Part 1

FFM How to make any tactic

[*] What is the goal of your tactic
Know what you want first. Where are your goals going to come from, where are your players going to be to link the whole thing together. Stuff like that, its basic, but many people including me go onto auto-pilot and forget.

[*]Making your own vs Default tactics
Default tactics are a template, something to work from, not the ultimate solution. If you look at the default tactics virtually every slider is in the middle. Middle means normal so the emphasis is for safety first, even for the attacking tactics. Small adjustments should be made, you can also use the presets and set up the defenders..and then you'll notice there is a difference between a preset- defender and one from the default instructions.

[*] How do I play defensively?
Short - Normal passing
Slow - Normal Tempo
Low creative freedom
Few TTB instructions
Normal FWR instructions for most players
A normal defensive line
Normal mentalities for most players
Slow to normal tempo
Normal width
High timewasting
Closing down low at the back, normal in midfield and normal upfront
When it comes to passing I generally recommend mixed for most teams because of the weather effect on pitches. Waterlogged pitches are a huge problem for short passing, so sometimes you need to play mixed. A slow to normal tempo allows you to hold possession. Closing down is also interesting, for good sides I'd even consider higher closing down, but sometimes that wears out players too much, lower closing down keeps your players in shape. If you have your link players on direct passing and one or two wingers on fwr, they could launch very quick counterattacks.

[*]Slow probing possession based game
Higher closing down in midfield/attack
Passing short
Tempo slow to normal
Width - Wide
More FWR
More players with TTB instructions
Higher CF in front
Ideally some players will be on direct passing to set off quick thrusts
The more players have normal instructions the more players defend, so some players may need either FWR or farrows to make them run behind the defensive lines. Its easy to go from a defensive set up to one of these, the key lies in the passing and closing down instructions. If you want to knock the ball about, set passing to the low end of short and mixed. Short passing will see players knock it around more. If you want to do probing kind of football your shape is very important. At least 3 centrally placed midfielders are needed. Tempo should be slow or normal. Leave closing down untouched in defense, but increase it in midfield. These kind of formations benefit from some players on direct passing, the thrusts will come from here.

[*]Attacking tactics
FWR often for midfielders
FWR often for fullbacks
More use of TTB
Slider based formation with at least 6 players on attacking mentality
Wide


Attacking formations need pace, good passing, great anchor players who could HUB and lay off to others and more than one route to goal. Attacking mentalities are important for those who are attacking, which means you want to take risks. With such formations its important to keep your backline on INDIVIDUAL mentalities at all costs so they don't get dragged away. Formations that can use this to great effect are 433 formations, possession shouldn't be your main worry, make sure you get more than one route to goal. .This can come from attacking fullbacks, "kaka" like midfielders and strong AMC who drive attacks through the middle.
Using arrows for players

If you use farrows be careful, setting too high a mentality for a farrowed player could push him further away and make him harder to find. Furthermore all those forward runs he will make will only make him more tired. When setting mentality be aware of its incidental effects on other settings. When a player is set with a high mentality and is given passing instructions its best to give him either direct passing or short. Do this so he can find the player nearest him.

If he has a high mentality and is positioned higher up on the pitch, you shouldn't give him any ttb instructions if he is a winger, getting him to play a short pass or a direct pass to an MC or a striker is a far better option. Setting him on attacking mentality and with TTB on normal will definitely make him waste more passes. Even if his decisions are good he will look for the attacking option first.

Its far better to give a ML a farrow and then give him normal mentality. This means that he will be positioned further up to receive the pass but he will also be more effective when you lose possession of the ball since he is closer to the MC, then he would otherwise have been if he has a high mentality. Mentality works hand in hand with a host of sliders that can complicate your target or enhance it..its best to keep CF neutral; Closing down normal and tempo normal in most cases.

CF increases the amount of actions a dot will more likely do. Keeping it normal allows his decisions to determine what these are. High mentality settings, coupled with high closing down will wear your players down. There is little neccessity to have high for both. Have closing down on normal for wingers, have it higher for your DMs. You can set really low mentality settings for your DCs. I would recommend having them on 3 if possible for FM 2008. You can even have it on 1. That will make em play like Wimbledon at the back with no thought on building play just hoofing
<*>Defensive Line
If you have a high dline then the midfielders and defenders try winning the ball higher up the pitch. This slider works with closing down and is affected by mentality. If your team is attacking and loses the ball, then players will fall back to win the ball.

If you are playing with a high dline and your fullbacks are set to normal mentality and low closing down, their higher positions will affect their closing down. Because they are placed higher, they will close down once a player enters his zone. And sometimes they may even track deep to do that. Attributes and player roles affect these too. If the ball is punted and is headed to the 25yard line, chances are a DC if he has higher anticipation will move to win the header. Bear all these in mind when setting a tactic up.
Player instructions

The best thing about setting player instructions now is "Match Flow", on match day you can actually close the tactical screen which displays the formation and then select player instructions based on their attributes. It certainly saves time.

Passing
Direct is good form of passing for premiership clubs. You can use direct passing for DCs and for wingers. Short passing is good passing for MCs and for defensive MCs linking with either a DM or a an attacking MC who is set to TTB. In this case have the MC on passing of 1 and the playmaker on either mixed or direct.

Long passing - Not my favourite, use it with your Keeper. Look for a Forward with high jumping and heading, strength and pace and set that guy up to receive long kicks from your keeper. Plenty of cheap goals to be had from here. It doesn't happen ALL THE TIME though.

Short passing witj fast tempo works great with strong teams, but can be disasterous for weak teams who lack te attributes such as stamina, workrate and decisions to make a high tempo passing game work.High tempo also implies a shorter interval between passes, if a playerr can't make a decision where the ball is going it will most likely end up with the opposition.
Run with Ball and Cross Ball

The best setting for this has always been mixed. If you set someone on often for both these sliders, he will do the dribble or cross the ball even when its not the best option. Their first priority will be to follow those instructions. So always use decisions to govern player instructions.

What are the individual instructions needed to achieve what they have been set to do. The constraint in doing pre-sets and this is one of the things I learned after creating something similar for FM06 is that you could have a variety of instructions and you essentially need to know what you want to achieve. I think within this thread we could get it done.

Lets start with DCs - the easiest of the group. We can discuss it here before someone goes off to create a [code] table. I'm really struggling for time nowadays.

Individual Instructions for Defenders

Assuming you are playing a back four formation and whether its attacking or not the instructions will hardly ever vary:

Defender in a Defensive/Attacking formation
Average standard team, with a normal defensive line. Team is characterized with trying to hold possession when possible, and intelligent build up play Defensive/Control/Attacking Tactics

][*] Standard Defender
Mentality: Defensive(5)
Creative Freedom: Low (5)
Passing: Short 6
TTB: None
FWR: None
Cross: None
Closing Down: Own Area (5)

Defenders who are expected to attack for counters, characteristic of good sides

[*] Attacking Defender
Mentality: Defensive
Creative Freedom: None
Passing: Direct (first notch)
TTB: Normal
FWR: None
Cross : None
Closing Down: Own Area (5)

Defenders in classic 3 man backline formations
[*]Sweepers
Mentality: Defensive (last notch)
Creative Freedom: None
Passing: Direct (first notch)
TTB: None
FWR: None
Cross : None
Closing Down: Last notch of own area or possibly own half.

[*]Stoppers
Mentality: Defensive (last notch)
Creative Freedom: None
Passing: Short - Mixed (last notch of short)
TTB: None
FWR: None
Cross : None
Closing Down: Slightly higher if you're using a sweeper behind them. Preferably in the own area region as well. Probably the last notch,since you want them to drop back and close down first.

Setting up a water-tight defense

Mentality is perhaps the most important slider, regardless of the kind of team you manage. The difference being on degree. Fullbacks and central defenders should never be too apart in terms of mentality. If you were to think in terms of priority, a fullback defends more than a winger but less than a DC, but in terms of interceptions he's easily one of the most important players to break up attacks.

When setting them up, have the DC on defensive and have the fullback either on last notch of defensive or first notch of normal. There is a slight difference between both, and in both cases the fullback will overlap if there is a good opportunity to do so. And it won't be risky.

Knowing that your fullbacks are going to be heading up the pitch the MOMENT your DCs have the ball is important, as this creates a space with their FWR. And this is one the reasons good sides can have short passing for DCs since the DCs act as a control of possession. In weaker sides the option should be last notch of defensive or even normal. Unless your team is better than the other team in terms of passing and running you should never attempt to play too short a passing game. A quick passing game needs good attributes, or at least those that are relatively higher than the other team.

The defensive plan doesn't stop there, its no use just clearing the ball or making challenges, you need to win the SECOND BALL. In this situation, wide dispersions of mentality cause mor gaps...if too many players in midfield start having attacking mentalities and FWR then they move forward making it hard for the DCs to pass..hence the long ttb or the long ball. This is the reason why I advocate playing on one mentality slider in midfield, or at least they should be on the same mentality scale.

Fullbacks need to distribute the ball well, having them on TTB helps ONLY if they have good decisions and passing. If they don't you're giving up possession, a good way to balance if you want to use TTB is to have them on short passing and to make sure there are ANCHORS or LINK players. These are the players that don't do FWR.

Marking in defense is a good idea, zonal needs a level of technical skill, whereas manmarking is really very basic. So here the choices for me are fairly straightforward. The problem with this game is that the skill levels are now magnified, poor players get caught out very easily against good players. And that is probably the reason why you see my pkms the way they are.

Getting others involved in goal scoring - Dominating Long Periods of Any Game.
Concentrating on improving the strike rate of forwards is important(through training of course or tactical instructions), but overemphasis is dangerous. For that I usually set up my tactics on a split mentality scale.

When the attacking set of players are on normal, I know that the main focus are the strikers, but when my mentality scale goes to attacking more attempts are made by my wingers/midfielders. So how do you improve this further?'

[*]Play at a normal or slower tempo
This allows play to develop in/around the AI box, bringing others into play.

[*]Passing should be set on short/mixed.
Combined with the tempo this allows play to develop. It's possible to use direct passing with link players like playmakers if you want.

[*]Long shots, setting the DMs to long shots actually drives them forward when chances permit, adding more variety

[*]Width..
It's interesting playing on wide, there's a hell of a lot of flank running and overlapping fullbacks, but sometimes too wide a setting, sets them off to early..I play on normal-wide..If I need more penetration I sometimes go wider. Haven't had to change it yet.

[*]Defensive lines
Each player has his own dline, so when you set it too deep, there's a lot of pressure on the mids to actually do something with the ball allowing others to come into play. If I want to do wholesale domination and force the AI into submission, I very rarely play on low settings. Of course I haven't found myself in a position to defend, but then again this is about dominating matches, not about defending and hitting on the counter.

[*]Set-pieces
I can't emphasize this nearly enough, its so important in the game, and even now too many goals are going in from setpieces. Set ALL your set pieces properly, these should include: Throw ins; Corners and Freekicks. You can dominate corners over and over again. And you can set up your tactics in such a way that you can get freekicks around the box, and have run down byelines often enough for players who can get you corners as well.

part 4
What I always tell everyone is stop making the game complicated. Drop the numbers and the rules and just go to basics.

Basics of mentality

There are only 4 settings for mentality you need to remember...
1. Ultra defensive
2. Defensive
3. Norma
4. Attacking
5. Gungho

That's it..now take all the numbers and shove them aside. Understand what each one of them means.

1. My duty is to defend all the time, I will not take part in an attack and I will maintain the shape. I will stay behind the ball when possible. If the ball is not in my danger area I will hold my position.

2. Defensive
My duty is to defend, attacking is not a priority unless the team is already in an advanced attacking position. When we lose the ball, my immediate priority is to defend

3. Normal
I have to support my defense at all times and also support the attack. I take up a central role in support and will be guided more by my decisions, where the ball is and the instructions my manager gives me. If he tells me to make FWR I will do so when a good chance makes itself available. I will also try to keep possession of the ball as much as possible and prod the defense.

4. Attacking.
I spend most of my time, attacking, defending is not a priority unless the ball is near my defensive line, then I will drop back. If the ball is out of my defensive line, I will maintain a forward attacking position.

5. Gungho,
I will attack at any opportunity, my passes are always forward and I'm willing to take more riskier chances with passes.

That's how I think when I set up mentality. I decide which player needs to behave in that pattern and go accordingly. Forget the 6 and the 8 and the 2 and the 17. I for one find that disconcerting. Always remember that mentality guides positions and risk. Attack is attack, defend is defend.