Football Manager 2015

[badotori]

My go to formation is always 4-2-3-1.

Same for me, although I usually play the 2 as DMs rather than CMs. Depending on players, my plan B is 4-1-2-2-1, have quick wingers and play on the counter. Works a treat with bottom-half teams usually.

My 4-4-2's are never any good, I seem to struggle to find a strike partnership that works with any team. One striker scores a few, the other does fuck all and my midfielders get the goals.

[DavidMarrio]

How do you set up for Tiki Taka? Never really been able to get it right...

It's normally the obvious stuff such as shorter passing, play out of defence, retain possession, work ball into box & then individual instructions such as pass it shorter on players like your defenders so instead of hoofing it they'll just pass it about. I try to play like a high tempo high pressing tiki taka if i'm at home so if i don't have the ball i'm not going to give the opposition time to gain momentum but away I'll keep the high tempo but drop deeper and wait for the chance to gain the ball.

Player roles has the biggest impact I feel as certain roles will change how the AI reacts. You could have all the instructions set to play a certain style but if you have a target man on they'll just hoof it anyway meaning the roles are gonna override your instructions. I normally have advanced playmaker and two inside forwards then usually a Deep Lying Playmaker, Centre Midfielder or Ball Winning Midfielder. Depending on the type of striker I have I find Advanced Forward or Complete Forward to work best.

[Whisper]

I think I'm gonna go for a variation on a diamond 442 that I used in a United game. Whether it will work as well with forest, I have my doubts:

--------------------GK(D)-----------------

----------CD(D)----------CD(D)----------

--WB(A)---------HB(D)-----------WB(A)--

----------BWM(S)---------RPM(S)----------

--------------------AP(A)------------------

-------------AF(A)-----F9(S)--------------

Edit - yeah that didn't come out as well as I'd hoped

[DavidMarrio]

I think I'm gonna go for a variation on a diamond 442 that I used in a United game. Whether it will work as well with forest, I have my doubts:

--------------------GK(D)-----------------

----------CD(D)----------CD(D)----------

--WB(A)----------HB(D)-----------WB(A)--

----------BWM(S)---------RPM(S)----------

-------------------AP(A)------------------

--------------------------F9(S)-------------

---------------AF(A)---------------------

Edit - yeah that didn't come out as well as I'd hoped.

I think what could work well for you using this type of system is you can easily drop the wingbacks deeper and change them to support if you are seeing out a win or playing tough opposition. It allows you chances to tweak when needed without completely overhauling it.

[stokeriño]

At the moment I am literally playing 4-4-fucking-2... However this is a strange and rare occurance.

Hoping that with my next club I will be able to shape the squad to suit the 4-3-3 formation which has 3 flat MCs and 3 flat STs... You still need a lot of variation in their player roles, but it makes the subs bench so much easier!

[Benji]

No matter what, I always find myself falling into the habit of 4-5-1, retain possession, short passing.

     ST

AML     AMR

   MC MC

    DMC

DL DC DC DR

     G

Generally limited defenders, anchor on DMC, auto MC on one midfielder whilst the other works it forward, and one of the forward wingers on attack whilst the other supports, often having them switch positions to throw teams off.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

I seem to nearly always use 4-2-3-1, if only because no-one seems to be as good as an MR/L as they are as an AMR/L, making it fairly pointless. Every team I seem to manage has an abundance of every midfield position except for MR/L, so I don't think I've used a 4-4-2 at all this time.

[Whisper]

I think I'm gonna go for a variation on a diamond 442 that I used in a United game. Whether it will work as well with forest, I have my doubts:

--------------------GK(D)-----------------

----------CD(D)----------CD(D)----------

--WB(A)----------HB(D)-----------WB(A)--

----------BWM(S)---------RPM(S)----------

-------------------AP(A)------------------

--------------------------F9(S)-------------

---------------AF(A)---------------------

Edit - yeah that didn't come out as well as I'd hoped.

I think what could work well for you using this type of system is you can easily drop the wingbacks deeper and change them to support if you are seeing out a win or playing tough opposition. It allows you chances to tweak when needed without completely overhauling it.

Yeah that's what I was going for. The problem with my 4141 is that it's hard to adapt it when things aren't going well. It can be a bit too defensive at home against lesser teams who just sit back and, short of throwing on an extra striker, I have no idea how to adapt it.

[stokeriño]

Current setup:

GK - Sweeper Keeper (D)

DR - Full-back (auto)

DC - Central Defender (D)

DC - Central Defender (D)

DL - Full-back (auto)

MR - Winger (A)

MC - Box-to-Box (S)

MC - Deep Lying Playmaker (S)

ML - Winger (A)

ST - Deep Lying Forward (A)

ST - Advanced Forward (A)

Mentality: Control

Team Shape: Flexible

Team Instructions

Retain Possession

Short Passing

Work Ball Into Box

Play Narrower

Close Down More

Get Stuck In

Higher Tempo

As you can see, I am ridiculously pedestrian with a lot of my players' roles (especially those of defenders). My favourite MC pairing is always DLP and B2B in virtually every formation, unless I also have a DM on the pitch, in which case the DLP is an AP instead.

[FestiveJack]

Ajax are boring. 7 league games into my PSV game, from 5th to 1st:

Vitesse 20 goals scored.

Utrecht 21 goals.

Feyenoord 21 goals.

PSV 20 goals.

Ajax 14 goals.

In other team news, of Az's 13 goals conceded 10 came against myself and Utrecht.

[Cheeky Hughes]

Came so close to getting the elusive double hat-trick. Thierry Ambrose scored 5 in the first half for Southampton against Anderlecht in the Champions League, but missed a number of sitters in the second half as we fail to score another. Bollocks.

[JasonM]

Came so close to getting the elusive double hat-trick. Thierry Ambrose scored 5 in the first half for Southampton against Anderlecht in the Champions League, but missed a number of sitters in the second half as we fail to score another. Bollocks.

If you're up big post half-time, I often use ''concentrate'' touch line shout and it often causes them to ramp it into ultra German overdrive and completely demolish the other team.

[Whisper]

I think I'm gonna go for a variation on a diamond 442 that I used in a United game. Whether it will work as well with forest, I have my doubts:

--------------------GK(D)-----------------

----------CD(D)----------CD(D)----------

--WB(A)---------HB(D)-----------WB(A)--

----------BWM(S)---------RPM(S)----------

--------------------AP(A)------------------

-------------AF(A)-----F9(S)--------------

Edit - yeah that didn't come out as well as I'd hoped

So the new formation has been ok so far. We're beastly at home, but the jury is still out on away games due to the teams we've played more than anything.

Blackburn [h] - W 4-0

Newcastle [a] - W 0-2

Aston Villa [h] - W 6-0

Chelsea [a] - D 3-3

Inter Milan [a] - L 3-2

Leeds [h] - W 4-0 (League Cup)

Man City [a] - L 2-1

In the mix at the top of the league, having already played City and Chelsea away from home. We've been a bit open in the away games but, equally, Chelsea needed a last minute equaliser, City scored a late winner (after we had missed a tonne of chances), and we came from 2-0 down to 2-2 at Inter, only for them to score again.

Anderlecht and Bayern make up the rest of our Champions League group though. Sucks being the 4th seeds

[Jimmy]

Left my Portugese 2nd Division team after 2 seasons to join Tunisia. Guided them to the world cup by somehow beating the superior Egypt 2-1 over two legs.

Got drawn with Spain, Costa Rica & Holland.

Drew 1-1 with CR.

Lost 1-0 to Spain.

...and beat Holland 2-1 to go through! Just drawn France in the 2nd round, and my reputation's skyrocketed as a result. Won't be keeping the job beyond the world cup, so interested to see what level of job I might be able to get now, cos I wasn't having any luck whatsoever before. We'll see what happens with the world cup first though. Can't imagine we'll do much against France, but I thought the same about Holland.

[Whisper]

Liverpool just pipped my Forest side to the title.

Threw away a 3-1 lead at Spurs when I had the chance to go top with two games to go.

We did however, follow that disappointment by beating Arsenal in the FA Cup Final to win my first major trophy.

[Gorka]

Leicester sacked me, the bastards. Just got the job at Bristol City, bottom of the Championship but already had Zidane say that I was a good manager.

That is the former Leeds and Bristol City manager, and now at Fulham. Is it normal for him to end up in the Championship?

[9 to 5]

It is 2020, and Gary Bowyer is the England manager.

[9 to 5]

Also, Reina is the Liverpool goalkeeper.

[Costanza]

It is 2020, and Gary Bowyer is the England manager.

This.

He always gets the job in my games.

[Jimmy]

Russel Slade is England manager in 2018 for me.