Responding to playing style

Brazil should play like Brazil. Holland should keep the ball on the deck and pass it around. Liverpool have a strong reputation of pass and move. People accept most of these things, but the FM world doesn't really recognise them.

I think it would be good to make a wee amendment in FM2011 to allow the game to give feedback on your style and approach to play.

The game should recognise if you're playing as Brazil and setting your clogging centre half to lump long balls to gangly front men. Newspapers and pundits in Rio and Sao Paulo would be aghast, and I think it would work well if this could be implemented in the game too. Similarly, fans of lower division teams might be more forgiving of not playing champagne football.

In real life, certain managers get criticised for their style of play. Gordon Strachan was perceived to be boring at Celtic even though he was pretty much as successful as Martin O'Neill. Tony Mowbray got a substantial bit of leeway at WBA in the EPL because his team were playing good football (even though they kept getting beat).

Thoughts?

Liverpool, pass and move? Kick and hope more like.

A decent idea though, I know as a Spurs fan that we only want it played one way and managers who've tried other styles have never lasted.

Yeah, I wondered how long it would take for someone to pick up on the Liverpool point. In all seriousness, your Spurs example is spot on - some clubs fans just arren't accepting of managers who try a style that doesn't fit the club. The majority of fans from own club (the mighty Hibs) would prefer to play silky football and possibly draw rather than play aimless long balls from the back (hello Heart of Midlothian!) and win.