[Tactical help needed]

So I will choose between two setups for next season...

1)

DLFsu (alternatively on attack)

IWsu                               IFat

MEZat   BBMsu

DLPde

WBsu (alternatively on attack)  CDde  BPDde  WBsu

SKsu

2)

DLFsu (alternatively on attack)

IWsu                               IFat

MEZat   DLPsu

HB

WBsu (alternatively on attack)  CDde  BPDde  WBsu

SKsu

 

Is any of these more prefered by you? Or more suitable for playing style? Let this really be my final question...

[Tactical help needed]

Thanks. So does it still make sense for you if that 2nd setup whould be changed this way?

DLFat

IWsu                               IFat

MEZat   DLPsu

HB

WBat  CDde  BPDde  WBsu

SKsu

 

But the left flank would be quite vulnerable defensively, no?

[Tactical help needed]

Well, f.ex. I do not have any winger that would have abilities/attributes to play a playmaker role on the wing. That´s why I would like to mostly keep the roles we made on the first change and only somehow tweak the midfield (if possible) to make it more creative and playing with the ball. For these reasons I am considering to implement a playmaker role somewhere in the midfield.

[Tactical help needed]

8 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

I cannot "optimize" roles, because different combos can work for different teams and/or styles of play. I can only tell you what my preferred setup would be like:

DLFat

IFsu                              APsu

MEZat   BWMsu

HB

IWBsu    CDde  BPDde  FBat

SKsu

Or, if you want to use a DLP, this could be another way to go:

DLFat

IFsu                               IWsu

DLPsu   MEZat

HB

FB/WBat  CDde  BPDde  IWBsu

SKsu

Yes, I meant that way, your preffered setup. Many thanks for your suggestions. Unfortunatelly such distribution of roles wouldn´t suit my players, so I would need to keep roles for both wingers and some other positions... Maybe this setup could also work?

DLFsu

IWsu                               IFat

MEZat  APsu/RMPsu/DLPsu

DLPde/HB/DM

WBsu/WBat  CDde  BPDde  WBsu

SKsu

 

Positions in red are questionmarks for me.

[Tactical help needed]

Great, many thanks @Experienced Defender for your feedback and patience. I would be really thankful if you could also have a look at my midfield and optimalize roles there. Does it make sense to use playmaker on the right side, together with mezzala?

It would be probably Klopp´s style from last two seasons, that is a bit more safe and patient than before, no?

[Tactical help needed]

11 hours ago, Experienced Defender said:

What do you mean by "nice style of pressing"? The style of pressing you use in this tactic is the one that generally works best for me when I play this particular style of football (progressive possession, as I like to call it). 

By "nice style of pressing" I meant an aggressive, extreme pressing as I consider this as one of the key elements of my play. I know that it may be more risky and less stable defensively but would it make any sense for you to keep higher DL, standard LOE, split block and increase pressing to more urgent?

11 hours ago, Experienced Defender said:

I like the tactic in general, but it does not mean it cannot be improved. Plus, you should not view this tactic as a plug'n'play tactic, which means you'll need to watch your matches, analyze the opponents and make small and gradual tweaks on occasion. If you want a plug'n'play tactic, there are plenty in the Tactics Download and Sharing section of the forum.

No, I surely do not want to download some "perfect", universal tactic, exactly in contrary to this - as I said, I want to create a tactic that would allow me to replicate my desired style of play and mainly fully understand the mechanics behing it and how could it be improved.

11 hours ago, Experienced Defender said:

Here are some ideas for you to consider (based on how you described your team's overall performance and results with this tactic:

- drop the tempo one notch (to standard instead of higher) - in relation to the lower possession stats

- don't use the Counter TI in transition all the time, but only situationally (e.g. you have taken the lead and you see the opponent has become more attacking trying to equalize) - again in relation to the possession stats

- remove the Pass into space (this is generally the type of instruction that should be used situationally, rather than on a regular basis) - also primarily in relation to possession

- change the GK from SK on attack to SK on support

- change the striker's duty to support, so that he would better create the space for the mezzala and IF on attack, along with being more involved in the build-up phase of your attacks

This was the first set of tactical tweaks I would look to implement. There are potentially a couple more, but it's better to go step by step.

I would like to keep the tempo high as I see this as a key element of my style of play. Similarly with Counter TI - isn´t this the exact instruction that helps to replicate the idea for fast attacking/counter attacking when possible? Do not want to play any kind of tiki-taka, slow possession game. Could you please explain me the meaning of this instriction? Same about Pass into space.

Agree with and will change the other suggested ideas - GK on support, striker on DLF on support duty (or would it be better to have F9? But as I said, this should be my main goalscorer and main attacking force) and shorter passing.

 

I know that you cannot tell me the exact roles and duties but you definitely know how various roles cooperate and which one should/shouldn´t be used for various styles of play. It would be really great if you could have a look at my midfield as it really is a disappointment for me so far. It should be an engine of my team, creative force but looking at the stats these players have very low number of passes made and aren´t much involved in our play. Especially MCR or maybe also DM could be somehow changed IMO. What about some playmaking role for MCR? APs, DLs, RPMs? How would this behave with mezzala and DM? Something like Mez(a) - AP(s) - DLP (d)? Mez(a) - DLP(s) - HB(d)? Or anything like this?

 

I see the duties for my players in this way - DCs and DM should mainly defend, keep us safe, wingbacks should be very attacking, give us width, midfield (mainly MCL, AML and also MCR should be creative, keep the ball, with MCR also helping with some defence), AMR and SC should be attacking, score plenty of goals for us.

[Tactical help needed]

That´s a pitty but I understand you and will try to make it easier for you. So here is the tactic I used for the second part of the season (with ocassional in-game changes)...

Out of possession instructions I used your recommended 2nd combo of higher DL, standard LOE, default pressing and split block (used ST, AML, AMR and Mezzala - should I also add the second CM?)  I  would definitely appreciate your help here to create some nice style of pressing.

The results and overall performance of this changed tactic were mixed in the testing period - we started really well and achieved some pretty solid results with plenty of goals and clear cut chances but the second part was pretty bad and we won just one match out of last 6 duels. With no clear changes in starting line ups, players morale etc.

In comparision to the previous tactic I would say that results-wise it was pretty even, with very similar winning percentage, goals scored and condeded. Some matches were excellent, other pretty bad. Clear differences in stats were that we had clearly lower possession, MUCH less passes and also our board was less satisfied with our attempts to play "high-tempo pressing football".

I found that especially our midfield was not working well enough, AML, MCL and MCR rarely made a real impact on a game and usually had pretty average ratings. It would be great if you could help me with setting up our midfield as in my eyes this should be an engine of our team. We have some really technically gifted players, whose best roles are playmakers, there and would like to take advantage of them. What about changing roles? And would be a shorter passing TI be a good idea?

Also both wingbacks, especially on the left side, could be more attacking and more influence our play on the final third in my eyes.

 

I will also repeat some of my previous questions I would like to know your opinion about as this could help me better understand my tactic...

- What does exactly Passing into space" make and how does it relate to my style of play and gegenpressing?

- Would you recommend any way to make my wingbacks or just one of them more attacking? How can I increase their attacking activity? At the same time, my prefered choice on this position has crosses early PPM - isn´t this contraproductive for what I want from this position and our style of play? Btw. both DL and DR have Gets Forward PPM, what I consider good fit.

- Regarding the central midfield trio - how to optimalize player roles and duties here? Our players on these positions are technically gifted and mostly suited for playmaking roles, so I would like to take advantage of it, form a creative midfield. DM role should be to protect our defence but also be creative force from lower position. Is DLP the best role here? Defend or Support duty? Or better Halfback whose in-game description suits exactly my demands? But is he creative and "offensive" enough? The same about the remaining duo, where I could mainly take advantage of AP. How whould you set the midfield here? Once again mainly to recreate my desired style of play.

- Passing directness - Element of play I am really unsure how to set up correctly for our desired style of play and this relates to my previously described conflict of two playing styles. Or should fast tempo, short passing game be a good option for us and our players? Or will short passing limit the opportunities for fast, direct attacks?

 

[Tactical help needed]

I have already made some changes to my initial tactic following your recommendations but I am still looking forward to your replies to my questions to finalise it and test in matches. 

[Tactical help needed]

Great, that surely makes sense. Thanks for your explanation.

If we are talking about physical attributes of my players, than I should also add, that they are generally small (or not tall at least) with not the best jumping reach. The exception are central defenders, who in contrary are strong and great headers. How will this info affect our planned attacking style?

[Tactical help needed]

Yes, I take your words as advices and recommendations from much more experienced user... 

Regarding those three offensive players - I wanted to say that they all are rather pacy and take advantage of it.

Sorry for so many questions but I really want to understand how to improve my tactic and play my favorite style of play. Thanks again for your time and looking forward to your reply.

[Tactical help needed]

Yes, I know that you have taken my demands into account already, but still wanted to mention it again. And I´m really happy that you consider my style of play as Klopp-like as this is exactly how I look at it. :-) Anyway looking forward to your reply!

[Tactical help needed]

Many thanks for your feedback and your time, it really helped a lot. But I definitely have some other questions, many other questions actually. :-)

Please note that I do not want to create just a working, well-balanced tactic but a tactic that would mostly replicated my desired style of play. That´s important for me and I want to build a whole club around this tactical style.

 

Quote

Positive mentality - good starting point when it comes to mentality choice for attack-minded football styles 

I was considering positive or attacking mentality and went for the more conservative in the end. But wouldn´t attacking be better choice here? Wouldn´t it replicate the kind of fast attacking football better? We want to score goals, be active, dominate, consider attack as the best defence. I know that the selection of mentality would influence all other things, so this is the main question. What is the better choice here?

Quote

 

In possession instructions - again, nothing strikingly wrong in and of itself. Passing into space should basically be used situationally, rather than as part of a starting tactic (especially given that your tactic is not primarily counter-attacking). Fairly narrow width is another instruction I prefer to use situationally. The same goes for wider width. Do you perhaps have some specific reasons as to why you want to go with the narrower width? 

An in-possession TI that may help you achieve your desired style of play is Be more expressive. You can (occasionally) use it in combination with Work ball into box, because these 2 TIs tend to somewhat offset (potentially negative) effects of each other (I assume your players are good enough to play that way). 

 

I was inspired mainly by gegenpressing preset tactic when creating my tactic as I believe that my desired style is quite similar. This is one of the reasons for "Passing into space". Sure, we want more than just counter-attacking but on the other hand I want my players to use every opportunity, every chance when opponent lose a ball, we win it via pressing and his players may be out of positions, to launch a counter-attack, go fast and directly to the goal. Instead of slow build up and passing. I believed that this instruction could help with this. Also I have to add that I want to be my 3 offensive players (strikers and wingers) very fast.

The reasoning behind fairly narrow attacking width is very similar - was inspired by the preset. Personally I also believed that this instruction would help our players to be closer to each other, behave more like a team, one unit, and this could be helpful when pressing, no? Attacking width is one of the elements I surely do not understand properly. What are pros and cons of both settings? And what would be best for my style then?

Definitely agree with "Be more expressive" TI. As I said I have mostly very technical players, midfield consist almost exclusively of this kind of players, and want to play this way, so this should definitely help. This will give all players more creative freedom, right? Or any other effect?

Not sure what "Work ball into box" TI excatly does, when is it good idea to use it. I felt that it will limit long shots, shots from worse positions and players will patiently wait and work for better positions. I would definitely use it if I would like to play possession football with many passes, patient play, but isn´t it contraproductive for my style of play? My main problem, the thing I have the biggest problems with, that in my eyes I want two "contradictory" styles in my game - ultra fast, ultra attacking, hitting opponents on counterattacks when there is an opportunity for it, but at the same time slower/normal build up, possession, passing style of play using my creative midfield, when opponent´s players are on their positions or sit deep. And this makes it hard for me to understand what instructions should be used. It would be much easier for me to create some kind of tiki-taka, slow possession game, than this. This is the area I would need your assistance the most probably.

Quote

In transition instructions - counter and counter-press make sense, as both TIs suit the style of play you described (although you should be careful with the counter-press in tough matches against strong opposition). However, I would remove both the Take short kicks and Distribute to CBs. First, when you have a SK, especially on attack duty, you should give him freedom to decide which type and target of distribution would be optimal in a given situation, rather than limiting his options (again, I assume you didn't assign the keeper to SK on attack duty randomly, but with good reason). Second, giving the keeper freedom of distribution goes hand in hand with your preferred style. And last but not least, you already use the Play out of defence TI, which inherently encourages building attacks up from the back (as opposed to simply hoofing the ball forward).

In my eyes both TI "counter" and "counter-press" are a must for my desired style of play, aren´t they? Thanks for noting that CP may make us defensively vulnerable against strong opponents, it surely makes sense. But at the same time I wouldn´t like to change my style too much according to our opponent´s strenght, as mentioned earlier we want to be proactive, it should be our opponents who will react on our style, our play, not us. We should always present with "our" style of football, extreme pressing, attacking, fast, even against big boys, our club wants to entertain fans and I would accept a 2:3 defeat after a good performance better than a boring 0:0 draw. :-)

Regarding the GK distribution - once again, it is taken mainly from the gegenpressing preset and my reasoning for this was to build up from the back instead of bombing balls forward. My main reason for SK was to protect our high DL and also build attacks from the back. Have solid options on this position in terms of quality of our league but surely not world class players. Will surely use your instructions here.

Quote

 

Out of possession instructions - this part is potentially the most problematic one in your tactic. I am not going to tell you to "remove this" or "add that" instruction, just want to warn you of some potential risks:

1. while more (let alone extremely) urgent pressing under a high mentality is generally not advisable (see what I told you about the mentality factor in my first reply to your opening post), it may not be that much of a risk if you have the right type of players, who are capable of executing an aggressive pressing style in a relatively safe manner (here they need both physical and mental attributes);

2. a bigger problem however is your (potentially insufficient) vertical compactness. This is basically the distance between DL and LOE. The greater it is, the lower your vertical compactness is when defending. And vice versa, of course. Now, there are 3 basic levels of compactness: low, optimal and excessive, although these partly depend on the formation you use. With the combo of higher DL and much higher LOE, your level is relatively low, but not dramatically so. The well-balanced omni-strata formation you are using (4123 wide) mitigates the potential defensive risk to some degree. In a 4231 for example, this risk would be proportionally higher. 

An optimal level is generally achieved when the DL is just one notch higher than LOE (e.g. higher DL/standard LOE or standard DL/lower LOE). 

Having said all this, here are combinations of out-of-possession instructions I would suggest you should consider (taking your desired style of play into account):

The 1st combo:

- higher DL, standard LOE, prevent short GKD and either default or more urgent pressing

The 2nd combo:

- higher DL, standard LOE, default pressing and split block*

The 3rd combo:

- higher DL, higher LOE, prevent short GKD and defaut pressing

The 4th combo:

- higher DL, higher LOE, default pressing and split block* 

* in case you don't know what the term "split block" means, it's when you tell 3-5 most advanced players to close down more via their PIs, instead of increasing the pressing urgency for the whole team. By doing that, you actually make your team more aggressive overall when pressing, but without overly compromising your defensive shape. Therefore, the split block is a considerably safer option than the more or extremely urgent pressing as a team instruction. 

 

Truly speaking I expected problems in this part of my tactic as I read some of your articles related to this topic already. After this I decreased the initial pressing intensity "only" to more urgent and removed "Use Tighter Marking" - that was perfectly explained by you in one of your articles. 

Let me start with a few words. When I am thinking about my tactic, I believe that the extreme pressing is the key and most important element of it. This is a priority for me, how I want my team to present on the pitch. Neverending, extreme pressing that should be as aggressive and start as high as possible. And yes, my tactic and described style of play is surely risky. Pressing, very attacking, offense before defence, this all makes it risky. So even the in game tactic should be risky in some ways but surely not too risky, not suicidal.

So this is the reason I went for this setting and these instructions and I would definitely appreciate your help here, mainly if you take into account the above mentioned things.

I was well aware of the concept of vertical compactness from your articles but as I wanted to press extremely high I chose the have the highest possible LOE. Then I tried to limit the distance between DL and LOE by higher DL. Didn´t use the much higher DL as my central defenders aren´t the fastest, so I wanted to limit the space behind them. So this is my thinking behind this setting and what reasons led me to it.

After reading your lines I have a feeling I should firstly make a decision relating my DL. Will it be higher or much higher? And then set the LOE accordingly to keep the vertical compactness on a reasonable level. Could it be right?

Or it maybe I am interpreting the terms, especially LOE in a wrong way when I believe that you must have the highest possible LOE setting in order to press your opponent as high as possible. Or will even standart LOE you suggested make it possible? Will any of your four settings allow us to press our opponents in an aggressive and extreme way? The same about "Prevent Short GK Distribution".

I really like the idea of a split block and actually was partly using it in some of the previous years and in my current tactic, we are talking about, I have at least both DC with PI´s to press less urgently. I will definitely use this split block for pressing, so this should allow me to let the team instruction for pressing intensity on a standart level. But looking at my tactic and player roles what players would you instruct to press more urgently? SC, AML and AMR are obvious choices for me, but what about others? Central midfield duo - mezzala and box-to-box midfielder? Both? Or just mezzala?

I would really appreciate if you could assist me further with this area of play taking into account my demands for extreme pressing.

 

And now my questions about optimal player roles...

GK - Am I right when I say that duty for SK should be set in relation to the defensive line? The higher the DL is the more attacking SK should be? Highest DL, SK on attack, medium high DL, SK on support? Or there is no relation and logic behind this?

DC - After we removed short GK distribution and we want to play fast attacking football, then wouldn´t it be useful to have both DC as Ball Playing Defenders who can play more direct and risky passes?

DL/DR - Ok, I will let them on Wing Back (s), but I want my defender on the left side to be very attacking, will it be enough? Or how can I increase his attacking activity? At the same time, my prefered choice on this position has crosses early PPM - isn´t this contraproductive for what I want from this position and our style of play? Btw. both DL and DR have Gets Forward PPM, what I consider good fit.

EDITED: And what effects would bring if both wingback remain on Wing Back (s) but are moved from DL/DR position to WBL/WBR position?

Regarding the central midfield trio - how to optimalize player roles and duties here? Our players on these positions are technically gifted and mostly suited for playmaking roles, so I would like to take advantage of it, form a creative midfield.

DM role should be to protect our defence but also be creative force from lower position. Is DLP the best role here? Defend or Support duty? Or better Halfback whose in-game description suits exactly my demands? But is he creative and "offensive" enough? The same about the remaining duo, where I could mainly take advantage of AP. How whould you set the midfield here? Once again mainly to recreate my desired style of play.

EDITED: Tried to compare DLP(d) and HB(d) roles by analysing in-game description and instructions and the only difference is that DLP has Shoot Less Often activated and cannot have Take Fewer Risks. So what is the main difference between these two roles and how players behave?

AML/AMR - What is the main difference between IW and IF on the same duty? Is it so, that IW is more creative, some kinf of a "playmaker", meanwhile IF is more direct and oriented on scoring goals? Good idea to give these players "sit narrow" PI´s?

SC - Possibly the position where I have most questionmarks. When I had my striker, Boadu, play as a PF(a), he was leading our counters and found himself in plenty of one-on-one positions and scored plenty of them. In the end he scored 31 goals in 30 matches last season. He is our star player and should be our best goalscorer and I would like to keep this, but at the same time he was often quite isolated infront and didn´t take big enough part in our constructive play. So a role that would instruct him to drop deep would make sense, let it be F9 or DLP, but wouldn´t this limit his goalscoring appetit? Also I have to note that my striker is very fast and used his quickness to score his goals.

You mentioned that I would need suitable player for DLP/F9 role. I do not know what you exactly meant by this, so please have a look at my striker and let me know your opinion.

 

It would be great if you could also explain trio of in possesion instructions we haven´t discussed yet:

1) Tempo - I would say that this should be higher or extremelly high to replicate my style of play. Low tempo would mean patient play, high tempo allow us to go fast forward and do not hesitate, right?

2) Passing directness - Element of play I am really unsure how to set up correctly for our desired style of play and this relates to my previously described conflict of two playing styles. Or should fast tempo, short passing game be a good option for us and our players? Or will short passing limit the opportunities for fast, direct attacks?

3) Overlaps - Isn´t it logical to activate overlaps on both sides, looking at what I want from my wide players, where wingers cut in and wingbacks go attack and wide?

 

Once again many thanks for your feedback and advices!

[Tactical help needed]

Hello @Experienced Defender,

many thanks for your reply and mainly that you would be helpful to assist me with my tactic and create the style of football I would like to see. This means really a lot for me, so thank you in advance! I´m playing the game for more than a decade, love youth development, building squad, transfers and many other parts but creating tactic has never been my strenght. I read a lot, hopefully know the basics and in the end can create tactic that helps me to dominate the league (but this could be also mainly because after a few years I usually have top players in my team in comparision to league rivals) but because my tactical knowledge is limited I cannot tweak my tactic and make it brilliant as many other players here and have never achieved significant success in European competitions and mainly replicate my desired style of football. And I would like to change it this year...

 

So firstly I should write about the style of football I want to play:

1) Attacking and entertaining football with many chances created and goals scored. Would rather see a 4:3 win than just 1:0.

2) We should be proactive instead of reacting on what our opponents do. We should put our opponents under heavy pressure and take time from them by pressing high, play mostly on opponent´s half.

3) We want to play fast. I am not a big fan of endless passing and tikitaka style of play. If there is a chance for fast attack we should use it, once there is no openings and opponents are on their positions then we could keep the ball and create chances by passing.

4) Want to play and behave as a team not just isolated players.

I want my players to be physically strong, hard working and fast, so pay attention to attributes such as stamina, natural fitness, work rate, determination, pace or acceleration, when building my squad, and also technically gifted.

Here is how my current tactic looks...

I was considering two formations - 4-1-4-1 DM Wide and 4-2-3-1 Wide for my team but in the end decided to choose the first one as the DM position should protect our central defensive duo as wingbacks should be very attacking.

GK - Sweeper Keeper (A or S duty) - my keeper should protect our high defensive line and also have ball playing skills, we should play out of the back.

DL/R - Wing Back (s) - left and right defenders should be mainly attacking players that should give our formation width and help our offense, cooperate with wingers that should cut in. Not sure what role and duty would suit best. Wing Back? On support? Attack? Or Complete Wing Back? Of course players should be physically very strong with great stamina and acceleration.

DCL/R - I gave one central defender ball playing role, the other standart central defender. Should be fast enough with good anticipation to cover the space behing high DL. Both are very good headers. When in possesion I want them to help us play out of the back.

DM - Deep Lying Playmaker (d) - I want this player to help our central defensive duo, to provide some kind of cover, especially when we lose the ball high on the pitch or opponent escapes our high pressure.

MCL - Mezzala (a) - offensive player that should help our attacks and also create some kind of overload on the left side? Good idea to give him PPM to switch ball to other flank to release attacking IF?

MCR - Box to Box Midfielder (s)

AML - Inverted Winger (s) - player to create overload on the left side with Mezzala and DL, cuts inside. I would like this player to also score some goals, so IW or rather IF?

AMR - Inside Forward (a) - used for fast player, expect this position to score plenty of goals. Should cooperate with DR.

SC - Pressing Forward (a) - decided to use this role, but what about other roles? Mainly F9 but also Complete Forward or Deep Lying Forward? Have maybe my best player on this position, so want to fully use him, also expect him to score many goals but at the same time offer our team more than just scoring goals.

I should also add that I have squad full of very solid technical players, especially in midfield, who can be very good playmakers or mezzalas and would like to take advantage of it.

 

As you can see I would have many, many questions regarding the best settings, team instructions, roles etc. and would really appreciate your help that would allow me to create the tactical style I want to see. I would add that I managed to win the Eredivisie in the first season with this tactic (some ocassional changes) and still unbeaten in the first half of the second season but failed miserable in Europe in both season.

[Tactical help needed]

Right, I know this... I have probably wrongly used the word "counter" there. I want my players to execute fast attacks, go directly on the goal when there is a chance for it, when not and the opponent is prepared in defence then pass the ball and find openings via passing and creativity. High DL and extreme pressing is a must for me. Possible now?

[Tactical help needed]

Hello everyone,

I would like to ask more experienced managers for help with tactic for my team. I want to play attacking, physically demanding style of football with high DL and high pressing. When there is an opportunity we should hit opponenents on fastly executed counter attacks into opened defences, this is a priority. But at the same time, when opponent is already in defence and there is no chance for counter, then we should be able to slow down the play, keep the ball and open the defence and create chances with our superior passing qualities. But I do not want to play slow passing game all the time, fast attacks and counters should be the priority. I would say that it is a style of play similar to Klopp´s style, isn´t it?

But how to incorporate these elements into my FM tactics? Some things seems to be obvious for me such as activating Counter-Press and Counter in transition, highest DL, LOE and pressing intensity etc., but how to correctly set up other elements, mainly mentality, tempo and passing directness (or even player roles) to succesfully recreate this style of football?

The formation should be 4-1-2-3 DM Wide with two very attacking wingbacks, that should give us width and inside forwards that should cut in and help with pressing.

Any advice will be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Football Manager 2020 Pre-Release Beta *Official* Feedback Thread]

I really like the game and always enjoy building a team, long term development and stable squad but I always have the same problem that I find highly unrealistic and disturbing long term saves. I want to build stable squad, relationships with my players and keep them in the club for many years but it is really difficult to extend their contracts as they always demand highly unrealistic and much higher wages than they currently have. F. ex. I have a player with 25k p/m, he is happy at my club, no other teams are interested in buying him, he has contract for next year but I want to offer him new contract to keep him in my club but he demands 40-50k p/m at least. And the same happens for practicaly all players, in all my saves, in all FM versions. If I want to keep my wages on a reasonable level than I have to sell these players or overpay them, meanwhile in reality they would be happy to extend their contracts for about the same wages. In case they change the club then they usually sign contracts with even lower wages than their current wages on my team. It really is breaking my intention to build a stable squad and happens on almost all occassions. Anyone having the same experience?

[Early faves to manage FM20?]

On 26/10/2019 at 08:32, PhilH82 said:

I have a few ideas for this year.

At the Beta stage, which I also hope will continue into a long term save of domestic domination after overthrowing the respective giants in each country I’m looking at Monaco and AZ.

Trying to build back Monaco to where they were a couple of years ago and overtaking PSG for good really appeals to me, especially after the Henry shambles last year.

AZ have some really highly rated young players (Bodau, Stengs, Schendelaar, Wijndal) who if you can hold on to would be great to build a side around.  I feel like top 3 is achievable first year with the long term goal being to eventually overtake Ajax and PSV.  I’m actually surprised no one else has mentioned AZ.

Superb choices. AZ seems to be my No.1 choice for this year - young squad with many talented players, good facilities, reserve team in second division, strong domestic competition with Ajax and PSV and the league is good enough to allow you nice runs in European competitions. Also AZ is a great place for youth development, my favourite part of FM.

Will also consider careers for HSV or 1.FCK in Germany, Bilbao, Andorra or Real Union in Spain, Salford City, Leeds and Bolton in England, Braga or Saint Etienne.

[Football Manager 2020 - Feature Announcement Blogs]

7 minutes ago, janrzm said:

QoL improvement, already in the game. More pertinently, will your DoF make suggestions in line with your club vision?? An option to select an age bracket and other more specific criteria would be useful.  

Fully agree with you. I find DoF suggestions quite useless when my club has phylosophy to sign young players and I am concentrating only on youth development and all suggestions are only for players 25 and more. So it would be great, and surely not difficult to add, if we would have an option to add age limit and other criteria.

[Football Manager 2020 - Feature Announcement Blogs]

Well, this looks like a really good addition to the game, especially for LLM and building club from the bottom, but it really depends on how it will be implemented. Requesting a B team is one thing (and surely a nice one) but will you be able to actually bring this B team to playable divisions? Such as B teams in Holland, Portugal etc. that can play as high as second divisions. Let´s say you form a new B team and during next few seasons it will start playing in playable leagues.

[What is in your opinion the best league (and club) to play and win with developing and selling youngsters but not be dominant in the first season like I would be with for example Ajax?]

45 minutes ago, Nikopol said:

Hertha Berlin in germany

Alkmaar in Netherlands

Bilbao in Spain

 

Both Alkmaar and Bilbao are definitely great choices for such challenge. From Germany I would prefer HSV in the second league.

[Importance of having Reserve/B Team in playable league]

Fully agree with you. But I still would like to know the difference between having B team in reserve league or in normal leagues structure, playable leagues. For young players and their development it is very important to have match practice and experience on the highest possible level, so is it better to play second league for reserve team (f.ex. second league in Holland - let´s say AZ Alkmaar) or reserve league (let´s say Genk in Belgium). I chose those teams as there are quite similar and their leagues are also on the same level, but the real difference is in the position of reserve teams. Can anyone explain this to me? Mainly if there is any significant difference in youth development playing for these reserve teams and so if it is really important to choose clubs with reserve teams in playable league.

[Importance of having Reserve/B Team in playable league]

Hello everyone,

I would like to know opinion of other players - how important is for you, when you are choosing your club, to have reserve/B team in playable league? I consider youth development as the most interesting part of the game and put big importance on developing my own players, so I really like to have my B team in playable leagues (no matter if it is second tier or lower as there is no problem to achieve several promotions with highly talented youngsters) instead of just a league of reserve teams. This way I can much better monitor development of my players, give them playing time on high level, instead of sending them on loan. But my question is - is there really a big difference between having reserve team in playable league (second tier in Portugal, Holland but also Germany, Austria and many other) and reserve team that plays just in reserves league? Are this way my players getting experience on much higher level? I would really appreciate if anyone could clarify this and tell me if there is a real difference as this way I am leaving out many interesting clubs just because they do not meet this criterium of reserve team in playable league.

 

 

 

 

[What is in your opinion the best league (and club) to play and win with developing and selling youngsters but not be dominant in the first season like I would be with for example Ajax?]

I would definitely recommend you AZ in Holland or Braga in Portugal. Very high level of youth facilities there, many talented players in the squad and challenge of overtaking Big 3 in both leagues. And also big advantage that both teams have B teams in second leagues.