olivermain83 Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 I feel like i'm missing out in some way because i'm avoiding a large chunk of the instructions as I don't know what they really do or some of them sound so similar that I don't understand the difference. Does anyone else have this issue? Are there any good guides that explain what each instruction does? I'm going to be a bit deliberately obtuse but only for the sake of hopefully getting some reasonably definitive explanations on some or all of the TI's. If anyone can clear up any of them for me that would be nice. Possession Go Route One - instructs players to get the ball into the attacking third with increased urgency Route One means longball to me. Although this description sounds like it relates more to tempo and pass direction as opposed to passing length. More Direct Passing - instructs players to adopt a style of play based around quicker transitions from back to front, with the ball covering distances in a quicker amount of time. To me direct means nearly always passing forward. This sounds pretty similar to 'Route One' though. In some ways it sound more longball than 'Route One'. Again speed is mentioned which suggest tempo as opposed to passing length. Also, more direct than what? Retain Possession - instructs players to prioritise keeping hold of the ball. Sounds obvious enough. But prioritise over what? Does this mean safe passes? Short passes? Less throughballs? Less running with the ball? Less shooting? I assume it just refers to passing length and perhaps throughballs but who knows? Shorter Passing - instructs players to adopt a style of play based around shorter passing and ball retention. Seems obvious again and probably is but notice the use of the word shorter as opposed to short. Shorter than what exactly? I've no idea what Default passing is. Also sounds quite similar to retain possession. In my mind they mean almost the same thing. Pass Into Space - instructs players to make passes into open spaces. So incredibly simple that it confuses me. I'm not sure what defines an open space. Does this mean everyone is trying to play balls in behind the defense or just generally playing passing in front of players instead of to feet. Perhaps useful against teams that tight mark? Work Ball Into Box - instructs your players to work hard for their opening, remaining patient and not forcing the issue. I seem to remember this translating as no long shots. I assume this is still the case but could also reduce runs with ball and throughballs. Play Out Of Defense - Encourages defenders to pass their way clear from the back rather than clear the ball long. Ok, this one I get. Well explained. Pump Ball Into Box - Instructs your players to launch high, long-range passes into the opposition's penalty area. This is exactly how I would have described Route One so not sure how they differ. Clear Ball To Flanks - Instructs your players to look to make their clearances into wider areas to be picked up by attacking players. Sounds simple enough. Hit Early Crosses - Instructs players to cross the ball early. This is telling players to cross from deep right? Not sure what situation this would suit though. When playing with quick but small forwards maybe? Float Crosses - Instructs your players to play high, floating crosses into the penalty area with the intention for the ball to hang in the air and allow a forward to position himself accordingly to take advantage. So this is for teams with big target men I assume. Drill Crosses - Instructs your players to play quick and powerful crosses into the penalty area with the intention of catching a defender off guard against a quicker forward with good movement. Does this mean low and hard crosses or just hard? Sort of sounds like its for small strikers which makes me again wonder why to use Hit Early Crosses. Run At Defense - Instruct players to run at the opposition more than your tactics allow by default. Sounds easy enough to understand. Although i'm not sure who i'm asking to run how much other than obvious players like wingers. Also would this affect defenders, Defensive midfielders etc? I'm assuming not CB's but it'd be nice to know. Another one i'm not sure why i'd ever use it. Shoot On Sight - Instructs your players to shoot when the opportunity arises instead of waiting for a more clear-cut opening. I'm guessing this means everyone can take longshots when they feel like it but it could also refer to shooting from tight angles I guess. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
olivermain83 Posted April 14, 2014 Author Share Posted April 14, 2014 Penetration Exploit Flanks/Middle etc... - Instructs your players to look to take full advantage of wing play, perhaps due to an opposition weakness. These ones are fine. Looks For Overlap - Instructs your players to hold onto the ball and look for an overlapping player in support, most likely a marauding full-back. I understand what it means. Never used it though as I just can't think why I'd want to hinder my wingers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
olivermain83 Posted April 14, 2014 Author Share Posted April 14, 2014 Shape Play Wider - Instructs your players to look to stretch the pitch and play wider. Play Narrower - Instructs your players to look to narrow the field and play in the middle of the pitch. These seem obvious but i'm interested to know if they affect the team with and without the ball or just with. Much Higher Defensive Line - Instructs your players to adopt a much higher position on the pitch, closer to the halfway line, in a bid to compress the space in which the opposition can play whilst remaining close to their midfield team-mates. Push Higher Up - Instructs your players to play higher up the pitch, starting with the line the defence holds, which should be close to the halfway line if this option is chosen. I'm unsure of the difference between these two. I get that you'd push high up if you were playing a pressing game but why two different kinds of higher up?The wording strikes me as interesting too, "Close to the halfway line" seems to suggest that strategy would make no difference. Drop Deeper - Instructs your players to retreat into their own territory and defend it from there. Much Deeper Defensive Line - Instructs your players to adopt a much deeper position on the pitch, retreating into a more compact shape closer to their own goal to prevent the opposition from exploiting space in behind them Again why two? Can't say I agree with the description for Much Deeper too as it doesn't seem to stop teams getting in behind for me but I can accept that may be my fault. Stick To Positions - Instructs players to stick to their primary duties in their assigned position. It does not allow for fluidity of movement. Obvious enough but i'd like to know who I said could roam in the first place. Roam From Positions - Instructs players to be more creative and fluid with their position locations on the pitch, demanding sufficient tactical awareness so one player is able to fill in for another who has roamed from his position. Which player? Allow Wide Players to Swap - Allows two wide players to swap their respective sides at intermittent periods during play. Fair enough. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
olivermain83 Posted April 14, 2014 Author Share Posted April 14, 2014 Defending Hassle Opponents - Instructs your players to give the opposition little time and space on the ball, attempting to force a mistake. I assume this means pressing. Stand Off Opponents - Instructs your players to give the opposition more time, retreat into a defensive shape and minimise the risk of being opened up. The opposite of pressing. Does any team really do this in real life. Maybe for the last couple of minutes of a game but not for 90 minutes right? Also what am I telling my team to do if I don't select this or Hassle? Get Stuck In - Instructs your players to be aggressive and strong in the tackle. This may increase the risk of fouls and disciplinary action. Tell everyone to act like Roy Keane right? Stay On Feet - Instructs your players to stay on their feet when making tackles instead of going to ground. Do NOT be Roy Keane. Jokes aside, this is how I would think of a real life 'Stand Off Opponents' to work. Use Tighter Marking - Instructs players to adopt a tighter marking scheme in defensive situations where players are encouraged to stick particularly close to their assigned opponent in order to prevent them from attacking the ball. Why would you not do this other than it might conflict with 'Stand Off'? Use Offside Trap - Instructs the team to operate with the offside trap. Got it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
olivermain83 Posted April 14, 2014 Author Share Posted April 14, 2014 General Take A Breather - Instructs your players to keep hold of the ball but simply take a moment to recover physically before attacking again. How does this differ from Retain Possession? Much Higher Tempo - Instructs the team to go about their business in a more urgent fashion, moving the ball around quickly and decisively, using the intensity of their approach to unsettle the opposition and eventually tire them out. Higher Tempo - Instructs the team to go about their business in an urgent fashion, moving the ball around quickly and decisively, using the intensity of their approach to unsettle the opposition. Lower Tempo - Instructs the team to go about their business in a considered and patient manner, taking their time with the ball and often retaining possession in order to retain control of the game. Much Lower Tempo - Instructs the team to go about their business in a more considered and patient manner, taking their time with the ball and often retaining possession with no great short-term purpose, with the intention to retain control of the game. Similar to D-lines in that I don't understand the need for different degrees of the same thing. Not too sure why these exist even, surely Strategy should define tempo no? Be More Expressive - Allows more creative players the freedom to play the game with additional creativity and flair outside of the confines of a team's tactical setup Be More Disciplined - Asks players to play as part of a robust and focused tactical shape in order to make the team a stronger collective group. It may come at the expense of some individual expression. I've used these but can't say I understand what they really do. Do I really want my Anchor man to be more expressive or to restrict a Treq? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
llama3 Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 Have you read Cleon's thread - he discusses team instructions and elaborates at length about them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleon Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 I wrote this for FM13 and nothings really changed. The odd one has been removed I think and I've not wrote about the new FM14 shouts but this should give you the basic idea of how they worked. Defensive Distribution Play Out of Defence – It will instruct any player with a defensive duty (midfield and defence) to play shorter passes. So it reduces passing. It’s worth using this if you find that these players are just hoofing the ball forward and giving possession away cheaply. Pump Ball Into Box – This is great to use when you are chasing a goal late in a game. It instructs players to pass longer and play through the middle. It tells your defenders (and defensive midfielders) to try less through balls. If you use wide players it will ask them (and fullbacks) to hold up the ball rather than trying to play down the channels and instruct fullbacks to cross more (so make sure they are set to cross from deep). Your strikers will be told to run from deep more often. It’s also great to use this is you have big target men type forwards who tower over the defenders and are good in the air. You can score quite a few goals by using this shout I’ve found out. Clear Ball to Flanks - This shout instructs players to pass long, to play wider and focus play down the wings. It also tells defenders (and defensive midfielders) to play less through balls. I generally use this if teams play narrower (the narrow Man City 4231) than me. It’s also good for counter attacking if the opposition are playing through the middle. Defensive Line Push Higher Up - Self explanatory this one. You instruct the defence to move high up the pitch and increases closing down. Ideal for using if you are facing slow strikers (you need intelligent defenders though), a team who are very defensive or if you want to reduce the space that the opposition is playing in. Drop Deeper – Again explains itself but it tells the players to drop back deeper and reduces closing down. Times to use this are if you play against a team who pushes high up themselves and you are struggling to find any kind of space. Dropping deeper could see you create a bit more space. It’s also good to employ against fast strikers. Tackling Get Stuck In - This tells the team to tackle hard. Useful if the motivation widget tells you if the opposition are playing nervous or if a team has low bravery. Use this if you get the sense of your team been to0 soft and you think they could be winning the ball back quicker. Note though that you need the correct attributes from your own players to time the challenge right or you could pick up extra bookings and sending off’s. Stay On Feet – Everyone (unless you use a BWM) will be instructed to easy tackle. This is useful if you feel challenges are been miss-timed or if you are just been reckless. Also good to use if your players are lack the tackling attribute. Using this also helps the team keep its defensive shape, especially against technically fast sides. Passing Pass Into Space - This is one of my favourite shouts to use especially if I am struggling to break down the opposition. It increases through balls so the players pass the ball in front of the receiver so he can run onto the ball. It’s great for creating space and forcing the opposition’s players to try and make a tackle. Pass Into Feet – Reduces through ball’s for the players. This is good to use if you feel too many passes are been intercepted by the opposition or you feel too many passes are been misplaced. If you have slow players this is the type of passing you want rather than the pass into space one above. Width Play Wider – Instructs the players to play wider and to focus passing down both flanks. If the opposition are playing narrow it can be used to try and stretch them wider. Extremely useful if the midfield is cramped and you are outnumbered. Play Narrower - You focus passing through the centre and decrease width. I find it best used when the opposition are outnumbered and leaving holes through the centre. It’s also useful if you want to pack the midfield and become more solid to get through. Attacking Run At Defence - Instructs all attacking players to run with the ball often. This does not include MC’s on attacking duty, only attacking midfielders. This is best used when the opposition allows your attacking players time on the ball .i.e. not closing you down. It can be a great shout to use if the opposition is standing off you. It can be equally effective if the oppositions defence are bad at tackling as well. Play Through Defence – Tells the players to run with the ball rarely. This only works for attacking midfielders (AML/AMR too) and strikers. The rest of the players will still be as you’ve instructed them to play; this includes MC’s who have an attacking duty. This can be a great shout to use if you feel the opposition are defending well and winning the ball too much from your attacking players. So use this when you are struggling to break down the oppositions defence. Shooting Shoot On Sight – Increases the long shots for your team. Can be used against sides that are deemed to park the bus in front of the goal. Advisable to use if your attacking players have a good long shot attribute. Work Ball Into Box – This tells players to use long shots rarely. This is useful if you think your players are shooting too often. Or if you find you want to keep possession and be more probing. Wing Play Hit Early Crosses – Tells fullback, wingbacks, wide midfielders and wingers to cross the ball early. It puts run with ball on rarely and cross from on mixed. This can be used against sides that play with a high defensive line. This can also be used if you have a fast striker who can break defences with his pace and acceleration. Look For Overlap – Your fullbacks or wingbacks will be given a more attacking mentality, run from deep often, cross ball often and be asked to cross from byline. While your wingers will be given a more defensive mentality, run from deep rarely and hold up the ball. It’s great to use against defensive sides who don’t really pose an attacking threat. Can also be used against narrow formations that lack wide players. Take A Breather - Decreases forward runs and tempo. You should use this is you don’t have players with good stamina or if condition is getting a bit low. It’s useful to use in games where you might have a few close games in succession. Can also be used to help maintain a good lead. Possession Retain Possession – Shortens passing length and slows the tempo down for your players. I use this shout a lot, it helps pass the ball around and not give possession away easily. Some people enjoy dominating possession as they believe if the opposition don’t have the ball they can’t score. Which is true but it’s also a good tool to use when you want to close a game out and hold onto the current result. Rather than go defensive and invite un-needed pressure I believe this to be a lot less risky and just as effective; Get Ball Forward – Increases both passing length and tempo for the side. If you feel you are having a lot of possession but not really doing anything with it, then you’ll want to use this touchline shout. Also good to use this if you are chasing a game. Pressing Stand-Off Opponents – Changes marking to loose zonal, reduces closing down drastically and decreases tempo. When you play a technically superior side and don’t want players to get skinned you’d use this shout to ensure you keep your defensive shape and don’t allow gaps to appear which the opposition could exploit. Hassle Opponents – Increases the tempo, tells the team to tight man mark and also increases the closing down for your side. Use this if you want to reduce space and time that you allow the opposition to have. Works good with a very attacking strategy and against teams who are a lot weaker than yours. Midfield Distribution Exploit The Flanks – It gives the fullback/wingbacks and wingers more attacking and focuses the play down both flanks. It also tells them to run from deep and cross the ball more often. If you use central midfielders then it’ll tell them to hold up the ball. You should use this if you find the middle over crowded or if you have good wide players who can cross. Exploit The Middle – None defensive players will have their run from deep increased too often. Tells your team to focus their passing through the middle and any defenders and defensive midfielders will have their mentality changed to a more attacking one and be told to do through balls often. If you don’t use wide players then you should use this shout. It’s also great against teams who leave big gaping holes through the centre. I find it really effective against the 4231 (the CM one and not the DM) as the gap in the middle is huge. I’m not sure how many of you are aware of this but there are actually two more shouts that can only be used when you use either contain or overload strategy. They are; Play Even Safer - This shout is for the contain strategy only. It decreases all (except for strikers) run from deep and through balls to rarely. It also tells all the players except wingers to run with the ball rarely. You should use this if you don’t want your players to be adventurous and get pulled out of position. This is ideal for late in the game and protecting a lead. Take More Risks – This shout if for the overload strategy only. Sets run from deep to often for all players on a support duty. Increases through balls to often and run with the ball for all players. Best used when you want to grab that equaliser or score that eluding goal at all costs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
okd Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 it would be nice to have a visual representation of TI&PI in conjunction with selected match strategy (even if it's not sliders and can't be manually adjusted) because it creates alot of confusion,especially for those who haven't played the previous versions of FM with the TC When I'm creating a tactic, I've got those old sliders in my mind,otherwise I think it would be a mess regarding D-line,closing down,F-runs,etc Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
olivermain83 Posted April 14, 2014 Author Share Posted April 14, 2014 Thanks, I knew i'd seen something like this. This certainly covers some of the TI's. It'd be nice if someone in the know could find the time make an updated list like Cleon's for FM14 as the wording has changed and there's things like tempo to consider now which further confuses me. I suppose for me personally the problem is what am asking my players to do if I give no TI's? Surely not choosing an instruction is the same as choosing one but i don't get a handy, if somewhat vague tooltip. If I knew that then i'd be more informed to make decisions like telling my players to pass shorter or more direct. I'm not too concerned about the loss of sliders as i never got what they did anyway for the most part but as okd says some kind of gauge of what your team is currently going to be doing would certainly help me make decisions on how that differs from what I want. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleon Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 Even though wordings changed, for the ones still included from FM13 they do exactly the same as mentioned above, nothings changed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luizinho Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 Is 'Hit Early Crosses' almost instructing wide players to play long through balls? Also would you need a forward who look to get in behind for this shout work? (ie. Advanced Forward, Poacher) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 I agree with the OP on this one. The instructions are incredibly vague and are open to interpretation. While I do appreciate guides like Cleon has created, ultimately it should not be necessary as this should be in the game from the start. I think we are falling into the trap of believing that it is acceptable for core game concepts to be explained outside of the game. I take the Civilopedia in the Civ series as an example of this...there is NO aspect of that game which you wouldn't be able to find an explanation for in the Civilopedia. Moreover what is more of a problem is the fact that the interlinking between the different shouts isn't really all that clear at all. The scope of some shouts is also not very clear either. How much does playing a higher tempo effect players with attacking/support/defend duties? If the answer is all the same then that is a flaw....What if I want my defenders playing a lower tempo short passing game as they are less technically gifted and my more pacy wingers and strikers playing a higher tempo short passing game. Tempo is not something that can be adjusted for individual players which makes no sense. It's either all or nothing which is illogical. When you throw in the fact that the match mentalities are very vague is it any wonder that people can get confused. Why are there no list of preset shouts given for each match mentality so you can see the base from which you are working. I assume that the standard mentality would be equivalent to the slider setting where everything is in the middle but there is no way of knowing this reading the in game explanations. Why is there no mention made in the game that TI are additive (not overriding which is sometimes said) and that PI are further additive? Or am I destined to having to play the standard mentality all the time so that I can keep control of precisely what I'm telling my team to do with team instructions? Also how does fluidity affect the TIs? Does a very fluid tactic mean that my match mentality/TI/PI are redundant? Or if not to what extent does it affect the efficiency of my instructions? All of this is not clear at all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bleventozturk Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 I agree with the OP on this one. The instructions are incredibly vague and are open to interpretation. While I do appreciate guides like Cleon has created, ultimately it should not be necessary as this should be in the game from the start. I think we are falling into the trap of believing that it is acceptable for core game concepts to be explained outside of the game. I take the Civilopedia in the Civ series as an example of this...there is NO aspect of that game which you wouldn't be able to find an explanation for in the Civilopedia.Moreover what is more of a problem is the fact that the interlinking between the different shouts isn't really all that clear at all. The scope of some shouts is also not very clear either. How much does playing a higher tempo effect players with attacking/support/defend duties? If the answer is all the same then that is a flaw....What if I want my defenders playing a lower tempo short passing game as they are less technically gifted and my more pacy wingers and strikers playing a higher tempo short passing game. Tempo is not something that can be adjusted for individual players which makes no sense. It's either all or nothing which is illogical. When you throw in the fact that the match mentalities are very vague is it any wonder that people can get confused. Why are there no list of preset shouts given for each match mentality so you can see the base from which you are working. I assume that the standard mentality would be equivalent to the slider setting where everything is in the middle but there is no way of knowing this reading the in game explanations. Why is there no mention made in the game that TI are additive (not overriding which is sometimes said) and that PI are further additive? Or am I destined to having to play the standard mentality all the time so that I can keep control of precisely what I'm telling my team to do with team instructions? Also how does fluidity affect the TIs? Does a very fluid tactic mean that my match mentality/TI/PI are redundant? Or if not to what extent does it affect the efficiency of my instructions? All of this is not clear at all. All excellent questions. Instructions are not enough, and most of them are vague. For example what do I do if I want to play fast but safe? I want to pass the ball around fast, but always looking for the safe option. How do I do that with the tools at hand? If I choose retain possession, it also slows down your tempo. Or if I select faster tempo, it also affects the passing length, passing choice, and not just the speed of passing. Those should be all separated, an clearly explained in the game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
olivermain83 Posted April 16, 2014 Author Share Posted April 16, 2014 Why are there no list of preset shouts given for each match mentality so you can see the base from which you are working. This is an excellent idea I think. The main issue is really not knowing where I'm starting from. How do I know if I want my players to pass 'More Direct' without know how direct they are passing in the first place? I appreciate that you can watch games and try to make adjustments based on what you see but I find it hard to believe that managers don't know what they're asking their players to do in the first place before they start making amendments to their tactics. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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