Career Resurrected: Farm to Treble (now with more analytics)

[veerus]

Hi guys.  I am starting a new career in Spain (a league I never tried before) and the muse struck me so I figured I would write about it.  But first, a few words about the club I'll be playing.

HISTORY:

Club Polideportivo Ejido, also known as Poli Ejido, was a football club which was founded in 1969.  It was located in the city of El Ejido in the province of Almeria, Andalusia.  El Ejido is a small agricultural farm town with a population of less than 100,000 located on the south coast of Spain.

After decades of promotions and demotions between the Third Division and Second Division B, Poli Ejido achieved promotion to the Second Division in 2001.  They stayed there for seven years, reaching as high as 11th (once in 2007) and 13th (twice - 2003 & 2005).

STADIUM:

In their second season in the Second Division, the team opened its new stadium - Estadio Municipal Santo Domingo - which was considered a basic requirement to continued survival in the Second Division.  This is a multifunctional stadium with a capacity of 7,870.  It allows for various football and athletics activities and competitions.  The stadium's claim to fame is hosting the Rolling Stones on June 30, 2008 which was attended by more than 50,000 people.

DEATH:

In 2008, Poli Ejido suffered severe financial difficulties.  I couldn't find much information on this as I don't speak Spanish but I'm guessing the club became buried under required payments for the stadium and league fees.  The team was relegated to the Second Division B in 2009 and was forced to completely disband on January 9, 2012.

RESURRECTION:

Shortly after that, whatever was left of the club was resurrected by a local entrepreneur futsal club owner.  The new team became known as Club Deportivo El Ejido (aka CD El Ejido) and it had to start its play in a regional Fifth Division League.  The team achieved two promotions in two seasons and was placed into Group IX of the Third Division.  Two years later, in the 2015-16 season, El Ejido finished fourth in its group earning a spot in the promotion tournament.  After winning three home-and-home knock-out series, CD El Ejido achieved promotion to the Second Division B and were placed in Group IV.

FUTURE:

This is where the club finds itself in FMM17.  Poli Ejido's earlier investments into the Santo Domingo Stadium have provided CD El Ejido with the best training and youth facilities of all but one clubs in the Second Division B.  7,870 stadium capacity is also higher than most teams in the division.  All this team needs is a savvy manager to guide this team to glory.  And this is where I come in.  My goal is to put the city of El Ejido on the international map by breaking up the Barcelona/Real Madrid dynasty and to turn CD El Ejido into the best team in Spain, nay - EUROPE!

In game terms, CD El Ejido is a hidden gem.  The team has IMPRESSIVE training facilities and GOOD youth facilities.  This is better or equal to the facilities of eight teams in the La Liga!  This also allows me to hire 3 coaches, 2 scouts, and 2 physios.  I expect this will make my life a little easier and less frustrating as it will give me a huge advantage in player development.  In addition to Spain, I'm going to load the biggest leagues in Europe - England, Germany, Italy.  My goal is to win the treble (League, Cup, Champions League).

I've dragged out my careers in the past but hopefully recapping it for you here will keep me going at a good pace.  I've never played outside of England before.  All I know is that my players are almost worse than those found on Vanarama N/S teams and yet there are only two promotions between me and La Liga so I expect this to be a rough climb.

Feedback is welcome!

[Pogba]

Sounds interesting and looks to be a good challenge. Good luck m8 will be following this career

[Massey127]

Hi Veerus, I can't wait to see how you get on and feel this one is worth following! Best of luck mate and please keep us updated as you progress.

[veerus]

Season 1: Preseason - how do I teach these kids?!

As is typical with lower division teams, every player in my squad is on the last year of their contract. As the other teams come for my players, I have precious little time to asses what I have and who I should keep. I refuse all sale requests and offer contract extensions to the players who are upset by this. 

I add a first team scout to my existing youth team scout and send them all across Europe. They don't really find anyone.. Manual player search reveals a few unemployed candidates and I am able to sign some depth players including a promising young goalkeeper and a great young CM on loan, Javi Llor, from Elche, a second division team. (Fun story - I also signed a striker on a free transfer with cheap wages for depth against the wishes of the scout and board. He scored 2 goals in 3 preseason games so suck it board!)

My team is young - only 3 outfield players are older than 25. I was able to get two preventative physios who are helping take advantage of the impressive training facilities. Most players were ok with the rigorous training (intensive on tactic/attack). Still tinkering with the few who were upset but I believe in my training strategy. In two short months since taking over the team, my players have all had noticeable attribute improvements. 

My wage budget is maxed out but I have plenty of transfer funds to play with and adjust as needed. Board wasn't overly demanding and I'm not cocky enough to think I'm going to win the league in my first season. 

As for tactics, my team is lacking wingers but is pretty stacked with midfielders many of whom are proficient CM/APM. As a result, I'm leaning toward a narrow formation. 4231 or 433. In preseason, attacking 4222 tested well as well but I don't have the depth to keep playing it. Speaking of preseason, I was undefeated including a "heroic win" away against a Second Division side!

And now the season begins for real.  That schedule looks busy!

Edited December 24, 2016 by veerus

[BatiGoal]

Love the introduction and a solid start to the challenge. Any experienced players available to you in the market? Would be great to balance out your young squad.

Goodluck with this interesting journey.

[veerus]

I actually had a very bad scouting start.  I was going to make a separate post about it at some point if I didn't figure it out by the January transfer window.  Where, in game, is Spain?  I tried scouting Southern Europe and got 0 hits.  Currently scouting Central Europe but with less than a week before the transfer window closes, I'm not expecting anything.

My main priority is to sign existing players I want to keep for cheap before they over-improve even more and end up costing me a ton in wages.  I have one player whose wage is 6k/wk which is WAY higher than my allowed wage of 1.5-2k/week and WAY more than anyone else on the team.  I tried offering him to clubs but no one wants him (probably because of his high wages).  I don't want to outright transfer list him and piss him off since he's one of my better defenders but not by much, so I'm fully planning and expecting to lose him at the end of this season.

[BatiGoal]

On those kind of wages it's really tough getting mature players that actually add quality as well to the squad. Nearly impossible tbf. As with most small teams I foresee a bumpy first season but you come across as someone who's well- prepared and does his homework so we got faith in you.

[Massey127]

Thanks for the update mate and an assured start gives encouragement for the season ahead.

Best of Luck!

[veerus]

Thanks for the nice words everyone. I was going to wait until January to post the next update but my September exceeded all expectations so I wanted to share my progress. With 10 games in 5 weeks, I expected my team would be half dead by the end of it but that didn't happen...

Season 1: ready, set, go:

The season started with a bad omen. My first goal (on the 2nd minute!) was disallowed due to offside. Then, on the 39th minute one of my more promising young stars suffered an injury that sidelined him for 2 months. 

My second game of the season was a League Cup game. As I mentioned above, I don't feel my squad is very deep so I did what all the big-name managers do (yes, I'm calling myself a "big name manager" ). I played a second team roster with an experimental formation. I ended up losing 1-0 despite dominating possession 58-42. Oh well - I wanted to lose that game anyway. 

I also learned that the Second Division B does not respect international breaks. I end up losing my best right back to international duty for a week (his first caps too - likely helped by improvement from my training). He ends up missing 3 games playing in Africa and I had very little depth at that position - I almost went to a back 3. But I'm glad I didn't because...

I had a nearly perfect September in which I conceded ZERO open play goals (the goal scored by Granada B was a penalty). I won 5, drew 1 and was in first place at the end of the month based on goal difference. 

The month also included this 22 minute hat-trick  by my future star 18 year old striker when I decided to give my starter striker and team captain a break. 

Tactics:

As mentioned previously, I had to play a narrow tactic. I settled on 41212. I think 433 would've also worked but I haven't had a reason to switch yet so I'm keeping that in my back pocket forwhen my fortunes change. At this level, most teams play a basic 442 (and if they don't, they switch into it - thanks 442 bug!) and my team has shown to be successful against it. 

The formation relies on my star loaner Javi Llor. He is only 20 and has grown quickly. His current stats are low Premier League team level. He's likely the best player in the division and it's not even close. He ends up with nearly 50 passes per game pulling the strings so maybe that primary outlet function is good for something. I have him until the end of the season (unless he gets recalled) so I'm going to ride him as long as I can.

Money Troubles: risky business

As previously mentioned, I needed to re-sign my players so I could get a handle on how much transfer funds I really have at my disposal. I did this with mixed results. 

The good: I was able to come to terms with most players I approached. 

The bad: everyone asked for 3x their salary. While I was able to get them down a little, my wage budget ballooned from ~20k/wk to ~27k/wk. I had to cut my transfer budget in half to get that figure under control. And I still have half the team on an expiring contract.

Long term this is troubling. My scouts haven't found any promising targets so this is making my financing planning for season 2 worrisome. 

Looking ahead: easy sailing?

Now that September is over, the schedule continues at an easy pace of 1 game per week. This should allow me to continue playing a settled team in great form. 

I'm also hoping the board is going to shut up about Curpy at some point. He's literally the cheapest player I signed (for free!) besides grey regens. You'd think they'd be happy with a flawless September.

P.S. As you can see on the above screenshot, Javilillo is not happy (with his training regime). I've tried literally every training regime I am using to no avail. He's also one of my stars (and a key APM in the formation behind the strikers), but I don't want to re-sign him if he's going to keep complaining. So I don't know what to do with him. 

Edited December 26, 2016 by veerus

[BatiGoal]

Re tactics- interesting. TM is probably the player role I've used the least from all available to us. How does he do with a P beside him and no wingers?

Re scouts- I rarely use them. Do you explore the market yourself too or solely rely on scouts?

Re Javilillo- Does he still complain if you put him on the default training regime?

Looking promising so far despite a few bumps.

[veerus]

Re: tactics: I must admit - TM would not be my first choice either. But he has the stats for it and that's his preferred role so who am I to argue? And it's been working well so I'm riding it out. My front trio has interchanged really well so far. 

Not shown: my other two central midfielders, Ivi and Llor, each have 3 assists as well.

Javilillo's goals are a bit inflated. He scored 2 free kicks (in the same game!!). Overall I can't say this is a ground-breaking tactic deserving its own post. But it's been working so far. Also, Paquito comes in strictly as a sub so that's why he seems unproductive besides his hat-trick. 

In about half the games, the post match report mentions "Lack of scoring threat from attacking midfielders" which seems a bit weird even if I only play with one AMC. Not sure how to fix that since my options are limited.

Surprisingly the message "Lack of width" only showed up once. I doubt the game realizes that that's kind of the point with this formation so I'm guessing my WBs are performing adequately.

Oh, and here's my golden goose - Javi Llor.

Re: scouts - I do my own searches as well. I typically filter for key stats (i.e. Tackling & positioning for defenders. + heading if there are a lot of options). I am usually able to find a key player or two on a fresh save but I came up empty this time around. I rely on my scouts to find players I may have otherwise missed. And I always scout before buying (time permitting). How do you do it?

re: training - I don't know what the default training is anymore. And as long as Javilillo keeps playing well, I'll let him play unhappy (if only there was a way to know what he was unhappy about... like if I could talk to him aka the game could tell me..ahem). My current set up was to leverage the facilities and put almost everyone on general training - intensive tactic/attack, medium fitness/defense, light motivation. Most took to it. Those who didn't (you can tell quickly because their condition doesn't improve) go on a lighter regime where I drop defense to light and then even lighter one where I also drop tactics to medium. Lastly I have a neutral-ish one (using fitness for it) with fitness at intensive, tactic/attack/defense on medium and motivation on light. It's not ideal and I'm not happy with it so will keep tinkering  with it.

Do you have any suggestions on a nice neutral training regime for unruly players?

[Dhxn]

Usually if players complain then i reduce the lvl for motivational training. It usually does the trick. If that doesn't work then most likely your player is a trouble maker. I usually just sell him off. ALSO OH MY GOD WHAT A CHALLENGE I WANT DO THIS!!!!!

[Massey127]

The challenges you are experiencing keep this interesting.  If you were winning everything and had no issues then we would all be bored of this within days.

The way this is going is exciting and keep us entertained, inspired and it's great to share how you are attempting to deal with everything!

Great job and please keep it up.

[BatiGoal]

Re 'lack of scoring threat from AMs' could be seen as positive if I'm doing a goal challenge so I want him to pass the ball to the forwards and few to no long range efforts. But most likely he can't express his attacking intentions enough during 90min due to the weak/ underperforming line behind him. Perhaps look at strengthening/tweaking midline (CMs) if you are satisfied with your AMCs qualities.

As for the scouts last time I used them was early FMH15. I explore the market on my own say first 20-25 or so pages. The rest I filter some key attributes like you.

And re the training, I just don't like messing with it since it gives too many headaches. I know it boosts attributes immensely but my players often play every 3-4 days and hardly get their rest. If I put them on a borderline regime they're never fully rested before games (top priority for me) which adds to their inconsistency + higher risk for injuries ingame. 

Exception tho my current career and challenge with Villalibre his fitness dropped to below 10 so I was forced to put him on a permanent fitness regime to stabilize his stamina.

[veerus]

A note about the frequency of these posts. I'll try to make an update when I have a full screenshot of new results. 

We all knew it was too good to be true:

The slide started the very next game after my last post. After that first loss, I tried to boost team morale by using player interaction with mostly successful results (tip: never do public as it almost never works out). The motivations don't help as I go down 2 in the first 12 minutes in the next match and lose 1-2. 

The slide even makes me tweak my formation to a narrow 4231 and, despite a couple of wins, I wasn't too happy with the results. In the end, I've gone back to the original formation with a couple small role tweaks. Odds are, this won't be the last formation change this season.

Federation Cup:

Another cup (with 2 legs!!!) popped up on my schedule after my last update. As with the Spanish Cup, I wont be upset to lose here but my players have a different plan. I play an attacking 442 here and it's been working out so far. 

Match highlights:

A last ditch effort unbalanced formation produced two late goals from two 70th minute subs! (That BWM was supposed to be a DLP. Just noticed it. Glad it worked though!)

My star got injured here but by some stroke of luck, his condition was at 50% after the game but no injury to speak of and he was back in action after a week. This was a deserved result as I couldn't keep the ball (28% possession in first half) but it still hurts to lose to a 90+7 goal... (Side note: all these goal per minute challenges should include 90+x goals)

A Fed Cup match won by a grey(!) player I found in the reserves a week earlier. I have 4 grey players on my squad now. They don't project to much but are decent depth options at this early stage of my career for cup matches since I can now afford to rest every one of my starters.

Javilillo update:

I wanted to include an update on this guy as he's been a problem for me from the start. I got a message saying he wanted a new contract. So I extended him (he is one of my stars, after all) and his morale skyrocketed. He even tolerated intensive training!.....for a month. Then he started complaining again. I keep tweaking his regime every two weeks with no success so far. However he still keeps playing well and not losing his attributes. 

Player highlight:

I'm going to try and highlight a player with some of these updates. Meet Fran Oller. He is a free kick God and is only 22. The coach seems to think he's peaked but I hope he's wrong. He got injured in the first game of the season and has only fully become match fit a couple weeks ago.

Looking down the road:

It's tight at the top but I'm still in 3rd place and an away clash vs 1st place team is coming up. Should I play more defensively than usual?

January transfer window is around the corner as well. I've been doing some research but my finances are severely hampered by the guy with the 6k/wk salary. 

I really need to offload him. I've been offering him to clubs and one finally shortlisted him. If they don't bid early in January, I'm going to offer him for $0 and take the first offer. The board will hate me for it but it must be done. Speaking of which, how do they feel about me this month?

Oh shut up about Curpy already! Ironically they're more upset with me about a free $190/wk player than my budget being completely out of whack. All these corporate suits know nothing about football, amirite?

[BatiGoal]

You're right, those suits know nuttin. They shouldn't judge you or the player you bought until a few months in at least.

BTW, a curiosity about the line-up. I see you played a (right) WB with two LDs to his left in CB spot. He seems isolated there but I could be wrong. How have his performances been?

[Scratch]

Just wanted to say I'm really enjoying this career.

As for the board, it's not really them who are upset, it's the fans who think it's poor business. They want you to spend loads of money on a superstar (for the club's current level), so they can go home at night and dream about the future glory that player will bring. They don't want you to pin all their hopes on a free agent earning a pittance!

I've had this too when I've signed youngsters for the future. Of course they took it all back when he scored 4 goals against Barcelona in the Champions league several years later.... Sigh, fans are so fickle.

As are the board who'd love you buy cheap players, right up until the point that fans start moaning about how you don't know what you're doing, then they're upset with you too... Football! 

[veerus]

BG: The tactic I showed in the screenshot was something I used in the last 20 minutes of a game I was losing (with which I scored 2 goals to win).  However, I do have the WB/LD/LD/WB setup for most matches.  My wingbacks do pretty well.  My two right WBs so far have ratings of 6.87 and 7.06.  Left WBs have ratings of 7.20 and 7.09 (and 7.50 for my pre-season best left WB who spent most of it injured).

scratch99: Thanks for the kind words.  It's nice to know I'm not just talking to myself (and BG) here.

[BatiGoal]

Pretty good ratings considering the players and team/division. 7 should be the standard, and I've set 7.25 as good, 7.50 very good. Anything above 7.50 excellent. That's generally the numbers I want to see.

You're sitting 3rd in the league facing Villareal B followed by 3 away games. No easy path but we believe in you.

[veerus]

Hello old friends. It seems like we just had an update and yet so much has happened since then. Almost every match has had its own little story. Thanks for joining me on this journey.

Matches:

We went into a tailspin immediately after the last update starting with the Fed cup where I was carrying a 2-1 advantage from the first leg. We were overrun and my young trainee goalkeeper became labeled as "struggles in big matches" and the fans turned on him instead of Curpy until after the transfer window.

We had no time to dwell on that loss as an away match against the 1st placed team was looming. As I mentioned in my previous update, we tweaked our formation slightly. From 41212 to 4321 (xmas tree)...

And oh boy, did it work!! I thought I had stumbled upon a winning formation so I continued playing it for the next 3 games. We were outscored 6-4 and only got 1 point out of 9. It was a disaster! And to make it worse, my star loanee started playing poorly! Had several 6s in a row with an unusually low volume of passes. He was as invisible as a player could be in FMM. On top of that, my star troublemaker Javilillo went down injured for 2 months. A shakeup was needed!

Want to buy a winning tactic!

So we switched back to the original safe 41212 (some shakeup, I know...). First game resulted in a 4-2 victory (a clown fiesta with 5 first half goals). We followed that with a 1-0 poorly played sloppy home victory and 1-1 away tie in which we struggled to keep possession. I was not happy so I continued to tinker. Dilly ding dilly dong. 

Rememebering that an attacking 442 had worked well in Cup matches for a while, I choose a wide 4231 formation (game default) for my next away match. We immediately get overrun and have to switch to a defensive mentality which evened out the possession. We even sneak a goal and hope to hang on to a lucky win until one of our defenders gave up an 83rd minute penalty and the game ends in a tie.

Unhappy with how that went and a 3 game home stand coming up, I switch to a 433 which I've been considering for a while but lacked talent at the striker position. First game set off the fireworks with 4 goals but it was against the last placed team so it's not all that exciting. Next two games achieved very mixed results. A 2-1 win against a 3rd place team was followed by a terrible 0-0 tie against a 12th place team in which we had 43% possession.

However our young star, Fran Oller (remember him from the previous player highlight?), shined in the 433 with 3G, 1A and 2 MOTMs in the first two games of the formation as the DLF.

So we're still without a full proof tactic where we can control the midfield. We'll stick with the 433 for now but the margins are thin. I suppose the inconsistency is somewhat expected at this level but it doesn't make it any less frustrating. 

It's all not that bad, really:

Our struggles with the tactics may make you think that this season is going poorly and that couldn't be further from the truth!

We are 2 points out of a surprise playoff spot with 10 games left in the season. Also:

• we are 2nd in goals conceded
• we are tied for 3rd in clean sheets
• we are 3rd in goal differential
• our two main strikers are near the top of the league in individual categories - Corral is tied for 2nd with 12 goals, Merida is tied for 3rd with 11. Merida is also tied for 3rd with 8 assists. And Corral is tied for 2nd in MOTM awards with 5.

I believe that our excellent defensive record is due to the fact that we keep playing with two Limited Defenders. This may(?) be contributing to my midfield struggles because they stay back and play safe but I think having one of the league's best defenses is worth it.

Transfer window:

This update also includes a rather successful January transfer window. I got rid of two unhappy fringe players and my best winger who was not needed due to my preference for narrow formations and more attack-minded wide players.

One thing that didn't work out - I couldn't sell my 6k/wk guy but he did find a new team so I can afford to not play him and develop other defenders. I also bring in a replacement defender whom I was tracking since the summer. He was unemployed and asking for 2k/wk. Nobody wanted him so I picked him up in January for 500/wk!

And everyone was happy with me.

Player highlight:

I'm highlighting one of my two starting central defenders. This one actually won POTM for January in which we went 2-1-1. I don't think I've ever seen a defender win this award before so this was a very special honor!

Dark cloud on the horizon:

With the first season winding down, I have to start thinking ahead to the summer transfer window and next season. Despite scouting all season all over Europe, we have identified very few suitable players and even fewer future team stars.

I do need to scout all the teams in threat of relegation as there have been numerous reports of players wanting to leave their sinking teams.

However many of those players are quite expensive and with my finances in good shape plus the 6k/wk brick going away in the summer, my best bet may likely be to re-sign the rest of my current players. After nearly a year of training, they are better than any potential transfer targets. However this comes with a very big risk:

I spent most of my transfer budget this year adjusting to afford new player wages all of whom basically got paid 3x the original amount from the start of the game. By signing the rest of my team to similar contracts, I almost guarantee having very little transfer funds next season. But it beats the alternative of picking up cheap but mediocre players. I need the best if I want to get promoted next season. And that is my expectation for next year. 

Edited January 8, 2017 by veerus

[BatiGoal]

Man, I know, and you too, that it can be such a pain finding a working formation in lower divisions. 

Is it the formation itself that is no good? Are the players just lacking the quality to play this way? Is the inconsistency of young players to blame for an otherwise balanced formation?

It ain't easy being a manager but you're making steady progress. KIU mate!

[veerus]

Well, let's try to troubleshoot together.  

I think many of my struggles are just due to how lower leagues tend to play out.  Player ratings for the entire team are hovering around 7 although tellingly, my defenders are around 7.1, attackers are around 7.3 while midfielders are around 6.9.  Not terrible but midfield is clearly the weakest spot despite the fact that arguably two of my highest stat players are midfielders.  Ages are 25, 21, 21 so a bit on the young side but not too bad.

Next, let's look at what the post-game comments are telling me.  The most common positive comment is that we conceded few clear cut chances.  Most common negative comments are "lack of goal threat from AMC" and "lack of forward runs from midfield".  This despite me playing with at least 1 AP in midfield in every game.

Lastly, here are some stats: I'm averaging 50.9% possession for the season, 3.9 shots on target per game and less than one clear cut chance per game.

So clearly, our midfield and attack aren't connecting well but my striker partnership has 23 goals and 12 assists between them so I don't want to break them up.  And I'm grinding out wins so it's not the end of the world.  At any rate, any solution must have 2 requirements: 1) we must have at least 2 strikers up front (however one of my strikers can play in the central APM slot so maybe this is a soft requirement), and 2) we must have 3 in midfield (when I played with two, I got the "lack of steel in midfield" message a lot).  So let's examine a few options:

1. My first instinct is to just change team mentality from Balanced to Attacking.  It's clear that my midfielders are sitting too far back and the attacking mentality may make them go forward more.  However I do have concerns on how this would affect my defensive record.
2. Keep the latest 433 but change the midfield from AP, DLP, CM to BBM, DLP, BBM.  My front 3 of TM, DLF, AF has been working well so I don't need to change that.
3. There is a formation I haven't tried yet and that is a 4132.  I could put a DLP with a BBM, CM, AP or something in front of him.
4. Use any other formation I've tried before and use BBM's in the midfield instead of CM or AP.  I have some stamina concerns but @rseven tells me that BBMs don't drain any more stamina than any other midfield role on this engine and I may have just been conflating two unrelated things.
5. Try a back 3 in some sort of a 3322 formation similar to what was posted in the tactic thread recently.  I do have concerns that this would open me up too much in the back.

Sorry this got as long as it did but these are my current thoughts on what I will be trying over the last 10 games of the season and into the next.

[BatiGoal]

Lack of goal threat, lack of forward runs, grinding out results... Your analysis is correct in that your team needs to attack more.

Btw, at this point I would play test games in different saves rather than experimenting in a career which could mess everything up. I would try things you've mentioned yourself already. That's what I always do too. Go Attacking ment. with possibly pressing and committed tackling. Try using a BWM with these refinements which makes him extra effective. Perhaps a triangle BWM-CM-with (DLP on DM or AP on AMC). If you're satisfied with your front trio, I don't always use an AP if I play 3 strikers. I've had mixed results with a 3-4-3 formation with (as you said a BBM in the middle) with a CM or DLP and wingers. Maybe works better for you than for me since you got a TM at the front as well who'll somewhat function like an AP for the other two strikers. Perhaps nothing new to you but maybe there's something you haven't tried yet.

[veerus]

13 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

Btw, at this point I would play test games in different saves rather than experimenting in a career which could mess everything up. 

I understand the desire and need for sandbox experimentation in this game.  However, since I'm not doing a specific challenge, this career is as much about the journey as it is about the result.  Running test games would cheapen that experience.

[Scratch]

For what it's worth, I had very similar problems finding a formation that worked and kept working. That problem gradually went away as I improved the squad. Better players seem to be able to make formations work better. of course getting better players isn't that easy without money...

The other thing that helped me a lot was putting extended highlights on and trying to find obvious problems, so that could be worth doing. I'll leave the tactics advice to BatiGoal, he's the master with that!

Keep going, I'm sure you'll find the answers!

[BatiGoal]

29 minutes ago, scratch99 said:

For what it's worth, I had very similar problems finding a formation that worked and kept working. That problem gradually went away as I improved the squad. Better players seem to be able to make formations work better. of course getting better players isn't that easy without money...

Very true. Which is why I'd recommend trying specific formations and tactics with different teams and players in order to find answers. Bad players can make good formations fail but one wouldn't know if it wasn't tested with other teams.

34 minutes ago, scratch99 said:

The other thing that helped me a lot was putting extended highlights on and trying to find obvious problems, so that could be worth doing. I'll leave the tactics advice to BatiGoal, he's the master with that!

No no no I fall and I get up again. there are certain things I test in FMM I'd never try with an actual real squad of course since this is a game afterall, such as the 2-2-1-5 formation, but in doing so you pick up other new 'strategies' you wouldn't have seen otherwise etc. Thanks tho.

[veerus]

Hello friends!  Sorry for the radio silence.  I couldn't play due to, uh, let's call it an international break.  However, I've been doing a lot of thinking.  All these attacking tactics that are popping up in this year's engine are making me imagine some crazy formations... like 2-at-the-back crazy (but not BG TKO levels of crazy).  So stay tuned for some experimentation.. maybe.. I reserve the right to chicken out and go a bit more conservative if the next few games keep me in the promotion playoff race.  

I'm also making this post to hold myself responsible to post an update by the end of the week.

On 1/8/2017 at 21:24, scratch99 said:

The other thing that helped me a lot was putting extended highlights on and trying to find obvious problems, so that could be worth doing. 

I do that now but I do it because I enjoy watching the colorful dots move around.  I recently realized that I need to be more of a FOOTBALL MANAGER and not a spectator.  I intend to be more vigilant in paying attention to movement patterns of my players especially if I start doing some crazy formations.

[Scratch]

Glad you're back!

I know what you mean about watching - I get more enjoyment in seeing the goals go in. But yeah, it's also a great opportunity to see what your formation and tactic is actually doing.

[BatiGoal]

Great. Can't wait to see more.

[Irwan Hadi]

43 minutes ago, veerus said:

I do that now but I do it because I enjoy watching the colorful dots move around.  I recently realized that I need to be more of a FOOTBALL MANAGER and not a spectator.  I intend to be more vigilant in paying attention to movement patterns of my players especially if I start doing some crazy formations.

32 minutes ago, scratch99 said:

Glad you're back!

I know what you mean about watching - I get more enjoyment in seeing the goals go in. But yeah, it's also a great opportunity to see what your formation and tactic is actually doing.

@veerus @scratch99 Hi I am embarking on a save with Salford City, down in Vanarama North League, England. I am facing a somewhat similar situation with OP where I have to fine tune and change things around in order to counter opposition or enhance my team's performance. As a disclaimer, I am by no means trying to hijack this post. I just wanted to seek some clarification on what you guys meant by "trying to find obvious problems" and "paying attention to movement patterns" ? 

I have set the match to be played on Extended mode and on Fast. Do you guys make just 1 change and watch the game, or do you make multiple changes as and when the match plays out? Or should I change it to Medium/Slow to really see what I may have missed?

The reason I'm asking is I'm afraid of making too many changes (unsure how many is classified as too many though =/ ) and I know if there's drastic change(s), then it will disrupt the flow of the team when they have got on rather well with the original tactic. I hope I have not further confused anyone here though, any feedback or thoughts on the above would be very much welcome