The myth that is "its your tactics"

Ok after playing alittle and reading the forums about the injuries,long keeper ball and ranged shots I thought I would try and see if it was my tactics.

Ok this isnt 100% but just my findings.

I have played 15 times as QPR never went further than December and tried a whole host of tactics.

Ok my ranged shots-I have managed to stop them alittle from my team,I have my midfielders on short passing(a little less than the team,rarely shot from range and my wingers to do forward runs and cross often)this has cut it down some but in my opinion still way too much for what my tactics are set too.

There ranged shots-there is just no way around this no matter what I do,from closing down all the time to backing off,I have tried quite a few formation's,even a sweeper and a defensive midfielder,closing them down in every tactic doesnt seem to help.

Goalkeeper to stricker pass-again I have stopped it alittle for my own team,I set the keeper to short passing but still seems a bit stupid when I get the ball in midfield and he passes back to the keeper just for him to find that "perfect pass" to my striker"

As for the the other teams,see the ranged shot,it doesnt seem to help even with sweeper and defensive midfielder.

As for the injuries,man I just cant get my head around them,ok players get injured but after so many teams different training I cant seem to get a player that is injured for 1 week.

If a player gets injured he is out for(just by my mulitple games)somewhere between 1 month and 3 months.

Now dont get me wrong this "trial" wasnt all in vain,I have finally settled on my tactics and formation,I am 2nd in the championship with QPR,ok we have only played 14 games but still we are looking good,but for anyone that says "its your tactics" when it comes to ranged shots,injuries or keeper to striker balls,I will very much dis-agree with you as for me this is a game fault.

It's elastic

I agree with you on the keep to striker balls.

But not on injuries and long range shots.

it's your tictacs

There is an incorrect assumption that closing down should reduce long shots. Used incorrectly it will actualy increase long shots because you end up chasing the ball and leaving gaps. On the other hand, backing off may deny space to the strikers, but the midfield will have a field day and hence more long shots.

Preventing long shots is about denying space and that is about positioning and not closing down. Mentality, forward runs, defensive line and marking are what you need to ensure good positioning.

Of course, ultimately what you actually want to do is limit the opposition to nothing but long shots - that is a sign that defensively your tactics are working. However, I accept that for a lot of people there is a question mark over how successful long shots are and that perhaps needs to be reduced.

It is not the number of long shots that is the problem (in my opinion) but the effectiveness of them.

Well your arguement could be turned around any number of ways,I watch alot of football and I do know for a fact that players like scholes are closed down when they have the ball to prevent them from shooting from ranged,also like I said in my op I have tried alot of different tactics and not just closing down.

I also dis-agree that it is only the effectiveness of the long shots that needs to be looked at,yes there are too many "wonder" goals but also if I was a real manager and my players were taking so many shots from ranged when I have told every player to rarely do it then I would be going crazy at them.Too many ranged shots and too many goals from them.

I'm sure there's barely a manager alive that wouldn't encourage his team to make sure Julio Longshotio, reknowned for his devasting long-range strikes, gets closed down whenever he's within range.

Its your tactics.. i was finding this but i changed the way my MCd plays and i seem to have reduced these chances. Its good

Talk about irony,someone posting "its your tactics"in a thread about the myth of "its your tactics" without reading the full thread...Irony.

I kind of agree. This years game seems a bit random.

Last night I played Fulham about 15 times (reloading and testing) and it rook me 15 attempts to win them trying out 15 different tactics. I was testing various formations. Once I won, I reloaded and used that tactic that I won with so convincing - and lost 4-0!

At that point I felt a bit disheartened. I think the games a bit too inconsistent in terms of what works and what doesn't. I have had success with Leeds getting them to the Prem in 4 seasons but I am a bit bored now. I can't seem to crack the AI's 4-4-2 formation when playing away, it's totally random whereas home games are easy enough to win.

The it's your tactics phrase is acctually correct in a way. Problem is just adjusting creative freedom of your strikers can make the defence start playing brilliant and so on. Finding the problem with your tactics can be like playing the lottery, the needed changes are often quite unrealistic considering what your original tactical problem was.

If your team is not performing as you like, say you have problems conceding too much. Most of the time it will not help tuning your defence, most of the time it is something seemingly unrelated.

By february results had been good, but we played like crap. I decided to turn creative freedom up to 18 for all midfielders and strikers.

After I did this my defenders suddenly started playing like gods in one on ones or 2 vs 2 situations. before they were running around like decapitated chickens.

After telling all the offensive players to do whatever they see fit, the defenders suddenly understood they were supposed to try stopping the oppenments when they tried attacking.

Well atleast I have managed to get my team to play like the unbeaten Arsenal team from 03/04. Looks great and we totally dominate the opponments. Just beat Man Utd 3-0 H league, 3-1 H CL quater and I could easily have won with twice or tree times that margin in both games. Then have been as good as invincible all season. But now they are tired and moral is bad at Old Trafford. I might win the league afterall.

Added from my later reply since I forgot to mention what I said in the headline.

it a mix between the representation and the engine. So many time in the 2D/3D you know what you see is not what really happend. They have the gist of where the ball and the players were. but what they do is not really what happened sort of speak. Hard to explain if you haven't seen it yourself. You have to use ur imagination a bit in "most cases" of what really happened.

When you see your player run away from the ball that is just infront of him and instead let the opposition thats 6 metrs away from the ball get it.

your player didn't really run 8 meters to the left when the ball was 1 meter in front of him and he should have easily picked it up. Instead the opposition that was 6 meters away from the ball pick it up. This really just represent that the opp player won the dual. Thats what I mean with 2D/3D not representative.

What you see as the problem in 2D/3D is not the problem at all, you may think your DMC is drunk looking at the 2D/3D while infact it migt be the 2 midfielders infront of him thats really the problem.

Talk about irony,someone posting "its your tactics"in a thread about the myth of "its your tactics" without reading the full thread...Irony.

Er, no. Sarcasm.

I have found that using all 4 opposition instructions on the oppositions two MCs has been extremely effective in reducing the amount and quality of their long shots.

Er, no. Sarcasm.

It would be sarcasm if he wasnt serious about what he wrote.Iwas answering to pgb spurs comment "Its your tactics.. i was finding this but i changed the way my MCd plays and i seem to have reduced these chances. Its good "

Hardly sounds sarcastic too me.

I don’t think “it’s your tactics” is a myth at all, but it has lost all meaning because it seems to be used as a throw away comment these days, usually to insult the OP or as an “in joke”.

IMO tactics are the main cause of a majority of people’s complaints, however they are not the cause of every problem.

Everyone remembers the furore that surrounded FM08 and the subsequent barrage of “Superkeeper” threads followed by “it’s your tactics” comments. In that instance I think it was safe to say that tactics were at fault and so “it’s your tactics”, whilst not particularly constructive, hit the nail on the head. Unfortunately it was taken too far and began popping up in irrelevant threads; in short, “it’s your tactics” lost its meaning.

The problem with 09 is that a lot more people have noticed a lot more issues, that don’t appear to have anything to do with tactics, yet people continue to use “it’s your tactics”. The likes of GK long ball resulting in one on one is something that enough people have experienced for it to be considered an issue and not a tactical problem.

However, “it’s your tactics”, or more appropriately “it’s your management”, can be at fault for other issues e.g. injuries, and you have to consider that the game is not always at fault.

“Bug/issue” is used as much and in as many inappropriate ways as “it’s your tactics”.

Is “it’s your tactics” a myth? No

Is it the answer to all problems? No

It’s as easy to say “it’s your tactics” is a myth and blame the game, as it is to blame the problem on tactics. Ultimately, there are going to be times when we have to take a step back and think our problems might be of our own making and times when we have to understand that there are certain problems with the game. Of course admitting you’ve made a mistake is easier said than done

Set freedom to none select long shots rarely not that I would pay this as a tactic but that will sort your problem out

Long shots happening when you have them on rarely is usually due to a lack of available options in the match situation, mixed with the personal preferences of the player and creative freedom.

The majority of the ones I've seen have been a midfielder at the edge of the box trying to look for a pass and nobody being open enough that they choose to just stick their foot through it.

I have read this thread from start to finish and am getting no work done!

Thanks for all the help and advice with tactics.....and on that note can i ask one question about closing down/tight marking...

if i set my defenders to tight marking would that mean they also have to have high closing down to have an effect.

i am trying to get my head round whether i should just have defenders closing down all over the pitch but not tight marking....or vice versa, as i worry that if they are too tight and always closing down then if they get turned or pulled out of postion i will be done for.

i am trying to equate this to me being a defender on a real pitch....can anyone help?

cheers. :confused:

every time someone posts its your tactics i just let rip FFS its the match engine

if i set my defenders to tight marking would that mean they also have to have high closing down to have an effect.

I'm no tactical genius, but surely tight marking and high closing down is a contradiction. It means the defender is tight marking someone, but also being asked to close down whoever has the ball?! Am I right?

every time someone posts its your tactics i just let rip FFS its the match engine

Wow you proved my post perfectly, people who say it's the match engine are just as blinkered as the people who say "it's your tactics". You're as bad as the people you "let rip on"

I've started taking as much time on opposition instructions as my own and it seems to be working a treat.

I was sacked by Spurs for only winning 4 games out of 28 when I wasn't doing it!

I'm no tactical genius, but surely tight marking and high closing down is a contradiction. It means the defender is tight marking someone, but also being asked to close down whoever has the ball?! Am I right?

Yeah, the way the engine appears to work to me, is tight marking is a starting position and then closing down will make them move away from that marking and effectively overwrites it.

The whole problem with the 'it's your tactics' , 'it's the match engine' is that it IS your tactics...BUT it is your tactics FOR the match engine. You really can't expect a mere game engine to replicate completely every little thing that occurs in a real life football match. So the only solution left is either make the perfect match engine (which is obviously impossible), or understand the game and adapt your tactics according to it even if it makes no sense in real life. Not counting bugs of course though.

Me still ANGWY about GOALPOSTS. lol

Wow you proved my post perfectly, people who say it's the match engine are just as blinkered as the people who say "it's your tactics". You're as bad as the people you "let rip on"

Nomis07, you try rile me on purpose so can you stop quoting me please.

Yeah, the way the engine appears to work to me, is tight marking is a starting position and then closing down will make them move away from that marking and effectively overwrites it.

Thanks Nomis07 and Captain.

I was thinking of the closing down relating to the defender closing down the forward in their specific defensive area but of course as you say it would relate to closing down anywhere on the pitch.

do you think if i play with defenders who have good marking whether i should play tight marking or not?

thanks

I've been most successful in FM09 using man marking with tight marking and my defenders are little better than average.

Occasionally a fast striker will get the better of me, but on the whole I tend to keep the strikers well marshalled.

excellent stuff, many thanks i will try that myself....and allied to what you were saying previously then closing down in their own area? or should leave it as own half?

Nomis07, you try rile me on purpose so can you stop quoting me please.

I have better things to do with my time than try to rile you, old chap. I'm simply pointing out the obvious flaw in your previous post. Some people are just so precious about the whole forum thing, perhaps you should PM a mod and ask that they make it impossible for me to quote you

well it looks like the player base is pretty much split in 2,The only way to get something sorted is 1st too admit something is broken and it seems we cant do that,if 50% of players think injuries,long shots and keeper to striker balls needs sorted but the other 50% say its working fine and that it is your tactics I guess the devs cant please everyone.

I've played a year now, and have found that, for instance, closing down doesn't always work. The reason as far as I can tell is that it depends on the players. EG, closing down Paul Scholes and showing him onto his weaker foot will work because he doesn't have decent pace or dribbling. Closing down Anderson, however, doesn't work, because he is a flair player - to counter Anderson you should just show him onto weaker foot and tackle hard. Christiano Ronaldo should "Never" be closed down otherwise he will skin you. Playing as Newcastle, Man U were the only big 4 team that I beat in my first season because I really spent time looking at the opposition players. I know this is maybe a bit in-depth for a lot of gamers, but it really was my tactics.

Yep that could very well be true of the the higher league's/best player's,I never played outside of the Championship and only with QPR.

During the tests I done I did change player tactics quite a bit from team and sometime's when I played against a team I knew well I would change tactics against certain player's that I knew were a bit special for the league but still couldnt get things right to stop the ranged shots,This is ofc a bit easier in say the premiership as(for anyone that watches there games as much as I do)knows how those players play.

Maybe it is the tactics,maybe if you were to spend say an hour before every game going through the other teams player's and changing your players tactics to suit maybe it would help but I play the game too have fun not a 2nd job.

It does seem that this thread has basically went to the ranged shots "problem" and no-one mentions the keeper to striker balls and not too many mentioning injuries,is it safe to say that the keeper>striker is a problem then? and maybe the injuries could be better looked at?

I dont think the player base will ever agree on the ranged shots.

it's your squad.

Yep that could very well be true of the the higher league's/best player's,I never played outside of the Championship and only with QPR.

During the tests I done I did change player tactics quite a bit from team and sometime's when I played against a team I knew well I would change tactics against certain player's that I knew were a bit special for the league but still couldnt get things right to stop the ranged shots,This is ofc a bit easier in say the premiership as(for anyone that watches there games as much as I do)knows how those players play.

Maybe it is the tactics,maybe if you were to spend say an hour before every game going through the other teams player's and changing your players tactics to suit maybe it would help but I play the game too have fun not a 2nd job.

It does seem that this thread has basically went to the ranged shots "problem" and no-one mentions the keeper to striker balls and not too many mentioning injuries,is it safe to say that the keeper>striker is a problem then? and maybe the injuries could be better looked at?

I dont think the player base will ever agree on the ranged shots.

From personal experience, I have had less injuries since the demo so I'd say that "problem" is fixed.

Keeper to striker I've only had once against me and scored once from it, I cant say I've noticed too many long shots but I only view key highlights anyway so cant really comment on that.