Your Groundsman is Your Best Friend

We're a day away from the fifth season in StJohn and managers across the gameworld will be wondering whether they've bought the right players, picked the right formation and devised the right tactic for a successful season. But is their pitch the right size for their team?

Size does matter

If you look at real-life football, it's no surprise that teams like Manchester United have a long pitch, and teams like Bolton Wanderers have a narrow pitch and the same is true, possibly more so for FML. It's often said in football that the crowd is the 12th man; in FML, the groundsman is certainly the 13th, and he can be your best friend in your pursuit of success. Pitch size can be changed from the stadium screen - click the 'edit details' button to change the length and width.

What size fits me?

A look at your players and tactics gives a good idea of the size you'd want. As a general rule of thumb, attacking teams will prosper on larger, longer, wider pitches, while defensive teams will benefit from a smaller, shorter, narrower pitch.

Fast players like longer pitches as they gives attackers room to run, while speedy defenders will not be phased by the larger distances they need to cover at the back. Having a longer pitch, though, will cause problems for players with low stamina or playing with a high tempo, as the side may well run out of steam before the end of the match (start making mistakes, misplacing passes and shipping late goals). Wide pitches generally provide more attacking options and are great for teams looking to exploit the flanks and are ideal for any side with quality wingers. Again, defending becomes harder on a wide pitch, as fullbacks and also centrebacks find themselves dragged out of formation to cover an attack from wide.

While a small pitch is a perfect choice for a team looking to defend, it is also a great option for a team looking to close down the opposition and to counter-attack: with smaller distances to cover, a well-organised team can press, catch the opposition in possession and break with success. Some formations particularly benefit from a smaller surface, in particular, the 451. The shorter length makes runs from the midfielders more effective and the narrower width makes flooding the midfield even more successfully when space is at a premium.

What if my pitch size isn't working?

Unlike real-life football, you can change your pitch dimensions at any stage (other than during a match, obviously). If your current dimensions don't suit, if you're about to face an opponent's pesky 451, or if you're worried about facing wing wizards in your upcoming cup tie, why not change? Experiment, and if your changes are successful and your groundsman does become your best friend, we'd love to hear from you!

The Tactics Chalkboard - Part One: Winning Formations

Welcome to the Tactics Chalkboard, where we will be taking a close look at the tactical side to FML: what works, what doesn't and what's going on across the gameworlds.

Today, we're looking at the winning formations used by top teams. There has been much discussion of this on the Football Manager Live forums: some folk think that certain formations are overpowered 'ubertactics', others that some formations just aren't worth playing, and even a few that think that it's impossible to become a successful team unless you play a 4-5-1. We thought we would put these theories to the test, by looking at the formations used by StJohn's top 40 teams and were pretty surprised to see how throughly the 451 had thrashed all its rival formations.

Attack of the Clones

Of the top 40 managers, almost three quarters, use a variant of the 451 formation. Of the 29 managers in total using a 451, the majority fielded a side with an AML, an AMR and three central midfielders (the 'arrowhead' formation); the remainder a flat 451 or some similar variant. The arrowhead is the formation used by Cihangir Kirac's gameworld-topping Turkiye and six other managers in the top ten use a 451 style tactic.

I spoke to Ben Talbott, manager of 31st ranked Last Minute Wanderers, and asked him if he thought the flat 451 he used was what forum posters described as an ubertactic. "Ubertactic, my backside!" he replied, just as his team conceded a goal against play to The Unexpected Spanish Inquisition (whose chief weapon is surprise... surprise and fear... etc). "To be honest, though, I always played a variation of 451 in FM, so it would have been my default tactic here if it wasn't for the fact I wanted to be different," he added, "I lasted two seasons of being different and then I had to return to what I knew best!"

Only four teams in the top 40 play the traditional 442. "I love teams that play the 442," said Abe Roddney, the Daredevils FC manager. "It's the fairest tactic. You can score a lot of goals. You can also concede a lot of goals!" Nineteenth placed James Recury's Volusia County are the only team to play a 532, using a successful attacking variant of the formation. And only one team in the top 40 plays a 424, Manchelski United in 25th place.

The Phantom Menace

The second most popular formation amongst the top 40 is the 460 with five managers using the tactic. In its most common variant, the formation will have the usual four at the back, then a layer of ML, MC, MR and in front of that, a layer of AMC, AMC, AMC. The popularity and notoriety of the tactic is fairly recent, but the 460 is proving particularly successful for Flanders Angels in 2nd, T-Bag Town in 3rd and CFC FC in 4th. Roughly modelled on the Roma tactic with Totti, you can find out more about the 460 here, though it does seem a little more famous in FML than in real life - type football, 460 and formation into Google and a post on the SI forums is the top result! While there have been rumblings from certain quarters about the formation, words like 'hacktic' and 'exploit' muttered, it will not be long before more managers jump onto the bandwagon!

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We'd like to hear from you! Are you powering up the gameworld rankings with a rare formation? Are you one of the few that plays three or five at the back, or, rarer still, someone that plays a traditional 433 with three out-and-out strikers?

In Part Two, as the vast majority of the top 40 managers are playing either a 451 or a 460, we'll look at some common ways to counter these formations!