Total Management System
Tactical Vision
Managers can be involved in all major club decisions, whether they implement changes themselves or make sure they’ve got the right staff around them to delegate to. The appointment of a new manager has the potential to completely transform a club and its football philosophy
We strive to allow you to put your stamp on the game, to fuel the identity of your clubs as you take charge of them and ultimately feel in control of the way your team behaves on and off the pitch. Tactical Vision enables you to have easier control over selecting, implementing, and then perfecting the way your team approaches their football. To begin with, you can choose from 7 different tactical real-world and authentic philosophies—from Park the Bus to Gegenpressing— in terms of how you want your team to play. The available Tactical Visions are:
- Standard: A balanced approach to the game, focused on maintaining a shape which will help you stay strong defensively while still offering a threat going forward
- Wing Play: Makes use of the full width of the pitch when in possession, getting the ball out to attacking players close to the touchlines quickly and using overlapping full-backs to add to the threat from those areas
- Tiki-Taka: A possession-based style of play. Comfortable on the ball all over the pitch, your players use short passing and rotations while waiting for opportunities to play in attackers who've run into channels or gaps between opposition defenders.
- Counter-Attack: Low-risk and a low block are the key to this style of play. Players defend the penalty area and then, once possession is regained, get the ball forward quickly with attackers ready to run into space behind the opponents' defensive line.
- Gegenpressing: This strategy is based around a high press. Your team tries to win back the ball in the opponent's third wherever possible, using turnovers to create goal-scoring opportunities before the opposition can settle back into shape.
- Kick & Rush: A style of play built around strength and athleticism enables your players to often bypass the midfield, getting the ball forward quickly to your powerful strikers who can exploit space behind defenders and battle for second balls and knockdowns.
- Park the Bus: Your team bases its game around solid, uncompromising defending. You're always disciplined and well-organised out of possession, usually employing a very low block, throttling opponents' attacks before winning the ball and trying to get forward yourselves.
Tactical Visions start from Tactics and Player Instruction presets. Our goal was to enable player expression within each Tactical Vision, so most of the settings are quite flexible. There are, however, defining settings for each Tactical Vision that can’t be modified. For example, you can’t play Counter-Attacking football without setting your Chance Creation to Forward Runs, just like you can’t engage with Wing Play without setting your wingers to be extra wide on the pitch. If you don’t want to use any of the 7 Tactical Visions we’ve set up, you can always create a Custom set up, which is where players who change the defining setting of an existing Tactical Vision will go as well.
Any Tactical Vision can be applied to any formation we have in the game. It’s down to you as the Manager to determine what combination works best for the strengths and weaknesses of your team. Also, Tactical Vision works independently of Game Plans, so you can choose to have one vision to rule them all or assign an individual Tactical Vision to each plan (e.g. Ultra-Defensive to Park The Bus, Defensive to Counter-Attack, Balanced to Tiki-Taka.)
Tactical Vision Scouting
We’ve also refreshed the Scouting system so you can recruit players that are a natural fit for the tactical system you’re trying to implement. So apart from the existing filters (position, age, remaining contract), we’ve added some new ones:
- Tactical Fit: Each Tactical Vision is associated with a set of key Attributes for each position on the field. With Tactical Fit, your scouts will report back on players that stand out in those areas of their game.
For example, when looking for a Central Midfielder (CM) that is compatible with Counter-Attack, your scouts will prioritise Agility, Stamina, Dribbling and Acceleration among other Attributes, while a Tiki-Taka CM will need good levels of Ball Control, Short Passing, Positioning, to be a part of the report.
- Overall Condition: This is a filter that determines the quality of the player you are looking for, ranging from Backup to World Class.
- PlayStyles: Need a player that has a specific PlayStyle in their arsenal? This is where you ask for it.
Coaches
Before we dive into how coaches operate, let’s clarify how they work across departments. Each team is made up of the following departments: Attack, Midfield, Defence, and Goalkeeping. Depending on their pitch positions, all players are linked to their relevant department, including senior and youth players. For example, the Defensive Department will consist of players playing the Left Wing Back (LWB), Right Wing Back (RWB), Left Back (LB), Right Back (RB), and Centre Back (CB) positions, in the Squad Hub and Youth Academy. Players who are loaned out do not belong to a department.
Each coach will need to be assigned to a department, so the players in that department can benefit from the coach’s Knowledge and Skills.
Coaches have two main dimensions:
- Tactical Knowledge
- Player Development
Tactical Knowledge
Each coach is described by their Knowledge of the aforementioned Tactical Visions. There are 3 levels of Knowledge:
- Novice
- Accomplished
- Expert
As a baseline, each coach is at Novice level on all 7 Tactical Visions. On top of that, some more experienced Coaches will be at Accomplished or Expert level on only one Tactical Vision.
Over time, coaches earn XP on a Tactical Vision through matches played, and more so through match wins. The XP gained on a Tactical Vision contributes towards reaching the next Knowledge level. All coaches at a club are eligible to earn Tactical Vision specific XP from matches, except the ones that have already reached Expert level on that Tactical Vision.
With coaching staff in place, when a Tactical Vision is selected, the game automatically picks the coach with the best Knowledge level in each Department and assigns them as the Head of Department.
The Knowledge the Head Coach has can increase Attributes of players in their Department. The higher the Knowledge level is, the more Attributes can be. Novice level Coaches typically increase 3 Attributes at most, while Expert level coaches can increase up to 9 Attributes.
The Attributes that are increased for each player are determined by the combination of the Tactical Vision that the coach knows, and the position the player has on the pitch. So for instance, a Wing Play Coach can increase, among others:
- Crossing, Sprint Speed, Acceleration, Dribbling for Wingers
- Strength, Heading, Shot Power, Jumping and Finishing for Strikers
By comparison, a Counter Attack Coach can increase:
· Agility, Stamina, Finishing, Dribbling and Acceleration for Wingers
· Dribbling, Ball Control, Acceleration, Finishing and Sprint Speed for Strikers
Tactical Vision Knowledge levels apply to players irrespective of department, so you’ll get the same amount of increased Attributes for a coach whether you assign to Attack, Midfield or Defence. Goalkeepers have less Attributes to begin with so they have less Attributes increased as a side-effect of that.
Attribute increases only apply on the pitch during matches, and ultimately depend on the position the player is assigned to. So a Central Midfield (CM) player that is sent on the pitch as a Wide Midfielder (LM/RM) will get Attribute increases for Attributes relevant to the wide position.
The size of the increase is determined by player sharpness, so regardless of the Coach Knowledge level, it is up to each manager to get players at the right levels of sharpness to get a strong increase , while also having enough Energy to be eligible to play the match. To find out more about this, visit the Training Plans section.
When the Tactical Vision is set to, or changed to Custom by editing the defining settings, the following applies:
- The game still selects the best available Knowledge in each Department, this time irrespective of the 7 Tactical Vision Presets (since none of them are active).
- The Knowledge is penalised: Expert becomes Accomplished, Accomplished becomes Novice. Novice stays the same.
- The player can manually select which coach is to be the Head of each Department.
Coaches do not gain XP during matches when a Custom Tactical Vision is selected.
Player Development
Coaches are also defined by the set of skills they have for developing players over time. Their quality is described by sets of stars ranging from 1-5 and are Department specific. When a coach is assigned to a Department, the relevant skills they bring to the table add up to the similar skills of the other coaches in that Department. A Department Total is calculated by adding all the Department specific stars of the coaches assigned there. We’ll call this Achieved Quality in this article.
The players that make up a Department determine what is needed from the coaching staff that manages it. Based on the number of players, their OVR and potential, the Ideal Quality of each Department is calculated and displayed. This is the threshold that needs to be reached in terms of Achieved Quality, in order to access the maximum boost on Player Development Plans. Players whose Development Plans are boosted get more XP, ultimately leading to completing their growth and conversion plans in less time. That’s why managers can always see the effect of the coaches per department on the Development Plan finish date, compared to when no coaches are allocated to that department.
The existing factors that determine the XP growth of players (such as match-time actions and form), work similarly to how they worked in the past, while the coach boost is applied on top. As a reference, no coaches in the department take your development speed to less than it was in the past, while meeting the Ideal Quality standards makes plans finish faster than before.
Something to keep in mind is the fact that Ideal Quality is dynamic, so it will evolve with the changes that apply to your squad, whether it’s from Transfer Activity or Player Development. Trimming down your squad to make sure fewer, more important players get all the attention of your coaches is worth considering to get the best results.
Coach Management
You can decide how to assign hired coaches to the club’s departments, depending on the needs of each club. However, every club has a limited number of open positions to hire coaches, which mainly depends on the stature (worth) of the club. Year on year, extra coach slots can be unlocked by the board, if you have a good manager rating at the end of the previous season.
The list of coaches that is available on the market refreshes periodically. So if you don’t find the ideal candidates to fill all available slots, you can return after some time and check again. We’ve also created a coach wishlist that enables managers to list the sought after Tactical Vision, Knowledge and specific Coach skills, and even get a notification when a suitable candidate becomes available.
Coaches can be moved freely between departments with no implications, to balance the dynamic Ideal Quality of each Department. They can also be released by the club to make room for a better available coach, but this will generate a severance package to be paid and the released coach will not appear on the market again.
Similar to putting together the perfect squad, gathering the ideal coaching staff is a process that takes skill, patience and time. It creates a new dimension of improving your club and it enables you to experiment to find an ideal mix. For example, it can be useful to focus on just one Tactical Vision and recruit the relevant staff that enable you to execute it perfectly and use the rest of the slots to fuel improved player development. Ultimately, how you want to run your club is up to you, and we look forward to seeing all of the possible variations over time.
Training Plans
While having a solid Tactical plan is a must-have for success, it’s only a part of the process of getting ready for your next game. As a manager, you constantly need to evaluate which players are best prepared to execute your requirements.
Team preparation is a season-long quest of finding the right balance between building up the players’ match Sharpness and helping them regain their Fitness as soon as possible. It’s a challenge that the entire staff of the club works towards while factoring in situations such as suspensions, injuries, and calendar changes.
We’ve revamped the team training system to better reflect the role modern managers have in getting the team firing at all cylinders, with the help of their staff. Training Plans allow you to establish the right balance between building performance and regaining energy for each player in the squad. There are five Training Plans to choose from, ranging from focused on Performance to focused on Energy. Selecting one of them for a player will tell the club staff what they should be focusing on, for that player. You’ll find that the priorities shift as the season progresses, depending on the minutes played, the natural fitness of each player and the weight of your calendar for your entire squad.
For instance, when the season starts and the players are back from their holidays, they are seriously lacking match practice, so Sharpness is low. As the season progresses, you’ll find you need to pay more attention to Fitness levels if you need to have your best squad ready for that all important match against your arch-rival in 2 weeks. A player that is back from a serious injury, or just transferred from a different league might benefit from a different training plan than the rest of your team.
Training Plans can be assigned individually or to groups of players: Starting XI, Subs, Reserves. We’ve also implemented a “copy last” function to allow you to set your last manually selected Training Plan to other players. Keep an eye on your team’s levels and remember you need players sharp to get their Attributes increased by your Coaches’ Knowledge, but you also need them fit to be able to sprint during matches and avoid injuries. It’s up to you to find the right balance for your club's changing situations.