Cleon

Brilliant read, really enjoyable. Will be following along.

I ended up doing the same in my box formation too with the fullbacks. Support FB's is probably the best role on the game imo. They still get forward, still contribute but get caught out of position far less.

I just approached youth development like I did on all saves. Just train the player in the roles I'm using in the tactic. Training is a bit boring on a save like this as you can't see the attributes so don't know what the player needs. But I just trained roles and used a lot of technical schedules to reinforce the possession aspect of the tactic and work on the core attributes that are needed for this style.

Part two of the analysis, I'm hoping I can have it finished by the weekend at the latest hopefully. I have lots of other stuff related to this save half finished too. As I've played 10 seasons now. So have lots to finish off in terms of tactics, analysis and scouting.

The thread was posted way before the holidays though and got zero engagement. Personally I don't believe it's an holiday thing, there's lots of great threads on here that seem to get zero engagements nowadays. I just don't think there's many people left on here who enjoy a discussion anymore. If there's no interactions there's zero point in me keep updating the thread and talking to myself. More effort than it's worth in the hope that someone might eventually ask something. As the thread will just fade away and no one really reads past page 1.

Genuinely thought more people would have been interested in this thread due to the tactics and analysis but think I maybe wrong. Can a mod close it please.

PART ONE This article - FM23: Data and Analysis to Enhance Team Tactics and Formations talks you through how I approach the game and use this data to shape my own tactics. I take a deep dive and discuss how I use the data and analysis to find issues, and attempt to fix them, amongst a whole host of other things too. FM23: Data and Analysis Introduction One of the key ways that teams can use data and analysis to improve their formations is by studying game footage to identify areas of strength and weakness. For example, a team may notice that they are having difficulty creating scoring opportunities from open play, and may use data and analysis to identify the reasons for this issue. This could involve studying the positions of their players during attacking phases, and using performance-tracking systems to measure factors such as the distance between players and their movement patterns. Another way that teams can use data and analysis to improve their formations is by analyzing player stats and team tactics. For example, a team may notice that their formation is not allowing them to maintain possession of the ball effectively, and may use data to identify which players are losing the ball most frequently and where they are losing it. This information can then be used to make changes to the team's formation and tactics, such as adjusting the positions of certain players or using different types of passes to maintain possession. Overall, the use of data and analysis in football is becoming increasingly important, and teams are using these tools to identify and solve issues with their formations, as well as to plan for upcoming games. By studying game footage, analyzing player stats and team tactics, and using technology such as performance tracking systems, teams can gain valuable insights into their performance and make informed decisions about how to improve their formations and tactics. For example, a team may use data to identify areas of the field where they are most likely to score goals and focus on taking shots from these areas during games. Similarly, a player may use data to identify their most accurate shooting areas and work on improving their shooting from other areas of the field. Stag’s Performance-Tracking Above when I was talking about real-life football, I mentioned performance-tracking systems on a few occasions. When I’m talking about this in Football Manager terms, I’m talking about things like Stag discusses. I’ll just link to his work as I couldn’t do it justice even if I wanted to. Additional Statistics in FM Statistics – What does “good” look like in FM23? These should give you an idea of how Stag created his performance-tracking systems and the data provided, to highlight how they work and what they track. When it comes to data on Football Manager, he is the person to follow, so check his work out. Along with these performance-tracking metrics, wkdsoul (Gaz) also added Stag’s metrics into a tab on an attributeless skin. That can be found here; https://community.sigames.com/forums/topic/571014-fm23-hodr-skin-attributeless-starless/ This is a great way of using Stag’s excellent data and metrics inside the game making it easier for you. For me, this has been one of the best addition to a Football Manager skin for a long-time. It allows me to get a quick snapshot of the data and how well my players are playing according to the data. Remember that the data is subjective though and that a low metric score, is fine if you don’t expect the player to be doing those actions which score lower. There is only you who knows what you are wanting from your team and tactics, so the data and what is good for you will differ drastically from the above. Stags' work is a brilliant starting point to adapt it for your own saves and decide which metrics are important to you. Combining FM23: Data and Analysis Once you’ve got a general idea of what data and metrics you’ll be using then it’s time to try applying this to your saved games by analysing games and the data. Next Opponent In addition to using data and analysis to identify and solve issues with your formations, you can also use these tools to plan for upcoming games. For example, you can use data to study the strengths and weaknesses of your opponent and adjust their formation and tactics accordingly. If you’ve assigned a scout and analyst to scout the next opposition, then in the data hub, the next opponent tab should resemble something like the above. Along with this, you should also have stuff under the team you are facings, team report. You can access that by going to the team you are playing and then choosing the team report tab. Some of the stuff you see under this tab overlap with the datahub but there is also information here you can’t find elsewhere. So if you really want to understand the opposition and see what their strengths and weaknesses are, then you should pay attention to these pages along with the data hub. Before we jump back to the data hub let’s take a quick look at the information we can access on the team report page and how we can use that to our advantage. On the overview above we can see what their best starting 11 is and have a rough idea of what role they play. Then on the right, we have a quick snapshot of the analyst report too. We can see that Sport Club do Recife are performing well above the league's average metrics. As a snapshot, we can see they’ll be no pushovers. FM23: Data and Analysis Strengths and Weakness If we dig a little bit deeper into the scout report, we can see the strengths and weakness page; Personally speaking here, I don’t really use this page much but still wanted to highlight it and talk about ways you could possibly use it. The reason I don’t use it is I don’t think a lot of the information in the weaknesses is that helpful to me, especially as I’m attributeless. So I’m aware of my own players too. From the strengths, we can see that they have a few relating to goalkeepers. Straight away we know this is a strength and just exactly how by the descriptions. So what we’ve learnt here is; Aerial reach Keepers like to catch the ball They can organise their defence with a strong command of the area. If we wanted to use this information to our advantage then we know any type of crosses into the box from open play or set pieces will likely fail or have to be very accurate to find success. Now, I play a possession-based brand of football and limit crosses. You can find more about the actual tactic I’m using here, rather than me posting about it here. As it was the last part of this series we did; The 5-2-2-1: A Comprehensive Guide So for me, crossing won’t be a big deal as we look to retain the ball and do passes to feet rather than play an aerial game. But if you did play a crossing game then you could find your usual play might not be an effective strategy. It’s something you’d either need to adapt for before the game or (this is what I’d do if it was me) keep an eye on during the game. This way you could see exactly how it was impacting you, if at all. This is my preferred method of playing, adapting to the game based on the actual context of how the match is playing out. You could do it before the game starts but that’s a lot of guesswork and there’s nothing to say your players can’t be successful. But it is certainly something you need to be aware of and ready to adapt to if it does actually cause issues during the game. In the weaknesses, we again also see a lot related to the goalkeepers. Bad reflexes Poor at one on ones It suggests they have low handling So the opposite of the strengths, which means we could take advantage of this by trying to isolate the goalkeepers and get them into one on one situations. We could perhaps try and get our attacking players into areas that will force the goalkeepers to dive across the goal or try to hold onto the ball. Every set-up will be different how they could do this. But if we are talking about the 5-2-2-1 formation we use, then our two attacking midfielders and the striker will be vital here. Things we could attempt to do here would be; Shoot on sight to take advantage of the bad handling Make the attacking midfielders more aggressive with a role or duty change Pass into space to encourage the attacking trio to run onto the ball, rather than having it passed to their feet. All of the above would be good ways of trying to test the goalkeepers, reflexes, handling and possible one on ones. It also says the squad in general is poor at positioning, concentration, anticipation, work rate and much more as I scroll down the list. This can all tie into what we do above. We could also maybe try and take advantage of this in other ways too. Higher tempo More direct passing More attacking width A higher tempo would see us moving the ball around faster and players being more hurried in their approach overall. This can unsettle the opposition and you can take advantage of any positional issues they have. More direct passing will also do the same and could take advantage of bad positioning along with a lack of concentration. If the scout is saying they have low concentration then it’s obvious that they switch off and can’t stay focused for a full 90 minutes. Attacking width can really stretch the player as it increases the positioning between your own players, meaning the opposition would have to account for this somehow. We know they lack concentration and general work rate too. So if we are asking the opposition to do more and faster with the other changes, then we have the potential to take advantage of all the weaknesses I’ve mentioned so far. I’ll not list all the weaknesses as I’ve already mentioned I don’t use them and just wanted to give you a few brief examples of how we can use this to our own advantage. It’s also important to note there that if you do adapt and make changes to take advantage of their weaknesses then you will likely stray from your own tactical approach and style. So just be wary of that when adapting to the opposition. If you adapt too much you lose your own identity so try and find the middle ground and correct balance for you. Comparison Now as I’m attributeless this page is useless for me as it doesn’t show anything. But in essence, it gives you the average of all your attributes compared to the opposition. Here you can see how you pit against them based on attributes. The general tab shows you things like average age, international caps and so on. So you don’t really get anything useful from this tab. On the other tabs though you can see how your defence matches up to the opposition and so on. Then you can even compare physical, mental and technical attributes. This information can be very useful if you want to target certain areas of the pitch. While initially, it compares your defence vs the opposition's defence, for example, we can still match this up with other areas. If we know the opposition's defence has a low average in this category and our attack has better jumping, speed, finishing, heading and so on. We could then perhaps try and target this area to take advantage of it. Things we could try are; Speed advantage - We can ask players to try and get in behind the opposition more. You can do this with team or player instructions such as passing into space, crossing early or running at the defence more. All of this would allow the player to use his speed. When I’m talking about speed here though I’m purely talking about acceleration. Pace would only be useful if it was a distance of 20 yards or similar, as this is a player's top speed. In shorter distances, he is hardly going to use this. So acceleration becomes more vital in these types of scenarios. As that is the player's ability to reach his pace from a still position. But to actually reach the top of his pace he’d require time and distance. You can apply the above logic to other areas too. Or if you’re the team who is lacking in an area, you can try and reduce the impact. So if we reverse the roles above and you’re the one lacking the speed advantage then here is what you could do to try and reduce the possible weakness. Defensive Line - This is your best friend when you lack speed. If you believe your players are mentally strong then playing with a high line when you lack speed shouldn’t be a major issue. As the players should be strong enough mentally to be in the correct positions and react better. But if they don’t then it’s likely going to be a massive issue. Mental attributes can offset any physical or technical attributes in my opinion. Mental attributes are essentially how intelligent the player is and intelligence outweighs everything for me. If your defence is lacking in both speed and mental aspects then perhaps playing a more standard defensive line could be beneficial. As can perhaps use a sweeper keeper to help with the balls that are played over the top of the defence. You can also still use a high defensive line even if they lack in all areas but perhaps take a more cautious approach and use the following setting; Drop Off team instruction - This instruction is a defensive line modifier to how you want it to behave. So even if you are using a high line, you can still use this instruction. It then instructs the defensive players to be more cautious when someone is in a possibly dangerous situation. The players should drop deeper and be warier of danger. Let me show you a visual of how it should work in the game, to better explain the actions you should expect from the defenders. I use a high defensive line but in this scenario, we are slightly deeper than usual due to the shape of the opposition and how they set up. This impacts your own defensive line and can push it back. It’s worth noting that even with a high defensive line, it will look slightly different from game to game. So don’t expect high to always mean pushed up to the halfway line, lots of factors can alter the initial position. So here we can see the defensive line we are holding. The opposition player, Souza is going to drive forward or pass the ball. This is where your defensive line setting kicks into action. If you don’t use the step-up or drop-off more instructions then the defensive line will just behave like usual. But if you use the step-up instruction then in the image above, the players will be looking to step up at this point. As they know there is possible danger and you’ve instructed them to step up. So they’d look to reduce the space between the ball carrier/passer and play the attacking players offside. With the step-up team instruction, you are possibly conceding space behind your defensive line to reduce the space in front of them between the ball and themselves. If we were using the drop-off more instruction then they’ll be more cautious and if no one is pressing the ball immediately, then they’ll begin to drop deeper. So in this type of scenario, you’d conceded space in front of the defence to reduce the space behind them. This can be handy for cutting out those direct balls to the attackers or balls played over the top behind your defensive line. Rather than your defensive line remaining high and increasing the chance they’ll get turned and beat for pace, you can minimise the risk of this as they retreat backwards. Allowing you to stay tight and compact. Jack Joyce who works on the match engine team for Football Manager, also posted about these settings. That post can be found here; https://community.sigames.com/forums/topic/569916-step-up-more-drop-off-more-do-they-work/?do=findComment&comment=13808125 This is just one of the ways you can use this information and try and eliminate such issues. I’ll not write more about this page as I don’t have access to it but wanted to show you how you can use this information in your own save. Before we move on to the team performance section of the article it’s also worth noting that the stats page of the team report can also be useful. Here we can get a quick snapshot of the basic stats and who is the best and worse at them. If you click on the little boxes it will take you to the team's overview page and will have filtered the stats to show you the entire metrics for the team in that particular thing. You could use this page to find a possible weakness and try to exploit it. Or to identify a specific player, like the best passer, and check what position they play. If they’re a playmaker then you know that the likelihood is, the majority of the play goes through them. You could try and cut the supply off or mark the player tighter to try and limit how influential he could be. FM23: Data and Analysis Team Performance When watching a Football Manager game either in real-time or after the match, many things can be looked at to gain insights into a team's performance. Some common things to look out for include the positioning and movements of individual players, the team's formation and tactics, and the overall flow and tempo of the game. For example, when I watch footage of a game, I look at the positioning of the players during the attacking and defensive phases. This could involve analysing the distance between players, the movements of individual players, and the positions they adopt when receiving the ball. By studying these factors, I can identify any issues with their positioning and movement, and make adjustments to improve their performance. Or perhaps I don’t change anything and just make either a written or mental note about the things I am seeing happen. It’s important not to be rash with my decisions and change things without seeing why something happens. Tactics and Formation Analysis In addition to looking at player positioning and movement, I can also watch games to study the team's formation and tactics. This could involve analysing the team's overall formation, as well as the specific roles and responsibilities of individual players. By studying these factors, I can identify any issues with the formation and tactics, and make adjustments to enhance their performance. Overall, when watching a game, there are many things to look out for, including player positioning and movement, team formation and tactics, and the overall flow and tempo of the game. By studying these factors, I can gain valuable insights into their performance and make informed decisions about how to improve and what our real weaknesses are. My focus here is purely on what my own team does, I don’t pay attention to the AI or what they’re doing. If my team plays like how I’ve instructed then we’ll be successful. I want to force my style of play and tactics on the AI. I don’t want to be the one who is always adapting and losing sight of what we are building. That doesn’t mean I won’t change things but for 99% of things, I only change if something we are doing, isn't working. FM23: Data and Analysis General Performance Data Now we can move on to the data hub and show how I use it to see how we are performing. These are our metrics at the end of the season for our first season in Brazil’s top division the Brasileirão - Série A. At first glance, the metrics don’t look too bad although we seem to be underperforming in a few of them. This is where things can get tricky when learning how to interpret this data. There are a few things we need to account for here; Expectation Squad Quality Playing Style We were a newly promoted side who were expected to get relegated straight back to the Brasileirão - Série B. But we didn’t, we managed to stay competitive throughout the season and beat expectations. That doesn’t mean we dominated though or had a squad capable of dominating every aspect of the game. We focused on specific aspects to excel at, which we will discuss further in the article. The quality of the squad was always going to be an issue. Last season the chairman sold our four best players for around £25 million and only gave us £500k to replace them. Which was understandable as we were haemorrhaging money at an alarming rate. Nonetheless, we managed to bring in a few decent players on free transfers. No one is really spectacular but enough to give us bodies and replace the positions we lost. Although the quality of those brought in wasn’t as good as the ones I lost. I then had to decide how we were going to play at the start of the season. The season before I’d changed our playing style from a low possession one to one that craves possession, which I linked a little earlier in the article. It worked well over the season and got us promoted. So I decided we’d stick with that style. What this meant was, to stop the opposition from hurting us with the ball, we have to retain possession at all costs. We didn’t have the quality in the side to go toe to toe with other teams as there’s some real heavyweights in this division. But if we dominate possession and time on the ball, we eliminate a lot of the opposition's threats. Playing this way would also allow us to attempt to keep it tight at the back and if you can keep clean sheets, then you always have a chance of gaining points. All you need is to take your chances and be clinical at the other end and you have a winning combination. This is what we attempted to do. So the key points for our season became; Retain possession at all costs Keep clean sheets Take our chances Don’t be reckless overall Now if we go back to the polygon above we can see I completed a lot of passes. We had a really high shot-on-target ratio which shows we aren’t being wasteful because we also had a higher goal-per-game ratio compared to the rest of the league too. Yet our expected goals were lower than the rest of the league's average as were our shots per game. Overall I’m happy with our general performance overall initially. But while we are clinical it seems, the actual shot quality we have is quite poor. At some point, this will work against us. There is only so far and for so long that you can have success with poor shot quality, regardless of how clinical you are. Sooner or later the goals will dry up and those 1-0 wins we’ve had this year could become 0-0’s or even losses if our defence isn’t as strong too. So we need to make a note of this and delve deeper into the reasonings behind why it’s way below the league's average. The low frequency of shots doesn’t bother me so much, as this was our intention. But perhaps we are keeping the ball more than we need to be. Yes, we’ve managed to overachieve this season but that happens when the things that went n our favour this year, start going against us. We will be in major trouble. This is why we have to study the context in which you win games and play in general. You can have a fantastic season as I have but still be poor. If you want any type of consistency over a large period of time then you need to build a foundation that allows it. I’m not at that point yet and have lots of work to do. Possession You can see we attempt passes at a rate much higher than the league's average. We can also see the areas we are attempting the passes from. Due to us playing out from the back there aren’t any real surprises here and the 24% and 37% of passes in these areas should be expected. We have an image now that shows we seem to attempt the most passes just before the halfway line. There don’t seem to be many passes attempted deep in the final third of the opposition's half though. 6% seems really low, is this a contributing factor to the low quality of chances I mentioned a few moments ago? It seems like they could be connected. There are many reasons why this is happening though. What I’d do here is either make a mental note or write it down, so that later on, when we start the match analysis, I know what to look for. Not many final third passes attempted Low shot quality Those are the main two factors we need to explore in more detail. It’s possible they’re both linked and part of the same issue. But we won’t know that until we start the analysis. This just confirms what we already knew, that we have a high pass completion rate and we pass more than any other side. This screen is interesting as it gives us a little more insight into if our possession game is working or not. We lose possession less than any other side in the league which is a good indication of our playing style working. It shows we aren’t losing the ball much and reinforces the passing completed scatter graph. Our possessions won per game is low though but that is likely due to us retaining the ball way above the average. Meaning we don’t have to win the ball back as much as other teams in the league. I suspect our winning possessions just before the halfway line is a byproduct of our pressing game. As we use a high defensive line and aggressive press, it’s these sorts of areas I would expect us to win the ball back. Especially when our midfield is the strongest area of our tactic. I’d be really worried if we didn’t dominate this area. We seem to be doing well winning the ball in deep areas too. A player records a lost possession any time he loses the ball in any way, be it a failed dribble, incomplete pass, going offside or any other action that results in his team losing possession. So this is again expected due to the 5-2-2-1 formation we are using being strongest in central midfield areas. This is where we have the most players at any given time, so losing possession here is expected. It’s also worth noting that I also use ball-playing defenders too as they can often attempt to launch defence-splitting passes. Or risky passes in general from deep areas into the kind of area where we are recording lost possessions the most. It could be worth double-checking this when we do some match analysis to confirm if this is part of the issue or not. Teams producing a high number of final third passes against us are likely down to the high defensive line we employ. The way we play high up the pitch makes this a vulnerable area for is, if the defensive line is breached. This could be from being caught high up the pitch, balls over the top or their own defence-splitting passes. I don’t think the numbers against us are that worrying though and seem to be in line with other teams who finished near the top of the table. We can be pretty happy with these metrics I feel and they don’t reveal any major issues. Finally, we have the passing dynamic scatter graph that could be another indication of our press working. Teams complete a low number of passes against us which could be related to a number of things, all of which could be down to our tactic and playing style. One of those is that the press is working and we aren’t giving the opposition much time on the ball. Which is making them hurry their passes and not be successful. It could also just be down to the fact of us having the majority of the ball share too. Meaning the opposition isn’t having the time in possession compared to the league's average, due to us dominating the ball. Defensive Analysis Now it’s time to look at specific areas in more detail to see if we can spot any issues or things we need to work on. We are quite solid defensively and have bodies in the way to block shots, so the defensive structure seems to be working. Us making fewer clearances than other teams isn’t really an issue as it is part of our tactical setup. We’ve instructed the team to play out from the back. So when the ball is won back, we are likely trying to pass the ball around rather than lumping it up the pitch or into the stands. A defensive action metric is a statistic that measures the number or effectiveness of defensive actions taken by a player or team during a game. This can include tackles, interceptions, clearances, and other actions that help prevent the opposing team from scoring or advancing the ball. While we have made less than the average for the league on defensive actions, we are doing them in the areas you’d expect. 38% in and around our own box. Playing out from the back could be another factor as to why we are below the league's average as it we don’t do clearances often or it could be down to something else. I’m going to make a note of this and add it to our list alongside Not many final third passes attempted Low shot quality Defensive actions I don’t think it’s a major concern but I want to check just to be sure a little later on. The article is becoming really long here, so I’ve no real choice but to split it up. If I don’t there are going to be other 5k+ words and that is likely too long to retain your attention. In the second part of the article, we use the data discussed above to work out if our tactics are working and what we need to improve on. While also taking a deep dive into actual matches and seeing how the data lines up with what you see happening on the pitch. We tie it all together. For example, do you want to know if your press is working and use the data to confirm it is while watching a game? Or want to know how I use the data to decide team instruction changes? We have it covered and so much more. Hope you’ve enjoyed the first part.

It all depends on the rest of the setup. This thread is likely the wrong one for the question. Perhaps create a new thread with how you set up, what you're wanting etc and people can contribute to it.

It does make a difference, I use it. I've shown above what it does and SI clearly states here how it works; The issue with that Youtube channel is, the user doesn't understand what he's testing or how something should and does behave but jumps to conclusions about what he thinks it should do, which isn't the same thing. I've not seen him post anything worth taking note of yet. He just posts a lot of misinformation that people then run with as a fact.

Potentially depending on how intelligent the players are, yes.

His examples imo aren't the drop deeper/step up instructions at play at all. For a better explanation here; Thanks. I'm about 4k words in so far and posted a little snippet on social media earlier. But I'll post it here too to wet the appetite; I've seen a lot of confusion surrounding the defensive line and the new settings step up, drop off more. So here is a little something from an article I am writing; I use a high defensive line but in this scenario, we are slightly deeper than usual due to the shape of the opposition and how they set up. This impacts your own defensive line and can push it back. It’s worth noting that even with a high defensive line, it will look slightly different from game to game. So don’t expect high to always mean pushed up to the halfway line, lots of factors can alter the initial position. So here we can see the defensive line we are holding. The opposition player, Souza is going to drive forward or pass the ball. This is where your defensive line setting kicks into action. If you don’t use the step-up or drop-off more instructions then the defensive line will just behave like usual. But if you use the step-up instruction then in the image above, the players will be looking to step up at this point. As they know there is possible danger and you’ve instructed them to step up. So they’d look to reduce the space between the ball carrier/passer and play the attacking players offside. With the step-up team instruction, you are possibly conceding space behind your defensive line to reduce the space in front of them between the ball and themselves. If we were using the drop-off more instruction then they’ll be more cautious and if no one is pressing the ball immediately, then they’ll begin to drop deeper. So in this type of scenario, you’d conceded space in front of the defence to reduce the space behind them. This can be handy for cutting out those direct balls to the attackers or balls played over the top behind your defensive line. Rather than your defensive line remaining high and increasing the chance they’ll get turned and beat for pace you can minimise the risk of this as they retreat backwards. Allowing you to stay tight and compact.

I explained the d-line, step up more and drop off yesterday here;

1. If you had someone in the MR/ML positions they would but don't think anyone else would from what I remember. 2. If you want players to cut back then you won't to encourage less crossing in general and have actual supporting players who they can cut back to. So the players role surrounding the CWB are just as important as the CWB's role.

1 - Pass into space is a pass which isn't to the players feet. It's passed into space for him to run onto instead. Take more risks means the player will pass the ball even if there is a 10% chance that it will be successful. I.e the player is going to be more risky and attempt stuff even if the success rate is low. Both of these settings are different and not the same thing. 2 - Work ball into the box tells players to pass the ball around much more often. So you're basically retaining the ball more and encouraging passing more. Note the word encouraging, it doesn't mean you won't cross, do through balls, pass it long, shoot from distance etc. Shoot less often and cross left often are exactly what they say. Again all settings do a different thing, though there might be slight cross over. 3 - The opposite of works ball into the box. Players will shoot even if its a low chance of being successful. Shoots more often asks the player to shoot when a decent chance is on, rather than passing. Again both settings are different as the TI is asking players to shoot when it's a low percentage. While the PI is asking players to shoot more rather than pass when they have a decent chance. 4 - With hit early crosses, it's the first thing on the players mind. So they'll look to cross more as soon as they can, regardless of their position. The TI is telling the players how to behave with regards to crosses. Cross more often asks the player to cross more often when in an area they're position works in. So a CWB for example will cross from whatever normal areas he goes to rather than maybe passing. You're telling him to forget passing and cross instead 99% of the time. Cross from deep tells the players they don't have to wait until they reach a specific position to be able to cross the ball and it doesn't have to be the first thing they think of. Just that is a cross is on, they can do it before the final third. Cross from byline does exactly what it says. Tells people to always look going to the byline before crossing and not to do it before. All of the PI's are encouraging the player to do this action more often from specific areas. Again very different to the TI. 5 - Run at defence is instructing the attacking players (AML/R/AMC/Strikers) to run at the defenders more often. The TI is telling them to run towards the defenders in the hope they panic/make a mistake/catch them off guard. Dribble more is a PI that is asking the individual to take people on rather than passing. Again both completely different to each other.

It's a by product of your shape too. In mine he has central and wide player to interact with and pass too. In a 4-2-3-1 the dynamic is a little different usally because of how the CM's line up and the fullback will likely go deeper initially than compared to my set up. But there are things you can do. You could ask him not to take risks, as this will encourage him to be less risky than needed with his passing. especially for long/direct balls. Or you could give him a support role and ask him to cross less, if that's the main aim. He'll just start his run later/deeper than usual.

Thanks. I'm about 4k words in so far and posted a little snippet on social media earlier. But I'll post it here too to wet the appetite; I've seen a lot of confusion surrounding the defensive line and the new settings step up, drop off more. So here is a little something from an article I am writing; I use a high defensive line but in this scenario, we are slightly deeper than usual due to the shape of the opposition and how they set up. This impacts your own defensive line and can push it back. It’s worth noting that even with a high defensive line, it will look slightly different from game to game. So don’t expect high to always mean pushed up to the halfway line, lots of factors can alter the initial position. So here we can see the defensive line we are holding. The opposition player, Souza is going to drive forward or pass the ball. This is where your defensive line setting kicks into action. If you don’t use the step-up or drop-off more instructions then the defensive line will just behave like usual. But if you use the step-up instruction then in the image above, the players will be looking to step up at this point. As they know there is possible danger and you’ve instructed them to step up. So they’d look to reduce the space between the ball carrier/passer and play the attacking players offside. With the step-up team instruction, you are possibly conceding space behind your defensive line to reduce the space in front of them between the ball and themselves. If we were using the drop-off more instruction then they’ll be more cautious and if no one is pressing the ball immediately, then they’ll begin to drop deeper. So in this type of scenario, you’d conceded space in front of the defence to reduce the space behind them. This can be handy for cutting out those direct balls to the attackers or balls played over the top behind your defensive line. Rather than your defensive line remaining high and increasing the chance they’ll get turned and beat for pace you can minimise the risk of this as they retreat backwards. Allowing you to stay tight and compact.

If you want to read about dominating possession even further then check out this thread I did last week. We went from a side who was happy to have 30% of possession to a heavy possession side, going to 64%+ and then 74%+ the following season

There isn't a hierarchy that's the whole point. Everything is equal. Yups spot on. Every system has pro and cons whether it's the AI manager or the human user. Every system has things that can be taken advantage of. Sounds to me though that you're more looking for exploits and looking to "game" the game rather than play. And I think that discussion isn't for this topic, as I'd rather teach people how the game works in a logical way. Not in a way to school the AI by taking advantage of bad coding or game mechanics.

Probably yeah, especially if both were perfect fits. I don't think either of those traits are bad, even if you want the player to be deep/attacking.

Thanks. I did post it on here too but it didn't get much love

Currently in the middle of writing some analysis and data pieces on the 5-2-2-1 and how I use the data to refine the system. As well, as using the data to identify issues and fix them.

Yeah the PF would be a good choice. I wrote about strikers quite recently and how to select the best role to fit your tactics. https://www.viewfromthetouchline.com/2022/09/09/choosing-the-best-striker-role/

You changed the striker role from the more aggressive one to a more passive one. A DLF is a creator above all, so isn't very good at leading the line. If you have a DLF on support then you need both the wide players getting into the box. Ideally out of the front 3, you want atleast 2 attacking the box constantly and then support from the midfield. The DLF drops off and plays 90% of his game outside the box and doesn't lead the line. You've changed a fundamental role in the HB to a anchor, which then changes what the BPD's do and the frequency. Using anything other than a HB means they're a lot more passive with their passing and don't spread as wide as when using a HB. The advanced playmaker doesn't move about as much as a RPM and doesn't use the width as well. A roaming playmaker basically has a free role, meaning play is less predictable and they use the pitch better. The roles and duties I used were to create a specific playstyle and use the ball in a very specific way, as highlighted in the thread. What you need to do is think about the changes you've made and how they alter that playstyle and the reasonings behind the changes. Your asking me how to be more aggressive and create more but you made changes on your own. So why did you change things, what is the reasonings behind the roles you choose? As that will answer a lot of your questions. You need to have a reason behind the changes you've made and why. And understand how this changes the play.

I wrote about the 5-2-2-1 earlier in the week. I didn't use a RPM. But the topic is really detailed and should have enough information in it, to help you sort your issue by understanding the shape and what it's good at and what it isn't and help you incorporate the RPM.

I'm special enough for you to create an account and this being your first post to be about me though The systems work well for others too. Other people have posted their success using the same or adapting them. So not sure what your point is, especially as the article is about possession, how to retain it, how to use it etc above the formation itself.