Manager's preferred formations - too inflexible?

This is just following up on something I mentioned in the Chelsea data issues forum, a while back.

In the game, Scolari's preffered formation is set as a narrow 4-1-3-1-1 - that's fair enough, because that's the formation he's used on the (rare) ocassions that he's had Deco, Ballack, Lampard, Mikel, etc. all fully fit. As they've had their fair share of injuries though, in real life Scolari's had to switch to using wide/support players like Malouda and Kalou, effectively changing his system to more of a 4-3-3 at times to fit in his best available players.

In the game, when Chelsea have a number of central midfielders out, they still use their 4-1-3-1-1 formation, slotting in fairly average midfielders (Minero, for example) and leaving out players like Joe Cole, Malouda and Kalou, becauase they don't fit the formation.

I don't really see what the researcher could do differently - he's set Scolari's preferred formation correctly. But shouldn't managers in the game be a little more flexible with their formations, when they have injuries to key players? Obviously, you don't want them changing system on a game-by-game basis, but I think they should be more prepared to switch to one or two backup formations instead of slotting in reserves ahead of some of their best players.

I think managers and their personalities could be expanded upon considerably, with this being one of the ways it's done.

As you say many managers change their formation to suit the squad they have available at the time, but this rarely seems to happen in FM. Like you I'm not sure how it could be done, especially so that not all managers do this in the same way (some should be more rigid and try to stick with their preferred formation regardless of injuries). But it would be nice to see them mix their formations up a bit to include better players, rather than putting poor players into their preferred formation.

i had an ass man whos preffered formation was 424 and i let him control a few matches as i went on holiday and thats how i realised he played every match from start to finish 424 lol

I agree that this is something that could be improved upon. Have noticed it in my game too.

Totally agree with this. It's not just the inflexibility of game to game either. Managers change their preference from season to season. Fergie changed the system at Man Utd, ditching Beckham along the way. At Pompey, Twitchy Face went from 532 to 442, then 451/433 and back to 442 as the needs changed.

Totally agree

The AI definitely needs a lot more of the "I"

For eg : Mark Hughes. Plays 4-1-2-2-1 with a lone striker but buys loads of strikers for his Manchester City squad. I don't have the problem with the buying, but shouldn't he alter his formation to use the bought players ?! Otherwise, there's no point in buying him !

I agree with this too. How about the other pieces of information on your manager screen? For example, playing style (attacking, defensive, etc.... I think those are some of the options)

Oh dont' get me started on your own managers screen and that preferred formation (and marking style etc.) never bloody changes, a total pet peeve of mine.