Mentality Question?

Obviously, I know what mentality means being it is the way you think etc. But in regards to FM, how exactly does it work? For example, if you have two central defenders set to "attack" mentality, but they are instructed to never make forward runs etc, how is them being set to attack work on the pitch? Maybe it means they will always look for the forward pass as opposed to keeping it in defence more?

Anybody there? Lol.

Good question, for which I sadly don't have a 100% certain answer, I'm afraid.

I would think the same thing as you already stated in your first post: look far more for a (risky) forward pass.

I think when you set the mentality slide to full attack in the case of strikers and midfielders they start shooting a lot more and not always from obvious and highchance goalscoring-places on the pitch..

Although this (looking for the forward pass) might be more dependant on the prefered passing style: direct opposed to short for example.....

There are several effects - this question is oft debated over in the Tactics & Training Tips forum so you can find more information there.

In short answer, the major effects of a higher Mentality are:

1. Physically positioning a little further up the pitch.

2. More likely to make forward runs within the bounds of your forward runs setting

3. Place more emphasis on attack than defensive responsibilities

4. Play more aggressive / risky passes forward

5. Less likely to take a "safe" option such as putting the ball out for a throw or playing it back to the keeper.

Obviously, the converse is also true. I found my defense got better in FM'05 - FM'09 when I stopped setting my centre backs to the very defensive-most setting; under that setting, they would play it out for a throw when not under pressure, for example. Likewise, I've seen a striker on a very defensive setting play a backpass some eighty yards towards his keeper ... which wasn't really what I wanted him to do from the opposition's arc!

The best way to play around with this is to take two players on otherwise identical instructions, and set one to Mentality 15 (5 clicks UP from the middle value) and one to Mentality 5 (5 clicks down).

Do this for each of your paired DC's, MC's, and ST's in a 4-4-2 and watch two matches on "Full" highlights - you will see the difference(s) much more clearly than I can explain them to you!

This was mentioned by an SI bod a while ago. It's basically a risk/reward system. The higher a players mentality, the more risks he is willing to take, the lower his mentality the more safely he will play. This basically produces all the effects that Amaroq has outlined above because forward runs, forward passes, positioning etc are almost always inherently more risky than the alternatives.

If you set your 2 centre mids with different mentalities and everything else the same , the lower mentality player will drop back in front of your defence when the opposition have the ball. The higher will tend to go to the player in front and close him down. Of course it is all combined with other instructions (closing down / forward runs etc)