Let's talk about your experiences in FM08 and make the best tactics for possession football.

Give your thought about team and individual orders.

for a start i am using 4-4-2,but i always have problem to create chances,because my players lose ball too easily.
than i thought to play more offensive,and i scored more goals i made more chances,but my defence was too weak.

if you have similar problems ,of some advice, let's talk about that.
this is the chance to upgrade our game

Whenever I start with a new team, the first thing I do is get rid of the staff members, who are useless and get new ones. I try to reach 7/7 or at least the higher I can in all training attributes. I think it's a good start to get your team training in a good level from the very beginning.

Regarding the tactics, I could write endless words about it. I intend to write some of those in the blogs during the next days. But I could tell you my usual tactics, more like the basic formation.

1-2-3-3-1 screenshot


I used to like the traditional 4-4-2, but lately I prefer offensive or defensive variations of it, depending on which team I play against. For example, when I play with a theoretically weaker team, I go for 1-2-3-3-1. OK it sounds weird, I know lol

1-4-1-1-2-1 screenshot


When I play with stronger teams, it's either 1-4-1-1-2-1 or pure 4-2-4. I noticed that sometimes 4-2-4 you have more possibilities to score lot of goals and get a win, rather than play defensive with counter attacks.

However, I have counter attacks enabled all time and my team instructions can be seen below. Almost all settings are set 1 click before the description changes. So, for example, Time Wasting is set to Mixed, 1 click before Rarely.

Screenshot of team instructions


About the possession, usually I don't check the percentages, but I know most times I lose, the news I get is that even though I had the ball more, I couldn't take advantage of it.

This post is in a very primal form, hopefully I will improve my writing in the next try

I like managing financially weak teams myself, so when I look out to buy a striker, I try to have 2 options. One fast (and usually not good in headers) with good stats at pace, acceleration, dribbling and technique. And the other one tall and strong with good stats at strength, positioning, heading and jumping.

Of course, when you are looking for strikers, you should also check for good stats at off the ball and finishing, though finishing really doesn't matter so much sometimes.

Usually I choose to play with fast striker, but a strong one is always a good option for substitute.

Good amr, amc and aml usually score a lot, yes, especially if they have good stats at long shots, decisions and determination.

When I say good stats, I mean over 12

I play almost the same tactics as above (1-2-3-3-1)except i play two Central Midfielders instead of a Defensive Mid and an Attacking Mid, although i have one of them set to a Defensive mentality and the other set to an Offensive mentality. I use a fast striker (high finishing, off the ball, speed) and he scores an insane amount of goals.

One of my Wingers is my second highest scorer (he has 16 finishing) and both Wingers have 'Forward Runs' set to 'Often'.

I have every player set to Pass as Short as possible, most games i keep about 75% or more possession. I bought a Sweeper with very good abilities for Defending, but also with a very good Passing attribute. I have the Goalkeeper set to 'Defender Collect' to my Sweeper. He's got the best rating for Passing % in the league.

I have my Wingers and Wingbacks crossing from 'Deep', aiming for my Striker. He's selected as a 'Target Man' although his instructions are to play as a 'Fast Striker'. Set the Team Instructions to 'Use Target Man' and the 'Target Man Run Onto Ball' or 'To Feet' option.
The Wingers and Wingbacks will cross the ball out in front of him every time they cross, making him go one-on-one with the Goalkeeper. This is where a good 'Composure' attribute comes in handy.

just a note on Random generated players: In my 6th season and using the Genie scout to source some good youngsters. Bought a Brazilian called rislo as DC. Stats were amazing BUT i soon found out that his height was 167cm and weight was 64Kg. Meaning this guy was small and light, Thus he was unable to win headers even with a rating of (1. And like all centre backs i get them to mark tall men at corners (mistake!). Took me 3 games to work out why this guys stats were great but he played WANK! So unlike other FM games this one really does take this into consideration!

well i am using again 4-4-2.
short passing , high tempo , high closing down, deep defense.

they are very good.
i mean, i have the weakest team in the league,but i am satisfied with mid-table pos this season.

so, as i play this game more and more,i realize that it is not possible to create one tactic that would work with every team.That was possible in previous versions of the game(FM05).

now it(tactics) depends on players that you have in team,and with every change in the first eleven, tactics are less effective if that player is different from player that played before him.

by the way, 1-4-1-1-2-1 is great when you play against high quality teams(if you are weak).game can easily end with your win,you just need a good day from AML,AMR,ST.

i just watched my style of play in PES6 and made it on FM.
And it works great.

also 3-5-2 is not bad,but you must have very good defensive players.

well, it is old,but i like it.especially on PES

how does the pitch dimension effect the play???

i use normal 4-4-2

this one thing is bugging me...

also,if you are using a narrow pitch,you can use tactics with 3men in line with more success.as 4-3-3 ,or even 4-1-2-1-2(no wingers).

but if you choose wide pitch,it is better that you use 4men in line tactics.as 4-4-2,3-5-2,4-5-1...

it's up to you,just choose dimensions for your stile of play.