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Category: Analysis

Top 10 Underrated Clubs to Manage in FM21

Top 10 Underrated Clubs to Manage in FM21

That time of the year is upon us and we’ve been playing Football Manager 21 for about 6 months now, maybe we need something to spice up the game and make it feel fresh and exciting again? That’s why I’ve decided to do a Top 10 Underrated Clubs to try in Football Manager 2021 list. So let’s dive in. Underrated Club – Atalanta The first club in our Underrated Clubs to Manage list is Atalanta. They seem like they are…

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Mastering Substitutions | A Guide To Utilising Your Bench During A Game

Mastering Substitutions | A Guide To Utilising Your Bench During A Game

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.

Recreating Guardiola’s Tactics in FM21 – Part 2

Recreating Guardiola’s Tactics in FM21 – Part 2

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…

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Recreating Guardiola’s Tactics in FM21

Recreating Guardiola’s Tactics in FM21

From Barcelona to Bayern Munich to Manchester City, Pep Guardiola’s tactic have evolved football over the past decade. His key principles are rooted in ‘The Barcelona Way” possession, fluidity, and numerical advantages. His teams let the ball do the hard work and this has provided much success over the years, winning numerous Champions Leagues, League Titles and Domestic Cups. Today we will make an attempt at recreating Guardiola’s tactics in FM21.

The impact of the Medical Team in FM21

The impact of the Medical Team in FM21

In a previous article I focused on the impact of one specific member of the Medical Team, the Physio. Some experiments were run using out special league and we were able to see what sort of impact a good physio (or not) can have on things like the amount of injuries, injury length and overall performance. But the Physio is but one member of the Medical Team. From the Premiership down to the lower leagues it is common for there…

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Physio Power in FM21

Physio Power in FM21

In a previous article, I mentioned how important a Physio could be in keeping your players fit, on the pitch and from being a waste of money. By preventing injuries and reducing the length of any that happen your Physio can really help make a difference to your FM21 game. There’s a reason why top-flight teams invest in the medical team. An injury crisis can cost a team on the pitch and on the books. In this article we are…

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Winning titles with ‘unbeatable’ tactics, and how to get the most out of your FM21 saves.

Winning titles with ‘unbeatable’ tactics, and how to get the most out of your FM21 saves.

Firstly, Happy New Year you Tactical Masterminds! I was really struggling for ideas; Christmas has been and gone, Coronavirus is apparently still and thing and is worse than ever in the UK, and New Years at Home seemed like hell on earth. I thought about making some stupid tactic using 6 midfielders or 2 defenders, “that’ll make for a funny article, that might even help some people”, I thought. But alas my horrific attempt of a “around the midfielder tactic”…

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A guide to xG in FM21

A guide to xG in FM21

xG in FM21 was the feature many of us nerds were waiting for. Here at DTG we’ve been messing around with manually adding stats like xG, xG against, xA and even received pass position since FM19. You can imagine our joy when we realised that with xG in FM21 we wouldn’t have to do this by hand anymore. After all it is an increasingly important statistic used by football clubs across the globe to improve their tactics and inform their…

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Goalkeeper Resiliency: Measuring Game Difficulty

Goalkeeper Resiliency: Measuring Game Difficulty

One of the most interesting things available in Football Manager 2021 is the ability to track expected Goals, or xG. In combination with Pelham, I think I’ve worked out a useful way to measure what I’m going to call Goalkeeper Resiliency (GR), that is, the degree of difficulty that a goalkeeper is facing, relative to that normally faced by goalkeepers in their league. 

Mirror the Magic – 4 – Park Ji-sung

Mirror the Magic – 4 – Park Ji-sung

In this series, I highlight a much-loved and talented footballer from the past. I’ll tell you a little bit about what I think their key qualities were that made them so special. We’ll go on to look at how best to re-live that legend in Football Manager, by naming a few current players who may be able to ‘mirror the magic’ of the superstar and potentially become your new FM20 hero. So far, we’ve had Juan Román Riquelme, Ronald Koeman…

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