Before we get to the Wolves save let me establish my more recent Football Manager successes with an awesome graphic showcasing my FM22 trophy haul.
My own version of Dr Benjy's 'Gory Hunter' that I named 'Serial Winner' and switched the French league to the Portuguese league. (Revolutionary, I know)
The rules; Win every domestic league and cup competition from each league as well as the Europa League, Champions League, World Cup and European Championship.
Behold the graphic of glory.
The secret to my success was making tactics and formations to suit the players I had as well as buying players in instalments with no regard for each club's financial future. Let's not forget as well that for the last 3 versions of Football Manager that I have played, the AI rewards attacking football. High pressing all action Gegen Press mixed with your own twist on player roles using traits and attributes and you're on to a (Serial) winner.
BETA FOX
So, heading in to FM23 full of piss, vinegar and a Jose Mourinho 2004 kind of swag I decided to be Leicester City for my Beta save.
The Beta drops, I make a banger of a thumb nail and announce to twitter what I'm doing:
LEICESTER CITY!
I made this tactic that would have worked on FM22 for sure.
There are probably some glaring mistakes in this so please let me know in the comments.
But it was a complete failure. I tweaked and changed and in January I was sacked! Something that hasn't happened to me since fm20.
I thought I was finally good at this game, but somethings changed, and I need to figure out what it is!
We start over
I decided to get my annual Chelsea save out of the way. I enter the Twitterverse and YouTube to see what the Football Manager community is saying about the Beta and tactics etc to try and get the edge.
Standing on the shoulders of giants I discover that it is seemingly all about low blocks and mid blocks.
We move. (I'll get to Wolves, I promise)
Like T-Pain in 2007 we get low...
To me this tactic looks like a thing of beauty.
The truth is it worked sometimes. Very frustrating. Now I start to realise that changing your mentality during games isn't enough. Having one plug in tactic isn't enough. FM23 is more in depth than ever. Opposition instructions, analysing opponents before the game and in game management is now key. I skated by before without doing much of that at all really.
The Chelsea save ends with a whimper, I was pretty much going to get fired but I just stopped playing it. Couldn't be arsed to be honest. I was questioning whether I even liked FM23. Even the FM big boys in the community are saying the game is just a bit 'meh'.
Do I have the time for FM to be even more detailed? Or am I sulking because I'm not winning?
WOLVES 2022/23
Season 1 was a struggle. I spent the entire season tinkering with my formation and instructions. Form was patchy, consistency non-existent.
We finished 8th, which was above the board expectation.
AVERAGE
We were middle of the road with everything (see below) I began getting so frustrated with the game.
Do low blocks work? does a mid-block work? High line high press? The truth is they all did for a few games, obviously continually changing mid-season doesn't help but sometimes it does.
SEASON 2
Thus far I haven't shown you the 'BETAWOLF' tactic yet because until I've got it working, what's the point? With another pre-season to tinker and get a system working we started badly. It was a mixed bag until January when the 433 became a 4231...
This little beauty produced this little run here in January 2024;
Now I know it's only 6 games, but it was the performances, I didn't have to tinker too much. My assistant was on opposition instructions and things looked good. The AVR of the players was green, players were doing as they should.
I was finally feeling confident and also in a rush to do a new save so I decided to go on holiday and see how this tactic would get on...
Square One
It didn't work. BUT, it did when I was managing the game. In conclusion there's no set and forget, or at least I haven't figured it out yet.
In game management is more important than ever and defensive mentalities actually work this year.
You've got to work for it.
Any way enough about the beta. I'll see you in Istanbul. That city deserves a European Cup.
Mike