I didn’t play Football Manager 2024 for a while but wanted to get back into it. My FM24 save with Perugia, Dijon and Reading was still among the saved files, and I restarted it. I’m in 2030 and at the start of the new season with Reading FC in the Premier League. I replicated all three tactics I used while I was playing with these three clubs in the past. I didn’t have to continue with 3-5-2/4-4-1-1 or 4-1-3-2. I decided to replicate the tactic I’m currently using with my local town team in the 8th tier.

Intro

It’s not a secret that I love playing with the 3-5-2 formation and its variations. I love playing within the defensive line with three central defenders. And I like to play in this way even if we are playing in the 8th tier (from the 10th). We are just amateurs but I’m lucky enough to have a couple of talented young players around who are intelligent enough to think about what they are doing on and off the pitch and they are not only scrolling through Instagram or any other social media…

I’m playing coach and that means I’m playing where is it needed. When we miss the central defender, I play here. When we have enough central defenders, I prefer to play as a CM. I have been playing for my local town club for 18 years. I consider myself a piece of history with all due respect. I love it here. I met my wife here, we live here together with our kids. But it’s probably my last season because of the many stupid and childish things our club board does.

“That was great, I enjoyed how often I was able to play with the ball and I didn’t have to only defend and mark the opponent. It’s a great change in comparison with a defensive line containing only four defenders.”

I still remember this feedback from my one-year-old teammate after the first match while using the 3-5-2 two years ago. It was also my first match as a playing coach. We survived the last season with just regular 10 players in the squad. The rest was from our U19s team and one or two players from the main team (our A team plays in the 5th tier). Many players had to play in different positions and roles but I think it helped them.

My aim for the new 2024/25 season was to improve our squad with some new local players. It turned out quite well and we have 5 new players. Three of them played for our club already in the youth categories so I brought some good lads back. The return of one player also meant the change in our shape…

From 3-5-2 to 3-4-3

The main change was simple: We had more than one player capable of playing as a winger or inside forward. On the other hand, the new player who should be our team's biggest attacking weapon is attacking-minded, and I can’t imagine playing him as a wing-back. Most of our opponents also have strong and big defenders, so that’s why I want to play simple passing football and only long balls.

I decided to keep the formation with three defenders but we are now using both wing-backs and AMR/L positions.

The biggest change, both in real life and in the game too, is that my team is not using three central midfielders after a long time. This is probably a bigger change and difference than the fact there are now AMR/L players. This needs to be balanced the most.

Central defenders? One calm boy & two bulldogs. Or vice versa?

Two central defenders with the stopper duty and one classic CD(D). That’s my most common and the most favourite combination. I’m lucky to have two clever-aggressive teammates back after a long-term injury so I can use the stopper duty.

The aim is to have the central defender with a “defend” duty and both right and left central defenders with the stopper duty. These two can step up to attack the opponent and they are also able to provide the width as I use “Stay wider” individual instruction for both of them.

I like to swap from CD(St) - CD(D) - CD(St) to CD(D) - CD(St) - CD(D) when the opponent team plays with two strikers and the AM player too. That’s usually the most critical and the most risky because both CD(St) players would be too high to press/attack the opponent and there are too big gaps. Both in real life and in the game.

Two CM(S)

As I mentioned already above, resolving the right balance in the central midfield area is key. The DLP and the CM(S) are my favourite roles. I mentioned it many times during the time I have been writing about the Football Manager. I thought about using the combination of these two roles (in the game) but I decided against it to copy the real-life properly.

It’s safe to say that we are using two CM(S) and they rotate between each other. One CM player is a little bit more creative and he should support the attack more. The second CM players should be a little bit more aggressive and something between the BWM and the DLP.

In real life, both CM(S) (including me) are versatile players and we all have something that we want from CM players. Creativity, out-of-the-ball movement, decisions but also anticipation. That means I set up the CM roles in the way bellow. And they switch positions with each other during the match.

Counters? Yes, please.

I know we can play a quality possession-based football but we also now have some fast (or faster than in the past) players. And I want to take advantage of it. That means, when we have the chance counter, we have to try it.

Just wait for the right time, don’t panic all around the pitch with the pressing.

Be sure all players know where their position is and remain patient. It’s not a Champions League (in our real-life example) and the opponent will make a mistake. They lose the ball, they are not fully concentrated, the pass is misplaced…

It happens even in the game.

(I don’t have a full-length video of our goal from the recent tournament but we got the ball in our own half thanks to the tight marking, speaking to each other and our fastest player took advantage of his quickness after a simple through ball.)

Here are some examples of goals we scored during the season. There are goals from the same match so you can see it can be very straightforward while playing from the back but also a build-up with a lot of passes in the middle of the pitch.

Playing from the back

“What the fuck are you doing? Don’t play with the keeper, he is useless. Kick the ball out!”

“For sure. Should we also kick the ball out while our lone striker is 170cm “tall” and their central defenders are a head bigger? We can also play 4-4-2 and I will try to find two or three players who will get a red card every match…”

We are a small town but the same rule applies here as everywhere else. The smaller the town, the more football coaches are around the pitch/pub. Yes, we conceded a lot of goals because of mistakes we made while playing from the back. But we would probably play in a much higher division if we did not make mistakes. I remember we conceded 15 goals in two friendly matches within a single weekend in the summer of 2023. Two-thirds of them were because 1) we had 16/17 years old defenders, 2) a very shy and uncertain goalkeeper and 3) we were learning.

We played against the same opponents this summer. We drew 1:1 and won 4:2 against them. The squads of our opponents were almost the same as last year. Our squad was a little bit better but not because of the new players. It was mainly about experiences and what we learned throughout the previous season.

“I really liked how you played. You had a simple idea of how to close our playmaker and how to reduce the depth of the pitch. It meant we were not able to create something.” That’s probably the best compliment I received from the opponent in a long way. The fact we won was not important too much. This feedback was great after the second match of that summer tournament.

The main thing is very simple - wide central defenders offer the option at the sides of the penalty area, and both central midfielders have to rotate and find the best possible place to create the simple triangle. It’s only about the movement.

The example from the FM24 can be this one. It’s easy, simple and addictive to watch. The good thing is it happened in the first Premier League round - the learning in the game is much faster than in real life :)

Don’t be affraid…

…to experiment and play football you like just because it’s a lower league. I know very well that we can’t play a complex football like Manchester City or a heavy-metal football like Bayer 04 Leverkusen because we don’t have good enough players for it. But that doesn’t stop me trying my best to ensure we enjoy what we are doing.

I know my 20 years old teammate is not good enough neither as a right FB, WB, MR or AMR. He is always between something. He always miss something. One match he is great as defender, the other week he can’t even head the ball out of the penalty box. But he found how and where to stay while he is defending fast or tall player and he is able to think about it. That’s something I consider as my biggest trophy or medal after two years in this role. They are listening and they are learning.

That’s my win.

I don’t know how the real-life season will end. I will find out next year. But in FM24, I finished 7th in the Premier League. We made it to the Carabao Cup semi-final and we made it to the Europa League final where we lost 2:3 to Chelsea…

The best goalscorer of the team was our IF(A) - James Taylor (click to open his profile) who scored 25 goals in 37 appearances. He also added 9 assists. It would be great if my real-life AMR player would have at least ten goals this season.

A couple of pictures from the 2030/2031 season including Niall Wright (my favourite defender) and Derek O’Brien (my favourite signing during my Reading time so far).

What next? One more season with a new tactic…

Take care.

FM Slack alert!

There were a lot of changes within many social media including Twitter (now “X”) and it’s not the same as in the past. We can’t see many things due to the algorithm, weird preferences and many other reasons I don’t even want to know.

There are many Discord servers and I’m sure they are good and useful. But I will probably always be a bigger fan of Slack. Or better worded the Football Manager Slack. Feel free to join us with this link.

You will find a short channel summary in the ‘generalchat’ so it will be easier for you to navigate through the channels.