Styles of play other than elite short passing // Elite styles in lower leagues

[ceefax the cat]

The game seems to be geared, understandably, towards simulating the ubiquitous short-passing style of football that we generally see at the very top levels of football. As a result, the 'route one' style, or even the 'get it forward and turn their defence' style that characterises the lower leagues isn't really possible. With mentality, passing and tempo maxed out, you're still basically looking at an attempt to play tidy, short-passing football as seen in Europe's top leagues, just a bit more rushed with an occasional long through ball if it's on.

It's impossible to get the defenders to launch it to the edge of the box, or to position players to get to the resulting knockdown, and extremely difficult to get them to smash it into the corners / channels, which is what a lot of less gifted defenders and midfielders still routinely do! In elite football terms, it'd be nice to be able to play Pulisball or Ventura's 4-2-4 or Schmidt's system with RB Leipzig, which are largely about long balls to a part of the pitch you've overloaded.

But the main benefit would be adding authenticity at levels below the top couple of leagues and making it more interesting to play your way from the bottom to the top level, which raises the other point: you simply can't tell your players to play juego posicion or counterpress at those levels, where it's more about getting the ball up the pitch or behind the defence and then seeing if you can play from there.

There isn't currently much of a difference watching an FM match in the Northern Ireland Intermediate League and the Champions League final because the team from Ulster are probably pulling off a possession-based gegenpressing system with a rotating back 4 when they should be keeping it simple. Trying to play Pepball with Chelmsford should really, if we're being remotely realistic, result in disaster, and cultivating an advanced style of play like that should really be more about finding the players who can do it and then training them.

A move in this direction would also address the problem of gegenpressing being insanely overpowered in the game.

 

Edited November 8, 2023 by ceefax the cat

[lied90]

I haven't tried playing much route one in FM24, but I miss one thing that I've never seen in FM to the degree I want.

When using GK to distribute it to a target forward with long kicks, I expect this to happen:
 

 

The whole team goes really narrow and surround the TF (Kenwyne Jones) as they get ready for Begovic to hoof it. In FM the GK barely even gets the ball anywhere near the TF most of the time, and players aren't ready to jump on the second ball.

[ceefax the cat]

On the topic of juego de posicion etc at lower levels, it has started to appear to an extent. Mike Williamson's Gateshead played an incredibly progressive style in the National League for example. But it was discernibly a LOT slower than the elite equivalent, and very prone to problems if they were pressed well. That really should be the risk in FM - try to do it too quickly or with poor players on poor pitches, and you'll start losing it at the back with your defence spread wide open, and giving away simple goals.  It's the riskiest, hardest-to-execute form of football there is, and that should really be reflected. Even at the top level, teams who play that way will regularly give away awful goals where the keeper plays a defender into trouble etc.

It should take by far the longest to train and gain familiarity with too, whereas every pub player basically knows how to play 4-4-2 and lump it long. That'd make it more rewarding if you can actually get your team to the point of playing that way, rather than just pressing the button. This is why managers who are short on time or under pressure 'go back to basics'.

Edited November 8, 2023 by ceefax the cat

[ceefax the cat]

On 08/11/2023 at 14:00, lied90 said:

I haven't tried playing much route one in FM24, but I miss one thing that I've never seen in FM to the degree I want.

When using GK to distribute it to a target forward with long kicks, I expect this to happen:
 

pic

The whole team goes really narrow and surround the TF (Kenwyne Jones) as they get ready for Begovic to hoof it. In FM the GK barely even gets the ball anywhere near the TF most of the time, and players aren't ready to jump on the second ball.

I find the GK's special move is to repeatedly hit accurate long kicks towards the 5'6" poacher on the other side of the field.

[lied90]

8 hours ago, ceefax the cat said:

I find the GK's special move is to repeatedly hit accurate long kicks towards the 5'6" poacher on the other side of the field.

Yup, or the diminutive winger for some reason. Some GKs don't even manage to hoof it far enough up the field, which is weird for a pro GK considering that even an average 16yo can hoof it in a straight line to the forwards.