Looking for Some Good Resources

[psucolonel]

Hello...I am diving into a new FM 23 save, and while I have limited experience with FM (over 20 years) I have never really dove into a save, and therefore am likely not aware of all the game concepts.  On top of it, I am an American who is managing in the MLS, and have very limited tactical knowledge of the game to tart with.  I have never played football, nor have I really ever watched or followed it.  As a yank, I am much more familiar with our version of football as well as baseball.  

So I am wondering if there are some good places for me to go to learn about game concepts, tactics etc...  Video guides are great, but I am also happy to read anything that will help me with Football Manager.  I suppose I am lucky I am somewhat familiar with the MLS rules such International slots, drafts, free agency, salary cap, etc...I am not as familiar with some of the other contracts such as Generation Adidas, Designated Contracts, Young Designated Players etc..

I do think if I am going to be successful though, I am going to need the ins & outs of tactics.  The rest I think is fairly easily learnable..but tactics are basically greek to me.  I mean, I know SOME things such as "closing down" "pressing" and so forth...I am also reasonable familiar with the rules...just not the nuts & bolts of how the game flows.

Any help is very much appreciated.  Cheers & Thank You!!

[phnompenhandy]

Tons of great advice for all levels in this forum, especially in the stickies at the top

https://community.sigames.com/forums/forum/19-tactics-training-strategies-discussion/

This thread is by an American trying to apply his expertise in NFL to FM

Routes & Combos: An NFL Experiment

And there are a gazillion guides on YouTube, including my Americans in your boat.

[XaW]

If you want to learn about tactics and football in general then I can recommend a few books. I've had some great reads in the books by Michael Cox. The Mixer and Zonal Marking are two great books to get a deep understanding of tactics and how things have evolved into the tactics we see in modern football. Most of that translates well into FM, but of course there are some limitations, because, you know, it's software and not real life.

In general, I would advise you to keep things simple at first and don't add instructions or setups you don't understand. Try to visualize what you want the players to do on the pitch and create a basic formation. Remember that the formation you set up are the way players are WITHOUT the ball. So in a 4-4-2, you have two rows of 4 and 2 forwards. However, the roles dictate how they act both on and off the ball. So a deep lying playmaker will stay deep, while an advanced playmaker will go forward. Of course this is simplifying it a bit, but it's a basic example. So the players will not be in the formation setup while you are attacking, but rather dictated by the roles you give them.

Initially, I would advise you to use the tactics creator and try to setup something that fits the players you have. Only one good attacker, but good wingers? Perhaps a 4-5-1 with attacking wingers are a good idea. 3 good central defenders, but fullbacks are poor defensively? A 3 defender formation with wing backs could work. Just do the basic and play a few matches to see how to works (or not work). When you see something you don't like happen several times, perhaps try to change something that you think was the cause for the next match. What happened, and did you like the change or not? The experimentation is part of creating a tactic. Also keep in mind that the opposition changes theirs, so perhaps you can do something early on that works, but then they change up things, and you need to counter it in that match.

Most of this comes from experience, and I can guarantee that most of us have been fired multiple times over the years we have played it, at least I know I have. I used to struggle with tactics up until FM17 when I decided to learn more. So I read a few books, and got more detailed with the sport as a whole, and then sat down with FM and tried to replicate how Liverpool played at the time. I created something basic, but had some issues, so I posted a thread in the tactics forum linked above and asked for some feedback on my setup. I got several answers and I tried the ones that I thought was suitable for what I wanted and I had great success with it.

It actually still works well to this day, and I still use a mostly similar version in FM23. It's not a tactic that breaks the game, but I feel I mostly overachieve with it no matter what team I use. I do tweak it a bit here and there to fit my team, and some changes in matches if things go awry, but the gist of it remains the same.

Here is the one from back then vs the one I use now:

And I'll be honest, I'm still not the best at tactics, I do occasionally try something else, but it's really hit and miss, so I often stay with what I know and what I like. So as someone who, at least partially, had the same struggle as you, I can recommend this approach to learn.

[psucolonel]

Thank you for thi!! Very helpful!!  I am going to enjoy learning a new game!!