Tweaking I
Helpful tweaks for fine-tuning tactics

The tweaking articles are simple collections of small topics that cover several settings and ideas that may help you to fine tune your tactics. These little ideas can be very helpful and, if implemented right, boost the success of your tactics immensely.

Contents

Forward runs
Optimising Foul Ratios
Semi-playmaker and semi-targetmen
Counter attack
Matchday: exploiting weaknesses of the opposition, avoiding own weaknesses

Power of Forward Runs

Forward runs have become even more powerful in FM 07. In previous versions, many tactic designers could not live without massive use of forward and backward arrows. They are still helpful for achieving certain tendencies of movement with or without ball, especially the long arrows on wingers. But since FM 07, forward runs should be the major tactic tweaking tool if you intend to alter the tactical behaviour of your squad in a massive way.

Forward runs result in a completely different tactical interpretation of the player’s role. E.g. a DMC with forward runs rarely will play as an anchorman, always supporting the back four and especially the DCs by staying in close range. A DMC with mixed forward runs will link up much strongly with the build up play and stay much further forward than the defensive line. A DMC with forward runs set to often will tend to act like a very deep lying playmaker.

Setting up the forward runs properly leads to real life setups in every area of your squad. It is crucial for establishing prolific partnerships like a MC/d and MC/a couple or a fast striker/strong striker combo.

You will notice these effects when playing many continental diamond teams or the classical defensive Capello-Real Madrid-4-2-2-2. Without altering the formation you will suddenly notice the ML/R and FBs crossing from your byline.

Altering the FWR settings should be your first measure to change things if a tactic does not work properly and if tweaking a home tactic into an away tactic, even before switching or supported by mentality changes.

Optimising Foul Ratios

Once your base tactic is roughly working, you should have a look at optimising your set pieces to gain many dead ball situations in the opposition half and to concede as few as possible in your own half.

If you have decent attacking players, RWB and HUB will result in numerous opposition fouls close to the penalty area. Holding up the ball with wingers or a fast striker can be used in certain offensive-minded tactics to control your attacking moves. Crosses from byline in an attacking formation can help to gain free kicks from dangerous positions. Crosses set to often don’t reach the penalty area in many cases, but often enough result in gaining a corner.

If you are using high closing down, you should set your players to easy tackling to avoid numerous fouls. If you team still commits too many fouls at dangerous spots, you should consider reducing your closing down a few notches to minimise these.

Semi-playmakers and semi-target men

Playmakers:

Player that you put into your playmaker box will be searched by their teammates more often, even if the playmaker option is not ticked.

This is a good way to introduce a certain preference of passing, without the obvious disadvantages of relying too heavily on a playmaker who might be marked out of the game or having a bad day. Several playmakers can be added to the list to achieve a more even distribution of the ball, but this will of course as well reduce the dominance of one player.

As with using full target men, you will have to monitor the way the ball is distributed in the team and if these settings are really helpful or create a one dimensional play by focussing the passing at the wrong areas of the pitch.

Target men:

The same can be applied to target men. The team even tends to use the set target men supply when you have selected players as target men, but unticked the target men option.

This is very helpful for keeping your attacking options open while enforcing a certain kind of play or when your target man is marked heavily and this results in losing momentum of your play.

Counter Attack

There are two ways to look at it: possession-wise or counter-chances-wise. If you intend to play a possession oriented game, you will certainly select counter attack as a defensive measure and only use it for close home games and for away games where you are less focussed on possession.

However, counter attack can be a strong attacking instrument if you are less focussed on possession and rather want to give up some possession points for creating quick chances on the counter. It is hard to say which approach works best, both have logical pro and contra arguments.

However, if you are facing ultra-timewasting sides, counter attack will not be a measure to break them down in most cases, unless you are lucky and score an early lead. In some cases, counter attack can work well with overloading tactics if you are using quick strikers who always have plenty passing options to their teammates.

So, if you are aiming at possession as first measure to win games, you should restrict counter attack to away games and very difficult home games, while you will implement high closing down settings throughout midfield and attack. If you are aiming at winning most of your games on the counter, you should reduce the closing down to give the opposition some space and fall down to quickly start and attack as soon as you won the ball back.

Match Day

Exploiting weak spots of the opposition

It can be helpful to look at you strikers’ opposition. If the opponents are using different defenders, e.g. small and tall, it can be helpful to play your quick striker against the tall but slow one and vice versa. These tweaks certainly can be helpful, if your tactic is not based on having a certain striker on a certain side. Alternately you could instruct your strikers to swap positions.

If you get a scout report telling you the opposition’s defence is on the slow side, you could look to play your fastest forwards and start with a tactic that uses run to ball TMS or switch your supply to run to ball.

If the report mentions a weakness when dealing with crosses, you could go the opposite route, play strong strikers, set supply to head and crosses to often for all wing players.

If the opposition strikers are no threat in the air, you could play with quick, small defenders and maybe play a higher line if needed.

Avoiding weak spots of your own team

Conversely there may be the same problem in your own defence: Your strong but slow defender has to cover an explosive forward, while the small quick one plays on the side of a strong target man. As long as the opposition does not swap positions, this can be easily solved at cost of your set piece optimisation.

If the opposition is swapping positions, it may be worth an effort to mark specific in such a game, but then you will have to monitor any formation changes of the opposition.

If you are playing on your back foot for 90 minutes, it will not make much sense to play fullbacks with 18 crossing and dribbling but 10 marking and tackling. Choose strong defenders then, especially if the opposition is good in the air.

Generally: if you expect being forced into a defensive game, you should look to choose players that have stronger defensive attributes, if you intend to attack vice versa.

Also it might be worth to look at you players’ character. If you know from scout reports and own experience that certain players love/hate big matches, you should take this into consideration when choosing your team for an important occasion.

Tactical Bible Credits
thegooner, wwfan, Millie, garyh, JP, The Next Diaby. Editor: Millie