Tactics Effectivity

Special tactics influence the game fundamentally. Pressing and counter attack influence the number of chances. Attack in the middle and on the wing cause a shift in the distribution of attacks. The effectiveness of the tactic is proportional to the skill of the acting team. In the following table, you see how much effect tactics do have.

Counter Attack and Pressing

From the rules:

Pressing
Pressing means that all of your players try to put pressure on their opponents. They also put slightly more effort into breaking up your opponent's attacks than trying to create their own. The result is that the total number of potential chances in the game gets reduced for both teams.
The disadvantage of this tactic is that it will drain the stamina of your players faster than normal.

Counter-Attacks
With counter-attacks, when your opponents fails to score from an attack, you get a chance to launch a counter-attack. Only one of the teams can use this benefit, namely the team that is not dominating the midfield. If you are dominating the midfield, then you will just suffer the disadvantage (see below) of this tactic.
On the other hand, this tactic can be very useful if you have a strong defence and a good attack but your midfield is bad. This is especially so if your opponent has the opposite situation, as a good midfield and ineffective attack is a way of ensuring that you give your opponent a lot of missed chances from which to counter-attack.
The disadvantage of this tactic is that you lose 7% of your midfield capacity.

				Team							Opponent
Tactic		num		Goals		Poss	G50%		GS1=S2		Goals		Poss	G50%		GS1=S2
N	0	9509		23902	2.51	51.24	2.45	58.0	2.49		21895	2.30	48.76	2.36	57.5	2.32
N	1	39731		96953	2.44	51.31	2.38	56.5	2.42		89385	2.25	48.69	2.31	56.0	2.27
N	8	337094		777986	2.31	51.69	2.23	45.0	2.31		697747	2.07	48.31	2.14	45.0	2.07
PR	1	5		0	0.00	1.50	0.00	5.0	0.00		45	9.00	98.50	4.57	55.5	0.81
PR	2	32		1	0.03	9.09	0.17	16.0	0.10		243	7.59	90.91	4.18	52.5	2.31
PR	3	1039		1205	1.16	39.94	1.45	29.0	1.50		3797	3.65	60.06	3.04	37.5	2.83
PR	4	9060		11708	1.29	43.62	1.48	37.5	1.45		25166	2.78	56.38	2.46	42.0	2.48
PR	5	8650		9664	1.12	42.98	1.30	47.0	1.21		21218	2.45	57.02	2.15	51.0	2.26
PR	6	3248		3222	0.99	42.17	1.18	52.5	1.04		6987	2.15	57.83	1.86	55.0	2.05
PR	7	938		935	1.00	42.23	1.18	54.5	1.02		1828	1.95	57.77	1.69	56.0	1.90
PR	8	230		235	1.02	41.42	1.23	56.5	1.02		407	1.77	58.58	1.51	56.5	1.77
PR	9	59		53	0.90	41.03	1.09	57.5	0.95		115	1.95	58.97	1.65	60.5	1.85
PR	10	24		17	0.71	40.77	0.87	62.0	0.72		33	1.38	59.23	1.16	63.0	1.35
PR	11	4		6	1.50	44.38	1.69	66.5	1.45		6	1.50	55.63	1.35	64.5	1.55
CA	2	6		0	0.00	14.67	0.00	19.5	0.00		54	9.00	85.33	5.27	53.5	3.28
CA	3	60		32	0.53	27.13	0.98	25.5	0.95		344	5.73	72.88	3.93	45.5	3.21
CA	4	739		863	1.17	37.39	1.56	30.5	1.47		2988	4.04	62.61	3.23	38.5	3.20
CA	5	2972		3716	1.25	38.70	1.62	37.0	1.42		10544	3.55	61.30	2.89	42.0	3.13
CA	6	5109		6303	1.23	37.92	1.63	42.0	1.37		16507	3.23	62.08	2.60	46.5	2.92
CA	7	7043		8493	1.21	36.44	1.65	45.5	1.30		21188	3.01	63.56	2.37	49.0	2.79
CA	8	8021		9623	1.20	35.32	1.70	47.0	1.28		22239	2.77	64.68	2.14	50.0	2.61
CA	9	6665		7674	1.15	34.46	1.67	49.5	1.21		16786	2.52	65.54	1.92	52.0	2.40
CA	10	5349		6682	1.25	34.49	1.81	52.0	1.26		12508	2.34	65.51	1.78	52.5	2.32
CA	11	4086		5349	1.31	34.24	1.91	54.0	1.30		8589	2.10	65.76	1.60	53.5	2.12
CA	12	2480		3367	1.36	33.63	2.02	55.0	1.33		4749	1.91	66.37	1.44	54.0	1.95
CA	13	1543		2235	1.45	33.48	2.16	56.0	1.40		2941	1.91	66.52	1.43	54.0	1.98
CA	14	809		1284	1.59	34.01	2.33	58.5	1.48		1404	1.74	65.99	1.31	54.5	1.86
CA	15	481		825	1.72	34.50	2.49	60.5	1.56		853	1.77	65.39	1.36	55.0	1.95
CA	16	120		210	1.75	33.66	2.60	61.5	1.58		197	1.64	66.34	1.24	55.5	1.82
CA	17	27		33	1.22	30.06	2.03	60.5	1.13		56	2.07	69.94	1.48	56.0	2.24
CA	18	12		19	1.58	29.04	2.73	62.0	1.49		16	1.33	70.96	0.94	58.5	1.41
CA	19	4		8	2.00	27.50	3.64	65.0	1.97		5	1.25	72.50	0.86	64.0	1.27

Attack In The Middle, On Wings

From the rules:

Attack in the middle
When using AIM, your team attempts to make more of your attacks down the centre of the pitch, at the expense of attacks on the wings. In other words, you trade attacks down the wings for attacks through the centre. You get a straight one for one exchange, so the total number of attacks remains constant.
The disadvantage of this tactic is that your wing defence gets somewhat worse.

Attack on Wings
This works in the same way as AIM, only in reverse. Instead of more attacks coming in the center, you get more of your attacks on the wings.
Similarly to AIM, the disadvantage is that it weakens your central defence.

				Central attacks		Wing attacks		Others		Attacker			Defender
Tactic		num		#	%	#	%	#	%	MF	CA	WA	MF	CA	WA
N	0	9509		14289	36.64%	17933	45.98%	6776	17.38%	7.6	7.8	6.3	6.6	8.1	7.2
N	1	39731		59119	36.98%	72152	45.14%	28582	17.88%	7.6	7.7	6.4	6.7	8.2	7.3
N	8	337094		473979	35.50%	614645	46.03%	246686	18.47%	6.1	6.2	5.4	5.4	6.9	6.2
AiM	0	1104		1913	45.22%	1367	32.32%	950	22.46%	3.6	4.6	4.0	3.3	4.8	4.6
AiM	4	1		0		0		0		1.1	1.4	1.4	6.4	5.9	4.5
AiM	5	18		27	46.55%	17	29.31%	14	24.14%	3.5	3.9	3.3	3.7	5.6	5.3
AiM	6	387		598	45.27%	459	34.75%	264	19.98%	5.1	5.1	4.1	4.6	6.2	5.6
AiM	7	2706		5049	50.04%	3240	32.11%	1800	17.84%	5.8	6.0	4.3	5.1	6.5	5.8
AiM	8	9421		18783	51.67%	11393	31.34%	6179	17.00%	6.0	6.4	4.4	5.2	6.6	5.9
AiM	9	15177		32391	52.95%	18687	30.55%	10097	16.51%	6.3	6.8	4.4	5.4	6.8	6.0
AiM	10	14796		32966	53.92%	18359	30.03%	9818	16.06%	6.6	7.3	4.6	5.7	7.1	6.3
AiM	11	10092		23428	54.61%	12695	29.59%	6775	15.79%	7.2	8.0	4.8	6.1	7.5	6.5
AiM	12	4657		11707	56.20%	5998	28.80%	3125	15.00%	7.9	8.8	4.9	6.6	8.0	6.8
AiM	13	2413		6229	57.22%	3046	27.98%	1611	14.80%	8.5	9.7	5.0	7.0	8.5	7.1
AiM	14	1188		3167	58.55%	1481	27.38%	761	14.07%	8.9	10.0	5.2	7.3	8.8	7.3
AiM	15	605		1626	56.03%	847	29.19%	429	14.78%	9.1	10.6	5.3	7.4	8.9	7.2
AiM	16	302		847	57.04%	421	28.35%	217	14.61%	9.0	11.0	5.4	7.4	9.2	7.3
AiM	17	204		548	56.03%	274	28.02%	156	15.95%	9.2	11.4	5.6	7.7	9.2	7.3
AiM	18	106		278	55.27%	132	26.24%	93	18.49%	9.0	12.0	5.6	7.7	9.2	7.2
AiM	19	29		88	53.99%	55	33.74%	20	12.27%	9.4	11.8	5.8	7.3	9.1	7.5
AiM	20	25		72	53.33%	45	33.33%	18	13.33%	8.5	11.3	6.5	6.4	9.3	8.0
AoW	0	1281		1380	29.32%	2199	46.72%	1128	23.96%	3.3	4.1	4.4	3.1	4.8	4.4
AoW	5	27		13	17.57%	46	62.16%	15	20.27%	5.3	4.2	5.6	5.8	6.4	6.2
AoW	6	255		174	20.62%	501	59.36%	169	20.02%	5.1	3.8	6.0	4.7	6.3	5.8
AoW	7	1655		1185	21.68%	3135	57.34%	1147	20.98%	5.1	4.2	6.1	4.9	6.4	5.9
AoW	8	4762		4075	24.06%	9372	55.34%	3487	20.59%	5.3	4.6	6.2	5.0	6.5	6.0
AoW	9	6653		6445	25.90%	13466	54.12%	4972	19.98%	5.4	4.9	6.2	5.1	6.6	6.0
AoW	10	5494		5633	26.54%	11391	53.67%	4202	19.80%	5.7	5.3	6.5	5.3	6.9	6.2
AoW	11	3177		3326	26.71%	6780	54.45%	2345	18.83%	6.3	5.6	7.1	5.7	7.3	6.6
AoW	12	1146		1332	27.73%	2608	54.29%	864	17.99%	7.0	6.2	7.7	6.2	7.9	7.1
AoW	13	536		672	28.41%	1281	54.16%	412	17.42%	7.4	6.6	8.1	6.4	8.2	7.3
AoW	14	288		385	29.14%	732	55.41%	204	15.44%	8.1	7.2	8.5	7.1	8.3	7.4
AoW	15	135		176	29.68%	322	54.30%	95	16.02%	7.9	7.3	8.4	6.8	8.7	7.7
AoW	16	40		52	30.06%	96	55.49%	25	14.45%	7.2	7.1	8.4	6.4	8.8	7.8
AoW	17	19		25	31.65%	41	51.90%	13	16.46%	6.9	8.8	8.4	6.4	7.7	6.8
AoW	18	5		11	55.00%	6	30.00%	3	15.00%	7.9	8.3	10.3	7.6	7.1	6.8
AoW	19	3		5	35.71%	8	57.14%	1	7.14%	7.0	10.1	7.8	4.9	5.5	4.7