[Quickfire Questions and Answers Thread (Tactic and Training Questions Only)]

Seems like this is the best place to post this:

Just got FM11 and about to start a game. Just wondering what you think the best league/country set up is to maximize options but also have a match that doesn't really slow down.

What do you mean by "maximize options" and " have a match that doesn't really slow down"? Can you clarify these a bit?

The English Premier League is the top ranked league in the world, if that's what you're looking for.

[Mr Hough 10.3 Tactics]

Dave, was just thinking, why don't you have the counter attacking option ticked in your tactics?

[Mr Hough 10.3 Tactics]

i'm confused about the OP...

1. which one is the latest tactic???

2. which one is wizard final unbeaten??

3. what is the difference between update 17th/5/10 and the one after that?

he say the difference is OI, but hough didn't use OI???

help please..

1. The latest tactic is the last one in the OP.

2. The wizard final unbeaten is the second to last in the OP.

3. The difference is that one tactic is made in a classic way and the other is made using the tactics wizard/creator. Plus there are some differences in team instructions mainly, like different width, tempo, defensive line.

It's entirely up to you regarding the use of OIs. Some people use them and others don't. You can try using them and see if they work for you.

[Mr Hough 10.3 Tactics]

I'm fairly new to Football Manager but have started using this tactic because of all the positive comments, but the last few games I've played, the players keep getting offside. Like one game I was offside 20 times and another game offside 16 times.

What am I doing wrong?

There could be many reasons for this. One is that your players have low anticipation stats. If it's the strikers, then they're making their forward runs too early. If it's the midfielders, then they're possibly making through passes to the strikers too late. Or it could be a combination of both. Plus the opposing team is probably using the offside trap.

Are you still getting good results though? It will happen in some matches more than others.

[Mr Hough 10.3 Tactics]

I won't be making anymore tactics and i proberly won't be writting that much on these forums either.

Thanks for using my tactics through out FM10.

All the best

Dave

Are you moving onto another forum as well?

[Mr Hough 10.3 Tactics]

Yeah I've started to realise. I've signed a few players as back up to the starting squad using the filter and have signed that Dzeko striker as well. That tactic certainly works. Drogba scored 4 in 1 game (friendly) and Anelka scored 3 in the next. That's not something I would've been able to achieve on my way, so thanks.

Good choice with getting Dzeko. Since Drogba is getting old, you can try getting Romelu Lukaku as a player who can replace him in the future. That is if you want to continue to play with those types of strikers.

[Mr Hough 10.3 Tactics]

To make all the money to buy the filtered players, would I need to sell the majority of the players that I have in my squad already? Just starting out as Chelsea, so you get 68m to start with but that won't cover all the transfers surely.

You seem to be new not only to Football Manager, but to football in general Am I right?

Since you are Chelsea, then you already have many excellent players for this tactic, or for any tactic for that matter. You can just strengthen a few areas if you wish with the 68 million you were given. I think with Chelsea it would be good to get at least one more striker. You have one of the strongest squads in the game already, no need to sell all your players. If you do want to sell, then I'd suggest you get rid of the players that simply don't fit into the tactic, like wingers for example. However, there are certain wingers that can be effective as strikers also.

[Mr Hough 10.3 Tactics]

I've downloaded those filters from the links provided and have made a 'filter' folder. I went to import the filter in and clicked ok and it hasn't done anything.

Am I doing something wrong?

EDIT: And with this tactic, can you just put any old player into the positions or do I need to get players in from the filters? As you can tell, I'm a complete noob at football manager ^^

After you've created a "filter" folder, you have to put the filters you've downloaded into it. Then in the game you can import them.

Yes you need to try to get players that the filters find, otherwise, the tactic wont perform very well.

[Quickfire Questions and Answers Thread (Tactic and Training Questions Only)]

This is going to sound really stupid, but what does it mean when my Assistant Manager (High determination, motivation and tactical knowledge 19 plus 100% club player knowledge) constantly keeps saying that:

-My short passing is appalling

-Most of my long passes are connecting.

Does it simply mean that I need to try a more direct passing approach or something else? I am playing a 3-4-1-2 with a good poacher (averaging more than a goal a game as Portsmouth). If he gets a near the goal, he scores.

Thanks for your reply

Yes, in that case you can try playing more direct because your assistant is saying that your players are completing few short passes while having success with long passes. However, I personally don't pay much attention to the assistant's feedback. First, because possession is not a priority for me. Having advantage in possession does not equate to winning a match. I always go by what I see on the pitch, not what my assistant tells me.

Second, his advice is rather trivial and misleading. He could be saying that you're not completing many short passes because a couple players have been struggling in this area, while the rest of the team is playing mainly medium or long range passes. He simply doesn't give you much of an explanation as to why the short passing has been poor, only that it has been poor and that's it. He could also, for example, say that your long range shooting has been poor, while only one long range shot has been attempted and missed.

[Mr Hough 10.3 Tactics]

Alittle off-topic from the current train of discussion but I have alittle info about the 4123.

Did the simple change to very rigid (without touching anything else) and it did improve the tactic slightly. It still struggles vs the same thing as it did with balanced though:

After hundreds of games I have found only one weakness in the 4123 and that is vs 442 diamond with ML and MR (not narrow in other words). You'll loose 70% of matches vs this formation and almost always loose them stats wise (meaning wins are usually lucky ones). I have yet to find a good solution and since it dominates all other formations it is usually not a problem, but can send you out of cups.

I find it strange that you're having difficulty against a wide diamond formation with a 4-1-2-3, because if anything, you should actually have the advantage in this case. You are packing the midfield and playing through the middle, where the opposition has only two players (AMC and DMC), plus there's a gap between them in which your two MCs usually sit.

Here's just one example of me playing against a wide diamond:

I also used some OIs, like tight marking the AMC and both STs, plus showing all players onto their weaker foot. Usually I don't use OIs at all, but when I play big teams, I tend to use at least some. The main thing is not to go overboard with the "close down" OI. That's the one that makes your team loose shape and open up gaps for opposing players. In my own game, I never use this particular OI, but I do use the other ones, because they don't affect your team's positioning so drastically.

[Quickfire Questions and Answers Thread (Tactic and Training Questions Only)]

1. Is it important to have coaches who have a big reputation to allow big players to come to your club? What other factors are important? Most of the bargain players I find don't want to come to me. Some even "laugh me off"! I am managing Portsmouth in the second season. I won the League 2 in my first season and was offered a job by Portsmouth straight away.

Club rep: 6384

Home rep: 6707

Current Rep: 6707

World rep: 3321

2. Also, which is the correct order of reputations:

local < regional < national < continental

OR

local < national < regional < continental

3. Also, apart from the coaching attributes, what mental traits are needed to get a higher coaching rating? AFAIK, it is determination, discipline and motivation.

1. It doesn't matter what reputation your coaches have. What matters is the club's reputation, the league reputation, and your own reputation as a manager.

2. local < regional < national < continental is the correct one.

3. Coaches need to have determination, level of discipline, and motivating, aside from their coaching attributes.

@DirtyACE - where I can find this hidden attribute in Genie Scout?

Have no idea. I don't use programs like Genie Scout.

[SFraser's Training Schedules for FM10]

All I get from this training schedule is injuries lasting a month or longer. This has happened to me all season and I'm now without seven first team players because of it. I appreciate what you tried to do here, but your training schedule has just screwed my team up the entire season.

I'm going back to Tug's.

It's doubtful that these schedules alone are at fault. Your team may simply be going through one of those seasons when injuries are more abundant, it happens. Or you might have players that are more injury prone.

There are so many people who have used these schedules with little problems, including myself. I've also had seasons when I had to use a lot of rotation because my team simply couldn't stay healthy for whatever reason. However, I've also had even more seasons when my players were quite healthy for the most part. Injuries come and go.

People jump to conclusions too quickly around here. Training schedules do not decide or 100% control whether a player will be injured or not. There's a myriad of variables that determine when and how injuries occur.

Dealing with injuries is part of management, and how you deal with them is one of the determining factors of whether you're a good manager or not.

[Mr Hough 10.3 Tactics]

mostly by defenders faults like passing the ball to the opponent on not clearing the ball good - And I'm playing with Real Madrid

Let your squad gel, especially since you brought in all those new players. Settle on a starting eleven and play it unchanged as much as possible.

[Mr Hough 10.3 Tactics]

I don't know why but the winger tactic isn't working well with Real Madrid. Conceding every game approx. 2 goals and the team doesn't play that good.

I think I will just wait for the full version of the tactic since dave said it was a beta

How are you usually conceding goals?

[Mr Hough 10.3 Tactics]

Mr. Hough, you gotta clear your PM box again man Can't send you any communiques.

[Mr Hough 10.3 Tactics]

That makes no sense to be honest. Tempo doesn't control how attacking or how often you go forward. It simply controls the speed at which your players play. How quickly they pass the ball around, how quickly they take shots upon receiving the ball, etc.

[Mr Hough 10.3 Tactics]

Thanks for that, what about on the left as there are no out and out left wingers in the squad. and i like playing Modric in the middle

Buying a left winger would solve that problem.

[SFraser's Training Schedules for FM10]

I am quite confused by all this.

How much training is enough for each area, to maintain and improve?

For example, I have a very good AMC, age 23, that he has acceptable levels of strength and stamina for me, 16 and 14 respectively. If I want to just maintain his physical attributes and improve his mental ones, what do I do? Should I just have 4 notches for stamina and 6 for aerobic and spend my remaining points at tactics, ball control and attacking?

Did you read the OP? In it SFraser explains how it all works.

[Mr Hough 10.3 Tactics]

I would try Jo as center striker and Fleck as one of the side strikers. You should also try to design a training schedule for Fleck which will improve his acceleration and pace a bit. Those are pretty much the only areas where I can see him lacking a bit.

You can find some good pacy strikers for cheap. Like Gaston Fernandez for example. He is free at the beginning of the game. There's also Etien Velikonja who plays for Gorika in Slovenia. Armin Zec who plays in Croatia. Mario Mandzukic, also plays in Croatia for Dinamo. Marco Ruben, plays for Villarreal, but can be bought for less than 1 million Euros. There's really plenty of cheap talent, just have to find it. The main thing in these tactics, is that the strikers needs to have at least decent pace and acceleration, plus flair, and decent technical ability. You can get away from them having not as much creativity. While you have little money, you have to make sacrifices and compromises. Then later on you can really look for top class strikers when you have more money. Or you can go a different route and develop your own, which is what I prefer doing mostly, because you can mould them into players you truly want. Like these two guys from my squad for example:

[Mr Hough 10.3 Tactics]

I think i understand what you're saying about creative freedom. This is my world-class midfielder Harry Armstrong:-

Now to me, he has all the stats a midfielder should have. Creativity, decisions, passing, technique, dribbling a bit of finishing and excellent workrate and teamwork. The one thing that lets him down is his flair stat of 9. So tell me if i'm right. He's the kind of player that see everything(creativity) but because of his flair stat he is hardly ever going to express himself fully through his stats all of the time. So his creative freedom should be around 7-12 clicks. Am i on the right track here? Thanks

He looks great, but yes, the low flair attribute will let him down at times, however, with so many other excellent attributes, he should still be just fine. I would personally just leave his creative freedom setting in the middle as it already is.

It's kind of difficult to give a complete explanation, but in his case, the low flair will prevent him from taking riskier options. With high flair, players will be more flamboyant or eccentric in their approach (think of Ronaldinho in his Barca days ). Like they'll try things that may seem impossible, more often. Harry Armstrong here, will still be quite creative, and will make great decisions, but he wont try really eccentric stuff. He'll just stick to the norm much more.

[Quickfire Questions and Answers Thread (Tactic and Training Questions Only)]

what attributes(including hidden) make player effective in roaming?

I want to set my AMC in free role in 4-2-3-1(wide) while wingers will play wide and my striker will play relatively deep. move into channels is also something I want him to do so some information about attributes for this setting will be good to

thanks in advance

I would say creativity, flair, decisions, off the ball, anticipation, and perhaps team work. However, there's a hidden stat also that is used. In the past it was called "free role", but now I imagine it's called roaming. Usually, AMC, FC, or AMC/FC type players will have best chances of being good roamers.

Anyone now how i set a player to tutor a youngster? can't seem to find it. And whats PPM? i hear people talking about it.

I used the search but it never finds what i want, thanks.

Tutoring:

Right click on the player you want to be tutored, a menu will open up. Select Interaction, then select Interact with Player. Screen shot below:

Then you'll be taken to a new menu, like the one below:

Keep in mind, it is the youngster that you have to tell to be tutored, not the actual tutor.

PPM is Player Preferred Move. You can ask a player to learn one of these, the same way you ask him to learn from a tutor. Go to player interaction, and there should a list of PPMs on the bottom of the screen.

1) How long does it take for a player to retrain to a new positon? For example say my player is natural but I want to retrain him to another position which he is 'Accomplished', how long will it take for this to be successful and do I need to play him in that new position the whole time he is learing?

2) How long does it take for a player to successfully learn a new 'PPM'?

1) Really depends on the player's versatility. Some can learn a new position very quickly, while others can take up to a year.

2) In my experience, it usually takes 5 or 6 months for a player to learn a PPM.

[Mr Hough 10.3 Tactics]

like i said with the anelka situation he drifts out wide.Let's say with this 4-1-2-3 tactic then,with man utd as they sometimes play that type of system but nani and valencia as wingers,if i used the 4-1-2-3 and play nani and valencia as the outer strikers will it work?as many teams play wingers and fm users like to use systems that imply that.I personally don't watch every game but watch a lot,and a good majority that have 3 up top have 2 wide men.In real life football i would say a lot more teams use 4-1-2-2-1 than 4-1-2-3.So back to my earlier sentence would nani,valencia,park,obertan and cleverly work in that wide roll???????

Yes, you should do fine with Valencia and Nani in the side striker positions. I don't see why it wouldn't work. Several people have already tried this or something similar. You can try searching through this thread, but there are players that have played wingers in those positions.

Just one suggestion, retrain both to strikers, and put them both on striker training schedules. This way you can perhaps improve their finishing and composure a bit.

I'm managing Newcastle Utd.

First of all, I need to pay tribute to your great tactic. and of coz to Mr Hough.

I won the Championship easily (As expected, not a big hoo ha)

but what was amazing is I won the BPL the first season I got up. (This is truely amazing)

Well, I think pretty much all the credit should go to Mr. Hough. He designed the original tactic. I simply tweaked it slightly here and there. However, thank you nevertheless

Anyway I feel its better I point out my question with the help of some screenshots.

The striker in question is Andy Carroll.

What I meant in my post is for Carroll, he only has 11 for his creativity.

Assuming the full backs regularly crosses the ball for him to head, I would want to put him in the centre striker position.

Yet for that position the Creative Freedom is actually maxed out. I am wondering if I should keep it maxed or I should actually drag it all the way from 'Much' down to 'Little'

Same goes for the two striking positions. (Although it is generally easier to get quick strikers with good Creativity)

Ok, I see what you mean. From the screen shot, it seems to me that Andy Carroll is a pretty bad striker for this position. He just has too many weak areas. In all honesty, if I was managing Newcastle, I'd sell Carroll. There are better options out there, like Mario Mandzukic for example. You can try lowering it for Carroll, but it will make that position less effective if you go too low.

Am I understanding the whole thing wrongly?

Or is there a stark difference between Creative Freedom and Players' Creativity?

I have been telling myself that if a player is generally not that creative, I should limit his creative freedom.

Similarly if he is very creative, >15, I would try to push his creative freedom up a few notches.

Yes, you're misunderstanding to a certain degree the relationship between creativity and creative freedom, but it's ok, many players do, including myself at some point.

Here's a really good explanation by SFraser from his thread about creativity and flair:

Creativity

Creativity is the ability to see things on the pitch. And not merely see possible passes but to see all possible options. From watching my team in action it is apparent to me that Creativity affects the ability to see every possible opening, opportunity or option. Creativity affects the ability to see finishes, to see ways of beating a man, to see where a first touch or dribble can go, to see targets for crosses or corners or the options for a freekick. Creativity is not merely an attribute for a playmaker sitting whipping the ball around the pitch, it is an attribute for everyone to see everything.

Flair

Flair is the desire to attempt the audacious and the ambitious, to take on risky options and try something. A genius without Flair is a conservative player taking the simple option and not expressing his ability. An idiot with Flair is someone you can be sure will always try to attack and try to make something happen but 9 times out 10 will completely waste possession.

A genius with Flair is a sight to behold. You give him options and make the game easy for him in terms of passes and runners and space and delivery to his feet and he will tear teams apart in a huge variety of ways. You slow down your Tempo just enough to make sure he doesn't rush and you can expect defences to be unlocked, the ball to be kept, opponents to be skinned, passes to be linked up and flicked accurately around.

Flair is the vital second component to Creativity. Without the ambition and desire to attempt the very things the player is capable of his talents will be wasted.

Now regarding the Creative Freedom setting. What it affects is flair, and flair affects creativity. It affects it by controlling how much the player is willing to express his creativity, or any of his other attributes.

[Mr Hough 10.3 Tactics]

upzz for some answers.

Sorry, I missed your post.

The requirements for strikers stays the same as what Mr. Hough already posted. What do you mean by them having only 10 or 11 for creativity? Can you explain this part a bit more?

Hmm, it would be preferable not to have strikers that are too slow (pace/acceleration less than 14), but if you have no choice, then I'd stick him into the center striker position. If he is strong, then that should offset his lack of speed. However, he also needs to have at least decent balance, because he'll be dealing with the center backs more often.

If I were you, I would invest some money into quick, technical strikers. It's ok if they're not so strong. If they have good pace, acceleration, agility, then you should be fine.

I understand what it is to manage with very little or no transfer funds at all. When I started my career with Cordoba, my board literally gave me no money to spend and my wage budget was a measly 60k per week. I ended up basically signing free players and getting loans in my first season and second. However, there are some great bargains around, just have to find them. Don't forget, you can also loan players that are good. When you're in a tight financial situation, you definitely need to compromise with your transfers. I'd recommend going the fast striker route. Speed is always good to have. The more, the better.

May I ask who you're managing?

[Mr Hough 10.3 Tactics]

I understand its just a game and of course it can be exploited but the truth is FM is supposed to be realistic to some degree. We get told this. When crazy formations come into it which are just unrealistic. It ruins the game. Just my opinion.

Exactly. That's your opinion. If it ruins the game for you, then by all means, don't use these tactics, no one is forcing you. However, if you have something positive or interesting to contribute, or have questions about these tactics, then you're of course welcome to do so, but don't come in here and try to preach about some fictitious FM ethics. People buy the game and play it the way they want.

I agree with you that FM is supposed to be realistic. However, these tactics are perfectly realistic as well. The formations are perfectly realistic. What is not realistic, or is simply lacking, is the game's match engine. As players, there's nothing we can do about that, except that tell SI that it needs to be improved.

Even think back to some of the previous FM versions. There were some that could not handle a lone striker for example. So what then, using formations with a lone striker was not realistic?

I think what many people are thinking is the formation 4-1-2-3,hardly any teams use this in real life,they use similar but the outer strikers play wider down the flanks.Man utd for example my favourite formation for them in real life,rooney up front on his own supported on the flanks by nani and valencia.Chelsea drogba in the centre supported by malouda and anelka,anelka playing slightly out of his natural position but does the job for them.

I suppose you watch every league and team in the world to be able to make that statement? How exactly is 4-1-2-3 is not realistic? What is so radical about this formation that makes you say this? The wide strikers go wide quite often in it. They act much more as wing forwards/inside forwards, than pure strikers. They provide width to the tactic, along with the full backs.

[Mr Hough 10.3 Tactics]

No, I mean the one with far post headers.

Yes, it uses that routine. You can always change it if you wish. However, it's not exactly an exploit. I've been barely scoring from corner kicks in the last 3 years and I have world class center backs, one of them attacking far post. Over 95% of my goals come from open play. But like I said, if you don't like it, then simply change the attacking corners routine.