Quickfire Questions and Answers Thread (Tactic and Training Questions Only)

[phnompenhandy]

Sure, one is quite normal, but how about 2 DFs ob defend duty? Sounds impossible - although of course the guy in the middle is crucial - I have a target man with a poacher as back up. They get the lion's share of the goals.

[EnigMattic1]

I'm not currently able to play FM but I'm always having ideas for tactics and am constantly writing them down. Could somebody let me know whether or not an inside forward can be selected in an AMC position or is it only out wide?

[jackane24]

Only wide

[jackane24]

Would you still keep the two central defenders on "mark tall player"? or give them "zonally marking the six yard box"?

Never man mark at corners. Never. Give 2+ players zonally mark 6yd box.

[Dr. Hook]

Never man mark at corners. Never. Give 2+ players zonally mark 6yd box.

Why not? I have my 2 FBs do the posts, 2 CBs man mark tall players, 3 players zonally mark box, one at edge of area, and 2 back. I rarely concede corners.

[Double0Seven]

I have a player whose stats is dropping. He is 22 years old and still has potential to grow. Yet when I look at his attribute almost everything is dropping. This is already the second time I have seen most of his attributes drop. There are some things going up such as leadership and flair(attributes that I don't train) but everything else has dropped. Cleon already told me that they are small changes such as 0.1 but why is this happening? Plenty of his attributes have dropped by such a small amount and it causes him to drop 1 point in most stats such as dribbling, first touch and technique. Other things go up but it does not compensate for the stats that have dropped. Why is this happening? He has been happy with training, playing games, he is young and has had no injury setback.

[howard moon]

I have a quick question about midfield roles.

I'm trying to set up a diamond midfield in FM14, and I want Rooney to play as one of the wider runners, but arrive into the box to score goals.

How would you go about doing this? I've tried B2B and CM(A) but he tends to hover 25-30 yards from goal when we have the ball in the final third. Is one of these roles more suitable, perhaps with some PIs?

I'm also wondering whether the roles around him might be having an effect. Currently I play:

AF(A) - CF(S)

AP(A)

Rooney - CM(S)

RGA

The idea is that he will run in behind the AF, or is that wrong, and should he line up behind the CF? And could the AP be getting in the way?

I'm playing counter-fluid, with shorter passing, push higher up.

[RTHerringbone]

How would you go about doing this? I've tried B2B and CM(A) but he tends to hover 25-30 yards from goal when we have the ball in the final third. Is one of these roles more suitable, perhaps with some PIs?

This sounds strange, as I used a B2B and a CM (A) from the MC line in a 5-3-2 I had, and the pair of them were both advanced and scoring goals for fun. Does it look like the AP is in the way? Can you instruct him to Move Into Channels if he is? Does Rooney have any PPMs which would make him hold his positioning / delay runs?

[howard moon]

This sounds strange, as I used a B2B and a CM (A) from the MC line in a 5-3-2 I had, and the pair of them were both advanced and scoring goals for fun. Does it look like the AP is in the way? Can you instruct him to Move Into Channels if he is? Does Rooney have any PPMs which would make him hold his positioning / delay runs?

Not got the game open at the moment, but I know that Rooney has 'comes deep to get the ball'. I would have assumed that was activated when he's ahead of the ball though, not behind it.

I'll have a play around with the AP. Maybe he is moving into Rooney's space because of the CF dropping deep.

[A1984]

My Chairman has agreed to allow me to take a coaching course so hopefully I can get a b licencee rather than my current c licence. However this was a couple of weeks ago and nothing has come up on my screen about the course other than an e-mail saying I was going to be starting the course. Does the course involve me doing anything game play wise or is it just a case of me being sent on it and that all. I was expecting it to be interactive in some way but that does not seem to be the case.

[Dr. Hook]

My Chairman has agreed to allow me to take a coaching course so hopefully I can get a b licencee rather than my current c licence. However this was a couple of weeks ago and nothing has come up on my screen about the course other than an e-mail saying I was going to be starting the course. Does the course involve me doing anything game play wise or is it just a case of me being sent on it and that all. I was expecting it to be interactive in some way but that does not seem to be the case.

You're better off asking this in the General Discussion forum as it isn't a tactics or training issue.

[A1984]

Ok I will do - I just thought as it covers a coaching course it would come under a training matter sorry If I have asked in the wrong place.

[Double0Seven]

I have a player whose stats is dropping. He is 22 years old and still has potential to grow. Yet when I look at his attribute almost everything is dropping. This is already the second time I have seen most of his attributes drop. There are some things going up such as leadership and flair(attributes that I don't train) but everything else has dropped. Cleon already told me that they are small changes such as 0.1 but why is this happening? Plenty of his attributes have dropped by such a small amount and it causes him to drop 1 point in most stats such as dribbling, first touch and technique. Other things go up but it does not compensate for the stats that have dropped. Why is this happening? He has been happy with training, playing games, he is young and has had no injury setback.

Anyone? I had another very similar player who went up in almost every attribute getting the same problem. Now he is back at where he was 5 months ago. Its getting annoying.

[herne79]

Cleon already answered this.

Look at his actual 12 month training graph. See if there is a decline in his attributes over that time frame, not just a little orange arrow on a snap shot day which was probably just after he'd played a match.

[Double0Seven]

And I already said there was a decline. I believe my example was Tom Ince. Tom Ince never recovered from his attribute drop despite the fact that he was young and still had potential. He is now at City and still hasn't grown back in his old situation.

I just notice some players decline a bit and then it goes back up but some don't despite age/training/playing time/happiness. Is it random?

[herne79]

I know it was Tom Ince, I looked .

As I said above, look at his 12 month training graph, not just a one day snap shot. Oh and not to mention Cleon's answer .

But to slightly elaborate on Cleon's answer where he states attributes are actually made over 200 and not the 20 that we see, think about this:

Someone has an actual attribute of 155, which we see as 16 due to rounding (15.5 = 16 as a rounded number). If that attribute drops by just 1 point down to 154, we will see it as 15 (15.4 = 15 as a rounded number). We might think it's a big deal going from 16 to 15, but in reality it isn't.

There can be all sorts of reasons why a player may drop the odd attribute point here and there, ranging from player fatigue after a match (your Tom Ince picture was on a Sunday, which I guess was the day after a match?) to manager issues with not setting up effective training facilities and training prgrams. But you've never linked any of that so we don't know .

TL;DR, look at their 12 month graphs.

[Double0Seven]

Well my training facilities and coaches are great but Tom Ince just never managed to get back to his old lvl.

I know they are small drops but if 10 attributes drop by 1 point it is total 10 points. Two other not useful attributes for his position such as attributes(leadership and flair) go up by 1 point it is total 2 points. Which means that he has dropped 8 points compared to a few months ago.

I just want to know why it happens to some players and why some just players get back on their old levels after a few months and some don't. Just useful to know.

[herne79]

I just want to know why it happens to some players and why some just players get back on their old levels after a few months and some don't.

Perhaps you have set up a poor training program for the player. Perhaps the player is constantly fatigued from poor training and/or too many matches. Perhaps the player has a bad personality. Perhaps the player is over trained. Perhaps you aren't looking at their 12 month graph enough. Perhaps perhaps perhaps...there can be all sorts of reasons.

In all honesty though, I think you are getting too hooked up on something that is largely irrelevant. I keep saying this, as has Cleon - don't focus on their one day snap shot of attributes, it can be misleading. Look at their 12 month training development graph - if that shows an overall decline of individual attributes over 12 months, then (and pretty much ONLY then) you may have an issue.

One other thing, I'm not sure you fully understand this 200 attribute points thing. Each individual attribute is actually based on 0-200 points, not the 0-20 that we see. What we see is the actual attribute divided by 10 and then rounded up or down to the nearest whole number. So, we might see someone who has Pace 12, but their actual attribute number will be somewhere in the range of 115 - 124.

[Valentino]

Could someone direct me to a thread that covers tactical analysis, and what stats & behavior to pay attention to during matches?

It's so easy to get lost in all the data available :l

[Fritz13]

I tried playing a "low tempo" but "close down much more" this seems to result in the absolute exhaustion of my team

If I switch to "high tempo" but "close down less" then....

(a) should the energy levels be a bit better?

(b) what will the basic knock on effects be?

I was expecting the above change in tactics to result in my team attempting to absorb pressure by dropping feel without ball chasing - so a bit more energy as a result

On another note I assume I would need to remove the closing down option for the team instructions and the individual player instructions too - would they not contradict each other?

Any advice would be welcomed - cheers

[Dr. Hook]

I tried playing a "low tempo" but "close down much more" this seems to result in the absolute exhaustion of my team

If I switch to "high tempo" but "close down less" then....

(a) should the energy levels be a bit better?

(b) what will the basic knock on effects be?

I was expecting the change in tactics to result in my team attempting to absorb pressure by dropping feel without ball chasing

On another note I assume I would need to remove the closing down option for the team instructions and the individual player instructions too - would they not contradict each other?

Any advice would be welcomed - cheers

Close Down Much More will increase the tempo and wear your guys down. This is without the ball, so no matter what your offensive tempo is, they are still running like rabbits when you don't have the ball. High press is a fast tempo instruction. Close down less will have them stand off and keep defensive shape. I use this frequently as I like my defensive shape to be compact. You won't be pressing so much, obviously, but players will still close down in your own area. You won't see them moving as much out of position to do it, though. They will tend to close down when the ball gets near them. TI and PI can contradict, but they stack, so you can negate TI with PI and vice versa.

So if you want to absorb pressure without ball chasing, you'd want to stand off. If you are a playing a defensive style, you can set your defenders to close down more if you want to risk it as they won't be starting off from a high position on the pitch. That's just an example of the different things you can do, but if you were looking for a specific play style, share a bit more about what you are trying to achieve

[Fritz13]

Close Down Much More will increase the tempo and wear your guys down. This is without the ball, so no matter what your offensive tempo is, they are still running like rabbits when you don't have the ball. High press is a fast tempo instruction. Close down less will have them stand off and keep defensive shape. I use this frequently as I like my defensive shape to be compact. You won't be pressing so much, obviously, but players will still close down in your own area. You won't see them moving as much out of position to do it, though. They will tend to close down when the ball gets near them. TI and PI can contradict, but they stack, so you can negate TI with PI and vice versa.

So if you want to absorb pressure without ball chasing, you'd want to stand off. If you are a playing a defensive style, you can set your defenders to close down more if you want to risk it as they won't be starting off from a high position on the pitch. That's just an example of the different things you can do, but if you were looking for a specific play style, share a bit more about what you are trying to achieve

That's great Doc - many thanks

Trying to go for possession, quick short passing with a decent defensive mentality from the back 4 plus a DM that should eventually win the ball back I guess

Is there a thread with goes into details regarding team instruction - or at least more detail than the gui goes into anyway?

Edit - found this one

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/366111-How-to-Play-FM-A-Twelve-Step-Guide

[Rock787]

Nobody wants to tutor Callum Chambers. Does anyone know why or/and if there is anything I can do to change that?

[EnigMattic1]

If an old fashioned Inside Foward played in the centre, what role could be used to replicate this in FM as the in game Inside Forwards have to be on the wing?

[RTHerringbone]

If an old fashioned Inside Foward played in the centre, what role could be used to replicate this in FM as the in game Inside Forwards have to be on the wing?

Define your understanding of the "old fashioned Inside Forward", because it can be interpreted in a number of ways. What sort of movement are you expecting on and off the ball?

[EnigMattic1]

I'm looking at recreating a 2-3-5 formation that my local side played in the 30's and the '5' consists of 2 outside forwards which I believe would be a modern winger type role, a centre forward and 2 inside forwards which, in the programme, appear in the AMC position. Basically, I'm looking for my 'old fashioned Inside Forwards' to open up space, score the occasional goal and supply my CF with passes.

[vasilli07]

What roles should I use to create a Wanyama - Schneiderlin midfield pairing in a 4-2-3-1 2DM?

[RTHerringbone]

I'm looking at recreating a 2-3-5 formation that my local side played in the 30's and the '5' consists of 2 outside forwards which I believe would be a modern winger type role, a centre forward and 2 inside forwards which, in the programme, appear in the AMC position. Basically, I'm looking for my 'old fashioned Inside Forwards' to open up space, score the occasional goal and supply my CF with passes.

It depends on how you want them to open space. I'd personally look to use a Support Duty from AMC; ideally one who can be instructed to Get Further Forward and Move Into Channels. A Support Duty will mean that he'll still contribute defensively.

[RTHerringbone]

What roles should I use to create a Wanyama - Schneiderlin midfield pairing?

Wanyama would be a DM (D) for me and Schneiderlin could be regarded as a DLP (S) or Regista. Depending on your system, you could employ him even as a DM (S) and tweak the Role to take away the "playmaker" influence.

Wanyama really is the more defensively minded and more prolific tackler, but Schneiderlin's defensive contribution should not be overlooked.

[liam9sufc]

What Role/Duty would best emulate an AMC who is willing to help out defensively, drops deep to collect the ball when the team is in possession, but also attack the box and get on the end of crosses/flick ons

The attacking midfielder on support seemed perfect, but in the description it says the support duty "tends to sit in the hole rather than get into the box". Would a support duty with "get further forward" encourage late surges into the box?

Or would it be better to try and use PPMs as a way of creating this type of role?

[RTHerringbone]

What Role/Duty would best emulate an AMC who is willing to help out defensively, drops deep to collect the ball when the team is in possession, but also attack the box and get on the end of crosses/flick ons

With the ME as it is now, it absolutely HAS to be a Support Duty. That player will drop when you are out of possession, but no Role / Duty will drop deep when you are in possession, as gaining possession is effectively a trigger to advance up field.

Tinker with all Support Duty AMC Roles to see what best fits the vision. It sounds like you are looking for a very mobile player, so make sure he has the appropriate attributes (stamina, work rate etc.)

[Cleon]

Sounds like you want a Treq tbh

[liam9sufc]

With the ME as it is now, it absolutely HAS to be a Support Duty. That player will drop when you are out of possession, but no Role / Duty will drop deep when you are in possession, as gaining possession is effectively a trigger to advance up field.

Tinker with all Support Duty AMC Roles to see what best fits the vision. It sounds like you are looking for a very mobile player, so make sure he has the appropriate attributes (stamina, work rate etc.)

thanks for the fast response:)

will try all of them out and see, so far AM(s) has done almost everything I want him to do except arrive into the box, maybe it could just be a case of PPMs, I don't think any of the AMC's I use have either "arrives late into box" or "gets into opposition area"

[Cleon]

thanks for the fast response:)

will try all of them out and see, so far AM(s) has done almost everything I want him to do except arrive into the box, maybe it could just be a case of PPMs, I don't think any of the AMC's I use have either "arrives late into box" or "gets into opposition area"

Treq will come deep for the ball, roam around and look to get into the box.

[RTHerringbone]

Treq will come deep for the ball, roam around and look to get into the box.

Isn't the Treq still affected by the issue of Attack Duty players in the AMC slot? I know SI sorted the AML/R Attack Duties, but think the central ones still seem to be pinned up field.

[liam9sufc]

I initially thought Treq would be the perfect role, however the contribution defensively would be missing

will see which works best out of the Treq and AM(s), giving the Treq man marking instructions would hopefully help his defensive contribution without compromising his offensive freedom

[Cleon]

The Treq will still track people and defend. I use one and he will often be on the edge of my own area when when defending. Ignore what the description says on FM, he does defend

[liam9sufc]

The Treq will still track people and defend. I use one and he will often be on the edge of my own area when when defending. Ignore what the description says on FM, he does defend

Good to hear!

thank you and RT for the advice:)

[A1984]

I am being really thick here but how do I get into the tatics creator to make a new tactic from scratch, I go into my tatics screen and get this but when I click on create new tatic it just offers me a list of formations.

[phnompenhandy]

^ Just click on the shirts and move them around to create your own formation.

[EnigMattic1]

Just been flicking through my facilities at Liverpool, only to see that my junior coaching is classed as 'good'. How do I go about increasing this as I cant find it in board requests?

[Dr. Hook]

Just been flicking through my facilities at Liverpool, only to see that my junior coaching is classed as 'good'. How do I go about increasing this as I cant find it in board requests?

In board requests under finance should be an option to increase junior coaching budget.

[Loud Metal Wolf]

Which formation is best used to counter 4-1-2-1-2 narrow formation teams?

I play 4-2-3-1 and no matter what tactics I implement such as counter, much deeper defensive line my team gets torn a new one and I either lose or escape with a draw.

[jujigatame]

Is "retain possession" just a more extreme version of "shorter passing"? The descriptions are quite similar.

[phnompenhandy]

Is "retain possession" just a more extreme version of "shorter passing"? The descriptions are quite similar.

That's an interesting question, actually. I always use either both or neither. What happens if you use retain possession with direct passing (or would one be redded out?)

What is the difference between short passing WITH retain possession and WITHOUT it?

[Cleon]

Shorter passing - Shortens the passing length

Retains possession - Shortens passing length, lowers tempo

[Fish]

So is playing a higher tempo going to cancel out 'retain possession' or will the shout just lower the tempo from very high to high or high to medium for example?

[EnigMattic1]

In board requests under finance should be an option to increase junior coaching budget.

Hmmm. My Junior Coaching is only listed as 'Good' but I only have the option to decrease them.

[vasilli07]

Shorter passing - Shortens the passing length

Retains possession - Shortens passing length, lowers tempo

How about more direct passing? Does it only affect passing? Or passing and tempo?

[Cleon]

How about more direct passing? Does it only affect passing? Or passing and tempo?

All passing options only affect passing and nothing else.