FM23: How does mentality affect passing directness?

[cocoadavid]

First of all, I think FM23 is one of the best FMs ever, overall the ME is great, it is a big improvement (I know every ME has its flaws, but still..). But this year this question really bothers me.

The effect of mentality on passing directness has always been pretty clear to me in previous versions of FM, even tough they changed it from time to time, you could see it on the UI of TIs and PIs, the effect from very defensive to very attacking was clear and linear. But now, for the first time in almost 20 years, it is not straightforward to me and I am confused, I'm pretty sure they changed it compared to previous versions.
(I'm sorry if you've already seen my question on this forum, but nobody has answered me since. If someone from the SI staff would clarify this I would be very grateful.)

FM21
For example in FM21 the default passing directness went from slightly shorter to slightly more direct, it was visible on the TIs :

• very defensive mentality: slightly shorter
• very attacking mentality: slightly more direct

Older versions
In older versions of FM there was a time when it worked like this - it worked differently, but it was straightforward, you could clearly see this effect in PIs:

more defensive mentalities (cautios and lower):
- defend duty players: more direct passes
- attack duty players: shorter passes

more offensive mentalities (control and higher ):
- defend duty players: shorter passes
- attack duty players: more direct passes

FM23 ???
Now it is mixed up, because when you look at the In Possession TIs, the default passing directness looks like this:

• very defensive mentality: slightly more direct
• positive mentality: slightly shorter

until this point it seems like it is almost the opposite to how it worked on FM21, at least according to the UI
but! on attacking mentality it starts to go more direct again...

• attacking mentality: normal
• very attacking mentality: sligthly more direct
  
   

So... how does mentality affect passing directness in FM23?

Cheers,
David

Edited November 17, 2022 by cocoadavid

[The3points]

I think kind of makes sense practically if you think about it. You won't be playing tiki taka if your players want to take no risk, but also won't get a short passing style if you are always desperate to get the ball towards goal on very attacking 

[cocoadavid]

Please have a look at the line chart below, it showcases better why it bothers me that this change has not been clearly communicated by SI. It displays how passing directness changed from FM21 to FM23, according to what you can see on the In Possession TI. 

1 = slightly shorter
3 = slightly more direct

 

When you compare the 2 line charts, you can see that there is a significant difference, it is something that can have a big impact on your style of play.

Please don't misunderstand me, if the passing directness on FM23 works like what you can see on the graph, I think it is a good change, because it goes better with the mentality descriptions.
What bothers me is that a change like this should have been mentioned officially.

[rayr27]

Only just stumbled on this but wanted to say thanks! I've really been confused about why I just couldn't get a positive mentality tactic to work in 23 and this is almost certainly the reason. I'm dumbfounded that there's so little to indicate such a substantial change from previous iterations.

[Aoyao]

Directness pass is how risk you want to pass forward.

[dzek]

20 hours ago, Aoyao said:

Directness pass is how risk you want to pass forward.

We finally got an answer and it is this?

[Aoyao]

4 hours ago, dzek said:

We finally got an answer and it is this?

Here it is.

Short pass will more carefully pass to advance teammate.

Direct pass will pass forward more urgent.

In the other words, directness is how amount of pass forward in the game. Maybe it is 50/50 in standard and 30/70 in shorter.

The advance teammate who is high rate in off ball move will be passed ball in the shorter game.

Edited November 30, 2023 by Aoyao

[dzek]

5 hours ago, Aoyao said:

Here it is.

Where actually?

[Aoyao]

1 hour ago, dzek said:

Where actually?

 

Here is short pass forward. His teammate got a space to receive the ball.

Here is direct pass forward. His teammate not enough space to receive the ball.

They are passing forward, difference is space to receive the ball.

 

Looks like it's the play style not pass style.

Edited November 30, 2023 by Aoyao

[dzek]

1 hour ago, Aoyao said:

 

Here is short pass forward. His teammate got a space to receive the ball.

Here is direct pass forward. His teammate not enough space to receive the ball.

They are passing forward, difference is space to receive the ball.

 

Looks like it's the play style not pass style.

So it affects players make space for themselves to receive the ball etc? 
 

If you add Pass It Shorter to a player and he has these traits Tries Long Range Passes and/or Likes To Switch Ball To Wide Areas then they conflict. So?

Also if you add More Direct Passing and he has these traits Plays Short Simple Passes, Plays One-Twos and/or Dictates Tempo then they also conflict.

Edited November 30, 2023 by dzek

[herne79]

41 minutes ago, dzek said:

So it affects players make space for themselves to receive the ball etc? 
 

If you add Pass It Shorter to a player and he has these traits Tries Long Range Passes and/or Likes To Switch Ball To Wide Areas then they conflict. So?

Also if you add More Direct Passing and he has these traits Plays Short Simple Passes, Plays One-Twos and/or Dictates Tempo then they also conflict.

There's no such thing as conflicts.

Instructions and Traits are just tendencies - if a player has an instruction and/or a Trait they will tend to do that a bit more/less often.  So, to follow the example, if you add "Pass Shorter" players will generally try to do just that but a player who has the Trait to "try long range passes" may still do that as well if they see the opportunity to do so.

(Any player, even without the Trait, may still on occasion attempt a long range pass even if you add "Pass Shorter".  They just won't attempt them quite so often as a player with the Trait).

Players can still decide what to do for themselves, regardless of our instructions and their Traits.  Our instructions (and their Traits) just encourages them to do something more or less often than they may otherwise do.

[dzek]

3 hours ago, herne79 said:

There's no such thing as conflicts.

Instructions and Traits are just tendencies - if a player has an instruction and/or a Trait they will tend to do that a bit more/less often.  So, to follow the example, if you add "Pass Shorter" players will generally try to do just that but a player who has the Trait to "try long range passes" may still do that as well if they see the opportunity to do so.

(Any player, even without the Trait, may still on occasion attempt a long range pass even if you add "Pass Shorter".  They just won't attempt them quite so often as a player with the Trait).

Players can still decide what to do for themselves, regardless of our instructions and their Traits.  Our instructions (and their Traits) just encourages them to do something more or less often than they may otherwise do.

So as @Aoyao says its more about playing style and not passing style?

[Aoyao]

3 hours ago, dzek said:

So it affects players make space for themselves to receive the ball etc? 

NO, it affects players pass to teammate  who in further of the pitch.

Short pass teammate need safe space in further of the pitch, direct pass need less safer space.

4 hours ago, dzek said:

If you add Pass It Shorter to a player and he has these traits Tries Long Range Passes and/or Likes To Switch Ball To Wide Areas then they conflict. So?

Also if you add More Direct Passing and he has these traits Plays Short Simple Passes, Plays One-Twos and/or Dictates Tempo then they also conflict.

Ignore it, I see what you mean.

Maybe it's another visuals bug.

 Dribble less to a player and he has these traits play out of trouble then they conflict.