Mastering Football Manager 2020: A Complete Guide to Tactics and Player Development

Let’s be honest for a second. We’ve all been there in Football Manager 2020. You’ve crafted what you believe is the perfect tactical system, you’ve spent hours developing that wonderkid, and then, in a crucial cup final, the match engine delivers a moment that leaves you staring blankly at the screen. I remember a playoff final where my center-back, with 18 for Decisions and Composure, decided to launch a 40-yard back-pass to my goalkeeper that rolled gently into our own net. In that moment, I felt a kinship with Mo Tautuaa’s now-famous quote about a referee’s decision: “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’s the FM experience in a nutshell sometimes—a brilliant, complex simulation that can occasionally leave you feeling utterly dejected by a call the game engine makes. But here’s the thing: just as in real football management, success isn’t about avoiding every bad break; it’s about building a system and a squad so robust that those moments become outliers, not defining events. Mastering FM2020, then, is a dual journey: constructing unshakeable tactics and fostering player development that turns potential into consistent, match-winning performance.

Tactics in FM2020 are less about finding a single “win button” and more about understanding a philosophy. My personal preference has always leaned toward a proactive, possession-based style, but I’ve learned the hard way that rigidity is a killer. The game’s match engine this year rewards managers who can read a game. Starting with a 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress is all well and good, but if you’re facing a team that sits deep with a low block, you’ll just see your players run into walls. The key is adaptation. I build my primary tactic with a core identity—let’s say, a vertical tiki-taka with a positive mentality. But my first save slot is always a more direct, higher-tempo version for when we’re chasing a game, and the second is a narrower, more disciplined counter-attacking setup for tough away fixtures at the grounds of top rivals. The training calendar is where this gets cemented. I dedicate at least one session a week to “Match Tactics” and specifically drill the tactical style I plan to use in the next fixture. The difference this makes in player familiarity and fluidity is palpable; you’ll see fewer of those frustrating, disjointed performances where your players seem to have never met each other.

This brings us to the heart of any tactic: the players. And player development in FM2020 is a long-term investment that pays the highest dividends. It’s tempting to just buy the finished article, but the joy—and the sustainable success—comes from nurturing talent. My approach is obsessive. The day I take over a club, I immediately hire the best HoYD I can afford and assign scouts to scour nations with high youth ratings for 15- to 18-year-olds. The initial intake is critical, but the real work starts after. Every young player in my U23s and U18s has an individual training focus, and it’s not always just a role. If I have a winger with 11 Crossing but 16 Acceleration, I’m putting him on a crossing development plan for months, no matter his preferred role. Mentoring is a tool I use aggressively. I’ll group a determined, professional veteran with two or three youngsters with good potential but weaker personalities. The impact on their hidden attributes, particularly Professionalism and Ambition, can transform a player’s trajectory. I track this progress not just by star ratings, which are infamously unreliable, but by stat growth. Seeing a key physical attribute jump by 2 or 3 points over a season is a better indicator of progress than any coach report.

Of course, development doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s directly tied to game time. This is where loan management becomes an art form. I rarely keep a player aged 19-21 in my reserves if he’s not a regular first-team contender. I look for loan moves to clubs where he will be a “Star Player” or “Important Player” in a league with a decent standard. The playing time tracker is your friend here. A season of 30+ starts at a competitive level is worth infinitely more than 5 substitute appearances for your own side. I once developed a striker from my academy who, at 18, had great finishing but poor strength. I loaned him to a Championship side for two consecutive seasons where he played every week, took penalties, and was their main man. He returned at 20 with his Strength boosted from 9 to 14 and was ready to lead my line. That’s the model. It requires patience, a detailed loan manager, and sometimes accepting a small fee to get the perfect move, but it builds a culture and a pipeline.

So, where does this all leave us? Back at that moment of frustration, perhaps. You can do everything “right”—have a fluid tactical system, develop world-beaters—and still lose to a 90th-minute wonder strike or a dubious penalty decision. The quote from Tautuaa resonates because it captures that helpless feeling. But mastery in FM2020 is about reducing the frequency of those helpless moments. It’s about creating a context where your tactical intelligence and your superior player quality tilt the odds so heavily in your favor that over a 38-game season, or a decade-long save, you come out on top. It’s about looking at that own goal not as an engine flaw, but as a prompt to check your defender’s concentration stat, or to ask if your “Play Out of Defence” instruction was too risky against that aggressive press. The game is a puzzle, and the solutions lie in the intricate, interconnected systems of tactics and development. Dive into those details, embrace the long game, and you’ll find that the calls, right or wrong, start going your way more often than not.