AndrikoDS

I know how you feel - I am not very good at this game, and though over the years I've come to 'get' the importance of those mental traits, I also tend to be lazy and glance at a players stats in stead of looking at them in detail. It's interesting how much difference things like anticipation and work rate make! In some ways, I think lower league managment is easier, because one or two good stats stand out a lot more than when a player has 12+ in nearly everything.

Great work @HanziZoloman, all that work is starting to payoff. At this rate they won't be the loveable underdogs much longer and I'll have to root for someone else! What do you think has been the turning point?

Prolix has given a much more indepth answer than I could. I will add though, that in my experience the few instructions the better. If you need to add individual instructions (and so many of them) to all your players, than you've given them the wrong roles, and similar applies for the team instructions.

Thanks Fraser, I will give it a go and see what happens.

Is there a written/ document version of Evidence Based FM's analysis, or a written guide? Training advice is a bit hard to come by for FM23 (that isn't videos anyway, and I prefer reading/skimming!). And how do you get the numbers on the attributes screen to show how much they've improved? All I've ever seen are the arrows.

Thanks Fraser. I do have the advanced players in individual instructions to press, but have found over the years that having a high press over all just wears everyone out whilst the AI just pass the ball around them, and I think similar with Counter-press. I've also found 'work ball into box' to be a mixed bag, and doesn't seem to make too much difference - some players still try the long shot, as it's in their role description. Usually player instructions work better here also. However, the high press line is something I think might be hindering me - I've tried a game with mid block, and it seemed to give some life to the offence, and what maybe happening is the central striker gets too isolated from the rest of the team, so keeping the line of engagement a bit further back might better connect everyone. It's only one game, however, and I'm not at home to keep experimenting at the moment! But I have really struggled to get anything from the central striker on FM23, with previous teams also, so I am doing something consistently wrong in this area. Usually they have no involvement in the game and end on a 6.2 rating with several offsides.

Great, thanks Cloud, especially on the difference between an F9 and DLF. I will go over it all when I get the chance and see if I can't wring a bit more out of them! A

Thanks Cloud9 - I always thought the Shadow Striker was a more offensive role, but it seems not. I think I don't really understand how the F9 and SS combo is supposed to work, nor how to draw defenders away with roaming strikers. I found that changing the DLF into a AT(a) in both formations, and the SS into an AM(a) spiced things up a bit, as well as upping the tempo, but the players still fluff all their good chances and generally seem quite bad at picking up lose balls (but very good at hitting the posts). The RPM player is quite good, which is why I chose the role, and he does seem to be everywhere as I want him to, but as a BBM he is not quite right. I think a CM(a) might be better, but I'll see. Thanks for the tips, I will continue to experiment!

Hi all, I've taken the job midseason, and am struggling in the VN to get these tactics to quite work. The team is supposed to be favorites to win (mid table when I took over), and the problem is that the offence is lifeless, not taking many chances and fluffing them when they get good ones, and also generally have the worse for possession. Mostly they scrape by winning 1-0. Generally it feels like the opposition are sitting back and shutting down the game. Part of it is I think that the 'goalscorers' are not quite up to it, but if they were taking more shots I don't think that would be a problem. I've tinkered with it, but nothing seems to quite work. Maybe the F9 is a bit too fancy, but he doesn't do much when a DLF either. In both tactics the idea is that the STC drops back (he's better at passing than shooting) and opens up the space for the IF and BBM in the 433, and the SS in the 4231, but this doesn't really seem to be working. Any help would be great, I've plundered the 433 and 4231 threads and think I have a tactic that makes sense, and players who should be up to the roles, so am not really sure what I might be missing. 4231 433

Brillliant! That's really helpful, I think I get it now!

I'd second that!

That's great! I've become a bit attached to your run reading through all these - hopefully now you've made it out of the VNS you'll start flying through the leagues! Or, it's another 20 years... 10/10, it's a fantastic story.

I fear that the only way to really do this is to just watch football and analyse it yourself - I've been looking for years for an analysis of George Graham's Arsenal (other than 'boring') in a way that I could translate to FM, but it's surprisingly hard to find this sort of info outside the very biggest managers/tactical styles.

Great, thanks Cloud, that's really helpful and makes a lot of sense. Still not 100% sure on the double pivot, but I think I will be able to figure it out - is it a way to allow myself a more flexible set up that still protects the defense, but without having the just stick an Anchor or DM(d) there?

Thanks Rashidi - they are getting old, but it's the only stuff out there. It seems everyone wants to do youtube now, or just have some generic 'to build a good tactic you need defenders' advice. Those threads are a sort of bible on football tactics, and it's great for people like me who don't know anything about it and don't like or watch football either. Once again, thanks all of you who have put them all together over the years, I wouldn't enjoy (or be able) playing this game without them!

Thanks for the reply, and for doing so much work for them in the past. I'd be lost at sea with this game without alot of those guides!

As per title - just noticed they have all gone! Any reason? The links in those are the only reason I am able to play the game with any level of competency! They've saved me from asking many dumb questions here over the years.

Thanks Cloud - I see a lot of talk about 'double pivot' and don't really understand it, could you explain what it is? Would I be right in thinking that with a back three, especially in the 343, or utilising aggressive wing backs, the outside defenders become ersatz full backs? Would this make it a challenging tactic to pull off in lower leagues? Also, with the 343 - where is the best place to put the 4 - in the middle of the field or the WB/DM positions, or is it something that makes little difference? Similar with the forward 3 - could I think of them similar to a 433 set up using wingbacks behind them? Thanks!

Hi all, I want to experiment with more that just a 433 (I've been using it in FM for nearly decades at this point!) and want to try a 343 and a 532, built for lower league teams. As far as I can tell (my football is minimal and obsolete) 343 is a more attacking formation and 532 a more defensive minded way to go. Can anyone recommend somewhere with some helpful guides etc about this tactics? I've looked around and they don't seem to get much coverage. Thanks! A

Thanks - it's as a feared! Now I've seen the state of the team, I am alomost certainly not going to meet the expectations (half way through the season and dead last with no money), so my only hope is that I can find a way to score off of set peices; every game my team has plenty of corners, so I might as well try and make the most of it. Guess I will spend the last tuppence on someone who can take corners. Thanks for the help - this is a bit of the game I wish they would do something about, instead of giving me social media feeds!

Hi all, I am about to take a new job and one of the board requirements is to 'make the most of set pieces'. How do I do this? In 5 seasons I think I have only scored one goal from a corner and a small handfull from free kicks, and have no idea how to 'make the most' of them at all, nor what this means in practice. Do I play for more corners during the game? Micromanage the set piece creator thing? It's something that I see talked about surprisingly rarley on the forums! Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks!

At the risk of sounding like an idiot, where can I search for players, as in, just a list of all the players I know about and filter for attributes etc? In the scouting centre all I can find is 'players in range' and 'scouted players', but of which show up different results, and neither of which seems to include players in the ongoing scouting reports. Basically, where do I look players up like in the older versions of the game? Thanks!

Hi all, I'm getting old, and find the base skin for FM23 a bit wearing after a while. Has anyone made a simple but clear to read skin (that doesn't change things around too much) ? I had a look at the munsterman light thing, but it was a bit too radical for me (as I said, getting old, don't like change too much!) Thanks A

Thanks for the added advice, I will experiment with a WB(s) on the left as it seems the least troublesome change to try. Alternativley I could experiment with the CM(s) role, but this is a part-time club, and anyrole which I can't pronounce (like Mezzanine) is probably too complicated to try out. The tiredness is also a result of them being part-timers too I think, but dribbling less might be a good thing to try also. Thanks again for the advice, it's great to see a tactic start to come together!

Thanks for all your help guys, I was eventually sacked by Eastboure and took the job at St Albans and took on board what was said here and waht I've been reading up on and decided to go for something more attacking, and so far after 9 games am challenging for the top of the table. The passing is a bit more short now, though with the odd hoofed ball still, but now generally done in a more usefull manner. The team generally get a lot more shots now, about a third on target and hold up well in defence. The only real problem is the Inside Forward on the left doesn't seem to be very involved in matches and seems to get a bit isolated. Maybe bumping up the FB(a) to a W(s) behind him might help, but I fear that will rip the defensiveness apart. The other issue is that the players get quite worn out. Maybe lowering the tempo and dropping to balanced would help, but I'd hate to loose the good attacking play they now generate. Thanks for the help, it has all been a reminder of my experiences the last few times I played FM (a long time ago!), that I can't ever pull off defensive mentalities for some reason.