Football Manager 2022 Layout Guide: Best FM22 Lineups
Everyone wants to win in Football Manager 2022. Luckily, our FM 2022 tactics guide should help you score three points regularly.
Football Manager 2022 is now available to play and it's fair to say how much fun transfer negotiations and training plans can be, but a big part of your FM22 game is match results.
Whether you avoided relegation on the last day, won a title, or are preparing for a cup final, there is no one size fits all strategy for Football Manager. Instead, your success will depend on your squad, their abilities, and dozens of other variables.
However, the game offers a lot of flexibility, from building to player roles and combinations of players that play well together. With that in mind, here is our Football Manager 2022 tactics guide depending on which team you manage.
The Best Tactic for Possession-Based Teams
This formation will allow your team to determine the pace of the match.
If you consider yourself a purveyor of smooth tiki-taka football like Guardiola, we would recommend something along the lines of a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Choosing this tactic while still allowing one of your fullbacks to move will allow your team to overload the side of the ball, leaning on the fullback as an attacking outlet.
An attacker with some experience in holding the ball is also critical, otherwise he may end up a bit isolated.
The best tactic for pressing teams
This formation will force opponents to make mistakes all over the field.
For managers who want to deter opponents with hegenpressing, but wherein leave room for creativity, look for nothing but 4-1-2-1-2.
You'll need the right squad given the chase involvement, but this tight setup forcefully forces opponents to spread wide where your full-backs can step in to intercept the ball. It also allows for two strikers, so with the right number 10 you can create plenty of goal opportunities.
Best Defense Tactic
This tactic will make your team invincible.
When your team is losing or under pressure, sometimes not losing is more important than trying to win a match - or maybe you are a student of Diego Simeone's defensive setup.
In this case, we would choose a 4-4-1-1 formation with one striker and a shadow forward as a backup, with two flat groups of midfielders and defenders. This should help you frustrate your opponents and also give you an opportunity to snatch the target at the other end.
The best tactics in three defenders and three attackers
This tactic uses the new role of the WCB player.
If you want to use Football Manager's new Wide Center Back option, look no further than this 3-2-2-3 tactic that forces them to push up the field, allowing your attackers to blast further down the field and hit consistently.
Unfortunately, this causes a lot of backlash, so you'll want your entire backline to be as mobile as possible in order to be able to track and detect danger.
The best counterattack tactic
Emulate Leicester with this counterattacking style.
Leicester City's Claudio Ranieri's team in 2015-16 challenged the entire Premier League with a fast and aggressive counter-attack, and in FM22 it's surprisingly easy.
Using a 4-1-2-2-1 formation with a quiet front three and a trio in the center of midfield to win, hold and play the ball is an effective tactic for moving quickly from defense to attack.