Quantum 4-1-3-2 Tactic for FM18 (“Creeping Suffocation”)
Revision 1 (Nov-2017) (c) 2013-2017 Xeewaj Q.

Intro

It’s “Quantum” ‘cause it’s full of superpositionts and controversies. Be more disciplined but roam from position and shoot more often? Sure. Defenders attacking, strikers defending, midfielders are everywhere? Of course. Maybe it exploiting match engine imperfection? Who cares.
I played variations of this tactic for a few FMs, from exotic lower divisions to top European leagues and it gave excellent results everywhere.
Why it nicknamed “Creeping Suffocation”? ‘Cause it slowly suffocates opponents, restricting them from playing football as much as possible. Even top opponents will often fail to do a single shot on target.

Proof of Concept

Half-season with Juventus (with 18.1 release and 18.1.1 patch). No comments needed I guess. Just want to note that 0-0 draws were typical FM style (30 shots, 20 on target, 5 woodwork, 0 goals). From 5 conceded goals: 1 corner, 1 indirect free kick, 1 counterattack, 1 well deserved goal and 1 wtf fluke.

Philosophy

Balance, discipline, possesion, fluidity, restricting opponent as much as possible. Sounds boring enough, but board and supporters will praise you for attacking football.









Pros

One tactic to cover them all.
It works well for top clubs and relegation candidates with minimal tweaking.
You don’t need wingers. At all.
High possession.
Graphene-strength defense.

Cons

For best results you need to have 2 pairs of fullbacks and rotate them often or they’ll burn out.


Alternate Tactics

You don’t need one. Don’t even waste time/efforts for training them. There is “Plan B” tactic in archive for situations where 25 shots on goal isn’t enough to score at least once, but you generally don’t need to train it, just load it when needed. Note that “Plan B” keeper will join attack on corners.

Pitch Size

It’s important. Basic rules are: max size if your team is among the favorites, max width and normal length for midtable teams, min size for relegation candidate.

Match Preparation

Mostly “Attacking Movement”, sometimes “Teamwork” (usually away vs top opponent).

Tweaking

Most of team instructions are constants. Never touch Mentality or Width or uncheck Retain Possession. If you’re in distress, use Plan B.
Usually only things you may need to change are Exploit Left/Right Flank or Middle, Shoot on Sight and Hit Early Crosses. If opponet is parking the tank, consider checking “Shoot More Often” for all midfielders and Ball Playing Defenders.

Set Pieces

Tactic includes some default set pieces, but you may want to tune them for players you have.

Protecting Lead

Tactic itself does it very well, but for more safety bring on Defensive Forward and fresh fullbacks (don’t change their duties to Defend or even Support though).

Players

Following in-game descriptions and attribute highlighting is enough to select good players for this tactics. Just note that suitability circle may not be totally green, still player will perform well. Wingers may be used as attacking fullbacks, generally any Central Midfielder or Defensive Midfielder (and even some wingers with red circle) will perform good as Box-to-box. From what I noticed, partnership lines in FM18 are more important than circles, but they need some time to be established, so be patient.

Assistant

Just ignore him. “We being terrible overrun at midfield” and “We need to use more direct passing” when your team is winning 2-0 with 65% possession and opponents has 0 shots on target.





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