The Impact Of Changing Tactics

[CElliott]

In short, I'm having a really bad season with Vauxhall in the BSN, about 3/4 way through the season and sitting right at the bottom. I bought in about 5 players at the beginning of the season but they took a long time to gell and probably that, added to my choice of tactics, has left me in a difficult position. I need to get some wins from somewhere and I dont have long to fight my way out of the relegation zone.

So I could try to bring in yet more new players but i know this will disrupt the team again.

What is the impact of changing to a different formation / tactic at this stage of the season? Is this also going to disrupt the squad? Or is it only when you make big tactical changes during a match that this causes problems?

I initially went for a 4-1-3-2 formation as this matched roughly the meagre talent I had in the team. Now I'm thinking I should use a simple 4-4-2 as nothing seams to be working at all at the moment.

Will changing to a 4-4-2 make an already difficult situation hopeless? Are Asymetric formations feasible in LL teams or would a bulk standard 4-4-2 be more effective?

I am managing to keep morale high in the team via team talks and media (no suicides yet) but we just can't get a win from anywhere. I know Vauxhall's reputation is dire but even so this is agony :| A bunch of midgits with no determination at all

[Falahk]

it often take a bit of time for players to get used to a new tactic you have not used befor, other then that i have not spoted any issues with changing formation during a match

[Beardeye]

It has been stated by WWfan that teams do not need time to 'adapt' to new tactics. the players need to gel as a team (as indicated by your ass man) as you have pointed out but apparently there is no adaption period for tactics.

Although I would not expect Wwfan to be wrong about this, i must say it does not reflect my experiences. I find when using a new tactic my team makes a lot of mistakes to begin with but after about 10-15 games it seems to click.

[Cleon]

Adapt and gel kind of mean the samething anyways imo

[Beardeye]

Adapt and gel kind of mean the samething anyways imo

Agreed. I didnt explain the above post very well...

Taking my current side as an example- there are 4 new players in the squad this season, only one in the starting line up and one on the bench. The Ass man reports before each match that two or 3 players are still blending in, but overall the team has "developed a strong understanding"- which says to me they have gelled.

I have used the same tactics set for 4/5 seasons but in my last match experimented with a new one which played a higher d-line and offside. My captain and reliable DC (second season at club) made two very basic and costly errors which lost me the game and I had to sub him off with a 4.7 rating.

He is normally reliable but it is my opinion that he made these mistakes due to the new tactic and new passing settings (one mistake was a misplaced pass)/ high d-line as he had not yet 'adapted' to the new tactics despite the team having a strong understanding (gelled).

[jxd]

According to one of the in game hints, constantly changing tactics is bad.

[CElliott]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

So much about FM is vague, it drives me nuts sometimes!

Before FM2010 and the new Tactics Creator, I used to use about 5 different tactics for my team (Control, Attack, Counter, ShutUpShop and Standard) and would switch between them a day or two before each match after the scout reports on the opposition and pitch. They would all use the same formation but that was about all they had in common (based on the TF&T threads). I would usually change between them in match as well but only if things really warrented a change. I should add that I had a lot of success with this approach.

Now in 2010 I use a single tactic via TC and modify it's mentality (via the menu in the match view) during the match. But does doing that also cause disruption? E.g. I change from Standard to Control at half time say, will this now cause confusion in the squad? After all, it will change the passing, closing down, forward runs etc so it's quite a bit more involved than just upping the mentality. How about the AI when it changes to the notorious 4-2-4 in the last few minutes? Thats quite a major change in play and formation, yet it often seems to pay off.

It just doesnt seem very consistant, if changing tactics frequently is bad for the team, why does the AI do it constantly during a match and hand me my @ss on a plate?

If I could tell how much impact it would have, I could make a more informed decision, but it's largely guesswork at the moment unfortunately.

[SFraser]

I dont think changing tactics on it's own has much of an impact, but changing tactics blindly and disrupting things that work rather than fixing what is broken will definately have a negative impact on your team.

It is really vital to understand that each match is against a different team while your own squad doesn't change. You shouldn't be looking for wholesale changes as soon as the successful tactics from the last match fail, you should be looking for the tweaks the enable you to employ the same principles and lines of success against the next team as worked against the previous.

The basic principles of your side are not going to change. Your players this week will be the same players next week. You need to find ways of achieving what works for your team in the next match, creating space here and channeling play there, overloading one zone and defending another zone so your attack works and the opponents attack fails.

Switching tactics blindly is easy and frustrating. Paying attention to each match and developing strategies to succeed is much more difficult and much more rewarding.

[TheRealMagpies]

Changing Formation can cause a big hit in player performances.

Changing the Instructions within that formation sometimes causes a small hit in performances, but generally i find players cope very well with small -medium tactical changes within a formation they are familiar with.

[Falahk]

I have often found myself rotating about 2 or more different tactics in the same match, if it dont start out well in the first 45, I attempt to adapt after what them key highlights tells me, most of the time this pays off if i do it in time (and gives me back the momentum), and on rare occasion I missjudge things and lose even more horribly.

[CElliott]

I think the main weakness of my current tactics is in the defence. My players lack determination and stamina and although they can often hold out for a draw I think they have only ever once recovered from being a goal down (a freak goal from my CenterBack). I lack talent up front as well, either too old or too young to make much impact. The midfield is the strongest, I have a good DMC and a couple of good CM, no wingers to speak off. Also for some reason they all seem to be about 5'8'' tall which doesnt help, I nickname them the Vauxhall Hobbits

The problem with my 4-1-3-2 is that without the wingers my fullbacks seem to get overloaded and my team spends a lot of time defending in their own half against crosses and corners (so many corners), plus the occasional deadly free-kick. My pitch is narrow and I tend to play a counter-attacking, direct passing style through the middle. I think these tactics are letting me down because my strength in the midfield is not being exploited. Perhaps a short passing style would be better but with players with such poor passing and decisions it always seems so risky to do that.

I will just have to experiment. I doubt I will be able to change much about the formation because of my limited players but some tweaking of the instructions will hopefully pay off.

[PnyX]

Interesting developments here, I played a career game with Watford, where for close to 18 years I played a 4132 formation. The shape stayed the same but the roles changed every single game depending on who was in the starting lineup and this again influenced by the opposition on the day. The 'fear' of changing formations meant I stuck to the same shape overall but changed player roles as required.

I recently started a new save with Everton (the Watford one having gone 'cold') and opted for a 433 with 3 out and out strikers and a combative 3 man midfield. I'd started toying with this formation in my watford save towards the end and decided to give it a full go on a new save.

I'm currently lying 1st of the EPL and we are just heading into the terrible Xmas period, but I have learned a few lessons or 2. My 433 went belly up against Chelsea early on in the season an by half time I was 1 down with Chelsea completely 'owning' me in the middle. I switched to my 4132 and managed to end keep that score to the end. My next big away game was at Man U and from the start I went with 4132 and Man U only managed a draw with a late goal.

The point is, this was the first I was starting with this formation and the players reacted well to it. I have followed this pattern, using my packed midfield against the big four and crushing the rest with my regular 433. The players dont mind the changes as my position i the table shows.

In conclusion I dont think changing formations hurts that much.

[CElliott]

Well the next match I had last night was away to Northwich Victoria and I got my @ss handed to me again despite some tweaking of tactics. But I did notice a few things which may help. Firstly the odds were already 1-10 against me so I had no great illusions of winning and due to injuries and exhaustion I was forced to play a youth team GK and CB in the first team :O I conceded three goals as a result. Main problem was my decision to try zonal marking at the back, it leaked goals like a big leaky thing. But I may try it for a few more matches and see if they get used to the idea, I'm hoping it will prevent my defence getting so tired towards the end of the match that they concede in the 90th minute and break my heart.

I also switched my midfielders into a narrow diamond with my best passer/dribbler out front instead of center and changed a lot of individual instructions to try and prevent players attempting what is clearly beyond their abilities. While we didnt score, my AMC made 3 absolutely lethal through balls that the strikers really had no excuse to miss with, but their incompetance is boundless and they still managed to miss. It does give me a little hope that scoring maybe something we could reintroduce to football in the near future though.

Next match is at home so maybe we can try a more aggressive version and end this rut - the Captain gave a team meeting after this latest defeat and I'm praying it will help.