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

[phnompenhandy]

I'd say a DLF needs to be part of a frot 2 or 3. One up - Target Man (S) might be what you want.

[Sussex Hammer]

Quick question on philosophy. I have been playing a 4132 with fluid. Does quite well most of the time but I gave it a go with a rigid philosophy. My Assistant Manager was telling me that I could do without the gap between the midfield and forwards - even with a striker on support and the middle CM with an attack duty..... Now I know the Assistant is a numpty at the best of times but that seems severely wrong as it suggests rigid or very rigid needs an AM of some sort. Move it to flexible or fluid the message goes away.

[Filipower]

I posted a new thread but I guess this is an appropriate place to ask this:

Isn't it possible to swap more than two players? Say for example in a 4-2-3-1, making the 3 attacking mids interchange their positions? (let's say the AMC going to AML, the AML going to AMR and the AMR going to AMC)

Cheers!

[howard moon]

I am still playing FM14 (not prepared to give up my long term save just yet...), but one of the tactical features I'd love from FM15 is the wide playmaker.

I know you can't set a wide player (that isn't am AML/R) to be a playmaker in FM14, but I want to try and copy some of the other PIs to replicate this role, in a 4-4-2 or a 4-4-1-1.

How would I go about trying to make this happen? I want a player on the flank who can get on the ball and create chances with passing and movement (like I imagine the role does on FM14)

I'm thinking WM (s) cut inside, play narrower, roam from position, with a much deeper lying midfielder directly next to them to create central space to move into, and an overlapping full back (WB - A, or CWB). Not sure on what PPMs would be useful.

Does that sound about right?

[Johnny Ace]

Quick question on philosophy. I have been playing a 4132 with fluid. Does quite well most of the time but I gave it a go with a rigid philosophy. My Assistant Manager was telling me that I could do without the gap between the midfield and forwards - even with a striker on support and the middle CM with an attack duty..... Now I know the Assistant is a numpty at the best of times but that seems severely wrong as it suggests rigid or very rigid needs an AM of some sort. Move it to flexible or fluid the message goes away.

I would've thought with Fluid you'd have no problem, maybe he is being a numpty. A Standard Philosophy would see more movement between the Midfield & Attack though

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/374515-Philosophy-a-debate.

[Sussex Hammer]

I would've thought with Fluid you'd have no problem, maybe he is being a numpty. A Standard Philosophy would see more movement between the Midfield & Attack though

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/374515-Philosophy-a-debate.

Yeah with fluid it's fine but with rigid/very rigid there is a gap which is odd because of the duties.

[Johnny Ace]

Does that sound about right?

Yes, with more Direct passing too

[jumbohotdog]

How do you describe a fm ccc? Is it always the same as a RL CCC

[Dr. Hook]

How do you describe a fm ccc? Is it always the same as a RL CCC

No it isn't the same. While I don't think anyone outside of SI know the exact wizardry behind the curtain, there is a difference. I appears to me that there is some sort of algorithm that calculates the area of the box where the shot is taken and possibly the location of nearby defenders to determine it. It is really not a good stat to use to evaluate your tactic. I routinely have chances that are not counted as CCC but clearly are, and vice versa.

[Double0Seven]

What is a key pass? If you look at real life stats players don't often have that much key passes as in FM. In FM my midfielder had 11 key passes one game. But we didn't do much with them.

[Taunton]

Hi.

I am playing FMC and I am Arsenal in my first season. After a slow start I finally got the team playing well and I am working my way up the league. I play a 4-1-4-1 formation with wingbacks, a BBM and a CMa centrally, and two wide midfielders, one on attack, the other support. I also use to deploy Özil as a wide playmaker in a lot of games after a tip I read on the Arsenal page, it works very well. Up front I have a CFs.

I feel the set up is fairly balanced, I use just one shout from the start, stay on feet, and add more during the game. Most of the games I do well as I said.

But, I have two experiences I need some help with. I have played Chelsea and Man Utd away from home. They are 1. and 2. in the league. Chelsea is unbeaten. In each of the games I went 2-0 up and were fairly in control. But then, after 60 min or so, the opponents went right at me, throwing everything at me I felt, I and couldn't cope. I lost 3-2 against Chelsea and 4-2 against Man Utd. Lots of goals scored in the last ten minutes.

Against Chelsea they changed to a 4-2-4 fromation, and I didn't know how to cope with that. I thought I should get in their faces so I went more attacking, pushing the team up, but that was obviously wrong.

So against Man U I thought I have learned a lesson when the kitchen sink came. But they didn't change formation, they played a narrow 4-3-1-2 until they scored the 1-2 goal, from then they went for a 4-2-3-1 wide. I tried to push up to deny them space, it didn't help, I try to be more defensive an compact with direct passing, didn't help. And my players made silly passes and mistakes, probably because they were under a lot of pressure. From the moment they started to go at me, I just felt that it was a matter of time before they scored, and I was helpless.

So my question is: Have any of you experienced this kind of pressure and how do you go on to cope with that? It would be nice to get some tips to how I should react, especially to relieve the pressure to see the game out. The thing about both games are that I felt my gameplan worked excellent until they decided to give a go at me, and from then I was completely outplayed and helpless.

Thanks in advance.

[THOG]

What is a key pass? If you look at real life stats players don't often have that much key passes as in FM. In FM my midfielder had 11 key passes one game. But we didn't do much with them.

It's a chance created that does not result in a goal.

[Sussex Hammer]

Bit of help required fellas re Andy Carroll,.

Having decent success with a 4132 formation and I am finally getting goals from my front two Valencia (16) and Sakho (13) and I am only in December. I played them as a DLF S and a CF A but the CF was the only one getting goals. Since I changed the DLF to a DF Sakho can't stop banging them in possibly due to being higher up the pitch as I suspect the DLF is more of a creator.

My problem is though if I play Andy Carroll in either of the striker roles I just can't get him to perform which is really irritating because as a DF Sakho is scoring headers aplenty so if I can get Carroll into that area he should also benefit because he is as good if not better in the air than Sakho. What I do notice though in that role is that Carroll gets caught in possession a lot and yet it isn't so much that he is trying to dribble it, he just gets caught too often.

They have similar stats in areas such as team work and work rate so Carroll "should" be ok as a DF. The area they do differ though is only PPM's

Sakho has - Moves into channels, shoots with power, knocks ball past opponent.

Carroll has - Shoots with power, plays with back to goal, avoids using weaker foot, tries first time shots.

I wonder if it is the "plays with back to goal" that could be the issue? Sakho's PPM's seem more aggressive so maybe he is in the box when either Valencia or the wing backs cross the ball, whereas maybe Carroll is further back I don't know. All I know is that by changing Carroll's role to a TM S or even a DLF S the partnership just doesn't blossom, so I was wondering if a new PPM for Carroll maybe the answer?

Thoughts appreciated.

[stotty1982]

I know theres a thread on this by cleon already but I can't find it. What factors affect a teams youth intake?

[phnompenhandy]

I know theres a thread on this by cleon already but I can't find it. What factors affect a teams youth intake?

Youth recruitment affects PA

Junior coaching affects CA

your backroom staff

Geography - size of catchment area and quality of nation

[Footix]

Is there any way I can encourage my players to play more through-balls? I have tried tinkering with the settings "play more risky passes", "play into space" and untick the "work ball into box", but having mixed results. Ideally I'd like my central midfielders to advance with the ball and play that perfect, unlocking through ball to either my IF's or my striker, but they never do that.

"play more risky passes": I didn't really see any effect of this.

"play into space": my team just starting giving the ball away.

"work ball into space" unticked: more long shots.

I was thinking if I could apply the "play into space" for one or maybe two players only..

[pedromanuelpinto]

Hey,

Should I use individual or Role trainning in the Senior Team?

If depends I should list to my staff and see if it make sense to what I want from the player.

[herne79]

Hey,

Should I use individual or Role trainning in the Senior Team?

If depends I should list to my staff and see if it make sense to what I want from the player.

It depends entirely on the player and on how you want them to train them.

Generally speaking, older players who are just starting to decline could probably use more physical training (eg., stamina, quickness) to help reduce the decline.

Younger senior players (at or coming into their prime) could probably use more rounded Role training, unless there are one or two areas in which you think they are a little weak, in which case they could probably benefit from some individual attribute training until they get to where you want them to be.

Those are generalisations though, there are no hard and fast rules.

Best bet - look at each player, consider how you see each fitting into your tactic and set individual training plans from there.

[herne79]

I know theres a thread on this by cleon already but I can't find it. What factors affect a teams youth intake?

This is the one you are after http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/380395-Ajax-When-Real-Life-Meets-Football-Manager-FM14

Youth recruitment affects PA

Junior coaching affects CA

your backroom staff

Geography - size of catchment area and quality of nation

And club reputation.

[RTHerringbone]

Is there any way I can encourage my players to play more through-balls?

Pass Into Space alone should be enough to do it. Step back and look at the system overall. Through balls suit a team which has space to attack, and runners. If you have an attacking system with Attack Duties in little room, then the style of play might not be compatible with the structure of the tactic.

[santy001]

In short - I need to find a way to beat the Fussciculation tactic, I'm getting savage beatings in a network game with my own tactic.

In depth:

It's a network game I'm currently playing on with a mate (Barca & Real) and a few seasons ago he stumbled across the Fussciculation tactic. For those unfamiliar with it it's a counter-attacking formation playing a 4-1-2-3 DM Wide formation. After a few beatings and not really knowing what the tactics set-up was I downloaded it to have a look and saw it was a rather attacking set-up, both fullbacks are on attack duty, with a CM-A and both IF's set to attack as well.

Generally if I can score first with a control approach I can win the game, but this is very risky because of the quality of players involved. Rulli in goal, Carvajal & Alaba in the full back positions, Hummels and Varane in the middle - a midfield trio of Pogba, Lucas Romero & Gaston Gil Romero with the choices of Bale, Ronaldo, Rodriguez in the AML/AMR positions and then Lukaku, Origi or Barbosa up front (what's worse is I'm the host, so I can't even console myself with the possibility he may have cheated somewhere down the line)

In my mind the tactic is very attacking on the wings, and with the pace in the team I don't want to risk getting caught out so I have tried playing a deep defensive line and exploit the flanks with more direct, higher tempo passing as the tactic should really only leave 4 players back but its proving very difficult to get anything against this tactic.

[Double0Seven]

I would say line up 3-4-3. High press on the backs before they get a chance to pass. Make sure you force the keeper to play to his backs. You could do this by asking your striker to mark one of the centre backs. Sitting backs won't help much. You will just give their creative midfielders the time to pick out an pass.

[Adzke]

In my most recent press conference, I was asked whether I would allow a staff member to help a new signing as they share a common language. How do I do this? Is it in training?

[Double0Seven]

You talk to him and ask "conduct".

[Adzke]

You talk to him and ask "conduct".

Thanks, mate.

[Adzke]

You talk to him and ask "conduct".

Where would I find this option? It seems I can't talk to any of them.

[Double0Seven]

It should be between praise player, warn player when you click conversations.

[Adzke]

The option isn't there under that category. Perhaps it's because I told the press that it would be up to the entire team to make him feel welcome? Still...

[Sussex Hammer]

Has anyone actually had any luck chasing a goal and actually getting one with a change of tack? Reason I ask is that TI's like "attacking", "overload", "pump into box", "route one", even "direct passing" don't seem to actually do anything, in fact I rarely see much difference no matter what passing setting you use.

I think a lot of it is down to the AI intelligence. Unlike real life the AI just seems to plod on even when just a goal ahead and I don't think I have ever seen an AI team just sit back last 10 minutes. Also even with pump ball into box or route one players just seem to pass it around and there doesn't seem any urgency so was wondering if anyone had had success with throwing the kitchen sink at a team?

[Johnny Ace]

Can I ask a daft question about Player Instructions?

For example, two positions, Advanced Forward (Attack) Deep Lying Forward (Support), looking at their instructions:

DLP (S) Roam from & Hold Position are available to select - so does this role do neither of those?

AF (A) - Hold Position is Unavailable, Roam from position is Available - so this role Holds position?

[Shake Appeal]

Can I ask a daft question about Player Instructions?

For example, two positions, Advanced Forward (Attack) Deep Lying Forward (Support), looking at their instructions:

DLP (S) Roam from & Hold Position are available to select - so does this role do neither of those?

AF (A) - Hold Position is Unavailable, Roam from position is Available - so this role Holds position?

A DLP(s) does a certain amount of (mostly vertical) movement into space under the right circumstances. Roam from Position would tell him to be more aggressive in finding pockets of space, including laterally. Hold Position would tell him to not to venture forward even when there's opportunity to do it in transition.

An AF(a) can't hold position because by definition he attacks available space, trying to run onto through balls or move into channels. Roam from Position would make him more aggressive in doing so.

[Johnny Ace]

Cheers man!

[Double0Seven]

I have been reading somewhere that the IWB is not working as intended. Is this true?

Also what is the main difference between a DLP(S) and CM(S)? Is it only that the DLP attracts the ball and plays more risky passes? Why does the CM(S) have tackling and marking as important attributes? Does he defend more?

Why does the DLP(S) have long shots as important attribute? Does he shoot more?

[Johnny Ace]

I'm not sure on the IWB, sorry, never used one. Could always give the role a try & see what you think

The clue's in the name, Deep the DLP (S) will sit a little deeper than your standard CM (S). Also, being a Playmaker your teammates are more likely to be trying to get the ball him & look for him to create attacking moves. Yeah, a CM (S) will still have defensive duties, he'll be heavily involved in the contest in the middle of the park

I'm slightly stumped on long shots for the DLP(S), I'd guess he'll look to make a long shot whenever he can

[Double0Seven]

So if I give my CM(S) the PI play risky passes he will do the same passing as the DLP(S) but a little more up the pitch, he will defend more, not take long shots and will not attract the ball? Are those the only differences?

[Johnny Ace]

So if I give my CM(S) the PI play risky passes he will do the same passing as the DLP(S) but a little more up the pitch, he will defend more, not take long shots and will not attract the ball? Are those the only differences?

I'm not at the game atm the only so can't say for totally sure, the more risky passes means a player will look to pass into space, as for the directness of your CM (S)'s passing, I'm not sure if it's the same as the DLP (S)

I'd say the DLP (S) will be looking to pass more direct, he'll sit deep on the ball & look for more advanced team mates to pass to.

A CM(S) will be looking to support more advanced players from a more advanced position so his passing by default so may not be as direct

Both roles will defend to some degree. The Playmaker role will attract the ball

Your best bet is to put it into practice, keep a good eye on those roles & see if they perform & interact will other roles as you want. Let us know how you get on

[Shake Appeal]

I'm not sure on the IWB, sorry, never used one. Could always give the role a try & see what you think

The clue's in the name, Deep the DLP (S) will sit a little deeper than your standard CM (S). Also, being a Playmaker your teammates are more likely to be trying to get the ball him & look for him to create attacking moves. Yeah, a CM (S) will still have defensive duties, he'll be heavily involved in the contest in the middle of the park

I'm slightly stumped on long shots for the DLP(S), I'd guess he'll look to make a long shot whenever he can

It's more that he gets into positions where long shots are viable. The DLP(d) stays deep, wary of a break, while the support duty version will push up into available space if it makes sense. That sometimes puts him in position to have a pop at goal from outside the area.

I think the DLP(s) actually gets ahead of the more static CM(s) sometimes (I don't use either role/duty combo very often), but yes, he starts from deeper and the team will look to use him as a hub for passing. The CM(s) is about as boring as a player can be. A true nuts and bolts midfielder.

[RTHerringbone]

The CM(s) is about as boring as a player can be. A true nuts and bolts midfielder.

Bit harsh! He''s very tweakable and in certain systems he can be a perfect player. I'm using one in a sort of 4-2-3-1 where the "2" are at DM, the usual AMC is at MC, and then there is an AML/R and ST. The CM (S) so far is the perfect fit for the system.

[Shake Appeal]

Oh, you can definitely tweak them to do whatever you want. I should have said "by default."

One of my favorite players I've ever managed was a CM(s) in a Very Fluid system who basically played like an all-around holding playmaker because of his PPMs and PIs, but they're pretty bland "off the shelf."

[Johnny Ace]

Another dingbat question:

What's the deal with setting man marking nowadays? Can't I select the team to man mark or do I have to go into every player instruction during the match & assign who marks who?

[RTHerringbone]

Another dingbat question:

What's the deal with setting man marking nowadays? Can't I select the team to man mark or do I have to go into every player instruction during the match & assign who marks who?

Specific man marking in FM has required you to set it player by player for a long time. It's still the case in FM15 as otherwise how will players know who they should mark? Don't ask your DCs to man mark, it'll cause chaos and be very mindful that man marking in FM is a hatchet man job where your player will track their target throughout defensive phases - it can knacker your shape.

[Johnny Ace]

Specific man marking in FM has required you to set it player by player for a long time. It's still the case in FM15 as otherwise how will players know who they should mark? Don't ask your DCs to man mark, it'll cause chaos and be very mindful that man marking in FM is a hatchet man job where your player will track their target throughout defensive phases - it can knacker your shape.

Cheers RT! It's not something I've ever looked into tbh I was just concerned my centre halfs were sat off the opposition front 2

[Johnny Ace]

Cheers RT! It's not something I've ever looked into tbh I was just concerned my centre halfs were sat off the opposition front 2

Ok, back to this because I saw two further instances of this last night & it's something I could do with fixing. I won both games 7-2 & 5-1 but I want more solidity, bare with me here

The problem comes from my right hand side where I'm set a little more adventurous than the left

I'm down in the reaches of level 9 but have a decent set of players for this standard

So my set up.

Defensive

Flexible

Less Expressive

Stay On Feet

------------GK (D)---------------

FB(S)---CD(D)-----CD(D)----FB(D)

WM(A)--CM(D)----CM(S)----WM(S)

---------DLF(S)----AF(A)------------

The opposition's LM will simply have the ball down my right flank my FB & WM will be behind the ball, my CM(D) is dealing with their more adventurous CM. The ball gets crossed/ passed into my penalty area to their more advanced forward who has a yard or two to control the ball & finish. My CB's are marking the forwards but are stood off to allow them that yard

I see two problems here:

1) The ball being played in in the first place - I can replicate my Left side set up to solve this but this may cause further problems with set up ie predictability, nerf my attacking options

2) My CBs aren't close enough to the forwards when the ball's played in - I don't want them closing down further but do I want them specifically man marking & tighter?

You know a lightbulb's just pinged!!! The easing off the tackling could be the problem in both instances!!! My MR to put the tackle in to stop the cross & the CB would be more eager to challenge the Forward (though I'm not 100% sure??)

[Clifton]

I am not sure I understand training properly. I see the relationship between match preparation and general training, and also the slider that sets the proportion of each. But how does this relate to individual training, if at all?

[Cleon]

I am not sure I understand training properly. I see the relationship between match preparation and general training, and also the slider that sets the proportion of each. But how does this relate to individual training, if at all?

Training

In this part I'll touch upon General and Match training because they cause a bit of confusion at times.

The General training focuses you can train are:

• Balanced
  
• Fitness
  
• Tactics
  
• Ball Control
  
• Defending
  
• Attacking
  
• Team Cohesion
  

All of the above focus on sets of attributes so lets break them down and take a look;

• Fitness : Acceleration, Agility,Balance, Jumping, Natural Fitness, Pace, Stamina, Strength, Workrate
  
• Tactics: Anticipation, Composure, Concentration, Decisions, Teamwork
  
• Ball Control: Dribbling, First Touch, Heading, Technique, Flair
  
• Defending: Marking, Tackling, Positioning
  
• Attacking: Crossing, Finishing, Long Shots, Passing, Creativity, Off the ball
  

So if you choose a focus this means the emphasis on the attributes listed above will be much greater than normal. You'll notice I left off balanced from the list, the reason for this is because it's like a default setting and make sure all attributes have the same focus on all attributes with no preference. The general training module is great if you want all players to train a specific way for something you are creating and take a more generic approach.

Scheduling

On this part of the bar you can select to allow players to have a rest before/after a game. The bar also moves and the furthest left you go the more time is spent on match training. The further right you go the less time is spent on match training. There is 5 different settings in total and each move either increases or decreses by 10%. So if you had the bar to the far left it would be 50% meaning training between General and Match is split evenly. All the way to the right would mean 100% General training with no match training.

Match training

• Tactics Only
  
• Teamwork
  
• Defensive Positioning
  
• Attacking Movement
  
• Defending Set Pieces
  
• Attacking Set Pieces
  

These give you a slight boost for the next game. So for example if you are having issues with conceding goals from set pieces then you might want to work on this for the next game if you think the opposition pose a real threat from them. Or if you wanted to work on tactic familiarity then you'd choose 'tactics' as the focus.

Individual Training

This is the part of training that I enjoy the most and always spent the most time setting up. You have the choice to either focus on an individual role or an individual attribute. The role choice all depends on the positions the player can play in. For individual attributes though you can train;

• Corners
  
• Crossing
  
• Dribbling
  
• Finishing
  
• First Touch
  
• Free Kicks
  
• Heading
  
• Long Shots
  
• Long Throws
  
• Marking
  
• Passing
  
• Penalties
  
• Tackling
  
• Technique
  
• Composure
  
• Off the Ball
  
• Positioning
  
• Agility
  
• Balance
  
• Jumping
  
• Quickness
  
• Stamina
  
• Strength
  

Some of these might be unavailable for some people because they are dependent on your training facilities. So better the facilities the more of the above options you should have to choose from.

You can train a Focus, Position and Preferred Move if you wish to, but they will eat into each other's time, rather than into general training. Individual training does NOT come out of general training - it is added together to create an overall workload

[Clifton]

Thanks Cleon.

[Bluebird123]

I cannot for the life of me find how to train a PPM.

Ignore this, I've finally found it and feel a bit silly.

[Footix]

I faced QPR away yesterday, playing as Newcastle. QPR went down to 10 men after 11 minutes. When they got a man sent off, I went for a lower tempo, possession-based approach. Play wider. The idea was to be patient, wear them out, stretch their team, and get the eventual goal when they couldn't take the pressure anymore.

We fired 27 shots at them. 14 on target. We had 4 CCC's, 2 off the woodwork. We had somewhere between 60 and 70 % possession.

The game ended 0-0.

At 70 minutes or so, I changed from standard to attacking mentality, and unticked the "lower tempo" shout. Didn't really help.

Where did I go wrong here? I really need to learn from this, as we clearly lost two points here.

[Johnny Ace]

Did they sit 9 men behind the ball & become hard to break down? If so you're best off sitting back & trying to draw them up the pitch to create space for you to attack

Another question: Preseason I brought in 13 or so new players, I leave the ass man to training but had set the Match Preparations to Teamwork to help them become familiar will each other on the pitch

Once I'd got the players in to actually have a team my results & performances were very good

5-1 Friendly

7-2 Friendly (Only Friendlies but both against higher league opposition)

5-1 H League Game

3-1 A League Game

3rd league game I left the Match Prep as per the Ass Man's recommendations of Defensive Positioning

Next game in a home banker we play miserably. We draw 2-2 & could've won but we just played terrible compared to the first 4 games

Now, should I have left Match Prep to Teamwork? I'm thinking yes but does that really have that much of a baring on a new tesam?

[mg539]

Hi all

I used to be an avid FM player, but due to various things this is my first FM since FM12 and first one I've played much since FM10. One of the changes is now coaches teach PPMs rather than players doing it by themselves. Is there any methodology for choosing the right coach? Does the coach's personality make a difference to the success rate like tutoring?

Also a specific question Cleon: in your extremely helpful thread you define PPMs as 'CA free'. Is this also true for the PPM 'Tries to develop weaker foot' (which I think is missing from your list)? If so this seems like an incredibly useful PPM - anyone had much success with it?

Thanks in advance for any replies