Where To Begin

[BnadnerB]

Hello all,

I’ve had a break from FM but am getting back on the wagon with FM23 Touch.

I’m wondering what is the gold standard to read to get myself back into making tactics? I’ve looked through the stickys and theres some good info but a lot of it is unfinished or 3+ years old which is extremely annoying.

I know people will say its still relevant but some under the hood stuff has 100% changed with regard to mentality/team shape etc.

I’ve seen Rashidi put some good content out on Youtube, Ozil-to-the-Arsenal’s threads are always gold and I saw Cleon put some recent stuff out which doesn’t seem to have caught fire.

Basically I’m struggling to find a written resource to refer back to and help me start fresh, maybe SI need to think about putting a proper manual together!

 

[CJ_Randell]

Think about a style of play you want to implement and use the default tactics as a starting point. 

Then when you're watching games you can add instructions you want to see and remove things you don't like. 

[The3points]

I think what I do is base my style off of a manager and proceed by watching some games, profiling roles and matching tactics, and tinkering from there.

In terms of my own tactics, I always start with the perfect goal of the style. For a counter based style, Image whether you will hit the ball up for a quick winger, and have some quick passing rip apart the opposition. After that, you could start working with what you see: the first option would be Pass into Space or More Direct passing, and the second might be Shorter Passing with Higher Tempo.

From that vision, identify the shape you want your team to be in. Realise that you will have to make tradeoffs: if you want to defend in a 4-4-2, but want the pacey winger to forward, you might want to decide between solidity and attacking competency.

The shape then decides the player roles: where do you want your players to move to? Do you want the striker to drop deep to make space for your winger? In attack maybe you want a 2-3-1-4 with the fullbacks supporting the middle but also overlapping, the wingers going high before inverting, and one CM deeper than another. Then you choose WB/FB-S, IW-S (Stay Wider), CM-D/CM-S for the roles. The same goes defensively to an extent. If you want a flat back 4, then keep the roles relatively consistent.

Finally, how much risk are you willing to take? Are the formation and roles naturally aggressive? Do you want to play faster, wider, and your players to be higher than before? All this is a part of mentality. It is preferable to start with it moderate and change based on the game or opposition