My Milan tactic

Overload: The exact opposite of contain, overload looks to flood the opposition with wave after wave of attacks. Caution is thrown to the wind, and everyone is told to bomb forward. Again, playing overload for 90 minutes is likely to result in a fair few goals being let in, but for controlled bursts at 5-10 minutes at a time, or when chasing goals late on, it can break down the opposition just enough to get the desired result.

Most Useful: Late on in the game when in desperate need of a goal; against ultra-defensive teams.

Exploit The Middle

Effect: Instructs the team to play the ball through the middle of the field.

Action: Focus passing through the centre, increased mentality and try through balls for defenders and defensive midfield players, decrease forward runs for wide players, increase forward runs for non-defensive central players in midfield and attack, decrease wide play for wing players.

Useful: When not playing with any wider players; when the opposition are leaving gaps in the middle of the field; when playing with a strong side with good central players; when playing on a narrow pitch.

Tackling: This setting dictates how hard the players will go in for the tackle. Easy tackling means the player will jockey the opposition player and not go sliding in unless he is relatively sure he can get the ball. Heavy tackling means the player will go in hard as soon as he gets a whiff of the ball. Easy tackling teams will hold their positions and make it difficult for the team to be broken down, but are likely to get far less of the ball as a result; hard tackling teams can win the ball back quickly and intimidate the opposition, but will concede far more free kicks and yellow cards. More aggressive teams will use more hard tackling instructions, more cautious sides will use more easy tackling

Very Fluid

With this system, the team are told to attack and defend as a unit. Their mentalities are virtually the same throughout the side, and they move as they see fit. This can allow for some great attacking play, with players moving in and out of each other, but can leave the team vulnerable if the players are not disciplined enough to keep their shape when on the defence.

This is virtually equivalent to the “Global” mentality structure in TT&F09. Nearly all the players are on the same settings for mentality except for some staggering of strikers or the midfield to offer a little more link up play between the different parts of the team.

When things are going well in a very fluid formation, it can be superb to watch with very aesthetic flair based attacking football. However, if the team struggle to get going they can be caught out defensively.

Real World Equivalent: Kevin Keegan (Newcastle United)

Kevin Keegan’s sides have always been of the “you score three, we’ll score four” school of football, and his leaky defences have been almost as legendary as his stylish forward lines. There is, of course, nothing wrong with being committed to “the beautiful game”, but beauty can often come at a price. By simply letting the players “get on with it”, and being far less proscribed with positioning, the system can produce some beautiful football when things are going well. The pay off was often the odd lame defeat at the hands of more disciplined opposition.