4) FORMATION

This part of management is tricky and in certain ways also involves luck. Current sim is random. You ask any manager and he will surely say he is clueless at times. Being able to adapt is the key here and that’s your only option.

Firstly you ought to know certain aspects of the SIM which all managers agree on and understand.

· Use short passing. Long n wing passing is only recommended after you test them in your friendly matches.

· Committed helps your players put more effort but it drains more stamina from your players and also result in more cards for your players. Only use it if you have players with 8-10 in stamina.

· Goal keeper is the most important player so it’s vital to have a good GK.

Even though player’s stats are very important, a good formation helps you achieve two things.

· Formation help you get those odd wins or draws against much tougher opponents.

· Also it decides how well you utilize your player’s skills by placing them in the most apt position according to their talents.

BASICS


Area A: - CF/ST/ACM/WF. Strikers region so place only strikers or mids with shooting skill.

Area B: - ACM/SM/CM/DCM. Place your midfielders here.

Area C: - SD/CD/DCM. Position for your defenders

Area D: - GK

There is no magic formation or method to get the best. Each team has different set of players and every formation has a weakness. It’s all down to trial and error method. Watch your games using any of the 3 options (Analyzer, 2d n 3d) and make little changes like place your forward a little low or high and see how differently they behave.

Here are few pointers to help you with example.

· If you have a fast forward but with low BC place him lower in the attacking area so that he gets hold of the ball before a defender gets a chance to tackles him. If he is faster than your opponent’s defenders it would be difficult for them to tackle him. Have a look at the position of strikers in yellow team.

· Every formation has its weakness. Now most managers opt for a 3-2 defense set up. But it has a weakness against forwards placed wide on the pitch. Where as in 4-1 defense formation the wing back at time are useless unless opponents play a wide attack.

· Higher you place your defense more pressure they put on opponents strikers which will help you in stopping them from         taking long shots. But if you place them to high a fast forward would easily pass through your defense and have a                 clear one-on-one chance against your GK. Getting the right balance according to your defenders pace is important.

· Midfielders have a significant effect on your chances to score. Good fasts mid will drag defenders with him and will               pass the ball to your open forward or help your defense get the ball back when in a defensive position. Some might               even score occasionally.

· In the current SIM its best to have a narrow formation with your players placed closed to each other. Either mids or                strikers can be used to utilize width of the field.

· If your clueless start by copying any teams formation, from the Top leagues of any country and see how it works for you. Later you can make the minor changes needed as per your team strengths by watching your games.

· If you are testing a formation the best way is to try it in friendlies and would be even better if your opponent can play the same players, formation and tactics for both the games, home and away. As it will help you know if you new formation or tweak was better or worse than the last one. Compare over a period of 6-9 games before you start to trust your new formation.

· You can use alternate tactics to hide your main formation as in Statistics page in result only reveals the starting formation. Use the add rule option to switch your formations in games.

· It’s also important that you Sub players with low stamina in game. For example a player with 6 stamina can be subbed between 60-70 minutes by using the add rule function. All of your players will get tired in the second half depending on their stamina stats as a result they tend to get slower and weaker. So by subbing players it helps to bring in fresh legs who will perform better just like in real life situations.

 

  • Current sim mostly favors’ a 3-2 defense. So try to use a 3-2 or 3-1 defense formation but if you wish to be on a safer side and would like to go with a 4(4-1/4-2) defense formation then u need to have/buy yourself good quality midfielders. This is so because as 3-2/3-1 is narrow it helps fill your midfield and provide support as well but in a 4 man defense your midfield will be quiet open making it easier for your opponents to keep possession/make passes.

 


ð Player Selection & Positioning

To compliment your new formation it’s also vital that you select the best possible players from your rooster and use them in the most apt position on the pitch as per their stats. Which can get a little confusing at times when two or more players have almost similar stats.

In such cases you can do the following

  • Young players tend to be more inconsistent compared to older players with similar stats. So give more preference to older players, experience (only if they have almost similar stats). 
  • Try each one of them in different position and see what works best by watching your games.
  • Along with the above you can also take the help of sites like

 

http://oxi.se/top11/

http://www.mztactics.com

http://www.mzimage.com/

I hope the article was informative and useful. So far we have covered major aspects of how to build a strong team leaving just the stadium and training part which will be continued in the next zone edition.
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