The SI Sports Centre - DISCUSSION THREAD

[R0ca]

I can only contribute anything thanks to reading quality posts from the likes of Sfraser, Cleon, Heath etc... Once you understand and observe what they do in their games u become more studious from there it becomes a domino effect you notice more and more things.

If you have time try to watch your team in Full detail this will teach you more about your team than any of us can.

[Karnage94]

Don't worry, you contribute just as much as anyone else even if you don't realise it

I'm pleased that you seem to be doing well even though you are quite a weak team. The wide players marking fullbacks can make a big difference and like you've seen it can create more goals due to forcing the opposition to making more mistakes.

The reason I was intrigued by the idea of it and using it is because I wanted to create a style of play that meant that I could counter attack from almost anywhere on the pitch, either from my own box or in the attacking third. I know that my defence will let me down at some point so I need to be able to score through multiple methods so that if my poacher is having an off day and not hitting the target that my right winger can arrive late into the box and fill the void, or having a lung bursting run by one of my defensive midfielders from a counter attack from an opposition corner. I'm trying to give my team as much margin for error as possible as I've brought a number of new players in and obviously they need time to get used to the system as well as the players around them.

[Cleon]

Thanks Cleon. Normally you leave all players with no specific man mark and then specific man mark against strong teams like that game against Aston Villa right? I'm leaving everyone with no specific man marking except for the fullbacks and my winger man marking opposite fullbacks.

Indeed I do mate

I can only contribute anything thanks to reading quality posts from the likes of Sfraser, Cleon, Heath etc... Once you understand and observe what they do in their games u become more studious from there it becomes a domino effect you notice more and more things.

If you have time try to watch your team in Full detail this will teach you more about your team than any of us can.

So true about the domino effect and full detail. I know not everyone has time to watch every single game in full but anyone who plays the game can watch some of them to some extent.

[Cleon]

The reason I was intrigued by the idea of it and using it is because I wanted to create a style of play that meant that I could counter attack from almost anywhere on the pitch, either from my own box or in the attacking third. I know that my defence will let me down at some point so I need to be able to score through multiple methods so that if my poacher is having an off day and not hitting the target that my right winger can arrive late into the box and fill the void, or having a lung bursting run by one of my defensive midfielders from a counter attack from an opposition corner. I'm trying to give my team as much margin for error as possible as I've brought a number of new players in and obviously they need time to get used to the system as well as the players around them.

I managed to win the FA cup in the first season by doing this. And now in the 2nd season I'm in Europe playing the likes of Ajax. I just cannot compete with them man for man so I also am trying everything to give me the edge by winning the ball higher up the pitch etc.

[Karnage94]

I managed to win the FA cup in the first season by doing this. And now in the 2nd season I'm in Europe playing the likes of Ajax. I just cannot compete with them man for man so I also am trying everything to give me the edge by winning the ball higher up the pitch etc.

I don't get quite the same achievements as the likes of you mainly because I don't put as much time into understanding every last detail of my tactic as I can. I have a shocking attention span. I end up going by the highlights and the stats to see what is going on more than watching full matches. More often than not it works out ok though, however I think that's down to me putting defence on a higher priority than attacking. I live by the mentality of if you don't concede you can't lose.

Swansea this season have had a very good defensive record for a newly promoted side. 29 goals conceded in 24 games compared to the bottom 3 which have conceded 49, 54 and 49 respectively. They haven't scored many goals but defensively they have been solid, which is absolutely key in my view to a newly promoted side.

[Steve Odom]

I don't get quite the same achievements as the likes of you mainly because I don't put as much time into understanding every last detail of my tactic as I can. I have a shocking attention span. I end up going by the highlights and the stats to see what is going on more than watching full matches. More often than not it works out ok though, however I think that's down to me putting defence on a higher priority than attacking. I live by the mentality of if you don't concede you can't lose.

This has been indeed my observation too. When I watched only highlights, I tended to be more defensive too. Now I'm watching games in full, I'm not so conservative anymore. Don't underestimate the stats though. If you do not intend to watch games in full, make this your strong suit and analyse everything to detail. If you take the time (once) to create a lot of customised views, you can achieve great results. If you make this your style though, watch out for the oppositions changes in tactics in match. Usually, if you're really dominating, they will adapt. It may be something insignificant on its own, but they can hurt you this way.

[aderow]

I can't seem to stop the opposition from exploiting the space on either side of my CB. Also my DMC doesn't push up as much as I'd like him to. I will say that man marking has helped stabilize my defense though. So thanks for that Cleon

Also how wide do you play?

[Falahk]

I to would love to see some pkm's from your games with the barca style formation Cleon, the West Ham and Aston Villa once in particular, often one can learn as much if not more by watching how someone elses team play, rather then by just pluging in some random tactic, look at the setings and try it on a current save with players it was probably not made for

[mikcheck]

Yes please Cleon. I would also like to see.

[Cleon]

I can't seem to stop the opposition from exploiting the space on either side of my CB. Also my DMC doesn't push up as much as I'd like him to. I will say that man marking has helped stabilize my defense though. So thanks for that Cleon

Also how wide do you play?

Depends but normlly it's whatever the standard stratgey width is which I think is just 'normal'.

I to would love to see some pkm's from your games with the barca style formation Cleon, the West Ham and Aston Villa once in particular, often one can learn as much if not more by watching how someone elses team play, rather then by just pluging in some random tactic, look at the setings and try it on a current save with players it was probably not made for

I'll try and get some up as soon as I can. Hopefully later today but I'm kinda snowed under atm. I'll put the Arsenal 0-4 win away at the Emirates up as well as the cup final vs Blackburn. I'll try and add some of the Europa games too.

[joekim87]

I'm just going to put this out there:

Do you have one formation/tactic you use Cleon, throughout the season? (This seems to be the case). Some people have 2 or 3 completely different tactics which they use against different opponents.

I'm a newbie when it comes to tactics (real life or fm wise) but being a LFC supporter I've seen Dalglish use three distinctly different formations this year. The 4-2-3-1, the 4-4-2 and the 3-5-1. HOWEVER, I think getting the team to learn three different tactics is not that useful.... It's ineffective and personally I don't really know the 4-4-2 or th 3-5-2 very well and honestly I'm still learning how to use the only formation I've ever really used; the 4-2-3-1 (it's also my favorite). I believe that changing players with the same tactical instructions is the way to go. THEREFORE, I want to play my attacking players with alot of creative freedom. For example, my AMR is Kyut and he'll do his thing but when I see that the opposition fullback is slow or his condition is bad, I'll put on a pacy player to run at him constantly.

I do have a question though:

I've been doing some reading and people have been saying that the 4-3-2-1 is effective against the 4-4-2 because there is one more player in the midfield, and since their have 2 centrebacks marking my single striker, therefore my team can dominate possession and get an edge of the other team. HOWEVER, I don't know how to do this... Can someone explain how to best take advantage of the situation?

Cheers,

JOE

[LlamaZA]

Hi Cleon

Starting my second season with Chelsea having successfully won the Premier League (after a 4 match losing streak that included a loss to Manchester United in the Champions League at home, I held a team meeting and let the players know that they were about to undo all the hard work they had done so far - this picked up the morale of the team and I managed an away win in the Champions League but went out on the away goal rule, but this lead to us going on an unbeaten run to win the league relatively comfortably in the end -- Just an aside for those that are in Feb/Mar slump and looking for a way out).

Anyway, I've decided to go slightly against my normal players determine strategy method and have designed a 31231 formation as you've posted to complement my 4231 and 451/433 tactics. These tactics all follow from each and so I am developing players able to seamlessly transit between them (although I have a problem with the AMC being a poor MC, but that's my problem ). I've signed a DC that I think can shift to DM (as well as promoted Chaboulah from my reserves who is a DC/DM).

This will hopefully allow me a little more flexibility to deal with with various tactics. I do have to see how it plays out in the season, but in pre-season I'm exclusively playing the 31231 tactic to help my players adapt to it (the other two are carried over from the previous season for the most part). I'm looking forward to utilising this new formation in specific match-ups and to take advantage of 11v10 situations.

So far in pre-season the tactic has led me to convincing wins on my States tour (7-1 against Henry's Red Bulls and 6-1 against opponent whose name escapes me), I started the pre-season with an 8-0 win against very low opposition despite having Oriel Romeu sent off after 20 mins (took the AMC out). So the tactic appears to be decimating any opposition I have an advantage over. To be clear I'm using my star u18 players (low CA high PA) and various back up players mixed with a few first teamers (they all just returned from Euros so are fully match fit) so its not a complete David vs. Goliath mismatch.

Anyway, thought I'd let you know how you've inspired me to create an adaption to my tactic and I'll let you know if I spot any specific 31231 issues and how I overcame them (or otherwise...)

PS do you still want to mail me, as I haven't received anything.

[gotlandskommun]

can someone help me.. am trying to build a solid 4-4-2 tactic with my LLM team.. but am fail all time... am playing standard setings on evrything bu on passing i have it to direct passing style... if someone can give me som advice i would appriciate

[Cleon]

I'm just going to put this out there:

Do you have one formation/tactic you use Cleon, throughout the season? (This seems to be the case). Some people have 2 or 3 completely different tactics which they use against different opponents.

I'm a newbie when it comes to tactics (real life or fm wise) but being a LFC supporter I've seen Dalglish use three distinctly different formations this year. The 4-2-3-1, the 4-4-2 and the 3-5-1. HOWEVER, I think getting the team to learn three different tactics is not that useful.... It's ineffective and personally I don't really know the 4-4-2 or th 3-5-2 very well and honestly I'm still learning how to use the only formation I've ever really used; the 4-2-3-1 (it's also my favorite). I believe that changing players with the same tactical instructions is the way to go. THEREFORE, I want to play my attacking players with alot of creative freedom. For example, my AMR is Kyut and he'll do his thing but when I see that the opposition fullback is slow or his condition is bad, I'll put on a pacy player to run at him constantly.

I do have a question though:

I personally don't have any use for playing different tactics during a season (unless I want to try something or stop the boredom) as I play and adapt for the opposition every game. So my tactic is always changing slightly from game to game to try and take advantage of the oppositions weaknesses. I change things based on what I see happening in my games when I watch them in live play. I like to be as involved as I can and try and get the best results I can by altering while in the game.

I've been doing some reading and people have been saying that the 4-3-2-1 is effective against the 4-4-2 because there is one more player in the midfield, and since their have 2 centrebacks marking my single striker, therefore my team can dominate possession and get an edge of the other team. HOWEVER, I don't know how to do this... Can someone explain how to best take advantage of the situation?

I don't think the 4-3-2-1 had an advantage over the 4-4-2 really. The 4-4-2 is probablly still the most effective tactic in the game due to the endless possibilites of combo's that you can set the players up to do. But the main threat of a 4-4-2 is the wingers. They are the main source of threat and what makes the 4-4-2 a strong formation. So to get any edge you'd need to cut off the threat they pose. By trying to mark them out of the game. You could ask your wide players to man mark them a bit like I described a few posts above.

Without knowing any details about your own set up that's all I can really say for now

can someone help me.. am trying to build a solid 4-4-2 tactic with my LLM team.. but am fail all time... am playing standard setings on evrything bu on passing i have it to direct passing style... if someone can give me som advice i would appriciate

I'm not been funny or anything but you can't just randomly post in a thread and ask for help about something that as nothing do to with the thread. I always help people where I can but theres a proper way to go around things.

Have you read the main thread? I describe a 4-4-2 I use. The principles are the same regardless of what league and team you are. Maybe give it a read?

[Cleon]

Hi Cleon

Starting my second season with Chelsea having successfully won the Premier League (after a 4 match losing streak that included a loss to Manchester United in the Champions League at home, I held a team meeting and let the players know that they were about to undo all the hard work they had done so far - this picked up the morale of the team and I managed an away win in the Champions League but went out on the away goal rule, but this lead to us going on an unbeaten run to win the league relatively comfortably in the end -- Just an aside for those that are in Feb/Mar slump and looking for a way out).

Anyway, I've decided to go slightly against my normal players determine strategy method and have designed a 31231 formation as you've posted to complement my 4231 and 451/433 tactics. These tactics all follow from each and so I am developing players able to seamlessly transit between them (although I have a problem with the AMC being a poor MC, but that's my problem ). I've signed a DC that I think can shift to DM (as well as promoted Chaboulah from my reserves who is a DC/DM).

This will hopefully allow me a little more flexibility to deal with with various tactics. I do have to see how it plays out in the season, but in pre-season I'm exclusively playing the 31231 tactic to help my players adapt to it (the other two are carried over from the previous season for the most part). I'm looking forward to utilising this new formation in specific match-ups and to take advantage of 11v10 situations.

So far in pre-season the tactic has led me to convincing wins on my States tour (7-1 against Henry's Red Bulls and 6-1 against opponent whose name escapes me), I started the pre-season with an 8-0 win against very low opposition despite having Oriel Romeu sent off after 20 mins (took the AMC out). So the tactic appears to be decimating any opposition I have an advantage over. To be clear I'm using my star u18 players (low CA high PA) and various back up players mixed with a few first teamers (they all just returned from Euros so are fully match fit) so its not a complete David vs. Goliath mismatch.

Anyway, thought I'd let you know how you've inspired me to create an adaption to my tactic and I'll let you know if I spot any specific 31231 issues and how I overcame them (or otherwise...)

PS do you still want to mail me, as I haven't received anything.

Sorry yeah I will be mailing you, not quite sure when as I have been a bit busy this week. Trying to sort things out before the birth of the 3rd child which is like 9 weeks away now:eek:

I find the 3-1-2-3-1 creates a lot of chances regardless of the opposition. Even if there a far superior team. I think this is due to the midfield, any formation that overloads the attack causes the AI many issues. They seem to get confused as to who to mark and pick up. This is because of the movement from the attacking players there always creating space and when the opposition commit a man to go make a challenge this creates a hole elsewhere. Theres quite a few comparisons with the 3-1-2-3-1 and the W-M I posted. Especially from an attacking sense.

It would be great to hear what issues you see and how you overcame them or didn't. As I seem to be blinded by my own playstyle so when I look for faults and issues it's more attribute related rather than actual settings. So would be great to hear the issues someone else sees and I'm sure they appear in my own set up but I'm not really looking for tactical faults more player behaviour side of things atm me due to what I'm writing up. I know that might seem weird for most but when you study player behaviour it kind of takes over the tactical side of things and they become a distant background.

How different is your 4-2-3-1 compared to the 3-1-2-3-1?

Keep me updated on things please, it could become a really interesting discussion who different we play the same formation.

[LlamaZA]

Comparison of the two:

Playing styles: the 4231 has everything on default except for Zonal Marking and Drill Crosses, while the 31231 has Shorter passing, More pressing as well as Zonal Marking and Drill Crosses.

They're pretty much the exact same formation except the one has a DC(x) and the other a DM(d). Sweeper Keeper based on reading your thread.

I went for a more Fluid philosophy on the 31231 and a Standard strategy to get more defensively out of my AM line. With the fluid formation I wanted the shorter passing to take advantage of the compact nature of the team. Also with more pressing I'm hoping to be able to win the ball in all areas with everyone relatively close by and keep the ball with a short pass. Zonal Marking for me as I want to control zones with a player able to press in all the areas of the field.

[aderow]

Now I've got another issue. Whenever the opposition counter attacks, both my DC and DMC try to close down the player with the ball and this usually leaves another player running completely free.

Any idea how I can fix this?

[Cleon]

Now I've got another issue. Whenever the opposition counter attacks, both my DC and DMC try to close down the player with the ball and this usually leaves another player running completely free.

Any idea how I can fix this?

The only time they should go for the same player would be if their mentalities meant their start positions was exactly same and same for closing down. You can alter them to fix the issue.

[grimness]

I believe good addition to this thread http://santapelota.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/busquets-as-an-advanced-midfielder/

[ham_aka_stam]

I tell you what Cleon, you're onto something here. I don't have the personnel at PSG, with too many CBs who are useless on the ball, but this is working wonders.

I didn't want to steal it directly, so I stuck to my 4-2-3-1 and just nabbed the specific man-marking, but when I went a goal down, or lost the midfield, this is what pulls it back. I'm sold.

[aderow]

The only time they should go for the same player would be if their mentalities meant their start positions was exactly same and same for closing down. You can alter them to fix the issue.

Unfortunately this was happening even though they had separate mentalities (DC's mentality higher than the DMC's. Same closing down though). I'll try lowering mentality and mentality of the CB.

I have to say this style of play can really produce some intriguing and aggressive football.

[Cleon]

I believe good addition to this thread http://santapelota.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/busquets-as-an-advanced-midfielder/

Thanks for that I'd not seen that one

I tell you what Cleon, you're onto something here. I don't have the personnel at PSG, with too many CBs who are useless on the ball, but this is working wonders.

I didn't want to steal it directly, so I stuck to my 4-2-3-1 and just nabbed the specific man-marking, but when I went a goal down, or lost the midfield, this is what pulls it back. I'm sold.

Thanks

I can't wait until I have an half decent squad on my Sheffield United game to get it working exactly like I want. It's working great now and I'm playing above expectation against teams like Ajax, Udinese etc in Europe while been in the Championship. But I feel I'll be unstoppable once I can get better players. Most of my squad are still the players I used in League One due to no finances.

I've actually been using it on my Santos saved game and its lethal but I'm like 7 years in now so already have a top squad. So it doesn't matter what formation I use with them in all honesty.

Unfortunately this was happening even though they had separate mentalities (DC's mentality higher than the DMC's. Same closing down though). I'll try lowering mentality and mentality of the CB.

I have to say this style of play can really produce some intriguing and aggressive football.

Wellthe DC's higher mentality than the DMC could be forcing him into the same position though. What marking do you use? Does the same happen even when specific man marking?

[aderow]

For the last few days, I've been using man marking. I guess specific is the only way to go then.

[mikcheck]

Do you guys only use specific man marking? Isnt that a bit risky?

[Cleon]

Do you guys only use specific man marking? Isnt that a bit risky?

Yes and no. It's not that different from using zonal in all honesty. But you are more probe to getting someone caught out of position but that happens with zonal too.

[mikcheck]

Thanks. One question: Normally my wingers are man marking their fullbacks but sometimes i feel that their wingers have too much space and time. I guess that if i instruct my fullbacks to man mark their wingers and playing only with one CB, that would leave me too exposed right? Did you ever tried?

[Steve Odom]

I think it would depend on the situation. against very quick, nimble and technical wingers you might be in trouble. If the wingers lack quality, your FB's will really take them out of the game.

[Cleon]

Thanks. One question: Normally my wingers are man marking their fullbacks but sometimes i feel that their wingers have too much space and time. I guess that if i instruct my fullbacks to man mark their wingers and playing only with one CB, that would leave me too exposed right? Did you ever tried?

If you want to add stability you could ask your wingers to mark their wingers. That way they should track back enough to help out the fullbacks and double up on the wingers. But then that takes away a bit of their attacking capabilities at times. But all tactics have a weakeness and have to sacrifice something along the way. So it's a case of which way works best for you or the way that you're comfortable with

I think it would depend on the situation. against very quick, nimble and technical wingers you might be in trouble. If the wingers lack quality, your FB's will really take them out of the game.

Exactly

[mikcheck]

Thank you both

[Kamil-S]

Cleon,

How to force anchorman in your formation to stay closer to opponent's DLF/AMC when in possesion? I want him to individual and tight mark but when I fail to intercept ball upfront and quick counter begins, he has no time to reach DLF. Should I play deeper as a team or further decrease his mentality to get desired effect?

[Fabian Jonsson]

Slightly OT but I was wondering if any of you know a good way of getting a winger to come from out wide to the center and act like an advanced playmaker (like Iniesta and Silva often do when they are deployed in the AMR/L positions)? My AML (advanced playmaker, attack) only does it when he's running with the ball, never off the ball.

[Falahk]

Slightly OT but I was wondering if any of you know a good way of getting a winger to come from out wide to the center and act like an advanced playmaker (like Iniesta and Silva often do when they are deployed in the AMR/L positions)? My AML (advanced playmaker, attack) only does it when he's running with the ball, never off the ball.

do you want him to run inbehind the defence or in front of it? which foot is your AML strong on? could you post a screen of the player in question? what kind of formation are you using?

[Fabian Jonsson]

do you want him to run inbehind the defence or in front of it? which foot is your AML strong on? could you post a screen of the player in question? what kind of formation are you using?

I'm currently managing Charlton and have just been back-to-back promoted to the Premier League. Therefor I haven't had the opportunity to buy the perfect player for the role yet. My first choice at the moment is Gylfi Sigurdsson (who is right-footed). I want him to start out wide on the left side of the pitch, and occationally run - off the ball - in front of the defence towards the center (where my other players have opened up space) and operate much like a traditional advanced playmaker in the AMC position. Not all the time (then I'd just stick him there to begin with) but when the opportunity arises I'd like him to see it as an option. As things stand right now, he never does that. He only goes to a central position when he recieves the ball out wide and dribbles in towards the middle. As soon as he's off the ball, he drifts out to the left.

Basically, what I'm trying to accomplish is to have the AMR, the 2 MCs and the DM creating space in front of the opposition defence, and have a AML and ST taking turns drifting into that space. Much like Barca with Iniesta + Messi taking turns exploiting space in front of the defence. As things stand now, it's only ever the ST (deep-lying, support) that does this.

[Steve Odom]

Wy don't you use him as an AMC(l), thus creating an assymetrical tactic? Or you could play more narrow and have your AMR hug touchline. I don't think there really is a way to do what you want, but one of these might help creating something similar.

[Fabian Jonsson]

I've though about putting him in the AMCl, but the problem is that I want him to start out wide and move into space, otherwise he'd just be occupying the rough area, become man marked by an opposition player and thus defeating the whole purpose of the tactic, which is to create and exploit space in front of the defence...

[Karnage94]

Just a thought that's crossed my mind. I don't have the players to do this with my Tenerife team but if I were to play 3 centre backs and use wing backs or wide midfielders, would using the Specific Man Marking option on the wing backs to mark the opposition full backs or wide midfielders prevent them from dropping into the defensive line like they always do?

[Cleon]

Cleon,

How to force anchorman in your formation to stay closer to opponent's DLF/AMC when in possesion? I want him to individual and tight mark but when I fail to intercept ball upfront and quick counter begins, he has no time to reach DLF. Should I play deeper as a team or further decrease his mentality to get desired effect?

You can play deeper by altering the d-line. But that's the risk your asking him to take, to be more advanced and yet be deep enough to stop counter attacks. You'll have to sacrifice one of the things you want him to do as he's unable to do both....

Slightly OT but I was wondering if any of you know a good way of getting a winger to come from out wide to the center and act like an advanced playmaker (like Iniesta and Silva often do when they are deployed in the AMR/L positions)? My AML (advanced playmaker, attack) only does it when he's running with the ball, never off the ball

Isn't that what an inside forward does? If you look at the screens I posted about the W-M in the main thread and look at how Ganso and Neymar play you'll see that you're asking your AML to play the exact same way Neymar does in the W-M section of the thread

Just a thought that's crossed my mind. I don't have the players to do this with my Tenerife team but if I were to play 3 centre backs and use wing backs or wide midfielders, would using the Specific Man Marking option on the wing backs to mark the opposition full backs or wide midfielders prevent them from dropping into the defensive line like they always do?

Your own dropping back into the d-line? To some extent but it depends how attacking the opposition is. If not very adventerous then no as they'll probably to too deep (the opposition)

[Kamil-S]

You can play deeper by altering the d-line. But that's the risk your asking him to take, to be more advanced and yet be deep enough to stop counter attacks. You'll have to sacrifice one of the things you want him to do as he's unable to do both....

I've droped Anchorman mentality to 0 - his ball-playing ability suffers a little but he is still passing option for CMs. However he plays not as deep as mentality sugests.

[Fabian Jonsson]

Isn't that what an inside forward does? If you look at the screens I posted about the W-M in the main thread and look at how Ganso and Neymar play you'll see that you're asking your AML to play the exact same way Neymar does in the W-M section of the thread

My AMR is an inside forward and he's pretty much acting like an advanced forward only positioned slightly further to the side... Maybe inside forward with support duty would do the trick...? Sounds counter-intuitive to me that an inside forward plays like an advanced playmaker, but maybe you're right. Will try it.

[Cleon]

My AMR is an inside forward and he's pretty much acting like an advanced forward only positioned slightly further to the side... Maybe inside forward with support duty would do the trick...? Sounds counter-intuitive to me that an inside forward plays like an advanced playmaker, but maybe you're right. Will try it.

How is it counter-intuitive? You want him to cut inside and look for space when your team has possession of the ball. That's what an inside forward does, starts out wide and drifts inwards. But make sure he has space to run into and that your striker doesn't drop too deep and force him to stay out wide. Also you need someone with very high off the ball, workrate, teamwork, decisions and anticipation or it simply wont work how you want it to.

[Cleon]

I've added some PKM's to the main thread, I will add a lot more if people want but that's all I had on me at the minute as I'm not near FM until later this week.

Steve - Did you view the PKM's yet? and if so, what did you think?

[Steve Odom]

I've added some PKM's to the main thread, I will add a lot more if people want but that's all I had on me at the minute as I'm not near FM until later this week.

Steve - Did you view the PKM's yet? and if so, what did you think?

I did, my point about the strikers did seem to be correct from my point of view. The match against Blackburn showed the weakness against 442 teams, even though the deep lying striker didn't get into a goalscoring opportunity, he did manage te create dangerous passes. Furthermore, your tactic is very attacking, wich I do like, but maybe you could be a bit more carefull at set pieces especially. I didn't think this would work but in the attacking phase, this looks very sound and dangerous because, the amount of attacking minded players is ofcourse no stranger to this.

I did like the tactic overall, and will use some of the thinking behind it when creating my own tactics.

kutgw!

[Cleon]

I did, my point about the strikers did seem to be correct from my point of view. The match against Blackburn showed the weakness against 442 teams, even though the deep lying striker didn't get into a goalscoring opportunity, he did manage te create dangerous passes. Furthermore, your tactic is very attacking, wich I do like, but maybe you could be a bit more carefull at set pieces especially. I didn't think this would work but in the attacking phase, this looks very sound and dangerous because, the amount of attacking minded players is ofcourse no stranger to this.

I did like the tactic overall, and will use some of the thinking behind it when creating my own tactics.

kutgw!

The 442 can be a problem if the defender/DMC isn't good enough. My players were knackered and I had a lot of injuries for the Blackburn match. I was going to play the game cautious but Blackburn have quite a bit of pace so I thought sod it and went all out attack on them in the hope I out scored them. The set piece side of the tactic as been solid believe it or not but in the league I am the strongest team. I've had to do a lot of work on them in the 2nd season as coming up against stronger teams bring new problems and challenges tactically.

[thompe]

'The file you are looking for seems to be unavailable at the moment. Please come back later.'

Does anybody else get this when trying to download the .pkm's from the main thread?

[Cleon]

'The file you are looking for seems to be unavailable at the moment. Please come back later.'

Does anybody else get this when trying to download the .pkm's from the main thread?

Filefront seems to be down atm for downloads.

[Karnage94]

Ahh, some PKM's to digest and learn from. Will give them a look over the course of the week. Very intrigued to see how this all works

[Steve Odom]

The 442 can be a problem if the defender/DMC isn't good enough. My players were knackered and I had a lot of injuries for the Blackburn match. I was going to play the game cautious but Blackburn have quite a bit of pace so I thought sod it and went all out attack on them in the hope I out scored them. The set piece side of the tactic as been solid believe it or not but in the league I am the strongest team. I've had to do a lot of work on them in the 2nd season as coming up against stronger teams bring new problems and challenges tactically.

Ach so. It did seem a bit odd that you went gung ho against strong opposition. The problem for me is that the specific man marking seems to kick in only when not in posession so slower or mentaly less sharp players will be too late when not mirorring the opposition. Just my thoughts though, since you're doing quite well with this tactic. Maybe this was even an understatement.

[Cleon]

Ach so. It did seem a bit odd that you went gung ho against strong opposition. The problem for me is that the specific man marking seems to kick in only when not in posession so slower or mentaly less sharp players will be too late when not mirorring the opposition. Just my thoughts though, since you're doing quite well with this tactic. Maybe this was even an understatement.

Yeah it does as man marking isn't really the same as how man marking works in real life. Hopefully it'll work like that in the near future but at the minute man marking is just a 'looser' version of zonal marking really which is a shame and is one of the ME's main flaws imo

[Steve Odom]

Yeah it does as man marking isn't really the same as how man marking works in real life. Hopefully it'll work like that in the near future but at the minute man marking is just a 'looser' version of zonal marking really which is a shame and is one of the ME's main flaws imo

There are a few, though I give Si a lot of credit for all the parts that do work fine. I don't believe this is something that can be easely done by any team.

I was thinking of ways to solve the problem, but I cannot find anything that keeps your attack as effective as it is.

[Karnage94]

Ach so. It did seem a bit odd that you went gung ho against strong opposition. The problem for me is that the specific man marking seems to kick in only when not in posession so slower or mentaly less sharp players will be too late when not mirorring the opposition. Just my thoughts though, since you're doing quite well with this tactic. Maybe this was even an understatement.

I have just found this out first hand. I had my AML specifically mark the opposition RWB (opposition were playing a 3-5-2 with sweeper) however with 10 minutes to go the wing back motored up the right with my winger nowhere to be seen (he isn't great defensively but he literally let him run by). My full back tried to close down the striker who had pulled wide, however he flicked the ball on to the on rushing wing back who had 5 yards of space to compose himself and put the ball past the keeper. Game finished 1-1.