Football Manager 2024 News

Developing tactics and recreating the styles of football’s leading coaches is one of the most enjoyable aspects of playing Football Manager.

In Football Manager 2024, you have more creative tools for expressing your tactical philosophy thanks to the player rotation changes that have been added..

These rotations see players take up a different position while in possession than they occupy while defending, such as an Inverted Full-Back tucking in as an additional central defender or Central Midfielders pushing forward to join the attack.

Making the most of these rotations will allow you to implement positional play principles in your tactics and become a more dynamic attacking team in every career. In this blog, Dan Gear explains which roles trigger these positional rotations and shows them in action.

[h2]WHICH ROLES TRIGGER POSITIONAL ROTATIONS?[/h2]
Positional rotations are largely reserved for your central midfield players, but there are also a few defensive roles that are crucial for pursuing positional play. These are:

[h2]DEFENDERS[/h2]

• Inverted Wing-Back - During the possession phase, a player using this role will move into defensive midfield
  
• Inverted Full-Back – A new role for FM24, this is geared towards those players that tuck in to become an extra central defender while in possession
  
• Libero – Following some upgrades for FM24, a Libero can now play in any of the three centre-back positions, and in each one they will look to move into defensive midfield
  

[h2]MIDFIELDERS[/h2]

• Half-Back – Now usable in both single and double midfield pivots, a player in this role will look to drop back into central defence while you’re in possession
  
• Segundo Volante – An aggressive role, players deployed as Segundo Volantes will push right up as an extra ‘Number 10’ just behind the strikers when your team is attacking
  
• Roaming Playmaker – Whether they’re used in defensive or central midfield, Roaming Playmakers will push up to become attacking midfielders during the possession phase
  
• Box to Box Midfielder/Mezzala/Advanced Playmaker – All of these roles will look to push up from a starting position in central midfield to one just behind the strikers. The same is also true for Central Midfielders used on an Attack duty
  

[h2]TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT POSITIONAL SHIFTING [/h2]
Now, you might be thinking that if all of your central midfield players push up, you’ll have a lot of overcrowding in the same area of the pitch.

Well, the players in FM24 are intelligent and aware of the movement of their teammates, meaning that this doesn’t happen.

To illustrate this with an example, let’s say you’re using a 4-2-3-1 formation and you’ve chosen to make one of your midfield pairing a Mezzala.

As the image below shows, the originally central Advanced Playmaker will acknowledge the Mezzala’s forward runs and will shuffle across to the left to accommodate them.

In this instance, your wide player will now stay closer to the touchline in order to accommodate the forward runs of the Mezzala, effectively making your formation a 4-1-4-1.



Alternatively, let’s say you chose to play a 4-2-3-1 with a Segundo Volante on the left and a Ball-Winning Midfieder on the right.

Here, the Segundo Volante will push up and on this occasion the player behind the striker will move to the right to once again create a strong 4-1-4-1 shape.



[h2]COMBINING ATTACKING AND DEFENSIVE PLAYER MOVEMENT[/h2]
The same is true when you make use of the defensive player roles that shift their position during the attacking phase.

In the example below, we’re playing a 4-3-3 with an Inverted Wing-Back on the left of the defence. In this instance, the Defensive Midfielder will move across to the right to form a double pivot with the Inverted Wing-Back that pushes up.



Now, if you pull it all together in a wider tactical shape, you’ll see that your team’s starting formation will look quite different as your players look to progress possession up the pitch.

As the arrows on the screen below show, you’ll effectively have a 3-2-4-1 shape when you’re attacking. This opens up more passing lanes and gives you a greater ability to play through the lines, which in turn means you’re going to be much more effective in exploiting gaps in the opposition defence when you’re counter-attacking.



[h2]PUTTING POSITIONAL PLAY INTO PRACTICE[/h2]
Now we’ve gone through the theory, let’s see how we can implement these player rotations and positional play principles in practice with a real team and tactic. Here, I’ve chosen to use Italian club Bologna.

In this first scenario, I’ve opted for a fairly simple 3-4-3 tactic. The formation makes the most of some of our most talented players, namely Victor Kristiansen, central defender Riccardo Calafiori and clinical striker Joshua Zirkzee.

I’ve kept it on a Balanced Mentality as the player roles chosen are attacking enough on their own, while I’ve only selected a few simple Team Instructions as I want the players to focus on their natural games and moving around the pitch in the way the roles intend them to.



As you can see from the screenshot below, Lewis Ferguson, Michael Aebischer and Jhon Lucumí all rotate into more advanced positions when we’re attacking the opposition.



In that instance we failed to score. When play restarted and the opposition were looking to progress possession, they all moved back into their starting positions to give us better defensive cover.



In the second example, I’ve used a 4-2-3-1 similar to the one outlined earlier on. From what we know of the positional rotations, the shape I’ve picked should see Aebischer push up and join Ferguson as a second attacking midfielder in a four-man unit behind Zirkzee.

Further back, Calafiori is playing as an Inverted Full-Back, meaning that he’ll push across and Lucumí and Sam Beukema will adapt accordingly to form a back three.



In terms of Mentality and Team Instructions, everything reflects the first example as all rotations and shifts are automatic. You don’t need to add any extra player or team instructions, you only need to understand which roles rotate into which areas and how you can make space for them in your tactic.



To take the previous example a bit further, you could make Stefan Posch an Inverted Wing-Back rather than a Wing-Back. You’ve got enough ability in the wide areas with Riccardo Orsolini and Jesper Karlsson, so you can instead use Posch in a capacity that makes him an extra ball receiver in midfield and more effective defensive cover should you lose possession.



As you can see from the screenshot below, Posch has moved up and across to form a defensive midfielder pivot with Nikola Moro, who has moved across into the space that Aebischer has vacated by pushing up.



Hopefully the information provided here will have given you a greater insight into how FM24’s positional rotations work in practice and how you can make the most of them to build more fluid tactics in FM24.

Happy managing,

Dan Gear

Being tactically flexible is one of the most important characteristics any manager can have. Having the insight to change your approach mid-game when things aren’t working or employing different game plans for different opponents stops you from being predictable and can keep the positive results coming.

One of the best ways to do this is by setting up different tactical approaches for home and away matches. Here, Rock’s End FM dives deep to show how you can do it in your latest FM24 careers to gain that extra edge with a newly-promoted team.

[h2]THE LOGIC BEHIND HAVING DIFFERENT TACTICS[/h2]
So, at this point, you’re probably thinking: why should I use different tactical approaches for home and away matches? Surely my team should just focus on one approach in training?

Well, the idea between using two separate tactics depending on where your team is playing is that it allows you to make the most of two different situations without giving away too much in any direction.

For home matches, you have more of your fans behind you, and on the pitch you’re likely to get more possession than you do away from home. This means your players will have a bit more time on the ball and therefore more space to generate attacks.

Conversely, when you’re away from home, you’ll be pressed harder by the opposition. This means that you’ll have less of the ball but when you do regain possession, you’ll likely have more avenues for direct counter-attacks.

With this in mind, you can prepare and create different tactical approaches to help your team exploit these gains and cover for any deficiencies in terms of personnel. Doing this will help you to clinch more key points, securing your spot in that league for another season and allowing you to focus your wider efforts on long-term squad-building.

[h2]USING HOME AND AWAY TACTICS IN FM24[/h2]
To put this approach to the test, I’ve started a save with Sky Bet Championship team Plymouth Argyle. They won Sky Bet League One in 2023 but are considered to be one of the higher division's weaker teams when you begin a career in FM24.

When reviewing the Plymouth squad, it’s clear that the Pilgrims have a lot of quick attacking players with high Work Rate Attributes. This lends itself fantastically to a counter-pressing approach that will allow us to recover the ball higher up the pitch and take advantage of space when the opposition are in transition.



However, adopting such an aggressive approach does mean that we’ll naturally leave a lot of space in behind, which the division’s better teams will be able to exploit. How can we reduce that risk when we’re playing away and at our most fragile?

Creating a new tactical slot, we’re going to set up our away game plan. We’ll keep the same defensive structure as the home tactic but we’re going to adapt our formation to a 4-4-2 by making our number 10 a second striker. This will give us a more compact shape for the longer periods of play when we’re out of possession and defending. We’ll also drop our wide players back, which will allow them to start their runs in more space and from deep. It also means that they’re closer to our full-backs, which should give us more defensive cover.

In terms of our instructions, we’ll look to defend deeper and invite pressure, as this will create gaps in the opposition's defence that we can take advantage of with quick, direct transitions. To achieve this, we’ll drop our Mentality and Line of Engagement, and also stop Counter-Pressing in favour of regrouping quickly.



A key factor to bear in mind is that between our two tactics, we’ve maintained a lot of our original setup instead of opting for a completely different shape. By doing this, we’re making sure that both tactics make the best possible use of our players.

It is always worth thinking about the individual skillsets of your players. Different players will play roles differently, so there’s a lot to be gained by shifting who plays in each position from game to game.

With that all figured out, let’s put our approach to the test and jump into the season.

[h2]HOW IT ALL WORKS IN PRACTICE[/h2]
Just like in real life, our first game as Plymouth Argyle boss in FM24 is at home against another relegation candidate in Huddersfield.

Given that it’s the first game of the campaign and we’re playing at Home Park, we start the match with our home tactic. Our high press kept us in control of the game early on and secured us plenty of key chances in the opening minutes.



We scored midway through the first half thanks to striker Ryan Hardie and had several opportunities to extend our lead. We failed to make the most of them and were ultimately punished by a goal on the counter late in the second half as the match finished 1-1. While it wasn’t the result we wanted, the Shot Map of the game makes for impressive viewing and shows early promise for our home gameplan.



Our second game was away against Watford, a leading playoff contender at the beginning of the season. We used our away tactic for this game but made a personnel change. Instead of deploying him out wide, where the Inverted Winger (Support) position would have made him less of a scoring threat, we pushed Morgan Whittaker up as a striker to partner Hardie.



We ultimately end up being unlucky in this game, losing 3-1. Our xG was very similar to that of the Hornets but they ultimately proved more clinical, sealing victory with their third goal in the 89th minute. We never looked particularly outmatched against a stronger team on paper, which was encouraging, and despite sitting deeper we created some decent chances.

The positive signs from our first two games are reflected in our next two matches. At home against the highly-fancied Southampton, we create more chances and limit them to just two shots in the entire second half as we won 3-2.

That gave us our first win and our we got a second in our fourth match of the season away at Birmingham City. Whittaker scores off a quick transition to put us 1-0 up in the first half and another quick counter proves decisive in the second half, with Whittaker grabbing his second from the penalty spot after we capitalised on them committing too many men forward. That secured us a 2-1 win and put us up to seven points after four matches – far from the form you’d expect of a relegation favourite.



On its own, using differing tactics for home and away matches won’t save you from relegation. However, it is a useful tool to play to your strengths and help keep the opposition guessing. For teams that aren’t blessed with enormous resources, it can earn you a few extra points, which could prove crucial in a tight relegation race, and give you the platform to build from and push ahead.

Happy managing,

Rock’s End FM

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The role of the Winger in football has changed dramatically over the years. No longer are they just expected to hug the touchline and whip in lofted deliveries for tall, old-school centre forwards. Now, just like their teammates in other positions, they have to be much more versatile.

Modern wingers now serve a variety of roles across the pitch, something reflected in the growth in attacking and defensive outputs delivered by top wingers year after year.

Here, SteinkelssonFM uses Brighton & Hove Albion to break down all of the different winger roles in Football Manager 2024 and how you can effectively build your tactics around getting the most from them.

[h2]KAORU MITOMA – A TRUE MODERN WINGER[/h2]
Kaoru Mitoma has been nothing short of sensational for Brighton since joining the south coast club from his native Japan in 2021.

What makes him so special? Like most players, it’s a unique combination of skills.

His biggest strength, and the thing that’s wowed fans and pundits the most, has been his movement and ability with the ball at his feet; his Dribbling Attribute of 18 is one of the best in the entire FM24 database.

He’s also mobile, with Attribute scores of 16 for Pace and 17 for Acceleration, while his rating of 16 for Flair highlights his natural talent for the creative and unpredictable.

These scores reflect his natural game, wherein he’s constantly working to create one-on-one situations with opposition defenders. In this way, he very much embodies all of the things that teams need modern wide players to be.



[h2]TEST CASE #1 – USING MITOMA AS AN INSIDE FORWARD[/h2]
We’ll start this run-through of the modern winger roles with the one that’s alphabetically first, the Inside Forward.

Players used as Inside Forwards are typically those whose strongest foot is the opposite to the flank they’re being used on, allowing them to regularly cut inside from the flanks and run at the opposition defence. This movement can open up space for overlapping Full-Backs/Wing-Backs as well as overloading a retreating defender.

For this example, we’ll be using Mitoma as an Inside Forward on a Support duty, as this will encourage him to cut diagonally into the space behind the defence and play through balls or take long shots if the opportunity arises.



Mitoma’s strong Off the Ball Attribute (15) is important for him being successful in this role, as it means he’ll be constantly moving while not in possession, scanning for avenues to receive the ball and create attacking opportunities. It also likely means he’ll have more touches in the box when compared to the alternative roles covered in this post.

His strong scores for Pace and Acceleration make it easier for you to use a Support duty as he’s still likely to be able to break free beyond the opposition’s defensive line - even if his runs start from deeper positions.

With Mitoma in this role on the left, you’ll need something complementary on the right. The best option is using Solly March as a Winger on Attack. In this role, he’ll often look to play balls into Evan Ferguson as the Deep Lying Forward, who can slow the pace of the game with the instruction ‘Hold Up Ball’ as he waits for support. Due to Mitoma’s deeper starting position, he is already at full tilt when Ferguson plays the pass through the defensive line, meaning that he’s got a great shot of goal and João Pedro supporting for any rebound opportunities.



[h2]TEST CASE #2 – USING MITOMA AS A WINGER[/h2]
In FM24, the Winger aims to beat their opposite number on the outside, either through technical skill, speed or a combination of the two. Typically, you will see the winger hugging the touchline when their team is going forward, ready to surge into space and attack the byline.

When deployed with an Attack duty, the Winger will be much more direct in their runs in the final third, aiming to cause panic and indecision before shooting or attempting to make a through ball/cross to a teammate.



Mitoma’s previously outlined strengths make him a great fit for the Winger role but you need to make sure that he gets the requisite space to be able to run at the opposing full-back. To create this within a tactic, Pervis Estupiñán has been deployed as a Full-Back on Support to reduce the number of overlapping runs made. This is a fairly accurate representation of how Brighton plays out from the back in real life, with Mitoma being Brighton’s leader in terms of progressive passes received.

You will note the other players' roles highlighted within this tactical set-up all emphasise making runs into the box. Danny Welbeck, operating as the lone complete forward, will be supported through the late runs of Julio Enciso (Attacking Midfielder), and Simon Adingra (Inside Forward), as both roles have the ‘Get Further Forward’ instruction.



[h2]TEST CASE #3 – USING MITOMA AS AN INVERTED WINGER[/h2]
Last but not least is the Inverted Winger, whose primary aim is to cut inside to open up space for overlapping full-backs and overload opposition defenders. With an Attack duty, the Inverted Winger will run directly at the defence with the options of shooting, passing or crossing as he moves into the attacking third.



By being a bit more direct and having a naturally wider starting position than the Inside Forward, a player in this role is likely to face more direct resistance in terms of pressing when attempting to progress play.

In this role, Mitoma’s Attributes of 14 for Balance and Agility allow him to move between defenders to create a shooting opportunity or draw contact, resulting in a potential free kick or penalty. Mitoma also has 14 for Decisions, enabling him to make the correct choice more often or not in wide areas.

Much like in the example above, the roles of your defenders and wingers on the same side should be in tandem. As such, in this example, Estupiñán is deployed as a Wing-Back on Support to take advantage of the space vacated by Mitoma cutting in.

Again, I have opted to ensure that Mitoma has two players occupying the defensive line – namely Enciso and Ansu Fati. The Advanced Forward will look to exploit any vacant space behind and also take an opponent away from the defensive block, thereby leaving space for the Attacking Midfielder. March, meanwhile, ensures that width is maintained on the other flank.

These simple relationships will potentially help Mitoma’s attacking contribution, improving the likelihood of him playing a key pass into a goalscoring position.



[h2]PICKING THE MOST APPROPRIATE PLAYER AND TEAMS INSTRUCTIONS[/h2]
While the default roles in FM24 will cover most of the things that we want our players to do, it’s sometimes worthwhile to add some additional Player and Team Instructions to give things a helping hand.

Regardless of which wide player roles you choose to use him in, Mitoma’s effectiveness is enhanced even further by the Shoot Less Often and Take More Risks Player Instructions. These will encourage him to be patient while in possession, particularly further away from the goal, meaning he has more avenues to pursue either mazy dribbles or lower-percentage passes.

To ramp up Brighton’s effectiveness down the left, you could also add in the ‘Focus Play Down the Left’ Team Instruction to create more overloads and opportunities.



Wide players are integral to almost every tactic in FM24, and with this guide, you should have a greater insight into whether a Winger, Inverted Winger or Inside Forward is best for your next career.

Happy managing,

SteinkelssonFM

In football, it's about being at the right place at the right time - and few players are better at that than a Segundo Volante.

One of several roles to be impacted by Football Manager 2024’s new positional play changes, the Segundo Volante can perform a range of duties, from long-range passes to darting runs and shots from distance.

In this guide, we’ll be taking an in-depth look into the role, what makes it so good, and how you can make the most of it in your latest FM24 career.

[h2]A DYNAMIC ROLE STEEPED IN HISTORY[/h2]
Originating from the 4-2-4s that revolutionised football in the 1950s and 60s, the Segundo Volante was a player typically deployed as the more creative outlet in a midfield two alongside a defensive pivot.

In modern times, the Segundo Volante is still used as part of a double pivot, often in a 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2 or 3-5-2. Often paired with a pure ball-winner, the Segundo Volante will play a similar game to other defensive midfielders, focusing on recovery, holding their position and seeking to intercept misplaced passes or beat their man on individual duels.

However, the Segundo Volante has a more influential role in their team’s offence. Unlike a Regista or a Deep-Lying Playmaker, they don’t just influence games through passing. They also offer dynamic forward runs, attacking the box and offering passing options to their teammates with runs into space.

[h2]THE SEGUNDO VOLANTE ON THE TACTICS BOARD[/h2]
The Segundo Volante is a role that can complement your attacking approach without leaving gaps behind. However, that also means that you need a very complete player for the role to be effective in your tactic.

It’s not a specialist role per se but a good Segundo Volante is someone who can recover the ball, pass over a variety of distances, move well with the ball at their feet, and also offer a goal threat. That means you’re looking for a good combination of the following Attributes: Marking, Tackling, Positioning, Teamwork, First Touch, Dribbling, Agility, Passing, Vision, Decisions, Anticipation, Off the Ball, and Stamina. Not every player will excel in all of those but if their strengths lie in a few of them, they’ll be able to influence matches across the whole pitch.

To illustrate what a great Segundo Volante looks like in FM24 and how to use one, I’ve started a save with Yokohama F. Marinos. Why them? Well, their defensive midfielder Takuya Kida meets many of the requirements I laid out above.



As you can see from his profile screenshot above, Kida is a well-rounded midfielder. However, as with all roles in a tactic, it will only be as effective as it’s allowed to be by the supporting roles you’ve chosen in the rest of the team.

Given that movement is such a big part of the Segundo Volante’s game, they need to understand how their teammates shuttle around the pitch. For example, with Kida starting his runs from deep and arriving late in the opposition penalty area, you’ll need players on their side of the pitch like Wingers and Wing-Backs that will stretch the game and give them the space to arrive into.

With that movement, that also means that you also need to think about the risk of turnovers and opposition counter-attacks. As such, you need Kida’s defensive midfield partner to be someone who will cover the gaps left by him pushing forward and serve as the team’s primary ball-winner – think about using an Anchorman or a Defensive Midfielder on a Defend duty.

Further forward, you’ll need an aggressive striker that will keep the defence on their toes. Having a player that stays high up the pitch will occupy the opposition's central defenders, meaning that Kida will have space in behind. To achieve this effect, your best options are to use a Poacher, Advanced Forward, or Complete Forward on an Attack duty.

Taking all of those considerations into account, let’s head to the Tactics board to see how we’ve got the Yokohama F. Marinos lining up.



Using a slightly modified version of the Fluid Counter-Attack tactical preset, I’ve got Kida as a Segundo Volante alongside Eduardo as a Defensive Midfielder.

On the left, we’re taking advantage of the coverage provided by Kota Watanabe by deploying Katsuya Nagato as an overlapping Full-Back with Yan Matheus as a Winger on a Support duty.

However, on the right we’ll use Football Manager 2024’s new positional play features to maximise Kida’s impact as a Segundo Volante. Here, we’ve got Ryuta Koike as an Inverted Wing-Back on Support and Elber as a more attacking Winger. When our team is in possession, Koike will move into defensive midfield alongside Eduardo, meaning that Kida can push up freely without worrying about us losing a player through the middle.

Up front, Anderson Lopes will keep the opposition defence on edge as an Advanced Forward, while Kota Mizunuma as an Attacking Midfielder on Support will provide a passing outlet for all our runners.

[h2]THE SEGUNDO VOLANTE ON THE PITCH[/h2]
Everything that we’ve discussed so far is the theory. Now it’s time to see how it all works in practice on a Matchday.

Looking at the screenshot below, it’s clear that the tactical shape and role combinations we’re using are working out perfectly.



Elber is staying wide on the right, keeping his opposition full-back occupied, while Anderson Lopes’ holding of a central position means that the centre-backs are keeping tight to him instead of spreading out more evenly across the pitch. This means that Kida can burst forward into the space created, ready to receive a pass from Mizunuma. Kida’s movement is also, as you can see, being covered by Koike drifting in centrally.

In each match, this space allowed Kida to push forward and arrive late at the edge of the box as we were attacking. This puts him in good position to finish off any cutbacks or, as in the screenshot below, take long-range shots with a clear sight of goal.



The Pass Map included below from one of our league games shows that the Kida covers a lot of ground in the Segundo Volante role. He consistently keeps the ball moving, using the space around him to open up the play and demonstrate his great range of passing.



The below image, meanwhile, is the converse – it’s a demonstration of Kida’s received passes during a match. Here, you can again see his movement across the pitch and the fact that he’s consistently making himself available as a relief option when his teammates come under pressure in the midfield.



The Segundo Volante is a special role and one of my favourites in FM24. Starting from deep positions, Segundo Volantes offer a unique blend of defensive coverage, ball-carrying, long passes and a scoring threat. While not all teams will have someone suitably versatile, this example with Takuya Kida and Yokohama F. Marinos shows how they can influence matches. Give it a try in your latest career.

Happy managing,

Rock’s End FM

YFM Squad