The Rise of Liverpool and the Evolution of a Sliderhabilis

Afternoon all,

Many of you might not know of me or seen the name Justified in passing but I used to post regularly here on the SI board "back in the day". Good to see good ol' Cleon still kicking around, the boy must be getting into the retirement age All joking aside it's remarkable to see someone who has carried the baton of Tactics Guru and helped so many people through each and every edition so hats off to you old friend. That's enough brown-nosing for now otherwise his head will expand into the size of Sheffield.

With the edition of FM14 being out for so long it makes you wonder why I'm posting now. Simples. When the game first came out I was one of those slider junkies who when the game solely went to Tactics Creator only I was livid. I felt as if the 10000 peice jigsaw puzzle had been replaced by paint by numbers. I wasn't the only one to think so. However my judgement was probably hastened. Cleon was one of those who did ask me to give it a fair go but I refused because I felt most of the control element had disappeared. Yes I've always believed sliders were unrealistic but it gave me a sense of control that I didn't abuse them, I simply knew what to do to make players behave the way I wanted them to. Both me and Cleon have been here since the early days of CM and we've gone from wibble/wobble to sliders to now the tactics creator. He adapted. I did not. I think this was also coupled up with exhaustion of the game that was laying underneath the surface. However now being out for so long I decided, seeing as I have quite a bit of time this coming month or two, to get my head around this and evolve as the tactics side of things have.

The reason for this thread is simply to allow users to follow me on this journey. Most people would of had the game longer then myself so everyone here will know better what works and what doesn't. I've decided to load up a new game with Liverpool, just because it's the team I've always supported and I'm very familiar with their setup, staff and players so I'm trying to find comfort in as many recognizable elements as possible. I'll try and split up as many areas as I can covering my first few days at the club and what I do. Tactics and training. I'll try and cover as much in game tactical changes I make to win those valuable points off of this damn AI which is always a constant battle. What will follow in the next 24 hours is my first topic which will cover my thoughts from going to complete control to translating my thoughts and system into the Tactical Creator through SPS (Strategy, Philosophy and Shouts).

I look forward to doing this and hope you enjoy joining me on my journey from Sliderhabilis to TC-sapien.

Best Regards,

Justified

Previous editions of FM were not difficult for myself to master. That's not me bragging, it's just I had a good grasp of the mechanics and felt like I could devise a system that could be transferred from club to club. That was mainly due to the fact I could change things with sliders. However now the new challenge arises where I have to work in the restrictions of the TC. But the basics should still be the same as before, I mean football is football after all. I've always been good at the tactical side of things, not great but with a healthy dose of common sense and a lot of watching football does make you all the wiser

The first thing to do when setting up a tactic you need to decide on a set strategy and philosophy. What they do is set a broad instruction to how you want your team to play. For me the best strategy is control. Not everyone would agree but that's my opinion. The reason why is the risk and reward mentality system where it's not quite attack but it's more adventurous then a standard setting. A happy medium if you will. I also like the passing system it incorporates. Basically setting control would have attacking players on direct-ish settings, support on mixed-ish and defenders on short. It's pretty much the way I want to set up. The further you move down the scale the more it swings the other way. Counter would have direct-ish passing for defenders and short for attackers.

Back in the day anything you "ticked" manually and changed "under the hood" would make that instruction override any shout done. I did have some success posting a "Play Like Pep" tactic which would have some instructions done manually and then you used shouts due to what was happening in the game but it only effected areas where I wanted it to effect. For example 'Pass Into Space' shout increases all players to try riskier passes but some players, like central defenders, I'd ticked as rarely to make sure that instruction never effected them. You get the idea anyways. So obviously overriding anything make life a lot easier when it came to the TC so shouts became, in some instances, completely null. Now however this is the only way really to regulate play during the match. Obviously the addition of PI's is most helpful and replace the ticking of instructions and sliders.

I'm not going to write up a list of what each shout does because this has been covered time and time again. Each has a brief explanation anyways but the good thing for experienced FM'ers is we know what these shouts actually do mechanically. I've had a look through some of the threads in the tactics part to see what FM'ers are up to these days with team instructions and I've been amazed how so many just chuck so many instructions into one tactic! I literally saw one which had every instruction pretty much ticked... This is a little over the top, you really don't have to do that. My first practice sessions with FM14 I've literally had maybe 4-5 tops but then in game made changes to the way we play depending on situations.

Right, so moving along, I'd established that my playing style is a controlled fluid system. Fluid philosophy btw, for those that don't know, mean that from default there is two broad units. One defensive and one attacking. The defensive unit throw caution to the wind whilst the attacking unit tries to unlock by risking more. If I was to bump it up to Very Fluid that'd mean there is one unit that defends and attacks. Bump in down to balanced and it depends on their role in the team. Defence is one unit, Support is one unit and Attack is another. THe further down the scale the more Rigid the system becomes and units becomes individual instead.

As for shouts which'll be my starting ones I'm definitely going for 'Play out of Defence'. This is a passing regulating instruction which makes the whole defence pass shorter. Thanks to the strategy they'll be passing pretty short anyways but I want short-short-short passing at the back and make sure the ball doesn't get hoofed upfield. If you've watched Liverpool recently they've are "forced" to play in this way by Rodgers who wants the ball played out and it something I want my team to aswell. 'Work Ball Into Box' works in conjunction with this and will be selected too. All this does is make sure your players aren't taking long shots from outside the box. It's almost part of a controlling strategy to patiently wait for that opening. Sometimes players have PPM's that will override and they'll shot anyways because that's there preference. If they waste too many doing this then they won't be at my club for much longer I can tell you that. 'Look for the Overlap' is one I'll experiment with. It's possible to do this without the instruction but if I can't get it working properly then I might have to experiment my way forward.

As for in game shouts, because I can expect some teams to park the bus, I might have to 'Push Higher Up' to add pressure. This can be coupled with Hassle opponents however back on the older versions this meant max closing down for everyone and tight man marking... I might just do my own version of this instruction rather then shouting it in-game. It could be handy for those last 10 mins when you're losing to get that point you need. 'Play Narrow' is a handy one too for teams that play down the middle however on larger pitches and against nippy wingers this is probably the wrong way to go. If you can nullify the threat from the flanks it could be a good way to squeeze play whilst pushing up higher.

To be honest the TC is actually quite a powerful tool on it's own. With only a few TI's and PI's you could create a tactic which is quite decent and just roll with it. However in-game is where you earn your living. Compare it to betting. What do you enjoy the most when placing a single bet, winning a pre-bet or grabbing that adrenaline winning in game?

Tactics...

(In this section will be all things tactical about this thread)

Shout! Put Your Hands Up and Shout!

Passing, Tempo and Direction Modifiers

Retain Possession Heavily shortens the passing and reduces the tempo which is what you would expect from a shout. I believe it adds hold up ball to some players, correct me if I'm wrong on that one.

Go Route One Used to be called 'Get Ball Forward' I believe. Obviously it does the opposite of retain. Higher tempo and more direct passing.

Shorter Passing I think, translated from FM13, this is the same as setting 'Pass Shorter' in the team instructions. It shortened passing, tempo and width.

More Direct Passing Same as above but longer passes, tempo and widens play.

Play Out of Defence Defence and defensive mid's passing shortens.

Pump Ball into Box Defenders including d-mids play more direct passing, increases hold up the ball and crossing from the wide players. Central players get further forward. Defenders play less riskier passes.

Clear Ball to Flanks Same as above however the central players hold up ball and the widemen get further forward.

Exploit The Flanks/Right/Left/Middle Focus passing down selected area. Players in selected area have a boost in mentality and get further forward. Players in the non selected area play more riskier passes and hold up the ball more.

Much Higher Tempo Increases the tempo at which you play at at. So if Control strategy is the "highest" point of normal tempo this would push it way over the line into quick.

Higher Tempo Play quicker.

Lower Tempo Play slower. Helpful instruction whenever you 2-0 up and in no hurry. It also frustrates the opposition because they're trying to up the tempo whilst you're lowering it.

Much Lower Tempo Greatly reduces your tempo.

Take A Breather Much Lower tempo. Reduces forward runs and runs with ball. Reduces mentality for all players. Shorter passing style. Reduces closing down and tackling. Very handy for friendlies when you've killed the game off.

Play Wider Increases width. Focus passing down the flanks. This is an attacking instruction.

Play Narrower Decreases width. Focus passing down the middle. This can be both an attacking and defensive instruction depending on how you use it.

Pressing and Defence Line Modifiers

Much Higher Pushes up you're D-line greatly. I'm guessing if we're talking in sliders (1-20) and if for Control the D-Line was around the 14 mark this would shoot it up to about 20?

Higher D-Line Pushes up your D-line more.

Drop Deeper Drops your D-line more

Much Deeper You get the point by now...

Use Offside Trap Self explanatory this one.

Use Tighter Marking All players tight mark I'm guessing. Seems a little weird this one because surely you'd just select the players who you want to be marking tightly? Unless you just wanted to shout out quickly in a game for all players to mark tighter those last 3-4 minutes.

Hassle Opponents Max closing down for all players. Back in the day this used to set tight man marking for all. I'm guessing for FM14 this might just be max closing down and all tight mark? Handy in spurts, tires players out too much to have a whole game.

Stand Off Opponents Opposite to above. No closing down and used to be loose zonal marking. I'm guessing this year it's no pressing and no tight marking to keep team shape.

Get Stuck In Tackle Harder. So if a player is on "Easy" he'll now be "Normal" etc etc However IIRC this didn't effect Trequartistas because they're not part of the defending process.

Stay On Feet Tackle Easier. Doesn't effect BWM who'll always tackle harder due to his nature. Handy in pre-season so you don't pick up knocks.

Behavioral and Run Modifiers

Hit Early Crosses Widemen to cross more often and from deep.

Float Crosses Widemen Cross Aim to the Far Post.

Drill Crosses Widemen Cross Aim to the Near Post.

Pass Into Space Increases Riskier Passing for most players. If they were not playing riskier passes they'll play them sometimes. If they were passing them sometimes they'll play them frequently.

Pass To Feet Seems to have disappeared from TI's? In the old FM's this option would make sure they played less riskier passing. I'm guessing this is now part of the 'Work Into Box' instruction.

Work Ball Into Box Reduces Long Shots however as I said above I think this is the new 'Pass to Feet' instruction. Will need to monitor this one.

Shoot on Sight Encourages your players to shoot more often.

Be More Expressive Increases the Creative Freedom for all your players

Be More Disciplined Decreases the Creative Freedom for all players

Run at Defence Asks your players to dribble more. Apart from those on defensive roles if I remember correctly.

Look For Overlap Increases mentality and asks your full-backs to get forward, dribble and shoot more. Decreases mentality, ask wingers to hold their position and cross less. Wingers asked to hold up ball.

Stick to Positions No roaming for any players

Roam From Positions Increases the amount of players on free roles. The more attacking the strategy the more players will be allowed to roam anyways. Playmakers will not roam and neither will defensive players.

Allow Wide Players to Swap New one this but does exactly what it says on the tin.

Reserved 3

Reserved 4

Nice to see you posting again, I always enjoy seeing an old face return for the 'second coming'. I guess the Stones must not be touring eh?!

I actually didn't adapt as well as people think, I actually refused to use the TC through sheer stubbornness until FM13 then I decided I best change because in a year or so I'd be screwed. It wasn't an easy transition at all and for me it was an even big change than losing the wibble wobble and I didn't want to adapt I felt I was being forced too so it stopped me being open to the TC. I understood how it worked underneath I just didn't like it for the reasons you mentioned yourself. However after a couple of weeks it saved me a lot of time once I had accepted it. I liked how easy it was to change things on the fly etc. It wasn't easy though so I look forward to seeing how this thread pans out especially after the long break you've had. I think that will actually go in your favour as you'll more than likely feel refreshed and raring to go I'd suspect?

Good luck with this mate and its nice to see you back

Wibble Wobble :-) those were the days. I totally gave up on the game for a long time once that was removed. Probably robbed myself of a lot of fun, it just so happened to coincide with a busy time in my life, so it was a good reason to give it a miss for a while.

Good luck with your challenge by the way, will read with interest.

Sorry but I am baffled - what is the "Wibble Wobble"?

Sorry but I am baffled - what is the "Wibble Wobble"?

You used to be able to set up player positioning on separate "with ball" and "without ball" (wibble and wobble) screens.

You used to be able to set up player positioning on separate "with ball" and "without ball" (wibble and wobble) screens.

Ah ok I understand and remember that

I never really got into the wibble wobble loving, felt it was too much hassle. I preferred the CM2 series tactics board and my simple but "new & exotic" 4-3-3/4-5-1 hybrid that was later made popular by Sam Alardyce, Jose Mourinho & Cleon

Now I kind of wish I had that sort of control of what I want the players to attempt to do.

Welcome back Justified, hope you have fun and get back in to the groove.

The ages of the accounts posting in this thread makes me feel like a noob with just the 8 years on here

Good luck Justified - hopefully you can achieve what you're aiming for, but if not, there are plenty of brilliant minds converging on this area of the forum who will be happy to help

I remember that too but it was CM 01/02? The one with the red cover?

Great read. With such a good knowledge and understanding of the tactical side of things and the FM instructions, you should not have too much trouble having success with one of the EPL's best I'll read the rest with interest.

I remember that too but it was CM 01/02? The one with the red cover?

I think that was the final Championship Manager, fine game, spent far to many hours playing that one.

I think that was the final Championship Manager, fine game, spent far to many hours playing that one.

The last CM by SI was CM4 03/04 version still got the box on the shelf.

Thanks guys! I've added some more content now to the first couple of posts. Just to give more meat on the bone. Will hopefully add a little more later on today.

Welcome back Justified, I'll be keeping an eye on this thread

Welcome back Sir, always used to enjoy your threads back in the day so I'll be keeping a close eye on this one.

Good to see you back