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Each player role will have primary attributes and secondary attributes, a primary attribute should be be very high and secondary be high (e.g. 15+ and 10+ for top teams though obviously the more 20s they have in these attributes will be desired.) Player role Primary Attributes Secondary Attribute.
Tactics Guide to Pairs and Combinations Updated for Football Manager 2020How can you create a successful tactic in Football Manager? This article is written by llama3 and is a direct transcript of his tactical guide made available as a downloadable.pdf file in. For any questions about this article, please use the comments section on the Sigames forum.Please do not redistribute any of the following content without llama3’s expressed permission. IntroductionI am delighted to release the 2020 edition of Pairs & Combinations!It’s been 5 years since I last wrote a similar guide and it is probably time to pick up the proverbial pen again. Some of what you read in this guide is the same as last time (hence it’s an update), but there is a lot of new information for everyone to get stuck into, mainly due to the number of new roles introduced in FM.Firstly, most importantly, there is no “right” or “wrong” way to play Football Manager.
Sure there are ways which are making it tougher for yourself and ways of making it easier for yourself, but there are many ways to play the game. I’m not talking about just tactical styles, but how you adapt to challenges, how you create variation and how you turn defeats into draws and draws into wins.
I’ve generally stuck to a consistent playing style, with a balanced system. Football Manager has got smarter; it’s tougher to break sides down, you get punished on the break for leaving gaps and you can’t just press play and expect to win every game.This guide is going to have some useful things in it for you, but there are so many brilliant writers, bloggers, vloggers and contributors to discussions; for this reason I have scrapped the sections on in-game management and team instructions – a lot of people do that a lot better than I do. I’m focusing on what comes more naturally to me – getting a balance setup together. Everyone who has had something useful to share has helped make me a better manager. I hope this makes you a better manager and I hope you share what you’ve learned and carry on contributing to the FM community. How do we achieve balance?Firstly, let’s define what we’re talking about here, because it is central to what I do as a manager.
What I mean by balance is having a team that can maximize our strengths and minimize our weaknesses, this is achieved by covering as much of the pitch as possible and fulfilling all the key functions that a team needs to be able to use.Simple really, it’s about using your roles and duties to spread your team well, create different types of chances and to have a coherent defensive strategy. In terms of duties, this means the number of defend, support & attack duties and how they are spread throughout the team.This will determine in large part how aggressive your team behaves, in terms of forward runs, take-ons and risky passes.Duties should be spread both vertically and laterally in your team – this means, not having all your attack duties at the top end of the pitch and not all down a single flank. READ MORE What else do I need to think about when spreading duties?We touched on the lateral spread of duties a few sentences up, what this means is not having all of your attack duties on a single flank or through the centre, so let’s take a common example of a 4-2-3-1 and have a think about some key partnerships (after all, this guide is pairs and combinations)So we have already discussed not overloading all your attacking duties into the top end of the pitch. In this example we’re trying to balance out 2 attacking duties and 2 support duties in the final third of the pitch 1.I tend to think of this as a quartet, as well as a series of pairings. I have got an attack duty on one flank and a support duty on the other, this helps change the angles of attack. My central pair also share an attack duty and a support duty – they could be placed the other way round very easily too. A striker on an attack duty, with a support duty AMC behind him can work well too – consider if you are trying to drive into space behind a defence, or if you want penetrating runs from deep instead.In this instance, the flanks are setup to provide different types of opportunities 2.The right flank will have a natural overlap created by the right back getting on past the right winger.
The left back will offer more of a possession outlet for the left winger and central midfielder because of his support duty. We will obviously need to address the impact of roles (and we will) later on; for now I’m just showing how the spread of duties can positively improve the balance of the team!In this instance, we have balanced central midfield with a spread of duties. All central midfielders should have at least one defend duty, to offer protection to the defence. In this setup the midfield will all be close enough to each other, but has a mixture of passing, penetration and positioning. The duties can be mixed around here to create different areas of strength – a support duty in DMC with a defend duty at MLC could create confusion for the opposition regarding who to mark and how influential they will be in possession.GoalkeepersGoalkeepers are an integral part of your team’s tactical setup.
Their distribution and sweeping up are significantly linked to your overall team style of play, and the players in your team. A well set-up goalkeeper can significantly enhance your team’s performances, turning a single point into three with a critical save or interception. DistributionYour goalkeeper has several options for distribution. He can act as a creative presence, or tend towards playing it safe. The options are as follows:. Roll It Out. Throw It Long.
Short Kick. Long KickA short distribution option works well with building play from the back, and works particularly well when you have a good creative outlet, like a Ball Playing Defender, a Deep Lying Playmaker, or a Regista, who can help create chances from a deeper position and help maintain possession.You also need to consider which players are in space to receive the ball. Your Full Backs are frequently the most likely players to have time on the ball, although their angles of passing are limited by playing out wide, conversely a centre back may have a wider range of passing angles, but may be pressed quicker by opponents.A quick throwing option supports a more direct counter-attacking approach, appears to suit distribution to full backs/wing backs (who naturally tend to have the most space from the back) & helps speed play out from the back at a much quicker tempo. You could also ask your goalkeeper to distribute to the flanks at the same time to enhance this style of play.The long kicking approach significantly suits a more physical taller option further up the field. If you play a Target Man or a Wide Target Man, these are highly suitable options to distribute long to.NB! This also works well if your team is being pressed at the back and you are struggling to play the ball out from the back. This can alleviate pressure and get your team further up the field in a more comfortable area of the pitch.Your goalkeeper can also help control the tempo of the game, and can hold on to the ball for long periods when you are trying to slow the game or hold on to a lead.
He can distribute it quickly instead if you are trying to keep up the pressure on the game, or are desperately in search of a goal.A Sweeper Keeper can provide more creative options from open play, and suits a counter-attacking game from the back in terms of his distribution. Sweeping UpA Sweeper Keeper will sweep up in front of, and wide of the penalty area.
He can compensate for a high line & the offside trap being breached. A normal Goalkeeper will hold position far more, and as a result, tends to suit being sat behind a deeper defence, claiming crosses and distributing the ball safer.If you have a higher line it may be more appropriate to try and beat the opposing forwards to the ball instead of standing up and facing a shot, where the opponent has time to set himself.It may be less essential to play a Sweeper Keeper if you have a Sweeper/Libero, or if you have a Defender on a Covering duty.Central DefenceThis guide is going to look in your central defensive set-ups, and how to achieve a cohesive backline. I will discuss your common central defensive pairing, and then the less common central trio. Central PairYou have 3 central defensive roles and 3 central defensive duties to choose from. The roles are as follows:. Central Defender. No-Nonsense Defender.
Ball Playing DefenderThe duties are as follows:. Defend. Stopper. CoverThe roles are fairly similar in most respects, and defensive distribution is the most significant difference in the roles.The No-Nonsense Defender tends to simply clear the ball as far away from goal as he can – ensures you do not get caught in possession at the back, but it does turn over possession to your opponents quicker and can leave you under sustained pressure. A good idea if your team does not possess the skill to keep hold of the ball in the backline.The Central Defender will distribute the ball to nearby teammates, helping you keep possession in the backline, and to calmly distribute the ball to the midfield.
There is the risk of getting caught in possession at the backline, however it can alleviate pressure on your backline by keeping the ball, and building attacks and distributing the ball to players in the midfield capable of influencing the game in the middle and final thirds.The Ball Playing Defender will look to influence counter-attacking opportunities by playing through-balls in to players wide of, or in front of himself. READ MORE Building a TeamThis is the point in the guide where I show you how I begin to put a team together, which is less straightforward than it sounds. As a starting point we need to assess the squad – both as a whole and as individuals; I need to understand what the squad overall does well and what key performers in my squad do well.Normally I use Arsenal as my example, but this time I am going to take a team that you are less likely to be familiar with – FOREST GREEN ROVERS. Rovers have been in the football league since 2017, with a reputation built on their very eco-friendly principles. They are also my local club nowadays, so I have developed an interest and support in the club.So firstly my squad as a whole is the first bit to assess. I need to know what we do well, what we do badly and this will begin to suggest possible styles of play to me; clearly we also need to understand not just what styles work best, but which areas of the team we can rely on most.
On the overview of all positions it stands out to me that we have the best passing ability in the league – clearly we can make use of this either by dominance of the ball, or by incisive and quicker passing. Our lower first touch isn’t great and does suggest that we may risk being pressed out of possession. It’s also clear out leadership and aggression are poor, which suggests assertive defensive tactics as a whole might be harder to implement.
Our teamwork being lower than ideal isn’t great for any style of play, as it’s pretty fundamental to defensive organisation, pressing patterns, attacking movements – you name it, teamwork makes it better!Next up it’s a look at our goalkeeping unit as a whole. What I am looking for here are clues to if the keepers prefer playing behind a high line (one on ones and reflexes), or taking dominating the penalty area behind a deep defence (command of area, handling, aerial ability). I’m also looking to see how we might distribute the ball to support either direct distribution, or playing from the base of the team. Looking at our strong aerial ability and one on ones, it’s clear that we could support either option at this stage. Our strong kicking could be useful, allowing us to transition quickly from back to front.Next onto the defence, where we are looking at similar concepts to the goalkeepers – do we support playing behind a high line (pace, acceleration and tackling), or a deep defence (positioning, marking, heading, jumping). Clearly our defence is pretty strong overall.
Our jumping isn’t spectacular, but neither is our acceleration – overall this defence does look organised and strong though. I’m inclined to say that we suit a deeper defence slightly more due to the organisational attributes being so good, but if the rest of my team suited playing high I am confident we could do it at this stage.I hope by this stage you’ve heard me bang on about the importance of midfield enough over the years. Now we need to see how our midfield stacks up. Passing again looks positive for midfield, but otherwise midfield looks decidedly average – we clearly are not suited to aggressive ball winning though based on our poor tackling and teamwork.
Our poor technique and decisions don’t merit us a great ball-retaining side either, so we’re probably going to be more effective with space to play into. It’s quite tricky at this stage, but it’s clear my midfield isn’t going to be one to rely on too greatly.Lastly, a look at my forwards as a group. This shows some startling trends – we are a team which is clearly quick (although our higher pace than acceleration suggests we’re quicker over large distances, rather than short ones. Our movement is fine, but intelligence is very poor, as is our jumping and heading – clearly we’re not built for floated crosses, or challenging opposition defenders physically.It appears fairly obvious to me that our midfield can pick a pass, but not retain the ball effectively and that our forwards can only play on the break – so a deep-defensive orientated system and counter-attacking style of play currently seems the direction to go in. What I need to consider though, is any stand-out individuals I have available, along with how to make the best use of them, within a structure that suits the team as a whole.Lastly we also need to pay attention to squad depth. For example, if we have a system built around marauding wing backs, but only have a single player capable of fulfilling the role on each flank, we either need an effective plan B, or we need to reconsider a system based on effective squad depth.
Specifically in the case of Forest Green, we appear to have decent options in goal, central defence and both full back positions, which solidifies our analysis that our defence is our strongest aspect of the team. We appear to be less well stocked in wing back positions. We seem to have ample bodies in midfield and attack, with AMR clearly having two very strong options, with MR appearing a notable downgrade – this may influence my choice of formation later on.The final piece of my jigsaw is to review the stand-out individuals in my team.
Each team will have approximately 3-5 players that should be considered stand-out. In my case, they appear to be:. Aaron Collins – AM (RLC), ST(C).
Elliott Frear – WB/M/AM (L). Liam Shephard – D/WB (R)Additionally, we also have another six core members of the first team squad that we need to look at:. Carl Winchester – DM, M/AM (C). Nathan McGinley – D (LC). Farrend Rawson – D (RC). George Williams – M (RL), AM (RLC), ST (C). Joseph Mills – D/WB (L).
Matt Mills – D (C)Aaron CollinsBest suited as a right sided AMR, as a Winger, although his crossing and dribbling fall below what I’d hope for a Winger and actually his attributes looks more like a centre-forward. He is quick, with decent technique and finishing and suits playing as an Advanced Forward. Elliott FrearA quick, left-footed player who wants to play on the left side of the pitch. His crossing and dribbling are also good, so essentially to maximise him he needs to be played as a Winger. Liam ShephardA very effective full back, with a really balanced allround game.
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He is good in many areas, although not standout in a single specific area. I also need to consider he will be unavailable for me with a long term injury in my first season and I will need to consider this before building a system entirely dependent on him. He has PPMs that support him getting forward, so should be at least a support duty in any system I use him in. Carl WinchesterA bit of a Swiss Army Knife. His passing range is pretty ordinary, but he has good work rate, flair, stamina and decent technical ability and tackling. His best role is as a Box to Box Midfielder, where his PPMs will also support him by getting forward and on the ball. Nathan McGinleyAn accomplished Ball Playing Defender, with a genuinely balanced game and very encouraging technical ability for a League Two centre-back.
He is left footed and likes to bring the ball out of defence. He can also play as a Central Defender too. George WilliamsWilliams is technically sound, with good flair. He suits playing as a Winger on the right or Inverted Winger on the left flank. His PPMs suggest he will want to come inside from either flank, but this could add variation to playing in a Winger role though. He can also play in attack, making use of his technical skills as a False Nine, or use his decent pace as an Advanced Forward, although this is not his strongest position. Farrend RawsonA very good centre back, who is more physical than McGinley and less technical.
Rawson is right footed and looks like he could complement McGinley very well. He suits playing as either a Central Defender or a No-Nonsense Centre-Back. Joseph MillsMills is an excellent full back, who likes to get forward down the left. Similarly to Shephard he does a lot of things well, but doesn’t have a particularly outstanding single aspect of his game.
Matt MillsBrother of Joseph, Matt is another excellent centreback, but is much more similar to Rawson. He is physical, but not quick, with plenty of aggression. He seems more suited to playing as a No-Nonsense Centre Back, but very adept as a Central Defender. He is also an excellent Stopper too, which adds another tactical dimension. His age (29) means he is less of a key part of my long term plans.Tactical StyleSo, time to make a decision on how to setup this team. My assistant has recommended Wing Play, Route One and Direct Counter-Attack as options we might suit.Clearly as we can’t press effectively, or control the ball in a dominant manner, we need to look at more direct and/or counter-attacking options.
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