Tuesday 29 July 2014

What Does It Do? - Retain Possesion.

By Luke - The Football Manager Addicts and Luke's Stories of An FM Addict


Welcome to the second blog of 'What Does It Do?'! My blog series was set up because I had been getting a growing number of requests to talk about how tactics work on Football Manager and insights into what I'm thinking when I'm making my wacky formations!

Today I'm going to tell you all about how best to deploy the team instruction 'Retain Possiesion'.

It Does Exactly What It Says On The Tin...

 
This may sound blatantly obvious: when you deploy the 'Retain Possesion' instruction your team will look to keep possession of the ball. It doesn't mean they play nice football on the floor: two different things!
 
It's very important you understand that!
 

How Do You Use It?

 
I find that 'Retain Possesion' works best when you have several triangles in your formation.
 
I can see 8 triangles - What about you?


Having triangles in your formation will enable your players more options when passing the ball, like Barcelona. It will give the player in possession two options: rather then one!
 
I find that it is best to use the instruction in a tactic that is either set to 'control' or be 'balanced'; if your team is set to attack and keep the ball it will get confused!
 

The Pro's

 
Of course there are good points to using 'retain possesion', just look at the success's Barcelona have in real life and on your saves they are usually epic!
 
The best thing about the instruction is that your team will have a high share of the possession. Your midfielders will be confident on the ball and if set to 'hassle opponments' if they do lose the ball they should win it back quickly!
 
You will also be in control of a lot of matches.
 

The Con's

 
However there are issues with the instruction:
 
First of all you will get FM'ed (if you believe in that (I don't)). To put it simply you will have games where you'll have all of the ball, all of the shots and completely dominate but lose 1-0 to Stoke but if a game is heading that way you should change your strategy!
 
You may also have an issue scoring. I'm a fan of possession football, I use it a lot, but my teams tend to score very few goals but let even less in! Although I'm a real life 'keeper so it could just be me being defencive!
 
That's all for now I'll be back next Monday at five!

Before I go. If you want to keep up to date with all things AYO, FM Lord Chris and me: go and like or subscirbe to our other ventures!
 



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What Does It Do? - The Traditional 4-4-2.

By Luke - The Football Manager Addicts and Luke's Stories of An FM Addict


Welcome to the second blog of 'What Does It Do?'! My blog series was set up because I had been getting a growing number of requests to talk about how tactics work on Football Manager and insights into what I'm thinking when I'm making my wacky formations!

Anyway, today I'm going to be running through what the traditional 4-4-2 shape will give you on this years edition of Football Manager!

The 'Traditional' 4-4-2.


At least in my mind, the 'Traditional 4-4-2' features the most mundane role's on the game, the players are also set up in three flat banks and there is usually a big striker and a little striker.


Yep, it's boring but the 4-4-2 can be extremely effective!
 
As you can see it is pretty obvious how this tactic plays: the team will not through everyone forward or keep them all back, they will look to get the ball wide and put it into the box where one of the strikers will knock it down to the other and they will smash it home (at least that's the idea!).
 

The Pro's

 
As you can imagine the tactic above is defensively strong, you wont surrender goal's easily. With this formation your team will also play with a lot of width: you will test both the oppositions full-backs (with one-on-ones) and the centre-halves with your crosses.
 
Your goalkeeper and centre-halves will look to distribute the ball long up field: hence your two central midfielders may become isolated. However the do seem to see a lot of the ball because of snappy wall passes and 1-2's. This means that you'll need two solid CM's but they will need a stand out first touch and brilliant passing.
 
Another strong point of this tactic is that it doesn't take long to train up so it is ideal for any quality of team: Bognor Regis or Bayern Munich, it should do the job.
 

The Con's

 
Unfortunately when operating with  this formation you will have less of the ball then usual. This tactic isn't meant to produce Tik-Taka because there are no triangles on the pitch: therefore it's more geared to latitudinal passes up the pitch.
 
Another concern people have with this formation is that the full-backs contribute very little (especially in the January update). On Football Manager wing-backs work significantly better but if you used them in this formation it can upset the balance of your team.
 

Does It Actually Work?

 
Yes, it does actually work (well most of the time!).
 
I tend to find this tactic most effective with teams that play at a low level: I regularly use this tactic on my Gibraltar save and any other lower league saves I do. Although I have had success with it at the highest level too!
 
Here is how I got on with Trojan Horse United against Steve Kean FC!
  
Two very strong teams for the maiden game of Eclipsing Abramovich Division One.

And the hosts prevail! Trojan Horse out done the 4-2-3-1 of Steve Keen FC.

 That's all for now I'll be back next Monday at five!

Before I go. If you want to keep up to date with all things AYO, FM Lord Chris and me: go and like or subscirbe to our other ventures!
 



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Monday 28 July 2014

What Does It Do? - The Libero.

By Luke - The Football Manager Addicts and Luke's Stories of An FM Addict 

 
Welcome to the first ever 'What Does It Do?' blog! Today I'm going to run through what the libero does on Football Manager and how to deploy it to it's best effect!
 

What Does It Give Me?

 
The Libero is one of the most interesting roles on Football Manager and in world football. The role of a Libero is to contribute heavily to both attack and defence. While defending the Libero will drop behind your main defencive line to intercept any through balls or mop anything up that gets past your centre-halves! However, when attacking your Libero will gun forward to give your side an extra attacker! He will look to contribute to counter attacks by driving forward with the ball and then passing it to more advanced players, usually wing back's or wingers!
 
It is very important that you don't get the Libero confused with the Sweeper: they are two very different beasts!
 

But It Does Have Side-Affects...

 
Like everything in this world the Libero has pro's and con's. And it's my duty to tell you about them!
 
There are a few issues with the Libero but none are fatal! The first issue with the retro Italian role is that you will have to sacrifice playing with a flat back line: your Libero will sit behind it!
 
You also have to understand that he will get knackered. He'll be up and down the pitch all game, which will obviously result in him getting tired!
 
The biggest issue with the Libero, for some, is that they are 'ill-dispilined': they aren't they are doing their job! Many people want to have a flat back four with two centre-backs who defend, defend and defend some more: that isn't the idea of a Libero!
 

Who Can Play The Role?

 
When starting a save there are very few players that are able to play in the sweeper or Libero role: so you'll have to train players there!
 
However I've had joy training: Abu Ogogo, Marquinhos, Doria, David Luiz and Will Hughes there!
 
The key with a Libero is that they have good mental stats, have fantastic stamina/natural fitness, have good passing and dribbling stats and are fast! So if you have any players that are defensively minded and fit the bill train them up! 
 

Doria - A player whom you will find at Boftago (Brazil) when you start the game.

Will Hughes - Not your usuall defender but he does the trick!

Possible Tactics

As you can imagine there arent many tactics that I've made that feature a Liberio: the two I have made do work quite well though!
 
Pure Italian - This tactic is out and out attack, the Libero will reek havoc!

My 541 features a more direct playing style.

 I'd recommend you try both of my tactics, both are simple to set up and have worked well for me in the past!
 
No player instructions were used either...

That's all for now I'll be back next Monday at five!

Before I go. If you want to keep up to date with all things AYO, FM Lord Chris and me: go and like or subscirbe to our other ventures!
 
 
 
 
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Sunday 27 July 2014

What Does It Do? - An Inroduction.

By Luke - The Football Manager Addicts and Luke's Stories of An FM Addict

 
Hi all! Before I get cracking with my new blog series I just wanted to give you an outline of what I was doing it!
 
A while back you guys asled me to do more things that will help you guys out with the in's and out's of tactics in the wonderfull world of Football Manager: and that is exactly what I plan to do with my new blog series - What Does It Do? 
 
Each Monday I'll publish a new blog explaing what a specific shape, instructions or role will give to your team: both good and bad!
I'm going to talk about a wide range of topics but if there is anything you want me to cover sharpish let me know and I'll do them sooner rather then later!
 
Before I go. If you want to keep up to date with all things AYO, FM Lord Chris and me: go and like or subscirbe to our other ventures!
 
 
 
 

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