A few questions regarding tactics.

Yes i have now finished reading all 50 pages of the TT&F09 pdf provided by wwfan and millie. It was a very inspiring read. It took a couple of hours to get alot of the information in but it really seemed to inspire me to creating a side that will play well and hopefully do well. So anyway i have a few things i would like to ask about the document and a few tactical issues.

Ok so i have read numerous threads and such and posted this a couple of times now but could someone please explain the below question to me.

How are Team Instructions and Player Instructions different from each other? I have a feeling that this a big downfall within my tactics. I can sign the right players for my squad but i can't get them to play how i want them to. Please help with that.

Tactically what changes make the big differences in a team? If i change mentality from attacking to normal do i have to change other things that maybe linked with it?

When im looking at my Assistants feedback during a match he is telling me that my defence is too far away from my midfield and im getting caught in the area between them. How can i make my Midfield when i don't have the ball much closer to my defence. If i can sort this out i believe that i wont be conceding too many goals and should be able to win the ball much easier.

Player instructions. How do i get them to work perfectly. Is it just a case of trial and error? Is it worth creating a set of tactics and then play a game and see how it goes then restart and make a couple of changes to see how to improve etc?

Maybe its just the players i have in my team. I personally don't think that my team is good enough for Championship football. How do i look to making them a better side and harder to break down?

I hope someone can help me without just sending me to different threads. Also please can you inform me if you are going to close this thread.

Anybody???

Can anyone help me with this?

Yes i have now finished reading all 50 pages of the TT&F09 pdf provided by wwfan and millie. It was a very inspiring read. It took a couple of hours to get alot of the information in but it really seemed to inspire me to creating a side that will play well and hopefully do well. So anyway i have a few things i would like to ask about the document and a few tactical issues.

Ok so i have read numerous threads and such and posted this a couple of times now but could someone please explain the below question to me.

How are Team Instructions and Player Instructions different from each other? I have a feeling that this a big downfall within my tactics. I can sign the right players for my squad but i can't get them to play how i want them to. Please help with that.

They are exactly the same. If you do not tick a player instruction for a given setting he defaults to team. So for example if the Team Slider for mentality is at 10 it is no different to ticking an individual player's mentality and setting it to 10. Once you tick the player instruction it overrides the team setting

As for signing players and not playing how you want, the general consensus is that there is a bedding in period both for you as a manager and new signings. So it may take a few months before your tactics and players really click. But that's the difficulty of the game, trying to figure out what the issue is. Are your team playing crap because your tactics are crap? Are your team playing crap because they aren't comfortable with your system yet (see assistant manager comments about players being used to some other way of doing things)? Are your team playing crap due to new signings bedding in? etc etc

Tactically what changes make the big differences in a team? If i change mentality from attacking to normal do i have to change other things that maybe linked with it?

Mentality affects two things: positioning and decision making. For positioning the higher it is the further up the pitch a player will position himself. Forward Runs come into it aswell. For decision making it affects risk (creative freedom comes into it aswell). So the higher it is the bigger the risks the player will take when in possession. For example if your MC keeps knocking it back to the FB instead of to a wide open winger further up the pitch, increase his mentality. It seems like mentality and foward runs intermingle more on this version such that two players set to FWR often, the higher mentality player will be more likely to make a run. But I'm not positive about that.

As for changing other things I would be surprised if it isn't covered somewhere in the guide. Me I'm an advocate of playing how you want but in general

Attacking:-

1. Create space on the pitch => Increase width

2. Get more bodies involved => more forward runs but good to have somebody a little deeper who can act as the fulcrum if an attack stagnates on one side or the other, or can collect clearances

3. Push players further up the pitch => mentality but personal preferences come into it

4. Look to exploit space => Forward runs and free roles. How many FR depends again on preference and how well you feel your player performs when assigned. Be wary of pushing too many players too far on and leaving the less advanced players isolated with no passing options

5. Keep the pressure on the opposition when they get it back => Increase defensive line, mentalities, closing down until your reduce the regularity with which opposition players can just sit in posssession. Use of OIs helps in getting more advanced strikers to come back or out wide to pressure the opposition FBs

I'm sure there's more that could be added but that's off the top of my head. The opposites would apply for playing more defensively.

When im looking at my Assistants feedback during a match he is telling me that my defence is too far away from my midfield and im getting caught in the area between them. How can i make my Midfield when i don't have the ball much closer to my defence. If i can sort this out i believe that i wont be conceding too many goals and should be able to win the ball much easier.

See mentality answer above

Player instructions. How do i get them to work perfectly. Is it just a case of trial and error? Is it worth creating a set of tactics and then play a game and see how it goes then restart and make a couple of changes to see how to improve etc?

It is trial and error. Look at the 2D and tweak until you see a player doing more or less what you want within the context of your system. For example say I want my winger picking it up and taking on the opposition full back. In this case I keep my FBs Try Through Ball at None, I adjust mentality/FWR of the winger to position himself in the gap between the opposition FB and winger, I set my MC to mixed TTB as I might want him to look for the strikers running onto the ball but play it to feet for the winger (player decisions come into it), I give the winger RWB often. If I want him bombing to the byline do the obvious. If I want as much of my attacks to come through my wingers as possible I set passing to down both flanks. I set passing range for FBs and MCs relative to the distance. If I see my MC being more inclined to play it short I bump up his passing slider or give him a bit more creative freedom to see if his decision making improves. I adjust his mentality as in prior paragraph. I might place a right footer on the right side as he will tend to pass in that direction. If my winger is getting closed by the FB too easily I increase width to create separation or I lower mentality again to have him positioned a little deeper.

If on the other hand I still want to focus passing through my wingers but instead of beating their man I want balls in behind the full back I bump up their mentality to get them almost aligned with the strikers much like a 442. I give them forward runs often. I keep focus passing down both flanks but I increase the MCs and FBs passing slider until I see them look for the longer ball in behind the FBs. I also consider the mentality effect for the players, MC and FB, delivering the ball to the wingers. I give the MC and the FB Try Through Balls Often as this will increase the likelihood of them pinging it in behind the defensive line. I again increase width to generate separation. Alongside that I might consider upping the tempo as quick transitions of play from one side to the other can leave an opposition full back with a lot of work to do to get to the winger when he is played in behind the FB.

Maybe its just the players i have in my team. I personally don't think that my team is good enough for Championship football. How do i look to making them a better side and harder to break down?

Bodies behind the ball via mentality and forward runs, lower width to keep it compact, if playing for the draw do like the AI and keep time wasting up (tweak it until you get the desired effect). Lower closing down and defensive line until you see your team drop off to form the desired defensive banks keeping a rigid formation. If you have two up top consider lowering the mentality of one of the strikers so he drops back to harry almost becoming an extra midfielder. If the opposition is using a deep lying midfielder you could consider specifc man marking him with a striker (or adjust the strikers mentality so he is behind the deeper MC). What that will do is prevent your midfielders form getting drawn out to close him down and leaving gaps behind.

Much like the AI if you are playing for a draw then look at keeping possession as much as possible. Your lower mentalities to get bodies behind the ball will make the players less risky in possession and keep a separation from the opposition. Maybe slow the tempo but be careful of your players getting caught in possession too much (RWB, tempo, available options). Not really sure how to get multiple effects in a single approach though. For example keep the ball but ping a long ball for the pacy striker when the chance arises does involve contradictory settings. What might work is setting a Target Man with Run Onto Ball as well as ticking counter attack, maybe keeping passing short but reasonable Creative Freedom so they deviate when the opportunity arises.

Maybe that's what the counter attack tick box does? Allows players to deviate from their nominally defensive instructions when their decision attribute deems it to be appropriate.

I hope someone can help me without just sending me to different threads. Also please can you inform me if you are going to close this thread.

There's probably a whole lot more that could be added as there is more than one way to skin a cat, but hopefully that helps All based on observation and if you're so inclined, feel free to come back and flame me if none of it works