yoyo913
Team Captain
found this great post off of sortitout forums, it explains all parts of tactics quite well, great read for hardcore FM fans
PART 1
PART 1
The Tactic Settings
i am going to explain the basic principles of creating your own tactic.
Formations – Formations are the starting point in creating any tactic, personally i prefer a 4-1-2-1-2 Diamond, its not the best but its my favorite, if your trying to create an overall tactic then go for your favorite style, if your going for a specific team go over the team, look threw the who plays where i created, see who you think suits each position and if they have the right amount of players. There's no point creating a tactic for 2 defensive midfielder if you only have the one, or two even, you should always have a substitute you can use in case of an injury. A common all round formation is the 4-4-2
If anybody has to do runs make sure its either from or two their position, otherwise the will never play where they are best, if you have them running out from their position at least they play there some of the time.
In the team instructions settings there are many sliders, i will explain them and what i believe can be more useful for home or away.
Multiple Tactic System
Myself and a few others i have seen follow the multiple tactic system, this is generally 4 tactics, home, away, attacking and defend lead, so it covers all occasions. Some people use a 3 way with i do not recommend because there is a chance you will have to chance it to something you have at some point, you don't wont to sit around wasting time. With a four way base the attacking on the home tactic but give more farrows and forward runs. For the defend lead get rid of any farrows and sarrow the strikers if your using two, also for defend lead set the passing focus to down the flanks. This is a fairly balanced out system, it also prevents what a lot of people suffer called AI “cracking”. This is where in the second season the rival teams work our your tactic and counteract it, some people do not like this, personally to me it adds realism.
Mentality
Mentality has four areas, i personally leave it on 10 (default) and set them to the individual players, if individual players are changed the team instructions settings has no effect at all and is there for useless if changed.
Ultra Defensive – Rarely will people use this mentality, it isn't accessible in the individual player instructions, the team will be looking to run back and not even slightly intend to attack this is extremely useless. Also if this is set all individual mentality's will be overrun.
Defensive – Defensive can be good but its better set as a individual mentality instead of a team mentality, players will be looking to stay back more, this option is best with counter-attack ticked.
Normal – Normal is what it is, neither defensive or attacking, if i choose a team mentality it would be between normal and attacking so two notches in, this can make it that bit more defensive but attack minded.
Attacking – This is the more popular style moving forward more and trying to score a goal most of the passes will be to somebody in front.
All Out Attack – Another mentality that overrides player mentality, this is just going forward for basically everybody, don't be surprised to see your goalkeeper trying to score, it leaves the back of the formation wide open so much you wouldn't even think you had defenders.
Individual Mentality's
If you wont to use individual mentality's and not a team global one you have to decide on who will be what mentality etc. I generally use the below and work it for the tactic i am using. This is a lot similar to the ROT system.
Goalkeeper – 4
Central Defender – 6
Defensive midfielder – 8
Wing Back – 10 (Home) – 8 (Away) – 6 (Defend Lead)
MR/L – 12
AMR/L – 14
ST – 16
The reason why the wingback is 10 at the moment is for home games, for away games the wing back would be 8 and defend lead dropped to 6. The reason for this is because in home games you wont your wingback's to go forward a bit using their crossing and trying to help, this isn't as recommended at away games because the opposition is using slightly more attacking aggressive tactic and they will exploit holes. One of the main attacks and favorite things for the opposition wingers and strikers is to go behind your wing backs when they are forward.
Creative Freedom
Creative freedom isn't linked to creativity before people get confused, creative freedom is what you allow your players to do, for example a very high creative freedom setting for a defender, you would probably see him trying to run up the pitch and bang it in. Although this is a good thing for strikers and attacking players to much can lead to out of positioning. Another example is a 4-4-2, to use creative freedom accordingly you would have 1 striker with high and the other with low, the low creative freedom striker would stay close to his main starting point waiting for the ball, the higher to me is a lot like Rooney, running back down to help the mid get the ball and get it back up there. But if there both over creative freedom they would both be running back down there to get it, they receive the ball and thats it, no one to pass to ahead of them because they are meant to be at the front, this is why the better tacticians use it accordingly with one on high and the other a bit lower.
Low Creative Freedom – Striking to their position not going to far out, more ideal for defenders and goal keeper.
Normal Creative Freedom – This is more they will do it when they want type attitude for the players, but you shouldn't risk this with defenders, having a defender say to him self “o i will just run all the way up there” isn't very reassuring or realistic.
High Creative Freedom – Moving about trying to exploit more holes and positions to gain an attack.
Passing Style
Passing style should be different up the pitch to have a more unpredictable approach, the lesser skilled passers should be using more direct passing to the nearest unmarked man, towards the front it should move down to mixed and then shorter with the better passers, personally i never go all the way to short, just the notch above, i wont my higher up players to have some freedom in how they get the ball across the pitch.
Mixed: Your players will attempt all styles of passing, short passing, mixed passing, direct passing and long passing. This is also what i have most of my players on but a few notches to short. I don't want my player having to risk a stupid pass because i wont him to pass a certain style.
Short: Your players will just pass the ball to the closest player that isn’t marked. It is basic in a sense but hard unless your players are good passers, the shorter it gets the more one touch style football is created.
Direct: Very good for a counter-attack style tactic as it gets the ball up to the front faster, personally i keep my defenders on direct and never put any other players on direct, direct means he will pass it to the guy in the next zone, for example defense to midfielders, midfielder to striker, as good as it sounds keeping possession isn't an easier task and the ball can be easily lost.
Long: Possession is lost even easier here, your players will hoof it down the pitch aimlessly it may as well be over most peoples heads, i do not remember somebody using this to an effect.
Tempo
I have had many, many discussions on this, basically tempo is how fast the ball will move up the pitch and how fast the team will look to make the attack.
Slow Tempo – Passing the ball around more to the sides creating an attack slower, this is more patient build up and works better at home with counter-attack turned off.
Normal Tempo – Not quite fast or slow, not many people use this as it can be counter acted by high or slow tempo.
High Tempo – Is more designed for away games, the ball will likely reach the striker with in a couple of passes, this is why it is better at away games as counter-attacking style couldn't work if you pass the ball around when there's an opening. Be warned, a lot of teams can't keep this up for the full 90 minutes.
Width
Width is how wide your team play and spread across the pitch and taking up more of the pitch or less of it.
Narrow – Narrow is when you wont your defensive unit to stay tight, this is more for a counter-attacking style and is certainly more useful in away games.
Normal – This is fine to use, personally i go with narrow away and home wide, some people now tend to notch it two spaces to either side so its not to wide and not to narrow so i recommend this more but slightly on either side.
Wide – A wide formation is more for home, spreading out over the pitch taking up more space and opening more exploits, this isn't recommended much for away games because to many gaps are left open for the opposing strikers.
Closing Down
This is how much your team will “press” the opposition, trying to get the ball. While some think this is a great idea it pulls players out of their original position, that is why i recommend having a very low closing down on defenders for away and just below 10 for home games. Defensive midfielders, if used should be the highest closing down out of your team around 14/15 and cutting down opposition before it reaches your defense. Another thing i advise is a high closing down on one of your strikers if your using two, he will close down on their defenders when they have the ball and make the make quick passes which could lead to an error and you gaining the ball in their area.
Low Closing Down – This means the players will put them selfs between the ball and the goal and stand there till they are being taken on. This is good for keeping certain players in position when defending.
High Closing Down – Pressing the opposition running at them trying to gain the ball, this will bring players out of position and tire down players if used a lot.
Time wasting
There are a lot of arguments here for time wasting, time wasting is how how quickly the player will attempt to get rid of the ball and in theory this has nothing to do with tempo. For example, low time wasting assumes that the player will get rid of the ball as soon as possible which may result in a poor pass or a missed opportunity. A higher time wasting makes players think about their pass and don't rush to kick the ball away. I believe for home a time wasting of 10 and away the half way notch between normal and often or the first notch of often, these have provided best results so far.
Rarely Time Wasting – Never should it be on this, it is rushing the ball away from the player fast, he probably wont even think about the pass he is going to make.
Normal Time Wasting – My preference for home games, this lets them time waste when they feel best and feel like it, it wont hurry them to much or make them take to long on making the pass.
Often Time Wasting – This is recommended for away games, this gives players more time to think about the pass they are going to make which is more important when not at home and i believe 14 is a good number to use.
Defensive Line
Also called the D-Line, this is how far back or forward your defense move to, imagine moving your defenders up to the defensive mid position but everybody else staying near their true position. Its how high your defense move, higher defensive lines attempt to break the oppositions attack before it gets closer to the goal, it can cut down on the amount of decent shots the opponents take and also the user could try the offside trap. With all that positive about the high d-line, if they got fast players and your defense aren't your stuffed. A deep d-line is nicer for countering the opposition drawing them in and hitting on the break. To use a 5/5 system so 5 defense mentality and 5 attacking, put the d-line to the mentality of the most attacking midfielder.
Deep D-Line – Draws opposition in, less chance of defenders being out run, can sometimes be asking for an attack to be made so it can be bad for you but if it works you can pull of the counter.
Normal D-Line – I prefer to use this away normally, this will be a distance between defense and midfielders at an average amount.
High D-Line – What most people prefer for home and away, this is what i generally use for home if i have to choose or notch 12 which is a bit higher but not exactly pushing up, good for breaking their attack early and using the offside trap.
Tackling
Tackling is a straight forward instruction, easy for friendly etc to cut down on most injury's and up it when its a normal game. It is basically the mentality of the player for tackling, for example easy means tackle if you know you got a fair chance of winning, normal if you wont the players to try and win even if they don't have great odds, and hard means go all out and rough them up a bit as well.
One more thing to remember is Referees, some give out more card then others, if you click on the referee you can find him in an officials section, if he gives a lot of red cards then you can expect to get some if your using hard tackling.
Easy – For friendlies, players such as strikers etc that aren't very good tacklers or told to tackle much.
Normal – This is for most players on the pitch and what i use for most of the time my back four or my back central defenders.
Hard – I use this on my defensive midfielder and sometimes my wing backs, it also acts as a roughing up type job as it can hurt other players moral slightly and a good chance of injuring them.
Focus Passing
This is to choose where the ball is focused on being played, from everywhere, down the wings etc, the most common and best choice is mixed.
Through the middle – Your team will pass this down the center, this can be useful when trying a narrow approach.
Down both flanks – This will be getting your ball to your wing backs and wingers a lot more, i tend to use this on a hard counter or for defending a lead.
Down Left/Right Flank – This means down the flanks but a set flank, this is very suicidal, if you try this you may as well not play.
Mixed – The team will mix everything up and look to pass at all places, i always use this for home and most of the time for away unless i am on a desperate counter.
Marking
This is how you mark your opposing team, whether to guy by each man individually or stay in a certain area, i choose everybody on my team with zonal.
Zonal – This is where you guy sticks to his zone when not doing a task such as pressing or running with the ball.
Man – Each man will get a player and mark him, this is not a good idea even for the defenders it is bad, if you man mark a striker of there's they change formation and swap it over so its one striker, your going to be marking what a defender?
Target Man Supply
I don't use one striker and when i do i don't use a target man as i think it takes away some of the attack capabilities.
Run To Ball – This is for players with more good acceleration, pace, dribbling and fairly decent strength.
Ball To Feet – This is for strikers who hold up the ball, have good strength like before fairly good dribbling with technique.
Ball To Head – This is where the ball will be crossed in aiming to get on the strikers head, the best attributes for this are, jumping, strength, heading, off the ball and finishing.
Extra Settings
Tight Marking – This tells your men to mark a player tightly when he is in his zone or at all times with man marking, my personal preference is everybody on zonal marking with the central defenders on tight marking.
Play Offside – As i said before this is suited with a higher defensive line, if your back for have great team work positioning and are exceptionally fast and have been working together for quite some time try it, some teams use it to great effect if done correctly.
Counter Attack – Counter attack should be on for away games or defending the lead, although it lowers your possession overall it gives you the chance to hit them on the break by spreading the play, this works best with faster strikers and midfielders.
Use Playmaker – I don't use this anymore but i did used to and it worked very well, it tells the squad to get the ball to this guy so he can make the killer or important pass. I cant fully remember the tactic but i had one guy in the middle with everybody around him evenly spaced out, he was set as the Play maker and this worked to a great effect he always made a decent pass.
Use Target Man – Just like the Play maker your team aims to get the ball to him, this is generally a better tactic if you have a single striker, remember to use the above settings on how to get him the ball if you decide to use it.
so that was nice! schwarzer played a blinder tho! at least itll provide someone for craig gordon to look upto!
