FM23 Trabzonspor Tactic Guide

How Should You Build the FM 23 Trabzonspor Tactic? Abdullah Avcı's 4-2-3-1 and an Alternative 4-3-3

Despite their nickname, last season's champions Trabzonspor did not storm into this season the way their moniker suggests. On top of the squad that had settled in from last year, they continued Turkish football's long-running sickness of transfer madness, breaking up their championship core and bringing in a lot of new players. Although the players they brought in are far from low quality, between a new squad and its adaptation period, things haven't gone all that well. Even though they're only 6 points behind the leader, their performance and tempo have clearly dropped off, and that's the biggest reason they haven't been able to close out matches while leading. With last season's "big three" not performing at the same level this year either, Trabzonspor have gone from being title favorites to not even being considered among the serious contenders.

Since our subject here is Trabzonspor in FM 23 rather than the real-life Trabzonspor, let's get straight into how they look in the game...

FM 23 Trabzonspor Squad Analysis

I can safely say Trabzonspor can compete for the title in FM 23. Their attacking lines are especially strong, and their wingers are among the league's elite. Right-back Bruno Peres starting the game injured, combined with weak alternatives in that position, looks like a bit of a problem, but Dorukhan's performance and using Serkan Asan — who, like always in the Football Manager series, is one of the high-potential players — would be the better choice both for the Turkish quota and for player development (especially Serkan's). The centre-back line is quite solid, especially Hugo and Bardhi, two centre-backs who complement each other very well and will make building play from the back much easier (Bardhi as the passing centre-back, Hugo as the combative centre-back). You've also got plenty of depth in midfield. Hamsik, despite his advanced age, still has very good stats, though keeping hold of him doesn't look as easy as it is in real life. Up front, Visca on the right and Trezeguet on the left are already top-level wingers. And leading the line, Maxi Gomez in particular is the creative striker type (he can also play as a pivot depending on the situation) who will give you high output and goal contributions!

FM 23 Trabzonspor Abdullah Avcı Tactic

The tactic Abdullah Avcı always uses is a 4-2-3-1, and he doesn't like making many changes unless he has to. As I said, the squad's structure actually suits a 4-2-3-1 very well, and with a good right-back signing you could build a very complete team (or improve one of the options you already have). At left-back, Eren Elmalı being 21 years old and a player with plenty of room to grow makes it worth sticking with him there so you have a top-level Turkish left-back. If you want to play a 4-2-3-1 like Abdullah Avcı and build up play from the back with lots of passing, you can also use Denswil instead of Vitor Hugo — his passing quality is much higher and he's left-footed. For your midfield pairing, you can go with Hamsik and Bardhi. Since you might have trouble defensively when fielding that pair, against teams closer to your own level you can use Hamsik–Siopis, Hamsik–Dorukhan, or Bardhi–Siopis, Bardhi–Dorukhan instead. Naci Ünüvar has a lot of room to grow and a very high talent ceiling. If you work him hard in training and try to give him minutes in some matches, he could turn into a very good attacking player in a season or two.

Up front, use Visca or Abdülkadir on the right (if you're not dealing with quota issues, you should definitely start with Visca). Trezeguet on the left, Yusuf as your definite number 10, and Maxi Gomez ahead of him. You can also comfortably use Maxi Gomez as a pivot striker — he's an incredible athlete and excellent in the air. Unfortunately there's no room for Bakasetas in this tactic; if you want to get a bit more adventurous, you can switch to a back three and add another attacker up front, playing Bakasetas and Yusuf Yazıcı together. In that case, since you no longer need as much left-footed presence, it definitely helps to play Visca on the right.

FM 23 Trabzonspor 4-3-3 Tactic

Those who want to stick with a back four but try something a bit different can also experiment with a 4-3-3 setup.

This is a squad good enough to comfortably play positive football. If you're going to play Vitor Hugo as one of your two centre-backs, you can also use him in the combative centre-back role. There are two nice options for the defensive midfielder slot. If you like a more playmaking-oriented profile there, you can play Hamsik there, with Bardhi ahead of him and one of Yusuf or Bakasetas alongside. In that setup, you can play Bardhi in a mezzala role and use the central midfielder next to him in a more attacking role. If you'd rather play it more controlled, as shown in the image, you can put Siopis or Dorukhan in the defensive midfield role, Hamsik ahead of him as a box-to-box midfielder, and Bardhi or one of Yusuf/Bakasetas alongside him in an attacking role. The biggest downside of this tactic is that you lose one of your midfielders in attacking terms. You can try "wing–attack" instructions out wide, and if that doesn't produce results, you can play Trezeguet more as an inside forward closer to Maxi Gomez, using Visca in a role that hugs the touchline and cuts inside.

Our tempo is high and our passing is short; in terms of build-up, even though there's no marked focal point, it helps to play through the center first and then switch the play out to the wings. In the final third, if you don't want too many crosses, you can go for passing into the box with a "pull back" cross option, or set your wingers to cross without holding the ball too long and pick a high cross type, aiming to feed high balls to Maxi Gomez. In situations like that, make sure you're playing Maxi Gomez as a pivot striker!

In transition, counter-press and counter are absolute must-haves. You can hit long balls to the full-backs and quickly launch effective attacks down the flanks. There's no need to hold the ball for long in transition!

When the opponent has the ball, we hold a high defensive line. Our press intensity is also high. On defensive instructions for meeting the opponent, since we're stronger in the center than on the flanks, we can use "Trap Outside" to funnel the opponent into the middle, and depending on how our centre-backs are doing, if they're a bit short or the opponent is strong in the air, we can use "Stop Crosses" to prevent them from crossing the ball in. It's worth leaving the defensive line section unchecked.

That covers the information we wanted to share about Trabzonspor in FM 23 specifically. To read all our tactic articles for the "big four," just click the links below.

Have fun ;)

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