Hello and welcome to my Football Manager 2013 guide on how to create your own tactic. This is part one of a three part series, in which I hope to help enlighten and maybe even inspire you to start creating your own tactics on Football Manager 2013. For many years now I have killed brain cells staring at the green screen looking for answers and solutions to tactical issues on FM. Many gamers have used these tactics and findings to better their own in game experience, but let’s face it, making your own tactic is far more rewarding. So with this FM13 tactics guide you can finally fulfill that ambition.
We’ll begin with today’s installment, part one, which will cover formations, philosophies, strategies and general playing styles. Part two is already published in which I talk about player roles and how they can transform a formation. As is part three in that I’ll explain how to best test a tactic and tweak it. As you can see, there’s a lot to learn so we’ll dive straight in shall we? :)
Assess your players and what you’re working with
You can’t create your own tactic until you have decided a) what you want the tactic to do and b) the kind of style you want/have to play. Both these decisions are linked, so start by looking through your side to assess what sort of Football they can play. If you have the best team in your league then the world is your oyster, but if you don’t possess the best squad then attempting brilliant, amazing Football could lead to an early end.
For example, I recently started a save with Newcastle who have some great attacking players but look rather shaky in defense So when considering my style and approach, I had to remember that the better sides could carve through my back line and even the weaker teams in the BPL may catch me on the counter. This automatically ruled out throwing a number of players forward and using ‘risky tactics’. I also enjoyed some excellent wingers, meaning I had to take advantage of their specific talents.
Before we carry on I want to clear up what I mean by attacking football. I don’t just mean using the ‘attacking’ strategy as I tend to rely on that heavily. I am actually referring to the number of players in attacking positions and also the players that are assigned attacking roles. Using three AMC’s and a striker when your side possess mediocre players isn’t wise. Those four players will only think offensively, which will put a lot of strain on your defence as better sides move forward. Sure you’ll have the odd incredible performance, but this won’t work long term on a consistent basis. Creating a successful tactic is all about balance, you must find that perfect balance between attack and defence.
Selecting your formation
I usually decide on a formation first, this could come down to your squad. If you don’t have many central midfielders then you’re probably going to struggle with three in the middle. If you have bad wingers then you may want to create a narrow formation. But most gamers will already have a preferred shape in mind and buy players to use that shape.
I obviously can’t tell you what formation to choose, but I can tell you which formation I use, a 4-5-1 including three CM’s an AMR and AML. I will now list the pros and cons of using this formation, hopefully this will lead you to understand why I select it and what you should look for in your formation.
Pros
- Three central midfielders make it easier to dominate the centre of the pitch; these three can also be used in different roles to either support the defence or move forward with attacking players.
- Two attacking wingers can be used to support the striker or provide width. They couldn’t support the striker as well if used from MR and ML position.
- Defence and full backs don’t have to attack or help with supporting the forward thinking players.
- Generally used when you want a short passing tactic.
- Keeping possession is far easier than using a 4-4-2.
Cons
- Lone striker must be very good and could be limited to certain roles.
- Full backs can be exposed at times due to AMR and AML been far advanced up the pitch.
- You need players with reasonable technique to hold the ball.
- Not really recommended for a direct style of play.
That won’t tell you what formation to use, but it should offer insight into the logic I use while selecting my formations.
Other formations you might use are a flat 4-4-2 if you have too many great strikers and want to use the target man upfront. A 4-2-3-1 may be used when you have three exceptionally talented AM’s whether they are wide or central. I’m sure you see a pattern, I am suggesting that most formations are picked around the players you have or want to exploit, so I’ll leave the formation picking up to you. All I will say is that 4-5-1 is the best I’ve ever used in terms of consistency.
Selecting your philosophy and strategy
While selecting your philosophy there is only one question you need ask. How much freedom do I want to allow my players? All the philosophy sets is how strictly your players will stick to their positions. Going too rigid will leave your players firmly stuck with the roles you assign, rendering them more predictable and your tactic transparent. Going too fluid will see lesser players drifting from their positions far too often, leading to unorganized chaos. Again it’s all about balance, so I’ll outline the key points you should consider.
- How good are your players mentally? If they lack mental attributes and a good understanding of tactics, then a rigid or balanced philosophy is best. Chances are they won’t be good enough to drift from your system without costing you dearly.
- How fit and fast are your players? If they lack fitness and pace then giving the freedom to drift from their positions is dangerous. Getting back to defend may be a problem. Whereas players with great pace and fitness may work well with a fluid philosophy as they’ll drag the opposition markers out of position and possess the power to make that ground back up if required.
- What sort of Football do you want to play? If you are after fancy football, with fluid movement then a fluid philosophy is best. This will give your players the freedom to get involved in different phases of play. If you want to keep things tight and compact then a balanced or rigid philosophy will do the trick. I personally love the fluid philosophy but only if I am managing top six players.
Very often your strategy will follow on from your philosophy. So if you have a fluid philosophy that indicates you want to play some swift football and therefore an attacking strategy would make sense. Whereas setting a rigid philosophy would suggest you want your side to remain organised at all times, so a counter or standard strategy would be best to maintain that.
However, I have a completely different outlook when selecting my own strategy. First of all I only ever use the attacking and counter strategy. I use the attacking strategy for games I fully expect to win and win with ease, but if I have any doubts at all I will switch to counter. Which strategy you select will depend on your formation and philosophy though, at the end of the day all these little sliders do are effect a lot of other slider settings in the tactics screen. So always go to the tactics screen and click ‘team’ in the top right. Then check your defensive line, you may have accidentally created a tactic with too higher a defensive line (this is how I approach games I truly expect to win.) But obviously this may cause you problems with very slow defenders.
However, I can change this by switching the strategy from attack to counter. All of a sudden my defensive line is way deeper and the team set out more compact. I never touch those sliders, I just change the strategy to achieve the effect I want.
Setting your style
There are so many variations on what sort of style you could play, so I’m going to keep this very simple. If you are a beginner and not too familiar with the effect of giving players creative freedom or drilling your crosses into the box, then set the following bullet points to ‘default’. Doing anything else will just complicate things and risk ruining your tactic.
- Creative freedom
- Tackling
- Marking
- Crossing
- Roaming
Sometimes simple is better, trust me. :) Now we can talk about the ‘key’ settings as I call them.
First off we have passing, very, very important and one that will underline your teams style. Do you want to play short or direct football? I always play short, but that’s because I prefer such a style and have never been a fan of the direct game. Below are the pros and cons of using both settings.
Short passing — This setting will give your side more possession of the ball. Used well with a balanced or fluid philosophy and for technically gifted sides that benefit from sharp passes and struggle in the air. The downside comes against the lesser sides, they can stick ten men behind the ball and you could get frustrated with only moving side to side and struggling to break through.
Direct passing — Generally used if you prefer getting the ball from defence to attack quickly, or if you possess a great target man and strong team. Playing direct can catch the opposition but will NOT work if you don’t posses powerful players to enforce it. The downside is you could spend all match smashing the ball back to the opposition.
Now we move onto ‘closing down’. This is a very important setting, it will decide whether you win or lose matches and can go either way depending on your formation and other settings. I will list both closing down options below and explain why you should use them and which systems they work best in.
Press more — My favorite setting as I love to press the opposition the second they gain possession. By selecting ‘press more’ your attacking players run after the ball all over the pitch and your more defensive players will come from their own box to regain possession. This works best with fit and fast players, also excellent to close down dangerous players. The downsides are getting skinned too easily and slow players marking too tightly.
Stand off more — Good for a side lacking pace and acceleration, as each player will leave distance between himself and the man he closes down. Only when the opposition reach his zone will he put a foot in. This can frustrate and restrict the opposition but also leave them with time to pick a pass or score from distance.
Selecting your playmaker and target man
Your playmaker should make everyone tick, when he gets the ball the crowd should go silent in anticipation. My suggestion is to use
someone in the centre of midfield, preferably an attacking minded player who will look to run at the defence or play through balls. However, if you have an exceptionally talented winger, then use him to your advantage. For instance, I have Ben Arfa who enjoys crazy dribbling and balance, so he can run for days. All selecting a playmaker does, is put a big ‘x’ above their head for your other players to see and pass too. Obviously if he’s going to see more of the ball than anyone else, he needs to be your most dangerous asset.
The target man should usually be your best striker. If you are playing a short passing game, then its best to get the ball to a technically gifted forward, either aim to his feet or ‘run onto ball’ if he is very quick. But if you are playing a more direct passing game and have a strong aerially dominate forward, then make him your target man with aim set ‘to head’.
Use focus passing to your advantage
This should be discussed alongside the style settings section, but I have gained so much from using this feature that it deserves a special mention. Majority of the time I’d suggest leaving the ‘focus passing’ at default, but this year I decided to focus all my passes down the right flank. Due to Ben Arfa’s extreme dribbling skills, he has terrorized the opposition. I set him to pick the ball up deep, use him as my playmaker and also make sure he sees lots of the ball with this setting. Now most of my attacks start with Ben Arfa making a mazy run at the back four. So if you have a very talented winger/wingers that can twist a defence into a pretzel, then focus all your passing down the specific flank/flanks.
OK, I have probably overloaded you with information in part one so we’ll stop there. I hope this gives you a better understanding of how I think about tactics and if there are any questions please don’t hesitate to ask. Part two will focus on player roles, not every specific role available, but more how roles can effect your teams shape and which combination of roles are best. I hope you’ll join me then, thanks for reading. You can now read part two part clicking below…
FM 2013 Guide — How to create your own tactic, part 2: Player roles
FM 2013 Guide — How to create your own tactic, part 3: Testing tactics
sishort
28 октября, 2012 at 17:58
Great guide darren. This guide has helped me a lot. Keep up the good work:-)
Darren Smith
28 октября, 2012 at 18:07
Thanks Sishort, glad it helped.
Robert
28 октября, 2012 at 18:27
Really enjoyed reading that. Given me a lot to think about with my own tactics, and will always prove a useful guide when I choose to set up other tactics. Can’t wait to see the next two articles :)
Darren Smith
28 октября, 2012 at 18:51
Thanks Robert, its always tough to structure these posts as its starts with jumbled thoughts so I’m glad it read well.
Kevin
28 октября, 2012 at 18:27
Good job Darren — lots of useful details to help us along the way. Played a couple of games on the demo once I got it working (driver problems) and tactics seem a little more difficult this time around. Hard to explain really.
Darren Smith
28 октября, 2012 at 18:52
I know what you mean Kevin, tactics are harder this time around, now whether that is a match engine issue still I’m not sure, but I do think SI have tweaked this side of the game so I felt this guide might help spark new ideas for everyone.
MRDNRA
28 октября, 2012 at 18:38
I didn’t realise how much there was to consider when selecting formations for teams, even though I have quite successful when creating my own! I just generally pick a formation, set some fairly balanced player roles, set philosophy etc (fluid and control strategy being my favourite) and get down to business with the settings I pick. For instance, my current main formation on fm12 with Celtic is 4-4-2, supporting full backs, attacking wingers, 2 poachers (was orginally target man and poacher) with cm’s as ball winning midfielder (defend duty) and advanced playmaker (support duty). It seems to be working a treat to the extent that once we hit full flow last season I was nearly unbeatable (scoring at one point for about 25 matches in a row, my longest scoring run I’ve managed if I’m remembering correctly), and so far this season have conceded 1 goal in opening 5 or 6 matches in all competitions while scoring a hatful (including my biggest ever win, 9-0 away, ironically in the match we’ve had least shots in at least in the league, 17 shots!)
Hopefully the tips in this guide will help me to create even more successful formations than I’ve enjoyed thus far anyway. Excellent work Darren, look forward to seeing the next part.
Darren Smith
28 октября, 2012 at 18:55
Thanks mate, it all comes down to how you visualize tactics. What you described at the start of your comment is certainly one but after a lot of testing I tried a different outlook.
Ryan Daly
28 октября, 2012 at 20:03
Oh Darren this couldn’t have came soon enough for me ;) i have been starting save after save, trying to get tactics to work, but it just seems in vain this year. Having considered what you have said, already i realise i need to put more effort in and look into more detail, i just tended to throw them together relatively quickly. Especially need to look into the focus passing and playmaker options
All this and its only part one ! ill be looking forward to part 2 and hopefully i will have a successful tactic ready for the official release :D
Cheers pal
Ryan Daly
28 октября, 2012 at 20:06
btw do you use wingers or inside forwards, can’t remember your arsenal tactic last year
Darren Smith
28 октября, 2012 at 20:13
Thanks Ryan, I hope you’ll find better luck soon…rest assured I have struggled with tactics this year too, but I think its down to bugs in the match engine. Most of which are fixed now I might add so you should find it easier as from the recent update and easier again come the full release.
Its almost impossible to create a guide that tells gamers exactly what to do and still lets them pick their own tactic. So what I’m trying to do is open up new avenues you may have previously missed and changed your thought process slightly.
As for your query I use inside forwards, but I will go into great detail on that in part two…its around 3000 words long lol so get ready ;)
Ryan Daly
28 октября, 2012 at 20:29
haha 3000 helpful words im sure, im ready for it lol
Nickd98
28 октября, 2012 at 20:55
I’m the same as you. I just get in a losing streak no matter how many stars my players have. And then if I get seacked the team do amazingly. I hope this can change my fortunes! Thanks Darren, really looking forward to the next parts :D
Darren Smith
28 октября, 2012 at 21:00
No problem Nick, part two should help then…and if all else fails I will share my tactic after part three.
Gaurav Chaddah
28 октября, 2012 at 20:17
An excellent read Darren, the amount od detail you put into these tactics is brilliant, will you be doing a tactic post showcasing the actual tactic? I have made a 4-2-3-1 for this year, I didn’t think about it too much and quickly drafted it together and won the league with Chelsea first season but do you think I should test it with some other team?
Darren Smith
28 октября, 2012 at 20:30
There’s another two parts to write for this guide, so I’ll finish that first then I will show you all my end product and what it achieved (which I am proud of I must admit :))
As for your tactic, you have some exceptionally talented players that will rip through any defence so the AM’s will work well…but it might not work with less able sides that need more solidarity, so yes testing with other sides may reveal any weak points.
Gaurav Chaddah
28 октября, 2012 at 20:38
Ah right I see, look forward to it. As for the testing I might do that however this year I shall be playing with quite good sides but I might make another tactic and see which one i prefer but thanks anyways Darren
Darren Smith
28 октября, 2012 at 20:43
No problem mate, I always say why fix something that isn’t broken? So if you plan on having similar types of players then keep going mate.
Gaurav Chaddah
29 октября, 2012 at 07:36
In any of the parts, will you be going into detail on the player instructions, I only just noticed that this year and don’t know what to do with them, eg run at defenders ect ect.
Darren Smith
29 октября, 2012 at 11:50
I won’t be no, I go into great detail on player roles which are a simpler way of selecting such instructions. Basically all the roles do are change those sliders and settings in the players instructions, so I never manually change them as there’s no need.
Aaron
28 октября, 2012 at 20:46
Great piece Darren. Have had some problems setting up my tactics with Chelsea. For some reason it continues to say my team would suit a more direct style, despite having Mata, Hazard & Oscar in my side. Is this a glitch or do you think I’ve done something wrong?
Darren Smith
28 октября, 2012 at 20:50
No its a glitch mate…I have the match feed running every game with extended highlights and that message pops up numerous times, just ignore that mate. Part two is all about player roles and should change your thought process a bit so hopefully it’ll help.
Nickd98
28 октября, 2012 at 21:00
This is just what I needed. I recently started a game as fulham, and signed loads of good players wit many stars but after a few games we found ourselves 19th. Granted I managed to turn it around and finish 8th, the next season i got sacked. And then without me, fulham just thrashed and finished 7th. In the 3rd season i’m at west brom, doing ok and fulham are 5th! Thanks so much Darren, this should hep me turn stuff around and I can’t wait for the next parts!
Darren Smith
28 октября, 2012 at 21:03
No problem, hopefully part two should compliment part one as player roles are often misunderstood IMO.
saltwater
28 октября, 2012 at 21:52
Get you seatbelt and secure it tight, this is gonna be a long one… :)
Thank you for providing this incredible guide — this is one I could read ten times over. You’ve really nailed down the key points, and pointed out stuff I’ve been oblivious to. There has been much emphasis put into tactics this year, as I realised in pre-season. For some reason the players had all been set to direct and they kept on booting the ball forward, and for the most part it didn’t work. But they were playing the style of play I’d told them to (technically) and it was very noticeable, unlike in FM12. I feel you have much more control as to how your team play. For years I’ve been trying to get talented squads to play beautiful football, but only this year have I really been rewinding the goals or near misses, thinking «did that really happen?» :). Anyway I’ve hit a tactical shaped reef in my Everton save. This season I had been successfully executing a 3-5-2 formation, with the full backs playing in the wingback positions, the central midfielders all playing in 3 central midfielder position together, and two up front. Anyhow to make a long story short this is getting the best out of Barkley, Fellaini, Baines and Jelavic, however I feel as if I’m neglecting players such as Naismith, Mirallas, Gueye, Osman and Pienaar by not playing them in there natural positions and they’re returning the favour by putting in average performances at best. I don’t know whether to change to a 4-2-3-1 for example however I may lose the brilliant performances of those mentioned above (only fm could make you write a paragraph about a virtual dilemma). What advice would you give me?
Darren Smith
29 октября, 2012 at 11:47
I can’t really offer much advice there other than the 3-5-2 probably won’t work long term. Wait for part two to be published as that explains roles and tries to be rid of a few stereotypes that you’ve mentioned. Hopefully that might give you a light bulb moment.
Chai Chien Liang
29 октября, 2012 at 01:04
Wow that was quite detailed, for me I tend to stick to balanced style and standard strategy, works well for me most of the time, though for away games I tend to insert a counter strategy against superior opposition
Personally I think that when you take over a team depending on your budget you have to decide on a shape based on your squad, I really like what Everton are doing this season, their left flank is really strong with Baines + Pienaar (Newcastle are similar with Ben Arfa on the right flank, though Simpson still seems slightly underrated)
I had great success last season having 2 wingers in all my formations (4-2-4, 4-1-1-3-1 and 4-5-1) with the left winger cutting inside with the left back taking over while the right winger is an orthodox winger
Playing through the beta it seems that crosses from my wingers to the far post tend to result in the winger on the other flank running into loads of space and scoring (their full back somehow drifts into the middle, and the keeper normally doesn’t come out to intercept)
Darren Smith
29 октября, 2012 at 11:53
Thanks mate, part two goes into even more depth.
Bill Okpalor
29 октября, 2012 at 02:21
Nice Guide Darren :) I will be Using it.
Darren Smith
29 октября, 2012 at 11:48
Thanks Bill.
Johnny Karp
29 октября, 2012 at 09:32
Great post Darren, no longer giving fish (tactics) to the people, but giving them rod & line and teaching them how to fish ;)
Darren Smith
29 октября, 2012 at 11:51
Thanks Johnny, I thought it was about time everyone learnt how these tactics can be done, just hope the posts don’t come across as too confusing.
Johnny Karp
29 октября, 2012 at 11:53
Well, we did cover some of this in the FM 11 Handbook if my memory still serves me but not as in-depth I guess.
Darren Smith
29 октября, 2012 at 11:59
Memory serves you well Johnny, we did cover that in detail. Things have changed since then (or at least my outlook to tactics has.) So this should hopefully help the newbies and be a refresher coarse for the regular readers ;)
Johnny Karp
29 октября, 2012 at 12:36
That is correct, we have changed and evolved along with the game.
tristybabes
29 октября, 2012 at 12:39
After reading that i feel like a complete tactic amateur, thanks JK this is great
Darren Smith
29 октября, 2012 at 18:19
I hope it helps, hopefully when its all done you’ll feel better about your tactical skills.
NikoZolo
29 октября, 2012 at 21:12
Really enjoyed this and I cant wait for the next one. It’s always nice to see articles on how to be original and creative in the game. Never understood the people constantly scouring the internet for tactics to give ya 23-0 scorelines. Of course it’s fun to see what other people have come up with and learn from them but just not the same satisfaction.
HTL!!!!
Darren Smith
30 октября, 2012 at 11:51
Thanks mate, this guide is all about opening people to a different way of thinking. There is no right or wrong way to create tactics, but I think my approach works well. Just about to publish part two.
gazr
1 ноября, 2012 at 19:26
Thanx think this will b a massive help
Darren Smith
1 ноября, 2012 at 19:35
Thanks Gazr, I hope it does help.
Nick Sundin
2 ноября, 2012 at 00:44
Darren, I’ve never known whether ticking the defensive line and counter attack boxes does anything, as the sliders stay the same and my team do the same? But when they’re unticked you obviously can’t move the sliders of course.
Darren Smith
2 ноября, 2012 at 07:11
When you tick the defensive line it just opens that slider up to change, unless you change the slider to higher or deeper it won’t make a difference. Ticking the counter box obviously makes your players attempt the counter so it should make a difference, but as mentioned in the post, I never touch these as changing the philosophy and strategy changes them for you.
bill
2 ноября, 2012 at 02:44
Hi I just want to ask how do you take your screen shots
Darren Smith
2 ноября, 2012 at 07:11
I downloaded Pickpic and use that to take screenshots.
Bill Okpalor
2 ноября, 2012 at 19:21
thanks :)
Bill Okpalor
2 ноября, 2012 at 19:57
@ Darren is this a Glitch.
Bill Okpalor
2 ноября, 2012 at 19:58
http://www.imageurlhost.com/images/5rizmln41bmrz7ge2k69.png
Darren Smith
2 ноября, 2012 at 20:05
I don’t think it is, its something you have to work on in his individual training.
Bill Okpalor
2 ноября, 2012 at 23:50
ok but how do u change a preferred move «Argues with Officials» Because it might lead to red cards from the refree.
Darren Smith
3 ноября, 2012 at 07:35
In the players screen click ‘training’, then select one of your coaches form the ‘new preferred move’ drop down menu. Then you’ll be directed to a conversation with that coach, select ‘discipline training’ and the rest should be self explanatory.
Pere Šušnjar
7 ноября, 2012 at 18:51
Hi Darren!
Great article. I have one question. You mentioned that you believe 4-5-1 is tactic with most consistency, please, can you a little closely tell me about of that formation? What are the players positions?
Thanks
Darren Smith
7 ноября, 2012 at 19:53
I believe most of the answers you’ll be looking for are in this article https://www.footballmanagerstory.com/2012/11/football-manager-2013-best-tactic-4-5-1-with-fluid-attacking-football/
dan
22 ноября, 2012 at 10:30
Hi, I’ve read all three parts of this guide and have to commend you on it, I wondered if you could point me in the right direction regarding opposition instructions.
I’ve heard all sorts of different theories, from marking different dangerous players to leaving it your assistant.
Any thoughts?
Darren Smith
22 ноября, 2012 at 14:23
Well I don’t do anything special, I just ask my assistant to assign them so that would be my advice.
Pawel
28 ноября, 2012 at 21:58
Great work Darren ! But i’m curious about the other things like crossing, roaming, tackling, marking ? I don’t want to set this «default».I feel that I have a small impact on my team tactic’s. There is chance that you write about this things like about passing and closing down ?
Darren Smith
29 ноября, 2012 at 12:16
In won’t write about them as they are pure common sense and I can’t tell you anything you won’t already know. If you want to pass short, choose short passing, if you want your players to close the ball down often then select it, seems daft writing an article that points out the obvious.
Pawel
29 ноября, 2012 at 19:26
What’s your opinion about shouts during the match ?
Darren Smith
29 ноября, 2012 at 20:19
I don’t use them too often, just when holding onto a lead late on by shouting ‘retain possession’. My opinion is that if you have to use them too often then the tactic isn’t working properly…all the shouts do is tweak your tactic slightly mid-game.
Pawel
30 ноября, 2012 at 10:27
Maybe you write guide about set pieces ?
Johnny Karp
30 ноября, 2012 at 10:59
It’s in the making ;)
Anders
3 декабря, 2012 at 15:18
Hi again Darren,
I wonder if you (or someone else as well of course) know the difference between fluid strategy, more roaming and more expressive?
And also the oppisite; Regid strategy, stick to position and more disciplined?
I’m not really clear on that, isn’t it very much the same thing?
And which of these could fit well together?
Darren Smith
3 декабря, 2012 at 19:10
The philosophy makes the player either stick to one phase of play or switch between them ie defensive, supporting and attacking whereas the creative freedom sets how many risks they’ll take and if they can break their actual ‘role’, but very similar in essence. Roaming is very similar to creative freedom but instead of your players breaking from their role, they will break from their position into space that is available.
Either way I suggest never using the creative freedom or roaming unless you are very familiar with tactics, they are just too risky.
Kasper
11 февраля, 2013 at 23:59
Thanks a lot, i am gonna read this over and over till i get it all in my head. Im on a FM site, is it okay that we translate it and publish it on our site? Your off course gonna get your name on it.
Darren Smith
12 февраля, 2013 at 11:59
Thanks for asking as opposed to posting it without permission like most sites do, we appreciate that and of course you can, as long as its in a different language but we do ask for the credit to be labelled at the top of the post with a link back to this original post also. Thanks.
mouseman
31 мая, 2013 at 20:07
Hi i’ve set my tactic up and seem to work well i have a lot of possession nearly 80% but can’t seem to turn this into goal, my players strike from to far out and wont seem to work it into the box even when using shouts. any suggestions?
Darren Smith
31 мая, 2013 at 20:37
I would first suggest changing the individual player setting for long shots to rarely for the guilty players. Failing that the roles may be wrong fro the individuals and that could be why they are shooting from range.
Chu H
10 июня, 2013 at 14:00
Read your article and I think I had an epiphany midway. A wonderful piece of work. But I do have a question, when playing on the counter is it best to be direct (i.e. the minute I win possession, launch the ball to a winger or the striker for a quick attempt on goal) or play the short passing game (i.e. build up the attack and look for that killer pass that leads to a good chance on goal)? Apologies if you may have already touched on this issue before.
Darren Smith
10 июня, 2013 at 18:42
Glad it helped. As for playing on the counter I wouldn’t relate the style of play to that at all, the two are different areas that I personally wouldn’t link. I guess playing more direct would make sense but in reality you should decide the style of play on the way you want to play and players at your disposal.
Chu H
10 июня, 2013 at 18:49
Thanks for that, I suppose it does make sense for a counter to be quick and ruthless. Nonetheless I’ll try both out and take it from there.