Downloaded tactics & how they play

[Wilson7]

I suck at making tactics but for the first couple months of the game I make my own & then I usually download other peoples after they have amazing results etc.

I always start with sunday league rep, just what I enjoy doing.. But the problem is I download these tactics and they still don't work & I've used tactics what suit teams and got players for the tactics etc.

Even with ' Big ' rep the tactics just don't seem to do it for me.. Am I doing something wrong with these or are they just not very good tactics? I see people give feedback how good a tactic is & then I load it up & every game I concede a stupid goal & that isn't me being a moaning fool about it, gets a little tiring watching your defenders pass it to strikers.

Always enjoy the game & everything, just wondering if it's just me when it comes to these tactics & if I should just start with a ' Big ' rep from the start for a mid table team whatever.

Guess I'm going to come across like a moaning old woman but oh well.

[peleJunior]

Using Sunday League Rep in a top league will see your team talks not having much of an effect, which in turn can effect performances. As far making tactics versus downloading them, the game is 1000 times more enjoyable when you make your own tactic in my opinion. If you play the game on its merits and don't expect to win all the time. It is meant to be a simulation, it is not meant to be that easy.

If you decide to make another of your own tactics, just think space space space. Where can I create space for my best players. Set up your roles and duties, get out a pen and paper and sketch the formation and use arrows for who is making forward runs often and back arrows for those who are never running forward. Look at these arrows and see who runs beyond somebody who is staying in position or never running forward.

Look at this simple 442: http://lineupbuilder.com/?sk=py14 Attack players run forward alot and support/defend players tend to hold their positions or not get too far forward. You want to drag some players back through a line or to hold their line and let others break that line with forward runs. I call it pull and exploit. You want to pull an opposition player out of their line to go towards a support player and let a forward runner exploit the hole he has left. Alternatively, you want to pull an opposition player back tracking a forward running player to leave space for deadly creative support players. If you follow these simple principles, you can make any formation work for you logically and results will improve.

[JOSEPH!]

There are loads of things to consider here. Downloaded tactics are fairly complicated in their application. Often tactics you've downloaded have given the creator some amazing success with their team. Perhaps this tactic has been tweaked and tweaked over several seasons to suit their transfers, philosophies, training, player attributes, coaching staff, youth set up and style of play. A successful tactic is dependent on all those things and more.

It's important to recognise that tactics you download suit a specific style. They most definitely aren't generic. If, for example, someone posts a tactic online that has worked with Barcelona, Inter Milan, Arsenal, Dortmund etc and you're trying to apply it to your mid-table team, on the basis that it worked for them, then it's going to fail. It's not that they aren't good tactics, it's just that they suit their style of play.

I appreciate it gets annoying watching your team just give away possession and concede but approach it systematically and logically. Choose your team, whoever that may be, and look at the players. Use the analysis tab then the comparisons page. This will give you an idea of, say, how good your team's passing ability is in relation to the league you're in. Tailor your tactics accordingly. If your team's ability to pass the ball is poor, ensure you aren't asking them to play a game based around passing. If your defence can't make good decisions coupled with poor passing then ensure your keeper distributes the ball long and let the defence do something else within the framework of your tactic, like defending.

It's common to lose focus as I feel the tactical framework within FM13 is often misunderstood. Simplicity is key. Use the Tactic Creator (TC). Don't touch individual sliders unless you're confident you know what they're going to do. Just develop a style of play, loosely associated to what type of football you feel suits the players or how you feel they should be playing, and change things bit by bit. Watch the first 10 minutes of the game on full match - look at how your team is playing in response to the opposition. If you feel that your options in the opponents box are very limited and your attacking players don't have any space or they are defending deep, look at how you can introduce another player. Put a central midfielder's slider for runs from deep to often. This might create extra space for you in attack and result in an extra goal or two. Similarly, if you find your defenders are just passing the ball between themselves that would suggest they don't have many other options. Do you need to drop a midfielder's mentality to make sure they can support your defence and give them a passing option? Do you need to ask them to play a more direct passing game as oppose to short passes between technically limited players?

Just look at how you're playing. Identify what you aren't happy with and look to change it in a logical approach. Friendlies are a great way to experiment. Use the TC and keep things simple - if you have any questions ask on the forums. Say you have a player that you want to create a very specific role for within your team, ask us how you'd go about doing that. You'll find that you'll get some very helpful information. I can't stress enough that simplicity early on is key.

I'll give you an example. My centre forward (Mame Diouf) was drifting far too wide for my liking in a 4-3-3 (1 DM, 2 CMs, 2 Wingers, 1 Centre forward). I wanted him to keep the opponent's centre backs honest and keep them narrow so my other players could exploit the channels and width. He was just suffocating my more creative players. I took a look at his personal instruction. His wide play was set to move into channels. This was changed to cut inside to help him stay narrow. His creative freedom was far too high, meaning he'd deviate from my instructions. This was lowered as he isn't intelligent enough to do so effectively. Roam from position was ticked, that had to go. His mentality was too low as well - I wanted him in their CBs faces at all times. Also, I asked him to close down a lot high up the pitch, using the whole pitch end of the slider. This meant he would always be high up, keeping defenders occupied, on a counter attack. I don't need him dropping deep too much as I have very creative, technically brilliant central midfielders and wingers that do that for me. That's just an example of how I highlighted a problem within my attack (I didn't have him where I needed him, he wasn't converting chances properly) and I took steps to change this logically. I made these changes will watch the game on full match as I needed to see his behaviour on and off the ball, not just in a highlight.

I hope this has helped

edit: Pele is right - a low rep will always struggle to have an impact on team talks and as a result of that morale, performances etc etc. Why should the PSG squad, full of big personalities, listen to a sunday league footballer?

[Wilson7]

Appreciate the feedback guys