i am in a bit of a pickle, i am trying to coach a german 3rd league team with no experience of FM or football to be honest. I want to learn the game and have probably picked something that is a rather difficult situation, but i am stubborn and i will prevail. And i need help. Also, the team i am playing, FC Magdeburg, is currently first in the league in real life, which i found out when i tried to check how they were playing, so the squad seems to be fine, just not in my setup.
Into the details! I would like to know how you would set up your tactic with the talent you have, i need a good basis to not be super frustrated. Afterwards i will tell you what i did and what results i have been getting and maybe then i will learn something Thanks a lot for your time in advance!
First the playerpool that i have:
GK: (1) Good 4 star player, he is not an issue.
CD (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
I have got one Star player CD (2), his only weakness is a 9 in acceleration, he usually plays well. (3) is the captain and plays CD and DM, he is not athletic with a notable weakness in jumping reach, his heading is not good either, but he is great at tackling, marking and positioning. Usually does not play CD. 3 1/2 stars in both roles. (4) is a 22 year old breakthrough prospect, he is solid at 2 1/2 stars for CD and is generally fine, no weaknesses, no real strengths either. Fairly intelligent. (5) is a 21 year old CD/WB, he is athletic, just not very big, his weakness are headers and when a wingback, crossings. 2 stars as a CD, 2 1/2 as a WB. Last real option is (6) a 22 year old CD/DM/CM, mostly athletic, good jumping reach, not very intelligent, marking, passing and first touch at 12, technique at 10, rest lower. 2 1/2 stars on his positions. He also starts with a serious injury.
DL: (2) (5) (7) (8) (9)
(2) is okay as WB, he just lacks pace, acceleration and probably the mindset. He usually does not perform great in the role. (5) is currently being trained in the role, but his left foot is very weak, he also lacks in crossing and dribbling for offensive use. (7) is my vice captain and on paper a really good option, 32 though, and effectively always underperforms. His left foot is only reasonable, would be better at the right side. 3 1/2 stars left, 4 right side. No real weakness attribute wise, not the fastest though. (8) would be the next 21 year old, also a right foot, currently training in the position, fast and good acceleration, all other physicals rather mediocre, decent marking, technique and first touch, very good tackling, mediocre crossing and dribbling. Mentals are mediocre to bad. (9) is a 24 year old dribbler with terrible defensive attributes, the game wants me to play him in the position having 2 1/2 stars as WB AT, he is very quick and agile, all other physicals are meh to bad, teamwork, workrate, determination and flair are fine, rest are liabilities, he is a great dribbler, good first touch and technique, okay passing, tackling and marking at a 6, positioning at 4. bleargh.
DR: (5) (7) (8) (10)
5 would be good for the position 4 stars. (7) and (8) are playing decent as well with the same caveats as described above. (10) is a 25 year old rounded winger, quick, weak stamina, okayish mental stats, dribbling, first touch, passing, tackling, technique are 11-12, marking at 9. 3 stars.
Basically, i have a few options, but i need better defensive players soon, especially CD and left.
DM: (2) (3) (11) (12) and others
(2) can obviously play the position but is never available. (3) is usually playing there instead of CD, as he has bad aerial values. (11) is a 21 year old with great mentals across the board, good stamina, rest of the physics are 10ish. Dribbling, first touch, long shots, marking, passing tackling and technique are all 11+, already very rounded, weakest point is his positioning of 10. I like him. (12) is a 23 year old who is not quite as rounded but in the same ball park 2 1/2 stars, not quite as good. And then there are 4 other midfielders that could play the position decently.
CM: (3) (13) (14) (15) (16) and others
Not lacking potential midfielders. My DMs usually play a defensive center field role, so they are here obviously. (13) is a 24 year old workhorse, very agile, quick and endurant, awesome mental, not the most offensive player though. his weaknesses are off the ball, flair, dribbling and shooting. 3 1/2 stars, he runs and fight for balls all day and his passes can be deadly. (14) is my 26 year old more offensive midfielder, less agile then (13) but stronger. Good mentals as well, he is 1 point better then (13) in crossing, dribbling, finishing, first touch, heading and long shots, and one point worse in passing and penalties. 3 1/2 stars. (14) is 28, also very athletic, more offensive then 13, not quite as round as the two former. 2 1/2 stars.
i will skip left and right midfield and put the offensive midfielders all in one cause there are a lot of them.
(9) is obviously okay as a left winger, he has 3 stars in it. his crossing is 8 though, i haven't been successful with him, he gets past his opponent with great dribbling and speed, then he stops, turn and passes back. He can't play IW(R) but i guess i could train him there.
(10) is okay at 3 stars as a right winger or inverted winger, he isn't good at crossing either though, having a 9. He has been successfull on the position but not consistently. He can also play decently on the left.
(17) is my "best" attacking player, his best role is attacking midfielder or left IW/IF. his physics are not super great, he has good acceleration and agility, pace and stamina are better suited for a playmaker though. His mentals are not great, but he has good vision, off the ball, flair and composure, so where it counts he ain't bad. Technically he is great, his weakest stat is finishing at 10 and of course heading is 6 as he is a tiny whirlwind. He just does not perform well. He shoots goals from time to time, but i feel he is a non factor in creating opportunities. He is playing mostly IW(L) for me and while he had 4 goals in 6 games, he had no assists. He is at the right place if the team is able to create an opportunity for him, but that seems to be it. He has a fairly strong left foot, never see him flank with his 12 crossing.
(18) is my next winger without crossing, can play both sides, is fast, weak right foot though, good stamina, decent mentals, 13 dribbling, 11 first touch, 12 long shots, goof off the ball and flair, bad finishing though, okay passing and technique. really weird player, don't know what to do with him. starts of with a long time injury as well.
(19) 21 year old prospect, fast and agile, weak and meh stamina, reasonable left foot. Dribbling finishing and first touch are good, decent passing and technique, good flair, off the ball and decisions, meh crossing, no heading, bad at long shots. again not really a winger, i usually play him as IF(R), but his left foot is probably not good enough.
Then there is (20) , 26 year old "winger", decent physics, across the board, decent mentals across the board, not really a passing player, 7 at crossing, as an AF he has 2 1/2 stars due to good dribbling, finishing and first touch, good long shots. also injured at the start of the season. He might be a good shadow striker as well, on the wings he is kind of an inverted player.
(21) and (22) are both bad 22 year old wingers with their best technical rating being a 10 at... technique, but they are fast and stuff. never play them when i can avoid it. Game rates both at 2 1/2 at the wings.
(23) is also a 2 1/2 star winger, this time old, with decent winger attributes, just everything at 11 basically.
And then my two forwards.
(24) is 22 years old, best as target forward, he is a good physical player, has decent mentals accross the board, finishing 12, heading 12, tecnique 12, rest that matters at 8. 3 stars as TF. I want to like him but he is aggressively mediocre.
(25) is a 2 1/2 star target or pressing forward, he is strong, he is slow, has decent mentals, finishing 23, first touch 11 and heading 14. the rest is sub 10.
That was exhausting, if you have read through that all, thanks a lot. compared to the rest of the league, we are very technical, we have good endurance, we have good passing game, we are small and can't head a ball a way, we are bad at crosses. I have very little real depth as CD and DL, our midfield is okay, we have way too many wingers and our wingers are all not really good at being wingers and our forwards are mediocre at best. In real life the club is playing 4-3-2-1 usually with
(24)
(17) (19)
(13) (11) (14)
(9) (2) (3) (10)
(1)
I have played 4-3-3 as well now in several iterations. Tried with IF/IW, with real wingers and with 2 AFs on high attacking width. midfield is usually (13) on BTBMsu, (11) or (3) on BWMde and (14) on Mezzala(at). I have so far played with a
(a) pure tiki-taka and a
(b) watered down tiki taka with longer passes and faster game, no hold shape in transition when we get the ball and
(c) standard wing play with pressing.
In all 3 cases i get the same result. Some games i just completely dominate, great, take it, we are generating plentiful chances, scoring some of them, enemy does not react at all. Then there are the other games, where we dominate possession still, but don't get a lot of highlights on our side, barely generating chances. Most highlights i get is us playing around the penalty area, trying to find anything at some point there is a weak shot made. But as we are pressing and have a high line of defence, the enemy does one or two magic passes, my rather slow defenders don't keep up, 1on1, goal. Also very susceptible to corners and crossings. I tried to react to that in pulling the defensive line back, which seemed to work. But i can't seem to fix the issue with generating chances. My forwards seem to be not involved in the game at all, and when they are, they seem to be not very efficient at scoring. I can't convert my possession and pass quality into goals and this means that the defense we are sacrificing for keeping pressure on the opponent does not pay off. Any help is appreciated, i have sunk so much time already into this, i want to improve :)
Tactics help needed
in Tactics, Training & Strategies Discussion
Posted
Hi Coaches,
i am in a bit of a pickle, i am trying to coach a german 3rd league team with no experience of FM or football to be honest. I want to learn the game and have probably picked something that is a rather difficult situation, but i am stubborn and i will prevail. And i need help. Also, the team i am playing, FC Magdeburg, is currently first in the league in real life, which i found out when i tried to check how they were playing, so the squad seems to be fine, just not in my setup.
Into the details! I would like to know how you would set up your tactic with the talent you have, i need a good basis to not be super frustrated. Afterwards i will tell you what i did and what results i have been getting and maybe then i will learn something
Thanks a lot for your time in advance!
First the playerpool that i have:
GK: (1) Good 4 star player, he is not an issue.
CD (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
I have got one Star player CD (2), his only weakness is a 9 in acceleration, he usually plays well. (3) is the captain and plays CD and DM, he is not athletic with a notable weakness in jumping reach, his heading is not good either, but he is great at tackling, marking and positioning. Usually does not play CD. 3 1/2 stars in both roles. (4) is a 22 year old breakthrough prospect, he is solid at 2 1/2 stars for CD and is generally fine, no weaknesses, no real strengths either. Fairly intelligent. (5) is a 21 year old CD/WB, he is athletic, just not very big, his weakness are headers and when a wingback, crossings. 2 stars as a CD, 2 1/2 as a WB. Last real option is (6) a 22 year old CD/DM/CM, mostly athletic, good jumping reach, not very intelligent, marking, passing and first touch at 12, technique at 10, rest lower. 2 1/2 stars on his positions. He also starts with a serious injury.
DL: (2) (5) (7) (8) (9)
(2) is okay as WB, he just lacks pace, acceleration and probably the mindset. He usually does not perform great in the role. (5) is currently being trained in the role, but his left foot is very weak, he also lacks in crossing and dribbling for offensive use. (7) is my vice captain and on paper a really good option, 32 though, and effectively always underperforms. His left foot is only reasonable, would be better at the right side. 3 1/2 stars left, 4 right side. No real weakness attribute wise, not the fastest though. (8) would be the next 21 year old, also a right foot, currently training in the position, fast and good acceleration, all other physicals rather mediocre, decent marking, technique and first touch, very good tackling, mediocre crossing and dribbling. Mentals are mediocre to bad. (9) is a 24 year old dribbler with terrible defensive attributes, the game wants me to play him in the position having 2 1/2 stars as WB AT, he is very quick and agile, all other physicals are meh to bad, teamwork, workrate, determination and flair are fine, rest are liabilities, he is a great dribbler, good first touch and technique, okay passing, tackling and marking at a 6, positioning at 4. bleargh.
DR: (5) (7) (8) (10)
5 would be good for the position 4 stars. (7) and (8) are playing decent as well with the same caveats as described above. (10) is a 25 year old rounded winger, quick, weak stamina, okayish mental stats, dribbling, first touch, passing, tackling, technique are 11-12, marking at 9. 3 stars.
Basically, i have a few options, but i need better defensive players soon, especially CD and left.
DM: (2) (3) (11) (12) and others
(2) can obviously play the position but is never available. (3) is usually playing there instead of CD, as he has bad aerial values. (11) is a 21 year old with great mentals across the board, good stamina, rest of the physics are 10ish. Dribbling, first touch, long shots, marking, passing tackling and technique are all 11+, already very rounded, weakest point is his positioning of 10. I like him. (12) is a 23 year old who is not quite as rounded but in the same ball park 2 1/2 stars, not quite as good. And then there are 4 other midfielders that could play the position decently.
CM: (3) (13) (14) (15) (16) and others
Not lacking potential midfielders. My DMs usually play a defensive center field role, so they are here obviously. (13) is a 24 year old workhorse, very agile, quick and endurant, awesome mental, not the most offensive player though. his weaknesses are off the ball, flair, dribbling and shooting. 3 1/2 stars, he runs and fight for balls all day and his passes can be deadly. (14) is my 26 year old more offensive midfielder, less agile then (13) but stronger. Good mentals as well, he is 1 point better then (13) in crossing, dribbling, finishing, first touch, heading and long shots, and one point worse in passing and penalties. 3 1/2 stars. (14) is 28, also very athletic, more offensive then 13, not quite as round as the two former. 2 1/2 stars.
i will skip left and right midfield and put the offensive midfielders all in one cause there are a lot of them.
(9) is obviously okay as a left winger, he has 3 stars in it. his crossing is 8 though, i haven't been successful with him, he gets past his opponent with great dribbling and speed, then he stops, turn and passes back. He can't play IW(R) but i guess i could train him there.
(10) is okay at 3 stars as a right winger or inverted winger, he isn't good at crossing either though, having a 9. He has been successfull on the position but not consistently. He can also play decently on the left.
(17) is my "best" attacking player, his best role is attacking midfielder or left IW/IF. his physics are not super great, he has good acceleration and agility, pace and stamina are better suited for a playmaker though. His mentals are not great, but he has good vision, off the ball, flair and composure, so where it counts he ain't bad. Technically he is great, his weakest stat is finishing at 10 and of course heading is 6 as he is a tiny whirlwind. He just does not perform well. He shoots goals from time to time, but i feel he is a non factor in creating opportunities. He is playing mostly IW(L) for me and while he had 4 goals in 6 games, he had no assists. He is at the right place if the team is able to create an opportunity for him, but that seems to be it. He has a fairly strong left foot, never see him flank with his 12 crossing.
(18) is my next winger without crossing, can play both sides, is fast, weak right foot though, good stamina, decent mentals, 13 dribbling, 11 first touch, 12 long shots, goof off the ball and flair, bad finishing though, okay passing and technique. really weird player, don't know what to do with him. starts of with a long time injury as well.
(19) 21 year old prospect, fast and agile, weak and meh stamina, reasonable left foot. Dribbling finishing and first touch are good, decent passing and technique, good flair, off the ball and decisions, meh crossing, no heading, bad at long shots. again not really a winger, i usually play him as IF(R), but his left foot is probably not good enough.
Then there is (20) , 26 year old "winger", decent physics, across the board, decent mentals across the board, not really a passing player, 7 at crossing, as an AF he has 2 1/2 stars due to good dribbling, finishing and first touch, good long shots. also injured at the start of the season. He might be a good shadow striker as well, on the wings he is kind of an inverted player.
(21) and (22) are both bad 22 year old wingers with their best technical rating being a 10 at... technique, but they are fast and stuff. never play them when i can avoid it. Game rates both at 2 1/2 at the wings.
(23) is also a 2 1/2 star winger, this time old, with decent winger attributes, just everything at 11 basically.
And then my two forwards.
(24) is 22 years old, best as target forward, he is a good physical player, has decent mentals accross the board, finishing 12, heading 12, tecnique 12, rest that matters at 8. 3 stars as TF. I want to like him but he is aggressively mediocre.
(25) is a 2 1/2 star target or pressing forward, he is strong, he is slow, has decent mentals, finishing 23, first touch 11 and heading 14. the rest is sub 10.
That was exhausting, if you have read through that all, thanks a lot. compared to the rest of the league, we are very technical, we have good endurance, we have good passing game, we are small and can't head a ball a way, we are bad at crosses. I have very little real depth as CD and DL, our midfield is okay, we have way too many wingers and our wingers are all not really good at being wingers and our forwards are mediocre at best. In real life the club is playing 4-3-2-1 usually with
(24)
(17) (19)
(13) (11) (14)
(9) (2) (3) (10)
(1)
I have played 4-3-3 as well now in several iterations. Tried with IF/IW, with real wingers and with 2 AFs on high attacking width. midfield is usually (13) on BTBMsu, (11) or (3) on BWMde and (14) on Mezzala(at). I have so far played with a
(a) pure tiki-taka and a
(b) watered down tiki taka with longer passes and faster game, no hold shape in transition when we get the ball and
(c) standard wing play with pressing.
In all 3 cases i get the same result. Some games i just completely dominate, great, take it, we are generating plentiful chances, scoring some of them, enemy does not react at all. Then there are the other games, where we dominate possession still, but don't get a lot of highlights on our side, barely generating chances. Most highlights i get is us playing around the penalty area, trying to find anything at some point there is a weak shot made. But as we are pressing and have a high line of defence, the enemy does one or two magic passes, my rather slow defenders don't keep up, 1on1, goal. Also very susceptible to corners and crossings. I tried to react to that in pulling the defensive line back, which seemed to work. But i can't seem to fix the issue with generating chances. My forwards seem to be not involved in the game at all, and when they are, they seem to be not very efficient at scoring. I can't convert my possession and pass quality into goals and this means that the defense we are sacrificing for keeping pressure on the opponent does not pay off. Any help is appreciated, i have sunk so much time already into this, i want to improve :)