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Moneyball in FM19: Part 1
I start a Masters Degree in Data Analytics this September, and recently I’ve been looking at how I can use Analytics to impact my favourite game, Football Manager. Cleon recently tweeted about Moneyball, and how no one has replicated it correctly when it comes to FM. Moneyball in FM19. Now, I had heard of Moneyball, and knew it involved using Analytics to scout players, but I didn’t know the true extent of Moneyball, or where the definition came from. So,… Read More Read More
Italian football in FM19: Fantasista Quest
I would like to invite you all on a world-spanning, time-bending journey. It is a side project of mine, ran parallel to my main Dynamo Kyiv save. Also, as it is likely to be the last save I start on FM 2019, it must be one of epic proportions and ambition. Being a huge fan of Italian calcio, I find much of my tactical inspiration in Italy while I enjoy watching English football. England is where the beautiful game began… Read More Read More
4-4-2 Diamond Narrow in FM19: How to create a free-scoring army
I’ve always had the same problem on Football Manager. My teams either don’t create many chances, and rely on long-range shots, or become exposed to counter-attacks. And I’m supposed to be good at this game. 4-4-2 Diamond Narrow in FM19. Lately, I’ve been facing both of those problems.
Saving English Football FM19! – Part 2
In Part 2 of my series on recovering after destroying English Football last year. We’re retrying and actually Saving English Football FM19 this time. We look at the Autumn internationals as well as a fairly productive start to my first season at the Unicorn. For anyone who missed the previous part: These were my key points for the save: Climb the Leagues with the Unicorn, relying on young English talent either from my academy or an extensive scouting network provided… Read More Read More
3-5-2 in FM19: Dynamo Project Tactic Creation Part 3 – Offensive Trio
I planned this as a three part series. I intend to go step-by-step through the process of creating a 3-5-2 tactic, from examining the formation’s strengths in the context of its three units: defensive, transition and offensive to showing you what kind of players you need. The first part dealt with the 3 Men Defence Unit. The 2nd focused on the Transition Unit of midfielders and wingbacks. This third and final part will examine the Offensive Trio and how their… Read More Read More
Does Finishing in FM19 Make a Difference in a Striker? | Football Manager Experiment
As a manager, I always look for strikers with the highest finishing attribute and then assess their other attributes. However, I wonder what would happen if I created two identical players and only adjust their finishing in FM19 attributes and see what the result is like. In my last article where I looked at age, which can be read here – Does Age Make a Difference in a Striker? | Football Manager Experiment. It was slightly difficult to create a conclusion on… Read More Read More
Inverted Wing-Backs in FM19: How to Utilise Your Silent Assassins.
Inverted wing-backs in FM19: what’s the point? Inverted wing-backs are often just seen as full-backs standing in central midfield. An excuse to pass sideways. An excuse to bring natural full-backs out of position. An excuse to play 20,000 bleeding passes for the sake of it! However, believe it or not, using inverted wing-backs correctly can give your side an unrivalled attacking threat. If you’re still with me, I’ll try to explain how!
How to transition effectively in FM19: Dynamo Project Tactic Creation Step 2
I planned this article as a three part series. In this extensive guide I intend to go step-by-step through the process of creating my 3-5-2 tactic, from examining the formations strengths in the context of the primary three units: defensive, transition and offensive to showing you what kind of players you would need for this tactic. The first part dealt with the 3 Men Defensive Unit. This following one will be looking at the Transition Unit of the two midfielders… Read More Read More
Keeping an interest in your FM19 Save
It’s that time of year where people are looking forward to the release of the latest edition of Football Manager and slowly losing interest in their current saves. People are playing less and less. I have a few ideas and tips which could help you find that spark to your save again. Keeping an interest in your FM19 save. In this article I break down five different categories in which I find to be the biggest influences in terms of… Read More Read More
Setting up your defence in FM19: Dynamo Project Tactic Creation Step 1
I love summer break. But I’m not nostalgic for those days when we had a break from school and all worries. No, unfortunately as much as I would love to, this is not about that. Rather, I love the summer preseason break in Football Manager. It is a great time to take stock of what worked/not worked in the previous season. And start planning for the challenges of the next. For me all tactic building happens in preseason. Ideally only… Read More Read More
How to use the inside forward in FM19
When we think of the inside forward in FM19, we might imagine Messi or Neymar showing off with their fancy tricks and blasting shots home from 30 yards out. Our players probably have boots made of bin bags, so what else is this role useful for?
Portrait of a Perfect Striker – Guide to Scoring More Goals in FM19
I’m going to start by making a bold claim that Luka Jovic is the best striker in the world now. There is a lot of buzz around him lately. The likes of Barcelona, Chelsea and Man City linked with his name. This has as much to do with his scoring ability as the promise of future potential in this 20 year old. His wonderkid status in Football Manager 2019 is greatly merited. Simply put no other forward has the same… Read More Read More
How to use the Raumdeuter in FM19
Continuing with my series highlighting specialist roles in FM19, I now turn to a deep Raumdeuter Role. It is a misunderstood role which fm players often misuse. As enigmatic as the man who inspired it, Raumdeuter will always be linked with the name of Thomas Muller. Every position has its ideal player, whether it is Pirlo the Regista, Roberto Baggio the Trequartista, or Beckenbauer the Libero. But can any modern player truly call any role his own? None except Thomas… Read More Read More
How to use the 4-3-3 in FM19
In a game where complicated build ups are difficult to engineer, I can see the appeal of the 4-3-3 in FM19. A traditional 4-3-3 allows you to play vertically. You can pass behind the opposition’s backline as if there’s a shining halo there; it has half a chance of reaching one of your strikers. It’s also an effective system for keeping possession. With players close to each other in a narrow formation, it’s easier for players to find their teammates… Read More Read More
Overachieving in FM19: Guide to Winning as an Underdog
My second season with Dynamo Kyiv has drawn to a close. Once again we have lost the title to our arch-rival Shakhtar by a margin of 6 points. There are definitely things I need to improve in the league. We have not been doing all that well abroad either. Our European trophy cabinet remains meager. Winning UEFA Cup Winners Cup in 1975 and 1986, and UEFA Super Cup in 1975 are distant memories. In recent two seasons, there was some… Read More Read More
Football Manager 2019 Guides | Understanding the Editor
The Football Manager Editor is a very powerful tool that allows the community to really express their creativity and showcase the huge potential of the Football Manager database. Firstly those unaware the editor is a free tool created by Sports Interactive that allows players to see the in-game stats and then edit and create players, teams and competitions. A few of the following points will be covered in this guide: How do I use it? What can I do with… Read More Read More
Dynamo Project: Regista Guide – Orchestrating the Play
For a while now, I was planning to write about the new tactic that I have been working on in order to get the best out of my amazing regen, the Croatian diamond in my last golden generation intake (as seen in my previous article). As I started to write I realized that before the full tactics revelation, I need set a bit of context for the specialized role I intend to build the tactic around; the Regista. There are… Read More Read More
How to Build Your Midfield in FM19 | Football Manager Guide
Should they press? Should they restrict our opponents? How do we make them calm on the ball but also make a killer pass every two touches?
Dictate The Game – Potential Writers Brief
Firstly, thank you for showing an interest in joining our writing team! We’re keen to see your skills as a writer. Before you join, we’d like you to write a piece on something you’re interested in regarding Football Manager. We aren’t looking for a specific word count, rather that the article is well rounded without being too long. Ideally an article which is not an FM story, as we run a four week schedule. If you are stuck for inspiration… Read More Read More
Dynamo Project: Youth Development – Golden Generation
Every year, around January when the arrival of the Winter Update is imminent, I start asking myself the same question, and this year is no different; who should I manage on football manager 2019? Now that the game is fully-updated what long-term save do I do? Do I start a Lower League Management saga, or a campaign to revive a Sleeping Giant? Do I manage in top 5 Leagues with their guaranteed riches? Or in the more obscure ones and… Read More Read More
Does Age Make a Difference in a Striker? | Football Manager Experiment
Typically, when you search for a new player to join your team on Football Manager, age can be a big factor in whether or not you will sign them. I want to create an experiment that looks at two identical players in terms of attributes, but completely different ages. I want to find out whether age is a defining moment in the signing of a player. In this particular experiment, I am going to create a player who would be… Read More Read More
Guide to the Wide Target Man and the Flo Pass Tactic
Since its introduction in FM2014, the Wide Target Man role always fascinated and brought out the tactical tinkerer in me. Sometimes I get an idea that takes over whichever save I’m doing, as I try hard to make it work. Most of the time it leads to a lot of wasted time playing around with the tactics screen. Even worse is the disappointment of watching game after game and seeing none of the hoped for results. My particular weakness has… Read More Read More
How to break defensive teams down in FM19
Score goals while not conceding any from counter-attacks or set pieces. Simple enough, right?
Dynamo Project: Tactics, Glory and Wonderkids
For some reason I always associate the month of December with playing Football Manager. Maybe it was because I started my first ever save on FM14 in December 2013. I still remember the glory of promoting Manisaspor out of the gloomy depth of Turkish 2nd division. Maybe by pure luck or some fluke of the plug and play tactics, I was actually able to win the league. I also happened to have a very good youth intake; my first ever… Read More Read More
Football Manager 2019 Guides | Youth Scouting
With the new installment of Football Manager, everybody wants to become the best manager of all time. That will naturally take time in game and requires lots of effort from players. These guides will help you to accelerate this process whilst we do the leg-work for you and give you the best tips for 2019. This week its Youth Scouting. These guides on Youth Development will cover all areas of the game regarding producing young players. I plan to make… Read More Read More
Dynamo Project: Dealing with Injury Crisis
Despite the positive start to the season, we had to contend with a bit of a crisis. Within a space of a month I’ve had 4 of my first team players receive long-term multi-months injuries. I could be bitter, blaming it on the playing with an earlier patch that made injuries too common. I am using a high intensity high pressing system that demands a lot from my players’ stamina and natural fitness. Injuries happen sooner or later. Instead of… Read More Read More
Dynamo Project: Guide to the Pressing Forward
I was torn between two formations for my gegenpressing tactic: 4-2-3-1 DM wide or 4-5-1. In the end I chose 4-2-3-1. The 4-5-1 became my backup tactic againt superior sides in Champions League. Why not use Lobanovsky’s classic 4-4-2, you may ask? I’ve used 4-4-2 extensively in both FM 2017 and FM 2018. But while I always had some success with it, I noticed that Number 10s never played as I wanted. Or link up the midfield and attack as… Read More Read More
Wing-backs in FM19: Making use of the misunderstood enigmas.
What wing-backs in FM19 are meant to do Wing-backs in FM19 are meant to be simple: they run up and down their flanks non-stop. Where do they get all this energy? ‘They’re fitter’ isn’t a satisfactory explanation! Why can’t every player just be a superhuman who turns up everywhere? Let’s take a closer look at wing-backs in FM19.
Dynamo Project: Introducing the Club DNA
Club DNA The first question you might ask is what sort of player you will need to recreate Lobanovsky’s system? Or indeed in any kind of “gegenpressing” tactic. Primarily you want players with as much Stamina, Workrate and Determination as possible. I’m looking for something in 14-16 range ideally. Players with high values there should run their hearts out for you. It helps if you use fitting team instructions and roles to get the best out them.
Dynamo Project: Prologue
Hi my name is CrusaderTsar and I’ve been playing Football Manager since 2013. Finally deciding to dip my feet into writing, I plan to discuss Dynamo Kiev club history and my tactics. I intend to post regular updates on my squad, results and musings on how to improve my tactics and training.
Training in FM19: How to develop, motivate and condition players in your training plan
This sounds like a bold plan full of radical ideas. Please let me assure you that it isn’t. Coming up with your own plan for training in FM19 is rewarding, if you put all the options into context. To help yourself, try to incorporate the three main aims: developing, motivating and conditioning your players correctly.
Football Manager 2019 Guides | Bossing Pre-Season
With the new football manager season underway, we are going to be releasing a series of guides for Football Manager 2019. Throughout the year we will be giving you tips on everything from tactics and training, to scouting and youth intakes. For our first article, we’ll naturally start at the beginning: Pre-Season! All of the guides will use this save. I am managing Arsenal because they were the first team on the list. Also they are well-known so people will… Read More Read More
Football Manager 2019 Guides | Youth Development
With the new installment of Football Manager, everybody wants to become the best manager of all time. That will naturally take time in game and requires lots of effort from players. These guides will help you to accelerate this process whilst we do the leg-work for you and give you the best tips for 2019. Here’s some tips on Youth Development These guides on Youth Development will cover all areas of the game regarding producing young players. I plan to… Read More Read More
Saving English Football! – Part 1
So last year I created a series in which I tried to Ruin English Football, but this time I’m saving English football. I basically created an alternate world in which top teams lost their ability to sign players meaning they relied heavily on their youth in turn creating a quality generation of English talent. However what ended up happening was League One and Two teams became huge and took over and Wigan and Blackburn won everything. If you want to… Read More Read More
FM18 Regen Guide: Countries and Clubs
Firstly his regen guide has been updated for Football Manager 2019 and you can find it here: http://dictatethegame.com/2018/11/07/football-manager-2019-guides-youth-development/ Enjoy! Many football manager players will spend countless hours searching the obscure leagues for the perfect regens and young players. As part of this guide I will be showing you how to speed up that process, find better players and look in some surprising places. For those unaware, in football manager players will naturally retire due to old age in game. To… Read More Read More