Breaking the Habit, and NOT the Linkin Park song.

I was wondering if anyone had any good tips for immersing yourself into a save. I've asked for lots of advice since i joined and it's all been useful, but it seems to me like I simply don't see important clues and end up making mistakes (I AM new to the game but as a pretty big football fan it does irk me, as I ALWAYS notice these kinds of things watching Arsenal on TV).

Basically, I've realised I have 2 issues, both caused in part by not being fully immersed.

1) I don't notice what we're doing well/bad on the pitch very often, only whether we played well generally

2) I'm very bad for not paying attention to the strengths and weaknesses of my squad and my opposition.

Allow me to explain. Watching a game, I get a little bit rolled up in the drama, such as cheering late equalisers or cursing my luck at poor performances. I'm really bad at actually analysing why things happened. When I do actually view stats and highlights (which isn't often) I get a bit lost. I can take in the basics (Possession, shots, tackles, corners, shot/pass Accuracy etc.) but beyond that it just gets too complicated for my little brain.

I'm also terrible for not paying attention to my squad. I take pride in my man-to-man management as far as training and morale goes, and I'm loved by my board for my skills in managing finance, but I'm terrible tactically because I try to build a squad round my tactic, not the other way round. This is simply because I find the game a bit dull if all I do when I start a new career is stare at numbers for half an hour (Strange. Seeing how I'm studying A-Level Further Mathematics, you'd think I'm used to numbers by now). I know full well if i just paid more attention i'd be an FM king in no time. But I can just never make it habitual, and Every time i try to, I either forget to do it IMMEDIATELY or I realise I don't really know what I'm doing and I give up trying and carry on as normal.

What I really need are 2 things. Firstly for all you lovely people to give me a crash course on the more advanced side of FM tactics and management. When i've tried searching for help on google it's always basic stuff (I even saw one titled "What is a tactic") and tbh after reading these threads and guides i hadn't learnt anything. So If someone could either explain things like maximisng my squad's potential/opposition instructions etc. (Or link me a thread that explains this) That'd be awesome.

The other thing is immersion. Does anyone have any good ploys for motivating yourself to really knuckle down when it comes to tactics. Like I said, I get bored or frustrated and give up, so if I could find a way to make the tactical management phases FUN it's be SO much easier for me to play the game without constantly needing help.

The first thing you should do if you want to get a more in depth understanding of how tactics work and more importantly how they are implemented in FM, then you should go to the Tactics & Training Discussion board. The stickies there will give you a great introduction to the basics, and there are numerous threads by some very knowledgeable people in there. Even better, if you are willing to post the details of your tactics, those people will be more than willing to give you a helping hand - and to help you understand why something isn't working tactically instead of just telling you how to fix it.

For the immersion, I would suggest that watching games on a high level of detail is pretty key. I watch on comprehensive, which means I get to see a whole lot of the play. This means I can watch build up play, defensive shape and get a much broader over-view than I can if I watch key or extended. It does mean games can take a long time to play - especially if there is a lot of action. But immersion means more time irl spent playing less game time. For understanding how things are going wrong with your team, do exactly what you would do in real life. Who is struggling in the game and why? How are the AI team attacking me? Why can we not keep possession? Spotting this and knowing how to fix it are different things though, and it is a steep learning curve! One thing I did when I was trying to understand better was to re-watch matches where I did not understand why we played well (or badly). The advantage being you can watch with a less emotional eye (you know the result, you are not emotionally invested as much). This helped me be able to spot things better in real time now.

Building a tactic can be annoying, because it can take a long time to perfect it. I do not think it is necessarily bad to have a tactic you want to play and buy players based on this (it is what I do) rather than the other way round. The only caveat being when I have moved to a new club and they really do not have the players to play the way I want. The first game I always play in FM is to take over a top 3 side in a medium sized nation - PSV in netherlands, FCP in Portugal, Sparta Prague in Czech Republic etc. - and then try to build a tactical framework there. I should expect to do well in the leagues, so I will have success which always makes a game more fun. I will also have the challenge of trying to compete in europe. It is my stress free way of experimenting tactically.

I was wondering if anyone had any good tips for immersing yourself into a save. I've asked for lots of advice since i joined and it's all been useful, but it seems to me like I simply don't see important clues and end up making mistakes (I AM new to the game but as a pretty big football fan it does irk me, as I ALWAYS notice these kinds of things watching Arsenal on TV).

Basically, I've realised I have 2 issues, both caused in part by not being fully immersed.

1) I don't notice what we're doing well/bad on the pitch very often, only whether we played well generally

2) I'm very bad for not paying attention to the strengths and weaknesses of my squad and my opposition.

Allow me to explain. Watching a game, I get a little bit rolled up in the drama, such as cheering late equalisers or cursing my luck at poor performances. I'm really bad at actually analysing why things happened. When I do actually view stats and highlights (which isn't often) I get a bit lost. I can take in the basics (Possession, shots, tackles, corners, shot/pass Accuracy etc.) but beyond that it just gets too complicated for my little brain.

I'm also terrible for not paying attention to my squad. I take pride in my man-to-man management as far as training and morale goes, and I'm loved by my board for my skills in managing finance, but I'm terrible tactically because I try to build a squad round my tactic, not the other way round. This is simply because I find the game a bit dull if all I do when I start a new career is stare at numbers for half an hour (Strange. Seeing how I'm studying A-Level Further Mathematics, you'd think I'm used to numbers by now). I know full well if i just paid more attention i'd be an FM king in no time. But I can just never make it habitual, and Every time i try to, I either forget to do it IMMEDIATELY or I realise I don't really know what I'm doing and I give up trying and carry on as normal.

What I really need are 2 things. Firstly for all you lovely people to give me a crash course on the more advanced side of FM tactics and management. When i've tried searching for help on google it's always basic stuff (I even saw one titled "What is a tactic") and tbh after reading these threads and guides i hadn't learnt anything. So If someone could either explain things like maximisng my squad's potential/opposition instructions etc. (Or link me a thread that explains this) That'd be awesome.

The other thing is immersion. Does anyone have any good ploys for motivating yourself to really knuckle down when it comes to tactics. Like I said, I get bored or frustrated and give up, so if I could find a way to make the tactical management phases FUN it's be SO much easier for me to play the game without constantly needing help.

I also need this help haha don't have the patience to build a tactic and then lose lose lose until I give up!!

I found watching a few games in the 2D view and occasionally pausing it to analyse exactly how your team is positioned at that moment can give you some good information on where your tactic may be going wrong.

To be honest (and this is obviously not for everyone), I sometimes play FM like a role-playing game (Dungeons & Dragons) where I am really more focused on the "story-telling" aspects of the game, my players are characters who still have parts to play and enjoy even after they've moved on from the club. And sometimes I play FM like that old "electric football" game where you set up all the players on the vibrating metal playing field, flip the switch and watch them spin around each other as a mildly interested observer. And sometimes I play it like one of those miniature wargames where you set up all your painted lead figures and ponder over strategy and tactics and if you lose the battle, you wipe the battlefield clean and start over with another attack plan. (Can you tell that I've been playing board/strategy games much longer than FM?)

I've read many of the threads in the Tactics forum (some are very dry and way above my level of play but on the surface are always helpful). I've read the FM stories and the LLM forums for ideas and mindsets. I've watched hundreds of hours of other people playing FM on youtube (mostly to keep me awake at work on nights.) I've played FM Classic, but prefer FM regular because it's more immersive and hands-on. I've downloaded dozens of edited league/world databases just to poke around in, and at least for the first few months of each release I keep 4-5 different saves in the air. My archived tactics to choose from in every save are a mess, because I'll have 3-4 of the same tactic just named after different teams or tactical mentalities or fluidities.

Long story short, if you like poring over tactical philosophies and watching the full game and it makes you feel immersed, do that. I spend about 10-15 minutes at the start of the season on my 2-3 tactics, maybe tweak them at the mid-season transfer period, and watch the game on key highlights. I'm immersed as immersed can be, I've logged as many hours as a full-time job this edition.

It's really about making your players "real". Look at their personality and try to think of a background story for them. Your striker is a bit aggressive but it's okay because he had a difficult childhood and had to fight his way through the leagues. Your GK is married to a famous actress. Your winger has a brother (find player with the same last name) or cousin. Whatever. Once you see them as people and not as dots on the pitch, you will enjoy your save so much more as you grow attached to them, rejecting the immoral 40 million offer...

Similar to what podunkboy and koki said, I kind of create a back story, but what I do is look up the history of the team/fans/city, if the local ultra have a political allegiance, what the city/region is like etc etc. It also helps if you have a personal connection to the team (not just favourite team, but somewhere you lived/where you went on holiday, a friend/hero is from there etc). For example, I'm managing Venezia where I recently spent a day or 2 on holiday. The ultra are know for their anti racism although they hate everyone else from the Veneto (the province). The region also has a long history with their maritime history and their empire but recently there was a poll where 55% of people from the Veneto were in favour of independence from Italy. Therefore, as with many of my saves, I'm promoting the youth team with local Venetian players and making them the Barcelona of the Veneto! Proudly standing up for the Veneto region and it's people (as long as they're not from Mestre or Padua ) though a powerful and fiercly loyal crop of local players. 2 seasons and 2 promotions, so far so good!

It's exactly what the people above said. Everytime a new FM comes out, I struggle settling into a new save. But once I create that (even if fictional) connection between myself and the club, I really start to enjoy and saves. I notice fairly quickly whether a save is going to work out for me or not, often already in the first three weeks of pre-season (before any official matches have been played).

Something else that helps me settling in is to read stories / career updates from people, who had success with their clubs. It helps me to get some advice on transfers and tactics, and acts as a guide I can use to start-up the save and abandon as soon as I settled in and created my own 'little story' around my save.

What is meant by "holistic tactic"?

Understanding that is the key to immersion and enjoyment. Without a tactic that makes the squad overperform, you are not actually making a difference. Maybe you are not thinking about it, but I am pretty sure the subconscious tells you that the job you are doing at that exact moment is meaningless, if the quality of the squad would normally mean achieving more success than you are currently having. That's like playing Forza Motorsports and going over the finishing line in a lower position than you started in (starting position is based on a performance rating) again and again and again.

Thinking holistically when designing a tactic does not mean that each player necessarily does what he is best at. It means the opposite; that each piece is tied together with all the others with a string, so that it matters little who fills each role. You're making a machine, and each player is a cog in that machine.

A holistic tactic must;

* Let your players attack quickly with enough people when the opposition has lost the ball in an advanced position

* Let your players attack slowly with enough people when the opposition has organized themselves well on their own half

* Let your players defend with enough people when the opposition is attacking slowly with enough people

* Let your players defend with enough people when you have lost the ball in an advanced position

Let's say that your left back is a Wingback set to Attack. This means that he will aggressively close down wingers and midfielders on his side. He will run forwards into space as soon as you have gotten possession of the ball, in order to join the attack early on. He will try to take on his defender and get into a position to cross or shoot when he carries the ball into the final third, and he is willing to take quite a bit of risk to carry this out. His passes will be high-reward, high-risk rather than safe, and he will in general be positioned a bit higher up the pitch than the central defenders which are normally set to defend.

It goes without saying that this is an asset to the team's attacking play, and it also goes without saying that it is more risky than keeping him back in defense at all times. Someone needs to step in and take his defensive position when he bolts forward with or without the ball! If he receives the ball deep inside his own third, he is going to look forward for a passing option, so a player needs to be in a position to receive that pass. When he does run forward, the space he is running into must be open. When he reaches the byline, at least one player must be attacking one of each post, and one player must be available for a backpass if a cross is not on.

So it might be a good idea that the MCL/DMCL is set to Defend, to cover for him. If you have a AML (let's say this is the common 4231 with wingers), it is perhaps a good idea to make him a IF-S, so that he draws to the centre leaving his space to the WBL-A. Since a WBL-A is so attack-minded, it might "collide" a bit with the team's general passing scheme to use short passing and slow tempo - a WBL-A may run forward so quickly that a MC-D's Hold Up Ball instruction may sometimes be a problem. Similarly, a DLP-D is set to More Risky Passing (I think) and he will look for early runs all the time - so if there are only one or two teammates that make those runs early on (Attack duty), you may end up losing possession more than you'd like.

If you play a 433 (451) with a defensive midfielder on defend and a Support and an Attack midfielder in front of him, using the DMC can be tricky for wingers or wingbacks when in the final third; it is a rather long pass and may be outside the comfortable range for those players. He is therefore not a very good option for recycling possession when attacking, unless you play a short, patient, slow passing game where the safety-keeping DMC is a passing option mainly for central midfielders in the final third, and for the defense in your own third.

These are just a few examples of holistic thinking, but I hope they'll inspire you to design a tactic that has more than one function. If you make one that you can use with only a few adjustments in every match, that makes it much easier to figure out just what kind of player you need in each role and build a team around that.