timbo1983

I have noticed that if I skip the pre-match tactical briefing then there will still be OI's set at the start of the match. I can only assume skipping the briefing gives the AM carte blanche then.

I'm at about to start my 4th season. I have something like 8 affiliates, all from different nations. They are setup so their players can come through my academy. But still the only regens I get are english.

Great to see such an overwhelming response though 😂

Not sure if the youth facilities matter as the idea is they come through my youth facilities. Maybe the quality of the junior coaching though as I think that more dictates the quality of regens. Hadn't even thought about that until now. Cheers

Hi Guys, Not sure if this is the right place for this topic, but couldn't find anywhere else to put it About 3.5 seasons deep in my first FM18 save with Everton which means the dreaded brexit has hit. One of my favorite things about FM is developing youth, whether it be from my own academy or by buying the next big thing and pumping him full of tutoring and games! With brexit, it is alot harder to do this outside of my academy considering young players generally won't qualify for work permits so I need to loan them out until they do. This unfortunately means you lose alot of control over their development. I thought a good way to get around this would be by getting a bunch of affiliate clubs from different nations, selecting the affiliate option that allows players from that club to potentially come through my academy. My question is, how to maximise these affiliates to get different nationalities through my academy. I am allowed to pick my own affiliates now, so I will generally pick a team with a high world reputation (the max I can chose from at the moment is 3 stars). From there I try and find a club from a bigger nation that has many players playing abroad already (eg holland, germany, france) and next on the list is the club with the best youth recruitment, hopefully established or extensive. Does anyone have any other pointers/anything else I should be looking for? Thanks in advance for your ideas!

Hi All - long time reader, first time poster, I've been playing FM17 for awhile now, with the latest version I played prior to this one being FM14. I have read, and re-read, all the posts on here from the very experienced players of this game, and I think I have created a decent tactic for my Everton save (see below). The problem is, this tactic is brilliant for home games where I will often win by 4 or 5 goals, however away from Home it is a disaster, and I can't find a tactic that works away from home. Anytime I score in an away game, a team will immediately change to more attacking tactics and score, even if I go more defensive. I played one game against Tottenham and nearly through my laptop across the room. I saved just before playing the game and played it out 5 times. Each time I lost, even if I had more CCC's - in one game I missed 2 penalties and they were down to 10 men for 75 mins of the game, and I still lost 2-1 - very frustrating. Anyway, not being one to just complain, I thought I would turn to the experienced players on this site (which I have followed for years). I notice alot of the experienced guys on here have said they really only need to make small changes to their existing tactic for away games - so my question is, what am I doing wrong. Below you will see my attacking tactic, and also the defensive one I am working with. Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I am getting very frustrated with the game, I have tried multiple different away tactics, and it is becoming unenjoyable for me. I have attached screens of my successful (at home) attacking tactic, and what I am currently working with for the defensive tactic, I am will try anything and take on board any advice here as I am at a loss. Thanks in advance for any help/advice/comments

Hi Kriss, I am new to these forums but read ALOT of them trying to get my head around this years ME prior to this patch. So alot of the stuff I am reading on here is new to me. You're comment here seems to be contradictory to alot of advice from other moderators in tactical help sections I have spent some time in. They consistently recommend for players to watch matches in "full match" highlights to try and determine where there tactics are going wrong. But your comment above reads to me as though watching the match in "full match" mode makes no difference. I am not having a dig at yourself or any of the other mods, however I am now confused as to why one would need to watch their match in "full match" highlights to see where their tactic is going wrong, when you are saying that due to the limitations of the 3D representation, what we are seeing has little to no bearing on what is actually happening tactically?

Also I understand what you mean about the possible issues of the AM just telling you how to win. But I meant more advice outside of matchday. Seriously when I look at those passing analysis screens all I see are hundreds of green dots all over the pitch, each one indistinguishable from the next. When I look at the individual players passing instructions and see that Baines only completed 70% of his passes during that game - I can safely conclude on my own that that may have something to do with why I lost the game. What I can't figure out on my own (and this may just be my own inexperience) is why he only completed 70% of his passes. Was he marked tightly? Was he closed down? These are things that I struggle to distinguish in game when watching a full-match (and again this could just be me) that after the fact would be good to know. So the AM could say in post-game analysis "Baines struggled with passing as the opposition was consistently closing him down". So that the next game where Baines is not completing his passes or crosses I can compare what the opposition players are doing to what they did in that preivous game and say to myself "okay, so he is clearly being hassled and perhaps I need to focus my passing through someone else for awhile, who should technically be having less attention paid to them as all attention is on Baines".......... or something like that

Perhaps I should have said "work for me" then? don't let one sentence ruin the whole post, I'm only human mate

Hi Si, I really like this patch. Turned FM13 around completely for me. Prior to this FM I have very rarely if ever even looked at these forums, let alone posted in them. This time around after 3-4 months I was deep in FM depression and about ready to give the game away. The way I talked to my friend about this version, who has bought every FM that has ever come out, left him not wanting to purchase this version. I really appreciate the time and effort these moderators go to in assisting other players of FM, although I do tend to agree that sometimes there are flaws in the ME and when they are bought up the moderators can have a tendency to respond in a rather brash, or confrontational fashion. I personally don't find it to bad as I imagine they have a lot of repetitive posts and eventually get sick of it, but I feel with great power comes great responsibility and perhaps a little more patience should be used from time to time. The reason I mention this is prior to this patch I could not create a tactic that worked. I followed alot of advice from guys like Cleon and wwfan, and have to admit that as much as I liked the idea of this FM being more realistic and more involved, I was disheartened to find that I would need to watch matches in full constantly, follow a 12 step program, study passing analysis screens that were just a bunch of crowded dots to me etc etc in an attempt to find a workable tactic. For those of us who have jobs and families etc, there is just not enough hours in the day to play more than 1 or 2 games a night, and when you are Everton, you want to get through the first season reasonably quickly in the hope of some transfer funds.Anyway I went through all of this, including completely changing the way I have ever played FM before, all to no avail, and all along not wanting to sound like one of those people who just blames the game or the ME for their own failings. Anyway, since the patch has come out my tactic which was hopeless before is now brilliant. I went on a 15 game unbeaten run in the prem with Everton and am currently 25 games in one point ahead of Man Utd at top of the table in the prem. One of the main issues that I struggled with, and saw others regularly post about, was the opposition wingers and defenders seemingly able to make field-long runs and then pinpoint a cross from amongst 3 players who are not tackling him. Whenever this point was raised in various forums, I noted that moderators seem to consistently attack someone's tactics, and accuse them of just blaming the ME for their poor tactics, or not using shouts, or studying the opposition. Now that the patch has been released, it would appear that this was indeed an ME issue, as I now use no shouts, don't read opposition reports, don't use the media and as above am smashing it. And the patch notes admitted that this was an error or an over correction with the ME which has now been fixed. All of this is to say that perhaps there does need to be some middle ground, or a voice of reason on these forums as it very much appears as a childish game of "no it's the ME" versus "no it's your tactics" and no-one really wins, particularly those of us who have beaten our pets to within an inch of their lives and screamed at the missus for the last few months, just to prevent us from smashing our own computers. Anyway, while I was totally frustrated previously, I am now happy that I am winning, however it now seems TOO easy for the points above. I guess there is no pleasing me! Some constructive criticism that I might add (some of which other people have suggested on other posts): - If making the game more realistic and harder as per my initial experience, it would be nice if I didn't have to scour internet forums to discover things such as having a fluid philosophy means you shouldn't have too many specialist roles, and even what are considered specialist roles in the game - I saw someone suggest that perhaps you should send through updates if and when they are fixed rather than releasing one patch with multiple fixes 6 months after the game comes out - if this is possible it is a great idea. As things stand now I will not be purchasing FM14 until after the final patch is released, as I cannot go through this all again, at which point I might as well just wait for FM15 etc etc - Someone also suggested in another post that your assistant give you more feedback on your tactics when you are setting them up, in relation to the ME. Such as him popping up in backroom advise and saying "by the way your tactics are flawed as your winger and wingback will end up occupying the same space" etc - So basically some more in-game help with setting up tactics would be great, particularly for those of us who have previously played the "wrong" way and just downloaded an ME exploit tactic (I did not even know these existed prior to this FM) I understand that the ME will never be perfect but as long as it makes sense, I think the majority of fans would be happy. And any in-game help that can be provided when setting up tactics may help to cancel out alot of the ME vs tactics arguments that litter these forums. I do feel that purchasing a game in November, for it to finally work in February is asking a bit much of the consumer, particularly when I could now pick up a fully working copy of the game for 1/3 of the price I paid for it 3 -4 months ago - but going forward I guess that just comes down to personal choice for me as in previous FM I have never noticed such a drastic turn of fortunes with a new patch. Anyway, sorry for waffling on, and if this is off-topic slightly - but I was advised by Cleon this would be the best heading under which to post this. Cheers, Timbo

Okay, I understand that this may not be the appropriate place for the point I am trying to make, can you please direct me to an appropriate thread where I can voice my opinion then please?

Thanks for your reply mate. Funnily enough since the new patch today the tactics I have been trying to implement for the last 3 months have suddenly begun working exactly as I wanted them to in the first place. Jelavic is now scoring goals at will, Fellaini is effective as an attacking midfielder, and my team is 4 points behind Man Utd in the league, and currently on a 11 match unbeaten run and in my last 2 games beat Reading 5-1 and Southampton 6-2 (teams whose wingers like Robson-Kanu and Do Prado used to tear my team to pieces and we would lose 3-1). The only disappointing thing is now I am not sure if it is down to the hours I spent reading these blogs and taking in and trying to apply information (all of which I am no longer using since the new patch) or whether the new patch has just made the game that much easier. Without meaning to offend any of the more experienced and helpful guys on here, with the massive change I have noticed today, it seems to me like perhaps all those people on here that were whinging about how flawed the game was may have had a point. I have spent the last 3 months beating my head against a wall in frustration, trying anything and everything to make a simple tactic and refusing to blame the game or the ME for my failure. I followed the 12 steps, I watched the games in their entirety, I studied the shouts and what they do and tried to use them, I read opposition reports and used the media to target opposition players etc etc etc. I am now doing none of that, and finally am winning games. This last 3 months has taught me that going forward I will not be purchasing FM until the February patch as I refuse to spend another 3 or more months, reading countless blogs and forums, and continually losing games, spending hours studying those passing screens (which when I see them posted on here I have no idea how anyone can read anything into, when showing passing for the whole team it is just a mess of dots.......). Only for the February patch to come out, and for me to suddenly start winning games with previously "flawed" tactics. This leaves me in a position of not having the satisfaction of finally "getting it" and being a better FM player, but rather that the patch has fixed all the things that were working against me previously. In hindsight if I were to just wait for the February patch then I wouldn't have tormented myself for the last 3 months, turned my missus into an FM widow and beaten the daylights out of my dog when Puncheon goes for another field-long dribble and crosses from in-between 3 of my defenders (none of which thought to tackle him) and the cross lands on the head of Rickie Lambert who manages to get up above 3 of my players and head home the goal....instead I would have purchased the game now, setup tactics as I have now, tweaked them a little bit along the way till I got them just right, and would never even had to have posted in this forum (this is the first FM I have felt the need to seek help from other players). Anyway, thanks for the being the only one to reply to my original post....my rant is now over. lol Cheers, Timbo

Hi Guys, I have been reading this post for the last 6 months, often over and over again, and have tried to put into practise everything I have read in this (and other) posts. I always play with Everton on FM, and this season I was really looking forward to it with a slightly better squad than any other season (despite the severe lack of transfer funds). Anyway, I am beyond frustrated. I first starting out by downloading tactic and before any of the patches a couple of them worked pretty well. I then decided that I wanted my team to play more like the actual Everton, with the interplay between Pienaar and Baines on the left, and Mirallas and Coleman on the right. I designed some sort of weird assymetric tactic which worked really well in my first season (and after reading this and other posts I was really pleased). However, once the patches came into play, this tactic no longer worked. Since then, I have literally tried every sort of tactic I can think of. After not being able to successfully implement a tactic that used Fellaini as a second striker I decided to "admit I had a problem" and deviate from what I usually do to try and get some joy out of the game - so far to no avail. Over the last 2-3 months I have started multiple games (always with Everton), each time with a different plan in mind as to how I wanted my players to play, based on what didn't work in previous saves. But I am now at a dead-end. I can't post pictures of all the different tactics/formations I have tried (as there are so many) and not one of them seems to work for longer than 5 games. I am now at my wits end, so I am looking for any help you guys are able to give me. Here are some of the problems I am experiencing, and also what I would like to achieve: - I want my tactic to be similar to Everton's IRL tactic. However I cannot find a way to play Piennar/Mirallas as AML/AMR and have Coleman and Baines pushing forward, without them just ending up in each others space. No matter what roles I give them they end up double or triple teamed, 2 feet apart near the byline. If they do manage to get a cross in then they are already at the byline, and by this stage the one or two players in my box are double or triple teamed by the time the ball comes in. - I cannot get my wide players to run through defenders, yet am constantly carved up by this by the opposition (from Man Utd and Nani to reading and Robson-Kanu). The opposition wide players seem to be able to dribble the length of the pitch AND put in an accurate cross amlost 100% of the time, no matter whether they are closely marked, or set to be closed down regularly and shown onto weaker foot. The amount of goals I concede this way beggars belief. Yet someone like Baines will end up stopping on the ball, and turning his back away from the defender and just losing out - despite his high dribbling, technique and crossing attributes. - In games where my team has played well, we have hit the woodwork 3-4 times, had 3-4 ccc's and 6-7 half chances - the other team can go forward and have a total of 4 shots on goal and the final score will be 3-3. This is largely down to my above issue of being torn apart by opposition wingers, but not getting the same output from my own wide players. - Jelavic is just terrible in this game, he misses CCC's at will. I cannot find a role that works for him. - My team consistently takes longshots, even when there are other options available, and I have set all their long shots bars to 0 and also used the shout "work ball into box". - Also, a question I see on here consistently which I have never actually seen answered is what to look for in opposition scouting reports as well during the match, and how much should i change my tactics based on this. I mean, when I see my players having no time on the ball I use "pass into space" however it does nothing. - I can win the first 15 minutes of a game convincingly, albeit without scoring a goal, but be in total control, and then the next 30 minutes concede 3 goals without any discernible difference in the way either team is playing, except for the other team suddenly got better (as stupid as that sounds) - I cannot create a consistent tactic, anyone that seems to be going well can lead to me beating United 3-1, and then losing to Reading 3-0 when both teams play the exact same formation and appear to have similar philosophies. I just cannot get my head around this version of the game and it has become so frustrating that there are occassions where I have literally almost picked up my laptop and thrown it across the room in rage, instead I just get cranky with my missus - lol. And it is clearly not impossible as I see constant threads of people being in my situation and turning it around. All I want to achieve is some wide play, with constant crosses coming into the box onto the head of Fellaini and/or Jelavic, with Osman or Barkley in and around the box also, and with Gibson behind the play with the two central defenders so a 4-2-3-1, however I just cannot seem to do this. I am also frustrated as during a game I have no idea how to change what is happening. When I win I have no idea why I won compared to other similar games against similar teams that I lost. How do I combat the oppositions marauding wide players, while also taking advantage of my own? Anyway, perhaps I should just start my own specialised "******" thread as clearly I need help in every aspect of this version of FM. But any help you guys can give me in the meantime I would definitely appreciate and take on board. Cheers......