Master Football Manager 2020: 5 Essential Tactics to Dominate Your Save

Let’s be honest for a second. We’ve all been there. You’ve spent hours perfecting your tactic, you’re dominating a crucial match, and then—a questionable penalty call goes against you, a red card for a seemingly clean tackle, and your entire game plan unravels. It feels personal. It reminds me of that raw post-game quote from basketball player Mo Tautuaa: “I’m not gonna say much. You all saw the play. I don’t agree with the call. That’s the exact opposite of the right call.” That sense of footballing injustice, of a narrative hijacked by a single moment, is what makes Football Manager 2020 so brilliantly infuriating and compelling. The match engine, for all its sophistication, can sometimes feel like that referee making the “exact opposite of the right call.” Your job as a manager isn’t just to design a beautiful system; it’s to build a team resilient and adaptable enough to overcome those moments. Over countless saves, from non-league journeyman to Champions League royalty, I’ve learned that dominating your FM20 save isn’t about finding one unbeatable exploit. It’s about mastering a core set of tactical principles that give you control, even when the virtual gods seem against you. Here are the five essential tactics that moved me from frustrated spectator to a true architect of my own destiny.

First, and this is non-negotiable, you must build your tactic around a coherent defensive structure. I see too many players slapping together an attacking formation with a high press and wondering why they’re losing 4-3 every week. My personal philosophy starts from the back. Are you a compact, mid-block team that draws the opponent in and hits on the break? Or a high-pressing machine that wins the ball back within six seconds of losing it? You have to pick one and commit. For my most successful save, a rebuild of Newcastle United, I opted for a 4-1-4-1 DM Wide with a standard defensive line and a higher line of engagement. This created a mid-block that congested the central spaces. The key metric? We consistently limited opponents to under 1.2 expected goals (xG) per game in the Premier League, even with a mediocre squad. The defensive shape is your foundation. Without it, you’re just hoping your attackers bail you out, and hope is not a tactic.

Once your defense is set, the single most impactful adjustment you can make is mastering the art of the in-game tweak. Football Manager 2020 is a dynamic puzzle. I treat the first 15-20 minutes as a pure diagnostic phase. I’m watching not just the highlights, but the full match on comprehensive highlights, analyzing passing networks and player positions. Is their wing-back bombing forward relentlessly? I’ll instruct my winger to sit narrower and my full-back to mark him tightly. Are they slicing through my midfield? A simple switch from “Balanced” to “More Disciplined” positioning, or dropping my defensive line by one notch, can work wonders. I remember a cup final where we were being overrun. They had 65% possession by the 30th minute. Instead of panicking, I switched my central midfielder from a “Box-to-Box” role to a “Carrilero,” shoring up the half-spaces, and changed our mentality from “Positive” to “Cautious.” We weathered the storm, nicked a goal from a set-piece, and won 1-0. That reactive intelligence is what separates a good player from a great one.

Now, let’s talk about the fun part: creating chances. Possession without purpose is just decoration. My golden rule is to always have at least one direct, penetrating option in my setup. This could be a “Mezzala” on attack duty surging from midfield, an “Advanced Forward” making runs in behind, or a “Winger” instructed to hit early crosses. In one of my saves with Sporting Lisbon, I utilized a 4-2-3-1 with two “Inverted Wingers” cutting inside onto their stronger feet and a “Complete Forward” supported by an “Attacking Midfielder” on support. The interplay was devastating. But the real secret sauce was the player instruction for my deeper-lying playmaker: “Take More Risks” and “More Direct Passes.” This bypassed the opposition’s press and fed our creative players in dangerous areas. We averaged 2.8 goals per game in the Primeira Liga that season. The data might be from my memory, but the principle is sound: balance safe possession with vertical thrust.

Player roles and individual instructions are where your tactical vision comes to life. Don’t just accept the default. A “Winger” on attack will hug the touchline and run to the byline. But what if you want him to cut inside? That’s an “Inverted Winger.” What if you want your full-back to underlap and create central overloads? That’s a specific player instruction. I’m particularly fond of the “Segundo Volante” role in a double pivot. It’s a dynamic, goalscoring midfielder that few AI managers effectively counter. In a save with Leeds, I paired a “Segundo Volante” on support with a “Deep Lying Playmaker” on defend. The SV, Kalvin Phillips in this case, ended the Championship season with 12 goals and 9 assists from deep—a huge, unexpected output that propelled us to promotion. Tailoring roles to your players’ strengths, not just their star ratings, is absolutely critical.

Finally, you must embrace the long game: squad building and tactical evolution. Your title-winning 4-3-3 won’t work forever. AI managers adapt. New seasons bring new challenges in different competitions. I plan in three-season cycles. Year one might be about implementing my core tactic. Year two, I’ll introduce a secondary, contrasting formation—perhaps a 5-3-2 for tough away games—and start recruiting players who fit both. By year three, the original tactic has evolved, incorporating new trends. I also religiously use the “Model Citizen” and “Perfectionist” personality types as mentoring group leaders to shape my squad’s mentality. A cohesive, professional squad will consistently outperform a collection of talented individuals, especially in those tight, season-defining matches where morale is everything.

So, while you can’t control every dubious offside call or every moment of individual brilliance from the opposition, you can control your response. The frustration in a quote like Tautuaa’s comes from a feeling of powerlessness. Football Manager 2020, at its best, gives you that power back. It’s not about scripting or cheating the system; it’s about developing a deep, nuanced understanding of the footballing principles that underpin it. Master these five areas—defensive cohesion, in-game adaptability, chance creation, individual role mastery, and long-term evolution—and you’ll find yourself not just winning games, but building legacies. And when that inevitable, frustrating goal goes in against the run of play, you’ll have the tools and the confidence to turn things around, because you’re no longer just picking a formation. You’re managing a football club.