1) Getting Started with Fm

People who buy FM are always looking for a challenge and most of them head directly to lower league teams where they love to drive their home team to the higher league and to win major trophies. that's very good and shows the spirit of challenge all FM gamers have, But it's not the quite right step.

In real life those clubs won't do very good with the current players and Unfortunately you will not have enough budget to get good players and Even if you managed too.. You will not be able to attract that mold of players.

So i advice every FM player to start with a team in the Highest league.. Now you pick any team in the premier league you prefer, if you like a challenge you can use the Mid table teams to build you reputation and play until the regens start to appear...Then you can move to your lower league teams and you will be to strengthen your squad with young, talented players without too much budget.


(2) How to choose your tactic upon your current players, Team and League.

Many Of us Like to try their own tactics on their team without doing much thinking or even using the default tactics built-in FM but that's Not the reason we buy the game lads, We r supposed to be creative and Efficient with our teams to make the difference that satisfy us as managers.

Here is a guide on choosing the right formation based on the terms of players, Team and League.

(A)Let's Talk about your squad

You have to take your time to know you squad. who are the players and where do they perform the best. Always use a pen and a paper to do this cause you will not be so familiar with the squad abilities when you take control of your team.

Write down your team players and their positions right beside that. and start reading coach reports to know where they play best and also know each player's ranking among his team members playing in same place. Then place these info beside each player...

Now you know Who Play Where... But can he do it?

Well It depends on your team, your opponents and your players..

Each Position in soccer needs specific skills let's now know the Requirements of each position on the field. I will ignore GK because his abilities are limited and you should have a good one anyway. Now Field Positions.

Defender Center: A central defender must have good Skills at the following:
Marking, Tackling, Heading, Anticipation, Decisions,Strength, Bravery and concentration.

Full Backs: A Full Back must have good Skills at the following:
Tackling, Dribbling, Acceleration, Crossing (Agility and Corners: Optional)

Defensive Midfielder: A Defensive Midfielder must have good Skills at the following:
Tackling, Passing, Bravery, Work Rate, Strength, Determination and Positioning.(Long Shots Optional)

Attacking Midfielder Central: A Central Attacking Mid must have good Skills at the following:
Creativity, Passing, Long Shots, Team Work, Decisions, Flair and Dribbling (First touch: Optional)

Attacking Midfielder R/L: A Winger must have good Skills at the following:
Acceleration, Dribbling, Crossing, Creativity, Flair and Pace

Strikers: A Striker must have good Skills at the following:
Finishing, Composure, First Touch, Off The Ball, Anticipation, Technique and Aggression

Now We know each position's requirements, Take further time to know your players and write down each player's points of strength and weakness.

(B)Tactical Design

If you are an EPL, SPL or Calccio player Then you must Think 4-4-2

The 4-4-2 is supposed to be the hardest formation ever made on the history of football. it requires many duties from all the players even the strikers.

*Defensive State
The Striker starts all the work applying pressure on the Opponent's central defenders while the wingers join the DMC to make a defensive line at the middle of the pitch.

When your opponent go on wing playing your Winger applies pressure on their FB and you DMC tends to play on the attacked side to cover the Wingers back. While your AMC step back to secure the other side of the pitch.

Your Full Backs are supposed to meet the opponents wingers and your wingers help them to prevent the over lap between the Opponent Full back and winger

And if the Attack is going from the middle You DCs work As marker men to mark The opponents strikers while your Full Back Secure The Flanks From opponents Wingers and your DMC Applies pressure on the opponent's AMC.

**Attacking State if you go wing play your wingers and full backs will try to invade the opponents' flanks and apply cross balls to the strikers and your AMC.

IF you play From The Midfield. Your full backs will not be so involved in the game as your AMC and wingers along with your DMC and strikers will try to play the ball in order to find a gap for a winning assist through your opponent back Line.

***So now you know what the players do in the pitch and how they think. You should Be able to decide what formation will you use.. It's mainly depending on your players abilities and the strength of the league you are playing in.

EX: If you have 3 good DCs and 2WBs 1 MC 2 AMR/L 1AMC and 1 ST build your tactic upon that and play 3-2-1-3-1 Don't target players to serve a tactic you know or u have...

Use your players to build up your tactic.. That's the way it's meant to be done. Part 2

Now you have chose your tactics As we discussed in part one. Now here is the guide to set up your players' missions and tasks to do on the pitch.

But First Lets Talk about The Sliders In the Player and Team Instruction.

A: Team Instruction Guide



Now i will just go quickly through the team instruction explaining each slider then there will be more details in player instruction guide.

(1) Mentality

The picture shows Level One Of each Mentality attacking and defensive. When u go above normal and reach attacking this is called Level 1 Attacking. Also when u go below normal to reach defensive this is called Level 1 Defensive

The Overall team mentality is determined by the Personality of your squad, Ambitious and determined Squad play attacking ball very well.

Playing attacking football is nice. but it might keep your defense open, However when you increase or decrease the team mentality you sometimes don't affect the players cause they r set to have their own mentality. i.e. if your set your striker to full attack manually and u wanted your team to defend all your team will defend except your striker.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


(2) Creative Freedom

Same As Attacking We now have defined what's meant by Level 1 for much and Little.

Creativity in general is something needed in football, As your players need it to get out of certain situations, But too much creativity will Ruin your Football and will Surely cause you some damage, Meanwhile Too little creativity will cause your players to act stupid and the ball will be taken easily from them cause they have no right to think or create.

Also This can be applied to each player separately so we will discuss it more in player instructions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


(3) Passing

Passing Is related to many things actually. It's related to tempo, Weather and your style of play.

When you choose your passing style you got to put in mind how do u wanna play.. Short Simple passing with one twos and flowing football must be played when u play slow attacking football.

Fast Direct passing is required when you play fast tempo with counter attacks.

Also when the weather is bas and it's raining you have to play direct passing cause short will cause lots of wrong passing.

Also This can be applied to each player separately so we will discuss it more in player instructions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


(4) Tempo

Tempo is the speed of your game. The speed of the players passing the ball.
Possession Required slow football, Counter attack requires fast tempo, Also Tempo is linked to weather playing fast tempo in bad weather is hard and Generally your tempo is decided according to your tactical formation and the way you want to perform.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


(5) Width

Game Width is one of the most important team instructions made.. because it depends on many things and it really affect your game.
it depends on: Pitch Size, Your Passing Focus, Your Team Abilities, Your tactical Form

Playing on Short Side Pitches: Here you have to go WIDE and extreme wide.. The midfield is crowded so your only way out of this is the Flanks.. And you have to focus passing on the flanks to give your wingers the ability to start your attacks from there.

Narrow Game. is more suitable for attacking from the middle at Huge pitches cause there will be enough space for your AM to play through balls to your Strikers and play one twos with your wingers and DMC.

However you got to see what's best for your squad's abilities and choose it.. also during the game you will have to change that as your scout is supposed to tell what's best for the coming game...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


(6) Closing Down

Thanks to FM team They fixed that Bug and it's working good now.. Closing down is vital in success as it gives you the lead and the upper hands against your opponents.

But Remember closing down requires high work rate players or they will lose their fitness very soon in the game.
Also This can be applied to each player separately so we will discuss it more in player instructions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


(7) Time Wasting

Time wasting is also very important factor in your success.. it's used in many ways.. Here is the keys.
In my tactics i always use level 1 rare time wasting because of the following.

Using extreme low time wasting is gonna make your players lose their concentration and get rid of the ball very soon Also using Extreme high time wasting will kill your game pace and may cause your players to lose the ball easily due to keeping it long in their feet.

Use Extreme rare time wasting when you are losing.. Also Extreme often time wasting in hard games against rivals and only use it ONLY in the last 10 minutes of the game.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


(8) Defensive Line

This is also considered very important vital factor for your success. For me i always use level 1 deep but i can change this according to many during the game.

Sometimes you are pressured back by an easy team.. Or even Big teams who play one striker.. then you can use level 1 push up to relief the pressure but your defenders must be fast and have good decisions as they can be left out in the way by a smart pass from your opponent.

Defend Extreme Deep when you feel the opponent team is pushing up his defense this will give you some space to move the ball behind his defensive line and your midfield will have more space to move.

If you understand these two key factors above i am sure that during the game you will use the defensive line more wisely now and it will give you more tactical flexability.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


(9) Tackling

Well this is all your.. but i recommend normal tackling cause hard will cause you many bookings and affect your squad consistancey and quantum.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


(10) Focus Passing

As i said above this is related to pitch size and also your squad abilities.
If you have good wingers and full backs Go [Down Both Flanks] but let's say your opponent has an injured right defender or they r down to 1 and they are playing with one of their full backs is not a full back.. Focus passing down his flank will give you the advantage on his side.

Having good Mid fielders with tendency to play one twos and long shots and through ball.. Through the middle is your key to success and if your opponent doesn't have good DCs this is gonna be a good place to attack.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


(11) Marking

Zonal marking is way better than man marking when playing against BIG teams. as their players are always kinda fast and will skip man marking easily and cause problems in your half.

Actually it makes no difference IMO.. but it's all yours to decide what type of marking you would like.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


(12) Target man Supply

This setting depends on your type of striker.

*If he is fast and can go past his man run onto ball is your best option
**If He is not fast and can have good positions in the area passing to feet is your best options.. also some strikers love ball played into feet.. so that's an indicator on how to give him the ball.
*** Tall and good heading ability striker should have the ball played to head so he can place goals

IMO i use two kind of strikers.. speedy and tall and set them both to be my target man and set this option to mixed so i get the best out of it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


(13) Tight Marking

Ticking this option on will lead your squad to tight mark the nearest man to them and try to cut out balls coming to him.. It's used when you have a squad able to do this. Cause imagine a ball played to your opponents winger and your full back tries to cut the pass coming to his man and he fails.. your flank is now open wide for attack and the winger will apply the cross easily.

This is also can be used in player instruction and I always tick it on for my DMC.. and it works well with him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


(14) Use Target Man

Tick it on when you want your players to play for the target man... leaving it off will lead your players to play the crosses and through balls to the strikers or anybody in the area.

Better use it as it leads all your balls to be to the striker who is always in the area.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


(15) Use Play Maker

Play Makers are best used when you play through the middle.. A play make is one with Good anticipation, Passing, Long Shots and Team work..

Ticking that on will lead your field players to seek this guy in every pass and try to find him.. If you choose a good player as a play maker. he will take the ball. controls the tempo and try to slice your opponent defense with through balls to your strikers or spread the ball to a free winger.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


(16)Play Offside

Use this option when only you play push up defensive line.. Cause playing offside trap with your defense line deep will cause one of your DCs to do something wrong leaving your opponent striker in one on one situation and we surely don't want that to happen.

You can use it against extreme fast strikers or weak team with extreme slow and strikers with low intelligence.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


(17)Counter Attack

Well you can use counter attack along with fast tempo and defensive mentality. Using counter attack with slow tempo and attacking mentality will make a conflict to your squad and you will be wondering why they can't play well.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


(20)Throw in

Use Long throw ins but make sure you have players able to do that.. Using long throw ins is very useful if u r under pressure or if you are on the attacking side to play the ball into your opponents area trying to make a chance from it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------



I skipped corner kicks and free kicks cause they have a single detailed guide will be introduced later.take your time to setup the corner kicks. get your self a piece of paper and a pen. it's vital for success and your effort will be rewarded in the game.

we have some missions to be assigned for your players.

1) 2 Players taking corner kicks.
2) 2 players attacking each post
3) 1 player challenging goal keeper
4) 1 Player short option
5) 1 player attack ball from deep.
6) 1 player outside area


Now for the set up menu.

Go to you squad page and choose View Technical attributes.


1) See who got the highest corner kick taking in your team.
It's supposed to be your Fullbacks as they in real life always take the corner kicks. now place them down in front of corner kick taker and make some alternatives if you rotate your squad.

2) Now on the same squad menu click the heading ability that highest come first then type down those guys also. It's also supposed to be your DCs as they must have high Heading ability.

3) Now this is optional decision to you either to set a guy with best heading or Finishing/composure rates in the position challenging the goal keeper. write him down.

4) On the technical attributes also click flair so that highest come first and also and write his name down.

5) now move to physical attributes and see who got the highest pace along with acceleration to and write him down.

6) Now i suppose you are familiar with your players and you know which player on your squad got the best long shots attribute so also write him down.

now after you have these people on your paper let's assign these missions to our tactic.

Now place your players in the tactic.

* Assign your corner takers.
* Let your best headers in the squad attack near post and far post.... (One for each task)
* The Highest Pace to attack from deep
* Best Flair to do short option
* Best composure to challenge goal keeper
* Best long shots to stand out side area.

And now assign all the rest to stay back even your players taking the corner kick.

Now how do we get use of the IFK to act like corner kicks. Easy just choose in your team instruction the free kicks to be played cross center and this will provide you with at least 10 goals from IFK per season.

But also you have to make sure your best free kick take is the one who is taking the free kick.

Now the corners and free kicks are set, save the tactic with your new corner setup and here you go.