I get it!!! Possible advice for anyone still struggling...

I was as bad as anyone for struggling in this game. A lot of my posts lately have been very critical of the game and I had lost all hope due to horrendous runs of form with whichever team I tried. I have very rarely lasted a season without getting sacked and even guided Aston Villa to 18th in April and Real Madrid to 3 defeats at the start of the 1st season!

But now I have turned it around. I finally "get" the tactics. I spend half my life on FM and have enjoyed success on every game so far, so I hoped I would get here eventually. Finally it has clicked. My advice to others who still can't get to grips with tactics yet is listed below:

- For me the absolutely key moment in working this out was understanding the importance of a players role. You really must get that right. Playing a CM at CM is no longer enough and you have to know if he is an anchor or a box to box or a deep-lying playmaker etc. Take the time to read the description provided for each role and fit one to the stats of the players you have.

- Touchline shouts. Rarely use them in my opinion, though some people may disagree with this point. My favourites are "take more/less risks" if I am in a desperate situation or "get stuck in" and "hassle opponents" when I am a major underdog (this is very successful). Aside from that I now stay well clear.

- Understand that "Counter" is not defensive. This tactic has often been perfect for me because it does not limit your attacking ability at all and yet seems to stiffen you at the back a bit. In my opinion this tactic does NOT improve defense greatly so don't get frustrated if you start using it when you are a goal up and you concede. This is a risk you are taking.

Those were the main points for me that really cracked the tactics. hope this helps somebody. If it helps one person it's worth it because I hated this game due to the fact I thought it was far too hard and now I think it's the best yet and all the more rewarding for the challenging month I've had!

Everybody who is moaning should read this post. Fantastic!!!

Great post and very positive,it's really nice when it "clicks" and you start to understand how the game works.

I must say im pleased that u have got there in the end dude. After reading some of ur earlier posts i thought u had given up hope It just goes to show that in this game u really do have to put in the effort otherwise u wont get the rewards ur after. You have'nt mentioned whether u have tinkered with ur training as i have found theres a very good one in the training forums which is a big help as i'm not very good on the training side of things. Maybe something to consider if ur the same as me?

All in all its good to hear that perserverence is key

i agree with the OP although I do use touchline shouts. A quick look at the online game guide for FM10, explains what these do and they are very helpful when trying to get the win

The touchline shouts are fantastically useful in my opinion, but otherwise I really agree with the OP. I remember in FML my attacking MC, Thiago Neves, was playing as Attacking Playmaker with an attacking mentality. He was getting a lot of long shots, and wasting loads of opportunities. I tried dropping his mentality back to Support, and suddenly he was playing exactly as I wanted him to. Little tweaks like this can make a big difference, and it's well worth reading the blurb! Either fit the tactics to the players you have, or buy new players to fit the tactics you want to implement - either way, the tactics settings are worth studying!

@ The Mighty Wanderers:

It's amazing how you describe the tactics that I use better then I could have done. I follow the exact same doctrine. Two more things I'd like to add, if I may:

I find that using a combination of a rigid formation and a "controling" mentality is the best strategy. Your defense will be tight at the back but you'll create enough chances.

Another thing that I find particularly important in my central midfield is that there is always a perfect balance between attacking and defensive roles.

2 midfielders: 1 advanced playmaker and 1 defensive midfielder, or 1 deep-lying playmaker and 1 ball-winning midfielder

3 midfielders: 1 advanced playmaker, 1 ball-winning (or defensive or anchor) midfielder and 1 box-to-box (or central) midfielder.

These combinations allow you to have a very strong midfield, both defensively and offensively.

Mind you, I'm not so arrogant to say that everybody should use these instructions, I'm just saying that this is the way I play and it has given me a lot of success so far.

Yep feal a lot of the moans are because people having to work it out for a change good post

I actively use the touchline shouts - perhaps more than I should. But yes, you're spot on about the player roles.

I spent a few days practicing with this - incidently assigning a role to a player and clicking on them in the tactics screen will give you an outline of what attributes are required for that position & role. I urge people to experiment with this to work out what your players are best suited as. It makes a significant difference, as you have already suggested.

It took me about a dozen games to work out how to best play Wayne Rooney, for instance. Some players are slightly more tricky than others in terms of working out what their role is in your team, particularly if their stats are fairly alround and can fit in to several different options.

perhaps we should start talking about what attributes are needed for each player role

perhaps we should start talking about what attributes are needed for each player role

Doesn't the game already tell you this on the tactics screen?

The key attributes needed for a certain role are highlighted when you select a player

yeah they are sorry my fault

I actually started a game with Standard Liege because I wanted to see how much effect the touchline shouts had on the way your team plays.

So I left all tactics at default, just assigned some positions and roles and let it go.

Only played 2 meaningful matches so far. A solid if unremarkable 1-0 win over Genk, and a solid if unremarkable 2-0 win over KV Mechelen...perhaps a pattern emerging here...but as they were the first 2 games of the season (they came even before any friendly matches) my players are not yet up to match fitness, also as it's my first 2 games with them, it would not be fair to hold expectations.

The roles of players was one of the first things I figured out. But I think someone else said it here, it is getting the balance right. You can't just play 2x Andrea Pirlo in midfield for example. As talented as he is, I would expect teams to end up losing more games than they win. If you have a Playmaker, you need someone with a bit of bite to sit with them. Likewise, you might struggle if you just play 2 guys who put themselves about Gattuso style.

I will probably continue with my Standard Liege game, and see just how much I can manipulate my teams tactics with touchline shouts

Excellent post. I can only commend this OP.

i cant belive ive had the game for a month and only just noticed this

Good post. I fnd much of the same as you discussed. It is crucial that you setup your players to play to their strengths but also that you set them up to play in the teams system.

In the lower leagues it took me a long time to realize that my CM's and my FB's were not good enough to play in an attacking role and that I as better off having them play safe and try to win balls and play them direct upfield to my wingers and strikers. It has changed my results immensely and saved my job.

Great post????? This is just common sense! The ME is still flawed though.

I would've thought that at least the part about player roles was obvious. Maybe it's just me but reading the role description was one of the first things I did in FM2010.

Good stuff, I'm slightly concerned why it has taken til Decemeber for you and possibly other people to read the descriptions for all the different types of role players can have.

1- It is a new thing and surely everyone takes time and reads all new things in the game, that's what makes a new FM fun to start with.

2- The descriptions of roles of players is vital to how you want your team to play and getting the best out of players....that should be a given.

I'm sorry, nothing against The Mighty Wanderers or anybody else, but i have to agree with monkeezgob here .. this isn't exactly news.

I'm sorry, nothing against The Mighty Wanderers or anybody else, but i have to agree with monkeezgob here .. this isn't exactly news.

Exactly. I fail to see what astounding, useful or new information is revealed in the OP...this thread is a classic case of the emperor's clothes. Play your players in appropriate roles based on their ratings...ummm...that's it. If that's astounding or useful news...well....words fail me.

I have only learnt just one thing from this post!the counter!! kept conceding whenever i was winning and went counter but guess what even defensive does same thing...so when winning tactics stays the same the defending problem you cant solve. I also realised that in this game you cannot compete with the small clubs with your average players even though computer can beat you with worse players so still no logic..In order to enjoy success you need to spend alot and sell all the 2star players in your squad so still the game is unrealistic!

Well while it was obvious to a lot of people (me included) surely if there is 1 person here who has posted a thread, that means there are many more people who have been ignoring player roles?

Perhaps a few people will learn something from this thread and turn from doing badly into actually getting somewhere.

There is nothing new in this thread I didn't already know, but it doesn't mean to say that someone else won't find it useful. People need to learn not to be so critical all the time.

Well while it was obvious to a lot of people (me included) surely if there is 1 person here who has posted a thread, that means there are many more people who have been ignoring player roles?

Perhaps a few people will learn something from this thread and turn from doing badly into actually getting somewhere.

There is nothing new in this thread I didn't already know, but it doesn't mean to say that someone else won't find it useful. People need to learn not to be so critical all the time.

You're a forgiving soul.

If this stops just one person making a 'this game is too hard, SI have failed' thread, it's utterly worth it.

If this stops just one person making a 'this game is too hard, SI have failed' thread, it's utterly worth it.

Who'd have ever thought that a players ratings and on field positions actually meant anything??? Come on, if this thread was at all useful then

a. You know nothing at all about football, you have no interest in it and really shouldn't even be contemplating playing this game.

b. If you think you already know anything about football and have found this 'revelation' useful you might just be an idiot.

In essence, the message is, play your players in appropriate roles based on their ratings. It's not rocket science.