Wiki · Team
Tactics
The Tactics tab of the Team page decides how your team plays: who starts, how it attacks and defends, and how that changes during a match. It is saved once and used for every match, league and cup, until you change it.
The lineup
The seven players on the court in the Attack view are your default lineup: a goalkeeper, two wings, three backs and a pivot. They start every match; there is no separate lineup to set per fixture. A player placed in a slot that is not one of his roles plays slightly worse there. The rest of the squad waits on the bench and comes on when a starter is injured or sent off.
Attack formation
The 5-1 puts three backcourt shooters on the 9m line with one pivot at the 6m: wide circulation and threats from distance, but pressing defenses disrupt it. The 4-2 plays two pivots, which ties up the defensive line at the cost of a long-range shooter; it does best against a 3-3. In a 4-2 your centre back slot plays as the second pivot, so it wants two real pivots.
Defense formation
| 6-0 | All six on the 6m line. The fewest 7m penalties and exclusions, and the least physical, but it concedes the most long shots and forces few turnovers. |
|---|---|
| 5-1 | One defender steps out to disrupt the playmaker: more turnovers and fewer long shots, at the cost of more 7m penalties and exclusions. |
| 3-2-1 | Pressure at three depths: many turnovers and few long shots, but more shots from 6m, more penalties and exclusions, and it needs stamina. |
| 3-3 | Maximum pressure: the most turnovers and the fewest long shots, but the most 6m shots, penalties and exclusions, a 4-2 hurts it most, and it is the most physical. |
In the Defense view each outfield player defends a spot in the formation. Drag one defender onto another (or click one, then the other) to swap their spots. A player defends slightly worse away from the spots his roles suit: the wings suit the outside spots, the pivot the centre, and the three backs any spot in the middle (half, centre or front). While a team is short-handed after an exclusion or an injury, it drops back to one compact line along the 6m, whatever its formation, and defends like a plain 6-0 until the player returns: the formation is only worth what the players on court can run.
Attack direction
Mixed lets the ball go where the play takes it, which is hard to read. Or focus the attack on one or two sides: left, right, centre, left and centre, right and centre, or left and right. Your chosen side takes more of the shots, but a focused attack is easier to read: more steals against it and slightly worse finishing. It pays off when that side is your strongest, most of all together with the centre, and it costs you goals when it is your weaker one. Handedness counts: a right-hander is weaker on the right side, so for most squads the left side is the strong one.
Aggression
Light means fewer 2-minute exclusions (and slightly fewer penalties) and fewer injuries to your own players, but softer defending and a more open game: both sides score more, so it suits a thin squad rather than a lead. Normal is the balance. Hard defends tightest and steals most, conceding the fewest goals, at the price of many more penalties, yellow cards and exclusions (a straight red is no more likely) and fewer goals of your own: a way to protect a lead. Those exclusions also mean you spend more of the match a man down, and while a man down your defensive formation counts for nothing: you defend as a plain 6-0 whatever you picked. Discipline decides which suits you: defenders with good Duels and Marking can afford Hard, while Light keeps careless ones out of trouble.
No best tactic
Against an equal squad no formation wins on its own: each changes the kind of game. The compact 6-0 keeps fouls and penalties down but gives backcourt shooters room. The pressing defenses (5-1, 3-2-1, 3-3) force turnovers and shut down long shots, but concede more at the 6m and more penalties, and a 4-2 hurts the 3-3 most. Pick the one that suits your players: pressing asks for stamina, Hard aggression for defenders who time their duels, and a focused attack direction for a side that is genuinely stronger. Tactics shift a match by a goal or two: a clearly better squad still wins most of the time.
The report
The Report view lists the strengths and weaknesses of each choice you have made and checks them against your starters: whether your 4-2 pivots are natural pivots, which side of your attack is strongest, whether your defenders have the stamina to press, and whether they time their duels well enough to play hard.
Match orders
You cannot touch a match once it starts, but you can plan for it with up to three orders in the Orders view. An order picks a minute from 1 to 59 and, if you like, a score condition: leading by, trailing by (1 to 15 goals) or level. From then it switches any of the four choices, for example from 45′, if trailing by 3, defend 3-3 and play hard. Each order fires once, takes effect at the next moment of open play, and shows in the match's Incidents. Two orders cannot share the same trigger: put both changes in one order.
Scouting
Each team's tactics show on the match Stats tab and in the report, and the Overview's Next match card shows what your next opponent played last time.