Mr Hough FM11.2 Winger tactic and Discussion

[gav1979]

dave was you making a 4-1-2-2-1 tactic?

i have come up with one for man utd,i know people may say man utd but still it is awesome,36 league games played won 30 drew 6 lost 0 scored 92 conceded 17 and 96 points.16 points ahead of arsenal.Won league cup in champions league final to.

rooney playing as left winger scoring 15

nani as right winger scoring 17

valencia rotated winger to rooney and nani scoring 9

hernandez as lone striker scoring 14

vidic as centre back loving corners scoring 13

just consistent with goal scoring and defensively very strong,I may look to test with sunderland.

[still_born]

Mate all they are is FB's zonal marking, and Dline two notches up

IMO, these tweaks make no difference, and im conceding at least 2 goals a game, and im Liverpool 3rd season, with one of the best defences in the world.

I have exactly the same problem.I am Liverpool 2nd season,i ve made the tweaks,i have very good players in defence but still conceding too much... :s

[jib]

Finished my 1st season with MK Dons using the original tactic without the defensive tweaks. Came 1st in the league and won the paint pot trophy! I only made loan and free signings. Scored a massive 128 goals in the league and had only lost 1 league game up until March when my form dipped abit due to injuries etc. Media prediction was 12th btw. Really pleased, thanks for sharing Dave!

[paulic5647]

pull the rcm back russian, especially if they have an am/ dangerous cm

[the_russian]

@ everybody who has problems with defence:

1. use the tweaks (fb to zonal + d-line 2 notches up)

2. put the right cm back to dm, u gotta make sure that your most defensive midfielder plays that position

[vando]

Mr Hough, when you will provide a new tactic with the new changes?

[Darkone]

I have only just started to test this but also putting the cms on Zonal seems to have had an effect. The opposition still shoot quite a lot but its mosts from distance fewer CCCs

[magnet_steve]

Mr Hough

The tweaks I have done to your tactic are giving amazing results. I will post later with some details as I have not a lot of time this afternoon. I hope you don't mind me linking this for anyone to try. It is your tactic with several changes making it a 442, but much tighter defensively and hopefully not losing too much offensive capabilities:

http://www.filefront.com/17865704/Chelsea 2 (Chelsea, Jul 2010).tac

[triggerluke]

Mr. Hough,

I'm loving the overall balance that this tactic gives between defense and offense. As with your previous tactics that I have used, I have found the best results for me come from making slight tweaks to simply adjust the tactic to suit my players.

I'm like you in regards to getting a good asst. manager to do team-talks, match prep etc. One question I've got though, is what training system do you use? I've just got my players on the bog standard settings of GK, defenders, midfielders and forwards.

[Mr Hough]

Mr. Hough,

I'm loving the overall balance that this tactic gives between defense and offense. As with your previous tactics that I have used, I have found the best results for me come from making slight tweaks to simply adjust the tactic to suit my players.

I'm like you in regards to getting a good asst. manager to do team-talks, match prep etc. One question I've got though, is what training system do you use? I've just got my players on the bog standard settings of GK, defenders, midfielders and forwards.

Same here mate, I haven't even looked at training this year to be honest.

[daverfc]

Dave,

Not too sure how to upload tactics. I have Pm you with my email. If you respond I will send you this tactic as an attachment...

I started playing this tactic when Mr H released it. Initial thoughts were that the defence sucks. Lots of goals conceded. So I started to tinker with the marking, D line, closing down and several other settings. Eventually I made it a 442 by pulling back the advanced wingers.

First 11 games:

Histon Friendly Away 9-0

Great Wakering Friendly Away 9-0

Hampton & Richmond Friendly Away 7-0

Frontale Friendly Away 6-0

Man Utd Community Shield Neutral 4-0

Man Utd PRM Away 4-1

Wolves PRM Home 3-0

Sunderland PRM Away 6-0

Blackburn PRM Home 3-0

AJ Auxerre Champions Cup Away 4-0

Fulham PRM Away 5-1

Playing as Chelsea. No transfers - original squad. AM gives opposition instructions and does match prep training. Not needed to tweak anything. Will continue testing a full season and then try a smaller club.

99% of this tactic is Mr Hough's. I managed to tighten up the defence, increase CCC, increase shots on target and keep more posession when compared to my first few games with the original tactic.

Hi Steve, sounds interesting. Any chance you can tell us the changes exactly or upload you're tactic? Thanks

[boogiept]

Hi Steve, sounds interesting. Any chance you can tell us the changes exactly or upload you're tactic? Thanks

it´s in post 208 mate

[mantorras77]

Dave, first off I want to say..thanks for all you do for the FM community.....

I'd like to share my story and hopefully get some help in return from anyone here.....I'm Freamunde(Portugal)..I started with them in the Portuguese 3rd division and have managed to take them to 1st division using a tactic I shall not name. I'm currently in my 2nd season in the 1st division. Last season I was dead last, facing relegation when with 6 games to go I switched to Mr. Hough's 4-1-2-3 11.2 tactic and my team went on to win 5 and draw 1 in the final 6 and I had this one striker who scored 9 goals in those last 6. I went from dead last to a 11th place finish. Very very promising!

Now in my second season, the tactic worked great in pre-seaon against similar opponents but once the regular season started I have no idea what went wrong. I only managed to win 1 of my first 4 games and lost the other 4 and that same striker who has zero goals. I then decided to switch over to this tactic and so far I have 3 wins 2 draw and 2 ties but the wins have been in the cups against weaker foes and the 2 draws and 2 losses have been in the league. 10 games in and I currently find myself dead last again 1 win 2 draws 7 losses 12 GF 22 GA. Clearly I can't get my defense to work even with the tweaks.

So I'm going to list my central defense here and you all can tell me if you think they're rubbish... (keep in mind)...i'm a very small "broke" team playing with the big boys...so attracting quality is difficult.

Centre Backs - Heading - Tackling - Positioning - Pace - Marking - Anticipation

Virgilio Castro - 14 - 14 - 11 - 9 - 13 - 12

Joao Pedro - 14 - 11 - 12 - 7 - 14 - 12

Marco Goncalves -13 - 12 - 11 - 11 - 12 - 10

Robinho - 13 - 16 - 10 - 9 - 11 - 10

any thoughts? Could I just be to small of a team for Mr. Hough's tactic's??

[magnet_steve]

Hi Steve, sounds interesting. Any chance you can tell us the changes exactly or upload you're tactic? Thanks

I will post later tonight with a full overview of the tweaks I made. (When kids in bed.....too busy until then). Tactic upload in post 208. So far in 14 games: for 68 goals against 2. Won all 14. This with Anelka, Lampard and Essien injured for several weeks/few months, Drogba suspended from European games and my reserve strikers not really up to the task. The two goals I conceded were 1. Probably goal of the season by Berbatov: a 45 yard screamer into the top corner. 2. A mistake by my reserve team centre back from a corner (I decided to rest Terry and give the younster the last 20 minutes as I was 5-0 up against Fulham.

I must say that the defence rarely gets tested. Stamina is a must for all the outfileld players. Strength and speed are needed for the strikers. The wingers need to be good off the ball, good finishers, good passers and pretty quick. The left central defender needs to be brave and good at heading. I would stress bravery before heading ability, as he may be good at heading but bottle the attempt when challenged.

I will keep playing when I get the chance and hopefully give some screen shots and a full season update when I finish. Then I will test with a smaller team and see what the results are.

Mr Hough, thanks for releasing this tactic. I hope you look at what I have done and maybe get some ideas from it as I did from your original tactic.

[panosrodo]

steve do U use the target men ?

[paulic5647]

mantorras....

acc pace and teamwork are essential for your defenders pal

[13xForever]

Defence is leaky for my Newcastle team i did the tweaks. Sure i havent go the best defence in the World but letting in an average 2 goals a match is bad

[panosrodo]

Well Steve, start using your tweaked version with juve second season...Midfielders need to be like trains...they tire for fun! away from home I struggle and I concede a large amount of long shots!good effort m8

[magnet_steve]

steve do U use the target men ?

Yes. Although the tactic still seems to work without TM (I forgot to change the TM when I used my reserve strikers in a couple of games...) and still won comfortably.

Latest game Chelsea v Birmingham. 0-0 at half time. Told them I was disappointed, made 3 subs. Won 5-0.

Assistant says I struggle against teams playing a high d line. He may be right but I am now on a 15 game winning streak scoring 73 goals and conceding only 2.

[Wijnand fens]

Started 2nd season: conceded 20 goals in 16 matches.

Start second season with this tac, it's horrible!!! almost the same players as the first season, give it a few more matches

First season 108 goals finished 2nd (and that's good for my team)

update: I'm winning again, not that easy as season 1 but i'm winning.............

[panosrodo]

Steve pitch size ?

[magnet_steve]

Steve pitch size ?

I am currently minimum but I will try next game with standard. I am only 15 games into the season myself so still a lot of trial and error.

I uploaded the tactic so everone can try it and hopefully Mr Hough will get some ideas. It is not perfect, but I have seen lots of positives in my games so far. Stamina and work rate for your midfield and full backs is a must. They tire easily - but not as easily as the opposition who seem to be very tired by the end of each game.

[dking]

Whats the possession like for this tactic?

is there problems with injuries and cards?

[ron.e]

I will post later tonight with a full overview of the tweaks I made. (When kids in bed.....too busy until then). Tactic upload in post 208. So far in 14 games: for 68 goals against 2. Won all 14. This with Anelka, Lampard and Essien injured for several weeks/few months, Drogba suspended from European games and my reserve strikers not really up to the task. The two goals I conceded were 1. Probably goal of the season by Berbatov: a 45 yard screamer into the top corner. 2. A mistake by my reserve team centre back from a corner (I decided to rest Terry and give the younster the last 20 minutes as I was 5-0 up against Fulham.

I must say that the defence rarely gets tested. Stamina is a must for all the outfileld players. Strength and speed are needed for the strikers. The wingers need to be good off the ball, good finishers, good passers and pretty quick. The left central defender needs to be brave and good at heading. I would stress bravery before heading ability, as he may be good at heading but bottle the attempt when challenged.

Mr Hough, thanks for releasing this tactic. I hope you look at what I have done and maybe get some ideas from it as I did from your original tactic.

I thought i would try your tactic coz i prefer 4-4-2 to any other. It's been really good so far. It would help when you give more details in-terms of what kind of players, but thanks for the upload.

P10 W10 F42 A3 Unbelievable!!!!! especially the defensive side of it. Thanks steve

[miranda]

Mr Hough

The tweaks I have done to your tactic are giving amazing results. I will post later with some details as I have not a lot of time this afternoon. I hope you don't mind me linking this for anyone to try. It is your tactic with several changes making it a 442, but much tighter defensively and hopefully not losing too much offensive capabilities:

The OI, match preparation and pith size was the same that MrHough said?

[Ampalaea4]

To all of you having defense problems. Everything in life come with its cost and same as football.Simple you cannot have a stormy attack, scoring 3-4 times per game and at the same time have a solid defense.

In my experience, playing this game since 2000, the match engine always find a way to score against you, either you have 11 people defending or not, or you have world class defenders or not... and most of the time with a frustrating way ( an opposite player with 8 long shoots and poor attributes score from the center of the pitch, or your full concentration, decisions and composure defender give the ball to the opponent e.t.c).

What this tactic does is to score more than you concede and also provide a very entertaining football that keep you away from boredom

the results are positive at the end, depending the players you have this tactic can surely get you in higher position than other tactics around (didn't tried all tactics around to be honest, but tried a lot, plus my tactics)

[Wijnand fens]

I thought i would try your tactic coz i prefer 4-4-2 to any other. It's been really good so far. It would help when you give more details in-terms of what kind of players, but thanks for the upload.

P10 W10 F42 A3 Unbelievable!!!!! especially the defensive side of it. Thanks steve

Which team?

Test with Arsenal (all strikers injured, Diaby and Rosicky strikers) won 4-2 against Chelsea away from home!!! goed start

Second match lost Home against everton.....

[ron.e]

Which team?

Crystal palace in 2015-16 season. A really good team atm

[magnet_steve]

Miranda

I am using my assistant managers OI's (Demichellis at Chelsea), minimum pitch size and Assistants match preperation at the moment. Feel free to experiment with these as I have only had half a day to test myself.

Quick update:

Still using my tweaked Mr Hough tactics.

21 games played. 21 won. 92 goals scored. 3 conceded. (includes 4 preseason friendlies)

One game I got 2 players sent off. I then scored 2 goals and ended the last 20 minutes with 8 men after another was injured. This against Everton who are second behind me in the league. No-one seems to be able to score against me so far. Occasionally I have difficulty scoring against the opposition and have scraped a couple of 1-0 wins. My last game was 8-1 against Rangers at Stamford Bridge (Champions Cup).

[ron.e]

Miranda

I am using my assistant managers OI's (Demichellis at Chelsea), minimum pitch size and Assistants match preperation at the moment. Feel free to experiment with these as I have only had half a day to test myself.

Quick update:

Still using my tweaked Mr Hough tactics.

21 games played. 21 won. 92 goals scored. 3 conceded. (includes 4 preseason friendlies)

One game I got 2 players sent off. I then scored 2 goals and ended the last 20 minutes with 8 men after another was injured. This against Everton who are second behind me in the league. No-one seems to be able to score against me so far. Occasionally I have difficulty scoring against the opposition and have scraped a couple of 1-0 wins. My last game was 8-1 against Rangers at Stamford Bridge (Champions Cup).

Is this with the new mr hough tactic?

[NeJebi]

21 games played. 21 won. 92 goals scored. 3 conceded.

WTF? Oh cmon!

[Preveza]

Miranda

21 games played. 21 won. 92 goals scored. 3 conceded. (includes 4 preseason friendlies)

.

Screens mate, find it very hard to believe. I tested this for 9 games with Man Utd with the only signing being Kadlec, and Ive conceded 6 already in 9. Unless I see proof, I feel you might be pulling legs here

[the kaizer]

hi wich is the best version and can i have a link for the tac please?

[NeJebi]

Yeah some screenies would be nice, and if u made some extra changes to the tac other than those previously spoken about u could post the tactic as well

[magnet_steve]

I have taken a screenshot but how do I post it on here ? Never mind - I figured it out. See post below.

Amazing how people cannot believe something good when they see it.

Admittedly this tactic may not work with any other teams. I have only played it as Chelsea. Mr Hough's attacking flair has been watered down a little, but the defence is pretty solid - but then again I do have world class players that seem to fit the tactic perfectly. Only game I have really struggled in was against Man City Away. They played a 4-2-1-2-1 and Tevez played brilliantly. I was very lucky to win this game.

I will get around to posting the tweaks, but I will have to write down the original MR Hough tactic and then my tactic side by side and note the difference. I did not make any notes on this, as I messed around for many hours to get the settings I was happy with. It was not until I had played half a dozen games that I thought, Hey, I ought to tell people about this because it is working very well.

As for Man Utd leaking goals, I have mentioned earlier (and someone else posted the same), that the midfield need to have very high stamina. They are there to win the ball back. Not much fancy stuff. If you are not playing the right sort of players in these positions then you will not achieve the results I am. Hargreaves and Fletcher are probably the only 2 players at Man Utd that could do this well enough.

[magnet_steve]

Chelsea using a tweaked Mr Hough tactic.

Drogba the goal machine.

My current team.

http://www.filefront.com/17865704/Chelsea

The link.

The changes I made:

AML and AMR become ML and MR.

All passing increased by two notches.

Closing down radically altered. Everything increased to get my players behaving like wild animals.

Tackling to normal for GK.

DR, DL, MCL and MCR changed from man to zonal marking.

ML and MR changed to man marking.

Team CF decreased by 1 notch.

Team passing increased by 7 notches.

Team tempo increased by eight notches.

Team closing down increased by 1 notch.

Team timewasting increased by 1 notch.

Team Defensive line increased by 5 notches.

Lots of changes to set piece instructions that better fit my players, are defnsively sound/offer more attacking options/offer chance of a counter attack.

[miranda]

You do changes during the match?

[the_russian]

I'll try to come up with a tweaked version of this tactic. It should be better in defence but still score a lot. I'll plan to post it during the day.

[Mr Hough]

Chelsea using a tweaked Mr Hough tactic.

Drogba the goal machine.

My current team.

http://www.filefront.com/17865704/Chelsea

The link.

The changes I made:

AML and AMR become ML and MR.

All passing increased by two notches.

Closing down radically altered. Everything increased to get my players behaving like wild animals.

Tackling to normal for GK.

DR, DL, MCL and MCR changed from man to zonal marking.

ML and MR changed to man marking.

Team CF decreased by 1 notch.

Team passing increased by 7 notches.

Team tempo increased by eight notches.

Team closing down increased by 1 notch.

Team timewasting increased by 1 notch.

Team Defensive line increased by 5 notches.

Lots of changes to set piece instructions that better fit my players, are defnsively sound/offer more attacking options/offer chance of a counter attack.

Hey Steve, Thanks for having ago at making the defence better, I like this version you have posted.

Would you mind if i added it to the OP as an alternative defensive version to my Original

[joshyhealy]

Would someone explain the player search criteria to me? Do you look for a majority of attributes e.g. Strikers - Finishing - Composure - Technique - Decisions - First Touch - Off The Ball - Pace

Optional - Flair - Passing - Creativity - Anticipation - Determination. There are 13 attributes in total, so do you need a majority to have say 13 for the Championship and have all the remaining attributes above 5? The minimum majority for 13 attributes are 7, so 7 of the players attributes would have to be 13 or more to be deemed good enough for the Championship? Could someone confirm if this is correct? Also values for each league - Premiership 15+, Championship 13+, League One 12+ ?? etc... Thanks.

[Ian White]

Hi Dave, first of all a great tactic!!

Can I ask you a question I am currently playing as two teams. Arsenal and for them I am using your tactic and Weymouth who I have managed to get into The Championship, with Weymouth I am using magnet_steve's tweak tactic and I am having equal success with both tactics.

In your opinion could these two tactics be used together with one team? Or would it be like using two different tactics and the squad would have to keep getting use to the tactics each time you changed it. (Hope that made sense).

[Niall76]

Hi all,

Unfortunately, I'm really struggling with K Olsa Brakel in the Belgian Pro League. Before adopting the tactic we were 6th and on a 9 game unbeaten run, since the change our results are:

0-1 at Charleroi

0-4 v Germinal Beerschot

0-0 at Genk

0-4 v Club Brugge

and 1-2 at FC Brussels who were bottom and winless in 15 matches.

I have changed the fb marking to zonal and changed the defensive line by 2 notches.

Next, I'll try pulling the right CM to DM.

Perhaps it is a matter of getting the players used to it. They are reasonably mediocre but had done fantastically well before I changed tactics.

Any ideas, anyone?

[Ian White]

Would someone explain the player search criteria to me? Do you look for a majority of attributes e.g. Strikers - Finishing - Composure - Technique - Decisions - First Touch - Off The Ball - Pace

Optional - Flair - Passing - Creativity - Anticipation - Determination. There are 13 attributes in total, so do you need a majority to have say 13 for the Championship and have all the remaining attributes above 5? The minimum majority for 13 attributes are 7, so 7 of the players attributes would have to be 13 or more to be deemed good enough for the Championship? Could someone confirm if this is correct? Also values for each league - Premiership 15+, Championship 13+, League One 12+ ?? etc... Thanks.

I use 13 as the main search and then 10 as the Optional criteria. I also printed out Mr Hough's attributes list and did some of the work manually. So do the player search ticking include your own players and then that will tell you who in your team fits the criteria, but check your other players because quite often some of your players will be only 1 rating out. Good example is Cesc Fabregas if you look at his stats compared to Mr Hough's list for CM he is out on 2 main and 1 optional. Main - Strength (12), Tackling (11) Optional - Heading (8). So looking at that you would of course keep him.

As for the lower leagues I would do a 1 or 2 step down. So Championship down to 12 or 11 etc etc.

[the_russian]

here is my tweaked version: http://www.filefront.com/17869970/Mr Hough FM11.2 Unbeaten Tactic-russian tweaks (Mainz, Jan 2011).tac

u need at least one cm with good long shots rating, both cm's need good marking and tackling ratings but they also have to be offensive (creativity,passing,first touch)

defence is more solid now , though the lads still score a lot

do some testing and tell me if it works for u

[magnet_steve]

Mr Hough

Use what you like from the tweaks I made. Please do add it to the OP if you wish. I am currently trying to water my changes down a little so that my team is less tired and gets less injuries. I still feel that pushing up the d-line, increasing CD for defence and midfield a little, changing DR, DL, MLC, MLR to zonal and making the wingers man mark - is a better way of defending.

Just some thoughts on setting up the defence.

If the GK is given a little leeway so he can rush out, he saves a few one on ones that he would otherwise concede.

The central defence and central midfield need to stay in position so man marking should not be used. They will stay central and defend the goal, press the opposition to get the ball back and recycle the ball to the forwards and wingers.

The Full backs also need to be zonal as you come up against opposition wingers, centre forwards and wingbacks all moving into their zone. Man marking will pull them infield if the ai is using cuts inside or move into channels. Let the opposition move inside and get picked up by my 4 central players...

The 4 main attacking players I put as man marking. If they are fast, strong or skillful enough, then they will lose their marker and leave him in a cloud of dust hopefully. I like to use fast wingers and strong forwards although ideally I want forwards who are both strong and fast. My wingers ideally should have good composure and finishing too.

I Like to push up a little with the D-line as this puts pressure on the opposition. They make mistakes and we win the ball back. Too deep a d-line just invites far too much pressure and invites my team to make mistakes in dangerous areas. I am willing to risk them hitting a long ball over the top as this is pretty rare. I have decent headers in defence, so more often than not they knock it back into my midfield.

Tonight I will try lots of games with a new version of the tweaks as I think some are too severe and can maybe only work for a few teams. But like all tactics, they will only work with the right players, teamtalks, OIs, preperation and quite often a little luck.

[the_russian]

here is my tweaked version: http://www.filefront.com/17869970/Mr Hough FM11.2 Unbeaten Tactic-russian tweaks (Mainz, Jan 2011).tac

u need at least one cm with good long shots rating, both cm's need good marking and tackling ratings but they also have to be offensive (creativity,passing,first touch)

defence is more solid now , though the lads still score a lot

do some testing and tell me if it works for u

first results:

5-0 (against bayern munich, away with mainz 05)

5-0

5-1

i have pretty decent players

[miranda]

OI?

Match preparation?

Pitch size?

[the_russian]

OI?

Match preparation?

Pitch size?

i dont use OI's

pitch size is minimum

match preparation is defensive positioning (after blended in)

just won 3-2 away

[araiza]

I for trial

[Preveza]

Mr Hough

Use what you like from the tweaks I made. Please do add it to the OP if you wish. I am currently trying to water my changes down a little so that my team is less tired and gets less injuries. I still feel that pushing up the d-line, increasing CD for defence and midfield a little, changing DR, DL, MLC, MLR to zonal and making the wingers man mark - is a better way of defending.

Just some thoughts on setting up the defence.

If the GK is given a little leeway so he can rush out, he saves a few one on ones that he would otherwise concede.

The central defence and central midfield need to stay in position so man marking should not be used. They will stay central and defend the goal, press the opposition to get the ball back and recycle the ball to the forwards and wingers.

The Full backs also need to be zonal as you come up against opposition wingers, centre forwards and wingbacks all moving into their zone. Man marking will pull them infield if the ai is using cuts inside or move into channels. Let the opposition move inside and get picked up by my 4 central players...

The 4 main attacking players I put as man marking. If they are fast, strong or skillful enough, then they will lose their marker and leave him in a cloud of dust hopefully. I like to use fast wingers and strong forwards although ideally I want forwards who are both strong and fast. My wingers ideally should have good composure and finishing too.

I Like to push up a little with the D-line as this puts pressure on the opposition. They make mistakes and we win the ball back. Too deep a d-line just invites far too much pressure and invites my team to make mistakes in dangerous areas. I am willing to risk them hitting a long ball over the top as this is pretty rare. I have decent headers in defence, so more often than not they knock it back into my midfield.

Tonight I will try lots of games with a new version of the tweaks as I think some are too severe and can maybe only work for a few teams. But like all tactics, they will only work with the right players, teamtalks, OIs, preperation and quite often a little luck.

Mate sounds promising. If you can PM me your work in progress, would love to test. As Im a big fan of the flat 442.