I sympathise with you. I have been also having difficulty finding a decent tactic playing West Ham. By 'decent' I don't mean some trick tactic that fools the engine and lets you regularly beat top teams 4-0, I just mean something that is stable and usually produces something close to an expected result.
In my experiences so far 4-5-1 or 4-1-2-2-1 just don't work any more. In FM12 (I didn't play FM13) they were viable but DMC seems useless in FM14. Also none of the narrow tactics I have tried really work that well either ; narrow 4-1-2-1-2 and 4-2-3-1 control and slow possession bore you to death.
The closest I have come to finding something that works ok for a team that isn't one of the top 6 are these two......
Attacking/Fluid 4-2-4 FullBacks/Support, DC/Defend, BBM/S, DLP/D, AMLWinger/Attack, AMRWinger/Attack, Advanced Forward/Attack or any of TM, DLF, DefForward that suit your striker.
Team - play wider, higher tempo, exploit flanks, hassle opponents, more direct passing, get stuck in
Players - GK distribute to defender, Wingers cross from byline, play wider
It's fun to watch and you usually score more than you concede. It can beat top teams on a good day at home. But you will concede goals and sometimes you get slaughtered even by lesser teams if you don't play well.
Control/Rigid 4-2-3-1 WingBacks/Auto, DC/Defend, BBM/S, DLP/S, AMLDefensiveWinger/Support, AMRDefensiveWinger/Support, Enganche/Attack, DefensiveForward/Support
Team - more disciplined, stick to position, get stuck in, hassle, retain possession, play out of defence
Players - GK distribute to defender
I found this somewhere on the net as a Juventus tactic and it works good especially if you have an Enganche who has good finishing and a big strong striker. It seems to cut out a lot of the threat from the wings as your wingers track back more to help the defence. I played a whole season with it and came 7th as West Ham in 1st season which is pretty good as the team is really only a bottom mid-table quality. I usually won the games I was expected to win (or at least drew) and I only got totally slaughtered once.
Oh, finally, always use 'get stuck in' on FM14 for teams outside the top 6. It doesn't seem to make much difference to the cards you get and without it your team are pushovers.
In my experiences so far 4-5-1 or 4-1-2-2-1 just don't work any more. In FM12 (I didn't play FM13) they were viable but DMC seems useless in FM14. Also none of the narrow tactics I have tried really work that well either ; narrow 4-1-2-1-2 and 4-2-3-1 control and slow possession bore you to death.
The closest I have come to finding something that works ok for a team that isn't one of the top 6 are these two......
Attacking/Fluid 4-2-4 FullBacks/Support, DC/Defend, BBM/S, DLP/D, AMLWinger/Attack, AMRWinger/Attack, Advanced Forward/Attack or any of TM, DLF, DefForward that suit your striker.
Team - play wider, higher tempo, exploit flanks, hassle opponents, more direct passing, get stuck in
Players - GK distribute to defender, Wingers cross from byline, play wider
It's fun to watch and you usually score more than you concede. It can beat top teams on a good day at home. But you will concede goals and sometimes you get slaughtered even by lesser teams if you don't play well.
Control/Rigid 4-2-3-1 WingBacks/Auto, DC/Defend, BBM/S, DLP/S, AMLDefensiveWinger/Support, AMRDefensiveWinger/Support, Enganche/Attack, DefensiveForward/Support
Team - more disciplined, stick to position, get stuck in, hassle, retain possession, play out of defence
Players - GK distribute to defender
I found this somewhere on the net as a Juventus tactic and it works good especially if you have an Enganche who has good finishing and a big strong striker. It seems to cut out a lot of the threat from the wings as your wingers track back more to help the defence. I played a whole season with it and came 7th as West Ham in 1st season which is pretty good as the team is really only a bottom mid-table quality. I usually won the games I was expected to win (or at least drew) and I only got totally slaughtered once.
Oh, finally, always use 'get stuck in' on FM14 for teams outside the top 6. It doesn't seem to make much difference to the cards you get and without it your team are pushovers.
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