4-2-2-2 With Rotherham 121 Points, 120 goals

[Hooligan]

jack in difficult away games you put the mentality on counter?and how do you set match preparation?and when i have a men sent off what changes i do?

[Wijnand fens]

maybe asked before but I have a few questions:

what about match preparation?

what about any OI ? ask assistant?

any shouts?

and the pitch size?

thanks you very much

if you can answer my questions,I gonna test it in the dutch premier league with FC Groningen media prediction 6th

[Curuedhel]

Definitely the most effective tactic I've tried so far, and it was great because it wasn't far from what I was already using, so it took no time at all for the team to acclimatise. Dominating the Championship with my Burnley side.

[Hooligan]

hey boys this tactic is better than ghost tactic of zerosea???

[DJ Backchat]

amazing tactic

won league 2 and then league 1 with Crewe

only tweak is i made both CM ball winning midfielders set to defend

[SWFC_Owl]

I had a terrible start to the season with Wednesday in the Championship, but now I'm using this have not lost once!

[50stones]

I am playing this tactic with city and granted I have a strong squad this tactic is just amazing. I was already playing a standard 4-4-2 but was looking shaky defensively playing yaya as a box to box (support). The more defensive set up just did the trick perfectly.

I am top of the league by 5 points after 27 games and still in all comps. I am playing Tevez as the poacher and he has 38 goals, 13 assists and 10 mom from 38 games.

Btw how can I upload screen shots? once I finish I will upload some results etc.

[jamesh2k]

ok 1st season in the prem with rotherham finished 11th

[Cali]

I'm playing with Hereford United. I have my own set of tactics and I was sitting third in the league comfortably. Early December however, my team started losing and I couldn't find an answer.

10 games without a win later, (9 losses, 1 draw) I dropped into 18th place.

I was looking around on the forum to find a good tactic from someone else.

I looked into this topic, first, it's a good read, secondly, despite some silly comments I'ml glad people like Jamesh2k are willing to share their tactics, no matter what others may say.

Well, it was early January, I was in the FA Cup's third round, a home tie against Burnley and as my tactics weren't working any longer, I've used yours.

I've lost 0-7, no matter I met "counter" or "control", goals flew in too easy.

However, as said by a very intelligent person earlier in this topic, a team needs time to gel, to adapt to a tactic, instant success is nearly impossible, so the next league game we went to high flying Gillingham (5th in the league), and we went down 3-0, still, I've noticed slight marks of improvement in positioning.

Next game, at home against Bradford (17th), and yes, my team got a bit used to the new tactic, we won 2-1 with 10 men (red card after only 1 minute for my right back Greene), and from that point on, we're on a run of 7 undefeated games now, rising up the league again, we're 10th now, and I have this funny feeling we're going to beat the odds and finish in the Play Offs.

(automatic promotion is too far away as Rotherham and Barnet (!) are on fire actually.

My team, well,,it's pretty poor, Connor-Greene-Kanouté-Rose-Werling-Stratford-Lunt-Colbeck-Yao-Fleetwood-Johnson.

I've bought 2 players during the summer, both on a free, first Yao, a young winger, and Eddie Johnson (striker) on a free. Johnson arrived on the first of November after his contract with Austin expired.

However, the main conclusion to me is that your tactic is a slow starter, but if you give it some time, it starts working nicely.

I switch from control to counter when I'm 2-0 up or when I have a 1 goal lead and we need to play another 20 minutes in which the opposition gets stronger.

Only if I have to play a team from a higher level (cup competition, friendly, whatever) I switch early in the game to counter, but I always look first how my team's doing in control. If they're doing fine, I don't change anything.

Anyway, this boring post just to thank you, and to say that it is a shame not more people tested this tactic for you.

Like said before, if this topic was started by Mr. Hough, it would already have 3000 replies.

(Btw, no hard feelings towards Mr. Hough, not at all, as he's a fine gentleman himself who gave me a lot of fun in FM 2010 with his brilliant tactics)

[Wijnand fens]

@jamesh2k

to get it clear:

what about match preparation?

what about any OI ? ask assistant?

and the pitch size?

What tweaks you make for difficult away games?

thanks you very much

I want to give it a try with FC Utrecht (premier division Holland)

[50stones]

I definitely agree there is a problem with 4-2-3-1 formation. West Ham destroyed me 5-2 and were 5-0 up at one point despite the fact I had more chances than them. The forward 4 get lots of space and create loads of clear cut chances.

Its pretty unrealistic but I think it may be because of the position of the players on the pitch and the opposition attackers ining up between the def and midfield lines and the two centre halves not knowing which one of them should deal with the loan striker.

I think the best solution might be to drag back the two CM's to the DM positions and reduce the gap between the def and midfield lines. Then I might try man marking the lone striker although im not sure this will work.

If anybody else has tried anything to deal with 4-2-3-1 teams then please let me know.

A few other observations to help wijnand:

Match prep - So far I have used team blend because Man City have loads of cash and bring in lots of new players with fat egos. Its a April and Im just hitting a bit of bad form so I might try some def prep. I think this is largely common sense though and not entirely formation/tactic related.

OI - again common sense. I tend to start with ask assistant and then tweak it. I never tackle hard strikers for fear of giving away pens and I only tackle hard a max of two players which are always the more creative softies like nasri or playmakers like fabregas.

I show stikers on to weaker foot and always close down wingers and attacking midfielders especially those who take long shots such as lampard.

Generally my OI is just based on what I would do in real life and I have seen little evidence to show its a resounding success because there are so many factors at play in FM it is difficult to tell although my results are pretty good.

Pitch size - I kept it the same this year although I think I will widen it because a lot of attacks seem to come from the wings plus I have ribery/silva and milner who can exploit the space. Saying this I have been quite successful with a standard width so far.

Away games - I have made no tweaks and use this formation for all matches. I tried switching to counter but I ended up playing worse and giving away to many chances. This may be because my team were not used to it and I might try building experience with a counter version in the off season. This formation is pretty balanced to defensive and if youre a top team like city you probably dont need to play much more defensively. Actually if I wasnt scoring so many goals already I might suggest a more attacking tweak for easier matches but there doesnt seem to much point!

[Hagginho]

Cant get this tactic to click with my Charlton team..

the team instructions is:

Balanced

Controll

then all of the passing etc, is standard? is this correct?

Cuz it doesnt work that well..

Just letting in so many goals, just dont know.. They score just on everything they get, dont know how to solve it either, becouse, it isnt even good chances they have..

Just now i had a game against N'hampton.. They had 2 shots on goals, both of them went in of course, none of them where clear chances..

This game, its, i dont know.. They can score from long shots from everywhere, i have no idea.. Wait for next patch i guess.. Hate the game, so ****in frustrating..

[keppel999]

using it with my fullham side started good with a 5-4 win over spurs but then i have dropped into relegation dogfight, the guy with the malaga team what tweaks did u make i just want to win some games on here lol

[jmb1403]

i have recently started a game with Salford City in the EvoStik North Division. I read through this whole thread and decided to give this a shot. so far its been ok but its only been say 6 games or somethin, won 2 drawn 2 lost 2. Do you think Match preperation on the tactic, Where it has the bars for mentality, closing down etc. If I can get them as high as possible to im presumun natural then it will make the tactic more effective? Ive just not heard anyone mention this in any topics on tactics!

[twatty]

Im in Division 1, China. Last season was awfull and i was relegated in the end from the top league. Simply my tactic wasnt working; I didnt score, chemistry between the midfield and attack, well there simply was none.

So, the first time in 12 years I decided to seek help for my tactics and found this. Seems its working. I played the first game of the season with a tactic that did great for my Ebbsfleet game, but the result was 1-1 at home, the opponent dominating. Then I found this tactic. First I lost 6-4 (was down to 5-1 at one point), but I was so impressed to actually score the record amount with this team, I kept going. Won the next game 3-2 home. But then I lost 5-1 away. I almost gave up due the fact I kept conceding so much. But I though it deserved a proper go. Out of the next 7 games Ive won 6, Ive scored 16 and conceded 3. Ive only tweaked instructions for my other midfielder and other winger.

Thanks man, my challenge to win Champions League (or someting compared to that) on every continent, is on!

[Mauley]

Im glad to see Febian doing well for you mate, as he is a family friend of mine. I think im going to try this one and see how it goes.

[Dolpp]

I've been using this tactic with a russian first division team Krasnodar (media prediction 8th).

As you can see it's working out pretty well. The offense works great, however the defence is often in trouble. I can accept the fact wingers can cause trouble, since my own are playing so high up the pitch. However there seems to be too much space in front of the defense line for the opposition to play around. Of course it doesn't help that my defenders aren't that good. Anyone gotten around to tweaking this side of the tactic? Thanks for posting this btw, seems to work in lower leagues.

[roseboy64]

Worked wonders for my FC United side. Started using it when I got them to League 2. Worked wonders so far and consecutive titles have seen me in the Championship now. Won an FA Cup, and runners up in the Carling Cup when I was in League 2. Of course I always make an effort to improve my squad as that's how I am. The front 4 get loads of chances my wingers score quite a few goals as they get on the end of crosses. Have modded it a bit for my own team.

[jmb1403]

Well I started the game with Salford City in Evo Stik First Division and I have gained four promotions in a row using this tactic:

[ScobieB]

Wonderful tactic mate. Decided to give it a go, had nothing to lose my Palace side that had been promoted through the play-offs to the Premier League were sitting bottom with 11 points after 24 games. Lost my first game to Man U away 3-0 using this but then decided to persist and what do you know, in my result of the season my Palace team overturned Man City who were sitting top in the league winning 2-1. If I don't win another game I will treasure that victory

[DannoBWFC]

Downloaded and gonna try it now with my Salisbury team. Will let you know how I get on with it.

[boogiept]

Well I started the game with Salford City in Evo Stik First Division and I have gained four promotions in a row using this tactic:

where can i find that db?

[tbickle76]

1st post. Got to say, this tactic has revitalised my season with Salthill Devon. 3-0 (home), 3-0 (away), 4-0 (home). Should make 2nd place now! Cheers OP!

[DannoBWFC]

I started really well with this tactic but now I cant seem to be able to win away games all of a sudden. I am scraping home wins too.

Has anyone else noticed that at least once a season on FM no matter who you are, you go through abit of a bad patch?

[Adam Church]

Can anyone please help what attrubutes im looking for for this tactic ?

[jmb1403]

It's the pyramid update with 10 divisions, not sure where it would be, just try searching for it on google

[Stephanie McMahon's Secret Lover]

Any real need to UP this thread after 16 months?

[jmb0386]

Any real need to UP this thread after 16 months?

only just opened this account again, didnt realise how long ago it was to be honest.

[thats life]

Is this FM20 tactic?

[marky-mark]

12 hours ago, that\'s life said:

Is this FM20 tactic?

Yeah he made it 10 years ago so he could test it thoroughly.