Determine corner kick placement, defending and attacking, by attributes, instead of position

[TroubleMan]

Issue:

The large majority of people arrange their guys on corner kicks based on attributes, but in FM (other than the corner taker), they are arranged by position.  When we sub in or out guys, or change the starting line-up, we may have to change it all around.  Yes routines can be saved for some of those situations, but we can't make a routine for every possible sub possibility.   Also, if I sub out the corner taker, then often one of the guys that was in a different corner placement gets moved to taking the corner, and then the routine is missing a key person, because it assigns the sub to "no specific instructions."

First Example:  On an attacking near post corner, I want the guy with the biggest jumping reach attacking near post, or lurking near post, depending on the set up.  I would also want the second highest jumping reach guy attacking far post.  I want the two guys I have lurking outside the box to be my fastest (pace and acceleration) guys or with the best anticipation.  I want the guy marking the keeper to be the strongest guy.

Second example:  On an attacking short corner, I want the guy coming short to be my best dribbler or best passer.  I want the two guys lurking outside the box to be my best long-shotters. 

Third example:  Defending a corner, I want my best jumping reach guy to mark the tall person.  I want my two fastest guys lurking outside of the box.

Fourth example:  Attacking corners.  In your starting line-up, you have two guys equally good at corners, but one's right-footed and the other is left-footed.  The game automatically puts on guy taking one corner and the other guy taking the other side.  If you sub one out, then often the same guy is taking both corners, then you have an unassigned player in the routine.

In my current save, I have a striker with 18 jumping reach and 14 heading.  I put him attacking near post on attacking corners and mark tall person when defending corners.  However, he's only got about 10 stamina, so he doesn't play the whole game.  When I sub him out I then switch out a DC to those positions, but then I had to pull the DC from somewhere else, which causes me to rearrange everything.  Also, my CM is my corner taker, but my back-up CM is not good at corners.  FM automatically pulls the next best corner guy, which is a good thing, but it usually pulls my DR to take the corner.  Well my DR was one of the two guys I had staying back, so if I sub in the heat of the moment and I don't rearrange the whole routine, then I leave myself open to a counterattack, as the guy staying back is assigned to a position, instead of an attribute.  Plus the CM that just came in is now on "no specific instructions."

Solution:

Change corner routines to be arranged by priority and attributes.  For instance you assign a 1 through 10 (maybe 1-11 if you want to include the GK) of importance.  In my near post routine, the corner taker is most important, while the near post guy is 2, the mark keeper guy is 3, the far post guy is 4, the lurk outside box guys are 5 and 6, etc., etc.  Then for each position assign by most important attribute (or a sum of two attributes if you could!). 

So you first assign priorities, then each one has a drop-down of attribute you'd like to sort by.

So here is how I would select them in the First Example:

Priority 1:  Corner taker, always best corner guy for that side.

Priority 2:  Attacking near post, always best jumping reach.  It will always pull in the best jumping reach guy, unless he's the best corner taker.

Priority 3: Attacking far post, sort by jumping reach.  It's a lower priority than the near post guy so it will always pull in the 2nd best jumping reach guy, unless he's the best corner taker ... or the best jumping reach guy is the best corner taker, then it will pull in the third best jumping reach guy.

Priority 4:  Mark keeper, strongest guy.  It will always pull in the strongest guy, unless he's assigned to one of the above roles.

Priority 5:  Lurk outside area.  Sort by fastest

Priority 6:  Lurk outside area.  Sort by fastest.

Priority 7:  Attacking from outside the box.  Sort by heading.

Priority 8:  Stay back.  Sort by speed or marking

Priority 9:  Stay back.  Sort by speed or marking.

Priority 10:  Stay back if needed.  You wouldn't need to sort by attribute, because he'd be the last guy left.

So if we could assign priorities and then sort by attributes, then no matter how I changed my starting line-up or subbed during the game, the right guys would be in the correct places.

Why just corners, why not others?  It would probably make sense to also do this for free kicks, but maybe not for throw-ins.  IRL teams do move guys out of position for free-kicks and attacking corners, but rarely IRL are people moved out of position for throw-ins.

Edited January 15, 2022 by TroubleMan
edited typos and misspellings

[Poison]

I like this a lot. Second this.

[TroubleMan]

I thought I should add a little more to this. 

First I know this might be asking a lot, but I think it would need to be two attributes to sort by.  For instance, on the near post routine, the attacking near post guy would be sorted by jumping reach, and then I'd pick heading (put some people might pick anticipation or off the ball - that's why it's a drop-down).   That way if two guys have equivalent attributes in an important area, you can sort which one goes where.

Second I thought I'd give an example where you would not want the corner taker to be top priority.  It's actually the Second Example in the OP, the attacking short corner routine.  Here's how I do it:

Priority 1:  Lurk outside the box.  Best long shots

Priority 2:  Lurk outside the box.  Best long shots

Priority 3:  Come short.  Best dribbler.

Priority 4:  Corner taker.  Best decisions (or passing) - because if you don't have a smart guy here with good off the ball and decisions, they'll often receive the ball in an off-sides position, ruining the routine.  I've found the smarter guys run diagonally so they're not off-sides.

Priority 5:  Attack near post. Best jumping reach

Priority 6:  Attack far post.  Best finishing

Priority 7:  Attack from edge of area.  Best heading (of whoever's left!)

Priority 8: Stay back.  Fastest or best marking

Priority 9:  Stay back.  Fastest or best marking.

Priority 10:  Stay back if needed.  Whoever is left.

Third I'd thought I'd address the keeper.  He normally stays back, except in some cases.  Maybe a check box for him (or drag and drop him) if we don't want him to stay back.  I would guess most players would want to exclude the keeper from being selected as the default, but have the option to get him involved in special situations.  The other alternative is to have 11 priorities, and the keeper being one.  You could make it default to priority 1 play GK.  Then if the player wants to involve him, don't pick that that position in the routine.

 

Edited January 15, 2022 by TroubleMan

[Zachary Whyte]

Thank you for the suggestions and detailed feedback. We appreciate these ideas, they may yet be rejected or may end up in a future FM.