Possession issue

Well, I’m still not having much luck with the new update.

Away I get at best 53% possession against far weaker teams. As someone said, it doesn’t seem to have much bearing on how good the opposition team is; if the AI manager wants possession, they get it. They can have players who have poor composure and limited technical ability but dominate possession against the best team in the league.      

 

Considering that this is a "major update" it seems like it's going to stay with way for a while unfortunately. It's a great shame because possession is king again in football but so difficult to recreate on FM.

Edited December 2, 2023 by gunnersguy

I think there are a lot of AI managers playing with IWB/IFB or both, these roles make it really hard to press high for the opposition.

The problem is that not every team has the required players to do that, and not every manager is playing possession football. But somehow, there are lot of teams that do not fit the bill like mid-table teams, relegation candidates, which even if they do not have the players to do so, play with IWB/IFB and don't get punished for this.

Other problem is that even good teams that are not known to be playing IWB/IFB nor possession football, which turns into tiki taka teams in FM24 for no reason.

Finally, I do not think that the marking system enables central midfielders to mark out DMs, or full backs before they come to their level on the field, which by then is too late. Therefore let's say you want your midfielders to mark out the IWB and the DM to high press the defenders, in this edition you can't do that as the midfielders will not mark them until the other team progresses high enough.

On 03/12/2023 at 22:05, skyzekaizo said:

I think there are a lot of AI managers playing with IWB/IFB or both, these roles make it really hard to press high for the opposition.

The problem is that not every team has the required players to do that, and not every manager is playing possession football. But somehow, there are lot of teams that do not fit the bill like mid-table teams, relegation candidates, which even if they do not have the players to do so, play with IWB/IFB and don't get punished for this.

Other problem is that even good teams that are not known to be playing IWB/IFB nor possession football, which turns into tiki taka teams in FM24 for no reason.

Finally, I do not think that the marking system enables central midfielders to mark out DMs, or full backs before they come to their level on the field, which by then is too late. Therefore let's say you want your midfielders to mark out the IWB and the DM to high press the defenders, in this edition you can't do that as the midfielders will not mark them until the other team progresses high enough.

I agree with you but the AI manager play style is a huge factor. I think it should be, but not to the degree it currently is.

I've played around with it and for example; you put a manager like Guardiola or another manager who likes to dominate possession and put him in charge or a team that is predicted to finish 20th, over the season they will be in the top 3 in terms of average possession and even dominate possession against the best teams in the world.

I’m not sure what the official SI take is but the AI can essentially “cheat”. A couple examples would be; if I notice my playmaker being marked i will make another player my playmaker and as soon as the ball goes out of play, even if I haven’t been in possession of the ball he will be instantly man marked. Another example if I put my assistant manager in change for a game (and change his stats to have the intelligence of a gnat) he will play an unimpeachable game of football and achieve the results and kind of football I’ve been trying to do for a whole season.  

Jumping in on this as I’ve reached the peak of my frustrations today. Glad I came across this as it’s comforting to know that it’s not just me getting frustrated with it.

Away game against a fairly average Leeds side with Diego Simeone, of all people, in charge and finished the game with 42% possession, but won 1-5 (essentially with a super team). Leeds passes: 686. My passes: 498. 3% of their possession in my final third.

Really hoping that *anything* can be done to tweak the MI so that a possession tactic can actually be that

 

Edited January 22 by Lewis98
Spelling error

Only a token response from SI and no sign anything will change is disappointing.