AS Roma, my take on

[RBYRVI]

first, I have a confession to make, all along Ive been playing FM by exploiting the ME flaw

I even express my feeling about it in here

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/346752-*Official*-FM-13-Update-13.2.3-Match-Engine-v1339-Constructive-Discussion-amp-Feedback?p=8544477#post8544477

Ive been playing since the CM2 (if Im not mistaken), without even willing to understand the basic of football tactics.. (after FM04 I stop playing though). All with relatively successful career.

I start playing FM10, but doesn't last long, as i didn't win as easy as the previous version

and then I start playing the FM13, like before I always looking for a short cut, downloading tactics etc

before the ME update my AS Roma was superior, champion in the first season without buying a player, on the way of winning the second season.

and then, came the ME update... I can see all my work crumbling, can't even win agains lower team, let alone again a elite team

I lost count on how many times I start a new game, in hope to create a better tactics.. Ive fail miserably... frustrated but not give up

I start to read. I found wwfan, cleon and rashidi1 threads, i start reading football pundit on my local news web etc. But still i didnt quite get the logic of it, still I just looking for a short cut by copy the tactics from wwfan, cleon and rashidi1, and once again I failed

I stop playing for a few weeks

one day a friend challenge me to play PES, I rarely use other team I play as AS Roma, my friend always choose a bigger team Madrid, Barca etc

I beat him, even Roma (in PES) didn't have the speed as the madrid I manage to win, and as my preferred style of play is to play slow, I dont like to exploit speed, dont like to play fast, but i like to build up play asses thing, more tactical play etc. my told me you play like a real Football team not like a game.

But truth is Im bored with football game like PES, FIFA. and then I started to play FM13 again, this time I start to read the guide i found more in-depth and applying my preferred play style on PES to FM (thus I begin to understand how the roles and duty works)

And it works, I begin to win

Big thanks for wwfan, Cleon and Rashidi1

OK, now to the game

A bit of background

AS Roma is one of the elite Serie A team, but after the Spaletti era they have been struggle to maintain their elite status, due to their financial difficulty. Sensi family then have to sell the club to American Businessman (I forgot his name). now James Pallotta is the president. After Spaletti resign, few manager are appointed, native Vincenzo Montella (as caretaker if not mistaken), Luis Enrique, and the last one Old man Zeman, and they relatively failed.

the Team

before go to the tactic let asses the team strengt and weakness

Zeman has been known for his all out attack approach, thus you might expect a very good attacking player and possibly a really awful defensive player

here is the team comparison on the Serie A

as you can see the team have good technique,decision, work rate and team work etc. a pretty good start, looks like the perfect team to play a tiki taka type football just passing the ball around wait until the opposition opens up

(note usually first touch, decision, passing is second in the league this was capture after pre season ends, not sure if its training effect or just a random generated rating)

let see the goalkeeper tab

and now we start to get a problem, GK is lack of reflexes, one on one and agility, a very important rating for a GK IMO

good thing is the GK have good command area this could means the GK could get the defence to organise to protect him

Defence

more bad news on defence dept, pretty much the worst defence in the league (for elite team). physical attribute is important for defence, while Roma defence have bad rating on few important attributes such strength jumping heading even tackling. luckily they have the best acceleration and decent positioning.

Midfield

If 1-7=best 8-13=okay 14-20=worst, then you see one of the best midfield in the league

attack

excellent rating but lack of acceleration worried me

the sum

-Roma team have good team work, work rate and excellent skill

-GK is decent the defence have to protect the GK

-Defender is the weakness. even they have bad important rating for a Defender, but they do have excellent acceleration, therefore its makes sense to push high up mid, and it more make sense that pushing high up will protect the GK, the more time we play the ball on the opposition half the better for the GK. and if the defender gets caught by opposition hopefully they could catch up

-Because the def have quite bad ratings the midfield will have to help them too, they have too win the ball on midfield area, at the same time they have to push forward the support the attack, midfield is the Roma's strength

-Attack because the lack of acceleration but have good technique and intelligence its make sense that they wait for support from midfield

My take on

I have the tendency to play just like the real life. so if Roma play 4-5-1, i go 4-5-1

Zeman use the 4-3-3 a very attacking formation suitable for his do or die approach. Andreazzolli one the other hand have a more balanced approach 3-4-3, 4-5-1, occasionally 3-5-2. as you can see Andreazzolli tried to keep the back tight by adding 1 more defender on the 3-5-2 and 3-4-3 formation

Im not a fan of 3 man defender, beside it would be assame to waste player such Balzareti, I like the 4-3-3 but I want to create chance from every side of pitch so I choose 4-5-1 quite similar to 4-3-3 but with a wide inside forward, therefore I can attack from the middle and the flanks

the defender problem is much more clear now especially on the central, the most experienced defender is Nicholas Burdisso but he lacks of concentration, castan is pretty decent, but somehow in the past save he often play badly. marqinhos is a talented young player still lack of important rating for a good defender. balzaretti is a very attack minded wingback, torosidis is quite similar with balzaretti, ivan piris is the defend minded fullback lack of crossing. as I use 2 IF I need the full back to charge up field to support the attack, therefore i leave 2 bad defender at the back.

Now I need the midfield to protect the back, I need player that could hold off the opposition before they reach the weakest part of the team

luckily Roma have De Rossi, Bradley, and tachtsidis. De Rossi could play any role in midfield but he is particularly good as DM playing anchorman, it sound like just the right man to protect the defence, Bradley have the aggression and the tenacity to win the ball, and tachtsidis is still young but have the quality to back up de rossi or bradley if they are injured. Pjanic act as a pivot (advance PM) as soon as bradley or de rossi wins the ball they quickly distribute to him, as he have good technique, passing to spray it to the attacker. Bottom line is I want to win the midfield as i have one of the Midfield in the league and i want to win the ball in the midfield before they could do damage to the back

perrotta and marquinho is a decent backup player

Lamela and florenzi IMO is best playing as IF as he have the skill pace and finishing, i want them to cut inside to create havoc on the opposition defence. lopez and taddei a pretty good IF

problem with lone striker is they have to be a very good striker, if not they isolated in the front. Totti is an worldclass striker if he is 7 years younger , still have the skill but lacks stamina and injury prone. Osvaldo I dont know what i think of him good rating but dont feel he is contributing enough for the team. Destro just like osvaldo but he is contributing better than osvaldo as a forward. not having a really good lone striker its logical for them to wait for support from the IF

The take on

I override the tackling to Hard for the fullbacks and the defensive midfielder, i want the fullbacks to help win the ball on the opposition half too.

I dont have a dominance player on any stats, the goal spreads out from the IF Mid and attack. striker doesnt dominate the goal, it would be nice to see one of them make it to the topscorer list, but i dont quite understand why they could not score as much as i want them to be

first few games are prove that the weakest link is the defence, (it tend to concede on the late of the game i think it has something to do with the lack of concentration on the back), always conceded but as the league progress tactical familiarity progress, its gets better and better, and to the point when the team have 7 consecutive clean sheet.

I tend to struggle to win on a wet field, and it suffer when De Rossi or Bradley injured or on suspension

Ive tested the tactic before my team finish 2nd place behind juve in the first season, on mid season I bought Angelo ogbonna to strengthen the back. now i start a new game hopefully i can update the progress regularly

AS ROMA youngster

Marqinhos and Romagnoli are the best

dodo supposedly a good youngster but he injury prone and balzaretti is irreplaceable on left back

Mazzitelli, Adamo is a good prospect

on loan

after the 1 season there are loads of player coming back from loan

few of the good one is Borrielo, brighi, jose angel. Borriello even name as the topscorer on the first season

the problem is a lot of the bad and the decent player you might want to release

destro is on loan from genoa but he have 3.9M buyout clause

co-own

tachtsidis you might want to buy another half of the share from genoa

caprari co-own with pescara play for pescara part of U21 Italia, never use him but he does have excelent ratings

that its for my take on, next is the progress wish me luck

BEST!

[wwfan]

Firstly, congratulations for making the big step into TC territory. Secondly, congratulations for such a great post. Thirdly, the tactic looks really well balanced, so congratulations again. Fourthly, a question. Have you experimented with Totti as a TQ? That might open extra space ahead of him for the midfielders and IFs to break into.

[RBYRVI]

Firstly, congratulations for making the big step into TC territory. Secondly, congratulations for such a great post. Thirdly, the tactic looks really well balanced, so congratulations again. Fourthly, a question. Have you experimented with Totti as a TQ? That might open extra space ahead of him for the midfielders and IFs to break into.

Hi wwfan, first I would like to thank for all of your great post that has help me understanding the game

and thanks for making me feel welcome to the forum

and for the question, no I havent experiment Totti as TQ, I might try it next time, as my I try to Improve the tactic, its still evolving

I change De Rossi role to defensive midfield with defend duty as I feel Anchorman is to static role, therefore i change the philosophy to balanced, and I switch BWM and AP side to focus the attack on the right side, because Piris and Torosidis is a more defending minded fullbacks, the Idea is having them to cover the area as the right position players such lamela and pjanic attack the opposition

while on the left side I rely on balzaretti to attack while Bradley as BWM (BWM quickly become my Fave role now ) ready to cover him if he lost the ball, and florenzi to support

currently my AS Roma is 2nd behind Inter, I lost the FA agains Sampdoria, the team is struggling on december to february because of Injuries, I had to lost bradley for 4 months, De Rossi, and Pjanic, another weakness found the squad is to thin to compete agains Juve, Inter, Milan who has more deeper squad

I try to update the progress as soon as I got the time

BEST!

[RBYRVI]

Hi wwfan, first I would like to thank for all of your great post that has help me understanding the game

and thanks for making me feel welcome to the forum

and for the question, no I havent experiment Totti as TQ, I might try it next time, as my I try to Improve the tactic, its still evolving

I change De Rossi role to defensive midfield with defend duty as I feel Anchorman is to static role, therefore i change the philosophy to balanced, and I switch BWM and AP side to focus the attack on the right side, because Piris and Torosidis is a more defending minded fullbacks, the Idea is having them to cover the area as the right position players such lamela and pjanic attack the opposition

while on the left side I rely on balzaretti to attack while Bradley as BWM (BWM quickly become my Fave role now ) ready to cover him if he lost the ball, and florenzi to support

currently my AS Roma is 2nd behind Inter, I lost the FA agains Sampdoria, the team is struggling on december to february because of Injuries, I had to lost bradley for 4 months, De Rossi, and Pjanic, another weakness found the squad is to thin to compete agains Juve, Inter, Milan who has more deeper squad

I try to update the progress as soon as I got the time

BEST!

the bold part, Bad noob mistake... the swap create a huge space between the midfield and the defence, just realize it from the analysis tab.

no wonder the team struggle after mid season. swap back the position and won the first season by three point margin

after the cup lost the team struggle, yea they win, but not in a convincing way, always win on a slightest margin

too many draw matches, and conceded considerably too many by elite team standart

Now the 2nd season

first thing first

return Ivan piris to his club, sell boriello and viviani to juve and cagliari (co-own), release many unwanted players

sign Destro for 3,9M from genoa, bought 50% share of tacthsidis for 3,8M, and valerio verre for 900k both from genoa

50% caprari share for 1,9M from pescara

working on my teamtalks

SIGNINGS

sign coaches to fill the quota, release bad staff, and sign new staff and fill up the quota

re-train jose angel and Dodo to play as Right FB as cover for torosidis

train all the striker to play TQ role (for wwfan suggestion)

train marqinhos to play BPD

train PPM for players

and the big signing is Everton's John Heitinga for 22.5M, I want to have a BPD, I think its too expensive but I have no other choice

other club was unlikely to sell the player and have to strenghten my Defence

Tactics

4-5-1

change the striker role to TQ, change the defender role from LD to CD. If heitinga play i occasionally change to BPD

RESULT

Is FANTASTIC!!

won the supercup beating Juve, beating all the rival rather convincingly; Inter, Samp, Parma, Atalanta, Napoli

great run on the champions league

100%

100% win in the first 9 games

this could be my best season in FM2013

BEST!

[wwfan]

This is becoming a very insightful thread. I hope others are taking it in.

Congrats on the win. There's a thread at The Dugout in which the OP complains that managing Roma is almost impossible (quoted below).

[TABLE=class: tborder, align: center]

[TR]

[TD=class: alt1, bgcolor: #E6F0FA]I feel it's nearly impossible this version to have any kind of success managing AS Roma and have been fired faster than ever. Never have i seen the AI-manager survive the first season either.

You inherit quite a weak, unbalanced squad that still is gelling. Meanwhile the impatient board still expect you to challenge for the title. There is no money for players and your best players are also players that are extremely inury prone (Totti, De Rossi).

So has anyone had any success managing AS Roma. If so some hints are most welcome![/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

Perhaps he should be directed to this thread

[RBYRVI]

This is becoming a very insightful thread. I hope others are taking it in.

Congrats on the win. There's a thread at The Dugout in which the OP complains that managing Roma is almost impossible (quoted below).

Perhaps he should be directed to this thread

Thanks mate , but really he should be directed to your thread, it really helped me a lot

BEST!

[RBYRVI]

ignore this

[KevMaaan]

Haha, nice thread. I play as pescara, and would have NEVER sold 50% of caprari for 1,9m

I love playing in the serie A, dont know why lol.

[RBYRVI]

Haha, nice thread. I play as pescara, and would have NEVER sold 50% of caprari for 1,9m

I love playing in the serie A, dont know why lol.

cool! how's caprari at Pescara? I train him to play TQ, I think he can play as IF and TQ quite well. he pick up few goal when play as TQ

[KevMaaan]

Played him 2 seasons as an IF with ranella as a DLF(s) lone striker, now ive just switched to a 442 after breaking prescaras best record in serie A (first season back in Seire A, was predicted to be relegated and finbished 10th, our best ever finish historically is 14th i believe) and using caprari as a AF(A) and ranella as a DLF(s). FYI, in my save atm caprari has won the golden boot for the under 20s wc, u20s euros and the 3rd best player in each tournament. Hes now worth 7.6m according to juventus' contstant offers

[janeka]

Really nice thread. I think I will put my Feyenoord save on pause and start a new save in Italy, maybe with Roma because I like the combination of the team colors :-D Just one question, do you use any shouts or make some tactical changes during the game?

[RBYRVI]

Really nice thread. I think I will put my Feyenoord save on pause and start a new save in Italy, maybe with Roma because I like the combination of the team colors :-D Just one question, do you use any shouts or make some tactical changes during the game?

I usually started without shouts, I shouts use to adapt the match

shout i use regularly is; drop deeper, play wider, run at defence, pass to space, get the ball forward

depends on the situation really.

I avoid using retain possession, push higher up because the default strategy is already have hi D-line

the goal is to be dangerous in the final third, i want to win the match not possession, and avoid getting caught by opponent hi pressing game

[RBYRVI]

Finish season 2014, turns out the unbeatable league form quite stretched

really dominating the league, win the league in the 33rd week

Tactics no changes

the starter

the subs

2014 Summary

-have better squad depth, but not enough quality to compete in Europe

-A better Tactics

-Better defender

-Better team talks approach. In the middle of the season player doesn't react to usual team talks, as the starting season. seem that changing to a more demanding tone make the player react better

-team talks could be a decisive factor between winning or losing. or at least between playing good or bad

-once again no players dominate the stats but its getting better, the 3 up front pick a lot of goal, Lamela 12, destro 10, caprari 8, sadly florenzi is underperform so is Osvaldo, de rossi got him self on the scoreboard quite a lot 9 goal. Assist came from Pjanic 11, lamela 8, bradley 6, balzaretti florenzi and destro. Best rating avg player is de rossi, but for me the most effective player is Bradley 5 goals, 6 assist, 81%pass compl, 8,67 tack/game, 13km distance/90mnutes to bad he only play 18 match because of injuries

-best young player, Marquinhos, caprari can play as IF and TQ, Bertolacci

-best old player Brighi always perform to cover the injured player

BEST!

[KevMaaan]

Caprari <3. Congrats on the invincible season dude, its not an easy task in serie A.

EDIT: The board just went behind my back and accepted a 15m offer from Ac Milan for caprari Didnt give me a chance to beg them not to.

[RBYRVI]

Im starting a new save, still play AS Roma I just love this club so much

the reason is I failed on the training aspect, especially on the youth training . This time Im hoping to get it right

BEST!

[vasilli07]

Does Balzaretti gets alot of assists?

[RBYRVI]

Does Balzaretti gets alot of assists?

not much 1st and 2nd season he only get 5 assists, which is not a problem for me coz I want him more on the defensive duties

most assist came from Pjanic 11, Lamela 9 assist and 12 goals

[Falahk]

Does Balzaretti gets alot of assists?

did not get that many for me ether, but I ended up selling him for £10m to juve at the start of the secound session since I was planing to use a back 3 and already had Marqinho, Jose Angel and Dodo to play left back, so my sample size on how many assists he can get is probably very small

[burjennio]

Glad to come across this thread, Im nearing the end of my second season with Roma and its been a great run, we won the league in the first season (on head to head with Juve admittedly) and some of the players have been sensational - especially Florenzi who operates magnificently on the left or as an advanced midfielder. The only problem is that despite playing with cautious tackling several of my players are total hatchet men. Bradley and Di Rossi have been sent off 6 times each in less than 2 seasons!! In the second season we have 10 red cards in 48 matches, a stat which must be unheard off IRL. What could be causing this? Like I said we use cautious tackling but we've been guilty of a few blatant straight reds, Gokhan Ilner (£7.5m from underperforming Napoli after selling Pjanic to Man City for a colossal £38m) got sent off in our last game, a title decider of sorts away at Juve and saw red after a mindboggling 48seconds!!! His aggression and decision making stats are good, my team talk was calm and my tactics we're countering, not high pressing. Any theories?

[wwfan]

What is your usual tone in teamtalks?

[burjennio]

always calm or assertive. i realize that with De Rossi and Bradley I am dealing with two lunatics at the best of times but no matter what I do they just will not stop getting booked or sent off. I also respect that with a BWM role they push higher up the pitch looking to nail unsuspecting opposition members with tackles but even when I play them as DLP(d), CM(d) or deeper in a DM role they still lash out and get straight reds

[wwfan]

Might be worthwhile keeping a note of how often the get sent off with assertive rather than calm expectations. If you notice a pattern, then give them specific talks that stop them being so fired-up.

[burjennio]

cheers I'll keep that in mind. I have 50% of the problem now as Bradley has been sold for having the temerity to demand an improved contract despite missing about 40 games a season through suspension. Footballers eh?

[RBYRVI]

Glad to come across this thread, Im nearing the end of my second season with Roma and its been a great run, we won the league in the first season (on head to head with Juve admittedly) and some of the players have been sensational - especially Florenzi who operates magnificently on the left or as an advanced midfielder. The only problem is that despite playing with cautious tackling several of my players are total hatchet men. Bradley and Di Rossi have been sent off 6 times each in less than 2 seasons!! In the second season we have 10 red cards in 48 matches, a stat which must be unheard off IRL. What could be causing this? Like I said we use cautious tackling but we've been guilty of a few blatant straight reds, Gokhan Ilner (£7.5m from underperforming Napoli after selling Pjanic to Man City for a colossal £38m) got sent off in our last game, a title decider of sorts away at Juve and saw red after a mindboggling 48seconds!!! His aggression and decision making stats are good, my team talk was calm and my tactics we're countering, not high pressing. Any theories?

yea DDR, Bradley pickup many yellow and red cards, but usually things are better after I issued a warning to them both after the red card.

playing them as BWM, DM, Anchor, we should expect them to pick up cards, But man! Bradley playing ridiculously well as BWM even better than DDR play as DM or Anchor

So yeah they will pick up quite many cards but its worthed, even they got suspended I can still play Tachtsidis as BWM or DM

BEST!

[burjennio]

I really like Tachtsidis and he is a very competent DLP if you focus his training early enough. I realized now that having my closing down strategy set to press may have contributed to the amount of bookings, so for the new season we're working on stand off more, letting the 2 deeper midfielders in the 4231 sit back more (lets be honest De Rossi is gonna press anyway!) and using a stopper at the back to press anyone that gets past them, and my covering defending to sweep up any through balls. First couple of friendlies have definitely seen an improvement in discipline as well as the attacking players thriving in the extra space. Florenzi and Lamela would improve any side, and with Destro coming into his own as a DLF and Caprari getting more time this season from the left IF position and all given freedom by De Rossi and Ilner the upcoming season has the potential to be an exhibition of sexy football.

My only concern is that I dont have enough old heads to tutor the next generation. Totti and Perotta have retired (Totti was still a gem even at 37) so Im light in anyone to properly tutor any attacking midfielders. Went searching through the transfer lists, loan lists and free lists but could not find any decent veteran for a sensible price.

[nmbrod]

Just starting a Roma game now. Scary how little depth there is. Exciting with Lamela, Florenzi, Marquinhos, Romagnoli though, if I can survive the first season

[Guest Satchy]

Went searching through the transfer lists, loan lists and free lists but could not find any decent veteran for a sensible price.

It might be beneficial to bring in a tutor just for that specific purpose, meaning they won't play a game at all. In that case, all you are concerned with is their mentality - professional, fairly profesional, model professional, spirited, resolute, etc. It's nice if they have PPM's you'd like to transfer, but it's not totally necessary unless it's something like 'curls the ball' which can only be developed through tutoring. Anyway, I've brought in tutors who were terrible players really, some on contracts as low as €450 p/w, and just used them to get my young players to have the right mentalities. I only sign them on 1-year contracts.

[burjennio]

Tutoring is driving me nuts in this game tbh. Just cannot seem to get any tutors/youngsters to really bond. The best I have gotten thus far is "helped a little with the mental side of the game". Not to mention the fact that I've had two newgens that had 20 determination only to have this attribute drop through tutoring from highly professional players! Also found out the hard way that throwing 4-5 18 year olds with limitless potential, but mediocre current ability into your first team squad isnt a wise thing to do if you are suffering from an injury crisis, as well as being a sure fire way to spent most of the season in mid table. Ironically it was the boards delight in me giving so many young players first team opportunities that probably saved my job in season 14/15. The £50m I had sitting in the transfer kitty was hit with a vengeance at the end of the season!

[RBYRVI]

Tutoring is driving me nuts in this game tbh. Just cannot seem to get any tutors/youngsters to really bond. The best I have gotten thus far is "helped a little with the mental side of the game". Not to mention the fact that I've had two newgens that had 20 determination only to have this attribute drop through tutoring from highly professional players! Also found out the hard way that throwing 4-5 18 year olds with limitless potential, but mediocre current ability into your first team squad isnt a wise thing to do if you are suffering from an injury crisis, as well as being a sure fire way to spent most of the season in mid table. Ironically it was the boards delight in me giving so many young players first team opportunities that probably saved my job in season 14/15. The £50m I had sitting in the transfer kitty was hit with a vengeance at the end of the season!

yea man! tell me about it, didnt get the result as I expected

tutoring and training is hard

BEST!

[Larsson1888]

I personally prefer a CM or DLP than a BWM. I just like to keep my shape but do you notice more positives with having the BWM?

[Guest Satchy]

Tutoring is driving me nuts in this game tbh. Just cannot seem to get any tutors/youngsters to really bond. The best I have gotten thus far is "helped a little with the mental side of the game".

With the exception of transferring PPM's, tutoring is all about personality changes. "Helped with the mental side of his game" is what you are looking for. It's not a failure in any respect. There is also the added bonus that comes with using the 'improve his game' option where the players can become preferred personnel, but it's not a big deal if it doesn't happen that way.

Not to mention the fact that I've had two newgens that had 20 determination only to have this attribute drop through tutoring from highly professional players!

Tutoring directly affects the determination rating of the tutee. Obviously 20 is as high as you can go, so if your tutor does not also have a 20 for determination, then your tutee's rating is going to go down in relation to the tutor's rating. Determination is a nice stat to have, but it's not nearly as important as people make it out to be. You shouldn't view it as being anymore important than the other mental stats.

[burjennio]

I've been reading up on all the different personality types and am intrigued to know just how much of an improvement the tutors personality can be before you start reaching levels that result in a personality clash?

[Guest Satchy]

What do you mean by resulting in a personality clash? When you tutor someone, they become more like the person they are learning from. A clash would suggest they are becoming more different than the person, but that's not how it works.

[burjennio]

when there is a wide gulf in the two player personalities training ends abruptly with the tutee claiming "he could not learn from someone he shared so little in common with" (I'm paraphrasing)

[darthrodent]

I'm joining this a little late (so apologies if this question has been rendered moot), but I have to ask: Don't you think that Daniele De Rossi is being wasted in the Anchor Man role? He has SO MUCH MORE to his game. If you must play him in the DM strata, would you not be better served playing him as a Deep Lying Playmaker? I'd want him on the ball as much as possible such is his technical prowess and poise. Just a suggestion. Hey, if he has 13 Interceptions a game, wins 15 Headers making 22 Tackles, who am I to offer such a suggestion?!

[burjennio]

Ideally you want someone else to do the defensive duties to free De Rossi up to break forward (I like him as a box to box midfielder) but in the first season you only have Bradley, who is far better in a ball winning role than a more disciplined one, and Tachtsidis, who is young and inexperienced. You can play him in a 4-2-3-1 deep role as either a DLP or DM with a support duty which gives you more solidity. Tbf even when I use him as an anchorman he still chips in with the odd goal - he's a total beast, just dont place any opponent on hard tackling for too long anywhere near his position or hes liable to be heading for an early bath!

[RBYRVI]

I personally prefer a CM or DLP than a BWM. I just like to keep my shape but do you notice more positives with having the BWM?

as i said before I want to win the ball in the final third, BMW role provide it and bradley doing excellent job as BWM.

i forgot the final stats but in the 4-5 games he get 10 tackles/game could be more on the end of season

I'm joining this a little late (so apologies if this question has been rendered moot), but I have to ask: Don't you think that Daniele De Rossi is being wasted in the Anchor Man role? He has SO MUCH MORE to his game. If you must play him in the DM strata, would you not be better served playing him as a Deep Lying Playmaker? I'd want him on the ball as much as possible such is his technical prowess and poise. Just a suggestion. Hey, if he has 13 Interceptions a game, wins 15 Headers making 22 Tackles, who am I to offer such a suggestion?!

DDR as Anchor man just for the 1st season, I mention AS Roma have a shaky defence, so until I get a few good defender, DDR will play as an Anchor man

as you can see the 2nd season, after I sign Heitinga, I play DDR as DM, cos Pjanic play extremely well as AF, and I already play the ST as TQ, I just dont see the point play him as DLP and I him to solidify the defence

Ideally you want someone else to do the defensive duties to free De Rossi up to break forward (I like him as a box to box midfielder) but in the first season you only have Bradley, who is far better in a ball winning role than a more disciplined one, and Tachtsidis, who is young and inexperienced. You can play him in a 4-2-3-1 deep role as either a DLP or DM with a support duty which gives you more solidity. Tbf even when I use him as an anchorman he still chips in with the odd goal - he's a total beast, just dont place any opponent on hard tackling for too long anywhere near his position or hes liable to be heading for an early bath!

agree red cards is inevitable

BEST!

[Romanista1994]

I was really happy to see a thread about tactics with Roma come up, especially because it brought with it some great discussion. I had been planning on starting a new thread to post what is written below, but it fits in here very nicely. Beware though, it is pretty long.

Introduction

For FM13 I wanted to have a Roma save where I could develop the club infrastructure and playing squad to eventually hopefully become the biggest club in the world. I also wanted to have a single tactic that would be used at every level of the club, so that youngsters would be able to move up to the first team more easily. In terms of playing style the main focus would have to be on the attack, in true Roma fashion. However, I did not want the attacks to be one-dimensonal and easily defended against. Slick passing football, late runs into the box, physical bullying of the opposition, headers from crosses and spectacular individual dribbling moves should all be part of my teams arsenal of goalscoring strategies at different times and to unlock different opponents.

Here's what the tactic ended up looking like:

Formation

The formation that I picked to do all this is the popular 4-3-3 (4-5-1/4-1-2-2-1). The 4-3-3 is a very versatile formation, which allows the creation of numerous angles of attack and partnerships throughout the team. It naturally has a very strong defensive core in the middle of the pitch, which is vital if you want to free up players for the attack, and at the same time it has sufficient numbers on the flanks to enable it to numerically overload opponents there.

Team Instructions

Something to note before I go on to discuss the settings I have chosen for my team: I consider the mentality and closing down sliders to be "wavelength" sliders (i.e. it matters to a player when choosing whether to close down/take more risks whether another player in the team is also instructed to close down/take more risks) and passing and creative freedom to be "individual" sliders (i.e. a player's decidision to make a short pass/play a backheel depends on his own instructions combined with the position of the other player in relation to him and on what the other player is instructed to do).

Style: Balanced - My aim was to create partnerships between multiple players in different strata who would be tasked primarily with defending (CB, CB, DM), supporting/creating/acting as pivots (LB, LCM, RW and ST) and attacking/running from deep (RB, RCM, LW). A balanced style meant that within those partnerships the players would have the same mentality, but the mentalities between the different groups were staggered.

Strategy: Standard - I picked the one in the middle here, in order to be able to alter this easily during matches, without the players' familiarity dropping too much.

Passing: Normal - Leaving the players with the possibility of making their own passing decisions, rather than limiting their options.

Creative Freedom: More Expressive - Initially this was on default, but the play was really sterile and we were scraping 1-0 wins until I changed it to give the players more creative freedom.

Closing Down: Press More - I did want to play a good pressing game, but one where the team as a whole would keep shape decently with a player stepping out to challenge player on the ball so that there would be less risk of an individual mistake costing the whole team.

Tackling: Default - I use the shout "Stay on Feet" at the start of every match, but do frequently switch to "Get Stuck In" when winning.

Marking: Zonal Marking - There's been a good amount of marking discussions, but I've always preferred zonal marking.

Crossing: Drill Crosses - Not a lot of height in the Roma squad at the start.

Roaming: Default - With the roles I've selected there was no difference between default and more roaming, but decreasing it would have removed roaming from both wingers and the RCM, all of whom I want to roam at least to some extent.

The rest of the team instructions were left untouched.

Player Roles

GK: Goalkeeper - Defend

The role is not really that different from the sweeper keeper, with the differences in settings all relating to how he would behave on the ball. Since I don't want him to have the ball much anyway the standard goalkeeper instructions were an easy choice to make. One thing that did get altered is the goalkeeper distribution, which meant the leftback collects the ball.

RB: Fullback - Attack

The rightback in my team is meant to be one of the runners, offering his support to attacking moves through his movement and quick one-two's with the other players on his side. He's supposed to run up and down the flank all day enabling the right winger to move inside, but I don't want him doing that with the ball at his feet all that often due to his inferior technical ability. Because of that, both the wingback roles weren't an option and the other fullback roles didn't ensure that the player would often make forward runs. This was one of the roles that were causing me headaches, but I had an epiphany when reading the thread about setting up an effective 4-2-3-1, where someone used the FB(A).

CB: Central Defender - Defend

Both central defenders on the most neutral instructions possible, so that that they can let their attributes dictate how they play. Quick centrebacks who are good on the ball naturally play this role similarly to BPD(cover) and tall brutes will naturally play in a way reminiscent of LD(stopper).

LB: Wingback - Support

In my team the leftback is supposed to carry the ball out of the defence and combine primarily with the right-sided central midfielder. He's more of a pivot than the rightback, who is strictly a runner/crosser and the instructions for the WB(S) reflect that: way more throughballs coupled with less crossing along with for the most part similar instructions, mean that the two fullbacks have a somewhat different playstyle. Both support the attack, but each does it in his own, distinct way.

DM: Defensive Midfielder - Defend

The DM is in my team part of the main defensive core, but also has a secondary role as an outlet for the other midfielders and the fullbacks when an attack has failed. DM(D) means he is not as expansive as a DLP and not as limited as the AM.

RCM: Central Midfielder - Attack

The central midfielder attacking from deep is a role that has always fascinated me, and one I've always wanted to incorporate into a tactic. It seemed a perfect fit for a 4-3-3 with the cover offered by the defensive minded DM and indeed a healthy amount of our goals are scored when the CM(A) bursts forward late or pounces on a rebound.

LCM: Advanced Playmaker - Support

One of the most important roles and positions in my team. The LCM is the metronome of my team, the player who makes everyting tick. He's automatically set as the designated playmaker and that complements the role he's supposed to play perfectly. As he's positioned in the centre of the pitch, and closest to the fullback who gets most of the ball from the goalkeeper, he sees a lot of the ball and distributes that all over the pitch. However, I had a choice between several playmaking roles for this position: DLP, AP(A) and the one I chose AP(S). I discarded the DLP options in a bid to trade in a little extra defensive stability for a little extra attacking prowess afforded to me by the AP's increased forward runs and mentality. The AP(A) role was discarded because I didn't want two of my midfielders to be that attacking.

RW: Inside Forward - Support

In a nutshell the RW is supposed to dribble inside and either draw fouls or go for goal. He usually does a lot more than that, but those are the primary aspects of his role. Initially it was also a W(S), but that changed when I noticed that the "Exploit the Flanks" shout was changing his wideplay instruction from "Normal" to "Hug Touchline". As the Inside Forward starts with "Cut Inside" it only goes to "Normal" now with that shout, which means that the left-footed players used there will still tend to cut inside onto their strongest foot.

LW: Inside Forward - Attack

Cut inside, beat marker, score. That's what I want my LW to do. He forms a very potent attacking threat disguised behind a striker decoy and is frequently the most advanced player on the pitch. IF(A) fits that perfectly.

ST: Deep-Lying Forward - Attack

In a 4-3-3 the striker is a natural pivot. He will frequently be isolated if given an attacking duty, but with a supporting duty he will often find space to create for others and still grab goals himself. I had the choice of a number of roles, but several were discarded early on for various reasons such as lack of movement, excessive movement and so on. I was left with the Complete Forward and Deep-Lying Forward, with the latter mainly being preferred due to being able to change the frequency of his dribbling.

Players for the Roles

I mentioned something about different players playing certain roles in their own way, which I'm going to expand on below.

At the end of the first transfer window I was left with the following squad to play each of these roles as I didn't make too many changes due to the perilous financial situation we found ourselves in:

GK: Stekelenburg, Goicoechea

Standard first-choice and backup relationship between these two, with the former playing all games but one.

RB: Torosidis, Piris

Torisidis is a lot more of an attacking threat than Piris, with decent crossing and off the ball movement he can really offer something going forward. Piris is just a more defensive option.

CB: Burdisso, Castan, Paletta, Marquinhos

Burdisso is a very solid central defender, but barring his strength he doesn't excel physically. Castan and Marquinhos both have decent speed, but neither are that good defensively. Paletta was the only player I brought in for the first team and he's very good all-round, and brought much-needed physicality to my CB options.

LB: Balzaretti, Dodo

Balzaretti is a great leftback to have, especially as he has good attributes on the ball, which is a key requirement if he is to carry the ball out of the defence. Likewise Dodo is good at the attacking part of the game, but he's woeful at defending.

DM: De Rossi, Tachtsidis

It may well surprise some to see De Rossi here, as he has a lot more to his game than simply defending and spreading the ball around, but he's absolutely perfect for this role in my team. His brilliant mental and technical attributes mean that he easily finds teammates even when pressured and his PPM "Likes to Switch Ball to Other Flank" in particular makes him really effective at spreading the play around. Tachtsidis is a very raw version of the same, his great height means he can be employed when the midfield required more height.

RCM: Bradley, Florenzi

This is perhaps the area where the contrast between the two competing players was the starkest, with Bradley being a hard-working defensive-minded midfielder with some scoring ability and Florenzi being a tricky dribbler frequently used to weave through the opposition with the ball at his feet.

LCM: Pjanic, Marquinho

Pjanic is a genius playmaker, he's simply brilliant at it. What he's not though, is being good at defending, and that is where Marquinho comes in. Much more solid defensively than Pjanic and a harder worker to boot, Marquinho can always be relied upon to keep the ball with simple passes and to close down anyone when the ball was lost.

RW: Lamela, Nicolas Lopez

Having someone in the team who can take the ball and make entire defences look like amateurs is something that is never bad to have, and Lamela was able to do just that in a role where the main requirement is to do what he does best: dribble. His understudy Lopez also does this to some extent, but much less effectively.

LW: Osvaldo, Taddei

Osvaldo is a decent physical striker when played centrally, but his strengths become much more apparent when he's facing a small, weak fullback who he can bully off the ball to go on to score. Taddei, on the other hand, is not that good at scoring goals, but he fills a different role in the team. His willingness to sacrifice himself for the team is very useful when facing teams with overlapping fullbacks or great wide midfielders.

ST: Totti, Destro

I've never really been able to get Totti playing well in FM, but you've got to love someone who can play a perfectly weighted, backheeled throughball at any moment. He wasn't really effective for me though, only making one assist. Destro did very well though, so it didn't matter that much. With his natural goalscorer instinct and good mobility, Destro was really effective at crafting scoring chances for others by dropping deep and also at getting on the end of moves himself.

If anyone is interested I could probably also do a post on how the squad has evolved since and what players I now have playing those same roles two seasons later.

[RBYRVI]

please do mate, I would love to look at others approach

first thing I find its interesting how you play Florenzi as MC, which I never do, I know Florenzi have the ability to play as MC

I assume you change the role depend on who play between Bradley or Florenzi is it?

same for me, totti play mediocre I op to play destro, or Osvaldo as striker, before the update Totti hv good stat to play as TQ, but after the agility stats drop to 9 which is quite low, even as DLF he play mediocre. not mention he is injury prone

BEST!

[Romanista1994]

please do mate, I would love to look at others approach

first thing I find its interesting how you play Florenzi as MC, which I never do, I know Florenzi have the ability to play as MC

I assume you change the role depend on who play between Bradley or Florenzi is it?

same for me, totti play mediocre I op to play destro, or Osvaldo as striker, before the update Totti hv good stat to play as TQ, but after the agility stats drop to 9 which is quite low, even as DLF he play mediocre. not mention he is injury prone

BEST!

Yeah, Florenzi was only an MC option in the first season. Now he's the undisputed starter at LW. The roles always stay the same though, although he doesn't look like it at first glance Bradley's a pretty decent CM(A) with his 15 off the ball and 14 finishing.

I'll see what I can do for the post about how the squad has evolved soon.

[Falahk]

indeed, please do, Romanista1994

if I have the time I might do a short rundown on my tactical approach over my first four seasons aswell, also if anyone is interested in how I have gone about the development/training of specific youth players feel free to ask

[Southern Buddie]

Would very much like to see your tactical approach.

[mikcheck]

Nice thread. I'm also doing a save with Roma but i'm using a narrow diamond