This epic Football Manager tool turns you into an FM Pro, and it’s helped me greatly

You’d think that after thousands of hours playing Football Manager, I’d have perfect tactical knowledge by now. Sadly, that’s not the case. Sure, I’ve got a much better grasp of tactics than when I first started, but a lot of the time it still feels like I’m just guessing and hoping for the best. When I do come up with a tactic that’s unstoppable, it feels less like I’ve channelled my inner Pep Guardiola and more like I’ve stumbled across genius by accident.

Thankfully, there’s a tool out there that can actually help you level up your tactical knowledge. It rates your tactics, highlights your strengths and weaknesses, and gives you plenty more insight to work with. Even if you already consider yourself pretty tactically savvy, it’s nice to get a bit of validation and reassurance that you’re on the right track. And if you’re a genuine tactical mastermind who’s never doubted their setups? Well, it’s still fun to see what kind of score your latest masterpiece gets. So, let’s dive into the tool and how you can get your hands on it.

What is Rate My Tactic?

Rate My Tactic is a free online tool that helps Football Manager players take a closer look at their tactical setups. Instead of relying on in-game feedback (which can sometimes feel vague) or spending hours scrolling through forum debates, this site gives you a clear breakdown of what’s working in your tactic, and what isn’t.

It’s designed to answer the question every FM player has muttered at some point: “Why isn’t my tactic working?” By uploading your tactic file, the tool analyses your roles, duties, and team instructions to show exactly how well your players are set up to deliver on your game plan.

Analysing Your Tactic

Once your tactic is loaded, Rate My Tactic gives it a series of scores in key areas:

• Penetration Score – How well your team is set up to break through defensive lines.
• Support Score – How effectively your players support each other across the pitch.
• Solidity Score – A measure of how balanced your tactic is, both going forward and defensively.

On top of the scores, it highlights specific issues in different areas of the pitch. For example, it might flag up a lack of defensive pressure on your right flank or show that central defence doesn’t have enough players providing attacking cover.

This isn’t just a surface-level review either. The tool digs into positional responsibilities, showing you where your system might be under-resourced. If your midfield lacks creativity or your full-backs aren’t overlapping enough, it’s all laid out in an easy-to-read format.

Recommendations and Partnerships

One of the most useful parts of Rate My Tactic is its recommendations. It doesn’t just point out problem, it suggests practical changes to help fix them. That could mean adding a second player on an attack duty, tweaking defensive pressure on one side of the pitch, or rethinking overlapping instructions.

It also looks at player partnerships all over the pitch. You’ll see how your midfielders link up, whether your attackers are combining effectively, and if your wide players and full-backs are working together properly. Spotting the difference between “low-risk direct partnerships” and “overloading interchanging partnerships” gives you a better idea of how fluid your tactic really is.

How It’s Helped Me

This website has helped me in so many different ways. The biggest thing it’s done for me is kill certain pre-conceived notions about tactics that weren’t based on fact. For example, for every tactic I always thought that putting ‘pass into space’ just made your tactic better. But then after looking at my tactic on this website, it actually builds a lot of risk into your play, and that might be why I concede so many goals at times. The whole Football Manager meta is around high-pressing and the most extreme ways of playing. High tempo, high line… you get the drill. But this website has been great at showing me that a more realistic way of approaching tactics is finding balance. Obviously, when you’re the superior team, you can slide everything up and make that superiority count. But when you’re managing a team that’s predicted to finish 19th, you need to be pragmatic and ensure there are no weak points in your tactic. This tool has also been great at showing what roles complement each other and which roles… do not work together.

Final Thoughts

This is the perfect accompaniment to your Football Manager save if you’re still unsure on tactics. Is it perfect? No, it still gets some tactics slightly wrong, as realised by people who play the game a lot. But it is generally very close to what tactics work best and is great if you just want to fine-tune your tactics. The explanations and level of detail also help you develop your tactical understanding, so it isn’t just a short-term crutch. Have you used this tool? Do you think it’s helpful? Let me know in the comment section!