Strikerless
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Perishing Partizan; Halfway Into Season One
The last time I blogged about this series, I showed you how Partizan started their post-Guido era with some erratic transfers. Halfway into the season, we look back at how the club has fared in their various competitions, how their signings have done and how they did in the January transfer window. The financial status […]
Perishing Partizan; The First Transfer Window
The last time I blogged about this series, I had shown you the starting setup I had left Partizan with. By now, they have appointed a new manager and have progressed through the first transfer window since my departure. I want to see which transfer moves the AI has made, how it impacted their financial […]
Perishing Partizan; The Starting Setup
Just to create a bit of perspective here, in this particular save I was in charge of Partizan Belgrade for three silverware-laden seasons. Three titles, three cups and three Champions League wins were testimony to some shrewd business maneuvers, superb scouting and innovative tactical efforts. If you win three Champions League titles in succession, it’s […]
Perishing Partizan; A Quick Introduction
One of my pet peeves over the past few seasons has been the matter in which the AI conducts its business. Now I do realise this makes me sound like a bit of a hypocrit, since I mentioned several strategies on this blog on how to deceive and trick the AI, but what actually rubs […]
My Team Just Scored From A Bicycle Kick!!!
In an age where football is becoming less about individual skill and finesse and more about team tactics and defensive responsibilities, some players and their style of play are like a breath of fresh air. I’m generalising here, but fans and spectators want to be entertained and it’s generally not the team players who provide […]
Making Use Of The Big Spenders’ Hoarding
Much like in real life, FM15 sees the top clubs in Europe hoarding talent in a way similar to Scrooge McDuck acquiring money. These clubs often have a sugar daddy investing copious amounts of money, which allows them to make a play for pretty much any emerging starlet, whether they actually need these players or […]
Strikerless Meets Pulis; The 4-4-2-0
Over the last seasons, quite a few people have fallen in love with Barcelona, Spain and FC Bayern’s tiki-taka brand of football. After Guardiola’s departure to FC Bayern, we’ve seen the Bavarians employ a mix between the more direct style Heynckes implemented and Guardiola’s own possession-based style. Either way, possession seems to be crucial, as its importance […]
Addicted to Football Manager: @MerryGuido
Just to stroke my own ego a wee bit whilst I work on other articles.
A Money-Making Pre-Season Scheme
Pre-season is good for a great many things. It can help you raise tactical familiarity, you get the chance to assess your squad and new signings, raise the overall fitness level of your players, boost morale in time for the new league campaign and there’s the opportunity to make some serious cash during pre-season. Whilst […]
Counter-pressing In The FM15 ME
One of the major developments in football tactics in recent years has been the rise of counterpressing. In fact, counterpressing or its German equivalent gegenpressing have become a thing for the football hipsters among us. The act of pressing and closing down the opposition immediately after the ball is turned over has been made popular […]
Exploiting Set Pieces; The Delap Style Throw-In
It’s hardly a new tactic or a new approach to matters. In fact, you could say the long throw has gained acceptance as part of a robust approach to the game, pioneered by someone like Rory Delap upto the point where many Premier League clubs now use it as a legitimate weapon. For a throw-in anywhere in […]
A New Direction; 3-4-3-0 Strikerless
It’s a bit of a blast from the past, I must admit that. The 3-4-3 formation is a very offensive minded formation, but isn’t used very often this day and age. Napoli and the Chilean national side have used the formation at times, but it’s generally a formation from days long gone. That really is a […]
Strikerless 3.0 – Introducing The Withdrawn Targetman Mk. II
The premise of strikerless football is seared into the way I play this game and think about football in general. Yet on occasion, sometimes coming upon me suddenly, but coming without fail every month or so, as rituallistically as the prayers children say on their knees before tumbling into bed; the very act of turning on […]
Set Pieces; Making The Most Of It
In the not too distant past, I made a well-read blog post on set pieces, which was pretty much by the book, standardised approaches to set pieces. I’m not knocking those approaches and I still stand by them, but part of me is always looking for room to improve on the setup I am using. Whilst […]
A More In-Depth Analysis Of The Withdrawn Targetman
As I said earlier, I wanted to re-new the whole Withdrawn Targetman role. I basically want a player who will hold up the ball and bring his team-mates into play, choosing how and when to pass the ball to maximise the potential of the attacking movement. Because this Withdrawn Targetman is also supposed to be my Plan […]
Mechanising The Play; The Defensive Enganche
In the past few weeks, I have started posting content originally written by Lee (@FMAnalysis). To be more specific, I have started re-posting his Mechanising The Play-series, which is probably one of the best FM-tactics-related series I have ever read. Lee’s ideas are still relevant, regardless of the Match Engine and version of the game, because […]
The Withdrawn Targetman Mk. II – Re-Inventing The Role
Last season, I mentioned my desire for a new kind of role in FM, the Withdrawn Targetman. I basically want a player who can beat opposing players for headers and contribute with flick ons, and hold up the ball by controlling aerial balls played into his chest. Such a player will play with his back to goal […]
Mechanising The Play; Defensive Block
As you may or may not have noticed, I have recently started posting content originally written by Lee (@FMAnalysis). To be more specific, I have started re-posting his Mechanising The Play-series, which is probably one of the best FM-tactics-related series I have ever read. Lee’s ideas are still relevant, regardless of the Match Engine and version […]
Dominating The Central Areas; The Box-Formation
The centre is vital to success in the majority of sports. In chess, controlling the central area is considered a strategy that allows you the the best possible access to the board and can reach the entirety of the widthm as you can easily maximise the potential spaces which your pieces can move into. When you stick […]
Mechanising The Play; Transitions
I was recently approached by Lee (@FMAnalysis) with the question if I was interested in re-posting his Mechanising The Play-series, which is probably one of the best FM-tactics-related series I have ever read. It didn’t take me long to respond with a “FUCK YEAH!!!” Lee’s ideas are still relevant, regardless of the Match Engine and […]
Scout Reports; How To Use Them Properly
With the scouting system receiving a major overhaul with the appearance of FM15, you’re going to have to rely on your scouts more than ever, especially if you have enabled the attribute masking ability. This article however isn’t about the scouts, but about what they produce… The scout reports, FM’s way of helping you discover […]
Eliminating Agents; How To Reduce The Fees You Pay Those Leeches
If you’re anything like me, you hate wasting money when you’re trying to sign reinforcements for your squad. One of the thorns in my side in that regard consists of the ultimate douchebag-fee; the agent fee. Seriously, I’m forced to pay some pretentious prick, sitting in an office on his arse money to negotiate a […]
Finishing Chances; How Can I Stop My Forward Finishing Like Torres At Chelsea?
Every year you get games where you absolutely dominate proceedings but end up bemused, bewildered and sometimes downright enraged. How on Earth did those pillocks you call your forward line, those descendants of a sordid love-affair between Emile Heskey and Fernando Torres, fail to put a ball past the opposing goalkeeper?! It’s not like he’s […]
4-2-4-0 Overload; Another Download
As I have argued zealously in the past, the entire strikerless concept not only requires movement but actually thrives upon it, either to exploit the space or to create the space by dragging defenders out of position. The premise of strikerless football calls for the various lines in the formation to be packed in close proximity of one another. […]
Tactical Review: Cheeky Deeky’s 4-5-1-0
It’s been a while since the last tactical review, but we’re going CSI on yet another tactic. This time, we’ll be dissecting a tactic created by Jonathon Aspey (@JLAspey, give him a follow!), who has contributed to Strikerless in the past and has his own blog, The Tactical Annals. In one of his latest blog posts, he […]
The 1% Theory
Football has evolved in every way possible over the years, from the Arsenal side of the 1930’s to the modern day Barcelona. The short-passing game back in the very early stages of football was deemed as cowardly, that alone shows you how far football has come as a sport. I think it’s fair to say […]
#FM15 #ClaptonCorner – how on earth has Strikerless worked so well?
Alright folks, not the catchiest of titles I have to admit but I thought I would give you a quick update of my Clapton FC save that started last year. For those of you that are unaware, Clapton FC are currently an Essex Senior League side, which is Step Seven (Level 11) of the Pyramid. …
Value For Money; Exploiting The MLS (FM15)
First off, I know there is a lot of overlap in the initial stage of this post and my earlier post regarding Value For Money. The older post still isn’t 100% complete and in hindsight, I should have released each region as an individual post instead of making it one huge post. Secondly, with interest […]
Collateral Damage; What To Do With Excess (All) Strikers?
Let’s just presume you have fallen under the spell of the siren song of strikerless tactics. Otherwise, why would you be here, on Strikerless.com? By its very name, a strikerless formation has no need for actual strikers. So, when you are hell-bent on playing a strikerless formation, you are going to have to find solutions […]
Handling your first season in charge
You’ve just taken over a new club, now what do you do? In this article I will explain my views on what to to do during your first season in charge to set you up for the future. In my opinion it is all about building the infrastructure of the club as a whole. Everything you […]
Hipster Overload: 3-5-2 Strikerless
In my humble opinion, footballing battles are won and lost in the midfield. The midfield is the beating heart, the living soul of any football team. It is the part of the team that dictates the play to the forwards in attack and shields the defense. It therefore makes sense to balance out your midfield as best you […]
2014 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 170,000 times in 2014. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 7 days for that many people to see […]
FM15 Strikerless 2.0; A Download
A few patches later and a few Match Engine changes have changed the playing field that is FM15. That means I have to change things around. Naturally Mahatma Gandhi said it first. Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives […]
Lessons Liverpool (Should) Have Learned; Which Players Do You Need To Make Strikerless Work
Over the past few months, Liverpool tried the whole strikerless approach on several occassions. With Steven Gerrard struggling, with Rickie Lambert off the pace and with others either injured or on the bench then Liverpool were even more reliant on Raheem Sterling. In a way it makes sense and for me, Brendan Rodgers was right in pushing […]
Using Set Pieces To Break Open A Match (And Preventing Your Opponent From Doing So)
Managers, coaches, players and pundits alike often make reference to the importance of set plays, which can be a crucial means to force in a goal when things don’t look good during open play. Set plays by their premeditated nature offer a relatively consistent level of defensive and attacking opportunity and by looking at the effectiveness […]
Why I Love Strikerless; Some Enganche/Trequartista Love
With the Youtube function of FM still messed up, proper tactical articles are still on hold until I can afford to buy a SnagIt copy. This does leave me with work to do to maintain a regular schedule of updates, so I’ve decided to treat you to some casual reading on the origins of my […]
Strikerless FM15; The Next Generation
For FM14, I went all-out in my magnum opus regarding strikerless football within the match engine of said game. A new year and a new version of the game, which pretty much means a new match engine as well. That means we get to re-evaluate the way we work. The theories and ideas, in fact the […]
Making Your Wingers Contribute Even More; Tracking Back
Whether you love them or hate them, there is no denying the prowess of all-out wingers dash inside forwards such as Arjen Robben and Eden Hazard. Despite all their brilliance, these players are often described as selfish, egotistical and players who don’t work hard in defense by many football fans. Yet both of these players I mentioned have […]
Do You Want To Win FM15?
Courtesy of Sports Interactive, I am happy to tell you Strikerless can give away one free copy of FM15. Do you want to win this copy? It’s really quite simple, just like this blogpost and share it on a social media outlet of your choosing. I’ll pick a random winner out of the bunch. If you […]
Strikerless; Why I Am Struggling To Get It Working In FM15
There are a few concepts I find to be absolutely crucial when you successfully want to play a strikerless formation. These are, in my eyes anyway, the pillars on which a successful strikerless formation is built. Now for the Match Engine FM15 is currently using, there are few problems with basically two of my pillars.
FM15’s First Attempt At Corner Exploiting
Set pieces are an essential aspect of the game. If you are unable to break down a particularly sturdy defence, a set piece may be all you need to pry open the defence. Hell, you can win games by making sure your offensive set pieces are good. Just look at Rehhagel’s Greece, in the knock-out […]
Strikerless Is An SI Affiliate!
Whilst I started blogging for fun, to throw some ideas out there, it is always nice to receive recognition from others. Strikerless has grown tremendously over the past year and SI have decided to grant us affiliate status, which means we are now an official fan site. 
What Works In FM15’s Beta; A Brief Tactical Overview
Since downloading the Beta Thursday, I have played almost a single season. I have opted to play as Bayern Munich, so I wouldn’t have to worry about signing players and could focus solely on the matches and my own tactics. My findings so far of the FM15 Match Engine can be quickly summed up in […]
The Mjallby 4-1-2-3-0
This was without a doubt my favourite save on FM14. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was my best, because I only won one trophy and the save itself only lasted one season, but it is certainly my favourite. At a lull point in FM14 midway through my Salzburg save, I began to search around. I’d […]
An Attempt At Creating The Ajax Style; Total Football Meets Individualism
I have been dabbling with the odd tactic with a striker lately. This has lead me to try and replicate the style of play Frank de Boer applies to his Ajax side in real life. De Boer’s style is unique in that it combines elements from the fables Total Football style with the more pragmatic […]
Heresy! A Diamond/Box Hybrid With A Striker?! (Sort Of)
Initially, I agree that it sounds odd, almost sacrilegious to feature tactics with strikers on a site called Strikerless and dedicated to playing without actual forwards. If you allow me time though, I hope to explain why this diamond formation is not really that different from the usual strikerless style of play. The diamond formation […]
Why FM15 Could Be Brilliant For Strikerless; The Raumdeuter
What I picked up from the feature announcements from FM15 sounded decent enough, but the addition of the Raumdeuter to the tactical roles got me excited. I am not going to try and describe the role, especially not when others have already done so in a much more eloquent manner. Watching Müller navigate his way […]
Tactical Review: Rodrigo’s 3-4-3 Brasil Strikerless
It’s been a while since my last review, so bear with me as I haven’t done these reviews in a while, so I may a bit rusty when it comes to analysing a tactic, its strengths and its weaknesses. Whilst this won’t be regular feature for my blog, if you have a nice strikerless formation and […]
Half-Backs Instead of Defenders; The Midfield Maître D Becomes A Forward Sweeper
It sounds daft, doesn’t it? Defensive midfielders instead of defenders. What’s next, you mad Dutchman? Defenceless as well as strikerless? To be fair… The idea originally came from a Twitter conversation regarding that very same concept. Defenceless football. Sounds like it belongs on a niche blog like mine. @MerryGuido I'd aimed to do a #strikerless […]
The Newgen Hunter; Tracking Down Quality Newgens
I’ve always considered myself quite good at finding the right newgens for my team. In fact, it’s probably one of the aspects about FM that I enjoy the most. Finding a young starlet and developing him to his full potential. I sometimes jokingly refer to it as newgen hunting. In my head, I imagine myself […]