Do You Alter Player Instructions

This question came to mind after I failed miserably in my last save with Darlington. Even though I had eventually got together a batch of players that would probably have cut it in the Championship, I never could win promotion from League Two.

I've always only touched the slider bars for player instructions, and I thought my lack of care for the player instructions as a whole may have contributed to my bad results. Do you tend to the player instructions, and how useful are the default player instructions? (The ones you can select from the drop down list).

Square - I can't imagine trying to play as you've described.

I'm all over the Player Instructions, and I think they're the big difference between my various tactics.

I use six different tactics, all rooted in the 4-4-2. I save them off, then load them pre-match, depending on the opponent, around the 20th-25th minute if I'm unhappy with our performance, at halftime depending on the situation, and then possibly once, possibly numerous times between the 55th-90th minutes as the situation evolves.

The changes in Player Instructions are actually much more dramatic than those in the overall team setting!

Looking, for example, at my right back, he is set as follows:

"Tactic":         Attack      Control     Aggressive  Conservative Def/Counter  Park the Bus

Mentality         Attacking   Normal      Normal      Normal       Normal       Defensive
Creative Freedom  Much        Normal      Normal      Normal       Normal       Little
Passing Style     Direct      Mixed       Mixed       Mixed        Direct       Direct
Closing Down      Whole Pitch Own Half    Own Half    Own Half     Own Half     Own Area
Tackling          Normal      Normal      Hard        Hard         Normal       Easy

Forward Runs      Often       Often       Mixed       Mixed        Mixed        Rarely
Run With Ball     Often       Often       Mixed       Mixed        Mixed        Rarely
Long Shots        Mixed       Mixed       Often       Often        Mixed        Mixed
Through Balls     Mixed       Often       Often       Often        Mixed        Rarely
Cross Ball        Often       Mixed       Mixed       Mixed        Mixed        Rarely

Cross From        Mixed       Mixed       Mixed       Mixed        Deep         Deep
Marking           Man         Man         Man         Man          Man          Man
Tight Mark        Yes         Yes         Yes         Yes          Yes          Yes
Hold Up Ball      No          Yes         No          No           No           No

Att. Set Piece    Forward     If Needed   If Needed   If Needed    If Needed    Stay Back
Att. Corner       Far Post    Att. Far    Att. Far    Far Post     Lurk Out.    Stay Back
Att. Throw (R)    Forward     Come Short  Come Short  Come Short   Come Short   Come Short
Att. Throw (L)    Forward     Lurk Out.   Come Short  Stay Back    Stay Back    Stay Back

As you can see, I'm asking him to do very different things at different stages of the game.

If we're chasing a goal (Attack, Control), he's making forward runs, he's allowed to carry the ball all the way to the byline, and he's very involved in our attacking set pieces.

For normal situations (Aggressive, Conservative), he's allowed to get involved in the attack, but not encouraged to; I want him to mind his defensive responsibilities, too. He's more likely to play through balls or shoot from range than carry the ball into the corner. On set pieces, he's involved, but only in a sensible way.

When defending a lead (Def.Counter, Park The Bus), he's encouraged to stay back, mind his defensive responsibilities, and send it direct to the midfield or strikers. I don't want him carrying the ball up the pitch himself, and if he does get far enough upfield to send in a cross, I want him to cross from deep. On set pieces, he's basically told to stay at home - that's especially important on the "Park The Bus" tactic as there's nothing worse than getting beaten on the counter after a corner-kick. (To counter both the 4-2-4 and the 2-3-5, you're going to want two or three players on "Stay Back" and a total of five on either "Stay Back" or "Back If Needed".)

Its all about what I want him to do, given the situation - simply telling the side "Be More Defensive Now" (lower mentality setting) isn't going to tell him to stay at home if I still have him on "Forward Runs: Often" and going forward at every set piece!