4. Always Have A Back-Up Plan
Following on from (and perhaps contradicting) the last slide, there are times when a small change won't do, and you have to change the formation on the fly. Maybe you're Shrewsbury Town holding on for dear life for a victory against Manchester United in the cup, or maybe you're Arsenal, chasing for a last-gasp goal which will prevent that time-honoured tradition of disappointingly falling out the Champions League like a drunk after closing time. The point is that in certain scenarios, you'll have to really defend or really attack, and your middle-of-the-road tactic just isn't going to cut it. This is why the back-up tactics are so important, and it confounds me this day why so many people don't use it. It's possibly one of the best innovations the warlocks at SI have put in, as it allows you to change formation without your players being hamstrung by the player unfamiliarity this usually involves. To those who are new to it, it's pretty simple at first, just create a more attacking tactic and a more defensive one you can switch depending on the situation. This means you can deal with most situations. As you get more confident, try adding an extra dimension to these tactics perhaps involving roles that make the most of certain players, or capitalise on a more versatile player's secondary role in cases of emergency. This needs to be done, and there's a very simple reason why match-day football is a chaotic, spontaneous affair where objectives can change in an instant, and it would be remiss of a player not to embrace anything which can help tame the unruly beast. So with this in mind, it would be neglectful to not plan for the unexpected, because if it does come to that time where you desperately need to edge-out the better-fancied opposition in the last 10 minutes, you'll be glad you had it. You could just picture the ashen-faced David Moyes, a virtual treat that will evaporate into the ether if you don't prepare properly.