Lord Dakier Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 ########################## #SEASON ONE IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP # ######################### So I'm about 1/3 through the season and have suffered defeat after defeat. I currently remain in the lowest position in the championship as Shrewsbury Town. My own tactics that got me promoted have stopped working and none of the tactics used on here seemed to have provided any results. So question is... Can someone turn this team around show me what it is I'm doing wrong? The formation http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198005351465/screenshot/522653693021694337?tab=public The away formation http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198005351465/screenshot/522653693022455532/?tab=public The Save http://www.gamefront.com/files/21350691/Shrewsbury+FC.fm End report: Shrewsbury stayed up on 49 points in the 20th positon, the winners and losers we're the following; Winners: Cardiff Promoted: Reading Play-off Winners: Birmingham Play-off: Leicester Play-off: Leeds Play-off: Peterborough 20th: Shrewbury - 49points 21st: Preson - 49points Relegated: QPR - 49points Relegated: Charlton - 47points Relegated: Portsmouth - 46points ########################## #SEASON TWO IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP# ######################### As you know I just about survived the championship. This was a chance for me to turn around the team. Now after being lectured about the lack of mental attributes in the team and my stubborness in not buying older players I decided one thing. I'd go out and get some young talent with mental attributes. Only then did Sergio Mora my main and best scout shine. 2 new strikers under 21 joined with good stats, I think we even have the next Henry here too! I got a new CB to replace Alex Grant and my god he has performed well. I'll show some of the team later on but for now Tactics. We've developed 3 tactics, well 2 and a half. First my personal favourite which has made surprising results in the opening of the league. 4-5-1 http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7...22/?tab=public The idea used in this formation is that the midfield can be adjusted to however I wanted, the wingers can forwards for more attack without risking too much at the back and the default position seen here can help retain more of the ball. I have noticed how the wingers of the opposition can become trapped between my full backs and wingers which cause them to often pass into the centre where theres the 2 centre backs and 3 midfielders who will claw back the ball. Ofcourse the only downside is the 1 striker, in FM poachers I find much less usefull they used to be, eventually the wingers and 2 of 3 midfielders will come forward, but this formation has been my favourite so far. 4-4-2 Flat http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7...16/?tab=public This is probably more the teams favourite rather than my own. The idea is simple go forward without leaving the defence in capable of handling a counter attack. I've still to test it in the new season properly but it seems to have worked in its first trial. With such a good choice of strikers in the team we can have usually one poacher and one target man. Its probably wise to have a target man on support but I like the idea of the individual crafting their own chances should they get the opportunity, not to mention my poachers had trouble scoring last season. 4-2-3-1 http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7...99/?tab=public This is the formation I want the team to be playing eventually, its still heavily in test phase however. The idea is realistically get the ball forward and watch as the team develops a can of whoop ass from all sorts of angles, the ST and AM's are supposed to be able to launch attack after attack and be at a position where they can recieve the ball, decide whether to pass or shoot then follow up that action. Its still heavily in the test phase however and does suffer defensively. I'd appreciate if anyone could also hand over some tips for these formations. I'm going to keep this thread updated while I go through my season and possibly my next season. End report: Shrewsbury stayed up on 56 points in the 20th positon, the winners and losers we're the following; http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7...65665322539602 All in all it wasn't a bad season. I feel more could of been achieved with this season however. Perhaps we will look towards the play offs in the new season. I really do find the championship the hardest league in the game though. If there's anyone I want to praise it has to be my 19 year old Henry-in-the-making. In 38 appearances he scored 18 goals and I reckon thats pretty impressive for his age too. Give another year or two and I'll be fighting to keep him at Shrewsbury. http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7...65665322601113 Right I guess onto the 3rd season in the championship we go! PS - I had a strange person approach me, offering the services of a somewhat familiar face to us all. Even though I didn't want another striker, I couldn't refuse this one! http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198005351465/screenshot/505765665322741358 ############################ #SEASON THREE IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP # ########################## Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wookie Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 i've got a tactic that ive developed that you could try, i would be interested in some feedback. i could email to you? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
furiousuk Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I'm pretty sure this'll get closed but maybe not if you provide a lot more info about why you think your tactics have stopped working as your post doesn't give me much to go on and not many people will be willing to download an unknown file to their computer! I'm guessing what you're experiencing is due to suddenly being a small fish in a bigger pond i.e. your tactics worked when you were the big fish but now you are up against better talent you need to adapt your tactic (and your team) to your new surroundings. Generally speaking, downloading a tactic won't provide you with long term success unless you play by the same rules that the creator of the tactic does (i.e. if it's a tactic for technical, quick players then you're going to have to create a squad with technical, quick players for it to work, even then there is a massive difference between being the underdog or the favourite so one size will not fit all in FM, unless it exploits an ME bug, of which I think only one serious bug remains and its easily circumvented if you want to play the honest way). I can't be any more specific (and neither will anyone else) unless you tell us more about your team and tactic and what sort of situations you're struggling in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Dakier Posted February 20, 2012 Author Share Posted February 20, 2012 Ok well my team consists of 2 good forwards. The wingers are also excellent, the failure seems to be the 2 CM's and back 4. I have one DC who's stats are very good but I can't get him to perform too well. To be honest It probably is the case of being the little fish but I need to stay in the league and I'm a month away from the january transfer window with no money and no wages. Realistically I need to sell off one of my very young upcoming players for good value. My keeper is soon to be premier standard but with the back 4 not doing their job sometimes he's just on his own. EDIT - Also in the last 14 games I've conceded 9 goals in the first 10 minutes, that HAS to be a bug surely. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wookie Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Conceding early on in games has to be team talks, that normally happens to me. Just keep at it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Dakier Posted February 20, 2012 Author Share Posted February 20, 2012 Well I'm a little confused as to what to say, I used to goodluck against bigger teams and it would work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falahk Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 you might wanna upload a mirror on a site that dont requier ppl to register in order to dl it anyway im willing to give this a try to see how well I can do with my own tactical approch, much since I need a challange, and something to do while waiting for the patch after finaly winning la liga with athletic in the 15/16 season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Dakier Posted February 20, 2012 Author Share Posted February 20, 2012 Sorry about that, I'll reupload somewhere else. I wasn't a member and downloaded from there in the past but never mind. I'll also correct the original post. new link: http://www.gamefront.com/files/21350691/Shrewsbury+FC.fm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falahk Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Im going to post updates kind of in a manner of how I would do a thread in the carear updates forum, first thing im going to take a look at will be pretty much the same thing as always when one start a new save, organise the backroom and have a good look at the players (this part will take a fair bit of time) from the first glances it seams I have a relativly young team with a healthy amount of pace, but with very little footballing brain to work with and just like mentioned, im spending more then my wage budget let me (this will have to be sorted to provide a fail safe so that I dont get sacked even if I underpreform for a period of games) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Dakier Posted February 20, 2012 Author Share Posted February 20, 2012 Im curious to see the changes you make. To be honest you won't get sacked if you see the history, the chairman practically loves me from past events. As for the side, I wanted to try and get myself a team that could sort of grow into the championship/premier. Alex Nimely last season was fantastic for me but has been very sloppy this season. EDIT - By the way thats not me in the manager profile picture, I like to play 3rd person lol. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falahk Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 seams to be all types of goals from the pair of matches I have watched, could very well be a combination of poor man managment, a squad that is somewhat lacking in mental attributes, tactics, and much like furiousuk pointed out, a small fish in a bigger pond kind of situation I will be playing on this save that Lord Dakier have uploaded, probably until the 3rd patch arrives (or when I get distracted back to my Athletic team) and do my best to explain how I am breaking out of the somewhat sticky situation this Shrewsbury Town team is in, hopefully that part can turn into a resonable debat about tactics Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Dakier Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 I think Falahk pretty much summed it up. Its my own fault obviously cause I lack the knowledge of what players need for what positions effectively. Then you get 200 different theories from 200 different people. Same with tactics. Its pretty poor how FM doesn't really explain the benefits and penalties in detail. I'm guessing with a low mentality team, creative freedom should be lowered but then I hear that strikers need a lot more creative freedom. Personally I think I'm just lost in all the different theories. EDIT - On a signed note I'm no longer bottom of the league but bottom but one... maybe, just maybe Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
furiousuk Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 If you give the community here a little more to go on then someone will be able to help you grow your knowledge. Fm is very daunting for new players. My only advice at this stage is to use the tactics creator as everything is far more intuitive then. Feel free to make shouts but don't make them all at once, you'll just confuse your players (exactly the same as real-life). About the 200 theories, well thats part of what makes football so addictive, everyone has an opinion on things and those opinions can wildly differ. To start with, whats your formation and player roles (list each player role and mentality)? What team instructions (philosophy & strategy) are you using? In fact, here's a link to a jpeg with that info, give us all that info (you don't have to jpeg it, just write it out) and that will give us all something to go on tactically. Try also to answer the questions Cleon posted above if you really want a good answer to try and help you out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Dakier Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 Ok, this is the basic of what my team plays home formation http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198005351465/screenshot/522653693021694337?tab=public away formation http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198005351465/screenshot/522653693022455532/?tab=public Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LlamaZA Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I'm going to shamelessly plug my own thread here: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/292499-Tactics-Creating-your-own-tactic I haven't seen the save or anything, but I'd be interested in how you decided upon your tactic. My time is limited at the moment, but if I do find time, I'll see if I can save Shrewsbury and post results. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davehanson Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 First thing, gamefront is saying the save game is not available at the moment. Can you just have a look at it please. From looking at the tactic screen you posted, there will be plenty of more qualified people on here, but my opinion: It is far too attacking to be used all the time. In my opinion you can't just use one tactic anymore and hope it will work all the time. You say you have been promoted, so my guess would be that whilst you were one of the strongest teams in the lower division, and an attacking tactic such as that would probably work 90% of the time, now you have made the step-up in class, you need to play more defensive against certain opposition. I don't like to think of home and away tactics, but think more in terms of real life. For instance Fulham (mid-table premiership team), would play a fairly attacking game at home to Blackburn. Even away to Blackburn they would probably look to hold their own, they wouldn't necessarily be defensive against them. However, Fulham at home to Manchester United would probably accept that they are going to be dominated and play a counter attacking game. Away to United they would probably play a very defensive game and look to score from set-pieces. If I was you I would try to develop a fairly basic 4-5-1 counter game, standing off the oposition and man-marking. I would use man marking as I find it better to use it with poorer players than zonal marking. Zonal requires higher mental atributes so players know when to pick up players. At a lower level they don't have these required atributes (in my opinion). And as furiosuk has said don't touch the defensive line etc, leave it as the tactic creator sets it. Then watch some matches and see how it is performing. You will have to give it time, especially as you are part-way through a season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
furiousuk Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Looks pretty good (I can't comment on players as I don't know them, I had Tyler Blackett once a long time ago, he has some real talent but his technicals and mentals never improved to come in line with his physicals, real shame. Sorry, went off on one!). Some things that jump out at me (bear in mind this is just my opinion). Playing with AMR/AML when you're struggling defensively is very very difficult, I only managed to move away from a flat back 4 and flat midfield 4 once I had really quite good players. I tried a 433/451 and a 4231 in the lower divisions but never got it working, mainly because my FB's weren't good enough to provide attacking support and defence and my midfielders weren't good enough decision-makers - this might be something your team is also struggling with. I'd probably suggest moving your wingers back into the MR/ML slots and possibly increasing their duty to attack, this won't make much difference to your attack (the players might get slightly more tired though) but will provide much more defence. Your team is a little 'stuck in their strata' too i.e. your players tend to operate in bands with little movement in between. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but might well be contributing to your issues. I'd stick one of the midfielders on a defence duty (probably the BWM but I'll come back to that in a minute) and change your TGM to a support duty. This will allow your midfield and attack partnerships to occupy different depths on the pitch which means that you can create the oft-sought-after passing triangles far easier. Now, that BWM. You have to be very very careful with a BWM. I used a BWM-def/Adv.PM-supp combo in the middle of my lower league 442 for ages but didn't understand why I'd occasionally be over-run at the back until much later. The BWM has very high levels of closing down compared to those around him which means that he can get dragged out of position fairly easily - this is a big problem if you're wanting him to be your defensive rock. I did read a good article that the BWM could be used a more aggressive midfielder in-front of a defensive holding player so, in your case, a BWM-supp/DLP-def combo could be very successful if you have a suitable DLP in your squad. This combo would allow the BWM to hare around and cause havoc in the midfield whilst allowing the DLP to clear up if his BWM partner gets pulled out of position and leaves gaps. Whilst I've written quite a lot none of it will drastically alter your team, it will just (in my opinion) make it slightly more rounded. I'd also not bother manually selecting your team instructions, the shouts can do that. In your case, 'push higher up' increases your d-line, 'play wider' gets them wider, tempo is a bit more difficult (I can't remember if retain possession lowers tempo, it also lowers width and passing length though), time wasting is also not available as a shout but both tempo and time wasting will change as you change mentality. You're using a balanced philosophy and a basic rule of thumb for a 'standard' mentality is to use 3 defensive duties, 4 support duties and 3 attack duties. You're very close to doing that anyway but it's something to think about. An 'attacking' mentality would use 3 def duties, 2 supp, 5 attacks whereas a defensive one would use 5 defs, 2 supps, 3 atts - this is all handled automatically if you leave your FB's on auto as you have done. Also, just to confirm, you haven't manually set any player instructions? If you have then all of your player roles will be different and you can probably disregard most that I've written!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Dakier Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 Away formation http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198005351465/screenshot/522653693022455532/?tab=public sorry I do have also a second formation mainly for away games, I should of posted that too. Regarding the save game, yes gamefront often plays up, give it some time and it should work again. Yeah I try and change tactics depending on the situation but in most cases it seems I've conceded before then. I find myself struggling with games but then suddenly hammering a team. Which is odd. Regarding furiousuk and tactics, yeah they've been auto set in the player instructions for most tactics. Like I said I found the shout system a bit confusing, I'll give it a go and see what I can conjur up though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
knap Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Good luck but you can probably stay up. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davehanson Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Okay, managed to get the saved game downloaded. Like furiousuk, I will try to make my 'report' seem like some sort of sense and order to it. Well, I loaded up the game and went straight to the squad screen. The first thing I always look for is the mental attributes of the entire squad, to get a picture of how determined the team is and what their work rate/teamwork is like. I always look for this regardless of what team, and what level I am playing at. My initial impressions were not good. The squad, as a whole, has quite low determination/team-work & workrate. To me these three things are essential in this game, especially if you are struggling or going through a bad patch. If you look at the mid-table team (Crystal Palace 12th position), you can see a notable difference. And if you look at the top side currently in the division (Reading), there is an even bigger difference. There is nothing I can do about that now, but towards the end of December, just before the transfer window, I will scour the transfer market to see if I can find any old heads on a free transfer with high determination etc. Looking at your finances I do think that at least one player may have to leave in December. This won't be a decision I take lightly, because lets be honest, we are not going to rake in a fortune from any of them. I will have to consider if I sell any of them, can I bring in replacements. It is pointless selling players if it doesn't reduce the wage total sufficiently to allow us to bring in a couple of players. Tactics. I have devised 3 basic tactics that I will play around with as the reaminder of the season goes on. My Philosophy is the same for all of them - Very fluid. Why? Well, again, personal preference I suppose. The mentality split of the players when you use very fluid is the smallest there is. We attack as a team and defend as a team. There will (or at least shouldn't) be large gaps between my lines for opposition players to exploit. I am also going to use man-marking in all my tactics. I am going to use this because I feel it is easier for poor(er) players to use than zonal. Zonal requires a player to make a decision as to when to pick up a player. The three tactics I made were a flat 4-4-2, a 4-3-3 (with a DMC, 2x MC, AML, AMR & ST) and a 4-5-1 (DMC, flat midfield 4 & ST). I don't particularly want to use the 4-3-3 tactic (with the AML & AMR) at the moment as I feel it could leave the full-backs a little exposed, and I don't think the defence is good enough to cope with that. I will therefore mainly be using the 4-4-2 and 4-5-1, with shouts as I see fit. First game - v Preston (Home) I started with the 4-5-1 formation. I have to be honest it didn't start great! We were 1-0 down within 20 seconds. We didn't even get a touch of the ball as Preston played straight through the middle of us and the 2 central defenders parted like the red sea. As soon as the goal went in I immediately used the shouts 'play narrower' and 'exploit the flanks'. I wanted to keep my central defenders much closer together and not get pulled apart like that. However, at the same time, I still wanted to be able to get the ball wide as I feel 2 of the better players for Shrewsbury are Jelenic and Jakobs - the two wingers. We went 2-0 down in the 22nd minute. Long ball forward to the preston striker Hossen, who was allowed time to chest it down, turn, and play a ball to Hulme, who had made a run off of Long (our centre back), who smashed it past our keeper from about 10 yards. Lesson learned about that goal? Well perhaps we were standing off too much, but I think it is just more a case of the players still trying to become familiar with the man-marking system. If we had marked Hulme properly, who was the only Preston runner going forward, then Hossen would have either had to go back or try to dribble past 3 defenders. I won't change anything at this point. Fairly even remainder of the half. We reduce Preston to a couple of long-range efforts, but nothing clear cut or decisive. We have some speculative efforts from the edge of the box, but again not great chances. We get a good chance on 32 minutes when Ntambwe played a good ball through to Djermanovic who found himself 1 on 1 on the 6 yard line with just the keeper to beat, but hit it straight at him. At half time I decided to change to my 4-4-2. I told the team (calmly) that I knew they could do better. A couple of players gained confidence. The second half was very even. No real goalscoring threats from either side. I continued to play narrower whilst exploiting the flanks as I didn't want to get overrun in the centre of midfield. We had a reasonable oppurtunity on 60 mins when Jelenic blasted over from 10 yards out after being put through with just the keeper to beat. We also had a couple of semi chances from set-pieces. Preston were awarded a penalty on 84 mins when Jack slid in on Hulme. The commentary said the penalty decision was harsh. There was no need for Jack to slide in really as Hulme still had Long to beat before he was on the keeper. But, they scored from the penalty to make the final score 3-0. I have learned from this game that moral is rock bottom. The players were playing without confidence, and it showed. I said at full time (calmly) that we should be a lot better than that. A few players seemes fired up. Although the score line seems one sided it wasn't that bad a game. : Preston only had 3 shots on target the entire game. : They had 13 shots in total (9 off target and 1 blocked) : 2 clear cut chances & 2 half chances : Possesion 47%-53% in Prestons favour. : We had 2 shots on target : We had 9 shots in total (6 off target & 1 blocked) : we had 1 clear cut chance and 3 half chances. Other things to note from the stats was that our defence passing complete % was very low - just 53%. On further investigation, our 2 full-backs passing was not too bad - up at around the 74-75% mark. Our 2 central defenders however were down to 60% and our goalkeepers passing was just 45%. I will need to fiddle around with those quite a bit and see why they are so low. Away v Birmingham I decided to go into this with the same 4-5-1 formation. Birmingham are just simply, on paper, a far better team than us. They lay in 5th in the Championship and have a team easily good enough to gain promotion. They usually play a 4-3-3 formation with AML & AMR's. I chose the 4-5-1 to combat this. I need to give support to my full-backs, so using wide midfielders at MR & ML is essential. I will have the 'spare' man at centre back with me having two centre-backs and Birmingham playing just the one striker. That should give me enough cover. In central midfield I match them numerically, and will use my DMC as a anchor man, 1 cetnral midfielder will sit in midfield and pass the ball about and the other will push on to support our lone target man. Well, that's the idea anyway!I didn't use any shouts at the beginning of the game, I wanted to see how things would settle down first.The match played out exactly as I thought, and in some ways hoped it would. Birmingham dominated possesion from the outset. However, in the first half they created just one clear cut chance, Lozano recieved the ball on the halfway line, shrugged off Jack (one centre back) before running at my remaining defender (Long), he beat him and took a shot from the edge of the area, but put it wide. Birmingham had about 15 shots in total in the first half, but watching them all back on the Analysis, none of them were what I would describe as good chances. The majority were either outside the box, or tight angles, or heavily marked. 2nd half, and I didn't change anything. I told them at half time I thought they did okay, but could do better, which seemed to motivate most of them. Birmingham continued to dominate possesion, but could not do anything with it. We restricted them to just 5 shots on target the entire match and just the one clear cut chance in the first half. We were disciplined defensively and stood our ground. In the 63rd minute we were awarded a penalty when Blackett played a ball through to Djermanovic, who was pulled down when through on goal, inside the area. Miguel Martin buried the penalty to make it 1-0 to us. We had a couple of other chances, most notably through Jacobs when he was put through on 65 minutes only to shoot at the keeper. I closed the last 15 minutes out by using the shouts 'play narrower', 'retain possesion' and 'stay on feet'. We won 1-0. Great result. : Birmingham had a total of 21 shots, 5 on target (1 clear cut, 8 half chances, 5 blocked and 11 off target) : Birmingham had 65% possession : We had 5 shots, 4 on target (1 clear cut, 3 half chances and 1 blocked) Other things to note: I still need to further sort out my defensive passing, it was down to 40% completed in this game, which just is not good enough. On a positive note, clean sheet and we looked solid in defense. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Dakier Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 Its brilliant how you came up against the better team and manage to win even with so little possession. See I always thought that the more fluid your team were the more technique they need. I saw rigid as more for inferior teams. Brilliant that you've managed to beat them. Looking back, I actually lost 3-0 to birmingham and beat preston 4-3. EDIT - So I managed to save my team come end of the season. Last game and I needed QPR or Charlton to lose, QPR beat Leeds who are now promoted to the prem and Charlton lose 2-1 to Barnsley... not too damn bad! Still got some major alterations to make to this team though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falahk Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Introducing the tactics I have put into match prep My prefared formation on the last couple of fm's, built around late runs and flexibility in attack, and fluid defense, originaly the intention was to play a bit similar to Barcelona, but considering how the tactic have evolved over time there's probably more of myself in it and possibly a slightly more conservative intrepetation of the playing style Spalletti employed at Roma. so unlike davehanson, Im playing with a thight zonal marking system, and with players in the AMR/L strata, normaly I would use this tactic with a more technicaly gifted team but since I have fast wingers, it will probably still work on this level Basic, direct, rigid and flat 4-4-2, somewhat well structured, composed of a holding defense and central midfielders, two attacking wingers and two attacking strikers. The clear advantage with this formation is that I can have two forwards in the box at all time and basicly just punt it on them and hope the ball drop down at the right place at some point during a match, and it is a lot more easy to find good british players to play in this style which is a big advantage and I can get away with having a mentaly and technicaly inepth squad, the main problem I can see with playing this style is the lack of a left footed winger in the squad so for now it will prolly be my secound chose formation a personal favorite of mine (no shock really considering that I'm a fan of italian footy), I mostly use it to carve holes in big teams using 4-2-3-1 or similar formations, or when my team play like crap and hence need to score in a match....I do not really have the players to play this on a regular basis much since its very dependant on having a pacy and creative AMC and good wing backs, while the rest should be coverd by old and mentaly strong lads (in short I dont really have the team to play like this at all, but if I really feel I need to, I will use it) Going into the first match as mentioned I had a good look at the squad, I noticed that the medical department was slightly undermaned, and hence Marty Royal, a pretty decent physio became my first signing, I will also look to add a gk coach as fast as I can find a suitable one, I also swiflty renewed the contracts of Kevin Long and Gavin Morrison, I recon that both of them are important players for me right now and that they would probably be able to do a job as back ups or rotation players at a higher level. Im considering to sell Jelenic (to slow for any of the roles I can see him preforming, he will probably never cut it at a higher level and I already have a fair few right footed wingers) and Im also considering to sell Nimely to free up wage team polecys was slightly rejiged (I like to have full control over the youth intake amoung other things), and I cleared out the training and tactics you had saved on the drop down lists to keep things tidy, I want to know what I can expect from the training so I reverted to defult and changed specific training focus on pretty much every player to suit my own needs as perparation I also watched the Derby match and spoted that both strikers playing in the fixture had been gash (Dejan and Pelegrin), they where both handed warnings for poor preformace, failure will no longer be rewarded at this club, which brings us to the next point....its not acceptable to put in poor preformance in training: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falahk Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 at the Greenhouse Meadow against Preston after glancing on the Preston squad we discoverd that they like to play a 4-4-2 (which is good news for me), and that they possibly have a squad that is worse then mine (even better), the bigest enemy was always going to be my own team in this fixture, with low moral, questionable form, some of the first team players are a bit knackered, and still somewhat uncomfortable with my tactics but regardless of that I was still confident we could do what was needed, and I picked the following squad, mostly basing my sellection on fitness: and how did the match unfold? it was a pretty unspectacular and scrappy 1-0 win, a dull first half, where Benik had an opertunity he really should have scored on, and Long had a couple of tries on corners but he did not head it in the right direction, after assertivly showing our disapointment with the dull first half. The secound was a tad better and the goal finaly came in the 71st min, a corner got passed back to Morrison (the corner taker in this case) who promptly corssed the ball back into the box for Boli to slot home, a pretty scrappy goal, but oh well it did the trick, Preston had there one and only chanse early on in the first half where having two right footed center backs almost ended up costing me, but other then that we shut them out and restricted them to long shoots a win is a win and hence I was passionatly delighted about it, sparking some good reactions, I also stuck to the same tactic for the full match, had no reason to make any changes other then substitutions for tiered/injured players (and this time it was mostly like for like kind of replacments so no game changing tricks this time, and it was not really needed anyway) Spurr going of so early will be a bit of a problem since I was hoping to have a fit Blackett for the Birmingham match, but thankfully none of the injuries was long term and ofcorse, the fans love my tactics: -------------- if anyone is intrested in more screenshots or pkm's, feel free to ask Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LlamaZA Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 This thread is becoming something amazing. Really enjoying the reads so far. Love that we have two different methods and styles coming through, that both seem to have had some success (would need to see some sustained improvement for it to mean anything). PS - are you carrying on as the old manager, or resigning and starting fresh? I also wonder if that would have any bearing on the morale of the team. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleon Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 This thread is becoming something amazing. Really enjoying the reads so far. Love that we have two different methods and styles coming through, that both seem to have had some success (would need to see some sustained improvement for it to mean anything). PS - are you carrying on as the old manager, or resigning and starting fresh? I also wonder if that would have any bearing on the morale of the team. Was just reading the thread and was thinking the same thing about the way it's developed. And people think that the tactics forum isn't helpful pffft Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falahk Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 PS - are you carrying on as the old manager, or resigning and starting fresh? I also wonder if that would have any bearing on the morale of the team. I was giving that some thought, but decieded not to, firstly becouse I have never retiered and added new managers to an ongoing game before (so in order to do it I would first need to figure out how to do it), and secoundly becouse I would be playing a different game compared to the op if I did, and that would in turn make it a slightly different challange Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Dakier Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 I'm loving this, just seeing how you do different things to what I do really helps. To be honest, I rarely even look at what formation the opposition play till the match has started. Thats one change I'll be making straight away. I look to definitely toughen up my approach on the players. I am a bit lost with team talks however as I find high standards can worsen morale (red background) but can it also make them play better even though it has damaged the morale? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
knap Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Changing managers can help if you start seeing silly pens and errors. Just by changing mangers but same tactics and team you can change a losing side into a winning side. I gave the Ass Man all the duties I can and with Preston used a 4231 formation. Next game Birmingham was a 0-0 using a 451 formation. Wigan game used 442 and Sheff Wed 451. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Dakier Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 What instructions do you use for your 4-2-3-1 formation Knap? I've selected it for the new season too to add pressure upfront but I'm interested with mainly how you'll keep the 'hoofers' at bay? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
knap Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I only used 4231 as Nimley was injured and you have AMR/L. The tactc is available for download if you want to check settings but it is Classic and uses simple team instructions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
szp Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Zonal requires higher mental atributes so players know when to pick up players. Which mental attributes are crucial for zonal marking (besides anticipation and decisions) ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
furiousuk Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Which mental attributes are crucial for zonal marking (besides anticipation and decisions) ? I often quote this from a thread by ZdlR Zonal marking requires positioning, anticipation, teamwork, concentration and decisions while man marking requires marking, workrate and concentration. When tightly man-marking, defenders need physical attributes like agility and strength so that they aren't out-muscled or turned easily. Loose man marking places more onus on positioning. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbobBRFC Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I'm loving this, just seeing how you do different things to what I do really helps. To be honest, I rarely even look at what formation the opposition play till the match has started. Thats one change I'll be making straight away. I look to definitely toughen up my approach on the players. I am a bit lost with team talks however as I find high standards can worsen morale (red background) but can it also make them play better even though it has damaged the morale? A red background can still mean a player has a good game the only real "bad" reactions are confused and demotivated. From memory I seem to remember having games were a red background player in half time team talk turned it on in the second half and massively improved. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Dakier Posted February 23, 2012 Author Share Posted February 23, 2012 I just want to share some recent news really. As you know I just about survived the championship. This was a chance for me to turn around the team. Now after being lectured about the lack of mental attributes in the team and my stubborness in not buying older players I decided one thing. I'd go out and get some young talent with mental attributes. Only then did Sergio Mora my main and best scout shine. 2 new strikers under 21 joined with good stats, I think we even have the next Henry here too! I got a new CB to replace Alex Grant and my god he has performed well. I'll show some of the team later on but for now Tactics. We've developed 3 tactics, well 2 and a half. First my personal favourite which has made surprising results in the opening of the league. 4-5-1 http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198005351465/screenshot/504639410800075822/?tab=public The idea used in this formation is that the midfield can be adjusted to however I wanted, the wingers can forwards for more attack without risking too much at the back and the default position seen here can help retain more of the ball. I have noticed how the wingers of the opposition can become trapped between my full backs and wingers which cause them to often pass into the centre where theres the 2 centre backs and 3 midfielders who will claw back the ball. Ofcourse the only downside is the 1 striker, in FM poachers I find much less usefull they used to be, eventually the wingers and 2 of 3 midfielders will come forward, but this formation has been my favourite so far. 4-4-2 Flat http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198005351465/screenshot/504639410800077016/?tab=public This is probably more the teams favourite rather than my own. The idea is simple go forward without leaving the defence in capable of handling a counter attack. I've still to test it in the new season properly but it seems to have worked in its first trial. With such a good choice of strikers in the team we can have usually one poacher and one target man. Its probably wise to have a target man on support but I like the idea of the individual crafting their own chances should they get the opportunity, not to mention my poachers had trouble scoring last season. 4-2-3-1 http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198005351465/screenshot/504639410800078599/?tab=public This is the formation I want the team to be playing eventually, its still heavily in test phase however. The idea is realistically get the ball forward and watch as the team develops a can of whoop ass from all sorts of angles, the ST and AM's are supposed to be able to launch attack after attack and be at a position where they can recieve the ball, decide whether to pass or shoot then follow up that action. Its still heavily in the test phase however and does suffer defensively. I'd appreciate if anyone could also hand over some tips for these formations. I'm going to keep this thread updated while I go through my season and possibly my next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falahk Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Away vs Birmingham I knew all along that this was going to be a tricky fixture, I have always had a bit trubble geting to grips with teams playing 4-3-3/4-5-1, in particular if they have a sagnificantly better squad then me and score the first goal, and my fears was indeed confirmed I went with the 4-3-3 in the hope that I could contain them and maybe if I had a good day put some pressure on them: however, as it turned out, it was not a good day, we spent the first 30min geting pushed back, faceing attack after attack, compleatly unable to knock the ball down and play any attacking of our own, so unsuprisingly, I felt that I had to do something about it, and this was when I made a tactical nose dive that most probably lost me the game, I changed to the 4-4-2 with the hope that an additional striker would provide me with a better chanse of playing the ball out of defense and maybe that if I brought it wide I could with a bit of luck play around them instead of constantly geting stuck in the center like had been the case for most of the first half. Instead I was handed a grim reminder of why my own 4-3-3/4-5-1 tactic work so well against crappy teams playing 4-4-2, in this case I think the 4-4-2 would only have worked if I could have imposed my own game on them ether technicaly or physicaly, in this case I could do none of that and my tactical change simply played right into the hands of the birmingham manager, Frimpong of all players found enough space where my DM would normaly be and that was pretty much the begining of the end. I suspect my players moral got a bit butt hurt by it, since they decieded it was a good plan to conced a goal on a corss on the very next attack. I had no other chose then to go for it, in came the 3-1-2-3-1 dispite me not having the squad for it (and it showed), but it did look a bit better, I managed to create a couple of decent chanse and Boli poped up again to make it 2-1, but in the end it was not to be, I was not creating anywhere close to enough to turn things around and towards the very end Zigic picked down a long kick from the gk, found space between my fullback and cb and pretty much found himself one on one with my keeper, 3-1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Dakier Posted February 24, 2012 Author Share Posted February 24, 2012 Its terrible when you have take the risk and it doesn't pay off but this Birmingham side did get promotion in my game Falahk so not to worry. Im curious as to who features in your first team mainly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falahk Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Its terrible when you have take the risk and it doesn't pay off but this Birmingham side did get promotion in my game Falahk so not to worry. Im curious as to who features in your first team mainly. Im more annoyed by the fact that Im to blame for the lose, in retrospect, I should have stuck by the 4-3-3 longer then I did, and then maybe gone for 3-1-2-3-1 instead if I was to make any kind of change late on in the game, I simply paniced and picked the wrong formation in situation where it was not well suited, I really should have known better as for first team it dont seam very set in stone just yet (I have only played 4 matches so far), and I always rotate my squad a lot, I have already sold Jelenic thought, so I dont think you will see much of him when im posting starting line ups and such as a part of the match reports Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falahk Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 at the Greenhouse Meadow against Wigan one more 4-4-2, and it also had potential to be a tricky one, so again we lined up with the 4-3-3 we seamed to be in control for much of this match however, had a fair bit of chanses and a fair bit of set pices, and indeed, our goal also came from one of those, but sadly it all came to nothing since I got undone by a spectacular long shoot oh well, a draw against Wigan aint that bad of a result Away vs Sheffield Wednesday Steve Kean had just been apointed, so it was time to wheal out the 4-3-1-2: looked pretty decent early on, and grabed a deserved early lead.....at the 60min mark I reverted back to the 4-3-3 to close the match out, the defending looked a bit shaky at times, and maybe was a bit lucky to pull it of in the end, but we collected all the points we aimed for Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Dakier Posted February 26, 2012 Author Share Posted February 26, 2012 So once again a few weeks have passed on the managing side of things and Shrewsbury are currently performing above expectactions which is good no doubt. Aside from the fact the manager is very doubtful of promotion he also feels safe that they can avoid relegation. So just some recent news on how things have coming along. I was pretty impressed by my last game as Sheffield United was 2nd in the league just below Preston (who was fighting relegation last year oddly enough). This wonderfull 2-0 performance got my young blood striker Orial Jeanvier who is now 19, get man of the match. He didn't score but put in a valiant performance against a failing Sheffield United side. Thought I'd also show his attributes to show him off a little too Current Fixture Results: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198005351465/screenshot/505765665297942705/? The league standings thus far: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198005351465/screenshot/505765665297939856/? My new favourite, thinking of nicknaming him Henry Jr: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198005351465/screenshot/505765665297945726/? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleon Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 So once again a few weeks have passed on the managing side of things and Shrewsbury are currently performing above expectactions which is good no doubt. Aside from the fact the manager is very doubtful of promotion he also feels safe that they can avoid relegation. So just some recent news on how things have coming along. I was pretty impressed by my last game as Sheffield United was 2nd in the league just below Preston (who was fighting relegation last year oddly enough). This wonderfull 2-0 performance got my young blood striker Orial Jeanvier who is now 19, get man of the match. He didn't score but put in a valiant performance against a failing Sheffield United side. Thought I'd also show his attributes to show him off a little too Current Fixture Results: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198005351465/screenshot/505765665297942705/? The league standings thus far: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198005351465/screenshot/505765665297939856/? My new favourite, thinking of nicknaming him Henry Jr: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198005351465/screenshot/505765665297945726/? Have you posted this in bugs forum? Theres no way you should be able to beat us Blades Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Dakier Posted February 26, 2012 Author Share Posted February 26, 2012 Hey I deserve something with how much this team infuriates me What do you thinkg of the young'un? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falahk Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 why was you training Pelegrin to hug line btw? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Dakier Posted February 27, 2012 Author Share Posted February 27, 2012 I was playing him on the wing so my assistant must of suggested it and at the time I went along with it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Dakier Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 End report: Shrewsbury stayed up on 56 points in the 20th positon, the winners and losers we're the following; http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198005351465/screenshot/505765665322539602 All in all it wasn't a bad season. I feel more could of been achieved with this season however. Perhaps we will look towards the play offs in the new season. I really do find the championship the hardest league in the game though. If there's anyone I want to praise it has to be my 19 year old Henry-in-the-making. In 38 appearances he scored 18 goals and I reckon thats pretty impressive for his age too. Give another year or two and I'll be fighting to keep him at Shrewsbury. http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198005351465/screenshot/505765665322601113 Right I guess onto the 3rd season in the championship we go! PS - I had a strange person approach me, offering the services of a somewhat familiar face to us all. Even though I didn't want another striker, I couldn't refuse this one! http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7...65665322741358 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.