I’m on my second season in Ligue 1, heres my thinking: I have Dmitri Payet with some Salah level wonderkid as two wingers so underlap works fantastically, cuz my pacy wingbacks I scrapped from some lower league would do back triangle Sterling style to my wingers. I was proven wrong, the reality is Payet constantly goes down left and wait for midfielders to drop in. And I have two Mezzalas, so instead of them, my striker often has to drop in. Shit.
Only do this if your opposition is trying to fm you or they're the better team. If they're equal to you or worse than you but are not trying to fm you, trust your players in your tactic, if you have good tactics
You know for 11:20 you can click the white arrow above that menu next to "Distribute to area/player" and it will put down a box of all your players and you can choose who you want it distributed to.
6:15 if your coach started to limit his number of touches to 2/3 max in training, he would naturally start to develop his ability to pass and retain possession as a team. It’s a common trait for young players to have and this simple tactic works wonders.
Hey Zealand you should do a rate my save series for people who feel like they’ve overachieved, you could give them a letter rating and tell them what they could be doing better
About the ball distribution: not everyone actually know about that the keeper can distribute the ball to a CERTAIN player. Just click the arrow near the sign and choose any player you want
Literally just figured out that turning off overlap makes my newly promoted Premier League side better, when it was so good in the Championship with that selected, but hadn't worked out why. This makes a lot of sense now!
This is VERY helpful, especially the last part about “GK distribution short”, I like to play pressing and only use very fast DCs (only 15+ pace, to cover on counters) and most often they are not “heading monsters”, so I am lacking heading in defence. I played my local club for 15 years, in the year 2035 both my DCs are pace: 19, but a bit shorter for defenders (1.80m~). I had that crap always turned on... I will try to turn off “prevent short distribution” now to increase the chance to break up opponents early, it could really make a difference, if not I will continue to “pray to the FM gods” to finally bring a Champions league trophy to Bosnia (lost the final in 2034/35).
For those who plays with a single striker in the front (4x3x3, 4x2x3x1, etc) the right/left overlaps are very useful to maximize crosses through the flanks, especially if you play with wingers... if you have a striker with good heading ability, he will score lots of goals.
In my Rennes save, i was playing a gegenpress tactic, but towards the end of the first year my team started losing a decent amount. I switched to a control possesion tactic and it worked, so that's what I've been running the whole second season, and my team is doing better. We even beat PSG in a game! I mean, my players are also better, but still.
Control possession ftw! Especially if you are a comparatively high quality side. It still has some pressing but not as nutty as gegenpress. Less likely to have those balls over the top of your defenders and less long shots taken.
I feel the game really has a few things you need to ask yourself and the rest is luxury -Work Ball off/on (good for single striker systems where the striker is average or less, as well as offensive players with decent composure, this would be 12 in top divisions) -Play out off/on (good for DM systems as well as defensive players with good composure, 12 in top divisions) -Shorter passing or Direct (How quickly ball travels from Sector to sector DEF -> MID -> ATT, if your midfield have bad mentals, long passing is preferable, if your midfield is smart, short passing is preferable, this factor is dependent on the size of your midfield, Bare in mind certain roles count towards midfield such as F9 or IWB, less midfielders mean less importance on this) -Higher Tempo or Lower (How quickly ball travels between players, Higher tempo tends to (key word *tends*) aid offensive play, but leads to more mistakes, lower tempo allows for better control at the cost of greater quality chances, this really depends on a lot of factors really (team quality, the passing distances, the formation, the opposing formation) and is one of the instructions which needs to be changed game by game, good rule of thumb is use the tempo that suits players strengths. Pace, Anticipation and Decisions suit quicker tempo. Composure, Technical attributes, i.e passing and Balance suit lower tempo) Be more disciplined or Expressive or leave be (stronger defence weaker attack, Be more disciplined vice versa for expressive) Counter Press off/on (requires the attributes disciplined in the pressing section of training, and intelligent quick defenders help) Counter Attack off/on (needs multiple players actively making runs forward to be successful, offensive formations or multiple attack duties will suffice, or a huge amount of support duties if coupled with higher tempo can also be effective) the othere like hold position and regroup are for when you want to protect a lead otherwise long term they are not very useful instructions -Offside trap off/on (how smart are your CBs, works best against direct teams) -Higher line of engagement (this should be standard or higher, only lower for protecting leads, good for pinning teams back, but if a team is parking, try and lower it to create space, aids pressing systems) higher defensive line or lower (how fast are your CBs or how intelligent, Off trap is for when you have slow intelligent CBs but want a higher line, otherwise lower it, if your CBs are fast yet dumb, then increase the line but turnoff OFF trap) -High Pressing intensity or Lower (Pressing intensity is like tempo, depends on many factors, usually though, Direct teams, you should lower the pressing, but theres also the concept of if your team works hard enough and the opponest has bad composure, then press might be favourable, other things to consider are that if you press, the forced long passes might be going straight to the opponents strikers and not pressing might be allowing a free buildup, all in all this is the hardest decision next to tempo) -Get stuck off/on, stay on feet is also really conditional, its good for when the opponent is athletically superior but never thought it was good long term unless you have a bunch of 38year olds
what is your ideal midfield setting for a big team? whenever i played with good to average team is used to have only one playmaker - rpm, dm, b2b but in top teams midfielders are really good and i was obsessed with using ap-dlp-rpm because i thought that will help my team in dominating the mid. that didnt really worked XD
@@utkarshpokhriyal5796 I think you have to understand that if you are a big team, depending on your tactic you will almost always keep more of the ball You'd rather put more effort into trying to create chances If you are playing a midfield 3, i assume you only have 1 striker, if all those midfielders can play as playmakers, that means they are smart, (composure, decisions, anticipation, vision) If so I would start by turning on WORK BALL, you can turn it off when you are desperate for a goal I also think playmakers inherently give more possession so when you find yourself having a lot of the ball, you can now start spicing things up, if you have PLAY OUT/DISTRIBUTE TO PLAYMAKER or just DISTRIBUTE SHORT then you will find your playmakers coming to help with the build up Now if thats the case, you should probably increase tempo, because your players have options so they wont just throw away the ball if you dont have PLAY OUT or DISTRIBUTE TO PLAYMAKER/SHORT which I recommend you do, then your playmakers are already upfield, and upfield is where the opposing defensive players are, then lowering tempo might help keep the ball that side I dont have an Ideal midfield, I play based on what I have I do think personally like triple DLP DLP(s) DLP(d) DLP(s) because that secures midfield well in case of counter attacks, and I can really focus hard on my wingers or strikers
Utkarsh Pokhriyal ap(su) dlp(su)/(de) mez(at) 4-3-3, use at least 5 support roles with standart width & much shorter pass & tempo, standart line engagement + high defensive line + wide
Watching this a few weeks ago and seeing that I was making an error with 'look for overlaps' may well have helped me win my first Premier League and first Champions League titles with York City, in the same year, after an insane second half of the season. You. Hero.
Hey mate! As always amazing balance of quality of information and funny dumb stuff. This channel deserves much more subs, I will at least share with all my FM playing friends. Thanks for all the info!
"Work the ball into the box" was basically mandatory in earlier FMs. The match engine handles it much better now, but if you took it off the last couple of FMs, then your midfielders would just smash the ball at goal from 40 yards out, whether you had selected "shoot less" or not, they just smashed away.
I still struggle to see it any other way. I can remember binning record signings after a a single season early in my FM playing career because they wouldn't stop lashing it from outside the box even with the instruction on.
Exact same, I used to use, "work the ball" into the box for every previous FM I've played. It seemed to prevent them blasting from range, and instead made the players get the ball into the box before shooting, (used to switch to pump ball into box if was running out of time or playing with a target man) however I quickly realised in this one, they were literally just passing the ball around the edge of the penalty area, so frustrating, lol. Since taking it off, in this game, ave since scored sum amazing long range shots, even with my 2 star youngest when trying to get them game time, they've wowed me wiv sum stunners.
Another recommendation that I have that is that if you’re a weaker team with fast enough centerbacks defend compactly Meaning pull the striker back while the defenders play high It’ll help a lot with long shots and not letting the other team getting balls trough your defensive line
I second this. Play with a high defensive line and lower LOE, with very high pressing intensity and tight marking and you’ll let the centre backs have the ball and the midfield and forwards won’t get much space
I've actually never known precisely what passing directness means. Like does shorter passing mean it will lower the range of passing for anyone who hasn't got "take more risks" as a hard coded PI or will it mean that players will primary pass it within their own lines, meaning defenders looking to pass it to a defender (CB to another CB or FB/WB) and midfielder to another midfielder and so on (I heard Rashidi say this once, "passing directness is how quickly the ball will go from different tiers of your team, Def -> Midfield -> Attack). Any help would be great!
Shorter passing just means they will look for shorter passes, long passes just means they look for longer passes. The real deal is the combination of passing and tempo: Short passing with low tempo is your classic play for possesion and positional play, with this you will have a lot of passes in the same "tier" of your team and only pass forward if there is a very clear opportunity. (Very) Short passing with (very)High Tempo is tiki taka, there will usually be a lot of creative freedom, roles like F9 and very quick movement of the ball. In this system you will have balls between different tiers of you team a lot, just with shorter average pass length. Long passes with high tempo will lead to you having very little possesion, but very direct passing and fast counter attacks. So with this system you will most likely skip entire tiers of your team, as your CB will try to reach your AML/AMR or Striker with the first ball. I think thats the beauty of FM, singular Instructions rarely mean anything and only really make sense in context of the overall system.
In my York City save my AP in CM on Attack drops back to receive the ball from the goal keeper and defence. He ended up putting up a 7.3 in all competitions with very few goals and assists. His passing and dribbling numbers were very good.
This was really helpful, I’ve just switched to distribute to playmaker and the next match he he had the best pass stats and pass received stats in the game, also came out with a few key passes and an assist!
Very useful video as always...i have realised i was actually making all those mistakes. Thanks a lot. Will you please make another video elaborating the other team instructions like 'passing directness', how does 'expressive' and 'disciplined' buttons do and so on? I will be looking forward to more FM20 videos from you.
I'm a huge tiki-taka fan. It would be interesting to know on a relative scale how much influence on decision making each of the following have: choosing the tiki-taka tactic in the first place; selecting balanced or positive mentality; selecting CWB on support or WB on attack; selecting much lower tempo; selecting look for overlaps; selecting work ball into box; selecting a mezzala on support or attack to go with the roaming playmaker or selecting an advanced playmaker on support or attack to go with the roaming playmaker. This would enable better tweaks of tactics during games depending on opponents, venue and match situation. I'm doing OK, currently with Cambridge Utd: promoted in season 1 as champs, second season in the play-off spots. Who said you can't play tiki-taka in Leagues 1 and 2? Maris is a monster midfielder for me. Problem will come when I go up to the Championship. Both previous saves with other clubs have seen me get butchered at that level with my tactics. All constructive comments welcome. Thank you.
Three things ,Mentality is more important than tempo ,as attacking mentality speeds up the tempo ,its something you have to watch ,similarly if your mentality is defensive it automatically slows tempo down ,so when you change mentality you also have to adjust tempo and passing directness is your fine tune for tempo ,but the correct way is : Mentality > Tempo > Passing Directness Second thing is your individual mentality ,if your on a team mentality of positive and your winger is on attack duty his individual mentality will be very attacking if you then put the overlap instruction on the winger on attack duty drops to Attacking which is why the player holds the ball up ,similarly its worth noting that when you do this .it also changes the full back individual mentality for eg a full back on defend duty on a positive team mentality is cautious but when you put on the over lap it will go balanced ,which will mean he will still look to play less risky balls because of his duty but his individual mentality through the overlap is telling him to get forward Third thing If you have a team mentality of positive and a defensive central midfielder on a defensive duty and you click on play through the center his individual mentality will change from cautious to balanced on support it will jump to attacking
If you're not preventing short gk distribution in team instructions, it's also worth selecting to never close down the keeper in the opposition instructions section. This seems to reduce the number of times that a striker will go pointlessly chasing after the ball by himself to pull the whole team out of shape. However, if you're chasing a game and the opposition is time wasting you probably want to switch it back on.
You should make a video on things we don’t _have_ to do in FM. For new people to the game, like me, although there are many tutorials on how to do things, it still is overwhelming. It would be helpful to have a video on some things we can set aside and delegate without it having a big impact on the team so that it is easier to get into the game at first
In the end, it's all dependent on the team you're managing. For example, prevent short GK distribution is working wonders for me, due to the fact that the enemy GK is forced to either kick it long, or kick it out of play, and when kicking it long, the stats show that my team has won a large majority of the headers in midfield. Also, use tighter marking is something I liked before, but now I prefer to just add it as an individual instruction to players, instead of a team instruction.
Love the start of the video hahah I really like having 2 attacking fullbacks and then I always set instructions to overlap even though I don't fully know what that means
Zealand you absolute beautiful bastard. Couldn’t work out all season why my Ipswich team was struggling to break weaker teams down at home. Worked out from this that it was because overlaps on and my two pacy direct wingers were constantly waiting to bring my less than dangerous wing backs into the game. 5 clear cut chances (most all season) and a 3 nil win against Wigan at home. Hoping it’s not a one off.
I almost always play with two playmakers next to each other, one defensive one advanced with ball winning midfielder behind them, and it worked for me most of the teams i played. Maybe sometimes a box to box midfieldier instead of advanced playmaker, depends on the team.
If you distribute to him from GK he will almost always do it. With the trait he will more likely do it in normal play or if distribute to someone else. So it is complementary but also different.
Look for Overlap/Underlap is extremely useful to overload the flank (overlap) or midfield (underlap). keep using it if your winger is a playmaker or you expect your winger to be heavily involved in the build-up.
To be fair, I’ve been using look for overlaps on the right side, as my AMR is an attacking playmaker and doesn’t go to the touchline, but my DR makes those runs as a complete wing back. My DR also has the highest average rating in the league with about 6 games to go so something’s working there 😂
Hey Zealand, love your uploads. You're one of only two FM content creators that I actually enjoy watching (you can guess the other). Would you be able to make a similar video for player instructions? I am finding that certain instructions that worked really well on previous installments aren't working well on FM20.
Good vid, didnt really think about prevent gk distribution in that way so that was helpful. Also to answer your question, I did an arsenal save and I had an advanced playmaker in the midfield and would sometimes put for the playmaker to receive and it would go to him...
Thanks for this, works for FM 2019 as well. I had underlaps and overlaps switched on and tempo to max, form was a bit patchy and my team would lose games that they should be winning, so I dropped the tempo to low, turned all the overlaps and underlaps off and switched to pass to play maker and went on a 10 game unbeaten run, even managed to hold out in a game against a massively O.P. Man City side to take it to penalties in the league cup final (we lost sadly), where as before I'm convinced we'd have been absolutely destroyed!
Yeah like he explained it is very dependent on relative strength of your team and the skills of your players. And to max striker scoring work ball into box helps, but will also mean possibly less goals from your midfield as less long shots.
Work the ball into the box is a good option if you are playing attacking with high tempo, it doesn't slow down your attacks and stops players shooting from stupid places without slowing your team down. So if really depends how you are set up
hey zealand can i ask how i can stop my team going from absolutely unstoppable to absolutely terrible? i’ve constantly gone from winning up to 15 games in a row to struggling to even win 1 in 5 straight away, even if i change absolutely nothing. it’s happened so many times this year and because of it i’ve really struggled to play the game consistently this year
It's horses for courses. It's good to get people to think about the reality of their tactics rather than just push buttons thinking it sounds good. I think looking for overlap with an inside forward or inverted winger makes sense, they should be cutting in, hopefully taking the opposing full back with them and then a teammate can exploit the space. Don't mind the cowboy hat so much but the stereotypical coaching attire in the UK is the sheepskin coat, good luck wearing that in Florida :)
I swear halfway through my first season, Maximan and Zaracho have gained sentience and chosen to ignore look for my look for overlap instructions because they realised my fullbacks are crap, thank god they did, mid table hype!
14:11 u know, I've just realized recently that there's that "Ask Assistant" button, i used to go to each one "Chat" logo, sees what they say, put them on, lmao I'm glad I've found the button to automatically do it
I find that Work the Ball into Box (with be more disciplined) is a good tactic, unless you are playing a low block. Then let the boys be creative and have a few pot shots... Once we go 1-0 up (if) then back to the good ol' Work the Ball into Box as your opponents need a goal so play less defensive... Works a treat (agree with the short passing and one striker system)
11:37 I did have an AP(A) in CM with distribute to playmaker on and he actually came short for the ball but then he had to dribble around 7 guys so I turned it off
I use a 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress with west ham in an online career with my mate, I'm top of the league. I also use tactics depending on the opponent and their weaknesses, I usually use focus down the wings and overlap but sometimes I use play through the middle and underlap. I also use the final third to the opponents weakness, if it's heading then early crosses but it's usually work into box
12:48 its a little bit obvious that if you are pressing high with defense pushing up aswell you might want faster center backs. if you push your opponent to play it long, their strikers/inside forwards can prove aerial dominance against your center backs (since you prefer faster center backs) therefore preventing short gk distribution is generally not suitable with high/much higher defensive line.
and of course, if you force the goalie to go long, one good kick past your high defensive line is likely to put them thtrough on goal, partticularly if they a have quick centre-forward
i was stoped playing Managering ?! games for a while, returned back with fm19, 20 soon to be 21 (go steam go :P) Your video enlightned me realy, and help me alot for now. I was always sensing something off with my team, even while i am at the wining side. Thanks again, now i can start over :D
I’ve found that if I’m the better team and I haven’t got work the ball into the box on, I’m far more susceptible to getting counter attacked, and in this game the AI loves to just sit behind the ball and counter so I always always work it in
I have slow defenders and a high back line but I kinda like watching the opposition keeper messing it up. tbh if you're playing in a lower quality league and usually the keepers are not great in composure or long distribution then you're pretty safe, but do check to make sure.
Basically SI don't do a good job of making it clear that instructions only put more emphasis on certain things. It's not obvious to a new player that 'short passing' doesn't mean your players will never try long passes etc.
The way I tend to do Tempo is to have it within one iteration of passing style. If I'm.going direct I want fast urge t balls up, if i'm playing short I want balance or patience. Every now and then I play short and super fast if I am playing against bottom of the league at hone and I just want to blitz play but that only works half the time.
Hi again @Zealand for setting the defensive line in this year of FM balls over the top is fairly OP against high lines. As a result most elite tactics (on tactics testing sites) include standard lines as opposed to high ones. Line of engagement still extremely high however. Thoughts on this?
Preventing short gk distribution can be good because sometimes goalies might kick the ball out making a good chance for a goal chance. Also i think high tempo is good if one set counterattack , like what is the point to play counter attack if your tempo is low. Honestly many things should be adjusted accordingly to the opponent and how the game goes. Like what is the point to go on hardcore gegenpress and max tempo if you play average league game for example. I usually play tiki- taka with longer passes or counterattack tactics.
Okay so this is how I understand it Passing is like the top speed and Tempo is like the gear box Long Passing means at times your team will just launch it forward, often, and of course Shorter passing encourages the opposite, However Tempo is the speed of individual agency, nothing travels the ball faster than a Long ball, higher tempo So on lower tempo you are taking pressure of your players, this encourages less mistakes and of course leads to less agency, the lack of agency means the players will take their time to pass, but if they have long passing, that means they are looking for a player ahead of their sector (Akshit Singh explains in another comment) on the other side of the spectrum, if you have short passing and higher tempo, your players are passing quickly but within each other Yu are adding pressure to your players so expect bad mental players to randomly lose the ball Hope this Helps
oops forgot distribution, but this is simple, give your CBs or FBs if they are smart enough, passing doesnt matter that much. If you hvae play out, consider that this will mean, regardless of passing distances, I repeat regardless of passing distance, they will try to play it short, so if you want your CB/FBs to launch it forward, turn off play out of defence otherwise, you can let an intelligent GK decide for himself, if you are in a lower division, Distribute over opponents Defence works well with a pacey striker, usually because opposing CBs in lower divisions are slow Distribute to wingers also wrks well with good wingers Distribute to playmaker is probably the best for playing out though!
if your wondering about the width and things like run at defence, they have very particular uses, play wider helps to increase your wingers agression (play more narrow, forces central play, which tends to be very easy to deal with but is better defensively, this effect is marginal) , comes at a cost of central defensive stability, this effect is marginal however, it helps against defensive side, but its still a bit dependent, try it out though, it works a lot Run at defence is best for sides not pressing you at all, it moves your players closer to goal without damaging the over arching tactic, this one though is ify in my experience Shoot on sight, if yu need a goal really quicky, lets say your behind then yes turn it on Finally the instruction of the most controversy PASS INTO SPACE, this is the most high risk high reward instruction in the game, use it to attack spaces, if you have players with Attacking mentality constantly being left unmarked, best example, a winger who is left alone by the fulllback who is looking to overlap your defence, Pass into space can expose that space left behind more brutally, its also the best way to cheaply lose possession, this instruction i dont recommend for beginners, but over time you should use it, it can really win yur some crucial games.
@@TheArccam - you need space to be able to run at defences. If you are playing against a team that mark your players tightly, you won;t often get that space to run at them
Μan i have a real problem with my ''Number 10's'' - Advanced Playmakers. I have great players for the position,i tried every role,every duty and every personal instruction possible and nothing is working consistently. They will perform here and there (like 7-8 rating) but then they may have like 10 games straight with 6.9 or below. Any ideas?
A question about pressing distance. I tried a formation where I had the offence start pressuring low but the defence start pressuring high. What I had a mind was for the team to converge on about the middle of the park and win the ball by creating numerical superiority, and push for a counter attack from the wide positions. Does it actually work that way though?
"Who uses underlaps?"
*Me looking around laughing nervously*
LOL Right?? I'm over here waiting for the moment where I feel tactically adept...Any minute now...
I had Brandon Williams hattrick using underlaps what r u on about
I’m on my second season in Ligue 1, heres my thinking: I have Dmitri Payet with some Salah level wonderkid as two wingers so underlap works fantastically, cuz my pacy wingbacks I scrapped from some lower league would do back triangle Sterling style to my wingers. I was proven wrong, the reality is Payet constantly goes down left and wait for midfielders to drop in. And I have two Mezzalas, so instead of them, my striker often has to drop in. Shit.
Yet if you have a good long shot mezzala in my case Florian Martin, he might be able to occasionally hat trick from outside the box
@@gerrysnatabraja i am playing as AS cittadella manager in serie b
I have got ferran torres and felix passlack on loan and the rec havoc on right side
Can we do a video on looking at an opponents scouting report and how to use it when tweaking our tactic?
Did Z do this?
That would be amazing
@@Tiggzyy did he?
??
Only do this if your opposition is trying to fm you or they're the better team. If they're equal to you or worse than you but are not trying to fm you, trust your players in your tactic, if you have good tactics
You know for 11:20 you can click the white arrow above that menu next to "Distribute to area/player" and it will put down a box of all your players and you can choose who you want it distributed to.
I came here to write this, good work Rosco.
@Ebitari good one!
My eyes are now opened
:O
This guy is living in 3020.
This man is literally FM Jesus saving us from our mistakes and sins. He may not even realize 😭
😂😂 your actually so spot on 😂
Nah that's bustthenet
6:15 if your coach started to limit his number of touches to 2/3 max in training, he would naturally start to develop his ability to pass and retain possession as a team. It’s a common trait for young players to have and this simple tactic works wonders.
Hey Zealand you should do a rate my save series for people who feel like they’ve overachieved, you could give them a letter rating and tell them what they could be doing better
I’d love a rating on my Brighton save
Would like one on my southampton save were i won CL second season with my own tactic
i have a wycombe save and won the league title 6 years in a row is it time to stop
Ok Boomer respect for the Wycombe save, what year are you in now?
@@AidanMason like 2034
About the ball distribution: not everyone actually know about that the keeper can distribute the ball to a CERTAIN player. Just click the arrow near the sign and choose any player you want
Thanks man. I started playing this game again after 5 years and found out this game is more complicated than before. This explanation helps 👍🏼
The intros get better and better. When is Zealand winning his Oscar?
Zealand got the oscar, when tottenham win premier L....
These are all my tactics in a nutshell😂
Lol like dude!!!
Literally just figured out that turning off overlap makes my newly promoted Premier League side better, when it was so good in the Championship with that selected, but hadn't worked out why. This makes a lot of sense now!
This is VERY helpful, especially the last part about “GK distribution short”, I like to play pressing and only use very fast DCs (only 15+ pace, to cover on counters) and most often they are not “heading monsters”, so I am lacking heading in defence. I played my local club for 15 years, in the year 2035 both my DCs are pace: 19, but a bit shorter for defenders (1.80m~). I had that crap always turned on... I will try to turn off “prevent short distribution” now to increase the chance to break up opponents early, it could really make a difference, if not I will continue to “pray to the FM gods” to finally bring a Champions league trophy to Bosnia (lost the final in 2034/35).
Good luck
Ja sa zeljom doso do 2025 smorilo me jer nasa liga dosadna. Igraci nece doc jer je kao lose stanje u drzabi i propadam.
it's amazing how your videos are extremely funny, engaging and informative at the same time!!! Best FM channel without any doubt!
For those who plays with a single striker in the front (4x3x3, 4x2x3x1, etc) the right/left overlaps are very useful to maximize crosses through the flanks, especially if you play with wingers... if you have a striker with good heading ability, he will score lots of goals.
In my Rennes save, i was playing a gegenpress tactic, but towards the end of the first year my team started losing a decent amount. I switched to a control possesion tactic and it worked, so that's what I've been running the whole second season, and my team is doing better. We even beat PSG in a game! I mean, my players are also better, but still.
Control possession ftw! Especially if you are a comparatively high quality side. It still has some pressing but not as nutty as gegenpress. Less likely to have those balls over the top of your defenders and less long shots taken.
the thing you said about gegenpress tactics just sums up everything manny does in his fm saves
I feel the game really has a few things you need to ask yourself and the rest is luxury
-Work Ball off/on (good for single striker systems where the striker is average or less, as well as offensive players with decent composure, this would be 12 in top divisions)
-Play out off/on (good for DM systems as well as defensive players with good composure, 12 in top divisions)
-Shorter passing or Direct (How quickly ball travels from Sector to sector DEF -> MID -> ATT, if your midfield have bad mentals, long passing is preferable, if your midfield is smart, short passing is preferable, this factor is dependent on the size of your midfield, Bare in mind certain roles count towards midfield such as F9 or IWB, less midfielders mean less importance on this)
-Higher Tempo or Lower (How quickly ball travels between players, Higher tempo tends to (key word *tends*) aid offensive play, but leads to more mistakes, lower tempo allows for better control at the cost of greater quality chances, this really depends on a lot of factors really (team quality, the passing distances, the formation, the opposing formation) and is one of the instructions which needs to be changed game by game, good rule of thumb is use the tempo that suits players strengths. Pace, Anticipation and Decisions suit quicker tempo. Composure, Technical attributes, i.e passing and Balance suit lower tempo)
Be more disciplined or Expressive or leave be (stronger defence weaker attack, Be more disciplined vice versa for expressive)
Counter Press off/on (requires the attributes disciplined in the pressing section of training, and intelligent quick defenders help)
Counter Attack off/on (needs multiple players actively making runs forward to be successful, offensive formations or multiple attack duties will suffice, or a huge amount of support duties if coupled with higher tempo can also be effective)
the othere like hold position and regroup are for when you want to protect a lead otherwise long term they are not very useful instructions
-Offside trap off/on (how smart are your CBs, works best against direct teams)
-Higher line of engagement (this should be standard or higher, only lower for protecting leads, good for pinning teams back, but if a team is parking, try and lower it to create space, aids pressing systems)
higher defensive line or lower (how fast are your CBs or how intelligent, Off trap is for when you have slow intelligent CBs but want a higher line, otherwise lower it, if your CBs are fast yet dumb, then increase the line but turnoff OFF trap)
-High Pressing intensity or Lower (Pressing intensity is like tempo, depends on many factors, usually though, Direct teams, you should lower the pressing, but theres also the concept of if your team works hard enough and the opponest has bad composure, then press might be favourable, other things to consider are that if you press, the forced long passes might be going straight to the opponents strikers and not pressing might be allowing a free buildup, all in all this is the hardest decision next to tempo)
-Get stuck off/on, stay on feet is also really conditional, its good for when the opponent is athletically superior but never thought it was good long term unless you have a bunch of 38year olds
thanks mate
what is your ideal midfield setting for a big team? whenever i played with good to average team is used to have only one playmaker - rpm, dm, b2b but in top teams midfielders are really good and i was obsessed with using ap-dlp-rpm because i thought that will help my team in dominating the mid. that didnt really worked XD
@@utkarshpokhriyal5796 I think you have to understand that if you are a big team, depending on your tactic you will almost always keep more of the ball
You'd rather put more effort into trying to create chances
If you are playing a midfield 3, i assume you only have 1 striker, if all those midfielders can play as playmakers, that means they are smart, (composure, decisions, anticipation, vision) If so I would start by turning on WORK BALL, you can turn it off when you are desperate for a goal
I also think playmakers inherently give more possession so when you find yourself having a lot of the ball, you can now start spicing things up,
if you have PLAY OUT/DISTRIBUTE TO PLAYMAKER or just DISTRIBUTE SHORT
then you will find your playmakers coming to help with the build up
Now if thats the case, you should probably increase tempo, because your players have options so they wont just throw away the ball
if you dont have PLAY OUT or DISTRIBUTE TO PLAYMAKER/SHORT which I recommend you do, then your playmakers are already upfield, and upfield is where the opposing defensive players are, then lowering tempo might help keep the ball that side
I dont have an Ideal midfield, I play based on what I have
I do think personally like triple DLP
DLP(s) DLP(d) DLP(s)
because that secures midfield well in case of counter attacks, and I can really focus hard on my wingers or strikers
Utkarsh Pokhriyal ap(su) dlp(su)/(de) mez(at) 4-3-3, use at least 5 support roles with standart width & much shorter pass & tempo, standart line engagement + high defensive line + wide
Watching these videos is like doing a coaching badge course😂 love the videos man the intros are just getting better and better @Zealand
Alternative title: Zealand takes the time to read tactic instructions because you're too impatient.
Just brought my first pc in 10 years with football manager the game in mind, your video's have helped me out so much
Watching this a few weeks ago and seeing that I was making an error with 'look for overlaps' may well have helped me win my first Premier League and first Champions League titles with York City, in the same year, after an insane second half of the season. You. Hero.
That intro just summed up all my fm 20 tactics.
Hey mate! As always amazing balance of quality of information and funny dumb stuff. This channel deserves much more subs, I will at least share with all my FM playing friends. Thanks for all the info!
"Work the ball into the box" was basically mandatory in earlier FMs. The match engine handles it much better now, but if you took it off the last couple of FMs, then your midfielders would just smash the ball at goal from 40 yards out, whether you had selected "shoot less" or not, they just smashed away.
I still struggle to see it any other way. I can remember binning record signings after a a single season early in my FM playing career because they wouldn't stop lashing it from outside the box even with the instruction on.
Exact same, I used to use, "work the ball" into the box for every previous FM I've played. It seemed to prevent them blasting from range, and instead made the players get the ball into the box before shooting, (used to switch to pump ball into box if was running out of time or playing with a target man) however I quickly realised in this one, they were literally just passing the ball around the edge of the penalty area, so frustrating, lol. Since taking it off, in this game, ave since scored sum amazing long range shots, even with my 2 star youngest when trying to get them game time, they've wowed me wiv sum stunners.
Football Manager 2020 is my first one and some of these blew my mind. Great video 👌🏻
dude you just saved my ass so hard this season might be where i finally win the league instead of being second with 1 point difference to first
Another recommendation that I have that is that if you’re a weaker team with fast enough centerbacks defend compactly
Meaning pull the striker back while the defenders play high
It’ll help a lot with long shots and not letting the other team getting balls trough your defensive line
I second this. Play with a high defensive line and lower LOE, with very high pressing intensity and tight marking and you’ll let the centre backs have the ball and the midfield and forwards won’t get much space
I've actually never known precisely what passing directness means. Like does shorter passing mean it will lower the range of passing for anyone who hasn't got "take more risks" as a hard coded PI or will it mean that players will primary pass it within their own lines, meaning defenders looking to pass it to a defender (CB to another CB or FB/WB) and midfielder to another midfielder and so on (I heard Rashidi say this once, "passing directness is how quickly the ball will go from different tiers of your team, Def -> Midfield -> Attack). Any help would be great!
When you play short passing and your CB hoofs it up the field
@@gauravvaria2666 haha I play with barca, except for Pique no one else is that adventurous 😂
Personally, i saw players with high mentality hoofed the ball and the others didn't.
Shorter passing just means they will look for shorter passes, long passes just means they look for longer passes. The real deal is the combination of passing and tempo: Short passing with low tempo is your classic play for possesion and positional play, with this you will have a lot of passes in the same "tier" of your team and only pass forward if there is a very clear opportunity. (Very) Short passing with (very)High Tempo is tiki taka, there will usually be a lot of creative freedom, roles like F9 and very quick movement of the ball. In this system you will have balls between different tiers of you team a lot, just with shorter average pass length. Long passes with high tempo will lead to you having very little possesion, but very direct passing and fast counter attacks. So with this system you will most likely skip entire tiers of your team, as your CB will try to reach your AML/AMR or Striker with the first ball.
I think thats the beauty of FM, singular Instructions rarely mean anything and only really make sense in context of the overall system.
Short passing means playing easier less risky passes - while direct is longer risker passes
I'm a simple man I see Zealand uploaded a new video I immediately stop studying and go watch it.
In my York City save my AP in CM on Attack drops back to receive the ball from the goal keeper and defence. He ended up putting up a 7.3 in all competitions with very few goals and assists. His passing and dribbling numbers were very good.
This was exactly the comment I was looking for, thank you!
This was really helpful, I’ve just switched to distribute to playmaker and the next match he he had the best pass stats and pass received stats in the game, also came out with a few key passes and an assist!
In regards to the overlap instruction, older FM's used to say "look for overlap" on it. Don't know why that was changed.
Quickly becoming my favorite youtube channel
The intros get me every time. Great
Job keep it up
Very useful video as always...i have realised i was actually making all those mistakes. Thanks a lot. Will you please make another video elaborating the other team instructions like 'passing directness', how does 'expressive' and 'disciplined' buttons do and so on? I will be looking forward to more FM20 videos from you.
Work the ball into box is "Play patiently" in the German translation which fits way better imo
I'm a huge tiki-taka fan. It would be interesting to know on a relative scale how much influence on decision making each of the following have: choosing the tiki-taka tactic in the first place; selecting balanced or positive mentality; selecting CWB on support or WB on attack; selecting much lower tempo; selecting look for overlaps; selecting work ball into box; selecting a mezzala on support or attack to go with the roaming playmaker or selecting an advanced playmaker on support or attack to go with the roaming playmaker. This would enable better tweaks of tactics during games depending on opponents, venue and match situation.
I'm doing OK, currently with Cambridge Utd: promoted in season 1 as champs, second season in the play-off spots. Who said you can't play tiki-taka in Leagues 1 and 2? Maris is a monster midfielder for me. Problem will come when I go up to the Championship. Both previous saves with other clubs have seen me get butchered at that level with my tactics. All constructive comments welcome. Thank you.
Three things ,Mentality is more important than tempo ,as attacking mentality speeds up the tempo ,its something you have to watch ,similarly if your mentality is defensive it automatically slows tempo down ,so when you change mentality you also have to adjust tempo and passing directness is your fine tune for tempo ,but the correct way is : Mentality > Tempo > Passing Directness
Second thing is your individual mentality ,if your on a team mentality of positive and your winger is on attack duty his individual mentality will be very attacking if you then put the overlap instruction on the winger on attack duty drops to Attacking which is why the player holds the ball up ,similarly its worth noting that when you do this .it also changes the full back individual mentality for eg a full back on defend duty on a positive team mentality is cautious but when you put on the over lap it will go balanced ,which will mean he will still look to play less risky balls because of his duty but his individual mentality through the overlap is telling him to get forward
Third thing If you have a team mentality of positive and a defensive central midfielder on a defensive duty and you click on play through the center his individual mentality will change from cautious to balanced on support it will jump to attacking
If you're not preventing short gk distribution in team instructions, it's also worth selecting to never close down the keeper in the opposition instructions section. This seems to reduce the number of times that a striker will go pointlessly chasing after the ball by himself to pull the whole team out of shape. However, if you're chasing a game and the opposition is time wasting you probably want to switch it back on.
that intro was a thing of beauty
You should make a video on things we don’t _have_ to do in FM. For new people to the game, like me, although there are many tutorials on how to do things, it still is overwhelming.
It would be helpful to have a video on some things we can set aside and delegate without it having a big impact on the team so that it is easier to get into the game at first
Their guidetofm
It's simpler
In the end, it's all dependent on the team you're managing.
For example, prevent short GK distribution is working wonders for me, due to the fact that the enemy GK is forced to either kick it long, or kick it out of play, and when kicking it long, the stats show that my team has won a large majority of the headers in midfield. Also, use tighter marking is something I liked before, but now I prefer to just add it as an individual instruction to players, instead of a team instruction.
Love the start of the video hahah I really like having 2 attacking fullbacks and then I always set instructions to overlap even though I don't fully know what that means
Zealand you absolute beautiful bastard. Couldn’t work out all season why my Ipswich team was struggling to break weaker teams down at home. Worked out from this that it was because overlaps on and my two pacy direct wingers were constantly waiting to bring my less than dangerous wing backs into the game. 5 clear cut chances (most all season) and a 3 nil win against Wigan at home. Hoping it’s not a one off.
I almost always play with two playmakers next to each other, one defensive one advanced with ball winning midfielder behind them, and it worked for me most of the teams i played. Maybe sometimes a box to box midfieldier instead of advanced playmaker, depends on the team.
u are a god of football manager content. keep them coming mate. love them. 😁
never been too early 😂😂 "I'll be damned"
Man, I wish I had a channel like this to fall back on when I was starting out on Champ Manager!
11:18 i believe there is a trait for "comes deep to get the ball" or sth to make CM's to get the ball from deep?
If you distribute to him from GK he will almost always do it. With the trait he will more likely do it in normal play or if distribute to someone else. So it is complementary but also different.
Look for Overlap/Underlap is extremely useful to overload the flank (overlap) or midfield (underlap). keep using it if your winger is a playmaker or you expect your winger to be heavily involved in the build-up.
To be fair, I’ve been using look for overlaps on the right side, as my AMR is an attacking playmaker and doesn’t go to the touchline, but my DR makes those runs as a complete wing back. My DR also has the highest average rating in the league with about 6 games to go so something’s working there 😂
Hey Zealand, love your uploads. You're one of only two FM content creators that I actually enjoy watching (you can guess the other). Would you be able to make a similar video for player instructions? I am finding that certain instructions that worked really well on previous installments aren't working well on FM20.
Good vid, didnt really think about prevent gk distribution in that way so that was helpful.
Also to answer your question, I did an arsenal save and I had an advanced playmaker in the midfield and would sometimes put for the playmaker to receive and it would go to him...
Thanks for this, works for FM 2019 as well. I had underlaps and overlaps switched on and tempo to max, form was a bit patchy and my team would lose games that they should be winning, so I dropped the tempo to low, turned all the overlaps and underlaps off and switched to pass to play maker and went on a 10 game unbeaten run, even managed to hold out in a game against a massively O.P. Man City side to take it to penalties in the league cup final (we lost sadly), where as before I'm convinced we'd have been absolutely destroyed!
I fell out with "Work the ball into the Box" and only now I've put it on my striker has started to score more regularly so it's very situational
Yeah like he explained it is very dependent on relative strength of your team and the skills of your players. And to max striker scoring work ball into box helps, but will also mean possibly less goals from your midfield as less long shots.
his intros always amazing
Work the ball into the box is a good option if you are playing attacking with high tempo, it doesn't slow down your attacks and stops players shooting from stupid places without slowing your team down. So if really depends how you are set up
Good video. I think another good idea would be to go over the tactics screen and give a quick thought on how you would play with each option
hey zealand can i ask how i can stop my team going from absolutely unstoppable to absolutely terrible? i’ve constantly gone from winning up to 15 games in a row to struggling to even win 1 in 5 straight away, even if i change absolutely nothing. it’s happened so many times this year and because of it i’ve really struggled to play the game consistently this year
Most entertaining Fm youtuber in the world!!!!
It's horses for courses. It's good to get people to think about the reality of their tactics rather than just push buttons thinking it sounds good. I think looking for overlap with an inside forward or inverted winger makes sense, they should be cutting in, hopefully taking the opposing full back with them and then a teammate can exploit the space. Don't mind the cowboy hat so much but the stereotypical coaching attire in the UK is the sheepskin coat, good luck wearing that in Florida :)
I swear halfway through my first season, Maximan and Zaracho have gained sentience and chosen to ignore look for my look for overlap instructions because they realised my fullbacks are crap, thank god they did, mid table hype!
14:11 u know, I've just realized recently that there's that "Ask Assistant" button, i used to go to each one "Chat" logo, sees what they say, put them on, lmao I'm glad I've found the button to automatically do it
This is probably your best video
So glad I found your channel, informative and hilarious 😂
I find that Work the Ball into Box (with be more disciplined) is a good tactic, unless you are playing a low block. Then let the boys be creative and have a few pot shots... Once we go 1-0 up (if) then back to the good ol' Work the Ball into Box as your opponents need a goal so play less defensive... Works a treat (agree with the short passing and one striker system)
11:37 I did have an AP(A) in CM with distribute to playmaker on and he actually came short for the ball but then he had to dribble around 7 guys so I turned it off
That intro is perfect!
I generally only have look for overlap on if my full backs have a higher cross stat than my wingers.
Great work as usual, although it really does not speak well of SI that so many of these misconceptions exist.
I use a 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress with west ham in an online career with my mate, I'm top of the league.
I also use tactics depending on the opponent and their weaknesses, I usually use focus down the wings and overlap but sometimes I use play through the middle and underlap.
I also use the final third to the opponents weakness, if it's heading then early crosses but it's usually work into box
12:48 its a little bit obvious that if you are pressing high with defense pushing up aswell you might want faster center backs. if you push your opponent to play it long, their strikers/inside forwards can prove aerial dominance against your center backs (since you prefer faster center backs) therefore preventing short gk distribution is generally not suitable with high/much higher defensive line.
and of course, if you force the goalie to go long, one good kick past your high defensive line is likely to put them thtrough on goal, partticularly if they a have quick centre-forward
i was stoped playing Managering ?! games for a while, returned back with fm19, 20 soon to be 21 (go steam go :P) Your video enlightned me realy, and help me alot for now. I was always sensing something off with my team, even while i am at the wining side. Thanks again, now i can start over :D
OMG work the ball in the box and look for overlaps have been stifling me .....thanks a million
I’m feeling so smug that’s I’ve always interpreted Tempo exactly how Zealand described it.
Amazing. You are not dumb. What a video.
I’ve found that if I’m the better team and I haven’t got work the ball into the box on, I’m far more susceptible to getting counter attacked, and in this game the AI loves to just sit behind the ball and counter so I always always work it in
Best intros on youtube!
Omg i’ve been using overlap wrong. Maybe thats why my inside forward never receive a pass when they are making inside run to the box
I have slow defenders and a high back line but I kinda like watching the opposition keeper messing it up. tbh if you're playing in a lower quality league and usually the keepers are not great in composure or long distribution then you're pretty safe, but do check to make sure.
One of the best videos about tactical insight in FM! Thanks mate.
MIND • BLOWN
Basically SI don't do a good job of making it clear that instructions only put more emphasis on certain things. It's not obvious to a new player that 'short passing' doesn't mean your players will never try long passes etc.
Been playing since championship manager, and I have to say that I feel a bit embarrassed after this video. Here Sir, have a like and a sub.
I actually didn't know about the overlap thing but luckily my tactic was helped by them
AP do get the ball from the keeper btw :)
The way I tend to do Tempo is to have it within one iteration of passing style.
If I'm.going direct I want fast urge t balls up, if i'm playing short I want balance or patience. Every now and then I play short and super fast if I am playing against bottom of the league at hone and I just want to blitz play but that only works half the time.
hi, i live in brazil and i am learning a lot with you, both with english and with fm
This is super helpful, thank you.
Hi again @Zealand for setting the defensive line in this year of FM balls over the top is fairly OP against high lines. As a result most elite tactics (on tactics testing sites) include standard lines as opposed to high ones. Line of engagement still extremely high however. Thoughts on this?
Preventing short gk distribution can be good because sometimes goalies might kick the ball out making a good chance for a goal chance.
Also i think high tempo is good if one set counterattack , like what is the point to play counter attack if your tempo is low.
Honestly many things should be adjusted accordingly to the opponent and how the game goes.
Like what is the point to go on hardcore gegenpress and max tempo if you play average league game for example.
I usually play tiki- taka with longer passes or counterattack tactics.
Make more videos, you're videos really making me enjoy the game alot more
So we're going to ignore how massive Zealand's calves are
Great video, do more of these were you explain what certain tactical chances mean or do
Okay so this is how I understand it
Passing is like the top speed and Tempo is like the gear box
Long Passing means at times your team will just launch it forward, often, and of course Shorter passing encourages the opposite,
However Tempo is the speed of individual agency, nothing travels the ball faster than a Long ball, higher tempo
So on lower tempo you are taking pressure of your players, this encourages less mistakes and of course leads to less agency, the lack of agency means the players will take their time to pass, but if they have long passing, that means they are looking for a player ahead of their sector (Akshit Singh explains in another comment) on the other side of the spectrum, if you have short passing and higher tempo, your players are passing quickly but within each other
Yu are adding pressure to your players so expect bad mental players to randomly lose the ball
Hope this Helps
oops forgot distribution, but this is simple, give your CBs or FBs if they are smart enough, passing doesnt matter that much. If you hvae play out, consider that this will mean, regardless of passing distances, I repeat regardless of passing distance, they will try to play it short, so if you want your CB/FBs to launch it forward, turn off play out of defence
otherwise, you can let an intelligent GK decide for himself, if you are in a lower division, Distribute over opponents Defence works well with a pacey striker, usually because opposing CBs in lower divisions are slow
Distribute to wingers also wrks well with good wingers
Distribute to playmaker is probably the best for playing out though!
if your wondering about the width and things like run at defence, they have very particular uses, play wider helps to increase your wingers agression (play more narrow, forces central play, which tends to be very easy to deal with but is better defensively, this effect is marginal) , comes at a cost of central defensive stability, this effect is marginal however, it helps against defensive side, but its still a bit dependent, try it out though, it works a lot
Run at defence is best for sides not pressing you at all, it moves your players closer to goal without damaging the over arching tactic, this one though is ify in my experience
Shoot on sight, if yu need a goal really quicky, lets say your behind then yes turn it on
Finally the instruction of the most controversy
PASS INTO SPACE, this is the most high risk high reward instruction in the game, use it to attack spaces, if you have players with Attacking mentality constantly being left unmarked, best example, a winger who is left alone by the fulllback who is looking to overlap your defence, Pass into space can expose that space left behind more brutally,
its also the best way to cheaply lose possession, this instruction i dont recommend for beginners, but over time you should use it, it can really win yur some crucial games.
@@TheArccam - you need space to be able to run at defences. If you are playing against a team that mark your players tightly, you won;t often get that space to run at them
@@TheArccam - it's a 1980s style of play, rather than a 2020s. Nothing wrong in that though!
@@mattylamb9194 I actually did not know that, thank you!
Μan i have a real problem with my ''Number 10's'' - Advanced Playmakers. I have great players for the position,i tried every role,every duty and every personal instruction possible and nothing is working consistently. They will perform here and there (like 7-8 rating) but then they may have like 10 games straight with 6.9 or below.
Any ideas?
Sometimes I feel like I watched his videos just for the skits.
We need more like this
Any tips on improving finishing? I have a tactic that creates a lot of quality chances but they just aren't finishing them.
Do you have good attack coaches ?
A question about pressing distance. I tried a formation where I had the offence start pressuring low but the defence start pressuring high. What I had a mind was for the team to converge on about the middle of the park and win the ball by creating numerical superiority, and push for a counter attack from the wide positions. Does it actually work that way though?