Player Tactical Settings Question.

[FC Knudde]

I have been playing around with the tactics for a while now and somehow players do not play the way I want them to play.

I have read several threads on this forum but could not find the information I am looking for, so I created this thread hoping to get the information I am looking for.

The questions might sound dumb or silly, but please keep in mind that I am a soccer noob (even better irl I don't like soccer that much, yet I love FM).

The question is: what does the setting let the player do on the pitch.

Unclear to me are these:

Metality: defensive - normal - attacking

Creative freedom: little - normal - much

Passing style: short - mixed - direct - long

Closing down: own area - own half - whole pitch

---With these above its totaly unclear to me what the influence is on the pitch with that specific player---

Tackling: easy - normal - hard

Run from deep: rarely - sometimes - often

Run with ball: rarely - sometimes - often

Long shots: rarely - sometimes - often

Through balls: rarely - sometimes - often

Cross ball: rarely - sometimes - often

---These above are pretty straight forward, yet when I look at my striker for example the "run from deep" says rarely wich means to me "run from deep" would mean for a striker "run back to deep"---

Marking: zonal - man

Tight marking: yes - no

---To me these 2 are pure defensive settings, yet when I look at my AMC for example it says "marking: man" and "tight marking: yes"---

I have tried to make several tactics and somehow it never works as I want it to and that makes me think that I have conflicting settings in my tactic but can not fix the conflict as I do not understand correctly what setting does what.

Please keep in mind that I am a newbie to this.

Thanx for helping when you do

[furiousuk]

If you use the tactics creator you don't necessarily need to know exactly what each slider does. Just set up your team how you think each position should play and start watching a few games. If your advanced playmaker CM is spraying too many passes around and loosing possession then change him to a Central Midfielder. If your Advanced Forward sole striker is getting isolated try changing him to a Deep-Lying Forward in an effort to get him dropping deeper. No need to fully understand the sliders at this stage. You just need to watch and learn what works and what doesn't. Once you get good then you can really start matching tactics and players together so that you get the best out of both. When you get even better then you might want to know what each slider does and where you might want to make manual tweaks.

An older version of the Tactical Theorems & Frameworks would contain a detailed explanation of each slider. I think TT&F09 has loads of information on this (there was no tactical creator in FM09 so you needed to use the sliders).

The online manual probably has a good section on what each slider does as well.

Very very briefly:

Mentality affects most functions of a player but is most obviously associated with how attacking/defensive a player is. A high mentality full-back will look to get forward often and support the attacking play (he'll still be a defender though). Mentality is linked to the surrounding players. If you have 2 strikers, 1 with a high mentality (e.g 15) and 1 with a moderate mentality (e.g 10) then you'll generally see a split in the players with one pushing further forward and one slipping a little lower. It is also very important for defining how attacking a pass the player will play (high mentality = slightly more risky passing options in general).

Creative Freedom - how far the player will deviate from your tactical instructions. If you want players to react to different situations on the pitch then use lots of CF. If you want them to religiously follow your carefully planned tactical instructions then set CF lower.

Passing style - Others might disagree with me but a longer passing style means that players are free to ping long passes if they want to, I dont think it will make them play long passes. Short passing will restrict their tendency to play long passes. In other words, shorter passing restricts a players' repertoire whereas longer passing increases it.

Closing down - how aggressively a player will move to the opposition in an effort to tackle or mark them. High closing down can often win you back the ball but might pull your team out of position if they haven't got the mentals for it. They'll also need to be fit. Low closing down encourages your team to hold their shape but might give the opposition too much time on the ball to damage you.

Runs from deep - Again, some might disagree but I think the name 'runs from deep' is misleading as it is the same as it's old name 'forward runs'. RFD set on high means players will be more likely to bomb forward when your team gain possession. RFD rarely won't drop your players deep but will make them hold their position whilst other players may move further forward beyond them. It is a very powerful instruction if used well.

All of the tactical instructions are linked together and are inextricably linked to the abilities of the players. Matching tactics and players is absolutely key. Getting the right players is still more important than the right tactics though.

[Steve Odom]

---To me these 2 are pure defensive settings, yet when I look at my AMC for example it says "marking: man" and "tight marking: yes"---

It's a common misconception that defenders are the one's that defend. Actually, in modern football, all your players do some defending. Even your attacking midfielder plays his role in this regard. He is used mainly to disrupt the flow of the opposition. Whit man marking, tight, he would mark the oppositions defensive midfielder so he doesn't see much of the ball. It can be useful, although when against a weaker opponent, I'd advise you to not man mark but put the DMC under pressure.

To learn everything, you'd be best of using furiousuk's advice. Make a rough setup for your team, watch matches and adapt. If you've learned enough, you can always create something more complex.

[qqq]

Creative Freedom - how far the player will deviate from your tactical instructions. If you want players to react to different situations on the pitch then use lots of CF. If you want them to religiously follow your carefully planned tactical instructions then set CF lower.

Passing style - Others might disagree with me but a longer passing style means that players are free to ping long passes if they want to, I dont think it will make them play long passes. Short passing will restrict their tendency to play long passes. In other words, shorter passing restricts a players' repertoire whereas longer passing increases it.

Totally agree, I used a flat 4-3-3 in FM10 and I had the three strikers on low creative freedom to make them play I wanted them to. It was an ugly tactic but very effective and based on hitting teams on the break. I wanted all three players to just run up the middle of the pitch and score, which they did.

Passing style, I will use either the first notch of direct or about two notches down from that. It is easy to maintain a short passing game without taking away the licence to play the occasional cross field wonder ball by setting the passing to short.

Here is a quick example of how I see passing for your central defenders.

Big brainless center backs that are paid to stamp out the attack, I would never put the passing to short, it is too intricate and they need the option to blast it up field and out of danger. Also if you play a counter attack, sometimes they even create a scoring chance (not often but it is a bonus when it happens)