The complete FM26 guide to Tonda Eckert's real-life Southampton system — 118 Championship points, 110 goals and a Carabao Cup through a fluid 3-2-5 that overloads the last line of attack.
On the 2nd November, 2025, Southampton officially parted ways with Manager Will Still following an abysmal start to the season, which left the club languishing low down the Championship table — just three points clear of the relegation zone. His successor? 33-year-old German coach, Tonda Eckert, on an initial interim basis. However, following a fantastic first month in charge of the Saints, Eckert was given the permanent role and has since been the driving force of their late promotion charge, with the club going 20 matches unbeaten in all competitions, before Manchester City flexed their muscles to defeat the underdog 2-1 recently. Now, at the time of writing, Southampton's hopes of returning to the promised land of the Premier League are looking stronger than ever. But how has Tonda Eckert changed the Saints' fortunes and steered them towards the automatic promotion spots?
Aggressive Attacking Intentions
Southampton have been free-scoring since Tonda Eckert arrived at the club, with impressive, scintillating victories against Wrexham — 1-5 — and QPR — 5-0 — at the forefront. This is largely thanks to their aggressive, attacking-based system from where multiple deep players are given licence to move forward: often, you'll see as many as six players in Southampton's last line of attack, allowing the side to overload the opposition's backline and generate high-xG chances as a result. Southampton's in-possession shape can situationally alternate between a 3-1-6, a 3-2-5, and a 2-3-5.
Flawless Versatility
Whilst Southampton's in-possession shapes may suggest otherwise, Tonda Eckert's side are not wedded to a possession-based style of play and have shown incredible versatility across his tenure, situationally switching between a controlled, more patient style of play and a more direct, chaotic style of play. This versatility makes Southampton a complete outfit, one that's capable of dominating any game-state at any time.
Let's Break Down the Tactic
In Possession
Southampton's versatile style of play can be seen right from the beginning of their attacking moves, as, from build-up, they can situationally switch between drawing the opposition high and playing through the press — using shorter passes — and bypassing the press with a direct ball forward. Either way, once they bypass the build-up phase, Tonda's side will look to penetrate the space in-behind the opposition's defence often, using searching through balls to pierce said space.
Additionally, Southampton tend to search for the overlapping and underlapping runs that support their wingers constantly, and passes into space can optimally supply said runs with sufficient service. Upon reaching the final third, Tonda's Saints are patient in their attacking exploits, looking to use their numerical advantage on the last line to great effect. In general, Tonda's side operate at a high pace, predominantly using shorter passes to control the game — however, upon winning back the ball, Southampton are ruthless on the counter-attack.
Out of Possession
When Southampton don't have the ball, they will look to press high in an aggressive manner, and can often go man-to-man if the situation deems it best fit. The aim of Saints' high-press is based around forcing the opposition into wide areas, from where Southampton can unforgivably lock into their man-oriented approach and stifle the opposition's advances. For a detailed breakdown of how high-press and man-oriented defensive systems work in FM26, our FM26 pressing principles guide is an excellent companion read.
To supplement said high-press, Tonda Eckert instructs his defensive block to hold a higher line to compact the space in midfield — however, if Southampton's high-press is beaten or played through, the defensive line will happily drop off to preserve a solid block. Finally, upon losing the ball, Southampton will aggressively counter-press to try and regain possession as quickly as possible.
Player Roles
Goalkeeper | Goalkeeper
In this system, the 'keeper's role is very simple as he'll predominantly focus on his shot-stopping responsibilities, steering clear of any extra-curricular tasks.
Full-Back | Full-Back
The right-back, in this system, is very tactically flexible and his positioning often depends on those around him — in general, he will sit narrower, as this allows him to either sit deeper to form a back-three with the two centre-backs or sit in a solid, inverted position in the midfield line in Southampton's wide 2-3-5 shape. From here, the right-back will often make runs beyond the midfield line and the winger ahead of him to supply crucial overlapping and underlapping runs.
Ball-Playing Centre-Back | Centre-Back — Taylor Harwood-Bellis
The arrival of Tonda Eckert has unlocked Taylor Harwood-Bellis, as the German coach has perfectly platformed the talented, ball-playing defender. In this system, his strong ball-playing qualities have been on show for all to see, and he has thus impressed.
Centre-Back | Centre-Back
The left-sided centre-back, unlike Harwood-Bellis, will largely focus on his defensive responsibilities, delegating most of the deep progression and ball-playing responsibilities to his centre-half partner.
Wing-Back | Full-Back — Left-Back
The left-back, unlike his full-back partner on the opposite side, is quite aggressive in his positioning, as he'll constantly advance high and wide to support Leo Scienza on the left. Additionally, the left-back will look to overlap Scienza often. For a deeper breakdown of how this Wing-Back and Inside Winger combination creates the overloads that power Southampton's attacking shape, our FM26 role synergy guide covers the exact pairings in detail.
Box-to-Box Midfielder | Defensive Midfielder — Shea Charles
Shea Charles has also been a major beneficiary of Saints' managerial change, excelling since Tonda Eckert's arrival as he scored Southampton's winner against Arsenal in the FA Cup and is now being linked to the likes of Manchester United ahead of the forthcoming summer transfer window. In this system, Charles epitomises the 'Box-to-Box Midfielder' role as he operates fantastically between both boxes. Charles is given licence to roam from his position and situationally rotate with Fin Azaz ahead of him, especially if he runs beyond the Irishman.
Upon receiving the ball, Charles will tend to carry the ball forward to great effect, driving his side up the pitch. Finally, when Southampton don't have the ball, both defensive midfielders are incredibly aggressive in closing down opposition midfielders, forcing play wide.
Deep-Lying Playmaker | Defensive Midfielder — Flynn Downes
Flynn Downes, in this system, will largely remain deep and circulate possession. However, he isn't tied down to this responsibility, as, upon receiving the ball, he can carry the ball forward at times to also drive the side forward. Finally, when he doesn't have the ball, Downes will often drop towards the ball and always try to make himself available as a passing option.
Attacking Midfielder | Centre Forward — Fin Azaz
In this system, Fin Azaz plays a key part as a secondary attacking option for the side. From this position, like Charles, he is given licence to roam from his position and this can, at times, lead to him situationally rotating positions with Charles and other team-mates. Upon receiving the ball, Azaz is very adept at carrying the ball forward, like Charles and Downes aforesaid, and he can help to drive Saints forward. At the end of said carries, he'll look to create for those around him using riskier passes. Finally, when Southampton don't have the ball, Azaz will initially move higher to form a front two with Larin before progressively dropping deeper as the Saints block retreats.
Winger | Tracking Wide Midfielder
In this system, the right-winger's role and corresponding responsibilities are very clear: when Southampton have the ball, the right-winger will primarily hold the width. From here, upon receiving the ball, he can take on his man and aim to reach the byline, from where he'll cross the ball into the box. Finally, when Southampton don't have the ball, the right-winger is asked to progressively drop deeper and also track the opposition's left-back, before eventually dropping and forming a back-five for Southampton when in their low-block.
Inside Winger | Wide Midfielder — Leo Scienza
Leo Scienza has been simply stupendous since Tonda Eckert arrived at the club, and has produced a fantastic individual season, directly contributing to 17 Southampton goals. In this system, Scienza will tend to move inside and occupy the left half-space, allowing the left-back beneath him to move higher and wider to hug the touchline and provide overlapping runs. Upon receiving the ball, Scienza will gladly take on the opposition and can drive his team forward, whilst having the confidence to attempt multiple, speculative efforts from distance.
Target Forward | Centre Forward — Cyle Larin
Cyle Larin has turned out to be an astute piece of business by the Saints, excelling in Tonda Eckert's system since arriving in January. Like most around him, Larin is given licence to roam from his position to add further levels of flexibility and unpredictability to Southampton's in-possession game. Upon receiving the ball, Larin can also carry the ball forward like those around him, however, he possesses the ability to read the game well enough to quickly decide whether to drive forward or hold up play to allow his team-mates to join him in attack.
Results
EFL Championship
In testing with Southampton on FM26, we won the league at a canter: 118 points amassed after an exceptional campaign, from where we only tasted defeat twice and won a staggering 37 league games! Across our 46 league games, we scored 110 goals (2.39 goals per game) and conceded just 27 goals (0.58 goals per game) — the league's best for each statistic.
Domestic Cups
Winning the Championship is quite a nice feat. However, avenging Southampton's Wembley woes of 2017 to win the Carabao Cup is something else — a stunning performance saw us defeat Premier League Champions of '25, Liverpool, 0-2 under the Wembley arch to lift the cup! On our way to the Final, we overcame the likes of Aston Villa (1-4 AGG) and Bournemouth (0-3).
The FA Cup, however, wasn't so successful. Newcastle United would go on to end our dreams of a unique treble-winning campaign by beating us 2-0 at St. James' Park in the Quarter-Finals. On our way to that stage, we beat the likes of Birmingham (2-1) and Everton (3-1).
Conclusion
When Will Still was relieved of his duties as Saints' boss, the side were in disarray. Recent relegation from the Premier League — in near historically poor fashion — had dampened pre-season expectations, however, not even the most pessimistic Southampton supporter could've envisioned such a poor start to the season. However, Tonda Eckert has magnificently changed the side's fortunes and has the club looking up; at the time of writing, Southampton are soon to face Ipswich Town in a crunch affair that may well decide who will be heading into the Championship's final day with automatic promotion on the cards — given the form of both outfits, it'd be hard to bet against the Saints.
In any case, the future is looking bright, and Tonda Eckert is the man to thank if you're a Southampton supporter. If you want a taste of this beautiful tactic, make sure to download the tactic using the link attached to this article and make sure to follow FM Blog (@fmbIog) and myself (@AshtonGgmu) on our respective socials. For more FM26 tactical recreations from the modern game, browse the full FM Blog tactics library. I hope you have enjoyed this article, and I wish you much success with this tactic on your saves! Thanks for reading!
