(sic)

February 3, 2022

3 hours ago, luckydutch said:

I see! That would explain their relatively passive play.

I worry that by ditching the overlap command, I won't get the (relatively) consistent stream of goals coming in from fullback crosses. I usually score a goal a game from a low cross. Trent is on 15 assists in 18 games!

Suppose you can't have everything in a tactic.

I wouldn't worry about that, Wingbacks will naturally overlap, especially on attack duty. Overlap just makes them even more attacking and the wingers ahead of him more conservative (in the sense that they might not make a run but wait for the WB to overlap). If you want one of your wide players to score more goals, then a switch to a IF-A would be great. If you want to replicate Liverpool more closely, I'd recommend dropping the MEZ-A for a less aggressive role, and having IF-A Salah.

4 hours ago, luckydutch said:

It seems like we struggle to get anything done through the middle

I wouldn't worry about that bit of info. In all of my saves, no matter the tactic, I get the same report, "Final Third Entries - Central" listed as negative. It's usually the same thing for the opposition, so it says Opposition Final Third Entries - Central as a positive (meaning they don't really do it often).

January 31, 2022

On 06/12/2021 at 13:35, Abdullah Patel said:

Are there any new thoughts on this?

Absolutely. I do pretty much agree with both pressing suggestions so I wont go into that.

While I've had previous discussions about having separate attacking and defensive formations, there could be a much simpler way to resolve player movement and positioning.

One way to do this would include a player instruction telling players to move to the left, right or stay in the middle, or a rework to the stay narrower/wider instructions.

In OPs case, IWB-S would move to the left midfield spot. With previously mentioned instruction, we could have a central player (DM-Su) move to the right to form a double pivot in midfield with the IWB. The same thing applies to forming a back 3, each position would shift to the left. Currently FB-D with Sit Narrower would move a bit more centrally, and CB on the left side with Stay Wider would move a bit more wide. RCB, who in this case should be sitting centrally, is often found sitting in his RCB spot during buildup phase, so the move to the left / stay central instruction would make him sit more centrally.

The same could be applied to any position on the pitch, allowing for more freedom to manage the player's movement (especially important in the buildup phase).

Also regarding Wingback position. As discussed in my Inter thread, and in the OP.

On 27/09/2021 at 23:25, zabyl said:

When I push WBs to CM strata to use them as DWs, they press high but they can't come deep to create a back-5 after defensive transition.

1 hour ago, rouflaquettes31 said:

To be short, wingback are too defensive, and wingers too offensive :-)

Wingbacks are fine defensively but can be lacking offensively and vise versa for Defensive Wingers and the ML/MR spots generally when they are sole wide players (depending on what you want them to do, in Inter's case they are positioning themselves higher, pushing forward early and getting into the box, we are able to do that with Defensive Wingers or regular Wingers for example, but not the Wingback. In defense wingback is perfect to form a back 5 in defensive transitions, but Defensive Winger or any player in ML/MR spots wont do that).

In general there should be more freedom with player positioning and shapes in possession. There are many examples of teams defending in one shape and attacking in another, and I feel that while some of them can be somewhat replicated, a lot of them can't.

January 31, 2022

On 27/01/2022 at 12:57, Ivan787 said:

Yeah I understand. I will try improving the play of Dumfries and now Gosens (wow!) with Gets further forward.

Just another question. I like very much the way in which Barella open the play moving wider and Dumfries cuts inside acting like a true forward. Something similar is shown in the first picture of "Striker partnership" sector.

I try almost everything but the only way in which I was able to achieve that movement was setting Dumfries as Inverted Wingback on attack duty. Which has nothing to do with the way ho plays in real life.

Any suggestion?

I'm not sure how well it can be replicated in game, maybe Roam From Position would help. Or using Inverted Wingers as wide players, but then defense would suffer.

38 minutes ago, rouflaquettes31 said:

Good article !

My tactic is approximately the same. And I struggle to have a good behavior for my wide players....
To be short, wingback are too defensive, and wingers too offensive :-)
For my team, I prefered a Wide Midfielder on support (depending on my players), but it annoys me when the midfileder just stop to defend when opposite winger is high on the pitch...

I think the player is as important as the position.

Yes, that's probably the toughest part to get right. If you want to get the attacking movement and positioning right then ML/MR spots are great, but defensively WB would be much better.

Even with Player Traits on WB position you can't really get them to perform as they would in a more advanced position.

That's why having some sort of separate offensive and defensive formations or having more options to influence player movement in attack and defense would be great to have inside tactical creator.

January 27, 2022

1 hour ago, Ivan787 said:

Hi, thanks for the great posts.

I have only a doubt about the wingers position. I know that during attacking phase they are often very high, but during defensive phase they form a 5-man line with the 3 CBs. I think that positioning them like defensive wingers they will not track back enough. Probably a WB position, together with "gets further forward" PPM to learn could be better.

I had the same concerns as well. While they wont form a 5 man defensive line that you might expect from Wing Backs, Defensive Wingers absolutely do track back and engage the opponents in the defensive third.

I agree that defensively it might not be exactly how Inter play, but I couldn't make the WB position work like it does IRL. I have tried with CWB-A or WB-A, but the WBs mainly stay wide in support rather than pushing forward early (being in line with strikers often) and getting into the box. So it was a matter of deciding between which part I'm going to try to make work (because I couldn't make them both work at the same time).

Another option could be using PPMs like you mentioned, maybe Gets Further Forward with Gets Into Opposition Area could work.

In general that's the issue I have with the tactical creator in FM, you often have to compromise between replicating the defensive shape and the offensive shape (with some tactics you just can't have both at the same time).

January 25, 2022

2nd post is updated.

Here are some IRL stats and some stats after simulating a season with Inter using this tactic.

Stats

Here, we'll compare some real life stats with in-game stats. I have simulated an entire season with Inter using my version of the tactic.

By looking at the stats from whoscored, we can see that almost every player is contributing with goals and assists. Hakan Calhanoglu and Nicolo Barella look like the standout performers. Hakan with 6 goals and 7 assists, and Barella with 2 goals and 7 assists so far in the Serie A. Lautaro Martinez is the top scorer with 11 goals (and 2 assists) while Dzeko is second with 9 goals and 3 assists. We can also see that wide players are also contributing with goals and assists, as well as the CBs.

Note that these stats are only from half-way through the season.

Now let's compare that with in-game stats.

Defenders: Milan Skriniar - 6 goals and 4 assists in 47 apps

Stefan de Vrij - 1 goal in 48 apps

Alessandro Bastoni - 3 goals and 4 assists in 45 apps

Midfielders: Marcelo Brozovic - 3 goals 4 assists in 44 apps

Hakan Calhanoglu - 6 goals and 16 assists in 48 apps

Nicolo Barella - 10 goals and 10 assists in 49 apps

Ivan Perisic - 4 goals and 5 assists in 47 apps

Denzel Dumfries - 3 goals and 9 assists in 41 apps

Forwards: Lautaro Martinez - 29 goals and 9 assists in 48 apps

Edin Dzeko - 24 goals and 8 assists in 49 apps

As we can see, while our strikers are obviously scoring the most goals (53 between the 2), they are well spread across the whole team as well (36 between 8 other players).

Sadly, we finished 2nd in the league with 87 points (6 draws and 5 losses), 12 behind Lazio who finished first. We have scored 88 goals (2nd most in the league) and conceded 29 (best in the league).

The main point of simulating the season wasn't to see if the tactic will be able to beat everyone and win everything, rather to see that this tactical replication also works in the game.

January 24, 2022

12 hours ago, BuzzR said:

On the other hand I've seen the topics of published skins- dear god, the amount of stress inducing demands: " this is ugly", " this is not like I want it ", " why isn't that like the other ?", " can you do it like this?". I would never ever put myself through something like this, if I could manage to build a decent publishing-ready skin.

If there are things that can be improved (or just general bugs) I usually do go out of my way to fix them, but far too many people come in with endless personal requests. And it never stops. You might think, "oh I'll just add this, it doesn't seem like an issue", after that you'll have someone asking for another thing, and then another, and another... This year I did fix issues and add some bits and pieces for a few weeks after the beta, and I've tried to ignore some of these requests. If someone really wants that background selector or whatever feature they were asking for, maybe they should learn how to add it themselves.

I design my skins to my personal taste first and foremost, then I make sure that everything works properly and maybe add some features that a lot of people find useful. I will not go out of my way to add something to the skin that I myself wouldn't use, it's just a waste of time for me and I get nothing out of it.

11 hours ago, keysi said:

I wrote something about it here as I needed to put some words together about it some time ago. I won't copy/paste it here in full so if you are interested, feel free to read.

I feel you. I can't say I've had too many issues with people copying my stuff (not that I know of at least, besides one instance).

I did notice someone had uploaded a skin, basically copying my whole player and home panels, the club page from your skin, and some other stuff from other skins, under their own name. "The author" has credited the original authors after I have contacted them about it, but nothing about that skin was theirs, everything was taken from other skins and just mixed together by that person. The explanation I was given was that "I've put panels from other skins to a make a skin how I like it. I've just published it because someone else might like it too". I'm sure the person didn't have any malicious intent, but it really comes off as stealing other people's work. Why should I spend hours and hours making something and figuring out why a certain piece of code doesn't seem to work the way I want it to, when a random person can just download my skin, take everything and publish it under a different name.

Because of these two things (endless requests and people "stealing" work), I do understand why some creators want to monetize their work. Hell, I've even thought doing it myself.

14 hours ago, Tyburn said:

In my opinion monetising skins, in any format, should not ever be allowed, because the code is NEVER unique. 95% of it is SI’s anyway. Just rearranged.

Sure you could say you are just rearranging the code SI have provided, but at the same time it still requires a lot of time and effort (and it usually isn't just the matter of rearranging it). After all, we as users cannot magically create new code, we can only use what already exists.

In general, with design (webdesign especially), the same argument would be, "You are just using different colors and rearranging different shapes that aren't unique and that already exist, you aren't creating anything new".

However, if monetization is allowed and many more skin makers start utilizing it, you could have situations where some people might just take other people's work and profit off of it. You, or the SI can't really do anything about that, unless they forbid monetization outright.

January 23, 2022

Replicating the positioning and movement in game

The 3-1-6 Shape

Since our starting shape is a 3-5-2, it's really easy to achieve the 3-1-6 shape we want in the buildup.

First, we have to make sure we have a defensive midfielder sitting in front of the 3 centre-backs (The "1" - Brozovic role).
Second, we need our wide players to position themselves higher, at the halfway line, and sometimes in line with the two strikers. To achieve this we have to place our wide players (Perisic and Dumfries/Darmian) in the ML/MR positions. This also helps us in the latter stages of attacks, as those same wide players would look to get into the box, which encourages our Wide Centre-backs to overlap.

Average positions map

Pass map

As you can see from these 2 screenshots, it looks spot on.

Player roles and movement

Here I want to focus on a few key positions/roles for this tactic.

1. The Defence and the WCBs (Bastoni and Skriniar).

As we have seen in the first post, WCBs are very aggressive in their tendency to make forward runs. Both Bastoni and Skriniar like to go forward to support the play, often making both overlapping and underlapping runs, and often getting into the opposition's box. In FM22, we can finally replicate that sort of movement by using the Wide Centre Back role. In my tactic, I have them both set on Attacking duty as the Support and Defend duties are often too conservative for what we are trying to achieve. As I have mentioned previously, only one of the WCBs will go forward at the same time to support the play. If the ball is on the left side of the pitch, our left WCB will look to push forward and support the play in more advanced areas, make runs into the box or out wide, and help overload the opposition flank. The other WCB will stay back and act as a regular defender, until the ball comes to his side of the pitch.

Here's an example of what the role can do. No. 14 is our wide player, while No. 17 is our left sided WCB-A. In this situation WCB has already made an underlapping run and he was open to receive the pass. After that it was fairly easy for him to cross to one of our forwards who scored a goal.

Here are some Player Traits that might help this role become even more aggressive.

Gets Forward Whenever Possible
Gets Into Opposition Area
Moves Into Channels

2. and 3. are optional, but I would recommend them if you want your WCB to make more underlapping runs and get into the box more often (like shown above).

The 3rd defender (De Vrij usually) could be a standard CD-D.

2. The Midfield and the Mezzala (Barella).

We'll start off with the DM (Brozovic). His role is fairly simple, mainly a defensive one as doesn't join the attack too often. A Defensive Midfielder on Defend duty works perfectly fine, although a DLP-D would also work. His main job is to help in the buildup, support the play and pass the ball around to other teammates.

LCM position is occupied by Calhanoglu. He's been very good for Inter since joining this summer. I've kept his role fairly basic, a CM on Support duty. He already has some great Player Traits and with PIs like Shoot More Often, Get Further Forward and Move Into Channels we can make him perform really well. He's an AM and plays like one, even if we put him in CM-S spot.

Mezzala looks like the role perfectly representing Barella. It is our RCM who likes to get forward to support the moves and score/assist goals. Also, as pointed out in the first post, he's also a player that likes to go wide and cross the ball. I think this was the most straight forward role to replicate in FM so here are some clips from in-game.

Pintos, No.19 is our Mezzala. Here we can see him receiving the ball and running out wide.

Here we see him in line with a striker. He pulls out wide, just to the edge of the box, and then crosses the ball.

3. The Wings

The wingbacks, or wingers in this case, are used to provide width to the team. They will often push really high up and look to get into the box.

I have opted for Defensive Wingers on Support duty. I feel that if I had used Wingers on Attack, they would be too aggressive and it would create more defensive issues.

I'm putting this heat map again, but now I want you to pay attention to No.12 and No.30. They are still very high up the pitch and often do get into the box, so I felt like there was no need to play with the Winger role.

4. The Striker Duo

Here's where it gets a little tricky. While they aren't very rigid in their duties, usually Lautaro (depending on who's playing, it can also be Correa) drops off a bit more, acting like kind of an AM, while Dzeko is a bit more like a classic striker. That isn't to say Dzeko doesn't drop off or that Lautaro doesn't act as a classic striker, both of them can swap around and that vertical rotation is the key.

Here we can see exactly that, Dzeko drops to lay off the ball to Hakan, then runs into the box finishing off the move. In this case Dzeko was actually playing as an AF-A and Lautaro was a F9-S.

As mentioned previously, Lautaro's role would be a F9 while Dzeko's role could be an AF-A, CF-A or even a TF-A.

Here, you'd think that Dzeko will be our main goalscorer. Well, just like in real life, that's not the case. More about this when I showcase the results and player stats.

The Tactic

First off, we start with an Attacking mentality. I feel like Inter have a lot of freedom and take a lot of risk by playing the way they play, so the Attacking mentality is there to reflect that.

In Possession we have Shorter Passing, Play Out Of Defence and Work Ball Into Box.

Inter build their attacks out from the back, the 3-1 shape helps with that.

Shorter passing doesn't mean they will never go long or direct, they will if there's an opportunity.

Work Ball Into Box is there to encourage WCBs to impact the play in the final third.

Keeping the ball around for longer allows the WCBs to join the attack, rather than hoofing it long or crossing and waiting for your strikers to make something happen. Players will look to pass the ball around, switch positions, and work the ball in patiently, waiting for an opening.

Inter are 3rd in the league in possession and pass completion % numbers.

In Transition we use Distribute to Centre-Backs and Counter-Press.

I didn't feel like using the Counter TI, as the players will counter if there's an opportunity to do so regardless. You could use the Counter instruction if you want.

Out Of Possession we have Higher Defensive Line, Prevent Short GK Distribution, Get Stuck In and Use Tighter Marking.

I do not use a high block, rather a mid block (Though you could change to a high block in some games). We have a lot of players in the midfield area so I felt this would be a natural choice.

I'm not 100% sure about this area though, so I'm open to any suggestions. I feel like you can play both a high and a mid block and I think Inter have done both at some point.

For the Player Instructions, both DWs are instructed to Get Further Forward, LCM is told to Shoot More Often, Get Further Forward and Move Into Channels, and the F9 is told to Roam From The Position. Note that Perisic on the left has traits Gets Into Oppositon Area, Gets Forward Whenever Possible and Moves Into Channels, so he's going to be more offensive than the Dumfries on the right (just like in real life).

This is my interpretation and it might not be 100% correct to how Inter actually play. I was mainly looking at replicating the roles they use and their positioning/movement, so in that regard I'd say I'm satisfied with how it turned out.

January 23, 2022

Introduction

I've thought about writing a post like this for a long time, but never really did it for a few reasons. The main reason being, I was always using some sort of a Guardiola-esque/positional-play based system in my saves, and there are a ton of posts about that already.

Here, I wont go into analyzing Inzaghi's approach too much, but I will highlight some key things here that are relevant.

Sources

https://www.calciomercato.com/news/nonostante-madrid-l-inter-emancipata-di-inzaghi-le-3-rotture-e-l-97465

Formation and playing style

Inter line up in a 3-5-2, just like under Conte. However Inzaghi's 3-5-2 definitely doesn't play in the same way.

Wide Centre-Backs

Probably one of the key elements of the tactic and the reason why I was attracted to it. I'm going to use a few pictures from the article to demonstrate what I'm talking about. (https://www.calciomercato.com/news/nonostante-madrid-l-inter-emancipata-di-inzaghi-le-3-rotture-e-l-97465)

Notice how both Bastoni and D'Ambrosio are inside the opposition box in attack. The only defender Inter have is Skriniar (Central CB).

Here we see Bastoni staying wide and D'Ambrosio in kind of a half-space.

Obviously this kind of approach can be really risky, but Inter do manage to pull it off (though they can suffer on counter-attacks because of this risky setup). Wide Centre-Backs offer numerical superiority and overloads in wide areas, as well as often overloading the opponent's box.

Here's another example from yesterday's game. At 0:20 pay attention to No.37 (Skriniar). In this game he was the wide CB, notice how he makes a run through the centre and attacks the box.

The Wide-Centre backs will make both Underlapping and Overlapping runs, here we can see Bastoni running from CB position into the channel between the CB and the RCB.

And here we can see him inside the box, if you didn't know better, you would think he's a striker!

Here's another situation, Bastoni crosses towards 2nd post to find Dumfries who scores.

In-game, we can use both wide CBs as WCB-A or one WCB-A and one WCB-S. Depending on which side of the pitch the ball is on, only one of the wide CBs will actually push forward. So there wont be situations like shown above, where both WCBs push forward at the same time.

The Striker partnership

"The attacking couple does not have rigid duties and positions, they must not do this and then that. Have you ever seen Lukaku open up and go down to dribble like Dzeko does here in Madrid?"

The answer to the question is no.

In previous image, where I was talking about the CBs, you could notice that Dzeko is up top, with Lautaro behind him, almost as a No. 10.

Here, you see Dzeko out wide supporting the play, and Lautaro being central, attacking the space behind the defence.

That does indeed tell us that they don't have rigid roles and duties, however usually if one of them drops down, the other one leads the line. It doesn't matter who it is (although it usually is Dzeko who leads the line).

With that information, I tend to lean on CF-S for the left striker and CF-A for the right striker (sometimes Dzeko could be a TF-A as well).

The rest of the team and the formation as a whole

During buildup, Inter like to form a 3-1 shape, with Brozovic (DM, probably as a DLP-D) used as the "1". Wingbacks are positioned really high, often at the half-way line, so I would even call them wingers here.

If you go back to the pictures above, you could see how the wingers play and where they are usually positioned. Perisic and Dumfries are initially high and wide, but when the play progresses to the final third, they do like to go into the box. That movement allows and even requires the Wide Centre-Backs to overlap to provide width. Usually, if the ball is one side, you have the winger sitting wider, with CB coming in to either underlap or overlap. Meanwhile, the winger on the opposite side is attacking the box.

In-game I have them set up as Defensive Wingers on Support. If we place them in the WB strata, they wont really sit at half way line during the buildup or get into the box during attack. By placing them in ML/MR positions they will actually do all of that. As you can see in the images, they are usually in line with strikers.

The midfielders have different roles. RCM, usually Barella, is more aggressive in his movement, he would push higher, while often getting into the box, and also going wide and crossing the ball. The obvious choice for this would be a Mezzala.

Another highlight from the last game, as we can see at 1:10 he runs wide like a winger. After they win the ball back we have Darmian crossing the ball from wide, while Barella has moved into the box. Perisic is waiting for Darmian's cross at 2nd post, GK saves his shot, but Barella is there to score from the rebound.

The LCM is a bit more difficult to decide. That position is occupied by Calhanoglu in real life. He isn't as aggressive as Barella, instead, he's usually sitting deeper, although not forming a double pivot with Brozovic like Eriksen used to do under Conte. Calhanoglu will drop deeper to get the ball, and in attack will usually lurk at the edge of the box, either looking to pass the ball around or to take long shots just from the edge of the area. His role could be a CM-S or even RPM-S.

It's worth mentioning that like the strikers, there are vertical rotations in the midfield as well (if one of them pushes forward, the other one will stay a bit deeper to support the play).

Style of Play

By looking at whoscored, it shows us that Inter play possession football with short passing. They do also attempt a lot of through balls.

From overloading certain areas, to passing triangles, to positional rotations, it's clear that Inzaghi uses many principles of Positional play. With that in mind, we also have to set up our defence accordingly. That means higher defensive line with high press.

In the past with Lazio, we've seen Inzaghi use low, mid and high block. Inter are definitely being more aggressive and proactive than under Conte.

They will often create 2v1 or 3v1 situations in defence.
During defensive transitions they like to counter-press, with making sure their defensive line is in place at the same time.
They don't usually press too high, but rather utilize the numbers they have in the midfield.

In the next post, I'll go over how I set up the tactic in game, the instructions, and the players.

January 22, 2022

On 04/01/2022 at 18:13, One hell of a keeper said:

Well this is rather delicious! Amazing work! Are you planning on releasing at all?

Probably not, at least not any time soon, as I've said before. There are still a ton of panels that would require changing, and I'm not really committed to it at the moment. Right now only the Club profile and Player profile are done. I'm still planning to redesign the Home, staff and nation profiles in the same general layout as the club and profile panels.

Again some color adjustments, changed it back from the blue to dark grey. I'm constantly 50/50 between just having a custom color scheme for the skin and using the primary and secondary colors of the clubs.

Also removed the general inset on everything as it really messed with a lot of stuff (especially the match screen, as I didn't want it to have the inset)

WIP match panels. I'm in love with tabbed containers at the moment, so I've incorporated them here as well (taking a lot of stuff from Tato skin here, like the general layout and some tab container items).

Also redesigned the scoreboard and added FM and Instant Result buttons.

January 20, 2022

3 minutes ago, Cleon said:

On support they don't venture that far really and are still well positioned to cover defensively. Because his entire team moves together up and down the pitch, it eliminates these 'counters' you speak of. Its no more susceptible to counters than using defensive roles. If he'd have used an anchorman or something, what happens is they hang back and play as a 'lone' player. You still can be countered and be run ragged as a counter involves more than one player. So the player hanging back cannot cover the entire pitch anyway. It's why lots of people used to struggle with the 4231 shape on FM.

He still has players to protect against the counter, its not like all 10 outfield players are going to be camped deep in the oppositions half when he attacks. That's just not going to happen. His choice of players he uses, their traits, the duties he has chosen for the roles are a great balance overall.

Hmmm, that's what I was kinda hinting at when I said that "the AI teams just never exploit that or that they don't get a chance to counter often", but I guess I didn't explain it properly. The only concern I had was the fact that when transition happens everyone is forward except the CBs, which would result in everyone having to track back. The main logic there being that, if you have a holding mid or a more defensive fullback, you would have another player that can protect against the counter. Either by stepping out to clear the ball, engaging the opponents, or just standing in front of the player preventing him from shooting, passing forward, etc. With everyone being forward, if you don't prevent the opponents from passing forward before your team gets back into the position, the only two defenders are the CBs. I'm again guessing that this isn't the issue here and that counters like that are very rare, because players do prevent that long ball towards the strikers.

January 20, 2022

36 minutes ago, crusadertsar said:

Yeah not a single holding midfielder in a formation that traditionally employs a double-pivot. I don't get it.

40 minutes ago, Hilly1979 said:

Is this some kind of downloaded exploit?? In your attacking transition phase depending on ppms of your right full back you have literally 2 players defending! should easily get ripped apart on the counter, fair play!

It looks like tactics similar to this often overperform. The usual thing they have is just attack duties on the front 3-4 players, runners from midfield with nobody holding, and everyone bombing forward.

I'm guessing there's enough support from midfield and fullbacks that it doesn't matter that everyone in the front 3 is on attack duty. Also that should leave just 2 CBs (+ maybe the FB-S) that can protect against the counter, but I'm guessing the AI teams just never exploit that or that they don't get a chance to counter often. After all 62 Goals for and 4 against show that.

January 10, 2022

7 minutes ago, zindrinho said:

I really am not, I am offering a solution to a problem. Then people get cranky because the solution entices that they are doing something wrong.

I think its a matter of perception how people read the feedback here, but when you see people get a possible solution to a problem they've been outspoken about, and then react with anger, it just doesnt make sense at all IMO. Why even bother complaining if you arent interested in a solution?

Because what you have proposed isn't a solution. The only people that can come up with a solution are the SI. You are again ignoring the core issue here, which is the way the way wide players behave in the ME.

Your "solution" doesn't solve the core issue.

January 10, 2022

4 hours ago, zindrinho said:

People just wanna complain, as you can see very few are interested in solutions. Some even get cranky when you say tadtics matter in a tactical football game simulator, its gotten pretty ridiculous and to the point where you recognize a handful of the same users complain about the same stuff over and over, refusing to listen to advice and then post "fm keeps cheating because I lose" threads.

Probably best to just ignore those users, but when they try to skew SIs focus away from the important stuff and over to the "I cant make my IF run through 2 DMs and a CB, fix the game engine" its hard for me to just keep quiet.

4 hours ago, zindrinho said:

If people claim you cant get your wide players to cut inside on a more regular basis by creating space for them to cut into then yes, they are horribly wrong.

What you're arguing is something else though, whether or not the game is working optimally or as intended by SI. That I dont know, I dont work in SI. But I do know you can get your wide players to cut inside by creating space for them to cut into. Dont use AF strikers and AM(A) or SS's, they block said space for wide players and also draw opponents into the space where you want your wide men to attack. Use a DLF (S) or similar.

Now its entirely up to you whether to try this advice or not, if you prefer to just complain and hope they make the game easier and less logical, then that's your perogative. Just dont get upset when people explain to you how to make your players act the way you want them to and that the things you're struggling with do have a solution.

Haven't visited this thread in a while, and I see it's still the same thing over and over. Why are you making excuses for the ME not working properly?

When a core part of the role doesn't work it's an issue with the game, not with the tactic. Off the ball they're pretty good, but with the ball the just don't dribble inside. On a rare occasion they might do it, but you shouldn't need to go around looking for ways to force the game to make them do it, when the role is specifically designed for the purpose of cutting in with the ball. Sure leaving space might make them perform the role better, but that's irrelevant. The players simply don't cut inside with the ball near often enough. It has been reported by users over and over for the past couple of months, I'm not sure why is it so hard to understand for you? It worked in previous FMs and now it doesn't. Simple.

but when they try to skew SIs focus away from the important stuff and over to the "I cant make my IF run through 2 DMs and a CB, fix the game engine" its hard for me to just keep quiet.

I agree that people do complain a lot, but when there are people like you who constantly make excuses for the issues, you kinda force them to complain and argue with you. It's also hard for them to keep quiet, like it is for you.

What would be "the more important stuff"? That might not be the same for each player, but fixing the issues with ME would be high on priority list for sure.

You are acting as if people are making this stuff up and as if they're tactically incapable.

December 29, 2021

I haven't heard this exact phrase either, but I think I know what you're talking about.

The goal is to congest the central areas, with a narrow shape, to force the opposition into wide areas where they will get pressed heavily. You'd often hear a phrase "using the touchline as an extra defender".

Here's an example from totalfootballanalysis' Red Star Belgrade / Dejan Stankovic analysis.

Quote

With a ball into the centre and a short pass to the centre-backs/holding midfielder out of the question, the opposition ‘keeper sent the ball out to the full-back, where there was space. However, as the ball arrived with the full-back, Zvezda’s shape sprang into action. The players were already positioned very close to one another and this compactness makes it more difficult for the opposition to play through them, especially as they approach as a unit in the high-block phase and press aggressively. The wide central midfielder leads the press and is happy to act as a winger would, coming all the way out to the full-back to challenge for the ball, with his midfield teammates retaining their diamond shape and following closely behind to make sure that they stay compact and make it difficult for the opposition to play through them.

Quote

This highlights why Zvezda have got such a low PPDA. They like to congest the centre and force the opposition out wide, where they benefit from the extra defender that is the sideline. When the ball is out wide, Stanković relies on his midfielders’ energy to get from the centre to the wing and the space around the ball-carrier quickly to ensure compactness which will make it more difficult for the ball carrier to progress. Again, the midfield’s energy is key here as the wings are naturally more open in this diamond shape but Zvezda generally retain high energy levels that help them to press aggressively as a unit all over the pitch to quickly regain possession.

It just so happens that I'm playing in a 4-4-2 Diamond / 4-3-1-2 Shape. The goal is to mark central players via OIs and trigger press on wide players. Here are my OIs and how I see it. It might not be 100% correct though.

Spoiler

Here I have all wide players (except the fullbacks) as well as DCL and DCR set to show onto foot that's on their side of the pitch, so MR/AMR is showed onto the right foot, etc. DL and DR as set to show onto the opposite foot of where they play. As you can see in the example image above, the opposition DL (black jersey) is forced to pass inside, but the player receiving the pass is already closed down/marked tight so he can't do much with the ball.

Both of my CMs / Wide CMs (depending on the formation) are told to close down more, and Mark Tighter. the AM and DM / Central CM are also told to Mark Tighter.

I wouldn't imagine this replicates the real word really closely, as you need other players to cover spaces and shift their positioning when one of the players steps up to close down. But nonetheless it should at least resemble how it works in the real world.

(I guess setting up the mark specific player instruction on your players could make them position better to mark central players)

Here's an example from the game. No.14 is my LCM and he steps up to close down the opposition RB and other players are somewhat marked, which is what we like to see. But he instead bypasses everyone by just zooming past them, which is a bit concerning. (This might be due to us having set the wrong OIs on fullbacks in that game, the players were told to show the RB onto his right foot, which I did quickly change that after seeing this) Thankfully we have Tackle Harder on all wide opposition players so we did end up winning the ball back.

December 28, 2021

17 hours ago, Drakestone said:

It does look good though, you could achieve the same inset by insetting the individual containers for the header and bottom section rather than the main container. the end results would be the same except it wouldnt inset all the other screens too like team talk/press conference screens.

Hmm, I've tried messing with this more and I can't really get it to work properly. Changing inset for each separate item works, but in that case my BG is not visible at all and instead it uses the same color as the main content box.

Edit: So I think I've got it to work, just moved the background and content widgets below, to the container with header and content stuff.

December 27, 2021

2 minutes ago, Drakestone said:

If youve used an inset on the client object browser to achieve the gap between the edge of the screen and the content, be careful as it can mess up the team talk screen. Also, if you wish to have that bar in the background the club colour also, thats doable.

Yeah, I took some inspiration from your work, but I ended up removing that bar in the background. (It's possible to add it by editing that other graphic with diagonal stripes I assume?)

I'll keep an eye out for the teem talk stuff, haven't been on that screen yet.

I usually spend a good few hours redesigning something, then I just go back to playing the game for another few weeks. So I'm never going to finish this

December 27, 2021

Player profile with updated header area and some other color changes.

+Another one with club colors

December 25, 2021

1 hour ago, nully29 said:

The issue OP has is that anchor man is too passive on defense. To fix it, he should change his DM to a more aggressive role.

Now, regarding whether Hold position instruction does or does not affect DM's tendency to help on the flanks on defense. I have seen it does, albeit I have tried it for one match, which I watched in full, and then dropped it for this very reason. It would also make sense. When DM deliberates whether he should or should not leave his position and go after an opponent winger who runs in with the ball, he should consider whether he's been told to hold his position.

Hold position relates to when your team is in possession.

The reason you might see a DM leave his position in defense might be if he's on support duty. With support duty he might take more risks, although I'm not sure if this has any effect on the defensive part either. Closing down more is the more obvious one, The trigger press bar changes when you change from Defense to Support duty. Depending on it, DM might be more willing to leave his position to close down someone.

December 20, 2021

On 18/12/2021 at 17:52, Ö-zil to the Arsenal! said:

4-3-3, which I see is impossible to create a back 3 according to the experts earlier in this thread! Tomiyasu is a FB(S) instructed to hold position and sit narrow, Gabriel on the other side instructed to stay wider.

On 29/11/2021 at 08:53, (sic) said:

I think what people are looking for is FB-D (or a new role) creating a perfect back 3 where one CB will push wider, the other will move to the middle and FB-D will act as a 3rd CB.

It has been discussed in this thread before I think. And it has been shown that you can't really do that. Yes the FB-D will stay deeper, but also wider than you want them to, even with Sit Narrower PI.

In your screenshot, it's clear that the 2 CBs are sitting right in the middle, with FB-S staying wider on the right, but not pushing up. Again, that's not really what people have been looking for. People want left CB to move wider and RB to sit deep and narrow and act like a 3rd CB, creating a perfect back three. And that is indeed impossible to recreate, so there was no need for that condescending comment.

Nobody said it's impossible to create what you've created. In fact, people have shown multiple different ways to achieve something similar that's closely resembling that perfect 3-1 shape people are after.

December 17, 2021

15 minutes ago, Sharkn20 said:

I was wrong and I did apologize for the critics.

Now, how that translates in the game? If both have the same jumping reach why player 1 will take advantage over player 2? When a player will jump more or less to get to that 16 point? Linked to bravery / strength and work rate maybe?

I'm not really sure, but I would guess it depends on Strength, as well as various mental attributes (Bravery, and possibly Anticipation, Decisions, Positioning, Concentration, Determination, Aggression). So if smaller player has good attributes in those areas, he might be able to reach that 16 JR more regularly. Those are just my thoughts, and they might not be how the game actually works and calculates it.

December 17, 2021

41 minutes ago, ibrahim.akbyk said:

According to SI, height is matter and it conflicts what @zZzZzZzZzZzZzZz says;

''Jumping Reach reflects how good a player is at reaching the ball in the air. It indicates the highest point an outfield player can reach with his head. It does not reflect how tall a player is but, when considering his jumping ability, height is considered. For example, a player of 200+cm will still possess a high reach even if he is a poor jumper, and a shorter player will struggle to compete at the same height.''

''Heading is a player's competence in aerial situations. Heading applies to all situations and is only about the player's ability to head the ball well. Jumping Reach, Height, and to a lesser extent Strength all play a part in combination with heading to utilise the attribute to greater effect.''

That really depends how you interpret it.

Height does matter so that's true, but not in the way Sharkn20 mentioned earlier. Here's an example.

You have PLAYER ONE with 16 jumping reach and height of 195 cm.

PLAYER TWO has 16 jumping reach and 182 cm.

They both have same jumping reach, so they can reach the same point in the air. PLAYER ONE is taller so he doesn't really have to jump as high to reach that point, but the PLAYER TWO actually has to jump much higher to reach that same point.

So while they both have same jumping reach, PLAYER TWO has to time his jump better and has to jump higher to reach the same height as PLAYER ONE.

December 15, 2021

On 12/12/2021 at 07:13, Crazy_Ivan said:

The issue I have with only triggering a press against the less technically able players is why would I want the better technically able players to have more time on the ball?

Surely you would want the opposite, pressing the better players in the hope of either rushing them in to a mistake or forcing them to pass to the less abled opposition players?

For me I target specific areas to trigger a press rather than individuals based on their attributes.

For example: one of the opposition CMs is very bad technically/mentally. You'd want to trigger press on him, because it's easier to force mistakes from him than from other better players. Depending on attributes, better players do better when under pressure, so they can bypass your press more easily.

You are correct in saying that you'd want to force them to pass to less able opposition players. I think you can do that by using tight marking instructions on certain players and using trigger press on other. In this case tight marking on good players, and trigger press on bad players. So you allow the good players to pass the ball to bad players, then close down those bad players, trying to force errors from them, or back-passes.

December 9, 2021

5 minutes ago, vrig said:

Thank you very, very much for linking that pressing traps video. I've incorporated it (read: nicked it and put it) into my tactic.

Using the "show onto foot" OI to change pressing angles is a gamechanger! Since I use a pair of aggressive BWM's in my interpretation, it's basically funnelling the opposition into a kill zone. In my second season (without the pressing traps), my tackle win ratio was around 78% - it's up to 88% so far in my third season. I was conceding 0.86g per 90 last season - down to 0.54 so far this season.

And at absolutely no cost to attacking potency - we're actually scoring more since we're forcing so many turnovers. BWM wins it->passes into WP->through ball to AF/CF is probably my most common route to goal. I can practically hear Rangnick's countdown clock every time we win the ball

Yes, it's amazing how we went from totally ignoring OIs to actually using them now

December 8, 2021

9 hours ago, alang said:

Do you use any opposition instruction on top of the instruction to mark specific player for AM?

Yes, I'm using the setup Rashidi has talked about in his Rangnick interpretation.

December 8, 2021

4 minutes ago, FM1000 said:

Yeah lack of central dribling was an issue in FM21 too, unless there was acres of space IF would dribble away from oppnents ( who are probably showing them onto their weaker foot) so they go wide which is really frustrating...

Just look at this clip from a football manager 13 years ago, Kaka dribbles in the middle towards the defenders before opting to go wide and round the keeper.....i have never seen this goal in FM21 or 2022 after many hours of play...

That's actually crazy, I don't even remember seeing someone just dribbling past everyone like that, and especially past the keeper to score.

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