Download solid defensive FM 2013 tactic

This is my best FM 2013 tactic so far, built throughout a full season with Tottenham in the Premier League. This isn’t one of my usual attacking tactics as I’ve tried a different path this time. My aim was to build a solid defensive tactics, not a spectacular one but a tactic that would bring results. And I think it’s a pretty good one, but I’m looking forward to your feedback.

FM 2013 Tactic Formation

As you can see the formation I used is 4-5-1, with an attacking midfielder and a lone striker. You all know the players in that first eleven, so there’s no need to go into details about them.

The good side of this tactic is that, when defending, you will have at least 8 men behind the ball, and that makes it painfully difficult for the opposition to create any chances. In fact, I haven’t conceded too many goals and most of those were from dead ball situations.

The attacking midfielder is an important piece of the puzzle as he will remain unmarked between the lines quite often. A good creative player in this position can do a lot of damage.

FM 2013 Tactic Team Instructions

As you can see I chose a balanced style and a standard strategy, while choosing shorter passing and an aggressive approach when it comes to pressing. Counter attack is an important side of this tactic, so that is checked as well. There is no playmaker though, and no target man either, I let the players figure those out by themselves on the pitch.

FM 2013 Tactic results

We started the season on the wrong foot, losing the North London derby, but then went on a pretty good streak until the end of the year, losing just two more games and winning quite a few in the process. And, as you can notice, we rarely conceded goals.

The second half of the season brought us the League Cup, the only piece of silverware for the season. We recorded quite a few frustrating draws though. I could have avoided some of those by using touchline shouts but I chose not to because I wanted to see what this tactic can do without any help. Along those lines, I also chose to leave everything to the assistant manager (training, team talks, opposition instructions).

Anyway, we finished second in the Premier League, which is not bad considering the media prediction at the start of the season was that we would finish 6th. In terms of goals conceded, we were by far the best in the league.

Bottom line: I think this is a good solid 4-5-1 tactic for FM 2013, a tactic that can be used to get results especially in the lower leagues or with not very prominent top-flight teams. But you’ll have to give it a go and tell me how it works for you.

Download it by clicking the image below:

How to install the tactic in FM 2013

1. Put the downloaded file into this folder: Documents/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2013/tactics

2. Start your game and go to your team’s tactics screen.

3. Click on the little arrow located to the right of your starting tactic name, move your mouse cursor over «archived tactics» and select «Spurs_4-5-1_v2» from the menu.

If you like this tactic please share it with your friends on the social networks ;)

If you have questions or need any help with the game, I’m here to answer your comments.

P.S.: In case you were wondering how I played a full season, the answer is I have played it on the review copy I had (read all about that here).