Message to PaulC

Hi

First i want to say i reall enjoy this year's ME a lot. It's getting more and more realistic with each release. Effect of player ability is much more obvious - attributes seem important, squad gelling, atmopshere, arrowless ME..nice job!

Still I find wingers' offensive with/without the ball movement not up to the standard of other positions. They come into the box now and that’s major improvement.

I admit I haven't played a season or two yet, ok. But there is one major thing which i find quite unrealistic and if it's fixed ME would be much better for me. When moving with ball or dribbling, players don't move enough in direction to their stronger foot. They still move ‘in direction of wing’, they play. It doesn't meter if your right winger/striker is without any kind of ability with his right foot, this player will still make runs down the flank 80% of time, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit but still. This situations don't happen in real life even if player's WFA is much better. It's a natural instinct to move with ball in your stronger foot direction, no meter how strong your WF is. It's natural to run with ball down the flank for right-footed and right-sided player and it's also natural for left footed but right-sighted player to move directly on goal/cut inside. Of course there will always be some exceptions, Pavel Nedved is the first to come to my mind or CR maybe..and I’m defnetly not saying that players with strong WFA shouldn’t be able to run with ball to any direction, it’s just that frequency when they (players with not so strong WFA) do it ‘in direction of wing’ is too high. This way the importance of WFA should become more evident and important.

Maybe this issue doesn't feel so important to many of FM players..but now we're able to recreate almost any RL player role (sweeper keeper, deep playmaker, box-to-box mf, poacher..), but because of this issue 'wrong footed players' (mostly wingers) are hendicaped in FM, especially those with poor pace or crossing. This creative winger role is so common in top modern football (Messi, Inesta, Ronaldinho, Pires, Henry..) and I understand British mentality prefers crossing wingers. Some people say they managed to recreate this movement but imo this shouldn't be smth we should achieve through gelling or tactics, it's a natural tendency every human has in his self

Another thing is about winger movement and it's conected to the role I was talking about above. Just like we can instruct a MC or a striker to cross the ball often and he will move to the flanks more often, why can't we ask wingers to drift in, by setting their crossing to rarely (with free roles and high CF of course)? Like I said I haven't played many games so far but I noticed my strikers will move into channels if they're asked to but wingers won't. I’m going to experiment with this but I still think wingers stick too much to the flank. Just like they come into the box in final third, they should drift in more and connect play in the centre of the pitch, if they’re asked to – high CF, FR, playmaker ticked, crossing rarely, right footed on left wing..!

Would it be so hard to fix this in next patch? ME would be close to perfection then.

cheers

MitjaC.

I have to say I agree completely.

I've really enjoyed the match engine in 09, a huge leap forward from 08 and the palyesr in the most part reflect a good combination of their own personal playing style dictated by their stats/PPMs, general team and position tactics and opposition instructions.

Apart from wingers. The "cutting inside" wingers arguement has been done to death, but I have to say that compared to the other positions on the field I've found wingers to feel wrong. My wingers easily cover the most ground in the game running up and down the pitch, but have very little influence on the game compared to other positions - so much so that I adapted a 4-1-3-2 narrow formation to get better usage out of 11 players.

They're on the edge of the play as much as a goal-hanging striker, and it's incredibly difficult through usage of lots of different tactics and formations for them to effectively link up with the rest of the players in the team.

I don't think massive wholesale changes need o be made, but I would suggest they need some re-visiting and tweaking. As usual, I'm happy to back up my views with a few stats and screenies if needed.

I don't think massive wholesale changes need o be made, but I would suggest they need some re-visiting and tweaking. As usual, I'm happy to back up my views with a few stats and screenies if needed.

i see so many gaps wingers could use to move into, but they just stand still on the flank. if you want your winger to provide width (with crossing to often) then ok, stay on the flank more. but if you want him to be creative and conect the play (crossing rarely, LS, TTB often, FR blablabla) then just come inside, make your self available for the pass and that's it. full-back should provide width instead.

I have my full backs and wingers working together right up to the other penalty area, I haven't noticed the problem. I have attacking mentality for both positions and lots of creative freedom, not sure if its a tactical problem though but like I said I not noticed.

are you saying your wingers are drifting and cutting in on regular basis?

can you be more specific about your wingers' instructions?

I've tried playing with width, creative freedom and free-role and although I can get them to cut inside, it still doesn't feel right.

Judging by the lack of responses from other people, I have a feeling it may either be my tactics or the quality of my wingers rather than a bug.

I've tried playing with width, creative freedom and free-role and although I can get them to cut inside, it still doesn't feel right.

Judging by the lack of responses from other people, I have a feeling it may either be my tactics or the quality of my wingers rather than a bug.

i don't think it's a bug, it's just the way it is coded into ME. i'd really like to know what's other's experience about this thing. the lack of responses doesn't say much - i'm sure if people thought i'm wrong, they would say.

my original idea of this thread wasn't cutting/drifting in issue. it was more player movement with the ball, but as those two things are conected i'm sure players would cut in a lot more, if they just folowed their natural instinct - to move with the ball in direction of their stronger foot, not the wing they play. it's funny to see left-footed-only right winger to dribble down the flank in situation when moving direct on goal would be far more appropriate and dangerous for a goal chance (counter attack). players just don't move with the ball realisticly enough for me.

as for drifting in, some people said that if you narrow the formation, wingers will be more inclined to drift in. even if it's true i still find it coded badlly. imo players should drift in, in wide formation even more, becouse there is more space to run into in such formations and in narrow - defensive minded formation, wingers are those who should provide width not full-backs, who provide width in more aggressive tactics. formation width shouldn't have big influence on players drifting in. it's about the role and instructions you give them and their ability and playing style - creative winger/crossing winger.

They have said that they're looking into the possibility of a tickbox for wingers for staying out wide/drifting in, rather than people having to find the right balance of sliders to get the effect.

that could be nice but if we can instruct cm or striker to move into chanels by simply putting their crossing slider to mixed or often, wouldn't it be logical wingers would drift and cut in if you set their crossing to rarely/mixed. nice and easy