When will the posession issue be finally solved

And when will SI have a word on it?

Well I know there will be 15 replies saying "It's your tactics" but surely a Manchester United team playing at home to Birmingham with the default 4-4-2 and probably the best Midfield in England (along with Chelsea) would be capable of achieveing at least 60% posession?

Well, not according to FM...

but in reality, threy played yesterday and if you remove the last 20 minutes of the game, United had 76% posession... and overall 63%.

I know for fact that most players I have met complain of this too.

What is exactly causing this?

I close opponents down and have slow to mid temo - I have very good passing completion rate and a very high backline... and even when I test stuff like extreme time wasting and very slow temp and no through balls and very defensive, I still struggle to keep the ball.

Some crazy player shoots it to hell despite beign told not to etc..

I know when players have nothing else they do this but why do it when you have other options?

I watch the games in full - just to let you know, and it doest make sense sometimes.

Please have a look at this SI - It's really preventing me from getting over this one little barrier that holds me back from feeling its real.

thank you.

well I bet the other team had 100% posession for 30 seconds or so

I agree Berba, the possesion statistic in this game is quite strange. I don't watch games in full, so can't comment on how full games play out, but something doesn't quite make sense.

I have come to realise that it is often in the games where you have less possesion that you have a thumping victory.

I've played games where the opposition has had 60% possesion against me and they've failed to create ANY good chances and only had about three shots in the whole game, while I've had a hatful of chances. The thing that makes it strange is in all those games I've had a higher pass completion rate than the opposition and am winning more tackles, headers and interceptions and normally tend to press quite up the pitch . Surely all this should mean I should have more of the ball? I've noticed the opposition nearly always have more possesion if they play with one forward and you play with two.

The main problem I have if with how confusing the whole possesion issue is in FM 2009 is that new players may be confused thinking their tactic they have created isn't effective due to the opposition having more possesion than them, when in fact it is a good tactic. The possesion statistic just doesn't matter in FM 2009, when looking at how effective my players passing is in a tactic I have created, I look at just the pass completion statistic.

And when will SI have a word on it?

Well I know there will be 15 replies saying "It's your tactics" but surely a Manchester United team playing at home to Birmingham with the default 4-4-2 and probably the best Midfield in England (along with Chelsea) would be capable of achieveing at least 60% posession?

Well, not according to FM...

but in reality, threy played yesterday and if you remove the last 20 minutes of the game, United had 76% posession... and overall 63%.

I know for fact that most players I have met complain of this too.

What is exactly causing this?

I close opponents down and have slow to mid temo - I have very good passing completion rate and a very high backline... and even when I test stuff like extreme time wasting and very slow temp and no through balls and very defensive, I still struggle to keep the ball.

Some crazy player shoots it to hell despite beign told not to etc..

I know when players have nothing else they do this but why do it when you have other options?

I watch the games in full - just to let you know, and it doest make sense sometimes.

Please have a look at this SI - It's really preventing me from getting over this one little barrier that holds me back from feeling its real.

thank you.

Have you watched your matches on full?

What are you using for mentality?

For the record I had 61% possession in my last match although thats not always the case.

I usually have 55-60% possesion with my tactic (haven't checked for every game), even when my players are doing nothing they usually can keep the ball. A bad game is when they just sit around scratching their rear ends.

The possesion statistic just doesn't matter in FM 2009,

I'd say for a lot of matches, thats true for RL.

I find the Action Zones (or whatever its called) a better indicator of 'dominance'.

I have come to realise that it is often in the games where you have less possesion that you have a thumping victory.

I have noticed that too. Not watching the full matches, get's to boring to quickly. But if I have 40-45% possesion is when I usually win by several goals. I rarely have more than 55% in possesion, no matter the team I play (when being a strong team that is). I find that less possesion is better in this game.

I think it's down to if you are a very good side playing a very weak side, the very weak side will tend to pass the ball around the defence and midfield and play a very slow tempo. So they don't really do anything with the ball, but they can keep it for long periods. This shouldn't be the case, as defenders in a defensive system should be playing direct balls up to the strikers to try and get rid of the ball from the danger area, but that doesn't seem to happen too much in the game. This was definately an issue for FM2008 as well. But i'm sure with the AI using the tactical wizard FM 2010 the passing they use will change so this should happen less.

Do you do short passing?

as long as i'm winning i don't give a monkey's excrement about the possession stats. But thats just me

as long as i'm winning i don't give a monkey's excrement about the possession stats. But thats just me

Same here.

This was my last match.

Shots on target and clear cut chances are the stats I really pay attention to since I play a counter attacking style.

I think it's down to if you are a very good side playing a very weak side, the very weak side will tend to pass the ball around the defence and midfield and play a very slow tempo. So they don't really do anything with the ball, but they can keep it for long periods. This shouldn't be the case, as defenders in a defensive system should be playing direct balls up to the strikers to try and get rid of the ball from the danger area, but that doesn't seem to happen too much in the game. This was definately an issue for FM2008 as well. But i'm sure with the AI using the tactical wizard FM 2010 the passing they use will change so this should happen less.

This.

When you are struggling to get possesion from a weak team, but they are posing no threat, take a look at the action zone screen and you will see that the opposition is having all the possession in defence or midfield. Take a look in the opposition stats to see which players are passing the ball about most and set instructions to have these players closed down at all times, and if needs be, set tackling on them to hard. I can't guarantee it will always work, but it is at least a way to work around the problem.

I think it's down to if you are a very good side playing a very weak side, the very weak side will tend to pass the ball around the defence and midfield and play a very slow tempo. So they don't really do anything with the ball, but they can keep it for long periods. This shouldn't be the case, as defenders in a defensive system should be playing direct balls up to the strikers to try and get rid of the ball from the danger area, but that doesn't seem to happen too much in the game. This was definately an issue for FM2008 as well. But i'm sure with the AI using the tactical wizard FM 2010 the passing they use will change so this should happen less.

That sums up the issue on the user's end. I don't disagree that defensive AI are a little too defensive, but if you don't tweak [D Line, Mentalities, Closing Down] to apply pressure in the right areas quickly enough forcing them to hoof aimlessly then you allow them to keep the ball for long periods.

Every pkm I've seen from people complaining about this has had the exact same problem. I can't post screenshots as proof as I'm not currently a 'big enough' team to cause the AI to go ultra defensive, but past experience as a big team has in most cases matched this concept.

As a side note I'll mention that as far as I know set pieces are included in the possession stat so time wasting AI (throw ins, goal kicks, free kicks) will skew this number. Open to correction by those in the know, but I have a hazy memory of this being posted at some point.

Have you watched your matches on full?

He said he watches the matches in full.

This.

When you are struggling to get possesion from a weak team, but they are posing no threat, take a look at the action zone screen and you will see that the opposition is having all the possession in defence or midfield. Take a look in the opposition stats to see which players are passing the ball about most and set instructions to have these players closed down at all times, and if needs be, set tackling on them to hard. I can't guarantee it will always work, but it is at least a way to work around the problem.

No No and No.

that is true if you look at it in a computed mathematic formulated way but in real life, watch Man utd vs Wigan/Birmingham/Bolton/Stoke/Hull/Sunderland/West Brom etc... at home.

I would cut my hand off if they get less than 60% and of these games i got possession in two of them only, 51% and 53% respectively.

I think it is far too easy for defensive teams to keep possession on FM09. Unless you are playing 4-4-2 it is almost impossible to close down a defensive team effectively.

It is particularly bad if you have never watched a match on full match mode because until you do you'll never figure out what's going on.

I think it is all down to the extremely poor awareness the players seem to have on this version. If the AI manager moves his players to certain areas on the pitch then none of your players will bother to close them down unless you change your tactics. They just stand off and let the opposition have the ball.

No No and No.

that is true if you look at it in a computed mathematic formulated way but in real life, watch Man utd vs Wigan/Birmingham/Bolton/Stoke/Hull/Sunderland/West Brom etc... at home.

I would cut my hand off if they get less than 60% and of these games i got possession in two of them only, 51% and 53% respectively.

I'm not saying that Man Utd shouldn't have all the possession in these sort of games. I simply posted a solution to get around the fact that the weaker sides just aimlessly pass the ball around in midfield and defence, keeping too high a level of possession for what they would normally get..

So does anynoe know how to play proper possession football?

My former tactic used to get bloody unbeatable possession, although it could lack a cutting edge at times.

3-2-2-2-1

With a libero, 2 dms, 2 cms, 2 wingers and a striker: a six-man midfield is pretty much impossible to close down reliably.

I think probably the biggest problem for people playing 4-4-2 is that they always give the CBs RWB rarely and FWR rarely when you should really put them both on mixed - this is because when a CB collects an aimless clearance, he just won't move (CF is often low also) to get a passing option, he'll stand twitching from side to side and then just hoof it. Similarly - better teams keep posession because they can pass back to CBs who aren't hiding miles back, and these CBs can keep possession flowing properly. When people play with their CBs on low CF with RWB rarely and FWR rarely, they basically get Jamie Carragher, when they could do with Rio Ferdinand/Carvalho - someone who can play with the midfield.

A defensive mentality will stop your defenders acting like STs - it's not necessary to suppress their every footballing instinct as well.

My former tactic used to get bloody unbeatable possession, although it could lack a cutting edge at times.

3-2-2-2-1

With a libero, 2 dms, 2 cms, 2 wingers and a striker: a six-man midfield is pretty much impossible to close down reliably.

I think probably the biggest problem for people playing 4-4-2 is that they always give the CBs RWB rarely and FWR rarely when you should really put them both on mixed - this is because when a CB collects an aimless clearance, he just won't move (CF is often low also) to get a passing option, he'll stand twitching from side to side and then just hoof it. Similarly - better teams keep posession because they can pass back to CBs who aren't hiding miles back, and these CBs can keep possession flowing properly. When people play with their CBs on low CF with RWB rarely and FWR rarely, they basically get Jamie Carragher, when they could do with Rio Ferdinand/Carvalho - someone who can play with the midfield.

A defensive mentality will stop your defenders acting like STs - it's not necessary to suppress their every footballing instinct as well.

What about people who play with a global mentality?