Sports Interactive have long looked to develop a football management game that is as close to reality as it can be. Employing real world tactician Ray Houghton and working with knowledgeable members of the Football Manager community, helping develop the best possible Football Management gaming experience.

With the realistic developments of Football Manager, the game is made easier if we are able to understand the thinking of living professional tacticians and how we can make the transfer from here to Football Manager 2010. The tactics creator has made it so much easier as a starting point, merging footballing terminology with gaming mechanics.

Get to a game

The best place to see the little dots in real life, is from sitting high enough in the stands that you are looking over what look like dots. Watching the game from the stands you can begin to appreciate how different sides play, something that can help you in spotting how your own team plays in FM. For example the different player roles, the shape and formation set up of the team. It might sound obvious, but watching football much less passively has help me in Football Manager, while Football Manager has helped me better analyse and effectively enjoy a real match.

Analysis Tools

Our very own Millie has already been through the uses of ESPN Soccernet in a bid to recreate the tactics of the best teams in the world. But another tool worth noting is Guardian Chalkboard. Just like ESPN soccernet, the chalkboard gives you cold hard facts. These facts can be used to show the effectiveness of your sides or to figure out the roles of such players.

Zonal Marking (credit Crouchaldinho for his recommendation), demonstrates the chalkboard so well and how it can be used to analyse real life tactics. ‘The reason why Arsene Wenger loves Denilson’, shows exactly my point. Analysing the passing effectiveness of the young Brazilian. His role within the attacking movement of Arsenal can often go unnoticed.

The chalkboard shows how often Denilson was used as a bridge between passes, a spare man that will receive the ball and pass it on quickly, his ability just to be there as a linchpin gives Arsenal much more attacking power, he never made any long searching passing, but instead acted as support and kept possession, vital for Wengers way of playing. Looking at his defensive statistics and you will soon learn that he isn’t a player you will want if you are looking to win the ball. As such Song has challenged his position in the team as he offers much more cover stamina and strength for the midfield battle.

Within Football Manager

The usefulness of The Guardian Chalkboard and the way that other people have used it should not go unnoticed and can be used to make us a better Football Manager. Knowing the contextual information in real football and therefore be useful in the game. It is no surprise then that Football Manager offers the same information as chalkboard in its own analysis section.

Future articles will go into more detail about the power of the analysis information available in Football Manager 2010. But making yourself familiar using the feature can give you helpful feedback on where your tactics could be going wrong, or even going right.

For example, with my current Liverpool save game, Kuyt is acting as a defensive forward in order to get the ball back quickly up front which means that I can attack the opposition more quickly and I can dominate possession better. Knowing this I can analyse where Kuyt is winning the ball, but also looking at his attacking qualities, such as crosses or shooting and analysing if his defensive forward role is having any negative affects on his attacking duties or could the other members of the squad help get Kuyt involved more?

At the same time I can look at Lucas who is playing as my ball winning midfielder, he lacks a little in strength for this role but is more the capable doing the job. Taking a look at where in the park he is winning the ball, using the what I have analysed from the match itself together can give me valuable information to see if;

• If Lucas is winning the ball
• Is Lucas positioned well enough combat the opposition attacking threats?

The answer to these questions may vary and so to will the solutions, but it gives me a starting point in where I can discover where my tactics are going wrong and most importantly knowing where they are going right.