The Basis of Creating a Tactic

[SUCK IT]

I and many others, have tried to create tactics without much luck. Today was the closest I came to creating a good tactic. With Man Utd I got 29 Wins, 6 Draws and 3 Losses.

This in my opinion was very good. However the tactic did not seem to get most of the team scoring. Rooney got 25 goals. Bebratov got 19 goals. But the rest of the team did not score much.

So I wanted to know how you go about creating a tactic, i.e. what is the starting point. Do you try to get all the players instructions done at once or do you do one player at a time. Any help on the matter would be appreciated by alot of people on the forum

[SFraser]

The key issue for tactics in FM as it has developed now is not so much the tactic you use, but how you adapt your tactic to the opponent.

The "meat" of the tactical gameplay in FM is the game-by-game evolution and adaption of your tactics. The TC itself is built with this in mind, but if you don't use the TC or the Shouts, then you are adapting the instructions by hand for every single game.

This is an absolutely crucial point for people "used to" playing the CM style way. You cannot play the game by finding one set of instructions that work and letting them run for a season. You can easilly get away with using one basic tactical framework, and this is still the best way to go about the game, but you must pay attention to every game and adapt the details of the tactic to each opponent.

That is what Real Life football is all about, and that is what FM football is all about. Play the opponent.

[SUCK IT]

I see so attack the weaknesses of the opposing team.

[SFraser]

I see so attack the weaknesses of the opposing team.

Absolutely. That's pretty much what the heart and soul of tactics in FM10 is all about. It's no longer about designing a great tactic, it's about designing a solid tactic as a basis and then adapting it to defeat individual opponents.

What you want to do is design a strong basic tactic for your squad/team, ideally one that can take advantage of all the options you have in your squad with a few tweaks, and then from there you need to make the right judgements and the right adaptions to beat the opponent.

I'll give you an example:

Take a 4-3-3 formation with 3 CM's, 2 wingers and a Lone Striker.

If the opponent is weak down the flanks you can use your Wingers as actual wingers and chuck forward two of your CM's into the box from deep and try and score goals from crosses + late runs + overloading the middle.

If the opponent is weak through the middle you can swap your wingers and use your Lone Striker as a playmaker, and then get your Striker to play throughballs to your wingers that are making runs from wide in at a goal. Your CM's pass to your Lone Striker Playmaker, who plays in your wingers to score goals or dribbles past the weak defenders and scores himself. You should also use your Fullbacks as distractions here to try and "pin" the opponent Fullbacks back so they cannot easilly deal with your wingers.

The same formation can be used in two completely different ways, and those ways work best against specific opponents. Have this kind of simple flexibility in your locker and you will no longer easilly fail against opponents that are really strong against one way of playing.

[SFraser]

So basically the "Basis of Creating a Tactic" is strong, simple flexibility and options.

The more options of attack and defense you can design into your basic formation, the more opponents you can actually handle through tactics alone, and not require superior players.

[SUCK IT]

Thanks SFraser, your a credit to the forums

[Corkey]

SFraser, How can you attack your oppenents weakness by using a combination of the oppenents weakness via players and using the Pre-match Advice?

[AndyGFC]

This is where ive gone wrong imo. Ill admit i have struggled with fm 10. This is because ive found a tactic thats maybe worked in a few games and stuck with it for a full season having poor results.

[irishjones]

This maybe a stupid question to ask but Ive played FM for years and had success but as others have said FM10 seems a bit different. I definitely have been going wrong in not exploiting other teams weaknesses and I know I can find out some of their weaknesses by reading pre game scout reports but....(i may explain this wrong!) how do you get good at reading the game and spotting the teams weakness to exploit it? Ive watched matches on slow speeds but at times nothing consistent is happening so it makes it hard to figure out what to exploit, especially Ive found with weaker teams in lower leagues

[mrdorf]

This maybe a stupid question to ask but Ive played FM for years and had success but as others have said FM10 seems a bit different. I definitely have been going wrong in not exploiting other teams weaknesses and I know I can find out some of their weaknesses by reading pre game scout reports but....(i may explain this wrong!) how do you get good at reading the game and spotting the teams weakness to exploit it? Ive watched matches on slow speeds but at times nothing consistent is happening so it makes it hard to figure out what to exploit, especially Ive found with weaker teams in lower leagues

I know what you mean. I've watched games and I can only see my players making stupid mistakes or the Oppo scoring from 30 yds with crap players.

[heathxxx]

As well as watching matches themselves, valuable tools are the statistics panel and checking what your assistant manager says during matches. Also, keep an eye on player motivation.

Motivation and stats I have up on screen always during matches. Every 15-20 minutes, I'll sometimes pause a match and check the assistant managers assessment of play and opposition instruction suggestions.

[Flohrinho]

Well for me it actually worked quite well playing with two formations that have basically the same foundation.

I play a 4-5-1 with 1 DM and 2 CMs against the top 10 teams of the PL and against the bottom 10 I play a 4-2-3-1 with two CMs and a AM to get more options in attack.

I also try to vary my tempo.

Slower tempo against strong teams and faster tempo against weaker teams.

So far that has gone very well for me I almost never lose more then one game per season and finish the PL regularly above 90 points and 100 goals per season for 3 season now.

The fact that the AI is very **** in terms of transfers I now only buy players at the age of 16 or younger to not let the game become too easy.

[crazyscotsman]

I tend to use one formation and vary the tempo, the dline and counter attack depending on my opponent. Always works weel for me

[SFraser]

This maybe a stupid question to ask but Ive played FM for years and had success but as others have said FM10 seems a bit different. I definitely have been going wrong in not exploiting other teams weaknesses and I know I can find out some of their weaknesses by reading pre game scout reports but....(i may explain this wrong!) how do you get good at reading the game and spotting the teams weakness to exploit it? Ive watched matches on slow speeds but at times nothing consistent is happening so it makes it hard to figure out what to exploit, especially Ive found with weaker teams in lower leagues

I tend to use one formation and vary the tempo, the dline and counter attack depending on my opponent. Always works weel for me

I think that is a good starting point for understanding the "game" so to speak. That kind of tweaking and testing by altering large aspects of performance is the best way to eventually understanding things in detail, both in seeing what is happening and in knowing how to influence it to your benefit.

The only true way to really understand the game is to play it often and pay attention to what is happening. There is no substitute for experience and attention to detail. Having been a clueless newb myself not so long ago, what does help hugely is to first experiment with small but influential changes on team level and on an individual player level. Keep it simple and try to understand the simplicity of your own side and what is happening with your instructions in terms of behaviour, then as you alter and adapt instructions you will build up a picture of what everything means and how everything works and what you are seeing translates into in terms of instructions.

It is absolutely vital to realise however that tactical instructions are only a part of the game. Everything you see in the game is a combination of tactical instructions, player attributes, and specific match conditions, and so understanding the game even on a tactical level means far more than just understanding tactical instructions.

If you really struggle to understand the game I would say pick a big team or a team you see play regularly, and try first of all to emulate their behaviour. Trying to get Messi to play like Messi is just about the best "tutorial" you will get in FM.

[olrion]

Well for me it actually worked quite well playing with two formations that have basically the same foundation.

I play a 4-5-1 with 1 DM and 2 CMs against the top 10 teams of the PL and against the bottom 10 I play a 4-2-3-1 with two CMs and a AM to get more options in attack.

I also try to vary my tempo.

Slower tempo against strong teams and faster tempo against weaker teams.

So far that has gone very well for me I almost never lose more then one game per season and finish the PL regularly above 90 points and 100 goals per season for 3 season now.

The fact that the AI is very **** in terms of transfers I now only buy players at the age of 16 or younger to not let the game become too easy.

Where is the tempo slider? I recall there being one in FM2009 but I can't see one in FM2010. Do you mean set the passing slider to more direct?

I don't remember ever seeing a tempo option in the team instructions screen.

[ricardomac]

In the team instructions screen press advanced on the top of the screen. There you have tempo, time wasting, width and D-line.

[Bigshow1985]

I see so attack the weaknesses of the opposing team.

there wouldnt be much point in attacking their strong points would there? fm is easier to understand than people think. dont over complicate things for yourself.

i think a certain gordon strachan once said good formations with good organisation can stop u losing games and good tactics with good intructions can win u games.