Is it raining goals yet?

[Vadermage]

I enjoy playing FM in late stages, by that I mean I enjoy every iteration of our favorite game in period after June or July after everything gets sorted out(9/10 times FM 19 Im talkin bout you), so I had an idea this time around, what if I try to combine a lot of tactical styles and try to make them core part of a certain way of play. For everyone wondering this isn't gonna be some download this tactic 99.914124% teams cant stand it, click download now and get 2+1 free! I intend to write this as an idea which was achieved after 2 whole seasons with one too many transfer tactics just to get players I needed, by that I mean I used every trick in the book I knew of how too boost mine players, how to unsettle AI players and to work around everything so I can get a group of players I wanted to work with.

Enough of the boring writing of introduction, let's get to what this actually is.

Somehow when I was a younger version of myself I liked 4-2-3-, I mean Arsenal played it and while you can say its 4-4-2 in its core it looked a lot different to me back then, but as I grew up of sorts I started to appreciate the 4-5-1 DM Wide as FM calls it, or simple flying V as I like to call it. And no wonder one would appreciate the 451's and its versions and tactical systems based on it, I mean, Mourinho at Chelsea, Pep in Barca, Sarribal at Napoli, Klopp in Liverpool and many others, everyone used 451s and made it work differently, so what if we could try to use influence of each and everyone of them in a single tactic to get amusing and highly offensive style of play?

 

I decided best course of action is to first pick what is the most important part of each of these types of tactics and to "steal" that bit while still being able to fit it in a same tactic and solution I found was this:

 

 

Concept

So lets start from beginning, if there ever is one, I usually like to start from the defensive side but in this case I think it might be wiser to go from top.

Mourinho influence:

if its shut you brute force that open, that is the idea behind the forward trio, all 3 of the forward roles will score, but, the Advanced Forward is gonna be mine main threat, and considering how FM 20 and 21 both have one super duper OP AF (who could it be Eirling?) I kind of tailored the role to suit him and to suit his teammate in later days, yes the Moukoko, I I think I never was hyped about developing a striker in FM as I'm in case of Moukoko, he is just Mbappe in the rough, the possibilites are off the charts. The role of AF is simple, attack space, break offside traps and score, and score more and more, with Haaland type of striker in your side he just gets more goals simply cos of his aerial prowess and ability to use him in setpieces and in tactic both.

Right Wing slot is reserved for Inverted Winger, this role was a tough one, I will argue Winger on attack would do the same job maybe even better but I will leave that for later, the point of this role is the threat on the right side, Inverted winger can stretch the play almost the same as winger but he isn't "one dimensional" as Raumdeuter or inside forward is, he is like a hurricane of sorts but still responsible for his defensive part and not a ball magnet like Trequartista or Playmaker roles, which made him perfect for this role, the role of IW is to occupy opposing left side defensive workers, at times he will draw FB's only, at times DM's and at times CB's and that is exactly what we want, if he doesn't lure them away that means we have a runner free which will net him a goal or two. Creativity wise think of him as Willian sort of player, he will cross, he will pass trough, he will dribble and he will keep hold of possession and help in mid battle to some extent.

On Left wing we have the Raumdeuter and some people will now say, wait like 2 mins ago you said WE DONT WANT RMD COS HE IS ONE DIMENSIONAL! And yes I did say that, but I want that sort of player in here, let me try to give you some insight on it, since the introduction of this role in game I think this has to have been the role most people got confused about, is it a winger? is it IF who is lacking passing ability, is it a deep poacher? well id have to say he is bit of all and nothing of aforementioned at all, he does sit narrow, he does act as deep poacher and he might act as a winger if he decides to do so, this is one role in game which has a lot of hardcode in it but also, from mine experience, relyes on PPM's heavily, example wise Muller will act as deep poacherish like player in it, while hazard will act like drifting half-wing or mezala of sorts, it comes down to the player you have at disposal. I would argue it might work to change the role into Inside forward but that would highly humper the roles hard code part which is offensiveness, RMD acts as focal point and that is the roles hard code, this role is selected as a sacrifice for the rest of the team, and no we are not playin Skyrim Boetiahs calling quest, we are sacrificing this players ability pace and football IQ to block opposition in defense, he will most of the time block FB and CB at same time tying them down and making extra room for our AF and marauding FB behind him, also at times he will provide space for our B2B since with his drifting even DM and CM strata get lured away by him, if he is left alone he will score cos his inner poacher ability will make him find the space and time to do so since in similar sense AF is doing the same thing with both or all 3 CB's depending on oposittion.

 

So those are them 3 out of the way, the Mourinho idea is brute forcing them via the constrictions, those 3 players are tying down a lot of oposing defenders in a manner that leaves space for our mid and FBs to exploit while also making a dilemma at each step which one of those 3 should they leave alone and if they should leave them alone.

 

Sarri influence:

Sarriball was popular few years ago, it was a new take and many recognized Pep Barca styles in them but the main selling point for me was the deep metronome, I grew up when Serie A was THE THING, you can say EPL has 6 great teams fighting, BBVA had 2 strongest teams at the world fighting and Atletico lurking at them, but Seria A in early 2000's was better then all combined, you had 4 strong teams dukin it out each year with amazing talent in each squad but what was really interesting for those times was the metronomes, most of the top sides had metronomes and the one that was most adored was probably Pirlo, once he stepped on big stage nothing was the same anymore. So once I saw Sarri and Jorginho I kind of fell in love with it.

The Right CM is a mezalla the role of mezalla is creative side as well as runs frop deep, mourinho influence made me constrict the oposition and now if someone is running from deep he will insert confusion in opposing team, the other part of mezalla contriibution is also constriction and ball protection, he is most offensive mid player but at same time he has the ability to work with top 3 since he will find himself in halfspaces on right side with option of playing trough balls for RW and ST while also looking to exploit left side with diagonals from a perfect position, in combination with the B2B he will keep the ball and work toward creating a breaktrough needed to shuffle the opposition and find space for a chance.

B2B role is often fairly simple and one thing no one ever does is roaming Ball wining midfielder, but in this case that is exactly what he does in a sense, if I'm playin strong oposition and I find it difficult to control the situation he will even switch role to BWM's, although that happens really really rarely, the idea behind this role is gap filler, since RMD makes a lot of space I found it optimal to have a player able both on and off the ball while still being able to contribute in defensive bussiness a mandatory need on this side of the pitch, protect the marauding fullback, use the space he is left with to recieve and offload passes and provide stability in mid and in possession battle this is his main role. I would argue same and sometimes even better effects could be achieved by switching this role to another but more of that later.

The Metronome, now this can be most integral part of the team, you need a player who is not just a metronome but can also do his defensive work, cos if he cant defend it all falls down, there is no strong screen infront of him, no Gattuso or keane like monsters to break a leg or 2 and hand him the ball, he will have to work for the ball as the rest of the bois, main thing to do if he is unable to cope with the pressure is to swap the role to DLP support if its needed for still being able to contribute in ofense or DLP defense if facing strong Top heavy sides who can overwhelm the CBs with pace and skills. Offensive wise he will look to control the play and unleash runners, the 3 forward influence can benefit the most from regista while also if he gets closed down a lot he can attract players to him while freeing rest of mid free so they can work their magic instead. This is porbably the hardest role to fulfill in whole of the idea and I would never even go for Regista if i didnt know the game has Kana and Camawinga liek players, without players of that sort this would be impossible to fill out, fun fact I used Eric Garcia in this role aswell and he was good since he fullfiled defensive side of matters to an amazing extent.

 

Pep and what does it mean to be a FB:

In modern football FB or WB call it however you preffer is a role that is most tiring and requires people with godly physical condition, able to run up down, dribble and after all of that cross for others and yet somehow every year Golden Ball gets in strikers hands, hmmmmmmmm sus. Jokes aside it is what I said it is demanding role which needs players able to fulfill pretty much everything on the pitch, but even if they can do it matter of quality is when, how and why they do it.

Right side has a WB on support which is based on mine forward role and also on protection and gap fill for mine mezala, in case I had a glorious winger in front I would use IWB on support here, reason for WBs at this time is to provide width so that he can get into position to cross and help in mid battle by being at hand for possession game, when i use him as IWB it triggers poetry in motion, in case of IWB role he becomes our mid player which releases mezala, helps in mid battle and offloads pressure from Regista the downside of this is that sometimes we could face issues with width since even with winger in front it might get cloged, it is possible to use IWB with IW setup which means they will sort of alternate who gets to stretch the width but I avoid it mainly for the reason of liking him in the wider areas, lurking for a chance at cross. In recent years we all saw what Lahm did and what partnership Alves and Abidal had under Pep, Alves was the driving force while Abidal was the more cautios one.

Left Side is the home of probably best Arsenal player and he had to get a note for that, but in this case he will act as our space provider and our crossing outlet, RMD will tuck inside opposing markers and FB on attack duty will find the space  and time to do so while still being cautious of defensive threats, I felt WB and CWB on attack left too much of open space while support duties lacked the punch to provide the needed penetration on the wing so I opted for Fullback on attack which has a great mix of offense and is still highly responsible in defense, so in the case of defense we have Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde, opposite sides of pitch opposite roles both relevant for the control of the pitch.

 

Centre Backs are straightforward, BPD so that they can launch spliting passes at times if I felt one of them lacked in the department of passing he would be downgraded to Puyol and just sit around and do the defensive part, one can experiment with making the left in the pairing a cover duty but I felt like using offside trap for some reason so I opted out of it.

 

Last role is Keeper who is like a Neuer, I thought of using attacking sweeper keeper but considering how he saw ball really rarely in game I didnt want to give him the option to FM me with Neuer vs Stankovic style of play.

 

Is anyone still reading? Are you insane? You just wasted a lot of time....

 

In possession:

 

 

Considering everything described I should explain how these shouts work together, the shout most people get confused about is probably underlap/overlap and more disciplined/more expressive ones.

Mine understanding of more disciplined is when its on its telling them OY, I TOLD YOU TO RUN LEFT, SO YOU DONT EVEN THIS ABOUT TO RUN RIGHT! sort of thing, meaning disciplined shout will sort of 'enhance" the behaviour to be more like instructions, both role and team ones, they will try to follow them more then to try to express their personal skill or flair while expressive is the other way around. So disciplined could be interpreted as word of God that Moises himself bestowed upon them while expressive is more of a guideline to follow and afterwards do their own thing, I preffer the discipline shout and the attribute that affects it by mine personal experience is Teamwork, so in general I look to sign players with higher teamwork stat.

If you are a good team you want to use play out of defense since just hoofing the ball out might come back to bite you.

Tempo is set to a bit higher since mine team has good passers and I do defend in specific manner I want to go towards the goal with greater urgency whilst their defensive setup is still in shambles so higher tempo gives me just that.

Run at defense is self explanatory, more disciplined combined with it makes mine attack minded players dribble their marker and generate threat and draw more oposition to them while freeing others.

Play narrow and other focus play shouts were reworked for FM 21 and now they don't do same thing they did in previous FM's, now it will ask players to search mid outlets and pass the ball to them which helps to get out REG and MEZ on ball more often which can be rewarding

and now overlap and underlap, this is a bit tricky to explain, but on left side overlap means we will search more width on that side and give mentality increase to our FB so that he makes those runs a bit more often and provide more width, that one was the easier of the 2.

Underlap on right means that players on right side should try and seek ANY and I mean ANY player on the pitch making a rund forward, that means if mine FB RMD MEZ AF anyone of them makes a run IW should try to pick them up with a pass supporting their run, it also puts our WBs mentality up a bit more so that he gets into forward positions a bit faster which helps with transitions and passing outlets.

 

In Transition:

The jurgen part, who could have guessed that Jurgen part is a press similar to Gegen press, I would expect Jurgen part was the use and style of Kuba Błaszczykowski in BvB German cup finals, alas it is still gegenpress thing.

In transition i want to counter since then I can use mine oppressing trio to their full potential since they can act like Ottomans in 17th century if given the chance and mine roles are setup in ladder way so that mine players have options for quicker transitions. 

After loosing the ball I want to press and press hard, I want to win it back and be able to counter again, in few rare cases i might opt to remove counter press and even go for regroup but those cases include games in knockout stages when I get favorable lead and just want to peg them on counters while they commit more and more players forward, so I used it vs juventus once and vs PSG since I was kinda afraid of their forwards and the pace.

Other then that I left GK part alone, I run with pass to CBs a bit but I felt he was missing few passes to mine strikers so I left it alone and I let him decide whom to aim for.

Out of Possession:

Since I already stated its Jurgen def it has familiar settings.

Tighter marking is mandatory since I want to close them down as fast as possible and I don't want them to run circles around any of my players.

Get Stuck in is optional I use it to intimidate and if I get one too many yellows I turn it off and sometimes even switch to stay on feet cos stay on feet makes it easier to close down mid players

Prevent gk dist makes sense but can be turned of, I mainly use it all the time but its more important vs bigger teams so they cant craft from back, while vs weaker teams it sometimes help to leave it off since it drews them further from their own goal.

Pressing intensity all the way even If I'm regrouped when they enter mine space I don't want to let them pass or do anything.

Offside trap is self explanatory which leads us to engagement lines.

The defensive line is set to high at all times in mine case, I don't change it, but the engagement line is something i like to play with if I'm chasing lead I would go all out with attacking even very attacking and push the line to the top, If I'm satisfied with the lead I would just drop it to standard to draw them out and then counter them, it also helps vs buses to just drop it down a notch and lure them out and make space for your forward 3 to run into, with regroup shout I would 90% of time go to standard aswell.

 

Anyone still left alive after this blob of text? Don't tell me I didn't bore you to death....

 

Changes:

As I mentioned before There are few changes which can be applied, main one being Regista role into Deep lying playmaker roles, I changed REG into DLP defend vs Juventus cos I didn't wanna leave space for Dybala Ronaldo duo to go 2v2 on mine CB's, I switched REG to DLP Support vs Liverpool when they went 4231 since Regista would easily be outmatched by AMC who can tag it esp if its Firmino, you get the picture when and why I did it.

B2B can be changed to BWM's and to CM's BWM's to make him more of a defensive tool and CM's to make him more of a pivot since B2B can become too offensive if given the space

 

Right flank rework: as I mentioned IW can go into Winger Attack and RB can then go IWB support, I mean you can do it into IWB support anyway but thats already covered,

I like to use Opposite footed wingers PPM trick from time to time, idk if you are all aware of it but, if you have a player who can play AMR but has left foot as main foot and has PPM cuts inside and you use him in a winger role, he will act as a Winger Inverted Winger hybrid, and I like to use that from time to time, the hybrid will spend more time out wide which in turn gives you more width, he will still run towards goal as IW would but he would have to traverse greater distance and that in turn gives more time to teammates to pick his run up and provide him with ball, it can get really nasty with fake wingers provided you have players for that, I like Reus and Sancho in that role on AML in mine previous save, try it, its fun.

 

Closing word:

First of all for everyone who says result where, team where, this where, that where? I already said it is just a bit of write up for anyone that wants to read on some tactical idea I had and that served me, I used top of the line players in mine save cos I enjoy rebuilding Arsenal in each Fm, I would enjoy more if they had a proper team once in a while and win something, but it is what it is, every year I pick Arsenal up make a restoration project,a buy players I want and use tactics I want. 

Set pieces are in the tactic and corners are set for Haaland type of player atm, you can change him for CB on near post if you wish so....

I'm open to discussion and to see if anyone has any changes in mind, and sees something I overlooked since I do have a pretty strong squad and it is harder to spot a mistake or two with a strong team. Remember PPMs heavily influence the behaviour of players and you might not enjoy mine success if you opt to try it out and fiddle with it.

That is kinda it  I will leave tactic download bellow if you want to test it out or to joke around with it....

Revelation.fmf