Message to SI Games

Please, please, please! Can we have a NO BACKPASS OPTION in the tactics menu! I just conceded another ridiculous goal to a bad backpass! Its starting to get extremely frustrating when I have all the attacking options on and my attacking midfielder backpasses the ball when he is in opposition 18 YARD BOX! Which gets easily intercepted and the opposition striker has an easy run on goal! Yes this is a rant because i have had enough of conceding goals like that! its annoying and i just want to tell my players not to backpass but its not possible you think with all the attacking options on it would be a given but nope! Why do they do it, what is it in the games AI that thinks i am in the opp 18 yard box instead of having a shot or squaring the ball to the striker instead i am going to make a risky backpass to the right back on the half way line, under kick it completely which allows the opposition striker to easily intercept the pass and make and easy goal!

If you can upload some .pkm file examples and say when the passes occur, I'll happily take a look.

Sounds like you've seen a few, so shouldn't be too hard to get some examples.

If you're seeing this happen quite a bit then it might be worth seeking assistance in the T&T forum, if you post images of your tactic, team/player instructions & maybe a couple of video uploads showing what is happening then people should be in a position to offer some help

If you can upload some .pkm file examples and say when the passes occur, I'll happily take a look.

Sounds like you've seen a few, so shouldn't be too hard to get some examples.

If it's what I think it is, its the angled pass from out wide, roughly in line with the 18 yard line, very deep back into the centre of the pitch that's almost always picked off when it happens. It's both avoidable with PIs and also poor ME decision making at the same. I'll try and find an example for you

If you can upload some .pkm file examples and say when the passes occur, I'll happily take a look.

Sounds like you've seen a few, so shouldn't be too hard to get some examples.

What is .PKM file

Basically this game has got way too complicated, setting instructions like team and player instructions seem to have little to no effect whatsoever so i have just scrubbed em all off and they can play how they want! Just got into contact with a friend who told me to do that and he just took southampton to the premier league title in his first season!

Basically this game has got way too complicated, setting instructions like team and player instructions seem to have little to no effect whatsoever so i have just scrubbed em all off and they can play how they want! Just got into contact with a friend who told me to do that and he just took southampton to the premier league title in his first season!

Yes, if a tactic isn't working well, the first thing you should try is to remove all the team instructions. If it still doesn't work, you have probably not chosen the right combination of roles and duties.

Here are some basic observations that I think are worth thinking about when designing a tactic:

A If your players shoot from all sorts of ridiculous angles and ranges (excluding shots from a sharp angle inside the box when there are no defenders between the ball carrier and the keeper; that's a bug/issue), setting them to shoot less individually and/or Work Ball into Box will not fix the issue. It is actually more likely to make things even worse.

B If your players are all wimps who only watch the opposition ball carrier do his thing, setting the team or player to Get Stuck In and/or Hassle Opponents is not going to improve the tactic or their performance.

C If your defenders are hesitating on the ball and you're not getting the ball forward, setting them individually to More Direct or the team to go Route One, Quicker Tempo etc won't necessarily make them punt the ball forward asap.

A and C are both caused by a lack of passing options, and B is more likely caused by player motivation/attribute issues (or that the risk of tackling is too high, which is a tactical issue).

I am not saying that it is pointless to respond to what you see on the pitch to fix things, that's a legitimate way of playing the game. I just want to point out that the team instructions/shouts are sometimes seen as simple fixes, but that's just like painting over rust - it is unlikely to deal with the root cause of what you see. It is for instance very tempting to add Retain Possession, Shorter Passing, Pass out of Defence, Much Slower Tempo, Work Ball into Box, and Shoot Less to fix the "pass to your teammate you numpty!" rushed attacks and shots, but that might turn off chance creation completely instead. If anything, that should tell you that you are not actually creating chances at all and need to try something else completely!

When that is said, I think that a team instruction like Pump Ball into Box should do just that, for better or worse. The whole point of that instruction is that it puts the ball where the defense don't like it to be; in the box! We're not asking for sensible passes or even movement when we employ it! If there are no teammates in the box, so what?

I think decision-making in relation to passing is quite poor in this ME - players seem very keen to play the ball back into the middle of the pitch without checking to ensure their intended target has the required space, leading to a lot of interceptions and counter attacks.

Does anyone know if the 2D match engine run better? I am thinking of going back to go forward, never had these issues with the 2D match engine, all these problems for me came about when they put in the 3D match engine

Does anyone know if the 2D match engine run better? I am thinking of going back to go forward, never had these issues with the 2D match engine, all these problems for me came about when they put in the 3D match engine

There is only one match engine.

You view the results in either 2D or 3D but the play is identical.

Oh well that sucks

If you have on 'Play Out Of Defence' try turning it off.

Bad back passes happen a few times irl also you know.

If it happens to you often in FM (ie every 3/4 matches) then your tactics have a flaw ...

retain possession can have a little help. but dont expect too much. It may be also relevant to over confidence problem. the decision on passing, crossing and shooting are ridiculous.