After Match - The Looking At Stats

So you either won, lost or drawn but just how much do you take notice of the game after? You can learn a lot about a tactic and whats working and whats not, just by spending a few minutes looking at the individual player stats from a particular game. At first glance you should be able to tell the things that need changing.

Heres a screenshot of one of my games

Link

Now, the first thing I look at is the attempts at passes and the completed ones for all the squad.

One of the things that hits me straight away is my goalkeeper. Hes done 20 passes and completed only 7, which automatically tells me I need to change his passing. For this game he was on direct passing and kick it long. SO for the next game I know to try a different approach and play slightly shorter, and see if these stats improve.

As for the rest of the teams passing, I am pretty pleased overall.

Next up I look at the tackling, as you can see not many tackles where made, this was probably down to how dominant I was. But when a player was asked to tackle, he won most of them. So again happy.

Now I look at header and its the same as above really, i particular note the defensive headers here though and I see my players won almost everything at the back. This is always pleasing to see.

Then we come onto the interceptions, just look at how well my leftback and right back did. 10 interceptions is a decent number for 1 game. This automatically tells me my fullbacks are doing their job, I set them upto win balls and they seem to be doing this.

The DMC Jagielka also did a fair few intercetions, again breaking attack up which for me is his sole job for the team.

As for the rest im pretty happy.

It only takes a few minutes max to see what went wrong statistic wise, and then its pretty obvious what to change.

I'm guessing a lot of people don't bother with the stats though as they think they don't mean that much?

44 interceptiosn that game, pretty pleased with that. Didn't realise the true total til just now. This is whats winning me games as most of my games are the same stats wise.

I do that after almost every match That's how I can see if my tactic is doing well or if I need to strengthen up a position.

For example, both full backs are on the same settings tactically, but one is doing much better than the other. That means the other isn't good enough to handle his instructions, while the other one is doing his job very well... Stuff like that

Though I also imagine not many people do it because some only want to download a tactic and hit the continue button... Which is also okay if it's fun for them, but this way it really lets me feel like a manager

Slightly off topic but relevant imo, i understand what ure saying about stats, which i shall now take a deeper look at, but what u say about passing, would u alter this even if theyre stats suggest this would be bad, ex giving someone mix passing if they had bad decisions, or shorter passing if they couldent pass?

Originally posted by DDEEFF:

Slightly off topic but relevant imo, i understand what ure saying about stats, which i shall now take a deeper look at, but what u say about passing, would u alter this even if theyre stats suggest this would be bad, ex giving someone mix passing if they had bad decisions, or shorter passing if they couldent pass?

Yes, seeing as every player is different id keep changing it until I saw an improvement in his completed stats. For one bad passer it might be a case of slight shorter, where as for another passer he might need a slightly more direct.

i know u say do slight changes, but how would this effect the formation or type of football u wish to play, could u just do a basic 4-4-2 and just adjust every players settings to make it perfect for them, eg giving creative freedom, u take all the things that add to the effect, take an average, in turn, u could just base the whole settings of players according to theyre settings.

broken down, i meant can u create a tactic based soley on the best settings for that player, rather than a team tactic

What should people do if they don't win teh tackles and headers though?

Originally posted by DDEEFF:

i know u say do slight changes, but how would this effect the formation or type of football u wish to play, could u just do a basic 4-4-2 and just adjust every players settings to make it perfect for them, eg giving creative freedom, u take all the things that add to the effect, take an average, in turn, u could just base the whole settings of players according to theyre settings.

broken down, i meant can u create a tactic based soley on the best settings for that player, rather than a team tactic

I believe so yes, its all about playing to your strengths. However depending on the shape of the formation it might be a little bit more difficualt to give each player his best instructions as you could end up with too many defensive minded or attack minded players. You have to find a good balance inbwteeen, so you are happy with both aspects.

I say change it little by little as its easier to remember what you changed and notic the differences it actually makes. If you change lots of isntructions in 1 go, how can you tell which instruction fails you if it doesn't work?

Originally posted by Arthur Li:

What should people do if they don't win teh tackles and headers though?

Headers are difficult, but you can try and make sure the ball is played on the ground rather than in the air. You can do this by playing a slow, short passing game. If its defensive headers then get the players to close down earlier and see if that solves it.

As for tackles change to easy tackling if they miss a lot, as they probably are not upto tackling.

Originally posted by Arthur Li:

What should people do if they don't win teh tackles and headers though?

I would reccomend that you actually assess your squad taking a look at there height, jumping stat, strength and tackling tehn this will help you to actually see what style to play.

It will be no good playing long high balls up the park if you got strikers standing at 5'9 and a midfield no bigger than 5'10 it is obvious you will lose most headers and therefore lose possession and as Cleon said a side like this you will need to try to play the ball on the ground.

So take this into consideration when working out what kind of football you are going to play.

Originally posted by nonleague:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Arthur Li:

What should people do if they don't win teh tackles and headers though?

I would reccomend that you actually assess your squad taking a look at there height, jumping stat, strength and tackling tehn this will help you to actually see what style to play.

It will be no good playing long high balls up the park if you got strikers standing at 5'9 and a midfield no bigger than 5'10 it is obvious you will lose most headers and therefore lose possession and as Cleon said a side like this you will need to try to play the ball on the ground.

So take this into consideration when working out what kind of football you are going to play. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

If the game were set to take account of height this would be true. As it is my 5'9 target man striker wins 99% of his headers every game because he has 20 jumping.

Sorry to be picky but just wanted to point out you only need to look at jumping ability (and heading if you dont want 50% of those headers he wins going straight to the opposition) not height

I was always under the impression that all height does is determine a players' jumping attribute; which is what the match engine uses (in conjunction with others) when calculating headers won.

So, a taller player is more likely to have a high jumping attribute.

Of course I've never been that good at impressions.

Originally posted by Newky:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by nonleague:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Arthur Li:

What should people do if they don't win teh tackles and headers though?

I would reccomend that you actually assess your squad taking a look at there height, jumping stat, strength and tackling tehn this will help you to actually see what style to play.

It will be no good playing long high balls up the park if you got strikers standing at 5'9 and a midfield no bigger than 5'10 it is obvious you will lose most headers and therefore lose possession and as Cleon said a side like this you will need to try to play the ball on the ground.

So take this into consideration when working out what kind of football you are going to play. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

If the game were set to take account of height this would be true. As it is my 5'9 target man striker wins 99% of his headers every game because he has 20 jumping.

Sorry to be picky but just wanted to point out you only need to look at jumping ability (and heading if you dont want 50% of those headers he wins going straight to the opposition) not height </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Aye its true all you need is jumping, heading is good if you actually want to direct the ball somewhere. But height doesn't make no difference as of yet IIRC.

I would say that it is better to assess how your team is playing after 20-30 minutes than at full time.

If you goalkeeper is passing badly it may be that instead of his passing ability being poor the opposition is playing Jamie Carragher types at fullback and everytime he tries to pick out your winger with a goalkick the winger is getting beaten to the ball.

Next game youve changed his passing from direct to short and the opposition is playing with short attacking wingbacks and you miss out on an opportunity to capitilise on your wingers abilities to win some aerial battles. Even worse you may be playing against a team that presses high up the pitch and put yourself in trouble from throw outs to defenders who are not comfortable on the ball.

This goes for all the stats - fullbacks not making tackles? maybe they are up against C. Ronaldo? If so why change their tackling instructions for the next match when they wont be up against C. Ronaldo, it is the current game where changes need to be made.

Summary - How your team plays isnt just down to their abilities but to a very large extent is effected by the opposition which changes match to match

First of all, once again great post, Cleon! All of your "guide"-type articles have been brilliant and very informative, I've bookmarked them all and I really enjoy reading this kind of articles!

Originally posted by Cleon:

So you either won, lost or drawn but just how much do you take notice of the game after? You can learn a lot about a tactic and whats working and whats not, just by spending a few minutes looking at the individual player stats from a particular game. At first glance you should be able to tell the things that need changing.

[...snippety-snip...]

Indeed, I do the same survey every match! Although, for me the half-time statistics are the most important because I can find the needed information on what is going wrong in order to turn the game around, for example.

One thing you didn't mention in your post is the "fouls" and "fouled" part of the statistics screen. I find this quite important, for example if my left full-back commits several fouls and the right full-back doesn't, it's fair assumption that either the opposition's right winger is outplaying my full-back. Now I either replace the full-back or give him more defensive instructions and watch the match in full detail in order to find out whether things improved or not. Also, if some creative player of mine is constantly fouled the instructions or formation probably need tweaking in order to make that creative player more free and give more space for him to operate.

Just my five cents... anyway, keep posting these kind of guide-ish articles, they're great! KUTGW!

if some creative player of mine is constantly fouled the instructions or formation probably need tweaking in order to make that creative player more free and give more space for him to operate.

QUOTE]

Unless you have a killer set piece master of course, in wich case you would loooove your AMCs or STs to be fouled constantly

--------------

Great post... once again. Thanx Cleon.

It's my observation that not many people pay attention to these stats at all. Which is partly why we see so many cry-babies around here(sorry no offence meant) Also one thing that is people don't realize is that the AI changes formation/tactic during a match and this is done to counter your current tactic. Of course you will be slapped around at times if you don't counter act. A huge issue (which is a bug i believe) is that man marking sticks to the opposition player rather than the postion, so you might find you DMC man marking the opposition DL all of a sudden because the AI changed tactic. I wonder how many people realizes that they were just beat by the dreadded 3-3-2-1-1 formation rather than thinking that the tactic they just downloaded from this forum is bogus?

Well anyway, I am very aware of after match stats myself. I am not a big fan of tweaking player instructions too much though. I am a cold hearted SoaB when it comes to man managing, because I find players that fit my tactic, rather than tactics that suit my players. If they can't play the way I want them to play they wont play... Of course I had to experiment with tweaking player instructions at first, but once I found a player who played in the way I like I will sign a replacement with similar stats/prefered moves only.

....and that's the way the cookie crumbles

Newky - The title is after match stats, thats why i mentioned only the stats after a game

I'm currently trying to do a tweaking/stats in game guide atm, but its gonna be kinda long to cover all the bases, so will no doubt take a while to complete. Plus I may aswell wait for the patch so its kinda relevant.

Cleon, one major issue I feel I need to point out here is that tweaking player instrucions can seriously affect your overall tactic in a negative manner.

When looking at your example you say that after a match you are unhappy at your defenders pass completion rate so you tweak their passing a bit until it improves. Well lets say that you want to play a counter attacking style with your team aiming to have around 45% overall possession. If you tweak your defenders passing towards shorter, you will most likely improve pass completion rate, but also increase possession.

Maybe I am wrong here but from my own exsperience, when I play counter attack I like my defenders to play direct or even long ball to move the ball to my front strikers quickly. Surely two thirds of their passes goes straight to the opposition and I loose posession. But it's their defenders that collect the loose balls not their frontmen. So giving away possession to their defenders on purpose and then closing them down is quite effective. Anyway improving defensive pass completion is a no-go in this case.

Originally posted by Jesp:

Cleon, one major issue I feel I need to point out here is that tweaking player instrucions can seriously affect your overall tactic in a negative manner.

When looking at your example you say that after a match you are unhappy at your defenders pass completion rate so you tweak their passing a bit until it improves. Well lets say that you want to play a counter attacking style with your team aiming to have around 45% overall possession. If you tweak your defenders passing towards shorter, you will most likely improve pass completion rate, but also increase possession.

Maybe I am wrong here but from my own exsperience, when I play counter attack I like my defenders to play direct or even long ball to move the ball to my front strikers quickly. Surely two thirds of their passes goes straight to the opposition and I loose posession. But it's their defenders that collect the loose balls not their frontmen. So giving away possession to their defenders on purpose and then closing them down is quite effective. Anyway improving defensive pass completion is a no-go in this case.

Yes that true, but in the example I used it was just a normal game and I wasn't counetrattacking or anything. If I expanded on every single little detail we'd get no where as id be here writing all day long

Originally posted by Cleon:

If I expanded on every single little detail we'd get no where as id be here writing all day long

- Which you already do, and which is great btw

I Finally think i got a light bulb , tactics and tweaking are so vital in this game, i know its probably been said before, but u dont know till u actually do. Ive been trying different tactics , with different successes, sometimes outplaying the big guns, then being confused why i couldent break down the weaker teams, anyway, ive got a decent tactic, and am still figuring out what effects certain things have, but even just changing the team tactic based on match stats has a huge effect, am playing in england and i was playing slow tempo,(been told this gives greater accuracy and possession) , tho thru trial and error, against weaker teams, hier tempo seems to give greater possession, well good luck to all, as i feel i can i finally enjoy the game, now i know 1 size doesent fit all

Originally posted by DDEEFF:

I Finally think i got a light bulb , tactics and tweaking are so vital in this game, i know its probably been said before, but u dont know till u actually do. Ive been trying different tactics , with different successes, sometimes outplaying the big guns, then being confused why i couldent break down the weaker teams, anyway, ive got a decent tactic, and am still figuring out what effects certain things have, but even just changing the team tactic based on match stats has a huge effect, am playing in england and i was playing slow tempo,(been told this gives greater accuracy and possession) , tho thru trial and error, against weaker teams, hier tempo seems to give greater possession, well good luck to all, as i feel i can i finally enjoy the game, now i know 1 size doesent fit all

Ahh the penny dropped eh? Its a good feeling when it does, I can tell you lol

content with dominating or tweak till destruction? lol as u can tell im getting arrogant and beating teams 2-3 nil just isnt enuff, i would love to see heavy score lines week in week out, but how thin is the line between explosion and implosion?

Hi Cleon,

Ifil and then Quinn, who replaced him in the same position, saw very little of the ball, were you happy with their contribution?

I tweaked my tactics to play mroe possession football and after reading this post i looked at my after match stats.

Most my players had passing completion of around 80% except two. My GK and my MR. I looked at my MR and he had 6 for decisions. My GK i changed instruction to make the defender collect.

Apart from those stats i found it hard to see too many flaws in my stats. We lost 1-0 tho.

:-(

Originally posted by broken.thoughts:

Hi Cleon,

Ifil and then Quinn, who replaced him in the same position, saw very little of the ball, were you happy with their contribution?

Quinn replaced Ifill because he was injured on 32 mins. Ifill was playing well, why wouldn't I be happy with his contribution?

When looking at the match stats (not the players', but overall), what percentages of passing/tackling/heading/crossing you consider decent?

Originally posted by Cleon:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Arthur Li:

What should people do if they don't win teh tackles and headers though?

Headers are difficult, but you can try and make sure the ball is played on the ground rather than in the air. You can do this by playing a slow, short passing game. If its defensive headers then get the players to close down earlier and see if that solves it.

As for tackles change to easy tackling if they miss a lot, as they probably are not upto tackling. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

But I'm using Neville (tackling 19) and heinze (tackling 20) so i thought although they are on hard, they could cope with it? Also i chagned it to hard AFTER we lost 2 goals so it is not matter of thta that we lost i think.

Originally posted by qui1337:

When looking at the match stats (not the players', but overall), what percentages of passing/tackling/heading/crossing you consider decent?

It depends on what roles they are playing and how I want my formation to play. For example if I want a hardworking midfield, then I want a 70% completion rate for all tackles. I want my DCs and sometimes higher placed players winning interceptions so I look at this as well.

There is no hard and fast rule on what the % should be, it all really depends on your style of play

Does anyone use the 'form' page on the individual players profile? This is a very good way of analyzing the stats too. It also tells you if the player has made mistakes and cost you games.

another good idea. there is so much information to be had in this version. that for me atleast it takes a long while to adjust to doing alot of things as opposed to just click and play. i start new games regularally and for every new game i start there is always something new i do(checking stats, tutoring,testing formation.etc etc). and where pre season was my most tedious point and all i wanted to do was buy players and start league, now there isnt enuff time. to be honest i dont think ive delved into every option u have in this game.

i see people asking all the time , how do u tutor? how do u see ppm.?

simple basics for those that know but mind blowing new options for those that dont,

maybe someone can come up with walk thru guide on how to set team up pre season,(lol asking a lot)

hows ure post about how to change tactics and instructions based on the stats coming along cleon?

hows ure post about how to change tactics and instructions based on the stats coming along cleon?

Pretty good, but is ages away yet. No point doing it til patch is out either, as I wont be able to show you an example game until then. Once I'm happy with the first piece i'll post it, but its a huge task

fair play mate. if u got any info handy, could u send it plz. mite help me out with my trial and error routine, and put a bit of theory behind it

Originally posted by Cleon:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by broken.thoughts:

Hi Cleon,

Ifil and then Quinn, who replaced him in the same position, saw very little of the ball, were you happy with their contribution?

Quinn replaced Ifill because he was injured on 32 mins. Ifill was playing well, why wouldn't I be happy with his contribution? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Because he's seeing so little of the ball. Only 9 attempted passes in 32 minutes. To me that looks like he would be better used elsewhere on the pitch.

Originally posted by broken.thoughts:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Cleon:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by broken.thoughts:

Hi Cleon,

Ifil and then Quinn, who replaced him in the same position, saw very little of the ball, were you happy with their contribution?

Quinn replaced Ifill because he was injured on 32 mins. Ifill was playing well, why wouldn't I be happy with his contribution? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Because he's seeing so little of the ball. Only 9 attempted passes in 32 minutes. To me that looks like he would be better used elsewhere on the pitch. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thats because I don't pass down the wings, I play through the middle. Where alse could I have used him better? Ifill isn't a regular anyways.

Originally posted by Cleon:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by broken.thoughts:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Cleon:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by broken.thoughts:

Hi Cleon,

Ifil and then Quinn, who replaced him in the same position, saw very little of the ball, were you happy with their contribution?

Quinn replaced Ifill because he was injured on 32 mins. Ifill was playing well, why wouldn't I be happy with his contribution? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Because he's seeing so little of the ball. Only 9 attempted passes in 32 minutes. To me that looks like he would be better used elsewhere on the pitch. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thats because I don't pass down the wings, I play through the middle. Where alse could I have used him better? Ifill isn't a regular anyways. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't know your formation, so hard to say! If he's on one wing, then there must something different with the other winger allowing him much more possession. You can see that Ifill and then his replacement were the poorest performer on the team, except the guy that only played 20 mins.

I look at stats all the time, also it's my way of deciding how to lecture my boys at full time and half time. But it's sometimes hard to adjust your tactics to stats. There's way too many variables that could affect the players' stats. Example, they could be having a real bad day, due to poor morale or just one of those off-days. Or the opposition is playing very differently and your player can cope with the different style. Or your player could just have a lucky day on the pitch.

All in all players' stats may differ. He plays well against one team, but plays badly against another team. I mean look at stats, but don't make all sorts of conclusions to your tactic.

I don't know your formation, so hard to say! If he's on one wing, then there must something different with the other winger allowing him much more possession. You can see that Ifill and then his replacement were the poorest performer on the team, except the guy that only played 20 mins.

Quinn replaced Ifill but didn't play in his position I moved Hleb there. But as there different players of course they will play different from Michale Tonge. Tonge as the ability to dribble with the ball and beat a man, Ifill didn't. So they had different isntructions, Ifills job was to make numbers up in attack and not do anything else but that. So Just because they play the same position, doesn;t mean they both have the same job to do

im not very clued up a this sort of thing.

My match

This was of my matches i was not very happy with.

I can see what i am doing wrong but i dont know how to edit my tactics accordingly.

If somebody could take a look at these stats and recommend some alterations to get me onto the right lines id be very grateful.

cheers

Id have subbed Neville long before if he had a rating like that for me.

Cleon will you be comparing more of you're games in this thread, as I'm having difficulty in assessing my tactic due to its ability to win against decent sides and then lose to bottom of the league teams.

I'm ashamed to admit i rarely look at these stats

Originally posted by Abramovic:

Cleon will you be comparing more of you're games in this thread, as I'm having difficulty in assessing my tactic due to its ability to win against decent sides and then lose to bottom of the league teams.

I'm ashamed to admit i rarely look at these stats

Today I've done a bit more to the tweaking guide I am creating, which might benefit you more actually. Hopefully I will have first part out by end of week.

Well this is about my other post up the thread and the person that missed a lot of headers is my right back Jimmy Williams who has heading of 10 and jumping of 8 (decent enough for Conference North?). His closing down is already pretty high--16 or 17? So what's the problem????

Obligtry bump.

Cleon, i have to be brutaly honest mate, if you were in the room right this second you'd get a big wet soppy kiss. Oh my god, I feel like such a numpty after reading this thread! All this info was right under my nose and I had no idea how to use it.

All those times I felt toally frustrated by some of your instructions as I didn't understand how to see how my tactics were performing (results don't mean good performances) but this topic has quite literally been the missing link - suddenly everything makes sense.

Been using this thread to good use all this week and have turned my sorry season around at Fulham, so I feel I need to bump up the thread for others to notice.

Honestly, I'm over the moon. Just finished 4th with Fulham after a sorry few seasons, was dancing round the room when we clinched European football on the final day

Big thumbs up \m/

As for the rest of the teams passing, I am pretty pleased overall.

Next up I look at the tackling, as you can see not many tackles where made, this was probably down to how dominant I was. But when a player was asked to tackle, he won most of them. So again happy.

Now I look at header and its the same as above really, i particular note the defensive headers here though and I see my players won almost everything at the back. This is always pleasing to see.

Then we come onto the interceptions, just look at how well my leftback and right back did. 10 interceptions is a decent number for 1 game. This automatically tells me my fullbacks are doing their job, I set them upto win balls and they seem to be doing this.

Cleon, No offence, but saying that you're doing it right doesn't really tell us much.

Telling us what it is that makes your full back do so well to intercept (etc) would be good.

Or how about posting the stats of a mtach that you lose 4-0 and analysisg that.

I think that would be uselful for us amateurs.

Originally posted by simmorespondero:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> As for the rest of the teams passing, I am pretty pleased overall.

Next up I look at the tackling, as you can see not many tackles where made, this was probably down to how dominant I was. But when a player was asked to tackle, he won most of them. So again happy.

Now I look at header and its the same as above really, i particular note the defensive headers here though and I see my players won almost everything at the back. This is always pleasing to see.

Then we come onto the interceptions, just look at how well my leftback and right back did. 10 interceptions is a decent number for 1 game. This automatically tells me my fullbacks are doing their job, I set them upto win balls and they seem to be doing this.

Cleon, No offence, but saying that you're doing it right doesn't really tell us much.

Telling us what it is that makes your full back do so well to intercept (etc) would be good.

Or how about posting the stats of a mtach that you lose 4-0 and analysisg that.

I think that would be uselful for us amateurs.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't loose 4-0, and the reason I get so many nterceptions are my player instructions.

Read my sheffield United project thread to see my settings I currently use etc and go into more detail explaining things.

I've never EVER looked into this but I reckon I am going to find out a lot about my team by taking notice. Probably the most obvious yet useful thing you've ever pointed out. Nice one.

What sort of changes should I be looking to make to improve my interception rate? My full backs are making about 5 each per game which is not good enough and the majority of my interceptions fall to one of my centre-backs. Would this suggest that the opposition are trying to play down the middle?

Originally posted by Silverx:

What sort of changes should I be looking to make to improve my interception rate? My full backs are making about 5 each per game which is not good enough and the majority of my interceptions fall to one of my centre-backs. Would this suggest that the opposition are trying to play down the middle?

It could mean that, but it could also mean that your centre back is a good player. Watch the match and see. If you want your full backs to intercept more, you could man mark the opposing winger or close down more often...