A Nifty Guide to Football — Tactics and Strategy
With the launch of Nifty Football Beta ever imminent, there’ll be plenty of tactics and strategy for seasoned management gamers and the wider world of football fans alike to get their teeth into. We decided to break down some of the basics for those interested in the project, but not necessarily the sport.
Nifty Football has naturally attracted many Web 3.0 natives since its initial inception in 2019 and many OG card holders value the project for Stanley Chow’s desirable artwork at least as much as for the game concept. Nevertheless, at the heart of our vision is a management simulator that gives these NFTs utility, and there’s been no shortage of interest, even from non-football fans, with an ever-growing list of volunteers vying to help us through the Beta phase.
In the game, you’ll select your team, organise the players into formation and give instructions regarding style of play, to mention but a few of the tactical features that will make or break your managerial reputation. Furthermore, at the heart of the gameplay is what you do as a manager during games, which will ultimately be played in real time against other human managers.
For the very very basics, I’m afraid you’ll have to consult Wikipedia, but assuming you’ve grasped the concept of ‘stick the ball in the net more times than they do’, let’s look into some of the basic decisions you’ll have to make.
Formation
Your outfield players are divided into three main categories: defenders, midfielders and attackers (also called forwards or strikers). It’s usually advisable to have between three and five defenders, three and five midfielders and between one and three attackers. Players are then further divided into left-sided, central and right-sided. Each Nifty Football player NFT has his preferred position visible along with his many attributes and it’s not advisable to place him more than one position away from his preference.
When you first generate your squad, your players will be randomly placed in a default formation that will not necessarily be suitable for them, so before you even play your first match you’ll have to go through them with a fine tooth comb and get to know their strengths and weaknesses.
At this point you should discover how well the talent in your squad is distributed. You may have an abundance of good midfielders but only one striker worthy of the name. You may find you have no left-sided defenders and so you need to select a midfielder with the right attributes to fill in.
Further down the line you’ll be earning XP and you’ll be able to level up the weak links in your team. Following the minting of the NFT players and the token launch toward the end of this year, you’ll also be able to buy and sell players in order to have a more balanced squad and that thing which all managers crave — strength in depth.
Strength in depth means that you have all positions covered by quality players and you can adjust your tactics however you please, rather than having them dictated to you by circumstance.
At this point, your choice of formation largely depends on the quality of the opposition and to some extent, whether or not you have home advantage. Remember that built-up stadiums in Nifty Football will earn you extra XP as the 12th man (football fans’ affectionate nickname for themselves) helps instil confidence in the side.
A more confident manager will play a more attacking formation, taking more risks but banking on the superiority of his players over the opposition. A classic example of an attacking formation would be 4–3–3. With this formation you’ll be hoping to establish a two or three-goal lead before reverting to a safer system.
Alternatively, your game plan may be simply damage limitation. You’ll play five at the back, four in midfield and a lone striker in the hope of absorbing the pressure and coming away with a lucky, narrow victory or a draw.
Squad Tactics
Nifty Football Beta is an experimental period in which we plan to really hone the gameplay and for that reason you’ll see a full range of tactical features, even if the buying and selling of players comes later. What’s more, all players will begin very low level, so it’s all about the tactics. The following instructions can be left as default for every game or changed on a daily basis to keep the opposition guessing. More importantly, you can change them during a match in order to respond in real time to events on the pitch.
Game Tempo
If the opposition is playing you off the park, keeping possession and creating chances, you’ll want to try and break their rhythm by slowing the game down. Take it easy, make safe passes and frustrate them. In other words, bore them into submission. This is sometimes known as the Italian style of football. On the other hand, if you’re losing and running out of time, you’ll want to up the tempo in the hope of getting that all-important last-minute goal.
Aggression
Superior opposition can often be rattled by aggressive play but naturally this kind of strategy comes with disciplinary risks. A yellow card from the referee is a warning; a red card means your player is sent off and your opponent has a numerical advantage. The alternative is to sit back and let them play. As with game tempo, it really depends on how quickly and how desperately you need a goal.
Goal Kicks
If you have a confident team who can pass the ball well you may choose to instruct your goalkeeper to start with a simple, short pass to a defender and look to play out from there. However, if your team is a bunch of donkeys, it may be best that he hits it as hard as he possibly can and you hope it finds one of your strikers. This choice also depends on the quality of your goalkeeper’s distribution and the strength and heading ability of your strikers.
Style of Play
Much like the guidance on game tempo, your choice here depends largely on the quality of the opposition and the actual scoreline at any given moment during the match. If you need a goal, or you’re confident of your team’s ability, press high. If you already have an advantage however (and especially if the opposition are desperate for a goal) you’ll look to absorb all their pressure and catch them with a lightning counter attack. In this way, a marginally-deserved victory can result in a flattering scoreline.
Direction
Analysis of your own teams’ strengths compared to those of the opposition will help you decide where to try and concentrate play when you have possession. If you have fast wingers and they have slow full-backs, for example, you should instruct your team to use the flanks. If you have a midfield engine far superior to theirs, keep play directly in the centre.
Marking
Zonal marking is for a well-organised team with defenders who can think quickly and coordinate between themselves. If you don’t have this luxury you’ll have to employ the tactic of man-marking, which means your players may be drawn out of position. Against similar-level opposition this shouldn’t be too much of a worry but as your team develops you might like to practice zonal marking, even if there are mistakes made in the early days.
Roles
Before any match it’s a good idea to establish who is responsible for certain duties, so as to ensure you have the best man designated for any given task. These role assignments can be fairly permanent if your match-day squad doesn’t change much. Just remember that if you drop a player or he loses his place due to injury, you need to re-assign any role he had.
Key to assigning roles is thorough analysis of your players’ attributes. As you can see below, some of these decisions are very simple, so to overlook them would be an unforgivable dereliction of your duty as a manager.
Captain
Your captain should be the player with the highest stat for leadership. After that, a general appraisal of all mental attributes should help you identify your best man.
Free-Kick, Penalty and Corner Takers
Abilities to carry out these tasks are clearly shown in your players’ attributes. For each role simply choose the player with the highest number for that particular attribute.
Throw-in Taker
Ability to take throw-ins is not listed in the attributes. It’s not particularly important, but you should probably assign the role to a winger or a full-back.
Scouting the Opposition
Much of the above instruction is based on knowing what you’re up against, but how do we know what we’re up against? Once you know your own team and have organised them in such a way you feel puts their skills to best effect, your next task should be a full analysis of the opposition.
In the dashboard section of the platform under your own current team selection you’ll see your next opposition and below that you’ll also see the current league table. The first thing that gives you a glimpse of their quality is their position in that table, though this is only really helpful in the latter stages of the season.
By clicking on the team name you can see all their players, their current form and how they lined up against previous opposition.
If you’re lucky, the tactics and formation you see will be exactly how they turn up on match day. Many human players will probably play the same team and tactics every week. However, there’s always a danger that they’ll bluff you and make wholesale changes at the last moment! Wily managers will evade prediction!
Match Day
Key to the Nifty Football experience is the adrenaline-pumping match day confrontation which takes place in real time on a daily basis and is where you’ll earn most of your XP. Beta and the Onboarding Season feature only matches against the computer, but eventually you’ll play against human managers and you’ll need your wits about you in order to come out victorious!
If you’ve followed all the instructions above then you’ll begin the match with a solid plan to either contain the opposition or penetrate them as quickly as possible. Remember, you can adjust your tactics at any time, as well as make substitutions.
If you go ahead, especially against a good team, you may well choose to slow down, counter attack and keep your men behind the ball. However, a one-goal advantage is pretty flimsy. If you feel confident, you may hold out for a two or three-goal cushion before you ‘park the bus’.
Keep a close eye on the match stats to see what’s working and what’s not. If you have all the possession but no shots on target, perhaps a change or direction is in order. If you’re picking up too many yellow cards you need to tone down that aggression.
The primary reason for making substitutions is to replace an injured player, so your selection of substitutes on match day should cover as many positions as possible. Beyond that, you should try to have a plan B. That is, one or two players in reserve that will allow you to change system and surprise your opposition.
Starting from the Bottom
As mentioned multiple times in this series, all newly generated players will be low level, so tactics and strategy are paramount in Nifty Football. Even in the long term, when the transfer market is open, you’ll need tactical prowess and reputation to rule the touchlines — it won’t be enough to simply buy the best players and then not show up.
In the early days it’s all about trial and error — you’ll learn from your mistakes as all the most successful people do. In fact, in Beta, you’ll learn from our mistakes too, as the game engine, the XP reward system and the entire tactical conundrum is constantly subject to review and improvement.
Remember though, Nifty Football will always be accessible to players at any level, regardless of the time you can afford to dedicate or the money you’re willing to spend.
If you’d like to help us out by playing Nifty Football Beta, reach Breakthrough Prospect level in our Discord Community or sign up here for random selection. OG card holders are automatically invited too. We’ll gradually augment the number of players as we go along and though the game is off-chain at this point, all the XP you earn will be carried forward when the full PvP game becomes a reality.
Disclaimer: This article is not trading nor investment advice nor financial advice. I am not a financial advisor. The above article is for informational and educational purposes only. Please do your own research before making any financial decision especially purchasing or investing in any stock or digital asset.
