my FM thread

[yoyo913]

I wanted to start one of these things since I go through FM phases where I get into various games.

Right now I'm playing first season as Villarreal. I personally am most comfortable with the 442 and I played a game with Real in 2010 where I was successful and wanted to give it a try with FM2012.

Villareal were a great choice for me because they have some great fits for that formation. Rossi as deep lying forward, Nilmar as advanced forward. Borja Valero has great playmaking attributes, and is probably top 10 in the game at it. Senna can play DM. Villareal also have decent centre backs. I like to play with a Stopper/Cover and Zapata is a great cover. The only weak parts are the wingers and full backs but its fun buying to fill in the gaps.

So far I just brought in Osorio, an experienced Mexican international. He can play right or left back and for my tactic I need someone to support play, make nice decisions and passing and he is good for that. I also bought a fast left winger from France, Tabanou, who is good at dribbling, crossing and is decent at defending. Although he isn't world class he is what I'm looking for in my wingers.

In the winter transfer I'm bringing in 2 former players who will help with the homegrown rules (and I'll be selling 2 back-up players in their positions). I already bought a young left back option to come in January. He is Anita from Ajax and he is what I'm looking for in that position as described with Osorio, his only weakness is height. Also I arranged for a Brazilian from Cruzeiro to come in by the name of Wallyson. I'll try to see how he does as my right winger. He can also back-up both striker positions. The deep-lying forward often gets a lot of space to dribble past the defenders so he might do well there. I was able to get him for just $1.5 mil.

What I'm trying differently in this game is to buy players that I think are right tactically but not necessarily have the most stars. Because we all know if you buy highly rated players you are almost certain to succeed but in this game I want to keep it more realistic and not so easy on my-self. I am a bit of a hypocrite though because Nilmar and Rossi, my highest rated players, can take over games and win them for me with their skills. For the first time I'll also try to be cheap to limit my-self. Normally I like paying a lot for really great players but this time I'll try to go with the cheapest options possible. The Spain rule of only 3 non-EU players will also be a fun challenge.

Unlike my fm2010 game with Real this time I have 2 back-up tactics that might come in handy.

The 4-3-3 is a more attacking tactic and it's also useful against certain formation. It was successful against Athletic's flat 3-4-3 because it exploited the wings. The 3rd tactic is a defensive one.

So far I'm doing well in the league, squad morale is high which is huge. In CL I'm also doing good.

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I noticed some things I like about FM12. Team Talks are much easier to understand. I like the fact that you can see what different coaches would say during team talks. And the description of how the player is feeling ( playing well/looks complacent/is having a bad game) is the main key now in my substitution selection and I feel that improves my success a lot.

 

[Mandieta6]

Looks good, I like that you're more of a purist and use the old tactics. Also think it's interesting that you took a passing team like Villareal and switched them to 4-4-2.

 

[yoyo913]

I noticed that what I like about the 442 is that it stretches out the field and allows for a lot of 1 on 1s and space. The downside is not having a DM in-between midfield and defence. The cover on the wings is good because the LM/RM can help out.

I was just thinking..it would have been nice if Villarreal would have kept Cazorla because he could have been a long-term winger. . I was close to selling Cani because he isn't the typical right midfielder but he has been playing good.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

I don't agree myself, but a lot of smart people agree with you on the 442. Sacchi's Milan played one.

 

[Filipower]

Arrows!

I always admire those wicked formations, I always seem to rely on symmetry. Good luck!

 

[Mandieta6]

Same here. I only just started using assymetrical roles.

 

[yoyo913]

I decided to convert my classic to a tactics creator tactic and this is what it looks like: (with some minor tweaks)

This allows the mentality, passing, forward runs and run with ball to stay close to the same but will change some of the other settings which will hopefully improves my defence.

I'm almost done the season, I have 5 matches left and am 4 points ahead of 4th spot.. I lost to all teams that were better than me but am still holding onto 3rd. I lost to Barca (drew them in the 5th round of the cup too), Madrid in the league and City in the first round of the knockout CL stage (which I was unfortunate because I got first place in my group and drew a hard team). My team is pretty consistent and reliable which I like. I have very few draws, a few loses and a lot of wins scrapped by 1 goal.

I learned a few things this season... the players I bought were way too average and not special enough. I felt their attributes were right for their position but you really need someone with higher star ratings to be a game changer. So I'm going to try to only buy players with ability (or potential) of 3.5 stars or more.

Tabanou was a good buy this year and Ortigoza who I brought in the winter.

Also I'm excited to try a new squad rotation style. Before I would rotate to share minutes and keep players fresh but now I'm going to remove players based on previous match's ratings. If their replacement does bad they will get a chance to be inserted into the team again but if they do well they get to keep the spot in the team for consecutive matches (unless injury and fatigue occurs).

Another thing is that I've become a big fan of is Hard Tackling, it makes your team basically better, the downside of course if fouls given. If they get a yellow I switch to Easy Tackling.

And most importantly I incorporated 2 screens while watching the match which have improved my performance a lot! I have the player ratings on the left and the team motivation on the right. Team motivation tells you if the player is having a bad game, is losing discipline , is playing with confidence or is fired up. If there's anything negative there I try to substitute the player. If it's positive yet he's performing bad at least I know he's trying, unlike before where I didn't know what the problem was.

 

[yoyo913]

Exciting last game of the season

A tie will do since I won the first match 1-0. And I'm playing at home so losing would be a big fail.



*Oh and one new feature I forgot to talk about is how awesome Team Report is for figuring out squad depth/ability.

 

[yoyo913]

fffuuuuuuuuu

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Star ratings are relative to scout quality and the players already on your team. Buying 3.5 star players doesn't mean anything really.

 

[yoyo913]

It is relative but you can use it to figure out if you are getting better quality players or not.


The olympics came up and Spain needed a U23 manager so I applied and got the job. From past FMs the Olympics might be the easiest international competition if you are a big team because you can crush most opponents. The AI also doesn't do the best job with squad selection and choosing the best 3 delegated players.

I am playing this competition just as some extra fun and I'll be using my 442 (yes a 4-5-1 would be better suited). My 3 over 23 players are Xavi (I want to see him in the central playmaker role since he is the best in the world at it and now I get the chance to use him), Villa (I want a superstar in attack and I chose him over Torres because he probably has better hidden mental stats), and with Pique for some solidarity in defence.

I have Brazil in the group stage, alongside Saudi Arabia and New Zealand who I feel very sorry for.

 

[yoyo913]

Won the Olympics with Spain. Lost 3-0 to Brazil in the 3rd group game but ended up beating them 5-0 in the semis using the same formation. Beat Great Britain in final on penalties.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

The olympics came up and Spain needed a U23 manager so I applied and got the job. From past FMs the Olympics might be the easiest international competition if you are a big team because you can crush most opponents. The AI also doesn't do the best job with squad selection and choosing the best 3 delegated players.

Find that to be different this year, in fact most teams pick unrealistic designated players, such as Iniesta or Rooney.

 

[Mandieta6]

Yeah, I kept seeing very good players in the Olympics, was kind of surprising given that most teams object to having their players go.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Well, not only that, but the Olympics are held during Euro years too, so usually those players are playing all summer.

I played as Spain once too, and got knocked out by Brazil in the Semi Finals. I picked realistic designated players, I think like Mata, Busquets, and someone else. Brazil picked Pato, Maicon, and Hulk. I nearly **** myself seeing them up against my young and not very good Spanish defense.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Hey uh... yoyo, do you have any tips about using a flat 4-4-2? I'm tired of running a 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 on every game I play and think this could be a fun change. How do you get it working? Play narrow, direct passing? I feel like the CMs can't charge forward, so no AP-As because it will kill your positioning, probably ideally something like BWD-D and DLP-S, and then a Treq or similar as one of the forwards next to a poacher. What else?

 

[yoyo913]

I posted a screenshot of the formation roles I use a few posts up (on the 17th). I originally created the formation with classic but I then created one with roles that roughly follow the same forward run/ run with ball/ mentality/ passing settings.

For defense I use the full backs on support and a stopper+cover CB partnership (but this can be changed). The wingers are placed more behind than a 4-3-3, giving them more space to run into. In centre mid I have to say that you must have a player with no forward runs instruction (but with good passing) and a playmaker who is also decent at defending. For forwards I would go with a deep lying/ advanced forward combo.

The way I play the 442 initializes attacks from (1)the wings,(2) the forward dropping back, (3)the playmaking CM. If the opponents play very defensive having smart fullbacks also helps.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

I'm actually surprised with the early success I'm having at Fiorentina using a flat 4-4-2, and this is with Montolivo, Jovetic, and Vargas all missing some or all of the games. The key to me seems to be concentrating entirely on defense and defensive positioning. Only then can you think about attack. Narrow and compact 2 banks of 4 are incredibly difficult even for the best sides to break down, and I think for intelligent and quick passing, this is the best I've ever had. Most of my 4-3-3 and varients get goals from players dribbling well, but this tactic seems to utilize spacing very well. I'm really intrigued. Never EVER thought I'd play a flat 4-4-2. I think where I got tripped up initially is that I was asking one of my CMs to play too much of an attacking role. It really seems like there are only 3 combinations: DLP/BWM, DLP/BBM, BWM/BBM, with one on support and one on defense. Anything else is probably a little doomed.

 

[yoyo913]

I think a combo of CMs with run with ball and forward runs on rarely and one with those on sometimes is my preference. I got a little bored with the Vilarreal game because I messed up the transfers and squad rotation. I'm working on an entirely new formation. It is the past Chelsea 433 but roles that I think will be more deadly. I have midfield figured out but haven't figured out the single forward's or full backs best duties. I'll see how it works out and probably post about it later.

I'm probably going to use one of these two tactics in the Luch season.

Oh and about Fiorentina.. Jovetic would be one of my top picks in the world to play the more deeper secondary striker roles. If I remember I was interested in buying him because he's an elite young player not yet with a perennial CL team. I played my player (Rossi) with the Complete Forward Support role. Its set to Run with Ball often, Forward runs sometime and decent passing duties. Vargas is the type of player I like to test buying. I have a preference of buying wingers with good defensive attributes. He can bully the second half of the field and push around weaker opponents. If you look at one of my first posts it has the transfer of Tabanou who is my poor man's version of Vargas. Btw Tabanou has been getting consistent 7s for me.

Gilardino is a classic poacher and goal hunter. Great for partnering Jovetic. In FM12 I noticed its good to have a good dribbler in this role however. In my opinion its half off the ball run chances and half of the chances they have to create themselves.

Montolivo is great for the support CM. He has really good defensive attributes for being such a good passer IMO. In past FMs I found this role deadly however I had Borja Valero in this playmaking role and was one of my most talented players, yet he didn't contribute enough as imagined.

Cassani is good FB, Behrami I would try as Def CM. Cerci is good as back up winger. I just had a quick look at the squad and thought I'd give my take. I haven't figured out Defense too much but if you come up with a good system tell me. I had my wingers with close down rarely and man marking which made them chase down the opposing winger making a run so it was like an extra line of protection of the wings which is a very nice commodity to have. I like having one CB close down quicker just to apply pressure because there's no DM. Figuring out the CMs defense is a little tough too. Ideally I would like to have a Iniesta type in attack with good passing and dribblin but with Gattuso like tracking because this player will make it forward more. The other CM would be perfect as a Busquets who slides in to make up for empty space formed by his teammates. Actually Busquets had nice passing too so he might be perfect for this role haha.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Yeah, I was looking for a team with some young talent with room to grow and someone suggested that I try Fiorentina, and I thought it was a great idea. Then looked through the squad and it seemed born to play 4-4-2, and I didn't have transfer fees in the first season anyway. I think I'll try Jovetic as a CF-S, didn't think of that, but it might work better than Treq, although that is working alright. Gilardino is exactly what you said, he finishes chances that others create, usually Vargas and Jovetic.

Speaking of Vargas, I think the physical monster is the best type of winger in a flat 4-4-2 because he can sit back and play defense too, so Maggio or Dani Alves would be ideal on the right, and then probably Bale or Vargas on the left; another version of this would be Brek Shea for lesser sides.

Sadly, Adem Ljalic doesn't seem to fit in anywhere as a right footed left sided player, but I'll probably be able to retrain him. Anyway, it will be interesting; I'm going to have to tweak it each match more than I thought, I've been dominated my last couple although have escaped with draws.