Set pieces in football, and therefore in Football Manager, are the subject of attention and study. That attention is usually reserved for Free-Kicks and Corners but what about the innocuous throw-in? Apart from when a team develops a long throw-in programme (think Stoke City), they’re largely ignored. 

This doesn’t do the humble throw-in justice, as they are an essential component of any Football Manager career.

Just throwing the ball somewhere willy-nilly not only robs you of a potential goalscoring opportunity (depending on your location, of course), but it also increases your risk of losing the ball and ending up on the wrong side of a devastating counter-attack. So again, throw-ins are far more important than you might think. Guido Merry explains how he’s developed devastating throw-in routines in Football Manager 2023.
 

For Football Manager 2021, Ihor Crusadertsar wrote about how to build a simple, winning tactic using the classic 4-4-2. 

Now, he’s returned to The Byline to provide another explainer, this time inspired by a certain Portuguese coach and focused on the Narrow Diamond variant of the same formation. 

Attacking transitions are a core element of most styles of play but particularly counter-attacking football. Arguably, any successful tactic needs to have potent, well-thought-out attacking transitions. Ihor Crusadertsar explains how you can create more effective transitions in FM22.

Imagine the following scenario. You’ve started a new FM22 career. During pre-season things went well, and now you’re looking to build on that for the season ahead. You’ve got to know the players, you know who you can count on and who needs a bit of help, you made your new signings, you’ve worked to get them settled and… it all starts going terribly wrong. Results are bad, but that’s not the worst part. The problem is you’re playing horribly; you can hardly keep goals out and your players seem to have lost all their footballing ability. At this rate, you’re going to get the sack rather than any Manager of the Month awards.

Sound familiar? I’m sure it does because we’ve all been there. Worry not, for help is at hand. You’re probably in need of a tactical overhaul and Rock’s End FM is on hand to show you how it’s done.

We’ve all faced that moment in a Football Manager career when it seems that everything is against you. If you’ve tried all you can think of and there still seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel, you might need to make some tactical adjustments. It’s never too late to salvage the remainder of your season and Rock’s End FM explores some of the tools at your disposal.

In an ideal world, we’d all love our teams to play a dynamic, possession-heavy style driven by a patient build-up from the back. That idealised image of Total Football, of attacking with maximum width and then making the pitch as narrow as possible when transitioning to defensive actions, captivates most Football Manager players. 

Ihor Crusadertsar explains his concept of the ‘Mentality Ladder’ and how understanding and mastering it is one of the first steps in creating a successful possession football tactic in FM22.

Do you find that the same tricky winger always gets the better of your full-back every time you come up against them? Does a specific playmaker carve open your defence time and time again with lovely through balls? What about that striker who always seems to evade his marker and nod in a frustrating equaliser at the back post?

Sure, you could tweak your player roles and duties to be less attacking. You could lower the defensive line to try and prevent those pesky forwards getting in behind. You could even change your shape entirely and go with five at the back for extra protection.

But what if there was a more subtle way to minimise these issues? That’s where Opposition Instructions can come in handy. FM Stag explains how Opposition Instructions can give you the crucial tiny margins needed to get results. 

Game management has become more and more vital as the tactical side of football has taken on growing importance. Once a manager develops a revolutionary style, there will be a host of others adapting their own approaches to try and get results against them.  

One of the most under-utilised, but hugely valuable features in Football Manager 2021 replicates this process - Match Plans. On The Break FM explains how to make the most of them.

The term ‘Gegenpress’ first entered the public consciousness after Borussia Dortmund burst back onto the European stage with successive Bundesliga titles and a continental cup final appearance. Their playing style was intense and entertaining, later defined as ‘heavy metal’ football. It captured the imagination of fans and pundits alike. It was an obvious candidate for inclusion when tactical presets were added as part of Football Manager 2019’s tactics overhaul. But what does ‘Gegenpress’ exactly mean, and how can we translate this into FM? Rock’s End FM provides a detailed guide.

After choosing your new club in FM21, one of the first things you should do is identify the key players in your squad. When crafting a winning tactic, the number one rule is playing to your strengths. Invariably, your best players are going contribute to these strengths.

If you have one particularly impressive, clinical striker, it would be logical to build your tactic around this player. That involves arranging other players in supporting roles so that they can provide him service and act as decoys, opening up space for him to run into.

Alternatively, you might have an exceptional playmaker. In that case, you’d want him as the pivot around which all of your runners and attackers move. As such, the whole tactic needs to be created with your playmaking Enganche at its heart. Such considerations will invariably influence both the choice of the shape you employ and the other player roles in the starting XI.

Ihor Crusadertsar from Dictate the Game explains how to build a successful tactic around your key players.

This guide from Ihor Crusadertsar is all about using generic player roles to achieve ‘simple’ but effective football.

By ‘simple’ I don’t mean football that’s very direct or devoid of beautiful play. Rather it’s a style that requires the least tactical input from the virtual manager.

It’s all going so well. Your team seemed comfortable, even with a narrow lead. Now the opposition have equalised with a speculative effort that went in off your central defender’s backside. You’re chasing the game as the clock ticks over into added time and suddenly you win a corner. You need this to go in, you need just one goal to win the game because the referee has already checked his watch twice. As your central midfielder trots over to take it, you realise that your palms are sweaty and the ends of your nails are, well, not there anymore.

But then a serene calmness comes over you. You’re good at corners, you’ve scored plenty from them this season because you put the time in and worked on them. You set up your approach and then drilled the lads in training session, after training session, after training session to the point they could replicate them on the team bus. The ball floats over and there’s your target man at the back stick, unmarked, with enough time to down an espresso and a biscuit before heading the ball home.

Does that sound familiar? Probably not. Definitely not the espresso and the biscuit part.

AFC Fylde researcher and FM content creator @CharlieTangoFM is here to help you achieve that sense of calmness, with a beginner's guide to corners.