Pep AI Manager never uses his second slot formation 4-2-3-1 at a start of a game

This isn't an issue with Pep specifically.

The issue is AI mangers, no matter who it is, do not use their second formation whatsoever.

The only formations they use are their 1st preferred, defensive and attacking.

The second formation is redundant and should be taken out if SI are unable to have AI managers clever enough to identify when they should switch to thier second formation. 

This was raised last year when they advertised AI as being better tactically and it was acknowledged on here by one of the SI guys that they do not use their second formation ever. 

46 minutes ago, Luke1988 said:

This isn't an issue with Pep specifically.

The issue is AI mangers, no matter who it is, do not use their second formation whatsoever.

The only formations they use are their 1st preferred, defensive and attacking.

The second formation is redundant and should be taken out if SI are unable to have AI managers clever enough to identify when they should switch to thier second formation. 

This was raised last year when they advertised AI as being better tactically and it was acknowledged on here by one of the SI guys that they do not use their second formation ever. 

Wow... is that true SI?

The way i see it... and thought it worked is that the AI managers have 2 primary formations they can use... For example if they underperform with one tactic they can switch to the other... 

You even maked sure we knew the AI have 2 formations when we looked on their profile page...

 

And its even worse the issue is carried from last year...

I know considered it a bug tbh

I mean how hard can it be to code... if team x loses 5 games in a row... use 2nd formation?

4 hours ago, andu1 said:

Wow... is that true SI?

The way i see it... and thought it worked is that the AI managers have 2 primary formations they can use... For example if they underperform with one tactic they can switch to the other... 

You even maked sure we knew the AI have 2 formations when we looked on their profile page...

 

And its even worse the issue is carried from last year...

I know considered it a bug tbh

That should be exactly how it works yes. It doesn't though unfortunately.

The AI only has the ability to recognise that it needs to change formation to its attacking formation or defensive one. 

 

15 hours ago, Luke1988 said:

That should be exactly how it works yes. It doesn't though unfortunately.

The AI only has the ability to recognise that it needs to change formation to its attacking formation or defensive one. 

 

I don't even understand why it's so hard to fix this.

I've looked at all the AI managed teams in the PL and it seems you are correct, they only start their first pref, Defensive or Attacking formation ( depending on the opposition ).

However there is one exception and I am bolding it. Unai Emery has 4-2-4 Wide as first pref and he is the only one using his second formation 4-2-3-1 as the starting lineup when he faces a tough team.

So.. It seems that it works only when AI's the first pref is 4-2-4.. For the others, no matter what is their first pref, 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, 5-3-2 etc... they never use their second pref no matter the opposition.

I think we can safely say... its not working as intended

1 hour ago, andu1 said:

I don't even understand why it's so hard to fix this.

I've looked at all the AI managed teams in the PL and it seems you are correct, they only start their first pref, Defensive or Attacking formation ( depending on the opposition ).

However there is one exception and I am bolding it. Unai Emery has 4-2-4 Wide as first pref and he is the only one using his second formation 4-2-3-1 as the starting lineup when he faces a tough team.

So.. It seems that it works only when AI's the first pref is 4-2-4.. For the others, no matter what is their first pref, 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, 5-3-2 etc... they never use their second pref no matter the opposition.

I think we can safely say... its not working as intended

Is Emery's defensive formation not 4231? Id imagine it is and all he is doing there is using his defensive formation in them games.

42 minutes ago, Luke1988 said:

Is Emery's defensive formation not 4231? Id imagine it is and all he is doing there is using his defensive formation in them games.

Nope, his defensive is 4-3-3. His second is 4-2-3-1. And he is using it with good success..  Comparing it with Pep who never uses his second...

I think its tied to Unai's first one being 4-2-4 frankly.

8 minutes ago, andu1 said:

Nope, his defensive is 4-3-3. His second is 4-2-3-1. And he is using it with good success..  Comparing it with Pep who never uses his second...

I think its tied to Unai's first one being 4-2-4 frankly.

That's interesting. In the games where you would imagine Emery would switch to his defensive formation, he instead switches to his 2nd..

It's almost like something is stopping him using his defensive formation so it reverts to the second formation. 

In any event, the second formation certainly isnt working as intended and hasn't for years so you're right to report this as a bug.

I don't expect much action from SI on this issue however

Edited November 1, 2023 by Luke1988

1 minute ago, Luke1988 said:

That's interesting. In the games where you would imagine Emery would switch to his defensive formation, he instead switches to his 2nd..

It's almost like something is stopping him using his defensive formation so it reverts to the second formation. 

In any event, the second formation certainly isnt working as intended and hasn't for years so you're right to report this as a bug.

I don't expect much action from SI on this issue however

Makes me want to raise it as a feature request... even though it's already something that should be working and it isnt...

Anything about this at all? Is the second formation working as intended or should it be used more often than it's now?

Hello, AI managers do use their second preferred formation on occasions but it is quite rare.

We can look to make this happen more often in a future game, but we will be unable to make changes in this FM cycle. 

1 hour ago, Zachary Whyte said:

Hello, AI managers do use their second preferred formation on occasions but it is quite rare.

We can look to make this happen more often in a future game, but we will be unable to make changes in this FM cycle. 

Hi ,

Ok, i hope it will be improved for fm25 and forward.

Thanks for the reply

On 27/11/2023 at 20:19, Zachary Whyte said:

Hello, AI managers do use their second preferred formation on occasions but it is quite rare.

We can look to make this happen more often in a future game, but we will be unable to make changes in this FM cycle. 

Just to draw your attention that only when a manager has 4-2-4 DM wide as pref formation, he will use sometime his second, for example this guy, has 4-2-4 first and 5-2-1-2 second. 5-3-2 is his defensive one

Might just be a case of doing for the other formations what works in cojunction with 4-2-4 ?