Title: Tinkering with Chaos: My Never-Ending Journey in Football Manager
For years, Football Manager has been my therapy, my mental chessboard, my safe place to lose control. I’ve sunk hundreds—probably thousands—of hours into this series, and yet, it always finds a way to remind me that I don’t really know football as well as I think I do.
This year, FM24 caught me off guard. Not because the match engine changed drastically or the UI improved in a meaningful way (it didn’t, let’s be honest), but because I finally gave in to my obsession with tactical identity. Not just what works, but why it works. And even more than that—what happens when it doesn’t.
Hamburg SV and the Year Everything Went Wrong (and Right)
It all started with a Hamburg SV save. I wanted a challenge. A sleeping giant kind of story. One where I could bring a historic club back to glory, but in my own terms—with smart pressing, vertical movement, and a midfield that operated like clockwork.
By March 2035, things were getting serious. I was neck-and-neck with Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga title race, through to the Europa League Round of 16, and still fighting for the DFB Pokal. I should’ve been buzzing.
Then both of my goalkeepers got injured.
It was almost poetic. All that planning, all that micro-managing, undone by two simultaneous injuries in a position you never expect to rotate. I stared at the screen for five minutes, genuinely unsure what to do. The youth keeper? Absolutely not ready. Emergency loan? Transfer window’s closed. FM was testing me.
It was one of those moments where you realize just how brutal this game can be. A save that was supposed to be about trophies turned into an exercise in crisis management. But in retrospect, that’s when it became fun. Or at least meaningful.
When Tactics Become Philosophy
I was running a 4-2-3-1, my go-to. But this time, I wanted to make it my own. Not just a copy-paste from some YouTube wonderkid tactic. I built it around two inverted wing-backs on support—yes, both—thinking I was some kind of genius. Until I wasn’t.
What happened was pure chaos in midfield. The IWBs would tuck in beautifully… right into my box-to-box midfielder and ball-winning midfielder, suffocating each other like kids fighting for the same swing. On paper, the shape made sense. In reality, it was a pile-up of bodies. The ball moved nicely, but forward penetration was a myth. My striker—an advanced forward—might as well have been on a different continent.
Possession looked great. My pass completion was immaculate. But we weren’t scoring goals, and worse—we weren’t creating enough quality chances. xG started becoming my enemy, mocking me after each goalless draw. “You dominated possession!” the game would say, as if that meant anything without end product.
That’s when I did something I swore I wouldn’t: I started asking ChatGPT for tactical advice.
My Assistant Manager is an AI
At first, it felt like cheating. A little voice in my head whispered, “You’re supposed to figure this out on your own.” But after one too many isolated striker moments, I gave in.
I typed, “Why do my inverted wing-backs keep clashing with my midfield?” and boom—within seconds, I had options. Maybe use only one IWB. Maybe stagger the midfield roles. Maybe consider player traits. It wasn’t just answers, it was theory. Frameworks for thinking. Suddenly, ChatGPT became my virtual tactical analyst, feeding me ideas I could test, iterate on, and throw out when they didn’t work.
One suggestion that stuck was adjusting role combinations. Instead of pairing a Mezzala and an Inside Forward on the same flank (which I thought would be genius), I learned how they cut inside into the same space, nullifying each other. I started paying attention to footedness, too—putting a right-footer at MCL or a left-footer at MCR depending on whether I needed inside or outside passing lanes.
These weren’t just tweaks. They were mindset shifts. I began seeing the game differently.
The Mental Gymnastics of Player Roles
The most ironic part? I had a player who was perfect as a Ball-Winning Midfielder—but I had nowhere to play him because I already had one in my 4-2-3-1. I tried retraining him to be a Box-to-Box Midfielder. His tactical familiarity was low, and the performances dipped. I started to panic. Transfer window was two months away.
But his attributes were promising: aggression, bravery, and determination all at 16, and work rate at a ridiculous 20. The kind of engine you dream of. Passing and tackling both 14. I knew he could grow into it—but how?
So I started rotating him more carefully. Gave him lighter training loads. Set individual role focus. Accepted a few 6.5s for the bigger picture. That’s the stuff Football Manager doesn’t reward you for with a cutscene, but it’s what makes the journey feel real.
When Football Manager Becomes Storytelling
Eventually, I stopped chasing perfection. I stopped save-scumming (well, mostly). I started letting the tactics breathe. Losing games wasn’t always failure—it was feedback.
I began crafting quirky players in the editor, like a winger with maximum dirtiness and flair who I wanted to simulate as a penalty hunter. Did it work? Kind of. Mostly, it made me laugh.
I started designing tactics around player personality, not just attributes. I built roles based on how I wanted the team to play, not just what the match engine liked. I experimented with Raumdeuters, played with high lines while trying not to get killed by long balls, and spent hours rethinking what my midfield trio should look like.
And through it all, I kept chatting with ChatGPT. Not for cheat codes, but for understanding. To turn hunches into strategies. To turn frustration into curiosity.
The Endgame (If There Ever Is One)
I’m not sure what the endgame of Football Manager is. Maybe it’s winning the Champions League with a squad of homegrown players. Maybe it’s turning a non-league club into a dynasty. Or maybe, like me, it’s just about refining a tactic so well that when it finally clicks, you feel like you’ve actually created something meaningful.
FM is more than just a game. It’s a puzzle that reshuffles itself constantly. It’s a test of patience, understanding, and adaptability. You don’t play Football Manager to win. You play it to build.
And sometimes, when everything aligns—the roles, the players, the tactics—it feels like a kind of magic. Even if it took a broken formation, an AI assistant, and two injured goalkeepers to get there.