Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...

2014 The Tactics Guide


Dec
 Share

Recommended Posts

gallery_1_1_55482.png

Tactics are a large and complex area of FMH2014 that can take years to master. The difference between a good and great tactic may be a simple tweak away and while there is no such thing as a perfect tactic, I (Dec) will take you on a journey from 'analysing your team' to 'keeping a tactic effective' stopping off at 'how player roles work', 'the difference in passing styles' and more. Whether you are a newbie or a FMH veteran I will be covering the tactic system in the most extensive guide yet.

Index:

1. Tactical Shape
a) Analysing your squad
b) Balance and Width
c) Finalising your shape

2. Individual Players
a) Player Roles explained
b) Practicality of Player Roles

3. Team Instructions
a) Using Team Instructions
b) Variations and their effects

4. Finishing touches and the future
a) Final tactical considerations
b) Modifying your tactic
c) Changing to a new tactic

This post has been promoted to an article
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Tactical Shape
a) Analysing your squad

Before delving into the transfer market in order to strengthen your team you need to set up your tactic in order which areas need improving the most. However while you are doing this you should consider your tactic as well.
Your tactic will be the backbone of your success and will determine who you sign, sell and play over the entire length of the career you're about to embark on. It is therefore of the utmost importance to get the tactic right, not just for your results but also to maximise your efficiency in the transfer market and to get the most your current players.

There isn't an easy way to analyse the squad, while it helps if you know about the players before it doesn't give you a massive advantage over not knowing though for a newbie to tactics. Therefore if you are new to tactic creating then I fully recommend going with a team you know quite well as this well help save time and be a great learning curve for you, up until you are confident enough to delve into unknown territory.
We shall start at the numbers. Before deciding upon a tactic you should look at how many players are capable of playing in each position. For example when you look at Chelsea with England only (counting loans out) 11 players can play in AMC. Of them 11 there are 8 players who can play AML and 8 who can play AMR. This is a huge number for just 1 position therefore you may consider playing multiple players within the AM positions at one time. As well as a large amount you also need to consider a lack of players in positions so you play fewer in these areas. A good demonstration of this is the Bayern Munich squad in which only 4 are capable of playing up front; meaning an injury can cause problems especially if they play in other positions as Gotze does. A 3 up front formation will therefore be very risky and perhaps not the best use of the players at your disposal.





med_gallery_1_1_80192.png

Bayern Munich's lack of strikers makes a 3 up front tactic risky


Then you have to consider where you want to play a player and their abilities to play in these positions. Looking at Spanish Champions Barcelona you see 8 players capable of playing as a forward, yet considering one of them is Cesc Fabregas whom is arguably better at playing MC that makes 7. Utilising a player's strengths is a job of the tactic and while we will cover player roles in a different article the first job is to get the players down to a specific position or positions. The point of this is to make it easier for you to decide how many positions are covered extensively and which need improving in their depth.

Now while we have spoken about buying players we need to consider selling of your players too. Some players won't be of the quality that you need, Barcelona are also a good example of this. While some players like Neymar and Messi are great, however others like Rafinha and Bojan are sub-par and perhaps not old enough to feature in the team regularly. The age and ability of a player needs to be taken into consideration when picking a formation else you may cater for the players that are not up to scratch of the rest of your team. This will lead to a highly imbalanced formation in terms of who you may have to play if and when injuries or loss of form occurs. Therefore when judging players take a look into their attributes and see if they fit the roles you envisage them playing for your squad. If they aren't good enough then you should consider selling them for either a like for like replacement or modifying the formation. This means you shouldn't have to play that player if the worst does happen., yet once you break it down only 3 or 4 are suitable at maximum for a striking role. An injury could cause a major problem whether it be a reshuffle of players; in which may harm their performances if they have been on form, or the playing of an average player in whom may struggle at your level. The tactic needs to avoid this from happening (especially early on in the career when you cannot sign and sell the whole of your team due to the period new signings take to gel into the team).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe a little advice; try to keep your sentences as short as possible. Some are quite long and that makes it, not for everyone ofcourse, a little difficult to read. Furthermore I have nothing to say. Good read, KIU.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe a little advice; try to keep your sentences as short as possible. Some are quite long and that makes it, not for everyone ofcourse, a little difficult to read. Furthermore I have nothing to say. Good read, KIU.

I'm sorry to be blunt, but you're wrong.

Keeping sentences as short as possible will make it harder to read because you will get the feeling that it's written by a 6yo. When you're writing an essay, paper, article (basically anything), don't underestimate your reader. As long as you're careful with cleft-constructions and sub-clauses, you're good.

Well written, Decie ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why do they tell me to keep sentences as short as possible at school? If you want to write about something new, start a new sentence they say? It will be easier for people to understand. Plus, what's wrong with "written by a 6 y/o". Everyone who reads this needs to understand it and it won't surprise me if there are 10 y/o kids playing the game and watching forums.. Just my opinion though :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why do they tell me to keep sentences as short as possible at school? If you want to write about something new, start a new sentence they say? It will be easier for people to understand. Plus, what's wrong with "written by a 6 y/o". Everyone who reads this needs to understand it and it won't surprise me if there are 10 y/o kids playing the game and watching forums.. Just my opinion though :P

May I ask how old you are? :)

a sentence that holds some sub-clauses can still hold a single idea. I have no idea why any teacher would say to keep it as short as possible, seeing they will tell you the exact opposite later on in your academic career ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hope a 10 year old cannot read it as the internet needs to be 13+. I have modified it a bit and I do think it is readable and understandable. Jens saying it is means a lot as he is a 3rd year English Literature student at University. Sentence structure has a lot to do with pacing, in a story short sentences often mean a quick scene or sharp movement/actions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Why do they tell me to keep sentences as short as possible at school? If you want to write about something new, start a new sentence they say? It will be easier for people to understand. Plus, what's wrong with "written by a 6 y/o". Everyone who reads this needs to understand it and it won't surprise me if there are 10 y/o kids playing the game and watching forums.. Just my opinion though :P

May I ask how old you are? :)

a sentence that holds some sub-clauses can still hold a single idea. I have no idea why any teacher would say to keep it as short as possible, seeing they will tell you the exact opposite later on in your academic career ;)

 

 

I am 19, almost 20. Anyway I think, although you might not like it (Dec), you have to be aware for who you're writing. The chances certainly are small that a 10y/o will read this, but there still is a chance a 10y/o will read this. Just saying. I am not trying to be negative, just something I would do different. It's just an opinion eh :)

 

Just a question, Jens are you Dutch?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It isn't the fact they are small chances but the fact a 10 year old reading it is technically illegal as they cannot have an account with parental consent sent to myself. Even if it was though I don't think my English is complex and is instead professional and readable. I treated it as if I was writing it for University never assuming a user's prior knowledge on tactics, backing everything up and giving examples. While you are entitled to your opinion I do believe you are wrong on this one as my English is quite easy to understand for an age of the average user of the site (which is an age of 14-16). Yes younger audiences may read it but if I cater for the minority then the article won't be as good for the majority.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah vond je naam al zo makkelijk :P.

OT: I know. It is good english and not extremely hard to read, just want to say you shouldn't make sentences too long. It's because, for people like me who haven't studied english language, it may be confusing what you're trying to say. It's like having "www.translate.google.com" people reading it and not understanding it cuz of their shitty english. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Tactical Shape

b) Balance and Width

Now you have laid down your initial shape of the tactic you will need to look into it further to check it works. While balance and width can be modified using player roles too; we will explore these at a later date), it is often a cornerstone of a formation if the shape is correctly laid out in order maximise your team's results.

First we will start with the balance between attacking and defensive. A too attacking team will concede a lot of goals while a team too defensive will be struggling to create opportunities to put the ball in the back of the net. In order to be successful a team must get the mix of attack and defence just right as even a tiny shift in the balance may change the whole outcome of a game. An important part of balance is to ensure that the team has enough men forward or back at one time regardless of movement (this is to do with player roles and instructing your players due to different roles in midfield having different outcomes on the balance). While we will cover the player roles at a later date it is first important to understand positioning on the pitch and how that can influence a player's motives and in turn influence a team. For example a DMC will naturally sit deeper and be less adventurous even in comparison to a player on the same role in MC.

It is important to first understand that balance also depends on situation, when against a defensive unit who are trying to just sit back and not concede then you can push the boat out more than against an attacking unit whose goal is to dominate you and score. We will cover tweaking to suit opponents later in the guide but for now it is worth keeping it in mind.

My preferred option and probably the safest when starting a tactic is to maintain a 5 attacking and 5 defending outfielders balance. The attacking section includes all neutral players whose job it is to attack and defend as when going forward their job will be to attack and therefore you cannot rely on them to always be back in time to defend. There must always be a mixture of 5 defensive players on the pitch however this doesn't mean 5 players in the back line but instead 5 players who've roles set to defence most often or not 3/4 defenders and 1/2 DMCs or MCs. Unless you are one of the best sides in the world by a mile then it is difficult to have a purely 6 attacking outfield balance as there will be a high possibly on being overrun by better teams and therefore concede many, many goals. For balance you also need to consider space between each player. If there is a massive gap between attack and defence then you're going to find problems with getting the ball forward and when attacking though this will be covered at a later date. For now just consider roughly which of your players are attacking and which are defensive and how to set up your team in accordance to this as if you plan on playing 4 attacking midfielders and 3 strikers then this is going to cause a lot of problems with how your tactic will work.

While balance is key there is also another thing to consider and that is width. Whether you have attacking wing backs like Leighton Baines or ones that like to sit deeper such as Branislav Ivanovic there is always a way to include width in the team. Before we get onto how to do so we must first consider what width is in relations to football and tactics. Width is the two outer areas of the pitch when it is divided vertically into 3 sections, these are often occupied by wingers and full backs/wing backs. The aim of the players in this position is to spread the play and utilise the whole pitch as to allow the central players more room and to bring gaps into the oppositions defence. While on the defensive side they help counter the opposition doing this by effectively man marking the threats as to stop crosses reaching the box.

gallery_1_1_88581.png

The left and right channels in a 442

We've established that too little width will lead to very little space in the attack and too much will grant the opposition a lot of space and too much width leads to gaps in the middle for your team. We have to find ways of countering it. A good rule of thumb is never have more than 2 players on either side, it is just unnecessary and will leave you open in the middle. Now width doesn't have to be 2 players but you have to consider what type of players you have on the wing, for example if you just play full backs who cannot cross or dribble then they will stay deeper and not provide width on attacks. However the flip side are very attacking wing backs who will use their attacking assets if instructed right. You must also consider the other way around as in a 352 for instance you only have one wide player on either side. If he is too far forward then in your defence it is exposed. Consider your options on the wing before selecting how many players you should play on the left and right. Sometimes you may only need one spot as they are very good in both aspects of the game but others it may be wise to use two as you'll be limiting yourself otherwise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Tactical Shape

c) Finalising your shape

The team's shape should now be almost in place with only a few final and optional tweaks left to implement if this applies to your shape. While there are multiple factors that influence the spacing between your players such as player roles and passing style. The main thing to consider is whether your players can easily be closed down within the same area or are so far away from each other that there's no safe outlet for your defenders.

First you must consider where your players line up, for example if you have 5 players within a square of each other this can be easy to man mark by a few players and therefore leaves some of their players open (most often on the wings). Spreading your players over the pitch; but still close enough to provide safe passing lanes, allows your team to stretch the opposition always giving you an option when your team are struggling to break down a congested area.

gallery_1_1_102002.png

A narrow shape leaving wide gaps open to the opposition

Look at the above diagram of a 41131 against a simple 41221. You see 3 players marking the 2 in midfield creating space for both MCs on the outside and pulling out the reds' DMC creating space for the other in attack. In this instance the blues would dominate the midfield due to the reds' poor width making the reds transition from defence to attack harder and therefore pushing them back into their own half or resorting to the long ball. Also it is worth considering if the blues have World Class players then they will make use of this space. Could you imagine leaving Xavi or Iniesta with a quarter of the pitch and no one marking them? It is deadly to say the least. The solution for this however is easy. Push the DMC and MC across in opposite directions so you have a skewed 41131. Whether this is the MC is on the furthest right MC spot or the furthest left it won't make a difference as long as the DMC is the polar opposite.

This brings us onto the next point of non-symmetrical formations. A mistake that you may see especially in the media is the representation of tactics as always symmetrical which isn't true. Though you may turn on Sky Sports and see Real Madrid lining up in a 4231 it may not be the actual way they line up with Ronaldo potentially tucked into the AMCL slot not the AML. If you think you can utilise everything and make better use of a player from a different position then don't be afraid to try it. This minor change may make the difference between a win and a draw. You must also consider this when you look at player roles in which is the next section.

This concludes our first chapter on setting up your shape. Next up is player roles, therefore if you don't have a rough idea on what type of players you want for most of your positions and how your team plays then you should really review this section before proceeding.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for this. Question - how do you know if you should be making better use of a player? Like in the example you gave above with Ronaldo.. Do you analyse and compare the position they play in the game against how they actually play in real life?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is just trial and error. You have to analyse them to real life to a degree but that isn't a consistent way of doing it. You have to analyse how they are doing against your expectations and if they are doing worse you need to look at how many shots he is taking and how many goals he's scoring. Analyse the players around him too. For Ronaldo at Real Madrid he may get 60-70% of shots in real life but in game he may get 30%.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2. Individual Players
a) Player Roles explained

Defender Roles:
Sweeper - The Sweeper's role is to 'mop up' anything that passes the DCs using his positioning and decisions. He acts as the final line of defence with no attacking abilities.

Limited Defender - Limited Defenders are the no-nonsense centre backs England fans are used to. They don't care where they put the ball as long as they get it away from the goal. This role is suited for less technical central defenders.

Central Defender - A central defender will do what is required of him. He won't try to overplay or try to play too simply. He'll look for the safest play and act that out.

Ball Playing Defender - Ball Playing Defenders like to take more risks by getting the ball back then initiating moves. They will look to play defence splitting passes by moving out of their defensive zone to make a creative play to try and score a goal. They can be prone to mistakes with a lack of mental attributes though.

Full Back - The less attacking of the two DL/DR roles. A full back's primary job is to defend and then provide support in attacking when it is a very clear opportunity. He doesn't risk anything by leaving his man free to go and join in with the attack.

Wing Back - A source of width from deep. The Wing Back will look to push on at every chance to try and provide a further crossing option from the wings. He requires great stamina, crossing, dribbling and decisions as they may be guilty of leaving their man free if a turnover in play happens quickly.

Midfielder Roles:
Deep Lying Midfielder - The Deep Lying Midfielder is a player who sits in front of the defence trying to retrieve the ball using brains. He looks to intercept the ball and only commits to tackles when vital. His job is to provide the defence with a closer outlet and also start attacks through clever passes with ball retention is primary concern.

Ball Winning Midfielder - An aggressive player who likes to throw his physical stature around in order to win the ball back. He may often make surging runs into space to progress his team forward and try a long shot.

Box to Box Midfielder - Box to Box Midfielders never stop running. They need very high stamina and are everywhere on the pitch. This role is the most demanding on the game as they need the ability to do everything on the pitch for 90 minutes as they look to move from defence to attack with the play.

Central Midfielder - The second neutral midfield role with the Box to Box Midfielder. The central midfielder tries to pass the ball on and hold play up by linking the attack and defence up through vision and passing ability. He will very rarely leave the middle third of the pitch as he tries to provide a smooth transition throughout the team's play.

Advanced Playmaker - One of the most craved players in the game but a role that is very hard to get right. An advanced playmaker is the hub of most teams when he is on the pitch and can be responsible for goals out of nothing with the creativity and passing ability that they bring. However if marked out of the game with no other outlet for splitting a defence apart the team can struggle because of this.

Inside Forward - Inside Forwards will look to find space in order to shoot. They'll go on surging runs from the wings or centre to get next to or past the forwards or shoot on sight. They may have a high amount of shots with most off target but an inside forward with high shooting may net some very important goals against hard to break down teams.

Defensive Winger - A defensive winger is extremely useful against top wing backs. They will not just look to get forward but think about their defensive duties too in a manner similar to wing backs but higher up the pitch. They too are like a box to box midfielder in which they require high stamina but instead of requiring tackling/shooting they will need crossing and tackling.

Wide Midfielder - The Wide Midfielders are a similar role as a central midfielder but on the ML/MR spots. They will try to drift inside and are useful for if there is space in MC such as in a wide diamond. Their role means that your team will be compact in which is ideal for short passing but they'll lack width so you cannot stretch your attacking plays as much.

Winger - Wingers are the conventional role that you expect out wide. When they get the ball they will run forward with speed in order to deliver the ball into the box. Their speed is perfect for quick moves such as counter attacks but they will hardly ever worry about their opposite number meaning that in defence your DL/DR may be overran with two players depending on the other team's tactics.

Forward Roles:
Defensive Forward - A Defensive Forward will track back and press the opposition defences. Their primary aim is to win the ball back high up in order to force opposition mistakes and gift your team cheap goals.

Deep Lying Forward - Deep Lying Forwards are exactly what the name says. They sit back when not in possession to pick up the ball from a near AMC spot and move forward with the team as opposed to being the furthest player forward. This is useful if you intend to play the ball around quickly in order to make space and sit deep to play on the counter.

Trequartista - This role isn't a typical forward role. It concentrates more on the link up play and playing the passing game. The Trequartista uses movement to find space in order to link up play between the attacking midfielders and strikers. You may often find this player on the wings too if given enough space to do so.

Advanced Forward - The Advanced Forward will play off of the back of the opposition defenders so is prone to being offside. However with his pace and movement often means he can be one on one with the goalkeeper and be scoring 40/50 a season as a result. His movement means he will struggle to be tracked by a sub-par defender and can cause problems by dragging oppositions out of their natural positions creating room for others.

Poacher - A Poacher will sit in and around the box trying to get on the end of low crosses and passes. The primary aim of a Poacher is to put the ball into the back of the net from rebounds, deflections and crosses.

Target Man - Target Men use their strength and height in order to score goals or feed the ball to other players from long balls. They will look to outmuscle players and win everything in the air to generally keep possession, put the ball in the net or be a pest to the defenders.

Complete Forward - The name for a Complete Forward says it all. They do all of the forward roles as instructed and as they decide fit depending on the match they are playing in. This player will use his decisions and his well rounded attacking ability to play the best he can in the match. This is therefore the hardest role to be played in the game as it relies on extreme ability and decisions to conquer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a great guide. I've playing FMH since the very first version, and I've not had the best of times. And in more recent iterations I've been downright useless, so much so that I nearly stopped playing altogether. But this guide gives me a bit of hope. My Newcastle actually beat Man Utd today, and I'm sure at least part of that was down to this guide. I then went and lost to Stoke straight after, so I still have a lot to learn, but it's a start.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share


×
×
  • Create New...