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A second thought has occurred to me. If you used the preset Gengenpress tactic with no tweaks would that be as over-powered? I would wager it is impossible for the SI team for programme for all human players micro-management but maybe they can programme for the preset ones?

If you think that the Gengenpress instructions are over-powered then do not use them. It is your game and your time so set yourself challenges to allow yourself to enjoy the game. If you want to use OPed tactics then do so. BTW I am not telling you not to use them - just suggesting it. I only use the preset tactics with no tweaks, roles and mentalities with no PIs and leave the signings to my DOF. That means I do not exploit the game with either tactics or signing wunderkids my team would never sign in real life. I have only used Gengenpress once and it didn't work. My squad is best served to use wing-play but I sometimes switch to fluid counter attack if I am defending a lead. I use formation to counter opponents - ie two DMs to counter an AM behind two strikers. I have found a way to be successful without using an exploit. The games and the league are closer and the game is more fun for me. More fun than moaning about an exploit then still using it and complaining the game is too easy. Challenge yourself to find other ways to win. Try to win using a philosophy or formation you do not usually use - it can be fun.

If you look at real life football then teams have used exploits to over-achieve. You currently see it with Girona and Leverkeusen. In the last couple of seasons Brighton have used tactics to over-achieve. The thing is in real life the bigger teams learn how to counter it and that is maybe what the game is lacking. Leicester won the title using an exploit IRL but they lost two of their best players and that nullified the edge. Teams have adjusted to Brighton's edge. I remember Sheffield United under Wilder for the first time surprised teams in the Prem as did Brentford but adjustments have been made - and Toney may be bought by Arsenal in the January window. My team IRL, AFC Wimbledon, in League Two in England have had success with the high press. We have built a tactic that now bedded in and teams struggle with it. We have a bottom half budget but are in the playoff positions. It is is unfair to criticise the game for exploits that work in real life. What the game maybe needs to develop is AI that can counter the exploits. It can be done by bigger clubs buying lynch pins in an exploitative tactic or adjusting their own tactics for particular matches like the top coaches do.

I have watched this video and I do think that people are making a mountain out of a molehill. What his evidence does is to support a core thing that SI promotes. That the players Overall Fitness at the start of the game is the biggest factor as to whether a player plays well and stays clear of fatigue and injury. He has used the method of keeping all the but the tested attribute the same and there is rationale in his method. Naturally in the game players have different attributes but one thing to consider is a high tempo, high trigger press does not mean you will be fatigued. For instance Man City play with a high press and work-rate off the ball but can dodge fatigue because they also have a high possession stat which will have an effect on their fitness. I actually think that possession could have a bigger effect on fitness than the tactical style as that allows rest.

It is not guaranteed that playing Gengenpress will make your players more tired than other defensive systems. If you dominate possession - I am talking over 60% then there will be plenty of opportunities to rest. If you play out from the back and are maintaining possession then you are not high pressing then. I would wager some high pressers use less energy than those who sit back and defend deep. Also, in IRL, some clubs are better at dealing with the high press than others. Man City are happy dealing with it using a long ball to Haaland if they cannot play their way through and Brighton encourage it as a tactic. On the other hand Man Utd cannot deal with the high press, look at the Bournemouth game yesterday. The game could ensure that high-pressers with low possession would expend more energy than low/mid blockers or high possession teams. Also some teams can handle the high press better so you should get punished for using the high press against them.

As someone who supports a team who, for the last decade, has played in the EFL1 and EFL2 I can tell you the board will sell a player when the offer is deemed acceptable without asking the manager. In fact if the game is completely realistic you would flick over to a new day and find your star player has been sold anfd you have to sort out the replacement.

Do we know if the changes to the transfer AI and squad, match selection will make it to the console version? I prefer the simpler style of the game to the full fat PC version but not everything will make it in

I did get promoted in the game using only the Preset tactics without changing them. I used the fluid counter on games against the same division opponents where I was not favourite or away. The direct counter against teams in the cup from a higher division and Gengenpress when I was favourite at home. Incidentally, the game gave me a second chance when I lost 3-0 away to Coventry. I played 4-3-3 DM against their 3-4-3 wide with inverted attacking wingers. Their left winger scored two using the gap between my RB and RCB. The game crashed so I had to replay it. I chose a 3-4-2-1 formation and beat them 2-0 without changing Team Instructions so sometimes your defensive formation is just as important.

To explain this point I will talk about the real life difficulty in football. My club AFC Wimbledon. We brought through three decent Academy players Ayoub Assal, Jack Rudoni and Jack Currie. In the 21/22 season we were doing okay in L1 till we received an offer for Ollie Palmer and as we could not compete with Wrexham on wages we sold him. He was focal to our tactics, we couldn't replace him and we went down. In the 22/23 season we doing okay in L2 then Assal's release fee was met, he was the new focal point of our attack, we couldn't replace him and had a bad second half of the season. We also lost Jack Rudoni to Huddersfield and will probably lose Jack Currie this transfer window. We saw Leicester win the league then lose their best two players. West Ham have lost Declan Rice and probably Pacqueta this window. And Kane has gone to Bayern. Grealish went to Man City. I see a lot of threads about realism and difficulty in the game but surely the one that most mimics real life is that unless you are a wealthy club you will lose your best players and have to constantly rebuild. I know that realistic transfers will kill the 6th tier to Champions League winners save so would it be something that would add a touch of difficulty above getting the tactics right. And do not get me started on a 3rd tier or below club having the resources to find a 17 year old wonderkid from Peru - which would never happen in real life, I seem to very rarely get offers for my players even though we are performing well and they are some of the highest rated in the division. I think I have seen before that AI transfers are not the best.

Using a half-back and two defensive midfielders you can go from a defensive 4-5-1 to an attacking 3-2-5 of sorts. Not the way Pep does it but still do-able. You could try what I am playing a defensive 5-2-2-1 into an attacking 3-2-4-1. Having 2 AMs also helps with the higher press. Pep's formation and philosophy only works because he has the best squad. You cannot translate his tactics to most teams.

One thing to try is to change your BBM and CAR both to CM-Support and your DLP - to DM. Change your BPD to CD. I think the more specialised roles comes with more PIs issued as standard. When I look at the scout reports I very rarely see the AI use specialised roles like MEZ and CAR. I am running a Man Utd save myself with basic roles with no added PIs and it is a tougher ride. Only finished 5th and we were terrible in some matches, just like Man Utd in real life. I get the feeling that the PIs are the edge us users get - I am not too sure how the AI can use anything not programmed into the default roles without a mass of programming. It will be interesting to see the range of roles used by the AI. I do see the BWM and IF and IW but have never really see the really specialised ones. In short, I would limit the roles to the ones the AI seems to play through the scout reports with no added PIs

As someone who plays this on the PS5 I enjoy the stripped back version of the game as it seems a quicker way to play it. I would ask for two improvements if it is possible. 1) The ability to set different training focuses on each day. It doesn't have to be the huge choices of the PC game but maybe the ability to have this on a difficult away game: Mon - Attacking; Tues - Set Pieces; Weds and Thurs - Defending and Fri - Tactics. Also for the ability to have a day of rest to manage fitness. You can do this by browsing and stopping the processing but it is not fool proof and would be better as above. 2) Smaller files to upload to the PS Plus cloud. At the moment we have to load a 1.06 GB file where with other games it is only in the small MBs. Maybe the opportunity to only upload the save files you have changed.

The two restrictions I put on myself is these: 1 - have my Director of Football handle recruitment. This means I do not use searches to find game breaking wunderkids. I only look at the players they put in my inbox. I will add transfer targets but let him try and seal the deal. 2 - I do not add player instructions - apart from individual man marking if it becomes necessary. I just choose roles and mentality. Most of the super-tactics use a lot of player instructions. IRL I think you are lumbered with the players ability coupled with their mentality and you cannot change it with box-ticking. To add to that it would be nice to be able to tell a player how you want him to improve his game. I feel Guardiola has done a lot work on Grealish's teamwork. All we could is add that in the training focus but would like to be hold a player meeting on the same lines - is that possible. To tell a player he is only a sub because of his teamwork ethic?

I start this by saying playing as AFC Wimbledon, who will finish in the bottom third of L2 IRL, I have done well. Promoted finishing 2nd in my first season, finished 14th in the second and currently 12th in the third. I am playing as a head coach where the AI signs my players so I do not sign wunderkids to break the game. An example is my game away to Preston, who are a top side in this game. I play a 4-3-3 DM with wingbacks. After 80 minutes it is a close game 1-1. My sub striker gets a through ball and slots it home. So I decide to change my WIng-backs on support to Full-Back on support. Cue them dominating me and winning 3-2. They equalised and scored the third before my reversal went through. After I reverted I had another chance which was missed. The next game I an 1-0 up after 80 but decide not change anything and win the match without a problem even though my wingbacks are still bombing on. Obviously at Preston the ME read me going more defensive and punished me - excessively I thought. I also had a game when I was 4-0 down but a tweak of width got back to a 4-4 draw. I like this game but sometimes notice a tweak can result in a massive change which is more than happens IRL?

Can I add that controller drift on the Xbox and PS5 controllers is a known issue and happens on other games. You can Google it if want to. This may be the cause of the problem - the controller rather than the game itself. It, of course, will show up more with menu based games. This means that the controller can tell the game you are pushing the analogue sticks even if your not. It might be good if we could use the d-pad for menu navigation rather than the sticks as an option.

Cut and pasted my reply from another thread. Not too sure if that is frowned upon but I know different people read different threads..... I think this match engine over-reacts to tactical tweaks. I'll give you an example. As the newly promoted AFC Wimbledon I am expecting a more difficult time. After five matches I had 6 points. I was away at Plymouth who were third and I was fifteenth. They were playing a vertical tiki-taka so I thought I would try making them play outside, I would regroup, and hold shape. Well it backfired and I was 4-0 down after 20 minutes. I made changes and turned off making them play outside and added the counter press. By half time it was 4-2 and I had another goal disallowed. By full time it was 4-4 and I almost won the match but a header hit the inside of the post. So just two small tweaks turned an absolute drubbing into an almost win. The next game I was rubbish in the first half and went in 1-0 down. Changed a neutral press /regroup into the counterpress and was 2-1 up after five minutes of the second half. Conceded from a corner against the run of play but went 3-2 up in the 88th minute. So I thought I will see this out and changed my wing-backs to defensive full-backs. Cue, four highlights of them attacking where they eventually scored with a ball over the top to the wide striker with my full back out of position in the 93rd minute. Whilst bad tactics can cost you the win in L1 and L2 the players are not good enough for that kind of swing in performance especially in the Plymouth match.

I think this match engine over-reacts to tactical tweaks. I'll give you an example. As the newly promoted AFC Wimbledon I am expecting a more difficult time. After five matches I had 6 points. I was away at Plymouth who were third and I was fifteenth. They were playing a vertical tiki-taka so I thought I would try making them play outside, I would regroup, and hold shape. Well it backfired and I was 4-0 down after 20 minutes. I made changes and turned off making them play outside and added the counter press. By half time it was 4-2 and I had another goal disallowed. By full time it was 4-4 and I almost won the match but a header hit the inside of the post. So just two small tweaks turned an absolute drubbing into an almost win. The next game I was rubbish in the first half and went in 1-0 down. Changed a neutral press /regroup into the counterpress and was 2-1 up after five minutes of the second half. Conceded from a corner against the run of play but went 3-2 up in the 88th minute. So I thought I will see this out and changed my wing-backs to defensive full-backs. Cue, four highlights of them attacking where they eventually scored with a ball over the top to the wide striker with my full back out of position in the 93rd minute. Whilst bad tactics can cost you the win in L1 and L2 the players are not good enough for that kind of swing in performance especially in the Plymouth match.

Hopefully I have put this in the right place. I enjoy playing the game using the Preset tactics with minimal or no tweaks (and have set myself a challenge of playing the game using just the presets unaltered, with only team mentality, individual roles and mentality changes). I am looking for an attacking lower league preset for when I am favourite. I can use the counter attack ones when I am not favourite. The tika-taka, control possession ones are not the best for LL teams and I want something a bit more sophisticated than Route One. Wing Play naturally only works if you want to set up wide. It would be nice to have something between Route One and Tiki-Taka akin to what real L1 and L2 teams in the UK play. Not rush ball but not short passing. Thanks.

An update to this. I am playing with a 5-3-2 tactic and Wing Play does not appear in the tactical style list but... If I click on the down arrow in the Tactic name box and then go down to presets - Wing Play is there. Also if I try and create a new tactic the wing play option is there. It just does not appear for the 5-3-2 tactic I have. Weird.

Since the update the WIng Play preset tactic in the game has disappeared after the update. I mean the ones already in the game. I have two versions of the game, the PC and the Console one, and it has disappeared from both. I would like to see a standard lower league attacking preset which is between tika-taka and route one. I also struggled to get Wing Play to work but has it gone? I am playing a save where I can only use the presets without tweaking and can only change roles and mentality. It is a challenge made harder with the loss of a preset. Is there any plans for any more presets to come in or Wing Play to return?

The problem is that there is not a template for lower league sides that works for attacking. Wing Play is hit and mostly miss, any form of tiki-taka is not suitable and Route One means you have to have a big number 9. Control Possession is not good for chance creation. I am doing a save where I am only allowing myself to use the template tactics (with only tweaks to either team mentality or player role/mentality/positions) and Gegenpress is the only one that works if you want to attack. The game lacks a standard attacking option template for lower league teams which is between the aggressiveness of the Gegenpress and the ball retention of the Tika-Taka for those who do not want to play lump it up to the big guy football. Unless someone has any suggestions.

With my AFC Wimbledon save I use Gegenpress when I am favourite and Fluid Counter Attack when I am not. I switch to Control Possession when defending a lead.

One thing I have noticed is that the tactics you play affects player fatigue. I was seeing my central defenders got tired a lot and quicker than the other players during the match. I did some experiments using the preset tactics the game gives us. Using a defensive tactic like the Fluid Counter Attack makes your central defenders get tired where they need replacing but Gegenpress left them with enough stamina to see out the game. This may not be news to some but it does have some logic to it.

I said this in another thread but surely the best way to give a difficulty setting is the financial route. We have seen the way Wrexham have been transformed by their takeover and I wonder if that could be an option at the start especially for beginners. Start with their own L2/National League team but with a sugar daddy. I take it the game does not have that option already. Maybe there needs to be an option to do this to your club mid-game. If you are in a rut then use this option. I wonder if there is a way to nerf the likes of Man City and PSG financially if you want a bigger challenge. I personally let my AI Director of Football sign my players and so we stick to the club vision and not exploit the wunderkid situation.

I totally agree with this. Sometimes I would like to be to play one formation attacking and one defending.