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

No it works as intended. The problem is because they don't play inline with each other meaning as soon as one striker or AMC drops off there is a hole between the centrebacks that is easy to exploit. If you think about it logically, 1 defender steps up to try and deal with an attack but the 2nd attacker is already playing in the hole between the centrebacks. This means a little throughball, pass, or even a little bit of skill will put you in trouble and be risky as it'll be 1v1 at the back.

Playing a stopper and cover gives you 2 different options as a centreback pairing but you increase the risk greatly of them been pulled apart, pulled out of position. Any mistake by them and it can be very costly. A stopper will be the big strong kind who is physical and heads the ball away etc. The cover will try and stop through balls or pick up any loose balls. But its a big risk because a lot of the time they get draged out of position or the gap between them in quite big for the covering defender to cover.

Thanks for clearing that up Cleon. I've used the combo, and found it to be very inconsistent- if I'd paid more attention to what was happening I'd have seen why. It seems to me that it would work best with quality players with good situational awareness. I was using that pairing in the Northern Premier, and that was not a good move!

Thanks for clearing that up Cleon. I've used the combo, and found it to be very inconsistent- if I'd paid more attention to what was happening I'd have seen why. It seems to me that it would work best with quality players with good situational awareness. I was using that pairing in the Northern Premier, and that was not a good move!

It is a setting that does need you to pay attention to what's happening in a game and react to player changes and formation changes. Or you begin to think that your defender's aren't doing what they should be

Hey everyone! Im currently playing as southampton, and just loss to west brom 0-1 home. It would be awesome for someone to give their opinion on what i could of done better.

https://hotfile.com/dl/177720372/8065b5e/Southampton_v_West_Brom.pkm.html

How do I increase players' Natural Fitness in Football Manager 2013?

I have a question, however before I ask it I think it would be good for you to visualise Dzeko's last gasp winner against West Brom last week. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iqzgn8zvh-U)

Now I have noticed from watching my games that my team works situations like these quite often from opposition set pieces. However I notice two things usually happen, first my player that is in the Aguero situation doesn't seem to do anything, he usually runs down the wing area there will be one or two players back which means he can't run towards the goal, however there will be players who have broken with him that are free if he plays the ball across, however he usually just runs for the corner and by this time the opposition have got back. The second situation that occurs is that there is no one to pass to as no one has broken with him.

Now is this a tactical instruction issue or a player attribute issue (i..e decisions, creativity etc. not good enough to spot the 'Aguero' ball?). Can I solve the not enough players by having more forward?

I have a question, however before I ask it I think it would be good for you to visualise Dzeko's last gasp winner against West Brom last week. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iqzgn8zvh-U)

Now I have noticed from watching my games that my team works situations like these quite often from opposition set pieces. However I notice two things usually happen, first my player that is in the Aguero situation doesn't seem to do anything, he usually runs down the wing area there will be one or two players back which means he can't run towards the goal, however there will be players who have broken with him that are free if he plays the ball across, however he usually just runs for the corner and by this time the opposition have got back. The second situation that occurs is that there is no one to pass to as no one has broken with him.

Now is this a tactical instruction issue or a player attribute issue (i..e decisions, creativity etc. not good enough to spot the 'Aguero' ball?). Can I solve the not enough players by having more forward?

Hi there, I have exact same issues you have. I hope somebody will give you a proper explanation. Keep this page in favourites especially for your question

Does the tutoring work the same way as it worked in the Football Manager 2012?

Are inside forwards only effective when playing on their weaker foot side? IE, left foot on right side.

Is it possible to preload shouts into a tactic in FMC? If it is I cant see the option?

Are inside forwards only effective when playing on their weaker foot side? IE, left foot on right side.

Pushing the definition of a simple answer: No, inside forwards can be effective with their stronger foot on the outside.

To elaborate slightly: If a player has high technique, or likes to place shots, he'll do fine at the tighter angle and because defenders will generally show them out there they might actually find they get more of an opportunity to shoot or are under slightly less pressure when they shoot which can counteract (or exceed) the extra difficulty of the shot due to the tighter angle.

Does the tutoring work the same way as it worked in the Football Manager 2012?

Yups it does

Need some help setting up a 4231 with Southampton. I'm confused about what width/tempo would work best with that system and the players I have.

Yups it does

Thank you.

On the left side it says Next Week, In Two Weeks and In Three Weeks. Each of those has Focus and Intesity. For each it says Default Focus and Default Intensity.

So, are those Defaults the ones that I set in my General Training Defaults or do I separately need to set them as well?

I mean does my General Training Defaults apply in those Defaults below or do I need to set them separately every week, every two weeks and every three weeks?

Do I need to put in the columns below Team Cohesion and Very High as I put up in the General Training or is it automatically ''transfered'' to below Defaults?

I hope you understood me as I had problems explaining it.

Also how does the individual training functions now? I see al my U-18 players are now on Heavy workload and when I put them to train by individual role or a specific attribute then it becomes Very Heavy. How can I decrease their workload? How does this function at all?

Hopefully one of you kind gents can help me out as asking in GQ has just seen the thread drop down the page....

Where the heck is the pre match assistant manager advice screen? Once you started the match, you can view the AM's advise and it shows up then telling you what he was advising pre-match. Bit late then cause the match has already started.

Where do I find it pre-match?

4-1-2-2-1

DLs DCd DCd DRs

DMCs (on DM)

MC (DLPs) MC (BWMd)

AML (APa) AMR (Wa)

ST (Poach-a)

Sometimes my Striker is a DLP and somtimes the AML and AMR are on Support as well. Any of those settings and nothing changes

Passing is on default.

Crossing is on Float

Rigid Philosophy and Standard Strategy

I play as Walsall in League One. It is now 2016.

What else do you need? I watch all the games on full.

Your roles are to attacking. You front four are bombing off up the field and leaving the rest of the team with passing options that can not make.

Try some 'support' roles in there, particularly with the AMC. If you want players forward then ask an MC to get forward often.

*EDIT*

With a DMC, a DLP you might want to ask your Winbacks for get further forward. This will suppport the attacking players but also provide easier side/foward balls from your defence.

**EDIT*

How much of the tactic is your own and how much from the TC?

It sounds as though you might have timewasting set a little to high too.

When players run out of options, they will generally hoof the ball up field. As you get further up field, there are less places to hoof it too, therefore they iwll look to shoot (hence why many people complain about to many long shots) or take it to the corner.

There may very well be passes 'on', but do your players have the ability to 'see' it (creativity), the ability to make it (passing, technical) and the mental attributes to actual take the option (decisions)?

Some passes look very easy when viewing from certain angles, but when you think about a player on the field, can he even see his teammate? is the opposition blocking him (good positioning), is the ball on the correct foot to make the pass.

I'm not suggesting that you're getting it wrong each time, but have a look at the specific play you mention, rewind a few times and really try to understand what is happening.

What does a Head of Youth Development or a Director of Football etc actually bring to the table when comparing to a basic coach? And if they are actually useful what stats should I be looking at?

Playing as Man Utd, bringing on the King as a DOF just for the hell of it is tempting

What does a Head of Youth Development or a Director of Football etc actually bring to the table when comparing to a basic coach? And if they are actually useful what stats should I be looking at?

Playing as Man Utd, bringing on the King as a DOF just for the hell of it is tempting

The Head of Youth Development is important to the club for the following reasons;

He will have a slight impact on potential of newgens.

Some of the newgens will share the same personality type as him.

Some newgens will be influenced by his coaching style.

So for long term saves you'd want likeminded staff for the backroom team because it impacts newgens a lot more than it did on previous versions of the game.

So you should base who is the HoYD on those things mentioned above

Ah thank you for shedding some light and that's a good new feature then. I approve.

How would you deal with a player that often runs from deep from midfield and is quite dangerous at it?

How would you deal with a player that often runs from deep from midfield and is quite dangerous at it?

Without knowing any more than the quote above... He's running into dangerous space, so I would position a player to take away that space, whether through formation or role. It might be more effective in shutting down those runs from deep than having some poor midfielder chasing the dangerous opponent all game, hoping to mark him fully without fail.

You could use a DM or an Anchor. Or both. Man mark on.

Need pointing in the right direction if anyone can help, i have a player who is Jaded and in need of a rest, just can't seem to locate the option to send him on holiday for a week or two, anyone ??

Cheers in advance :-)

In the new training system can i set the player to be training in there positions like previous versions all midfielders on a midfield schedule etc.. and can you import schedules in here or is that away with all together ?

I am struggling to understand the "there is too much space between your defenders, midfielders and forwards" thing, is it a mentality thing? How far apart can the sliders be?

I am struggling to understand the "there is too much space between your defenders, midfielders and forwards" thing, is it a mentality thing? How far apart can the sliders be?

It's not just a mentality thing. Forward runs has probably even more to do with it than mentality and also of course position on the pitch and stuff like defense line compared to the mentality. Imagine having a super attacking team with the lowest possible defense line. Would make quite a gap

Like for example, if you play a 4-4-2 with attacking wingers you will not have defensive or attacking midfielders linking the defence with midfield and midfield with attack, which means it's often best to use an attacking minded mc with a defensive minded mc and a deep lying striker with a more advanced striker etc.

As far as mentality goes, the predetermined mentalities with most of the tactics are just fine as long as the roles and forward runs have been selected carefully. Most of the time as long as you have one central midfielder with low mentality and no forward runs or a defensive mid with mixed forward runs and 1-2 from your 4 most attacking players don't have forward runs often, you will be fine. Obviously that is a very simplified example

Sorry if this has already been asked, there are 22 pages to search through, but can I use a coach for both first team and u18s? I'm only allowed 6, meaning at the moment I have 3 in each. Not including fitness and goalkeepers.

Thanks,

I guess this belongs here (it's a basic question for dummies) - would somebody be kind enough to break down the "control" strategy for me? The other ones are all pretty self-explanatory. Because i've never really understood it, i've never touched it. Until last night that is. Switched to it at half time when I was getting slaughtered, and it seemed to make a real difference. I play 4-2-3-1 with "pass to feet" "hassle opponents" and "get stuck in" shouts at the start of each game. And sometimes also "work ball into box". I use short, quick passes.

Any info would be great.

Cheers.

I guess this belongs here (it's a basic question for dummies) - would somebody be kind enough to break down the "control" strategy for me? The other ones are all pretty self-explanatory. Because i've never really understood it, i've never touched it. Until last night that is. Switched to it at half time when I was getting slaughtered, and it seemed to make a real difference. I play 4-2-3-1 with "pass to feet" "hassle opponents" and "get stuck in" shouts at the start of each game. And sometimes also "work ball into box". I use short, quick passes.

Any info would be great.

Cheers.

I was going to quote you from the manual but the FM13 manual doesn't seem to provide a brief overview someone please tell me I'm just missing where it is, I'm sure it was in older manuals

In short it is more attacking than standard, but not overly so. You'll be trying to dominate the game but won't be taking too many risks and should be less susceptible to counter attacks. In theory your team should be patient and wait for the opening.

It sounds like it would be good for the way you want to play.

Don't worry too much about the naming, just think that it sits somewhere between standard and attacking. Nothing too incredible.

I was going to quote you from the manual but the FM13 manual doesn't seem to provide a brief overview someone please tell me I'm just missing where it is, I'm sure it was in older manuals

In short it is more attacking than standard, but not overly so. You'll be trying to dominate the game but won't be taking too many risks and should be less susceptible to counter attacks. In theory your team should be patient and wait for the opening.

It sounds like it would be good for the way you want to play.

Don't worry too much about the naming, just think that it sits somewhere between standard and attacking. Nothing too incredible.

Thanks. Does sound a good fit for me. I guess "work ball into box" should be a more commonly used shout with this too. Now to make Viktoria Plzen the Barcelona of the Czech Republic!...

I am struggling to understand the "there is too much space between your defenders, midfielders and forwards" thing, is it a mentality thing? How far apart can the sliders be?

If you mean 'there is too much space between your defenders' then narrowing up should be your first point of action (see caveat at the end of this brief post)

If you mean 'there is too much space between your defenders and your midfielders' then this can be indicative of not choosing good duties for your players. Generally (in a 442), if you choose Defend for all 4 defenders and Support for all 4 midfielders you're going to have 2 static lines of players, this is generally not good.

Caveat: Do you trust your AssMan? Do you see the problem? If you answered 'No' to both questions then ignore his advice. (AssMen are not always correct and their advice is not gospel, only a few AssMen in the entire game have the knowledge to be truly trusted and even then some of the advice is purely subjective).

Thanks. Does sound a good fit for me. I guess "work ball into box" should be a more commonly used shout with this too. Now to make Viktoria Plzen the Barcelona of the Czech Republic!...

I use 'Work Into Box' almost all the time and I don't tend to get much return from long shots. I'd like to be able to change my mind more for FM13 but haven't played enough yet to be sure.

I use 'Work Into Box' almost all the time and I don't tend to get much return from long shots. I'd like to be able to change my mind more for FM13 but haven't played enough yet to be sure.

That's what i'm after for my team - tired of watching my defensive midfielders (who couldn't hit a cows butt with a banjo) getting hold of the ball outside the area and basically gifting the other team a goal kick. I tend to work in the lower leagues, so midfielders capable of 35 yard screamers (especially when I like my two central midfielders to be more defensively minded ones) are few and far between! I'd rather they looked for a pass than a glory hit that they're just not capable of.

Does setting general training to tactics improve players attributes or tactics familiarity (or both)?

When starting an attack from the GK - Is it possible to get the CBs to split and go to the full back postions and the full backs to go forward towards the halfway line?

I know this does not have a lot to do with the tactics but i have two questions.

Hi know where i can download the manual ? dont see on it steam and google takes me to the main page to buy the game.

Im hoping to find out how Transfer targets work, i set the price and squad status then my DOF should try and sign the player right ? when i go to check on the status of the transfer target nothing is happing.

I know this does not have a lot to do with the tactics but i have two questions.

Hi know where i can download the manual ? dont see on it steam and google takes me to the main page to buy the game.

Im hoping to find out how Transfer targets work, i set the price and squad status then my DOF should try and sign the player right ? when i go to check on the status of the transfer target nothing is happing.

The manual can be found here http://www.footballmanager.com/manual/fm2013/

And this thread is just for tactics or training questions. Try General

Hey guys I have a few tactic related questions and would be happy if someone could give me some advice on the matter.

My first problem is fullback passing. I see my FBs often just hammer the ball straight out of bounds giving a goal kick to the opposition and their passes aren't going astray by a few meters or such no they go out of bounds at the other end of the field. I tried lowering through balls for them and they still do it, I gave the wingers in front of them a support duty so there would be less distance between them but they still do these "passes". As a result my FBs often end up with 50%-60% passing percentage and a lot of my play is instantly wasted, which is really annoying. So anyone who had the same problem and knows how to fix that I would appreciate some tips here.

Second problem, or much more a question, is there anyway I can get my wingers to pass into the back of the opponents defense instead of always trying to cross or shoot? I tried going with fewer rare crosses, through balls and shooting because all I wanted them to do is playing a simple pass to a player in the center in a good position. So far I have seen them do it about once in 10 games any chance of getting them to do it more often?

Does setting general training to tactics improve players attributes or tactics familiarity (or both)?

Mental attributes mostly.

When starting an attack from the GK - Is it possible to get the CBs to split and go to the full back postions and the full backs to go forward towards the halfway line?

Not really. In fact, almost certainly no.

Hey guys I have a few tactic related questions and would be happy if someone could give me some advice on the matter.

My first problem is fullback passing. I see my FBs often just hammer the ball straight out of bounds giving a goal kick to the opposition and their passes aren't going astray by a few meters or such no they go out of bounds at the other end of the field. I tried lowering through balls for them and they still do it, I gave the wingers in front of them a support duty so there would be less distance between them but they still do these "passes". As a result my FBs often end up with 50%-60% passing percentage and a lot of my play is instantly wasted, which is really annoying. So anyone who had the same problem and knows how to fix that I would appreciate some tips here.

Second problem, or much more a question, is there anyway I can get my wingers to pass into the back of the opponents defense instead of always trying to cross or shoot? I tried going with fewer rare crosses, through balls and shooting because all I wanted them to do is playing a simple pass to a player in the center in a good position. So far I have seen them do it about once in 10 games any chance of getting them to do it more often?

1) I've seen this, although not too much and, thankfully, mainly from the opposition. Often things like this are indicative of some other problem and it's just the way it manifests in FM, the likely problem is that your FBs don't have, or don't see, or can't hit, any options so the hoof downfield is the result. You've already tried to solve this and I can't really add any solution. HUB sounds like it but that feels just plain wrong for a full back. What's their passing range like? I suspect you haven't fiddled too much with it so probably not the problem but worth considering. Also, what about tempo and mentality? If either is too high they might struggle to make decent decisions. Of course, if they are poo on the ball they'll always struggle with decisions anyway.

2) Sounds like a through ball / drilled cross to me. Requires good ball skills and vision from your wide players and great anticipation and movement from your attackers. It's an incredibly difficult to play to pull off because it requires everybody to get in the right places and pinpoint accuracy in the passing, the only thing that should be easier is the finish because, although likely under pressure, the angle and position should be incredibly favourable. I'd lower the crossing and shooting but up the through balls and make sure the guys in the middle are actually making runs. They might be well marked though.

Thanks for the tips Furious.

The wingers not playing a simple pass to my forward when they break free on a counter attack is probably the thing that annoys me the most.

I often use clear ball to flanks when playing counter attacking tactic and Kuba is quite fast so he often gets away from the FBs draws one of the CBs onto him and usually has no problem getting past them, while then running towards goal Lewandowski usually has no problem breaking free from the left over CB bu he is usually left without a pass despite being in a match better position.

Hell I have even seen Kuba try to cross the ball 3 meters away from goal to the inside forward on the left who is in much worse position, instead of putting in a nice and easy pass towards Lewi.

Looking at his stats however I do realize it's probably his bad composure (8) and decision making (9) that might be the main cause for this.

Looks like I'll have to get a better right winger I guess. ^^

Keep getting told by my Assistant Manager that my tackling during matches is terrible. How to I improve on this? Is it that my players can't tackle or am I using the wrong tactics? I play closing down football, used to play hard tackles but took that off and still can't win the ball.

I just found where the "transfer targets" list is. (I know). So how do I set it up so my DoF takes care of buying people on said list & ONLY the people on the list (I don't want him making offers for random players willy nilly, JUST the ones on the list) and have it set up so I take care of transfer talks if/when my DoF has had an offer accepted? I assume it's in the staff responsibilities bit, but I don't want to click the wrong one and end up with my DoF making offers for players I don't want.

Cheers.

Afaik you don't have to click anything additional apart from putting the players you want on the transfer targets list, set a maximum price and then wait.

Your DOF will try to get the the player and you will get a message if he succeed or not.

1) I've seen this, although not too much and, thankfully, mainly from the opposition. Often things like this are indicative of some other problem and it's just the way it manifests in FM, the likely problem is that your FBs don't have, or don't see, or can't hit, any options so the hoof downfield is the result. You've already tried to solve this and I can't really add any solution. HUB sounds like it but that feels just plain wrong for a full back. What's their passing range like? I suspect you haven't fiddled too much with it so probably not the problem but worth considering. Also, what about tempo and mentality? If either is too high they might struggle to make decent decisions. Of course, if they are poo on the ball they'll always struggle with decisions anyway.

2) Sounds like a through ball / drilled cross to me. Requires good ball skills and vision from your wide players and great anticipation and movement from your attackers. It's an incredibly difficult to play to pull off because it requires everybody to get in the right places and pinpoint accuracy in the passing, the only thing that should be easier is the finish because, although likely under pressure, the angle and position should be incredibly favourable. I'd lower the crossing and shooting but up the through balls and make sure the guys in the middle are actually making runs. They might be well marked though.

Interestingly I have both of these issues too.

1) Along with my keepers terrible distribution, I am find that my FB's are making terrible decisions, not making obvious (and normaly open passes) and will generally turn around, back into the opposition winger and either pass back to the keeper (rinse and repeat) or lose the ball.

I have a basic idea about tactics so I have tested numerous things, tempo, HUB, short > Direct, dropped other players into roles that would present passing option. AND it's not as though a 451 (41221) doesn't present passing options for a FB!

2) This is also a source of annoyance for me too. That said, I am working on some that might produce some results. I got the inspiration for it from the Anchor Man role oddly enough. With the Anchor Man we basically say "I don't want you to do anything, apart from tackle for the ball and make some simple passes. I DON'T want you to cross the ball or make throughball passes or shoot from distance"...... and the rarely....rarely....rarely....rarely....rarely.... instruction was born.

So, you might be able to see where I am going with this. A player that is attacking (RFD-O) and dribbles the ball into the box (RWB-M/O) and does not cross (Cross-R), or make a through ball pass (TB-R) ends up making a simple pass or takes a shot.

A pullback pass when in the box is rarely a cross nor is it a through ball as a throughball is described as a pass that unleashes a player behind another (or something like that). So, my theory is, with Run from Deep and Run with Ball both set to Often or mixed, with NO longshots, NO crossing and NO throughballs, will basically give a player a set of simple instructions..... very similar to those of an Anchor Man......however we have added a little so we are saying - get forward, run with the ball and either shoot near the goal or make a simple pass.

I hasten to add this (at the end), this is early testing and the two players I really want to test this with are both injured.

The principal behind the idea is that the last pass should be simple and we're trying to make sure they don't try anything else. A throughball often, will force them more than likely to make an early pass, a cross from the byline (in my view) almost conflicts with the throughball instruction.....

& Jumbled.... I'm tired and it's late and I've been drinking since the rugby..... i'll tidy thi s mess up tomorrow.

LAM

As training changed on fm13 i just wondering what attibutes i would need for my assistant manager to take charge of it.

Time for what could be a very stupid question indeed...

After being something of a pedant in the earlier FM's I became a Tactics Creator convert after reading in General Discussion during the release of FM2010 that the new match engine of the time would make slider settings behave differently. I thought I may as well immerse myself in the new direction tactics in the series was going so abandoned "classic" tactics.

I can achieve tactics close to what I'm looking to do by using the TC but I do wonder if I'm ever missing out on anything by not using classic tactics?

I'm not interesting in finding gamey exploits but I would like to reintroduce myself to classic tactics if it's worth it/possible to create tactics and instructions not possible with the TC. What do people think?

I'm playing in the Brazilian lower leagues (playing 4-2-2-2), my team are above par compared to most of the teams I'm up against in the state championships so am often dominating possession, having very few shots against me but I'm struggling to score. Last three games, I've won 1-0 twice and draw 0-0.

Shots are typically firing wide and being deflected from around 18-20 yards out, so I can see what my problem is. I've tried using the pushing up shouts and play ball into the box but it doesn't seem to have any affect; infact it's not even noticable to me and I'm playing matches in Extensive highlights mode.

I'm also using a target man as I have a towering, powerful striker at my disposal but I rarely see us hitting the ball up to him.

Just a bit lost really and I really struggle to see affects of shouts etc in the game. I've read threads here recently and they seem so logical but when I'm playing, I just can't see it before me.

Any help greatly appreciated.

I'm playing in the Brazilian lower leagues (playing 4-2-2-2), my team are above par compared to most of the teams I'm up against in the state championships so am often dominating possession, having very few shots against me but I'm struggling to score. Last three games, I've won 1-0 twice and draw 0-0.

Shots are typically firing wide and being deflected from around 18-20 yards out, so I can see what my problem is. I've tried using the pushing up shouts and play ball into the box but it doesn't seem to have any affect; infact it's not even noticable to me and I'm playing matches in Extensive highlights mode.

I'm also using a target man as I have a towering, powerful striker at my disposal but I rarely see us hitting the ball up to him.

Just a bit lost really and I really struggle to see affects of shouts etc in the game. I've read threads here recently and they seem so logical but when I'm playing, I just can't see it before me.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Can you post your tactical setup? Team instructions, player duties-roles, etc?

I'm playing in the Brazilian lower leagues (playing 4-2-2-2), my team are above par compared to most of the teams I'm up against in the state championships so am often dominating possession, having very few shots against me but I'm struggling to score. Last three games, I've won 1-0 twice and draw 0-0.

Shots are typically firing wide and being deflected from around 18-20 yards out, so I can see what my problem is. I've tried using the pushing up shouts and play ball into the box but it doesn't seem to have any affect; infact it's not even noticable to me and I'm playing matches in Extensive highlights mode.

I'm also using a target man as I have a towering, powerful striker at my disposal but I rarely see us hitting the ball up to him.

Just a bit lost really and I really struggle to see affects of shouts etc in the game. I've read threads here recently and they seem so logical but when I'm playing, I just can't see it before me.

Any help greatly appreciated.

I play as Paysandu and have managed to get to the First Division with basically the starting squad. I play a narrow diamond though.

If you read my SI Sports Centre thread you'll see I did a list of every shout and tell you what they actually change on your settings. You've probably read it already but if not it might be good to help you spot these types of things.

As for the players shooting from 18-20 yards out, how often does this happen? Is it a case of the players having no options in front of them so have no free passing options? Because this is what I got from your post and would also tie in with the shouts you listed that you have used didn't work.