[Stop the stupid questions.]

I found in my Atlético Madrid save I was being asked in my first season whether I was happy to see ‘my player’ Morata scoring for Spain...  he is on loan at Juventus and joining them at the end of the season so I will never manage him!! 

[[FM21/22] La Liga - the home of Spanish football]

2 hours ago, diLLa88 said:

I've done something like that as Valencia. Here are some Spanish players I bought and used that are bargains:

 

Thanks for this! I will be sure to check them out and I've seen in anther thread a number of young players at Valencia I should keep an eye on as well

[[FM21/22] La Liga - the home of Spanish football]

I'm waiting for the Transfer update before starting a new game but I'm torn between Real Sociedad and Villarreal to manage. 

Both seems to have a good mix of players to start the game with, some good youth prospects coming through and are financially stable. I'm probably going to try and target mainly Spanish players with both clubs, with a mix of french and south american players as well - are there any you would definitely recommend looking into? 

 

[[FM20][FM21][FM22][FM23] Calcio]

On 10/01/2021 at 19:46, JRS192 said:

Think we have to now! Tbh, I didn't have us at that level yet, but we've consistently been matching the bigger clubs - even against Man Utd in the CL Final we were the better side. 

That's a shame! Will follow your progress with Sociedad in the La Liga thread - they're an exciting team on this game. 

Currently playing through the Club World Championship in pre-season. I hate it as a concept - I've had no pre-season training, and essentially got to keep the season going for a nothing competition. 

I've made an additional signing since my summary, Salvatore Sirigu comes in to replace the retiring Viviano. He fits a similar profile, former Italian international, plenty of Serie A & CL experience. He suffered relegation with Torino this season so I've picked him up for a cool £800K. 

With Jorginho staying for another year, I adjusted my numbers by selling Rade Krunic to Monterrey for £10.25mill. A capable midfielder, but Rovella has essentially replaced him as the utility option in my midfield, and he also takes up a non-EU spot. 

While I was thinking of bringing an another AM to replace Zlatan, my new line of thinking is that I can move Franco Vazquez back into the AM ranks, as I always found using both him and Zlatan in my attacking three slowed my counters down to a crawl (with a combined 16 pace between them!) Vazquez does bring similar physicality to the role. 

Squad as it is looks something like this. Open to thoughts. 

Looking good, I've been bouncing around a few saves of late and really struggling to just stick to one but you've motivated me to go back to my Milan save and continue my mission of building a mainly Italian squad and bringing success back to the club. How have you found it keeping hold of players like Hernandez and Donnarumma? You're not having too many issues with the likes of Man City or Man Utd come in with bids and them becoming unsettled? 

[Advice on 3-3-2-2 (352) formation]

I've made some updates to the roles and changed the TI's. On the two outside CBs I have added stay wider to try and encourage them to move out a bit and hopefully the HB can help support the CB in the middle. I think the CBs should be good enough (hopefully) for this tactic, although Bastoni still has some development to do. 

[Advice on 3-3-2-2 (352) formation]

57 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

You opted for a very bottom-heavy formation, which suits defensive styles of football much more than attack-minded ones (whether possession-minded or based on fast transitions). I would use this formation if I wanted to play a catenaccio (for example), but your choice of roles as well as instructions suggests it's not what you want. Right?

Anyway, the Prevent short GK distribution makes little sense and is likely to be fairly ineffective when you have less than 3 players up front (preferably 4). And given that you have only 2, I would advise against using it. 

Correct, I'm looking more for attack-minded football than defensive. Normally I prefer in FM 4 man defences but with Inter I do think the starting squad suits a 3 man with WB's currently and its something I would like to try using (as IRL - although the LWBs aren't good enough).

A thought I had was to push the 2 WB's forward, maybe with Hakimi as a Winger and Perisic/Young as a defensive winger, or move to having an AP/AM just behind the 2 strikers so the formation is more 3412. 

Something like this for the 3142 in terms of roles (I haven't adjusted any Tis):

And along these lines for the 3412: 

[Advice on 3-3-2-2 (352) formation]

Hey, I'm looking for some guidance on how to set up a positive 3-5-2 formation for my Inter team. Its a new save and I haven't tried this formation before on FM21, but it suits the players,  and it's mainly the midfield roles and TI's I think I'm struggling with to get the balance right. It may just be me, but I do feel the front 2 aren't getting enough support and are being left too much to themselves. I did choose 'focus play through the middle' as at times it seemed every move ended up with WBs running into dead-ends.

Does anyone have any experience or advice on this formation and how best to set up the TI's? The inspiration for this is more how Lazio play than Inter as from what I've seen they generally play more positive, attacking, possession football than Inter do of late under Conte

formation

 

[Feedback on Control Possession Tactic Variants for AC Milan]

Great thank you, I'm seeing what looks like much better interplay using the 4231 than the 433 so far. But still very early days and 4231 is the main tactic for training. 

[Feedback on Control Possession Tactic Variants for AC Milan]

Just picked up FM21 and starting a new game with AC Milan. I like playing possession based football but with a bit of bite to it where possible. 

Looking at the squad I've put together 2 tactics which I'm going to try and and wondered if anyone can see any areas that could be improved on, I haven't tried to use many TI's and with the PI's I've put the front 4 (Mez in the 433) on Close Down More.  Also anyone with experience with AC Milan / Serie A on which tends to do better against teams that use a 3 man defence?

4231:

 

433:

[Positive Possession 4231 Advice]

4 hours ago, summatsupeer said:

Yeah Pellegrini is good but SV is a very physical role so he might be a bit slow to get up and down the pitch and his condition could get low quickly.

My worry is you seem to be changing a lot even when you said things were working, I'd of been looking at smaller refinements.

Remember to analyse the players and not just look at the tactic.  What sort of chances is the ST good at scoring?  Are the other attackers good at creating chances for others or are they looking to score themselves?

I'd question the overlapping instructions if you want possession, it will likely end up a bit cross heavy and if your still using Kolarov hes a bit slow.  Look at your roles + duties and how they will combine and WHEN. In slower possession systems I think you need more fluid movement from support duties, making themselves available for a pass to feet rather than playing on shoulder that I think requires faster/direct/riskier style.

How good is the team at playing possession? Do they have the mental attributes to play smart football?  Or are they more physical team using pace to attack space quickly?  Not only attributes but traits, a lot of there players have risky traits like shoots from distance, tries through balls etc.

Thanks for the feedback.

Everything apart from the striker scoring was working and as I have got a bit frustrated with that I have started making more changes to see what brings him into the game e.g. having overlaps and crosses as I'm using him as a target man and his heading is very good (yet to result in a goal or an assist).

I'm going to have a few days off from the game and try again with fresh ideas.

 

 

 

[Positive Possession 4231 Advice]

So after a couple more games this seems to be working more effectively than my starting tactic, defensively I am doing well and the SV seems to be working - but I'm not happy with it. I'm getting a decent amount of shots mainly from within the penalty area and my possession is around 55%-60%, but I am really not creating many clear cut chances (the opposition so far has created 13 more chances than I have this season) and my striker has scored 1 goal so far - something I would really like to improve.

From looking at my possession heat map and passing combinations from my last match I think my team is sitting too deep, and my TM I think is probably too isolated but I'm struggling  on how I can solve this. Possibly put the SV on Attack (or move up a tier and change role?), put the AM on Attack with the wings on Support.. 

Any advice @Experienced Defender or @Rashidi you could give to create more chances for my forward and make them much more involved would be really helpful. 

My SV is Lorenzo Pellegrini, potentially he is not well suited to this role:

 

 

[Positive Possession 4231 Advice]

Thanks, I have been playing 4123 with my Roma team but I would like to switch back to 4231 and move the '2' to the DM could be a good option. I will see about changing the tactic and what happens when I do this. 

I have created an updated tactic and I will try a SV(A) and DLP(S) initially as the two deep DMs and a AM(S) for the 10 role. I would like to try a TQ as an alternate option here as well, although I'm concerned this could leave me a bit vulnerable. Also the Out Of Possession Instructions I'm unsure on, especially the line of defence. I know IRL Roma push up a long way but in the game I don't know how well this will work with the opposition sending long balls over the top. especially if I choose a slower CB combination. 

 

I'm also trying a variation with a Target-man and TQ to see if I can get better involvement from my strikers. Getting my forward to score consistently is proving a challenge for me in FM20. Maybe there is another role which others are having more success with

In my last match which was a 0-0 draw I had 24 shots (the majority from inside the penalty area) but only 3 were by Dzeko and he made only 9 passes. Something really isn't clicking right now. 

 

[Positive Possession 4231 Advice]

This is the 4123 I will trial with Roma. From a couple of friendlies it does seem to be working ok. One change I may look at is the DLP to an AP(s) and maybe the DL to an IWB(s)

One thing I did find was in my first competitive game I ended up with only 40% possession which I would like to increase to 50% ideally, however I did win 3-0. 

 

 

 

[4-1-2-3: Struggling with scoring]

Thanks @Rashidi, I will have a go with changing the mentality down to Positive, using a DLF(s) and changing the wings slightly and seeing whether both as IW or with one as an IF brings better chances. I have started training to develop the required attributes but still a bit more time needed with them.

 

I haven't tried it yet but will using an AP(S) instead of a RPM change much in how the tactic works? I assume it may lose a little bit of the fluidity.

 

Out of interest have you tried a 4231 with FM20? 

 

 

[4-1-2-3: Struggling with scoring]

Thanks, yes I used it in FM19 as I like the style and trying to emulate it in FM20 with a a few role changes to try and suit my players

[4-1-2-3: Struggling with scoring]

Hi, I'm looking for a bit of advice on how I may be able to get more goals from my attachers in my Attacking 4-1-2-3 formation.

I'm playing a new game as Atletico Madrid, and from 18 competitive games I feel like my front 3 are struggling for goals: Felix has 2 goals, Costa 4, Morata 5 & Lemar 3. On the Analysis page I can see that of 307 touches in the opposition penalty area I have score 6 goals. Too often I feel like goals are coming from the edge of the box, rather than closer to the penalty area.

Are there any tips you can suggest or role changes? I have tried a few different roles for the CF but I have so far been unhappy with all of them, and the average ratings for Felix on the left wing are consistently low. 

 

[Positive Possession 4231 Advice]

Thank you for clarifying! I will give it a go and see what happens. 

I'm also thinking of developing a possession based 4123 as it may be a bit more defensively strong than the 4231 is and I do have the players for it, 

Out of interest Experienced Defender & Johnny Ace do you have a favourite formations for FM? 

 

[Positive Possession 4231 Advice]

ok, I hadn't thought that potentially the striker role would need to change. Can I ask why you would put them on an attack duty? Is that to help create space for the TQ and add penetration? I guess the TQ would not be looking to run past the striker as a SS would. 

[Positive Possession 4231 Advice]

Thank you. I took some ideas from the vertical tiki-taka presets for the team instructions and I do like teams that press but will see how I go without these. 

I don’t think the fairly narrow is needed either.

I’m tempted to swap the SS for TQ (only driven by the history of Roma with Totti), I think Zaniolo could play the position (need to get home to check), but are there any other positions that may need changing to cover as I know it is a role that does less defensively?

 

 

[Positive Possession 4231 Advice]

Hi, I'm starting a new game with Roma and looking to develop a positive possession focused 4231, but this is a formation I have played very little and so looking for some guidance. 

 

My main issue I think is around the central 2, I've gone with a DLP-D and BBM, roles which I think complement my players and shouldn't leave me too open but I'm not sure. My next step will be to test with some more games but any initial advice would help.  

[[FM20] Weird and Wonerful AI Transfers]

Lucas Leiva to Real Madrid for 15.25m in first window, Joaquin 1m to Real Sociedad, Alderweireld to Liverpool

[[FM20] Teams To Manage]

I think I will start with Lyon, although a game with a Bundesliga team interests me, I just don't know which one: RB Leipzig, Hertha Berlin or Dortmund