Pressing in FM

First i want to say that my experience is mostly from watching CL / German Bundesliga.

But as i watch i see different kind of defensiv play/pressing which isn't covered in FM at all in my opinion. Just to name some examples:

- Basic pressing like schalke played it sometimes (maybe easiest pressing to play). With some kind of passive pressing they pressured the player with the ball and covered all his passing possibilities through the middle of the pitch, forcing him to play wide. As soon as the ball was wide pressing became active as the player has less possibilities here. Works fine against weaker teams, not so good against technical teams overloading the center of the pitch or against good wingers and teams playing counter football.

- Borussia Dortmund: Active,very fluid pressing everywhere on the pitch, many goals resulting not from own play but from opponent mistakes. Needs mentaly and physicaly strong players.

- Bayern/Barcelona: Different kind of active pressing then Dortmund.

- Borussia Mönchengladbach: Combines and changes between different pressing styles depending on the situation. Needs long time to train (several years) but is quite effective as BMG doesn't have super players.

There are several other styles, all of them more or less independent of player roles and formation.

In FM14 and FM15 you just have those roles and some pressing mentality (press more, less...) which maybe covers where the pressing starts. But there is active/passive pressing (try to get the ball or just pressure by closing down certain passing options) which can even differ in different zones of the pitch and there is fluidity in positions. Like in a simple pressing there is often only lateral shifting of the defense lines, in a more fluid pressing defenders for example can help the midfield to press (Bayern).

Is it only me or needs this aspect of modern football much more love from SI in next Versions of FM?

I think you can get variation with the following TI:

Defensive line

Close down more/less

Tackling

OI's

Though it may take some tinkering with to find the options you are looking for, I believe you can find most if not all the pressing styles you are looking for.

The real problem is we can't pick the phase in which to press. Many pressing teams nowadays don't actually press (as a unit) in the defensive phase, but instead press hard during the transitional phase, then fall back behind the ball (maybe with individual pressing here or there depending on the situation). The idea of course is to press the first few passes or for the first six seconds or so to attempt to eliminate the threat of a quick counter by slowing the opponents' transition to attack.

Unfortunately you can't do this in FM. Still.

There really needs to be a finer grain of tactical control with regards to phases of play, imo, and not just defensively. You might want quick transitions but slow probing attacks; you might want to step back and not press at all during transition and then swamp the opponents in the final third. You might even want to play slow transitions to attack and then up the tempo during the attacking phase.

But sadly it's all a bit... flat, tactically. I understand why this is as switching to a phase-based approach for tactics would undoubtedly be very difficult match engine wise, but it's a shame all the same!