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

[Kapciebabci]

Correct - less match training means more attribute training - but less temporary boosts for specific areas.

Hey Ilama3,

Thank you for the answer.

The question i was asking was not about match training in comparison to general training but general training/match training (which comes from the same time pool) in comparison to individual training (specific attribute or a specific role).

Cheers.

[Thengil]

What is the rest of your set up?

It might be that the issue isn't necessarily the full backs, but rather a lack of defensive cover across your midfield.

I play a 4-4-1-1 with one central midfielder on support, the other on defend. No special instructions. Counter attacking mentality. The wide midfielders are wingers on attack duty, but play in the MR/ML positions as I loathe the lack of tracking back the AM positions provide. The AMC is on support duty, while the lone striker is alternating between False 9 and Advanced Forward depending on the setup of the opposing team.

[RTHerringbone]

I play a 4-4-1-1 with one central midfielder on support, the other on defend. No special instructions. Counter attacking mentality. The wide midfielders are wingers on attack duty, but play in the MR/ML positions as I loathe the lack of tracking back the AM positions provide. The AMC is on support duty, while the lone striker is alternating between False 9 and Advanced Forward depending on the setup of the opposing team.

With Attack Duties, the wingers won't really contribute that much defensively, even though they are back in the ML/R slots.

On top of that, your Counter Mentality uses a fairly deep line, which widen the gap from DC to MC.

So, inadvertently, you have created a 4-2-3-1 with an exposed back four.

Options that spring to mind are:

1. Use less aggressive Duties and / or different Roles at ML / R

2. Instruct those players to do specific man marking on the AI wingers - not your full backs as that would be "too late"

3. Use a DM

4. Push your defensive line up a bit

[Thengil]

With Attack Duties, the wingers won't really contribute that much defensively, even though they are back in the ML/R slots.

On top of that, your Counter Mentality uses a fairly deep line, which widen the gap from DC to MC.

So, inadvertently, you have created a 4-2-3-1 with an exposed back four.

Options that spring to mind are:

1. Use less aggressive Duties and / or different Roles at ML / R

2. Instruct those players to do specific man marking on the AI wingers - not your full backs as that would be "too late"

3. Use a DM

4. Push your defensive line up a bit

Will try some of that. Less aggressive wingers is a good idea, although I am loathe to introduce man marking - I want to keep my shape defensively and play a zonal game. Going to try pushing the line up a bit as well. Thanks for the ideas!

[Miek]

Could someone help me with their throw in instructions? I'm losing an insane amount of possession due to bad throws.

[llama3]

throw short, make sure you have 2 or 3 players around to recieve it - possibly a strong player is a good option

[Katarian]

I'm not sure how or even if I should tutor some of my new crop of youngsters. Any advice would be appreciated.

1) GK with a Resolute personality. Has 12 Bravery, 5 Aggression, 16 Determination, 12 Eccentricity. Pretty sure it's not worth Tutoring him.

2) CD with a Professional personality. 17 Bravery, 10 Aggression, 10 Determination.

3) DR with a Resolute personality. 4 Bravery, 6 Aggression, 17 Determination.

4) ST with an Ambitious personality. 7 Bravery, 6 Aggression, 16 Determination.

I'm not going to list all the possible tutors but there are options for all of them except the ST and I'm hoping next seasons transfer budget will be big enough to buy someone.

[jac4121993]

Could anyone give me advice on how to get my Inside Forwards to track back and help with the opposition wingers without setting them to specifically man mark them? Basically what I want them to do is to press the opposition full back when he has the ball, but track back when the ball goes further forward and towards the opposition's wingers.

[THOG]

Could anyone give me advice on how to get my Inside Forwards to track back and help with the opposition wingers without setting them to specifically man mark them? Basically what I want them to do is to press the opposition full back when he has the ball, but track back when the ball goes further forward and towards the opposition's wingers.

The wide forward positions are intended to give you the option of keeping a wide attacker forward to closely support the centre forward on the counter and, to some extent, help him conserve energy. They'll track back a bit on more defensive mentalities, but as the role name implies, they're intended to be forwards in defence.

What you'll need to do, then, is to play him at ML/R.

You can make an attack duty inverted winger role by using the Wide Midfielder (Attack) and giving him the following personal instructions: Dribble More, Cut Inside and Cross Less Often.

And you can make a support duty inverted winger by using Wide Midfielder (Support) and giving him the following personal instructions: Dribble More, Cut Inside, Cross Less Often and Shoot Less.

[allyc31]

Is there a way to increase aggression? I know there is a chance you can decrease it by handing out fines after sending off's.

But i want to increase it to encourage pressing and it doesn't *look* like you can do it via training (none of the roles have Aggression highlighted. Not even BWM)

Will playing a pressing game naturally increase players aggression?

Thanks

[llama3]

I'm not sure how or even if I should tutor some of my new crop of youngsters. Any advice would be appreciated.

1) GK with a Resolute personality. Has 12 Bravery, 5 Aggression, 16 Determination, 12 Eccentricity. Pretty sure it's not worth Tutoring him.

2) CD with a Professional personality. 17 Bravery, 10 Aggression, 10 Determination.

3) DR with a Resolute personality. 4 Bravery, 6 Aggression, 17 Determination.

4) ST with an Ambitious personality. 7 Bravery, 6 Aggression, 16 Determination.

I'm not going to list all the possible tutors but there are options for all of them except the ST and I'm hoping next seasons transfer budget will be big enough to buy someone.

Depends on what you want to tutor them with, or what personalities you want.

Is there a way to increase aggression? I know there is a chance you can decrease it by handing out fines after sending off's.

But i want to increase it to encourage pressing and it doesn't *look* like you can do it via training (none of the roles have Aggression highlighted. Not even BWM)

Will playing a pressing game naturally increase players aggression?

Thanks

Increases naturally with age sometimes.

[allyc31]

Thanks llama

[Katarian]

Okay I'll go through the current tutoring options available to me.

1) GK with a Resolute personality. Has 12 Bravery, 5 Aggression, 16 Determination, 12 Eccentricity. I would like to get down the Eccentricity if possible, but I like the Resolute personality it's one of the ones I look for in new signings so I'm not sure it is worth bothering with any of my possible tutors. Possible tutors are Spirited, or Fairly Professional.

2) CD with a Professional personality. 17 Bravery, 10 Aggression, 10 Determination. I'd like to get the determination up at least a few points, but not sure if losing professionalism and bravery is worth it. Possible tutors are Professional but with 13 Determination and 13 Bravery, or Fairly Determined with 16 Bravery.

3) DR with a Resolute personality. 4 Bravery, 6 Aggression, 17 Determination. I'd like to increase the Bravery significantly. Possible Tutors are Professional with 13 Determination and 13 Bravery (same guy as for the DC), or a Resolute tutor who ideally I want to sell in the next transfer window and bring in a better player, but that wouldn't be possible if the Tutoring works out.

4) ST with an Ambitious personality. 7 Bravery, 6 Aggression, 16 Determination. Current options aren't great within the squad, only possible tutor is Fairly Ambitious with 12 Determination and 11 Bravery. Likely I won't bother Tutoring unless I can buy someone in the next window who can both play in the first team and be a good tutor which is unlikely given the club's reputation and finances.

Those four are just the youngsters that I'm not sure about what to do with regards to tutoring. I have 4-5 others who definitely need tutoring but I don't want to tie up my senior players tutoring the "decent" youngsters until I've worked out what to do about the "great" ones.

[Cleon]

Tutoring is explained in here;

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/380395-Ajax-When-Real-Life-Meets-Football-Manager-FM14

[Double0Seven]

Does player developement peak at a certain age? For example I have a 4 star rated striker. He is still 2 star now at the age of 21. I trained him heavy finishing for 6 months and 1.5 years as a treq. Yet his finishing is only +1 in 2 years and other stats are +1 or 0 improvement. He has played a lot of games and only had some small injuries for a few days.

[Cleon]

Does player developement peak at a certain age? For example I have a 4 star rated striker. He is still 2 star now at the age of 21. I trained him heavy finishing for 6 months and 1.5 years as a treq. Yet his finishing is only +1 in 2 years and other stats are +1 or 0 improvement. He has played a lot of games and only had some small injuries for a few days.

Not really you can improve most players up until around 27, obviously the younger the player the easier as he normally has more PA left. A player will only develop well if he has the right personality though which is all explained in the thread linked above.

[Double0Seven]

So if I'm right even if a player has a high PA he will never reach it if he has no professionalism and ambition? And does it matter how high it is? For example would 20 professionalism and 20 ambition mean that he will 100% reach his potential and 10 professionalism and 10 ambition only 50%?

[Cleon]

So if I'm right even if a player has a high PA he will never reach it if he has no professionalism and ambition? And does it matter how high it is? For example would 20 professionalism and 20 ambition mean that he will 100% reach his potential and 10 professionalism and 10 ambition only 50%?

The higher the 2 the more chance he has of reaching full potential yes and the lower the less chance. Other factors matter as well though like game time, how many injuries he has etc.

[Katarian]

Tutoring is explained in here;

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/380395-Ajax-When-Real-Life-Meets-Football-Manager-FM14

Kind of forgotten about that thread. So I think I'm decided on just tutoring the DC with the Professional personality tutor none of the others seem worth it without using an external program to compare all the hidden stats.

[jase19]

Is there a thread on setting up set pieces? Corners and free kicks are really getting on my nerves right now.

[Dr. Hook]

Is there a thread on setting up set pieces? Corners and free kicks are really getting on my nerves right now.

Try this thread: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/383448-Set-piece-schedules

It was created for an earlier version, but still could have some things of value for you

[vcpinheiro14]

I'm new to FM 2014... did they change the player instructions screen so that we can't see the detailed information? (those bars and checkboxes) it's all about instructions now? How can i see the default instructions for each duty/role?

[a.panda]

How long is the "cooling off" period for tutors to start a new tutoring session? It seems longer in FM14 than previous versions...

[llama3]

Yes vcpinheiro14 - it is all "football logic" now, not sliders and boxes - the defaults can worked out from the descriptions, and on the player instructions - if you hover over a "greyed out" instruction it will tell you if it is a default for that role, or if it is unavailable.

About 6 months roughly a.panda from first tutor to a new tutor. Just off the top of my head.

[Cleon]

How long is the "cooling off" period for tutors to start a new tutoring session? It seems longer in FM14 than previous versions...

It's 30 days. There was a bug on an earlier version where it could take upto 9 months but this has been fixed now and it should only be 30 days.

[MTM1977]

What exactly does "hassle opponents"?

The description says that it reduces the time and space, but how?

Does it add "close down more" instruction to whole team? Does it affect tackling somehow?

The reason i am asking is that for me it seems impossible to create a tactic without it. If i don't use that shout or use for example "stand off" it seems that the opponents just move the ball around without problems and the only way to get it back is throw in or goal kick.

Then again, "hassle opponents" causes a lot of fouls and cards, at least i think it does.

Would also imagine that defensive shape suffers from it?

Any ideas how to win the ball back without hassle opponents?

I have tried individual instructions "close down" / "tackle harder" for certain players, but it doesn't seem to be as effective.

[llama3]

Hassle Opponents is an extreme shout, that highly increases the level of closing down (to maximum). It reduces the time and space of opponents on the ball by constantly having someone challenging them for the ball. It affects the entire team. Tackling intensity is a separate instruction. Hassle Opponents is not a clever instruction to use constantly in most cases. Some systems work though because they are used in conjunction with a high line and pressing. Stand Off is another extreme shout which undertakes no pressing whatsoever.

You are right, hassle does ruin your defensive shape (that of course though, assume's shape is most important. In a zonal system shape matters most, in a man marking system it is intensity and pressure). Simply a high line, possibly playing narrow works well enough. As does a good shape to your team - a 4-1-2-2-1 is a great shape to counter a 4-2-3-1 system's movement.

[THOG]

Hassle also gives everyone instructions to mark tighter while Stand Off gives everyone instructions not to mark tighter. So with Hassle, for example, your FBs and DMs may not be keeping enough distance to properly contain a fast/agile/technically brilliant attacker, forcing them to attempt a fast tackle to prevent a breakaway.

I think you can work around this by using OIs on those specific players to never tight mark, though that can then create problems if they come inside into a goal-scoring position.

If you're having trouble with opponents playing the ball around in their own half, you can use Defensive Forwards/Wingers to encourage more closing down from your attackers. IRL, this is what's called a "false press": the core defensive unit of the team sits back while 3 or 4 more attacking players go hunting for the ball in the opposition half. You'll see teams like Dortmund and Chelsea doing this a lot. It's possible you can also set this up by using "Hassle" but then giving everyone below the AM positions a PI to "Close Down Less," though I haven't tested this enough to be sure if it really works. In either case, it will demand a lot physically from your attackers, so you should have a strategy in place to keep up their condition levels throughout the match.

[MTM1977]

Thanks for both replies, gives a lot of thought

[vcpinheiro14]

Yes vcpinheiro14 - it is all "football logic" now, not sliders and boxes - the defaults can worked out from the descriptions, and on the player instructions - if you hover over a "greyed out" instruction it will tell you if it is a default for that role, or if it is unavailable.

llama3 thank you very much... that's much more realistic...

I had missed the hover details on greyed instructions... helped a lot

[Double0Seven]

If Hassle Opponent is an Extreme Shout and players mark tighter does it even matter if I set Closing down to always and tight marking to always in OI?

[llama3]

Not really if the hassle shout is active. If you deactive it then it does matter.

[bababooey]

Can we possibly get some input from the SI team on what exactly "passes-attack" "passes-midfield" and "passes-defence" is all about ? I still cannot figure this out for the life of me. As I posted above it cannot possibly be a calculation of the pass completion of those different groups.

[Double0Seven]

How does player value work? I've seen one day a player is worth 250k, next day someone buys him and suddenly its 4x higher and its 1m. Same thing I noticed with my team. I wanted to get rid of a defender worth 4m. Set him for sale no one wants him and it drops to 2m. Other way round too. I have a midfielder worth 5m, we win the CL suddenly its 20m.

Also noticed that some of my players with better attributes then similar players are worth less.

[Cleon]

How does player value work? I've seen one day a player is worth 250k, next day someone buys him and suddenly its 4x higher and its 1m. Same thing I noticed with my team. I wanted to get rid of a defender worth 4m. Set him for sale no one wants him and it drops to 2m. Other way round too. I have a midfielder worth 5m, we win the CL suddenly its 20m.

Also noticed that some of my players with better attributes then similar players are worth less.

Wrong forum, this thread is for tactics and training questions (it does state this in the thread title)

[Reedy_1988]

Looking for help on how to create the effective Crouch/VDV partnership.

My initial thinking is a TM(s) supported by a SS, with the former 'hold position' using his aerial height he posses to win knockdowns/flicks on's for the on rushing Shadow striker whom would have license to 'roam' & 'move into channels' perhaps?

[hejh0pp]

Quick question, does tempo affect how far out my player decides to shoot? My strikers are extremely wasteful at the moment, rushing their finishing too much leaving me with a lot of missed CCCs

[Cleon]

Looking for help on how to create the effective Crouch/VDV partnership.

My initial thinking is a TM(s) supported by a SS, with the former 'hold position' using his aerial height he posses to win knockdowns/flicks on's for the on rushing Shadow striker whom would have license to 'roam' & 'move into channels' perhaps?

Having a player who holds position can make it easy to mark against too that is a down side. So a striker who holds position is always likely to be marked or positioned between 2 centrebacks.

[Cleon]

Quick question, does tempo affect how far out my player decides to shoot? My strikers are extremely wasteful at the moment, rushing their finishing too much leaving me with a lot of missed CCCs

Higher the tempo the faster the play will be, so that means quicker decision making which isn't always a good thing and can result in rushed passes, long shots, picking the wrong option etc.

[bababooey]

Quick question, does tempo affect how far out my player decides to shoot? My strikers are extremely wasteful at the moment, rushing their finishing too much leaving me with a lot of missed CCCs

I believe it does. The thing is though, most of the time if a player is taking shots from far out he's doing so because he didn't have any better options for a pass, dribble, etc.

I would watch closely to make sure that players arent running into dead end's.

Also, you said they're missing CCC's, but if the shots are from far out, then how would they have been CCC's to begin with? Or do you mean that your guys aren't creating CCC's?

[hejh0pp]

I believe it does. The thing is though, most of the time if a player is taking shots from far out he's doing so because he didn't have any better options for a pass, dribble, etc.

I would watch closely to make sure that players arent running into dead end's.

Also, you said they're missing CCC's, but if the shots are from far out, then how would they have been CCC's to begin with? Or do you mean that your guys aren't creating CCC's?

The chances count as CCC according the the in game stats. My strikers when clean on goal are rushing their finishing instead of running a few more yards towards goal. I did lower the tempo for my last game of the season which ended in a 5-0 victory with my star striker getting a hattrick so I'll try it out for pre-season. Thanks

[bababooey]

The chances count as CCC according the the in game stats. My strikers when clean on goal are rushing their finishing instead of running a few more yards towards goal. I did lower the tempo for my last game of the season which ended in a 5-0 victory with my star striker getting a hattrick so I'll try it out for pre-season. Thanks

Ohhhhhh you meant rushing their shots after being through on goal! I thought you meant your players were shooting from outside the box, taking long shots! My bad.

Perhaps look at their composure attributes? I've noticed a lot of poor finishing in FM14 honestly, but generally if your team is on a good run you should have luck on your side.

[MTM1977]

Lately there have been some tactics on the Tactics Sharing Centre, in which general training recommendation is "Team Cohesion".

My understanding is that Team Cohesion is only needed until everyone has blended in to squad.

Is there any value using Team Cohesion for full season? My reasoning says that it wouldn't be best option for optimal player development?

[Cleon]

Lately there have been some tactics on the Tactics Sharing Centre, in which general training recommendation is "Team Cohesion".

My understanding is that Team Cohesion is only needed until everyone has blended in to squad.

Is there any value using Team Cohesion for full season? My reasoning says that it wouldn't be best option for optimal player development?

No there is no benefit at all despite those in that section using it.

[MTM1977]

No there is no benefit at all despite those in that section using it.

Thanks Cleon for confirming this!

I have only used team cohesion at later stages of pre-season (after fitness weeks) and when new players join squad mid season.

Otherwise i have my general training on balanced (low/average, depending on fixture density) and individual trainings for each player on heavy.

[Miek]

I've just been promoted to the championship with an attacing formation. My team was 18th rated and pretty rubbish for championship level. How would I approach this upcoming season? Play counter or just maintain my working, attacking tactic?

[RTHerringbone]

I'd go with what you were already using.

There's a chance you'll be underestimated in your first season, and if you are an effective attacking team, you'll want to make the most of it before teams start giving you a bit more respect.

[Double0Seven]

Got a question about half backs. I play 4-1-2-2-1 and was wondering if the half back would get out of position a lot close down people since I have hassle opponents. Is that a good thing or should I go with a norm DM or anchorman.

[wkdsoul]

Finally, can set more than one player one lurk,, thank god.

[bababooey]

anyone else noticing an INSANE amount of dangerous through-balls being hit by the AI since the update? Holy jesus.