FM 2014 TActic: 4-3-3 Offensive

The idea:

You have three strikers, give them the ball and they'll score! This tactic is an offensive tactic, you will create chances without leaking in the defense. The idea is actually to have a solid back four that wins the ball back and quickly provide long-balls for the strikers. Unlike Dutch 4-3-3 which is a possession based tactic this is purelt based on quick long-balls linking defense and atack as soon as possible. In the midfield it's a bit thin, therefor you need your only central midfielder to work hard as if you had two CM.

The core is though in the offensive. Three strikers with different roles gives you many dimensions. For the opposition it's hard to defend in all dimensions. The Target Man uses his aerial ability to start an attack, but if he is marked you have a Deep Lying Forward that can drop and receive the ball. Also you have an Atcking Forward ready to exploit the smallest mistakes by the opposition with his speed and runs behind the defensive lines.

Purple: The Deep Lying Forward is starting the attack from a very deep position.
Red: The two opposition Midfielder are tempted to press the DLF (purple)
Light Blue: Three players starts to run, especially on the flanks that are wide open

Red: The two opposition midfield went forward to press the DLF (Ibarra)
Black: The ball pathway exploiting the huge spae behind the two midfielder (in red)
Light Blue: Players running and exploiting the huge space on the flanks.
Result? Goal :)

Team instruction:

This is as the name suggest a 4-3-3 tactic. In the back four you will have a very ordinary defense, no Wingbacks just Fullbacks. In midfiels you have two on the flank and one box to box CM. In Atack there is one TM one DLF and finally a AF. Tactic is offensive and the fluidity is balanced..

Defensibly you need to win the ball back quickly, therefor you Hassle the opposition, have a high defensive line. With high defensive lines comes offside traps.

Offensively you want to start the offensive ASAP. To do so you cross the ball early, even though the players aren't ready to receive the cross. But you play with float crosses, this will give time for your player to be ready to receive the cross. It's also a high tempo to overwhelm the opposition defense.

Player instruction:

• Goalkeeper:
  Sweeper Keeper - support
  Instr. More Direct Pass, Take Long Kicks
  First of all, with a high defensive line sweeper keeper is a must. Remember Eccentricity is important here, 
• Defender Right/Left:
  Full Back - Defend
  Instr. Mark Tighter, Run Wide With Ball, Ease Off Tackles, More Direct Pass, Cross more often, Cross aim at Target Man
• Central Defender Right/Left:
  Ball playing defender - cover
  Instr. mark tighter, More Direct pass, Ease off Tackles
  They don't do anything stupid. They stay on their feet and keeps a solid defensive line. No risking here!
• Midfielder Right:
  Winger - Support
  Instr. Tackle Harder, Mark Tighter, More Direct Passes, Cross From Depth, Get Further Forward, Stay Wider, Shoot More Often, Cross Aim Target Man
• Midfielder Central:
  Box To Box Midfield - Support
  Instr. More Direct Pass, Close Down More, Tacle Harder, Mark Tighter, Roam From Position, Shoot More Often
• Midfielder Left:
  Wide Midfielder - Attack
  Instr. Mark Tighter, More Direct Passes, Cross From Depth, Stay Wider, Shoot More Often, Cross Aim Target Man
• Striker Central Right: Target Man - Support
  Instr. Mark Tighter, More Direct Passes, Roam From Position, Tackle Harder
• Striker Central:
  Deep Lying Forward - Support
  Instr. Mark Tighter, More Direct Passes, Roam from position
• Striker Central Right:
  Advanced Forward - Attack
  Instr. Mark Tighter, More Direct Passes, Hold Position, Tackle Harder, Move Into Channels

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FM 2014 TACTIC: Defending CORNER

Introduction:

It is one of the hardest part of FM throughout the game series as far as I can remember. This tactic is not a guarantee for keeping clean sheets from corners but more helping your chances. On the other hand this tactic is great to counter attack the opposition. Also you will find that this tactic spreads out the player more than the standard settings which reduce the risk of the ball bouncing into the goal because it's too crowdy.

Instructions & Requirements:

• Mark Far/Near post: Both post needs to be marked, it is important roles but in my opinion any player who are somewhat tall and okay in the air can mark these post. Don't wast your best aerial players for these role! Also as they don't really move a lot it doesn't matter if they have terrible seped stats
• Mark Six Yard Box: For this role you do not need a speedy player, however it is important that the player is competent in the air. Usually a slow Central defender
• Mark Tall Player: This role is the most important. For this role you chose your best defender. This role require he has good Air, Speed, Concentration and Marking stats. Also it's very important he is tall, 1,85 m tall or more.
• Man Mark: Someone with good aerial and defending stats. Especially important is obviously marking.
• Edge of Area: No need to waste a player with good aerial stats for this role. go for the best passer you have, speed and technical stats are a plus. This player is the one that that collects balls heading out and starts counters.
• Stay Forward: Very important role. He needs very good speed and attacking stats. Usually this is a role for a speedy striker.
• Go Back: Three of your player will have this role. It is for all the players left over that didn't get any other role, observe that this does not mean they are the worst in the air, or slowest just that they weren't cut out for the other roles.

Does it work?

At the end it all comes down to the result and Yes, I am confident that it works. Using this tactic I haven't even needed to set Match Training at "Def. Set Piece" and still I get good result. Mostly I'm proud of the number of counter attacks this defending corner tactic provides. Down below is the result from the previous 30 Matches (it's for that long I've been using this defending tactic).

Just to be clear, don't expect miracles. The best way to keep clean sheets on corners is still to have good players and set Match Training to "Def. Set Piece". With that said I don't wan't you to underestimate the benefit from a working corner tactic either.

FM 2014 TACTIC: ATTACKING CORNER

This has been one of the hardest part of Football Manager 2014, how to get a good working corner tactic. I should remind you that a corner tactic and especially this corner tactic is laying importance in whether the corner kick taker is right or left-footed, but if you're luck you'll have a corner kick taker that can play with both his feet :-)

Corner kick taker

Aim?

Aim for the Far post, but just because you aim for the far post doesn't mean you will score goals at the far post. Depending on how elevated the ball is there will be a chance for players to head it along the way to the far post, in fact it is more common to score anywhere but the far post than the far post using this tactic.

Right or Left?

Use you're right footed corner kick taker on the left side. For the left footed use them for corners on the right side. If you are lucky your best corner kick taker can use either feet which makes him a candidate for both right and left side.

What stats should I be looking for in a corner taker?

This is VERY important. There are two very common mistakes when people look for a corner kick taker. The first mistake is some people only look for the corners stat but that isn't the only stat to consider in a corner kick taker. The second common mistake is that people consider a taker based on three stats: corners, crosses and passing. If you don't have a corner tactic where the player needs to either pass or cross then you don't need both. In this tactic you aim for the far post and there is no way you can pass the ball to the far post, you will always need to cross the ball if you aim for the far, therefor the only stats you should be looking for in this corner tactic is corners and crossing.

A corner taker cannot challenge goalkeeper at the same time

When you have a player taking the corner he cannot have another role in your corner tactic. To prevent this problem you can do like this: If your two best corner taker usually plays as ML and MR, the give both ML and MR the role forward or default that way if he is taking the corner there won't be a player missing for an essential role.

Instructions:

• Challenge goalkeeper:Someone with okay physical stats and heading stats.
• Attack far post: Someone with both good speed and heading stats. Often receives the ball after a flick or if the corner is slightly missing it's trajectory, then this guy will be coming with speed towards the ball. 
• Stand on far post: This role requires both good heading and physical stats. It.s usually this player the taker aims for, but most of the time the ball is headed somewhere along the way to this player, but sometimes it actually is this player that heads the ball and in that situation you need someone that is strong and just gets his head on the ball.
• Near post flick on: Here you should only look for good heading stats. This guy sets up good scoring opportunities for his teammates.
• Attack ball from depth: Good speed but only okay heading and finishing stats is required. This guy has somewhat a similar role as the Attack far post guy but the difference is this guy comes to the rescue when the corner has seriously missed it's trajectory.
• Lurk outside area: Put in a player that is good on long shots and passing. This role is important and prevent many counterattacks after a failed corner, besides it happens that this player can shot from long range and score just after the opposition heads it out.
• The rest? 
  Some of them should stay back if needed, some you could just set on default or go forward, you should use go forward or default for the positions your corner takers usually play so that none of the roles above are missing when your taker sets up a corner.

FM 2014 TACTIC: TIKI TAKA

Finally I can begin writing about tactics, first up the tici taca wich is my favourite. Lets begin:

The idea:

Possession, possession and guess what...POSSESSION. Tiki taka is all about possession, but to say you want the possession (meaning having control of the ball) is one thing, to achive it is something else. The idea is that the roles are very free, the players support the ball holder at all times so that he can pass with ease and without risk. The key is to pass in triangles it outpasses the opossition, and the opposition needs to hunt for the ball but will fail to retain it in theory because there are so good passing options.

Eventually the opposition will make a misstake and that is when you hit them. To pass until they make a mistake and then you go for goal that is the attacking idea of my tiki taka tactic.To support this passing ther need to alway be two player available to pass to with ease, to ensure that you need a lot of players involverd in an attack. Therefor you have a very high defense with wing backs comfortable with attacking and three defender very high up in the field means they are always ready to support in case you're player need to pass back but not nececerally fancy a pass too far back.

But how do you defend? The basic idea in defending is If we have the ball, no matter what we do with it at least they can't score and this is fundamental. Keep the ball and they'll find it hard to score but how do we regain the possession, eventually no matter how good you are with passing you will lose the possession now and then.What you do is to have a very high pressure and hassle the opposition players and defen aggressivly, in real world there is a thumb rule called the 3-second rule wich means the defender can only have three seconds with the ball before someone pressure him. In football manager you can't apply the 3-second rule but don't worry. By playing with a high defensive line, hassle defenders, play aggressivly and have tight marking will give them very little time with the ball, that is when they do mistakes and lose the ball, and when they lose the ball they need to hunt for the ball again all over. Besides a high defensive line means you can easily use offside as a powerfull weapon, the opposition almoast needs to start their attack from their half!

In the picture you see my team using tiki taka tactic (Orange jerseys) Jon Flanagan has the ball and look at his passing options, but furthermore look no matter which one of them he'll pass they'll also have great passing options. Also look at the defensive line, they are so high up the field. Here offside is a key element of defending!

Team instruction:

To realise this tactic in fm I use a 5-2-3 tactic but especially in tiki taka the numbers are very missleading. 3 defenders in the back, two offensive wing backs, two central midfielders, two inner forward and a striker. To get this triangle passing play as I described above I use "very fluid" and obviously "control" (after all that's what possession football is all about). The look for overlap is like an instruction just made for this tactic with wingbacks high up the field and inner forwards.

Player instruction:

• Goalkeeper:
  Sweeper Keeper - support
  Instr. Distribute to defenders, pass it shorter
  First of all, with a high defensive line sweeper keeper is a must. Remember originality is important here, Usually you want a sane goalkeeper but yes this time a crazy goalie is exactly what you need
• Central defender right:
  Central defender - defend
  Instr. Close down more, tackle harder
• Central defender:
  Ball playing defender - cover
  Instr. Close down more, mark tighter, hold position, tackle harder
  This defender is not the classic central defender, this defender needs to have some attacking skills aswell for example passing and crativity is important.
• Central defender left:
  Central defender - Stopper
  Instr. Close down more, tackle harder
• Wing back right
  Complete wing back - Attack
  Instr. Run wide with ball, close down more, cross more often, mark tighter
• Wing back left
  Complete wing back - Attack
  Instr. Run wide with ball, close down more, cross more often, mark tighter
• Midfielder Central rightDeep lying playmaker - support
  Instr. Close down more, Tackle harder, Mark tighter, Roam from position
• Midfielder central left
  Advanced playmaker - Attack
  Instr. Pass it shorter, Fewer risky passes, Mark tighter, Close down more, Roam from position
• Attacking mifielder right
  Inside forward - Attack
  Instr. Pass it shorter, Dribble less, Mark tighter, Get further forward, Shoot more
  REMEMBER, make sure that the player playing in this position is LEFT FOOTED or BOTH (Either)
• Attacking mifielder left
  Inside forward - Attack
  Instr. Pass it shorter, Dribble less, Mark tighter, Get further forward, Shoot more
  REMEMBER, make sure that the player playing in this position is RIGHT FOOTED or BOTH (Either)
• Striker central
  Trequarterista - Attack
  Instr. Pass it shorter, Mark tighter
  Be sure youre striker is any good as a trequarterista, this position needs to function more than any other position with this tactic

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Feel free to comment, do you fancy it another way? or do you simply want to acknowledge this beautilful tactic? ;-P you can always comment anonymous ;-)