BJT

Without trying to be too negative here (the idea of the new set piece creator is great but the execution is imo very poor at this time, especially on the defensive side), we know there are less options (such as throw ins), but other areas that I find very frustrating: 1- With zonal marking, not being able to have the option to position players specifically within the far left and far right zones due to everything solely attribute based with the considered importance of the zone (I would like my fullbacks able to be assigned on each side to enable them to effectively close down if the opponents take a short corner. At the moment, they will switch sides due to how the lists of assigned players functions, so for example the right back would end up being on the left when they shouldn't be based on which side the corner is taken from) 2- Not being able to specifically mark any dangerous threats in the box on set plays 3- Most importantly, there is no way to defend a team that chooses to leave 3 up top when defending their own corners. At the moment, you can only keep 2 players back 100% of the time, with the 3rd only available "Stay back If needed ". Therefore, when trying to see out a game I've no way to cover the extra numbers they put forward effectively. So this means whenever they clear a corner, the opponents are always having 3 vs 2 counter-attack situations - and at the moment there isn't a single thing I can do about it. In those scenarios, I believe you should have the option to keep 4 at the back 100% of the time, and at the very bare minimum 3. I think this is a very major flaw and it must be fixed. Not having any ability whatsoever to defend effectively when a team decides to leave 3 up top in the counter, well I'm sure you can imagine it leaves me irate when such situations occur, because there is nothing I can do to stop it. Can this please be urgently fixed for the next patch.

Without going into details, its currently less realistic compared to FM23 final patch, the set piece creator doesn't allow for micro-management, and because of the greater effectiveness of gegenpressing it means a lot of other tactical styles are less useable. It's not a problem having a system like this being highly effective with the right personnel to carry out that style and I'm very much for that, but when it seems to be generally highly effective across the board with several different profiles/levels of clubs and players able to carry it out well when they probably shouldn't do, then I think it's a bit imbalanced. Consequently, there is less of an incentive to create something a bit different to the normal, at least for me. I was under the impression this year's game would have been a progression from the last patch of FM23 especially with an emphasis on a greater possession based game, but it has regressed, in these particular aspects at least. That said, I do think the ME has great potential to be really good actually, which is why it is at the moment, for me it is a little disappointing. But hoping just like FM23, they get it right eventually with the new features fully working well. Tactic wise, for me it's not worth investing into anything heavily at this point for that reason, but once the ME is a bit more stable hopefully there will be a few nice systems I will enjoy producing with this ME and sharing.

Glad you enjoyed these, and I hope so too. Well, I did plan to try and perhaps upload a few different ones for this year different to the ones I did last year, and I was quite excited for this year's game. But with the state of the game at this moment in time, it's not really worth doing as there is a lot wrong with it at present and there will undoubtedly be some significant changes soon as it can't be kept in the state it is currently in. So I'll probably wait till the very final patch is released, and if the game is in a better place then I will hopefully have a few nice ones to share.

Agreed, I'm actually really really excited to play this and creating tactics for this last version. It's great they've shown a lot of love for it, especially with an emphasis in trying to make the ME finally more realistic with a possession game now becoming more viable like irl and set pieces potentially being as good as it can be, and hopefully being less exploitative (both something I've always wanted - hopefully short corners are viable now too). I expect though it will only be until the last patch everything will be as balanced out as it possibly can be. (First thing I'll be doing is trying to replicate probably my fav side from the past, Barca 2010!) If everything is executed well and there is finally balance across several different tactical styles and formations then it will be a great send off for this engine, and especially if there is a clear improvement with the AI to help prolong the longevity of career saves. Then it's hard to have really asked for anything more, only perhaps being able to save / load Opposition Instructions in. (Takes ages having to do them over and over again) It would also be great if peeps with the skills to create databases are able to make some cracking ones from the past containing some legendary footballers. Having half a dozen or so compatible over the last few decades with this particular version would be fantastic.

Cheers for the info, I've always liked to micro-manage things so glad these can be retained for use.

Can these new set pieces once finalised then be exported for re-importing into other tactics? And if the amended set pieces are saved within your current tactic then saved, when re-loading your tactic, will all your amendments made before hand be retained or do you have to go through the questions and setup every time you start a new save / join a new team?

Does anyone know whether the additional routines and prime settings can be saved with your tactic, or will there be a separate set piece file you can import, if they can even be imported at all?

Very much agree, a real significant improvement from the last patch especially which I struggled to enjoy playing with. And yes, the game's feeling a bit more real now with a degree of unpredictability when watching the games which is fantastic. It's not perfect but the strides taken are great. Really good job and I hope this continues to develop this way going forwards going into next year's game.

Latest Updates -235 Inverted Pyramid Tweak - 23.2 (Set Piece Tweak + x1 role change, Regista to DMS) -New System 4222 RM Galacticos - 23.2 BJT - Real Madrid Galacticos (Early 2000s) / 4222 (**For anyone interested, I've now uploaded Part 2 of my Galacticos under the Opening / First Post at the lower end, (and I guess the first tactic with more testing done on the latest patch).**) It's a 4222 asymmetrical shape based on Real Madrid's Galacticos in the earlier part of the 2000s, perhaps football's greatest entertainers all together at one time on the pitch whom at times produced some scintillating football when all singing from the same hymn sheet. So it is designed for superior sides with the Regista and Advanced Playmaker roles used that look to dictate the tempo and are the main creative outlets for the team. It perhaps won't be the strongest formation about due to it's intended design - but from this year's game and the current engine, it's probably the system I most enjoy watching and I hope to any of those giving it a try that you'll enjoy the football on offer too. (More details of the tactic will be in the First Post along with x5 tactical variants to download, of which contain tweaked set pieces.)

Hi @Mitroflo45. I have to be honest, I haven't played that much of FM lately. Soon after the ME update, I generally found the game less enjoyable to play with and with there being a lot of changes also, I expect a lot of the previous systems aren't compatible with the latest ME. I did do a couple of updates to a couple of systems (mentioned in the OP), although tbh I hadn't gone through those thoroughly for the above reason. So I lost a little motivation at this moment. Given the ME's current state, this is bound to change again (hopefully for the better) in the next update. So when the game is a bit more stable I may revisit a couple of the previous systems then. That said, the last few days I have picked it up again, because I always wanted to create a Part 2 of My Galacticos vision (sucker for old football) that uses a 2 striker system. It won't be long at all till I release this, and it will probably my last different formation for this year's game. This will be an asymmetrical 4222 formation heavily based on Real Madrid's Galacticos of Ronaldo, Zidane & Co, and actually a system I did enjoy watching on this ME - so it should hopefully be one of the more fun tactics to play with.

I played cautious - so the other team would likely have more shots at goal but hopefully lower quality shots where id need a reliable keeper to do a reasonable job, whilst we would create clearer chances on the counter - hence our better xG and less shots taken by my team.

I was curious to give this a try. This was a screeny first attempt. I guess it was a little tricky as quite a few of your players were fatigued. So I freshened up the squad and went with a mindset of trying to contain the 2-0 advantage and playing on the break as they would have been pushing to try and get a goal back quickly. They got a late equaliser, had a few chances during the 90 but they would have needed to be highly clinical to overturn this one. Also had a deservedly better xG. The early goal will have helped settle us I guess too. Did assume you meant winning, as in winning the tie rather than in 90 minutes.

@João14Thanks for your post and glad you’re finding this useful. Appreciate it’s not at all easy to try and produce a tactic, but I don’t think there’s anything more rewarding once you are eventually able to create your own once understanding some of the ideas / mechanics in how to produce something, and even more so if you can bring about that exact style that you want to visibly see on the pitch. Well, everything is about trying to achieve a balance. The Enrique tactic is primarily looking to create space for both CWBs to exploit, but whilst also freeing up room in the half spaces for the inside forwards to cause havoc in too. (currently set to sit narrower PIs to help free this space out wide). So I wouldn’t use the flank players in this particular Enrique manner if your keeping IWBs in your 235. With the 235 using IWBs instead of CWBs, the IWBs will end up more central quite frequently and with the wider players in the later transitions moving into narrower positions that through intricate play, will eventually bring them into dangerous positions closer to the box where they can feed the CFA to put the ball into the back of the net. But if you’re instead looking to bring someone like Messi up front instead of a Lewandowski then utilizing a DLF or a False 9 instead of the CFA is where I would start. The team will naturally be playing even more intricate in the centre of the pitch and also be more fluid with the role change. With their no longer being as such a goalscoring striker presence to regularly feed from the wider areas, with the False 9 now also playing your wider players into those dangerous positions too, the F9 in this scenario will more often attacking the box from deep areas – so I would change the crosses from Mixed to Lower, with the objective of trying to pick out Messi as the F9 accurately instead of whipping an aimless ball into the box or floating the ball in, to an F9 player who will likely need to be more nippy and probably won’t be built to get on the end of these type of crosses, nor being in an optimal position regularly. So you’d then need to find an F9 that would fill the new role who will have the attributes to be effective playing in this type of manner, finding those spaces to be found from the wider players whilst being clinical enough to finish the chances off. If what you're now seeing in this area is what you want to see, you'll then need to evaluate other areas of the system, to make sure this also remains balanced or whether it may need further tweaking - such as potentially utilising a more aggressive Shadow Striker instead of an AMA, given the F9 will now be dropping into deeper areas a lot more of the time. I don’t use the switch position on each of the flanks tbh – but if the players can play well on both sides there’s no harm in doing so at all and could be beneficial at times, although to me they would preferably need to be playing very similar roles, as some of the player attributes may not quite fit the bill if the roles are a little different.

The OP will give you an idea on how I create my systems - in short they are designed to produce a style of football to view using the ME, rather than a plug and play design that rather intends to exploit it. Consequently, you'll need to manage your game in a more realistic manner, and the versions I produce try to help the user tweak the base tactic for different game scenarios when playing through the match hands on. You'll also need to make additional / logical game tweaks based on how the match is going too. (such as tempo / time wasting manipulation / def line etc)

BJT 3421 Dreamz - Late 90s / 00s - My Galacticos (POST #9) **Just to let anyone interested know I've uploaded my 3atb tactic for this year, which you can find located in Post #9.** This tactic is my own created system inspired from my favourite ballers from the late 90s to 2000s. The aim was to incorporate these players into one cohesive system that allows them to showcase their individual abilities in stylish / elegant fashion. This also includes video clips to give an idea of the style of football I've tried to create. It ideally therefore requires world class players all positions for it to work. It is also a weak formation structure that has a number of tactical flaws - so it's a tactic really made for viewing pleasure, with results second fiddle. Everything about the tactic is detailed within the post. I think it's a really fun tactic to play that will continuously score great goals. (albeit currently with horrific defensive howlers playing out from the back on this ME too!) As above, it won't be the most effective due to its flaws and it can be a little inconsistent, but with the right players it can still achieve success which I have had with several sides. (Test details included in post). (Best results are both the home and away variants having achieved 98 / 100 points quad respectively with Man City.) Below is the team I had in mind for my vision:

They all vary dependant on the systems, but generally for simplicity I use the weaker foot instruction on the central players - you're probably best zooming into the image if it's not clear enough to view and you'll be able to see what foot I use for each of the players based on the opposing positions. These vary as well to support the defending TIs used on each of the tactics.

@burnumCheers for testing this appreciated and for your input, glad you enjoy the style – for the most part again Yes, when I tend to make my tactics I set things up how I envision things playing, and then try to make tweaks that best suit the engine without compromising the main play style and objective I set out. (given peeps here will probably want to achieve the best results as possible with good football on view). And being more combative I do find seems to give slight improvements to results. I generally prefer higher possession tactics too, although I don’t think this ME is that great for a possession count with this formation which is a pity – I’m finding 3 at the back gains higher amounts of possession. (I’m actually tweaking a 3atb one now, and I really love the football with it as it’s all about style and personal nostalgia my aim when creating it. It’s an idea I have for myself every year, but this is an engine it at least sort of works with now. However it’s natural design will be a very weak tactic, and it will only be useable at the very top clubs / best players available in the game, because it is a tactic with many flaws teams can exploit and it is hugely player quality reliant. I’m still trying to make it a little more friendly with players slightly less capable (at the point of optimising OIs / the defence), but I’m not sure this engine will allow it, not consistently anyway. But I think I will still upload this in due course though, hoping the football style will appeal and be appreciated by some peeps along with the idea behind the tactic, more so than results heh. I find it very fun to play with myself and enjoy watching full games using it.) Odd with the red cards actually, I’ve never had a major problem with them, usually I may have a few games all year that I’ll need to account for them. But 4 out of the 6 is mental! With the variants, with this particular brand of football the home and away changes were indeed minimal, with the very high defensive line remaining as high for the away version and still very intense with the pressing. So yes, the tweaks you mentioned were the only two away tweaks I made.

BJT - 2323 Barca (MSN) Tiki Taka “Positive” - Released Post #8, 11.11.22 For anyone interested, I've just uploaded my tactical set heavily based on Luis Enrique's Barcelona side. I wanted to create a tiki taka system that is based on a Barcelona style. This particular one is more useable in this engine and plays nice football to watch, whilst also being smart on the direct counter - you can find this tactical set in Post #8 of the thread, along with a couple of sim results and a hands-on run through with AEK in Greece.

“When the player has the ball” Just adding onto this discussion as it is something worth considering if looking to replicate a Pep style of game and is extra food for thought which may prove useful. Another PI that needs to be reviewed is “When the player has the ball”. Robben vs Grealish Robben to me, was never really a typical Pep winger. His greatest strength was being able to dribble past opponents, and I think when at FCB, he was allowed a little more freedom than a typical wide player would under Pep to try get the most out of his abilities. So for this PI I would leave the hold up ball option “unticked”. The aim being when Robben does receive the ball out wide, he wouldn’t 100% of the time always wait for the underlap / support from midfield to reach him. If there was an opportunity to do so, he would step outside of these team instructions and look to beat his man, especially on a transition. In my FCB styled systems, you'll notice both wide players have this option unticked. Grealish however at City isn’t given any of this additional freedom at all. He’s being instructed to in very large parts to wait for support from the midfield and taking longer to make a decision when receiving the ball out wide, rather than immediately attacking the opposing fullback despite there being a feasible opportunity to do so. So for this PI, I would tick “hold up the ball”, and I would say this is probably how Pep’s wide players would tend to operate. This will also bring about a greater possession based game typically employed by Pep.

Yes, I think this is part the problem - what is the definition of width. It's not ever been made very clear - hence as I said, there's divided opinions on it. What I'm referring to with the wide players retaining the width is the player instructions for the given role (screenshot below - "stay wider"). So although the general team instruction of offensive width is narrow, I've given specific instructions to these players to override this, to move wide and stretch the play "when in possession of the ball". So by having these specific player instructions given, they will provide the initial width and stretch the play, but will come in narrower in the later phases through my offensive width instruction. (which in the narrow description of the offensive width, is to play in intricate / confined areas of the pitch). This is aided by both the inverted roles given, the much shorter passing implemented and also the underlaps, which will also naturally look to bring the players in closer together. And yes, that's where that Robben example came instantly to mind and is what I wanted to produce in this tactic. He starts out wide, plays the ball to the midfielder on the underlap, and is then looking to make direct movements closer towards the goal within those more confined areas, rather than retain a wider position after playing the ball inside. When the ball is lost at the point the team is at its most narrow, then defensively the team will naturally be closer together at that particular point which is what I am guessing you are referring to above when the team is shifting side to side as a unit.

It's funny you say that - I'm the complete opposite in my opinion, in that I think that by the end of the way they try to work their openings, all of their offensive players end up in extremely narrow positions. But it is something I know people have divided opinions on. Initially when building up from the back, the wide players would look to stretch the player wide as you say. The instruction I implement for this is on the player instructions "when the team has the ball", these wider players will be set to wider and will be creating this initial width. When the ball is played up into the opposing third, you'll then often see these wider players look to play the ball into the midfielders that would occupy the half-spaces. When further looking to then work the ball into the box, these wide players will no longer be wide at all, but look to occupy much narrower positions closer to the goal. This in conjunction with the much shorter passing, should help bring these initially wide players a lot narrower when looking to threaten the opponent's box. I want this happening on a regular basis - hence I've gone with extremely narrow for offensive width. By instead maintaining the width, these wider players maybe more content to stay a little wider and reach the byline to provide service to the striker, rather than trying to get as in in close a proximity as they can to both the goal and the striker inside the box, to then have the option of crossing, shooting, or being in better positions to pull the ball back to players inside of the box. The Robben goal vs Roma is a good example as to how he looks to get as close to the goal as possible - and where all his team mates are actually located in the box, all extremely narrow.

Great, much appreciated - will be v helpful to know whether these still perform relatively well or if they are worse since release. Apparently the ME hasn't changed - but SI always make changes without making everyone aware of what has changed, so it's very likely these will perform differently. Generally I tend to give them a run through on holiday to get a rough idea how well everything is functioning together and vision the style of play in my head, at which point I'll then try make variants for the differing scenarios and try to give everything a run through and watching how it plays till i'm happy enough with all aspects.

Well, this is just my own strategy with how I liked to defend - as long as you have one that supports the way you want to defend then it's not a problem. I generally like my teams to be more aggressive and combative without the ball, but with respect to your question with wingers, I don't want my full-backs to overcommit and always be drawn out of their position. I want them to make the correct decision as to whether to place them under pressure, or whether it is more prudent for them to stand off. By always looking to place pressure on them, to me would be unwise as you'll always be compromising your defensive shape when at times, it may be wiser not to.

Were you able to locate the files once you downloaded them straight onto your PC? You would then need to move these from the location the files are automatically download to into a newly created folder of your choice and then import the files through FM in game from this location you moved the files into.

Well spotted At this moment in time, I won't be looking at them anytime soon so I've taken them off the list for now. I don't have a lot of time to produce a lot at this stage, because when a new patch is out, the likelihood is they're all going to need to be played through again. So the systems I'll upload for now will be the ones I'll naturally play most with, because I can keep them updated in better time. But perhaps once the final patch has been out and all of my current ones are up to date, then I likely will look at them later on in the game cycle - and I wouldn't need to then re-tweak those if they are made on the final patch.