nick1408

Keeping it simple is right! Your players must be great mentally as you’ve given them effectively no direction in what to do (unless you have directed them via player instructions. I assume you haven’t got any PI’s set).

The same is true of crafting a design that’s platform agnostic, enabling ease of play whether you’ve got a mouse and keyboard, a controller, or even a touch screen. I just can’t shake the feeling that this is what Windows 8 tried (and failed) to do.

Thisi s a tactic I've been playing for a while now - I first posted it in the 4-3-3 thread and have continued to develop it from there. I really should have written this earlier so I had more pictures and examples. I've never been really good at creating tactics. I'm also not one for copying a real life manage and would rather create my own style - I don't care if possession is low as long as the tactic is effective. What I do like is getting an idea and developing that. Enter: the Flo Pass. For those not well versed in 1993 Norway tactics essentially it is a long ball to a targetman positioned high and wide. Now, it isn't 1993 anymore. Championship Manager is also now dead. I need to update this from 1993 to something that will work 31 years later. I started where I feel a lot need to start when doing stuff like this - Google. Besides the Wikipedia link above two videos popped up that provided a bit of information to what I wanted to do. I also took some information from the short wikipedia article and a bit of searching and came across the following that became the basis of my new tactic: Jostein Flo was 192cm (6'4") - I saw this as important The wide targetman needs a lot of support around him First up I came up with this as Borussia Mönchengladbach (forgive the picture with Everton - I've since deleted that Gladbach save). Little did I realise this was only a work in progress at this stage. My wide targetman for this was Samu Omorodion on loan from Atlético Madrid. Samu is 193cm so fit the profile for my WTM really well. Save for a poor spell in the middle I saw promise so decided to see if my ideas could work somewhere else. I quite like the Bundesliga due to the 34 match season, one cup plus European football. I can get through seasons in the save quick enough that it doesn't become a drag like I sometimes feel when playing an English competition. In saying that I saw Everton as a great place to try this due to two reasons: 1. Beto & 2. Chermiti. The following is a bit from my original pose in the 4-3-3 thread: This is the whole reason for using the WTM - to outsize players where usually a short player will be playing. What I found though was something that sometimes cannot be replecated in the Bundesliga - There is always someone better than you in the EPL. My original tactic wasn't performing as i'd like so I needed to adjust. I thought I'd done the research: I'd scouted potential opponents for the WTM I'd selected a team with two potential WTM's. What I didn't do was think about how I'd put my tactic together and where goals would come from. This is an error that Is seen countless times on this forum and I'd made the same mistake. When reevaluating my tactic I asked some basic questions: Who will score the goals Who will deliver the ball to the goalscorers Is the defence doing it's job On the first question I had a look at my fron three - winger on support, deep lying forward on attack, wide targetman on support. The central midfielder on attack would be a secondary goalscorer. Mistake number one - all of these are supporting roles with a deep lying forward expected to lead the line. The attack is too singulary-focused and needs variety. Noting mistake 1 I needed to work out if there are any further issues. Who will assist? In the original setup I have two attacking full backs, a winger and a central midfielder on support who I see as all potentially delivering assists. This setup isn't overly concerning (although it is very attacking) but nothing stands out as 'wrong'. Are the defence doing it's job. Well potentially but the issue I do have is I am asking my defence to do a lot - the three central players are asked to stop goals while the full backs are asked to stop goals (as all defenders should be expected to do) as well as provide in attack. As Everton I probably don't have the defence to do everything so I need to prioritise. A lot that follows will somewhat summarise the changes without the steps in between. Now having identified two isuses (attack and defence) I need to rectify this. I need to score goals so I started with attack. The easy part is to switch the striker to something more attacking. Usually my goto here is a poacher or advanced forward. It may not be true but my feeling is a poacher works better in a partnership so I flicked the striker to an advanced forward. Next, I had a lot of left footed players due to the left winger I was using so I switched the left footer's side to the right and made him into an inside forward on support. What this does is give me someone a bit more attacking but also a bit more of a goal threat. Finally, I had to more the WTM to the left. What really unlocked him (and this came from a lot of trial and error) was the switch from support to attack. Both are support roles from the above text but the attack duty will do it a bit closer to the box. There are no changes to hardcoded instructions or mentality so the change is more of an 'under the hood' change. Now that I felt I had the forward third sorted I needed to readjust the midfield. As previously stated; a WTM needs support. I had a CM on attack ad this works well but to get someone closer to him I needed a role that would drift wide. Enter: Mezzala. Clearly he will be on attack but the key is to have a left footer here so he can also be an option to cross. All my WTM's are right footed so they need someone who can deiver to the AF and IF. If I do have a right footed attacking midfielder I do switch back to CM-At but this does come at the cost of ball delivery from the left. Defence needed to be simplified. I need someone crossing to the WTM as the IF won't now so the right back went to Full Back on attack. The left back was also calmed a bit by changing him to a wing back on support. He will still offer support up behind the WTM but also keeps responsibility in defence. I don't like doing it but I also went with two ball playing defenders in the hope that either of them could deliver a long ball to the WTM. Finally, I readjusted my instructions - run at defence found me losing the ball too often in attack. I also had low possession. I don't really care about possession numbers if the tactic is effective but the tactic wasn't effective enough. Wha I did want was the players to be free enough to look for a pass so I switched run at defence to be more expressive. Low crossing was aimed at the striker but I realised this was silly as most balls would be aimed at the WTM. I simply changed this to mixed to let the crosser decide the type of cross depending on the receiving player and the situation. I did have a good think about underlap but ultimately removed it to help kepe some widthin defence and allow the wingback to have a bit of an easier time and a few less instructions. I also added pass into space to allow balls behind defence for a player to run onto. I do turn this off if a team is playing a lot of deep players. I don't need to counter-press mainly to allow my plaers to have space in the case of a turnover high up the ground. If all my forwards are pressing it does mean their immediate defender is close to them. It'sa bit of a catch-22 - you can force the turnover by not giving space but also the defender can then force a turnover as well. I'd rather turn the ball over in the midfield anyway so that my attacking players are a bit more free. I've simplified the goalkeeper distribution as Pickford isn't a long kicker but am still aiming for the WTM. I've also wound the defence back a bit to make the job a bit easer and to defend as a unit a bit more. The final piece of the puzzle is the player instructions. With the IF in front of him I want him a bit wider. His crosses are aimed at where I want the WTM to be. I can't remember why I added this. I did try a libero but without a left back to cover a libero doesn't really work here. I ended up with a DM that could pass pretty well so I allowed him to use that ability. If the DM can't pass I'd remove this. Same as the right back; any crosses should be aimed at where the WTM will be. I tend to go for a left fotted player here but in my current game with Stuttgart I've found Chris Führich to be pretty effective. The WTM is a support role that offers a bit in attack. I don't want him to blaze away so shoot less often is employed. I have him sitting narrower to bring him closer to his support players. Tackle harder is employed to put even more pressure on the right back than what a tall player is already doing. Finally, the type of player I look for in a WTM. Players who have worked really well are Beto, Emanuel Emegha, Samu Omorodion and Jonah Kusi-Asare. One thing I tend to look for beyond height and jumping reach are dribbling abiliy and speed. Beto at 30 (194cm) Emmanuel Emegha at 21 & 25 (195cm) Jonah Kusi-Asare at 17 & 21 (196cm) Ultimately, they are still wingers and need some of those traits. Beto and Kusi-Asare don't have the best dribbling but all are quick enough and all are pretty tall. As an example of these attributes here is Beto's 2025/26 with Everton: 10 goals, 7 assists made a real impact. I also won the league, Champions League, and FA Cup. Beto raised his value to around £80m (it's dropped back to £60m now as he is 30 and Emegha has taken over from him). One player I did think would work would be Serhou Guirassy. The main issue I think why he didn't work was his height of 187cm. I should have realised this as it is the same reason I didn't put Dominic Calvert-Lewin wide. Other players who have shone for me are James Garner & Angelo Stiller in the CM-Su role and Tommaso Baldanzi as the mezzala (left footed as well). Any other roles I tend to just go with who the best player is I can buy/loan in. I'm not really asking the defence/inside forward/striker to do anything other than what their role asks for. One last point I haven't covered is the CM-Su. I use him as a pseudo-deep-lying playmaker but I don't want the ball drawn to him/away from the WTM. If he has the ball he should just use his skills to advance the ball but also provide cover to an attakcing IF if required.

Hopefully this is an easy one to implement. On the screen below I'd like a drop down so I can switch between seeing first team, second team and under 18 staff to allow me to see where the gaps are when hiring staff. The below is an excellent representation but I just want it expanded slightly. Don't group all staff together as that will get cluttered. A drp down to switch would be best I feel.

I'm running the following tactic and have been successful but i do have a slight worry: The passing is pretty poor and I'd like to tidy it up a little. What would be an adjustment to stop turning the ball over as much? I am winning so maybe it's something I just need to put up with. Another issue I have is a lack of goals from the striker. He was a DLF(A) but I changed tactic (see previous tactic here) and I simply don't think the new tactic suits either Joao Felix or Tommaso Baldanzi who are more creative. I am in the market for a striker but I also think the role may not suit the build-up players as much as it did previously.

So, I've been playing around with a 4-3-3 with a bit of a twist: I wanted to use a wide targetman and thought the 4-3-3 shape would work best. I workshopped it with Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2027 with Samu Omorodion as the WTM. Results (below) were pretty good except for a three match stretch in March. I started a new game with Everton and again started well with Beto as the WTM. I'm posting this after only five games because Beto just got injured for three weeks. In this save injuries have killed me - lost Onana and Doucoure in the Tottenham match and then Gomes and Beto in the forst seven minutes of the Chelsea match. Edit: *gif failed to load - got sick of trying* Above is why I like the wide targetman. Chermiti is 192cm (coincedently, the same as Jostein Flo) vs Ben White's 185cm. Add in Chermiti's 16 jumping vs White's 13 and it leads to assists like this. Note McNeil's floated cross goes against the team instructions - a good choice by McNeil. Further, a quick search shows me there are currently two starting-standard natural left backs in the EPL - Dan Burn (201cm) and Mickey van de Ven (193cm) who are taller than either Chermiti or Beto (194cm). Newcastle are currently playing Dan Burn at left back so I will probably adjust tactics against them but Tottenham are playing Destiny Udogie (plus I've already beaten them).

I switched the IF’s to wingers with cut inside. Seems to have opened the middle of the field up for me. I also got an attacking player (your BBM role) with comes deep to get ball so switched to an attacking CM. The switch to winger on that side as a minimum has allowed the CM to be my second highest scorer and fourth overall in the Bundesliga. I am still having a bit of trouble with some formations but I’m working through that

How do you fine a player now? I haven’t been able to find it since moving to FM24

I know I need to make some changes to suit players and/or opposition but thought I'd post some results versus different formations over two seasons with Gladbach. I've left out cup games but added in Eurpoean matches. Vs 4-4-2: 2 wins, 1 draw, 3 losses Played this one mainly with the IFs but as it's two banks of four I probably need to rethink my tactics here. Vs 4-3-3: 7 wins, 1 draw, 9 losses Six losses in Europe including three versus PSG so the stats are a bit skewed here. In the league Augsburg and Freiburg were about the only teams to regulary play this formation. I mostly need to drop playing into space as these aren't the strongest teams in the league. Vs 4-2-3-1: 11 wins, 3 draws, 3 loss A very god record against a staple of the league. I seem to match up well here. IF tactic and drop playing into space aganst crap teams. Seems to work well. Vs 4-2-2-2: only three matches - 1 win, 2 losses. Not enough data on it's own Vs 5-3-2 DM: 6 wins, 1 draw, 3 losses Not a bad record here. I mainly switched to the IW version and dropped passing into space. With 3 at the back and 3 in the DM line I needed to retain possession. I also stuffed around with removing more expressive passing to help build up for good shots. Vs 5-2-3 DM Wide: 2 wins - not enough data but it is a tactic that leaves a lot of space ot exploit Vs 5-2-2-1: 9 wins, 4 draws, 6 losses Not a bad record but need to make thoses losees into wins. Again used the IW version but I need to work out the best way to defend as only two of thoses losses I didn't score in. It is a tactic where I am outnumbered in midfield so may need to condsider a DLP in midfield or to concerntrate down the wings more to try and open up the middle? I like the learning I am getting by playing this. I sort of wish it was on the main Tactics board so it could generate a bit more discussion as it does seem like a basis for a tactic rather than the finished product.

Hi @Maddux - great basis for a 4-3-3 (I haven't tried the 4-2-3-1 yet). I have a couple of queries. I think I am aware of most of the answers I just want to clear it up 100%: Do you ever consider putting the wingers onto swap positions? I know you said the strong foot is outside but that way you would maintain the strong foot outside for the most part but also have the strong foot inside to change the attack up on occasion (I assume you don't). I have assume the player at right MC is more attacking than the left MC due to the players you are using in each position and also that you have swapped the CM(a) for a BBM. Also, you said that the CM(s) could be a DLP so my assumption is the right is more attacking - is this correct? Edit - is there ever a time you use floated crosses? I recently brought Joshua Zirkee but missed he has Plays with back to goal. I'm going to test out floating crosses so he can feed the IF's a bit more as I'm concerned with mixed crosses or anything else he will be facing the wrong way too often.

Might be a weird question but how do you know through the analysis whether it's a tactical issue or player(s) underperforming? First off, this isn't your tactic but the question does relate to your analysis. The above is from one match (a few minutes apart. The goal was from a corner so not really relevant other than the xG finishing higher from less shots. In essence, the xG is really good and I can even cope with less shots than the opposition (especially in this case against Bayern Munich). Wolf playeed at MAR, Hack at AML and Weigl as the CMR. Elvedi started at CB before moving to RB when Scally was subbed off. Netz was the LB. from here I can ascertain that the midfield and striker (in particular) under-performed. Here is shows that Neuhaue is under-performing as an attacking playmaker. And here my feeling that Plea underperformed was true as well. So, my question is when using the data centre how do I make an informed decision that the tactic is at fault or the player?

@tikitakamaster I’ve been playing with this and it does work. I quite like it. Whether it’s a fair representation of Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham or not isn’t for me to comment on. What I will comment on is the tactic itself. I changed a couple of roles to suit me (striker to AF, roaming playmaker to attacking advanced playmaker). I also had some players already that suited particular roles (Sergio Gomez as left back for example). I also purchased Florian Wirtz specifically to play the advanced playmaker role. What I have noticed is the left can be both attacking and deadly but also very vulnerable. I haven’t played around with the tactic yet but I’m thinking of dropping the left back to support and/or adjusting the playmaker. One less convincing idea is to adjust the left centre back to a wide centre back on defend but I’m not sure how this will work with the half back. all in all a good tactic with the right players but for anyone playing with it watch the left flank.

I did notice this and thought the role and mental stats would balance out the passing Yep, absolutely. Makes complete sense.

Thanks - I thought 'clear' meant 'clear as mud'. Turns out I didn't miss anything when reading the original post. On that note; is there player traits you look at to get what you want?

I must admit, I am struggling to pick up on the player instructions you are using, much like @coach vahid. I am guessing the central defenders are told to pass short and the defensive midfielder is possibly told to make more direct passes (to offer a point of difference to the team instruction of shorter passing) I also think both wingers are told to sit narrower. Beyond that, I have no idea what your standard player instructions would be. It feels like asking for the player instructions when they aren't listed is a bit of an insult. I certainly don't see it that way and am more in the camp that they help understand how individual roles work within a tactic.