Is this an error?

Last year, with FM2008, I started a thread about 'Possession' and more specifically, that I thought I'd found an error/bug in the game.

Let me explain a bit better.

I am a possession freak. I watch Barcelona's every single match on Sky and just adore the way they play matches. Anyone else that watches that team regularly, will see that no matter home or away, they always dominate possession.

So, I try my hardest to re-create this in FM - and it's bloody hard!

Anyway, having managed to get a decent tactic together, I've amazingly managed to get my team playing well and dominating possession in nearly every match.

To know this, in each match I will keep checking on the match stats screen, the possession % stats.

What I have found though, is that while on that screen, say it tells me that my Barcelona team have had 60% of the possession and the opposition 40% - if you then switch to the 'Action Zones' screen, my interpretation of that screen is that it shows where my team's 60% possession has been.

I.E. if we're attacking alot, I'd expect the middle and attacking thirds to be high in possession etc.

In reality, this screens information and the information on the match stats screen do not paint the same picture. This leaves me completely frustrated and confused.

On one hand, having checked the match stats screen, I feel happy my team are keeping the ball well. Then, I check the action zones screen and this tells me that I've only had 51% possession?! ?! ?!

Are the two screens not linked?

I've always assumed that the match stats screen, and specifically the possession stat, links directly to the action zones screen and the action zone screen merely portrays the possession each team is having, as informed by the match stats screen.

More simply, if the possession stat tells me my team is currently having 60% possession, then should the action zone screen not show this same percentage too?

Anyone can run any game and hopefully see what I'm on about.

Last year, I raised a similar issue in that the Action Zone screen often displayed on 99% in total (not 100% as it should, obviously).

It seems this is a similar problem which as I've said, leaves me frustrated and confused.

Which stat do I believe and how on earth am I really supposed to know if my team are doing what I ask, other than to watch a whole game, which I don't want to and shouldn't have to.

Sorry for moaning, I hope I've written this in a constructive enough manner and I sincerely hope others have noticed this issue to - or that someone can explain the two differing stats to me.

I've just looked at 4 random fixtures my team has played and in each one, the match stat screen will say possession = X and the action zone screen, when adding all three sections, will total something completely different!?

Thank you...

Last year, with FM2008, I started a thread about 'Possession' and more specifically, that I thought I'd found an error/bug in the game.

Let me explain a bit better.

I am a possession freak. I watch Barcelona's every single match on Sky and just adore the way they play matches. Anyone else that watches that team regularly, will see that no matter home or away, they always dominate possession.

So, I try my hardest to re-create this in FM - and it's bloody hard!

Anyway, having managed to get a decent tactic together, I've amazingly managed to get my team playing well and dominating possession in nearly every match.

To know this, in each match I will keep checking on the match stats screen, the possession % stats.

What I have found though, is that while on that screen, say it tells me that my Barcelona team have had 60% of the possession and the opposition 40% - if you then switch to the 'Action Zones' screen, my interpretation of that screen is that it shows where my team's 60% possession has been.

I.E. if we're attacking alot, I'd expect the middle and attacking thirds to be high in possession etc.

In reality, this screens information and the information on the match stats screen do not paint the same picture. This leaves me completely frustrated and confused.

On one hand, having checked the match stats screen, I feel happy my team are keeping the ball well. Then, I check the action zones screen and this tells me that I've only had 51% possession?! ?! ?!

Are the two screens not linked?

I've always assumed that the match stats screen, and specifically the possession stat, links directly to the action zones screen and the action zone screen merely portrays the possession each team is having, as informed by the match stats screen.

More simply, if the possession stat tells me my team is currently having 60% possession, then should the action zone screen not show this same percentage too?

Anyone can run any game and hopefully see what I'm on about.

Last year, I raised a similar issue in that the Action Zone screen often displayed on 99% in total (not 100% as it should, obviously).

It seems this is a similar problem which as I've said, leaves me frustrated and confused.

Which stat do I believe and how on earth am I really supposed to know if my team are doing what I ask, other than to watch a whole game, which I don't want to and shouldn't have to.

Sorry for moaning, I hope I've written this in a constructive enough manner and I sincerely hope others have noticed this issue to - or that someone can explain the two differing stats to me.

I've just looked at 4 random fixtures my team has played and in each one, the match stat screen will say possession = X and the action zone screen, when adding all three sections, will total something completely different!?

Thank you...

I admit to 'bumping' this up, mainly just because I do not want SI to have missed it but also because over 80 people have viewed this, pressumably read it and can't be arsed to even say I'm wrong?!

Surely there are other people passionate about the way their team plays and keeping possession of the ball is important to them?

If that's the case, this MUST be of interest to you?

Failing that, could someone from SI please just look into this for me and offer some thoughts?

Cheers (and sorry again)

Aren't the action zones more to do with where the game is played, by both teams, rather than just your own?

Plus if total percentage in the action zone totals 99%, is that not because the other 1% of the time it's out of play?

Interesting opinion, and TBH I have never paid any attention to the differences between general possession and the action zone possession. I don't know how to offer a solution, but after your second post, I thought I had better respond lol! (first time I read this by the way!)

Hopefully SOMEONE can clarify this. Sorry I can't be more help!

I just can't get my head around it.

I just want to know which 'stat' I should look to for accurate assessment on how much possession my team are having.

It's never been explained by anyone at SI or by anyone else that I'm aware of.

As I've said, I always thought the match stat screen % and the action zone %'s were exactly the same thing, if this is the case, then it's clearly not working as it's meant, if not, an explanation is a MUST.

Yes the %s in the action zones show the % of possession in that specific area, i.e. team A had 60% of possession in midfield and team B had 40%. Adding the 3 ares will not give you total possession because you spend different amounts of time in the 3 areas of the pitch.

Does that make sense?

Yes the %s in the action zones show the % of possession in that specific area, i.e. team A had 60% of possession in midfield and team B had 40%. Adding the 3 ares will not give you total possession because you spend different amounts of time in the 3 areas of the pitch.

Does that make sense?

Nailed it

No, it doesn't make sense, sorry.

Surely, the maximum % is 100% - therefore, that 100% is divided between team A and team B.

Say my team, team A has had 60% possession the match, team B would have had 40% in that match.

Switch to the ACTION ZONES screen and surely it should show the 60% I've had, split in three parts?

Say, 10% in defensive 3rd, 20% in middle 3rd and because I was attacking alot, 30% in the attacking 3rd?

No, it doesn't make sense, sorry.

Surely, the maximum % is 100% - therefore, that 100% is divided between team A and team B.

Say my team, team A has had 60% possession the match, team B would have had 40% in that match.

Switch to the ACTION ZONES screen and surely it should show the 60% I've had, split in three parts?

Say, 10% in defensive 3rd, 20% in middle 3rd and because I was attacking alot, 30% in the attacking 3rd?

No.

Possesion and Action zones are not linked. How can they be? I think you are over analysing.

Take your example and it would mean that the other team had 40% possession right?

Right. Now apply your thinking and again using your example it would mean that team b had 90%, 80% and 70%. Which doesn't make sense if you are thinking about possession.

Try this analogy....

You and I are stood on a football field.

Your in your half of the field with the ball at your feet for 45 mins. I am also stood in your half of the field trying to tackle you but unsuccesful for the whole 45 mins.

This means 100% of possesion to you.

Now you look at the stats and you would see the action would show that its taken place 100% in your half of the field.

It would also show a 50% split between you and I. That is 50% of the action was you running with with the ball and the other 50% was me trying to steal it from you.

I didn't touch the ball once so my possesion would be 0% but i would have contributed to 50% of the action. 100% of which took place in your half of the field.

Dont focus on the numbers, it's just a messy math problem regarding time and %s. focus on the heights of each graph. if you see that in a particular area the opposition has a higher percentage, than you have been outplayed in that area. I.e. if you have 60% of possession overall but in the attacking area possession is split 10% for you and 20% for the opposing defence that means that you might be letting them pass the ball about in defence without being pressured enough, in which case you might need to up your forward players pressing or OI press the opposing defenders, or add another striker to crowd their defense.

No.

Possesion and Action zones are not linked. How can they be? I think you are over analysing.

Take your example and it would mean that the other team had 40% possession right?

Right. Now apply your thinking and again using your example it would mean that team b had 90%, 80% and 70%. Which doesn't make sense if you are thinking about possession.

NO NO NO...!!! Not at all.

Taking my example. - I've used 60%, spread over the three areas, as explained, 10, 20 and 30. So in reverse, the other team may have had, 15, 10, 5 - which totals 40%...

So take the first third, I've had 10% of the possession in which the game was being played in that third and the other team has had 15% of the possession in that third...so far that's 25% of the total possession (which is always 100% divided between the two teams)

Try this analogy....

You and I are stood on a football field.

Your in your half of the field with the ball at your feet for 45 mins. I am also stood in your half of the field trying to tackle you but unsuccesful for the whole 45 mins.

This means 100% of possesion to you. - CORRECT.

Now you look at the stats and you would see the action would show that its taken place 100% in your half of the field.

It would also show a 50% split between you and I. That is 50% of the action was you running with with the ball and the other 50% was me trying to steal it from you. - NO, IT DOESNT SHOW THAT AND NEVER HAS.

I didn't touch the ball once so my possesion would be 0% but i would have contributed to 50% of the action. 100% of which took place in your half of the field. - YEAH, I see what you're saying, but the action zones screen doesn't show that. It shows where the percentages of the possession each team has had and in which part of the field.

If your team had no possession at all, it would/or should show my teams 100% possession, spread over the three sections, of course this only ever happens in the very early stages of a game until the other team gets a throw in or something and takes control of the possession.

I've written text above...good construction conversation this is!

No as I said before possesion is not equal to Action Zones.

You say above........

"YEAH, I see what you're saying, but the action zones screen doesn't show that. It shows where the percentages of the possession each team has had and in which part of the field."

You are incorrect.

Here is what the game description of action zones are......

"The action zones screen displays a visual graphic of how much time each team has spent in a particular zone of the field, giving you an idea of who has held the upper hand during the game.[COMMENT: Hints and Tips, GUI, Beginner Level, Note: tells the user how the match action zones screen works"

I took that from the hints file.

Possession is a seperate statistic. You are confusing the two.

Yep, you are right.

You initial explanation threw me off but the hints file explanation explains is perfectly for my little pea brain.

I can go back to game now and enjoy it once more.

Cheers Trux.