing, Passing, First Touch, Teamwork, Work Rate
Defensive Winger (DW) – Defend & Support
The Defensive Winger aims to apply pressure on opposing fullbacks to win the ball back
high up on the pitch and either hold it up for others or wait for the right time to drive the
byeline. This will happen if the team controls midfield.
With a support duty the Defensive Winger’s job is to pressure the opposing fullbacks try to
win the ball, get past his man and get early crosses in.
Defend: Dribble More, Close Down More, Hold Position, Tackle Harder
Support: Dribble More, Close Down More, Tackle Harder
Key Attributes:
Defend: Aggression, Anticipation, Concentration, Determination, Positioning, Teamwork,

Work rate, Passing, Marking, Tackling, Stamina
Support: Crossing, Dribbling, Aggression, Anticipation, Concentration, Determination,

Positioning, Teamwork, Work rate, Passing, Marking, Tackling, Stamina
Wide Playmaker (WP) – Support & Attack
The WP will act as the team’s primary source of creativity, drifting inside to find space from
which to play the killer ball and create chances. Coming in from the wing allows the WP to
escape the pressure in central midfield and can result in him being unmarked by opposition
players.
Defensively the WP will take up his position on the wing to provide cover for the full-back;
however he is not expected to make too many tackles but instead he should take up good
defensive positions and provide another body in the defensive line.
With a support duty the WP will come inside to sit in a central midfield position when his
team have the ball. From here he will act as the main creator for his team.
With an attack duty, the WP will come inside to sit in an advanced midfield position between
the opposition’s defence and midfield. From here he will act as the main creator in the team.
This may result in the WP being caught up field and unable to get back into position for the
defensive phase.
Support: Shoot Less Often, Cut Inside With Ball, Cross Less Often, Sit Narrower, Roam
From Position
Attack: Shoot Less Often, Cut Inside With Ball, Cross Less Often, Sit Narrower, Roam From
Position, More Risky Passes, Dribble More
Key Attributes:
Support: First Touch, Passing, Technique, Composure, Decisions, Positioning, Vision
Attack: First Touch, Passing, Technique, Composure, Decision, Off The Ball, Positioning,
Teamwork
This is one player who can attack the inside like an AMC with specific Player Instructions, if
you add the Sit Narrower PI, he will start attacks from a more central position.
Attacking Midfielder (AM) – Support & Attack
The AM operates higher up the pitch than a standard midfielder, so he cannot drive into
space from deep in the manner of an attacking central midfielder
Requiring excellent technical and mental skills, his role is to fashion chances for himself and
others in the final third before the opposition’s defenders close down space in the final third
With a support duty, he is willing to help out his defence and sits in the hole rather than get
into the box
With an attack duty, the AM looks to craft out chances for his forwards and be a threat
coming into the box to supplement their attacks.
Attack: Get Further Forward
Key Attributes:
Support: First Touch, Passing, Technique, Anticipation, Decisions

Attack: First Touch, Passing, Technique, Anticipation, Decisions, Off The Ball
Enganche (EG) - Attack
The EG is the side’s prime creator, a hook that joins midfield and attack and operates behind
the strikers and sticks to his position to become a pivot to his team as they move around
him. Unlike the Trequartista, it is a more stationary role as the EG acts as the focal point
instead of moving around into larger areas of space
This is a term you commonly find in Argentinian football, one of the most recognisable
players in this position was Juan Roman Riquelme. One quality that stood him apart from
other players was his composure and his decision making in the final third. He would play in
the AM slot of a 4312.
Attack: Dribble Less, More Risky Passes, Close Down Much Less
Key Attributes:
Attack: First Touch, Passing, Technique, Composure, Decisions, Off The Ball, Vision
FOWARD ROLES
Shadow Striker (SS) - Attack
The SS acts as the team’s main goal scoring threat. Usually paired with a deep-lying
forward, the shadow striker aggressively pushes forward into goal scoring positions as the
ball moves into the final third and looks to close down opposition defenders when out of
possession.
Locked Instructions: Dribble More, More Risky Passes, Get Further Forward, Move Into
Channels
Key Attributes:
Attack: Finishing, Anticipation, Composure, Decisions, Determination, Off The Ball, Work
Rate, Stamina
Inside Forward (IF) – Support and Attack
The IF aims to cut inside from the flanks and runs directly at the centre of the opposition’s
defence and works best when the player’s strongest foot is on the opposite to the flank he is
playing on.
This movement can open up space for overlapping fullbacks as well as overloading a
retreating defender, although it can up with the player running into cul-de-sacs.
With a support duty, the IF will cut in diagonally into the space behind the defence and play
through balls or take a chance with a long shot if it presents itself
With an attack duty, the IF will run directly at the defence with the options to pass, shoot, or
cross
Support: Dribble More, Cut Inside With Ball, More Risky Passes, Cross Less Often
Attack: Dribble More, Cut Inside With Ball, Cross Less Often, Get Further Forward
Key Attributes:
Support: Dribbling, Passing, Technique, Decisions, Off The Ball, Acceleration
Attack: Dribbling, Composure, Finishing, Passing, Technique, Decisions, Off The Ball,
Acceleration
Wide Target Man (WTM) – Support and Attack
The WTM will be the side’s main outlet for clearances and long balls from the back. Ideally
positioned against a smaller and weaker fullback, he will be asked to get hold of the ball and
keep it before recycling it to a teammate.
With a support duty, the WTM is best used to bully a smaller and weaker fullback, offering
knock-downs and chances to onrushing teammates.
With an attack duty, the WTM becomes the team’s main focal point for the majority of their
attacking play. Ideally positioned against smaller fullbacks, he will be asked to receive the
ball wide before getting others into play.
Support: Hold Up Ball, Dribble Less, Hold Position
Attack: Hold Up Ball, Dribble Less, Get Further Forward
Key Attributes: Heading, Jumping Reach, Strength
Raumdeuter – Support and Attack
The Raumdeuter is a German term that describes a “space investigator”. His main role is to
find pockets of space in which to operate. The Raumdeuter takes up wide positions waiting
for the right time to burst through the defensive line.
He is difficult for defenders to pick up, as he will often drift from his assigned position looking
for any opportunity to exploit. This can result in quiet periods where he appears to be idle.
He may neglect his defensive duties which requires adequate cover behind him. Germany’s
Thomas Mueller probably typifies the modern Raumdeuter, his runs from deep for the
national side made him a dangerous player whenever he arrived unmarked in the box.
Locked Instructions: Pass It Shorter, Cross Less Often, Get Further Forward, Sit
Narrower, Move Into Channels, Roam From Position
Key Attributes: Anticipation, Composure, Decisions, Concentration, Determination, Off The

Ball, Work Rate, Balance, Stamina
ATTACKING ROLES
Deep-Lying Forward (DLF) Support & Attack
The DLF’s main function is to link the attack to the midfield.
He aims to drop deep into space and hold up the ball before supplying linking passes to
teammates, moving the ball back to midfield support, spreading it wide to the flanks, and if
he has time to turn, play in his strike partner
With a support duty, the DLF will largely aim to bring teammates into play before attacking
the box from deep
While on attack duty the DLF will to fashion chances for himself in addition to playing others
in.
Support: Hold Up Ball, More Risky Passes
Attack: Hold Up Ball, Get Further Forward, Move Into Channels
Key Attributes:
Support: First Touch, Passing, Technique, Composure, Decisions, Off the Ball, Teamwork
Attack: First Touch, Passing, Technique, Composure, Decisions, Off The Ball, Teamwork
Advanced Forward (AF) – Attack
The AF’s main role is to lead the line and look to spearhead attacking moves.
His main role is to be the focal point of attacking moves and he is required to create and
score goals.
His secondary role is to chase down misplaced through balls or clearances from deep, win
possession and lay off passes or crosses to his teammates
Locked Instructions: Dribble More, Get Further Forward, Move Into Channels
Key Attributes: Finishing, Anticipation, Composure, Off The Ball
Target Man (TM) Support & Attack
The TM can transform an average team into a good one by using his sheer physicality to
disrupt the opposition’s defence and open up space for his strike partner and supporting
midfielders
The TM uses his strength and aerial presence to bring teammates into play rather than
relying on technical ability
With a support duty the TM will look to win flick-ons and play simple possession passes to
his teammates to bring them into play
With an attack duty the TM will lead the line and open space for teammates to move into
Support: Hold Up Ball, Dribble Less
Attack: Hold Up Ball, Dribble Less, Get Further Forward
Key Attributes:
Support: Jumping Reach, Strength
Attack: Finishing, Heading, Jumping Reach, Strength
Poacher (P) Attack
The Poacher sits on the shoulder of the last defender looking to break the defensive line and
run onto through balls from midfield
Although the poacher is always ready to run at his marker and is happy to cross the ball
when required, his main aim is trying to put the ball in the back of the net.
His focus is on scoring goals is so extreme that he rarely offers much help in constructing
moves, preferring instead to remain central and sniff out opportunities in and around the box
Locked Instructions: Fewer Risky Passes, Get Further Forward
Key Attributes: Finishing, First Touch, Anticipation, Composure, Off The Ball
Complete Forward (CF) Support &Attack
A CF possesses all the technical abilities of a DLF and the goal scoring ability of a Poacher
and the strength and power of the Target Man.
He is equally adept at playing in others, fashioning chances for himself and getting on the
end of team moves. Such a player transcends tactical instruction and should simply be
allowed to do his own thing.
With the support duty the Complete Forward will look to drop into space, run at the defence,
take long shots, drive to the flanks or play through balls through the defensive line.
Support: Hold Up Ball, Dribble More, More Risky Passes, Roam From Position
Attack: Hold Up Ball, Dribble More, More Risky Passes, Roam From Position, Get Further
Forward, Move Into Channels
Key Attributes:
Support: Dribbling, First Touch, Heading, Long Shots, Passing, Technique, Anticipation,
Composure, Decisions, Off The Ball, Vision, Acceleration, Agility, Strength
Attack: Includes Finishing
Defensive Forward (DF) Defend & Support
The Defensive Forward is becoming more and more important in the modern game.
His main role is to pressure the defensive line, chase down the man in possession, loose
balls and generally stop the opposing defence having any time on the ball. In an attacking
sense he keeps things as simple as possible, preferring to bring other players into the game
than create his own chances. A good example of a defensive forward will be Leicester City's
Jamie Vardy.
With a defend duty, the Defensive Forward will stay a little deeper and put pressure on
defensive midfielders
With a support duty, the DF will press the back line and put pressure on the central
defenders
Defend: Fewer Risky Passes, Hold Position, Close Down More, Tackle Harder
Support: Fewer Risky Passes, Close Down More, Tackle Harder
Key Attributes: Aggression, Bravery, Determination, Teamwork, Work Rate, Acceleration,

Stamina
Trequartista (T) - Attack
The Trequartista can operate in the attacking midfield or centre forward positions.
While similar to the Advanced Playmaker in that he aims to drop into the holes between the
opposition’s midfield and defence, the Trequartista does far less defensively and simply
drifts around looking for space when the team is not in possession.
As such, the rest of the team needs to carry him when defending, but use him as the main
outlet when attacking.
There is very little difference between a Trequartista and an Enganche. In Football Manager,
the one defining difference between the two is that the Trequartista drops deeper than the
Enganche.
Locked Instructions: Dribble More, More Risky Passes, Move Into Channels, Roam From
Position, Close Down Much Less, Ease Off Tackles
Key Attributes: First Touch, Passing, Technique, Anticipation, Composure, Decisions, Off
The Ball, Vision
False 9 - Support
The F9, in some ways is similar to the Advanced Attacking Midfielder Playmaker role forward
positions. An unconventional lone striker who can drop deep to create problems for opposing
defenders who will either follow him or leave him time and space to dribble or pick out a
pass.
Players who have played in a false 9 position include Lionel Messi, in Pep Guardiola’s
Barcelona, Cesc Fabregas for Spain and Francesco Totti for Roma.
Locked Instructions: Dribble More, More Risky Passes, Move Into Channels
Key Attributes: First Touch, Passing, Technique, Composure, Off The Ball, Vision,
Teamwork
MODIFYING ROLES WITH PLAYER PREFERRED

MOVES
Understanding player attributes is the first step in unlocking and understanding each role in
the game. If you have a good idea of his attributes kind of football you want to play then you
can set a “Club DNA”. This is a list of attributes that define the kind of players you are
looking for and in turn this can define how your side plays.
For example if you are non league side and eager to over achieve, focusing on physical
attributes will allow your team to muscle its way to success. You can make your side defiant
in defending and deadly at destroying opponents defences, by choosing key outfield players
with good acceleration. These players can exploit spaces behind defensive lines when you
are on the counter. Teams with low composure and anticipation will be vulnerable to a high
defensive line which you can utilise with a defensive strategy, minimising your risk while
increasing the pressure on the opposite team. You increase pressure on the opposite team,
by having outfield players with high acceleration and off the ball to run at them on the break.
Once you have a clear idea what your Club DNA is, the next step is understanding the roles.
The in-game tool tips describe each role well, but here's a tip. When you are in doubt, open
the edit instructions for each role.
Let's take the example of a Shadow Striker.
The in-game description states that this is a player that operates as the main goal scoring
threat. He works with a deep-lying forward and aggressively moves forward into goal-scoring
positions and looks to close down opposing players when not having the ball. If you try to
edit his instructions you will notice all these personal instructions are locked out:
• Closing down, Move Into Channels, Dribble More, More Risky Passes
This gives you the indication that this player takes risks, moves into vertical spaces and
works really hard to pressure the opposition.
To find out what kind of player fits this bill via attributes, just assign one of your players to be
trained as a Shadow Striker. When you go to the Player Profile page, there is a button on
the right of his attributes that allows you to see what attributes are important for the role. In
the case of the Shadow Striker he has 16 attributes. There are some key attributes and
some preferable ones, and there are some custom skins that indicate these if you are keen
to find out.
The next step is setting up the Core Role Attributes (CRA) of your team. This sets up the
broad attributes you need for the Defend/Support and Attack roles in your side. The basics
of roles have been covered in this section, for more advanced play, one needs to understand
how duties affects the team. And that is covered in the section entitled Core Role Attributes
and the importance of duties. In that section I will explain how duties play a vital role in
transitions.
PLAYER PREFERRED MOVES (PPM)
Player Preferred Moves are those special extras that players are capable of doing in a
match. These can give each role a unique flavour. For instance, you can tell a player to stay
wide and dribble down the flanks, or you can teach a central midfielder to drop back and
dictate play. It’s a good tool to create unique styles of play. This should always be the last
thing you focus on since it can take almost 6 months for a ppm to be learned.
Is there a preferred set for certain players? This is where it gets rather complicated.
Personally I believe its possible but very difficult, which is why my answer will be that there is
no pre-set list of PPMs per position. You need to look at your roles in the team and then
determine what PPMs will help enhance that position. And that’s the best way forward. Don’t
stick in PPM for the sake of it, always consider the bigger picture of how your side should
play. I can go entire seasons without even bothering to train PPMs in players. I usually wait
till I find the right combination of players in my youth team. If I find that this will be core of my
future team. That's when I begin. Let's try one example.
I have an explosive fullback down the right who's the focus of many of my attacks and a
winger on the left who rips defences to shreds. To get these guys the latitude they need I
know I need to have someone in the middle of the park setting the tempo for the whole
game and switching defence to attack. Its very much how Barcelona play. When they have
the ball in their half they pass it around casually, but then a switch goes off in midfield and
suddenly they start moving the ball around at lightning pace to unlock defences.
Here I would be looking to train a player to Dictate Tempo, Switch Ball to Other Flanks and
Play Killer Ball.
On the next page is the full list of player preferred moves in the game. This may change at
some point if SI introduces a new PPM. Some PPMs can be taught by coaches and others
can only be learnt via tutoring. A 17 year old player can learn 5 PPMs by the time he is 20,
and by then he should have been with the club for 3 seasons earning home grown status. By
then you can either start giving him time with the first team, or continue his development.
Personally I continue players development, making sure they are capable in at least two
positions. That takes one season, and you can put the player on loan once he's ready and
force the loaning club to play him in the position you want.
Some people may dislike playing with PPMs, but imagine the variety of play you can
achieve. To give you an example I had a defender who could also play as a midfielder, at the
age of 17 I got him to learn, and he naturally developed a very good passing game.
- Likes to dictate tempo,
- Likes to play killer balls
- Get forward whenever possible
My winger on the left had dribbling of 15, composure of 15, acceleration of 18 and pace of
15. With really good ball control skills I gave him the task of
- Get forward whenever possible
- Runs with balls often
- Plays simple one twos
- Knocks ball past opponents
- Places shots
IN one of my saves I even had a fullback on the right who possessed a great throw and he
had 5 PPMs including a long flat throw and 7 assists in 13 games.
That defender was a lynchpin for my defence and through him we created a lot of chances.
In fact I wasn't surprised with his runs up the field nor with his killer passes. Below is a list of
selected PPMs, and there are combinations you can make to allow you to do things you
can’t in the Tactical Creator, like having a fullback who's the source of all attacks. PPMs
aren’t a magical pill that will transform a side, what they do is to give your side a slight
difference in the way it plays. When choosing which PPMs to use, its often a good idea to be
judicious in their use. This is a list of PPM available in the game, and I believe that this list
will grow over time and is not exhaustive by any means.
• Argues with Officials
• Arrives late in Opponent's Area
• Attempts Overhead Kicks
• Attempts to Develop Weaker Foot
• Avoids Using Weaker Foot
• Comes Deep To Get Ball
• Curls Ball
• Cuts Inside
• Dictates Tempo
• Dives Into Tackles
• Does Not Dive Into Tackles
• Dwells on Ball
• Gets Forward Whenever Possible
• Gets Into Opposition Area
• Hits Free Kicks With Power

• Hugs Line
• Knocks Ball Past Opponent
• Likes To Lob Keeper
• Likes To Round Keeper
• Likes To Switch Ball To Other Flank
• Likes To Try To Beat Offside Trap
• Looks For Pass Rather Than Attempting To Score
• Marks Opponent Tightly
• Moves Into Channels
• Penalty Box Player
• Places Shots
• Plays No Through Balls
• Plays One-Twos
• Plays Short Simple Passes
• Plays With Back To Goal
• Possesses Long Flat Throw
• Refrains From Taking Long Shots
• Runs With Ball Down Left
• Runs With Ball Down Right
• Runs With Ball Often
• Runs With Ball Rarely
• Runs With Ball Down Centre
• Shoots From Distance
• Shoots With Power
• Stays Back At All Times
• Stops Play
• Tries First Time Shots

• Tries Killer Balls Often
• Tries Long Range Passes
• Tries Long Range Free Kicks
• Tries To Play Way Out Of Trouble
• Uses Long Throw To Start Counter Attacks
TUTORING
There are two options when you want to tutor a player. The first option teaches him PPM
and affects his mental disposition, and the second option only affects his mental disposition.
You can tutor anyone but the chances of success depends on how "senior" the tutor is,
whether they have positions they play in common and whether the tutored is injured or not.
Tutoring can transfer some of the PPM and takes 180 days.
Using PPM in a game
It's not really hard, but you really need a plan. You can't simply decide that you want two
players to approach the game identically. That won't happen. What you need to do is to look
at the roles you have and see how a PPM can enhance them. Let me explain.
I have three positions which are key in my 4411: the right fullback, the left winger and the
AMC.
Right fullback
I have an explosive fullback in this position, and when he was younger I was singularly
focused on making sure he could dual hat a wingback role as well, so I trained him for both.
The player had great stamina, teamwork, natural fitness, concentration, pace and
acceleration. With those key attributes I set about looking at PPM to make this attacking
fullback position more deadly.
So I added Get Forward, Plays killer ball, Runs down right flank, Knocks ball past opponent.
The reason why I chose knock ball past opponent was because of his acceleration and his
crossing, his pace and concentration made him a good choice for an attacking fullback role,
right now he is one of the most important players in my squad and at the age of 27 easily a
world class player.
Left Midfielder
My winger is expected to dribble at players, break defences open, get goal-side and
basically wreak havoc. At the age of 15 I found a young player who had phenomenal
acceleration, 17 at that age was very high. Couple with his high pace and stamina I knew
that there was a strong chance if he developed right he would be an ace in the hole.
I immediately set to get him to learn two more positions, by the time he was 17 he could play
as an AMC, AML and an ML. By 18 he was the European Golden Boy winner. By 20 he had
18 dribbling 15 passing and 17 first touch — a great addition to the left.
In order to exploit his potential I knew that he needed to be paired with a more restrained
fullback who could do one-two's with him so that he could have miles of space to exploit. So
I gave him the ppms, plays one-twos, gets forward, runs with ball often, knocks ball past
opponents and places shots. This saw him get goal side tonnes of times to score and he
would frequently beat players to cross from the bye line. His unpredictability down the left
unlocked many defences.
Central Attacking Midfielder (AMC)
In the middle my AMC has been given, plays killer balls, switch ball to flanks and get
forward.
But to give all these players their PPMs they first need the right attributes so they can exploit
those PPMs. If you give a player the PPM of getting forward but he has low decisions and
composure, then its pointless.
Knowing whom to give those PPMs is the key to making successful tactics. You don't need
every player on the pitch to be walking with a ppm, you need your key players to have them
and then once your system becomes rock solid the translation is near flawless on the pitch.
PPM DOWNSIDES
When you use PPMs you need to be aware of the effect they can have on your tactic or
even on the role you want a player to take. For example, if you choose to use a midfielder as
a supporting midfielder and hope that he acts as an effective pivot, the “Get Forward” ppm
could be detrimental to your tactic. The ppm will encourage him to make his starting point for
transitions higher, and this could lead to isolation. I typically don’t train players to use “Get
Forward" unless there is a specific need in my system.
Whenever you train a player to use a ppm, it's for a specific need in your team’s play style.
Lets take a look at a few examples.
“ Dives into tackles” This encourages players to exercise their decision making attribute to
determine when they should slide and tackle a player. I make sure players who zonally mark
crucial areas operate without this ppm. This will include Full Backs, and Defensive
Midfielders. If any of these players slides in at the wrong time, we could end up either giving
up space behind them or a free kick in a dangerous position.
“Marks Opponent Tightly” - If you are playing a high defensive line system, and some of
your flank players have great tackling and positioning then this ppm acts to set them to mark
a player zonally more aggressively than he would normally do.
“Arrives Late In Opponents Area"-is a good ppm that encourages a player to move into the
opposition box by making deep runs into the box and arriving unmarked. This is a good ppm
for systems that employ central midfielders in support areas. If they have good finishing,
composure, first touch, decisions
“Plays one-two's”-is a great ppm for players because it encourages them to play passes
quickly for penetration. Like using them with my attacking group of players to move the ball
quickly around the final third.
“Moves into Channels” - This ppm is available as a specific player instruction, which means
that there are already roles in the game that have them. It’s not necessary to train players to
have this ppm and sometimes it can detract from the role they were designed to play. If you
want a player to act as an anchor, this ppm will encourage him to move vertically between
opposing players and then towards the flank. It can be used to pull players out of position.
“Likes to Switch Ball To Other Flank” Is another good ppm for centrally placed creative
players. This allows them see opportunities for exploiting space on opposite flanks. Players
who are given this ppm should be playing in the central playmaker roles and must have solid
attributes in passing, decisions and vision.
“Comes Deep To Get The Ball” A great ppm to have if you are playing a flat midfield, a
centrally placed creative player will become the “water carrier” between defence and middle,
and he will be a good passing outlet for defenders. My 4312 systems usually have at least
one player wit this PPM.
“Plays with Back to Goal” is a good ppm for a target man to have. This encourages him to
hold up the ball in the opposition half, and because of this ppm, defenders are forced to stay
tight on him instead of tackling him. Pairing him with another striker would be a good move
to take advantage of this ppm.
“Knocks ball past opponent” is a good ppm for any player with poor pace but good
acceleration. A player will take control of the ball and then attempt to play the ball forward
before attempting to run onto it. It’s a good way of getting past tight marking, however the
player needs acceleration to take advantage of the ppm.
“Runs with Ball”, This PPM comes as a group, where they run in specific directions. It
encourages players to use dribbling skills to move the ball forward. Care should be taken
when assigning this ppm. The player needs good attributes for this and there are various
ppms that influence where he dribbles the ball. It is an option for fullbacks, wingers and
inside forwards.
“Penalty Box Player” this ppm encourages a forward to stay in the penalty box at all times.
Sometimes you want players to have this ppm if you playing a system which employs one
deep lying forward and you have various other players playing in or outside the edge of the
penalty area. However, it does make your system predictable.
“Likes To Beat Offside Trap” When you are playing against a high line its good to have
forwards who stand on the shoulder of the last defender in hopes to stay behind the
defensive line when a through ball is played. For this to be used effectively you need to
choose the right roles which can use this shout, and these are usually the roles with Attack
duty, for example the Poacher.
“Plays Short Simple Passes” is a good ppm for your side if you want to develop a
possession centric team. Players will be inclined to play easy passes in an attempt to control
possession. You can also use a player with this ppm beside another player who is more
creatively inclined to make passes, so that the pair can work together.
“Possesses Long Flat Throw” Set-pieces are important if you want to develop other goal
scoring opportunities. When you use this ppm on a player ensure you have players with
good jumping reach in the box.
“Use Long Throw to Start Counterattacks” A good ppm for a keeper who possesses good
throwing. If you possess a structured system for counterattacks, this could be good for quick
turnovers.
Other player preferred moves can be used to prevent specific behaviours in players for
example. Refrains From Taking Long Shots. This will be handy for sides playing fluid
systems and require players with low teamwork from taking unnecessary pot shots at goal.
Let's now take a look at how we can modify player roles with the use of player instructions.
MODIFYING ROLES WITH PLAYER INSTRUCTIONS
Nearly every role in the game can be modified with the use of Player
Instructions, this gives users a really powerful way to set up specific styles that
work together with the Tactical Creator.
When you select any role and head to the Player Instructions Page you will
be given the choice of adjusting specific player instructions by picking the “Edit”
option.
Just imagine there is a picture here of the Player Instructions screen. It's
not hard :-) OK so maybe you need help. We can always wait for you to turn it
on, and minimise me. I won't be hurt.
You will then be taken to a page where you have several options. These
options allow you to customise roles making each one you create unique, to a
player or to a system.
Once you make the change you can include it in the tactic, save it or you
could create a preset version of this role and use it for other saves.
Let me give you an example of how you could make it work within an
overall system. Assume you wanted to play a 433 with a defensive midfielder,
who plays deep creative passes, and you want to avoid needless passes by the
fullbacks.
You can go to both fullbacks adjust their passing to short, and play less risky
passes. That takes care of them. In fact for a lot of possession based tactics this is
what I always do and its a preset for me. Now these fullbacks will stop playing
through passes and instead keep their passing short. You can even set the entire
teams passing to short, and then leave the DM on default passing.
Let's say you are in a game, and you want to hold onto possession without
wanting to lose the ability of making through passes, you can just tell the whole
team to play it short from the Team Instructions.
If you opt to chase the game and open it up, you could go structured, and
change the passing to Direct. When this happens, all the players who were given
short passing, will find that their passing has only been slightly modified, since
the short passing PI is acting as a limiting factor. Their passing length still goes
up but only by a smaller margin than the DM who has default passing that can
be modified through the TC.
That one system with preset instructions done in the form of Player
Instructions has now allowed you to create a system that can change styles with
a simple TI change. This beats having to recreate a whole system, and it allows
you to use the same players.
Modifying Player Instructions like this need to be done carefully. One needs
to consider how it affects the whole system of play. In later chapters of this book,
we will show some examples of tactics where I use a combination of PIs and TIs
to swing matches.
I can't stress how big this is for me. The match engine can never be as
creative as the human mind. There is no way that's possible. The beauty of using
PIs lies in its simplicity. Let's try another example.
You can take a central midfielder for example, different PI combinations can
result in different kinds of roles:
CM with support duty, given always stay back and mixed passing, tackle hard
and close down much more. This CM will now act like a ball winning
midfielder.
If you remove the tackle harder and close down much more, but give him
risky passes, he now acts like a deep lying playmaker. If you tell him to play it
short and dribble more, and has the “one-two passing tempo” ppm, then you get
someone who likes to give and go passes or dribble when he has the ball. So
what's the difference between this and roles?
That my friends is the million dollar question. Only recently have SI begun to
realise that some of these generic roles are too powerful. I fully expect them to
make small changes here and there in every release to lock down some
instructions for generic roles. Most roles have locked in instructions, these are
done to define and maintain the way they play. Sometimes I myself get lost in
the new terminology and roles that keep being introduced. Some roles are so
similar, the differences between them are really minute. I am one of those who
isn't keen on seeing more and more similar roles being introduced. I rather see
current roles being improved. The ball playing defender for example, this is one
player I fully expect to leave the confines of his own half and join in the attack.
Unfortunately, that hasn't happened yet.
When I play the game, I tend to use the roles I know, and am comfortable
with. There are some roles I have hardly touched in years. These include the
Trequartista, who to all intends and purposes reminds me of a False 9. The only
difference these two players seem to have in the game is that one drops deeper
than the other.
You can play by picking roles from the tactical creator. And, if they fit
logically in a system, they should work. So long as you think about transitions,
supports , with and without ball screens, you will be fine. Later on this book I
will deal with those, and put the pieces together. One thing I will state here, is
that you should always understand the role you are using. Take the time to
observe any new role you have introduced into your system, before you start
making PI changes. Understanding a role is as simple as discovering what their
locked and unlocked instructions are and the key attributes necessary to fulfil
that role.
Before you start loading a player up with PIs, you need to know if he can do
the job he’s being asked to. Always check his attributes. The player role guide in
the earlier parts of this section list out key attributes for specific kind of roles,
please use that as a guide.
Another role that can be modified is the APM role on the flanks. You can
assign a player with a Sit Narrower Player Instruction and you get someone who
plays like Eden Hazard.
You can also take a wide midfielder on the flanks and do the same thing.
With a roam shout and dribble more instruction, you could create a "Riyad
Mahrez" (Leicester City) in midfield.
One final thing, whenever you create a role like that you can always save it
as a preset, that you can load up in other saves. By the time you finish with this
book you should be comfortable with roles and attributes. In fact even before
you start building any tactic, if you are unsure about any role, please refer to the
sections on player roles and key attributes. I find that this is almost always the
reason why people's tactics don't work.
I plan to do continual updates about roles and systems going forward and
how these fit into certain tactical systems, especially with recent trends of
playing congested midfields. These will be available to Patreon users long before
I share it with the rest of the world. In fact I plan to make that my first update to
the book.
Core Role Attributes (CRA) and the importance of

Duties
Whenever I help struggling players I always ask them a lot of questions. These include :
“What kind of football do you want your side to play?” and “If you were to describe it how will
your side score their goals?” Now this is a sample of a typical answer from a struggling
manager.
"I want to play a 4231 or a 4312 like yours. I want my side to play high up the pitch and score
goals with quick short passes with intelligent through balls. I want my fullbacks to overlap and
provide plenty of width and I want my side to drop back and defend as a unit. I want us to
score enough goals from set-pieces"
When we are away from home I want to be able to sit back and hit them on the counter by
playing defensively and and when I am at home I want to dominate and destroy the
opposition, but I don't know what kind of attributes my players need or what kind of roles I
should use"
This sounds like a manager who wants to have every little piece of candy in the shop.
What's wrong with what he wants? This is an actual message that was sent to me on the
forums.
The problem a lot of people have is that they still think of the game as a tactic. They believe
that a tactic will solve all their problems. Can you picture what would happen if this question
was fielded to a world class coach? Imagine what he would say? No coach in the world
thinks in terms of "one tactic for all matches".
Coaches put their teams through drills where they move as units to control specific areas of
the pitch.I will share some of these drills with Patreon users over time. Systems transcend
any simple numerical number that seek to describe them. So we need to start thinking of
systems in a much broader way. Instead of thinking of them as a tactic. We need to think in
terms of duties first. We need to define responsibilities for each phase of the play. Some
coaches like Pep Guardiola expect their player to be involved in all transitions. And others
like Tony Pullis are more rigid with their expectations.
Every default tactical system in the game has unique requirements, for some there is
enough balance for you to get everything you want. For others you need to understand the
weaknesses of the system before you even start to use them. Every tactical system in
football has defend, support and attack roles. Its important first to understand what these
mean in the simplest of terms, because this affects transitions in game.
Defend players have the primary duty of staying back at all times. They forgo any attacking
duties and concentrate on one task. Assume you are playing a game and your fullback
always gets caught out when he moves forward. You could issue him a Defend duty, this
way he never ventures forward
Support players are meant to be the "water carriers" in the team. They link the defence and
attack. Their job is to split their efforts equally between both groups. When the team has to
drop back and defend, you expect to find them rushing back to assume their positions.
When your team is moving forward into attack and the team is parked in the final third, they
are waiting for the one incisive move that sets them free to attack. Support players are the
heart and soul of any team.
If you were to look at the Liverpool team under Jurgen Klopp, you will notice that he places a
high value on support duties. He expects his support players to drop back to assume their
defensive positions and be ready to pounce into attack. Players are expected to work
together to close opponents down. At the start of his first season, the fullback Alberto
Moreno showed a propensity to bomb forward at the expense of his defensive duties. His
failure to be an effective support player led to the rise of James Milner as a fullback.
As a manager you will spend a fair amount of time sorting particular duties out. More often
than not, managers fail to get their teams to perform because they are slow in spotting
individuals who are bad at support.
Attack roles are the creative duties in the side. It's their job to pressure the opponents by
creating runs down wide or through the middle. They are also players who look for space to
exploit or to find players in those kind of spaces. Selecting the right kind of players to
perform specific roles within the side can influence the variety of attacks you have.
Getting your defend/support/attack duties right will determine your balance and this in turn
will affect how your team handles transitions. The ball needs to transition between all three
duties effectively if you want to build a good system.
Different tactics will have different requirements. Before you can even determine what kind
of tactic you should be using, you should go through your squad and identify all the players
who can perform these roles well, regardless of the level of football you are playing. And this
is where setting up CRA is vital. I have been doing this since 1998, and it hasn't failed me
yet. When choosing your attributes, remember one point: If you select too may attributes you
will be faced with a problem finding players, so be smart about it. Focus on a few first to get
the overall style you want.
So what are Core Role Attributes? Imagine you have a team and you want them to defend
deep and hit on the counter. That's the style play you want to use. Then your Core Role
Attributes will be a selection of key attributes that help you get that kind of style of play.
Before we can define that style of play let's first find out what the key attributes are for each
duty in the game of football. There will be a need to prioritise.
Let's define what the different duties before we begin.
UNDERSTANDING DUTY COMBINATIONS
Duty combinations are important because they help us creating passing patterns and
defensive arrangements in the game. This allows us to control the pitch.
Player roles in the game come with a choice for duty allocation. These include: Auto,
Defend, Support and Attack. Duties determine how your side reacts to transitions. It is
important to understand the effects of various duties and how they can impact your teams
transitions from defence to attack and from attack to defence. If you find that your flanks are
too exposed or if your defenders are stepping out too early to close down, the fault will
almost always be incorrect duty allocations.
Auto - Changes based on your choice of mentality. Personally I never use this as the effects
can sometimes be hard to control, especially for my style of play which involves the use of
team instructions to swing play.
Defend- This duty issues a “Stay Back” always instruction to a player. He does not take part
in attacking transitions
Support- This duty issues a “Get Forward Sometimes" instruction to a player. This is not
evident in the tactical creator, but this is what happens under the hood. He will take part in
attacking transitions if you have control of the ball in the opponent's half and conditions are
favourable to the player moving up. During defensive transitions he will get back to support
your defence.
If a team is on defensive mentality, the passes become more methodical and he will look to
move quickly back to defend, on attacking mentalities he will also move back, but his focus
will also be on looking for opportunities to play quick transition passes. Mentality thus affects
decision-making on top of the duty allocation.
Attack- This duty issues a “Get Forward Always" instruction. Again this is not apparent on
the tactical creator, but it's happening under the hood. When a player has this duty he will
always be looking for the attacking move. He will move into attacking positions early in
transitions, and will not prioritise getting back to defend. Any player who has an attack duty
combination will only drop back if the whole team has retreated into their own half. Some
roles will still guide a player to defend such as Fullbacks on Attack duty, however midfielders
and strikers will not perform much by way of defensive contributions, unless the whole team
is behind the ball, in their own half and playing on a low mentality setting.
Let's now try and delve deeper into these duties and see how they can affect our systems. I
am fairly no-one in SI thinks in these terms which makes it easy for me to get my systems up
and running with different teams quickly. I do expect that sometime in the future they will
start adapting their systems because they need to. And when that happens, we would have
reached the point where the AI needs to change quickly to adapt to human play and to ever
changing styles in world football.
Now its time for ask to go a bit deeper into duties and combine them with key attributes, this
style of play is very unique to how I play and I haven't really described this on any forum or
youtube video in detail before. My secret is out, don't forget me when you become a major
success!
Defend Duties
In any system defend roles are filled by players who should stay back at all times. Their
focus will be on defending.
Tackling, Positioning, Anticipation, Concentration, Bravery, Pace, Acceleration,

Marking are all important attributes to have, but chances are you won't find a lot of players
with all these. So what you need to do is to look for combinations.
Tackling, Bravery, Positioning, Marking - If a player only has these in abundance, then he
is good at marking but he may lack the acceleration to beat an attacker on the turn. He can
mark a player tight, but he will need to win the ball, otherwise his poor ball control could see
him losing on the turn as he is beaten by acceleration. These kind of players will benefit from
hard tackling if they have the technique, but you can't play a system with a high defensive
line unless you practice final third closing down. Final third closing down is achieved by
setting maximum closing down instructions individually on attacking players in the final third.
This however can limit their attacking bias since you have increased their workload in the
game. I find that this is a small trade-off if I am playing with at least 2 forwards in attack.
Generally you want to avoid using players with low tackling unless they have good
anticipation, positioning, concentration, acceleration and pace. These kind of defenders can
track an attacking player, so getting them to stay on feet is always a good option. They will
track the players if they fail to get to the ball first, and by tracking the players they reduce
passing options.
In general I usually look at tackling, anticipation, concentration and bravery first, since
these are common attributes I need in both average and good squads. Once I find players I
start looking at acceleration, marking and positioning.
If a midfielder is playing in a defend duty, I will include first touch as well, since this is the
single biggest attribute for outfield players that influences control of the ball.
Now that we have established what the key attributes are for any system its time to list the
players out. At this point you are looking at stamina and strength as well, to determine if you
have a lightweight defence or not. At the end of this exercise you will know whether your
defence is slow but aware, quick to recover, or badass.
Knowing your defence CRA will tell you whether your team can recover after losing the ball
playing a high line. Playing a high line can be dangerous if your defenders have poor
positioning, anticipation, acceleration or concentration. You need to be aware of what your
defenders limitations are each time you to decide to press higher up the pitch. While its
difficult to get it right, it’s a style of play that places intense pressure on the opposition and
can frequently unsettle most sides if its done at the right time.
In many of my games I make small changes to the way I play, these are usually calculated to
unsettle the AI. You have to remember the result of the game has already been pre-
determined by the AI at the start of the game. As the game progresses, in game events may
change the outcome. What I do is try to unsettle the AI at key points when I feel pressure is
wise. Later on in this book I cover topics like how I make changes in a game, unsettling the
AI is what I am trying to do. It doesn't always work, sometimes it can go horribly wrong. The
upside is that I feel like I am in control and not the AI.
It's easy to get overwhelmed with these attributes, many players try to fit as many as they
can and then get confused trying to understand why their players are failing at their jobs.
Keep it simple by understanding the key attributes that are needed. That is the first step.
Tackling, Positioning, Anticipation, Concentration, Marking - These are the main

attributes that govern whether a defender has the intelligence to play in the position. The
concentration attribute is important, because along with Anticipation this gives him the
football intelligence to play in the role.
Acceleration - This attribute will allow him to turn and chase after a ball or close down a
player. Along with Marking this gives him the edge against an attacker who has pace.
Technique - This attribute determines if he is going to be successful at pulling off tough

challenges. Technique is one of those overall attributes that describe how good a player is at
fulfilling the requirements of his position. Players with low technique may have the higher
attributes in other areas. If they are young, then this is a good indicator for me that they have
room to improve and that there is more to come. For older players I get concerned when I
see low Technique levels especially for key roles.
Jumping Reach - For all defenders this is an important attribute. At least one central
defender has to have the ability to out-jump the opposition. If you want to play a high line, its
mandatory to have one player with it and another with acceleration.
Support Duties
These are the 'water carriers' in the team, in other words, these are the players who go back
to help the defence and also go up to support the attack. These duties are vital to transitions.
Most managers ignore the importance of this group of players. By far this is the most
important duty in the team. The single most important attribute for this group is Teamwork.
This attribute determines how likely one player is to drop his duties to go and help another
out. In any system players who are given this duty are expected to drop back to put in a
challenge or close players down. How well they do this job is a function of several factors,
and these attributes are their CRA.
Whenever you choose a player to play the support role, always remember that this is
perhaps the biggest single most important decision you are going to make for your team.
Support players are expected to defend and attack. Since they require so many attributes
finding them is going to be hard, so you will need to prioritise. In order of importance these
are the rest of the attributes:
Stamina - Players on support are expected to cover the length and breadth of the pitch, if
they don't have stamina they won't last the game. You can train players to improve over
time, but you will also need to check that against Natural Fitness.
Natural Fitness - Since they are required to put in a challenge and are expected to run up
and down, the chance that they get injured is relatively high. If they have low natural fitness
they may not last. I hardly have any players in my side with low natural fitness. If they are
young I still prefer that they have at least 10-12 before I consider keeping them for the long
term. By the time they are 18-20 I will evaluate their attributes against Natural Fitness to
assess their long term development potential. A player with low Natural Fitness may get
injured or may never last the whole game. I once had a gifted player who had 10 for natural
fitness, he needed to be replaced every time he played around the 60th min mark. I finally
gave up because I had to keep another player just as good to cover for him, and that makes
no sense. You need to be impartial when it comes to choosing players. You can't get
attached. You need to be prepared to offload them every few seasons. If you can develop
that kind of mindset, its very easy to make in game changes, because you won't be tied
down in hopes that a player will eventually come good.
Work-rate - This defines how likely a player is to go up and down the length of a pitch. You
need to look at this attribute in conjunction with Stamina and Bravery.
First Touch - Being in position to defend or attack is useless if you can't control the ball.
These players need to have the ability to bring a ball down and control it.
Passing - All support players need good passing. To play their roles effectively they need to
get the ball up to other players.
Decisions - To pass or to hold? To dribble or to shoot? Along with the attribute Vision, this
defines their football intelligence. For playmakers this combination is important. For wide
support players its not as important.
Off the Ball - Support players need to be able to move around in pockets of space to
become passing options.
Bravery - will determine how likely they are to put in a challenge. It's not absolutely
necessary because a player may just drop back and close the passing lanes. However, if
you need him to put in a challenge, his low bravery ratings could prevent him
Composure - These players will face a lot of pressure, a few support roles have "hold up
ball" locked as a hidden instruction or they could have the Player Preferred Move called
Dictate Tempo. If they don't have Composure as an attribute then having good first touch
may be useless, if they can't handle the pressure of being closed down.
Tackling - Support players are expected to tackle, so you need to see them have at least
average attributes for the tackling skill. If you require support players to break up play and
intercept balls in the opponents third then they will need Anticipation and Concentration.
Determination - This attribute is vital if you are a goal down. How hard is your team willing
to work to find the equaliser?
*TIP*
When you create any system, you will always need to ask yourself whether the player is
"Defensive-Support" or "Attacking Support". In other words you need to know who is coming
back to help the defenders and who is going up to help the attacks.
In some tactics you may end up using 2 Defensive Midfielders in a 4231. In this particular
case you don't need both of them to stay back all the time. So how would one Defensive
Midfielder move up to join the attack. First you need to choose the right role, he will need a
role to "Get Forward" when his team has the ball. This player will also need Stamina, Natural
Fitness, Teamwork, First Touch, and Off the Ball. Whether he goes up or not also depends
on opportunities available and whether he has any player preferred moves that ask him to
stay back at all time.
It will also depend whether your system plays direct passes at quick tempo and you have
side midfielders who are on attack role. When you play direct passes and are moving the
ball quickly chances are the defensive midfielder on support playing in a deep 4231 will not
have the chance to move forward. To give him the chance to move forward you will need to
do several things:
• Push up the defensive line
• Play a more fluid shape
These two shouts act to make the side a lot more compact. You can also add:
• Work ball into box
• Retain Possession (This shout will reduce through balls, and while it will help with
possession, it may encourage a lot of off the ball movement)
These will reduce the passing length, tempo and width of the side. The Work Ball shout will
reduce crosses and this will allow the DM on support to move up and be a danger in the final
third. This way you can develop a tactic that "camps" in the opponents half. Once again be
aware of your defenders, playing a high line is always risky if you don't possess the right
kind of defenders.
There are some players who are expected to defend more in their support roles than attack,
such roles include the Ball Winning Midfielder. And there are other roles that are expected to
defend but look for opportunities to launch attacks. These include the Deep Lying
Playmaker. I like to call these the Support/Attacking duties, these players have a tough job to
do, and to find the right players to perform the roles they need to have certain attributes:
Passing. Decisions, Vision, First Touch, Composure. These players are expected to find the
cross field diagonal pass or the "no look" through pass. Decisions and Vision give them the
football intelligence, Passing and Technique will give them the ability and First Touch and
Composure will give them control to make those passes.
Every successful system needs balance and getting the mix between the Support and
Defend duties in the game is the first step in building your system. A lot of systems fail on the
because the mix of defending and support duties are either wrong or non-existent.
In my honest opinion, the single most important duty in the whole game is the “Support”
duty. These are the players that are involved in transitions, who get up to support the attack
and drop back to help the defence. So when you are looking at highlights or a game you are
paying a lot of attention to this group during transitions. You need to be able to identify the
support duties in an AI system as well to ascertain how threatening they can be. When I see
more players taking part in a transition during attack, I know that the AI is playing on more
fluid settings. On more structured shapes there is more distinction, support players don’t get
involved unless their team is firmly in control in the final third.
Attacking Duties
These are the group of players assigned the duty of creating goal scoring opportunities.
There are different kinds of goal scoring threats in the game. We need to distinguish
between Creators and Scorers. Every player in the team has the ability to create or score in
the game, but on some players the duty is critical. These are the players who need to carve
out the chances for the team. Winning a game in Football Manager is all about creating good
goal scoring chances. This is done by creating moments of imbalance.
In real life, teams score goals when an opportunity presents itself, if a team decides to go all
defensive, then those chances become rare. During times like this, you need players who
have the ability to move the ball around, probing or drawing defenders out. There are plenty
of roles in the game that draw defenders out. Most attacking roles in the game have the
ability to draw defenders out of position. These include the Deep Lying Forward, Complete
Forward, Trequartista, Defensive Forward and the False 9. Each of these roles does it
differently. Some drop deep, others move into channels - these are the vertical spaces
between players. In order for them to do their jobs well of fashioning chances for others they
need to have:
Off the ball, Decisions, First Touch, Composure, Strength, Teamwork, Passing,
Finishing, Decisions, Vision
Behind these players are the attacking midfielders who can either play on the flanks or
through the centre. These players also require the same attributes but need to have decent
dribbling so they can move the ball around. However if you don't have a side gifted with
dribbling then you can opt to pass the ball around without choosing duties that dribble a lot.
In addition to the attributes listed above they need Work-rate, Stamina.
If these players are playing on the flanks as Inside Forwards or Wingers then they will need
crossing if thats what you want them to do or dribbling. However for them to get in the box to
become effective goal scorers they will need to have off the ball, anticipation, acceleration
and determination.
Finally we have the attacking backs. These include the fullbacks and complete wing-backs.
These are potentially major goal creators in the side. They will need good off the ball to
effectively move forward into overlapping positions. Acceleration to beat their markers, first
touch to get the ball under control. Determination will also be needed for them to be willing to
bust a gut. Add in a good dose of dribbling and crossing and you have yourself a rampaging
marauder.
Every FM manager in the game knows what it takes to make a goal scorer, they go out and
find players with world class finishing , composure, first touch, anticipation, jumping reach.
Whether or not these guys actually score or not depends on the kind of chances you
created.
So the next time you see a passage of play and wonder why you are not scoring consider
this:
• Has your striker been too selfish? Is he too determined to shoot that he ignores his
teammates? Check his teamwork
• Are your midfielders not coming back to support your fullbacks ?- Check teamwork,
decisions, stamina, work-rate
• Is your side struggling to create chances? - Look at movement. Are enough players
moving off the ball to find space to pull a team apart? Are your players not stretching the
defence?
Remember that teamwork is a vital attribute, whether a supporting midfielder is willing to

drop what he is doing to help a teammate out is a function of teamwork. Bravery will guide
whether or not he will throw in a challenge. And, decisions will determine if he thinks its the
right moment in the phase of play to do it.
Prioritising Attributes
The biggest question I get asked is what attributes should I prioritise? This is a hard question
to answer, the best way to deal with this is to determine what your personality of the squad
is. Using the CRA for the 3 duties will give you an indication of what's possible in your squad.
The next thing you can do is to look at a system of play
To do that begin first by going to the Team Report tab and then do a Team Comparison. This
should tell you where your team sits with respect to the rest of the league. This will give you
a benchmark to compare yourself.
Strugglers
These are sides that are usually fighting for survival.Always focus on your spine first. These
will be your support players.
Struggling teams who are fighting for survival should look at Determination,Teamwork,
Acceleration, Pace, Work-rate and Bravery. They don't have the technical ability to beat
everyone, but they need to have the heart to try and win. They need to be willing to work
together and Acceleration and Pace will allow them to recover and to harry opposing
players. If the attackers have these attributes then they should be able to score off the
break.
The next attribute you want in your support players is Tackling and Concentration. Once you
have identified the players who fit this bill then they get penned into your starting 11.
Performers
The rest of the competition are usually performers, anytime you think you can beat the top
tier, you are in a position to move up the table. To ensure that you are offering a challenge
your team needs to unlock sides.
A combination of Vision, Decision,Passing, Crossing, Dribbling, First touch, Composure will

be the attributes you need in your team if they are expected to unlock stubborn defences.
You will also need Off the ball to get your players to move around to work the ball into
dangerous positions.
Different tactical systems have different requirements, and this is where you fit all the pieces
together
Balancing your duties
Perhaps the single biggest reason why tactics fail is almost always down to wrong duty
selection. The second biggest mistake is probably the wrong Mentality/Shape combination,
but the effect of that is not nearly as devastating as poor duty selection. I’ve spoken to quite
a few players and helped them out, and, in every case, their assumption that an attack duty
would help their perform better was always a misplaced one. There are two stages to
getting a balanced tactic.
The first step is to make sure that all your duties can work together effectively. The
second step is to ensure that it does better than the AI. You can't do the second step until
you nail the first.
Let’s take a look at a simple 442 system. The choice of duty selection will influence how your
team plays with the ball and without the ball. In other words, how your team’s shape looks
like when you are attacking the opposition. The shape of a tactic will change between
transitions. When the ball is in your half and you are building play it looks like a basic 422,
but once the ball moves into midfield, that’s when the duties kick in. The worst time for you
to lose the ball is during the midfield phase of the game, and that’s when the influence
of duties needs to be observed. You need to see how both teams duties line up at that point.
The easiest way to do that is to look for attack duties. On defensive the AI usually only uses
one attack duty which is easy to spot.
However that also means that it has more players in midfield, which is bad news for you if
you lose the ball.
Support Roles
In this example, there is only one attack duty, the team looks relatively compact. This has
many advantages including moving the ball efficiently provided you are not too ambitious
with any shouts that increase risky passes. What I typically see are ambitious tactics which
have quite a few attacking duties. In the first example, we know that the ball can be moved
around safely. Increasing attacking mentality and tempo will just increase penetration and
influence the type of passes that are played, yet the use of those supporting duties will not
unbalance your system. This allows you to change your mentality and shape during a game
without drastic side effects.
You could use a variety of support roles, some could explore the width of the pitch. Others
could be set up to do one touch passing. Wingers on support would only kick in during final
third transitions. While this may not be overtly attacking, it certainly is a feature of how the AI
sets up its Defensive tactics. If I were to use this and pushed the defensive line, this could
be a high pressure tactic. My only concern would be choosing the right kind of Creator Roles
in midfield to unlock the side. Examples of these Creator Roles will be covered in later
sections when we discuss Midfield Combinations in detail.
Attack Roles
In our second example, we have 3 attack duties. When using attacking duties on the flanks,
you need to consider how the ball is going to move up in attack. The ones likely to play a
forward pass are the 2 in midfield and the 2 fullbacks. The large gaps will force players to
play more dangerous passes, and the risk of misplaced passes shoots up. It can work under
certain circumstances, for example, you are sitting deep and playing against an attacking/
structured AI. Even then, your players will need to have great attributes to pass the ball,
control the ball and then beat the player off the ball.
So when you are choosing your duties, always consider what the team looks like because
getting your duty selection right will probably solve half your issues. When in doubt go for
less, in fact, you can even play attacking systems with one attacking duty. And if you want to
create a deep counter attacking system, then you will know that all you need are the right
attacking duties in the right areas with the right players making the passes or the runs.
This makes it far easier to adjust the potency of a tactic when you control your duty
selection. There is nothing wrong with choosing more attacking duties in your side, but
understanding how they interact with other duties is important. And your goal in any match
you view is to ascertain how the different duties are working together. Things you should be
spotting are incomplete passes into different strata of the pitch, a lack of passing options
between players and lack of quality chances created. Quality chances need to be seen and
you cannot use the Clear Cut Chances statistic in the game as a yards.
You can always use the Team Analysis tab in the Tactics screen after a match is done to
view how your team looked like with and without the ball. This will always give you an idea of
your overall shape.
We now take a look at how duty combinations can affect the way you set up defences and
create passing triangles. Please note that individual Preferred Moves will affect these
combinations too. Any PPM that tells a player to “Stay Back At All Times” and “Get Forward”
need to be considered when a duty combination does not work the way you expect.
The Basics of Making Tactics
Here we start putting elements from Part 2 together to make a tactic, we

also take a deep look into duty combinations and how these can help you
generate defensive patterns, midfield combinations and attacking patterns.
THINGS GET INTERESTING - MAKING TACTICS

We have now covered the basics, you have seen how the tactical creator works and by now
you should have some understanding on player roles, duties and attributes. Whenever I
coach managers on playing Football Manager, I typically spend 2 sessions on Player Roles
alone. Without having a solid understanding of player roles its almost impossible to make
tactics work right. Now that you have some understanding on Player Roles its time to take a
closer look at tactics.
I grew up obsessed about football, by the time I was 18 I was already glued to one of the
coaches from our local league in Singapore - Geylang. It took me on a career that eventually
culminated in working for an international sports channel as an international football
producer. The job was cool, I would go from interviewing Sepp Blatter to rubbing shoulders
with managers like Gerrard Houllier and attending Football Federation Gala Dinners. Along
the way I learnt to pick things up. I realised almost immediately, nearly every coach hates
the question: "What tactic will you be using today?"
When he interviewed Arrigo Sacchi for his book "Soccer: Modern Tactics", Alessandro Zauli,
was told: "Hold on…I want to stop you right away. I don't think that formations matter."
According to Sacchi, the interpretation of the formation is more important than the numbers
themselves. His true formation was movement, to the opponents and to the field
When Sacchi was invited to Manchester by the English Federation, he explained that the
main aspects of his game were:
• Numerical superiority in the final third during the offensive phase
• To remain very short, because if you stay closer to each other everyone can play
both in attack and defence
Sacchi influenced quite a few modern teams. Just take a look around and you will find quite
a few teams trying to play his way. Teams will overload, they will close down hard in the
opponents half and the teams will play with little depth in their systems. Doesn't this sound
like Klopp or even Guardiola? If you wanted to go even further you could.
When you finally get to making your own tactic, I want you to stop first, and think about how
you would like your football to be played. Even before you hit the tactical creator, ask
yourself what your favourite system is. This system should ideally be one that you are
familiar with to some extent. Maybe your favourite club plays that system all the time, or
maybe you just want to be inspired by some great team of the past. Either way you need to
do some preparation and some research.
• What style of football do you want to play? Dynamic, Attacking, Solid, Patient?
• How many players do you want to attack with?
• How is your side going to attack with the ball?
• How are they going to win the ball back? Who will win the ball back?
• How will your defence be set up?
• What kind of players do you have?
• How will your players move the ball around? Do they have the skill to play direct or
do you just want to keep things simple by playing short? Or do you want to go Route
1 by getting players to pump the ball into the opponents third?
We have already covered Core Role Attributes for your players and shown you how you can
define your club's DNA. You can go to your squad screen and customise your views. You
can create templates for yourself to quickly assess what kind of players you have.
I have created a lot of custom views for users, and you can easily access them even if you
are not a Patreon Member. For Patreon members I have something special, an all access
pass to future updates of views, presets and set piece instructions.
You can make custom views for yourself by following these simple steps:
Go to your squad screen>Custom>Create Copy of Current View> Now choose from among
the options on the screen. Drag whatever elements you want to track and move them over to
the right panel. Once you have finished, just rename the view. Now that view will show below
Manage Views. In the future you can even share these views with your friends. And you
beautiful friends of mine will get all my views.
I suggest creating custom views for match day, training and contracts. It will save you a lot of
time when you want to analyse your teams performance
Once you know what kind of quality you have in the squad it's time to create some tactics.
STEP OVER TO TACTICS NOW
You can pop over to the tactics page and choose to build a new tactic from scratch or import
some tactics. The best way to play this game is to make your own tactics and they are so
easy to do now.
You are given the option to set to formation, this opens up a series of tactics that you can
choose from. And this is where people can struggle. The list is too long. My advice is to start
with the most balanced tactic ever created - The 442
442
The default 442 comes with some basic roles. In the previous chapter we dealt with Duty
Combinations. Now that you understand what different duties do, decide who has Defend,
Attack and Support duties. Do not set any duties to Auto.
Go to your set piece section and set up your routines. Now in its most basic form, this tactic
will still do decently without any Team Instructions.(TI)
You could set the fullback on the right on attack and set the wide midfielder on support. This
will encourage the fullback to overlap. You can also do the same on the other end, or you
could change the role of the WM to a Winger and tell him to bomb forward and stay narrow.
If you were playing a structured shape you would probably need to use a playmaker in
central midfield. One thing you don't want to do is use (Auto) for a duty. Don't ask me why,
by now its become a personal preference. You should try and be in control of your own
tactic.
Without any other changes the tactic would still work. All you now needed to do is figure out
what to do at specific moments in a match. When do you make changes, and how do you
make these changes? What can you do to make your tactic play differently?
Yeah everyone get's excited at this point. Hang on, be patient. We aren't ready to go making
a tactic yet, we now have to increase our understanding to allow us to exploit tactics further.
In order for you to be able to understand more advanced concepts its time for your to learn
about Combinations, Pivots, Transitions, Static Defences and Mobile Attacks. That comes
next. Its time to start work on setting up defences, midfields and attacking patterns. Now the
fun really starts.
COMBINATIONS
There are many ways you can set up your defences, this all depends on how your overall
tactic looks like, some tactics are what we call 3 man defence tactics, these are those that
either play as a 343, or you could have those that have 2 wing backs with 3 central
defenders forming a 5 in defence. You also can create 4 man defence combinations.
Basically there are several ways you can think of your backline, they are either there to
defend stoutly and thats the only thing they do. Or they can also play a part in attacks. Your
duty combinations will affect the kind of play you can achieve with your backline. Whenever
you seek to replicate any system, you need to spend a fair bit of time evaluating the kind of
defensive combinations they are using. You would be looking at statistics too to look for
trends and videos of them playing. What you are trying to identify are these things
• Which central defender is the first to step up, why and when.
• Are there moments when the central defender steps up because the midfield screen
has failed
• Does the midfield screen drop deep and defend in their half on the flanks
• When do the fullbacks actually put in a tackle
• When do they switch from cover to tackling?
• Stats : You want your midfield to intercept more than they tackle. If they are tackling
more than they are intercepting, then they are probably too deep
• You want to identify which midfield players are better at interceptions and tackles
My apologies for not being able to use in-game screenshots, however thanks to Tacticalpad,
I was able to generate these images for the book. I do very little justice to what is probably
the best tactical pad for coaches out there, and I hope that in the future I can do it more
justice.
When you go into the game, please remember I am referring to the importance of offsetting
player duties to get maximum coverage of the defensive area. The roles and duties are just
part of the process. You also need to ensure they have the right attributes.
In my honest opinion I think that 3 man defences have the potential to be overpowered in the
game. If the Libero can help congest midfield, you do have plenty of potential and this also
includes the use of the Inverted Wingback. I will be doing a further piece on the Inverted
Wingback, something tells me Cleon( Sisportscentre.com) has similar ideas as well. So keep
checking his site out and Guido Merry's website at Strikerless.com. These two will
undoubtably have quality articles you definitely need to check up on.
Any system that plays with either a 3 in midfield, a libero or inverted wing backs have the
potential to congest the middle of the pitch. These will be very hard for the AI to cope with if
you are also able to play with mentality and shape shifts during the game. The AI has a
distinct handicap, it seems to go very fluid only when it's late in the game. You will always
be able to tell. It will switch to attacking and it will suddenly seem like there are many attacks
being launched. I will be doing more youtube videos for people to learn how to tell this
happening.
SETTING UP A 3 MAN DEFENCE
A. Defend-Cover-Defend. Where the centrally placed defender is the one on DEFEND

duty.This a good way to set up a 3 man defence if you are playing a 5 man backline. Defend
players will step out of their defensive lines to stop a challenge, and the player on Cover
duty will hold himself back. This is a useful way of setting up a 3 man backline.
B. The same approach can work with a Stopper-Cover-Stopper combination. In both

examples, the key lies in holding someone back in a Cover slot. In a stopper cover
combination, the stoppers get up first to stop any threats leaving the cover behind as
security.
C. Some managers like Antonio Conte actually like to have a central defender in a 3 man
defence playing either like a Ball Playing defender or a Libero. There are several ways you
can get this to work in the game. Ideally you also want to focus on each player learning
specific ppms to encourage them to play more effectively. SI have finally fixed the Libero, it
does show potential now in the role
One option would be for the BPD(D) to step up and be more aggressive, leaving the flanking
central defenders to act as cover
D. Another option — get the flanking central defenders to step up and ask the BPD to cover
and launch attacks
If you wanted to use the Libero, then the same principles would apply .The Libero plays
differently from the BPD. He tends to push forward and support the midfield during
transitions in the middle third, he rarely steps into the final third
SETTING UP A 4 MAN DEFENCE
Stopper-Cover/Defend-Defend
This is another basic combination for a team for 2 defenders in a 4 man backline. One
central defender is either assigned Stopper or Defend duty
If you choose a Stopper-Cover combination, you are essentially playing a more aggressive
defence. If you choose to play an offside trap, then you should use the Defend-Defend
combination
Swoosh Defence-This looks like the “Nike” logo, In this set up you would have set one
Fullback-Stopper-Cover-Limited Defender. This is an aggressive defending pattern, with
players offset to influence how they close down. This defence could be used if the left flank
is more aggressive than the right flank. This would encourage the defenders on the left to
step up and cover before threats become serious down their left.
Solid Basic Defending
Support-Defend-Defend-Support. In this setup both fullbacks are on support and two central
defenders are on defend. A tried and tested basic defence that works. For better ball
retention, you can assign Play it Short and Play Less Risky Passes as Player Instructions to
the Fullbacks and this will reduce risk and increase ball retention. If you tell the Goal keeper
to Roll it Out to Fullbacks then you have essentially created a very possession centric
defence group.
Flying Fullback Pattern
Attack-Defend-Defend-Attack In this combination the Fullbacks have been given an attack

duty which will encourage them to move more aggressively forward when you have
possession. This does leave the flanks open to a possible counter attack. To counteract that,
you can opt to as your side midfielders to play on support so that they can cover the flanks.
This is an overlapping pattern, it will only work if the side midfielders are on support. If there
are no side midfielders in the ML/MR slots then the Fullbacks will charge up the length of the
pitch. Am example of such a tactic is the narrow 4312. You also use Wing backs or
Complete Wing backs in more aggressive systems if you have a strong midfield screen of 3
in midfield. Wing backs
PLAYING THE STATIC DEFENCE

We can spend all our time building exquisite patterns to attack, but when you are playing
against a “Static Defence”, things can get a lot harder. Penetration becomes an issue and
sometimes FM Managers get frustrated with high possession numbers that don’t create
quality chances. Just ask Germany. They discovered this in the semi-finals of Euro 2016
against France.
A static defence will employ a backline that does not close down hard (Defaut Closing
Down). Defending teams will instead stay on feet and force teams to find a way to pass
around them. To make matters even harder, they will frequently employ a defensive
midfielder who tracks runs through the middle.
This is an example of a system submitted by a user. He was impressed with his possession
numbers but the final third penetration lacked imagination. He was attacking from right to
left. This is more or less a reproduction as I can't use the actual screenshot.
Static Defence
The team attacking from right to left is playing a 41221 and the AI is defending with a 4141.
The AI is employing a DMC and 2 Central Midfielders on support, in what some of us would
call a “static defence”. This is a group of players who are so well set up to defend, that you
need to create an attack that has the ability to move them around and pull them out. What
turned out to be interesting were the shouts he used. He decided to play Standard/Fluid with
Retain Possession and Drop Deeper. Those shouts don’t help. Retain Possession is
probably the worst shout you can possibly use against a team you want to unlock.
His system played with a poorly thought our middle 3. The DLP will usually be under
pressure, he has a Roaming Playmaker playing in front of a Fullback on attack leaving one
flank open. And he’s using a Box to Box Midfielder who is the master of nothing. Both
players may be roaming for space, but the isolation of the two Inside forwards makes it hard
to create chances.
This system doesn’t have a strong midfield screen and it will struggle against a static
defence because of the shouts in use. The Retain Possession shout tells a team to play less
risky football, which means they don’t try through balls. It also reduces width and tells a team
to play it short. To cramp things further he has used Fluid as a shout, playing against a
defence all set up and waiting for those Inside Forwards running towards them. I often do my
best to help along with many others in the FM Community, but one needs to be able to
accept different concepts or there is very little that anyone can do to help.
In systems like this it is far better to go support on your fullback, and, turn one IF to a
Winger to stretch the defence out. Inside forwards are just going to run into cul-de-sacs. It
may be a good idea if they were Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez. If you had them then really
any role would have worked. His players were average at best, so it was found out.
The system has two major weaknesses: Exposed fullbacks and the need to have a
technically good frontline. To compensate, selecting a forward who can drop deep will allow
better link up pay. Choosing to use a forward who has the Player Preferred Move - “Move
Into Channels” is vital because you will need him to drag players to the flanks.
That shout tells players to run vertically between players and then pull then to the flanks. If a
forward drops down and does that you are pulling them apart. Same goes when a central
midfielder pushes up vertically as well. So in this case, the forward could come down, or go
up, pull to the flanks dragging someone with him. This leaves the space vacant for his
teammate the IF(S) to exploit. And, when that happens, the fullback pushes up as well. How
do you encourage this even more? Play it short, risk free football though the use of Player
Instructions. And you could even do all of this on Support.
What are his options?
• Change Shape to structured to create more spaces in midfield
• Instruct fullbacks to go on support and play short, with less risky passes. This will
bring them within range of supporting the attack without compromising defence.
• Change out the role of the RPM so that he does not roam, playing one central
midfielder on support and another on attack would have given this system a bit more
balance. The DLP could be changed to a Defensive Midfielder. This would allow us to
have the option of changing one of the other midfielders to a playmaker. This
playmaker would have been higher up the pitch where the real unlocking of that
defence was needed.
• Change one of the IF(S) to a Winger on Attack and leaving another IF on support.
By doing this you are creating an attack that stretches out the defence, plus you have given
the midfield more options in attack. By pushing the playmaker role further forward, you have
created a solid 3 man defence that will stay back and defend, giving us the option of allowing
our fullbacks more time on the ball. This relieves pressure in a dangerous area around our
third.
The real beauty of understanding football in broader term of attacking and defensive
patterns is how you can apply this all to creating super systems. To do that we need to begin
looking and understanding transitions.
MIDFIELD COMBINATIONS
Midfield combinations are all about moving the ball from defence through middle and then
out to the attack group. If you are finding it hard to score goals or taking control of midfield,
chances are this is the first place you look at. When setting your groups up you are looking
at creating passing triangles and static defences. Passing triangles really took off with Rinus
Michel’s concept of "Total Football". Some youth team spend a lot of time on training moving
from one triangle to another triangle. The ball essentially moves within one triangle before
transitioning to another triangle. In FM we are also looking to set passing triangles where
we can to encourage this kind of movement. It is the most effective way of moving the ball
through transitions, it helps possession and it can create some dangerous movement on and
off the ball.
When you create passing triangles you are always looking at two kinds of roles to exist
within one triangle. Each triangle needs at least one support role or a defend role. Without
them, a passing triangle won’t happen.
DEFENSIVE PASSING TRIANGLES
DC-DM(D)-FB(S)
This is the most effective passing triangle you can create, it uses an anchor in the DM(D)
who becomes an outlet for an easy pass to the FB(S). The ball can go from the DC, to the
DM before it goes to the FB(S). What we also want to see is a pass leave from one triangle
to the next. It’s the easiest triangle to understand but the reason why most passing moves
fail is because we fail to consider how the ball moves from one triangle to another.
In this diagram, if you are using a DM it makes it easy to create passing triangles from the
back, but if you were using a 41221 wide the problem breaks down in the 3rd passing
triangle. The ball can easily work its way out from Triangle 1 to Triangle 2, but the moment it
gets to the second triangle, you are left with two choices and these can be risky options
depending on the roles you have chosen.
If you have chosen an attacking fullback and an attacking midfielder, the distance for the
pass to move from one triangle to another could be greater. And this is what you are looking
out for when you create midfield combinations. You want your roles and duty combinations
to allow for the creation of passing triangles.
Things like an attacking duty will mean that the player could transition too far forward, a
player preferred move that tells a player to do the same thing needs to be checked out too.
Along with those two, you need to see if he has any ppm that encourages to hold or drop
back. The moment you see this, it's going to affect your passing triangle. That's when you
want to make sure the players you require moving in and out of space have the right
attributes and that the passers have good decisions, composure and passing.
You can also use the Match Analysis Tool, select a period during a match and assess your
passing triangles. The moment you see anyone who is really far away, they are isolated, you
will need a combination of great passing ability and great first touch for the ball to reach
them and be of any use.
In the Team Analysis section you can got to the Passes drop down and look for Key
Combinations. You will end up with a screen like this, I am using this to assess my teams
ability to do Lower third passing. If you are not sure where that is look at the bottom of the
screen where you see7 images of the football pitch and and pick your own half. It's the First
pitch under Pitch Area.
below I am assessing my Lower Third's Pass Combinations. There is an option in the tool
that allows you to specify which area of the pitch you are looking at.
I use the Team Analysis function after a game has finished so that I can check what kind of
triangles I am generating and to discover who they are going through. There is a new feature
in the game that tells you Key Combinations. This usually comes with the match report after
the game. This only tells you the Key Combinations the game thinks are important. I think it's
more important to be able to break the passing down by areas of the pitch and at different
times.
So if you are worried about playing structured and are not sure which passes are failing,
then play a few friendlies at the start of the season. After the match go into the Team
Analysis section and now break it down by time and pitch area, and start analysing. This is
one of the most understated features of the game, and something I am glad they introduced.
Looking at my image, I should be worried about my fullback on the right, almost every pass
travels quite far. The central players seem to be generating very good pass combinations,
they are tight and small. This shows that the only reason why they might fail is a lack of
composure if others close them down.
So if you want to create a system with overlapping fullbacks in a passing triangle .You will
need a supporting role in the ML/MR slots.
For a playmaker-centred system, you will need a supporting role within his passing triangle
Finally for the attacking group of players, a role on support needs to be added there too.
Any attack duty that needs to receive the ball needs a supporting pivot. That’s the way you
will effectively get the ball to transition from one zone to the next .The most critical zone is in
the middle third of the pitch. It is the zone between the DM strata and the AM strata. If you
want to control passing, and ensure the ball moves effectively you will need to keep an eye
out on which roles risk making dangerous passes. Go through the role descriptions and be
aware of which role has the "Risky Passing" option. This is the role you want to observe. If
there are too many roles that are making wayward passes in midfield you want to either
increase support roles or tell the players to take less risky passes.
Lets take passing triangle 2, if the ball moves to the fullback who is on support, he has
mixed risky passing on by default. This means that he has a choice. There is a distinct
possibility that he may try a though ball to the vacant AM slot on the right. When he makes
that option, most of your attacking duty players will move forward, and if the pass fails your
team will have given the ball away. You can choose to play a less risky pass. When you
choose to play the less risky pass, the ball cycles to the obvious choices first. That way you
control your transition more effectively, and you utilise the existing passing triangles to move
the ball up. This allows you to control space.
MIDFIELD PASSING TRIANGLES
This is the reason why any talk about midfield combinations needs to be predicated by a
discussion about passing triangles and risky passes. If you want your midfield passing
triangles to work well, you need to be very specific about who gets the choice to make that
risky pass. I have often turned my fullbacks into ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile)
passers of the ball. When they have good passing, decisions, and my receivers have great
off the ball, acceleration, first touch, then I will think of deep and large passing triangles.
Such larger passing triangles traverse the breadth of the pitch, and players who have the
ppm “Switches ball to opposite flank” make great options for centrally placed creative
players who can turn a match with a great diagonal. Once again, you need both the passer
and the receiver to have great attributes.
So whenever you start looking at midfield combinations you will be considering:
A. Pivots - Players on either support or defend roles that anchor passing triangles
B. Off the Ball attributes-Players need good off the ball ratings if you want the triangles to
work
C. Creating Large Triangles Creative players will need to either have the ppm or be trained
to Switch Ball to Opposite Flank. This will allow them to play long defence ripping diagonals.
D. Create Final Third Triangles - Learning the ppm — "Attempt One-Twos" helps with the
tempo of the game. Have players with this in your final third along with players who have
good off the ball ratings to play challenging final third triangles that can be used against
static defences.
You need good pivots in the game, these allow your team to move around them. A pivot
does not need to be a creative player, he just needs to be in a specific area of the pitch to
allow passing triangles to develop around him.
ROLES THAT MAKE GOOD PIVOTS:
CENTRAL MIDFIELD
I. Central Midfielder (S)(D)
II. Defensive Midfielder(D)
III. Deep Lying Playmaker(S)(D)
IV. Half-Back (D) - He will always drop deep and join central defenders to form a 3 man
defence if you have 2 central defenders. He hardly ventures forward
V. Regista (S) - A cross between a defensive midfielder and a deep lying playmaker on
support. He is a more aggressive deep lying playmaker
These roles need to be played on support, all other central midfielder roles have too much
movement in them to be effective pivots. These include the Ball Winning Midfielder and the
Roaming Playmaker. The Roaming Playmaker is a creative player, who needs freedom to
roam to be effective. If he is used as a pivot then his utility is being curtailed.
ATTACKING THIRD
I. Attacking Midfielder (S) - A deeper midfield role that has no hard coded instructions
allowing you to customise him. He can be made into a dribbler. However if you want
him to carve out chances by playing diagonals I recommend the Advanced
Playmaker
II. Advanced Playmaker (S) - A creative player in the final third, he is a mobile pivot that
works well with other strikers, can be used in conjunction with a Centre Forward and
a Deep Lying Forward
III. Enganche (A) - This pivot hardly moves so you will need players who are good at
using space around him. Such players include the Shadow Striker, DLF, Trequartista
or the False 9. The great Juan Román Riquelme will always remind me of the
perfect Enganche. The Argentinian was probably the greatest playmaker of his
generation. The last great "No 10".
In the central third of the attacking pitch, these players make excellent choices as hooks.
They act as good anchors for other players to play off, and they are reasonably creative
players In the final third, if you opt to use any of these on attacking duty, then at least one
forward needs to be able to drop deep to support the midfield, link up and pick up passes.
WIDE PLAYERS
You can also use wide players as pivots, these allow you to create either overlapping plays
or support systems that want to exploit the middle.
I. Midfielder L/R (S)
II. Wide Midfielder(S)
III. Defensive Winger (S)(D)
IV. Wide Playmaker (S)
When looking at using these roles on the flanks in these duty combinations, you are looking
to create either a pattern with an overlapping fullback, or a pivot that allows other players in
the middle to play off them and attack the middle.
Finally we focus on the attackers. These roles can be divided into 3 broad groups -
Creators, Supporters and Strikers
The Creative Scorers include:
I. The Deep Lying Forward (S)(A) - Drops into space and uses his strength to play
others in or on attack duty tries to fashion chances for him
II. Trequartista (A) - Drops the deepest amongst the forward roles, creates chances for
others and hardly challenges, fashion chances for others who are running in from
midfield
III. False 9 (S) - A playmaking striker who also drops deep, utilises space and plays in
others or drops to the flanks to support wingers, can be used in a lone striker system
or in a 2 man strike force, though not nearly as effective as a defensive
Final Third Supporters
I. Defensive Forward(S)(D) - A terrier in the opponents half. They chase down players
and lost causes. He will drop deep to support the midfielders and will also drop deep
into your own half when there is a need to
II. Target Man (S)(A)-Holds up play for others around him, relatively static player who
doesn’t venture far from the penalty box area. When he is being used, please note
that players will look to get the ball to him Ideal for direct attacking systems and
sides that want to encourage wingers and fullbacks to deliver early crosses.
Strikers
I. Complete Forward (S)(A) A demanding role, this striker is the Jack of trades. He is
expected to fashion, create and score chances. He can also hold up the ball, and is a
good all rounder and he can be used in any kind of system. The attribute demands
make this a hard role to fill.
II. Advanced Forward (A) Striker that plays off the shoulder of the last man. Please note
if he has the ppm that encourages players to break the offside trap, then he may
generate a lot of offsides. You would typically use this role in conjunction with one of
the creative striker roles
III. Poacher(A)-He is the man in the box, and for this role to play well, he needs a good
and varied supply. He does not move much from the box, and poor supply will make
the role irrelevant. In counter attacking systems this may be a good role combined
with another creative scorer, however this limits him and he is not recommended for
systems that aim to change mentality and shape in games.
I find that a lot of people choose the wrong roles for strikers, and it's usually down to them
not understanding what you can achieve with each role. I think its important to avoid
incompatible instructions and a completely unbalanced system, and this is usually down to
failing to understand how the strikers are meant to play with other players attacking the final
third
Here I am only focusing on the strikers and not on the wide AMs you find in 41221 systems.
Each kind of striker plays slightly different positionally. The Advanced Forward is the furthest
you can get any forward to play, and the deepest is the Defensive Forward. If you were to
set them up as a grid, the Advanced Forward would be the highest up the pitch and the
Defensive Forward would be the lowest with the rest falling along this order.
1. Advanced Forward
2. Poacher
3. Complete Forward
4. Trequartista
5. Target Man
6. Deep Lying Forward
7. False 9
8. Defensive Forward
In this group only the Complete Forward and the Trequartista are locked into Roaming
Instructions, while the rest can be adjusted. There are other minor instructions each role has
that will affect how they play, These include the Dribbling instruction and their Move Into
Channels instruction. Whenever you chose any role, it’s important to understand what each
role offers in terms of movement. If you want a striker to hold his position and be a focal
point of attacks then you don’t want him to have a roaming PI. If you want a striker to drop
deep and support midfield then you don’t want one who is the furthest forward relative to the
rest.
This is an example of how I put these roles into a system that used to defeat Barcelona
consistently. It’s played at Defensive/Structured with a slightly pushed up defensive line.
It is liberally plastered with passing triangles in all areas of the pitch, and it has passing
triangles for all 3 major transitions in a game. The only area I have of concern would be my
right flank. Yeah and in this particular case I had a sweeper goalkeeper who could actually
kick the ball. The position of the SK isn't critical, you could easily play with any keeper for
that matter. I prefer using the SK in most cases because they do recirculate the ball.
Once you have established your roles and duties then you can begin to concentrate on
possession and using the ball intelligently.
“I spend the entire 90 minutes looking for space on the pitch. I’m always between the opposition’s two
holding midfielders and thinking, ‘The defence is here, so I need to get the ball and I go there to where the
space is’” Xavi, Barcelona
ATTACK COMBINATIONS
Upfront you always need to consider how the attackers play in conjunction with the support
unit. Attackers can’t be dealt in isolation. If you are playing a 433, with a lone forward. He
either becomes the focal point for all goals to be scored or he is a player who links others up
and brings others into play. A solo goal scoring forward will always find it hard to score
goals, because he will be too easily marked. And this is where you need to consider whether
you are playing against a static defence.
A static defence will always employ a defensive midfielder in its formation. If you are playing
a 442, then it does not have a static defence, because you will most likely be playing against
a team that deploys a midfielder who needs to drop deep to support the defence. In a static
defence you have a dedicated player screening the two central defenders. Against these
kind of defences you will need a highly mobile attack.
When you are just starting out as an underdog, the AI will probably not consider you a threat,
its systems may be standard/flexible or better. And these systems will probably not deploy a
DM, but if they do or when they do go defensive, you will need to look at your attacking
combinations. These need to be able to draw out the defenders and pull the DM out of
position. At the very least you will need to have width, you will also need to have role that
allow for movement into channels.
Lone Forward Systems
If you are playing a lone forward attack like a 41221, then you need to remember that this
formation usually struggles to score a lot. In order to make this a good goal scoring system,
you need your front line to have loads of mobility. The lone forward can be used as a target
man who drops deep holds up the ball and sprays it to the inside forwards. Or you can set it
up with one Winger on one flank, a late charging Raumdeuter on the other flank and a F9 or
a Trequartista at the tip of the attack. Having the lone forward play as an attacking forward
may require you to play a different game tinged with early crosses and hard running wingers.
Against a good team, that lone forward will still struggle unless he can dominate the box.
My preferred system in a wide 41221 is to use one of the roles that can drop deep and bring
others in and I favour the DLF(S), the F9 or the Trequartista. On the flanks I typically favour
either a Winger/Raumdeuter combination of an Inside Forward/ Winger combination. I rarely
use an Inside Forward pair on the flanks since both will cut inside and cluster the box with
the deep lying forward. For that not to happen, I will need players with specific player
preferred moves, making the IF pair a rather tedious combination. I like simplicity.
If you want to use a lone forward on attack, then you can also use the Advanced Forward.
These roles are creative by nature, requiring a player to have solid attributes, supporting
them would be at least one winger on attack and a central midfielder on attack as well. This
would be good for direct attacking systems, but the success of the system will hinge on
having solid creative playmakers who can move the ball around from one flank to the other.
And if you wanted you also go strikerless. The striker less systems work just as well.
Employing the lone forward as a Shadow Striker can also be considered if you want to
create a system that camps around in the opponents half. The system will need to be played
on a pushed up defensive line though, regardless of shape. This will allow your team to exert
a lot of pressure on the opponents half, forcing them to hurry passes.
There is no better place in the world to find out more about Strikerless systems, than Guido's
site at Strikerless.com
3 MAN ATTACK SYSTEM - EXAMPLE
DLF(S),AF(A) & SS(A)
The roles involve movement, the advanced forward has dribbles more, move into channels
and gets further forward. This allows him to play off the last man, and drag them out of
position when he decides to go to the flanks to pick up passes. The DLF on support will drop
deep to be an easy pass option for midfielders, he also has the option of moving into
channels if needed. In a 3 man attack combination a Shadow Striker will also attack the
channels
Two man attack systems
Dual Forward attack systems are only as good as the players supporting them. Without a
solid supply from midfield any system will struggle. So its critical to make sure that there are
adequate supply routes. In a 442, these would be the two flanking players and a player from
midfield. These players will be expected to get up to support the strikers and will be the
ones that allow you to overload a defence.
If you assign an attack duty to a winger, then its vital he gets support. He either gets it from a
forward giving a defend or support duty, and/or from a midfielder who’s sitting in the
attacking midfielder slot or playing as a midfielder on attack duty. If you want both to be on
support duty, then you will need to push up the defensive line and use a more fluid shape
allowing these players to operate much closer.
Static Defences and Mobile Attacks
Whether your pairs and combinations work, depends as well, on the formation you are
playing against. Its hard to say one formation should always be used against another,
because systems are fluid. A 442 can morph into a variety of shapes in attack and defence,
so this depends entirely on the manager playing the system. What is important to recognise
is what kind of system you are playing against.
If you are playing against a defensive midfielder centred system, you are playing against a
static defence, this requires you to choose roles and a formation that allows for greater
mobility. Systems like the 352, 343 4312 and the 4141 all have the potential of providing you
with this, but you need to compare your system against the AI.
Deep Lying Forward(S)/Defensive Forward(D) - Both players drop deep linking the midfield,
if the midfield has attacking roles on the flanks then they will help others get in on goal. If
you are camping, their constant movement will be a problem for a lot of sides that employ a
DM.
For single forward systems, you can employ either the Trequartista or the False 9 to pull
players out. The Trequartista will drop deeper than the False 9. The False 9 combines well
with wingers who cut inside late, and midfielders and attacking midfielders who are attacking
the box.
This system is deceptively good. It plays surprisingly well on a few mentality/shape settings.
The whole goal is to get the two wide men up. By using a WM(A) we also have options to
get him to cut inside and sit Narrower. With the changes to the Inverted Wingback, the
potential of using 4 man systems to congest is better than before. Consider these potential
attacking patterns.
You could use IWB's to enhance congestion and bring more players into play. The IWB will
move and sit in midfield. This will allow the W(A) to explode down the right flank. The
presence of the IWB does allow for greater control of the middle. There are other potential
combinations that you can use.
Whenever you use an IWB always remember to make the central defender on his flank the
best one you can field. The IWB"s transition time back into defence is the one risk factor you
need to consider when using them.
We need to think of attacking patterns holistically when we design them, I often hear people
asking what the best combination up front is. That's not as important as the support they get.
Your goal as a manager is to provide supply lines. The supply lines that I typically do have
more than one way of scoring. In this setup I can count at least 4 ways the goals are going
to come and which will be my pivots. You need to think of the pitch dynamically when you
want to create any system and you need to think of how the parts work together. These
include how you move the ball down the flanks.
Flank Attack Combinations
FB(S)-CM(S)-W(A) This combination relies on having two players on support having the
option of playing a deep ball to a Winger on Attack duty who is ready to break past the
defensive line. This can be combined with the “Exploit the Right Flank” shout when an
opposition player is on the flank. The Winger needs to have good off the ball attributes, first
touch and acceleration. If 9 & 10 are both on attack, then the Winger will try to beat the
player to cross whether he has that option available or not. If there is a player nearby on
support he will have the option to recycle possession.
FB(S)-CM(S)-W(S) Low-risk flank combination, with Less Risky Passes as a Player

Instruction it will encourage higher ball retention. Can be used in conjunction with a
Defensive Mentality early in a game while you seek to make yourself hard to beat. When
used in conjunction with a higher defensive line on defensive mentality, you will push forward
yet maintain defensive solidity provided your backline has the right positional and technical
attributes.
FB(A)-CM(S)-WP(S) Inside cutting flank attack, the WP will cut inside and act as a creator,
he will sit in midfield and attempt to thread passes to the final third. The Fullback will overlap
and add width. An interesting variation that brings a twin threat — through the middle and
crosses from the right. One of my favourite set-ups.
FB(S)-CM(S)-WP(A) In this combination, the two support players act as the screen while the
WP charges through the middle, he has a higher starting position. He will be a significant
threat coming in from the right. The fullback will make himself available to do crosses in the
final third when the team is camping there. You could also ask the Wide Playmaker to Sit
Narrower and attack centrally too like an AMC. This is the Eden Hazard or Philippe Coutinho
setup.
In all three variations, there is one central theme — the pivot in central midfield. He
needs to have high work rate and teamwork.
The Big Picture
Now its time to step back and take a look at the big picture. We begin
with spotting transitions, and discussing the finer points of attacking and
defending.
We also show you how to make in-game changes on the fly and how you
can handle the second season dilemna
UNDERSTANDING TRANSITIONS
Once we understand the way duties interact to create combinations that help us make
passing triangles, we need to begin to look at the big picture. Seeing how individual
components interact with each other to create the overall style of your team. This is where
we look at the whole system holistically and it forms the basis of how you put a system
together. What are transitions?
A game of football isn’t played at breakneck speed for 90 minutes. There will be times when
a team is building up play from their goalkeeper. There will be times when a team has to
retreat to defend after a failed attack. And there will be times when a team loses a ball in a
dangerous area and needs to regroup.
A transition is any moment in a game when the team moves out of one phase and into
another. It’s important to recognise and understand what transitions are, and how and when
they may break down. If you can identify which phase the transition is breaking down in, you
can make adjustments to use the ball more efficiently. Transitions are easily spotted when
you start seeing your play in terms of passing triangles. To do this effectively you need to
start looking at the movement of players off the ball, and identifying all your patterns of play.
Moving the ball from defence to midfield/ defence to attack
This is a simple transition, the team recovers from defending in their own area and moves
the ball to a centrally placed player or a player on the flanks in their own half. This can occur
from either a dead-ball situation or from open play. A typical dead-ball situation would be
either a throw-in, free-kick or goal-kick. Open play situations could come from a failed attack
being intercepted by the defence or recycled possession back from midfield to defence. In
the case of a dead-ball situation where the team defending has the ball, this could be a slow,
methodical passing style or a direct style. In this case, the team could elect to play it short to
midfield or play it more direct and long hoping for a quick transition from defence to midfield.
A defence to midfield transition can easily skip over midfield and just go from defence to
attack. This would be common in AI controlled counter attacking situations. When your team
is counterattacking, the AI takes over. You as a manager can to some extent influence how
this can play out, but it requires you to place the right players in the right areas. The
randomness does not make this worth the effort.
How a ball moves from defence to midfield, is determined by your mentality and any
customised Player Instructions or Shouts that you may be using. How much pressure the AI
is applying will also affect your passing patterns. If you are playing a defensive mentality,
and an easy pass is not available, your side could play safe with an aimless punt.
If you want the defence to midfield transition to be quick or even skip this and go directly into
the attack phase, you will need good passers of the ball playing in defence. You will also
need them to have good vision, decisions and passing. More often than not the best players
equipped to do this are either Libero or Fullbacks. A fullback can do a direct and risky pass
from the back, but for this to work well, the receiver of the pass needs to have excellent off
the ball ratings and he should preferably be on a duty that encourages him to go forward.
You could also use “Exploit the Flank” shouts and “Increase Width” shouts to make this
work.
To see if this works, you will be paying close attention to passing triangles to assess whether
the receiver of the ball is moving quickly during the transition. If you are trying to play direct,
you will be looking to see if the receiver has been able to lose his marker; whether there is
enough space for him to run into; and whether he is triggering offside. If he is triggering
offside then check to see if his anticipation attribute is low, or whether he has the “Get
Forward” ppm. You will also need to see if the fullback is making accurate passes, and you
will be assessing if enough players are around him to allow him to offload the ball if he
comes under pressure. It sounds like a lot, but once you know what to look out for, it will
become second nature. Nearly everyone who struggles to see what's happening, don't know
how to look out for things.
These transitions will fail if several conditions occur: passing lanes are closed, the player
making the pass is being closed down or attributes for either the passer or the receiver are
not good. When you see your defence to midfield transition fail, it can be a serious problem.
Either your midfield and attack are too isolated or your backs are under too much pressure,
or it could be a combination of both. In cases like this, you will need to do several things that
include: changing duties close to players failing to find passing outlets to support and/or
asking players in pressure situations to play less risky passes.
Midfield to Attack Transition
These transitions are typically a lot more methodical. Play will have moved from your half to
somewhere around the opponents third before this kicks in. The first clue you will notice that
a transition is happening is when your fullbacks are beginning to move into the final
third. If your fullbacks are on support, they will wait for adequate control of the area, before
joining the attack. You will also be looking to see if your central midfielders or playmakers
are beginning to dictate the tempo and passes. These transitions will be characterised by
the quality of support
Movement on the flanks by your supporting players
Creative central players may start dictating passing, by holding up play, switching balls to
other flanks.
During this phase your attention should be focused on assessing how many players are
moving into effective positions. Do not stare at the player with the ball. Instead, look at the
movement your players are doing off the ball. In other words, if your central midfielder has
the ball, determine for yourself if your other players are moving to support him well. At all
times your transition needs to have players in close support.
During both these transitions, you need to make sure you have enough players in close
support to move your from one phase to the next. In most top clubs in Europe, players train
to move through phases by the way they move in and out of passing triangles. You need to
observe and determine if you are generating the right kind of passing triangles during both
these transitions.
Attack to Defend Transition
During this phase, your eyes should be looking squarely at your backline. During this
transition you are looking to see if your team is able to hold shape when their attack fails.
You want to see your defenders running back and you want to see your midfielders drop
back and close down so that the defenders have time to reposition themselves. Too often
when managers are giving up goals from crosses its usually down to them inadvertently
messing with closing down instructions. Defensive line, mentality and closing down are
linked in the game with a chastity belt. Its rather hard not to mess it up if you start trying to
rip that relationship apart. If your players are always running back facing the goal when a
player breaks through the lines, then your defensive line is way too high.
You should also be evaluating your Shape, if your transition from attack to defence looks too
disorganised, ie. your players are not moving back into their positions and look like the are
moving in large groups, you could be too Fluid. In this case, either you change shape, or you
ask your players to be more disciplined.
During these transitions, you want to see your midfielders close down passing channels.
Whether they do this effectively will depend on their numbers in midfield, how high up the
pitch you are playing and their attributes. If you are playing an attacking mentality, the best
thing your midfielders can do is to close down the passing channels or the player. Basically
you want to see your side making it hard for the opponent to make an easy pass.
If your players slide in for the tackle too early they end up gifting space. You are always
looking to see how good a screen your midfielders are providing during this phase.
Transitions break down for a number of reasons, and its often hard to pinpoint exactly which
one is causing it. The first thing we need to do is to look at the AI’s formation and guess how
they are playing, we will be looking for players on Attack and Support Duties. Support duties
will only move into your half when they are controlling possession there. In attack we will
need to ascertain how our passing triangles are doing. Whenever a passing triangle fails,
players opt to clear the ball or they fall under a challenge. When players are faced to clear
the ball instead of passing it, its down to a lack of passing options.
Controlling a match depends on how well you do in denying the opposition easy passing
triangles. Spain look so confident when they have time on the ball, when they are in full flow.
That’s when they have time to play their small passing triangles, but when sides like Italy
decide to press them in their own half and continually pressure their backline, they isolate
different duties. This makes it hard for them to find their easy passing triangles forcing them
to play longer diagonals and deeper through balls which are easier to intercept.
When you are assessing the quality of your transitions you are looking to see how well your
team moves the ball from defence to midfield and from midfield to attack. If you are going to
play a deeper direct passing game, then you are looking to ascertain how your larger
passing triangles are doing. Whenever a passing move breaks down, the first thing you want
to be doing is looking at the movement of your players. Whenever the ball moves up you will
be looking closely at how your players move up as a unit to support each other. When you
are playing deep diagonals you will be looking to see if your players are accurate with their
passing and whether your receivers are finding space on the ball, or if they are getting
caught offside.
These are going to be some of the reasons why your triangles fail:
A. AI Formation
It’s always a good idea to pay attention to what the AI is doing tactically during a match. It
will sometimes change systems during a game and this may put pressure on your passing
triangles. Players with good acceleration on the flanks will also force you to reflect.
If a player fails to make a pass, did the AI’s opposition player, out-muscle, out-run your
player? Were they playing in your half and making it hard for you to build up play? These are
all factors that can affect how your tactic does. If the AI is camping in my half, I may decide
to stick to a defensive/structured mentality, but I will be looking closely to see how we do
when we look to launch counters. I will also look at my players to see how well we are
closing down their passing channels. This is one of the reasons why I favour watching
highlights on Key. If the highlights show that we are only just coping, then I will make
changes. These could be personnel changes for those who are less than 6.7 in match
ratings or I could change mentality and shape and become more attacking to put some
pressure back on them.
B. Wrong Roles
Look out for the roaming players, and those who are given license to roam. These players
include for example, the Complete Wingback and the Roaming Playmaker. If they roam out
too far sometimes they place a bigger burden on the team to find them. If passes are not
getting to them - are their attributes not good enough to play in that position? Are they
always out of position during the defensive phase? When they get out of position are they
putting more pressure on their team mates to cover?
C. Wrong Duties
I’d be looking at duties that cause isolation. Sometimes managers elect to put too many
players on Attack duties in the opponents third, this forces players in midfield to try risky
through balls that are too easy to intercept.
D. Tempo
Tempo helps with penetration, higher tempo settings make your team pass around the ball
quickly, and when that happens there is also a risk that some players don’t move off the ball
nearly as fast as needed. Furthermore, higher tempo settings wear players down, and this
can cause passes to break down. Check this too, sometimes slowing down the tempo helps
your team to build their attacks, and sometimes it can help stretch and beat other teams.
The only person who can assess this will be you with your own players.
E. Creative players aren’t creating
This is a surprisingly common problem, this happens when your players are spending more
time defending then they are creating. This could happen to Deep Lying Playmakers who
have to close down opponents, tackle, win the ball and then attempt to look for a killer pass.
These players have so much to do that by the time they finish defending, they just don’t
have the time to look up for the pass.
Creative players should almost always have others close by to them so that they actually
have the time to pull out those kind of passes. Others close to them should be doing the
grunt work of winning the ball, leaving them with time to pass. The DLP can still tackle, but
he should be the “insurance” not the first player in.
Sometimes fullbacks don’t have time to push forward because the team is sitting too deep
forcing them to spend more time defending. At times like this a manager can either elect to
put a midfielder on support on the same side as the attacking fullback or he can decide to
play on a higher mentality, and give the AI issues on that flank.
UNDERSTANDING ATTACKING & DEFENSIVE PATTERNS
Once you have learnt to identify transitions, your next step is to learn how to look at things
from a bird’s eye view. Here you will be taking what you know about transitions and applying
it to how the team plays in general. You will be looking for broader patterns of play.
When clubs or teams play football, you hardly ever see them stick to one particular style for
90 minutes. They could start the match tentatively, elect to go wide to put pressure on a
weak link, or even change the roles and duties of some players if they find themselves
running into cul-de-sacs. Football is fluid, the AI does change roles and duties during a
match, and, sometimes even mentality and shape. If it senses you are a bigger threat than it
had expected, it could go more defensive. If it’s an important match that it needs to win, then
it could also throw everything into attack.
The common mistakes most people make are tactics that don’t fit the players they have. And
when users download tactics they compound matters further. Downloaded tactics were
created with a specific set of players in mind and need to be tested rigorously with different
types of attributes before they can be deemed “plug and play”. In most cases when users
download these tactics, they are not aware of the vital attributes in the system. Furthermore,
whenever things don’t go to plan, they are usually left wondering what they need to do.
Ideally when you create a tactic right all you should be doing is making changes to your
team instructions. If you need to make changes to roles and duties it should be done to
change the style of play. This could be due to a unique opponent or an in-game event that's
forced a change. Fitting the right player to the right role/duty combination in your tactic is the
crucial first step.
In order to get the right role/duty combination we need to understand the Attacking Patterns
and Defensive Patterns of the tactic you’re using. Football is a team sport, you can’t just
stick an ideal attacking combination up front and expect things to magically fall into place.
Combinations mean nothing if we don’t know how all the parts (duty/support/attack) fit
together.
So what are you looking for on the 2D or 3D screen when you are trying to determine if the
tactic is working? The biggest thing you need to find out quickly is how well each player is
being supported. You are looking for players who are struggling to find anyone to pass to.
When you look at the 2D screen sometimes at the creation of any system it might be helpful
to observe the game in full for the first 5 minutes. There are 3 things that you will focus on.
A. You will be looking for how your team is building play from the back. Watch each pass as
it starts from the back. If you see players moving the ball down the flanks, you also want to
see that they have options to pass the ball sideways. You want to see players in the middle
of the pitch have at least 3 players to pass to. If they don’t this is an issue. While its nice to
see those long diagonal passes, if you can’t even get the short pass option right, then you
shouldn’t even be looking at Hollywood passes just yet. Those will come once the bread and
butter stuff is done.
B. When defending you are looking to identify two things: When the ball is played over the
top in a counter attack, are your players having to run facing goal? Then your defensive line
is too high. This may be ok, if your players have acceleration, strength and tackling, but if
they don’t drop your defensive line.
C. Finally you will be looking at defending shapes. You want to see your support players
coming back as a unit to help your defence out. You also want to see your support players
being the first in midfield stepping up. If they are not, look at their attributes first. If their
concentration, bravery, positioning and anticipation, no amount of closing down will fix that. A
tactic can work fine without needing adjustments to closing down instructions. There are
other ways of using closing down which we will address later.
Attacking Patterns
Attacking Patterns are the movements that your team do with and without the ball, to unlock
a side. These will include forward runs of players and the kind of passes they do. In our
example we have split team broadly into attacking and support groups.
Transition Patterns
There are broadly three attacking patterns in the system above. No 8 has the potential to
break through the defensive line to put in crosses; No 10 could drop deep allowing Nos. 9
and 8 to exploit the space, and finally No 4 has attacking fullback runs down the flank which
are meant to create scoring opportunities for a few players.
We see that 1,5,6,7 and 10 are on support duties. 8,9 and 4 are on attack. During any
transition, we need to be looking to see whether the attacking group (4,9 &10) move too far
ahead. If these players are hard to find with a pass look for visual cues that suggest
misplaced passes or just not enough passing options around them.
For the attacking patterns - we are looking to see if 8 runs off to early, whether he gets into
space and whether 1,5 and 10 link up well with him. Then we are looking at the teamwork of
Nos. 8, 9, 10. Here we need to see if the three of them work together. Does 10 drop back
effectively for 9 to be making his runs, and does 8 get easy layoffs from either 9 or 10 to
whip in crosses.
Finally we have our third attacking pattern which comes from the left flank, for this fullback to
be an effect threat, he needs a solid strong screen in No.6. There will be no need for the
overlapping shout, since this pattern will force it to happen. If it doesn’t happen it will be due
to only 2 factors: He’s got a poor screen in front of him, either the MC does not tackle or
work well in a team, or, the fullback is spending too much time defending in his own half.
OVERLOADS
The whole idea being using support duties intelligently is to create overloads. This is a
situation where the opposition AI is faced with a dilemma, does it close down the player with
the ball or does it stay? When you have a few players in close proximity creating attacking
patterns you create overloads. And these are dangerous, because even if you are faced with
one AI defender, he can’t close down without offering an easy pass. And if the AI decides to
close down with more than one player, your overload has forced the AI to open up space for
your more creative players to exploit. Overloads can happen on the flanks or through the
middle. Take a look at Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool in his second season, that would be a good
example of a team creating overloads in the final third. When they are able to defend well,
they will become a serious contender for the title.
KEY ROLES IN ATTACKING PATTERNS
You need to identify key players in attacking transitions. These players need high stamina,
work rate and teamwork. They will be expected to forgo personal glory for the team and will
be needed to either drop back to defend or head up in support. The key players here will be
No. 10 If he doesn’t down deep enough, we won’t be generating space for off the ball
running from the other two players. So the right role is critical
No. 8 If he has low determination, acceleration and poor crossing, then he will find it hard to
beat the players to drop a cross.
No. 5 & 6 These players are the heartbeat of the team, they need to be available to defend/
attack and head into the box. We need the right role and player.
We know that we want 8 surging down the flanks, and 9 to operate in the hole. 4 will add
width from overlapping play. Whether they do their jobs well, will depend on how well the
support roles are chosen. 4’s forward runs will be affected by 6 being on support. Whenever
the team moves forward, 6 will move forward as well. These leaves an obvious vulnerability
down the left flank. Whenever we launch attacks from the left flank, we will leave it exposed
to the counter.
These are the kinds of patterns we need to look out for whenever a new tactic is being
tested. The system has already been laid for a mobile attack that takes advantage of space.
This includes No. 10, who drops down, and 1 and 5 on support to support the runs of 8. If we
are playing a system that is Deep, this would not be a bad move. However on higher
mentalities we need to observe if No. 8 get a chance to run at the backline if the team is
positioned so high.
The team will also need to defend, and this is where we look at the Defensive Patterns,
before that, we need to identify weak points in our tactic.
When we fail to break through a defence, we will need to look a these attacking patterns to
see where the problem lies.
RISKS
If we lost the ball anywhere near the middle of the pitch, we create a run on our goal. So
here there is one shout we want to be paying attention to. We want to avoid Retain
Possession, and use it only when I am sitting on a big lead and want to wear time down.
Retain Possession, will shorten passing length and reduce risky passes, which means that I
will be losing some zip in attack when I need it. What we will do instead is to assign Less
Risky Passes as a Player Instruction to the key support players to make sure they do not
lose the ball. Playmakers will not be given that PI. This is to ensure that even on structured
mentality we have a creative outlet that can make more dangerous passes.
DEFENDING PATTERNS
Once we have established where the weakness is we need to add players to the mix. Since
4 needs to get up, we need to have a central defender in No. 3 who has good positioning,
anticipation and tackling. He needs to smell trouble before it hits. We also know that 6 needs
to have the technical ability to play as a tackling midfielder. This will relieve No. 7 from
having to defend a lot, and allow him to exploit the midfield space and come in late for
crosses delivered from the right. Ball retention will be paramount in midfield, if passing
breaks down where 5 and 6 are the whole tactic will crumble. So 5 & 6 need to tackle and
pass the ball.
During transitions we need to clearly see:
1. No 3 moving back to defend quickly, since his is on the prone frank with the attacking
fullback
2. We need to observe whether No.6 is providing an effective screen.
3. Does No.4 find himself out of position too often, is he having to track back a lot to
defend.? If he does, then we need to check why No 6 and No 7 are not effective screens
4. We always want either 5 or 1 to close down the flanks, if they both close down at the
same time, then we need to adjust the closing down settings of the screen first, i.e. No 5. As
a rule never change the closing down settings for the backline if you can avoid it. It will
makes things easier when we want to change mentality later.
There is one common theme when you are assessing your system - are your roles and
duties balanced and whether the support players are getting up effectively for transitions.
The best way to master the identification of transitions is to do it methodically. The first thing
you want to do is to jot down what you think the roles and duties of the players are. It helps if
you have scouted the opposing team. Look out for these clues:
A. Learn to identify the type of formation they are using. Does it look like they are using
attack duties, these are usually the easiest to identify since they stand further up on the
tactical grid, then look for support players and defend players.
B. If you aren’t sure then look at the scout report, identify the players who make the most
number of passes in the central area. These players are more than likely to be the creative
players, they will probably be playmakers
C. Identify players with good acceleration and off the ball, they may be the ones who are
assigned attacking duties since they make excellent candidates for early forward runs
D. The key to identifying transitions is not to look at the ball, but to look at the movement of
players off the ball .You want to be looking at your own players during transitions to see if
they pick these players up, close them down, hard tackle them etc.
The 4231 is one of the more interesting systems when it comes to creating Super systems.
The 4231 does not lend itself naturally to defensive/structured systems, this is due to its
nature when the team is without the ball. It has 6 players in your own half and 4 players in
the opponents half. The challenge lies in moving the ball up securely and because you have
so many players in the opponents half. The challenge lies in not only passing the ball, but
camping in the opponents half effectively when you have transitioned. The vertical gaps
between midfield and attack forces some managers to compensate in midfield. The best way
instead is to double up in midfield.
If you wanted to play the same system on a defensive structured mentality you would need
to make sure the attacking flank players are on support and the fullbacks are on attack duty.
This allows the team to transition a lot more quickly from defence to attack, and when they
need to fall back the support players cover the midfield while the backline retreats.
On structured we would also play with at least one creative midfielder in the centre of the
park on support and with another central midfielder on defend duty. The defensive line would
be pushed up. You could also increase possession numbers by ensuring that the fullbacks
play less risky passes. Any system that requires support players to play effectively during
transitions needs good attribute ratings in teamwork and work rate. During the attacking
transitions you will see the wingers and fullbacks moving close to each other with the central
midfielders and the attacking midfielder in close support. This should allow for adequate
passing patterns.
THE FINE ART OF ATTACKING
We’ve covered passing triangles and attacking patterns. These are all broad elements that
set the way we want to move the ball up the pitch. Now we venture into the last piece of the
puzzle and this involves creating goal scoring chances. A very good way to introduce this
challenge is to look at England’s dilemma in France during Euro 2016. England was a team
blessed with talent and a side that averaged one of the highest numbers for chances created
in the final third. Some football commentators like Paul Parker erroneously remarked that it
would be a matter of time before the strikers found their touch. Unfortunately that time was
never going to come. It’s not the number of chances you create, its the type of chances that
you make.
When you create an attacking pattern in the final third, you need to establish how players
are going to be moving on and off the ball, when they are in attack. Players need to be fluid
and willing to attack space and use the full width of the pitch. They also need to be able to
switch between patient probing, direct running and delivering telling passes into the final
third. To do this effectively you need to look at how the whole team plays. And that is why we
covered passing triangles, attacking and defensive patterns.
Creating good goal scoring chances requires us to deal with several factors:
A. Creating Space
B. Using Width
C. Player movement
D. Passing Penetration
4231 Attacking Patterns
When we look at creating chances we need to take every player who is involved in making
these chances. Here we have a 4231 set up with a Centre Forward on Attack duty. The lone
forward spearheads moves in the final third and he is expected to be strong, intelligent with
good off the ball running skills. He should also be strong in the air and comfortable holding
the ball up and fashioning chances for the rest. Supporting him will be 3 players on support.
You could have one of them on attack duty too, my preference would be the Winger on
support as his foraging runs towards the defensive line would be able to release the Centre
forward if needed. However, we are opting to use this in a 4231, and, I am not a big fan of
seeing too many attack duties in this system.
Setting it up like that would encourage the centre forward to be in the box for crosses or drift
out wide to support either the Winger or the Inside Forward, this should also allow the flank
players to come in late and attack the box. Since the Attacking Midfielder is on support his
deep runs will allow him to play in the two flank players as well and this should also
encourage plenty of movement. This system is designed to make Centre Forward the focus
of goals.
We could easily change him to a DLP on support, when this happens, the way the system
plays changes drastically. In my earlier example, the system will work well with either a deep
defensive line or a pushed up defensive line. However if we are playing a DLP on support, a
Trequartista or an F 9 things change. We will have him now dropping deep, and because the
IF on support and the Attacking Midfielder on support have the potential or running into the
same space we will create congestion. And, this will make it hard for us to create good
chances. It's not impossible but the system will need to be modified.
We can set the CF(A) to DLP(S) and then turn the AM(S) to AM(A) and ask him to move into
channels. This will encourage him to move vertically and drag players out. Then we ask the
Inside forward to go on attack. Since the AM(A) will now charge into the box, he will be able
to support the Inside Forward whenever the DLP decides to drop deep. This is a more
complicated pattern that’s harder to pull off. It requires players to have very good technical
skills, but its harder to defend against if you can pull it off. The challenge on your central
midfielders will also rise.
You can increase passing penetration in the final third by assigning direct passes to the
Attacking Midfielder, Centre Forward and the Winger. This will give 3 players in the final third
encouragement to try risky passes in the final third if they have the attributes.
If we find that chances are a bit tough to come by we can do several other things depending
on the circumstances:
Increase width - This encourages us to use our flanks more, increasing width pens up more
areas for us to exploit and gives us a chance to pull their backline apart even more
Reduce Risky Passes - If we find that direct passing is failing and our passes are being
intercepted we can remove it from all of the players and get the AM(S)(A) to dribble more.
Exploit Flank - If the AI starts picking up cards on their fullbacks, then we can use this shout
to increase pressure
5122DM Attacking Pattern
In this example we are using another kind of attacking pattern to create goal scoring
chances. Here we have a unique combination of a Centre Forward playing off a DLF(S). In
this pair we are creating a pair of players who are meant to work together, the DLF(S) will
use the space around the Centre forward. He will drop deep, move around him to draw
players out and then play the Centre forward. This is a basic two man attacking pattern that
can be used in conjunction with any system that has 2 strikers. To add more support and
variety to our attack we have a central midfielder and a complete wingback on attack.
The central midfielder on support in midfield will help keep the side anchored as the CWB
rampages down the flank ready and willing to drop crosses fro the Centre forward to exploit.
When we have possession in and around the box, expect the DLF(S) to play a big part,
when we are attacking from deep you can expect the CWB to shell the penalty box with
crosses. And we are camping expect the Central Midfielder on attack to come in late to
score.
When we create goal scoring plays we need to think in terms of movement. Its important to
be looking at all these elements during a game, the failure of one does not necessitate a
change in tactics however it does tell us whether the player is suited to the role. Once again
if things aren’t working out, we should look at making the same kind of changes we made in
our earlier example.
You can easily take the same principles and apply it to other systems
In this lone man attack system we have set up a pattern that relies on a Centre Forward on
attack with a Winger supporting him, from midfield we have an attacking midfielder who will
act as the “water carrier”. This is another system designed to stretch the defence and allow
us to either bomb crosses or get others involved in the goal scoring action. Since we have a
Winger on attack, whenever he charges up the field, he will have an outlet in the centre
forward or he can drop the ball back to midfield if he is forced to hold up.
There are other variations of this, one of these will involve changing the Centre Forward to a
F 9 or a Trequartista who will drop deep into midfield. In this case we would be telling the
Winger on Support to change to an Inside Forward on Attack. In such a case, the deep
dropping lone forward will need to have good decisions, off the ball, first touch, composure,
strength and passing to play through balls to the two flanking players so that they can attack
the defensive line.
There are plenty of options for scoring patterns but the general principles remain:
1. You need to create either movement on the flanks or thought the middle to get players into
goal scoring positions. Yon can either get them to drop deep and play others in or they
become the focus of your movement. This does require players to have good off the ball,
acceleration, passing, decisions, anticipation
2. You need width if you plan on using wingers, and/or attacking fullbacks. They need the
space to level the box with crosses or control the final third with cutbacks. When you are not
carving out changes, Going Wide tells your team to use the flanks more to create chances
3. You will need to consider the roles and duties for the players in midfield as well, so that
they can support the attack and give your team more options.
CROSSING PATTERNS
Crossing is a one pattern of play that needs to be well thought out when you want to create
good goal scoring chances. One thing I’ve noticed is how common the problem of crossing
actually is. There are quite a few people who lament about the dwelling fullback/winger. They
encounter situations where the fullback runs with the ball until he comes to a cul-de-sac and
misses easy crossing chances
We need to understand the impact of several shouts in the game and how they affect
crossing, these shouts include those from the final third options and passing directness
options
Play Less Risky Passes, not only reduces through balls but it also reduces crosses
Retain Possession, reduces risky passes and can also lead to reduced crosses
Work Ball Into Box, Reduces long shots and crosses into the box
Hit Early Crosses - If you want players to hit crosses the earliest moment they can, then use
this shout. A player still has to make a decision to do so, and sometimes they will not take
that cross because:
A. Players are in an offside position
B. He has poor first touch and can’t control the ball in time
C. He has the PI Take less Risky Passes
When you choose no options for the final third, then players are left to make their own
decisions, and will choose the appropriate thing to do under the circumstances.
If you are playing with a defensive mentality and you want to increase the number of crosses
you are creating then, Hit Early Crosses and Increase Tempo. If you are playing with an
attacking mentality just use the shout Hit Early Crosses. Having more crosses does not
necessarily increase your goal scoring chances, so you need to strike a balance.
STRATEGIES
Most people make the mistake of thinking that a strategy revolves around using shouts,
when in fact shouts only act as slight modifiers to a larger strategy. How you allocate roles
and duties will affect your strategy. For example: If you have a 442 with two wide midfielders
on attack duty, they will go forward at the earliest moment of a transition. If they are playing
as Wingers on attack, they will be further forward then Wide Midfielders on support. This
means that you could easily see a system play out as a deep counter attacking tactic or you
could end up with a system that works quickly on midfield to attack transitions. If you have
both those roles are on support, then you could easily set up a methodical controlled tactic
which emphasises possession over directness.
When developing a strategy you need to consider several factors:
• Mentality
• Shape
• Roles & Duties
• Player Instructions
• Shouts
You can set these up for a particular style of play and switch things up if you want to do
something different. An example of a starting strategy would be to use this for a 442, 451 or
a 4411
Work Ball Into Box, Play out of Defence, Defensive Mentality, Structured, Some players with
play less risky passes
This strategy is built on drawing teams out, you pass the ball around methodically especially
around their half, drawing fouls and potentially yellow cards. Once they have a few cards
amongst their backline you go attacking/structured and remove Work Ball into Box. The
Higher Tempo from the attacking mentality increases pressure on the team.
THE FINE ART OF DEFENDING
Football is a game about the control of space, if a defender needs to slide and tackle in
today’s modern game, then he has already lost the battle for space. Recovering to slide in
hard is a sign that you allowed passing patterns to emerge that allowed an opposition player
to get into a dangerous position, forcing the defender into a sliding challenge. That may have
been fine 20 years ago when the punishments for bone-crushing challenges were minimal.
Back then seeing a defender slide in behind a forward to win a ball and take that player
down brought a rush of adrenaline to viewers. In today’s game, sliding in from behind to
tackle someone is almost nearly a card, which is why players are encouraged to turn their
backs to goal and hold up the ball.
Setting a defence up is a holistic challenge, if you can set your system up to be defensively
solid, then all you need to do after that is work on tweaking the way you generate goal-
scoring chances. The game of Football Manager makes it very easy for you to set up
defending instructions, its too easy to use the Tactical Creator, and with the wealth of
options, managers often mess things up. Here I cover the Fine Art Of Defending, I will
discuss various factors that go into setting up a solid defence, and the common pitfalls to
avoid.
Roles & Duties
Many managers get this right, everyone knows by now that you need to create a balanced
system that has enough support players in various areas of the pitch that can drop back and
act like a screen for the last line of defenders. If your last line has to step in first to tackle
then you are doing something wrong. You always want your flank players to step up first and
you central players to do their job tracking players. Notice I use the work tracking and not
tackling. We want opposition players to be tracked, and shown outside where possible. We
want to take them away from the central aways of the pitch and onto the flanks where we
can double up on them without risking a doubling up in the middle of the pitch which opens
up the central defence.
If you had a situation where a player was dribbling down the middle, he would force players
to close him down. When that happens you could end up “doubling” on him where two of
your players converge on him. This may be fine if you are playing with a central midfielder,
but it is suicidal when you are playing with a flat midfield. If your central defender needs to
step out of his defensive line early, then he opens up space behind him. And, this is the
space you do not want opening up. There are several roles in the middle that are inherently
dangerous to use, because these are players that have aggressive closing down instructions
coupled with hard tackling. The biggest culprit is the Ball Winning Midfielder. This is a role
that tackles hard, and because he has a large area of influence when it comes to closing
down, he may leave the middle exposed. You never use a BWM in a 2 man midfield, and if
you choose to use him in a 4 man midfield, there needs to be another player beside him who
does not share those aggressive closing down instructions.
The only common problem I see people repeat continuously is the misuse of the Ball
Winning Midfielder and the Box to Box Midfielder. The BWM is a defensive midfielder on
steroids, and the Box to Box midfielder roams, neither player should ever be used as a
“defensive” player. Both players require a player who can anchor the midfield around them. If
you do want to use a midfielder with aggressive closing down instructions, you can pick the
Central Midfielder and change his Player Instructions and tell set his Closing Down to
maximum and issue him Play Less Risky Passes. These should mimic the BWM without the
aggressive tackling. If you want to use a player who tackles hard then there are other better
options, than the BWM and the Box to Box Midfielder.
Another misused feature, is the choice of duty. If you want your flanks to be protected, then
ensure you have a player playing there on a support duty either in the ML/MR slots or as a
Fullback. If you elect to use a 2 man or a 3 man midfield, then you need to ensure that the
midfielders have great Anticipation, Concentration, Teamwork and Bravery before you even
consider their defensive attributes.
The majority of people who have issues creating defensive tactics with a defensive mentality
lies in the distribution of duties. If you have fullbacks playing as Wing backs on attack duty at
the back and you opt to have some wingers on attacking duty, then you run the risk of
having players out of position. To create a defensive tactic you need to have more roles on
support among the spine of your team. This includes your flanks.
Closing Down
This is the biggest mistake that people make. You can defend aggressively from the front,
that is true, but there are downsides. If you set your frontline to close down much more and
tackle hard. They will harry defenders, but they may also not be in open spaces when you
want to launch a quick counter after the AI loses the ball in its own half. Whenever you
choose to do the High Block strategy, be aware of what this means.
The bigger mistake being made is adjusting closing down settings. As far as you can, if you
are using a flat 4 midfield or a 5 in midfield, you should never have to adjust closing down
instructions. This instruction works with respect to your defensive line instructions. When you
increase closing down, you increase the area of influence a player has to close down, this
may trigger doubling or tripling of an AI opposition player. The Opposition Instruction, to
close down an opposition player should also be used carefully, since this may trigger groups
of players and force a lose in your defensive shape. The only time you adjust closing down
is when you are playing with either a 2 man midfield or a 3 man midfield, because of the
peculiarity of the gaps on the flank, you may need to increase the closing down of the side
midfielders but never the backline.
The real key to managing closing down instructions in the middle of the park is to observe
how individual players react. Since players have different attributes this affects how they
close down. Players with higher anticipation may read the danger before others and the
moment the AI opposition player reaches their zonal areas they will step up. If you do need
to adjust closing down instructions do it individually and not as a group to ensure that you
don’t have masses of players merging on one opposition player.
Defensive Line
If you want to press the opposition in their own half, then use Defensive Line changes.
Changing it by one notch usually is enough for you to close down near the half way line. And
you can tell one of your attackers to close down much more. This is what I call the High
Defence. This can be used with any mentality without the need for individual closing down
adjustments. When you increase the Defensive Line, players will press higher up, but their
closing down zones will remain relatively the same. The only downside to this is the need to
keep an eye out on your backline. This is still a much better way to defend than sitting back
near your penalty box
Attributes
If you choose to play with a high line, your defenders need acceleration, anticipation,
concentration as the key attributes apart from their defensive qualities. Its a good idea to
Stay on Feet when you play a high line, tackling hard will only generate yellow cards, and or
expose your backline if a challenge fails. It is prudent to get your players to stay on feet
because they will track a target and help to deny passing lane options.
Whenever the midfield screen fails its usually a failure of: Bravery, Concentration,
Acceleration, Teamwork. If any one of these attributes is too low then a midfield player may
fail to either make a challenge or react in time to closing a player down. Closing down is the
act of narrowing the gap between two opposing players. Once a player is closed down he is
tracked until the closing down instructions are affected by another player’s zonal positioning.
This means that you could have situations where a defender hand’s closing down duties to
another player once he enters his teammates zone, or they could end up tracking together if
the closing down zones overlap. This is the biggest reason why I recommend managers
avoid adjusting closing down aggressively. How well a player closes another player down is
a function of his attributes. So the best way you can avoid your defence from falling apart is
by paying close attention to their attributes and not change closing down too aggressively.
There are managers who play very fluid because it makes a system compact, and then they
narrow the width to make it vertically and horizontally compact. Then they max out closing
down instructions in midfield and in attack before pushing up the defensive line. This is like
taking a large rectangle and squeezing it till it becomes a small box. While this may work
some of the time, it won’t work if you need to change mentalities/shapes. You could easily
give up space behind the defensive line if this is done.
Stay on Feet
This is an incredibly good instruction to use when you are playing any system that has a
mentality of Control or Higher. Controlling space is a vital aspect of the game. Sliding into
challenges is one of the easiest ways you have of giving up space. Whenever a team
decides to use hard tackling on any of its players it runs the risk of giving up space and
picking up yellow cards. Roles that have this instruction defaulted generally pick up a yellow
card. Once a player in the game picks a card up, they start holding back, and this could
force you into actions you may otherwise have not planned for.
You will rarely find players in top flight football sliding into challenges early. You will
sometimes see them close down aggressively. When they challenge they try to do it by
staying on their feet. If they fail they still haven’t given up position. When players are given
high closing down instructions with hard tackling, you will see players move out of their
zones. This leaves vacant spaces that are easy to exploit. One of the best ways to set up a
control-attacking system is to tell your players to stay on their feet. When they do this, they
become obstacles the opposition AI needs to get around. This introduces a difficulty level
that would not be there if your players had gone to ground. When your players occupy the
spaces, the AI needs to pass the ball around them, or over them. It’s better to see your
players close down the opposition and deny them easy passing options. If the AI is playing
on defensive-standard, it will try a hopeless punt, run into a cul-de-sac or attempt a long
throw. This gives your team time to recover.
Defending the flanks
The best way to defend the flanks is to make sure your fullbacks are on support, and you
should be careful with defensive line adjustments. You should also be playing with players
in midfield slots that can defend the flanks. This includes Wide Midfielders and Wingers. If
you need to lock down the flanks, then ensure that they are all playing on support. The
players still get up to deliver crosses, but they defend the flanks so well, that its almost
impossible to break through. Different tactics may have slightly different requirements , the
4231 can be played with a higher defensive line with the wide attacking midfielders on
support and the fullbacks on support. This brings the flank players closer together in the
opponents half thus giving each other support. It can also be played with a deep defensive
line but this places pressure on the players to read the game well. Both work.
The biggest reason why flanks get too easily exposed is how midfielders and fullbacks
combine to work together. You need to get the balance right. If the closing down instructions
are combined with hard tackling on the midfielders, then they will commit early. If they fail,
they leave only the fullbacks as the last line of defence. You do want them to work in
tandem, and the best way is not to change their default closing down instructions. When you
play with a pushed up defensive line, the midfielders in a 442 will step up and once they
enter the final third the fullbacks will join in to double-team. When this happens, they close
down passing channels. If your players decide to tackle hard, they will commit themselves,
something you don’t want to see.
If you are playing with any mentality higher or equal than Control you can leave tackling on
Stay on Feet, and on lower mentalities you can choose hard tackling if your players have
good tackling, positioning and marking.
You can also opt to specifically man-mark the opposing players on the flanks. However man
marking only works in specific cases well. For example if you are playing a 4231 and you are
faced with a 352, then the opposition is only playing with wing backs as their only threat on
the flanks In this case you can get your wide midfielders to man mark their opposing wing
backs. In most cases I prefer to choose the right roles and duties instead of reverting to man
marking.
Adapting to formations
You need to spend some time understanding the strengths and weaknesses of different
formations. Let’s take the 4231 as an example. This system depends strongly on getting the
ball to the final third players(AML,AMC,AMR). Defending isn’t about stopping the fullback
from making the cross or preventing a striker from scoring a goal. It’s about stopping the
supply route to those players. Doing this effectively means you need to be paying attention
to midfield battles during a game.
The 4231 is a system that’s vulnerable once you isolate the attacking group of players. This
can be done various ways.
A. You can play with a pushed up defensive line, with a forward group of players given
aggressive closing down instructions, and you man mark their central midfielders. When you
push up the defensive line, you will put pressure on their fullbacks to get the ball up. When
their central midfielders are covered, it doesn’t have an easy route to the final third. Here we
have prevented the crosses from coming by isolating different groups of players.
B. You can play systems that have an AML/AMR that can put pressure on their fullbacks too,
this takes them out of the game, you can enhance this further by issuing specific man
marking instructions to your AMs to mark the opposing teams fullbacks.
C. You should use systems that have players on support on the flanks, this will result in
double teaming of a flank player when the AI is attacking.
Different formations lend themselves differently to defending, narrow systems are prone on
the flanks, if you overcommit going forward you leave your flanks open. To compensate you
will either need players who are positionally aware or physically capable of recovering and
getting back into position. Always pay attention to you match ratings for your defenders and
the midfielders who act as their screens. Sometimes a fullback is generating poor numbers
because the screen in front of him is not covering and tracking the AI players. So never jump
to conclusions when it comes to poor ratings for your defenders.
Keeping the ball
Defending isn’t just about closing channels and winning the ball, its about using the ball well.
If you want to defend well, you need to make sure you don’t give the ball away cheaply. This
includes all cheap punts. Whenever any player in your team clears the ball aimlessly from
the back, you need to step up and find out why. Unless you have planned to launch attacks
from deep, you should always expect your players to keep hold of the ball and use it
intelligently.
Setting this up isn’t hard, and you have two choices.
Option A
You can play with the Retain Possession and Play out of Defence shouts. Both these shouts
affect the whole team, except for those players hardcoded to ignore passing instructions. It
tells the team not to play risky passes and to play them short. This effectively reduces your
risk going forward. However, you should treat this shout as a defensive shout and not an
offensive one.
Option B
Tell your backline and all support players to play it short, dribble less and not to play risky
passes. The combination of all three of these player instructions encourage support players
to be methodical about using the ball. Players will work the ball sensibly and get the ball
consistently up. The only time this will fail is if you have chosen the wrong roles.
Shape Changes
Using one shape over another does not necessarily make a system more defensive than
another. Even though Fluid systems may be compact, they still have a lot of creative
freedom. And while you can tell a team to be more disciplined, a Highly Fluid team will have
each player on the same mentality. Furthermore, very fluid systems are extremely prone to
balls played over the top. A structured shape is preferred for defensive and counter systems
because there is more space you can exploit, you have clear duty distinctions and your
transitions will be organised. Fluid systems will lack the spaces in between, and players will
need a high degree of individual skill to move the ball around and cover the spaces. Fluid
systems are prone to being easily pulled apart.
If you wanted to make sure you could defend well and yet hit the team hard, then you should
consider structured or highly structured shapes. If you want to camp in the opponents half
and be willing to accept the risk of a ball over the top then go Fluid or Very Fluid. Never ever
use Defensive and fluid together. The team will be too close to the penalty box and any
adjustments to the defensive line will either bring the AI closer to your goal or make you
even more vulnerable to over the top balls.
You can fine tune the way your team tackles and closes down players in your third, and this
requires you to combine the defensive line and closing down and adjust tackling.
HOW TO MAKE IN-GAME CHANGES LIKE A PRO

So you’ve made a tactic, it feels good you’ve managed to beat quite a few teams, does it
qualify as a good tactic? There is no such thing as a good tactic. The AI will change
mentalities/duties and sometime even shape on you during a game. If you are a goal up, it
could toss everything into attack, or it could be wary of your reputation and decide to change
strategies and play a deep defensive strategy. So how do you tell if a tactic is good. You
don’t.
The problem with a lot of managers is the inability to spot changes that need to be made. It's
not an uncommon thing, I have watched "live" football with friends who will blame a specific
player for not being good enough, when it's actually the players around him who are
contributing to his poor performance. They inevitably react by calling for a sub or changing
the tactic. Even commentators are prone to making this error.
There has to a strong compelling reason for your to change tactics midway through a game.
This could be a bad injury to a key player or a sending off. Sometimes you could end up face
to face with another system thats strong going down the flanks while you are narrow. Maybe
under certain circumstances it warrants a change in tactic.
The FM match engine used to make tactical changes when it was a goal down. Just ask
anyone who played the earlier editions. You could suddenly be faced with a 424 barrelling at
you if you had taken the lead with 10 minutes to go. Today the engine is more likely to make
role/duty and mentality/shape changes before it decides to change tactics. In other words,
the AI will attempt to outplay you, and to be perfectly honest, this makes the engine one of
the best to date. You are playing against a reactive opponent, and you need to think like one.
You can't sit down like Roy Hodgson looking bewildered, you need to get up and be
involved. Become a modern day manager. In order for you to become one, you need to
know how to make changes, when and why.
ASSESS AND STRATEGISE
What you need to do is to assess your system, your strategy during a game. Football is a
game of two teams, So assess how your system is playing against the opponent . The game
has basically 3 kinds of opponents you will face, Those that you trash, those that you work
hard to trash, and those that trash you. Each of these teams will approach you differently.
What you need to do is to assess how well you are doing in the match at specific
moments. And that's where the penny drops for most people. Identifying the specific
moments is the issue. So let's deal with it.
Back in the day before 2D, we only had commentary mode, Quite a few of us started playing
on that mode, without the benefit of even a 2D screen. We only had commentary feedback
and match ratings to tell us if our tactic was good, and of course the scoreline.
Individual Match Ratings
Match Ratings are by far the best judge of whether your system is working to plan on not. If
you have a smashing day, you could generate a team of high 8s and 9s for match ratings.
What I do during a match is to observe match ratings at specific points in a game. These
moments will typically coincide with a highlight. If I am not watching highlights and opting to
observe the game on commentary mode, then I am staring at the match ratings every 5mins.
I am looking specifically for outliers. These are ratings that appear abnormal.
If the game is goalless and everyone in your team is within two-tenths of a point I would
ignore them. For example if the majority of the team is hovering between 6.8-7.0. This would
be fine, if the opposition had more 7’s I would start observing where they were playing. I’d
make a mental note to try and spot what was happening on their end of the pitch. I would
then look at my players playing in that corresponding area to see what could possibly be
wrong. If a fullback was always getting beaten, then was he just poor or could he get better
help from the midfield screen. You need to look at the fullback and the midfield screen to
spot the issue.
Basically you are looking for specific player battles on the pitch. Is Cristiano Ronaldo giving
my fullback a hard time? So I would compare both their ratings.
Lets elaborate on this example:
The opposing team has an AMR who is generating average rating numbers that look like
they are going up (eg. 6.8 /7.0 and then 7.1), I would immediately look at my midfield screen
around him and the fullback covering that zone. Chances are one of them or even both will
have a rating thats off the median in my team. In fact they could be 6.4-6.5. Now I would
look for clues on the 2D screen to see if my player was reacting in time, was he being left in
the wake of the AMR, was the AMR always getting the beating of the fullback and able to
score.
At this point I would have two options. If it was early in the game, then I would consider
swapping a stronger more hardworking midfielder to his side, or I would make a role
swap. I wouldn’t change the tactic, I would just make sure that he had better support. You
also need to know your own players, the role that you have assigned them will also impact
their ratings. I once had a complete wingback that was generating 6.6, he was typically my
man of the match for most fixtures. Now he was underperforming. I realised that he wasn’t
performing because he was being held back.
This means that low ratings may not necessarily be due to poor performance, it could also
be due to the fact that they are being held back. So you need to pay attention to what
happens on the screen to decide which of the two it could be.
Poor ratings in a few players are usually an indication of two possible things: you either have
a bad tactic, or the other team is playing so well your players have decided to give up. Once
again the only judge of that will be you. If your tactic has too many attack duties, then this
could lead to isolation. There is a common myth that defensive midfielders will generate low
ratings. That’s simply not true, If he has low ratings in a game you won, then he wasn’t being
used to his
Match ratings for groups of players:
Isolate your defend, support and attack players, If one of these groups has ratings that
diverge from the median then, they are an outlier .If your match finished 4-3, chances are
your defenders may be having a bad day along with some support players in midfield.
During the course of a match if the outlier is a group of players, then you may need to make
a change.
Match ratings are the first thing you look at, if you find that a player is not performing well,
don’t let sentiment hold you back. You need to start spotting why he is doing badly. As a
manager you need to either help him perform or replace him.
Player Statistics
There are some key player statistics you want to be tracking during a match or even after
the match to ascertain how you are doing. You go to the Analysis tab of a match to check
this out.
Passes Received - By far this is one of the most important numbers in a game, you want to
see where the players receive the ball and how many passes they receive and what their
pass completion rates are. If you have a key player you depend on to make crosses on the
flanks generating low numbers this could be an indication that he is isolated
Passes Completion rates for midfield support players - Find out how your players are doing
in the middle of the park, stringing passes together.
Interceptions - Where are your interceptions happening, are you able to break play up in
the opponents half.
You can also use the in-game Match Analysis tool to replay action of poor tackles, poor
interceptions and how passes are received. While you are assessing your tactic, this tool
becomes invaluable to playback key moments of a game for you to analyse so that you can
make changes if needed.
When a player generates low ratings, you need to find out why. It’s not enough to accept a
loss, trying to find out why you’ve lost requires you to look at not only the player but those
supporting him as well. Sometimes playmakers may look like they are having a poor game
because their pass completion rates are low, but that could also be due to the fact that they
are not being protected well enough by their own players giving them close support.
Sometimes a fullback generates poor numbers, and allows a player to skip past him, but that
could also be due to the fact that the midfielder in front of him has failed to track the
opposition player, leaving the fullback to do the bulk of the work. Assessing your tactic is
about assessing broader attacking and defensive patterns, don’t fall into the trap of isolating
it to one player.
Using these tools allows you to broadly assess which aspect of your strategy is doing poorly,
this is primarily focused on players, but sometimes you need to make broader changes
VIEWING MATCHES IN DIFFERENT HIGHLIGHT MODES
There are still quite a few managers who swear by "Commentary Mode". Hey I still do
sometimes.
Matches can be viewed in several modes. These include Key Highlights, Extended,
Comprehensive, and Full. Serious beta-testers normally watch the game in full to try and
spot glaring match engine errors. Most people try to watch it on one of the other modes, and
some are just terrified of the Key Highlight mode.
I for one, can only play on Key Highlights. Occasionally, I may drop to Comprehensive if I am
looking for patterns that repeat, but to get the overall flow of a game, I normally stick to key.
There is a simple reason for doing this.
On Key Highlight mode, the game can't show you everything, but what it does is usually
pivotal, and this should give you a fair feel for the flow of the game. If the highlights keep
showing the AI attacking you, then you need to spot what the highlight is trying to tell you.
Is the AI team winning interceptions in midfield and launching attacks of their own? Then it
could be time for you to make either a shout change, duty change, role change or you have
to switch tactics. Hit the pause button.
You can then use the time to look at player rating by looking for outliers in your team. Then
identify the area of the pitch where the highlight was focusing on. Now, go to
comprehensive, and start paying attention to that specific area of the pitch, and be prepared
to make a change.
The key here is to look at transition breakdowns. You need to break the transitions down to
their three components: Defensive, Middle and Attacking. If your players passing is failing,
then you may need to do several things. These could be as simple as a width change, a
team passing change or simply hauling a player off.
Watching a game on key highlights is pretty fun once you get used to it, because every
highlight matters. If I watch entire games on comprehensive, my fingers would turn jittery, I'd
want to make a change each time a player loses possession or fails to do his job. That is just
too much stress to manage. You're still nervous aren't you? What if I told you there is a way
to practice watching it on key? What if there was a way for you to rehearse these changes?
What if there was a way for you to learn without paying for it? There is a way.
I wish I could illustrate this but SI refused permission, so we will do this with some
imagination and patience :-)
From the FM dropdown you use to save the game, find Preferences. This will take you to a
new screen that looks like this:
Now from that dropdown that says Preferences, choose match. Now once you get to the
Match section choose the option "Play through match from start"
Now go to your schedule and pick a few matches you have already played and save them.
Exit to the start screen and view the matches as pkms from there.
You will now be able to watch these games through as if they were from the start, all the
statistics and in game widget changes will happen just like it would on different highlight
modes. It is one fun way to watch a game on key highlights to start getting the feel for it.
ADJUSTING YOUR TACTICS
So you’re winning everything in the league at a canter. You’re in the Champions League and
have knocked everyone about with your 4231. You’re feeling confident that your team has
what it takes to take on even the best. Barcelona come calling, they have a 433 with Suarez,
Neymar and Messi, backed by a world class supporting cast of players. Do you still play the
same way?
In your domestic league, you may be the big fish in a small pond but in Europe you may be
just another fish in the big ocean. It pays to evaluate your squad against the rest of the
competition, every season. If you are up against a world class team of legends and legends
in waiting, you need to plan. What is their greatest strength? If they have players with
fantastic first touch and pace, then take a look at their matches. Study how they attack
teams home and away.
What you need to do is unbalance their attack. If they are playing a 433 with lots of inside
running and one touch passing, you need to stack your defence and close down in midfield.
Or you need to pack it. So if your favoured system is a 4231 you will have issues. Personally
I would always default to a system that has at least one defensive midfielder, and I would
stick 2 banks of 4 between him. That way you have the numbers to contain the threat.
You have two options when you are playing against a vastly superior team:
1. Let them come at you with a defensive structured tactic, making sure that your flanks
have players who can make forward runs into space with a target man who can hold up the
ball. Tactics like the 532 give you options. You can throttle this system as well, going from
defensive to attacking within the same game. You want to ensure that your structured
system has at least one playmaker who can unlock defences with great passing, and your
forwards have the physical ability to break past the defensive line.
2. You play higher up the pitch, disrupt their midfield and pressure their backs, isolating the
strike force upfront. If the supporting cast are removed from the game, their supply line
disappears. In this case you would need a system that allows you to have the tactical grid in
such a way that you have available players to mark their players.
We have already covered the framework for making a solid tactic, In any system the goal is
making sure you have the right support duties covering key areas of the pitch. Using the
same principles you can easily make adjustments for specific opponents. You will need to
ensure you do your homework:
• Where are their players with burst of acceleration, first touch. These players will be
difficult to contain if they are given a lot of space to run into. You can shepherd them
into your defensive cul-de-sacs by employing a defensive midfielder and using

opposition instructions to “show the wrong foot”, this forces them off their favoured
foot and will encourage them to cut inside.
• You need to set your team up with the right players who have the teamwork to come
back to support and have the right attributes to go in for the challenge. You may have
to pressure their keeper and their backline as well. So assigning specific man
marking instructions on their backs to keep them isolated is one option.
• Use a tactic that gives them issues. If they are using a 4231, then use a 4141,
because you want to stack your central defensive area, and you can still unleash
your wingers if you need to. If the use a 433, then you can also use a 532. It is a
system that can play with a defensive midfielder and two supporting wing backs who
provide the threat.
• Have a bench strategy, ensuring that if a target man approach doesn’t work, then
maybe you could use a crafty false 9 instead. Ideally you want players on the bench
who can come in to turn the match and give you options.
• Do not ignore your set-pieces, ensure that you maintain possession even if you don’t
hit the target. We cover how you can do this in our set-piece section.
If you want to win every match against a vastly superior opponent, you can’t leave any stone
unturned
There is no one simple fix it solution for tougher competitions, you need to be aware of their
strengths and you need to overload your defence to counter them, while still maintaining the
ability to hit them on the counter.
The Second Season Dilemma

There are many people who feel that they suffer from an unrealistic slump after a fantastic
start. Fact is, the AI knows you are tough to beat, so it adapts. It could change the way it
approaches the game. Today, nearly every team I face plays defensively against me, with
the exception of Barcelona and Pep Guardiola’s teams. When you face a team that has
decided to camp in their half, you could easily adopt the same strategy. I usually find that
they are waiting to counter attack me, so there’s no point being too adventurous. Patience is
a virtue in such a case, so I camp and throttle the game. If I need to I increase width, but I
rarely change tactics.
The one time I do change tactics is when I face teams that are loaded with legends and
legends in waiting. Teams like these need to be analysed. If they have a mobile strike force I
employ a static defence. A static defence is one where you place a defensive midfielder in
front of two central defenders. You want to make sure that your midfield screen is doing the
majority of closing down, and this is why I favour the 51222WB Antonio Conte variation that I
use. You could easily use a 4141, but it needs to have at least one DM. I would refrain from
using a deep 4231, since its an exercise of hopeless punting when you are defending deep.
The 51222 WB and the 4141 are a lot more effective, because these two systems can play
as a super system as well for tougher oppositions. Using the same principles you could go
Defensive/Structured - Attacking Structured and Attacking Fluid if you needed to. In all of
them I would still push my defensive line slightly because I want my defenders to step out
and challenge, and I would get my forward line to close down much more in the opponents
half.
Teams adapt to the way you play. The moment you start stringing wins together, they decide
to change their strategies. In game its not uncommon to see them start a game on
Defensive/Structured or Standard/Flexible. And then if its a derby game they may decide to
attack you once they are a goal down.
High possession numbers are an obsession with FM fans. Each season I see the same
request from people as they seek to create their systems. What I would recommend is
understanding how to make a camping tactic. This is a system of play where you control
possession of the ball for large periods of the game in the opponents half. There are several
conditions that need to be met before you can create these kind of systems, and there are a
lot of benefits.
1. When you are able to use the same tactic in multiple ways through simple changes to the
TI, then you effectively can create a throttle to pressure the AI.
2.It allows you to focus your clubs development more accurately, because you don’t need to
invest a lot of resources in buying players or retraining them By using the same tactic, you
can easily train, groom or purchase new recruits
3. Its a lot of fun because your in game changes will be limited to the same shouts each time
In order to make a camping tactic, we need to realise that the same rules don’t apply to
every team. If you are facing a side that is vastly superior than you in technical skills, then
you may want to consider where their strengths are. If they are good as a group running at
you through the middle with 3 strikers, then you should create a static defence. This is a
defence that has a defensive midfielder and 2 central defenders. A static defence is the AI’s
favourite method of keeping my 3 striker systems at bay. It opts to hit me on the counter. So
why shouldn’t you try the same thing.
The Super System
Why change tactics every game when you can make sweeping changes
with simple shouts. How do you achieve simplicity in the game that can be
replicated successfully every season and with every version of the game?
We also apply this to several tactics including the 4231, 442 and the 51222
MAKING YOUR SUPER SYSTEM
Currently the match engine plays in a unique way, it adapts to changes and makes
minor adjustments to roles or duties, and sometimes it even changes mentality and
shape. It uses the same tools available to human managers. When something drastic
needs to be done it changes tactics altogether. This is how the AI plays and that is
exactly how I play. My goal is to make a super system, where I create one tactic that
can be used in different ways, this is done by setting up Mentality/Shape, roles and
duties in a specific way.
How can you start to play like that?
In most cases for most systems you can play on standard/flexible. It really isn’t the mentality
itself that creates an advantage, it will always be the judicious use of roles and duties in your
system. There are some combinations of mentality and shape that are unrealistic, so I have
avoided discussing them, for example Defensive/Very Fluid. Instead I will discuss various
other combinations that lead to interesting variations.
You can take one tactic and make it play with combinations of different mentalities/shapes
and shouts in a single game. To make this work, you must be wary of using too many Attack
duties. The more attack duties you use, the more isolated those players become. In order for
you to make one tactic work with different combinations I would advise that you use no more
than 2 attack duties per tactic. It is possible to apply 4 attack duties to some tactics, but
these are unique tactics. For the majority of tactics limit the use of attack duties if you want
to make a super system.
Some players are one dimensional when it comes to playing the game. They make
assumptions based on one facet of the tactical creator, and this greatly diminishes what is
possible. You can’t approach the game thinking that the only way to get goals is to play Fluid
shape because it increases creative freedom. And, you can’t think that playing defensively
will prevent your team from carving out chances. In order for you to create a balanced tactic,
you need to consider how Mentality, Shape, Roles & Duties, Team Instructions and Player
Instructions work together.
• The best way to begin is to start with assigning the right duties in your team
based on who you want to see come back to defend. Each player you deem
necessary during defensive transitions needs to be assigned a role with a
support duty. From this group you will then define those that will always stay
back regardless of your team’s stance in a game. Finally you will assign Attack
duties.
• Shouts need to be considered within the context of the Mentality and Shape
you are using. Shape instructs a team how to behave as a unit, whilst Mentality
tells a team how much risk they should accept. A team playing a structured
mentality will always have distinct players participating in transitions and a
team that is fluid will appear to be more disorganised during transitions. There
is a common belief that the use of certain shouts can mitigate this. This is not
as simple as it appears.
A team playing a fluid system will be more compact and will have higher creative freedom,
which means that they may not stick to their positions and they may not always do what you
want them to do, allowing their decisions attribute to kick in with respect to the mentality they
are playing on. So a team playing defensive will take less chances anyway, a team playing
on attacking mentality is more likely to take risky chances. A team playing defensive
mentality and a fluid shape will be more compact in shape, but this also precludes them from
being well placed for quick counters. So unless you have created clear attack roles, your
team on defensive may end up playing possession football to move the ball up which can be
a good thing if you want to control the game.
So you would need to take that into consideration when deciding on which roles will play key
parts in counter attacks, which is why I hardly recommend playing a defensive/fluid system.
If you were to play defensive/structured you get more distinction in duties and there is a
wider spread between mentalities. On very fluid every player has the same mentality, whilst
on highly structured, these mentalities are within a certain range.
This is the first part of assessing your system, the second and often neglected
portion is how the allocation of roles and duties affects your team. Attack duties will
tell players to get forward early, they will also be more willing to take risks than
players on Defend duty. On lower shape levels this difference between Attack and
Defend will be distinct, but that distinction gets blurred the more fluid you become.
Roles that are hardcoded will tell to have “locked” in mentalities.
A team with 5 players on support and 1 on attack duty will be more methodical in
possession, and will not commit too many players early in an attacking transition. They
would also be more solid transitioning to defence. A team with 5 players on attack and only 1
or two on support, will struggle during transitions to get players back to support and defend,
regardless of mentality and shape. So while Mentality and Shape affect things broadly, how
you select your roles and duties is just as important.
We know that Mentality is a risk barometer. So when you choose different mentalities these
affect the choices players make, the way they defend, and the way they attack. A team that
is on Defensive mentality is less likely to work the ball up in direct passes, whilst a team on
Attacking Mentality is willing to take more risks. They are willing to play a quicker more up
tempo style to move the ball forward.
Shape instructs how well a team behaves as a unit. On lower Shape settings, there are
more distinct differences between defending and attacking, they are also less creative with
their choices, which isn’t really a bad thing. On higher shape settings the distinction between
attack, support and duty mentalities becomes less distinct. A team on Attacking Mentality
with Highly Fluid shape will see everyone have exactly the same mentality, while a highly
structured team will see three distinct groups. The effect of this is to create more space
between players vertically in a Highly Structured system and make the team more compact
on highly fluid settings. This is done by narrowing the differences in mentality between
players.
Shouts as we all know are just team instructions meant to adjust the way a team plays. And
this is the important piece in the puzzle. Each mentality/shape combination can look
different with shouts.
The Tactical Creator has been designed for managers to have a dynamic experience, so use
it the way it was meant to be used. Here are some examples of strategies that you could
employ, when in doubt go Flexible. The key thing to remember is that balance for any
tactic does not come simply from symmetry, it comes from choosing the right
combination of roles, duties, mentality, shape and shouts. Even a system with only 2
central defenders in the defensive strata can be balanced provided it has the right support
roles around it. Here are some examples of combinations that work in the game.
A. Defensive/Structured with not more than one attack duty in a non forward role, with
a much higher defensive line
If you have more support duties in your team and you are playing a defensive mentality with
short passing. Your team will play methodical football, if you raise the defensive line, and
have your forward line closing down max, then you create pressure on the opponent near
the halfway line. Against defensive teams you will camp in their half probing an opening. If
you want to increase possession numbers further you can work ball into box, however you
will reduce crosses. Support duties tell players to be part of transitions, this allows for better
ball retention, and increases the number of players that get involved in defensive and
attacking phases of the game. If you have 3 players on defend, 6 players on support and 2
players on attack, then the 6 play an important role in defensive and attacking transitions.
Defensive Mentality/Structured or Highly Structured create noticeable gaps during

transitions. A more structured shape will be more organised in the early build up of a
transition, whilst a more fluid shape tends to be a bit more unpredictable.
When a team is playing this combination, there are going to be distinct differences during
transitions when the team goes from defending to attacking. This is caused by Shape and
Duty distribution. There are more spaces in midfield for the team to use and attack duty
players will need to have the ability to hold, win and or distribute the ball. A structured
system will make strikers that have an attack duty more aggressive compared to their
teammates.
B. Defensive or Counter/Structured/ With attack duties in flank positions, total of not

more than 2 attacking duties in the whole team, higher defensive line, higher tempo
Team will close down the in the opposition half when they are trying to build an attack.
Increasing tempo influences how the ball will be moved around and the two flank attack
duties, preferably one in the defensive strata and another in the opposite midfield strata will
encourage faster flank cycling of the ball.
C. Control/Very Fluid/Deep Defensive Line/Normal - High Tempo 1 Attack Duty
More aggressive team in attack, with more players involved in attacking transitions. The
team will drop deep into their own half to defend and hope to score off counters. Since they
are defending at the edge of their area, they need great defensive attributes against much
better opposition. Important to have the majority of players on support duties with no more
than 1 role on the flanks on Attack duty. Apply the Player Instruction “Play Risky Passes” to
players who are average at passing around the flanks. The goal is not to give away easy
turnovers on the flanks. Ensure that one forward is on attack duty, so that he is available as
a passing outlet or to hold up the ball.
D. Control/Structured/Deep Defensive Line/High Tempo 1-3 Attack Duties
Aggressive in attack, takes advantage of spaces in midfield to build play On the flanks have
2 players on attack duties who can run and beat their opposition numbers. They will need
acceleration , first touch, passing, decisions and crossing. The space they leave behind
need to be observed, against good opposition AI, that space can be exploited.
E. Attacking Structured with not more than one attack duty in a non forward role, with
a much higher defensive line
If passing directness is unchanged, then your team will play more attacking football over
expansive areas of the pitch. However if you reduce width and individually tell players to
reduce risky passes and maintain short passing, then you create a higher mentality
possession styled football system
F. Attacking/Fluid with not more than one attack duty in a non forward role, with a
much higher defensive line
If passing directness is unchanged, then your team will camp in the opponents third playing
on a more aggressive setting. Against defensive teams you may create opportunities from
the higher creative settings of the shape, however the compactness will leave you open to
quick counters by technically better teams.
Effect of Player Instructions:
For any combination that you use, the effect of some Player Instructions can be
considerable. Lets take the Risky Passes Player Instruction as an example. Most novice
managers want a team to play with high possession, and elect to use the Team Instruction -
Retain Possession for that purpose. However, this shout reduces a teams attacking
efficiency by reducing width and passing directness. Players across the team will elect to
play short and not play any through balls. This has the effect of reducing your attacking
options. A better option is to use the Player Instruction Risky Passes.
Let’s take an example, assume you are playing a 442, or any system with fullbacks and you
are getting increasingly annoyed that your players are just bombing the ball forward. There
could be various reasons for this. The biggest culprit is isolation caused by having too many
players in the midfield or attacking strata on attack duties. This forces players who are tying
to transition the ball forward to hoof the ball up. When you are using a system with few
attack duties, then a mentality switch to attacking could encourage your fullbacks to play
risky passes as well. To avoid balls being sprayed about unnecessarily go to your players
and tell them to Play Less Risky Passes. This will prevent them from playing through balls or
long diagonals, instead they will now pass the ball to a player closer to them. In fact, you
could create a system where fullbacks are told to play short and less risky passes if you
want to force them to play through your central midfield where your more creative players
are.
If a player has good decision making you could also leave both options unchecked. This way
you allow the player to exercise an option they see fit. This is a good way of assigning it to
creative players.
THE AI
The AI formation will usually have a defensive formation in its arsenal to defend, and these
almost always have a defensive midfielder or a three man backline. If the AI is using such a
formation, it can be notoriously difficult to beat, because it can change mentality and shape
in a match depending on circumstances and this can change the whole way it plays.
We have to assume the AI will change systems to get a result. There are several things it will
do depending on the situation. If you are the favourite and are playing away then these are
the various things that can happen:
Stalemate – The AI stays on Standard/Control, and maintains a Flexible Shape. This is by

far the most common stance an AI takes. You can tell its mentality by the in-game tactical
widget. Shape is a lot harder. If you see it attacking in numbers in your final third its most
likely fluid. If the strikers look like they need to wait or appear to be charging at your goal
with little to no support then its most likely structured.
During a stalemate, the AI will not try anything, at this point you could play at your neutral
settings, this in most cases is a standard to control posture with a structured to flexible
shape. This stance is neutral because you are not taking unnecessary risks. However if you
want to test the AI out you could increase mentality or shape, or do both.
You are leading – If your team are the favourites and have taken a lead t1he AI could just
go defensive. In this case, you are better off not changing postures. You could drop your
defensive line, or you could continue to play the same way. However this is a dangerous
phase in the game. You need to be on the lookout for poor performers in your team, as these
could be the weak links that can make mistakes. You also need to keep a sharp lookout on
your defensive line to ensure that your defenders are not having to run back facing the goal.
If that is happening you need to drop your defensive line or bring on faster defenders.
If your reputation is lower than the opposing team, the AI could simple go more attacking
and fluid. This is fairly common. If your position is playing a high line, then you run the risk of
seeing balls go over the top. If your team is not as good defensively then you could get
overrun. In most cases if I were managing an inferior team, I would keep on at least control
mentality, but I would drop my defensive line if my defenders weren’t the fastest in the land.
These are just some of the scenarios that can happen. A lot also depends on the kind of
system you are playing and your in game changes depend a lot on what tactic you are using
and what the AI playing. For example, you could be playing a 4231 versus a 541. One option
available to you would be to man mark their wing backs with your Attacking midfielders. This
would keep them in check and neutralise one of their attacking outlets.
There are some broad shouts you can also use in the game.
Effect of Shouts:
• Retain Possession - Will help you increase possession, but cause you to reduce
attacking potency. Your team will go a bit narrower, play safe passes and not try risky
passes like diagonals or exciting through balls
• Work Ball into Box - Once on the flanks, ball crossers are more likely to look for the
cutback instead of trying to cross. This will not apply to AI generated counterattacks.
Possession will go up, and this will be good if you want to camp in the opponents
half. If a winger has taken off early, and has good decisions, first touch, composure,
he could hold up the ball and cut it back to another player, while others surge in and
around the box. If you want to camp in the opponents half, and patiently probe an
opening, this shout MUST be used.
• Pass Into Space - This is a risky shout, it will lead to loss of possession unless your
players have good concentration, anticipation, passing and decisions. Receiving
players need good off the ball, composure, first touch
Defending a lead shouts
Retain Possession - If this shout is used, then the team will be rather defensive, its width will
be reduced and they will play safer passes to each other and not try through balls. When
you use any system where you are depending on fast wingers to counter attack, this shout
will negate it. The team will play shorter passes, and you won’t see many cross field balls.
PUTTING THESE IN PRACTICE - SETTING UP THE STRATEGY
I believe in one way of playing, it’s been my approach since Super tactics got nulled after
03/04. Since FM12, I’ve been making what I call Super systems. These are essentially one
tactic wonders. You take one tactic, with the same roles and duties and you play it every
game. The only thing you do different, is use the shouts and even then I either add one, two
or change at most 3 shouts. We are not guaranteeing that you will win every match, in fact I
think going on long extended unbeaten streaks is possible but extremely rare. What I am
offering you is an enjoyable way to play that saves you a lot of time and heartache. I am
reaching my 3rd decade of playing this game, and I don’t intend to spend an inordinate
amount of time playing the game. I just have a simple series of steps to making my systems
and I will now cover them all.
We have already covered the basics of roles, duties, mentality and shape
We want a system where the roles and duty combinations are thought out well enough that
we can change Mentality and Shape without having a detrimental effect to the system. In
order to understand what the formation itself will be, we need to have a clear idea of what
transitions are and how they play out within our formation. We need to know how our
attacking patterns and our defensive patterns will look like and where our formation is
weakest.
We want our tactic to be part of a system. When things need to be changed all we want to
do is make a shout change, we don’t want to load up another tactic and have more players
on our roster than we need. It has to be a system easy enough to modify. The match engine
AI is not static, it does not play the same way all the time. When we are just starting out, the
match engine AI may not even respect us as we begin our aspiring career. So it’s tactics
may not be geared to defend, in fact, it may be so confident taking us on that it will throw out
4231 tactics. Once we start moving up the table, the match engine will consider us a viable
threat, and it may switch its stance. It could very well start using static defences, so we need
our tactic to play well against static defences as well as non static defences. There will also
come a day when we face the world’s best sides, they could be so good that we need to
consider using a different system. So we will have to make one system that is specially
designed for the Barcelona’s of the world. Our super-system should be good enough to last
a whole season. And when we get bored, we could whip up an entirely new tactic. Our work
will involve making a solid system that includes: Right Role/Duty Combinations, Balanced
Set-up and Adaptability. And of course, you need to choose the right players for the right
roles.
Our strategy for games will be easy:
• Plan a course of action
• Analyse threats from the opposing system
• Execute
1. We will begin every match on defensive, regardless of opposition, the goal is to assess
the threats. Our system will be built for possession, so that we will control most of the action.
If we can make ourselves solid defensively, then things become easy. We should be good
enough to score, and if we need to we can throttle the pressure, and go for goals with a
higher risk appetite or we can hunker down and let the AI come at us. This will allow us to
use the system the whole year long, when the AI thinks we aren’t a threat, we can allow it to
attack us and hit off the counter. If the AI decides we are too big a threat, and it decides to
camp, we can either camp in their half or we can draw them out and hit them by exploiting
spaces. So we get the best of both worlds, without having to create a second tactic.
2. We need to be aware of where the threats will come from the AI by identifying each
attacking player who has acceleration and off the ball. These players will be tough to pick up,
and are dangerous on the flanks. If we end up facing 3 Suarez’s on the flanks, we have
issues. So we will need to watch our defensive area in the middle and on the flanks.
Throughout the game we will need to be aware of how those players are playing and
observing their match ratings. We will be looking for anomalies in match ratings to analyse
the situation and then reconfirming by visually assessing the action of the 2D screen.
3. Finally, if our defensive strategy is working out well, we can wait. If we need to change,
then we will just change a few shouts. If we find that there are match rating anomalies then
we will try to determine why and come up with a course of action.
That’s basically how I play, throughout a season. I have already shown you how mentality is
all about risk. Shape is also about risk in a manner of speaking, at higher levels of shape
you are also trying harder to score a goal. Mentality increases risk, so your passes forward
get more direct and your players will push up higher. Higher levels of Shape will throw more
players into the fray and get them to try things they otherwise would not. So why not use the
tactical creator in a more creative way? Start on defensive structured, where your side takes
less risk and has more space to move the ball around. And, if you find the need to push for
goals, just increase your mentality. If you feel that more is needed, just change shape. It
certainly sounds easy. The real challenge lies in making a system so balanced that it can
change shape without having a detrimental effect of your system. Lets start.
The key here is knowing how to make your tactic go from attacking to defensive and be able
to camp out possession numbers in both. Most people have preconceived notions that you
need to use an attacking mentality to produce swashbuckling football. Attacking mentality is
akin to playing basketball and going for the 3 pointer all the time rather than working yourself
in for the easy 2 when you have position. When you try for the 3 point basket, you may miss
and it could be turnover. When you are going for the 2 point basket, you are playing the high
percentage scoring play. FM is no different. You need to create high percent plays with your
possession.
Having high possession numbers means nothing if you can’t convert. So while some parts of
the book have dealt with choosing the right players, we now address the philosophy behind
creating a holistic system. To begin you need to abandon all your preconceived notions
of defensive and attacking mentality. Just remember this - mentality is about making your
chances count. If you are always going to play on attacking mentality then you are trying
more things and these could be more risky. When you are going defensive you are making
sure that each shot/pass/block matters. This isn’t the end of it either.
BALANCING THE SYSTEM
The second thing you need to do - structure for balance. There are plenty of roles in the
game, some have one duty others have at least 3. The key to making a possession tactic
rests with the duties. The first thing you want to do regardless of tactical shape is to
determine who your “Support” players are. This will be your most important decision. These
players will act as your throttle for ramping up pressure and easing it off. So the decision is
an important and an easy one to make. You need support players in ALL strata of the pitch.
The better you balance their placement the more effective your support screen becomes.
Remember this game is about transitions. If you win the support war, you win the transitions.
Support players must have several key attributes: Bravery, Concentration, Stamina,
Acceleration, Passing, Composure, First Touch and Decisions. Go for a range of between
12-16. 12 is the very lowest I would go, but if I were a Chelsea then I would stick for nothing
less than 15.
For 2 man midfields you cannot use an attacking duty there, you need them to act as a
double pivot, so you will need to make sure they are a defend/support combination that can
defend and pass.
For 3 man midfields at least one player from the 3 central midfielders has to be on defend
duty and the other two need to be on support
For 4 man midfields at least one player from the 2 central midfielders has to be on defend
and another has to be on support.
You could very well end up with a tactic that only has one or two players on attacking duty.
And that’s very possible. The key here is to make sure you don’t have too many. The
attacking duty tells a player to Get Forward Early, and that is not usually a good option for a
Super system. In all mentalities and shapes the supporting cast has a slightly different way
of reacting to transitions. For lower mentality settings the supporting cast works very hard to
defend, for higher mentality settings they work harder to attack.
Now on lower shape settings the supporting cast leaves more gaps in between them,
allowing them space to move themselves and the ball around. On higher shape settings they
tend to be more compact but have higher creative freedom. So we have sorted out our
Duties. Now its time to consider how we will move through mentalities, the goal is to
maintain a degree of control over how we move the ball up. Recall that higher levels of
Shape increase Creative Freedom, while that is great, sometimes they can be too
adventurous. We want to make sure the right players make those creative decisions. We
don’t want players giving the ball away cheaply.
PLAYER INSTRUCTIONS
Team Instructions affect the whole team. It’s an easy enough way to get things done, but
what we want to achieve is a minimum use of shout changes. If you’ve seen my Youtube
videos you will notice, I hardly make a lot of shout changes. I will show you how this is done.
When you change mentalities and you increase risk, the chances of a misplaced pass, or a
mistimed run always increase. Since the system needs to be able to switch mentalities we
want to do this efficiently, so look at your system and identify all the players who are key to
quick counters. There should be at least one in each strata. If we take a 442 for example, I
would pick the fullback I know I depend on for an attack duty, and pick him, then I pick the
central playmaker in the middle of the park who needs to string those passes. Between
both my strikers I could pick the deeper lying striker and add him to this list to. These 3
players will form the group affected by shout changes, so they will not get be given specific
player instructions . Let’s call this group of 3 players"Creative"
The rest of the team must make each pass count. Their job is to win the ball, and make sure
the ball gets to "Creative". To encourage this to happen, the "Non Creative" group are
issued specific Player Instructions:
• Play Less Risky Passes - they will stop playing risky passes.
• Play Short Passes - you do this by going to the passing directness bar and changing
it.
You can even add Dribble Less as a PI to this group to ensure they don't go running off into
areas of the pitch where they may lost the ball unnecessarily.
Once we have made those adjustments we do some final ones that should affect the
broader way we play. All these shouts will remain unadjusted whenever we change
Mentality/Shape. There may be exceptions, but these will be rare and will be due to your
player quality, and the only shout that this affects will be Defensive Line.
• Play Out of Defence - Done so the ball distributes effectively from the back
• Work Ball Into Box - We want to create opportunities for 2v1 on defenders, if you
have supporting fullbacks they will join in the attack when the opportunity presents
itself.
• Play Higher Defensive Line - This should be one notch above default, to encourage
your forward players to close down in opponents half earlier. Your defenders need to
be good with acceleration, concentration and positioning to pull this off. Otherwise
you need to play with a deep or normal defensive line
• Close Down Much More – Used as a Player Instruction to be given to one

forward only, preferably the deeper one. We are not using the Team Instruction. We
are trying to achieve a high block.
We can make further customisations to boost possession up even higher, one of them is to
include the instruction Dribble Less. This will encourage your players to pass the ball instead
of dribbling it around. You can increase penetration by increasing Tempo, but when you do
this please note that this does exert physical exertions on your players. If you add this layer
do so only after you are used Play Less Risky Passes and Play Short.
You could also go to your goalkeeper and tell him to Roll it Out to Fullbacks, but this is
entirely a personal choice. I have systems which have strong players up front who act as
good receivers of long passes from the keeper and that works to. So the choice is entirely up
to you. However, for the purposes of creating a Super system that is Possession Centred, I
recommend you use the Goalkeeper PI.
The effect of these shouts is to increase your possession numbers. If your players have
good first touch and composure then they will work the ball around the opponents area. This
will give your team time to begin camping in the opponents half. Let’s now make the AI’s life
a bit more miserable, and look at set-pieces. When you defend a set piece make sure that
you have at least one player closing down the corner kick taker and keep two up front, this
will allow you players to hit off the counter. Make sure the player who is closing down the
corner is a winger at least. When you are delivering the corner, ensure that you have two
players with good Jumping Reach and Heading attacking Near and Far Posts. Finally
ensure you have a striker attacking the ball from deep, and have a Defensive Midfielder or a
player with some strength challenging the keeper. Keep two players back from attacking the
corner. Your goal here is to ensure that when you fail to hit the target you still have players in
close proximity to getting the ball back and recycling possession.
Now that we have down our micro management, we leave the tactic alone. We do not make
further changes unless we feel the need to make a role or duty change. Its now time go all
arcade game style with Football Manager
Basic Strategy
You could start cautiously, play Defensive/Structured, and observe if you are doing ok. Your
shouts should be simple: Play out of Defence/Work Ball Into Box/Prevent GK Distribution/
Higher Defensive Line.
We are playing with a higher defensive line, because we don’t want to sit back, but want to
be proactive about breaking up play. If more of the highlights show you defending, don’t fret.
Check what kind of chances the AI is getting. If it is shooting from range. You are fine. If it
shows you your defenders are handling the pressure well. You are fine. If you are gifting
them easy chances then its time to step up the pressure. Go Attacking/Structured and add
these shouts: Stay on Feet.
Observe if you are using the space more effectively, if you find that you are getting better
possession numbers but now are failing to carve out chances, then go Very Fluid and add
these shouts: Be More Disciplined. Once you score a goal you can remove these shouts
and go back to Attacking/Structured, or even Defensive/Structured. Another option you can
choose to use is to tell your players to Dribble Less, this will encourage them to pass the ball
off to a teammate. Let’s break this down a bit more.
Defensive/Structured
When you are playing on defensive/structured, you team will be patient and methodical in
possession. The shouts will encourage them to use the ball wisely and if your system has
the support players in the right positions, you will generate good possession numbers
against most sides. This phase of the game can last an entire match, if you are doing really
well. So you will be observing the kind of chances you are creating and how you are denying
the match AI.
Playing defensively and generating good possession numbers may seem odd, but there are
plenty of sides that play like that. Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona was famous for doing it so were
the European Champions of 2008 - Spain. As you build play up methodically through to your
creative players you will be assessing how well these players do distributing the ball and
creating goal scoring chances. Remember Defensive mentality does not equate to hoof the
ball up. We have removed risky passes off some players and have told players to pass it
short. We plan on building it up in their half. Our creative players are expected to carve out
chances.
The shout Work Ball Into Box, allows more numbers to attack the box. This shout will reduce
crosses and increases cutbacks. This allows fullbacks to control the breadth of the pitch and
brings your supporting midfielders into dangerous areas. Work Ball Into Box does not
remove crosses completely, it just increases your likelihood for penetration. Whenever you
play with a pushed up Defensive Line, you absolutely need to make sure you are looking at
how your defenders react to balls over the top. The one notch increase should not affect
them too much unless their concentration levels are really low. Increasing it further is a risk.
Attacking/Structured
Let’s say for some reason, you have conceded a goal from open play, and you don’t seem to
be exerting the right kind of control. Or you could be approaching the 70th minute and you
still haven’t scored. You could go Attacking/Structured. This will increase your risk appetite.
Your players will take more chances and the Structured Shape will still have open spaces in
midfield. Since you will be playing higher up the pitch, you don’t want your players to be
sliding in and going to ground for tackles. You want them to deny passing lanes. So you
should tell your players to Stay on Feet. They will close down, and will not go to ground.
Attacking/Fluid
If you still haven’t scored you can up the ante even more. By going Attacking/Fluid you will
be telling your players to try things out of the box. If you just want them to be more attacking
but you are concerned about losing Shape, you can easily tell your team to Play More
Disciplined. You can also opt to use adjust the Width. If you have flanking attack players this
will encourage them to use the flanks more.
We have briefly covered what you can do. These are the basic elements of making a system
that can change Mentality/Shape a few times within a game. You can easily start a game on
Attacking/Fluid and then hunker down by going Defensive/Structured. Against an AI that’s
decided to pay you some respect you should be concerned about its counter attack. In this
case you can start of Defensive/Structured and throttle up to Control, instead of Attacking.
By making your tactic balanced and by surgically adding Player Instructions to some key
positions you have created a system that can modify and adapt.
ALL THE SHOUTS TO BE USED
STARTING SHOUTS: DEFENSIVE/STRUCTURED
• Prevent Goalkeeper Distribution
• Higher Defensive Line ( for teams with good defenders)
• Play Out of Defence
• Work Ball Into Box
• Offside Trap – Since we are playing a pushed up Defensive Line, this shout is being
used.
• Play Less Risky Passes (Selected Players)
• Close Down Much More (Selected Players)
• Player Shorter (Selected Players)

• Dribble Less (Selected Players)
SHOUTS ADDED – ATTACKING STRUCTURED
• Stay on Feet – Situational – Depends on how well we are intercepting. If we are

allowing players too much freedom it will be unchecked.
• Play Wider – To encourage use of the width to create chances
SHOUTS ADDED – ATTACKING/VERY FLUID
• Be More Disciplined – To encourage less creative freedom if there is a loss in shape.
If you ever plan on using Retain Shout, use it when you are trying to protect a lead. Don’t
use it to create chances, because it removes less risky passes across your whole team.
To be honest the AI is capable of doing the same thing too. We are just doing it in ways the
AI isn’t able to, just yet, by customising Player Instructions.
What about going Defensive/Fluid? Don’t. You are going to make yourself compact and
easier to beat with a ball over the top. Anytime you move up you will be compact too, so its
not a great idea, the risk of being caught out is just too strong.
What about all those irritating crosses and that midfield battle. Regardless of the mentality
settings you still need to set yourself up to defend first. The defensive line settings need to
be set just once. If you have paid attention to picking the right players then push the
defensive line up one notch and leave it there.
At its very core the Super system uses a simple principle. We are making our chances count
by playing defensively at the start, in most cases this should be enough. Systems are
created to generate overloads in specific areas of the pitch. When creating any system you
should be thinking about how and where you can be looking to create an overload. You do
that by minimising the number of attacking duties and the number of creative players to
minimise any potential impact when we change shape. You look for chances where you can
put AI players under pressure by giving your players more options to pass the ball. If we
need to score goals, we can always move up to Structured and tell our players to Stay on
Feet to tackle. And if we need added creativity we tell them to go Highly Fluid. What we are
doing is throttling the team’s risk appetite for winning, its far more elegant than changing
tactics. The challenge lies in making that one tactic you are comfortable playing.
The objective of the next few sections is not to give you tactics that you just go off, copy and
use in a game. These are meant to illustrate my thought processes.I am sharing with you the
steps I consider when I make tactical systems. My hope is that you can use the same with
your systems. Over time I will be doing monthly updates covering tactics. These updates will
also coincide with short video guides on Youtube. You get the written thought processes and
you also get a chance to see how I put it altogether. My hope is that you can make your own
kinds of tactics. And I will be extremely proud of everything we've accomplished when you
share your stories with me.

APPLICATIONS - MAKING A 442 AND A 5122
TACTIC EXAMPLES - 442
A system that includes plenty of support players, played on defensive/structured and

because of the support roles, we can move this easily between mentalities. Pushing it to
attacking structured or attacking is easily done while adding the shout stay on feet. We also
have the option of using the shout Stay Wide regardless of mentalities to encourage our
players to use the flanks.
The DLP is surrounded by players who are on support and close to him, so he does not
have to bear the bulk of defensive duties. Quite a few players are giving the duty Play Less
Risky passes, this includes: Fullbacks on support, Midfielders on support. The Wide
Midfielder on the right flank is told to dribble less, to reduce the possibility that we lose the
ball on the side of the flank where the DLP is. If that happens we could lose possession
forcing the DLP to end up defending unnecessarily.
Upfront the F 9 is used because he drops very deep, though this can be changed to a DLP
(S) if needed. Both roles can be used. The Centre forward will get a lot of chances, he
should have all the attributes of a classic centre forward and he needs to be able to cross,
pass, hold and finish off passes. This system can be played on various mentalities and
shapes, because of the high support numbers you can even play this with a maxed out
defensive line and on the higher shape settings. As always when you play on a pushed up
defensive line, you need to study how your backline reacts to a sudden counterattack. If the
backline has to track back far and they are also facing the goal when they do this, you may
need to drop the defensive line. On a structured setting you could use these combination of
Mentality/Shape shouts for instance.
The higher you dial up the mentality and shape, the more you need to evaluate whether
specific players have the requisite attributes to find space. On higher shape settings space is
a premium so you will need roles that encourage creativity and movement and players who
can pull that off. So you could take a stance at the start and play Standard/Fluid, grab a goal
and go defensive/structured. Whenever you play with the defensive line, always remember
that you are making the space between the last line of defenders and the goal narrower.
While you do this you are also compressing the distances between players. So balls played
over the top is always a danger.
Players need to be able to pull off fluid shapes because they will nearly always be required
to track back for a quick counter, so make sure your players either have good acceleration,
technique and tackling, or they have good positioning, marking and anticipation.
Concentration is nearly always one of the most important attributes for any side that wants to
keep the lead.
Defensive Structured
• Team Shouts: Play out of Defence, Work Ball Into Box, Prevent GK Distribution,
Stay Wider (Optional), Slightly Higher Defensive Line
• Key roles: DLP, WM(S), FB(S) Right flank, Centre forward
There is a subtle difference between the DLF(S) and the False 9. The DLF(S) is closer to the
Centre Forward and the False 9 drops deeper to support midfield. One other variation you
can do is to get both the CF & the DLF(S) to swap positions.
If we wanted a possession centric 442, then we would ask the players in support roles to
Play Less Risky Passes with the exception of the Deep Lying Playmaker, and the False. This
way we try to move balls through the DLP and the F 9 as the two creative players
Now there are different strategies I can employ with this 442. If I find that I needed to switch
things up and play a lot more direct. I could change the duties of the two side midfielders
and tell them to attack. This would allow me to exploit the flanks once I took a solid lead. If
the AI team looked like it was attacking me with an isolated striker who always seemed to
wait for support. I would drop my defensive line even deeper, isolating them further. Now I
could change my passing to more direct and play with a higher tempo.
Sometimes you can make really interesting changes inside a game without having to change
the tactic. All you need to do is either keep the same overall tactic or make some role or duty
changes.
TACTICAL EXAMPLES – 51222 Wing backs or IWB/WB combination

The IWB has a unique area of responsibility. He is responsible for defending the
flanks and the centre, and he moves into the middle during transitions, depending on
the roles around him and the kind of space they leave him. So if you want an IWB to
be really effective, make sure its an Attack duty that he runs into.
This is another interesting system that can work on FM. You can use an IWB/CWB or a WB/
CWB combination. The reason I have not opted for 2 CWBs is because of the risk they run
as Roaming agents. They have roam from position as a default in the game. By using a WB
on the left flank, we provide security to the CM(A) who can easily also play as an Attacking
Playmaker (APM). The alternative use of an IWB also gives us a chance to congest play
through the middle and encourage the APM to be more adventurous. Once again you need
to check their attributes and ensure they fit the bill.
In nearly all my systems, my strategy is to go from defensive/structured to attacking/fluid. I

treat mentality and shape like a switch electing to change it when I need to go hunting for
goals. I begin games on a defensive strategy to assess them, and then slowly increase the
pressure by changing mentality. If I need my players to try harder then I also increase
creative freedom with the use of shouts.
Deciding on what shouts to use depends on the tactic we are using, the players at our
disposal and the system we are up against. Assuming we have no clue, lets just set up for a
Standard/Flexible opposition which is usually the average setup for the AI. Now lets identify
the tactic we will be using, this will the 51222WB. Finally lets determine our style of play.
Let’s assume we wanted to mimic Antonio Contes 3412 which he has used before. It plays
like a 532 and attacks like a 352. We first need to set up role assignments in the team:
Role assignments
• Assign specific players to attacking duties, and place support roles in strategic
positions to maximise coverage on the pitch. In the 5122WB example we have them
covered on the flanks and both players in attack. When this is done we minimise the
number of players charging into space with the Get Forward player instruction.
• Avoid the use or limit the use of roles that have the “roam from position” PI. In the
example above we only use that with the Complete Wing back, since he has
extraordinary decisions attribute and vision. I would prefer if you used the WB as a
start instead of the IWB, but if you can react to changes well, or have the perfect
player use the IWB, but remember that you now need to watch both flanks. If you find
any flank being vulnerable too easily, the flank you want to modify is the left. If you
see that the right flank is too vulnerable than change the CWB to a WB. One thing to
remember is this: your backline is very, strong. The DM(D) can afford to be a DLP(S)
too, if you find that you aren't breaking into sides. The permutations with a 51222 are
crazy.
• Ensure that there are support players in the defend/support ( this is the group you
expect to see defending behind the ball when you lose transition) and attack group of
players
Now that we have set up the role assignments we have ensured that the “spine” of the team
is supporting attack and defence system. The next step is to identify critical players. In the
system above we have a few key positions. The central midfielder on attack, needs first
touch, composure, strength, vision, passing, tackling, anticipation, concentration, decisions
and off the ball. The Complete Wingback needs strength, composure, balance, vision,
decisions, crossing, passing, off the ball and anticipation. Finally both attacking players need
first touch, composure, strength, off the ball, passing and finishing.
Why have we chosen these attributes?
• First Touch - We need them to be able to control the ball quickly

• Composure - They need to have a cool head under pressure.
• Strength - They need to be able to shake off tight markers and hold up the ball if
necessary
• Vision - They need to be able to look for the player/pass/run
• Decisions - The higher the attribute they more scenarios they can read, coupled with
vision this is a tremendously important attribute for the attacking duties
• Anticipation - They should be able to anticipate not only the cross they may receive
but the run a player may make
• Balance - Under pressure and while running this will help them regain their balance
after a challenge
• Off the ball - Since a lot of players are on support, this combined with high decisions
will influence whether they charge into available space, instead of blindly going
forward. If they are on attacking duty, they will go forward first. We want to avoid that.
We want the play to develop around them.
• Concentration - For support players this is important for them — if they play high up
the pitch then they need to be aware of possible turnovers and be able to reposition
themselves.
Now that we have the tactic and the players, let’s see what we can do to throttle the potency
of this tactic.
For a start, because they have so many players in their own half, it lends itself to be a good
defensive tactic with high possession. We want to avoid having other teams camping in our
half but we still want it to be defensive with some potency going forward. We still need to
win.
Shouts are meant to be simple features that allow your team to modify the way the team
plays. They are no golden rules with the use of shouts, every tactical system is different and
some shouts can help giving the system a distinctive flavour.Some shouts work well in
certain systems. In order to use shouts effectively, you need to look a your tactic and
evaluate your own players. How well a shout can be used depends on the tactic, the duties
and roles used with the tactic and the type of players you have. Let’s take a look at some
systems and what this means. There is one suggestion I will make : Less is Good, if you are
not sure. In fact looking at the 5122WB for example: I could start with 3 basic shouts and
they all work:
• Work Ball into Box - The goal is to reduce crosses and pass the ball around the box
and carve out chances
• Play out of Defence - I do not want my balls to be aimless punts. When I am using
Central Defenders there is a possibility that happens since they are told not to take
risks.
• Whipped Crosses - This is an interesting choice, but the system I am using is a target
man system. I want those crosses whipped in at pace. These are harder to deal with
This sequence of shouts will help me get decent results. If I were playing Defensive/
Structured, there is enough space for my players to exploit since structured creates more
space. This is due to the wider mentality splits between duties. The team has a distinctive
duty distribution thanks to Shape and that also helps to lower creative freedom. When I use
these shouts I need to remember that I am going to give up possession. To improve that we
will have to make adjustments. However my lower mentality and work ball into box
instructions do mean that our chances will more often than not hit the target.
At the very simplest level, this is the way I would start a match. Now what happens if you
want to increase possession? Then you need to consider the tactic itself. We have already
created a tactic where there aren’t that many attack duties. To work on that we need to
understand how Mentality/Shape/Player role and duty selection affect the tactic.
• Shape - Allows you to make a system more compact. However it also increases
creative freedom. When you choose a mentality in a team, it doesn’t mean that each
player in the team automatically has the same mentality. Shape acts to distribute
them. A highly structured shape will have a clear distinction between duties, so
defensive players will still take less risks than attacking players. On fluid and very
fluid settings, more players share the same mentality. And, they also have higher
creative freedom. Some tactics play better with structured shapes others play better
on fluid shapes. When in doubt of what shape is best, always start with flexible.
Tactics that are overloaded at one area of the pitch, for example, a 352 will naturally
favour a structured shape if you want to play a defensive strategy. More of the play
will build up around the defensive half. If you change to an attacking mentality, the
352 will face some issues with possession numbers. The emphasis to attack and the
relative isolation Of the two strikers will produce a challenge of working the ball into
dangerous areas in the final third.
• Mentality - acts like a risk barometer, and it affects the way the team will play its
passes. A team with a higher mentality will take more risks as opposed to a team with
a lower mentality
• Duties - work in conjunction with mentality and shape. The right mix of duties affects
transitions and movement of players around the pitch. We want to ensure that there
is adequate coverage both in attack and defence.
Shape in its most simplistic terms creates gaps between the defence and attack. Highly
Structured and Structured shape settings create more “gaps”, whilst on fluid settings the
gaps become less. This has implications on the effects on different tactics and on trying to
keep possession and generate threat.
Taking the 5122WB example again, the system has a lot of players in defence. When you
choose a structured shape you create spaces in midfield for the 5 in midfield to move
around. If you elect to use a lot of support duties, then you will keep possession of the ball
simply because of the number of players there. Support players don’t make forward runs
often, leaving themselves available for simple passes.
STRATEGIES
DEFENSIVE/STRUCTURED
The interesting thing about the tactical creator is that it allows us to play this system in
variety of ways. If you were to use
Defensive/Structured - Your team doesn’t take a lot of risks moving the ball around.
Structured will create more gaps in midfield, and most players will have low creative
freedom, except for one player on the grid — the complete wingback who is on roaming
because of his role.
You will have read that you need a specific set of shouts to get a desired style of play, while
that is true, it's not that simplistic. Whether your shouts work the way you want depends on
the tactic you are using, the tactic you are facing, the roles and duties that have been
assigned and the attributes of the players in your team. The beauty of shouts is that they
were designed to give you options. You could take one tactic and make it play differently
without changing roles and you could get entirely different results. FM players sometimes
like to keep three tactics, a tactic for every team and season. It’s easy to make one tactic
play differently with shouts, then you can have three different tactics available and with your
knowledge of shouts — a lot more options. The downside of using multiple tactics with
different tactics is the requirement for more players. You avoid that if you become good with
shouts.
Let’s build on our 51222WB system.
Firstly lets work on the possession numbers and push the battle into midfield we need to
check several things:
Let’s also see how shape affects it.
The 5122 WB is a tactic that has the majority of players in your half. Remember that this is
the position they will fall back into when they don’t have the ball. It's a deep tactic and getting
the ball up quickly is not an easy feat. Its meant to be a defensive tactic.
EFFECT OF SOME SHOUTS ON OUR OVERALL SYSTEM
We start with these shouts on defensive and structured mentality. Your team will not take a
lot of risks when they move the ball around, structured will create more gaps in midfield and
most players will have low creative freedom, except for players with unique roles like the
Complete Wingback who have a roaming locked in. The effect of these shouts will be to
retain possession in your defensive and midfield areas:
Work Ball into Box - This instruction will encourage players to reduce crosses and
reduce long shots. What we are going for is to get the wing backs to try to pass the ball
to the supporting midfielders, so that we can hold possession in the opponents third.
Play out of Defence: Passes will be short, however, bear in mind the central defenders
in a 3 man system are more likely to play long passes if they do not have viable passing
outlets.
Whipped Crosses
Now lets add a few more shouts to increase possession and make it a tougher battle in
midfield. The first shout we should look at changing is the defensive line. Unchanged it will
show the defensive line to be normal. We are now going to add:
Slightly Higher Defensive Line - we have added this shout because we want the
players to move higher up the pitch and break up play in midfield.
Dribble Less: This shout can be avoided if you go into the Player Instructions and set
specific players not to dribble more.
There are some players who use the Retain Possession shout, it isn’t a bad shout, it helps
to increase possession at the risk of losing attacking potency by not trying through balls, it
will also reduce passing directness for players, which in this tactic may not be ideal, since
the players are far apart. However if you are enjoying a 2 goal lead, then this could be a way
for you to kill time. Once again you can use elements of this shout by telling some players to
avoid risky passes. You should not use the Retain Possession shout if you are trying to find
your players with through balls, no look passes, cross field passes or diagonal passes.
We want to maintain the theme of improving possession so we will make these changes to
some of the player instructions for these players. These are the players that will transition
from midfield to attack.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER INSTRUCTIONS
Wing backs - Pass it shorter and play less risky passes
Central Midfielders - Less Risky Passes
We have added one layer of shouts and made some Player Instruction changes.
When you play with these shouts the structured shape means that few players take part in
transitions, so with a system that has so many players in your own half it makes sense to
play it on defensive/structured or even flexible. They need time to move into attacking thirds,
so to encourage this we play higher up the pitch on higher defensive line. The effect of this
is to give you high possession numbers in your half. Now this also depends on what system
you are facing. Against defensive, counter, standard mentalities you will have higher
possession, but against attacking systems your higher defensive line is important in midfield
to ensure that your players keep the pressure to win the ball.
You can use shouts as a switch to turn on the pressure and soak up the pressure in a game.
Taking the 5122WB system let’s do this now. In order to increase the attacking potency of
the tactic without changing roles and duties and understanding that it has so many players in
their half, lets unleash them. To do this we unshackle their creative freedom.
In a structured system, players have clear defined duties that are affected by creating
mentality splits. So even if you are on attack a structured system will create 3 distinct groups
of players.
You should always observe your defensive line and try to spot whether your
defenders have to run back facing the goal during transitions. If you lose the ball and
the AI attacks and you notice that your defenders are always running back facing the
goal to chase down the ball, then chances are your players aren't suited to be playing
a high line. In this case you should drop your defensive line
Let’s say we want to add some flavour to the system now that we know how to go defensive.
What if we wanted to come out of the blocks attacking, and then revert to our strategy of
sitting back on Defensive. Then considering we are playing a 51222 WB we could press
higher up the pitch and pressure the opposition.
Playing on Fluid or Highly Fluid with a high defensive line means your team is more compact
and open to through balls over the top. It's a risk we need to mitigate, so make sure you
have players that have these attributes in your team especially the backline and support
players:
Positioning, Jumping Reach, Acceleration, Concentration, Anticipation - Your

defenders need to be fast and aware.
Now that we are higher up the pitch and a lot more compact, we would need to have a bit
more discipline too. The attacking mentality increases the amount of risk the team is willing
to take, however the Shape settings also increase creative freedom, which introduces an
element of randomness. While it may be ideal for some teams, I would try to limit its
influence at the start. The shouts we need to introduce now would be:
We take the shouts from the defensive variant: Play out of Defence, Work Ball into Box,
Whipped Crosses, Slightly Higher Defensive Line and add:
1. Fluid or Very Fluid - Fluid will have more players than structured participating in the
attacking transition.
2. Prevent GK Distribution - Add pressure on the Goal Keeper and make it harder to
play from the back
3. Stay on Feet - No sliding please, however leave this unchecked if you are unsure
whether your players are good at maintaining pressure
4. Be more Disciplined – As long as there are some creative roles in a team, you can
opt to get the rest to reduce their Creative Freedom with the shout.
Why have we not chosen Retain Possession, Dribble Less and Roam from Position?
What about close down much more. You can embed this into your tactic without having to
choose the shout. Just select one striker to close down much more and ask the support
midfielder to close down more. That way you get selective pressing instead of having the
whole team press.
The system is a 51222 WB, it doesn’t have a lot of players in the attacking third by default. If
we were to use Retain Possession, it would reduce risky passes, and we would lose some
potency going forward. Dribble less is unnecessary since we have specifically told some
players not to dribble more, and Roam from position on a fluid setting is a recipe for disaster.
The side is already playing with more creative freedom, we do not want to compound this
with a shout that inherently adds roaming movement.
If we take the lead we can opt to go for Retain Possession. If the AI is playing on any
mentality less than or equal to Standard, it will be under pressure. If its on a mentality like
Control - Overload then we are better off dropping to control, but with the same shouts. In
total the attacking variant would have 7 Shouts.
If you want to switch back to Defensive/Structured, because you expect the AI to come at
you, then you could also add in the Retain Possession Shout, to the 3 shouts in the
defensive shout set up.
In a match against Roma, I was using Antonio Contes 3412 system which is similar to the
51222Wb system I outlined above. For the first 15 minutes we played on attacking, had 70%
possession and 9 shots on goal versus Roma who had no shots at goal. Unrelenting
pressure gave us a 2 goal lead against a system that was playing a Standard/Flexible 4123
DM Wide.
This tactic was actually the base from which I replicated Antonio Conte's 343 Chelsea
system.
APPLICATION – MAKING THE 4231

Euro 2016. Roy Hodgson’s England. This was a team blessed with attacking talent. The
English manager had opted to go for a three man strike force in their opening game against
Russia. With Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling up front, England was having issues. Kane is
an old fashioned forward, he doesn’t have close ball control and under pressure he doesn’t
have the composure to play himself out of it. Sterling has a one track mind, he needs space
to attack into. Once a defence camps Sterling runs out of turf. In today’s modern game, a
central midfielder is usually tasked to screen the back four. This creates a stacked defence.
And if a team decides to camp in their own half, then finding chances to penetrate them
become a lot harder as England found out against Slovakia. The eastern European side was
going for the point, knowing that it could well prove enough to go through to the next round.
When a team decides to sit back and defend, you need to find a way to draw them out.
Players with football intelligence become valuable. With the game tied at 0-0, Hodgson knew
that losing to Wales was going to be an unacceptable result for the fans. He decided to bring
on Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge. It wasn’t the addition of Vardy that turned the match
around it was the Liverpool striker who brought movement to the strike force. He was able to
drop deep, and draw players to him, allowing other players to attack the pockets of space he
was creating.
In a 3 man strike force, your challenge is always going to be playing against a stacked
defence which can take many forms. If a side decides to camp in their own half you need to
draw them out. Having players that can move around drop deep or move through channels
helps to create the space others can attack. You will need players who have great first
touch, composure, flair, dribbling, acceleration, off the ball, balance, passing, decisions,
anticipation and strength for this role. So lets take a 4231 and use this as an example for
our next tactic.
Framework
Before we begin making any tactic we need to consider the player attributes in our team to
determine if the system fits our players. To play the 4231Wide, technical ability is important.
There are several key positions across the pitch, none more so than the two central
midfielders . These two players need to be excellent ball winners. Other attributes they need
will determine on the level of competition you’re facing. They need to win the ball and be
able to distribute it. The backline needs to be able to read the game and have the
acceleration to get back into position when things go wrong.
Once again you will be making a tactic that allows you to switch from Defensive/Structured,
Control/Structured or to Attacking/Fluid. The whole goal of making a Super system is to
allow you to have the luxury of managing a team with the fewest changes to roles/duties and
player instructions. In order for that to be successful, you need to pay careful attention to
duty allocation.
Let’s illustrate this with a few examples of the 4231.

The 4231
Upfront, there are several options. If we were to play with two Inside Forwards and one
Target Man, the system becomes predictable. When you have two Inside Forwards cutting
inside and one Attacking Midfielder drifting in and out of channels, you won’t be creating a
varied attack. If the TM holds up the ball we will run the risk of a packed final third, and if, the
AI is playing with a stacked defence, you will only have a target man to aim for. Roy
Hodgson’s England attack smacked of predictability. Let’s add some variety:
We have added a Raumdeuter, a “space investigator” who exploits space behind the
opponents defensive line, he roams from position. His movement off the ball is unpredictable
which is what we need. On the other flank we have an inside forward on support. The two
fullbacks will cross from deep by virtue of playing on support. The use of the Raumdeuter
requires a solid defensive screen which is why we opt to place the central midfielder on the
left flank on defensive.
At this point you may be wondering about the IWB, well at this moment, the IWB only has
one duty and his Player Instructions make it dangerous to use him there. It's like watching
Pep Guardiola's side struggle to defend, like they did this season for a while. When you use
IWB's they leave the flanks wide open. Until SI produce an IWB that plays like Philip Lahm
did for Bayern, I would avoid it.
We always want to ensure we have the right mix of players on support so that we can get
enough players supporting the tow central midfielders. This will allow us to play the tactic on
various mentalities. We can use the same shouts for defensive/structured. we also have a
different option when playing attacking.
You can leverage off the strengths of the “space investigator” and the inside forward by
opting to go structured, and adding the shout “Stay on Feet”, because we haven’t gone fluid
we don’t need to add more discipline. If you wanted to play attacking and keep possession
then you could go attacking/fluid and add the two shouts. So you could start with Attacking/
Structured as a strategy at the start, and if you found them a wee bit hard, then you could go
Attacking/Fluid, add one shout to the existing group. Finally after you’ve taken the lead, you
could go Defensive/Structured, remove the Discipline shout and the Stay on Feet shout and
leave the others.
Once you have analysed your players and determined who plays well in the various duties,
you should be able to determine your overall the tactic you can use. Then set your
Framework which should include your mentality and shape. Finally add in the shouts. These
should aid you to add more potency or enhance your defensive solidity.
What about the other shouts?
Shouts you will hardly use:
Take A Breather - Who needs to rest if your players are super fit.
Waste Time - You could use this if you really needed to, but I prefer using the combination
of Retain Possession and Pass it Shorter to keep the ball moving
Situational Shouts:
Tight Marking - I hardly use this shout, because it sets the whole team on zonal tight. I
much rather set it individually. However if I was playing a really tough opponent and I
needed to make it a hard game for them, it is an option
Be more Expressive - It is possible to use this shout in combination with the Defensive
mentality, but it adds a level of risk. Its a shout that can be used if you don’t want to change
shape, maintain the same mentality but want to create more chances against a stubborn
team
Pass into Space - This isn’t a bad shout but its situational and you need to use it for specific
tactics that employ forward running players on the flank. This shout increases risky passes,
and could lead to a loss of possession.
Exploit Shouts - There is a whole group of shouts in this category, which exploit specific
areas of the pitch with directed passes. This is a decent shout to use if you wanted to focus
play in an area where an opposing player is having a hard game. Now this can be combined
with:
Run At Defence- If you wanted to force cards against a team that has players on yellows. It
increases dribbling. So you will the force the AI into two possible scenarios, a free run or a
second yellow Sometimes it's worth the risk for short bursts.
Hit early crosses - This shout is not bad if you were a counter attacking team playing
against an attacking mentality. If your players have the pace/acceleration to break past their
flanks, and if your attackers are good at finding space behind the defensive line, this can put
more pressure. Crosses will come earlier.
Look for Overlap/Exploit the Middle - One reduces forward runs in the middle, the other
on the flanks. Sometimes it may not be the ideal thing to do, which is why you can create
tactics that still overlap or exploit the middle without the need for the shouts. For a 4231, you
can avoid these shouts. If you do want to use one, then always use Exploit the Middle.
Stick to Position/Roam From Positions - This is a situational shout that affects off the ball
running. You can achieve the same thing by isolating only those players you want to see
affected via player instructions. This one quick fix will affect all players except for those who
are locked into non roaming roles.
I could see the need for some of these shouts to be used, but I would never depend on
them. In the last 2 years, I have not used any of them except for Hit Early Crosses
OTHER 4231 SYSTEMS
The challenge of using the 4231 and turning it into a Super system lies in the high difficulty
level of managing the 2 central midfielders. There is also the further challenge of getting the
flanks to work. Since the flanks are using players so far apart, our first job is to make them
work together. Then the next challenge likes in making the 2 central midfielders work like a
supercharged engine in midfield.
It may surprise many to see me using two fullbacks on attack, but the reason lies with
getting them to the midfield early enough in transitions so that they effectively work with the
two central midfielders to make a 6 man wall. You need two central midfielders who are
going to control the centre of the park, and you need them to mimic the role of the Ball
Winning Midfielder without the hard tackling. So we will need to use Close Down Much More
Player Instructions with them.
The challenge will be guaranteeing that you keep possession of the ball in your half, so you
will need to tell your backline to take less risky passing the ball and they will need to keep
things simple and short. The keeper will roll balls out to the fullbacks
Upfront we are playing with a strong centre forward who will be tasked with a lot of other
work. He will be told to close down much more, move into channels, play more direct. This
player will be the link in attack. His off the ball running will be critical if we need him to pull
defenders away. The tactic also starts the same way:
Defensive/Structured
Play out of Defence, Work Ball Into Box, Sightly Higher Defensive Line, Prevent Short GK
distribution.
The whole goal of playing with fullbacks on attack is to allow you to have sufficient control of
the opposing AI especially when they are playing defensively against you. You will be
camping in their half and your two central midfielders will see a lot of the ball and control the
ball in their half. The Work Ball Into Box will encourage cutbacks and keep pressure on their
half. Dropping it is also possible but for our purposes of wanting to start defensively this will
generate high possession numbers and put AI teams under a lot of pressure especially if
they are defensive.
You can also up the ante with the system, by going Control/Structured and Attacking/Fluid.
When you go attacking you should get your team to Stay on Feet to ensure that your
players don’t go to ground early. If you want to push further to Highly Fluid then I
recommend you tell your players to Go Disciplined. Once again as in all systems we have
discussed you should consider setting up set-pieces to control possession. You can also
utilise the High Block Strategy, where you tell players in the final third to close down much
more. When you do that, the AI will always be pressurised to get the ball out.
If you are playing Defensive/Structured and the AI is continuously peppering you with
attempts, then you need to consider several options. One is to step up your mentality and try
to regain control of midfield. Or two you can sit back, and depend on how your players to hit
back on the counter if they have the right attributes.
Key attributes for Defend Duties
At least one defender needs great acceleration, tackling.
Another needs marking, tackling, positioning, work rate, determination, concentration
All support duties need decent teamwork (12 and higher), acceleration and off the ball,
decisions, bravery aside from the attributes needed to perform the roles
Attack duty players need stamina, work rates, determination, apart from the key attributes
necessary for the role.
The weakest link in your system will be your backline and your central midfield. Son
ensuring you have the right players to play in those positions will be central to making it
work.
The 4231 system while it looks sexy, it will always struggle against a 41221 or a 433 that has
very mobile and skilful players. If you are faced with a side with some quality in attack, you
will need to pay close attention to your backline.
Another variation of the system is to use 2 Inverted Wing backs in the fullback slots,
however this poses a large challenge, since the IWB in the game have a roam PI locked in
with risky passes. Whilst it can work, it requires you to create a midfield in front of them
which has support duties. This will ensure that there is adequate space for the IWB’s to
move into to act as auxiliary midfielders.
You can take the same principle and apply this to other systems like the 442, the
4312( which happens to be my personal favourite) and to any system that strikes your fancy.
These are the steps you need to take:
Identify a tactic you like and understand
1. Define which players are going to need to come back to defend and those that will
help launch attacks in the defensive and midfield strata. This is your spine
2. Study your side and identify which players have the right mental and physical
attributes to play as support players. Remember tacklers need bravery, aggression,
acceleration, concentration, anticipation. And creators need decision making,
passing. This is by far the most important aspect of creating a solid balanced system.
If your tactic is failing, chances are this is where the issue lies
3. Set up your attack and make sure it can handle static defences. This means that
there should be good movement between the lines. This will be done by choosing the
right kind of roles in the final third. Ensure that these players have the key attribute to
play in the roles you have chosen.
4. The last thing you want to do is to assess how your team is doing. This is the focus of
the next section.
CREATING UNIQUE STYLES OF FOOTBALL
POSSESSION BASED FOOTBALL
In the Football Manager community, possession based football is a popular choice,

especially on higher mentalities. Generally people get confused when they pull out a 4231 or
an attacking 433 and fail to produce a possession based attacking system. This approach is
not cast in stone, in fact people may have found other ways of playing possession based
football. Making a possession based system depends entirely on the system you are using
and how you adapt to systems that the AI users. Just because you have successfully
managed to produce 60% in one match doesn’t necessarily mean you will do it all the time.
In FM, possession isn’t based on the total time you have kept the ball for, in fact it uses an
old television system which measures it by the total number of passes made by your team in
relation to the opposition. For you to generate high possession first you need to generate a
high number of passes. Possession for the sake of possession is a waste of time. There
needs to be an end product, for the purposes of this guide, we will focus on winning all three
points.
STEP ONE - IDENTIFY CLUB DNA
Lets start with identifying the quality of players that we will need for the team
For a team to be able to play a high possession game, they need to have certain attributes
in common. I like to call it the Club DNA, just makes it easier to explain.
These include: teamwork, decisions, passing, off the ball, decisions, and work-rate.
These are priority attributes without which I may not consider possession based football.
STEP 2: STYLE OF PLAY THROUGH TEAM INSTRUCTIONS
There are various team and player instructions in the game that you should look at when you
want to play possession. These include in no particular order:
Retain Possession - Instructs the team to reduce width, tempo and keep passes short
Play out of Defence - Tells a team to play it from the back
Work Ball into Box - Reduces crosses and long shots, important for patiently building
around the box
Roam Into Position - This shout depends on your shape settings and the quality of players
at your disposal. I wouldn’t recommend it at higher shape settings with an average side,
because your team could lose shape.
Distribute it Short - This is a goalkeeper Player Instruction, where you tell him to roll it out
to the defenders
Pushed Up Defensive Line – By setting the defensive line higher you make the side more
compact, increasing passing options. Your side does need to have decent passing, off the
ball, composure, decisions, passing and concentration, and you don’t want to be playing with
too many creative roles either.
Prevent Goalkeeper distribution-While your team is pushing up trying to keep control of

the ball, you also want to pressure the opposing backline into making mistakes.
Close down more - Generally I prefer to set this up via Player Instructions, I avoid using the
Team Instructions to make sweeping changes to Closing down instructions and instead
prefer telling my frontline to close down much more.
STEP 3: SET-PIECE ROUTINES
You will also need to set your attacking corner routines up to encourage possession. This
will include:
Having one player attacking ball from deep, another challenging the keeper and one more
offering the short option. You can keep one more player at the edge of the box. You can opt
to play it short or mixed. The whole goal is to ensure that your team keeps possession of the
ball even if the ball is cleared.
STEP 4: PLAN SHAPE
Structured and Fluid both work to create possession based systems. However the fluid
system is more compact and has more players given the liberty to “think outside the box”
and the structured shape will usually produce more space in midfield during transitions.
If you choose to go structured, you may also automatically trigger counters if the right
conditions present themselves. In the game of Football Manager, to some extent you can set
your team up to influence this ,however this is sometimes be random.
In most cases opting to go Flexible is fine enough.
STEP 5: ROLES
Essentially you need as many support roles as possible and want to be avoiding players
who are predisposed to playing direct like the Limited Defender. You can find out by
checking the individual player instructions for each player and checking on how they have
been told to pass. If they have specific passing instructions like Play Direct or Play Risky
passes these are players you want to avoid playing as central defenders. Essentially support
players will rely on their decision making to make forward runs.
If you plan on using a structured shape to achieve possession numbers then you will need
players with good passing and off the ball, to exploit the spaces. There will also be the need
to have at least 1 playmaker in the midfield strata. There is a distinct possibility that you
could find players making hoofed balls, so this would be a good time to use Player
Instructions on Fullbacks and some Support duties to Play Less Risky Passes.
If you are playing a Fluid shape, the team will be playing with a lot more creativity, here you
want to ensure that your players have good composure and first touch, to take control of the
ball quickly and be able to play the pass before being closed down.
To play a possession based tactic you need to play to the strengths of the tactic If it's a 532
then its natural strength are numbers at the back. It will generate high possession numbers
when it is played as a defensive/structured system. The goal is to have a 5 in midfield or in
defence that is mainly playing as support. Ii
Certain shapes play well as attacking possession systems. They will either be top heavy
systems or have at least 3 players in central midfield. Certain systems play well with Fluid
Shapes such as the narrow 4312.
STEP 6 - MULTIPLE OPTIONS
With 532 systems the options you have are varied.
Challenge is controlling midfield, since your team is already sitting deep to defend you need
to ball around midfield, and try to win the ball in midfield. Doing that means you need to push
your defensive line up if you want to play attacking.
Alternatively you can elect to take advantage of the AI playing structured by playing deep
with a high block by your strikers. If the AI can’t find a way to pass the ball out, you win the
interceptions.
It’s important to remember that different mentality/shape combinations can still give you high
possession within one tactic.
A 532 defensive structured system that is possession centred will be using support roles for
nearly all the players. Up front its important to have mobile strikers that can drop deep and
move through the channels. The shouts that will be used to generate a system like this will
be Retain Possession, Play out of Defence, Work Ball into Box, Dribble Less
Different tactics create different kinds of possession statistics. The 51222WB for instance,
plays with 3 central defenders, a defensive midfielder and 2 wing backs. This tactic has 5
already slotted into defensive thirds of the pitch. To generate high possession statistics with
this tactic, its best to set it to defensive structured and to use as many support players as
possible. In fact even the 2 strikers need to be players who can drop deep, and also move
through the channels. Since they drop deep they will allow link up play with the 2 central
midfielder. When you turn this system into an attacking system, you have several issues.
Central defenders are pre-disposed to clearing their lines if they don’t see an easy pass to
the central midfielder. Otherwise they look for target men. So you may want to consider this
if you plan on using any system that has as many as 5 players in the defensive half, playing
in a deep tactic.
You can use the same workflow to make a direct counter attacking system or a
defensive system.
Let's Make Some Tactics - Learn the art of

"Morphing"
I don't believe that there is a set way any tactic should work. They can adapt to different
situations and to different players. When you set out to make your tactic, always consider
how they will look like when they defend and how they will look like when they attack.
There is a feature in the game which you should utilise all the time and that is under the
Analysis tab once a match is over. Head over there to find out how your team looks like with
and without the ball. You want to make sure that your team controls space in both phases of
the game.
Go to any match you have played: Analysis>Teams>Average Positions. The screen

should be pretty easy to find, if you have issues please contact me via Patreon and I
will help. I was unfortunately denied any permission to use that screenshot. So I did
my own illustration.
This is one of the most powerful features in the game, and it is extremely helpful to spot
areas of weaknesses when you attack. Our team in attack looks vulnerable down the right
flank. There is one defender who seems to be ahead of the central defenders. Knowing that
we can either compensate by having a fast and aware player or we can just keep an eye out
to see if the system needs adjusting.
The analysis tab can also help to show you other information like where your side wins
interceptions for example. Personally I like my side intercepting more than they tackle, so
this gives me a good idea to assess which areas of the pitch get the most attention and
which of my players gets there first. Remember that you can divide the pitch into Areas by
the selector at the bottom of the Team Analysis Screen.
Once you understand how powerful the analysis feature is, it's time to start putting some
tactics together. We have already done some in detail and hope you can use them as a
template for your own tactics. Right now I just quickly cover some tactics and see how these
can be played.
Every tactic has a variety of ways it can be played. There is no rule that states that a 4312
needs to be played a certain way, you can always make it unique to the way you play. Plus
knowing how to create unique systems will make you a stronger player in one v one network
games.
One of the most powerful ways to play is to have the ability to change a quick role in a game
and turn and attacking tactic Into something else. There are so many systems that can
morph. The 442 Diamond is perhaps one of the best, it can play in a variety of ways. The
system can be a deep counter attacking system, or it can be a patient Guardiola-esque
possession based system which seeks to grind teams down in their own half. Or, it can be a
dynamic direct attacking system. I am going to now show you how I take the 442 and morph
it in itself and then turn it into a 4312. Now remember earlier when I spoke about static
defences?
The 442 diamond has a DM slot, which can make your system tough to break down if you
are playing a side thats strong in the middle. The system can also turn into a 4312, the
difference lies in the DM moving up to join the midfield.
Whenever I make any system. I think of how I can dominate the central part of the pitch.
Finding ways to congest the middle allow you to control a vital area of the gam
442 Diamond
There are so many ways to play a diamond. I could write 20 pages for the diamond, and I
will be doing some videos on this too. This is a versatile shape. You can use Wing backs,
Complete Wing backs or Inverted Wing backs. They all work. We have used a DLP in the
middle and 2 wing backs in this version. This system can be set up to have 2 hardworking
central midfielders winning everything in sight and laying it off for the wing backs to go
surging down the flanks.
Note we are playing with 2 midfielders. This is a system that can be played on Structured or
even fluid. The deep playmaker can string passes to either the flanks or down the middle. I
loved using the 442 Diamond and the 4132 systems, because they both provided security in
the form of a DM, and they both could be turned into high possession systems, which played
on very fluid.
Other ways you can play this include having two support fullbacks and setting the DLP to a
Regista and turning the AP into an Enganche. This book has dealt with entire sections on
the right attributes for each role. I have also covered transitions and how you should dividing
the pitch into thirds. Now all you need to do is ask yourself - How do I want them to move,
and who can do the job?
A lot of what you do will depend on the players you have at your disposal. If you have weak
fullbacks who don't track well, then maybe play them on support. If you have strong fullbacks
then turn them into flying fullbacks. You can use this as a base and go and make a 451, by
playing two AMs on wide. One could be a APM who cuts inside and is told to sit narrow. This
will allow the wingback on his flank to bomb down the flanks
When you make systems like that, keep the Team Instructions to a minimum. This is one
system that does not need to be told to exploit the middle. It's already exploiting the middle
with the shouts. What you want to be doing is using the width slider to adjust how much your
players take the game to the wings. And you want to be looking at the defensive line to
determine how high you want to take the game.
Finally, you can also look at shape as a way to compress things further or spread them out.
If I wanted to stretch a team through the middle and make it hard form the I would go
structured. If I wanted to play pressure football, then I could turn the playmaker in the attack
group to a support duty player so that he drops a bit deeper.
Let's take this tactic even further. Now lets say we have a fantastic playmaker who doesn't
defend well but we want play to go around him, what could we do?
Well lets see, we know he's gifted and doesn't defend. So lets turn him into an Enganche.
Now we know he will need some kind of support. This has to come from at least 3 sources.
One has to come from midfield obviously. The other two need to come from attack and one
of the fullbacks.
What we could to make this a really dynamic system is to get one fullback on one flank to be
on support. This adds a layer of security on that flank. Now on the other flank lets turn the
wingback to a complete wingback. This player now has roam from position in built. He will
bomb up the flanks. Since he is surging up the flanks, we need some protection there. The
midfield screen in front of him needs to be strong so lets place a BWM on support there.
Upfront lets have a Defensive forward along with an advanced forward around the
Enganche, and it would end up like this.
And that's not the only way to play it, there are other variations to the 442 that can be used,
and many are waiting to be used by the adventurous manager. Once you have set up the
system, just think of everything that was discussed in Section 1. And how I approached the
fine art of defending and attacking. Remember that you can treat Mentality and Shape like a
switch and use defensive line as an adjustment to how high up the pitch you want to push.
Other variations include using an IWB on the left flank, he will congest play allowing the
BBM role to be replaced by an attacking Central Midfielder. You can also turn the Enganche
into a Attacking Playmaker on attack who attacks through the middle supported by two
attacking fullbacks.
The presence of a static defence in the shape of a DM(D) along with 2 central defenders
makes this a strong system that can be used on different mentality and shapes. It could be
set up as a Defensive/Structured system or you could even play this on Standard or Control/
Very Fluid. On defensive mentalities with short passing and less risky passes spread across
non critical pivots you could turn this into a High Possession, high passing, dominating
system. Playing on a pushed up defensive line. Your concern as always would be the flanks,
here you would be paying attention to the two roles on the flanks. In most cases you should
do fine.
The goal here is to think about passing patterns. If you wanted to keep the ball and make it
hard for opponents to build any kind of traction, you could play with a High Block assigned to
the front 2 players. Playing with a pushed up defensive line always requires the right kind of
players. If you choose to go that route, make sure that your players have high teamwork and
work rates. You know what's beautiful about diamond, it has a close relative that's a bit more
attacking. The 4312.
4312
One of my favourite systems. The 4312, now this has so many different ways of playing it,
that I can't possibly cover it in this book. Even on my Youtube channel you will have noticed
me playing it with different permutations with the same team. And that's because of the very
slight variations in most roles.
Let's take this one for example.
The backline is pretty basic, and you have probably gathered why there is a BWM on defend
on the right flank. If you still don't know why, then you really need to read everything from
Chapter one again. Jokes aside, the system uses a DLP player in midfield. With a DLP there
I can take advantage of this by going structured. Having a playmaker sitting a bit deep in a
system with 3 players in attack produces some nice attacking football. I sometimes like to hit
sides hard with rapid attacks using a playmaker amongst the 3 in midfield. He usually is the
only one among them who mixed passing. The rest are always told not to take risks and this
helps the ball channel to him. The DLP and the AP(A) are probably the only two players in
the team who have default passing on. This will only me to use the Tactical Creator to
influence them. When I go from Attacking to Direct, it will also affect passing. The effect of
the passing changes will be more pronounced on these two players than the others. That's
because we would have told the rest to play it short and take less risky passes.
If I wanted my playmaker to string passes from that deep then I want him to play nice direct
passes into space, and thats why my advanced playmaker is so far up the pitch. Is it wrong
to play with 2? I don't think so. In this set up I want a playmaker there because I may need
some creativity in the final third. The two upfront will support him well, while we have width
coming from a wingback. If its on structured this would make a decent counter attacking
system. In defence we have a hardworking group of 7.
We could also change this around and make it a compact system by removing the deep
lying playmaker and just turning him into a CM on defend. This player will anchor the central
midfield, while the outside two can be roaming box to box midfielders supported by two
attacking wing backs. Upfront I would turn the AP into an AM on support and this will drop
him deeper
The system could be played on fluid with higher tempo and short passing. It would be a fast
paced short passing system, meant to knock the ball quickly.
Whenever you make tactics, think of how you can switch that tactic around slightly without
having to make too many changes. Finding the right player is a premium, it can take up to 5
seasons to build the perfect team, and even then we aren't always sure that's going to work.
The most powerful way you can master the game is to learn how to morph one system into
another without too many changes. Other systems that feel this way include the 451 and the
41221.
Could we do interesting things with other systems, yes we could and this list could go on. I
will update this further as time goes on. One of my projects on the back burner is hunting
down footage of old football classics and turning them into FM Projects.
You should take the principles of what I mention and the way you think about tactics and put
it into play and come up with your own unique twists to the modern game of football.
I will be releasing more explanations of tactics along with youtube guides very soon, so
please check back on my Youtube Channel and on the Patreon Page.
Training
Training your team to match your style of play is one the ways you can create
solid long term saves. Once you have the basics in place, the rest becomes a
lot easier. This section deals with Training, Newgens and Scouting and will be
updated continually
TRAINING, NEWGENS AND SCOUTING

This section of the book won't be very detailed, because there is a wealth of knowledge out
on the web, and to be honest this isn't my strength. Cleon from Sisportscentre.com is
probably more immersed in the training module than I am.
I still love the training module and I have a few quick tips that usually work well with how I
play the game. Once you have decided on your club DNA, which basically means - the style
of football you want to play, then set up training to ensure you get those kind of players. It's
relatively easy if you are with an established club. The challenge gets exponentially harder
the lower down the tiers you go. So I will break training down to tips, this way it can apply to
both.
Please note I don't use the player editor tools to check a players potential or current ability. I
like to be fully immersed into the realism that no one can fully tell the potential of a player. All
we can do is hope. And that's how I play the game.
UNDERSTANDING PLAYER DEVELOPMENT

Players take time to develop, when they are young they can take higher intensities and as
they get older their bodies get weaker, so these intensities need to be monitored. A player
peaks at around 28. At this time you should see the best distribution of abilities. Once he
passes that age you may start to see some deterioration of attributes.
When you get a player in their youth, their physical attributes are still developing. You can
afford to have a high intensity of training, you should also start considering getting them to
specialise in roles. This will encourage growth to be focused. Between the ages of 18-22,
they will need lots of football as well. At this age, promising youngsters need to be get game
time.
Try to ensure they play at least 10-15 games in your first team squad if they have loads of
potential. What I like to do at this point provided my scouts are good is to look at the spread
between Current Ability and Potential Ability. If a player has 0 stars of CA and 3 stars of PA,
then I know he has yet to reach full potential. This player will be given game time or sent out
on loan.
When you loan players out, always ensure that the terms of the loan agreement give him at
least first team experience. And make sure you have a recall clause. If they fail to maintain
that agreement you can recall the youth player. Game time is vital for their development.
When they hit 18 I start considering whether the players are good enough. I tell this by
noticing how their attributes have developed over time and gauge how well they do on loan.
If they are worth keeping I then get them tutored by senior players.
Let's take one example, I won't be able to use a screenshot but I will do my best to describe
the steps;
Step 1 Go to Chelsea Squad

Step 2 Pick Cesar Azpilicueta
Step 3 You should a series of tabs below his name
Overview>Contract>Transfer>Development> etc
Step 4 Pick Development > Tutoring
Step 5 You should now see all the players Azpilicueta can train.
Here Azpilicueta has a Professional personality, this is one of the best personalities you want
your tutees to adopt. It increases training effectiveness. Training is a funny beast. You need
a player to have the right personality, play games, win games and then get the short term
burst, come back in train well..etc.
The only constant in all this is personality, ambition and game time. So if you want your
player to develop well, always get a weak personality tutored by a strong one. In this case
you want to look at players who have either: Model Citizen, Model Professional, Fairly
Professional, Perfectionist, Resolute, and maybe Spirited. These all have a professionalism
attribute of at least 15, apart from Spirited which has a range from 11-17.
I don't use editors, I just make easy to follow plans that I can use long term. In order for
tutoring to be successful, the tutor needs to have a higher squad status, reputation and be
playing a similar position.
Finally there is on-field and off-field tutoring, one leads to possible transfer of player
preferred moves and personality while the other leads to just personality changes
COACHING
Coaches can be assigned to different training categories. The key thing to note here is that
the quality of training is affected by the attributes of the coach and workload. If the coaches
workload is too heavy, the quality drops. If his attributes are low then the quality he offers is
low.
What you want to be doing is balancing their workloads and ensuring you pick the right
coaches with the right star ratings. Most categories have a primary and a secondary
attribute that we need to meet in order for them to have high star ratings. These can
change from time to time, so what you want to be doing is looking out for coaches
that fulfil either Technical, Mental or Tactical in the secondary attributes. For example
if I wanted a coach to handle ball control I would look for Technical and Mental as
attributes.
These are just some of the categories I have noticed:

Strength: Fitness
Aerobic: Fitness
Tactics: Tactical
Ball Control: Technical & Mental
Defending: Defending & Tactical
Attacking: Attacking & Tactical
Shooting: Technical & Attacking
Shot Stopping: Goal Keeping and Tactical
Handling: Goal Keeping & Technical
In addition to these, Determination, Level of Discipline and Motivation affect the quality of
their star rating. For youth training I usually include Man Management and Working with
Youngsters
The quality of training is also affected by your facilities. You need to continually develop your
facilities over time to give your players the best kind of training possible. And don't forget the
costs of this increase over time. The more you improve them, the higher the costs of running
them become. You should also look to hire coaches who fit your style of play, however to be
honest, this is the lowest on my priority list.
TRAINING STYLES
There are basically two approaches to training. The easiest one to follow is Balanced
training. This does not help you set a team flavour. In order for you to influence it for
individual players you need to do that via the additional focus option you get on the training
screen for each player under Development
To be honest this is my preferred way of training players, this allows me to focus on their
training from a macro perspective and just do changes on the fly when I feel certain key
attributes need work. So if you wanted to ensure your team displays styles that include high
temp direct passing, then you may want to focus on first touch, technique and passing.
While the training screen is fine, I find that making your own training views is a lot more
satisfying. When you make your own training views you can actually do things at a glance.
You always need to make sure that your team's training workload is generally Medium-
Heavy. You don't want to see "Too Heavy" as a workload as this can lead to injuries. You
also want your training view to show you player personalities, this will help you decide which
players make good tutors. Finally you will want a training view that let's you know who is
learning player preferred moves. Giving a player additional focus and ppm training can
increase their workload. We want to be on top of their workload intensities so that we can
forestall unnecessary interruptions caused by injury.
Lets get down to workloads now in a bit more detail. When you go to the training screen you
will see a section at the top which splits between General Training, Scheduling and Match
Preparation. Apologies for the lack of an image, I had to remove it at the last minute.
At the bottom of the screen near the bottom right corner you will see the team's overall
workload.
What you want to ensure is that overall training workloads are medium to heavy. Balancing
this is a matter of getting the right load for General Training and Scheduling.
You have 6 options for General Training: Balanced, Attacking, Defending, Tactical, Ball
Control and Team Cohesion.
Balanced Training affects attributes largely based on the role a player is training in and the
position he plays. This is a good and easy option to manage. All you do is to pick the right
role and trait training for each player to ensure they develop, in the best way possible. There
is little to no micro management.
Team Cohesion is only useful when you have a new system or a new bunch of players you
want to bring into your squad.
Attacking, Defending, Tactical and Ball Control all affect a string of attributes
Fitness: All physical attributes and work rate

Tactical: Anticipation, Composure,Decisions, Concentration and Teamwork
Ball Control: Dribbling, First Touch, Heading, Technique, Flair
Defending Marking, Tackling Positioning
Attacking: Crossing, Finishing, Long Shots, Passing, Off the Ball, Vision
Another way of training a player requires us to understand one factor in the game. A player
needs at least 3 months of training before attribute changes occur. In this case, we could
then split a season into 11 training months, and then do Focused Training. This is more
time consuming and sometimes it may not even be worth the effort. I would recommend
focus training for sides that have specific needs. For example, I may be in a league where
the average physical attributes are poor, and I have every intention of getting promoted. I
could focus on getting their physical attributes up along with Tactical. This way I create a
team that's physically robust and have good decent teamwork. Then I would focus on
individuals and ensure I choose the right role training to guide my team's development.
Here we are getting the team to focus on certain areas that can encourage us to develop
qualities. The thing to remember here is that a player will still be training based on the role
he plays in the current team. He will still be trained in is role but now his General Training is
more focused.
This kind of training requires you to track time in the game and set up alerts to change
training. So once you decide what kind of schedules you want make sure that:
A. Each Training Category (ie, Fitness, Tactical etc) gets at least 3 months of duration
B. You use the in-game notebook to set up alerts
INDIVIDUAL/TEAM WORKLOADS
A player has a fixed training period, this is divided in the game between General Training
and Match Preparation. We adjust the distribution through Scheduling. So after pre-season
you want to ensure that a player's workload is kept between Medium to Heavy. It's not
uncommon to see different individual intensities for training workloads. This can be caused
by a variety of factors.
A player could have a weaker personality, or he could have been issued additional focus and
trait development training. These can all contribute to different intensities among players.
Match Preparation, is the training leading up to a match. This training is conducted for up to
two days before a match and is done along with General Training. If a player has high match
preparation then you take away valuable time from personal attribute development. So its
essential to maintain a healthy balance.
Match Preparation training helps to provide short term boosts to his Current Ability and this
will translate into performances on the pitch. For example, your team could be loaded with
new faces at the start of the season. In order for you to get your season off to a decent start,
you may want to focus on Team Cohesion under General Training and Teamwork for a short
period of time. This may help the team perform better as a unit.
Alternatively you could be heading into a tough derby match, where defensive positioning
needs to be worked on. Leading up to the match you could get your team to focus on that
aspect of training to get a short term boost.
Over the course of several seasons, quite a few of the long term players including myself
have noticed that its imperative you keep Match Preparation training to a minimum, after
your team has gained some familiarity with your tactical systems. Since Match Preparation
effects aren't as effective as General Training on a players development, we devalue Match
Preparation scheduling once the season is underway.
You schedule this by using the Scheduling tool. This tool has 5 settings, with 0% Match
Preparation being the extreme right settings on the slider. This means that a side will do
Less Match Training. Since there are 5 settings, the extreme right setting is 0% which means
Less Match Training.
A typical preseason would start with maximum scheduling of Match Preparation where they
focus on either Match Tactics or Teamwork, and once the season has started we drop this to
20%. This gives us 1 and a half days of pre-match preparations. During this time a team
will prepare for the match ahead. The less match training they do the higher the workload
becomes.
Team Training workloads are affected by the intensity of General Training, and the amount of
time you devote to Match Preparation. Individual training intensities get further affected by
Position/Role, Additional Focus and New Player Trait training
NEWGENS/SCOUTING
Training can be an extremely immersive experience, it is by far the most enjoyable aspect of
the game for me. If you can keep ahead of training facility upgrades and make sure your
coaches are all fully trained, then you will notice that the quality of the players emerging from
your facilities improving over time. I usually get a 4-5 star potential player once every 5-8
seasons. Three star players are fairly common in clubs with good facilities. By common I am
referring to a 1-3 year timeline.
Regens are also created players with their own unique faces made by the game. These
players are created to replace aging players in the game. Sports Interactive called them
Newgens, but the community has been calling them Regens for as long as I can remember.
The quality of regens is affected by the Nation's reputation, the quality of the league, your
facilities and other factors in the game. You can improve the quality of players entering your
system by raising the quality of your facilities, coaches and scouting personnel. Scouts will
help identify talents that may not have emerged from your training facilities, and this where
your Scouting network needs to kick in. If you can you want your scouts heading there at
specific times.
The game has a mechanism that sorts nations out by their reputation, the quality of football
and the likelihood of producing Regens, so these are the countries I would recommend.
These are by no means exhaustive and there are also other nations you can go to.
Nation Good time to Scout Nation Good time to Scout
Argentina Mid June-End Aug England Feb - End March

Austria End Jan - Early Mar France Feb - End March
Belgium March - End Apr Germany Feb - End March
Brazil Aug - End Sept Greece Feb - End March
Cameroon End Sept - End Oct Holland Feb - End March
Chile End Aug - Early Oct Hungary Feb - End March
Colombia End Dec - End Feb Ireland Aug - End Sept
Czech Rep End Feb - Early Apr Italy Feb - End March
Denmark Feb - End March Japan July to End Aug
Mexico End Jan - Early Mar Ukraine Feb to End March
Nigeria July to End Oct Spain Feb to End March
Norway Start Jan to End Feb Sweden Aug to End Sept
Portugal End Feb to Start Apr Switzerland Feb to End March
Paraguay Aug to Oct Turkey Feb To End March
Romania Feb to End March Venezuela Aug to End Sept
Russia Feb to End March Serbia Feb to End March
Slovakia Feb to End March Slovenia Feb to End March
South Korea Aug to End Sept
These dates are merely estimates, but its usually a good time to send scouts out. In
my experience, I just keep a scout rotating through the region. Sometimes I leave
scouts in countries where there is.a high possibility of finding targets.
I will develop my scouting network and increase their knowledge levels by sending
them to areas they have no knowledge over. This increases their knowledge and
improves overall scouting knowledge. Once I can afford it, I start camping scouts in
certain countries, these usually include: All South American countries and Mexico,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Portugal. I pick these countries because the transfer costs for
fantastic regens is usually lower than they would be in their top nations.
PICKING SCOUTS
An entire section on scouts wow! Ok it's a small section but it has some important
points.
Your scouting network affects your long term save. So you want to develop this over
time. With a top club I always end up with no less than 17 scouts. I find this gives me
great coverage, and I use the scouting network to rope in talents. And this in turn
makes us rich.
Once these talents come to the club, I either train them, play them for a few seasons,
groom or sell them. I find that this kind of business model usually gets me a fair
amount of money, especially when I add "Sell on Clauses". These may not amount
to much sometimes, but when you are a small club every cent matters as you aim to
build your club up. You will need to develop different ways of pulling in at least 20-40
million pounds a season if you want to move into the billionaire clubs.
Picking your scouts is an important exercise itself. I have signed numerous players
because a specific scout usually comes with a decent record. And for you to trust
these scout reports they need to come with the right attributes.
Go to any Scout and check his attributes.
What's obvious to many is the need for Judging Player Ability and Judging Potential.
Adaptability is also very important. Scouts travel so you want them to settle in quickly
in a new nation so scout reports can start coming in as soon as possible. Once they
do, add the players to a shortlist and send another scout out to scout those players
so you can get a full report on each player. For youth players you want to ensure
they have high natural fitness.
High natural fitness is important because this is one attribute that takes a long time
to develop. A high natural fitness attribute also makes it less likely that he will spend
time meeting his favourite physiotherapist for tea and biscuits.
This basically covers the essentials about training and player development. As time
goes on, I will be enhancing this section with continual updates.
Advanced Concepts
In this section we take a look at shaping the personality of

your side, and some other facets in the game including
replicating tactics
Shaping the personality of your side

Shape offers a lot of possibilities. At one extreme you can make a direct counter
attacking side that plays deep and hits with hard running players who exploit space.
At the other end you can adopt a doctrine of universality where the whole team plays
as a unit.
You could play the game, by adjusting Mentality and Shape during a match, or you
could choose not to touch Shape, it still works. To say that one way of playing is
better than the other shows a lack of knowledge of what's possible in the game.
However you should know that the AI manager does change Mentality in the game,
and sometimes, albeit rarely, Shape.
A. Very Fluid/High and Medium Block
I could set up a system that is Very Fluid, employs a High Block Strategy, and then
add Medium Blocks to midfield. Medium Blocks are players who have been
assigned Close Down Much More either through their roles or via Player Instructions.
Once you have set it up, you have produced a High Block pressing game.
Weaknesses
Players may get jaded and injured because of the intensity of play
Space is at a premium, you will need good players who can move the other team
around to make space to score
Strengths
Solid Banks of midfield and defence players make you very hard to break down
B. Structured System with a Low Block

When you employ a Low Block, you are assigning your fullbacks and at least one
defensive midfielder on close down much more and hard tackling.
In this system you would see your team drop back into shape, allow the opposition to
come in before they tackle them. Where this happens depends on your defensive
line. If it is deep it happens deep, however I would caution against employing a high
defensive line. Balls played down the flanks would see your fullbacks commit before
your midfielders which could open up your flanks. Your backs need to be good at
tackling as well, and you need to be wary of players who have a tendency to pick up
yellow cards.
If you are sitting in a deep to normal defensive line, deep playmakers can string
dangerous counter attacks that take advantage of wingers or inside forwards on
attack duties or a centrally placed target man.
Strengths
Lower player jadedness
Less demands on higher technical skills like first touch
Can take advantage of sides that are tired in the 2nd half
Weaknesses
Depending on one Defensive strata to get the job done right - Risky
Requires good playmaker with composure, passing decisions
Requires good outfield players to attack pace
C. Highly Structured/Flexible/Control Systems with a High Block
These are generally the most versatile and the easiest to set up. Ideally you would
need at least 1 duty in attack. You would also set up Close Down More settings on
side midfielder and wingers, but leave the central midfield on neutral closing down
settings.
In this system you would be using Defensive Line as a control. If you wanted to apply
more pressure, you would increase defensive line, if you wanted to draw them in,
you would drop it. The goal would then be to control possession, so you would have
to ensure that some players have shorter passing. You would then assign at least
one playmaker to the system who would have mixed to direct passing.
In this setup, you could take advantage of outfield players in different ways. You
could have hard running flank attacks or play through centrally.
These aren' t the only ways you can set things up, Mentality and Shape offer you a
lot of options in the game. And within these parameters you will be able to produce
various styles of football that are now dependant on your role selection.
For example I could use A to create elements of Guardiola's style of football using a
Defensive Mentality, I would just need to include Short Passing and the Retain
Possession Shouts. Or I could apply these more accurately through Player
Instructions
I could also use A, to create other styles of football that mimic Total Football
Using B with the right mentality settings can achieve Route One Football, the long
ball style.
The Modern Pressing Game

Let’s get something clear right away. GeGen Pressing is a fantastic German marketing effort
for a form of pressing that has existed since 1957. The earliest team to use Counter
Pressing was probably Manchester United. Unfortunately it didn’t turn out well for them as
they lost 2-1 to Villa. Then we have the Dutch master - Rinus Michel with Holland and of
course Feyernood. Oh, you can also throw in Louis Vaan Gaal into the mix. Yup, yes you
Manchester United faithful, he was also a proponent of Counter Pressing.
Counter pressing has been around for a while, and every now and then someone adds a
new beat to an old tune. This form of defending has evolved over time.
The modern pressing game probably had the first major success under Arrigo Sacchi..His
pressing game revolutionised the way football was played in Italy. It literally led to the death
of man-marking in the Serie A.
The relatively unknown Italian inspired AC Milan to a golden age which saw them lift the
Italian title, the European cup and the UEFA Super Cup in a row. By the time the team lifted
their second Intercontinental Cup, they were already being called “Gli Immortali“ (“The
Immortals”).
While the Dutch may have been the proponents of Total Football and the “one for all all for
one” football style, Sacchi was different. With his brand of Counter Pressing he turned AC
Milan into the first Counter Pressing side to win a major European competition.
Counter - or Gegenpressing is a fairly basic concept to grasp. Simply put, get the ball back
immediately after losing it. The principle behind it is simple: When a team is actively pressing
another team to get the ball back after its lost it in their half, its actually already well placed
to do an attack,, This leaves them with several options, that is why we have different forms
of Counter Pressing.
Counter pressing, simply involves making sure that you prevent the opponent from either
building back slowly or countering you. While the principle of Counter Pressing involves
getting everyone to work hard together to regain possession, the way coaches have used it
has been different.
Sacchi’s sides were inconsistent with the press. They would sometimes press as a whole
team and at other times they would not. They adapted it for different teams. With some
teams they played with a narrow depth and a high defensive line, with others they had a
deep defensive line and a high block. In Italy it was fairly straightforward because nearly
every side there was playing a man to man marking system, while AC Milan went zonal
with.a high press, but in European competition the usually played with some variation.
He did not like passive strikers , he demanded that the team act like a collective unit that
played a 442 with a high defensive line, but a shallow depth. Ruud Gullit was the epitome of
Sacchi’s style. Big in strong he threatened everyone on the pitch with his athleticism. The
goal was to always to prevent the counter attack, win the ball back and attack again.
Then you have Pep Guardiola’s Counter Pressing, yes, there are differences. And this has
implications for the kind of teams that can use Counter Pressing.
Basically his players are trained around a dogmatic system that splits the pitch into zones.
The actions of players depend on where the ball is on the pitch and what phase the play is
in.
Pep Guardiola’s Concept of Grid Control
Players are expected to follow complex positional requirements that cause the opposition
problems through short quick passing and switching flanks. Different players can occupy the
zones, in fact players are expected to know different roles so that they can be flexible with
occupying different zones.
The style of football is typified with passing triangles, where the ball carrier usually has 2 or 3
passing options. The whole goal is to pass the ball around the opponent and draw them and
then shift to another gear. While there are strict positional requirements for players, they are
usually given instructions that involve players moving infield allowing for other players to
occupy diagonal positions. The goal was to avoid being too horizontal or vertical. The
Inverted Wing back isn’t a new position in the game. He just wanted his fullbacks to behave
differently with respect to occupying those grids you see on his pitch. By sitting inside in the
midfield area they would allow triangles to form.
That was the goal: It’s to ensure that the ball gets moved around so much that you end up
luring the opponent so that exploitable space would open up.
In Sacchi’s system you could sometimes see Counter Pressing done by groups, in
Guardiola’s system, its a collective effort. What they do is to press, close down passing
lanes every single time they lose the ball. They do not allow the opposition time to build up
any kind of passing patterns.
When they press they will attempt to force a team into long balls or intercepted passes.
Guardiola’s system is rigid, he wants to maintain his attacking shape. So after winning the
ball, if they need to rebuild they do.
Jurgen Klopp’s Counter Pressing system is different: While Pep Guardiola seeks to maintain
his shape so that he can rebuild his attacks. Klopp’s system employs Counter Pressing as
an opportunity to create chances. Klopp’s sides are already in an attacking transition when
they lose shape, by winning the ball quickly they can launch attacks immediately or force the
opposition into mistakes. So while Guardiola’s system could see a side rebuild, Klopp’s sides
look for the thrusting attack.
Counter Pressing is an interesting way of pressing, but they are vulnerable. Guardiola’s for
instance, are vulnerable to diagonal flank attacks.
COUNTERPRESSING IN FM
There are plenty of challenges to achieve any form of counter pressing in the game, this
involves working with everything you have learnt from this book. You need to have a solid
understanding of key attributes for player selection, transitions, attacking and defending
patterns. How you choose different kinds of pivots affect your ability to control space. If you
are still unclear I suggest revisiting those topics before going any further
Stage 1
Lets use a few examples to illustrate what we can achieve in FM. Our attack has broken
down, and Kroos has the ball. He is about release the ball. He have to win the ball back.
Stage 2
In Counter Pressing, our team has to be positionally solid for that to happen, we need to
close down passing lanes the moment Ronaldo gets the ball. So if a situation develops like
this in the game for you, Then observe what your team does next. As the ball went there our
team moved into position to close down and shut off passing lanes.
To achieve this in FM, you need to plan for it. Player selection is vital to getting this sorted,
because the settings do not work with every player. You need to be looking at the big picture
and trying to spot a transition happening. In this case a transition is happening. My team is
transitioning into defensive positions in the middle third. These are the movements I covered
in the chapter on the types of transitions and how to spot them.
Stage 3
When Ronaldo gets the ball, he is left with few options, our team has managed to close him
down while retaining our attacking shape, the AI team was trying to get into its attacking
shape but its passing options were limited to 2.
Stage 4
Their counter breaks down as we manage to close Ronaldo down, we win the ball
back and can immediately do several things, go Guardiola or go Klopp.
The goal of any counter pressing system should be for you to win the ball back as soon as
possible. And that’s the first thing you worry about getting done in the game.
EXAMPLE 2
Stage 1
Lets use another example. Here we have lost the ball in the opponents half, we need to
position ourselves to prevent the counter.
Stage 2
They have launched a ball to Ronaldo to start a counter. We need to reposition ourselves to
stop that from happening
Stage 3
You want to see several things happen now. And these should ideally not be challenges, but
blocking off passing lanes. The chances that Ronaldo will hurdle a challenge and avoid it are
high, you need to deny him the time and space to pass.
Stage 4
So we need to look for these players to move into the right positions. By the time he gets the
ball every passing lane is blocked, leaving him with only high risk one
Stage 5
Real Madrid have tried to move into an attacking transition, but we have managed to
effectively prevent a counter. In the end his attempt to release the striker is intercepted by
our central midfielder when he gets closed down by a wolf-pack of 3 players.
So how do we do it?
REPLICATING COUNTER PRESSING ON FM

First up I want to add that its not entirely possible to replicate Guardiola’s system, you can
get it to work some of the time, but the positional rigidity of his system requires players to be
incredible versatile at switching between various roles in various phases and in different
areas of the pitch.
While I do think that it can be done to some extent, the goal of stopping a counter to launch
you own attack is possible. It’s easy to replicate Sacchi’s system and to some extent Klopp’s
system and this is how I do it with an average side like Torino. The one fundamental thing
my team shares is high teamwork and work rate. Almost every player in a support role has
decent concentration ranging form 12-14.
In defence Pontus Jansson my central defender had 15 interceptions. I was happy with how
we clicked with the fullback Mandi. You can watch the match on my Youtube Channel, its the
ECL tie with Real Madrid.
Basically I had 3 midfielders split between defensive and support roles. Benassi, Valdifiori,
and Baselli. Puciarelli played as the AMC, and Parigini was the DLF(S). Avelar was given the
Wingback duties on the left flank. I distributed the roles to cover the strategic areas of the
pitch.
Knowing that my flanks would be vulnerable to Bale and Ronaldo, I stuck two solid fullbacks
beside two hardworking side midfielders. Valdifiori and Baselli were massive in the game,
and Valdifiori was covering acres of space.
In terms of performance, Torino did really well. Real Madrid had world class players who
could rip into any side, so what did we do that was so different?
We had a simple goal heading into this

match, walk away with a point, and control
the ball. We had 59% possession, we
threatened them rarely but were able to
deny them any counter attacking
opportunity during the game. In most cases
when they attacked. We didn’t really feel
threatened. There were two real shots on
target.
The rest however were either wide or
straight at our keeper
We intercepted nearly every single cross, in

an around the box and missed non critical
ones outside the area
PLAYER SELECTION
So what is the common denominator amongst every single support player in the Torino side
with the exception of Parigini? They all have a good dose of Stamina and Work-rate
To do any form of Counter Pressing, you first need the right players, and the most vital
ingredient are those two attributes. If you don’t have them you run the risk of them either not
working hard to close down passing lanes or they will just run out of gas.
The goal of any Counter Pressing system is to win interceptions, the amount of tackling
you do is not as vital as the amount of interceptions you pull off. When your side does
interceptions it is actually not in a defensive phase yet. It has prevented your side from
entering a defensive phase by breaking up the opposition attack. If your side is tackling, then
it is either probably too slow to pick up on transitions or your side is gifting too much space
to the AI.
In case you are forgot what the key attributes are for support duties you should return to the
section of the book: Understanding Player Selection: Core Roles Attributes and Duties. To
play the Counter Pressing game, they will also need to have the attribute Concentration. If
your side has low concentration, then some may lose focus during key transition points.
The other attributes include: natural fitness, first touch, passing decisions, off the ball,
bravery, composure, tackling and determination. This will ensure that each player can
transition between defending and passing the ball. In order for you to turn things around
attack like Klopp, you will need to have the right players playing in positions to switch to
attack. These players will need the right Player Preferred Moves.
They will need at least Dictate Tempo and Play Killer Ball, if they have great passing, Switch
Ball to Other Flank would be good provided you are playing with a flanking attack pattern.
In my system I only have one side midfielder who has these player preferred moves, I
needed the other side midfielder to have these ppms too, or at least Play Killer Ball.
The weakness in my system lay at the relative quality of my front line with respect to the
opposition's backline. My strikers were just not good enough. What I should have done and
which I did not do was change to a 451 to exploit the space behind their fullbacks. And that
brings us to my second point.
STRATEGY
Whatever system of play you prefer, it has to control space, you need to play with a top
heavy system or at least one that plays with two flanking attacking midfielders with a lone
striker upfront or a narrow combination like Torino's. I elected to go with the narrow one
because since the departure of Andrea Belotti, we have lost a strong centre forward who
commands the box.
You will need the right combination of roles and duties in midfield and defence to control the
lower third and middle thirds of the pitch. In my 4312, we used a relatively simple CM(S)-
CM(D)-CM(S) combination in midfield. At the back we went with a WB(A)-CD(D)-CD(D)-
FB(S). Upfront I used an AM(A)-DLF(S) and AF(A). The two systems basically lined up like
this my Real Madrid's 4231 with Ronaldo and Bale on the flanks vs my fluid 4312.
Our team instructions were relatively simple: Very Fluid Shape, Higher Tempo, Slightly
Higher Defensive Line, Prevent Short GK Distribution, Play out from Defence, Work Ball into
Box and Shorter Passing
In terms of space, I knew that we could control some parts of midfield and probably our
defence. The only area I had concern with was attack. My goal was making sure that we
mopped up most of the chances by intercepting them, and limit Real Madrid to half chances
and long range shots. A good keeper helps too.
To anyone playing against me in an online game it would have seemed suicidal. After all, I
had a wingback on attack, my left flank is exposed. Yes but this is where strategy comes in.
Looking at Real Madrid's system you will notice that their right flank has Bale and Carvajal
on attacking patterns. I was taking a risk, but by also playing with a wingback I was going to
put some pressure on them too. To do that effectively I would need to ensure that my
defenders were fast enough and had the right attributes to play in the role to support him.
Furthermore, my side midfielders would need to pick up the slack and hone in on any
attacks our left.
If you look at Pontus Jansson's attributes, they are hardly world class, in fact you could
argue that he shouldn't even be playing. When I took over the club, they had even loaned
him out. Beside him I had Ramos, whose only saving grace was that he was slightly faster
than Jansson, but was blessed with decent tackling. If I allowed Real Madrid any chance at
a counter, I was going to lose.
If you take a look at their tackling numbers, between the two defenders they only had to win
2 tackles. That's less than what Sergio Ramos had to do in the whole game (4). We won a
point against Real Madrid, not by tackling well, but by shutting out their passing lanes and
intercepting their attacks as a unit.
In total we committed 22 tackles in the whole game. 3 came from my defenders. We outdid
Real Madrid in interceptions, breaking up their dangerous attacks where we could.
When you set up your strategy, you first need to spot if your team is controlling the space.
Are your players getting into position to win the second ball in midfield. By second ball, we
are looking out for a player coming to support another who has either won a tackle or a
header. We want to make sure that we can do something with the ball after we win it.
The second thing you need to look out for is whether your team is stepping up close enough
to close down. If your team seems to be drifting and holding their position, then we need to
check for Player Instructions, attributes or team instructions that may be influencing it. The
players will close down in a pack if you tell them to. They will shut down passing lanes.
When you are creating your Counter Press system you are looking out for when it fails to
happen. Then when that happens make a note of who all the players are within that area.
Now remember Guardiola's grid from earlier? I want you now to look at your tactic and work
out who should be closing down where, and which player should be acting as an outlet
nearby when you close down. This player absolutely needs good composure, first touch,
passing, balance, decisions, vision, flair, concentration and the ppms: dictate tempo and play
killer ball. In order for you to transition like Klopp, that player needs to have the right role. I
elected to play safe in that game and limited my players to CM(S) because I was wary of
losing the ball. My priority was winning the point not all three. Had I wanted to then I would
have played with different roles in my central 3 midfield. The goal was to prevent Real
Madrid from demolishing us on the flanks.
In my system I had a fullback on the right flank, a central defender beside him and a central
midfielder on the right to support. Any time the ball ends in a dangerous area on the left
flank, I would expect at least 2 of them to be on the ball carrier. I would then expect to see
the central midfielder on (D) drift towards the middle to close out the passing lanes. Please
refer to Stage 4 of my second example again.
In this example, the moment we lost the ball down the right flank, the players all began to
move to close down Ronaldo's passing options.
When you set up your strategy, you should be looking at your transitions and looking out for
support players moving to close down passing lanes and the right players closing down the
water carrier. When you do win the ball, you need to look out for players to see that they are
making the right kind of runs. The fact that so many people can't see them, suggests to me
that they are interpreting the information differently. As long as one other person in the world
I know see's it then I know I am not seeing illusions.
Now that have established what we need to see working in our strategy lets start developing
it further. We now need to decide how to press. There are basically 2 ways you can do this.
The first way is essentially elements of Sacchi's methods with AC Milan. In this strategy you
have several ways of playing and it is the style I recommend for most sides. It can be used
with average squads as well. However you will still need a side with decent work-rate and
stamina to do this.
REPLICATING THE COUNTER PRESS - FM Style

Before I begin, I want to reiterate several things to manage your expectations. This is by no
means the only way of achieving this, nor is it an attempt to replicate any tactics .
Furthermore, you cannot expect this to work all of the time, this is a simulation and it's been
designed to include the ability for players to go "slack" in the middle of a game. It won't
happen all the time in every game, but you should be able to notice a distinct pattern where
your side breaks up critical play. Do remember too, that Counter Pressing has an inherent
weakness. It is prone to the diagonal ball. If it were to work all the time, then I reckon it
would be termed an exploit. These are just meant to be guiding principles by which you can
Counter Press to win the ball back. Its a core methodology, and you will need several things
to make it work
You need to be top heavy because players need to apply pressure in the final third So if you
are attacking, and you lose the ball, these players need to be willing to win the ball back.
This means that you need at least 2 players in the opponent's half to apply pressure. I
sometimes opt for 3.
I avoid using the Team Instruction "Close down much more" because it affects every player
on the pitch. Instead I specify which players need to apply the pressure. This way you can
check which zones are being pressured.
If you were to take my example of the 4312 you could even use that to apply pressure to a
system playing with opposing fullbacks. I would do that by asking my players to man-mark
the opposing fullback through Player Instructions. Ideally you would want AMs to be doing
that job, since they are positionally in the right zone anyway.
In my 4312 I also wanted to apply pressure down the flanks. So I opted to get my side
midfielders to close down much more as well, without the tackle hard instruction.This would
be my Medium Block. You need to decide which grids to apply pressure to in your own
system. And this depends entirely on your tactic, in my 4312, its the side midfielders and the
front 3 players who need to do the High Block. Only the central midfielder on defend duty is
left with a default block. I don't use man-marking all the time. There will be a reason for me
to do it some of the time, but I don't do it most of the time.
Now we have set up a High Block. It's vital for the Counter Press that the fullbacks and your
defenders don't engage early. We do not adjust their closing down settings and leave them
on default.
So far these settings apply for Guardiola's press and Klopp's press. This is where things get
different.
In Sacchi's system he would drop his defensive line depending on the opposition his side
faced. In Italy he played a high line, but against some European opposition he played a lot
deeper. This was done to give the opposition some room while AC Milan regained shape. It
also acted as a way to isolate opposition players. His frontline still did the High Block he just
gave the rest of his players some time to regain their shape.
If you choose to do this then you can play on any mentality and shape. You can choose to
adapt or stay on one system. I would however recommend that you play on structured with
a pushed up defensive line. Here you need to check that your backline is never facing the
goal if they have to run back. If they do then your players either have poor positioning or
concentration. Whenever they do track back, immediately cast your eyes on central midfield
to see who moves next.
Alternatively you can lower your defensive line. You could also play with a Defensive
Midfielder and add some security to your backline. Upfront you could have a trio of attackers
playing in a wide line or you could set up a narrow configuration of three.
In your system you will need to play with a High Block. This means that your front group of
players need to be assigned close down much more and hard tackling. Both player
instructions encourage the frontmen to get close.
To recap, these are the basic elements that you will need and these apply to Sacchi,
Guardiola and Klopp's Counter Pressing systems. We haven't come to the part where we try
to keep possession yet.
• A top heavy system

• The right kind of players playing in support
• The right roles to exploit space if you are playing structured Playmakers and attack
duty runners. If you are using a narrow 4312 attack, then three players with
anticipation, decisions, acceleration and off the ball up front.
• If you are playing fluid then you will need the right kind of roles to encourage mobility
in opposition players. Your players need to be able to drag defences apart and make
them over-commit - Mobile attack. Please refer to Attack Combinations for more
information, if you need to.
• High Block & Medium Block
• Prevent Short Goal Keeper Distribution
• Play out of Defence
• Normal - Push Higher Up Defensive Line
In some games you could stay on Structured/Control or drift between mentalities to assess
the risk levels.
The goal here would be to use your defensive line to create the inconsistent pressing that
was characteristic of AC Milan.Sacchi's system has some benefits - the requirements aren't
as demanding as the other 2 systems and you can use the defensive line as a throttle at
times. In fact, I used Sacchi's press system all the time with my Torino side in their first
season when I played games when we were underdogs.
If your defensive line is dropped deep, you can isolate systems that play with a lone forward.
This way the lone forward always ends up having to run up against 4 defenders. If you do
choose to use the defensive line as a throttle then I recommend that you stay on at least
structured or flexible as a shape setting. Structured will give you more space to exploit from
isolating their attack, if you choose.
When you go Highly Structured and Structured, you will need roles and duties in various
areas of the pitch that can exploit space. This is a time when you want to be thinking of roles
that can attack a defensive line. You also want to be considering where you want to place
your playmakers as they have implications on the kind of attacks you will generate.
You could for example, elect to play a deep system with two attacking duties on the flanks as
wingers. When play is broken up in midfield you can launch surging runs down the flanks to
exploit the spaces behind the defensive line. Here you would benefit from a deep playmaker.
Or you could play with a attacking playmaker in the final third and choose to break through
the middle with triangular passing patterns. If you need a recap on Attacking Patterns you
can revisit the topic: The Big Picture - The Fine Art of Attacking. This is the point where you
start thinking of which roles and duties allow you to take hold of the space provided. Players
that can make great passers will be needed along runners who can exploit the spaces.
If you were to use a fluid setup then you would need to think about how you would go about
creating space for your players. Ideally you will need players who can drag defences apart
by moving through channels and moving off the ball. And, you will need systems that
encourage that by overloading certain areas of the pitch. So if you want to attack with a fluid
system you could have a fullback coming down the right, a midfielder arriving late from
central midfield and a trio of players in the final third working the ball around. Here I would
strongly recommend you use the Work Ball Into Box shout. This allows fluid and very fluid
systems to engage space effectively. By working the ball around you prevent too many
crosses. If you see your side always trying long shots, then your combination of roles and
duties is certainly wrong. What you need to spot and look out for are the off the ball
movements of the players.
That is basically Sacchi's system. Klopp and Guardiola are slightly different.
In Guardiola's system they don't immediately go for the thrusting attack, instead the goal is
to maintain the attacking shape of the formation. The principles of the Sacchi press are still
the same. However the difference lies in how players are able to take up different positions
and perform different roles. So if the fullback and the central midfielder changed positions,
the fullback would be expected to fulfil the duties of the central midfielder.
That's the reason why people were so fascinated with the emergence of the inverted
wingback. The challenge in replicating Guardiola's system is limited to what we can do in the
engine. We can achieve the press, however getting the flexibility of positional changes that
are demanded in Guardiola's grid for pressing are another matter entirely. You could for
example set swap duties for some players but the amount of customisation required
introduces a level of complexity that introduces too much risk to the game.
What you should be looking for instead is to maintain his no-risk pass policy in terms of
trying to keep possession. His teams regain the ball but maintain shape and rebuild their
attacks. To achieve his style you could play on these settings:

• Top Heavy Side
• Defensive - Standard Mentality
• Retain Possession Shout

• Fluid or Very Fluid Shape
How you make your side take advantage of regaining possession depends on the roles and
duties you choose in your team. In my 4312, I used a very simple system but kept the
passing instructions of all support on short. The only reason why you won't score goals will
then lie in whether you have chosen the right kind of roles and duties to break down a side.
You will generate high numbers of possession, whether you use that effectively depends on
the roles and duties you have selected and the types of players you have at your disposal.
The key takeaway when playing Defensive/Very Fluid is the fact that you are very deep. And
by pushing the defensive line you are actually playing a bit further out of your penalty area.
This does not make you negative in orientation instead it makes you incredibly resilient when
you defend. The challenge then lies in how you configure your group of strikers and how you
get them released to attack the AI team.
When playing on defensive/fluid you will see high possession numbers and you will Counter
Press, however this version of pressing that I am using won't happen all the time because
the game is meant to be a fluid representation of football. So there will be moments in the
game where players seem to stop. This could be due to a variety of reasons. However there
will also be moments when it seems to work like a dream. The fact that it can work well,
suggests that in-game events prevented it from happening all the time. And this I feel adds a
realistic element to this form of pressing.
There are implications for playing Counter Pressing with different mentality and shape
settings. On structured systems you will need to observe the passing patterns and you need
to ensure that the closing down instructions are not being overdone. That is the reason why I
do not use Team Instructions to effect closing down the flanks. You will also note I did not
choose to adjust the closing down settings for the middle area of the pitch. We do need to
make sure there is some form of anchor in the middle and not everyone is on merry race
around the pitch, hence the absence.
Another thing to note is that on Structured systems you need to play with some duties that
will exploit the space and you need solid targets in the box. If you use a lone striker and you
want him to drop deep, then he absolutely must be able to hold the ball and distribute. If he
is meant to be a target that gets into the box to receive crosses, then he needs acceleration,
anticipation, and all the key attributes that make him into the type of goal scorer you want.
On fluid systems things are going to be more hectic, your players will be easy marks for a
quick tackle, so they will need good balance and good composure. They will need to make
passes under pressure. And the backline still needs the key attributes that good defenders
require.
You will need the right kind of roles that allow you to move other teams around and this is
where it gets interesting. Against weaker sides expect them to be defensive. You need to
open up another defensive side without needing to change mentality. And this means it's all
down to the right role selection.
Against better sides, they may start standard/flexible, this will already encourage them to
step out into more space than you. If you score first they will step up to a higher mentality,
and if they don't score they may go all the way to Attacking/Fluid and then change to
Overload/Fluid just so they can break you down. The AI does not jump from standard to
overload when it wants to equalise, it always goes through a mentality shift. It moves up one
mentality at a team. And the worse time not to be paying attention is when you are
celebrating and taking selfies after you've taken the lead. That's when the AI shifts it's gears.
By doing so they will open up the pitch for you to exploit, so you don't need to do much
again, but make sure you have picked the right roles and duties. Can you use the same
roles and duties against both types of teams? Yes, you can, provided you have given good
thought on how these roles will play together.
Now we are off to the Klopp system, and this is merely the Guardiola system with some
changes. Jurgen Klopp expects his sides to use Counter Press as a goal creating
opportunity. So what you need to have are the right players in midfield and the right players
on the flanks to turn things around. The same settings apply from the Sacchi system except
this time you play with a bit more risk.

• Top Heavy Side
• Standard Mentality - Attacking Mentality
• Fluid or Very Fluid Shape
Your system also needs to have the players with attacking orientated ppms who can take
advantage of your tactic. The midfield requires a playmaker of sorts who can Dictate Tempo,
Play Killer Balls and Likes to Switch Ball to Other Flanks
For players to take advantage of this, the attacking players who are acting as wide attacking
midfielders in your top heavy system need to have: Get Forward Whenever Possible. If you
are playing a narrow configuration of attackers in the final third, then they need these ppms:
Move Into Channels, Plays one - twos.
These ppms are used to encourage different kinds of movements. The flanking attack
players have been given to these to encourage them to start from an even higher starting
position than default. And, the one-twos ppm allow them to play fast triangular passes to
break down defences. This helps with tempo in the final third.
The Guardiola Counter Pressing style is harder to pull off in the game, because I don't see
the game being able to pull off that kind of positional flexibility yet. However the principles of
how to press can be done. The Klopp and Sacchi systems can be achieved to some extent.
One with some help and the other has less demands on the type of players you need.
MANAGE YOUR EXPECTATIONS

This happens each year on the forums. The moment they see a team play a specific way
and it looks like a game changer, some people expect teams to play like that all the time. If
you look at any Barcelona game, you will never find them pressing from the start to the end
of the game. Even when they lose the ball after a period of possession sometimes they don't
win the ball back immediately.
The Counter press works exceedingly well under certain conditions. If your players are
aware, and ready they will be able to pounce. If play breaks down and a defender needs to
get the ball under control before he can release the pass, but his first touch lets him down,
then the Counter Press is on. If a lofted ball is played out and the AI player has to wait to
control the ball as it lands, then the Counter Press is on.
Sometimes conditions aren't perfect for the counter press, so the best thing you need to look
out for is that your team is quick to cut down passing lanes. The most important condition
you need to meet before your team can even play some form of aggressive pressing is
physical conditioning, which to be surprisingly honest makes counter pressing a very
interesting possibility for non league sides. In fact, I would employ this style for rapid
promotions through the tiers.
Teams do not typically press aggressively for 90mins, however you certainly need to
observe that they at least cover your critical areas of the pitch. Counter pressing sides are
also vulnerable because of the way they commit to their zonal marking. When more than
one player goes to close down the channel against a physically fast team, chances are you
may find yourselves exposed. If a team presses hard against you and is intent to close down
your shallow shape, they will force your side into errors.
It's critical that you choose players with the right mental attributes, this makes the Counter
pressing style such a difficult proposition. Failure to get the right players will also cost you
dearly.
When Pep Guardiola took over Manchester City, he had a glorious start, but once the
injuries to began, you could see the weaknesses in the system. Without fast defenders City
succumbed to a 3-1 defeat to Antonio Conte's Chelsea which is another team that had
started improving.
Liverpool play a counter pressing style with Jurgen Klopp, yet the backline struggles when
balls are played diagonally or behind their attacking fullbacks. Teams that play counter
pressing can't be given a lot of time. You need to be aware of your sides weaknesses when
you play any kind of system. And that's the reason why we had entire sections of this book
devoted to adapting. Defensive line changes can be an effective way to play. If you need to
exert pressure, push the defensive line up, if you want to relax, drop it to normal. If you want
to give your backline some time to recover drop it deeper. Be adaptable when you play the
Counter Press.
APPLICATION IN THE GAME

Well we have 3 different settings you can use. The principle thing to remember is that for it to
work, several conditions need to be met. There are several ways you can approach games.
You could use one setting and then if you needed to within the game, change mentality if
you were seeking a goal; and then drop back to a defensive posture when you didn’t need a
goal
If you were playing the Sacchi system you could leave mentality alone and seek to stifle lone
forward systems by dropping your defensive line.
You could also just combine Peps and Klopp's into one since they aren't very different, and
just change the shouts Retain Possession and make the mentality changes you need based
on the game. Ultimately you still need to adapt
CLOSING DOWN SETTINGS

The closing down settings are aggressive, if you remember in the 4312, the side midfielders
were given close down much more. This replicates to some extent the role of the Ball
Winning Midfielder without the hard tackling. How they close down in a pack is also
dependant on where they are in the transition. We have kept the central midfielder
anchored to achieve this
In a 2-man midfield it will be even harder, because he only has one other midfielder to work
with. Choosing the right midfield pattern is important if you want to close down the flanks
with a side midfielder. The game's pitch has to be divided into grids and you need to
determine which areas can be covered efficiently by the roles that play in or around those
areas. I divide the pitch into grids in my head when I look at the screen. If I want to focus on
a certain area to close down then I identify the roles that best cover the grid. For example
The central midfielder falls into the 4th grid. In this grid there are a number of positions that
can cover this grid. This is a rather simplistic way of looking at it and I apologise. There is
actually that goes into it. Certain roles for instance have a higher closing down area than
others. Lets take the BWM for example. I would expect him to close down an area the size
of grid 4, if he were positioned centrally. If he were placed on the flanks, then he would cover
about the same area, but his influence on the left flank would be diminished since he has
been picked for the right flank.
When picking closing down settings you need to spot where these players BEGIN their
closing down. This will be indicated by any movement they make toward the ball carrier
when he enters the grid.
The higher areas of grid 1, 2 and 3 are only affected when the attacking team loses the ball
in the opponent half and is already playing a high defensive line. If players are told to close
down and the ball is lost in that area while they attack. I fully expect to see these players
start a closing down action. If they don’t its usually an indication that I need to look at their
attributes. Players whose roles lie in midfield or in defence will first return to their grids
before beginning to close down. This is what we typically see in the game.
If you note there are 6 roles a central defender can play, each role has different closing down
instructions, when you choose a role, it is always a good idea to observe where he starts to
close down. Use this grid as a simple guide to spot your players actions during a game.
Central Midfielder, Deep Lying Playmaker, Box to Box Midfielder, Advanced

Playmaker, Ball Winning Midfielder and Roaming Playmaker
Each role may have slight differences in closing down and player instructions. You need to
determine what the best role is for the system you want to play. There are many possible
combinations. The key is finding the right player with attributes who can play there.
There will be a period of trial and error as you try out different members of your team to fit
into your system.
Why did I write this book?

In a simple word, I want the FM community to push the game forward. It's human
psychology that you only treat something that costs something before you pay attention to it.
That is why I asked for donations to support my channel. If people make donations they
make take this book more seriously and thereby understand my deeper motivations.
The game needs to be pushed for major changes to come, and that only happens when
the world at large can push the game to a tipping point. The last time a tipping point was
reached was he 03/04 edition when I released the super tactic known as Scramjet. It was
featured in 2 magazines and 1 newspaper under the gaming section with the headline
Wolves 8-0 Real Madrid.
By the time Scramjet and Diablo the other super tactic of the day hit the scene, the
community got bored and the developers were put in a difficult situation, they needed to
bring the engine to a new level. When more people can bust the net score goals and win
matches, and, if the game becomes too easy, then we may have approached another tipping
point. So that's why I have written this book in such a way. It's a book that I will continually
update with content I hope you find engaging and helpful.
I would like to thank each and everyone of you for all the support you have given me and
I can only hope that my small attempt helps you in some little way. The book could be more,
but I need to release it and find a way to keep the content going so that it can always remain
current. And, with your help and support this will keep me going. more updates will be
released for this book for Patreon users, and thanks once again. I do hope that this book has
proved useful, and if it has, then I will be glad. If it hasn't I will redouble my efforts to improve
on it.
Daljit aka "Rashidi"

Oh by the way if you guys are wondering, my handle is a tribute to the great Rashidi
Yekini, a legend who left too early for a dance in heaven.

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Daljit Singh / BUST THE NET - THE FOOTBALL MANAGERS GUIDE(K) / 1

In order for an FM manager to outperform expectations in the game, he needs to understand

So what can you expect from this book?

Over time I plan to fix that.

And to the few in a tower somewhere.

The Tactical Creator

THE BASICS EXPLAINED - TACTICAL CREATOR

ELEMENTS OF THE TACTICAL CREATOR

more misplaced passes or misjudging teammates movements off the ball.

TEAM INSTRUCTIONS EXPLAINED

cover some of the more commonly misunderstood ones.

Personally, whenever I seek to make any system counterattacking in orientation, I usually

Which is the best shape?

You can mitigate these by shoring up a highly structured system with:

• Having players with high work-rate and teamwork

You can mitigate the weaknesses of a Highly Fluid system by:

Let's return back to the other Team Instructions.

Use Offside Trap

Prevent Short GK Distribution

Use Tighter Marking

Play Out Of Defence

Exploit The Left Flank

Exploit The Right Flank

Exploit The Middle

Clear Ball To Flanks

Pump Ball Into Box

Pass Into Space

More Direct Passing

ATTACKING - FINAL THIRD

Hit Early Crosses

Look For Overlap

Work Ball Into Box

Roam From Positions

ADVICE ON USING SHOUTS

team behaves on the pitch.

• Move into Channels – is available only to Advanced Midfielders and Forwards

• Hold up Ball – Available only to Forwards

• Cut Inside/Run Wide – Available to wide players

USING PI TO INFLUENCE POSSESSION BASED SYSTEMS

• Show onto wrong foot

Default Set Pieces

Understanding Player Selection

FM is a simulation game built on binary numbers, defined by simple logical conditionals. At

Before we begin, there is something we need to establish-Benchmarks. A player with 15

Aggression - Is a misunderstood attribute. This is a good attribute for defenders provided

combination of low ratings in both.

Choosing the Right Roles

Sweeper Goalkeeper (SGK)

PPM: Uses long throws to start counter attacks

PI: Distribute to Target Man or player if his kicking is good

PI: Roll it out to Defenders for Possession Tactics

Central Defender (CD)

Key Attributes: Heading, Marking, Tackling, Anticipation, Bravery, Concentration,

Cover Duty: Acceleration is a key attribute since he needs to recover quickly

Defend First PPM: Stay Back At All Times

Ball-Playing Defender (BPD)

Defensive Centre Back (DCB)

Key Attributes: Heading, Marking, Tackling, Determination, Positioning, Jumping Reach

Locked Instructions: Shoot less often, Dribble Less, Hold Position

Key Attributes: Heading, Marking, Tackling, Anticipation, Bravery, Composure,

Libero- Support and Attack

Support: More Risky Passes