Prefix note: This is quite a niche issue, perhaps not a bug, but I thought I'd provide feedback here nonetheless. The IWB behaviour I'm describing here isn't necessarily bad, just for recreating the described real life tactics - I'm sure the majority of players have no problem with it, and I'm sure I wouldn't either if I was just making an IWB tactic from scratch. Overall I really like how the role plays in FM24!
I'm playing a 4-3-3DM with an IWB on one side (DL) and an IFB on the other (DR). Tactically I'm trying to make something similar to Pep/Arteta/Maresca and am using them for reference, particularly the latter.
When my team are in possession, I'm finding that my IWB isn't inverting enough into midfield, is sitting a bit wider than I'd like.
The first example is from kickoffs: this is my team shape when kicking off, and my IWB (#3 Andreasen) and IFB (#2 Heinze) are in the "standard" non-inverted positions. (pictured is at 01:55 in the attached match)
However, let's compare that to Enzo Maresca's Leicester City as an example (screenshots from this video). This screenshot is taken a couple of seconds after kickoff (in order to show the defenders who were out of frame before that), but as you can see, their inverted wing back (DR) is already next to the defensive midfielder (DM) from the outset, and the rest of the defenders have already formed a back three, and this behaviour is what I'm trying to emulate with my tactic. Out of possession they function as a 4-3-3 (or 4-4-2 when pressing), but their trigger to invert occurs earlier in the possession phase than in FM24.
Going back to the FM24 tactic, it's only after the kickoff has been taken that my IWB (#3 Andreasen) begins to invert. (Pictured is at 01:59 in the attached match). At 28:10 in the match, my IWB only inverts 30 seconds after the goal kick is taken, once my DM finally receives the ball and progresses out of the defensive third of the pitch. At 32:55 the ball is passed back to my GK, and again my IWB only inverts once the ball is passed out of the defensive third
What I've also noticed is that there's a bigger horizontal gap between my IWB and DM versus Leicester's IWB and DM. Leicester's pair stay approx 7.5-10 metres (25-32ft) apart horizontally most of the time, whereas my pair tend to stay closer to 15 metres apart horizontally (each "square" on the FM24 pitch is ~7.5 metres for comparison) most of the time.
Here's what my team's average position with the ball looked like. As you can see, my IWB (#3) is wider than my DCL (#4).
For comparison, here are Leicester's average in-possession positions from a match this season (from markstatsbot on twitter - not the same match as the above screenshot unfortunately as I couldn't find positions for that one), but their IWB (#21) is more central than the DCR (#3), and in fact is quite high up the pitch.
Finally, another aspect where recreating Leicester's buildup play isn't possible is goal kicks. This is what Leicester's looks like, with the IWB (DR) having already inverted (from this video) although admittedly Leicester immediately give the ball away and concede a goal 😅
Example from another match this season:
In FM24 though, both the IWB and IFB hug the flank from short goal kicks:
Finally, here's an example from a different match (timestamp 20:04). My DCL (#4) has the ball inside the box, and the team begins build-up play again with the IWB and IFB sitting wide. Then instead of inverting fully, the IWB just underlaps the winger, and only briefly enters the central column of the pitch when my DCR (#5) receives the ball. This is perhaps closer to the behaviour I would expect from a standard WB role with the "Underlap Left" Team Instruction set, which I do not have active. Not inherently bad, but not what I'm looking for (the box midfield shape). Again at 23:40, he runs wide when the team are in possession rather than inverting.
The simplest way I can think of (this might be more Feature Request territory though - let me know if you think I should post this next part there) to modify the IWB behaviour is with a change to the Player Instructions menu for that role:
The "Sit Narrower" PI is currently hard-locked for the IWB role. I propose that to keep the current behaviour the same, the instruction is deselected (i.e. the same as the Full Back role's PI). The "Sit Narrower" PI would then make the IWB invert for goal kicks, kickoffs etc, look to invert earlier in the build-up phase and stay within the central column of the pitch more often.
Thanks for reading all of this 😄
The match in the screenshots is the same as from this bug report, so the following files are already uploaded to the SI OwnCloud:
autohoratio FM24 Throw-in Taker Issue.fm
autohoratio FM24 Throw-in Taker Issue match_recording.rec
autohoratio FM24 Throw-in Taker Issue Match.pkm
I've also uploaded these files from the second match to the SI OwnCLoud:
autohoratio FM24 IWB Behaviour.pkm
autohoratio FM24 IWB Behaviour match_recording.rec
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