Creative Freedom - Time Wasting - Move into Channells - Can someone please clarify?!?!

Probably the most confusing things in the history of FM. Creative Freedom, Time Wasting and Move Into Channells. Can someone please give a definitive answer once and for all before my head explodes!!

1. Creative Freedom - "A flair modifier" I have read although I have no idea what that means either!! We really need clarification on what this is because there are so many views as to what it could be and I think it is one of the most influential things within a tactic. Now since I played back in the CM days I always assumed that creative freedom was linked to flair and creativity. So someone like Messi or Ronaldo would be the players that you would give high creative freedom to because they would then possibly try something "off the cuff". So for example the ball would come to Ronaldo in the area and with low CF he may just chest it down and lay it back to a team mate. Whereas with high CF he may try an overhead kick towards goal. So in essence you would give a Cristiano Ronaldo High CF and a Carlton Cole Low CF?? Simple eh! Er No.....

Since those heady days when it was easy to just click and play we now have differing opinions. I have read somewhere that high CF may well help your lumbering striker with no brain to take his time in a one on one situation and rather than blast the ball straight at a keeper he may dribble cooly around the goalie and pass neatly into the net. Now if that is the case that is the total opposite of the above example and really does question which stats are required to use high CF well. Arguably creativity, flair, decisions, passing, off the ball, etc etc could all apply when using high CF but and with respect to dear old Carlton I would certainly not connect him with creativity, flair, decisions and passing for a start!!

Others just say that it allows a player to divert from any instructions that you have given. So does that mean if you have instructed your team to play short intricate passing and you have all players on low CF but a defensive midfielder on high CF then that DM will ping direct or long balls all over the place? And if it is a decision modifier of such then is there any point in giving any of your team low CF? Example. We have surely all had the right back who despite all the time in the world and a right winger in space ahead of him ping a 30 yard pass straight to their centre back. So (and ignoring through balls here) is that because he may have low CF? Would higher CF allow him to make more of a decision on his own so he may think "I am not going to lump this I am going to play a safe pass". Or does that contradict if some views may be that LOW CF - LESS RISKY and HIGH CF - MORE RISKY?

I presently have my goalkeeper and centre backs on the first notch of normal and all other players at the middle. I use Classic Tactics. But in my visits to the TC I note that strikers as an example are always on high CF. So it's confusing. Use "Creative Freedom sparingly" another old chestnut does not seem to apply to the Tactic Creator!!

So can someone please give the real answer to this? No speculation, just a real "manual" type explanation to help us tortured souls.

2. Time Wasting - Now is it : a. You are 1-0 up with 5 minutes to go so you want to keep possession and run it to the corner flag so you max out Time Wasting or is it b. High TW means that your team take some time and think about the build up in an attack like say Swansea? And once we have sorted that out what is it linked with? Tempo? Passing? Forward Runs? I mean if the answer is b can you have high TW with direct passing for instance? Or with short passing and high TW is there much point in having any players on Forward Runs because they will all run away won't they?!

Again I have read somewhere that high TW on a striker may well help your lumbering striker with no brain once again take his time in a one on one situation and rather than blast the ball straight at a keeper he may dribble cooly around the goalie and pass neatly into the net. The logic being he is taking his time I suspect. But,,,, TW is a Team Instruction not an Individual Instruction so whilst you may want your striker taking his time on a chance you certainly don't want your centre back cooly dribbling past 4 oncoming strikers before he clears it. You want him hoofing it out of danger as soon as possible when under pressure, unless you give him high CF of course!!

So what is it? Does Low TW mean you will get the ball forward quicker and high TW mean you spray a few passes around or something totally different? Or will your striker with the highest TW possible just run to the corner and sit on the ball?!

So again, can someone please give the real answer to this?

3. Move into Channells.

I read a book recently about the great West Ham side of 1985/86 (yes West Ham had a good team once!). In the book Tony Cottee talked about how he and Frank McAvennie would make runs into the channells between the centre backs and the full backs. Simple enough again? Er,,, no!!!

In FM depending on who you believe "move into the channells" either means work between the centre back and full back (see above) or run into the space near the touchline. So who is right>? Because if like me you believe it is working between the centre backs and full backs the last thing you want is your striker making moves onto a through ball by running to the linesman!!

So again, can someone please give the real answer to this?

So confusing because for all of these there are so many easier phrases to use if you want the punter to understand it all properly. Creative Freedom = Do his own thing. Move to Channells - Use flanks. etc etc. I guess for those who use the TC they get over this by using shouts but I politely say I don't want to use the TC!!!!

So please can we have someone who without guessing can clarify once and for all the meaning of the above. We will forever be grateful.....

Cleon,, great reply as always :

Some questions if I may.

CF : Is there a danger in putting anyone on low CF? For instance defenders. In the past I generally put my centre backs and GK on a low CF but would that affect their decisions for instance that example about a player clearing a danger? Or the full back with few options but he is being closed down. Would a low CF mean he would just hoof it but a higher CF may make him turn and knock it back to the keeper or is that just down to a decisions/composure attribute?

So I am right in saying a Ronaldo would be a higher CF but a Cole would be better suited to a low CF?

TW: So is it safe to assume that TW could be linked to mentality or something? I have always wondered if for a tactic to have cohesion (especially as I play global) then it could be a good idea to link (ie same number of clicks) for mentality, closing down, defensive line, time wasting and maybe tempo or am I far off the mark?

MIC: Is it also safe to say that having both strikers in a 4-4-2 moving into channells is NOT a good idea because they will always looking to get out wide?

Thanks.

Cleon,, great reply as always :

Some questions if I may.

CF : Is there a danger in putting anyone on low CF? For instance defenders. In the past I generally put my centre backs and GK on a low CF but would that affect their decisions for instance that example about a player clearing a danger? Or the full back with few options but he is being closed down. Would a low CF mean he would just hoof it but a higher CF may make him turn and knock it back to the keeper or is that just down to a decisions/composure attribute?

You raise a good point with this. Imo you can set someone too low CF judging by own games over the years. I once gave my defenders no CF due to them been really weak mentally and I found at times when they had the ball they looked lost. They would seem to stand with the ball and not know what to do. Ever since then I never not give anyone any CF I just put it on first notch of low if I want someone to be more restricted. Although it was probably more to his poor mental state meaning he didn't know what to do. But still, I like to keep it on the first notch of little.

And yeah Ronaldo would be higher CF and Cole a lower one.

TW: So is it safe to assume that TW could be linked to mentality or something? I have always wondered if for a tactic to have cohesion (especially as I play global) then it could be a good idea to link (ie same number of clicks) for mentality, closing down, defensive line, time wasting and maybe tempo or am I far off the mark?

I'm not sure why you would want to match TW? TW is something you should use when you want to close a game out and keep a lead or protect something. It's not something you should look to use high amounts of constantly through a game imo. But if at any point during a game you decide you want to use TW then you should take into account mentality and tempo for the reasons mentioned in the post above.

As for MIC - You've seen Thierry Henry play haven't you? He's the perfect exmaple of someone who likes to moves into channels.

Having both strikers who like to move into channels isn't really a good idea unless you can get other players into the box or scoring opportunities. Ideally you'd want 1 striker to stay central if one striker MIC. It can be good for creating space and dragging a defender out wide though.

Thanks as always Cleon. Been in a bit of a rut and used your advice. I have 3 tactics a 4-4-2, 4-5-1 and a 4-2-3-1. Have tweaked so that CB's and GK are on last notch of little for CF. Wingers on first notch of much with roaming on and rest of the team on first notch of normal and just won 4-0 with the 4-4-2. May incorporate things like moves into channells if the starting tactic isn't working and adjust TW accordingly.

I think the issue was some did say that TW was all about the time players had to make decisions and that of course confuses us. To have a definite standing point makes tactic building that much easier. Thanks again.

Just think of creative freedom as the reins on much of the player's own intelligence you let him use. If it's low, you're telling him not to think too much or deviate from your instructions, but simply to do the basic things as you've set them. If it's high, you're trusting him to use his creativity, decisions, and flair to make good and maybe even unexpected choices about what to do with the ball, even if it goes against the overall tactical 'plan'.

In the particular case of your lumbering striker with no brain, setting his creative freedom high may cause him to take on the keeper rather than simply shoot, yes, but it may also cause him to make poor or silly decisions, like lobbing the ball over the bar when the finish was a simple one. As a general rule (there are no absolutes in tactics, and the balance throughout your system is always the most important thing), less 'intelligent' players should have less creative freedom, because they're more likely to do dumber things.

Good questions and answers here, very helpful for others like me!

1) IMO, "Decisions" is really more of an important attribute for "Creative Freedom" than "Creativity." "Creative Freedom", in essence, expands the number of options that a player will consider when choosing what to do. High "Creativity" will mean that a player will "see" a broader number of options, but high "Creative Freedom" only means he will consider the full range of options he "sees," it doesn't mean he'll actually pick the best one. That is what "Decisions" does, and high Decisions/high CF will give you a player with a tendency to always pick the best option that he recognizes. Thus, high CF is good even for high-Decision players with low Creativity, as you will simply be giving them more options to choose from, even if their natural repertoire is rather limited. An example would be a low-creativity/high-decisions mid-fielder in a short-passing system. Even though he won't "see" a very broad range of options, you may still want him to go for an obvious long ball when it would actually be the best decision.

As far as I know, "Creative Freedom" is only indirectly related to "Flair." High-Flair players aren't necessarily more creative in the sense of being able to recognize more options, but they do generally choose options that defenders aren't expecting. In terms of the game's mechanics, high-flair players make decisions that are less likely to be predicted by a defender's "Anticipation," thus increasing the probability that the defender will make a mistake himself. High-flair/high-creativity players have a greater probability of totally confounding a defender, but again, high-flair does not necessarily equate to high creativity. Additionally, high-flair/high-CF means you are expanding the range of options for the player to choose from, and if combined with low-Decisions, you are greatly increasing the probability that the player will do something silly.

Regarding the "lumbering striker" example, high-CF may help him take his time on a shot or it may make him snatch at his chances. It depends on his overall mentality setting. A player set to high CF and an attacking mentality will be more likely to go with a more defensive or low-risk approach if he thinks its the right thing to do while a player set to high CF and a defensive mentality will be more likely to take a bold risk if the right opportunity presents itself.

In regards to centrebacks, it depends on their passing setting. A standard centreback set to short passes and low CF will be more likely to pass to a fullback or defensive midfielder while a limited centreback set to long passes and low CF will be more likely to hoof the ball as far away as he can. A high-CF centreback with a defensive mentality will generally choose the option with the lowest risk while a high-CF centreback with an attacking mentality will often go for options that have a good probability of leading to a goal-scoring opportunity.

2) I've been experimenting with time-wasting a lot recently and Cleon has it mostly right, but I disagree that it's only used for closing out a game or holding a lead. It generally means that your player's will hold onto possession and won't immediately rush into an attack. In that sense, the "assumption" of inferiority made in the official manual is a bit off as teams like Barcelona or Spain (in real-life) employ a lot of time-wasting, as they like to keep their opponent off the ball and are content to wait before they bring the ball forward, even if they're not in the lead. In this sense, it can be used to frustrate strong counter-attacking teams throughout a game (see: Spain vs. Germany at WC 2010) even when you are still the generally superior side. Of course, this approach assumes that you are confident in your players' ability to eventually find a goal, so you do run a higher risk of accumulating draws.

Tempo, in contrast, determines the speed at which they move when your players actually do choose to go on the attack. It means they will pass quickly and go for the shot rather than patiently working their way into the opposition area. In this sense, high-tempo and high-time wasting are usually at odds, as high-tempo attacks usually rely on catching the opposition on the break before they regain their defensive shape. However, they are not necessarily contradictory. If you have an extremely gifted team, high-time wasting will help you generally keep possession while high-tempo will help you exploit momentary holes in the opposition's defense, whereas highly defensive teams can be difficult to break down if you hold onto possession and then try to patiently build up an attack.

So in an ideal situation, a high time-wasting/high-tempo team would hold onto possession, let their forward players get into position then, when ready, they would unleash a quick flurry of passes hoping to score a goal. If that failed, they would quickly regain possession (usually with a high defensive line and combative mid-fielders) and begin the process again.

3) I've always understood it to just broadly mean "move wider when off the ball." A variety of factors determine how far wide your striker moves, though as far as I can tell, it usually means "near the corner of the penalty box." There are, however, some situations where a striker going to the touchline would be the best option (for example, in a narrow system where a support striker looks to cross the ball to the goal-scoring forward) and that does occur.

Also, while time wasting at the end of a game to preserve a narrow lead or draw is the most obvious application, you can do other things with it. If you have a team with superior technical skills struggling to break down a more physical underdog, for instance, setting your forward players to waste time will often result in you winning free kicks around the opposition area, because your players will dawdle on the ball and go down more easily when tackled. I suspect people make the mistake of seeing they are losing the tackling battle in this situation (if they check such things at all), and decide to hassle opponents and get stuck in to 'fix' it, which is more or less giving away the advantage they possess, namely that their players are far superior both at using space and passing the ball.

Also, while time wasting at the end of a game to preserve a narrow lead or draw is the most obvious application, you can do other things with it. If you have a team with superior technical skills struggling to break down a more physical underdog, for instance, setting your forward players to waste time will often result in you winning free kicks around the opposition area, because your players will dawdle on the ball and go down more easily when tackled. I suspect people make the mistake of seeing they are losing the tackling battle in this situation (if they check such things at all), and decide to hassle opponents and get stuck in to 'fix' it, which is more or less giving away the advantage they possess, namely that their players are far superior both at using space and passing the ball.

But it's a team instruction so you can't ask just forwards to do that can you?

Yeah, my bad. But you can set your forwards to tackle easy (i.e. to avoid going in for challenges they aren't certain of winning).

If you want to do it just with shouts: Take a Breather, Work Ball into Box, Stay on Feet.

RE: CF - I used to match it to the players creativity attribute, and then tried setting it at the midway point between creativity+flair i.e cre = 16 fla = 14, set to 15. Matched it to flair attribute after reading it on here years ago and has worked well for me so far.

To use high CF they need flair and creativity.

Surely Flair and/or creativity? you would give Pirlo high CF even though I would think his flair is quite low...

I think the confusion with the terms comes from the chronic state of the match-engine... if SI actually did some work on the match engine, much of this would be cleared up

I think the confusion with the terms comes from the chronic state of the match-engine... if SI actually did some work on the match engine, much of this would be cleared up

I think Cleon has the definition of TW nailed from observation. It almost certainly (baring in mind what I just said) causes players to waste time by taking their time over set pieces and taking the ball into the corners, and it probably causes them to do things like delaying making a pass, but it isn't just a second tempo slider like some claim.

One thing we do know is that the AI operates in terms of "phases of play" (defensive, transition, attacking + counterattacking when the right conditions are met). In terms of those mechanics, I would say tempo dictates how fast players move during an individual phase of play whereas time-wasting determines how long players will linger in the transition phase before moving to the attacking phase.

My opinions:

1. Creative Freedom- I've always pictured this as the attacking midfielder that's given free reign to find the ball, meaning a central AM may drift out towards the wings or come back inside his own half to get the ball; basically, you're telling the player "I trust you to do what's best for the team." Because this can result in players not being where they're supposed to be, it's a bad idea to give anyone with defensive responsibilities too much creative freedom. Giving too many players too much creative freedom is akin to telling them not to listen to your tactical instructions.

2. Time wasting- Perhaps I've simply seen too much CONCACAF-level football, but for me time-wasting simply means doing as much as possible to interrupt the flow of the game; playing back to your defenders/keeper when there's little pressure on the ball, taking your time over free kicks, looking for corners, etc. Probably impacts fouling, too, imo.

3. Moves into channels- Your striker looks to move into the gaps between the other team's defenders. Great for trying to split defenders with a well-placed through ball.

1. Creative Freedom- I've always pictured this as the attacking midfielder that's given free reign to find the ball, meaning a central AM may drift out towards the wings or come back inside his own half to get the ball; basically, you're telling the player "I trust you to do what's best for the team." Because this can result in players not being where they're supposed to be, it's a bad idea to give anyone with defensive responsibilities too much creative freedom. Giving too many players too much creative freedom is akin to telling them not to listen to your tactical instructions.

You confuse creative freedom with roam from position.