Raikan007's FM13 Tactical Guide for beginners
Step one:
The best thing to do is start off very, very basic, set the formation depending on your squad strengths and depth and the players you have at your disposal, study their stats and their PPM's (player preferred moves) and what player roles they perform best in as these all impact what the player does on the pitch.
You can't have your winger, for example Valencia, who is an old fashioned winger having the PPM's:
Step one:
The best thing to do is start off very, very basic, set the formation depending on your squad strengths and depth and the players you have at your disposal, study their stats and their PPM's (player preferred moves) and what player roles they perform best in as these all impact what the player does on the pitch.
You can't have your winger, for example Valencia, who is an old fashioned winger having the PPM's:
[*=center]shoots from range
[*=center]cuts inside (you want him to hug the touchline)
You do not want the PPM's counter acting what instructions the role has given him to perform or what you have instructed him to do manually...
I suggest using the TC when you start, it's much easier and will only take a few minutes of your time...
View attachment 290465
Step two:
Once you have decided on a formation that best suits your team and your players the next part of the process is setting up your
Playing Style:
View attachment 290468
this dictates what system you want to adopt, a rigid approach is best suited to smaller teams while fluid is best suited for teams with good players as the more fluid the system the more the players push out of their zones which can be detrimental at times..
So if you are playing with a lower league team I suggest a rigid/balanced approach
If you are a top team or good team, a balanced/fluid approach is best
Once you have decided which approach to use, the next stage is deciding on your actual Team Instructions, the type of football you want your team to play, do you want to replicate Ferguson or Guardiola?
Before deciding on your approach (keeping in mind the type of players you have at your disposal) I suggest checking out this very, very useful screen to help you decide!
This can be found under Report - Team Comparison
View attachment 290469
This is a useful indication of how your team fare against the rest of the league and where you could look at improving as well.. its a great tool to keep an eye on!
If you want to adopt a Possession style Guardiola/Swansea approach, I suggest reading my Possession hints and tips guide below:
http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/foot...-discussion-thread-raikan007.html#post1611414
This would be a good base for a possession based tactic:
View attachment 290470
This would be a good base for a quick attacking based tactic:
View attachment 290472
and so on and so forth...
Next part of the process of creating the tactic is the
Player Roles:
View attachment 290474
this is one of the most important parts of the setup, this can either make your tactic work or get you beaten 6:0 by some lower league club you have never heard of...
I suggest, as in step one, studying your players stats and checking their reports to find out what role suits them the best! This can be found on their reports page on their profile..
View attachment 290473
Next in the process is deciding on their duties,
Player duties:
View attachment 290475
Decide from the above what you want each player, in each position in the formation in each role to do, attack, defend, support.. Roles such as Advanced forward, Trequirista and Poacher only have attack duties.
This part of the process is extremely important and I highly suggest taking the time and thinking about what you want each player to do on the pitch..
Do you want your Target man to support your poacher upfront or are you playing with a single striker TM, then setting him to attack as your leading front man..
Are you playing two defensive type mids behind your attacking mid, set him to attack to push forward etc etc etc.. you get the idea
The next part of the process is selecting your
Strategy:
View attachment 290478
I suggest clicking on each strategy and reading the explanation of each one to decide on what best suits your players and your team..
If you are a smaller team in the league, counter or defend would be the best approach as you want to try and soak up the pressure then hit them on the counter and hopefully grab a 1:0 win or sit back and defend...
This needs to be married with your formation and playing style, literally all the other steps so far in the process to really get the best out of your tactic and players!
You are not going to be playing a 4123 and adopt a defensive strategy as a third of your squad are strikers.. be logical about it...
Step three:
Set Pieces regime, there are so many different settings to be used, depending on what approach you have (if you are wanting to counter, leave your two quickest players forward with your best passer of the ball on the edge of area so if and when the ball gets cleared, he will pass the ball quickly up to your players to try and start the counter)
As I said, there are numerous settings to be used, the basic ones are as follows:
Attacking:
(Corner aim: Near post)
I suggest using the TC when you start, it's much easier and will only take a few minutes of your time...
View attachment 290465
Step two:
Once you have decided on a formation that best suits your team and your players the next part of the process is setting up your
Playing Style:
View attachment 290468
this dictates what system you want to adopt, a rigid approach is best suited to smaller teams while fluid is best suited for teams with good players as the more fluid the system the more the players push out of their zones which can be detrimental at times..
So if you are playing with a lower league team I suggest a rigid/balanced approach
If you are a top team or good team, a balanced/fluid approach is best
Once you have decided which approach to use, the next stage is deciding on your actual Team Instructions, the type of football you want your team to play, do you want to replicate Ferguson or Guardiola?
Before deciding on your approach (keeping in mind the type of players you have at your disposal) I suggest checking out this very, very useful screen to help you decide!
This can be found under Report - Team Comparison
View attachment 290469
This is a useful indication of how your team fare against the rest of the league and where you could look at improving as well.. its a great tool to keep an eye on!
If you want to adopt a Possession style Guardiola/Swansea approach, I suggest reading my Possession hints and tips guide below:
http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/foot...-discussion-thread-raikan007.html#post1611414
This would be a good base for a possession based tactic:
View attachment 290470
This would be a good base for a quick attacking based tactic:
View attachment 290472
and so on and so forth...
Next part of the process of creating the tactic is the
Player Roles:
View attachment 290474
this is one of the most important parts of the setup, this can either make your tactic work or get you beaten 6:0 by some lower league club you have never heard of...
I suggest, as in step one, studying your players stats and checking their reports to find out what role suits them the best! This can be found on their reports page on their profile..
View attachment 290473
Next in the process is deciding on their duties,
Player duties:
View attachment 290475
Decide from the above what you want each player, in each position in the formation in each role to do, attack, defend, support.. Roles such as Advanced forward, Trequirista and Poacher only have attack duties.
This part of the process is extremely important and I highly suggest taking the time and thinking about what you want each player to do on the pitch..
Do you want your Target man to support your poacher upfront or are you playing with a single striker TM, then setting him to attack as your leading front man..
Are you playing two defensive type mids behind your attacking mid, set him to attack to push forward etc etc etc.. you get the idea
The next part of the process is selecting your
Strategy:
View attachment 290478
I suggest clicking on each strategy and reading the explanation of each one to decide on what best suits your players and your team..
If you are a smaller team in the league, counter or defend would be the best approach as you want to try and soak up the pressure then hit them on the counter and hopefully grab a 1:0 win or sit back and defend...
This needs to be married with your formation and playing style, literally all the other steps so far in the process to really get the best out of your tactic and players!
You are not going to be playing a 4123 and adopt a defensive strategy as a third of your squad are strikers.. be logical about it...
Step three:
Set Pieces regime, there are so many different settings to be used, depending on what approach you have (if you are wanting to counter, leave your two quickest players forward with your best passer of the ball on the edge of area so if and when the ball gets cleared, he will pass the ball quickly up to your players to try and start the counter)
As I said, there are numerous settings to be used, the basic ones are as follows:
Attacking:
(Corner aim: Near post)
[*=center]Tallest, biggest defender: Challenge keeper
[*=center]Second biggest defender: Stand far post
[*=center]Striker: Attack near post
[*=center]Other players: Near post flick on, attack from deep, attack far post
There are many settings to use, mess around with them until you find the best formula and try and take advantage of your set pieces as they can potentially win you 3 points at the end of the day!
I like to have a left footer taking from the right and vice versa, that is my own personal preference...
I suggest reading through this as well, its really nicely explained (as I say, do not try and reinvent the wheel)
FM 2013 Set Pieces Guide: How to handle corners, free kicks and throw-ins in FM 13
Other threads to take a look at:
http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/foot...most-important-stats-per-position-thread.html
http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/foot...-mr-houghs-shout-combo-its-future-thread.html
http://www.footballmanager.com/manual/fm2013/?locale=en_GB&id=272
Sports Interactive Community
FM13 Guide by SI:
This is a very useful guide to use, I am even using as I go along from now on!
Football Manager 2013 Manual
anyway, I though that I would take the time to try and offer a decent enough guide on how to go about setting up your own tactic for Fm13 as this years version seems to be getting the better of quite a few people.. I firmly believe that this is the best version yet and the tactical freedom we have is quite fantastic.. If you make a mistake on the day, you will get punished, but if you get it right, it can be extremely rewarding.
I hope you find this useful and will assist you in making your Fm13 experience that much better.
All the best and have a great Festive season, regards,
Neil
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