Talking Points - Formations / Instructions / Tactics

[SpHSpH]

Today I want to talk about the kinds of edits that you can do with your team sheets ... formations, player instructions, and custom tactics. I realize that there is no "right answer" for any of these options ... I am more interested in what people have found to work well for them, and how one idea may have a corresponding effect on another idea.

The are six slots for possible team sheets (right?) - one of which is the predetermined default for your team plus five more that you can make of your own creation. But you cannot really mix-and-match one formation with another custom tactic ... each team sheet has a formation and single custom tactic associated with it (the standard tactics [counter / pressure / possession / longball] seem to be available within each team sheet). So ... if I wanted to explore six different formations ... I could not ALSO explore two different tactics for each of those six formations ... right? Bummer.


FORMATIONS:

Starting at the back ... I have always been a fan of the four defenders (LB CB CB RB) alignment ... I already have challenges with my defending ... but is there some argument to be made that three defenders + two defensive midfielders can actually provide better defensive cover? The formations that I am most familiar with from my time playing FIFA are: (a) 4-1-2-1-2, (b) 4-3-3, and (c) 4-2-2-2 ... all of these feature the same back four. And it is not even that simple anymore ... because there are multiple versions of "4-3-3" available to choose from now.

So - what formations are working well for you? Does it depend on your playing style? The personnel on your roster? The situation in the match (do you switch formations in real time during the game)?


INSTRUCTIONS:

This seems to be a new thing for this year - and I admit I have certainly not flushed out all of the opportunities that this presents. The available decisions are a function of what position (DEF / MID / WING / ATT) you are looking at. Your defenders can "stay back" or "overlap" or "join the attack". Your midfielders can be "balanced" or "help with defense". Your strikers can "stay central" or "drift out wide". And lots more (I do not have all of the options memorized - that is for sure).

So, again, any thoughts/suggestions/advice on how to best use these player instructions to affect the way the game plays? Same as before ... I believe any player instruction decisions are locked to a team sheet. Are there good combinations for a pair of CDMs or for the LW/RW partnership or the interplay between a CAM and a ST ... you get the idea.


CUSTOM TACTICS:

This has been present in FIFA for the past few iterations (though I do believe that last year you could build a larger variety of custom tactics and more rapidly switch between one tactic and another during the course of a match ... win some, lose some). I would imagine that someone's preferred custom tactics would line up heavily with the style with which they play. But maybe I would like to try to have a few different custom tactics so that I can experiment with changing my style during a career mode, or based on my opponent, or even a change at half time.

[ Build Up Play ] = (Speed / Passing / Positioning)
[ Chance Creation ] = (Passing / Crossing / Shooting / Positioning)
[ Defence ] = (Pressure / Aggression / Team Width / Defender Line)

Most of these vary on a scale 0-100 ... but does FIFA really know the difference down to the ones place? Is (passing = 54) all that different from (passing = 55)? Is it more likely the case that instead inside these ranges there are "bins" ... and as you move from one "bin" to the next (however many there may be ... but "less than one hundred" is my point) ... your team will take on a different style/feel. I also recognize that these scales are not totally independent of one another ... a change in "Build Up - Passing" may be coupled with a change in "Chance Creation - Shooting".

So, as I have been asking with the other sections, has anyone any thoughts here on nice combinations that work well with a particular style of play? Anything that I should try out for my own career mode progression?


PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:

The big finish here is that each of the prior three sections (formations / instructions / custom tactics) are probably not independent of each other ... meaning there might be one "good" set of instructions that works best for a 4-3-3 and a different set of "good" instructions that would be better when using a 4-1-2-1-2 ... there might be one nice custom tactic for a 3-5-2, and a different custom tactic that is more successful with the 4-4-2 ... the interplay / overlap / exchange between all of these ideas leads to (seemingly) infinitely many combinations that could be explored.


- - - - -

This discussion seems independent of things like this ... but I include this in all of my "Talking Points" threads ... I play all-manual, World Class, Slow, 15 minute half, "OS Community" sliders, tactical defending ... I would consider myself more of a "sim" player (rather than an "arcade" player) ... I only play offline career mode matches against the CPU.

Also ... just going to leave this here for me to check back on later ...

http://letsfut.com/2014/11/fifa-15-custom-tactics-guide/

[SpHSpH]

Re: Talking Points - Formations / Instructions / Tactics

I understand that I can build six team sheets (with variances in formation, personnel, team tactics, whatever) ... and at the beginning of the match, I can cycle through the team sheets to choose one for the match ... but, during the match, is it not possible to switch to another team sheet? What if I want to make some halftime adjustments?

Since a set of team tactics needs to be paired with a team sheet ... if I want to switch to a different custom team tactic - I would need to switch to a different team sheet ... but I cannot change team sheets during the course of a match. This seems to be a bit of a loop. Annoying.

[aherm92]

Re: Talking Points - Formations / Instructions / Tactics

This is what I'm using for my Southampton career. I'm in my sixth year –– I've won 2 BPL years, the Champion's League once, and I just today won my first league cup.
_____________

Formation

4-4-2 with a CF and a ST. I like this more than the 2 ST formations, because in my experience, not only does this keep both of the attackers in the middle of the field, it makes it a bit easier for the CF to provide some sort of defensive assistance, or at the very least he's a good outlet for the guys in back to dump the ball to.

If I put out my best group, It looks like this:

Mandron (89)
(ST)
Cavani (89)
(CF)

Shaqiri (85) Koch (89) Calhanoglu (86) Volland (87)
(LM) (CM1) (CM2) (RM)


Flanagan (85) Caulker (85) Abdennour (85) Clyne (82)
(LB) (CB1) (CB2) (RB)

Horn (83)

Bench: Milner (87), Tadic (84), Aubameyang (85), Stones (82), Ward-Prowse (83), YA player, YA player.

_____

I think this formation works as well for me as it does because of the instructions (aside from having four defenders –– I HATE running with 3).

ST: Stay middle, get in behind, press back line
CF: Get in behind, cut off passing lanes
CM1: Stay back while attacking
CM2: Get forward, free roam (helps a lot when your CM is a Distance Shooter)


Fairly simple, but having one CM function as a defensive player goes a long way. Once you add in the Shaqiri and Aubameyang can tear up the wings, having your CMs dish it out to them while the attacking sprint towards the box makes the opponent team have to make decisions fast.

[calbrs04]

Re: Talking Points - Formations / Instructions / Tactics

I am currently in my second season with Man U. In my first season, I did a liverpool and blew the BPL lead in the final 3 games to end up third. At the time I was using a 4-4-2 diamond formation.

For my second season I switched to the 3-5-2 as follows:

Rafael Rojo Shaw

Blind Arturo Vidal

Di Maria Januzaji Herrera

RVP Rooney


I will switch up Herrera and Januzaji from time to time, and I will also use Phil Jones as CDM. I prefer to use only one CB because Shaw and Rafael have pace.

As far as tactics go, I don't have anyone set to free roam the field. The CAM does a good job at slowing down the opposition to allow the CDM's or the wingbacks to close in to steal the ball. Usually I try to control the CDM's and let the back line come in to assist.
For defense I copied the tactical set up from Chelsea. For attacking, I copied from Bayern Munich but adjusted the build-up speed to about 80 so that I can counter attack much better. So far this system has worked for me.


Oh, I also keep the mentality at either balanced or attack. If I am in possession of the ball near the end of a half, I might kick it up to all out attack just to put more pressure.

[kmoore11]

Re: Talking Points - Formations / Instructions / Tactics

I'm a couple of months into a new manager mode with Chelsea. In my first one, and every time I've played for the past few years, I used the 4-1-2-1-2 formation. But this year I started noticing huge gaps in the middle of the field, and my opponents had a ton of space to work with in there. That's the part of the field I like to control, so I set out for a change in my new season.

I don't see it mentioned here yet, but you can completely customize formations. Once I realized that, I started moving people around and trying to figure out what would work best for me. OP mentions that there may be an argument for 3 defenders + 2 defensive midfielders, and I'd have to say there is. When being attacked, I still would have 5 main defenders, just like a 4 defender, 1 CDM formation. However, those CDMs are also much better on the attack, and give me a bunch of extra options. I have one instructed to move forward, and the other with a balanced attack, and I'm getting more goals from the position than ever before. The only weakness is in counter attack, I'm stuck with only 3 guys back. But for most attacks, the difference isn't noticed.

Ahead of the CDMs, I have 2 outside midfielders, 2 attacking midfielders, and a central striker. So, technically, it shows up as an odd 3-6-1. Having only 1 striker was scary for me, because I've essentially played for the past many years with 2. I'm used to having my 2 strikers score 80+% of my goals, but with this new formation, I'm dominating the middle of the field, the attacks are so varied, and I'm getting runs from players all over.

All of my tactics and instructions are for free form, with high speed, pressure, and aggression tactics.

My formation looks a bit like this: http://sofifa.com/squad/15679?hl=en-GB. It's a bit odd, I know, but it works just like I need it to.

[Erithtotl]

Re: Talking Points - Formations / Instructions / Tactics

My biggest problem with all the tactics and formations I've tried is the lack of transition from defense to offense.

Namely, when I am on offense, and regain possession, my teammates casually jog up the field to support the attack rather than sprint up, leaving me in 2 on 6 situations. When I am on offense and lose the ball, my offensive players do the same, leading to some pretty nasty matchups as the CPU goes on a break. The CPU never has this issue, it goes from having 6-7 men attacking the box to 9 men defending the box almost instantly.

Are there any tactical settings that might help this issue?

[drj32]

Re: Talking Points - Formations / Instructions / Tactics

My biggest problem with all the tactics and formations I've tried is the lack of transition from defense to offense.

Namely, when I am on offense, and regain possession, my teammates casually jog up the field to support the attack rather than sprint up, leaving me in 2 on 6 situations. When I am on offense and lose the ball, my offensive players do the same, leading to some pretty nasty matchups as the CPU goes on a break. The CPU never has this issue, it goes from having 6-7 men attacking the box to 9 men defending the box almost instantly.

Are there any tactical settings that might help this issue?

GREAT QUESTION! I think I'm having the same problem.
Doc

[SpHSpH]

Re: Talking Points - Formations / Instructions / Tactics

Are there certain formations that match up well against other formations?

You can see what formation your (CPU) opponent will be using if you select "Sim Match". You do not have to actually sim the match, you can just back out after one screen, but on that first screen it will show you if the team you are playing is using 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 or etc...

So, if I know what formation the CPU will be using, how can I choose my formation to best match up?

[calbrs04]

Re: Talking Points - Formations / Instructions / Tactics

My biggest problem with all the tactics and formations I've tried is the lack of transition from defense to offense.

Namely, when I am on offense, and regain possession, my teammates casually jog up the field to support the attack rather than sprint up, leaving me in 2 on 6 situations. When I am on offense and lose the ball, my offensive players do the same, leading to some pretty nasty matchups as the CPU goes on a break. The CPU never has this issue, it goes from having 6-7 men attacking the box to 9 men defending the box almost instantly.

Are there any tactical settings that might help this issue?

You have to change the build up speed to more of a counterattack speed.

[Brahvocado]

Re: Talking Points - Formations / Instructions / Tactics

My biggest problem with all the tactics and formations I've tried is the lack of transition from defense to offense.

Namely, when I am on offense, and regain possession, my teammates casually jog up the field to support the attack rather than sprint up, leaving me in 2 on 6 situations. When I am on offense and lose the ball, my offensive players do the same, leading to some pretty nasty matchups as the CPU goes on a break. The CPU never has this issue, it goes from having 6-7 men attacking the box to 9 men defending the box almost instantly.

Are there any tactical settings that might help this issue?

Use the quick tactics. I never really bothered with them in previous games, but they have a noticeable effect in this one. Basically, if you have just gained possession from the cpu and want to hit them with a fast counter, immediately switching to Ultra or All-Out attacking will send a good amount of your team bombing up the field instead of the usual 2 or 3 man counters. Likewise, as soon as you lose possession, switching to park the bus immediately will have your players drip back on defense a bit quicker than they usually would.

[Pvt_JOKER]

Re: Talking Points - Formations / Instructions / Tactics

Any recommendations formations/instructions/tactics for FC Bayern Munich in online seasons mode? I'm in div. 9 so I'm my skill level isn't great. TIA.

[JHedges2]

Re: Talking Points - Formations / Instructions / Tactics

Thoroughly enjoyed reading through this (and other TP's).

Excited to hear info on the next FIFA as well!