Any way to get a player to cut inside without the arrows??

Had a lot of success last year with curved arrows on wingers so they either cut inside to have a shot or backed up the midfield. Likewise I liked to have a sarrow on a forward so he sometimes dragged out wide. Now due to the arrows basically only showing forward runs is there any other way tactic wise I can achieve this??

I thought a couple of extra Player Instructions would be a good idea. Eg Cut Inside Rarely, Mixed Often. Drift Out Wide, Rarely, Mixed, Often.

Thoughts?

Curved arrows did not make a player cut inside. They made him move deterministically to the spot at the end of the curved arrow. If you want to replicate this you can play with 3 up top and adjust mentalities. Don't know if this holds for the patched full game but on the demo with the right settings they would drop back to a similar position to AM R/L and/or cover the full back (marking, width, mentality).

Making players more likely to cut inside in running with the ball involves width, cross ball rarely, crossing not set to byline, run with ball often, mentality but most importantly a player with inside foot ability. Also to add width is important if you look at how players beat other players in FM. If the opposition full back is coming to close from an angle then invariably the space the winger has to run in to will be to the outside. The question is will putting a 'no rating' right winger on the left affect his performance? Haven't a clue to be honest but just looking at it in the 2D it didn't seem to have a major effect. I guess the ratings over a course of a season will tell a tale. I would suggest training them to their opposite side if that is the intention, especially if you have a youngster who you see as a future first teamer as the earlier you train a new position the more likely it is to stick (based on 08 though).

Not sure about the free role effect as it impacts on players looking for space so the context will have an impact but having said that if your full backs push on to occupy the wide space it will make it more likely that the winger will drift inside without the ball and/or run inwards with the ball when in possession. You need RWB Often though to make it more likely that he runs with it instead of passing to the full back. Mentality and FWR play into it too for both the FB and wide man as you want your FB almost aligned with your winger when he picks it up.

To sum it up you can't get deterministic runs being made as with the arrows. You can only set up to influence him to end up in a given position. So no matter how you set up you won't get an AM L/R running in to act as an off centre striker every single time.

EDIT: for the instructions yes a more intuitive way of doing things would be useful. Alot of people are getting frustrated by the convoluted nature of doing things. It will be interesting to see if this is the final straw for alot of users regardless of the realism or not of a manager being able to designate specific attacking/defending formations in any way they choose. I see people argue that a manager wouldn't be so specific with respect to a cutting inside instruction but I don't see how is it any different from telling a winger to hit the byline at every opportunity which you can do. Between this and the need for a higher spec computer FM is at a crossroads in terms of it's fanbase.

i like your player instruction idea....i also like something like aa manager giving instructions from the dugout. ie- you could click on a player in the match view and it could come up with instructions depending what position he is.....like cut inside for winger....drift out wide for striker....much like a real manager would i guess

Two great replies thank you..

Yes I agree FM is definitely at a crossroads with regard to what the fanbase wants. I bought a new top of the end PC this year and I although I have only played two friendlies I haven't seen a kick off yet. The players just stand there with the commentary going on in the background!! Is that because I am viewing on highlights???

I must confess if that is a graphics card problem I can only assume others may have a great problem because when I bought the PC I deliberately got pretty much as good a graphic card as I could.

It's a tough one, the game is getting more in depth but a lot of people still want to just "plug and play". I still think difficulty levels are the answer, but that's just me!!