I’m feeling inspired by #wearethecommunity kicking off and seeing some of the brilliant, positive reactions to something that I believe is going to be massively beneficial to everyone in the FM Community. But also, unusually for me, I wanted to talk tactics.
Now, I set out right at the beginning of writing this blog, that I consider myself useless tactically on Football Manager. I decided I’d much rather leave the in-depth tactical posts to the experts, Cleon or FMAnalysis. However, if you’ve been following the Morton save updates since the beginning, you will know that I made a confession that I was, rather shockingly for some, using a downloaded 4-3-3. The proof is there, I consistently overachieved playing with it:
Season 1, fight relegation, Championship playoffs.
Season 2, mid-table mediocrity, Championship winners.
Season 3, fight relegation, Premiership winners.
Season 4, consolidate, CL group stages and 2nd place finish in the league.
My strikers and wingers have scored 20+ goals in seasons. My playmakers consistently hit huge average rating numbers. My full backs both laid on 10+ assists a season.
Despite making a few tweaks here and there, it’s not my tactic.
So from season 5 in the save, that’s 2019/20, I’ve made an effort to become my own man tactically.
I want my defence to be solid, stay firm, but the full backs can join in with the play further forward if they want to. I always want a player in the defensive midfield position, giving that extra cover when needed. Someone in the centre of the park, with the ability to get up and down the pitch. Players on each flank, getting and staying wide, providing chances. A maverick, playing in front of the main midfield and behind the striker, with the ability to unlock defences at his own free will. And a focal point, the main man, the lone striker.
This is the output of those thoughts.
Asymmetry at it’s finest. These are my lop-sided 4-1-2-2-1 formations. I always know how I want my teams to play in my head, but getting that across in FM terms has always been Achilles heel.
I like my teams to control the play, have possession of the ball, but not for possessions sake. Just like FM keeps asking me, and just like I keep telling them, if we’ve got the ball, we’re not going to concede.
Like I said, I like wide players. I appreciate a narrow formation, but ultimately, I’m not a fan. I love it when a winger gets the ball and just runs at the opposition defence, but there’s got to be an end product. I’m very much a manager that chooses his players based on form, I believe I’ve got the players at my disposal so that one week I can play the formation on the left with the left sided wide man being further forward, and if that doesn’t come off, the next week I can switch to the right side playing further forward. One thing I don’t like is that the ‘cross from byline’ instruction is pre-set for a winger. I said I want my wide men to run the defence and have an end product, yes this sounds like running to their hearts content and then crossing it, but if the cross is on from deep, then I want them to play that ball and get it in the box.
Whichever variation I play, the side in which the winger is pushed forward also includes a slightly more advanced role for the full back on that side too. Now I’m sure I’ve seen somewhere before, but this isn’t really the done thing to do. Normally you’d have on one side, an attacking role for a winger coupled with a more defensive role for the full back, and on the opposite side, you would have a more attacking role for a full back coupled with a more defensive role for a winger. I might be completely making that up, but that’s how I’ve always set my teams up. The change here is that I want my full back to move into that vast space vacated by the winger playing further forward as default. He can get up to support the attacking play, and provide an extra outlet for crosses.
One of the issues I had was with the centre forward. I often found because of the role selected, complete forward on a support duty, that he could be isolated at times. I’ve tried to remedy that here with an amended role for the front man, advanced forward, and by advancing a midfielder into a role behind the lone striker. I’m looking for them to work closely together to be our main outlets for goals.
Here’s the stats from the game and the key thing I notice here is, what I’ve been banging on about. Possession but not for possessions sake. 56% of the ball, but a higher number of shots, a good shots on target ratio and a good number of chances created, whether they’re clear cut or half as the game distinguishes them.
Like I mentioned previously, I’m not the most tactically minded person there is. I don’t think this is the perfect system, but I just wanted to introduce it to you today, as I’m actually really pleased with it. When you create your own tactic, and you gain results like the one I detailed, it’s the reason why we all play Football Manager.