Reading Save: October and November

It is fair to say that after a fantastic September, leaving us in the playoff positions, the next two months sent us crashing back down to earth. If I’ve ever questioned how realistic Football Manager is, then the eight-game winless run (in which we threw away leads in half of the matches) well and truly put that beyond doubt. Watching the 2D dots make countless defensive howlers and blunders couldn’t have made me feel like I was sat in my seat in the Madejski Stadium any more.

After beating top of the table Birmingham at the end of the previous month, October began with a draw at home to Millwall. We took the lead through Marc McNulty in the fourth minute, before conceding to Jed Wallace in the eighty-eighth. This set the down-beat tone for the next couple of months. The famously prolific Patrick Bamford proved he could score outside of Teesside by smashing a hat-trick past Vito Mannone in a 3-2 defeat to Leeds in which we lead twice, leaving us in free fall down the table.

The embarrassment of the defeat to Leeds wasn’t the only bad news, as Vito Mannone was ruled out for the next few games. His replacement, Sam Walker, was forced into making his Championship debut for the club in a 2-2 draw at home to Sheffield United, in which Iceland international Bodvarsson rescued us after falling behind twice. He then scored an equaliser in another 2-2 draw at Portman Road, as we came back from 2-0 down against Ipswich. The next two games signalled the low point of the season so far. It looked like we had finally gained some momentum from out comeback against the Tractor Boys, as we took a 2-0 lead through a Bodvarsson brace inside twenty minutes against Blackburn, but goals from Bradley Dack, Peter Whittingham and Jack Payne sunk us back down to our bad form.

As if that wasn’t enough, during the game our Icelandic hero was injured. Being the only player keeping us within the top half of the league, it was probably inevitable that we would struggle through the next few games, especially as our other two strikers (Sam Baldock and Marc McNulty) had also been injured, and were just recovering from minor knocks.

This lead to a dreadful display in Berkshire against Swansea, who were Twenty-Second in the table, but comfortably beat us 2-1. The next game against QPR was just as frustrating, as another injury to Sam Baldock left me with just one first team striker, so I switched back to my first 4-3-3 formation, and played McNulty with Obita and Aluko (with Barrow injured as well). This did well for us at the start of the game, before yet again throwing away a lead in the dying seconds.

Switching to a 4-5-1 with the David Meyler as Ball winning defensive midfielder allowed us to defend well against top of the table Norwich, managing to hold the in-form team in the division to a 0-0 draw at the Madejski. This ended a pretty awful two-month spell that has seen us drop from fifth in the table to thirteenth. Although we are just five points from the playoffs, the form we are in makes it look unlikely that we will finish anywhere near them.

However, with January now just around the corner, we do have a whopping £1.1 Million to spend in the transfer window, which will probably mean that when we offload some of the dead wood, we can bring in a few free signings or loans in the winter window. This will hopefully give us a strong end to the season. Before then though, we have a difficult Christmas period, with six games in December.

 

 

Reading Save: August and September

After the pre-season preparations, we finally began our Championship season with Reading away to newly promoted Rotherham, at the New York Stadium. At the end of September, we now currently sit at fifth in the table, inside the playoff positions. With a mid-table finish our objective at the start of the season, we are certainly overachieving so far, with our fast passing and possession based counter attacking system struggling early on, but gaining success as the games have gone on.

We began our season with a good result, winning 2-1 against Rotherham. We controlled possession well, finally managing to create chances in the second half, and scoring the second from a corner.

Our second win of the season came in extra time against League Two opposition Forest Green in the Carabao Cup. Our first home game of the season ended in a 0-0 draw, as both teams struggled against two well performing defences. We then got handed our first defeat of the season at the Hawthorns, as a strong West Brom team unsurprisingly proved too much for our team. Our form took a turn for the worse after this disappointing result, as we drew 0-0 at home once again, to Middlesbrough. Swansea then easily beat a second-string Reading team in the League Cup, before a very disappointing defeat at Villa Park.

The inclusion of Jordan Obita at left wing was successful as the game began. He got into better crossing positions during counter attacks, creating more chances than Aluko or McCleary had seemed to in their starts in the league. His corner lead to a goal from Liam Kelly, before a second from Bodvarsson was assisted by Obita. However, the game changed when Andy Yiadom was shown a straight red card. This unfortunately seemed to unravel our great start to the game, as Villa clawed the game back to 2-2. Obita’s edge of the box shot then gave us the lead once more, but a leveller soon followed. Finally, in stoppage time Agbonlahor winner finished off a spirited 10-man performance in the second half.

However, after this disappointment our fortune turned around, and once again Jordan Obita carried Reading to our first League win in over a month at home to Bolton Wanderers.

We are still unbeaten from the Villa game at the current point in my save, with a win against Brentford away from a solitary goal from Ryan East, an academy Central midfielder who I brought on into the Regista role for Liam Kelly. He was promoted from the under 23s after an injury to Leandro Bacuna, playing in the cup and being on the bench in the league.

We then got held to a draw away at Preston, before going behind at the Madejski to Hull City. I then switched to a 4-4-2, bringing off the advanced playmaker for Sam Baldock, who’s two goals helped us turn the result around to get the win.

Obita’s inclusion in the team had helped us greatly in August and September, so with Omar Richards and Tyler Blackett struggling in the league, I decided to utilise his ability to play as a wing back, by tweaking our formation. I also wanted to get both Marc McNulty and Sam Baldock into the team, therefore I switched to a two up front formation.

 

This tactical switch meant that we could have both a left back and a left winger that was in form in Jordan Obita. Aluko, McCleary, Blackett, Yiadom and Richards were all struggling, so this asymmetrical system seemed to fit the team better. The new formation got off to a good start, with two wins at the end of September against Bristol City, and unbeaten top of the table Birmingham.

This good run of form left us fifth in the table, and within three points of the automatic promotion places going into October. The form of crucial players like Liam Moore, Liam Kelly and Jordan Obita helping us into this high position, we must hope that they can continue to perform as we continue through the season. John Swift in truth has been disappointing, yet to score a goal and with just one assist to his name, he hasn’t had the effect I hoped he would as an advanced playmaker.

The next two months will be crucial as we head towards the Christmas packed fixture period. By the end of the next post we will know whether we are overachieving, or if we are genuine playoff contenders.

Blog Save: Reading FC- Pre-Season

 For the first save of my blog, I thought it would only be right to start with my team, Reading. They are my local team, and I’ve had a season ticket at the Madejski Stadium since I was twelve. One promotion, one relegation (in depressingly close proximity to each other) and two play-off final defeats later, it is time to change around the fortunes of Reading FC. It is a club, and squad that I know better than any other, so Reading were the natural choice as I begin my first FM Overload blog save.

The Squad:

Having disabled transfer budgets for the summer window, below is the squad I have to work with until at least January.

The squad is quite large, with decent depth for a mid-table Championship side. The goalkeeping department will be interesting, with Vito Mannone struggling in the season’s opener in 2018/19, and making a few errors last year. The signing of Sam Walker with give him competition, as an established football league number one goalkeeper.

The signing of Andy Yiadom gives us depth at right back, with Chris Gunter as my main choice. The rest of the defence looks good in depth, with maybe defensive ability lacking at left-back, with Jordan Obita and Omar Richards two academy products who are stronger going when going forward. Liam Moore not leaving can only be good news for the club, and Tiago Illori and Paul McShane are good options in the Championship.

The central midfield area looks average, with players like Dave Edwards and Pelle Clement struggling last season for Reading. John Swift hasn’t performed consistently since 2016, and Liam Kelly’s long passing is either incredible or incredibly frustrating. The signing of David Meyler, who replaces the hot headed (and quite frankly useless) Joey Van Den Berg, is a good one. He offers leadership, defensive support and character in the squad.

With many wingers at the club, it will take a while to work out the best pairing. Mo Barrow was excellent last season. The best winger to sign for Reading since Garath McCleary. He is still at the club, and on his day, is better than any other player we have. Unfortunately for Reading fans that day only ever happens to be against QPR every other leap year. Sone Aluko disappointed as our record signing last year, but must be given another chance this year. With players like Callum Harriott and Yakou Meite both returning to the first team from injuries and loan deals respectively, there is fierce competition out wide in this squad.

 Two big signings in Marc McNulty and Sam Baldock have hugely improved the striking options for us this season. Replacing the retired Yann Kermorgant, these two will fight out with Iceland’s Jón Dai Bodvarsson for the main striking position.

This squad is decent, but not really strong enough to expect a top half, or playoff finish. A solid mid-table first season will be a decent result with the lack of financial backing the club has given the squad.

Tactics:

At the start of pre-season, I decided that this squad would be best suited to a 4-3-3. This is the formation that I will begin the Championship season with, offering us balance and protection of a somewhat shaky back four.

I went for a counter-attacking system, that relies on passing out quickly from the back. With centre-backs such as Liam Moore and Tiago Illori who are good at playing out, this will offer us the opportunity to break away quickly without having to play route one football. The good central midfielders we have will be crucial, picking the ball up from the defenders and driving forwards before looking to pick out the wingers. With the “Pass into space” and “Play wider” team instructions, the wingers hopefully will get opportunities in behind the defence, to be picked out by Liam Kelly or John Swift. The striker will be a complete forward, who will need to act as a target man when the wingers look for crosses, but may also need to get in behind when we launch a counter attack. I used a Regista in the deeper role in the midfield three in pre-season, but David Meyler may be used there as a ball winner in bigger games in the league to offer more cover and support for the back four. I may even use the Irish international as a ball winner on the right of the central three, alongside Swift,with Kelly behind.

Pre-Season Trials:

With budgets disabled for the first window, my only recruitment opportunities were trials, with the view of signing players on free transfers in January. I decided to offer opportunities for two central midfielders to play for us in pre-season. The first was Royals’ legend Steve Sidwell, a Ball-Winning-Midfielder or Mezzala. The second was young PSG academy product Lorenzo Callegari.

 

Planning to play passing and central midfield based football in the new season, I thought that the 19-year-old advanced playmaker could offer cover for players like John Swift, with good passing, first touch and technique stats. He can also play as a regista, which we could have utilised in a 4-3-3 formation.

Callegari is certainly a player that I will look to bring in when we have the funds to pay his signing and agent fees, with good potential and the ability to be crucial in a passing team.

Pre-Season Friendlies:

Our results in friendlies improved the further we went through pre-season. After starting off with a draw against the Under 23s, we went to the Netherlands for a tour. Two wins and two draws followed, as we struggled against first division Dutch sides. Ratings wise it was the front three that struggled, with the midfield all reaching at least 7.0s. Kelly and Callegari specifically played well, completing more passes than any other players in all games. Vito Mannone got injured late on in the tour, leaving Walker in goal for the remainder of pre-season. The return to England showed a turn in fortune, as we won four and drew one of our games against lower league opposition, and finally Antwerp at the Madejski Stadium. Overall it was a decent pre-season, as the team improved in the tactical setup with which we played, as we progress towards our season opener away at newly promoted Rotherham United.

Best Tactics in FM18- The 5-1-1-3

Since Antonio Conte’s switch to a back three at Chelsea in the 2016/17 season, similar formations have risen to popularity in the English football for the first time since the 1990s. This has translated into the world of Football Manager. The formation below won me the Bundesliga in my first season with Bayer Leverkusen. A system that offers defensive cover as well as width in attack, the 5-1-1-3 feels very well balanced, leading to great results in my save.

The Formation:

The above screenshot shows how I used the formation for the majority of the season. A midfield pairing of Bender and Aránguiz offers both defensive support and attacking capability. I had Bender as deeper DM so that he can offer cover when the more attacking midfielder and wing backs push up, although Lars does still get into attacking positions occasionally in this formation. The two wing backs being pushed forward is probably the thing I change most in this tactic, bringing them back to their deeper position against tougher opposition to make sure they’re not caught out by world class wingers.

In Defence:

Defensively this system lends itself to an almost counter-pressing style. The wingers and striker need to close down, therefore in some bigger games I have used Volland as a defensive forward to press the centre backs hard. It is important that the front three all press to win the ball back and counter together, offering options when one of them win the ball. The wing backs are expected to get back to defend as well, therefore it’s important to have players in those positions that are athletic enough to do so. The defensive midfielder is important in supporting the back four, cutting out passes and winning the ball back on the edge of the box, before launching counters through short passes to the Box-to-Box player in front of him. The main thing that helps defensively is the fact that this team has three very good centre backs, who are fast and able to cover the wing backs out wide without getting beaten easily. This system may struggle with lower level centre backs who aren’t very athletic.

In Attack:

Despite being a counter attacking tactic it is also important that the team keep the ball, and play through the defence quickly. Therefore, having two Ball-Playing-Defenders is vital. Tah and Tolói are excellent in this system, with great passing and composure stats allowing them to quickly turn defence into attack without hoofing it. The box to box midfielder is also crucial, carrying the ball forward through midfield after it is won back. Having one with good passing and dribbling is very important. The wingers in this team are probably the main reason that this tactic is so successful however, with Brandt and Bailey scoring a combined 32 goals in all competitions in my title winning campaign. Their pace means they get in behind very well on the counter, and both of them having good finishing means they score a lot of goals. When they are unable to get in behind, the wingers both overlap (being on ‘attack’), allowing for overlaps and chances for them to cross to the striker. The striker also has to be athletic, but also must be a good finisher as counter attacking leads to important chances, especially in big games. In matches against teams like Bayern or Dortmund, my team would only have two or three shots on target, meaning that a lethal finisher is vital to the chances of winning. Once again therefore this may be a tactic more well suited to top level teams, with quality players needed throughout the team.

Player Roles:

The player roles I used were pretty much the same as in the screenshot. As mentioned previously, roles like the BPD, Box to box midfielder and Complete wing-back is pretty crucial to the style of play. The central centre-back being a Defensive centre back is more of a personal preference really, an out and out defender in the heart of the back three always seems to work well on FM. Any defensive midfield role can work, I tried Touloulan as an anchor man but it wasn’t as effective as Bender as a DM. The wingers should be just whatever they are natural at, an inside forward if they like to cut inside, or a traditional winger if they play on their natural footed side.

Team Instructions:

Most of the important team instructions are evident from what I have previously said, ‘Play out of Defence’, ‘Retain Possession’ and ‘Close down more’ are the most important. The others that I used can be seen in the screenshot. Mainly the instructions that tell the players to keep the ball are the most important, this system is unlikely to work if the team loses the ball at the start of every counter attack, as it isn’t built on long balls to strong and tall strikers, differing to other counter attacking system.

Player Instructions:

The front three are all set to ‘Close down more’ in this system. I also have the Box-to-box midfielder set to ‘Dribble more’, to make him charge forwards with the ball in counters, this once again means the dribbling stat of the midfielder is important. I also have Brandt set to get further forward to make sure he is in the position to get in behind on counters. The defensive midfielder has the most instructions, as shown below:

These settings make sure that when he wins the ball back he doesn’t try long balls to launch breaks but instead lays off to wing backs or the other midfielder. The hold position instruction also makes sure he does not get pulled out as he is there to protect the back four.

Overall:

This is a great tactic for high level counter attacking teams. It is not a defensive, boring and negative style of counter attacking, but uses quick movement and wing play to open up teams on the break, much like Chelsea in 2016/17. It may only work for high level teams however, as less technically and physically able players will struggle to perform the roles needed of them. But if you have the players, this tactic can be great fun to use in FM18.

Best Tactics of FM18: 4-4-2 Counter Attack

 

In this year’s Football Manager, the most basic formation in football has been one that we have very much enjoyed using. Reliant on wingers with good crossing, and strikers who are good in the air, this is a tactic I personally used quite regularly at the start of the game, and lead to great success for me, in my save with AC Milan.

 

 

 The Formation:

The most effective way that we used the 442 in FM18 was with two wingers pushed forwards. Unlike the screenshot above, it usually helps to have two midfielders which will do defensive work as well, due to the lack of responsibility that the wingers have to defend. Earlier in the save I played DM Danilo Pereira and Box-to-Box Kessie together in midfield. However, this is only really necessary if the defensive behind them needs significant support. The wingers in advanced positions allows for the formation to not act as just three flat lines, but for the wingers to push forward and get into scoring positions themselves, as well as hitting the by-line to cross.

In Defence:

The structured team shape helps keep the defence together. With advanced wingers, the full backs need to do a lot of work if they don’t get back, therefore not having the shape as structured may mean they stray from position and leave your centre backs exposed at the back. The Midfield pairing should also support the defence. Overall, we have found that this formation is not the tightest defensively but providing you have a decent back four it shouldn’t be too leaky.

 

In Attack:

When you have the ball, this tactic is a very direct one. The centre backs are required to fire the ball out wide to the two wingers in order to launch quick wide counter attacks. Therefore, it is important to have ‘Clear ball to the flanks’ as one of the only necessary team instructions for this tactic. The central midfield players sometimes get bypassed in attacks but are useful for late runs into the box, and offering options on the edge if your wingers cannot pick out a striker in the area. The winger’s crossing is important, usually I would play a winger on the side of his preferred foot (a left footer on the left wing), however sometimes inside forwards can offer overloads in the counter attacks, getting into the half spaces and picking out the strikers with crosses from there. This is where Bonaventura was useful for me. The counter attacking style means that your team get limited chances, so having strikers that are good in the air and good at finishing is important. They don’t have to be top level like Andre Silva and Patrick Cutrone either, I used this tactic to get promoted from League 2 with Crawley, then gained promotion to the Championship with Bolton in the same save using this formation. This formation is actually very good for lower league sides, its simplicity means that very technical players are not needed, relying more on good heading and good physicality in midfield.

 

Player Roles:

This is really mainly down to your own preference. As I mentioned previously I like to have one BWM and one BBM (or similar roles) in midfield, so that is what I used. With the strikers is what useful to have one more all-round striker as a Complete forward who gets involved in the build-up more, and one who plays as an Advanced Forward to get in behind and find space in the box. This is a formation that really does get the best out of good strikers, as the stats show below:

Silva seemed to get better every season with me, scoring headers or volleys from crosses in virtually every game. He and Cutrone hit over 50 on two occasions as a partnership in all competitions.

Forcing his way into the team in 2017/18, Pickard helped drive me and my Crawley side to League One, before keeping us up with 24 goals. I then re-signed him with Bolton in 2020, only for him to score 50 championship goals in the time I spent at the club. His high heading stat meant that this tactic really got the best out of him despite his low ratings in other departments.

In the same save as above, Solanke joined Ipswich on a free the season in which I joined the club. His 21 goals helped to secure Championship status, before netting 25 the following season to fire us to the Premier League. For a relegation battling side, he then kept up his consistent scoring in the formation for three seasons. Once again, his heading was crucial to the system working, proving that it is useable with any level of striker.

 Team Instructions:

In this particular formation, I only found it important to have four instructions set regularly. For some games, I changed things to fit the specific opponent but generally I had the instructions ‘More Direct Passing’, ‘Hit Early Crosses’, ‘Clear Ball to Flanks’ and ‘Play Wider’ set to the team. These are all largely self-explanatory and obvious for a wide counter attacking system.

Player Instructions:

The wingers can be told to stay wide but that is not essential. You could also tell them to cross to the centre but the formation should work without both of these being used. The strikers can also just be left on default instructions really. The goalkeeper could be set to distribute quickly to aid the speed of the counter attacks, however telling him to distribute long does sometimes lose you possession quite a lot, especially if he is not a particularly good long passer.

Overall:

This tactic is great for teams with less technically able players. If you’re using teams with amazingly technical number 10s, and small fast strikers, it may not be for you. However, if you have a big striker who can head in crosses, then prepare for a formation that will provide the service for him to become a lethal and prolific goal scorer.

Football Manager 2019 is here!

When Miles Jacobson (@milesSI) tweeted a picture of a collection of FM games with the caption “End of an Era”, fans of the series were brought to the brink of a heart attack! A day later the confusion was cleared up, with the official Football Manager game’s twitter announcing the next year instalment of the game.

Coming on the 2^nd of November 2018, the new game’s cover will not feature the faceless ‘manager man’, that has been on the cover of the game for 14 years. This was the era with which Jacobson was referring. The series also has a new logo for the release of the new game. The release date will be the same for the mobile version of the game, however there have be no announcements about the game’s Nintendo Switch release date.

Being the first announcement, we currently know little about the new game. But we at FM Overload will keep you updated with all of the upcoming FM19 news and developments as we go towards its release. If like us, you cannot wait for the game to be released, you can pre-order Football Manager 2019 from the link below!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/872790/Football_Manager_2019/

 

 

 

Welcome to FM Overload. For FM fanatics of all abilities this blog will (hopefully) be a great place for hints, tips and tactics.

As FM18 comes towards it’s end, we will be looking back at the players, formations and teams that made this year’s game memorable for us, as well as looking forward to November, and the release of Football Manager 2019.

 

So, for stick around for all of the latest news, reviews and much more here at FM Overload.