With FM18 just a couple of week away, I’m going to kick off the season like I did last season. A post which describes my thoughts on the upcoming game, where I’m going to start out and what tactics I am going to employ with the club.
Let me say that I am excited to see all of the upcoming changes to FM18. Watching the first three videos (Dynamics, Scouting, and Tactics), I can see that all three concepts will be intertwined and build off one another. Tactics will impact your scouting as you can now easily scout for specific roles and types of players, players will “bond” on the field and help advance your tactic. Or conversely, your players may not “bond” how you expect and you need to change your tactics. So, your team dynamics could impact your tactics which in turn could impact your scouting. A lot of moving parts here which will make each save unique. Plug and play is definitely a thing of the past.
Where am I headed?
Last year, I started out in Holland with RKC and got them to the Eredivisie before my mind started to wander about new beginnings and the save fell apart. I hope to stop my mind from wandering into new save ideas this type around and I plan to go with one or two major saves in this version. Now if I just stop my mind from wandering.
In FM18, I’m sticking with Central Europe and moving little bit further east into Germany.
FC Nurnberg will be where my career begins in FM18. I had a laundry list of clubs from various countries. Everyone from Helsingborg in Sweden to AGF in Denmark to Lecce in Italy to Cambuur in the Netherlands to Aberdeen in Scotland to Carlisle in England. Nurnberg stood out above the rest.
Nurnberg has won nine German Top Flight Championships which is the second most in all of Germany behind only Bayern Munich’s 27. The primary difference between Nurnberg and Bayern Munich is Munich has won 26 of their titles since Nurnberg won their 9th title in 1968. To people who follow the National Hockey League, they are a lot like the Toronto Maple Leafs. A club with a history but it’s all in the past. Nurnberg, in the 1960’s, when they reached the quarterfinals of the European Cup and the semifinals of the Cup Winners Cup. So, Nurnberg is clearly a club with history. However, this is all in the past. The club has been spent only 12 of the last 22 seasons in the Bundesliga while spending nine seasons in the 2.Bundesliga and one season in the third tier. They have become a yo-yo club. I’m coming into to stop the yo-yoing and bring the club back as a Bundesliga power.
They have resources which can be tapped into with the 50,000 capacity Max-Morlock-Stadion which was built in 1928 and was renovated for the 2006 World Cup when the stadium hosted five matches. The club has a solid youth program which will not make as dependent on the transfer market to build up the club.
Nurnberg Honors:
Bundesliga: 1920, 1921, 1924, 1925, 1927, 1936, 1948, 1961, 1968
DFB-Pokal: 1935, 1939, 1962, 2007
Tactics:
I’m going to play in a variety of 352 formations depending on opponent, whether I’m home or away and who is playing well and who isn’t. The 352 is a very flexible formation and allows me to react to the opposition while still keeping the same basic shape but providing a variety of looks within that shape.
This is going to our offensive minded version of the 352. We’ve got an enganche who is going to link the attack to the midfield. A pair of wingers who are going to have to do a lot of running. The left side, in this version, is more attack minded than on the right. Teuchert, as an advanced forward will be further up the field and will need an outlet on the wing that is more in line with him. Behrens drops back to cover. Gislason is a supporting winger to provide a different level of depth for the defense to deal with. Mohwald operates as a box to box midfielder. Erras is a covering ball playing defender with two traditional center backs flanking him.
A more neutral 352. A false nine replaces the defensive forward. The formation requires a central link between the attack and the midfield. I, initially, tried to create this link with an advanced playmaker but teams would fly through the center of the midfield with no real marker and attacking our back three. As a result, I turned this position into a defending deep-lying playmaker. The wing backs are a pair of supporting wing backs. The midfield has a box to box midfielder on the left and a supporting central midfielder on the right. The back three still consists of a covering ball playing defender with a pair of defending center backs.
A more defensive 352 with a defensive midfielder behind a line of four midfielders. We keep the false nine and an advanced player. The two wingers are supporting wingers to provide some width. A defending central midfielder pairs with the advanced player. A regista sits in front of the three central defenders who I keep in their lineup of one covering ball playing defender and two defending center backs. This formation is one that I will use against 4231 formations on the road. It floods the defensive half of the field and we can quickly counter with two players in the middle with a pair of runners down the wing.
Those are my initial thoughts and direction for upcoming release of FM18. Looking forward to turn my messing around with Nurnberg in FM17 into a proper FM18 save in a couple of weeks when the demo is finally released.
FM American 