After months of talking about the communities work its finally time to share my own best FM2020 tactic. ‘Concerto’ is an attacking, pressing system built around movement and wide overloads in the shape of a 4-2-4.
This FM20 lower league tactic worked a treat with Scarborough Athletic in League Two and Everton in the Premier League. I have recorded a Youtube video explaining how to use ‘Concerto’ from player roles, to tweaks and player suitability plus some gameplay and test results. You can download this Football Manager 2020 tactic from the bottom of this post. Why not subscribe to our Youtube channel for more content?
Best FM2020 Tactic — Video
Best FM2020 Tactic: ‘Concerto’ Shape & Instructions
For an attacking formation this is surprisingly stable owing to balance in both roles and duties. The advanced forward stretches the pitch while a false nine drops deep, creating space for the inverted winger. An advanced playmaker is the heartbeat of midfield supported by a box to box midfielder.
The left full back supports while the right wing back attacks creating balance in transition. This is an attacking, pressing system utilising overlaps and a fairly high defensive line. The video above goes into great detail so I suggest giving it a watch.
Best Football Manager 2020 Tactic — Player Roles
I have listed each role below followed by a description of the ideal player because suitability is vital to success. There are two versions of ‘Concerto’ dependant on which side suits your inverted winger. If AMR and AML switch the central midfielders, strikers and full backs switch also. You can download both versions further down.
GK — goalkeeper (defend) — Just your standard goalkeeper.
DC’s — central defender (defend) — I look for a towering presence, someone who is not a calamity on the ball (they will give away possession) and speed can be helpful.
DR — wing back (attack) — Fast, forward thinking wing backs will do very well in this system as they look to overlap. Speed, stamina and all round technicals are preferable.
DL — full back (support) — Same as above, the full back needs good technicals and speed, Digne is a fantastic example.
MCR — advanced playmaker (support) — The maestro, your advanced playmaker will pick out passes, work the ball forward and shoot from range. Physicals are not a priority but excellent passing, vision, movement, decisions, touch and the usual green AP attributes are important. Good long shot ability will add a tonne of goals, Andre Gomes works well in this role.
MCL — box to box midfielder (support) — The engine room of midfield your B2B needs good physicals, speed and an all round game. A jack of all trades and master of none he does require good passing and vision. Again, long shots will help.
AMR — winger (support) — Often overlapped by your wing back the winger must cross, possess great speed, dribbling ability and all round technicals will help. In the final third he can form a front four with the strikers and AML.
AML — inverted winger (attack) — Your inverted winger attacks space created by the false nines movement and could score for fun. He needs speed, movement, dribbling ability and technicals. Good shooting ability is a bonus.
STR — advanced forward (attack) — The main goal threat good finishing is a must but speed is even more important. If you can find an all round striker with good aerial ability, great, but don’t let this sacrifice speed and finishing. Dribbling, technique, off ball movement and composure are important also.
STL — false nine (support) — The false nine will drop deep to link up play and requires good technique, passing and vision. He will look to dribble from deep also, so speed, dribbling and flair will help. Gouiri did well as an all round, athletic player for Everton. Do not expect loads of goals, this is very much a ‘team’ role.
When to tweak
You should not tweak ‘Concerto’ on a game by game basis, only mid-match as suggested below.
- If holding a slender lead and worried about conceding, try cautious mentality with instructions ‘regroup’ and ‘hold position’.
- In game, tell every player with a yellow card to ‘ease off tackles’.
- Substitutions could help break a deadlock; the strikers, wingers or advanced playmaker would be my first choice.
- You will have a number of shots off target, don’t panic. However, if you literally can’t hit the target use ‘work ball into box’. This will most likely be an opposition formation issue. Long shots are a feature of the system and they do work on the whole.
- When against park the bus tactics, try pushing the defensive line up and use ‘hit early crosses’ in the final 20 minutes.
- Check your opposition report pre-match, if against two DMC’s try my ‘FM20 Atalanta tactic’.
Best FM2020 Tactic Results
We beat Man City 5-3, Liverpool 3-0, Man Utd 5-1, Chelsea 3-0 and Arsenal away 3-0 proving ‘Concerto’ is a big game tactic. The advanced forward scores for fun while my false nine played more of a ‘team’ role. The inverted winger can be lethal and both DR and DL should be high on the assists.
Top of the table by 11 points in January, though Liverpool do have two games in hand.
Onto the lower league test and an unbeaten run with Scarborough Athletic. After three consecutive promotions this is the Seadogs first season in League Two. I did load ‘Concerto’ a few months into the season but the results speak for themselves.
Find the best FM 2020 players:
Best FM20 Tactic: Top Tips
- Take notice of the ‘when to tweak’ instructions already mentioned.
- There are two systems dependant on which side your inverted winger is best deployed. Note the strikers, midfielders and wing backs change also, you can download both versions below.
- If the AMR plays inverted winger he must be left footed, if using a winger role he should be right footed
- If the AML plays inverted winger he must be right footed, if using a winger role he should be left footed.
- Be wary of slow defenders.
- As with any tactic it needs loading at the start of pre-season and avoid signing a whole new team unless you are experienced doing so.
- Read this guide for training schedules which will help create chances…you do not HAVE to use this but I found it useful.
- You must get fast forwards who can finish, attacking wing backs and fast, technical wingers.
- The false nine should be a dribbling maestro and capable of picking out a pass.
- Both MC’s shoot from range, look to buy players with good technique and long shots if available.
- Be aware you need a decent size squad. Two players per position to allow for injuries and bans if you are in Europe.
- You MUST download this tactic, do not try and copy it. There are individual player instructions and set pieces are vital.
Best FM20 Tactic: Download
If you would like to give the tactic a try, follow the instructions below:
Download Concerto with Inverted Winger AML
Download Concerto with Inverted Winger AMR
1. Click the download links above and download the files.
2. For Windows put the downloaded file in this folder: Documents/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2020/tactics. If the «tactics» folder doesn’t exist you will have to create it. Windows users skip to step 2, Mac users read below.
Mac users put file in this folder: Users/YOUR Mac USERNAME/Documents/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2020/tactics. To access your files on Mac open ‘Finder’, click ‘Go’ from the menubar, press and hold the ‘alt’ key to show ‘library’ in your menu, while still holding ‘alt’ click it, then go to ‘Application Support’ > ‘Sports Interactive’ > ‘Football Manager 2020’
3. Now load the game as normal and enter the tactics screen.
4. In the tactics screen, click the tactic you currently have loaded then select ‘load’ from the drop-down menu
5. Select the tactic and click load.
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Sam
11 июня, 2020 at 13:52
any opposition instructions?
Darren Smith
12 июня, 2020 at 06:12
No none mate.
Greeky
23 июля, 2020 at 16:55
Could use two F9 and two Inverted wings in the same tactic?
Darren Smith
23 июля, 2020 at 20:31
That would be a terrible idea, think logically and you’ll realise they will just get in each others way, theres no balance in that.
Greeky
24 июля, 2020 at 09:56
I have tried it as i said didnt work, but i had goals from long shots from my midfielders.
Thanks for answering
Daniel
5 сентября, 2020 at 14:44
best tactic so far, hahaha, 125-128 goals and 27 conceded for ManU for two years straight! but, i feel sorry for the RD and LD, it seems they keep has a low rating…. also rashford as LW in this tactic doesn’t seem effective
Darren Smith
6 сентября, 2020 at 14:05
It does take a specific type of player for the left side and if you are trying him as a Winger on support that will go completely against Rashford’s strengths cutting inside and attacking the defence. Glad its working for you otherwise.
saber
14 сентября, 2020 at 14:49
what about individual training ?
Darren Smith
14 сентября, 2020 at 15:22
Just to suit the player and what he needs to develop. Anyone saying you should train a player for the tactic (other than positional familiarity, note training in the role makes no difference to how they perform within the role) does not understand how training works.
jack
15 сентября, 2020 at 13:45
«if against two DMC’s try my ‘FM20 Atalanta tactic’.» when you say that are you speaking about 4231 or literally 2 dmc stick to the defense ?
Darren Smith
16 сентября, 2020 at 09:21
Don’t understand the questions there but to clarify that point whenever the opposition use two Defensive Midfielders (ie the position) Concerto will struggle. I have made a different tactic for this scenario now called The 3 Amigo’s I’d probably suggest trying this in that scenario https://footballmanagerstory.com/best-football-manager-2020-tactics-the-3-amigos-big-game-system/
jack
16 сентября, 2020 at 19:34
so if i understand good , you suggest to play the 3 amigos tactic against 4231 or 442 tactic for example ?
Darren Smith
17 сентября, 2020 at 08:11
No thats not what I said. Use the 3 Amigo’s whenever the opposition play with two DMC’s, I can’t explain it any clearer than that. Now a 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 traditionally use CM’s, but if you are referring to the version where they drop the two CM’s to DMC then yes it would apply to that.
Benkere
20 октября, 2020 at 14:11
Most of my shoots and crossings are blocked, can i fix this some way ?
Darren Smith
20 октября, 2020 at 14:23
Most likely comes down to lack of suitability with your squad for the system.
Plamen Dimitrov
22 октября, 2020 at 07:34
The best tactic of all time. Currently 50 game without lose with Chelsea. I get them after first season and make lot of transfer but still this tactic is incredable.
38 game played — W33-D4-L1. Goals for 117 — Goals agains — 21
Benkere
30 октября, 2020 at 14:08
Any teams that this tac work best with ? I used it with my Man Unt i got 100+ points and 2 top scorers, but with my borussia it dont work good
Darren Smith
30 октября, 2020 at 15:15
Comes down to player suitability though to be honest I’d expect it work with Dortmund’s squad. You also have to take opposition formation and tactics into account.
Midboss
4 ноября, 2020 at 18:20
One of the best tactics i’ve ever used in any FM. Super fun! I only have a few problems in away matches, not every time, but mostly against strong teams and occasionally against very weak too. I can’t really control the match, i score but concede too, it’s a coin flip really, even when i know i have the better team. Playing as Juventus, i won against Real Madrid 5-0 home, but lost 3-1 away. I had similar results during all Champions league (which i won thanks to the many goals scored home). Is there any tweak i can make for away matches? Or an alternative tactic like against teams with 2 DMCs?
Darren Smith
5 ноября, 2020 at 22:11
Not really, its just part and parcel of the system, unless you can see patterns of formations or certain systems it is happening against you would be guessing when to change without logic which never works long term.
Adam
6 февраля, 2021 at 23:16
After 24 games I’d lost 2 and was storming into the Champions League with Bournemouth but now, after 28 games I’ve lost 5 and my only win in the last 4 was against bottom of the league. My starting 11 only changes minimally for injuries or suspensions. Any ideas on why it’s gone so wrong?
Darren Smith
8 февраля, 2021 at 06:37
The last part of your comment is the problem if you keep the same system and same team week in week out its easy for the AI to counter you need to switch things up. I have two squads, one for easier games and a main squad and I rotate.
Adam
9 февраля, 2021 at 17:32
Thanks. I have other tactics and have changed when injuries or suspensions have called for it but keep coming back to this tactic as it was so successful. I’ll try mixing things up a bit now and see if I can keep my Champions League dreams alive!