The Formation 
As you can see, quite a few arrows in there. This makes my team exploit (yes, I said it...), the spaces that are hard for the opposition to defend.
I've based this tactic on a set of three options.
Normal Not a very exciting name for it, but normal is as normal does. It's the default tactic I use when facing any team, home or away. It can also be used as a platform from which to adapt to suit your own teams and players, as the two variants were further adapted from this original formation and settings.
Here's the link to download:
4312 Heathxxx Normal Another variant I also use is this, which is tweeked a little further based on the plaers I'm currently using:
4-3-1-2 Heathxxx (RoO Variant) Bad Pitch Yes, that's right, pitch conditions can make a big difference to how some tactics perform. The "Normal" tactic is based upon short passing and low tempo, which can help control possession of the ball. When there's heavy rain or muddy pitch conditions, this style of play can go completely out the window. You'll often see players passing
too short.
To counter bad pitch conditions, I've upped the team passing and tempo to "default", mixed for both. The individual instructions have also been tweeked to ensure that the midfield is set to more "default" passing.
You'll still lose the ball occasionally because of the conditions, but not nearly half as much as un-tweeked, because your players will put a bit more
oomph behind a pass.
No changes to the formation or arrow use, just a few changes to team and indivduals.
Here's the link to the download:
4312 Heathxxx - Bad Pitch Defend This may surprise a lot of people when they see that again, there's no change to the formation or arrows.
Why you ask? BecauseI fnd the biggest killer to the perfomance of a team is messing around too much with it's shape. Just don't touch the shape!
Defend works on the same principals as the "Bad Pitch" tactic, with passing and tempo set more to "default" values, though you can easily change this to lower values if you wat to retain possession more.
Individual changes are the key here again. You'll see that I've made no changes to global or team mentality, or the defensive line (both are well known to be closely linked). Only real global change here is I have counter attacking ticked and tight marking ticked.
What I have done is set full-backs and my MCd (central midfield player with no arrows), on lowest settings for forward runs, and run with ball. Both full-backs and the MCd are also set to tight mark.
You should find that this setup is then particularly effective when the AI teams go
Gung-Ho against you. Wide forwards are covered by the full-backs better and your MCd will cover any AMC in their formation. There's no change to the DC's settings as invariably their strikers will still be doing the same thing they have been all game.
Anyway...
Here's the link to the download:
4312 Heathxxx Defend Usage As you see fit.
Copy them, share them, change and re-post them, have babies with them...
I don't post super tactics. I post platforms that everyone can use how they want to. Just because I've posted it, doesn't mean I'm it's sole contributor. There's a bit of everything in here. The corner setting, a rampaging AMC, plus some of my own setting preferences. All in all though, it's a pretty "classic" looking CM/FM shape is it not?
I tend to stay with the "Normal" or "RoO" set most of the time, which is more attacking. I will change if the pitch conditions are poor which clearly reduces the performance of a short passing game. The defensive system is simply there to help defend a tight lead, or to help counter the AI late in the game.
Feedback Good or bad, let everyone know!
If you're going to take the time to post though, let it be constructive please, so others can learn from your sucess or failure. Any changes you've made, please be descriptive and explain
why you've changed things.
Post your results and experiences, pictures are especially helpful. I can see how people are getting on with different teams, home or away etc... fixture list pictures are especially useful.
Questions If there's anything you need to know, or want to ask, don't be afraid. This works well for me in a number of saves. I may have settings for an individual player which you may not understand "why" I've done them. I may be able to help.
Thanks and happy FM-ing.
