Fox-7-

Lumeka in my Kilmarnock side in SPL it's unstoppable, double digit in both goals and assists, I can play him as an IWa on the left, a Wa on the right in the CM strata, or even as an AMa centrally...It doesn't really matter, he will score or assist his teammates

Against teams that park the bus in front of you I would make some changes to add variety to your attacks (obviously I don't know what players you have and it would be to see if they would be suitable with my ideas): -WBR from support to attack -IWR from attack to support -WBL to FB support -IFL to W support/attack IMO by doing this you would have a wider attacking front, while in your current setup IW and IF cut inside (I also think that IF blocks the path to your AP who carries the ball centrally), and from behind WBs on support aren't so aggressive in attacking the flanks. Furthermore you have also set higher tempo and direct passes to the offensive players which certainly do not help to favor runs from deeper positions In TIs I would actually lower the tempo to at least standard, they leave the ball to you for a long time, so make your players take their time to think and make the best choice (and in combination with this I would leave the direct passes only to the players who have to create your actions, so ideally APa and IWs in my setup). Lower DL perhaps lengthens your team too much by not giving it compactness, having players in every strata if you don't feel totally comfortable with a structured high pressing you could still keep DL on Standard

I'm not at PC atm and I'm not sure when the next time I'll be able to open FM will be, but I can tell you the tactic with my eyes closed Is a 4411 DM with the AMC positioned in the AMCR spot. This is my default tactic, tweaks happen based on the opposition From right to left GKd IWBs CBd CBd WBa Wa DLPs VOLa WMs AMs TFs Balanced mentality, Play for set pieces, Counter, Distribute to CBs, Mid block, Higher DL, Press more often, Trap Outside, Invite Crosses. PIs: WBa and Wa aim crosses at TF, WMs sit narrower and cross less often, VOLa and AMs take more risks, AMs get further forward

I'm using a 4-4-1-1 tactic with a TF on support as a lone striker and it's working well for me, halfway through the 2nd season I'm sitting 2nd in SPL with Kilmarnock in a point-to-point battle with the Glasgow teams. The regular starter is the team's best scorer and has scored 13 goals in 22 games in all competitions (8 coming off the bench), and his two back-ups respectively 6 goals in 9(5) appearances and 3 goals in 3(7) games. Crosses (both from the byline and deep) to the far post are the main source with which I trigger them

Hi guys, I've started a save test with Fiorentina but I haven't played a match yet, I'm thinking of setting up a tactic with a bit of Emery-ish inspiration from his Aston Villa. Therefore I want to start from a 4-4-2 as a defensive shape which transforms into an ambitious 1-3-6 in the phase of prolonged possession (only situational in Emery's Villa), to still give me a solid rest-defense especially against teams who play with 2 AMs and a lone ST such as Monza, Atalanta, Torino... So I thought about setting up the team like this Balanced mentality, the only TIs are Counterpress (with 6 advanced players it's a logical choice for me, but I want to evaluate if it leaves us too exposed to counterattacks, especially against teams that use AML/R players, I could change it with a split block by setting the pressing individually via PIs), Much higher defensive line and Step up more with Mid block (to keep the team ultra compact and try to often put opponents offside like Villa does), Concede crosses (to defend tighter). I have a couple of questions: -Should this role setting be able to trigger the right rotations as I imagined them? -At the moment I think of using Bonaventura as a WMR. Even if he is right-footed, will putting Sit Narrower and Cuts inside with the ball in the PIs leave enough space for the RWB to advance? Or if I set himvas IW-s I'll obtain this movement more hardcoded (although I wouldn't want a player who dribble with the ball to the inside too much)? -I would like to try the attacking pair like this (ideally Nico Gonzalez as SS, who also has the Runs with ball often trait, and Beltran as PFs), do you think it could work? Beltran also has the Likes to beat offside trap trait, so should he give me that mix of hard work and running into space that Watkins does at Villa?

Nah, as I play almost short-term saves (6-7 season) the real counterparts in game doesn't get involved as head coaches, so they don't became 'main carachters' in my saves. I basically let them have their own career in the save as staff members around the world and avoid to sing them in my team. However, to avoid this 'immersion issue', when I plan a save I don't choose a former player that has already a coaching career at good levsls IRL, so i.e. I never played as Steven Gerrard, De Zerbi or Arteta

Hi guys, I want to build a 'dirty team' able in the 'dark arts' of football...how behavioural player traits -Gets crowd going -Argues with officials -Winds up opponents can impact in the ME during a match? And there are real players with Unsporting personality or is It reserved for newgens?

I usually impersonate a former player of the club I'm going to manage ATM for example I'm Manuel Pascali at Kilmarnock, in FM 23 Miroslav Klose at Kaiserslautern, in FM22 was Marcos Senna at Villareal, in FM 21 Ruud van Nistelrooij at Heerenveen...and so on, I found this way give me the best immersion in the game I used my name only when I made journeyman saves from bottom leagues around the world to the top, but now I can't play that kind of save anymore because it takes too much playing time that I simply don't have

First season gone in Kilmarnock! Managed to finish the regular season in 3rd place with the second best defense thanks to a solid 4-4-1-1 DM and a tall&strong TF upfront (Diabaté free agent, young Keke Topp on loan from Schalke 04, Vassell didn't perform well and suffered ACL rupture in December), while I had awful results after the split losing three matches and drawing two, getting surpassed on the final day by Hibs. In the Scottish League Cup I reached the final, losing to Celtic, whilst in the Scottish Cup I was promptly knocked out in the first match, a shocking extra time defeat to League 1 side Alloa. A great year anyway, money from the championship placement has restored the finances and now we will prepare to strengthen the team to try to enter the Europa League group stage!

Thanks for the reply, I'm slightly perplexed about this. Isn't jumping reach related to player height? With the same attribute value, the taller player should theoretically reach a higher point in an aerial duel, not considering other values such as bravery, balance etc. (I think it appears in the game tips during the progression of the game time)

Never paid attention to this, but does young players grow in height tilli the end of their teenage years? It's something hardcoded or random? Just have in the young intake two 15y old who are respectively 188cm and 186cm, amy chance to have them >190cm when they will be 18?

Hi, I'm having good results in the Scottish Premier League alternating these two versions of 4-4-1-1 DM with asymmetric upfront to resemble a classic 4-4-2, with the aim of being as defensively solid as possible. This is the version against teams more or less of my level or lower, where even the opponents don't expose themselves too much in attacking me While this is the one I use when I face big teams, where I try to quickly take advantage of the spaces left by the opponent Initially I had an SS in the AMC strata, but he often launched into the attack too early without having supplies and was useless, while now as an AMa he is more involved in both creating and scoring

Oh surely that's the only way I can operate on tranfers and I'm already doing It almost to the limits. But does the financial projection take into account the current form and the possible finale position in league table? This was my situation in October Now I'm on a 7-match undefeated streak, stabilizing myself well in the top 6 of the table and now in December, without having done absolutely anything for the financial part, the situation has become like this in less than 45 days

Hi guys, has anyone coached or is coaching Kilmarnock? I'm in my first season, no transfer budget with little margin for wages. Finances are expected to get worse over the years, can they improve quickly if I manage to qualify for ECL or EL at the end of the season? Currently sitting 5th in Novembre and in Scottish League Cup final

Happy to see that, at least on paper, I should be on the right track. In fact, my tactics are almost the same as yours, except for some roles and defensively more aggressive TIs such as Counterpress and Get stuck in...For example, in attack I'm trying to give a chance to a combination of TMs + SS positioned asymmetrically, in order to allow me to defend like a 4-4-2 and with the two in front decide whether to press hard on the CBs or whether to make them stay in position and cover the passing lines towards the midfielders based on the opponent. On the left I reversed the duties of IW and FB compared to yours to look for a more incisive overlap in the counterattack. First SPL match at home against Rangers, I managed to get a 1-1 draw by taking the lead from a corner and holding them to an xG value on par with mine at around 0.7, only to then concede a penalty for their equalizer in the final minutes. I will have to take this into account throughout the season given the low values in Decisions and Composure. Satisfied with the result and the defensive performance, I will have to evaluate the effectiveness of my attacking phase against opponents closer to my level, at the moment Rangers and Celtic are on another planet to be able to make a sensible evaluation

Hi guys, after losing the ball, how does the ME calculates when it's time to move from the transition phase, and stop to counterpress (when this TI Is selected) to the out of possession phase, when players should start to come back in their defensive shape? Is it calculated in seconds? In number of passes made by the opponent? Or maybe is it based on when the line of engagement is crossed (determined by the height of the chosen defensive block)?

I follow and look forward to the part relating to the offensive phase to take inspiration and learn something new or perhaps focus attention on some aspect that I have rarely considered. As a good ol' Italian boy I am perfectly comfortable with the idea of conceding as few goals as possible and in fact I have the same tactical approach as you regarding this style of play in organizing the defensive phase, and the 4-4-1-1 DM is also my favorite strategy. However, I often focus so much with my setup and tactical settings on not conceding goals that I struggle to find the right balance to be able to score even just one, resulting in me being too passive to be successful in the long term. I currently have a save with Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premier League in their very first early days, I'm committing more FM sessions just to look for a tall and strong TF to base my attacking game on, while we are already in a very good position in terms of average height and aerial ability of the defenders

Hi @Mik_Fe, nice ti see you here too In FM22 I did something similar playing with a 4-3-3, in order to fine tune things in this style I suggest you don't forget about player traits. For example, I taught to most of my players the trait "Plays One-Twos" to not to be a static and predictable team in possession, to the DM and the other holding CM the trait "Likes to switch ball to the other flank" to unlock defenses on the far side after overloading one flank, I make my IW to learn the "Hugs touchline" trait in order to stretch the defense and make more room to my Mezzala to run into...and so on, based on how you play your team think about PPMs that could be useful and try to train your player to learn them. Obviously it requires time, or as a PL team you probably can afford to buy players that already have the skills and the PPMs that you need

It is a great honor for me to receive this degree of consideration from you @Rashidi. Unfortunately at the moment I can't play FM as much as I would like and dedicate the time and attention needed to test and fine-tune things. Furthermore, I see that you are already prepared for a replication on FM24, which I don't know if I will be able to do. For this reasons I believe that the main thread on Diniz's football should be yours, which you will most likely have the opportunity to keep constantly updated unlike mine, and with a depth of knowledge of FM that is certainly better than mine. Thanks also to all the users who have enriched the discussion in recent months

I try to give my opinion on it. First I would try to separate the comparison for Defenders, Midfielders and Forwards rather than looking at the whole team, to better understand what are the strengths and weaknesses in each area of the pitch. For example, you have the best Jumping Reach in the league, but who are your team's best jumpers? Tall CBs? Then you can deal with crosses and maybe better defend the center of the penalty area with the "invite crosses" option. Or is it your AF? Then you can try to exploit it as soon as you can with the "Hit early crosses" option. You also have a high value in Aggression, if the the most aggressive are your DMs you can try to give them the PIs "press more often" to try to stop earlier the opponents in your half, if instead these players are your advanced players you can try a split block by making pressing only the 3 in front with an high block while the others Regroup. For the mentality I have nothing against Cautious, in fact I often go down to Defensive and I manage to get very good results. As a general rule, when I choose a style of counterattack, I usually use Defensive against teams more or less of my level, against slightly stronger teams I go up to Cautious while against the big ones I raise it to Balanced. This is because I find that squads of my level will attack me but without exposing themselves too much, so my players have to choose carefully the right moment to launch the attack without forcing things. If the opponents are stronger, they will instead try to take control of the match more and more, up to the big ones like Celtic who will want to stay in your half all the time, leaving space behind, therefore the few opportunities they leave you to attack the players have to take them without thinking too much to try to score, so they will need a higher mindset to try riskier plays. The way I play the counterattack, in your case knowing nothing about your opponents except the bookmakers' predictions, ideally I'd use Defensive against teams from Hamilton to Motherwell, Cautious against St. Mirren and Dundee (maybe Aberdeen too) and Balanced against the top four. As for your tactics, IMO with this setup your only way to score is centrally with AF, AM and Vol and with only IW and W providing the passes. With a Cautious mentality you can afford at least one more attacking duty, I personally would try to give that to RW and add that to the WBL, who can exploit the space vacated by IW in front of him, in order to spread the threats al across the pitch from right to left and from deeper areas to be less predictable. Also I'd switch AM with a support duty. If one between AM and DM were to be able to do it, I would give to him a playmaking role (APs or DLPd) with direct passes to launch or refine the counter. As mentioned by Johnny Ace, having a W in front of him, I would also have RB play like an FBs, perhaps with the "sit narrower" PI to better cover the advances of the Vol from his side. (Bonus Track: for the counterattack I prefer to play with bottom-heavy formations to have more space to attack, if you struggle especially to contain the opponents in the out of possession phase you could try moving IW and W down in the CM strata, it should have a minimal impact on your chances offensively but a big impact on defensive stability, with two banks of four that are harder to penetrate) In the TIs, in possession I would try to play with Fairly narrow One notch below the standard option and add a notch to the passes lenght to set them to More direct. Evaluate carefully Pass into space, from direct experience my feeling is that without good passers you will lose many balls thrown directly into the hands of your opponents, while in my opinion the Hit early crosses option is much more profitable, especially if AF has good Off the ball and Anticipation. In transition I would remove Counter-Press as already suggested, to avoid getting outplayed immediately with many players forward and few to defend. Out of possession keep an eye on Get stuck in, with players with poor tackling you could concede free kicks in dangerous areas, eventually you can remove it from TIs and give it individually in PIs only to suitable players.

Hi, thanks for the reply. The main problems that I can imagine are essentially two: - In the possession phase, players could make bad decisions and move with the wrong times and spaces, failing to organize an effective attacking action - In the non-possession phase, areas of the field could be left very open and exposed to rapid counter-attacks if the ball is intercepted or lost. Hello, thanks for the contribution to the thread, I look forward to reading the continuation in your save. I try to follow the order of the answers: -AF with his movements calls the balls behind the defensive line, and on higher mentalities even players are more encouraged to try that type of pass that is risky but with high reward in case of success. Perhaps WBIBs and PIs like the ones you mentioned can mitigate this, but only up to a point. -I'm not fully satisfied with the play on the flanks too. The most I've been able to achieve so far with this setup is to have 6 players close to the ball (ball carrier included). I don't know if it's a limitation of the ME or if trying a different approach I could get more, I'm thinking for example of putting a lot of playmaking roles like a BPD at the back, a RGA/RPM double pivot, an AP-EG-Treq trio in the AM strata...But even if it was I would consider it an unrealistic move -As I wrote in a previous reply, the fact of having selected the option to have AML/R swap positions between them is basically a trick, I believe that in ME it is not possible to make a player completely cut the field from a flank to the other during the normal development of the game. Here too, one could try to put three narrow AMs juggling between roles, duties and PIs, but I don't think we can still arrive at a satisfactory result (and in any case IRL players like Arias and Keno clearly start as AML/R in the field) Finally, the thread you linked is interesting, it would be wonderful if someone could explain whether PoD actually makes the more advanced players move away from the ball, even if being a simple on/off instruction you will probably immediately notice any difference. Even the fact of not selecting playmaking roles to involve more players in the possession is an alternative point of view, even if everything needs to be verified Thanks for the link, it's a long read but as soon as I get some time I'll definitely check it out Thank you all, @04texag could you share some screenshots to see the differences and the things in common? PS i loved your threads about Positional Play of some editions ago! -------------------------------------------------------------------- Unfortunately, in these weeks I had very little time to play FM, I only played seven more games in the season, finished the Carioca championship and started the Libertadores with the first two games of the group stage. Contrary to some of your recent feedback, I'm having a bad run and, regardless of the results, I'm not happy with what I'm seeing on the pitch. In some matches the game is beautiful to watch with fantastic exchanges, many goal chances and constant control over the game (even without a result, for example in Libertadores I lost to Boca Juniors 2-1 conceding two situational goals, one due to an individual error of my RB with bad ball control that opened the way for the attacker and the other from their GK's long clearance with my CB who gets overtaken by the ball leaving a 1vs1 against the GK, but I dominated the match), in others I am totally unable to create anything leaving the game completely to the opponents (I'm thinking of the first leg of the Carioca semifinal against Vasco da Gama or the double final against Flamengo, in theset three games I've put together 10 total shots and conceded 50+). I haven't been able to collect and study all the data of these matches in detail, the thing I noticed by eye are the many passes intercepted and the balls stolen from my players' feet. The feeling I have, as I have already said previously, is that with this type of approach the first technical and then mental attributes of the players are fundamental, and in this my team does not excel, so without good ball control and passing precise the game plan goes down the drain. Also, having started a series of bad results (at least this reflects well the current IRL Fluminense trend), I also don't want the deteriorating morale to affect the attitude of the players during the matches. Now the Brasileirao will start and I'll wait a few more games until I reach the maximum of tactical familiarity, then I could try to do some tweaks. Possible changes in the instructions (initially one at a time in this order) -Drop the tempo by one notch -Raise passing lenght a notch to shorter passes -Remove WBIB (something not actually systematic IRL) -Remove dribble less (also not so suitable with IRL Fluminense) -Drop mentality to Standard. And then, some thoughts on the roles. IRL double pivots play in a very similar way in terms of involvement in possession, maybe André in a more horizontal way and Martinelli in a more vertical way, and with Ganso they form the nucleus that keeps the team going...do you think I should maybe try a sort of triangle RGA (more horizontal)-RPM (more vertical)-AP (or EG, I have to see if EG makes more horizontal movement towards the flanks looking for the ball despite having hold position hardcoded)? I don't like too much this idea but could be a solution...

Thanks mate! Hi, thank you so much for your contribution. What a pity for your save, it seemed you could get even more important results in Brasileirao. The tactic seems good to me, even if respectfully I don't agree with the choice of the AM attack role in the #10 spot (if I think about how Ganso plays), but just as you said in your version given the three playmakers already present, it makes perfect sense. The Run at defence option is something I'm thinking about too in order to add some unpredictability , as rewatching some games ball carries are used a lot once they manage to open up space with possessione in their half to run towards the last defensive line and allowing the other teammates to arrive. The option to distribute to a specific teammate is also something I'd like to try, as I've seen it's often one of the two pivots who drops into the penalty area to start build-up play from the GK, thus making it a 3+3 setup instead of 4+2, but I've never tried it on FM yet. But It could be and on and off option according to specific opponents positions in the first pressing Even with the defense line I have to try and see how it works and what spaces I give if I drop the defensive line or if I go for the high block --------- I totally agree with your comment on Fluminense IRL. I'm not that expert on the average level of players in the Brasileirao, but from some games I've seen and from the results, the difference in level between the 11 starter and the bench players seems quite evident to and external observer like me

HI! Thanks for the comment, I too believe that one of the potential problems with this replication could be the difficulty of scoring against teams that manage to defend well. With the current ME relying too much on possession with certain instructions can make the offensive maneuver absolutely sterile, on the other hand increasing the risk level with higher mentalities or other instructions can lead to wasting too many opportunities or creating low quality ones. In the end, almost all of the construction of the game is done by the first 10 players, while scoring is almost exclusively the task of the central forward. The risk with FM is that it is too one-dimensional and predictable to be successful over the long term. I think the key to really getting the most out of this tactic is to have players who excel in technical and mental stats (quite obvious), and the lone striker is one of the key ones, as you rightly said. In fact, IRL Cano also contributed significantly to the success of Fluminense, given that in Brasilieirao 2022 he scored 26 goals without penalties against 20.39 xG according to Soccerment (even 18.4 xG according to Fbref). In the current state of the tactic, I still have to find the optimal balance, taking into account any limitations of the ME in replicating this very particular (almost unique) style of play.

Thank you! As mentioned in OP, at the moment I've played literally three matches against level teams, because actually I'm playing in Carioca Championship with only Botafogo, Vasco da Gama and Flamengo as Brasileirao teams and the other are all minor teams. So the results aren't very significant yet... I won with Botafogo and Vasco da Gama and just lost with Flamengo, but the feeling having seen the whole match is that they are simply stronger in individual players, their Gerson-Pulgar-Thiago Maia midfield in 4-3-3 DM canceled my double pivot and Ganso always intercepting passes and by anticipating myv players, so much so that I only made 3 shots in the whole match. But the general stats on passing, positions and occupied zones weren't bad. Now that Brasileirao and Libertadores will start, I'll try to give continuity to this tactic for a few games in order to clearly see strengths and weaknesses with more consistent data, and then think about any changes in roles or instructions. Keep in mind that my primary goal is not result, but to have a tactic that replicates Diniz's Fluminense IRL game as closely as possible. Later on with the work I could also think about adding other tactics like 4-2-2-2, 4-3-1-2 or 4-3-3 that have sometimes been used, now I'm focusing exclusively on the 4-2-3-1. And obviously by igradually improving the team with better players we hope to have better results Thanks mate!

Thank you guys! Thanks mate! Yeah, I've read that thread and has great ideas, but lacks some analysis on some aspects of the way Diniz make Fluminense play (not a fault from the user that made the thread, but a lot of interesting in-depht analysis came over in the last months when the name of Fernando Diniz has popped out and went "viral"). User didn't add or has updated the thread since it's creation and it went dead in a couple of weeks, so I thought could be useful make a new thread (hoping in more discussion and engagement ) Thank you! I've edited OP and underlined PI's in the role description, but since there are few additions to the default ones, I'll rewrite them here: FBs: get further forward, cross from the byline CMs: Press less often IWs: stay wider APs: Roam from position AML/R: switch positions