The Anchor - Unique 3133 Formation (works with low, mid & high table teams)

Thanks for the feedback Charko, it's definitely a solid tactic, personally I've promoted a few teams already and overarchieved with many teams.

It'll stay V1 for now though, I'm working on a different tactic atm (as I noticed counter attacking seems to be the way to go in FM16), got a pretty good tactic going atm, which almost always has 60% possesion.. but I keep leaking goals from crosses ffs -.- I need wingbacks but don't want to change my formation. Scoring isn't a problem at all with my new tactic, even when I lose, I score atleast 2 goals.. but the conceeding from crossers and corners are ******* me off.
 
started a new Serie A save (Fiorentina), only a brief testing but off to a great start despite super tough schedule: 5-3 vs Juventus and 3-0 (away) vs Milan! Conceded 2 goals vs Juve from corner though, so that together with your experiences might indicate some issue in this area. I think it's very fixable as this FM corner kicks look generally much less powerful.

Despite the overload mentality the tactic looks very solid even against top opponents, and the counter attacking is particularly effective. The shadow striker finds a lot of space (scored 4 in 2 games), and the defensive forward is a pest for the defenders! will post screenshots later as I go on with the save hopefully it keeps going like this :)
 
yeah the AI and their overpowered crosses are ******* me off too. but it seems to me that Anchor V1 managed to cut those crosses pretty well.

there are alot of high scoring tactics in this forum but the amount of goals conceded every season for me is too much. and when there's an AI team that can counter that tactic, I'll be totally stomp! Conceded 9 goals against Chelsea once using a high scoring tactic, never again.

they show on their ss that they only concede like 20-30 goals per season with teams like man utd, bayern etc but try newcastle or a lowly dutch team, sure you'll score like 80-100 goals but to concede 50-80 goals isn't acceptable to me even if i win the league.
 
Yeah, The Anchor is a surprisingly stable tactic. I've had better results than any other tactic on the forum with it, dunno why it's staying under the radar so much, I'm a bad salesman. :D


I might drop my new plans and just work towards Anchor V2, there is a lot of progress that can be made, corners, set pieces, etc etc. I'll run a new season, check every game where I conceeded, note in which manner I conceed.. and if it's something repetitive > try to fix it. :D

I think I did well smoking crosses, I can't get it done without using wingbacks, which is a pitty, I like the shape I'm using on my new tactic I'm working on, but EVERY ******* GOAL I CONCEED is with crosses. So if anyone has any tips how to smoke them with 3 ball playing defenders? (defend duty) :D
 
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loving the tactic mate! but do you have any tips for who to remove when you get a red card?
 
I'd be interested in seeing more people giving this a go, c'mon now. The few people that actually tried my tactic are reporting VERY good results with mediocore teams. I got promoted with several low league teams (some predicted to degradate too) letting my assistant do everything + insta result. If I can archieve amazing results without even playing the game properly..

This is a powerful tool imo, just not getting the attention it deserves o.o
Not meant to be cocky, but possibly better tacticians can figure out why The Anchor works well and create even better tactics. I believe it works well, because I used Bielsa's ideology and tried to work my tactic towards that.
 
I tried it out and I am doing well with Arsenal, unsure how well it would do with a worse team but I will try it out with Stoke or Leicester later. One problem I've had is the red cards, pretty much 50% of the games one of my wing backs will get sent off, but I guess it's the price we pay for having a solid defence.

Good tactic.

If you want more people to use it you can write a description and add filters to what kind of players fit for each position, a lot of people want help with it or use it to pick a tactic that fits their team. =)
 
Finished a whole season using Anchor V1. Keep in mind that my Villareal is a piece of **** team (think of Bournemouth 2016, with only a couple of players rated above 10mil and the rest are below the 5mil mark) with a piece of **** football director and owner. 2 of the best players were sold for a staggering 120mil total but I only get like 15mil transfer budget and 1mil wage budget. So I stick with whatever player I had left with some loan signings of somewhat good regens.

Final league table:
Real Madrid is a beast in my save. Nothing much I can do there. They've won the BBVA 7 times for the past 8 seasons.
View attachment 994053

Results:
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Most games won in a row
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Whole league team stats:
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Most 'Team Goals'
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Goals and assists locations:
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Some of my personal view of the Anchor V1 after a whole season using it:

1. Red cards. Highest in the league, 6 red cards. But nothing to worry about really, just take one of the strikers off.

2. Not a possession based tactic, this tactic is purely counter attacking. From the key highlights you can clearly see that most of your goals came from countering, get ultra fast wing backs with good crossing ability and a good SS!

3. A lot of my goals came from crosses, so get DLF with good finishing, composure and also heading if you can. Besides the WBs, I noticed that the DF also did a lot of crossing too. He actually topped the assists ranking for the team but not by much. SS and CM also contributed alot of assists.

4. Can't outmatch a great team with a similar counter attacking tactic. I think that was the reason I lost to Real Madrid. They're just ALOT more better than my team. Also be mentally prepared for some losses against lowly teams who also use counter tactics, this is just down to bad luck and bad match engine I guess. Your GK and CBs will do stupid things sometimes.

5. Concede mostly from crosses too but from my limited experience, this tactic is by far the best in minimizing FM16 superAI crosses. Idk how, could be the instructions OP gave to the wingbacks. Meanwhile the 3 CBs did a great job preventing goals from the middle.

6. Do team meetings if you stumbled upon 3 straight losses. Basic FM things really, keep the team morale up.

My 2 cents. Thank you for the tactic OP! I think I'm going to resign from this Villareal team and move to a bigger club in my save (HIRE ME CHELSEA!) to test the tactic.
 
Which place did you end in the league? Can't see the attachments for some reason.
Thanks for these stats Charko, you've been an immense help!


The red cards are a real issue, the games I lose are due to a red card and I can't adjust the team because I use instant result (testing purposes), thanks for pointing out which type of players worked best for you utilizing the tactic, I'll clean up the main post when I find the time and add these tips. (K)
 
btw about the red cards, im probably just lucky but from all the 6 reds in the league games, this is the only match which I didn't win.

gIMpNtZ.jpg


probably just me but i think it is not a problem if i'm already winning even by one goal, i took out the DF and replace the position that got red carded. the defense is solid, even more solid during late game (60-90+min). the 3 CBs and the DM did their job pretty well i guess.
 
That's pretty impressive with Villareal, I don't think u'd be able to win the league with Real Madrid in it, unless you beat them twice. U'd have to buy a few new players probably ;p
 
Ive been trying this with colchester however my defense has really been letting me down. It could just be down to their defender being really bad. I am scoring however usually they score more, and my players seem to love giving away penalties. Even had a match where they gave away 3 penalties. Il keep trying and see if it improves, I can see the potential im just afraid my defenders are just too bad.
 
It can really come down to morale a lot, if you have a really hard schedule or had some really bad luck at the beginning, try to do some squad talks. You sure you did the OI's too right?
 
Played about 10 games with this so far and i think its a very good attacking tactic for teams who are clearly one of the top teams in the division. Its 2019 in my save and i am playing as Leeds in league 1, my strikers are having a blast. We have scored 29 goals and conceded 11 in our last 10 games and only lost one game on penalties.

I often take off get stuck in which may be causing the defensive issues at times, but i think i will use this tactic for 20 minute spells each half then compliment it with a more defensive 5-3-2 formation going forward, as well as trying to find ways to make things a touch more solid at the back. Surprised me how robust it is for such an extreme overload tactic too.
 
Get stuck in is neccessary to stop counters, you run into yellow & red cards a lot, sometimes even a penalty.. but when the wingbacks move all the way up for a cross + high defensive line.. you're prone to counters, without get stuck in you'd leak a lot more goals. It's basically a 3 man defense, with the wingbacks covering the wings (whenever they can)
 
Loaxx said:
It can really come down to morale a lot, if you have a really hard schedule or had some really bad luck at the beginning, try to do some squad talks. You sure you did the OI's too right?
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I completely forgot that, im going to start with a new team and give it a proper go
 
is there any reason the left striker is a DF?

i find that he performs worse than the right striker, even with a better player there

this has been one of the most consistent tactics for me, you should try tweak the DF to be like the right striker and see if you notice a better performance
 
kandersson said:
no problem mate, tactic looks very promising! I'm becoming a bit frustrated with poor variety of current ME as any good/bad tactic I created/downloaded/tested seems to score and concede goals mainly from crosses!

loved your premise of mimicking the worst FM player possible, might be just me lol!
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Not a chance! I am the worst!:D:D:D

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