SuperClub Diaries (Vol.1) - Positional Play in Paris #FM24

November 10, 2023

Bonjour mes amis,

I think it is fair to say that many of us are enjoying FM24, especially with the introduction of Positional Play. Positional Play in FM offers greater tactical fluidity to our sides through role rotations, I wrote more about what that means for tactics in general during the FM24 early access with CF Monterrey…

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But there is still more to say on Positional Play, so I thought I would use my SuperClub Diaries series to demonstrate how I plan to use a few more of the roles that trigger certain movements in the FM24 Match Engine. I will therefore share my three PSG starting formations, discuss my reasoning for using certain roles together and share a few screenshots on how it looks in the ME as I play through the pre-season. On y vas…

Tactic 1 - 433

There is a fair bit of rotation going on here. But I quite like that I can defend in a back four with a DM as cover but still have so many bodies going forward in a front four - something that PSG are constantly looking to do in real-life. Once with the ball, the IWB-S will move alongside the BWM-S in possession, forming a nice double pivot at the base of the midfield. The IFB-D behind will tuck inside and it will be a back three with Marquinhos as the ball player.

The CM-A moving into AMC position will keep the Winger wide, as part of the rotation, but this suits Ousmane Dembélé’s profile due to him being so good in 1v1s against opposing full back and crossing. Another subtle tweak in FM24 is the Winger role given the option to cut inside. Again, this suits Dembélé’s skillset…so he will be the modern day Winger: pushed out wide, until he uses his good Off the Ball and Dribbling to move into more dangerous areas. At times, the PSG attack will be a front four…allowing the AP-S plenty of passing options.

Intended use: This is the primary tactic, certainly the one I start big-ish domestic games and home Champions League ties. I really like the front three roles of IF-CF-W, which I used many years ago with INTER to great effect (remember Facundo Collidio?), but I feel like a revisit is necessary as a lot has changed in the ME since then.

Attacks in: 3241 / 325

Defends in: 4141

Tactic 2 - 4231

The next rotation brings about a natural overload on the right hand side, with the attacking Wing Back linking up with a more central Ousmane Dembélé whose starting position would be more in the half-space area of the opposition’s half compared with Tactic 1. To accommodate this right sided attack, I am once again looking to tuck Hernandez into the back three using IFB-D on the left hand side. The 4231 also has a double pivot, and therefore more conservative…with a Deep Lying Playmaker holding position and with a defensively minded Ball Winning Midfielder to his right.

Intended use: The intended use of this tactic would be when I think the opposition will be a bit more aggressive against us…which could mean more space in behind for our Shadow Striker to advance into. Maybe something for the Champions League away nights? I’ve selected Pass Into Space and removed Work Ball Into Box, so that I can also make use of our explosive wide attackers in Kylian Mbappé & Ousmane Dembélé.

Attacks in: 334

Defends in: 4231

Tactic 3 - 3421

The third, and final, tactic is one that sees both Wing Backs advance high up the pitch; stretching the play by staying wide. This tactic makes use of Nuno Mendes, who will be returning from injury a few months into the save. What I like in the 3421 is that I will have two central triangles: a base with the Libero linking up with the Central Midfielder & Box to Box midfielder and another in the attack, with Attacking Midfielder and Shadow Striker behind a Complete Forward. The key role is the Box to Box, who will move into the space vacated by the Shadow Striker and link both triangles together. I will most likely look like a 3241, with five in attack at times.

Intended use: I would most likely use the 3421 in domestic games where I want to suffocate defensive teams. It has the same Team Instructions as the 433, but it is overloading central areas with the two AMCs. This is probably the tactic I switch to from the primary tactic, when I need goals OR look to rotate players and use the likes of Lee Kang-in, Mendes, Vitinha et al. It’s probably is not a tactic I use too much at the start of the save, because I want to use it when Nuno Mendes is back.

Attacks in: 235

Defends in: 5221 / 3421

Tactical Familiarity

Just a quick note to say that there is not a great deal of difference between the three tactics (more on this in a moment). Tactic 1 and 3 are identical in terms of instructions, with only the roles/starting positions themselves changing. Tactic 2, whilst different in areas, is not a drastic departure either from how I want PSG to go at teams and be positive. My advice would be to not have three tactics widely different from one another, as you may find players not adjusting when you’re switching systems about. This would adversely affect your overall cohesion, and you will likely see your players making lacklustre passes or not press as well collectively for example. We call this Tactical Familiarity in FM.

Tactical Styles

Do you use custom-made Tactical Styles? I am unsure if it’s a well used feature…but I find it rather handy when switching between tactics. Put simply, creating a custom style is like making your very own pre-set template; which you can load into any formation. For this save, I have two at PSG:

‘Style du PSG’ - the Mentality and Team Instructions that I see as our default signature style.
‘Plus contre-atttaque’ - Not too dissimilar (for reasons mentioned previously), but a dash more urgency in our build-up play.

There’s no limit to how many you can make, but just know that only one formation can have one tactical style at any one time. Have fun with it.

A common part of my SuperClub Diaries posts will be an update on the other eleven super clubs throughout Europe. I think this is a good way to stay on top of their state of affairs and could also provide context as to where I go next after PSG. The most important pre-season update from Paris however, is the €275m five-year extension to keep Kylian Mbappé in France. It’s crazy money, but it’s in keeping with the SuperClub Diaries save idea.

Elsewhere in SuperClub Diaries…

England

Chelsea’s £53 million signing, Christopher Nkunku, requires knee surgery and is out until at least December 2023. Liverpool finally refresh their midfielder with the signings of Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai from Brighton and Leipzig respectively. Reigning English and Champions League winners Manchester City have had a relatively quiet transfer window with £100m being spent on Mateo Kovacic and Croatian defender Josko Gvardiol. A change in goalkeeping style is on the cards at Manchester United as they replace David De Gea with Champions League finalist Andre Onana.

Germany

Bayern Munich edge closer to completing a €100m deal to sign Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane. The England forward is expected to sign a four-year contract making him the most expensive signing in Bundesliga history.

Italy

AC Milan sell Sandro Tonali to Newcastle for €64m and immediately reinvest that money on three players: Christian Pulisic from Chelsea, Samuel Chukwueze from Villarreal and Tunus Musah from Valencia. Across the San Siro pitch, Inter Milan bring in Benjamin Pavard and Yann Sommer from Bayern Munich for just under €40m. Over in Turin, Leonardo Bonucci leaves Juventus stating “I have decided, after great suffering, to take the path of a lawsuit towards Juventus".

Spain

Whilst Diego Simeone looks to extend his 12 year stay in the Spanish Capital, Atlético Madrid also welcome back World Cup winner and former player Antoine Griezmann. João Cancelo continues to push for a move from Manchester City to Barcelona, whilst Ilkay Gündoğan has already made the switch on a Free Transfer. Real Madrid complete the marquee signing of Wonderkid Jude Bellingham for €103m.

I hope you have enjoyed this brief insight into how I am starting things tactically at PSG. I am unsure of the regularity of future diary posts…it will likely be whenever there is a sensible pause or moment in-game that merits a post.

Until then, thank you for reading/sharing and caring,

Tony / FM Grasshopper

Football Manager Tactics: 3241 magic in Monterrey #FM24EarlyAccess

October 25, 2023

Hola a todos!

The #FM24EarlyAccess is here, and the excitement ahead of the full release is now at fever pitch. But before I go an embark on my SuperClub Diaries save, I thought I would try out some sweet tactical goodness in Mexico, with CF Monterrey. Firstly, why Mexico? Well, it’s a fairly short Opening/Closing league system with the addition of the newly re-formatted Leagues Cup containing Major League Soccer franchises. There are also no relegations + promotions right now, so it makes sense to manage in this nation for a relatively short period…rather than a long-term save. Secondly, why CF Monterrey?

Squad review

It has been a four-year spell without a trophy for CF Monterrey in real-life, yet there is potential to challenge for honours from the beginning of this save due to some great players being present in the Day 1 squad:

Esteban Andrada - a former Miami Galáctico in an alternate FM Universe. Not sure why, but I love this Goalkeeper. Tall, dependable with old school ‘keeping attributes.
Héctor Moreno - Mexico seems to generate many players with 100+ international caps. Moreno is 6th on the most capped list, with 132 appearances for El Tricolor…he is a classy left-footed Centre-Back who can bring the ball out of defence and pick a good pass.
Sergio Canales, Jesús Corona (‘Tecatito’) and Maximiliano Meza - Three technically gifted players here to build around, all three need to be in the First XI. All three have a decent mix of Flair, Technique and Vision.

There are a number of other players I have grown to like during this short play-through, but the five mentioned above are what drew me towards Monterrey. Here they are in FM24, (please do not mock the lack of club logos/facepacks…I’ve made no efforts to download them so far):

Building the tactic

So, the ideas of fitting the previously mentioned five players all went onto my tactical whiteboard. Here is the first concept of a tactic I had in mind for CF Monterrey:

The arrows crudely drawn by oneself hint at the kind of movement I was looking for, so you can probably guess some of the roles I intend to use. Maybe have a go at guessing before you read on?

4141 to 3241, with Positional Play

Positional Play, in my view at least, is not a new concept. I grew up with people telling me to pass as triangles on the football pitch, overloading a certain part of the pitch when in possession of the ball. Whilst I appreciate Pep Guardiola gets the modern day plaudits for Positional Play, in a lot of ways…it was already in grassroots football years/decades ago OR maybe it has always been in football? In Football Manager 2024 we now see players have a greater awareness of one another, so for the early-access content I wanted to use a few roles that trigger these transitional movements. Based on the previous screenshot I decided to try the below roles:

Libero (Defend) - moving CB to DM
Inverted Full Back (Defend) - moving FB to CB
Mezzala (Attack) - moving CM to AM

You can see clearly how the first couple of transitions work, the Inverted Full Back will slot in to the space vacated by the Libero (who forms a double pivot with my Deep Lying Playmaker). The final transition of the left sided Mezzala movement is not a new one, however the way Football Manager sees the players around him react to that movement has been tweaked. So, that means any wide player stays that little bit wider (to allow the Mezzala full occupancy of the half-space) and the Attacking Midfielder moving to the right slightly. Remember: FM24’s Positional Play is as much about the shifting of a role (e.g. an Attacking Midfielder) around a transitional role (e.g. Mezzala), than it is of the latter moving into certain spaces. I think it is important to bold this particular point, because I have seen a bit of confusion around the content creator community thinking Positional Play is the movement of certain roles themselves, which have largely always been there (think: Deep Lying Forward and Central Midfielder on Attack for example), nor is it the Enganche moving out wide under all conditions for example, rather it is the Positional Play from other roles forcing it to happen as a rotation.

Because Football Manager 2024’s user interface does not show you a general in possession shape, I made one myself (see below). In the far left image I have a stripped back 2D Classic view of the pitch in the various zones, which FMers on the forums from yesteryear sometime like to call strata. The middle is out of possession, i.e. the tactic that you see on FM24 and the far right is the general spaces the roles like to move into. I appreciate I have not yet shown you the actual roles in their entirety, nor the Team Instructions…that comes next:

There is a part of me that doesn’t sit well with showing an ‘in possession’ graphic, as there are so many subtleties that dictate the precise location of a player on the pitch at any one time. But that’s their general locations from the general patterns of play I see from an Opening Stage play-through with CF Monterrey. Below is how the wider tactic looks in FM24. Note - I’m not usually one for asymmetrical tactics as I feel the AI doesn’t cope to well against them, but the DLP-S is there for the progressive balls to Winger but also a nice cross-field switch is on for the attacking Mezzala. Anyway, all tactics are asymmetrical once we’re in possession…so I’m cool with it. Here’s how we set up:

As always, I’ve evolved the tactic…accepting that I never get it exactly how I want it right from the start.

Mentality - I’ve either been on Balanced or Positive in this save. Balanced is when I want to show slightly less urgency, usually when in control of the game already.

In Possession - I’ve always made sure CF Monterrey have been a team that play out of the back. It suits the skillset of the Centre-Backs and Inverted Full-Backs that are also capable of playing centrally. There were times I changed our approach play though, removing Work Ball Into Box when switching Deep Lying Forward to Advanced Forward. During this switch, I would also usually remove the lower tempo…increasing the chance of the Advanced Forward getting a forward ball sooner. Low crosses is also something I added to the tactic too, and for obvious reasons: we’re not overly tall or physical upfront, but rather quick and nimble.

In Transition - I think I also kept these the same across all games. But I did ask the Goalkeeper to slow down distribution during some gut wrenching Opening Stage Finals (more on this later).

Out Of Possession - The only change here is when I noticed long kicks from opposition goalkeepers reaching my Centre-Backs and beyond. One goal is the line in the sand for me to switch and drop lines deeper towards my own goal.

Player Role changes - the eagle eyed readers may have noticed that Jesús Corona was very advanced in my tactical whiteboard drawing in the Attacking Midfielder zone. I moved him down to the Central Midfield zone part-way through the season and he was on the ball a lot more as a result, which is what you want for somebody with Dribbling 18, Flair 18, Technique 17 and Vision 16! The move was justified, as he has topped our Dribbles statistic with 5.33 per 90 over the course of this Opening Stage campaign.

Now I should probably show you some goal highlights, and to do that I will do it in Loom - a video capture software that also allows me to to talk to you…

As for other bits:

I used default set pieces, except tweaked Defensive corner routines to help with counters - whereby two players are left upfield to break forward if given the chance. Surprisingly, I was amazed my Assistant Manager routine had everybody back, which kind of invited the pressure!
No Opposition Instructions used. Not against them, I just feel I did not need to mico-manage this.
Only two Player Instructions used: Defensive Winger set to run wide with the ball (stretch the play) and attacking Winger told to cut inside with the ball (overload central areas).

Magic in Monterrey

If you got this far into the blog, I’m guessing you want to know how it all went in the Opening Stage with CF Monterrey? Today is your lucky day…

Leagues Cup

The revamped Leagues Cup now contains all clubs from MLS and Liga MX and it offers a unique experience in FM by seeing two leagues go up against one another - dare I say it’s relatively unknown to FMers right now? It starts with 15 groups of three clubs, before 1st and 2nd places are then placed into four regions (Central, East, South and West) where it becomes a knockout tournament with Quarter, Semi and Final games. The four winners of these regional finals then enter the ‘Semi Final play-offs’. Here’s how we did:

Seeing that the Board only ever wanted us to be competitive, we surpassed expectations by making it to the regional final…losing on penalties to Tigres at home. Pretty devastated with that, but the main focus was on the Opening Stage domestically…

Opening Stage

One thing I struggled to do in the early access save was manage the fitness of certain players as we played every 3 days with Leagues Cup overlapping into the Opening Stage. Simply put, I probably needed an extra player or two during this run but I turned off the opening Transfer Window (damn). Once we only had the Opening Stage to focus on, the run was strong: 12 games unbeaten to finish the season in 3rd.

You can see that some little tactical tweaks from concept to finished tactic worked with the unbeaten run.

Opening Stage Finals

The Opening Stage Finals were a good reminder of the ‘h’ in FM-exico to grant the higher seed passage in the event of a draw. We made good use of that as Santos Laguna gave us a really good two ties.

Seeing as Pachuca were our first defeat of the save in the Liga MX tie, I was keen to dial in a bit more and make some pragmatic changes. I decide to use the Focus Play Towards The Left vs Pachuca, because I suspected that they would play with IWB and an advanced Winger at AMR (based from Scout Report). With Canales returning from injury, it could be a good area of the pitch for us to exploit. So it proved too, with a healthy 5-2 aggregate score to take us into the final.

So, the Opening Stage Final: 3rd meets 8th. It’s classic Latin American goodness that I have come to love, whereby the league finish is really just a footnote. Bring your A Game when it matters, and you will do well my son. This is what Monterrey, and much to my surprise, actually did. With a depleted and tired squad, we had to show our mettle against a difficult Atlas side who had hit form when it mattered. Despite having five Moneterrey players in the match day squad needing a rest for the 2nd leg, we went to Atlas and won 2-0 (after drawing our home leg 1-1). It is time to celebrate the first trophy of FM24…

Too boring/long/short; did not read? I used three tactical roles that trigger Positional Play rotations: Inverted Full Back, Libero and Mezzala. We transitioned from a lop-sided 4141 of sorts to a 3241 in possession. Whilst we did not win the Leagues Cup, we managed to finish 3rd in the Liga MX and won the thing outright by progressing to the Opening Stage Final: beating Atlas 3-1 on aggregate. Gracias por todo, CF Monterrey.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you continue to enjoy the FM24 Early Access.

Tony / FM Grasshopper

SuperClub Diaries (Vol. 1) - Announcement #FM24

September 15, 2023

Super Clubs

Most journeyman saves, or saves in general, that I see documented on blogs or on YouTube tend to follow the pattern of starting from the bottom before working upwards to the top. My Ceuta save is a quintessential example of that. The elite clubs are instead often reserved for short stints during the beta period of the FM cycle. But for most of 2023, I’ve had super clubs on my mind.

I have taken special interest in the absurd events over at Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Bayern Munich, where it would seem that a league title win is not enough to clear the air of contempt and fan frustration surrounding both clubs. Simply put, winning most games in a campaign does not necessarily mean a Head Coach meets the expected minimum level of performance…super clubs appear to demand two things: (1) winning in style and (2) the ultimate prize: the UEFA Champions League (UCL). Something both clubs failed to do, who duly made wholesale backroom staff changes in the Summer of 2023.

Speaking of the UCL, along with the super club mentality comes a feeling of superiority and that was best demonstrated with the 2021 European Super League. The aforementioned clubs of PSG and Bayern are not guilty of that, but eleven other heavyweights* decided that they would be better served in a breakaway European league, void of relegation and a guarantee of competition profits through a sizeable percentage of income each year.

You are right to think that all of this can be a turn off from wanting to manage a super club in FM, as they often act like spoiled brats. But maybe there is an FM save here by behaving like a super club? It’s something I never really do, usually players in my FM saves are carefully recruited with the aim to get as much out of the budget as possible. A super club would, and absolutely should, be in the moment of building an elite XI each year, with the aim to win it all. I think that’s where my save idea begins…

*and Tottenham.

The save premise

A journeyman at the upper echelons of European football with ten of the twelve founding members of the European Super League, with Bayern and PSG replacing North London (because it’s stupid to call Arsenal and Tottenham ‘super clubs’ when they have not won a league title for so long). Here is a map of the clubs I can manage:

The 12 clubs I can manage in SuperClub Diaries.

I am not going to be too strict on when I move on in the save, a lot of it is down to circumstance and chance, but I will begin my FM24 journey with Paris Saint Germain, and I will explain my reasoning shortly. But the overall aim is to win as many UCLs as possible, with more than just one club and certainly more than Carlo Ancelotti’s four winning manager medals.

Why Paris Saint-Germain in FM24?

Choosing Paris Saint-Germain may seem like no real challenge at all, but there is work to do ensuring their 2023 Summer rebuild integrates smoothly. The Parisian club also have the added complication of Ligue Un dropping to 7th in the UEFA rankings and the threat of Saudi Arabian clubs now competing for the World’s best talents. Paris needs to rediscover their attractiveness once again, and move away from the shitshow of the last 12 months where, despite winning a record breaking 11th Ligue Un title, many adverse things have happened:

So, within each super club during “SuperClub Diaries” I plan to have some club specific aims. For PSG I would continue the policy of signing the very best players, but alternatively they have been criticised for having let such good talent leave their academy. I therefore plan to bring some of the best ones back again to Paris. Here’s a fairly long list of the talent that has recently left the academy:

Adrien Rabiot (Juventus)
Alphonse Areola (West Ham)
Arnaud Kalimuendo (Stade Rennais)
Boubakary Soumare (Sevilla FC on loan from Leicester City)
Christopher Nkunku (Chelsea)
El Chadaille Bitshuiabu (RB Leipzig)
Ferland Mendy (Real Madrid)
Jonathan Ikone (Fiorentina)
Junior Dina Ebimbe (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Kingsley Coman (FC Bayern)
Matteo Guendouzi (Lazio on loan from Olympique de Marseille)
Mike Maignan (AC Milan)
Mohamed-Ali Cho (Real Sociedad)
Moussa Dembele (Al Ettifaq)
Moussa Diaby (Aston Villa)
Odsonne Edouard (Crystal Palace)
Sekou Mara (Southampton)
Tanguy Nianzou (Sevilla FC)
Timothy Weah (Juventus)
Xavi Simons (RBLeipzig on loan from PSG)
Yacine Adli (AC Milan)

Can I tempt some of the better ones above and bring them home? Can I then form a predominantly homegrown UCL winning side, think Ajax 1995 but Parisian? After all, ici c’est Paris! If any of the above interests you, be sure to check back later in the year, where I’ll begin the save and subsequent diaries here on ☕️🏠 FM.

Thank you for reading/sharing and caring,

Tony / FM Grasshopper