FM 2020
Best FM2020 Tactic: Concerto — High Scoring, Defensively Stable 4-2-4
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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