FM21 Best Tactics: Gegenpress, Tiki-Taka, Counter-Attack, Wing Play

FM21 Tactics! How Should You Build a Tactic With Different Formations?

If you want to be successful as a manager, knowing how to build tactics in Football Manager 2021 will certainly be very important. Whether your aim is to take a club from the lower leagues to the top, or to dominate Europe with one of the best clubs, knowing and applying the useful tactics in Football Manager 2021 will become your biggest supporter on the road to victory. Among the tactical formations we will share here, there are many different options you can explore, from possession-based football to high pressing and counter-attacking, depending on how you want to play. Here are some different tactical formations you can use in FM21 that will lead you to success;

FM21 Tactics: 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress

Gegenpress, one of the most successful tactics of modern football, is a tactical approach that should be used by every team with high-stamina players who can run until their last drop of blood. Since you will always play at a high tempo when you go into a match with this tactic, don't forget that your players' Stamina attribute should be above 15 and that you should have fast players on the wings. If you think your tactical approach is for your striker to carry the ball to the wings and, by swarming around the goalkeeper, look for goals from every player, your striker needs to be a pressing forward with high Vision who can distribute the ball around and has Finishing attributes inside the box. (Roberto Firmino can be cited as the best example of this player type)

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Also, at least one of your centre-backs needs to be fast, because pressing high and setting up your defensive block high means it is important to catch balls played in behind. You should also play your goalkeeper in a system where he will not be caught out too far forward either. Otherwise you become a target for opposing forwards who like to chip the ball.

FM21 Tactics: 5-2-1-2 "Vertical" Tiki-Taka

If you don't have good wingers in your team, this formation is ideal for you. To get results you will need two productive strikers (like Inter's forwards, L. Martinez and R. Lukaku), because in this tactic your forwards scoring goals will directly affect your success. However, unlike a standard 4-4-2 formation, it has a setup in which the right and left wing-backs support with early crosses or by going down the wing. The essentials of this tactic are definitely right and left wing-backs with high Stamina, strikers with high Finishing, and a creative playmaker in the middle of midfield.

Make sure at least one of your three centre-backs has high ball control. If you have the budget, I would have no objection to that number being two. Then give the last remaining defender an instruction to sweep up balls played in behind the defensive line. Also give your goalkeeper, whom you use as a sweeper, an instruction to meet opposing players when they get on the ball. That way, with your crowded defense and aggressive goalkeeper, it will be quite hard for the opponent to find a shooting angle.

FM21 Tactics: 4-3-3 "Fluid" Counter-Attack

Looking at the formation, this tactic actually looks more like 2-3-2-2-1 or 5-2-3. But for some reason the game presents it to us as 4-3-3. Without getting hung up on names, what needs to be said about this tactical approach is that it can be used as a pure counter-attacking setup and is an unconventional system. The aim here is to let the opponent have more of the ball. But when you win it back, the wing-backs join the attack with an incredible sprint forward and support the front three in the attacking line. The two playmakers in the middle of midfield try to create chances for the team with the long balls they send behind the opposing defense. A lot falls on your playmakers in this tactic, because since you generally don't have much of the ball, long balls are your biggest goal weapons. Although this tactic reminds us a bit of Anatolian teams, especially considering the wing-backs' sudden overlaps, we can easily say it adds a different flavor and sets itself apart from familiar counter-attacks.

For this reason, I named it "fluid" counter-attack. I recommend using this tactic more in matches against stronger opponents or matches you must not lose. Otherwise, low-scoring and boring matches may put you off the game :)

FM21 Tactics: 3-1-4-2 Wing Play

Finally, there is 3-1-4-2, with which you can get successful results with low-quality teams. The reason for this thought is maintaining a formation in which your team closes the blocks well when not in possession, without bothering to win the ball back and without pressing the opposing wingers, and which greatly reduces the opponent's chance of quality attacks. With unfinished attacks or balls you win, in an attack started quickly by your holding midfielder, you can catch your opponent, who is left short, off guard with your remaining six players.

If you want to attack more and play with a setup that goes at the opponent with this tactic, your priority should be to have wing-backs and defenders who are good with the ball at their feet. That way you can build from the back to attack and develop more mature attacks.

For the information and comments about the other tactical setups I have written before, click here. For our list of

Türkiye Süper Lig wonderkids with high potential to make a difference, blended with players in their most productive period who will contribute greatly to your team, click here.