Assistant Manager Feedback.

Anyone else noticed this.

In my last game my Assistant recommended we play a shorter passing game so I changed it.

Then about 5 mins later I look at the feedback and he recommends we play a more direct passing game.

I'm sorry I'm new here, but is this a bug, or have I got a moron as an assistant?

You should generally look at the statistics yourself. Maybe your ass man is an ass.

You shortened the passing too much?

You shortened the passing too much?

No I changed from default to shorter on my tactics screen.

Anyone else noticed this.

In my last game my Assistant recommended we play a shorter passing game so I changed it.

Then about 5 mins later I look at the feedback and he recommends we play a more direct passing game.

I'm sorry I'm new here, but is this a bug, or have I got a moron as an assistant?

Probably that one.

Although, it could be that your passing is poor generally.

Probably that one.

Although, it could be that your passing is poor generally.

Well I'm managing Man City, and according to pre season feedback, we have the best passers in the league.

Very confusing.

Well I'm managing Man City, and according to pre season feedback, we have the best passers in the league.

Very confusing.

Then I'll go with the moron assistant theory.

It is basically just a response to the match stats, so when he says shorten passing, it is merely a reflection that your longer range passes aren't connecting. So, you shorten up, and your passing is still rubbish according to the match stats, so he says try a more direct game. For whatever reason, in that match, your passing isn't coming off as Robert Cornell said. I don't generally worry about it, unless the run of play is going against me. If it is, then I have to get into the analysis and see who and where the passing is letting me down and make more targetted changes rather than general team-wide stuff. For example, I had a keeper in a match that was just horrible in passing out that day, leading the ass man to make comments about the team passing. Everyone else was basically okay, so fixing that fixed the comment. Think of it as a just a (sometimes) useful guide that something is a bit off, and that sometimes there is nothing you can really do either

This is the common problem with assman suggestions.

At first, assman gives his opinion in pre-match backroom advice screen. This advice is most often about opposition team, not about your own team. For example they say "opponents struggle against teams playing narrow formation, we should with play narrow width" This advice doesn't take any account of your own tactics and what suits to your team and players. It just states that opponents have lost/drawn mostly when their opponents play narrow. However, it might as well be so that just stronger teams in the league happen to use narrow width and your opponents have lost to those teams. So you really can't tell if team loses because opponents play narrow width or just because they're stronger and happen to play narrow width by coincidence.

Secondly - the fact itself that opponents struggle against narrow width doesn't automatically mean that you should play narrow width, although your assman advice is based on this assumption. This is most common question for IRL football (or other sports) managers two - should you change your tactics according to your opponents strengths and weaknesses or should you just play your own game (tactics that works best for your team and players) and hope it works. Obviously truth is usually somewhere in between those two options. You should consider your opponents tactics and players, but you shouldn't build your tactics entirely around it.

Thirdly - pre-match expectations can be changed during match. Even IRL your assman can tell you honestly that "opponents struggle against shorter passing, let's try that" and after 30 minutes are played, find that "it's not working well for us, our players are not used with it and/or opponent is defending well against our shorter passing, but leaving too much space behind defensive line, let's try direct passing and try some through balls". Obviously your opponent doesn't play every game exactly the same, so it's normal to adjust your own tactics according to real situation on the pitch after some minutes are played.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Thank You very much!

Oh, You're Man City - You have the 2 best Ass Man's sitting waiting in your backroom staff - Jim Cassell (who I always have as my ass man) and another dude who I think is a youth coach with 20 JPP and 20 JPA

I have a question about ass man. What does a good ass man's rating should be? What ratings should i look in an ass man?

You want him to high in the parts of the game you want him to be responsible for. Generally to me he should be good in motivating, man management, tactical knowledge, Judging player ability.

The other is Barry Poynton.