Counter Attack Question

Im playing as Man Utd and as my team for e.g defend a corner and are on a counter it seems like the player in possession does not pass the ball he could have 3 other players supporting him in onside positions and 1 defender left and a pass would ensure a clear 1 on 1 chance but for some reason the player carries on running into the defender and my tactics tell the player not to run with the ball and there is no free roles or creativity... please help

I don't think anyone can give you a definite answer, could be attributed to a number of things.

First of all when a counter attack is triggered players individual instructions (don't know which) get bumped up. So forward runs and probably running with ball change from rarely to mixed and so on.

Second your players mental abilities might be the problem. He could have low team work or bad decisions.

I know know how you feel though sometimes I don't get the decisions made by the players in the game. To be fair to SI though players decisions IRL leave me baffled sometimes to so...

I agree with bardock, for the most part.

The mental attributes Team Work, Decisions, Anticipation, and Creativity will all affect whether or not the player "spots" the open pass.

Tactically, his Passing and Through Balls will both impact this decision. If his passing is very Short, he's not likely to play what he perceives as a risky through ball to his teammates. If you turn his Passing up towards Direct, and turn Through Balls on, he should be much more willing to make that sort of pass.

I'd bet that's the area giving you problems; I can't imagine your Man-U-standard players having low enough Decisions, Team Work, and Creativity to miss an obvious pass.

Note that this is exactly the sort of situation "Creative Freedom" is designed to help out with: essentially, no Creative Freedom means "Do exactly what I tell you, all the time." An average or above-average Creative Freedom would mean "Look, do what I tell you, but if you spot a better opportunity, go ahead and try it." With that instruction, plus Short passing, your player might be more willing to try the pass to his teammate in the "obvious" situation.

I'd highly recommend that with Man U, all of your midfield, wing, and attack players be given average Creative Freedom at a minimum - otherwise, why spend big bucks to get creative geniuses like Ronaldo, Rooney, and Scholes? Trust their decision-making, and I bet you'll reap the rewards.

Amaroq covered basically everything, I think most gamers are wary of giving too much Creative Freedom to players.

On a side note about counter attacking, I hate how a striker with 18+ for Acceleration and Pace gets easily caught by a defender with 10-12 for those stats. They striker seems to hold back, he should knock the ball forward so he can sprint past the defender.