Quote Originally Posted by Buffs Mad View Post
I don't usually venture into Tactics area as I don't like the do x+y=W principle.

I watch a lot of games and so my tactics are a starting point.

Defensive (Normal if reasonable Q advantage on the pitch), Down both Flanks, Own Half, Hard, Long, *Marking and Force Counters.
Wingers and Striker gets red arrows. 1 or both central DCs get Blue.
Whether my fullbacks get reds or not depends on width of opponent. eg if its ND they get reds.....

*I chose Marking Style based on the opponents threat. As a guide, if its a -1-2 or -3 attack I choose Man on Man and 2 DCs and DMC get Blues. Otherwise, and if I'm still planning on playing 4-vstyle its Zonal.

If things are not working as expected I change.

If its stalemate with few chances either way I change Mentality to Normal and or Passing Style to Mixed.

I no longer play Attacking, I find Normal is attacking enough and feel Attacking 4-vstyle is inherently weak v c-a.
(In the past when I used Attacking I always had to watch out for a Counter-attacking threat and change (ie if opponent was getting high CK count or high proportion of Shots on Target). So instead I decided to start differently and change to attacking if necessary (which is rare).)

If I need more ball Long > Mixed. If wingers are having bad time Flanks > Mixed.

If I get desperate Own Half > Whole Pitch.

The only time I tend to start Mixed rather than flanks is if I'm playing v a vstyle.

Like Buster my players are geared towards 451v/4141. I can use 352v too in a similar fashion but usually if I have 2ST + wingers I start Mixed rather than Flanks.

Other tweaks can happen but it really depends on in game changes rather than a starting set up.

Its just the way I do it. Results can go down as well as up and your home may be reposse........
Are you using red arrows on ML\MR AML\AMR and ST?