Hey, I’ve been reading your tactical write ups for a while them and have found them incredibly useful for learning about Football Manager and effective ways to play. I have implemented a lot of your tactics and principles, like the use of support duties and positive mentality for balance. with teams further down the table and have gotten fairly inconsistent results. Just wondering if you think whether this approach is an effective way to play with “underdog” teams or could it be tweaked in some way to be more effective for them. Or would it just be more useful to attempt a different approach altogether?
Thank you for your kind words & support; I am very happy to hear you are enjoying reading and finding it useful!
The answer to your question on underdog teams is that it depends. Of course, underdog teams can vary massively, as can your intentions and preferences.
That being said, as I mentioned in the post, 3-4-2-1 can be a very nice shape for underdog teams who wish to implement positional play due to the simple transition between 3-2-5 in attack and 5-2-3 in defence.
You can tweak further depending on the ability of your squad:
- A balanced mentality can be easier for players to adapt to
- You may need to adjust the build-up/passing if your team cannot yet play from the back or dominate possession
- You may also reduce pressing should the players not be fit enough
Lower teams are also more likely to have a standout player - rather than bigger teams where everybody is a standout player - in which case a Balanced team mentality and Attacking individual duty can give them the freedom to work their magic a bit.
Thanks for the reply, that is very helpful. Just another quick question, what are your thoughts on using be more disciplined, or do you think the instruction restricts players too much?
I actually think more disciplined/creative are mostly for our own internal narratives about how we want the team to play and feel. I rarely notice any tangible difference within the match engine itself so wouldn't over-think it.
Hey, I’ve been reading your tactical write ups for a while them and have found them incredibly useful for learning about Football Manager and effective ways to play. I have implemented a lot of your tactics and principles, like the use of support duties and positive mentality for balance. with teams further down the table and have gotten fairly inconsistent results. Just wondering if you think whether this approach is an effective way to play with “underdog” teams or could it be tweaked in some way to be more effective for them. Or would it just be more useful to attempt a different approach altogether?
Thank you for your kind words & support; I am very happy to hear you are enjoying reading and finding it useful!
The answer to your question on underdog teams is that it depends. Of course, underdog teams can vary massively, as can your intentions and preferences.
That being said, as I mentioned in the post, 3-4-2-1 can be a very nice shape for underdog teams who wish to implement positional play due to the simple transition between 3-2-5 in attack and 5-2-3 in defence.
You can tweak further depending on the ability of your squad:
- A balanced mentality can be easier for players to adapt to
- You may need to adjust the build-up/passing if your team cannot yet play from the back or dominate possession
- You may also reduce pressing should the players not be fit enough
Lower teams are also more likely to have a standout player - rather than bigger teams where everybody is a standout player - in which case a Balanced team mentality and Attacking individual duty can give them the freedom to work their magic a bit.
Hope that helps & best of luck!
Thanks for the reply, that is very helpful. Just another quick question, what are your thoughts on using be more disciplined, or do you think the instruction restricts players too much?
You're welcome, mate.
I actually think more disciplined/creative are mostly for our own internal narratives about how we want the team to play and feel. I rarely notice any tangible difference within the match engine itself so wouldn't over-think it.
It mostly comes down to the players themselves.