CJ_Randell

One last thing from me. I did play a 433 that morphed into a 325 previously and a CF-At was the most productive role I used at striker. Might offer more than a PF-At

Have you tried a Mezzala on Attack rather than a CM. They're hard coded to roam and get into half spaces. With the BBM also hard coded to roam from position it could create some more dynamic movement. The PF-At might also benefit from a more creative role behind him rather than a CM-At who will be focused on making runs into the box.

I've found that the IWB and BBM sometimes get too close in this kind of system. Setting the BBM to get further forward seems to help

If you want the entire team to stop crossing you can select shorter passing or Work Ball Into Box. If you want a particular player not to cross you could change his individual instructions to shorter passing and less risky passing. Also make sure not to give him a role that's hard coded to cross the ball.

Passing distance will dictate what pass the player will look for, if you select shorter passing your player will look for teammates closer to him to pass to. Tempo is how quick the player will play the pass, a lower tempo means the player will take their time to play a pass whereas a higher tempo will see the player pass the ball more quickly. Focus play can be a preference, you could base it on where your more effective players are, like Sarri would have more creative players on the left and focus his play down that side, or you might use it to expose the opponents weaker sides, like Jose Mourinho would. It absolutely makes sense to use Distribute to Centre Back and still use 'Counter'.. Basically when your keeper has the ball he will look to play to the defenders who will then build up as per your on the ball instructions, but selecting counter means that when you win the ball back from the opponent, you will look to break forwards quickly for an attack in the transition. It's a good blend of possession football but still being effective in transitions.

Also found these..

This was from an interview with Klich during Bielsa's first summer.

My approach is to scout players and filter key attributes that I want for my team. From there I use the scout report and see if they have anything negative that I don't want, such as injury prone or inconsistent. Then I'll look at the players personality and see if they're going to be a problem to the squad harmony. If they pass this criteria then it comes down to finances.

With the introduction of positional play, using an Anchor beside a Volante-Su is a great way of defending in a 4231 but attacking with a single pivot.

I'm a huge fan of tactics and tactical recreations, but as someone with a very poor attention span I find that the recreations often rely on too many team or player instructions or game to game tweaks that I just cannot be bothered to follow. I also see a lot where the tactics that are created in no way emulate what they're meant too, I've seen high pressing, fluid attacking tactics labelled as a Sean Dyche tactic simply because it's a 442. I'm here to put an end to all of that with a very basic, minimal tactic inspired by Sarri-Ball. Why? Because Sarri is a manager who believes that no matter who his side plays they should play the same way (goodbye tactical tweaks) and he has a defined style of play with a decent amount of reference material online. So let's start with the formation and player roles. Sarri has generally favoured a 433 with the more creative and attacking players on the left hand side, so as you can see, that's exactly what I've gone for. The combinations on the left hand side should see overlaps from the wing back, the left winger cutting inside and the central midfielder finding positions to link the two together. On the right hand side we have a full back not looking to get too involved, as the winger moves up and down the flank with a box to box player providing attacking and defending cover where necessary. Completing the tactic is a sweeper keeper who will keep things simple, a CB and BPD combo sitting behind a DM, who's reposible for ticking things over (dictate tempo if he can) , and a ST who helps press, can hold up the ball where needed, but his primary function is to score goals (Higuain you beauty). Team Instructions Sarri likes his sides to have the ball and to play the same way no matter what, so Positive makes a lot of sense. I possession we'll play out from the back, focus our player down the left where our more creative players play and play low crosses. In transition we look to win the ball back ASAP and ask the goalkeeper to play it to our CB's. Off the ball we press, but not overly aggressive. I tried this tactic with Leeds, and as you can see we comfortably won promotion, nothing special given the strength of the squad you might say, but none the less, we did it. As you can see from the end of season statistics, we were great, highest XG for, lowest XG against and 3rd for average possession with 57% per game, something which I think Sarri would be really happy with. In terms of the player stats, our striker was in lethal form with 46 goal contributions in 46 starts, dominating the scoring charts with 34 league goals, 13 more than the next best in the league. Our left winger hit double figures with goals and assists, the only player to do so. (Hazard or Insigne anybody?) In conclusion, if you're looking for a very simple tactic inspired by a footballing philosopher, one which relies on very basic roles and instructions and which works, give this a try, it might not be a like for like replication, but it's one that I'm confident anybody can plug in and a hive the desired results. Note: I used no player instructions or opposition instructions in the game, on occasions where I had a narrow lead, I might up the time wasting and drop to a mid-block for the last 10 minutes or so.

Just leave the team instructions blank and then you're not asking them to do a specific thing. Just apply out of possession instructions.

Assuming you have the players to fill the roles, I'd stick to the principle of having a Sitter, a Runner and a Creator/Scorer. Perhaps a CM-De BBM/RPM-Su combo with a AM/AP-Su in front, depending on if you want to play with 0/1/2 Play makers. Difficult to really know without seeing the squad you have.

This depends on the profile of player you have and the style of play you want your team to play.

The AP and the RPM will naturally move into the advanced areas and with the HB dropping deep, you run the risk of having nobody left in midfield which isnt ideal. I'd personally keep the DM as an Anchor and have the RPM as a BWM-Su just to offer some defensive cover. In terms of instructions I get a lot of joy with High Press, Higher DL, Much More Pressing and Get Stuck In. In possession select Pass Into Space and hit the tempo up to much higher.

Definitely. I played 2 seasons with Ajax using a 433 which became a 325 in possession, I did well, winning the league both seasons, but couldn't really achieve anything in Europe. I changed to a 4231 which was closer to Gegenpressing rather than possession and ended up getting back to back Champions League Finals. The key thing is making sure you're signing players with the right attributes. I went for First Touch, Passing, Technique, Decisions, Off The Ball, Positioning, Teamwork, Vision, Work Rate and Stamina. The attacking players didn't need Positioning, but the rest I really tried to not sign players if they meet the standard in those attributes.

Are you saying Wirtz will be your striker? Or will you be keeping hold of Beto?

You're on a Cautious mentality, with only 1 attacking role and sitting back and inviting pressure in a low block. I'd be more proactive.

I'd say the basics were Teamwork, Work Rate, Stamina and Natural Fitness. You need your players to be able to work hard, work for each other, play at their best for 90 minutes and recover well between games.

I mean, that's great and all, but what's the point in even reporting issues with the game? This was reported in November, completely ignored, and 8 months later the answer is 'we'll fix it next year'

Don't ignore player traits too. Something like 'comes deep to get the ball' might in courage him to drop towards the CB's from a DM role. You wouldn't necessarily then need to use him as a half back and could apply more of a playmaking role. A Regista perhaps?

Personally I think there are too many attacking duties in your tactic, this naturally increases the level of risk these players will take. You've also got 2 BPD's and a DLP who are hard coded to play more risky passes. I'd change the IWB's to Su and change the CB's to normal CD's rather than BPD's. This should reduce the risk the players take and help increase control of the game.

You have to remember that what you're dealing with is a game, it can't replicate real life and there are always going to be tactics that favour the match engine. I've tried a lot of times to translate things from real life into FM without success. You have to lean into what the match engine prefers a little bit, high pressing, counter pressing and counter attacking should give you a solid base and aligns with the style you wanted to play. From there on its a case of finding a happy medium between how you want to play with the ball and how the match engine wants you to play.

I'd go with a CWB-At on the left, he'll be hard coded to hold his width on the left, and you need a player on each flank doing that. Add roam to the IF, and CM-At, I think the DLF will already have it hard coded, this encourages them to find pockets of space which will benefit the Positional Play style. I'd also switch the BWM to a role that is hard coded to hold position, at the moment you run the risk of having only your 2 centre backs as your rest defence.

I'd maybe be tempted to push the wing backs into the wingback position further up the pitch and change the DM to a Half Back.. Create a 3421 in possession.

You'd have to make sure the tactic is built for them to be the main goalscoring outlet. Playing a 433 for example, have the striker vacate the space by dropping into midfield, have the fullback overlap to force the IF more central and the CM behind them needs to hold position as not to get in his way.