FM24 Best Set Piece Routine and New Roles Explanation

First off let me start by welcoming you guys to my first FM24 article. FM24 beta was released a few days ago, so having gotten the experience of the game myself, I decided to base my first article about the game on the set piece routine and new roles added to the game, before getting into the real-life managers’s tactical replicas. So let’s get into the set piece routine first, before the role explanation. Here’s FM24 best set piece routine and new roles explanation.

All of Football Manager 2023 tactic here

Set Piece Routine

FM24 introduced set-piece options that you must choose from, but you could play any match. Therefore, I will list my preferred set-piece options and they have proven to be working for me with any team I use. So they present six set pieces of questions and options to choose from, it is the most important part of the set-piece settings, as the rest don’t matter to yield good results. So let’s get into it, shall we?

The first question is, what defensive marking strategy do you prefer?

Here, I prefer “hybrid”, so my team will combine zonal marking with player marking. The tallest defenders will mark zonally while the rest will man-marking opponents. This is the strategy common in today’s football.

The second question goes, What posts do you want players marking while defending?

I prefer “near post” to both posts or no posts. This strategy will mark a fullback to protect the post, while the rest of the team focuses on protecting the box. The strategy is also common in football today.

The third question is, how many players do you like to leave forward when defending a set piece?

I choose “defend the post” in this case. This will make my players put their efforts into protecting our box. Even though some teams in real life prefer “the counter-attack” option, in inorder to hit counters easily when they clear out the ball from the box, the “defend the post” works better for me.

The fourth question is, How do you prefer the ball to be delivered from attacking set pieces?

Here, I prefer the “central” option. The ball will delivered around the penalty spot in this case. I believe the “far post” is also a good choice.

The fifth question goes like this, how many players do you want to leave back defending during an attacking set piece?

I prefer the players to “stay higher” to “defend transition” or “balanced”. The “stay higher” option, will make fewer defenders stay back in the attempt to be more attacking.

The Sixth and last question, is how do you want your set spieces to be delivered into the penalty area?

I want the delivery of the set pieces to be “inswingers”. This will make the taker prioritize to channel the ball towards the goals. “Outswingers” are not bad options, you can choose them.

As I mentioned before, these six strategies are the most important, as the rest of the set-piece settings don’t affect the game that much.

The New and Improved Roles Explanation

Now, I will focus on the second part of this article, which is the new and improved roles explanation. Let’s get to the improved roles first, before the new ones.

FM24 improved roles

FB, NFB, CW, WB and W roles were improved. You can now instruct your players with these roles to either cut inside or run wide with the ball.

They also improved the inverted wing-back role. In this case, the defensive midfielder will create space for the inverted wing-back to join him in the midfield. The inverted wing-back will also act as a traditional fullback in a defensive case, to protect the flank as you can see in the pictures below. These improvements explained the roles of Arnold, Zinchenko and Partey(when used as a fullback) in real life better.

FM24 New Roles

The new roles are libero in a back-4 and inverted fullback.

The libero in back-4: We all know the role of a libero only existed in the back-3 system of other Football Manager versions, with attacking and support duties. In this version of Football Manager, they introduced the libero in the back-4 system, with the support and defence duties. This libero role, I believe was influenced by John Stones’s role last season, as a defender who steps into the midfield during attacks, supporting attackers with passes. In a defensive situation, the libero will return to this central defence position, operating as a traditional central defender.

The inverted fullback role: The inverted fullback will act as an additional central defender during the build-up, then step into the midfield as a holding midfielder, which enables the defensive midfielder to get forward during attacks. I like this role but I wish it had the “support duty” option because it will then explain the roles of Thomas Partey as a fullback this season better and also the role of Geertruida as a fullback at Feyenoord.

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