I need help …. Guide

[nikolgiorgos]

This is a picture from the famous book of Lewis Carroll “Alice (adventures) in wonderland”.
And has to do with Formation’s section ?

- Simple, when we ‘re asking help against a team we ‘re playing, we must give the info, the whole picture and what is the desirable result for us.

- Showing the formation of our opponent it’s not enough . We must also give info about the quality of his team and from which competition is that game.

- Playing vs a stronger opponent needs a different strategy than playing vs a same (or lower) quality team.

- Some info for opponent are also helpful. Is he active ? Watching his games ? Playing with the same formation every time ?

- Also what is the desirable result we want. Of course everyone wants to win but it’s not the same every time.
A game in K.O. rounds of the Cup or CH.L. needs a different strategy. If it’s the second leg, we must focus how we ‘ll manage to pass in the next round.
In that case we must also know the picture of the first leg.

- In a league game, also is useful to give the ranking of your team and your opponent.

- Every player who’s asking for advice, many times has already a plan in his mind. This is happening in real life too. So some times, if he ‘ll not convinced by some suggestions, he ‘s following the plan he had. It’s not bad to share your thoughts, how you would play that game by your own. Maybe it’s a good plan or maybe you have something wrong or forget to calculate a factor. Another friend of the forum can spot that or share an experience he had in a similar situation.

- You can go back to other pages and find the info (formation) you want in another post. You can check and also post there (better be something interesting). If you do that, this older thread will come back in the first page (and line), so everybody can see it and answer.
In my opinion this is better because we ‘ll have more info and feedback gathered instead of having 20 threads of how to play vs 4-4-2 or 4-4-2 ND.

- Of course it’s good to be familiar with some expressions like ND (narrow diamond > DMC-2MC-AMC) or V (DMC-2MC-AML-AMR)
And give some details about oppo formation. 3D can be 3 DC or DL-DC-DR (W >wide).
4-3-3 is 4D-3MC-3ST or 4D-ML-MC-MR (wide)-3ST ?

- One more info we must give, is about the roster of our team. If a friend from the forum give us a counter with players in positions DML-DMR and we don’t have such players (as I don’t have that kind), it’s useless.

- What to do if the advice for a counter is to play a V formation (a 4-5-1V) ?
If our team’s set up is playing from the middle (4-4-2 ND, 4-3-3 formations), without having wingers (AML-AMR) we must search for a plan B.
Using a ST as a winger ? Setting a red arrow in our ML or using him as AML ? Trying to buy an new player AML –AMR ?
Or setting our team with the formation (4-4-2 ND) we played successfully so far ?

- Many times a counter formation is failing. There are many other factors that count too (some more important - like the quality of the teams or the presence and coaching from the managers, some less – like the victory or training bonus and of course luck).
So we cannot expect a 90-100% success from the tactics or to reject a formation from one or two results.
It’s not enough either to accept it or to reject it.

- Consider a good counter formation as a plus, an advantage in your team but it’s not working like Diego Simeone when coaching Atletico Madrid.
Maybe we set easy tackling but still one of our players can make a a hard tackling and get a yellow or red card.
A classic advice (counter) when opponent playing with 3 DC, is to set AML + AMR ,playing from the flanks but we can see in live games that those 3 DC are marking all over the defense. My personal experience , 20-25 % in my (or friends) games, 3 DC can do an excellent job vs wingers.

- There isn’t only one successful counter for formations. So better choose the one that fits more in your roster.

- Orders are also important as the formation too. A good formation could be destroyed by wrong orders.

- Remember that when we decide to use “man to man” or high pressing , our players will loose more condition (it’s a “rule” of the game).

- When our match starts, we must give some time to see the results. Remember also that the game needs some time to do the new calculations when we ‘re changing something, so better not make many changes during a match (it’s not Basketball, when after every time-out we give different orders). If we change formations-orders up to 3-4 times, it’s ok. I avoid more than this.

- We can read some posts saying – I need help, I ‘m playing my CH.L. or Cup game in a few hours.
Sorry but to have as possible good answers, counters, suggestions or a conversation too, post your request much earlier.

- Also if you see that you don’t have any answers or only 1-2 answers that didn’t convince you, post again in your thread, asking help from more forum members (“Any other suggestions ? ).

- If you ‘re in a need and you decide to ask for help with a p.m. to another forum friend, better post your thread and send him the link, asking for him to add his opinion.

- I, personally checking from time to time the Formations section and when I see some thread that doesn’t have any answers, I give my advice (or if sometimes there is a wrong suggestion – usually a wrong combination of orders). If I see that there are other good suggestions, I don’t making any post there.

- Remember to give a feedback from your game and what was the formation you used. That’s a respect to the members who gave you a suggestion and also help us all to be better managers.

- And finally don’t forget to click a “Like” to people who bother to help you (even if you don’t agree or follow their advice).
“Like” isn’t working only as “thanks” but also working as a reminder.
If someone log in and check his messages, he ‘ll see that “like” and gonna visit again your thread
Also “Likes” are free of charge here

- Feel free to add here your experience from Formations and Tactics section but respect the spirit of the thread and please don’t ask here advice for specific formations.

Thank you