Fox-7-

If you want, you can take a look at my thread, where I show how I used the 4-4-1-1 with various settings. Keep in mind that I have built these tactics around a group of players with very specific characteristics, which could also be very different from those of your players. However, you had better show us a screenshot of your current tactic and of some of your key players, so we can help with more precisely

Your observation is correct @Mutumba, and deserves a thorough answer. At the beginning of the save, in fact, I had given instructions to the GK to throw long towards the TF to exploit the aerial duels again. But then, after a few games I realized that there were many more times that the ball was either thrown far from the TF, due to the poor technique of the GK, or even if the TF won the aerial duel the ball ended up with the opponents, due to the lack of support from closest teammates. So, even without wanting to play out of defense, I chose the option of playing safely to the CBs, so that they decide whether there is time and space to continue possession and move the ball up the field or whether to go directed forward, with a little more precision than the GK. Also, keep in mind that those are my standard instructions for most games, however I adjust them as needed. For example, again against Aberdeen who play with a 3-4-1-2 DM, they outnumber me in the centre, so I tell the GK to play the ball more quickly to the FBs, who have tons of space to receive and play. Basically, I always look to see where I have numerical superiority available on the first line, and adjust the settings (or roles if necessary) accordingly. Furthermore, as we can see from this screen posted in the Tactic #3 post, the deeper positioning of my double pivot in the DM strata sometimes helps to create numerical superiority. In this example the opponents were playing with a flat 442. Not being followed by their direct opponents on all occasions, they position themselves just outside the box and keep the opposing attackers busy, so our CBs can spread out a bit and receive free from pressure, and we can easily outplay their pressing with a 2vs4 (5 if we count the GK). However, if GK feels unconfortable with this situation, sometimes it happens that he simply overrides the TIs and decides to kick the ball long upfront) Going defensive doesn't necessarily mean that I have to hoof the ball upfront, precisely because there is a high risk of giving the ball away to the opponents easily and being under constant pressure for most of the match, while I still want to try to play and attack with criterion for how much we are allowed when I have the ball, to increase our chances of scoring (side note: if you notice, in this defensive version of the tactic I also removed the 'Hit early crosses' TI. It may seem counterintuitive for a counter-attacking game plan, but I found this instruction more harmful than helpful in combination with higher passing ditectness and tempo, resulting in many wasted opportunities with rushed passes even if there was time and space for other choices. While I use it in other tactics, since it helps me to create opportunities against tigh defenses by finding the right moment to strike if the opponents make mistakes). In doing so, in 5 seasons I think I can count on the fingers of one hand situations where we lost the ball in the early build-up phase in dangerous areas.

Sorry mate, not at PC and won't be for about two weeks...however in a 1-2 minutes you can just copy the instruction from the screenshots in this thread and setup the tactics in FM Yes, I use those OIs even when I play with low block and I have never had any particular problems...Sometimes I even find myself playing against an opponent who uses 3 ATB and an HB (Aberdeen always plays like this when I face them) and I apply however these OIs on those 4 players and GK and, despite practically half of their team being free from my pressing, precisely as you have also noticed they often fail to have an effective build-up play, because the more advanced players are well marked and with the passing lines closed, so after a while they either make a pass with a high % risk of being intercepted or they throw long where I have superiority in aerial duels.

The process After seeing the tactics, I would like to show you a summary of the path taken (and still to be done) in this save. So, where did I start? As you have seen, my aim was to set up a team that could consistently play with a 442 and some of its variants with the aim of having a defense that concedes few goals, thanks to which I could obtain results in the long term (if you don't concede, you earn at least 1 point for the standings). Furthermore, in order not to have things too easy, I didn't want to manage in one of the Top 5 leagues, nor in a team that was dominant in a league of lesser reputation (so no Ajax/PSV, Celtic/Rangers, Benfica/Porto/ Sporting, Club Brugge, Salzburg...), but rather a medium/low level team with which to grow over the seasons. Knowing that I was probably choosing a team with little money available, to start my project I looked for a team that had at least a decent number of players who could fit the 442 tactic right from the start. Combining all this requirements, the choice fell on Kilmarnock, in the Scottish Premier League. Medium/low level league, predicted to finish in 6th position out of 12 teams. It was like love at first sight, when I saw the initial squad I immediately understood that it was the perfect team for me. In fact, at the start of the save there is a wide choice between the players needed to make a strong back 4 with tall players (Mayo, Findlay, Wright, Dead, Ndaba), versatile midfielders (Magennis, Watson, McKenzie, Kennedy, Armstrong), and at least one decent TF (Vassell). So, starting from this base I started working on the tactics I showed you, and as the seasons went by, I added players in each transfer window who could continue to make the tactics work but with greater quality, following a fairly rigid recruitment strategy. I say 'fairly rigid' because, especially for the first three seasons, the budget available was really small given that even from transfers I wasn't able to accumulate much money, so I necessarily had to compromise on some characteristics I was looking for in the players to buy. However, in general I can summarize my recruitment strategy and the priority skills for which I looked in the following points: -GKs: height >190cm, Aerial Reach, Jumping Reach, Command of Area -Back 4 and DMs: height around or >190cm, Jumping Reach, Balance, Strength, Bravery, Anticipation (for DMs also Aggression and Workrate) -DW: height >180cm, Stamina, Workrate, Aggression, Off the Ball -TF: height around or >195cm, Jumping Reach, Balance, Strength -For the more creative roles (LB, DLP, IW, AM/AF) I am less rigid on physical skills (the only fixed threshold, more psychological for me than anything else, is the height of at least 180cm) in exchange for a a little more Technique, Vision and Flair. As you can see, the focus is almost exclusively on mental and physical skills, which I need to keep the team strong especially in defense. With tactical organization there is almost always a way to score a goal even without excellent technique. Now, this is my team at the end of the summer transfer window of season 6. In this period of time, I can say that I have shaped the team according to my objectives, as we can see from the following comparison graphs on the other teams in the championship To further fuel my involvement in the save, I didn't want to neglect my attention from the Academy of the club. I therefore tried to do everything possible to maximize the youth facilities, youth staff and youth recruitment when I was allowed, and in this years i signed two Heads of Youth Development that could direct the arrival of newgens with the right characteristics for our team To date, the results are satisfactory, and I've a fair number of youngsters more or less ready to be permanently in the first team, immediately or over the course of a couple of seasons, spread across various key positions in my tactics: I was lucky with Davidson, who came in the Youth Intake in the first season and was already included in the 1st team rotations from the following season, until he became a starter with 30+ appearances per season in the last couple of years. Duffy is also a product of the first Youth Intake. Things went differently with him, at the beginning he wasn't even remotely close to be ready to be in the 1st team, so he was made available for the Reserve Team for the first two yearsm Then, as soon as he turned 18, he was sent on loan to Hamilton in the Scottish Championship where he played as a starter and had an incredible development, so much so that he returned at the end of the season and deserved a place as the first backup in the DW position, and now he isn't so far from Missori's level and is ready to become the starter if a good offer for the Italian boy arrives. If loans are successful, Cook and Cunningham could improve and form a good assorted attacking duo, useful for us in a couple of seasons at least as backup players to help in squad rotation I have great expectations for Kerr for the future, for now he plays with the Reserve Team training with the 1st Team but he has already made his debut in a Scottish League Cup match, from the next year at least a couple of seasons on loan will be foreseen for him to play competitive matches, hoping he can return and be our starting GK of the future. For the seasons to come, now that we are a few years into the save and the newgens are starting to populate the world of FM, I would like to go further (and a bit nasty) with my plans: essentially I would like to create an 'unfriendly' team as well as being strong defensively. So I will be looking more and more for players with bad behavioral traits (I currently have just a couple, I haven't had success in transmitting these traits with mentoring) and newgens with 'Unsporting' personality. I want to create a Kilmarnock full of bad boys ready to do anything to succeed, also resorting to the dark arts of football, like a sort of New Crazy Gang or a Simeonesque Atletico Madrid So far I haven't posted results since it's not the main topic of the OP, however even if you do things in a sensitive and coherent way, without wanting to exploit the game with meta-things, FM sooner or later rewards you: 1st season: 4th place, Scottish League Cup runner-up (Lost against Celtic) 2nd season: 3rd place, lost in UEL Qualification and UECL Playoffs, Scottish Cup runner-up (Lost against Celtic) 3rd season: 2nd place, last 16 stage of UEL (eliminated by Juventus) 4th season: 2nd place, UECL semi-final (Eliminated by Tottenham) 5th season: Domestic Treble, UEL Quarter Final (Eliminated by RB Leipzig)

Defence-First finally did it! By sticking to our 442 shown in previous posts, at the end of the 5th season we managed to win the Scottish Premier League! With greater squad depth and by keeping fresh legs via rotation and injuries under control at normal levels, we didn't have any drop in performance and we totally killed it, conceding only 23 goals (best defense a cut above the rest, 2nd best was Celtic and conceded 37!) and also recording 20 clean sheets, remaining unbeaten until the 34th matchday. The greatest satisfaction is having achieved success with many players signed in the first two seasons, when we had a low reputation and almost no budget, and even with 3 important players who have been at Kilmarnock since the beginning save as they are in the IRL team (Mayo, Deas, Watson).

Tactic #4 Having focused in this save on a TF as something set in concrete, I deployed this tactic among my slots taking inspiration from one of the symbolic TFs of the early '00s, namely Jan Koller, 'the Human Lighthouse' from the Czech Republic. And in particular, that fantastic team that was the Czech Republic at Euro 2004 came to mind. I have in mind most of those players given that, being Italian and a Juventus fan, I had the opportunity to see about half of that starting XI playing in Serie A in the first decade of the '00s (Obviously the 2003 Ballon d'Or winner Pavel Nedved, 'the Czech Fury', in my team, but also Poborsky at Lazio, Jankulovski at Napoli, Udinese and Milan, and subsequently also Ujfalusi and Grygera in Fiorentina and Juventus). In addition to these and the aforementioned Koller, that national team also included Rosicky and Baros, and their coach Bruckner often fielded all these players together on the pitch. It was sometimes painted as a flat 442 Others instead like a 442/4132 Diamond Wide Unfortunately, not much material is available regarding the tactical side of that team, but by watching some videos here and there between highlights and entire stretches of matches I think I managed to give a fairly realistic interpretation, which I transferred to FM like this creating a hybrid between the two alternatives. An offensive and structured vocation can be seen, with five players already in the most advanced areas and the addition of the overlapping LWB (Jankulovski) to occupy the left flank. IWa (Nedved) is clearly the most peculiar player in this system, a total player that cuts inside aiming for the goal and has total freedom to go wherever he wants and do whatever he wants, with aggressive manners when the ball is in the opponent's feet We will also find RPM (Rosicky) coming and going everywhere, but with the function of creator and passer. Ws (Poborsky) on the right keeps the width and provides crosses or through balls from the flank, TFs (Koller) acts as a support point with his physicals and P (Baros) is the thorn in the side who always keeps the CBs on alert in the final third. Being dated 2004, it can be seen that this tactic does not rely heavily on Positional Play as we know it today, and in fact even in game rotation patterns are not so present, but rather there is a less delineated attack structure, where the skills of the individual player against the opponent are more inportant During the possession phase, the CBs and the DMd stay back to keep guard (I chose DMd instead of an A because it has to cover a greater portion of ground ahead of the CBs), with RFBs still cautious to give support and cover to the Ws in front of him, without getting too involved in the opposing half. Out of possession, however, we find our beloved flat 442 shape. Currently I use this tactic either as a last-ditch attempt to score a goal, or when I am largely the favorite and want to try to make fast work of the opponent. Personally, however, I find it a very versatile system adaptable to various situations, given that it requires very few basic TIs to work, to which others can be added situationally from game to game: the passes are slightly direct because the most offensive players are already in the most advanced areas (and perhaps this could already be a superfluous instruction), so we don't need a patient build-up to get everyone in the best positions. Out of possession we operate a medium block kept compact by a higher defensive line, and slightly more intense pressing to be a little more aggressive in our half.

Yes, I explained that right in the OP Also, I can occasionally give him the 'run wide with the ball' PI, for example if I see them using an aggressive role from their left side like a WB or an adventurous WCB, and they hand me that space on a plate to attack into. Additionally, some of the players I use in that position have the 'runs with ball often' or 'runs with ball down right' trait, which further ehnances this action. Out of possession, I found that aligned TF and AM didn't do what I wanted in standing as a couple cutting off passing lines to opponent's DM/CM players

Very interested in following updates on this tactic, I like how you're trying to get the best of both (all!) worlds! Usually we try to obtain the 3-2-3-2 shape (or 3-2-2-3 or simply 3-2-5, whatever you want to call it) from classic formations such as 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 or other more commonly used ones, by making capital out of the FM24 PP feature. Personally, I have never thought of using a 3-2-3-2 as the starting formation (and therefore as the out of possession shape). Curious to see how effective this will be in the defensive phase, especially when defending against wide players in AM strata. I could hypothesize that the Counter-press TI might work better than the High press given the positioning of the players in preventing counter-attacks, but let's see!

Key roles After having shown the three tactics that I mainly use, I want to focus for a moment on what in my opinion are the key roles for their functioning, which as you have seen I never change in any version, and on the type of players I use in my team (playing with Kilmarnock they are obviously not the absolute perfect prototype, but you get the idea) •Centre Back: Since I have focused on a rather defensive game philosophy we will often have to face parts of the game in which the opponents will be near our penalty area, so I want them to have physical dominance in this area of the pitch, therefore tall defenders around 190cm (and more) with good values of Jumping Reach, Strength, Baravery, Anticipation, Decisions. On the other hand, Agility and Pace are not their cup of tea, so over the course of the season some goals conceded with balls played behind them are to be taken into account. From my team here is the example of Lewis Mayo, present in the First team squad since the start of the save. I have to turn a blind eye to his Composure and Decisions, but already having someone with these characteristics at home is a very good starting point if you don't have the money. He can also play as a FB, and when I use Tactic #3 I can fit 4 CBs like him in all the back four positions. •Defensive Winger: this player must be rather well-rounded having to make a great contribution both in possession and without the ball. In this role I often prefer to use a player whose natural position is that of FB: if I have to choose, the priority goes to the defensive characteristics, at the expense of a couple of points less in Flair, Dribbling and Off the ball. But with Missori I don't have this problem anymore I find the contribution of this role in my tactics unparalleled. To support this statement, I give you the example of two goals scored in the match against Real Sociedad in the Europa League. -In the first they start from the goal kick, and their LCB passes the ball to their LFB. They are using a flat 442 with the FBs and Ws on their strong side, so I select the Trap Inside TI to avoid too much 1vs1 on the flanks with the technical advantage in their favor, and make them drive into my DMs feet. So my DW positions himself towards the outside of the field to screen the pass along the flank, leaving the FB the way towards the center. As soon as he brings the ball inside, the DW steps out and wins the ball from the opponent's feet, and then plays it to the AF (#11) who dribbles on the right. The DW follows the action and provides immediate support in the internal channel to receive the pass from the AF and cross immediately into the box, where our TF scores the header. -In this second example we found ourselves in a situation in which we are positioned with the low block, and the ball is once again at the feet of their LCB. The DW is alert in position controlling their LB but is quick to sense and intercept the pass directed towards their #7 and starts a deadly counterattack, which develops with 3 diagonal passes between four players (#17-#11-#21-#10)... ...and in a matter of a few seconds we manage to find our LM totally unmarked entering in the box on the opposite flank, a spot from which he doesn't miss the diagonal shoot •Target Forward: Not much to say, he must have the physique to act as a lamdmark for his teammates and to score many headers. More or less the same thing regarding the skills needed for the CBs, if he also has at least decent technical skills and Off the Ball it's all a win. The 'Plays with back to goal' trait is fundamental, which allows him to control the ball by keeping the opponent away with his strength. I bought Hornby in the 2nd season for around 2,5M, he boosted my offensive performances Whit our setup it's quite easy to understand that he is the main scorer of the team, but he also knows how to make himself useful even as an assistman. Here too I will give you as an example two goals in which our TFs is involved -The most frequent attacking pattern, really simple in its execution but very effective with the right players, sees the ball circulate between the players until it ends up on the right flank to our DW, who dribbles past the opponent and as soon as he sees the opportunity crosses to the far post for the TF, who wins the aerial duel. This can sometimes get us a goal out of the blue, unlocking matches in which we can struggle to create scoring chances centrally -In this second example, the TF drops deep from the opponent's defensive line and gets the ball. At this point, either by a one-touch pass or after turning on his marker, he plays a diagonal through ball into the space behind the opposite centre-back, into which AM/AF runs, beating the opponent on the sprint and going 1vs1 with the goalkeeper. Alternatively the TF plays a short pass backwards towards the DM, who then sends AM/AF into the goal with a through ball.

Great, feel totally free to share the tactics and your considerations, I would like to see and understand how an even more conservative approach than mine works. Soon I will post an update with a little insight into what I think are the key roles of my tactics

No, none other than those mentioned

Tactic #3 Now, here's my favorite tactic of the entire set, even though it's the one I use least frequently. In fact, it is my approach for matches in which I am by far the weakest team, where we need to shut down everything in defense and have maximum performance in attack, a classic defense and counterattack (therefore I use it in the matches against Celtic and Rangers in the Premiership and in most of the matches in European competitions). To get what I want, some of the player roles has to change. The back four is deployed with conservative roles: LFBa switches to a support duty, and having given him the Hold position PI, our RFB doesn't need to invert into the field, becoming a classic FBd to better guard the flank. The double pivot must mainly act as a screen in front of the defense to force their attacks to go towards the flanks: therefore I opt for a DMd and DMs pair. This way we have 6 players aimed at protecting the goal. With this approach we don't rely on Positional Play, we don't have time to build a sustained attack, so I don't want to waste any with ball circulation and the invert here, overload there & co. stuff. For our direct attacks we "unlock" LM which from WMs becomes IWa, this time with the Stay wider PI to allow him to have more space at the beginning of the possession phase, to be able to receive the ball and directly target the opposing defense by carrying the ball towards the goal. On the right I always rely on my faithful DWs (to which I add Get further forward PI to increase their offensive initiative), while upfront this time we create a real couple, with the usual TFs and the AMa who advances to become an AFa, (PF in the screenshot is probabily a misclick] always ready to run behind the CBs in the large spaces that are presumably granted to us. We therefore play with slightly more direct passes and a slightly higher tempo so as not to get caught up in their probable pressing, and the Counter TI is activated again to hit in transition as quickly as possible. In possession, the result is to have a more structured shape, with a clear 4-2-4 layout right from the initial build-up. Certainly in phases of prolonged possession we can be more predictable, but since over the 90' there is probably less time with the ball than the opponents, I want to have my 4 players always ready to attack with a quick transition when we recover the ball and they are with some players away from their optimal defensive positions. In defense we position ourselves with a Low block, lowering the DL to a Standard height: given that since we are all already in our half and with the pivot in the DM strata we are already well equipped to cover their AM strata, a slightly lower DL than the one I usually use comes in handy to take away space from their forwards in the situation in which we are most vulnerable due to our characteristics, namely Peace and Agility. In case of success the satisfactions obtained with this tactic are the greatest, here are some of my best recent 'Giant Killings' (don't mind the formation with the AM instead of AF, I change the tactic in the Team Talk screen before the kick off since it's currently out of my three available slots, but the UI depict it as if I have never changed it): Sometimes you need a little luck Sometimes we gain a well deserved win Sometimes it's an unexpected slaughter (Sorry @crusadertsar ) Obviously it isn't always puppies and rainbows, when the opponents are strong things could take the wrong path in the blink of and eye, and the entire game plan goes down the drain

In my personal experience I find it counterproductive to set OIs by default directly in the creation of the tactic, given that they are player-dependent, the effect of an OI can be diametrically opposite depending on the player we are targeting. In fact, I set them manually before starting every match, and for some players I even wait to see the first minutes of the match to understand how they are playing, and then when confirmation of the exact role arrives from my Assistant Manager I can implement others with a greater probability of success. For example, preferring to play a 4-4-1-1 mid-block without Counter-press, I usually like to tell my AM to mark their DM if he plays as standard DM/A or DLP to cut him out of the game, but for example, if I see that he plays like an HB the OIs on him become those of never tight mark nor trigger press, since I don't care if he goes to play the ball far from my goal and it would be counterproductive for my defensive shape to have an advanced player easily bypassed by their build-up. Similarly, if for example they play with a 3-5-2 or 3-4-1-2 I set OIs on the WBs of always trigger press and show onto their strong foot, so right foot for RWB and left foot for LWB . The latter may seem like a counterintuitive move since in theory it plays into the hands of the opponent's strenghts, but on the wings I still have a 2vs1 situation and I want to prevent them from playing towards the center, where they outnumber me. Maybe a couple of times in the match he manages to dribble past my players and get a cross into the box, but for me it's the lesser evil as my players can cope with this with their skills. I therefore leave a theoretical advantage to the individual player in exchange for less danger for my entire team If they play with an AM, if it is a standard AM or an AP I try to always thight mark him to avoid him receiving the ball in a dangerous position, if he plays as an SS I leave his OIs blank as runs behind are difficult to track for my DMs

Tactic #2 This tactic is deployed when we are the clear favorite team in a match. I change my offensive approach while maintaining the same defensive attitude. First of all, we add some threat by transforming some roles such as FBa into WBa, WMs into IWs and VOLs into VOLa (moved to the right), in order to have runs that come from different channels and depths. We also reverse the duties of the offensive pair: TF goes on attack and AM goes on support, so we have the physical presence of the TFa who occupies the defenders closest to the goal, and AMs who stays a little further back assuming the function of the creator of chances in the attacking third. In front of our back four DMs becomes DLPs moved to the left to better cover the WBL bombing forward. Since in theory we have more time to manage the ball we can give the ball to him while waiting for our players to reach the attacking positions with optimal timing. In order to achieve this, the change of TI from Counter to Hold Shape becomes essential: since we will often easily recover the ball from their clearances or long balls, it becomes useless to tell my players to immediately run against a wall, also because I have already given them roles with a higher basic mentality and that should be enough. I noticed that the Positional Play feature, in the VOLa combination behind the AMs, comes into play in an unexpected way: in fact I would have bet on the VOLa moving straight forward to the centre-right forcing the AMs to shift to the centre-left, while instead it is the VOLa that does a diagonal run to go into the AML spot. I believe this unexpected outcome adds a further threat to our attacks, given that this movement is more difficult for the opponent to track and our VOLa often finds itself totally unmarked in a dangerous position. When in possession, we return to Standard passing directness to avoid rushing decisions, but we keep Hit early crosses as I noticed that comes in help to punish any mispositioning of the opposing defense. The build-up and rest-defense phase switches to a 2+3 with the IFBd-->IWBs change on the right to have an extra player in the middle of the field, but I can return to the original version in case the opponent plays with two central attackers, to maintain superiority at the back. This could answer to @jc577's dilemma. It's all a matter of where you want to have numerical advantage in your early build-up (apart from goal kicks where all seems to start from a standard (1)+2+4 shape with (GK)/CB-CB/RFB-DM-DM-LFB. Only once we get into the middle third IWB start to cut inside and WB to move forward. Once we have estabilished in the opponent's half, VOLa leaves his DM position and joind or front line, and our shape becomes and hybrid between a 3-1-6 (CB-DLP-CB/IWB, like in the screenshot above) and a 2-2-6 (CB-CB/IWB-DLP), depending on how much deep out DLPs drops to play the ball Out of possession I adopt a slightly more aggressive pressing to limit their counter-attacking opportunities (if I see that it's not enough I occasionally add Get Stuck In, I avoid Counter-press because I want to recover my 4-4-2 shape when I lose possession). I use the same OIs on GK and CBs mentioned in OP. Even if I can afford to press more CBs with bad on the ball skills and bet on an eventual mistake, I found that not pressing them very often forces a long ball that I've nearly the 100% chance to collect, thanks to the ability in aerial duels of my back four players.

Nice goal, I love how your #40 and #41 physically blocks opponent #15 and #32 (and #5 in the end) and your #15 runs to catch the attention of their #20, so Dyani has ton of space to run into e go for the goal...this is true Teamwork!

I'd stick with the first tactic since big teams almost always bring their fullbacks forward while remaining more vulnerable on the flanks where you can hit them on the counter. Maybe with the 1st tactic you could tone things down a bit to be more conservative out of possession without losing the threat to your opponent. IWB could be IFB and BWM could became a simple CMs with 'Hold position' PI. I'd increase both tempo and passing directness, remove 'Hold shape' TI and switch to at least a mid block with standard pressing, you are still a very good team and maybe you don't need to go for a low block

In the previous answer I forgot to mention the fact that you sometimes play DW on their 'wrong foot', how they behave when in possession? If i Remember correctly they have hardcoded PIs like 'run wide with ball' and 'stay wider'. Or do you feel that they are more efficient to protect the center of the field by tackling with their strong foot' when opponents try to cut inside? Nice pair upfront, di you customize your DMs to join more the final third to act like a more conservative Segundo Volante? And last, on what mentality do you play this tactic? I understand, strong rest defence to camp in the opponent's half. Hardworking horses in the middle surely are a must with your approach Thanks for sharing. A higher DL could help to reduce the space available for opponents wingers and #10 spot. I added 'Tackle harder' PI to my double pivot players to try to be more prone to shut down shots from outside the box. This tactic is similar to mine that I use when I'm the favorite team, which I will show in my next post. Some roles change but I agree that the spreading of the players on the pitch is very effective for building dangerous attacks.

What a careful approach...I expect a very tight defence hard to break down, I like It! What roles do you play upfront? Yes, a few others. I'm not playing FM ATM, but I can remember: -'Shoot less' to LFB -'Tackle Harder', 'Hold Position', 'Dribble less' and 'Shoot less' to DMs -'Shorter passing' to TFs -'Take more risks' to AMa Situationally I add 'Dribble more' to AMa and 'Get further forward' to DWs Contrary to Los_Culés this seems a very aggressive formation, does it become a 2-Diamond-4? A lot of movement, do your players struggle to track back to their positions when possession is lost?

Thanks, TBH the concept of not pressing GKs and CBs at all was mentioned in the cocoadavid's topic I linked in the OP. If I remember correctly he applied it only using two strikers with support duties upfront to obtain perfect alignment in ahead of the opposing midfielders. However, I seem to notice, but perhaps it's just my bias, that in this edition's ME the players perform the task more faithfully. Maybe it's also just due to a higher value of the Teamwork skill of the players I'm using compared to those of other saves I've played. Waiting to see your tactics IFBd was a great introduction this year to create a back three from a back four, we totally need this. Interested in seeing the diamond shape in possession starting from a flat 442 in the line-up screen Thanks mate! Yes, someone might remember seeing some of my posts in crusadetstar's topic. As said, this was my starting point, then I focused exclusively on building a suitable team for the 442, maybe in the future I'll post something about my recruitment strategy. Does double DWs allow you to have more offensive/creative roles in the middle of the park or more roaming defenders like an IWBa for example? I still have to test the DW on defend duty to see the differences and understand in what situations or with what combinations of roles next to him could do well Thank you!

Hello guys, I open this topic to share my experience on FM 24 and start a discussion about a tactic that is particularly close to my heart, but which many consider to be behind times: the 4-4-2. Before I get started, I want to thank a few sources that inspired me. First of all, @crusadertsar and his Defence-First thread, which lit the fuse to direct my FM24 save with the Scottish team Kilmarnock towards the right path. I also point out @ultrAslan's thread on the counterattack @cocoadavid's thread on the defensive phase of the 4-4-2 And the precious contribution of users like @Cloud9, who scatters FM tactical gems here and there in every topic. I was looking for a way to combine my predilection for the 4-4-2 with creating a defensively solid team, but I also wanted to evolve the tactics in the attacking phase by not just doing Park the Bus and Hoofball, being able to take advantage of the excellent Positional Play feature of FM24. After reading and following some topics and testing the tactics with various tweaks, I managed to develop a set of tactics that gravitate around the shape of 4-4-2 (not literally according to the name given by the game, but which visually on the field they behave like this) which allow me to face various types of opponents that present themselves to me from time to time. Remember well that I said 'to face', not 'to win' against any opponent. If you're looking for meta tactics that get you 5-0 wins in succession, forwards scoring 70+ goals per season and streaks of 20+ clean sheets, you're totally in the wrong place. As said, I'm managing Kilmarnock in Scotland, and I'm in the middle of the 5th season. My trophy cabinet? Still empty, but I'm costantly overachieving and this Is enough for me to enjoy the game, so I think I'm doing things with a sensibile approach. I don't want to bother you with a disquisition on the pros and cons of the 4-4-2 setup, given that both this Forum and the web in general are full of tactical analyses, so I'll immediately move on to the world of FM to present you the first tactic that I use. I will leave a space of a few days between one tactic and another, so that we can have a clean discussion without mixing different concepts. In these tactics you will find two key aspects: the presence of a big and strong TF and the double pivot in the DM strata. I use them there and not in the CM strata as IMO they more faithfully represent the behavior of this type of player IRL, i.e. closer to the defenders out of possession but still ready to accompany the attacking phase forward, I tried some combinations in the CM strata (like i.e. BBMs + CMd) but none of them fully satisfied me. Tactic #1 This is the tactic I use most of the time, for theoretically balanced matches against opponents more or less of my level. I try to play a slightly more direct game to get the ball faster towards the final third in the phases in which the ball is in play, inviting my players to cross whenever they have the chance in order to take advantage of the aerial ability of my TF. When GK has the ball, however, I prefer to have the team in position and calmly start from the defenders (without forcing either with PooD in case of opponent pressing or with long throws to the TF which often end up far from him with the ball given away to the opponents). In defense we patiently wait for the right moment to press with standard settings and we create a more compact block by keeping the defensive line higher. Most of the time we protect the center by funneling the opponent towards the flanks, where we are still present with two players on each side. The idea of my style of play is to have a build-up and a 3+2 rest defence. In our defensive third the double pivot remains the DMs + VOLs pair, but once we arrive in the opponent's half our shape morphs and is aimed at occupying the five channels with the FBa, VOLs, TFs, AMs, DWs. The interaction between WMs and VOLs is interesting: my original intent is to block WMs via the PIs towards the center of the field to free up the running of the VOLs But despite this, WMs does not always remain at the center because it still has a hardcoded behavior as a wing player, so in the end the result is a hybrid where sometimes I achieve my first option, while in other cases an overload is created between WM/VOL/FB with a shape closer to a 3-1-6, which often gives us numerical superiority over our opponents. On the right side we have the DWs, which takes care of the management of the flank almost entirely on its own. I am truly a big fan of this role, which I see little used when I see tactics from others, but from my experience I guarantee that with the right player a terrific balance is achieved between the defensive solidity of a FB and the offensive contribution of a W. In this role I often use a retrained FB and it works great. The offensive pair sees us using a TFs and an AMa positioned asymmetrically: in this way we guarantee ourselves an aligned pair in the non-possession phase to act as the first defensive screen, while when we attack AMa has more space both to run behind the opposing CBs and to be closer to the DW and give him more support or catch the attention of their LFB/LWB. Our game focuses mainly on the wings, and the most frequent goal comes with a cross for the TF who dominates over high balls (also because in his teammates' PIs, where selectable, I aim the crosses towards him), but we manage to penetrate also centrally thanks to the players' movements without the ball. Out of possession we take the shape of a classic 442, but to achieve this from my personal experience I believe it is essential to instruct the OIs to never tight mark nor trigger press on their GK and their CBs, whether two or three. In this way we avoid our two advanced players chasing the ball on their build-up, but they have to focus on cutting passing lines towards the centre, limiting their options from the start and avoiding a snowball effect with our players behind moving from their area to go and recover the ball as would happen if the first pressing was easily missed. I hope I have captured your attention, and encouraged you to start a discussion, share your experiences or constructive criticism. If you're interested in additional screenshots, just ask for them

Sorry for the long post, but I think that with this update I can give further insight into how a Defense-First approach can work. Season 4 concluded. In the SPL we once again obtained a 2nd place which was never in question, and indeed we kept the SPL open until 2 games to go. We have broken the 80 point barrier for the first time, with many fewer drawn matches and more wins than last year (the defeats have also increased in number, but half of them are the three Regular Seasons matches against Celtic, an unfortunately insurmountable obstacle even in the final stages of domestic cups). The difference in the standing is therefore mainly due to H2H, also because they have worsened their overall performance compared to last season. We combined a great campaign in the Conference League (to which we arrived after losing in the Champions League preliminaries against AEK Athens and in the Europa League playoffs against Ajax), where we reached the Semi-final lost against Tottenham. The results were excellent, but in the end the taste was bittersweet, because I had the feeling that something more could have been achieved. The season literally had two different faces while maintaining the same tactical approach. In the first part we had the maximum expression of defensive stability, with many Clean Sheets and few goals scored, while in the second half the trend was reversed, the attack increased the goals with many different players finding the net, but at the same time the defense was no longer so impenetrable. For the first time, despite having used the same training plan as always, we suffered a high number of injuries, all rather short but frequent (for example our striker Hornby accumulated over 2 months of absence with 4 different injuries). Along with this, fixture congestion and lack of team depth in rotations have probably undermined our performance in some ways at some points in the season, with players forced to play many close games without a back up player available or out of position. As for tactics, as always I stuck to the 4-4-2 with its variations. I changed the tactic to face the strongest teams, switching to this one I switched back to the Balanced mentality, as I felt that with the Positive mentality my players were rushing decisions too much in attack, thus wasting many opportunities and reducing their chances of scoring. I put IW on Attack duty on the left wing and advanced the AMa in attack as a PFa to add some threat to the opponents, AM was often bypassed by direct passes, while when I tried it as an SSa it was not very dangerous given that his insertions were read well by very skilled opponents. As a PFa, however, he is more often able to go beyond their CBs without being hindered. In the center of the court I switched to a double pivot DMd and DMs to better protect myself against AMs and long shots. The changes were translated on the pitch: in fact I remained unbeaten again against Rangers, while I almost always lost against Celtic (1W and 4L in the season), but the matches were much more competitive and the difference was mainly due to the quality gap of their players compared to mine which seems to have increased with their unattainable resources for anyone in the SPL. Even in European matches, high-ranking opponents have never crushed us (only Ajax and Tottenham have beaten us). As mentioned in a previous post, I also introduced another variant of 4-4-2 inspired by my vision of the Czech Republic team from Euro 2004. For the moment I have used it in matches against inferior teams, but the results are were encouraging Now a statistical overview of the championship season to give the right value to the tactical approach covered by the topic - We are first for Clean Sheets, despite not playing on the front foot we defend very effectively - Despite the Defense-First approach, we practically always manage to put ourselves in a position to score - With the 4-4-2 there are many opportunities to attack from the wings with crosses, and we do it better than anyone - By making a lot of crosses (and protecting the center in defense) we face numerous aerial duels, and we are by far the best in this field - Our defense is based above all on the positioning of the players, we do little to tackle the ball, but we choose our battles quite well - We let the opponents play with the ball enough, but our defensive organization makes it difficult for us to play through close to our penalty area - In fact we are dealing with few shots against in general - Even though we leave space for our opponents, we don't struggle in defending, we are second to last for Clearances - Defense-First approach is feasible even with few resources, there is still good room for improvement

I'd try to reduce the pressing triggers as said by bosque because they are very capable of escaping from your pressing, so remove Counter-press and tone down to Standard pressing, and try to set OIs on their GK and CBs to never tight marking and never press them, so your front players should focus more on closing passing lanes towards the DMs. Try to compress the space vertically by setting a higher DL instead of Step up more, and you should trap them outside where they have no players. Another weapon is to force them out of position when you have the ball, so if they gain possession they mustn't be in optimal positions to build their attack. Try to build up from the fullbacks, play on fairly wide attacking width, focus play on the wings...

No wonder it's not working, I think the approach proposed by ChatGPT is too passive, especially for the possession phase where there is no real counterattack plan. In the end I believe that the result is to be under pressure for very large stretches of the match and therefore in the end it is almost inevitable to concede one or more goals I would modify it with a W(a) on one side with a FB(s) behind it and a Mez(a) on the CM of the opposite side with a DW(s) or a WM(s) next to it In TIs I would start by setting the tempo to Slightly higher and removing Prevent short GK distribution

If I were you I'd start with the first two moves, with the LFB(A) option. I would leave LCM as CM(S), perhaps adding the 'Hold Position' PI to have greater control of the center of the pitch in the transition from attack to defense if a ball turnover occurs. With a balanced 4-3-3, OoP I'd leave trap instructions, DL behavior and cross instructions all blank, and use them situationally based on the opponents you face from time to time. I would also try to remove tackle harder at least from the front three, although I don't know them I think it is unlikely that they have good defensive skills, and you risk having a first pressing that would be outplayed too easily

Remarkable write up, lots of valuable information here, even for experienced players! For example, in many years of playing FM, I have never thought of looking at the opposing manager's profile to obtain useful information...even though I love doing micromanagement in my saves for some time now, there is always a further aspect that has never been considered thanks to which I can go even deeper