When Dominic Kinnear slips out of his well-worn 4-4-2 and into something more comfortable, you know there is a darn good reason. The Houston Dynamo manager, who has long worshiped at the altar of the ...

We tend to spend disproportionate time on Toronto FC in Talking Tactics. It may seem like an uneven share among 18 MLS sides, especially considering that TFC now reside squarely in “We’ll get ‘em next ...

Tactics in soccer are great. They are fascinating. Diving into them allows for a deeper look into the game, an embrace of the chess-match element inherent in the sport, and a whole new series of ...

Formations. What are they? What do they mean? Why so many numbers? And so forth. As part of a series I'm going to be doing on this blog explaining some of the ins and outs of soccer to new fans, let's ...

Since the innovation of the flat 4 in the late 1980’s, most professional and international teams have adopted the system as part of their standard tactics. In its most common evolution, the flat 4 is ...

Update: Another new patch has dropped, so we've updated our tactics codes for the best formations in FC 26 to suit the current meta. As the tactics meta has evolved since the start of FC 26, one thing ...

The Red & Black is a 501c3 nonprofit. Please consider a one-time gift or become a monthly supporter. Cancel anytime. Before coming to Athens, Georgia soccer head coach Billy Lesesne served 14 years on ...

Jeff Kassouf covers women's soccer for ESPN, focusing on the USWNT and NWSL. In 2009, he founded The Equalizer, a women's soccer news outlet, and he previously won a Sports Emmy at NBC Sports and ...

Once you choose a team to manage in Career Mode, you should use these formations, including advanced late-game options.