[What is required for a title winning squad]

On 26/06/2023 at 13:04, crusadertsar said:

I believe the winning formula is combination of:

• Squad Depth - you need 1st and 2nd backup team to be able to compete in the domestic league, Champions League and Cups. Rested players play so much better than tired ones
• Players whose abilities closely fit your chosen tactic. Eg. If you choose to play Possession-based approach then you need very technical intelligent players
• Good Personalities that work well together. Nothing worse for team morale than having one or two players that cause controversy and disharmony on the squad
• As high a morale as you can possibly achieve for EVERY game. This takes a bit of work and micromanagement (frequent team talks and talking to each player individually) but is totally worth it.
• Finally, creating a LOGICAL tactic that you understand well enough yourself so as to make changes when things go wrong. As well as a SIMPLE tactic that your players understand easily and can learn very fast. It is not about how many instructions and exotic roles you can fit into one tactic, it is about finding the most efficient, straightforward way to achieve the result you are looking for. Sometimes the same strategy does not work to get efficient result in two different situations. For example winning against the league underdog versus winning in the Champions League final requires two very different tactical approaches.

@crusadertsar I just had a question about your second bullet point, because it's something that I tend to struggle with. How do you know what attributes to look for, when you've chosen a playing style whether that is possession, counter attacking etc?

[how to analyse your squad to see what style of football your team can play?]

2 hours ago, toshimitzou1 said:

When I arrive at a club there are two ways you can go:

1) Implement your own style and from here recruit and train appropriately.

or 

2) Assess your squad, their strengths and weaknesses and build from there.

Your question pertains to number 2) and all of the advice given so far is sound, especially with regards, to media prediction of finish For me however, I believe the best tool is the squad comparison tab in the Analyst report. 

My team is predicted to finish 3rd and here is what I would do if I just arrived at the club and I wanted to use your approach.

In the first instance, to get an accurate comparison with the other teams in the division, ensure your first team squad contains only players that will be getting ample game time (you can ghost save and move some players out of the squad for comparison purposes).

From here you can get a good look at what your team is capable of.

Here is an example of what you can see and how too use it:

From this starting point I can make a few assertions:

- We are not blessed wit Flair, Composure or Off the Ball ability relative to our expectation so I may be looking to limit either creative freedom or individuality. Translated to Team instructions this means may avoid general instructions like; Be more expressive or Work Ball into Box  and may be inclined to adopt an mentality that seeks to mitigate these flaws (Defensive, Cautious or Balanced). 

- Looking deeper, it may be more profitable to build from the back (possibly Play out of Defence):

 

As they are showing the technical and mental attributes really control the game. Contrarily, the strengths could be used to instigate faster progression of the ball forward with defenders capable of passing longer distances consistently well. After assessing the technical ability of the midfielders:

With a relatively poorer First Touch and Passing ability this (TI, More Direct Passing). May seem a sound decision. You would of course need to ensure your attacker were capable of receiving direct passes (either into space, in the air or into feet): let's check:

Decent pace and exceptional strength lend well to this approach and technically:

An elite level first touch suggest the players may be more than capable of handling this More Direct approach. 

This comparison method works for me and does not only ever lead to one conclusion. Indeed, good first touch, strength and poor passing could encourage a higher tempo, short passing game.

The choice is your. Hope this helps.

Wow this was really in depth and gave me a different insight how to use the comparison page, so thank you very much for explaining your process of analysing your squad. This was really helpful.

[how to analyse your squad to see what style of football your team can play?]

8 hours ago, Cloud9 said:

Sure! This is something you'll get a feel for as you play more. Until you pick that up, I'd recommend the following: 

• Set your squad selection to show stars based on current ability and make sure you've got a half decent staff member judging it. The stars lie frequently, based on value to squad/form, but can be good starting point to see who is in that top bracket of the club. Again, as you play more you learn to look for attribute combinations for specific positions but consistency (or at least no red consistency) is a must for these guys you'll build around. 
• They don't have to be good at everything. A really talented playmaker w/ limited mobility (passing, technique, visions, flair, composure, decisions) is the type of player who you might look to put in the 10 (closer to goal) with two hard working, less talented midfielders behind him to make up for his physical deficiencies. 
• For a squad like Arsenal I think your best formation is a 4-2-3-1. You'll want to field that entire talented front-line whenever you take to the pitch and that system will let you do it. 

I would also suggest looking at the Fullback/wingbacks at the club when you take over. One of the first decisions is 4 vs 5 at the back. If you don't have players capable of playing in the WB strata it's a 4 at the back system 100%. Checking who your best striker is, and how he will best score goals is a good reference point as well. 

Thank you for taking the time to explain that to me, really made it a lot more clearer and now I can go on ahead put this into practice really appreciate it!

[how to analyse your squad to see what style of football your team can play?]

1 hour ago, Cloud9 said:

1. Check your media prediction: this means literally nothing usually but it does tell you how other teams will perceive you going into the season. Ie: are they going to be bringing the game to you most matches? 

2. I  would look at your best players in the squad, and build a tactic to get the best out of them. You can bring in squad players for pretty cheap who can do a job .

Thank you for your reply! If it’s not too much to ask could you give me an quick example of what you mean by number 2 the one about building around your best players? 

[how to analyse your squad to see what style of football your team can play?]

I think one thing that I have struggled with the most when picking up this game is knowing what my team is capable of on day 1. I have seen people say to use the comparison page located in the squad planner, which I have tried to use but I think the thing I struggle with is trying to use that information to see what style my team can play, I even downloaded bustthenet support, defend & creators dna views but don't know how to use them effectively. If anyone could tell me how they do it themselves I think that would be helpful for me, thank you!

[Help needed with my tactics for Arsenal second season]

11 hours ago, Johnny Ace said:

No worries, give it a try 

As possession turns over, the IWB will go back to the left back position to defend, so he won't really help cover the middle of the pitch

 I think so, they have Get Further Forward instructed too, by all means give a try, watch how the roles attack and defend and see if you're happy with it  

Again very insightful, will take everything on board and see what results I get. I have already tried Jesus in the IF(A) and I 100% like his movement a lot more, a lot more aggressive too. 

[Help needed with my tactics for Arsenal second season]

2 hours ago, WhyMe said:

Your set up isn't far off what I used in a test save on the demo before I bought the game with arsenal.

As it happens in that one I had Xhaka as a Mez-s on the left centre with Zinchenko behind him as IWB-s (Odegaard on the right centre as an AP-a though).

I believe Martinelli played as an IF-a in that setup for me too, though he might have been IW-a.  I didn't have any problems defensively as the DM-d covered the centre and as Johnny noted the IWB will cover the left.  I did occasionally have to adjust if it wasn't working in a particular game but generally speaking it was perfectly viable.

However, I would say that your right flank is pretty conservative and a double Mez might leave you a bit sparse in the centre of the pitch so that is something to consider.

Yeah I will 100% give it a try in a low profile match and see how the Mezz(S) moves to see if I'm satisfied with it! So far my current tactic hasn't been bad at the start of the season, having to face Liverpool three times in a row was rough tho lmaoooo. 

[Help needed with my tactics for Arsenal second season]

17 minutes ago, Johnny Ace said:

Just quickly looking at the roles, I think you need one of your front three attacking the box directly, a Winger on Attack may to do so but I feel an IF(A) would be more beneficial

The rest look pretty good but I'm not sure on the BBM needing to get further forward when the Mezz does that  

 

Thank you for your input, I'll definitely try playing Jesus in IF(A) role. Also my idea with the PI on the BBM was to have him push higher up into the half space since the IWB would cover, would it be bold going Mezz(S)?

[Help needed with my tactics for Arsenal second season]

 

Hi guys, this is my first time posting on this forum so I'm not really sure how all this works, but here we go! I just finished my first season with Arsenal, winning a pretty impressive double of the premier league and Europa league, especially after chasing city all the way until the final day (unlike irl  ) and Man Utd putting the dagger into Man city for us to win it. However this was mostly done with downloaded tactics so it doesn't feel as rewarding, making my own tactics isn't really my strong suit, but after a nice transfer window and my idea of trying to turn Caicedo into a IWB I'm going give my own tactics a chance. So this is how I'm looking to set up with a modern shape of 3-2-5 in possession as you can see with the roles selected. I'm looking to dominate my opposition and press high up the pitch with a emphasis of building out from the back with a big of urgency.  

The only PIs selected are ; 

RB : Hold Position, Sit Narrower.

BBM : Get further forward.

So now playing in the Champions League I wanted to see if my tactics had any flaws in the way its set up or if it needed improving anywhere, I'm open to feedback since I'm still learning thank you.