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Tactics Introduction

This Football Manager tactics guide provides a simple framework (in the form of various recommendations and suggestions) for making rational decisions when creating tactics. The framework is particularly useful for beginner and intermediate players of the game but it can help players of all experience levels to systematically consider a wide range of tactical issues. All recommendations and suggestions are optional, as there are many different ways to create logical tactics. However, any which are not followed may be worth noting as potential tactical problems to look out for when watching your team play.

The guide applies the tactical theory presented on GuideToFootball.com to the tactics creator in Football Manager. It is not necessary to read the tactical theory to use the guide but you may wish to read all or parts of it in order to gain a greater understanding of the theory behind the guide.

The suggested reading order for the guide is as follows:

  • The Starter Guide – this covers the framework more briefly and enables you to easily get started with creating a tactic, while gaining a good general understanding of the main aspects that need to be considered.
  • Example Tactics (optional – can be read at any point) – this enables you to study, and even try out, any of a variety of tactics that have been created using the framework.
  • The Tactical Instructions guides – these guides cover the various tactical instructions available in the game in detail. However, rather than reading the details for each instruction in full, it is recommended to firstly gain a general understanding of them by just reading the Game Descriptions provided (or you can view them within the game itself by hovering over each instruction) if you are unfamiliar with them. The other details in these guides can then be used as a reference when using the Starter Guide or the ‘Framework Application’ guides.

Once you become more experienced and free-thinking you may find that you no longer need the guide and you may even make decisions that are contrary to the framework it provides. At this point it is recommended that you read guides suitable for more experienced players that offer more specialised tactical advice from various different individual perspectives. In particular, such guides can be found in the Sports Interactive tactics forums.