the reason some people find it so hard to score goals on fm11

the reason is the match day training plays a abit part to get your team working like a well oiled manchine interms of being creative and deadly in front of goal.

you need to work on the attacking movements its simple try it and see an improvement

My team has never had problem with creating chances. It's always the missing one-on-one or hitting the crossbar.

My team has never had problem with creating chances. It's always the missing one-on-one or hitting the crossbar.

keep trying to improve the attacking movements and well it depends on who you have as your players.

I try and vary my Match Preperation options. A good few days before the match (usually about 5 - 7 days) I usually put it on Team Blend and put the Workload quite high (sometimes very high) so my team can get to know the movements, the formation(s), tempo etc of my chosen formations & tactics. The better the team blends then the better they will play as a unit. A couple of days before the match I will change this to one of the other options of Attacking Movement or Defensive Positions - depending on the opposition really and the kind of match it is.

Throughout my pre-season I just leave it on Team Blend so they can get used to each other seeing as pre-season is about getting fitness up and getting the players to work and play together as a unit.

after 28 games in the premier league i have scored 84 goals (3 avg). scoring goals is easy all games this season is 116 goals in 39 games (2,97 avg)

match prep is on blend always. if i choose defensive positions i conceed way too much. 22 total this season (avg 0,79) best in the league but still too high for my liking. all games this season is 33 in 39 matches (0,85 avg).

84% won

I try and vary my Match Preperation options. A good few days before the match (usually about 5 - 7 days) I usually put it on Team Blend and put the Workload quite high (sometimes very high) so my team can get to know the movements, the formation(s), tempo etc of my chosen formations & tactics. The better the team blends then the better they will play as a unit. A couple of days before the match I will change this to one of the other options of Attacking Movement or Defensive Positions - depending on the opposition really and the kind of match it is.

Throughout my pre-season I just leave it on Team Blend so they can get used to each other seeing as pre-season is about getting fitness up and getting the players to work and play together as a unit.

The Match Preperation option - isn't it only being used on matchdays???

A good few days before the match (usually about 5 - 7 days) I usually put it on Team Blend and put the Workload quite high (sometimes very high) so my team can get to know the movements, the formation(s), tempo etc of my chosen formations & tactics. The better the team blends then the better they will play as a unit. A couple of days before the match I will change this to one of the other options of Attacking Movement or Defensive Positions - depending on the opposition really and the kind of match it is.nd getting the players to work and play together as a unit.

According to SI, only the last special focus selected before a match is applied and the workload slider does not affect it in any way. I'm afraid you have been wasting your time.

According to SI, only the last special focus selected before a match is applied and the workload slider does not affect it in any way. I'm afraid you have been wasting your time.

Can you elaborate on the workload slider not affecting it in any way? Are you saying that having it on the lowest setting would be best?

Can you elaborate on the workload slider not affecting it in any way? Are you saying that having it on the lowest setting would be best?

the tactic familiarity levels (TFL) and special focus area (SFA) are independent...

so if your tfl are all 100% / fluid, just set workload to very low and it should maintain it

the effect of sfa does not change based on your tfl workload setting

According to SI, only the last special focus selected before a match is applied and the workload slider does not affect it in any way. I'm afraid you have been wasting your time.

This is wrong. If you adjust the slider to Workload (maximum) and then check in the players personal training you will see the different levels of training at the bottom left of their screen and you will see the % amount of Match Preparation compared to other training areas. Putting the Match Preparation slider to maximum, the % amount of the players training goes to 50% and if the players are not on any Preferred Move training etc then it will be a 50/50 divide between Match Preparation and his regular training. Move the slider to Workload (average) and the Match Preparation training % for the players goes to 30% so I have not been wasting my time at all.

If it didn't do anything then the option wouldn't be there.

Taken from FM2011 Instruction Manual -

"9.3.2. Match Preparation At the end of the day, you train in preparation for a match. This is where the Match Preparation screen comes in. Whilst the Training tab deals with the technical and physical side of things, this will allow you to focus on your tactical approach for your next match.

You will be able to select up to three tactics to prepare for use in the upcoming fixture, allowing your squad to gain greater familiarity with the system they’re about to use. There will also be the opportunity to focus on one particular area or style of play, designed to take advantage of your opponent’s flaws. For example, if they’re particularly prone to conceding from set pieces, you might want to focus heavily on Attacking Set Pieces. This will come at the expense of Team Cohesion and Attacking Movement, which will instead receive your usual levels of attention, but the extra time spent on Attacking Set Pieces may be the difference between winning and not winning.

You are able to use the specific focus even if you have no immediate fixture – which is perfect for honing an area of your squad and style. Spending a longer period of time working hard on executing a plan correctly will pay dividends."

Now this tells me that you can use the Match Preparation ANYTIME you want and is not just used for ON match days. Also it does affect how well you play as a unit which means that the more effort you put into it then the quicker your players will develop together so using the Match Preparation slider DOES make a difference.

Well if you hold your match prep on team blend and just before the match switch to attacking movement.. you will get the dividends of both. ONLY TEAM BLEND has long term effect, and the other plans take effect only on matchday. Which means.. Team blend all the time, and anything else on matchday... after the match ends - Team blend again..

I have taken away an unnecessary or fringe feature by setting it on None and let it stay there. Never been better. I like to reduce the amount of factors influencing the results to the absolute minimum, and the first thing to go is Special Focus area.

surely you set it a few days before the match day, setting on the match day is almost useless, its too late.

I have started using MP a lot more and have noticed a difference in my team, it definitely works.

Well if you hold your match prep on team blend and just before the match switch to attacking movement.. you will get the dividends of both. ONLY TEAM BLEND has long term effect, and the other plans take effect only on matchday. Which means.. Team blend all the time, and anything else on matchday... after the match ends - Team blend again..

+1 on that. In pre-season I have my Team Blend set at Max until the Blue bars are full on all items. Then I set it on Team Blend at Low until match day when I change it one of the other options, usually Attacking Movement and up the Slider to Max. After the match I change it back to Low - Team Blend. This way certainly works for me as I used to get 1-0, 2-1 type results always having problems getting that two goal advantage and now I win games 3-0, 4-0 and better sometimes.

The way some arguments in here are used are for lack of better words useless. You can't use the argument that your team has started to perform better after you did this and that regarding Match Preparation (MP) and Special Focus Area (SFA). You can't compare past and future like that as basics has changed (other opponents, new players, morale and so on).

Also MP and SFA are not the same (they may be listed on the same screen but are divided by a fine line (graphically)).

How much you'll focus on MP can be altered by the slider and will only affect the 8 factors called Tactical Familiarity Levels. These have an impact on how well your players are at playing your given formation and tactics.

The SFA has nothing to do with MP or the slider on that same page. SFA doesn't take time out of training schedules (only MP does). SFAs are not cumulative. You will not getting any better at Attacking Movement even though you have it selected for months (they are a one time bonus so you just have to select whatever SFA you want at match day). Only Team Blend are kind of cumulative as that SFA have an impact at how well your players work together (how fast you'll get to the point 'willing to die for each other') (and some say morale as well).

That being said I prefer to have MP on fluid and so will have a (very) high workload until I reach that point. I then change to very low - keeps MP fluid.

Regarding SFA I use Team Blend constantly until I reach a good/strong understanding between the players. When that's reached I change to either Defensive Positioning or Attacking Movement and leave it there for the rest of the season. It's not optimal use of SFA, but often I forget to change and decided I can't be bothered.

Team blend is the only one which has a lasting effect, if you change from attacking movement to say defensive positioning, the team forget all about the attacking movement training you've had them doing.

Good article on it here; http://www.footballmanagerfanboys.net/index.php/featured/football-manager-management/match-preparation-teething-issues-or-broken-be-r281