My In Depth Tactical Analysis

[Draktor]

With the new year approaching I thought I would take another stab at FM 16 having been inspired by Cleon and Herne79’s recent threads, especially the thread on game analysis by Cleon.

Previously I got my Belgium lower league side relegated after 3 seasons and have found myself at York, who are in the Vauxhall Conference with the board wanting a mid-table finish.

Formation & Ability

So without further ado let me get on. Here are my squad stats, pretty shocking really.

Thus I quickly realised with the state of my squad and be over my wage budget when I got the job I definitely need to go with a more defensive formation as my reserve players (and some of my first team players) are not good enough. So for this I looked at the shapes available and went for a 4-1-4-1, to take advantage of a decent striker and pace down the wings.

Mentality, Team shape and Team instructions

I have chosen to go for a more structured team as I want each unit in the team to have a relative role. My team’s decisions are not good either so I definitely want to keep creative freedom to a minimum, thus going for structured. I could have gone for highly structured but not sure I want to go that far as I still want my attackers to have a little bit of license.

I have also chosen to go counter-attacking as I want get men behind the ball be a bit more compact and break out using the pace of the wings and forward. The deeper position will also protect my defence so they will not get exposed.

At this point I don’t want to complicate anything with team instructions.

Goalkeeper, Fullbacks, Central Defenders, Anchorman

The goalkeeper does have some tweaks to stop wasting possession by long balls to no-one, especially with the squad "shortness". Thus he just rolls it out to the center backs and tries to avoid risky passes.

Nothing special here, Central Defenders & Anchorman provide some solidity at the back, as the defenders are poor the Anchorman is needed for support so I wanted him static and constantly in front of the back four.

Fullbacks I except to be solid defensively and provide a bit of a support going forward, but again, they are mainly central defenders and have poor attacking stats so the aim is to be solid here and let the midfield attack.

AP (S)

The main creator in the team, again, doesn’t have brilliant passing & vision but generally the best we have on the team

WM (A, Left)

His job is the old going down the wing role to try and stretch the opposition and has some PI to contribute to this.

WM (A, Right)

His job is to cut inside and drive at the heart of the defence while also arriving in the box to finish anything off on the back stick. Basicaly trying to replicate the IF(A) role but from a deeper position.

CM (A)

His job is to link up with the advanced playmaker and the striker, make runs beyond on the striker and test the defence out.

DLF (S)

I wasn’t sure what role I would go for here, I was looking at either a CFS role or even a F9, but decided on an in-between role. I want someone to link the play but also be a bit of a threat.

How to analyse

Actually you shouldn’t take advice from me, however, having seen the post outlining Cleon’s framework I will just use his outline of how to analyse the game. The most important points for me are.

• No changes to formation for 2-3 games
  
• Outline what I am looking for
  
• Does what I am looking for happen in game
  
• I not, how do I fix it
  

I will try to follow this pattern and hopefully I can gather feedback from everyone here as well. In the next post (probably a few hours) I will outline what I expect and proceed to analyse the new formation.

[Draktor]

So we have a match against Eastleigh, I have the PKM and would really appreciate anyone's thoughts on this. I have tried my best with analysis and if anyone could view the PKM and let me know if I am missing something obvious, I am over analysing parts or any other feedback I would be grateful. You can download the PKM here.

To analyse as others have outlined I need a list of what I am looking for in the match.

• Fullbacks to support the wingers
  
• CM(A) to make runs to support striker (maybe past the striker)
  
• WMR (A) to make runs inside, support the striker and move past him
  
• Striker to drop deeper and link up play a bit
  
• WML (A) to run down the outside and put crosses in
  
• In general is the striker being supported enough
  

This should cover it for the first match, obviously I will be looking at the match to try and discover other items, but also check these mostly. So let's get into it.

The striker's movement and his support

Quite often we would play direct and the ball would go forward quickly. I assume this is something from the counter strategy, but it did mean that the striker was often isolated, for example let's take a look at the following.

Example 1

The ball was quickly played from defence out to the WML on the halfway line who then put a ball into the channel for the DLF(s). Unfortunately this meant that he was well ahead of our players, you can see them busting a gut to support however, they are lagging quite a way behind, potential problem?

Example 2

The left winger receives the ball directly from a defender in this circumstance and then promptly plays a ball angled down the line again for the striker to chase. Thus cutting him off from his support again, at this point I am thinking that I may have to change this behaviour.

Example 3

In the screenshot below the striker has dropped off, even though he's not available he is closer to the midfield at least. However, Denton has the ball and is looking to play the pass to the WML, however, the WML starts in the first orange circle and proceeds to run all the way to the full back, this is great for support in some instances but he takes himself out as a passing outlet.

Thinking maybe my WML(A) is too aggressive, we may need him to hang back a bit!

The fullbacks and support

Example 1

With the ball being moved forward quickly it is hard for the fullbacks to render support, for example.

Here we have Davis on the right running into trouble, luckily in this instance the fullback is closer to him so he can pass the ball back, unfortunately from there the RB launches a long "hollywood" ball over to the striker and possession is lost. However, take a look at the left, the WML is hugging the touch line, great that's how we wanted but his position is again very high, with a massive gap between him and the fullback, I have been noticing this quite a lot, even when the WML has the ball.

Example 2

The WML has the ball but basically has little support so is forced into crossing the ball when really we don't want him doing that, so either he should be on support or the fullback should be higher, say WB(s). The issue with this is the left back isn't very good so having him on WB(s) could cost us. Additionally it is the same for the other side so it would involve changing two mentalities and maybe making us too attacking.

The last goal

[video=youtube_share;37WjKN4SfPE]

I have highlighted our injury time winner as it was a great goal, this is the kind of football we should be playing from an interception through to a great passing move finishing in a cross from the WML(A) and the WMR(A) finishing it off at the far post. In this instance we had support higher up the pitch and weren't chasing onto the ball.

Current stats

I went through the stats as highlighted by Cleon in his analysis post and found evidence to backup what I was seeing during the normal game. Here is the excel spreadsheet I made with % conversions.

I think the biggest thing is the crossing and passing out from defence, the defence ended up doing long balls (direct) as stated in the previous section, this led to a less than stellar pass record (also including headed clearances) but also contributed to stats on headers lost in the midfield and especially up front. We are not a big team so need to be playing to feet, even if our passing, first touch is abysmal.

Another interesting point is the crossing issue, you see only 2 were completed by the WM(L), so while it is good he's following instructions and getting down the wing the trouble is he can be isolated, this goes for the other side as well, they end up running into blind alleys with the ball and the full backs aren't far enough forward to support.

Fixing the issues

I am currently thinking whether I need to do some of the following:

• Make the WM wide players support, or at least the WML
  
• Play out of defence
  
• Short passing or Retain possession
  

The wide players on support would keep us more compact and the play out of defence and shorter passing/retain possession would stop us going more direct and built up a slower game. Any thoughts on this I would appreciate it, especially if you look at the PKM and spot something I haven't or any mistakes that I am making!

[Draktor]

Reserved

[RTHerringbone]

We've been treated to several good threads lately and whilst this one has only just started, it's really well laid out; great stuff

[shirajzl]

This is great, keep it up! It's especially useful because you don't seem to be one of the tacticians here to whom correct tweaks come naturally. You seem to be a beginner in this sort of a thing so it makes for an interesting read.

[Tom17]

As a York City fan in real life, I'm interested to see how you get on with this!

[Cleon]

This is a fantastic thread. I'm glad my posts have inspired you

[Draktor]

Thank you all for the feedback, I will write about the next game later today and attach another PKM!

We've been treated to several good threads lately and whilst this one has only just started, it's really well laid out; great stuff

Thanks I really appreciate, looking to get it off the ground and help fellow players who aren't as advanced like me.

This is great, keep it up! It's especially useful because you don't seem to be one of the tacticians here to whom correct tweaks come naturally. You seem to be a beginner in this sort of a thing so it makes for an interesting read.

Thanks you! That's exactly what I am aiming for basically, I am nowhere near the master tacticians of the board so hopefully if I am making errors they are ones which other similar level players will make and thus we can fix it all together!

As a York City fan in real life, I'm interested to see how you get on with this!

Thanks Tom, unfortunately they don't have the best of squads this season (in 2018), so I am hoping I won't get the sack and can get mid-table

This is a fantastic thread. I'm glad my posts have inspired you

Thanks Cleon! Absolutely, your thread on analysing a tactic was probably the best I have ever read, it just clicked with me from your three steps. I have read your other stuff but for some reason that thread in particular just clicked. I would really appreciate if you have 5 minutes sometime to look at the PKMs in this thread as I go along or if you see me going wrong or anything I am wrong about/over analysing if you say so in the thread. I won't take offence as the guidance is much appreciated!

[Cleon]

Thank you all for the feedback, I will write about the next game later today and attach another PKM!

Thanks I really appreciate, looking to get it off the ground and help fellow players who aren't as advanced like me.

Thanks you! That's exactly what I am aiming for basically, I am nowhere near the master tacticians of the board so hopefully if I am making errors they are ones which other similar level players will make and thus we can fix it all together!

Thanks Tom, unfortunately they don't have the best of squads this season (in 2018), so I am hoping I won't get the sack and can get mid-table

Thanks Cleon! Absolutely, your thread on analysing a tactic was probably the best I have ever read, it just clicked with me from your three steps. I have read your other stuff but for some reason that thread in particular just clicked. I would really appreciate if you have 5 minutes sometime to look at the PKMs in this thread as I go along or if you see me going wrong or anything I am wrong about/over analysing if you say so in the thread. I won't take offence as the guidance is much appreciated!

I will but I want to see how you do on your own first without any influences from myself. I think RTH does a similar thing, we tend to stay in the background and observe and just offer little bits here and there if we feel it's needed

[Draktor]

New update with the second game that we have played, this one being away at Gateshead, now Gateshead have a good team and predicted to finish in the playoffs so a pretty tough match in all. For the first 60 minutes I played the game on full match and kept seeing similar things so eventually switched to Comprehensive.

Let's remind ourselves what we are looking for in the game:

• Fullbacks to support the wingers
  
• CM(A) to make runs to support striker (maybe past the striker)
  
• WMR (A) to make runs inside, support the striker and move past him
  
• Striker to drop deeper and link up play a bit
  
• WML (A) to run down the outside and put crosses in
  
• In general is the striker being supported enough
  

The PKM for the game can be downloaded here.

The striker's movement and his support

I am pretty happy with the striker, he links up play and gets goals so far so good in the DLF(s) role so that ins't a cause for concern really, however, his support and his requirement to hold up the ball for extended periods of time is.

Example 1

51 seconds into the match, we have the defender walloping the ball down the pitch for the DLF (s), giving him absolutely no chance to win the header against the dominating center backs. This definitely needs to stop and even if he does control it there isn't support near enough to him to help out they have to bust a gut forward.

Example 2

Here the ball gets played up to the striker from the goalkeeper, he controls it nicely and knocks the ball back to the CM(A), nice bit of support.

Unfortunately then the directness takes over and the CM(A) launches a very long ball behind Gateshead's right back. Now while our left winger has got hold of it you can see the issue arising, he's quite easily closed down here by the Gateshead RB and not only that as the ball was launched he doesn't have much support. Look at the gap between the fullbacks and the wingers.

On the plus side notice that the WMR(A) is attacking narrower as we have instructed and hoped.

Fullbacks, Wide midfielders and other situations

I am naming this situations as they all cover something slightly different.

Situation 1

In this situation we see that the FB(S) is near to Gateshead's winger, our WMR(A) is struggling and is getting crowded out. In this instance I want our RB to be a bit further forward and be looking to exploit the space of the narrow WMR(A), but he mostly does not do this in the game, only sometimes. A small change may be needed here.

Situation 2

In this case there are a few items

1. I think the WML(A) is too overaggressive, I want the WMR this aggressive as he cuts inside to support the striker, but in a lot of instances the WML(A) goes missing, take this.
   
2. There are still massive gaps between the fullbacks and wide-midfielders
   

In the below screenshot the AP(S) lays the ball off to our WMR(A), notice the massive gap between the fullbacks and wide-midfielders

The second screenshot shows our WMR(A) running and going down a cul-de-sac (this happens but can be an issue of not enough support, instruction to run with the ball often or/and poor decision making, I haven't quite decided yet. However, look at the WML(A), why have you gone all that way, what are you doing? I would want him ideally between Gateshead's RM and RB expoiting that space, not charging up behind the FB, that's no use at all.

Situation 3

This is pretty simple on and just highlights some of the problems, I think the DLF(S) is a bit high, but that's not my main concern as most of the time he's generally in the position I want him to be. The WMR(A) is supporting him nicely to give him an outlet but there is a disconnect between the midfield and the "strikeforce". I think this can be fixed by the WML(A) being further back (probably moving him to support). This would mean the midfielder has another outlet and he can pick up the ball deep to commit people and then pass the ball off to the midfielders who have now found space.

Stats

I think the problems found during the match which I have outlined above are reflected in the stats. Notice some poor passing from the defence and the header attempts by the DLF(S), it indicates a bit of hoofball. I didn't notice the WMR(A) failing with a lot of passes but it is probably something to look at.

The WML(A) has all his crosses not hitting their mark, but again he had little support when the ball goes quickly to him and limited players in the center.

Conclusion

I think the analysis over the two games has outlined 3 things we need to do:

• TI: Play the ball out of defence (stop the punts)
  
• TI: Shorter passing
  
• WML(A) -> WML(S), stop him being so aggressive and give a deeper outlet
  
• RB from FB(S) to WB(S) to be a bit more aggressive in the space left by the WMR(A)
  

I am hoping the 4 will stop the problems I am seeing by forcing the defence and other players to go a bit shorter. My only concern is the passing, decision and first touch of all the players is some of the worst in the division, but I am trying to counter that with a more defensive formation and giving each person multiple simple passing outlets. We will see!

[Draktor]

I will but I want to see how you do on your own first without any influences from myself. I think RTH does a similar thing, we tend to stay in the background and observe and just offer little bits here and there if we feel it's needed

Thanks Cleon, I understand. I will keep trying to plug away with a more simple outlook.

[Draktor]

I thought I would do a post on the updated formation before I get into a game review about it as I need to redefine how I see it working. Below is the screenshot of the tweaked formation.

The changes are very simple and are designed to give more outlets for the ball since we have switched to shorter passing. The only worry I have is that dropping to shorter passing has narrowed the team so I am not quite sure whether that's a good thing or not, I may have to look out for this and widen the team if necessary as I should have enough passing options whether we are more narrow or not.

With regard to the player changes they are quite simple. On the right hand side I am hoping the WB(S) will get closer to our WM(A) and be a bit more aggressive into the space left by him when he cuts inside. This does make our right flank a bit more attacking but with the cover of the anchor and only a support juty for the WB I think it should be OK.

The WM(S) on the left side has been switched from an attacking role to a support role to try and provide more outlets in the midfield rather than sprinting up the field and taking himself out of the game. The plus side is keeping the FB(S) on that side we should be quite secure and mean that the gap between the two players is reduced. Additionally I have kept the CM(A) and WMR(A) as those two are the main attacking threats that we have, so they should still provide good support to the striker and hopefully get some goals.

I will basically be looking at the following still:

• Does the striker have enough support?
  
• Are we a bit more patient in build-up play?
  
• Do the fullbacks support the wingers?
  

[shirajzl]

I'm curious to see where you land with WMLa because you want him to put the crosses in, but in a 4141 he's never going to have enough bodies to aim in the box. The only situation where crosses are truly dangerous in that formation is in advance stages of build-up when fullbacks go forward and get in the position to cross. By that time, he usually has the opposite winger, striker, and one or two CMs to aim at. When a WMLa crosses, there are only one or two players in the box (especially because the striker drops deep).

Bear in mind, I'm just speculating here, don't take my words for granted or as if I know what I'm talking about.

[Draktor]

I'm curious to see where you land with WMLa because you want him to put the crosses in, but in a 4141 he's never going to have enough bodies to aim in the box. The only situation where crosses are truly dangerous in that formation is in advance stages of build-up when fullbacks go forward and get in the position to cross. By that time, he usually has the opposite winger, striker, and one or two CMs to aim at. When a WMLa crosses, there are only one or two players in the box (especially because the striker drops deep).

Bear in mind, I'm just speculating here, don't take my words for granted or as if I know what I'm talking about.

Hey shirajzl, thanks for the reply.

Actually it seems you do know what you're talking about as you are spot on, everytime the WML crossed there were only 2 (or less) in the box and that lead to problems. That's why I am hoping him moving to WML(S) will delay him a bit and not make him so anxious to get a cross in. I will be uploading a new match in a few minutes once I have finished the analysis which should show some new results from the changes!

[Draktor]

The next match was against Grimsby who are flying relatively high and are considered to be finishing near/in the playoffs, so another tough game except at home this time. The changes are want to evaluate are all in place, however, Grimsby are playing a diamond which means there should be a lot of space on the flanks which may distort some of the stats and doesn't make it consistent with previous games who always had wingers looking after our two fullbacks. However, like outlined in various posts (I think by Cleon) I am going to concentrate on ourselves and not the other team for now.

It is tempting to make changes to further take advantage of the wings, however, as per the spirit of these posts I will not make these changes and will stick to what I have, whereas in normal games I would have made changes to exploit the flanks but I really want to continue the consistency and for the next two games evaluate the team and the tactics to see if they are working.

You can download the PKM here

Position of the WML, improvement?

I was going to judge the improvement of the WML's position by looking at how many passes he received, however, without Grimsby having wingers this made it a bit more difficult, so I just decided to focus on watching it in the game to make sure, the great news is his position was consistently good and provide an outlet for everyone.

Here the WB(S) gives the ball to the AP(S), notice that the good news is the WB(S) is pushed up further, which is great. At this point the WML when on attacking would sprint up next to the full back.

However, now you can see that the WML(S) hangs back and eventually receives the ball

Excellent this is exactly what I wanted and he kept doing this during the game. Obviously it was made easier by them having no winger but you can see that the WML(S) is in the correct position and the FL(S) on that side is close by to offer some support.

Still some long balls

We still had some issues with long balls, but it was much improved, for example one issue was here.

The WBR(S) ends up playing a long ball into the striker rather than playing on the ground to the AP(S) who could them play in our WMR(A), not sure why he did this.

Fullbacks supporting the wingers?

The great news is on both sides with the role changes the fullbacks ended up supporting the wingers well, though we have to be careful as this was against a wingerless team. However, watch this interaction with the ball.

[video=youtube_share;j3_U15kuJIc]

Here's another example, here our WMR(A) has gone wide rather than cutting in (understandable with the space there). However, he's now getting crowded out, however, look who's up higher supporting him

The goal we scored

I wanted to highlight this goal as without the changes we absolutely would not have scored this goal, it is split into two youtube parts and is all the same goal, we keep possession well knocking it around, both fullbacks are involved and support the wingers well in the move.

[video=youtube_share;apCdFuQo4S4]

[video=youtube_share;9Aw5MTOlrQI]

The bad - stats

While the stats are good in some respects (we had 79% pass completion this time against 70% the previous game which is a 12% increase) they do outline that the striker is still going in for too many headers. I really need to see where that is coming from, but most seemed to be still from some punts upfield, maybe some of this is to do with decisions of the players.

Another item is we are still trying a lot of crosses, though I want to see the next game as in that the wingers & fullbacks shouldn't get as much space as they do here.

We only managed under 33% of our shots on target which is not good, but the shots do seem to be from decent positions. This is shown below.

Not many speculative efforts here, but I could check out the shots from the edge of the area to see why most of them were taken. If this (and the crossing) still persist in the next match I can look to lessen the crossing from the main culprits and invoke work the ball into the box as a team instruction.

[Cleon]

About your crossing, have you considered changing the cross aim? Maybe the player is crossing to the near post yet the people he's aiming for have no chance of ever getting it in that kind of area. By changing it to something else like far post or centre, you might see them win more of them.

[Draktor]

About your crossing, have you considered changing the cross aim? Maybe the player is crossing to the near post yet the people he's aiming for have no chance of ever getting it in that kind of area. By changing it to something else like far post or centre, you might see them win more of them.

Hey Cleon, thanks! I did think about it, actually I read it in one of your thread (may have been the analysing one). I thought about putting it on the back post, as that's where the WMR(A) will come in, the issue is as shirajzl guess there are only ever two people in the box, for example:

This ball was put in and it went to the goalkeeper eventually, but this is a common situation from the left hand side as he tends to beat his man and then cross the ball in. Unfortunately there are only ever two players in the box DLF(S) and the WMR(A). Ideally what I would like him to do is take it inwards a bit of to the byline and then cross, this would pull them more out of shape and allow the CM(A) to get into the box and for the AP(S) to get on the edge of the box.

I definitely don't want to stop crossing as seemingly two of my goals in the last 3 games have come from crosses from the left winger. He's just a bit wasteful. Though to be fair in this last match he was less wasteful seemingly as 22% found their target.

Strangely I just went to prozone though and while the stats say he had 18 cross with 4 completed prozone only contains 11 crosses with 4 completed for the WML(S). Is it a bug? Or does that not count crosses which are blocked?

[Draktor]

Hello everyone,

I had been very busy recently and not been able to advance my game, however, I have a bit more time now and had an idea. Instead of doing textual updates after the fact I thought I would create videos of each match I play (I tend to play on Full/Comprehensive highlights).

This is a pilot of me doing so, I have also got software to do on screen annotations as the game plays out along with my commentary. The videos will be long but I thought this was a different take on the youtube style videos which are normally only 15 minutes in length. Please let me know what you all think.

If you have read this thread you can skip to

in, as that is where my game prep starts. If you don't want to see the game prep (spoiler: nothing really changed too much) then you can skip to

for the start of the match.

[video=youtube;YRxef6c1IfU]

Any feedback (both positive & negative) is welcome, if there isn't a demand for this style of in-depth video then I will have a rethink.

Thanks!

[Draktor]

Hey everyone,

I have done another match thanks to some feedback. Thanks to some feedback the match was sped up two notches so it is much faster than it was, however, I still stop the game to provide tactical insights.

Please let me know all think.

[video=youtube;yUGnVASyLVk]

[Cleon]

I've changed the title for you. A really good series btw

[Conflictinbanno]

Hi Draktor,

I haven't managed to watch the video highlights yet due to being at work but from what I have read, it's a good thread and something I'm thinking I need to take on board.

One of the things I have always struggled with is my in game analysis, I either don't make the change quick enough or I end up making too many and complicate the system too much myself, so I like how you right down what you are keeping an eye on before each game to make sure it all goes okay. Definitely hoping I can try this for myself in future games. I will try and watch the videos when I get a chance but I like how you have explained it so far!

[Midnight Rob]

At post#12

I don't understand the setup really.

A deep structured shape, short passing and play out the back. For me that's a confused strategy and not really how a counter attack works.

If you have a deep line and using a disciplined shape i.e. one that limits creative freedom (risk) then you should be clearing your lines. Defenders should be passing more direct as the TC naturally provides. A team such as York - climbing the divisions - will get found out sooner or later building out on a defensive mentality unless you change it. This is because eventually you won't get out against better sides and you will concede possession in dangerous areas closer to your own goal.

The tactic as described in post#12 will fall over at some point.

[tyler16]

Watching the videos now, what a great thread mate.