I’m back. I’m sure a lot of you have read my earlier post on custom tactics suggestion for realistic gameplay in FIFA 09. That’s what about 7500 views are telling me. Now, this time, I’ve going to suggest custom tactics for the top top teams. I’ve tried these setting myself and I find that the games are very open, random and very attacking. The more I play, the more I’m able to study the game. The more I experiment the more I understand about the tactical sliders and how they impact the game. I’ve had new learnings every day. The below is the latest of my understanding and suggestions.

Build up speed: The maximum that you set this for any team should be 50. Again, don’t set it to more than 50 to any team. The reason is, the pitch size in FIFA 09 is small. It is not as big as it’s in Pro Evo. In a small-sized pitch, it the build up speed is set to 70 or 80, it would just be a game of counterattacks. When you lose the ball in your attacking third, because of the high build up speed, you’ll see the ball the opponents attacking third in the very next moment. With high build up speed there won’t be midfield battles. That’s why you should slow down the build up speed to 50 for the quickest team and then may be 10 or 15, for the slowest team. For Man Utd and Arsenal, it should be 50. For Chelsea and Liverpool, it can be 40.

Build up passing: Set this to a maximum of 70. For teams like Man Utd and Chelsea, set this to 60. For Liverpool, set this to 70. For Arsenal, set this to 40. This will determine what mix of short and long passing will be made by the team. Long passes will mean there will be 50-50 balls in the air which really adds to the excitement. A 40 for Arsenal will mean they will make mostly short passes and very occasional short passes. Even here, the pitch size makes a difference. Too much of short passing will create a lot of congestion while the long passes will change the sides of play and even out the player distribution on the pitch.

Chance creation passing: This shows how much risk the teams would take while making the passes. This means looking for the killer passes and also the off the ball players making runs to get those killer passes. Set this to as high as possible. For teams like Chelsea and Man Utd, I’ve set this to 90. This means these teams would play some very enterprising football which adds to the excitement. For Liverpool, I’ve set this to 80 and for Arsenal I’ve put this to 70. I don’t want to set this to less than 50 for any top half teams. This tactical slider plays a major role in making your games play an unpredictable attacking game.

Chance creation crossing: This slider’s value would determine where and how off the ball players would make themselves available to receive the ball and whether they would make movements expecting a cross. I have no suggestions here. Please set this up as you find it appropriate. I’ve set Chelsea’s crossing at 60, Man Utd’s crossing at 50, Arsenal’s at 30 and Liverpool’s at 60. Feel free to set this as per your choice.

Chance creation shooting: This slider’s value would determine whether the off the ball players position themselves to take a shot and whether they would think it’s a priority to position themselves for a shot instead of looking for a passing position. I have no suggestions here. Please set this up as you find it appropriate. I’ve set Chelsea’s shooting at 80, Man Utd’s shooting at 80, Arsenal’s at 50 and Liverpool’s at 70. Feel free to set this as per your choice.

Team width: For all the top teams, the team width is set to 60 - 70. Teams with good full backs should have a 70 here. I’ve seen that with the team width set highly, players get spread out on the pitch. The full backs participate in the attacks. When you set it to low, the defenders narrow down in the centre which created invariably the same type of games where you’d pass it to the flanks and then bring it in. With the team width set high, you’re challenged at every part of the pitch, instead of leaving you room and space in the flanks which produces similar games.

Pressure: For the top teams set this to just 15. Anything higher, again, produces similar kind of games such which have mostly throughballs and lobbed throughballs. When you set the pressure to just 15, you’ll see your defenders backing up when the opponent has the ball (that’s quite a sight!). And then when you win the ball with a defender, you have about 75 to 80% of the pitch still to be covered and with slow build up, it creates a lovely football game.

Aggression: This will have to be set to 70. This is as explained in my other thread. The higher this is, the higher the tackling/ball winning mentality of the players. If set this any higher, you might see a lot of cards and sending offs. If you set this any lower, the crucial tackles may not be made in time. Unless you use skill, you won’t be able to waltz past the players. Forces you to pass around and build up creative attacks.

Positioning - Build up & Chance Creation: Set both these to FREE FORM. The top teams have top quality players who have varied attributes to be able to do well with ‘free form’ positioning. Again, with ‘free form’ positioning, players do make overlapping runs and making unpredictable build ups and attacks. Also, it is the AI which is playing so ‘free form’ would do well.

My settings: I play on ‘world class’. I use ‘assisted’ passing, crossing and through balls, ‘manual’ crossing and lobs. I use TELE camera angle with height and zoom set to ZERO. My player change setting is set to about 2/10 of the bar. I do not play MM. I just play custom created tournaments. I generally love to play possession football while trying to surprise the opposition at every chance! I play only OFFLINE games despite having access to xbox live gold membership valid until next year.

Remember, the tactics numbers for the top teams are set based on my opinions. Let’s not have an argument on whether Arsenal should be 40 in buildup passing or Liverpool should be 80 in chance creation passing. You’re free to set the numbers to your beliefs/liking.

Just understand the logic and set your numbers accordingly. For the la liga, serie a and other league top teams, you can set the sliders accordingly. I played a league with just Chelsea, Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool, with home and away games. All matches were very tight and challenging. They were very random and unpredictable too. I have not put the tactics in the locker. There are very few changes to be done, so you can do it yourselves manually. If I learn more, I’ll share more. Cheers!