Possession football

Let's talk about your experiences in FM08 and make the best tactics for possession football.

Give your thought about team and individual orders.

for a start i am using 4-4-2,but i always have problem to create chances,because my players lose ball too easily.
than i thought to play more offensive,and i scored more goals i made more chances,but my defence was too weak.

if you have similar problems ,of some advice, let's talk about that.
this is the chance to upgrade our game

this is a formation that almost sure to give you more goals

-----------------gk------------

-----------dc----dc----dc-------

-----------mc----mc----mc-------

--------amr---------------aml---
---------↓-----------------↓----
--------------fc----fc----------

*this works if you have 3 really good dc which mentality you have to set to defensive in order for them not to go to much forward

you can also use this modulation of the same tactic

-----------------gk------------

-----------dc----dc----dc-------

----------------dmc-------------

-----------mc----mc----mc-------

--------amr---------------aml---
---------↓-----------------↓----
-----------------fc-------------

but than you have to have a really good fc

Whenever I start with a new team, the first thing I do is get rid of the staff members, who are useless and get new ones. I try to reach 7/7 or at least the higher I can in all training attributes. I think it's a good start to get your team training in a good level from the very beginning.

Regarding the tactics, I could write endless words about it. I intend to write some of those in the blogs during the next days. But I could tell you my usual tactics, more like the basic formation.

1-2-3-3-1 screenshot


I used to like the traditional 4-4-2, but lately I prefer offensive or defensive variations of it, depending on which team I play against. For example, when I play with a theoretically weaker team, I go for 1-2-3-3-1. OK it sounds weird, I know lol

1-4-1-1-2-1 screenshot


When I play with stronger teams, it's either 1-4-1-1-2-1 or pure 4-2-4. I noticed that sometimes 4-2-4 you have more possibilities to score lot of goals and get a win, rather than play defensive with counter attacks.

However, I have counter attacks enabled all time and my team instructions can be seen below. Almost all settings are set 1 click before the description changes. So, for example, Time Wasting is set to Mixed, 1 click before Rarely.

Screenshot of team instructions


About the possession, usually I don't check the percentages, but I know most times I lose, the news I get is that even though I had the ball more, I couldn't take advantage of it.

This post is in a very primal form, hopefully I will improve my writing in the next try

just tell me what type of player you use in attack?
Target man or striker ?
you know i play with a financially weak team and i am interested if i can buy player good enough for that position.
but i assume that AMR,AMC and AML are scoring significance amount of goals,too??
and it just happens that i have two real good players at AMR,AML,AMC.
This could be very useful.I must try this formation soon.
thanks

I like managing financially weak teams myself, so when I look out to buy a striker, I try to have 2 options. One fast (and usually not good in headers) with good stats at pace, acceleration, dribbling and technique. And the other one tall and strong with good stats at strength, positioning, heading and jumping.

Of course, when you are looking for strikers, you should also check for good stats at off the ball and finishing, though finishing really doesn't matter so much sometimes.

Usually I choose to play with fast striker, but a strong one is always a good option for substitute.

Good amr, amc and aml usually score a lot, yes, especially if they have good stats at long shots, decisions and determination.

When I say good stats, I mean over 12 :wink

he he
of course.
i am going to try it right now.

I play almost the same tactics as above (1-2-3-3-1)except i play two Central Midfielders instead of a Defensive Mid and an Attacking Mid, although i have one of them set to a Defensive mentality and the other set to an Offensive mentality. I use a fast striker (high finishing, off the ball, speed) and he scores an insane amount of goals.

One of my Wingers is my second highest scorer (he has 16 finishing) and both Wingers have 'Forward Runs' set to 'Often'.

I have every player set to Pass as Short as possible, most games i keep about 75% or more possession. I bought a Sweeper with very good abilities for Defending, but also with a very good Passing attribute. I have the Goalkeeper set to 'Defender Collect' to my Sweeper. He's got the best rating for Passing % in the league.

I have my Wingers and Wingbacks crossing from 'Deep', aiming for my Striker. He's selected as a 'Target Man' although his instructions are to play as a 'Fast Striker'. Set the Team Instructions to 'Use Target Man' and the 'Target Man Run Onto Ball' or 'To Feet' option.
The Wingers and Wingbacks will cross the ball out in front of him every time they cross, making him go one-on-one with the Goalkeeper. This is where a good 'Composure' attribute comes in handy.

about this formation,
well it is very good.
i like this fast attacks and my favorite attacks on flanks.
of course i gave them individual orders as i would like and they are good for now.we'll see in a couple of weeks is this better that my previous formation.

anyway thanks.
if any of you find some good tactics or orders(team,individual) let us know about that.

after all, the purpose of this topic is to upgrade our tactics.

just a note on Random generated players: In my 6th season and using the Genie scout to source some good youngsters. Bought a Brazilian called rislo as DC. Stats were amazing BUT i soon found out that his height was 167cm and weight was 64Kg. Meaning this guy was small and light, Thus he was unable to win headers even with a rating of (18). And like all centre backs i get them to mark tall men at corners (mistake!). Took me 3 games to work out why this guys stats were great but he played WANK! :yes So unlike other FM games this one really does take this into consideration!

possession fotball is quite simple, just make sure you dc's tight mark and the rest of the team are closing down all the time, keep a slow tempo and passing short, i generally use a 4-4-2 with the variation of a dmc and amc depending on whether i am home or away or a weak or strong team, with those being the playmaker. i used to play with a counter attack but find this new method much better, with my juve team creating 20-30 chances a game, often with over 60% on target.

I have tried it with weaker teams also and I am also the nigeria international coach, so with weaker teams it appears to work also.

hope this helps.

well i am using again 4-4-2.
short passing , high tempo , high closing down, deep defense.

they are very good.
i mean, i have the weakest team in the league,but i am satisfied with mid-table pos this season.

so, as i play this game more and more,i realize that it is not possible to create one tactic that would work with every team.That was possible in previous versions of the game(FM05).

now it(tactics) depends on players that you have in team,and with every change in the first eleven, tactics are less effective if that player is different from player that played before him.

by the way, 1-4-1-1-2-1 is great when you play against high quality teams(if you are weak).game can easily end with your win,you just need a good day from AML,AMR,ST.

well i am using again 4-4-2.
short passing , high tempo , high closing down, deep defense.

This is my 1 and only tactic, i just leave it like this throughout the season as it works well, even against bigger teams (unless its a cup final) i just leave it and hope for the best, to much messing around for me! great work btw on the tactics :yes

i just watched my style of play in PES6 and made it on FM.
And it works great.

also 3-5-2 is not bad,but you must have very good defensive players.

most serious football games play at least PES :p
I like porting formations from PES to FM and sometimes it helps me find good unknown players as well (hint hint: Marchisio).
3-5-2 is way too old school :p uk teams used to play by this formation few years ago

well, it is old,but i like it.especially on PES