JFL1946 - Passing to Victory tactic

[james1946]

THE PHILOSOPHY

The team is expected to play a highly fluid game, based upon the 4-1-2-1-2 diamond formation. Attacks are built from the back, with the team working the ball from the defence, through the midfield and up to the attacking front three using slick passing and good teamwork.

The team plays at a high tempo in order to dominate possesion and to keep attacks coming. Playing offside and counter attacking are encouraged.

It is my belief that this tactic may only be effective with top teams and top players, however I would really encourage players of lesser teams to try this out, and tweak this to their advantage if they believe this tactic can be adapted to accomodate lesser teams.

TEAM POSITIONS AND ROLES

GOALKEEPER

Standard goalkeeping duties, aka (the best one you can recruit!)

WINGBACKS

I use wingbacks for this tactic to give the team a degree of wide support in attack and defence (despite the focus of the team is playing through the middle), during the attacks they push up and should be more than competent at crossing and passing to support attacks. However the wingbacks must also be expected to track back and get stuck in with defensive duties, high levels of acceleration, stamina and decisions are also good skills for your wingbacks to have.

CENTRAL DEFENDERS

BALL PLAYING DEFENDER

The aim of the ball playing defender is simple, after a succesful interception or resulting goal kick/free kick he must start attacks via through balls and look to generate counter attacking oppurtunities. The player must also obviously carry out the usual defensive duties, good levels of marking, tackling, heading, concentration are needed, but also the player should have good passing and vision to kick start attacks.

LIMITED DEFENDER

The limited defender is simply there to break down attacks and lay the ball on to advancing teamates. Due to the attacking nature of the team I believe it is crucial to have one player completely focused upon stopping goals being conceded! good levels of marking, tackling, heading, concentration are needed.

DEEP LYING PLAYMAKER

The player in this position operates inbetween the defence and the midfield, combining both attacking and defensive duties. In my opinion this player is the lynchpin of the team. He is required to be a stalwart defensive playerto carry the team when on the backfoot, to break up attacks while also being to initiate attacking moves and move the ball up the pitch. Key elements here are tackling, concentration, passing and positioning.

CENTRAL MIDFIELDERS

SUPPORT

The supporting central midfielder is expected to help the DLP in constructing and supporting attacks, he will stick to the middle of the pitch to ensure the team is not over exposed incase of a resulting loss of possesion. Key elements here are tackling, concentration, passing and positioning.

ATTACK

The attacking central midfielder looks to move into the box alongside the trequartista and to support the frontal players, while still being able to move back into the centre if needed and play in the men infront. Key elements here are tackling, concentration, passing and positioning.

TREQUARTISTA

The trequartista is the other crucial player to the team, he is completely focused upon attacking and will sit in the hole between the opponents midfield and defence. He is required to pounce upon loose balls in and outside the box either to score himself or set up a teamate. First touch, creativity, flair and off the ball movement are important here.

FORWARDS

COMPLETE FORWARD

This player is a jack of all trades, intertwining closely with the trequartista in play he will look to support others while also fashioning chances for himself. due to the creative freedom of the team the player is free to make his own decisions and will often produce the goods for the team. Finishing, off the ball, creativity and composure are key attributes here.

POACHER

"poacher" it does exactly what it says on the tin. The player is completely foccused on scoring goals, and from experiences he can finish spectacular moves if this team is firing on all cylinders. Finishing, composure and anticipation are key here.

As you can see the team instructions reflect the description given in the teams philosophy. A very fluid style with a quick passing style. The press more instruction is given for when the team is on the defensive they can break attacts down quickly and efficiently. Also the teams width has been left on default, I am aware this is set upon wide yet it does not seem to have any negative effect upon the team, plus the use of wingbacks may also be a reason to keep it how it is. However experimentation is always welcome!

BEGGINING OF SEASON 3 RESULTS

In the previous season I had beaten Real Madrid 3-0 at the Bernabau and also Juventus 7-0 on aggregate over 2 legs in the champions league semi finals.

What I can tell you here is that the games won have been won with high percentages of possesion, the team has controlled the games and consistently looked dangerous home and away.

<B>

CONCLUSION

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I really enjoy using this tactic, despite the match engines limitation watching your striker finishing of an excellent team move, or simply seeing your team giving the opposition the complete runaround is a real pleasure.

I hope you use it, tweat it to your hearts content and give me some feedback to see if your team is passing itself to victory!

[james1946]

Reserved for future information.

[james1946]

Reserved for future information.

[Cleon]

I edited the thread as you was stretching the forum due to having it centralised, so had to remove it.

Nice opening post btw

[james1946]

No problem, sorry about that didnt realise it would have that affect!

thanks

il update if any more interest comes along.

[Johnny1980]

I'm going to give this a go with Pescara for the last few weeks of the season.

[james1946]

cheers how are you doing with Pescara then?

[heathxxx]

Using a similar sort of system myself at the moment, created entirely through the TC options.

Main differences for me, are that in the team settings, I've allowed more roaming, zonal marking and more aggressive tackling. As for roles, I occasionally use the same settings when I rotate my squad, but more often go for a deep-lying forward, with a complete forward or poacher, then a straight up attacking midfielder in the AMC slot. I also like using a deep lying playmaker, though not in the DMC slot. DMC for me is a straight DMC role or anchor man, with the DLP in whichever MC slot suits his preferred foot to encourage central passing.

Fullback/wing backs are the same though and they give some important width to this sort of system when it's needed.

Overall though, the core emphasis on both our setups are very similar and using suitable players, can be extremely effective at all levels, as I've used my own variation in different countries and at different levels.

Sadly though, wide play isn't as strong as I believe it could be this release, with centrally orientated formations seeming to have more of an edge to them in FM10. I've always enjoyed setups with wide players, but although at the highest levels I can get them to work really well, simply because of player quality, at lower levels, they don't seem to perform as well as I would hope.

Anyhow, nice OP and certainly the visual pleasure that such a system produces, makes for entertaining football.

[AcidBurn]

Link doesn't work for me, might just be filefront.

Scrap that worked with IE and not Google Chrome.

[james1946]

Thankyou for your input heath

i have only experimented breifly with the roaming/marking etc. But I plan to look more in depth perhaps at the start of the new season or with another team. After all this thread was opened for ideas

Perhaps I will also try it in a lower league situation, I wonder if this tactical approach would suit pure wide players?

[heathxxx]

Thankyou for your input heath

i have only experimented breifly with the roaming/marking etc. But I plan to look more in depth perhaps at the start of the new season or with another team. After all this thread was opened for ideas

Perhaps I will also try it in a lower league situation, I wonder if this tactical approach would suit pure wide players?

Well, if you change the diamond shape to a wider diamond, you're changing the dynamics of the formation and system quite a lot. It's the strength in central midfield which is key to the sort of system we're using.

I think this sort of setup will pretty much work anywhere, although in warmer climates, playing direct with a higher tempo might lead to quickly tiring players. It's easy to adapt this system to accommodate slower passing and build-up play, which will still dominate.

Essentially, it's about correct usage of player attributes in different roles within a tactic that makes the difference. This is something you touched on well with your OP.

[james1946]

Well, if you change the diamond shape to a wider diamond, you're changing the dynamics of the formation and system quite a lot. It's the strength in central midfield which is key to the sort of system we're using.

I think this sort of setup will pretty much work anywhere, although in warmer climates, playing direct with a higher tempo might lead to quickly tiring players. It's easy to adapt this system to accommodate slower passing and build-up play, which will still dominate.

Essentially, it's about correct usage of player attributes in different roles within a tactic that makes the difference. This is something you touched on well with your OP

So perhaps for a team based in Italy or Spain slow build up play could be used, I agree that this could work just aswell as a high tempo.

I may have an experiment adapting this to using wideplayers, a strong anchorman creative midfielders and wingers cutting inside for a lone frontman?

im liking the possibilities here!

[dankrzyz]

I may have an experiment adapting this to using wideplayers, a strong anchorman creative midfielders and wingers cutting inside for a lone frontman?

im liking the possibilities here!

That sounds like an altogether different tactical approach. It appears the only similarity with the OP's formation and approach is the use of a goalkeeper.

[Xennaz]

Trying this out now, and the TQ seems to perform superbly, consistently high ratings. Changed the keeper to a Sweeper Keeper, just for the sake of it, but otherwise the original.

[james1946]

That sounds like an altogether different tactical approach. It appears the only similarity with the OP's formation and approach is the use of a goalkeeper.

You are right, the style wouldnt neccesary adapt to fit wingers, considering this tactic works so well for me why should i change it anyway?

[james1946]

Trying this out now, and the TQ seems to perform superbly, consistently high ratings. Changed the keeper to a Sweeper Keeper, just for the sake of it, but otherwise the original.

Good to hear its working for you keep me posted if the sweeper keeper affects the team. i may experiment myself

[Delilah_katona]

the fact from ur tactic is that the players did some brilliant passing I didnt even expect. Midfield and Forwards connected well, I really like the passing style of this tactic.

[james1946]

its certainly good to watch, how are you doing results wise?

[maddognorway]

Hey james1946

First of all, great OP!

I have developed a similar tactic, but short passing and classic

How are you using the touchline shouts?

Thanks

[james1946]

Hey james1946

First of all, great OP!

I have developed a similar tactic, but short passing and classic

How are you using the touchline shouts?

Thanks

Hello Maddog

thanks very much, how does the shorter passing work for you, sorry for the late reply have been busy over the past few days.

Well ive found the uses of :-

Work ball into the box - Very useful if team appear to be sloppy in possesion, the team begin to play more direct.

Pass to feet - using the passing ability of your team to its full potential, keeping the ball on the ground is useful again if balls are going astray and your losing the possesion battle.

(if your playing away from home try switching to counter)

and giving the instruction

Pass to space - passing into space allows the team to move the ball faster and hit teams on the break, this can be deadly if the team is firing on all cylinders!

hope this helps!

[cdc1287]

Hey great tactic!

I am not very good at creating tactics and I am wondering if you know what tweaks I can make to this one so I can switch tactics every game. To try and stop the computer breaking the tactic.

Thanks,

cdc1287

[Xennaz]

A lot of success using this, personally, though I've recently dropped the Poacher and converted him to an Inside Forward (Attack) on the left wing, setting Crossing and Long Shots to Rarely. Will let you know how it fares long-term (if I persist).

Credit goes to Cleon and his analysis of the Brazil style in his other thread, of course.