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Category: Tactics

How I Won The League With a Counter Attacking 4-3-3 – FM23

How I Won The League With a Counter Attacking 4-3-3 – FM23

My current Journeyman in Football Manager 2023 has made me play different systems. I have never really settled with one particular style, until I took over Radomiak Radom in the Fortuna Liga, Poland. This system won the title and promotion to the PKO Ekstraklasa with a club record breaking 3rd placed finish. Fast forward a year, with a failed spell at Viktoria Plzen, I have took over recently relegated Aston Villa. Where I have recorded a record 110 points, scoring…

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5-3-2: The ultimate underdog formation?

5-3-2: The ultimate underdog formation?

I became intrigued with the 5-3-2 after watching the Prime documentary, Six Dreams, which led me to research more about the then-Girona Manager, Pablo Machin. He guided Girona to La Liga and narrowly missed out on the European places, using a 5-3-2 and 5-2-3. He then moved onto Sevilla and implemented a 5-3-2 which beat Real Madrid 3-0. Upon expanding my research I looked at Inzaghi’s 5-3-2 at Lazio, when he took to Inter. After reading numerous articles about both…

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FM Tactical Styles – Wing Play

FM Tactical Styles – Wing Play

Possibly the most famous manager to use this style and dominate is the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson with his use of 4-4-2. Is now the time to mention Mike Bassett? No, let’s move on then. 4-4-2 is the traditional tactic of the English game, epitomised by Sir Alex Ferguson’s treble-winning side. Consisting of the likes of David Beckham and Ryan Giggs controlling the wings at the forefront of this article. The 4-4-2 used by Ferguson was used by himself for…

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FM22 – Tactical Styles: Vertical Tiki Taka

FM22 – Tactical Styles: Vertical Tiki Taka

In this article, I discuss another tactical style available on Football Manager, Vertical Tika Taka, a style possibly best known as a tactical hallmark of everyone’s favourite chain-smoking Italian, Maurizio Sarri and his ‘Sarri-ball.’ How does Football Manager define Verticle Tiki Taka? “A quick passing style of possession and movement, with a narrower, more direct approach than the standard Tiki Taka.” Vertical tiki taka is a high pressing, possession-based style of play. The aim is to create vertical incisive passes, rather…

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Guide to the 4-2-4 Tactic in Football Manager 2022

Guide to the 4-2-4 Tactic in Football Manager 2022

A big reason for this guide is the feeling the 4-2-4 tactic is unappreciated, certainly when compared to the more popular tactics in Football Manager 2022. Yes, the 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress and 4-3-3’s will always be the people’s choice, but there are certain merits to a tactic which provides attacking overloads. As this is my first tactical guide, I wish to show you the very tactic that has brought me success so far in FM22. Let’s dive in! 4-2-4: The Preset…

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Creating a tactic for Hamburg in Football Manager 22 (Part 1)

Creating a tactic for Hamburg in Football Manager 22 (Part 1)

  When it comes to tactics in Football Manager I used to take over a team (in this case Hamburg in Football Manager 22), and force the players into my favoured 4-2-3-1 formation. And why not? It’s a system I know inside-out. This approach usually ends up working eventually (after some transfer activity). However, there’s always one pretty good player that gets left out because they don’t fit in with exactly how I want to set up. That player then…

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Total Football Journeyman: Creating My 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 Hybrid

Total Football Journeyman: Creating My 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 Hybrid

The following tactical experiment drew inspiration from many sources. It would not be Total Football without its tactical holy grail of course. Ajax’ original 4-3-3 with Johan Cruyff centering the attack and controlling the whole formation from his iconic False 9 position. Then came the next natural evolution of this formula with Pep Guardiola’s Barca and the talismanic rise of its young Argentinian star. Finally, recently we witnessed an emergence of a renewed Total Football system at Ajax under it’s…

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Scoring Tips for Struggling Teams in Football Manager

Scoring Tips for Struggling Teams in Football Manager

A lot of teams go through dry spells during a season, some teams never get scoring at all to start a campaign. I’ve found a few ways to help this situation during my current journeyman save in Singapore. (Follow me on Twitter for updates 😉 These are scoring tips for struggling teams in Football Manager. Tactics Starting off we’re going to take a look at your tactics. Many managers play in many different ways, and there is always a way…

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Pragmatic Football: Mid-Block Your Way To Victory in FM22

Pragmatic Football: Mid-Block Your Way To Victory in FM22

That is right. This article won’t be about my usual subject, Total Football. Instead I will be joining the Dark Side and discussing Pragmatic Football. And at the same time offering praise to Pragmatic Football’s grandmaster and high priest, Jose Mourinho. In that light another possible title for this article could have been “Understanding The Misunderstood Genius of Jose Mourinho”. My long-delayed tribute to the Special One.

Ernst Happel’s 433 and The Invention of Total Football

Ernst Happel’s 433 and The Invention of Total Football

From time to time my readers will ask me one particular question. Or a variation of it. Basically it goes like this. What is the absolute essence of Total Football? If I want my team to play Total Football, where do I start? How do I build it into a Total Football powerhouse? What foundation stones, in tactics, training and personnel, do I implement? The following article will hopefully answer some of these questions. To do so we might as…

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