Football Manager Tactics Tips: Exploiting the Middle or Flanks

Creating a tactic on Football Manager can be a bit of a tricky process these days, you have to consider how your team will attack, how they will defend, how you wish to pass the ball, the tempo. The list of considerations is vast. It is important to make sure you are developing tactics to make the most of the types of players you have in your team. If you have really fast wingers who are good at crossing, then you might want to consider trying to play the ball down the flanks more often. If you have players in the center of your midfield who are dynamic and good at passing then you might want to play the ball through the middle. I will discuss below some of the considerations to make when making a tactic and deciding to attack the middle or flanks.

So if you pass the ball through the middle of the pitch, it is a good idea to make sure you have players cutting in from the wings, the use of an inside forward can be a good thing to use. If you imagine a player with the ball in the middle of the pitch and then he spots the run of the inside forward who is cutting in from the wing, this can be a great tactic to use. On the other side, if you do decide to play the ball down the flanks (this is my choice) - then you need to make sure you have midfielders who are keeping up with play in the middle of the pitch. I have used this to great effect on my Charlton play through. I have two midfielders who have the attack duty, they regularly are found in the box of the opposite team ready to take a shot. This works very well for me and in fact at the time of writing this one of my midfielders is my top goalscorer.

It is also worth considering the passing attributes and the vision of your players, if they have good anticipation and decision making then this will help you to decide which style of football to play.

In theory there is no right or wrong way to play football, it just depends on the type of players you have in your team and the skills that they have. If you think about it, you might have a player who is good on the wings but if you have midfielders who are slow and are not keeping up with play, then there is no point in getting your winger to cross the ball in early. It is better for your winger to try and run with the ball and then wait for other players in your team to catch up.

When making a tactic you just need to think about the movement of your players and where they might be when they are attacking, you need to think about if you are with the ball down the wing do you have enough players in the middle to pass to, like wise if you do play through the middle do you have enough players to pass the ball to, or are you outnumbered in the middle.