total football in fm

live2thewire

anyone managed it? how does it come across? is it practicle?

Ardscoil Ris

It's quite simple to do. Getting results out of it is a different matter.

leninbenjamin

it's actually damn near impossible to do correctly. you can give free roles and increase freedom and closing down but there's no guarantee the structure of the system will be kept intact, and can lead to a lot of unintended side effects. also, only the best players can execute the instructions correctly, and good decision making is essential. in short; the engine wasn't designed with total football in mind.

live2thewire

leninbenjamin wrote: »

it's actually damn near impossible to do correctly. you can give free roles and increase freedom and closing down but there's no guarantee the structure of the system will be kept intact, and can lead to a lot of unintended side effects. also, only the best players can execute the instructions correctly, and good decision making is essential. in short; the engine wasn't designed with total football in mind.

could you elaborate on the side effects? i heard that even to get it off the ground it would take 5 seasons

Ardscoil Ris

To go about doing it isn't too hard. The problem is it takes ages to get to build the right team to go about doing it.

Firstly, there are two styles of Total Football. The Ajax (circa 70's) style and the Arsenal (circa early 00's) style. The Ajax style is more complicated and reqires the following tactical instructions:

Short passing
Quick Tempo
Switching positions
High creativity
Attacking Mentality

I could go into detail on how to achieve this, but it is pointless as the FM09 engine can't make it work as it only allows one player switch with another while Ajax had players switching with three or four other players. Can't be done I'm afraid.

The Arsenal one can be done in the game since they played a very similar style, but didn't change players around that much.

Again similar tactical instructions:

Short passing
Quick Tempo
High creativity
Attacking Mentality
Focus Passing Mixed
Crossing rarely for all players

You need the right players for this to work and the right players are hard to find. The vast majority of those stats are based on mental ones.

This tactic requires short passing at a high tempo and these two are not really meant to go together. Playing the ball fast and short leads to mistakes and to compensate for this you need all your outfield players to have the following stat 15+:

First Touch: (Players need to trap the ball quickly and pass it on)

Concentration: (Playing such a complicated style at such a high tempo needs players concentrate as if they don't they can cause moves to break down)

Creativity: (Players need to create space and pick a clever pass)

Decisions: (Receiving the ball at such a tempo means players need to think and react quickly. Good decision making keeps your teams moves heading in the right direction)

Team Work: (Probably the most essential stat for it to work. Players are familiar with each other and always know where team mates will be)

Less important stats that aid the tactic:

Stamina: (High tempo, players need to be fit and last the match)

Off the Ball: (Needed to create space for themselves in order to receive the pass)

Other tactics to consider is pitch size. It should be normal so players have enough space to exploit and move into, but not too much so that it's hard to string short passes together.

There you go. Get players who can do all that and you should be sorted.

live2thewire

legend. u must be the master of fm