Football Manager 2013 Tactics

Introduction

Your tactics are likely to be the most important factor in determining the success of your managerial career. They will determine how your individual players play together as a team and so the right tactics are key to getting an average squad of players to perform above themselves or a set of world class stars to consistently meet expectations.

The Tactics screen can be accessed by selecting your squad's Tactics tab. The Overview section contains a panel on the left where you should select a starting tactic and up to two backup tactics to prepare as part of your team's match preparation training. The formation drop-down menu for each of these tactics allows you to load up a pre-set formation which can then be modified by moving player positions in the Formation panel on the right. You can then create your tactical system for this formation in the Team and Player sections of the Tactics tab. Alternatively, you can load up a previously saved tactic or use the Tactic Creator wizard to help you design your tactic. Your finished tactic can be saved using the Options drop-down menu for that tactic on the left panel of the Overview screen.

The Overview screen also allows you to select your squad for the next match by dragging a player name from the Squad panel to a position on the Formation panel or the Substitutes panel, or by selecting a position from the drop-down menu to the left of a player's name. Alternatively, you can click Ask to Pick on the Squad panel to have a coach select the team for you. Selecting choose custom rules from the Ask to Pick drop-down menu will allow you to choose which coach selects the team and to specify some rules that will restrict the number of players the coach can pick from according to factors such as age, match fitness and squad status. You can also request your chosen coach to pick a slight, semi or fully rotated squad from the Ask to Pick drop-down menu so that you can give playing time to some of your players that did not feature in your previous match.

In addition, set piece takers and instructions and captains can be selected in the appropriate sections of the Tactics tab. Finally, the Shouts section allows you to save a group of particular touchline instructions in order to easily change your tactics during matches.