Quickfire Questions and Answers Thread (Tactic and Training Questions Only)

Freddie, yes they certainly can. I find teams in FM respond to one of two kinds of manager. You can either be a 'tactical' manager like an Avam Grant, Arsene Wenger or Guus Hiddink, and spend ages designing the right tactic for your team and responding to minute changes the opposition make. Or you can be a 'mental' manager like an Ian Holloway or a Harry Redknapp, and play with relatively simple, rugged tactics, not particularly pay much attention to what the opposition are doing, but use team talks and interviews to boost the team's morale and make the team respond to you that way.

I use a fairly simple 4-3-3 (though technically I guess it's 4-1-2-2-1; a DM, two CM's, an AMR+L with diagonal farrows to the striker, and an FC) with very few tweaks between or during matches and almost no individual instructions, and my Norwich side are promotion contenders purely through the use of team talks and interviews. The disadvantage to this approach of course is that it's a lot easier to say the wrong thing in an interview than it is to give a player the wrong instruction in a tactic, and also you need a team who's personalities are largely the same, otherwise you have the problem of some players being buoyed but some being deflated.

Now for my stupid question: I know what farrows, barrows and sarrows do, but what about darrows? As in, diagonal arrows?

A darrow from AML to FC for example, would that have the combined effect of a farrow and a sarrow? I.e, 'push forward when we're in possession and don't play quite so wide'? Or would it mean something else? The reason I ask is because I want my wingers, Huckerby and Bynarsson, to support Jamie Cureton more in the centre when the other doesn't have the ball. Too many times I see a cross come in from Bynarsson, Cureton heads it on, and there's nobody to recieve it because Huckerby is still out on the left wing and Vidarsson, my playmaker MC, is lurking at the edge of the box where he should be. I don't want to play with two strikers, because I like my team as it is and I don't want to remove any of my central midfield trio. I just want whichever winger doesn't currently have the ball to play more centrally in support of the striker. Asking too much? Or is there a simple trick?

creative freedom does it do anything i've given defenders 1 or 20 and don't see any change same with every position

I have a few 'stupid' questions if someone could enlighten me....

1: Is it possible to assign my assistant manager to manage the team for a match and also view the match (see what tactics he uses, team talks, substitutions etc)? I always manage and watch the full match with my 1st team but let my assistant look after Reserve and U19 squads. It would be nice to see how he manages a match compared to my own preferences.

2: I'm pretty sure this is me being dense but, in the Job Centre screen how can I advertise a vacancy? For example I want a new coach or scout but abiding by the LLM guidelines I dont use the search function as it is somewhat unrealistic. I can only see existing vacancies from other clubs but cant see an option to Add Vacancy.

3: My first team uses several varients of the 442 formation that i will swap during a match (aggressive/defensive/counter etc). Under the assistant manager options there is an option for the Reserve and U19 squads to Use Match Tactics (or words to that effect). How does this work? Will the Assistance Manager use tweaks throughout the match? Will he only ever use the tactic currently selected for the 1st team for Reserve and U19 matches - no matter what happens during a match? I thought it would be good to have all three squads using the same tactics so players would be more familiar when moved up to the first team in the event of a senior player injury for example. But when I set this option on both the Reserve and U19 squads they got really hammered in the league while my 1st Team did quite well. Turning the option off again saw a dramatic improvement for the R/U19 teams. Was i using this feature incorrectly or was it just bad luck?

I have a few 'stupid' questions if someone could enlighten me....

1: Is it possible to assign my assistant manager to manage the team for a match and also view the match (see what tactics he uses, team talks, substitutions etc)? I always manage and watch the full match with my 1st team but let my assistant look after Reserve and U19 squads. It would be nice to see how he manages a match compared to my own preferences.

The only time your assistant manager will take over your team is if you go on holiday. You can then look back at the matches and probably get an idea of what formation and stuff he used but I don't think you can get a clear view of the exact tactics he would have used.

2: I'm pretty sure this is me being dense but, in the Job Centre screen how can I advertise a vacancy? For example I want a new coach or scout but abiding by the LLM guidelines I dont use the search function as it is somewhat unrealistic. I can only see existing vacancies from other clubs but cant see an option to Add Vacancy.

I'm at work now so can't remember exactly where it is but there is definitely an option to advertise a vacancy, I think it's in the bottom left of the screen.

3: My first team uses several varients of the 442 formation that i will swap during a match (aggressive/defensive/counter etc). Under the assistant manager options there is an option for the Reserve and U19 squads to Use Match Tactics (or words to that effect). How does this work? Will the Assistance Manager use tweaks throughout the match? Will he only ever use the tactic currently selected for the 1st team for Reserve and U19 matches - no matter what happens during a match? I thought it would be good to have all three squads using the same tactics so players would be more familiar when moved up to the first team in the event of a senior player injury for example. But when I set this option on both the Reserve and U19 squads they got really hammered in the league while my 1st Team did quite well. Turning the option off again saw a dramatic improvement for the R/U19 teams. Was i using this feature incorrectly or was it just bad luck?

Using the feature means the Assistant (or whoever's controlling your reserve and U19 teams) will use the tactics that you have set in the Tactics screen. He will not access any of your other tactics and use them during a match. If you leave this option unticked the Assistant will just use whatever tactics he sees fit and change them as he sees fit. So if your tactic involves tweaking and changing a fair bit during a match it might not be a good idea to ask your staff to use these tactics for the reserves and U19 as they won't make changes during the match like you.

Why do have morale issues with some players? We have just got promoted, against the odds, and after 10-15 games, despite the media predictions we are in a very healthy 12-13th place.

There are a few players who are regulars in my first 11, who are playing well and have no concerns in their "personal" section (one of them even has "pleased to have signed a new contract!") yet have morales of poor or very poor.

How can I cheer them up?

What sort of team talks do you use? When you lose a game do you ever tell your players you're dissapointed with them? If so this could be the case as certain players don't react well to this, depending on their personality. I'd stick with sympathise or good effort when you lose, even if you lose against teams you feel you should beat. This should help keep your players happy.

how old is he?

31 .

Why do have morale issues with some players? We have just got promoted, against the odds, and after 10-15 games, despite the media predictions we are in a very healthy 12-13th place.

There are a few players who are regulars in my first 11, who are playing well and have no concerns in their "personal" section (one of them even has "pleased to have signed a new contract!") yet have morales of poor or very poor.

How can I cheer them up?

search the forum's for wolfsong's guide to team talks. i've been using for about a week (irl), and morale is higher than ever and it gets at least an extra 10-15 points a season

now my question! about arrows again...

my formation is a 4-2-3-1, with a backwards diagonal arrow on the right centre mid, pointing to centre DM, and i usually play xavi or yaya toure there.

my only problem is that instead of him running back when we lose the ball, i want him to sit in front of the defence when we attack, so he can sweep up any counter attacks without the defenders needing to break position. is there any way round this?

now my question! about arrows again...

my formation is a 4-2-3-1, with a backwards diagonal arrow on the right centre mid, pointing to centre DM, and i usually play xavi or yaya toure there.

my only problem is that instead of him running back when we lose the ball, i want him to sit in front of the defence when we attack, so he can sweep up any counter attacks without the defenders needing to break position. is there any way round this?

The best way to do this is to make him a DMC with mixed or rarely for forward runs. If you have his position as a CM then thats where he'll naturally want to put himself much of the time.

Been gone a little while & with the new forum setup, don't see an off topic thread.

Well, just to let everyone know I'm still alive here in Spain, but now living in a very rural location, having great problems looking for a good internet connection. Am trialing a 3G modem at the molment, but the best I get is 30kbp/s on what's supposed to be a 1mb connection. Ah well... back to the drawing board!

Nice to see the regulars around and the forums looking a little tidier. See you all soon. Hopefully with a decent connection BEFORE FM909 comes out!

Ok, very stupid question...so this is great topic for me

Does through balls count as crosses in player stats when you look at the after game? My AMC usually has loads, so does my DMC, eventhough I don't set them to cross.

Ok, very stupid question...so this is great topic for me

Does through balls count as crosses in player stats when you look at the after game? My AMC usually has loads, so does my DMC, eventhough I don't set them to cross.

They should count as KEY PASSES in the stats. If you seem to be getting loads more than you think you should, try watching a game on full highlights - maybe they lots of ineffective crosses.

I have a question: I'm doing a much needed overhaul of my team's set pieces. I'm going through my team's stats and checking Penalty Taking, Corners, Freekicks etc. What I wanted to know was if there was a particular set piece that Creativity can be useful, or integral to? Maybe setting them as target men?

I think when you select a player with high creativity to take free kicks or corners he's more 'smart'. This way he'll probably find a better way to create changes from the dead-ball situations. Also high decisions would be nice

Can anybody remember the best settings to use to get FB's to overlap? I'm sure it used to be in an old sticky.

I'm guessing mixed FWR on wingers, no or mixed crossing, cross from deep. Maybe RWB often?

FB's to FWR often, cross ball often, from either mixed or Byeline...

Anyone?

Also, after recently re-reading the manual, it suggests: 'not changing the style of football to much as it will confuse the players (I think!)'.

Does this mean that if you decide that your team should play attacking football then you should play this home and away or does it refer to something else?

A Question Regrading Strikers-Help Please

Can someone please help me regarding strikers?

Apart from the obvious stats of Finishing, Pace, Acceleration & Finishing, Heading on stikers, How else do you decide who plays where?

Isn't there a possibility that a player could have good "other stats" such as Creativity, Flair, Off The Ball, Dribbling, Passing & Technique but not have such good stats for Pace which is the criteria for a pacy stiker.

A Question Regrading Strikers-Help Please

Can someone please help me regarding strikers?

Apart from the obvious stats of Finishing, Pace, Acceleration & Finishing, Heading on stikers, How else do you decide who plays where?

Isn't there a possibility that a player could have good "other stats" such as Creativity, Flair, Off The Ball, Dribbling, Passing & Technique but not have such good stats for Pace which is the criteria for a pacy stiker.

Point being that if you've got a striker with average pace, but good stats for creativity etc then he needs it into feet - leave his instructions on mixed, and give him some creative freedom and let him work his magic.

A striker who is quick and can finish is obviously a different animal. If you can, you want him running onto balls in behind/down the channels or scoring in tap-ins across the box.

So you need to think about using players with complimentary qualities in different ways to give you more options than just being a on trick pony.

Hope that helps.

Point being that if you've got a striker with average pace, but good stats for creativity etc then he needs it into feet - leave his instructions on mixed, and give him some creative freedom and let him work his magic.

A striker who is quick and can finish is obviously a different animal. If you can, you want him running onto balls in behind/down the channels or scoring in tap-ins across the box.

So you need to think about using players with complimentary qualities in different ways to give you more options than just being a on trick pony.

Hope that helps.

Cheers Lawman that helps a lot.

But when you take over a new team for the first time if the stats for either a striker or a targetmen are not obvious how do you decide then?

There surely is a scenario for this

I often play two or three matches with creative freedom on mixed. That way you can watch the entire match to see what players do. Surely you can then see what players decide to do. After 30 mins in one match you can allready see if someone is playing terrible and doesnt know what to do. Then remove his creatieve freedom and give him a specific task. For example forward runs. Then select him as targetman and select run unto ball. This way it'll take a while but you'll find weak and good spots in your team.

Thanks Necklus.

This clears things up. Too often I have been struggling as some strikers are very close stats wise

Ive seen alot about the "6 yard box trick", but I have no clue what it is, so.. what is it?

I have the perfect stupid question: how the bloody hell do you get your senior plays to mentor your developing ones? I can't seem to find the option anywhere!

I have the perfect stupid question: how the bloody hell do you get your senior plays to mentor your developing ones? I can't seem to find the option anywhere!

Go to your squad -> Choose a young player ->click player interaction -> at the bottom choose a senior player

Ive seen alot about the "6 yard box trick", but I have no clue what it is, so.. what is it?

That might be another term for the corner bug but I am not sure.

Go to your squad -> Choose a young player ->click player interaction -> at the bottom choose a senior player

But remeber that not all players can be tutored. So if you pick a young player, go to player interaction and find that you cannot select another player to tutor them it's because they can't be tutored for some reason or there are currently no players available to tutor them.

i want to ask a question which is about hidden attributes.

i have a player and his consistency attribute is low.

can hidden attributes like consistency improved ?

if so, how?

thanks =)

I'm managing Hull, in my first season got them promoted to Premiership. Second season avoided relegation just. Third season currently lying in second place and yet the board still think I should be performing better. What more can I do?! I'm signing new players, asking for better for facilities and still they complain.

i want to ask a question which is about hidden attributes.

i have a player and his consistency attribute is low.

can hidden attributes like consistency improved ?

if so, how?

thanks =)

watching him get older normally works

I was wondering how to increase the rate of goals my midfielders contribute in a 4-4-2 (AML/R instead of wingers) without modifying how many goals my strikers would roughly reach. Its February and both my strikers or on 17 goals each (one has that in 31 games and the other in 25 games) but the rest of my team have been very lacklustre in the goal department. My AMR has yet to score my AML has scored one and my MCs have got a total of 8 between them with the rest of the team scoring none. which is incredibly disappointing to say the least. I need to reach third in the league or i fear the sack and if my Mcs were scoring a bit more I feel that would hopefully propel me into 3rd if anyone has any advice without risking defence obviously as well please help

i want to ask a question which is about hidden attributes.

i have a player and his consistency attribute is low.

can hidden attributes like consistency improved ?

if so, how?

thanks =)

You cannot help the improvement of the consistency and important matches attribute. They improve by 1 for every 20 CA point increase.

Heres a bit of a stupid question.

With Lower league teams (or rubbish teams) is it better to have long passing with a fast tempo? or do I have to take my teams ability into affect?

You cannot help the improvement of the consistency and important matches attribute. They improve by 1 for every 20 CA point increase.

That is incorrect. I have year on year save games and players do show improvements in consistency when their CA-PA differential is less than 20.

I can post Genie screenshots if you really want or you can take me at my word

That is incorrect. I have year on year save games and players do show improvements in consistency when their CA-PA differential is less than 20.

I can post Genie screenshots if you really want or you can take me at my word

Yup true, developed players do improve, but slowly. Its really up to you if you want to wait for a youngster with low consistency to improve enough for first team. The 20CA points is a good estimate to where he will start.

That may be the case but I'm saying you are seeing a coincidental pattern. There is no direct link between CA gains and gains in consistency (there is an indirect link in that both are affected by exposure to first team football).

From ages 17 to 22

Player A gains 53 CA points, consistency increases by 5

Player B gains 68 CA points, consistency increases by 3

Player C gains 65 CA points, consistency increases by 4

Player D gains 69 CA points, consistency increases by 2

Looking at those values tbh I'm struggling to see how it works as Player D had the most significant exposure to first team football (103 appearances for Ajax and 14 for Blackburn). It's not a simple more games = bigger increase calculation.

I've not seen a 'large' increase as in Player A before, my estimates have not failed me so far. I'm betting with data from 1000 youngsters, the average will still be 1 every 20CA. I hope you can prove me wrong.

Similarly, if a striker start with very low pace/acceleration and jumping, will you bet on him to be decent enough in the future?

I've not seen a 'large' increase as in Player A before, my estimates have not failed me so far. I'm betting with data from 1000 youngsters, the average will still be 1 every 20CA. I hope you can prove me wrong.

True could be an anomaly and who could be arsed to look at 1000 players . Plus I looked at age so I was just comparing a couple of games and players who went from 17 to 22 with a decent chunk of PA available.

Similarly, if a striker start with very low pace/acceleration and jumping, will you bet on him to be decent enough in the future?

That's the point I was making. It's not similar because these attributes are tied to CA/PA. There is rarely an 'anomaly' with respect to that link yet within looking at 20 players it was clear that there is no link between CA/PA and the attribute 'consistency'.

But you've seen what you've seen from looking at your game and your method has served you well, so keep doing what you're doing . I know I probably come across as trying to be a smartarse but personally speaking I'd prefer to know I had misinterpreted the rules of the game.

What you are seeing with youngsters is just a coincidence of them gaining in CA and consistency as they get older. If the two were linked then for me to find even 5 players who break this rule would indicate either one of two things

1. My assumption of the link is wrong or

2. There's a bug in the game

The fact that I can find 10 players who had less than 10 PA available yet gained 2+ in consistency over a period of years suggests to me there is no link. As I said I'm too lazy to look at 1000 players but when you look at 20 and they all follow an almost identical pattern in relation to attribute gains and CA gains that is known (average finishing gains per CA gain for example), then I would expect the same to apply to links that aren't well known (consistency link to CA gains).

That's my logic behind it anyway, as flawed as it may be

I have a question regarding playmaker. I play as AT Madrid, using a flat 4-4-2 formation with short farrows on the wingers. Anyways, I put my two wingers, two CMs and two ST names into the playermaker box, however I haven't ticked the "Use Playmaker" option in Team Instructions. What affect will this have on my team play? And is this a good or bad thing to do?

Thanks

^I don't know for sure but I would hazard a guess that putting players in the list has no effect unless you tick the box and vice versa.

The concept of the playmaker is that players try to pass to him so he can orchestrate play. So part of that in coding would most likely be a probability and decisions algorithm. So if you tick the box it generates a new potential decision for the player in possession that relates to passing to the playmaker. If you think of 'pass to playmaker' as their first option then you see the importance of setting up your playmaker so he is in space when your team regains possession. Thus you probably don't want him tracking back to defend (not saying you can't and others don't do so, just my opinion).

Also the question of multiple players really depends on how it is coded but my guess is that the second/third/etc. only has an effect when the one above them isn't on the pitch.

Thanks isuckatfm. The reason I didn't bother ticking use playmaker because my players would only pass to the first name I put in the box. I thought if I didn't tick use playmaker, then my player with the ball would pass to the nearest playmaker for example my lb would pass to my left winger because my MC was too far away.

^He might do. As I said it's just conjecture based on observation and assumptions about how it might be coded. If you tested and watched it would be difficult though to separate whether or not he does that because of the playmaker list or just by coincidence of the options available/tactical settings combination.

Don't take it as gospel as I could be wrong

Thanks isuckatfm.

Another question I always wanted to ask but didn't know where to ask it was how the best way to play in France? I'm thinking about starting a game with AS Monaco or Lyon, but I'm not sure which is the best way to approach it from a tactical perspective.

Thanks in advance,

Patrick

Thanks isuckatfm.

Another question I always wanted to ask but didn't know where to ask it was how the best way to play in France? I'm thinking about starting a game with AS Monaco or Lyon, but I'm not sure which is the best way to approach it from a tactical perspective.

Thanks in advance,

Patrick

I am playing with Monaco now and have older save with Lyon. They are quite different though (check good players / team forum), but you are right, France has some specifics. First, unlike England, many teams play formations different from 4-4-2. Second, most of the teams have quite good DM or MCd and use them. Third, teams are more equal (except maybe Lyon). I might be wrong, but I see much less cases when I win 5-0, as well as much less upsets (like Derby 1 shot - 1 goal wins against Chelsea or something like this). So I would suggest using a formation with packed midfield (I am using 4flat-DM-2MCs-AML/R-ST) with some balanced/control tactic, rather slow tempo + short passing, though it can vary. Another thing I have noticed is that man management part works slightly different: ass. man rarely suggest "For the fans!" teamtalk (in England 80% of time), I get many comments from other managers and much less questions about "controversial" goals. Though the first two could be attributed to the fact that Monaco does not have many fans (and no money btw) and I am unbeaten after 20 games, which nobody (including myself) expected.

Another question (sorry about this) , is OI essential to win/nullify opposing teams?

At the moment I haven't used OI at all and I'm doing alright, for the moment anyways.

OI's override everything, so be careful if you use them.

just started creating my own tactics because i always wanted to make a successful tactic.

so far i'm having trouble winning possession of the game... usually losing out 40/60% to lesser teams even when i win!

:confused:

Alright, I Done my training schedule to perfection today lol

Lots of players were improving, i was jw if i can save the schedule and when i come to start another save i would be able to use tht instead of doing a new one all over again. If i can save it, How wuld i do it?

Thanks In Advance

just started creating my own tactics because i always wanted to make a successful tactic.

so far i'm having trouble winning possession of the game... usually losing out 40/60% to lesser teams even when i win!

:confused:

Generally this is due to a defensive team holding possession. So if you don't press up watch the 2D and you'll see them passing it amongst themselves.

MC -> MC -> MC

MC -> FB -> MC

If you look at your last match where this happened it should be revealed in the action zones and the number of passes by the opposition MCs and FBs.

To overcome this you have to use defensive line (and mentalities to a lesser extent) to squeeze the play. Also closing down but you want to make sure you get player to player closing down (your MC left on their MC right, your LW on their RB, etc.)rather than a couple of your players scurrying about leaving gaps behind (that's just my own opinion though as others may prefer to have two players closing down a single opposition player and cutting out passing lanes). The key thing you do not want to see is a gap between your midfield and theirs that results in this pattern:-

Their left MC picks up possession. Your right MC moves to close him down at which point he passes to their right MC. Then your left MC goes to close him down while your right MC backs off their left MC leaving him in space. (Hard to explain in words but you'll know what I mean when you see it happen). Basically you want to minimise the gap between your players who are opposite to (or nearest to) the opposition player's passing options when he is in possession. You don't want them to 'back off' when a given player no longer has possession.

Specific man marking can be very useful as well but be sure your CBs are quick enough to deal with their strikers one to one as with specific man marking on deep lying wingers it will negate your other settings and create an extremely staggered backline. Also if you use specific man marking be aware of player swapping, substitutions and formation changes as they can make it go wrong in the blink of an eye.

Be aware that once you squeeze play the AI will go more direct and you will see them pumping balls over the top. If you start falling victim to break away goals like this after pushing up which you didn't with your low possession tactic then it's up to you to decide which way you want to play

Alright, I Done my training schedule to perfection today lol

Lots of players were improving, i was jw if i can save the schedule and when i come to start another save i would be able to use tht instead of doing a new one all over again. If i can save it, How wuld i do it?

Thanks In Advance

Create a schedule.

[Drop Down] Schedules > Edit Schedules

Highlight the one you want to save and click 'Export' which will save it to the 'schedules' folder in your User Folder.

i have the perfect stupid question, how do you take screen shots so you can put them on the net

Yet another stupid question regarding strikers (sorry lads)

If I use Cleons tactics Bible statistics regarding the strikers would that then give me which strikers to play in which position?

If not then.....?

This is really doing my head in as I cannot get my strikers to gel I have the targetman? at one notch lower than the Pacy striker yet my goal ratio is poor

I have this young regen with a PA of 180. He is 19 now, and I have Goran Pandev tutoring him at the moment. I'm trying to play him at every opportunity with the first team. Is there anyway that I could burn him out?