[FM21] A Complete Guide to Mentality

[engamohd 219]

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MY BLOG (FMDIRECT)

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Welcome to the first part of this series of articles aimed at simplifying and explaining the process of creating Football Manager tactics, using the latest instalment of the hit series, Football Manager 2021.

This first article will focus on demystifying the nebulous concept of Mentality, which is the single most important tactical decision you will make in the tactic creator.

I feel that the concept of Mentality is commonly misunderstood, with further confusion arising due to the Mentality names.

Before we start, I would like to make a very important distinction between formation and shape/style.

A formation is how a team lines up, for example in a 4-4-2. A shape is a combination of how a team lines up and how they play.

Accordingly, your team’s shape in FM21 is a combination of the team's formation, mentality, team instructions, and player instructions.

Therefore, two formations can play out in different shapes, in the same manner that Leipzig's 4-4-2 is radically different from Burnley's 4-4-2.

Once you fully understand what Mentality does, it will be much easier to create more balanced tactics, implementing a wide variety of playstyles effectively.

Mentality – What does it do?

In simple terms, Mentality defines the core attacking intent of the team. This may be described as a measure of risk-taking. More positive mentalities instruct the team to take more risks, and more defensive ones instruct the team to take fewer risks.

There are 7 mentalities on Football Manager 2021: 3 attacking mentalities (very attacking, attacking, and positive), 1 neutral (balanced) mentality, and 3 defensive mentalities (very defensive, defensive and cautious). The two extremes are rarely used in a shape by themselves but are rather employed during certain times in the game while chasing a goal, or protecting a lead.

Under the hood, Mentality works by adjusting a few parameters in both team instructions and individual player instructions, as follows:

On the Ball Effects:

Tempo

More attacking mentalities have a higher base tempo, with the aim of destabilizing the opposition’s block, i.e., defensive structure. On the other hand, more defensive mentalities employ lower base tempo to be more patient and waiting for clearer (less risky) attacking opportunities to appear

Width

More attacking mentalities have a wider attacking width, which offers more support out wide, and stretches the opponent’s block horizontally. This makes it easier to play through the opponents centrally. However, wide attacking positioning makes it harder to the players to get back to defensive shape.

More defensive mentalities have a narrower attacking width, which is primarily a defensive instruction, aiming to make it easier for players to get back quickly into defensive shape after they lose the ball. This also offers more support out to central players and makes it easier to maintain position. However, this lack of width makes it more difficult to play through the opposition.

Positional Discipline

More attacking mentalities allow the players to roam from position in a bid to allow more creative movement. More defensive mentalities instruct the players to stick to positions and be more conservative, to avoid being caught out of possession.

Time wasting

As you would expect, more attacking mentalities avoid time-wasting as the team look to score, while more defensive mentalities instruct the players to waste time more often.

Passing Directness

On more attacking mentalities:

deeper players will pass shorter, to hold possession and feed the advanced attackers.

advanced players will pass more direct, to stretch the opponent and penetrate quickly.

On more defensive mentalities, it is the other way round:

deeper players will pass more direct, to exploit space behind opponents, and to get the ball away from the goal.

advanced players will pass shorter, to retain possession, and avoid needless turnover in possession.

Off the Ball Effects:

Defensive Line

As you would expect, more attacking mentalities push the team higher up the pitch to give the opponent less time on the ball. More defensive mentalities drop the team deeper towards the goal to protect the goal, nullify space behind the defensive line, and not be caught out of possession.

Pressing Urgency and Tackling

In tandem of the defensive line, more attacking mentalities instructs the team to look to win back the ball aggressively, using more urgent pressing and aggressive tackles. However, this creates space in between the team’s block that could be exploited by the opponents.

More defensive focus on containing the opponent, and being caught out of possession, therefore the team will close down less urgently and stay on feet more while making tackles. While this serves to maintain defensive structure, good opponents will keep you under extended pressure.

Individual Player Mentality

Individual player mentality (remember the old mentality slider?) will be adjusted according to the team’s mentality. More attacking mentalities allow the player to be more aggressive and riskier both on and off the ball. This means that a higher mentality player will look to make more aggressive off the ball runs often, shoot at sight more, attempt riskier passes and track down less to offer a quick outlet.

On the other hand, more defensive mentalities lowers individual mentality, making a player more conservative by tracking back more, staying in disciplined deeper positions and will not take risky shots and passes, and often remaining behind the ball and not attempting forward runs.

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Putting it all Together

While it is beyond the scope of this article to create a fully functional tactic, I will demonstrate in a couple of examples of how to pick and implement TIs around the selected mentality in order to create a required playstyle, regardless of the formation.

There are two methods of selecting a mentality:

1. Choosing the mentality based on the required attacking style, and adjusting the defensive style via team instructions, or

2. Choosing the mentality based on the required defensive style, and adjusting the attacking style via team instructions.

I strongly recommend the first method, as it is not possible to change the player’s individual mentality without changing the team’s mentality.

In other words, it is more difficult to make a player take more risks on and off the ball in a more defensive mentality set up than it is to make a player more cautious on and off the ball in a more attacking mentality setup.

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Example 1: A direct attacking deep block

Required Style: My personal brand of football requires the team to drop deeper and implement urgent pressing and aggressive defensive style in deep positions. As we win the ball, I want aggressive on and off the ball behaviour by the players.

The required attacking style feature urgency, directness, more dribbles and more aggressive off the ball movement. This is a core style of the Attacking or Positive mentalities. While the required playstyle features the more aggressive defensive style set by the Attacking mentality, I do not need the excessively attacking features of the Attacking mentality. The defensive style could be set to be more aggressive by the TIs.

Selected Mentality: Positive

Unwanted Default Positive Mentality Behaviour:

• Higher Defensive Line

• Direct Passes by the Advanced Players

• Risky Shooting

• Aggressive Pressing Further Up the Pitch

These behaviours could be remedied by the following Team Instructions, in order:

• Lower Defensive Line

• Lower Line of Engagement

• Play out of Defence

• Work ball into the box

• Regroup

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Example 2: A cautious counter attacking team

Required Playstyle: The team wants to implement cautious defending and aim to hit the opponent on the break. The team is happy to play for a draw should the team fails to find or exploit an opening throughout the match.

This playstyle requires cautious defending behaviour to reinforce defensive solidity and create space behind the opposition. Similarly, attackers (when not in counter, in which case the team has maxed out mentalities) should remain patient and retain possession, looking for a suitable opening.

Selected Mentality: Cautious

Unwanted Default Cautious Mentality Behaviour: None

The Cautious mentality without any style instructions is a perfect starting point for this brand of football. You may add some instructions to reinforce this style like distribute to fullbacks and pass shorter.

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Example 3: Aggressive pressing, possession-based team

Required Playstyle: The team wants to implement ultra-aggressive defending to win back the ball as soon as possible and aim to retain possession forcing openings via technical players.

This playstyle requires aggressive defending behaviour to win back the ball quickly combined with a cautious attacking strategy, with the intent of keeping hold of the ball.

Selected Mentality: Cautious/Defensive

Unwanted Default Cautious Mentality Behaviour:

• Lower Defensive Line

• Lower Pressing Urgency

• Stay on Feet Tackling Style

• Direct Passes by Deep Players

• Counter-attacking

These behaviours could be remedied by the following Team Instructions, in order:

• (Much)Higher Defensive Line

• (Much)Higher Line of Engagement

• (Much)More Urgent

• Get Stuck In

• Play out of Defence

• (Shorter Passing)

• Hold Shape

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There is a common misconception that you need to play a high mentality with top teams, and lower mentality with weaker sides. As we have seen, picking the right mentality is a function of how you want to play.

However, weaker teams looking to play on a higher mentality should generally look to avoid Attacking, to reinforce their defensive solidity. Balanced and Positive are usually sufficient.

Similarly, top teams looking to play on a lower mentality should generally not go lower than Cautious to avoid being too passive.

This marks the end of this article. Hopefully, I managed to clarify the meaning, importance, and effect of mentality in the tactic creator. The examples should demonstrate how to implement a required playstyle taking the mentality into consideration.

Until next time,

Happy FM’ing.

Edited January 11 by engamohd

[Aquaplex 13]

Incredible read, thanks for sharing with the rest of us. 

[Aquaplex 13]

What is your view on changing mentality during games according to situation though.  Do you keep the same mentality throughout or change based on what's happening in game, or is this simply a starting point?

[engamohd 219]

3 minutes ago, Aquaplex said:

Incredible read, thanks for sharing with the rest of us. 

Cheers mate, glad you like it!

Just now, Aquaplex said:

What is your view on changing mentality during games according to situation though.  Do you keep the same mentality throughout or change based on what's happening in game, or is this simply a starting point?

Defining the start point will allow you to know what and when to change. I am usually on positive as my play style is similar to the one in the example. For instance, against weaker teams, I might go on balanced or cautious and push the DL and LOE forward to normal (to balance the drop in mentality) in order to retain the ball more.

[wixxi 69]

Good read, I like the point on selecting a mentality for a desired attacking style and using contrasting instructions to create a specific style of play. I'm interested to know if you have had any success with high pressing/possession based tactics using lower mentalities since most of the time when you see those they're done with balanced mentality or higher, as I think the main worry is that you end up with possession for possession's sake rather than possession with intent to create chances.

[engamohd 219]

27 minutes ago, wixxi said:

Good read, I like the point on selecting a mentality for a desired attacking style and using contrasting instructions to create a specific style of play. I'm interested to know if you have had any success with high pressing/possession based tactics using lower mentalities since most of the time when you see those they're done with balanced mentality or higher, as I think the main worry is that you end up with possession for possession's sake rather than possession with intent to create chances.

Thank you!

I did not try this kind of systems for long periods, since it is not my cup of tea. I prefer more Atletico style. I remember doing ot once on FM15 which was very successful.

At any case, given the right roles, you could certainly pull it off. You need technical playmakers and good movement around them. On a cautious mentality, players with attack duty will do the damage, so I believe it will be heavily reliant on your roles and duties distribution.

[kingjericho 354]

As I was reading the post I was thinking about the original tiki taka style and if you would use aggressive mentality and adjust with TIs or the other way around, and gladly we share the same thought.

A good, simple rule of thumb I use is that usually for possession based systems a balanced or lower mentality will do just fine as players will patiently wait for the right opportunity to break, which is the opposite of what an aggressive mentality stands for.

However, in some cases like Atlético's style I could go in both directions. Simeone's style focuses primarily on defensive solidity and their attacking processes are quite basic (compared to other top teams). Something like a Defensive mentality with attacking duties on advanced players could possibly be an option too.

Edited January 10 by kingjericho

[Herolover 22]

Very helpful.

Thank you for your time and effort.

[engamohd 219]

8 hours ago, kingjericho said:

As I was reading the post I was thinking about the original tiki taka style and if you would use aggressive mentality and adjust with TIs or the other way around, and gladly we share the same thought.

A good, simple rule of thumb I use is that usually for possession based systems a balanced or lower mentality will do just fine as players will patiently wait for the right opportunity to break, which is the opposite of what an aggressive mentality stands for.

However, in some cases like Atlético's style I could go in both directions. Simeone's style focuses primarily on defensive solidity and their attacking processes are quite basic (compared to other top teams). Something like a Defensive mentality with attacking duties on advanced players could possibly be an option too.

It is nice to share the same thought process 

Sure Atleti style could be done on lower mentalities, but they are, more often than not, quite aggressive with their attacks, with no intention to hold the ball. Thats why I prefer the positive mentality for such style.

I am actually inspired to create a backup tactic in the cautious counter style, that keeps hold of the ball, similar to example 2 in the article.

[engamohd 219]

34 minutes ago, Herolover said:

Very helpful.

Thank you for your time and effort.

Thank you

[dannyfc 162]

Love these posts, top work.

Be interested to read your insights on Tempo, and whether you ever change it independently of mentality.

[Zemahh 1,002]

This is a fantastic write-up, you've done a great job detailing differences between playing styles. 

Definitely covers most of the problems people tend to experience when creating counter-attacking systems. I'd say the "direct attacking deep block" is what most probably want, but end up getting dragged into low-risk Mentalities thinking it's the only way to be defensively solid.

[Manutd1999 43]

Awesome post  I really like the idea of almost separating the attacking/defensive mentality. The more I think about it, the better this represents some of the most famous systems.

Pep's Barca - aggressive defending to win the ball back, but relatively cautious attack (focused on retaining possession) 

Klopp / Gegenpress - aggressive attacks and aggressive defence 

Alex Ferguson's United - aggressive, quick attacks but a more cautious defence/press

 

 

 

Edited January 11 by Manutd1999

[engamohd 219]

3 hours ago, dannyfc said:

Love these posts, top work.

Be interested to read your insights on Tempo, and whether you ever change it independently of mentality.

Thank you

I don't really dabble too much into tempo. When I do, I push it one tick down to retain possession more, or one tick up to quickly exploit spaces behind ultra aggressive teams (such as attacking 424).

 

[engamohd 219]

2 hours ago, Zemahh said:

This is a fantastic write-up, you've done a great job detailing differences between playing styles. 

Definitely covers most of the problems people tend to experience when creating counter-attacking systems. I'd say the "direct attacking deep block" is what most probably want, but end up getting dragged into low-risk Mentalities thinking it's the only way to be defensively solid.

Thank you!

I full agree, and that is why I wanted to show the differences between them. I like to differentiate between these two styles as "counter attacking / quick transitions" (like example 1) and "playing on the counter" (like example 2). Once you decide that your team is attacking in its intent, it becomes simple to create that style of play.

[engamohd 219]

2 hours ago, Manutd1999 said:

Awesome post  I really like the idea of almost separating the attacking/defensive mentality separately. The more I think about it, the better this represents some of the most famous systems.

Pep's Barca - aggressive defending to win the ball back, but relatively cautious attack (focused on retaining possession) 

Klopp / Gegenpress - aggressive attacks and aggressive defence 

Alex Ferguson's United - aggressive, quick attacks but a more cautious defence/press

 

 

 

Thank you!

I find that this structure of thinking makes it very easy to create any style, and helps in the long run, as you know exactly what you can change and tweak, and what effects these tweaks will have.

[coach vahid 47]

Great post. 

Simple but very instructive. 

You have to explain the duties now.. 

[camoulton21 14]

Ty for a great post @engamohd, as someone that admittedly struggles to get their head around team mentality informative writing has been greatly appreciated. I'm gonna quickly summarised some of the key points to check that I've understood correctly

1. Mentality is basically a risk modifier, it affects certain Team Instructions causing more risky behaviour (more urgent closing down) or causing less risky behaviour (shorter passing)
2. As per your recommendation, it's best to decide if you want a risky or less risky attacking style if you want to work out what team mentality to choose for your system
3. You can then use Team Instructions as an extra layer on top of team mentality, almost like an eraser for unwanted instructions team mentality has given

This guide reminds me of a FM17 thread by Ozil to the Arsenal. He walked us through his thought process when creating a Bielsa tactic and used only a few team instructions because he knew how to make the team mentality work in his favour. I never quite understood what he meant at the time but hopefully after reading this thread I can

[engamohd 219]

7 hours ago, coach vahid said:

Great post. 

Simple but very instructive. 

You have to explain the duties now.. 

Thank you! Am preparing a new part in the series

6 hours ago, camoulton21 said:

Ty for a great post @engamohd, as someone that admittedly struggles to get their head around team mentality informative writing has been greatly appreciated. I'm gonna quickly summarised some of the key points to check that I've understood correctly

1. Mentality is basically a risk modifier, it affects certain Team Instructions causing more risky behaviour (more urgent closing down) or causing less risky behaviour (shorter passing)
2. As per your recommendation, it's best to decide if you want a risky or less risky attacking style if you want to work out what team mentality to choose for your system
3. You can then use Team Instructions as an extra layer on top of team mentality, almost like an eraser for unwanted instructions team mentality has given

This guide reminds me of a FM17 thread by Ozil to the Arsenal. He walked us through his thought process when creating a Bielsa tactic and used only a few team instructions because he knew how to make the team mentality work in his favour. I never quite understood what he meant at the time but hopefully after reading this thread I can

Thank you! I am glad it is of help.

1. Yes mentality can be seen as a risk modifier, affecting also affecting certain TIs and PIs.

2. Yes, that is the way I see the game.

3. Exactly. That layer of TIs could either balance out or emphasize the style set by mentality

Ozil to the Arsenal created some really great threads, I remember loving the Wales one before I join the forums. Comparing this thread to OttA great threads is flattering, thank you!

[Herolover 22]

Your post came just in time because I was try to work out a style where I was aggressive in defense, but ball possession in attack. So I used your third example to setup my tactic and it works like a dream.

 

Now to my question. So my Mentality is Cautious as you recommend. That is my standard.

So do I adjust for weaker and stronger opponents or just leave mentality alone?

Example, my next game is against a much weaker opponent. I am way the favorite. Normally I would just adjust my Mentality to Positive or Attacking. I am worried though that this will mess up my tactic and end up with players hoofing the ball.

Should I adjust Mentality?

If I do not adjust Mentality what do I adjust?

 

[aritra14 25]

2 minutes ago, Herolover said:

Your post came just in time because I was try to work out a style where I was aggressive in defense, but ball possession in attack. So I used your third example to setup my tactic and it works like a dream.

Could you share what you came up with? I was thinking of setting something up similar, but couldn't get around to do it. 

[engamohd 219]

29 minutes ago, Herolover said:

Your post came just in time because I was try to work out a style where I was aggressive in defense, but ball possession in attack. So I used your third example to setup my tactic and it works like a dream.

 

Now to my question. So my Mentality is Cautious as you recommend. That is my standard.

So do I adjust for weaker and stronger opponents or just leave mentality alone?

Example, my next game is against a much weaker opponent. I am way the favorite. Normally I would just adjust my Mentality to Positive or Attacking. I am worried though that this will mess up my tactic and end up with players hoofing the ball.

Should I adjust Mentality?

If I do not adjust Mentality what do I adjust?

 

It will all depend on how you want to use possession. My example was based around patient possession, focusing on holding the ball with no urgent attacking intent.

If that is how you want to play then you could (while watching the game carefully) increase the mentality to Balanced while decreasing passing length, tempo and dribbles. You could pull the LOE and DL one tick down to compensate the increase in mentality.

If you are looking to hold the ball aggressively with attacking intent, you could go on Positive, while decreasing tempo, passing and dribbles.

You also need to consider the effect of mentality change on the roles. A CM-S will surge into the box often on Positive, but not on Cautious. So if you need him to have the same behaviour on Cautious you need to give him an attack duty.

[aritra14 25]

1 hour ago, aritra14 said:

I was thinking of setting something up similar, but couldn't get around to do it. 

This is what I came up with. Any suggestions?

[Burbian De Bay 23]

On 10/01/2021 at 19:39, engamohd said:

Passing Directness

On more attacking mentalities:

deeper players will pass shorter, to hold possession and feed the advanced attackers.

advanced players will pass more direct, to stretch the opponent and penetrate quickly.

On more defensive mentalities, it is the other way round:

deeper players will pass more direct, to exploit space behind opponents, and to get the ball away from the goal.

advanced players will pass shorter, to retain possession, and avoid needless turnover in possession.

Although this seems logical, it is completely new to me. If this is how it works, it may explain some of my frustration when the players are not doing what I want.

Great post, thank you!

[cocoadavid 97]

On 10/01/2021 at 19:39, engamohd said:

Passing Directness

On more attacking mentalities:

deeper players will pass shorter, to hold possession and feed the advanced attackers.

advanced players will pass more direct, to stretch the opponent and penetrate quickly.

On more defensive mentalities, it is the other way round:

deeper players will pass more direct, to exploit space behind opponents, and to get the ball away from the goal.

advanced players will pass shorter, to retain possession, and avoid needless turnover in possession.

 

Can you confirm that this is 100% the case in FM21? I remember clearly that this was the case in older FMs, this effect was visible on the Player Instructions panel, for example in FM17. But now, when looking at the PIs, while changing mentalities, this effect is not visible. So there are 2 cases: either the UI for this is flawed (at least it was more straightforward in older FMs) or this effect does not apply anymore.

[NotSoSpecialOne 106]

I'm not sure it is the case, at least not entirely.

A CB, for example, on more defensive mentalities will have shorter passing but on attacking mentalities this becomes standard (ie: inherit whatever the default directness for mentality is: Slightly More Direct in the case of Attacking). Fullbacks are the same.

[engamohd 219]

2 hours ago, NotSoSpecialOne said:

I'm not sure it is the case, at least not entirely.

A CB, for example, on more defensive mentalities will have shorter passing but on attacking mentalities this becomes standard (ie: inherit whatever the default directness for mentality is: Slightly More Direct in the case of Attacking). Fullbacks are the same.

 

2 hours ago, cocoadavid said:

Can you confirm that this is 100% the case in FM21? I remember clearly that this was the case in older FMs, this effect was visible on the Player Instructions panel, for example in FM17. But now, when looking at the PIs, while changing mentalities, this effect is not visible. So there are 2 cases: either the UI for this is flawed (at least it was more straightforward in older FMs) or this effect does not apply anymore.

It is literally written in the Mentality description:

Positive:

Cautious:

Defensive:

Attacking:

I personally believe that this passing behaviour is more related to risk for reasons stated above.

[right_winger 23]

deleted

Edited January 14 by right_winger
posted as a new topic

[apaat 7]

@right_winger my bro, you've put so much effort in to this post... start your own thread. i came here to read about mentality like everyone else per it's title. you rob yourself of possible responses putting your situation here.

[right_winger 23]

fair point @apaat, didn't realise how long the post became until after I finished then came back to the topic