Hello all. I will post a more elaborate part about how to 'convert' the real life tactic into an FM tactic. A real elaborate one. So keep your eyes open because i find it myself interesting and i think you might do that too. And i would be glad to hear if someone else has their own way of doing this 'conversation."

As you all know tactics is quite a big part of football now a days.

I just wanted to make a point out and a few tips on how good you can become at FM by watching real life football and 'converting' that to FM.

For those who might not watch football as much as i do here are a few tips that you can easily take from any match you watch into FM.
I think everyone of you out there watches the big matches?

anyway, here i go:

1. Understanding formations/positions.

Now when you see teams line up they will most probably be 'obvious' for many. anyone can predict the formation and such.
BUT, for us football nerds its not just thinking of 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 and such. its more than that.

Now a days many teams will pick their players and according to other teams. now for you its upto understanding the formation and positions of the players.

You have to see that its not just 4-4-2, but its actually 2-4-2-2

why is that you ask? well maybe because they are playing with 2 really defensive midfielders and attacking fullbacks.

2. Understanding Tactics.

Now this is it, im just gonna spit out everything:

Im gonna tell you guys how i usually like to do with my teams on FM and how its compared to real life.

If i would take control of a big team or a rather good team. then my aim is to have a good keeper, great reflexes and great on 1vs1 situations and also quite so dominant in the air and good communications. more or less i like an experienced goal keeper.
My defence is always a straight 4 line. 2 great central defenders who are a bit pacey so they dont have so many troubles against fast strikers. with good positioning(intelligence more or less in real life), and with GREAT CONCENTRATION, so they make much more less mistakes.
My fullbacks will be balanced ones, they are good defensively and good on the offence.
My midfield is usually a bit versatile. But usually my aim is to have 4 in the midfield. forget the right and left midfielders everyone knows how they should be.

But my CM's are different. 1 is attacking or balanced. with balanced i mean good attacking and defensively. and i have 1 who is a defensive midfielder, hard working ball winning and good positioned midfielder.

in this case i dont really care much about the strikers. i usually like to have one striker who is good at heading so i can at times use him as my target man to flick onto my faster striker. and my fullbacks and side midfielders to aim at him with their crosses for more threat with the crossing rather than just crossing to anyone.

ANYWAYS.

My tactically point.

With my defensive midfielder, he is not allowed to go forward that much. he is there to be ready to fill up at the back when being counter attacked. he is there to win balls in the midfield and such.
HE is also gonna clean up infront of the back four, so he is not going to close down all over the pitch.

in this case i can send my fullbacks higher up the pitch when attacking. and with my balanced CM it wont leave a big space between the strikers and the midfield. and with a DM i dont leave a big space between my defence and the midfield.

my wingers usually are a bit more 'free'. they will be allowed to cut inside instead of just staying out wide. because i will push up with my full backs this will give me more bodies in the centre of the pitch.

anyways, if you compare my tactics to Manchester United on some of their matches. then you can see this:

Man United play have 2 great CB's. they have 2 good fullbacks who will push forward.
and usually they play with 1 DM which in now a days would be hargreaves or carrick.

carrick especially is a good balanced midfielder, when he does go forward he can bring some quality. but his main strength is his positioning, he fills in at the back and does that really well. one of the best at doing that in the world of football a long with Borowski.

and then they have 1 midfielder who is more attacking but also a bit balanced, usually scholes who now a days is a more balanced midfielder. back in the days he was far more attacking thanks to United having the best defensive midfielder of Roy Keane.

anyways, with the wingers given a bit more freedom and having a striker like Rooney. The wingers can cut inside more often and become more centralized. While rooney could be more or less the creative free roled striker who occasionaly goes a bit wide. but mainly his quality would be that he can come a bit deep to get the ball and become a bit of the 'attacking playmaker'. which scholes used to be at his peak years.

and when rooney played with Saha it was brilliant. Because of saha being the penalty area man this gave the other creative players more versatile freedom and mobility over the pitch.

and with the fullbacks filling up and with wingers coming into the central positions more bodies, and the occasional runs of the CM it just tares the other teams apart. a lot of bodies in the middle to aim for the fullbacks. and a much higher chance to create an goalscoring opportunity.

A pictures of what i mean:
Player labels, From Left to Right:
ST, ST/AMC(Free Role)
ML/AML(C), MC/AMC, DM, MR/AMR(C)
LB/WBL, DC, DC, RB/RWB
Normal Formation:




Attacking Formation(describing how it changes during the game):



Defensive Formation(describing how it changes during the game):



I could add loads of things to this list, but i think this is a more general approach to how you can compare tactics and which players have which job.


A Great Example of the Italy - Spain game in the Quarter Finals yesterday:

Italy played with a flat 4 back line with their fullbacks who are good attackingly as well, Zambrotta and Grosso.
3 balanced and defensive midfielders: Ambrosini, De Rossi, Aquilani.
2 Attacking midfielder with a slight free role(they become AMR and AML more or less at times, usually when going on defensive positions): Perotta, Cassano.
1 Striker more or less the target man: Toni.

Italy in my opinion had perfect balance.

Italy against a team who have a great midfield and great strikers.
The midfield of 3 defensive and balancing midfielders have 2 big big jobs which helps alot for their team overall.


1. They win the midfield battle with their 3 midfield players, and it becomes 5 in the midfield when going in defensive positions with cassano and perotta going out wide to stop the full backs and the wingers, and with the 3 CM/DM's that help win the midfield battle and dont give Spain's midfielder the room.

2. When italy are in attacking positions they will have 3 midfielders, which one of them is aquilani who has a bit of the freedom to push forward. and ambrosini a bit as well.

and with the defensive midfielder(s) it gives grosso and zambrotta more freedom to go forward. which they do on many occasions.

and when they are counter attacked by spain, and spain are good at counter attacks. THEN, italy's 3 midfielders who are slightly defensive can easliy fill up the fullbacks positions and easily stop their counter attacks.

Looking at the game, Spain couldnt do much at all, with the help the midfielders gave the Defensive line, Villa and torres couldnt do much at all. And spains midfield never got the room and space to play the game they have usually tared most of the teams apart with.


But, unfortunately the efficiency from italy's attacking play was so bad that they really couldnt take the advantage of their otherwise great control over Spain. and they lost on penalties against Spain, a game who could go either way. But italy who could and should have won if they had a bit more efficiency in their attacking play.

Italy's Formation, runs attacking: Black, Runs defensive: Red.

LUHG

Red... this is brilliant... but it is easy for you since you are a real football player...

nice work red

do you have any obligations in your life,or just a spare time???

wow this is amazing

football addict??just like tobacco and alcohol.go to FAA(football addict anonymus)

red who do you play for

Me and some others are going to ask our teacher if we can play footy for the last couple of p.e lessons

so your a pretty good player then

is your team on fm

i wonder with which club will red play next season and which player will have most starting appearance

haha, i might go to Akropolis, another greek team. but they are in div 2 . i had trials with them 1 year ago or something like that. it went well but at that time they wanted more experience to their team.

but there are a few other teams that had contacted after that and i think i have a good chance of making it to div 2. and even FM .

and when i am on FM every single one of you have to buy me. haha

LUHG