For players who just want to choose one of the default tactics, plug and play, without having to create one from scratch themselves. Introduction This is a test of all the default tactic presets with recommended formations that you can choose when creating a new tactic for your team. I will be testing how well the different tactics work compared to each other, and updating the list with the data as the testing progresses. If you don't enjoy building your own tactic, or maybe you're just a new player that want to learn the game without getting fired too quickly, you can check here to see if you find a tactic you want to use. How am I testing? I am manually creating the saves, choosing the tactic to be tested, and going on holiday until the season is over. The assistant manager is told to use only the chosen tactic and not to allow any players being sold. I also set the staff to make players with bad match sharpness available for the reserve team, and to set up reserve team friendly matches if no regular matches are played. The focus is the the top leagues in England, Scotland, Norway, Finland and Wales. This way, a wide variety of team and player quality will be tested, and hopefully the data we get will be a representative average of how well a tactic will work for any club you want to play with. Latest update: All low ranked teams (roughly the bottom 1/3 from all 5 leagues) have now been tested. The data set size is OK, and should work well as an indicator of how well a tactic works. It will get even better as I get time to add the mid ranked teams, and these numbers can be trusted somewhat. The Top 5 Tactics The Top Five All tactics have been tested through 686 matches over 23 seasons with the lower predicted teams in the English, Scottish, Norwegian, Finnish and Welsh top tiers. This makes a total of 20.580 matches. Rank Tactic Formation Prediction Goal Difference Points 1 Gegenpress 4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide 6,22 0,08 1,44 2 Gegenpress 4-3-3 DM Wide 5,30 0,04 1,34 3 Gegenpress 4-2-4 DM Wide 4,57 -0,08 1,30 4 Vertical Tiki-taka 4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide 4,48 −0,14 1,27 5 Vertical Tiki-taka 4-3-3 DM Wide 4,30 −0,14 1,20 By "Prediction" I mean the difference in where the game predicted that a team would end up, compared to where it actually did. A positive number means the team ended up in a better spot, a negative means that it ended up worse than the prediction. Honourable Mention If you would like to test out the best tactic type that wasn't covered by the top five, take a look at: Fluid Counter-attack4-3-3 DM Wide Even though it had a respectable 1,12 points per match, it didn't get into the top 5. It is so far looking like a decent tactic if you just want to mix up things a bit without the club catching fire. Up For A Challenge? Do you want to build a winning team with a tactic that is far from optimal, just for the added difficulty? Try to win the Champions League with: Direct Counter-attack - 4-4-2 You will be able to do some damage with this suboptimal tactic if your entire team has great anticipation and off the ball. Bring back the glory of the classic 4-4-2! Categories A quick runthrough of all the best and worst in each category. Points Gegenpress4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide 1,44 Park the Bus4-3-3 DM Wide 0,31 Goals Scored Per Match Gegenpress4-2-4 DM Wide 1,63 Park the Bus4-3-3 DM Wide 0,34 Goals Against Per Match Vertical Tiki-taka4-3-3 DM Wide 1,32 Catenaccio5-2-1-2 DM AM 2,37 Goal Difference Per Match Gegenpress4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide 0,08 Park the Bus4-3-3 −1,72 Prediction Gegenpress4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide 6,22 Catenaccio5-2-2-1 DM AM -1,74 Position Gegenpress4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide 6,96 Catenaccio5-2-2-1 DM AM 14,91 Matches Won Per Season Gegenpress4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide 12,04 Park the Bus4-3-3 DM Wide 1,61 Matches Drawn Per Season Fluid Counter-attack4-3-3 DM Wide 8,26 Park the Bus4-3-3 DM Wide 4,57 Matches Lost Per Season Gegenpress4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide 10,65 Park the Bus4-3-3 DM Wide 23,65 The Whole Table If you would like to take a look at the data for all 30 tactics, I've uploaded a beautiful snip from my spread sheet for you here, sorted by average points per match.