It seems like we are not going to get a patch 18.3 huh!! - yea that'my opinion - while the graphics have improved slightly - very slightly!!! - I feel their are a number of things that really needs fixing or improved - to be honest I mean improved/fixing without payment - I feel I have overpayed for an older version of the game for several years - I still don't see anything remarkably new and addictive in terms of animations - If I do have an amazing player that has flair and can dribble I want it to be visualized - same goes for the intelligent kind that often would trick the opponents by making fake shots etc - I see none of that - I can go on and on to be honest - this game has become some kind of different robotic compared to the past - but robotic is all the same - so in other words the change is different - but all the same - like watching a movie from the 1980's remade for the young and innocent crowd of the 2018 - Fail Blog!!!
Tactic time - If you read this I recommend you reading the ppm section of this post - I find that important for the tactic as a defining moment where everything comes together
This tactic has been developed with the idea - possession - I'm not stating that this is a 70% possession tactic - but lets talk about possession for a moment - real life compared to fm is extremely different - where real life is measured in percentage - of passes completed - fm is measured in percentage - time on the ball - so as you can see that's is very different from real life - while you can have 700 passes completed in fm - you can still end up with a low percentage in the late 50's or beginning of the 60's percent - in real life that might transform your percentage to 70-80 percent possession on the ball - well doesn't matter - in the end it is what they do with the ball when on it
I see different percentage numbers in this tactic - it varies - a lot of different factors are playing here - players and their attributes - ppm's - roles - the opponent and their players and their attributes and their ppm's & roles - a huge bunch to consider and I haven't even mentioned half of it - this was like 10 percent of what should be mentioned.
Anyway the tactic is based on another idea - keeping it simple by not throwing in 1000's of instructions in their for TI's or PI's - infact I kept it to 5 TI's and almost Zero PI's - GK had a couple of PI's for the sake of distribution and possession - This kind of tactic creation is keeping it simple + it won't overcomplicate what the players needs to do. They do it well.
The central defence made up of 3 - you've seen it many times this year I reckon - I prefer them to be quick or average quick - the central defender I always like to be a tall man 190+ centimeters - if they all 3 can be tall and strong I like that - but I consider decisions and concentration very important too - anticipation is ofcourse always a great attribute for them - strenght tackling positioning I always look for.
DLP-Support - well this might sound funny - but I look for dlp attributes the ppms will define him later in this post.
CM-Support - I tend to look for a complete midfielder like Grujic or Elneny
AP-Support - Once again I look for an AP type - often a possession player like the DLP - can be a Grujic type as well a more complete midfielder can play in this role for sure.
CWB-Attack - this part I played for a while with normal FB's/WB's in the CWB role - however now I have changed all that - I want two CWB's who can act like a winger - dribble - offball - crosses - workrate - stamina - quickness (acceleration-Pace-Agility) - and fairly acceptable defensive attributes tackling positioning 7-8+ - It often ends up with retraining a winger - I currently own Onomah who I try to retrain - in the other side I got a Real Madrid player Fran Garcia - you can take a look at these two to get more insight.
Strikers/AF's - This really depends on who I got available or sign - I have used two lightning quick strikers in the past - now I'm using 1 lightning quick one tall and strong and average quick - you can also have two of those - works great - their are no rules - I do spend some time looking at their teamwork attribute - if one has it and the other don't it makes more sense to me that the one without should have more selfish oriented ppm's and vice versa with the one with a lot of teamwork - its a personal judgement thingy.
What you will see on the pitch really depends on the players you have available - what kind of attributes they have - what ppm's they possess
For a style like this to work optimally though I would recommend that your midfielders have good core attributes in these areas: Technique - passing - composure - decisions - anticipation - teamwork and Visions
Standard Mentality - League Table
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Last season I won the league with 30 points down to no 2 - but as you can see their was no competition - the teams below Brondby 禁用词语ed!! - the year before that they had a perfect season without losses but had a lot more competition from their opponents - They almost beat Bayern Munich on aggregate in the first KO round of Champions league - all that was with a standard mentality and a DLF-Support - If you are more into this calm option - you can easily change to standard.
Attack Mentality - League Table
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This season I wanted to experiment with a more Attacking mentality and to be honest I'm liking it a lot - I feel its more smooth and look better for my players - I can add that we've beaten Valencia away from home 2-1 - Drew Juventus at home sadly - Both my youth team and Reserves team - which is made up of teenagers are killing both leagues - scoring lots of goals - Its not rare to see them score 9 goals in a match - that's for me another indicator of a solid tactic when these teams starts killing it. The attack mentality is also what is used in the release at the very top of this post that you can download.
Training
I recommend getting an assistant manager who has a high man management attribute above anything else
Preseason
Team Cohesion
High Intensity
50%
No rest ticked
Tactics
Train untill fluid minus position & Role - then you change to the inseason recommendation
Inseason
Team Cohesion
High Intensity
50%
Rest Ticked after match
Teamwork
I Imagine their will be questions about the match preparation using teamwork - It helps improve the athmosphere in the locker room - the match cohesion on the pitch grows quicker - it keeps more players more happy even if you holliday between matches - I have normally a quite healthy dynamics section.
Individual Training
3 DC's - Ballplaying defender Schedule +quickness
2 CWB's - Winger's schedule + Offball or Dribbling or CWB Schedule +Crossing or Dribbling
DLP - Dlp Schedule +the weakest attribute
CM-S - Mezzala schedule +stamina or technique or the weakest attribute
AP - Ap schedule +the weakest attribute or composure
AF-Pacy Hitman - Trequartista + quickness or F9+ Quickness
AF-Complete - Complete Forward schedule + quickness or Heading or a weak attribute
PPM's In Order Of Importance
3 DC's - Play no through balls - RWB rarely - Stay back at all times
2 CWB's - Hug line - Knock ball past opponent or RWB often - Get forward whenever possible - Play one two's
DLP - Killer balls - Play one two's - Dictate tempo - Refrain from taking longshots
CM-S - Arrives late in opposition area - shoot with power - dictate tempo - play one two's - (shoot from a distance) - more attacking - get forward whenever possible - get into opposition area - killer balls
AP - Killer balls - One two's - refrain from taking longshots - Dictate tempo - Look for pass rather than attempting to score
AF-Pacy Hitman - Place shots or shoot with power - Get forward whenever possible - Get into opposition area - Beat offside trap - Knock ball past opponent or Run with ball often - Play one two's
AF-Complete - Shoot with power - Tries first time shots - Get into opposition area - Gets forward whenever possible
AF-Creative - Shoot with power - killer balls - Play one two's - Dictate tempo - Arrive late in opposition area - RWB often
Recommendation
Woow - the writing mood is back - its actually not that back - but I just don't wanna deliver a 5 sentence post and then that's it - its like saying go do it with yourself - anyway - I wanna recommend Sparta Prague as a save - The czech rep has year after year a massive intake of youngsters that contain quality within them - I've signed a lot of them more in this fm than ever
Players
Victor Nelsson - Rasmus Nissen - Welliton - Ruud Boymans - Willem Geubels - Dolberg dahh!! - De light dahh!! - Lincoln - and anything cheap that is transfer listed
Hattrick
I don't know if you've heard of this online manager game called Hattrick - well if you haven't its free and can be a fun experience though slower than fm for sure - in my league we are lacking 5 people - so if you are interested you could join us HERE
The End
Well at the moment its not every day I'm available or in the forum at all like I used to - but I still care for the forum and the people in it - so I hope you will try this tactic out and give some feedback in the thread - I encourage you to be patient - be defensive about signing to many players 3-5 for the first 11 is ok - get a decent assman with a high man management attribute - get a good coaching staff - look for young talent from day one in the game - they could represent your team in the future and count as homegrown for your club - make sure if you do sign talented regents that they have a good staff behind them - if not in the youth team then on the 1st team or the reserves team and then let them play youth football while training with the older guys.