First of all: Congratulations! You worked hard to get your team to the promised land of the Top Division in your nation! That’s the good news. The bad news is you have to survive in the top division while competing with the big clubs on a shoestring budget in FM21. AND with a smaller amount of staff. AND with inferior players. Luckily, not all hope is lost! This is why we play Football Manager, to test ourselves against the big…
The theme of my last few articles has been the concept of on-the-field partnerships. And how such relationships between players have proved to be so important for some of the greatest winning teams in the history of the game. Today, nobody can think of the great Barcelona team 2000s without remembering the names of Busquets, Iniesta and Xavi. Or Chelsea team from that same period. That team dominated Premier League and Europe and was defined by the legendary trio of Frank Lampard, Claude Makelele and Michael Essien. The effect…
With the announcement that Julian Nagelsmann will be taking over at Bayern Munich for next season, that will make it three coaches in succession that have taken German football’s most laureate job after having worked for one of Red Bull’s network of teams. His successor at Leipzig, Jesse Marsch, comes from the same school. Others managers linked with that structure, like Marco Rose, Roger Schmidt, Oliver Glasner or Adi Hutter, are succeeding elsewhere. Red Bull academy’s influence can be seen…
Did you know that the players sat with you in the dugout can be just as useful as your Starting XI? I’m sure you did – but are you using them to your full advantage? Friendlies, Cups, League games. Every game you play needs a strategy and this also extends to the bench. In this article I’m going to use the five W’s show you the key to mastering substitutions.
We’ve all been there. That awkward moment, staring at the main menu. Struggling to decide on a save. Unable to commit. Whether a function of “decision paralysis” or a bog-standard lack of inspiration, it is a feeling any long-term Football Manager aficionado understands all too well, especially at this stage of the annual cycle. Our focus today is on how to resolve this impasse and get back to enjoying a save. How to fall back in love with the game.
In our previous article, we talked about the history of Pep Guardiola’s tactics and the 4-3-3 tiki taka tactic he utilized at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City. In this installment, we will explore the 3-4-3 tactic he has used more recently at Manchester City. Part 1 – http://dictatethegame.com/recreating-guardiolas-tactics-in-fm21/ This of course has roots at Barcelona as well when Pep was a player. Johan Cruyff developed a similar 3-4-3 when he was Barca’s manager. In Guardiola’s tactics it’s slightly different…