FM26 Derek McInnes Rangers 2026-27 | 4-2-3-1 to 4-4-2 Recreation (Patreon)

Back to Scotland for this one, recreating Derek McInnes' Rangers with a 4-2-3-1 that becomes a much more traditional 4-4-2 out of possession.

And the full-season run ended with a domestic treble.

🏆 Season Results

✅ William Hill Premiership Winners🏆 Scottish Cup Winners🏆 Premier Sports Cup Winners❌ Champions League Round of 16, eliminated by Real Madrid

Premiership

98 points31 wins5 draws2 defeats117 goals scored25 goals conceded+92 goal difference

The home record was particularly strong:

19 games19 wins70 goals scored9 conceded

Away from home we finished with:

12 wins5 draws2 defeats47 goals scored16 conceded

So the league was not just won, it was built on a very strong balance between attacking output and defensive stability.

📊 Full Run

Across all competitions:

65 games48 wins10 draws7 defeats

⚽ 192 goals scored🛡️ 66 goals conceded📈 +126 goal difference🔥 73% win rate

This wasn't designed as an OP META adaptation.

The objective was to stay much closer to the football and the structure I wanted to recreate, then see how far that could go inside FM26.

And in this case it went pretty far.

⚙️ The Shape

The base is a 4-2-3-1, but the important part is what happens without the ball.

In Possession

We keep the attacking midfielder underneath the striker, with the wide players providing different behaviours on each side.

The structure is deliberately asymmetric.

One flank can attack much more aggressively, while the other side gives us more stability and helps control the transitions.

The midfield also isn't built around two identical players.

One can attack space and contribute further forward, while the other gives us a more stable connection behind the attacking line.

Out of Possession

The shape becomes a much clearer 4-4-2.

The attacking midfielder moves alongside the striker, while the wide players recover into the midfield line.

That gives us:

4 defenders4 midfielders2 forwards

A much more traditional defensive structure, but one that still gives us enough attacking presence when possession is recovered.

📈 Team Numbers

The Data Hub gives a good picture of what the tactic produced in the league:

3.1 goals per game0.7 goals conceded per game21.8 shots per game2.6 non-penalty xG per 900.8 xGA per game88.2% passing78.0% tackle success

The attacking output is obviously the first thing that stands out.

But what I like here is that we didn't need to completely destroy the defensive structure to generate those numbers.

117 goals in the league while conceding only 25 is a very good combination.

🔥 Player Output

The system also produced some very strong individual numbers.

Youssef Chermiti

67 goals12 assists7.55 average rating

The striker was the main reference and obviously the biggest beneficiary of the structure.

Oliver Antman

24 goals26 assists

A massive contribution from the left side.

Mikey Moore

27 goals18 assists

Another huge source of goals and creativity from behind the striker.

Tuur Rommens

5 goals23 assists

The left side was extremely productive throughout the season.

And that is one of the important things with this system: the goals are not coming from one single pattern.

You have the striker, the attacking midfielder, wide players and full-back or wing-back involvement all contributing in different ways.

🧠 Recreation vs META Adaptation

This is always an important distinction for me.

A recreation is not the same thing as taking the general idea of a manager and then changing everything necessary to exploit the match engine.

Adapting something to Football Manager is normal.

But adaptation doesn't automatically mean exploitation.

Here I wanted to keep the identity of the system recognisable.

Could I probably squeeze even more out of it by changing roles, movements or defensive behaviours purely for the FM26 match engine?

Of course.

But then at some point it stops being a Derek McInnes recreation and becomes another tactic using his formation as a starting point.

That wasn't the objective here.

🏁 Final Thoughts

This was a very strong season.

98 points.117 league goals.25 conceded.Domestic treble.

And the Champions League run only ended in the Round of 16 against Real Madrid.

What I like most is probably the balance.

The tactic can attack with numbers without completely losing the defensive shape, while the 4-4-2 out of possession gives it a much more recognisable structure when we don't have the ball.

It is still a recreation, so there are always things that could be pushed further if the only objective was maximizing results.

But that's exactly the line I don't want to cross with these projects.

The idea is to reproduce the football first, then understand what FM26 allows us to do with it.

And here the result was a domestic treble and 192 goals across the full run.

📦 Pack Includes

✅ FM26 tactic file✅ Save file✅ Tactical screenshots✅ Full season results✅ Team Instructions and Player Instructions video for console players

Every match was played during the run.

Game played in 3D.