FM-Britain - Home Nation Of Football Manager Tactics

DEFENCE Despite the fact that there are four ways to play a diamond formation on FM, the differences between them are few and usually subtle. As a starting point, one thing each of them do have in common is a back four in defence. The defence will generally have more protection in the middle than with a flat 4-4-2, especially […]

Last week Chelsea v Liverpool became the biggest tactical talking point of the season. Liverpool revived the the 3 man defence that Kenny debuted against Stoke. While with the introduction of Torres for £50m Ancellotti was forced to crowbar in El Nino into the side and returned back to his 4-4-2 Diamond which seemed to define his time at AC Milan […]

Last year, I wrote a guide about how to play a simple 4-4-2. One of the major components of that is the back four. In fact, most modern formations build upon four defenders; two full backs and two centre backs. It’s clearly very important to know how to set them up. So - how do you set them up? There […]

The modern full back is quickly becoming one of the most important players on the team sheet, infact even back in the days of Brian Clough, fat ed’ argued that because of the space these players get in the final third thet players could be the most important. I have found that having great full backs in my sides have […]

When we think about modern football trends, we think about the fall of the 4-4-2, the introduction of inverted wingers and the rise of the 4-5-1. But there is one other tactical rise that seems to have been used with caution with by a few of the top managers, many abandoned just as quickly. Roma have executed the 4-6-0 brilliantly, […]

Last time around I showed you the gaping holes in my tactical plan. Against smaller teams, my players were not imposing themselves enough on the game, nor were they able to break through more disciplined defences. What was the solution? Pressure – and lots of it. Tactical Plan v. 3.0 I wanted to stick to the “4-3-3” principal of my […]

So much has been said over the past 6 weeks about the death of the 4-4-2, the rise of the 4-2-3-1 and that England would be better to get rid of a formation that has been a stable of its footballing culture for over 30 years. It is also a discussion that even in modern football at the top it […]