Wanting something fluid

[SavoNFFC]

I've been trying to create something that closely resembles total football. I have a great squad so player quality isn't an issue but everything I create just falls flat. It's as if the more freedom you give to the players the less effective they become.

Essentially what I was hoping for was something using WCB's and our attacking players interchanging positions. I've used the player instructions screen to turn all of the front 5/6 into 'roam from position' and even use the 'swap with player' tool to switch players with others in-game. Is this all a bit much?

I'm probably aiming for some sort of footballing utopia with defenders joining in attacks and all players being comfortable in any position ala Holland in the 70s but is it actually possible to achieve on FM24? 

[GCVS00]

I am also curious about this. What formation have you been using?

[Delicate Dave]

Excuse this old guy buting in but what type of football do you think fluid is?

I know over the last 30 years or more short passing has become the type of football that is said to be "total football" but that just a term. Great passing moves that produce goals are just that "great" to watch but football is about more than goals, no ! honest it is. The art of defence is becoming a lost art. Today the defenders are so big & fast for them it's just a case of following orders of where to stand. And this type of football doesn't always bring success, just look at the team who brought us the term "total football" Holland, they never won anything, always coming up short because in fact their football was total it lacked the art of defense.

But FM is not football it's a computer football game. So total football in the game probably just means winning everything and I'm pretty sure in FM that doesn't need a great defense. So what you are looking may not exist in a successful way in FM.

[nhami]

 

The closest thing to beautiful football in FM might be using short passing and wide width. You can achieve this with either:

• AM/STs in support roles and overlapping/underlapping full-backs and central midfielders in attack roles.

• All Players in Support Roles,

Even with these instructions the majority of goals and assists will be with the AMs and STs.

Roam from Position makes the player move toward the ball vertically in the attacking phase, it makes the attackers drop to the midfield(second third) when the ball is in the midfield and makes the midfielders enter the attack(final third) in the ball in attack. It makes the player move forward less(less penetration) and move toward the ball more(more support). In practice, it only works with either a support player with Roam from Position and an attack duty overlapping from behind or an attack duty player with Roam from Position. Again, the attackers(AM/ST) will have the majority of goals and assists.

The fundamental problem is that players have a "glue" in them based on their position that makes them return to their position. Even if you give them attack duty they will eventually return to their position and this also happens to attackers. This naturally limits defenders' and midfielders' contributions to goals and assists compared to attackers.

For example, Luizinho was a Central Defender. I think he scored a goal for Brazil in the 82 World Cup. He would overlap from the central defender position and appear in the box to score goals.

In the old Tactic Creator you were free to customize everything, you could give defenders Very Attacking mentality and attackers Very Defensive mentality but giving full customization of all Player Instructions created problems for the AI and it was replaced by the individual roles that we have today.  Hopefully, the next version that is coming will add new roles to the game to allow this type of football.