Opposition Instructions (An Easier Way)

(or how to learn to love OI)

Edit: Have posted updated Squad management Panels. If you found these useful, check those out as they may be of interest. Cheers.

First up, this post is a half-tactics post, half-skinning post; but, I make no apology for posting it here for the simple fact that for the past 2/3 FMs I have spent ages clicking through opposition player attribute and position screens without realising I could modify the panels to make my life SO much easier.

But before we get to that, I wanted some fresh input on current thinking on Opposition Instructions, how to use them and in what circumstances. Personally, I think they add to the performance of a tactic set cosiderably- equally, when used incorrectly they can damage whatever good plans have been made.

To try and frame my own thoughts, and as a starting point for discussion, there are two distinct approaches I see;

1) The formation approach

The best way I can describe the formation approach is to quote someone who wrote it better than I could. Tactical Theorems and Frameworks '09 wwfan describes Opposition Instructions Theories in terms of specifics around Pitch Size, against specific positions (AMC, lone striker, etc); as well as in terms of certain players and in certain tactical situations.

A key point to highlight here is this; "On a smaller to medium sized pitch when playing against a formation that roughly mirrors your own (i.e. 4-4-2 versus a 4-4-2 or 4-2-4) Player Strata/Channel Opposition Instructions are irrelevant. However, if the two formations don’t match, then OI becomes an important tool to combat players operating in different channels and/or strata from those in your team."

Thus we can view Opposition Instructions as a way of levelling differences in tea formations in terms of rectifying our weaknesses- but also a mechanism for gaining an advantage by channelling play through areas of our perceived strength.

Perhaps one of the best practical applications of this princliple that I have seen is in The Better Half - TTF inspired Tactical Sets (removed from forums): here, each tactical variant comes with its own specific set of OI instructions.

So, a risk-taking attacking style is characterised by closing down on forwards, tight marking Strata 4 players (including a deep-dropping SC or a MC that sits in a more advanced AMC type role- both things which you'll only notice in the match highlights rather than from the opposition formation panel) and closing down / tight marking on the CD's to pressurise the opponents defense; at worst causing them to gift away possession cheaply- at best maybe leading to a CCC.

Conversely, a deeper, more defensive counter attacking style would have tight marking on the forwards to prevent them having a chance to turn and run at the defence; as well as closing down on the MC's to stop them picking out through-balls in the first place (all the while dropping off the DC's and letting them have the ball in their own half).

The key point here being that Opposition Instructions should be considered an extension of a good tactic-set; just in the same way individual player closing down or mentality settings would be. Opposition Instructions should be altered according to the tactical match objectives you have and the formation you come up against.

2) The player approach

Of course, it’s all well and good deciding that you are going to pressurise the opposition DC- but what if its a Rio Ferdinand type player- good composure, technique, passing and first touch. Is there any point? This is where taking a closer look at players attributes comes into play.

To give more examples, if I have a player that is quick with good dribbling skills- I would rather get close and tight mark him from the off- rather than sitting back and trying to close him down when in possession, by which time he could already be in full flight running at my defence.

Equally, I may decide that the deep lying MC/DMC that dictates play needs to be closed down as soon as he gets the ball- and maybe tacked hard- in order to disrupt any influence he would have on the game. Similarly, in a tight game away from home, I may tackle hard any player that has low bravery in order to 'scare' them off the ball. Or send a wide player with a poor weaker foot onto ‘weaker foot’ in order to channel them inside (where they are less of a threat).

These are the extremes that sit outside of the formation OI instructions- those things that do the most to disrupt opposition player strengths. Of course, the trick (as with any tactic) is balance. Do you sacrifice changing one of your formational level Oppostion Instructions in order to surpress a player- or do you stick to the game plan even though it may be overlooking that players strengths? As ever- that comes down to a managerial decision- not tactics!

The OI Panel Problem

Of course, all of this is well and good- but if I had £1 for every time I'd heard "I don’t bother with OI because it takes too long looking at all the opposition attributes"- I'd have £9. Or something.

Lets be honest, the Opposition Instruction panels don’t have enough information on them. Any panel that requires you to make 5 clicks to get to the 1 or two player stats you need is a pain. However, skinning is the tacticians friend:

Modified OI Panels.

You can modify all the Opposition Instruction panels to get the opposition player attributes you need. These are my current versions:

OI- Overview --------|Condition Morale Form |OI- Tight Marking----|

OI- Closing Down ----|OI- Tackling ---------|OI- Weaker Foot -----|

The first screen (OI- Overview) shows you all the OI Instructions in one panel. Typically when setting my formation-level OI settings I will use this panel first. It also acts as a much easier place to visually identify when you need to change the OI becuase opposition player positions have also changed in-game (so where a MR / SC have swapped positions, it stands out on this screen where you can see that your formation level OI settings are no longer correct).

The second screen (Condition, Morale & Form) is something I'll typically use pre kick-off. If a player is struggling with form or fitness, I may decide to close down and hard-tackle from the off: no good giving someone the time and space to get their game back. Alternatively, I may decide to tight-mark a player in form to mark him out of the game.

The next screens are all in order of the default panels- except they now include the attributes relevant to the opposition player for whom you are making the decision:

OI- Tight Marking: Pace, Acceleration, Dribbling, Off the Ball

OI- Closing Down: Passing, Creativity, Technique, Long Shots

OI- Tackling: Bravery, Strength, Passing, Creativity

OI- Weaker Foot: Preferred Foot, Long Shots, Crossing, Pace

My rationale for all of these selections is that I believe that these are the most significant stats to look for when considering an Opposition Instruction.

Of course, it’s just my view- tell me if you think differently. I'd also be interested to know if there are any other tactic builders out there that have specific OI instructions for match scenarios- or as part of a tactic set.

Installation

Updated:

Basically....

-download OI-panels.zip at FileFront or zSHARE.

See here if your not sure where your user data files are kept!

-If you are not using a skin at all at the moment (your using the default) then you just need to put the 2 xml files in the 'panels' folder of your default FM09 directory (which you may need to create). So you'd put them in:

\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\panels

-If you are using a skin (not the default) then you need to put them in the panels directory of that particular skin (Im using Steklo)- so Id put them in :

\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\skins\steklo\panels

See here for where to put the files if your struggling!

-The final thing- you need to make sure the xml's / skins are loaded (and that the skin isnt loaded from your cache):

Go into preferences, display & sound, uncheck 'use skin cache' and check 'always reload skin on confirm' then hit confirm. You should get a 'loading image data for the new skin' message appear.

See here for loading the xml files!

-Obviously you need to make sure the 'skin' setting is the one where you have copied the files to (so if Ive copied them into 'steklo' I need to load the 'steklo' skin- otherwise I won't see them!)

Note: these panels were designed for running in 1280x1056. If you run at a lower resolution, not all of the fields may show up (you effectively have less screen space).

Credits

ReneW for working out how to do 'preferred foot'

All the other skinning people at Skinning Hideout for all their top work.

All the tactical gurus above, and more: without whom I wouldn't still be playing this game.

Look brilliant downloading now

-unzip OI-panels.zip into /skins/[your skin]/panels/

Im using the default skin, so where do I put this file ?

If you are not using a skin- firstly why? (check out Stelko's- much easier to stare at than the default: I am using the OSX background but the dark-grey one is also popular).

However, I believe that you just need to create a 'panels' folder in the place where your user settings are stored (usually in My documents). So for mine, I'd create a folder in:

\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\panels

Copy the files in there, reload game / skin settings. Any probs- let me know

Any feedback on the tactical side of OI would also be useful. Personally, I think that when they're applied correctly that add a fair bit to any tactic set.

Cheers

30 downloads and no feedback

Anyone using it? Anyone got a view of it? Anybody got a different way of thinking about OI?

Anybody out there?

This looks really interesting. I honestly don't touch OIs but I think judicious use of them could be useful... I'll download this evening and give it a whirl. Good work

I tried but its not working with the default skin.

Works fine for me with the default skin...

So you created a 'panels' folder inside your user folder (as per above) and copied the 2 xml files inside the zip in there. Then you went into preferences, display & sound, unchecked 'use skin cache' and checked 'always reload skin on confirm' then hit confirm?

This looks really interesting. I honestly don't touch OIs but I think judicious use of them could be useful... I'll download this evening and give it a whirl. Good work

Thanks mate- late me know how you get on

Surferosa, tnx for the explanation. its working now

Nice one Let me know what you think / how you use it / etc.

Feedback- good or bad- is always useful

can you please upload the file again ? the link is down. thanks

Awesome job! Thank you so much!

can you please upload the file again ? the link is down. thanks

Link is up for me.. let me know if you still have problems and I'll try and host it somewhere else.

Awesome job! Thank you so much!

No problem. Give me any feedback you may have from in use tactical application.

Cheers

its working now

its working now

Sweet Again, let me know what you think..

Surferosa in your opinion we should closing down, tight makin, etc. according to that opposition atritubes you posted ?

btw it's working for me and i think a good idea

Hi mate,

Looks good. Will the skin work with the one that displays the click numbers on the tactics screen? I have downloaded that and would really want to keep it.

Also.... can you expand on how you actualy use OI's? Do you use one on every player or just key players etc etc?

Cheers

LAM

Added to the Tactics Bible

My thinking with regard to Opposition Instructions is that it is (on the whole) a way of negating opposition strengths. Put it another way, if you don't let them play their game, your more likely to win.

I am a big believer in tactic sets as opposed to the old-school diablo type formation, where one formation beats all. I think this died out 2 or 3 FM's ago (discounting 'cheat' systems- which will become rarer and rarer as the Match Engine-ME- becomes more advanced).

Therefore (for me) it comes down to what your match strategy is. Now if your playing as a super-big club with the best players in the game; then as in the real football world, the opposition need to worry about you more than you need to worry about them.

However, I like a challenge- and whenever your playing as a team that isn't the richest / favourite to win every game- you need to out-think the ME. So, I've carried Witton Albion on back-to-back promotions from BSN to CCC with an average squad by doing exactly that.

In practise, if Im playing away from home- Im the underdog. Therefore, I'll be playing deeper trying to catch them on the counter. In order to do that, I'll be tight marking their forwards, closing down their MC's.

However, things are never that simple.

I may start this game against a 442 and see one of the SC's dropping much deeper than a natural SC- he's effectively playing an AMC position but it doesn't show as that in the formation panel. Tight marking drags my DC all over the place. This just opens up space for the other SC, or MC's that are playing more advanced than a typical MC. If the guy is dropping that deep that he's holding onto the ball and looking to put through balls through- its time to stop the tight marking and close down instead. The effect is I now retain 2 at the back, and my midfield closes down as soon as he's in possession.

This change to OI is a small example of how you can overcome an in match issue (I watch extended highlights every game)- more often than not you'll get the message 'the opposition has reverted to their standard formation' (usually after you've got a goal) and the dropping off ends. You can reverse the OI again- and once again your OI has neutralised the threat.

The 'player' screens I use entirely for two purposes:

1) Try and spot the big threats. Away from home & up against a winger with high pace, dribbling? Tight-mark him out of the game (he cant use his pace and dribbling as well if he's not running at you- especially since he is in an advanced position to begin with). Playing against a skillful passing midfield that share low bravery and strength? Get stuck in- hard tackle the lot of them. See a midfield with a stand out in form player with good long shots but low passing? Close him down! In effect- your overiding both your tactical instructions and your OI formation instructions. Its an art rather than a science- you'll get a good handle on what works and what doesnt as you go.

2) Spot the weaknesses. If your playing against a team where you fancy your chances- you can increase them a bit by looking for their wink link. Opposition playing 451 at your place and their striker has poor technique, bravery and low strength? Close him down, hard tackle. Trying to play a pressure game and the DC's and have no composure? Close them down- hell, if they're that bad- tight mark & close down and watch them panic as you close in! They'll more than likely gift you a goal.

Like I said, its an art rather than a science- but I hardly ever lose a game by more than a goal with these methods. I can pretty much neutralise most threats by a combination of tactical system and specific OI (unless its a complete mismatch- obviously).

So (the short answer) is the stats that I have chosen are the ones I look out for. They may not be the right ones (its fairly easy to change these in the panels)- but understanding the relationship between OI and a tactic set is key. Unless your playing as Man United after youve bought all the best players in the game over a 5 year period. Then you can forget about OI.

But wheres the fun in that?

Added to the Tactics Bible

Cheers mate I feel honoured

I normally use OI when the opposition play with AML/AMR and a lone AC and AMC. If they play with DMC i also use.

I normally use OI when the opposition play with AML/AMR and a lone AC and AMC. If they play with DMC i also use.

Yes- me to. My standard setup is a 442. In any formation that does not much up to yours on a strata basis, OI can have a pretty devasting effect on their attacking effectiveness.

So, you can tight mark the AML / AMR out of the game (hard tackle if they have low bravery too- weaker foot if they are naturally one footed); give the lone SC a tight marking instruction and AMC a closing down instruction (if you are playing an balanced or defensive game) or the opposite way around if you are playing an attacking game pushing higher up the pitch.

I also find that it can be worth closing down the DR/DL if you are playing attacking- the gaps between the AMR/L are so big that they conceed possession frequently. Plus, when a team is playing defensively, the DR/L often hold onto the ball. Makes for a good pressure game- but importantly, you need to be pushing up & closing down in your tactic setup too- otherwise your players dont close down soon enough.

A big one for me is the bravery and tackling correlation. I'll check everyone except the DC's and if bravery is low (say under 10) hard tackling is a must- you can take the 10 threshold up if your away / underdog. Doing this, I never use hard tackling on the tactic screen.

Surferosa (or anyone else for that matter),

Will this skin with hand in hand with another?

I am using the one that has the numbers of clicks displayed in the tactical screen and I want to keep that.

LAM

Should work fine with other skins of any description (provding they have not already modified the OI screens).

The tactic slider mod changes 2 xml's (team instructions & player instructions) whereas this only changes 1 (opposition tactic person list) but also creates a new record (pfot) in another (person list table).

As they are all different- shouldnt impact you at all.

great. in that case I'll be downloading them.

Cool- let me know how you get on

Installation

Basically....

-download OI-panels.zip from FileFront.

-unzip OI-panels.zip into /skins/[your skin]/panels/ (if the two files are already in there, I would advise you to make backups so that they can be restored if necessary)

-reload the skin in FM (preferences, reload skin- untick from cache)

Did this but its not working.

I had the skins file already, but I had to create [my skins] and then panels and then put the files in them.

Is that correct?

LAM

I think I need to rewrite that bit.

If you are not using a skin at all at the moment (your using the default) then you just need to put the 2 xml files in the panels folder of your default FM09 directory (which you may need to create). So youd put them in:

\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\panels

If you are using a skin (not the default) then you need to put them in the panels directory of that particular skin (so Im using Steklo- so Id put them in :

\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\skins\steklo\panels

The final thing- you need to make sure the xml's / skins are loaded (and that the skin isnt loaded from your cache):

Go into preferences, display & sound, uncheck 'use skin cache' and check 'always reload skin on confirm' then hit confirm. You should get a 'loading skin' message appear.

Obviously you need to make sure the 'skin' setting is the one where you have copied the files to (so if Ive copied them into 'steklo' I need to load this skin- otherwise I won't see them!)

Surferosa: I implemented a few OIs against Chelsea's 4-5-1/4-3-3 at home - I'm Newcastle and play a normal 4-4-2. Tight marking on Malouda and Quaresma, close down always on Lampard. After going 2 up inside 10 mins, Drogba was 'playing without confidence' (so I started closing him down always as he primarily holds the ball up, as opposed to leading the line) and Quaresma was 'playing nervously'. They got a goal back at 45+1, through a Malouda header off a corner, and they switched to 4-4-2 at half time. I reshuffled my squad a bit and decided I was better off closing down the wingers now, rather than tightly marking them and have my FBs pulled out of position. Drogba was hauled off for having a poor game \:D/ and Kalou wasn't going to threaten much. The game went a bit dead until they went 4-2-4. I got a 3rd on 90+1 to kill the game off.

I've usually believed that well-drilled tactics are better than any OIs, but when you're playing much better players or a formation very different to your own, OIs seem to be a decent idea. I reckon I'll stick with this for a while.

Brilliant work there mate, i usually just ignore the OIs but you deserve credit for the work put in.

Glad to see its having a positive impact. You are right- when playing as a weaker team, a good tactic with a good OI understanding is bloody hard to break down. Like I said, if you are playing as someone like Real Madrid and have bought all the best players in the world- forget about it! Even if you dont bother with the defensive side of the game at all, youll probably be beating people 5-4 and stuff. But for anyone else, good OI is a key tactical component.

The important thing to learn is the relationship between your tactic set and OI. When you have a good handle onwhat you want to achieve from your tactic- the OI can be used further nulify the strong points of the OI / weak points of your tactic. If the tactic is wrong to start with- no amount of OI will help. Its the icing on the cake (and if your playing as a weak / underdog team- its hugely effective).

Playing against Chelsea at home is an awkward one for sure. If you were away, a defensive / counter attacking strategy is a given. In this scenario, your defensive line is likely to be deeper so that you dont leave spaces behind. Here you want to get tight to a player like drogba- maybe even hard tackle him (which is always worth considering when playing against a lone SC formation). You obviously risk giving away penalties / free kicks- but if he was playing without confidence I'd be tempted to play it the way you did.

Home is trickier- you more inclined to go for a win so are going to be pushing up more. The danger when your playing a higher d-line if you are tight marking any through ball is going to lead to a race between drogba and your DC. This comes down to pace (how much you have, how much he has)- but certainly if you were playing against a fast striker- closing down is a better option than tight marking.

Playing against an AML/R I'd nearly always tight mark them (unless I was really pushing up). When the opposition gets the ball, they are likely to be in advanced position (ie standing just behind the SC strata). By tight marking them, you are telling your DL/R to get close to them- where they'll intercept the ball a lot of the time, or make a tackle as soon as the player gets the ball. The risk is (again) that a ball behind the DL/R again leads to a chase for the ball- but as they are already in an advanced poisition the space should be limited.

The other thing to consider its whats going on in midfield. Those through balls have got to come from somewhere- if you are tight marking the opposition attackers in a 433, then your risk is through balls. So close down and hard tackle any DMC/MC with high passing and creativity. The only time I wont do this is if you a player has high bravery and strength- the chances are they wont back out of a hard tackle- and the strength means you are just likely to get one of your players getting hurt! Here, you can sometimes tight mark him instead (again- stops the player getting time and space on the ball).

If a player is off-strata (DMC/AMC)- these are big continuity players. They usually are there to have play channelled through them in some way. A key point is then being comfortable with how to deal with them. So when Im playing 442 attacking with a high closing down and tempo- Ill try and pressure the DC's & DMC's with either tight marking or closing down (depending on their stats).

And dont forget- sometimes FM lies! The formation panel may say 442- whereas youll see in the highlights one MC is sitting just in front of the back 4, one is pushing up and getting to the edge of the box. Thats not 442, thats playing a diamond (41212)! A common thing you'll find is the opposition playing 2 SC's- but again in the highlights one of them is dropping all the way back to a MC poistion, the other on the shoulder of the last defender. Thats not 442- thats 4411! Of course, you can get your team to do exactly the same just by altering individual player instructions (I do)- but even so, its sneaky for the AI to be doing it!

Its here where I often go straight into OI and change my formation OI settings. So I may have been closing down the MCa, whereas Im now going to tight mark him (so that when he gets the ball in an advanced area, Im already on him).

I recommend taking a read of TBH's tactic set. You may not want to use the tactic- but when to what OI for each type of tactic (ie Attacking Home, Balanced, Counter, etc) should give you a good insight of what you can do with your own tactic.

Surferosa: I implemented a few OIs against Chelsea's 4-5-1/4-3-3 at home - I'm Newcastle and play a normal 4-4-2. Tight marking on Malouda and Quaresma, close down always on Lampard. After going 2 up inside 10 mins, Drogba was 'playing without confidence' (so I started closing him down always as he primarily holds the ball up, as opposed to leading the line) and Quaresma was 'playing nervously'. They got a goal back at 45+1, through a Malouda header off a corner, and they switched to 4-4-2 at half time. I reshuffled my squad a bit and decided I was better off closing down the wingers now, rather than tightly marking them and have my FBs pulled out of position. Drogba was hauled off for having a poor game \:D/ and Kalou wasn't going to threaten much. The game went a bit dead until they went 4-2-4. I got a 3rd on 90+1 to kill the game off.

I've usually believed that well-drilled tactics are better than any OIs, but when you're playing much better players or a formation very different to your own, OIs seem to be a decent idea. I reckon I'll stick with this for a while.

Brilliant work there mate, i usually just ignore the OIs but you deserve credit for the work put in.

Ive got to pass on that credit to the people who deserve it- the guys in the Skinning Hideout had already worked out how to do the tricky stuff (like showing preferred foot)- I just brought it altogether to fit how I have played the game for a while now (but I used to spend an age clicking through to check opposition player attributes and weaker foot info).

Im trying to do some work on the in match tactics screen (to get more of your own player attributes to show up)- as they do outside of the match- but at the moment Ive hit a brick wall.

Cheers for the feedback though

I should add (as thus far Ive not mentioned it) the OI can massively reduce the threat of the dreaded 424 OI tactic:

Tight mark all of the front 4 (you can achieve this in the tactic panel as well). Set onto weaker foot for any on-sided player- and hard tackle very low bravery ratings (less than 8).

Close down and hard tackle the opposition MC's and DL/DR (providing bravery and strength are not too high for a hard tackle.. say under 15 for both). Set forward runs to never to the entire back 4 and at least one MC- the rest can be set to Normal. Set passing to 'down both flanks' and use a counter attack system.

Also, in your tactics, dont sit too far back- a balanced approach is best. I tend to score more against the 424 than it scores against me, even against the stronger teams.

Im trying to do some work on the in match tactics screen (to get more of your own player attributes to show up)- as they do outside of the match- but at the moment Ive hit a brick wall.

Great idea . For starters, I always want decisions to be shown along with creativity and flair when viewing the CF sliders. Dribbling should be shown when viewing where to cross from, etc.

Tactically, I played the Chelsea game almost exactly the same as the Arsenal away game I had played just before it. I won that 3v0 but I didn't use OIs but, thinking about it, they play 4-4-2 anyway so I'd probably not have bothered.

Bolton away next - they play a countering 4-1-4-1. I might stick with my 4-4-2 but push-up without a MCd. Watching their previous fixtures' highlights, they seem to just hump it to Elmander and hope for the best, which is why they're 16th. I'm gonna try to control it and prevent long balls over the top by closing down their keeper and back line.

The important thing to learn is the relationship between your tactic set and OI. When you have a good handle onwhat you want to achieve from your tactic- the OI can be used further nulify the strong points of the OI / weak points of your tactic. If the tactic is wrong to start with- no amount of OI will help. Its the icing on the cake (and if your playing as a weak / underdog team- its hugely effective).

Very true. I ordinarily have all of my closing down inside my own half, to keep the squad organised and make people play through us. In this scenario, it would make sense to close down always on a long-shot threat or their midfield playmaker (which is what I did to Lampard) because they'll otherwise get too much time on the ball. In my next game at Bolton, when I play a pressing game, I'll not need to specifically close down midfield because it would be redundant.

For starters, I always want decisions to be shown along with creativity and flair when viewing the CF sliders. Dribbling should be shown when viewing where to cross from, etc.

Well before the match (ie in the tactics panel) you can get any attributes you want to show (we are only capped by the amount of screen space). The in-match tactic panel uses record ids (attributes) that are coded completely different to any other panel (:confused:)- so it looks like the attributes can't be 'called' from that screen

Tactically, I played the Chelsea game almost exactly the same as the Arsenal away game I had played just before it. I won that 3v0 but I didn't use OIs but, thinking about it, they play 4-4-2 anyway so I'd probably not have bothered.

Very nice result against Arsenal that . Just bear in mind my comments regarding the sneaky AI though- a 442 isnt always a 442

Bolton away next - they play a countering 4-1-4-1. I might stick with my 4-4-2 but push-up without a MCd. Watching their previous fixtures' highlights, they seem to just hump it to Elmander and hope for the best, which is why they're 16th. I'm gonna try to control it and prevent long balls over the top by closing down their keeper and back line.

I love playing against lone striker formations. I really love it because I now think its relatively easy to nulify the obvious threats (single striker that holds up the ball, advancing midfielders, through balls into the channels). Get tight to Elmander- hard tackle him. Check the DMC's weaker foot- if he's brave & strong (he prob will be) then tight mark him and show him the weaker foot if hes one-footed. Check the DC's- if they're passing and compusure are low (note- I need to add composure to the closing down screen)- close them down. Close down the MC's (and again hard tackle if attributes right).

If the wingers are playing pushed up (almost like AMR/L) then tight mark. If not leave them as none for closing down & tight mark. If they are one footed- show them weaker foot (which should be inside- your pushing them towards the centre of the pitch rather than outside your full-backs; a great way of cutting out the crosses to the lone SC).

In order for this to work, your going to have to be playing a fairly aggressive pressured (ie high closing down) game with a high'ish d-line. This can be risky away- but seeing as Im guessing your form and morale is good- and you'll be favourite- go for it!

Very nice result against Arsenal that . Just bear in mind my comments regarding the sneaky AI though- a 442 isnt always a 442

Certainly, they were playing much more like 4-1-3-2 most of the time. But they rushed everything, playing way too fast to break through what is becoming the most organised defence I've had, pound-for-pound.

I'm definitely going to push up against Bolton. We've got some half decent defenders at Newcastle - although in reality you wouldn't think it - so I'm going to be cautiously attacking. Certainly going to try to craft good chances, rather than snatch at things and lose the ball to them in dangerous areas. I was considering a 4-2-3-1 but I'm gonna set it up a 4-4-2 to play like that. It makes more sense to maintain "formational consistency". Or something.

Absolutely brilliant

This should be default on FM2010

Cheers mate Appreciate the feedback..

Absolutely brilliant

This should be default on FM2010

Surferosa, on attempting to download from filefront, I was given the message " could not download, server not available". Can you assist, please? Kind regards.

I just tried and it downloads fine? :confused:

If someone can suggest another host though, I'll put on there as well in case people are having filefront issues.

Surferosa, is there anyway to add a Show all to weaker foot button?

I always do that to every player

I just tried and it downloads fine? :confused:

If someone can suggest another host though, I'll put on there as well in case people are having filefront issues.

I have downloaded the files, thanks, Surferosa. I'm not sure what went wrong before. It must have been me doing something wrong, it sometimes is! Kind regards.

I have downloaded the files, thanks, Surferosa. I'm not sure what went wrong before. It must have been me doing something wrong, it sometimes is!

Possibly not mate- all these free hosted servers sometimes be a little flakey- but glad you got it in the end. Let me know what you think

Surferosa, is there anyway to add a Show all to weaker foot button?

Not sure exactly what your after there Mike. If you mean is there any way of hitting a button that would show all players that have a weaker foot onto their weaker foot- I dont think so (or if there is- its certainly beyond my skills). Is that what you meant?

The preferred foot field on the 'OI- Weaker Foot' screen should give you enough info- if the foot says 'only' as in 'right only'- then their other foot is at least reasonable (so it would be risky showing them that foot becuase they can use it for a little bit more than standing on!).

Or have I missed the point of the question?

if the foot does not say 'only' as in 'right only'- then their other foot is at least reasonable (so it would be risky showing them that foot becuase they can use it for a little bit more than standing on!).

FTFY

No, your first paragraph is spot on. No worries.

I really like what you have done though it has me approaching the games differently now, and I like the idea of hard tackling the players with low Bravery stats. I wouldn't bother if I had to click through stuff every game. I am also closing down the dodgiest looking defender depending on moral and condition etc.

So far in my second season in the prem with Bognor regis i am 2nd after 5 games

OK- yes theres is no way that I know of getting a macro or something to run inside of the xml to prepopulate the screens. Interesting idea though- I'll do some digging.

Incidently, my findings are that OI is hugely effective further down the divisions becuase you have to deal with far less all-round players- so usually there is just 1 or 2 player strengths that are relatively easy to nulify (once you've got a handle on the whole tactic-OI mechanic). They still work at higher levels, but when your dealing with (for example) a SC that is two-footed, quick, composed, strong and can head the ball- only a top quality defender would be able to nulify all those threats. The OI can still help, but not as much (obviously).

But for Bognor Regis, you should be able to up your defensive peformance considerably.

No, your first paragraph is spot on. No worries.

I really like what you have done though it has me approaching the games differently now, and I like the idea of hard tackling the players with low Bravery stats. I wouldn't bother if I had to click through stuff every game. I am also closing down the dodgiest looking defender depending on moral and condition etc.

So far in my second season in the prem with Bognor regis i am 2nd after 5 games

FTFY

Yep- quite right too- I knew what I meant in my head- but it came out wrong