Sean1967 Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 Goal: I want to create a tactic similar to Manchester City's 442 under Manual Pellegrini with Celtic. I don't intend to copy it completely, just incorporate a few things from it. I got a lot of information on how to implement their tactic in FM from grimsby_mackem's thread. Again I repeat, I won't just be copying his tactic. 1. There defence isn't spectacular so I'm hoping to improve this part of the tactic 2. I like the the way their wide midfielders have different roles 3. I'll be using a carbon copy of the Toure/Fernandino partnership 4. The strikers will be similar up to, a creator/finisher partnership #442 v1.0 GK - Distribute to defenders RWB - Cut inside with ball CB - None BPD - None LWB - Stay wider RW - Stay wider DLP - More direct passes BBM - None LWM - Cut inside with ball, Get further forward, Roam from position DLF - Move into channels AF - Pass it shorter Next update will be squad evaluation and youth development... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean1967 Posted July 4, 2014 Author Share Posted July 4, 2014 Well I'm happy with what I see at the moment. A large, but most importantly versatile, squad to choose from. Our strength is in the midfield, I mean just look at it. It's oozing with versatility. After an assessment of the squad I'd have to say that our weakest area has to be CB. That will be the first area I look at. First of all Steven Mouyokolo's contract isn't worth the paper it's written on and will leave at the end of the season (like real life). There is also strong interest in Efe Ambrose so I may have to cash in if an offer is too good to refuse. The next are in line for a tune up may surprise you. The LW. Georgios Samaras' deal is up at the end of the season and I'll let it run down (like real life). Derk Boerrigter is just awful and if he's as injury prone in this as he is in reality, I have a problem. He just doesn't justify £24k p/w. Kris Commons is great, but come next season he'll be 30. He needs an apprentice. We have a wide pool of youth talent to choose from. I could pretty much have a future starting XI from here. I’m not going to bang on about youth development. But I will go into more detail on who I consider to be the best of the bunch; Darnell Fisher, Liam Henderson and Paul McMullan. Up next, transfer policy and targets... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coupdhaha Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 Just quickly looking at your tactic, what stood out for me is that most of your midfield penetration is coming from the flanks. So most of the supply to your strikers will be from crosses, which might make you a tad one-dimensional. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bababooey Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 Surely at least one of the wingbacks should be encouraged to get more involved in the attack? I'd put at least one of them on an attack duty. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean1967 Posted July 4, 2014 Author Share Posted July 4, 2014 Just quickly looking at your tactic, what stood out for me is that most of your midfield penetration is coming from the flanks. So most of the supply to your strikers will be from crosses, which might make you a tad one-dimensional. Thanks for the feedback, I've noticed that we do attack down the wings a lot and crosses aren't very successful. What would you recommend? Exploit the middle or play through the middle? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean1967 Posted July 4, 2014 Author Share Posted July 4, 2014 Surely at least one of the wingbacks should be encouraged to get more involved in the attack? I'd put at least one of them on an attack duty. Yeah I've changed my right winger to support and right wing back to attack the past few games. I'm hoping along with the right back cutting inside it might bag them a few goals. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coupdhaha Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 Thanks for the feedback, I've noticed that we do attack down the wings a lot and crosses aren't very successful. What would you recommend? Exploit the middle or play through the middle? I would make one of the CM a generic CM (A) or a BBM with the PI "get further forward". This guy will be your Yaya. Then make your WM a support role, so essentially he'll be a pivot for your attacking full back as well as a pivot for your surging midfielder. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean1967 Posted July 4, 2014 Author Share Posted July 4, 2014 I would make one of the CM a generic CM (A) or a BBM with the PI "get further forward". This guy will be your Yaya. Then make your WM a support role, so essentially he'll be a pivot for your attacking full back as well as a pivot for your surging midfielder. I think I'll switch the two CM's about and give the BBM "get further forward" and see what difference that makes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean1967 Posted July 4, 2014 Author Share Posted July 4, 2014 My transfer policy will be working off of these guidelines. I've started with transfer budgets disabled in the first window. So I'm stuck with what I have. As I stated in an earlier post I need to bring in a new CB at some point before next season. I'm torn between two targets. My sale policy will be that at no point will a player be offered out unless he has not been part of the squad for the majority of the time before that transfer window. Danny Batth fits the bill nicely. He's 6'3", strong and quick enough for a CB. His contract is up at the end of the season so I'll be monitoring his situation the following months. He can be picked up for about £7k p/w. Alexander Milosevic, another that would slot in nicely. His contract is also up at the end of the season but demand a slightly higher fee than Batth, £12k p/w. What he lacks in defensive qualities he makes up for going forward. This one may cost em a pretty penny. Gary Mackay-Steven will inject some much needed flair and technical ability into the squad. But the question is am I willing to pay over £4 million for him? No. Hopefully by January I can haggle the price down to under £2.5 million. Otherwise I'll have to look elsewhere. Next up, training and tutoring... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean1967 Posted July 4, 2014 Author Share Posted July 4, 2014 All of the squad will be set to train the roles I have in mind for them initially. After a few months I will then look to improve areas of individuals games, where I see fit. As for tutoring I'm looking to train all players to be either; resolute, fairly/model professional, model citizen or perfectionist. Darnell Fisher Tutor: Mikel Lustig Personality: Fairly determined Liam Henderson Tutor: Scott Brown Personality: Balanced Paul McMullan Tutor: Georgios Samaras Personality: Fairly Ambitious Aiden McIlduff Tutor: Emilio Izaguirre Personality: Fairly Loyal Eoghan O'Connell Tutor: Efe Ambrose Personality: Fairly Ambitious Lewis Kidd Tutor: Charlie Mulgrew Personality: Fairly Ambitious Joe Thomson Tutor: Kris Commons Personality: Sporting Up next, tactical re-evaluation and beginning of the season... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean1967 Posted July 4, 2014 Author Share Posted July 4, 2014 Quick question... How do I improve my cross success rate or even better reduce the amount of crosses made. I've already set players to cross left often and to take my corners short. I've also removed "play wider" and replaced it with "exploit the middle". I'm going to play until at least September to try and get my tactics right and improved. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean1967 Posted July 5, 2014 Author Share Posted July 5, 2014 And another. I'm trying to bring out the best in Kris Commons. I know he can score in the game because I've had him hit over 20 a season before. I want to stick with the 442 as the Anthony Stokes/Leigh Griffiths partnership is working great and James Forrest is having a great season on the right wing. I'm thinking either... 1. Push both Commons and Forrest up into the attacking wide midfield position 2. Push just Commons up to that position 3. Play commons just behind the strikers and change my CM up a bit and swap the RB/LB roles. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean1967 Posted July 5, 2014 Author Share Posted July 5, 2014 #442 v1.1 - Changed the RWB (s) to CWB (a) - Changed RW (a) to RW (s) - Switched BBM (s) and DLP (d) around #442 v1.2 - Removed "look for overlap" and "play wider" - Selected "play narrower" #442 v1.3 - Moved both RW (s) and LWM (a) further up - Changed LWM (a) to IF (a) #442 v1.4 - Moved RW (s) back to original position - Added "shorter passing" #442 v1.5 - Removed "shorter passing" I played a shorter passing game for just two matches, Partick Thistle and St Mirren. In both fixtures we had zero shots. Not shots on target, zero shots in total. As for Kris Commons he managed to net when I moved him further up the field, then got injured for the next 5 weeks. So that theory is still relatively untested. GK - Distribute to defenders, pass it shorter RWB - Cut inside with ball, cross less ofter CB - None CB - None LWB - Stay wider RW - Stay wider, more direct passes BBM - Get further forward, pass it shorter DLP - More direct passes LIF - Roam from position DLF - Move into channels, pass it shorter AF - Hold position, pass it shorter Results so far... Next up squad re-evaluation and transfer approach... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coupdhaha Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 Quick question...How do I improve my cross success rate or even better reduce the amount of crosses made. I've already set players to cross left often and to take my corners short. I've also removed "play wider" and replaced it with "exploit the middle". I'm going to play until at least September to try and get my tactics right and improved. A good way of addressing this would be to change the tactics. Unless you're super super set on playing 4-4-2, I would consider changing to 4-4-1-1. The good thing about playing this formation is that in the build up play, having an AMC will naturally mean more of the play will funnel through the middle. This will not only reduce the amount of crosses (since more of the play is going through the middle now), this will also mean you will be more dangerous through the middle AND you will be defensively stronger. The nifty thing about having an AMC is that during the actual attack, the shape can shift that that 4-4-2 you seem to want, as the AMC can get forward and essentially act as your "creator" striker. As for the role to give the AMC, I would consider either Treq if you have a technical and creative player, or Shadow striker if you have a player who has a real eye for goal but perhaps isn't super creative. I would also consider the AM (attack) role. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean1967 Posted July 7, 2014 Author Share Posted July 7, 2014 A good way of addressing this would be to change the tactics. Unless you're super super set on playing 4-4-2, I would consider changing to 4-4-1-1. The good thing about playing this formation is that in the build up play, having an AMC will naturally mean more of the play will funnel through the middle. This will not only reduce the amount of crosses (since more of the play is going through the middle now), this will also mean you will be more dangerous through the middle AND you will be defensively stronger.The nifty thing about having an AMC is that during the actual attack, the shape can shift that that 4-4-2 you seem to want, as the AMC can get forward and essentially act as your "creator" striker. As for the role to give the AMC, I would consider either Treq if you have a technical and creative player, or Shadow striker if you have a player who has a real eye for goal but perhaps isn't super creative. I would also consider the AM (attack) role. I'm set on the 442 right now as Anthony Stokes and Leigh Griffiths are playing extremely well up top together and I don't really want to disturb it. If one of them suffers a drop in form then I'll give it a try. When Kris Commons is back to full fitness I'll rotate his role between AMC and ALM to see where he performs better. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean1967 Posted July 7, 2014 Author Share Posted July 7, 2014 As a whole the squad is performing very well. Up front we have Anthony Stoke and Leigh Griffiths teaming up nicely with 18 goals between them so far this season. James Forrest is playing particularly well on the right wing. What I considered the strongest area of the squad, centre midfield, has not been playing well. Out of the 6 of them, Beram Kayal; who I consider the weakest has been playing the best. The defence has been very tight, excluding the Partick Thistle game. Fraser Forster has amassed 7 clean sheets in just 11 league games. But perhaps the biggest surprise so far has been Derk Boerrigter, who in 11 games has grabbed 4 goals and 2 assists. Has he done enough to stay at the club considering his mammoth £24k p/w? I'm not sure, we'll see come the end of the season. We got a decent budget to strengthen the squad in January should I feel the need. The targets I mentioned in the above posts still remain my top priority but I will not be forced into making inflated bids for them. In other transfer news. Amido Balde and Steven Mouyokolo have been transfer listed. Both have been for from impressive and hopefully we can attract some interest. I will not be offering them out as I feel this leads to having too high a turnover in terms of players in and out. So, Crystal Palace beat me to Danny Batth. I then had to look at another option along with Alexander Milosovic, and up popped Sergi Gomez. I opted for Gomez as he was more the player I was looking for, infact you could say he is a hybrid off Batth and Milosovic. He's just as good as Batth at the back and nearly as good as Milosovic going forward. The only disadvantage is that he is 2 inches shorter but I can finally re-impliment the BPD into my tactic. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean1967 Posted July 8, 2014 Author Share Posted July 8, 2014 I think the next area I will look to improve is in goals, we have a top number 1 in Fraser Forster but Lukasz Zaluska just isn't good enough back up. As can be seen from the cup run he's had against weaker sides I just don't think I could rely on him should Forster get injured. I'm sure I can bag a replacement for less than £8k p/w. Kris Commons has settled in very nice to the AML position, definaelty where he will remain for the time being. This position also suits Giorgios Samaras and Derk Boerrigter so it's a win-win situation. #442 v1.6 - Added "exploit the middle" #442 v1.7 - Put a man to come short for corners - Sorted set piece and penalty takers I must have removed "shorter passing" after I saved the game last because I didn't notice it was still selected until after the Gortmund game. As you can see from the results it makes us much more deadly in front of goal. Our incredible Champions League efforts (if you ignore the goal difference) netted us a spot in the Europa League last 32, where we will face Viktoria Plzen and then either APOEL or Leverkusen should we progress. My first choice keeper Mickey Van der Hart, I was out priced and he was out on loan until the summer. Plus I had just agreed to sell Zaluska so I was pretty deperate, I should have followed the rules and found a replacement first. I spotted Gudmund Taksdal Kongshavn who was available for just £60k, so i signed him up for just £5k p/w, weighted with a £5k appearance bonus. He definitely has sell on potential if I can bring in Van der Hart in the near future. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean1967 Posted July 8, 2014 Author Share Posted July 8, 2014 As you can see I'm sticking to my transfer rules. I've been constantly re-evaluating my squad and tactic, trying to make it slightly better ever couple of games. Through doing this I found out I needed another BPD to rotate with Charlie Mulgrew and found Sergi Gomez. I also figured out through squad oration in the cups that I needed to replace Lukasz Zaluska, and I done it. I thought that I needed to bring in a left winger but quickly found out this is not the case. I focused on my weak links and have improved them, both my signings have been more suitable than the players they replaced. As for sales, Steven Mouyokolo was on the transfer list and his contract was about to expire so getting him off the books early and freeing up £11k p/w was a win. As for Amido Balde, I dropped him to the reserves in October as he failed to hit the net, so when Stade de Reims came in with an offer £200k above his market value I jumped at it (after a bit of negotiation of course). Finally it was Zaluska who left on a free, clearing £8k p/w off the wage bill. More than enough to cover his replacement. When Carles Planas agent offered him to me for £9k I was quick enough to bite and brought him in as cover for Emilio Izaguirre, relieving Mulgrew of the duty. He also speaks English so should help Sergi Gomez settle a bit quicker. The late transfer was the departure of Beram Kayal, I transfer listed him he wasn't happy. Then I rejected a bid that wasn't good enough, still wasn't happy. Managed to get just under £800k so decided to let him go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean1967 Posted July 9, 2014 Author Share Posted July 9, 2014 No now that January is complete its time for a bit of tactical analysis. Let's start with our strengths. Positioning, I'm very happy with this, they're lining up just the way I want them. Kris Commons is now in a more attacking position and has netted 10 off the back of it. One thing I'd like is my DLP to drift slightly wider, I'm thinking about giving run wide with the ball a try? Another strength is the striking duo-turned-trio of Anthony Stokes, Leigh Griffiths and Kris Commons who have 38 between them so far along with 23 assists. Now on to assists. We are most dominant on the wings, I'm trying to funnel more attacks through the centre but it just isn't happening for me. Any advice? As for conceding right back seems to be our key area for concern, probably due to the RWB being on attack duty. I'll try and address this in the coming months. In your opinion what would be better, tackle harder or close down more? Another interesting note to take is the time we concede most goals is just after the break, I'm thinking at half time for maybe the first 20 mins or so of the 2nd half if were leading change to control. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean1967 Posted July 9, 2014 Author Share Posted July 9, 2014 I've lined up some transfers for the end of the season, all youngsters. For this I've ventured to untested waters and the three players cost just over £1.3 million. First I lined up Pavel Savitsky as our long term AML. Currently plying his trade in Belarus with Neman Grodno. Then there was Human Tariq, a bit of an FM14 legend I hear. Never managed him myself but this time I managed to get in and snap him up early enough, for just £700k. Interestingly enough there was a roamer going that Celtic are looking into him IRL. Lastly there is Lewis Milne who signed a pre-contract from Scottish Championship side Cowdenbeath, he comes at the cost of compensation but I have seen him develop before and doesn't look half bad. I may loan him out next season. #442 v1.6 - Added "run wide with ball" to DLP - Added tackle hard GK - Distribute to defenders, pass it shorter RWB - Cut inside with ball, cross less ofter, tackle harder CB - None CB - None LWB - Stay wider, tackle harder RW - Stay wider, more direct passes BBM - Get further forward, pass it shorter DLP - More direct passes, run wide with ball LIF - Roam from position DLF - Move into channels, pass it shorter AF - Hold position, pass it shorter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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