Every Premier League manager’s tactics in Football Manager 24

If you’re anything like me, at some point or another, you’ve tried to recreate a famous tactic in Football Manager. The beauty of a game like FM24 is the ability to go full Pep Guardiola and try to emulate his use of inverted wingbacks, or go full football hipster and try to bring back Arrigo Sacchi’s 4-4-2. However, how many of you have actually tried to recreate the tactics of managers currently in the Premier League. I’ll be seriously impressed if you’ve spent time tinkering on a tactic trying to replicate what Gary O’Neil is doing at Wolverhampton Wanderers, and by the looks of this season, that’s for good reason.

As the FM24 expert I definitely am, I’ve gone trawling through the internet to find every manager in the Premier League’s tactic, so if you want to copy them, it’s very easy and accessible to do so. Even if you have no desire to do that, at the very least, it could be interesting to see how the current generation of Premier League managers are setting their teams up. I’ll do the teams in alphabetical order, so lets start off with the Premier League’s very own set-piece aficionado, Mikel Arteta.

(Obviously manager’s change there tactics IRL a lot, so I’ll only go with their most used formation and system. I’m also taking no credit for coming up with these tactics, there are so many brilliant Football Manager tacticians online who are responsible for these excellent recreations – I’ll provide a link to each so you can watch their recreations, get the individual instructions etc)

Mikel Arteta – Arsenal

There aren’t ANY better at tactics than RDF tactics and he’s managed to perfectly recreate Mikel Arteta’s tactic in Football Manager 2024. For the full tactical explanation, individual instructions etc, you can get those here

Unai Emery – Aston Villa

Unai Emery has revolutionised Aston Villa since he’s come in, and the flavour of that revolution has been perfectly captured by Magicomonta here. I’ve got a sneaky feeling this tactic will do pretty well on Football Manager as well as real life.

Andoni Iraola – Bournemouth

Unsurprisingly, a lot of managers like the 4-2-3-1. There’s a big reason it’s the META in Football Manager. And it’s one of the reasons why Bournemouth are so good under Iraola. Thanks to the brilliant FM Blog, you can recreate his success here.

Thomas Frank – Brentford

It’s worth noting that although Thomas Frank prefers the 4-3-3 tactic like this. He will often line up in a 5-3-2 when facing the big six like this.

Fabian Hurzeler – Brighton

Once again, RDF Tactics doing the lords work by helping to recreate one of the Premier League’s newest and most exciting managers tactics. There are a lot of individual instructions so make sure you check out RDF Tactics video.

Enzo Maresca – Chelsea

A lot of people feared for Chelsea and Enzo Maresca this season, but they’ve been brilliant. And say it quietly, could be in a title race. Maresca’s brilliant positional play tactic has been recreated in all it’s glory here. It actually looks very similair to my favourite tactic at the moment which is broken in the game. Great minds think alike.

Oliver Glasner – Crystal Palace

With everyone in the Premier League seemingly using 4-2-3-1, it’s refreshing seeing a three at the back tactic. But obviously, it is the Premier League, it’s still going to be high press. You can see the tactic that brought Glasner so much success at the end of last season here.

Sean Dyche – Everton

FINALLY. We have a manager that isn’t afraid to ditch the high press and vertical tiki taka. Sean Dyche has his principles and he sticks to them through thick and thin. None of that woke nonsense with Enganche’s or Ball Playing Defenders here!

Marco Silva – Fulham

This one was perhaps the hardest to find, as there’s a fair bit of variation on what tactic Marco Silva uses. But he mainly uses a 4-2-3-1 and he loves a target forward. He also seems to be an incredibly pragmatic manager.

Kieran McKenna – Ipswich

If there’s one manager who feels like he’s downloaded an overpowered Football Manager tactic and applied it in real life it’s Kieran McKenna. He took a very average bunch of Ipswich players and got them promoted to the Premier League. In the above screenshot it’s the players that got Ipswich promoted rather than their Premier League team, but it’s very much the same tactic used this season.

Ruud van Nistelrooy – Leicester City

Ruud has obviously only just joined Leicester and so these tactics could change very quickly. As Erik ten Hag found out, but Arne Slot is somehow immune to, managing in the Eredivisie is very different to managing in the Premier League. Nonetheless, this is his preferred tactic at PSV. However, he does seem like a manager that is very flexible and adaptable to different situations. Thank you to KempiXI who has been responsible for so many of these tactical emulations.

Arne Slot – Liverpool

Want to recreate the tactic that has taken the Premier League by storm in Arne Slot’s first season? Well, you’re in luck! There are a lot of individual instructions for this one so make sure you check out the video!

Pep Guardiola – Manchester City

If there’s any manager who’s tactic we all know inside and out by this point, it’s Pep Guardiola. Tactics that have revolutionised world football and brought Manchester City countless trophies along the way. So if you want to do what so many other managers have done, and recreate one of the greatest of all time’s tactics, you can do so here.

Ruben Amorim – Manchester United

RIP to haters of Manchester United, including myself (because I’m a Leeds fan) – it looks like Manchester United might have a good one in Ruben Amorim. If you want to recreate the tactic he’s going to be putting into place at Old Trafford, you can do so here.

Eddie Howe – Newcastle

A serious amount of thought and work has gone on to this one. So you’re going to have to read their detailed explanation and instructions here.

Nuno Espirito Santo – Nottingham Forest

Nuno’s Nottingham Forest have surpassed all expectations in the Premier League this season, and now it’s your turn to use the tactic that’s got him so far. This article has been carried heavily by the sensation that is Magicomonta, so it’s only right to give him a shoutout at this point. However, his instructions are in Italian. So if that is not your first language, then you can download his Nottingham Forest Nuno tactic here.

Russell Martin – Southampton

Russell Martin’s tactic might have worked in the Championship, but it’s not working so well in the Premier League. Nonetheless, that’s always mattered a fair bit less in Football Manager, so this tactic will probably be pretty good no matter what team you are. Check out Trequinho’s tactical masterclass here.

Ange Postecoglou – Tottenham Hotspur

One of the most interesting managers tactically in the world right now. I’m sure there are tonnes of variations of this and interpretations of how he actually sets up. Will he be able to take Tottenham that one step further and get them actually challenging for trophies? Find out if you can here.

Julen Lopetgui – West Ham

He’s probably about to get sacked, so you might want to hold fire before emulating his tactic on Football Manager. Nonetheless, there’s a brilliantly detailed breakdown of his tactics and putting them on Football Manager 2024 here. If only it worked out that as perfectly in real life.

Gary O’Neil – Wolves

Another manager who’s on their way out. You can’t lose 4-0 to Everton without their being serious repercussions. Nonetheless, for a while he had a good thing going at Wolverhampton Wanderers. So if you want to try something a bit different, here are his tactics.

I hope you found this article as interesting as I did writing it. The tactics in the Premier League these days are incredibly fascinating and there’s something compelling going on at pretty much every club nowadays. Thanks to all the creators who have taken the time to research the managers and come up with these tactical recreations. If you enjoy their work, then make sure you subscribe to them and check out their other stuff!

For more of our totally expert Football Manager content, read about the most overpowered strikers to pick up for your team or even the best staff members. If you’re looking to bend the rules a bit, you can even read about the best registration rules that let you get away with murder. Well, not really.