Dedwunn

We should have more control over goal kicks and how we build up from the back, seeing as it is such an important aspect of today's game. For those who like to play the ball long from goal kicks, perhaps choosing to have players bunched up on one side of the pitch for the goalkeeper to aim for, or those that like to play it shorter, being able to have a player invert early (e.g., an inverted wingback or libero) to play with a double pivot in the build-up, or having one player in the box with the goalkeeper (or have the center-backs split really wide, that kind of thing). I think we should also be able to choose the positioning of certain players, for example, having the wingers stay high and wide in the build-up to give the midfielders more space and stretch the opposition back line, having the midfield stay higher or lower to either stretch the opposition vertically or provide support for defenders when playing out. You could either have goal kicks become a set piece you can tinker with, or have the option to instruct roles like the IFB, IWB, and LIB to invert or step up early in the build-up phase, instead of when the ball has moved further up the field. City is a great example of this as they use that 3-2 build-up structure to make playing out from the back easier, and it would be great to see this kind of thing implemented in football manager.

Yea, I'm noticing this too, much lower passing volumes as well. Think it might be in part because of the constant heavy touches players take causing them to lose the ball all the time, especially wingers, so once the ball goes out wide, it's difficult to see it get recycled.

I suggest that complete wing-back role, have the hard-locked wider instruction taken off, but leave the roam from position hard locked on, I feel this would better match the description of the role (more precisely, the clip that plays when you look at the description of the role). I've always thought that the complete wing-back role was a mix of both the regular wing-back role and the inverted wingback role, in that they do both, in the name of attacking. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I think having the instruction to stay wider hard locked on, means they are pretty much just a more attacking version of the wingback, but having that taken off could open up the role to so much more. See below, highlighted is the complete wing-back, it would be great to see them taking up such positions in game more often, and not limiting their attacking threat simply to their crosses from out wide, but actually "roaming from his position" as the role suggests they should.

I think there needs to be far more depth to the in possession instructions in the game, and I'll provide a few examples of those I think could be useful to have in the game as well as an explanation for some of the less obvious ones, but there could be many more than these that could be added to the game. Player: "Hug the touchline" - an additional option to stay wider, this instruction would allow you to instruct your wide players to hold the maximum width of the pitch even in the final third. I suggest that it could be available to roles like winger, inverted winger, but not available for roles like inside forward or advanced playmaker. While those roles can still be instructed to be "wider", this would mostly affect their width before the final third. Having this width held in the final third could allow you to isolate good wide dribblers against wingbacks, or stretch a back line for midfielders to make runs into channels, in the final third where it would be most effective. Right now, the wider instruction doesn't really allow for wingers to hold maximum width in the final third, and so an inverted winger and a mezzala would get in each others way in the final third of the pitch (or a CM-AT, AP-AT). This would be perfect for stretching teams in the final third and could be an additional option to unlocking defences. "Look for cutback" - an addition to the "aim crosses at" instruction, perhaps you play with a false 9 or midfielders who make late runs into the box, I think this would be such a good instruction to add (perhaps just under the target forward location) to cater to such ways of playing. "Cross from half-space/channel" - addition to "cross from" instructions (this would likely be available for iwb, central midfield roles, and certain winger roles like iw, or ap) Team: "Keep ball on the ground vs Look to play lofted balls" - if my team is rather diminutive, then I would want to tell my team to keep the ball on the ground as much as possible, if I have loads of tall players, I could ask them to look for more lofted passes that we can win and knock down. In FM23, so many of the passes are these loopy, lofted passes that make very little sense, and it is especially bad when you put "pass into space" on. It would be great to pass into space, but have these passes be on the ground, in the same way you can instruct low crosses. Now this would add certain elements in where, you would need better decision making attributes on players, and better vision if you want to instruct "keep ball on the ground", whereas you would need players with better technique to play those lofted passes (alternatively, the ball physics in the game could be improved so every lofted pass isn't some awkward looping ball that only works if the opposition defender makes a mistake, how about more dinks, driven passes, etc.)

It would be great to have players use their body to shield the ball, with the new precision in touches, it would be good to see better precision with body contact between players. How many times do you see your players lose the ball as a defender basically phases through the back of them to make a tackle, as if their body wasn't there. This would allow for hold up play to actually be more feasible with strikers playing back to goal, or wingers receiving the ball to feet with a player pressing them from behind, instead of what you currently see where they just dwell on it and have the defender morph through the back of them to make a tackle. This would make it easier to retain possession and have players come to offer support. Now this doesn't have to mean that no tackles can be made from behind, attributes like strength would also come into play, perhaps players get bullied off the ball, but I think improving players recognition of the bodies around them in the game would make it much, much better, could open up things like having players shield the ball at the corner flag at the end of very close, very important games.

Match Engine and Tactics: 1 one 1 dribbles: Things are improving in this regard, however I think the game still has a ways to go in this department. Having more dribbles occur in the middle of the pitch would be great, and such a good tool for unlocking defences, but you rarely see it happen in the game. Also, having wide players constantly run to the byline, just to do a pirouette on the ball and pass it backwards, is so frustrating, particularly when they are inverted wingers, there has been some improvement here, but having more lateral dribbles from wide players where they drive into the centre of the field to shoot, or play killer balls would be great. Crossing from the half-spaces: Another thing I don't see a lot, even from mezzalas, also on that note, I don't understand why inverted wing-backs have cross less often hard locked, when this could be such a good weapon, having iwb's crossing from the half spaces (think TAA). Sure you can tell midfielders to cross more often now, but that usually happens when they get pulled out wide as opposed to in the half space, you almost never see those dinked crosses from those areas that we see a lot of irl. Settled Possession (and Wingers): I would love to see more recycling of the ball, as well as much, much more off the ball movement and rotations from players. These might even be instructions to add (e.g., Freedom to rotate - Fluid/Structured could even repurpose the team fluidity for this). This would work very well If in possession formations (e.g., 235, 325, etc.) were added to the game, as you could have lots of rotation within a set structure. You would then be able to implement very popular real world tactical ideas like total football and positional play into the game, as opposed to what we have now where such ideas are very difficult if not impossible to really truly implement. Wingers: For me, every position on the pitch in football manager could do with additional depth to their player instructions, (same with the TI's as well) but the position I think needs it the most are wingers. Here are some additions I think we could make: - Add a blank role (like CM in midfield) and allow for more precise customisation within a tactic - Add "move into channels" instruction -> this one would be the most important for me, because it would allow for much better distinction between the IW and IF roles. For IF, the moves into channels instruction would be hard locked green, but for IW, it would be left blank, meaning you could choose. If I wanted my inverted wingers to hold the width (like a regular winger), but also cut inside from wide positions, then this would be a great way to do it. - Another way to implement the last point, would be to change the "hugs touchline" trait, to a player instruction. Take a player like Jack Grealish for example, at Villa, he did play out wide, but naturally drifted inside a lot more often than he does at Man City, where Pep Guardiola tells his wingers to "hug the touchline" a lot of the time. When Grealish has the ball though, he loves coming inside on his right foot, as opposed to taking a player on down to the byline. Having more depth in these instructions would add so much to the winger position in the game. - The last way to do it would be to take the winger role and remove some of the hard locked instructions. This would require tweaking to the role description for sure, and it would be very similar to just having a blank role in this position, but I really strongly believe that this area of the game needs far more customisation. - Add more PI's, that really just encompasses it all, just more instructions would be nice. Tricks and Flicks: This might seem trivial but I really believe that it is extremely important. It would actually give meaning to the flair attribute and the "tries tricks" trait, which in turn would dramatically increase the variety you see in the game. Players with high flair should be trying far more back heels, trivelas, etc. than we see in the game right now, then a winger with 19 flair and a CM with 10 flair will look drastically different in game (as they should). Furthermore, and to build on the 1 on 1 dribbling point, but we seriously need skill moves in the game, really doesn't have to be crazy ones, but a la croqueta, a ball roll, a roulette could be a great foundation, even a fake shot could be great, but as the game improves in the touches department with more precision being added, these would be welcome additions and greatly add to the immersion. This is unrelated but celebrations after goals should definitely be improved as well, longer knee slides, more team mates running over as opposed to the awkward one man celebrations you see. These are less important, but to me, the match engine is such an important part of the game and sometimes the immersion that can be felt in other parts of the game is lacking, because there could be so much more depth here than there is.

This is a subsection of a larger feature post I made: Animations: Improvements to 1 on 1 dribbling (ball rolls, roulettes, fake shots) (adding the trait “tries tricks” only to see the player never attempt a single trick should change) Differences in running styles and gait between players, possibly dependent on weight and agility More visible differences in dribbling between players (players with better dribbling, visibly taking more touches on the ball) Increasing the tendency of wide players with inverted roles (including IF) to dribble laterally from wide positions, instead of just dribbling down the line More tricks and variety with passing (e.g., more back heels, reverse passes, disguised passes across the body)

This is a subsection of a larger features post I made: Graphics: Much more variety in the colour and type of players boots in the 3D match engine. The last instalment of the game with pretty good variety was probably fm21, but even then, the variety of boot colours has drastically reduced over the years. This addition hopefully wouldn’t take too much and would work wonders for immersion (e.g., green/pure white/yellow/ multi-coloured boots, with the ankle bit, looks like a sock, I think its called the collar) Change to the 3d player models. More differences between players of different heights, make the models more human (hard to explain this, but like, have them fill out their frames more, they’re wider and their limbs are larger/longer… the animations are nowhere near as good as we have now, but the models are arguably better) Sock height in 3d models More hair variety in 3d models (e.g., ponytails, dreadlocks, etc.) Make pitches appear larger or make players smaller in reference to pitches Interestingly, I think FM 17 had really great 3D player models, overall the graphics have really improved since then, but the 3d player models haven’t imo. I’ll include a screenshot and try and point out a few things FM 17: FM 23: You can see the reduction in the amount of colour, in FM 23, there seem to be at most 4 different boot colours, whereas in earlier instalments, you’d have 2 sometimes even three variants of even individual colours The models in FM 17 seem to just have more to them, more significant limbs that seem to almost have more meat on them (or less, that’s another thing, having more variety in body types would be great as well). They have wristbands, you’ve got a bald guy there as well. You can easily see just how different the guy who’s taken the throw in, looks to the striker (player furthest to the right in white) with slimmer legs and a slimmer frame, as well as interesting and distinct boot colours I think that the match engine and animations have genuinely improved leaps and bounds since then, what I’m trying to get across is that there seems to be a lot of expression that was sacrificed, and I think having that reintroduced would greatly improve the graphics and immersion with the 3D matches.

This is a subsection of a larger post I made regarding features: Tactics: Adding more team and player instructions both in and out of possession. For example, being able to instruct my players to look to keep play on the ground, instead of constantly playing lofted passes. This wouldn’t mean that they always pass on the ground, but look to do this more often (similar to low crosses). Return of the “retain possession” instruction More Control over Build Up - a few things, perhaps being able to instruct your defenders to build up slowly in a bid to draw more opposing forwards into pressing before playing through the press or quickly to try and catch opposing players unawares, in the same way you can tell your goalkeepers to. Turning some player traits into player instructions as well (e.g., Hug the touchline in addition to stay wider, Get into opposition area in addition to get further forward, etc. as player instructions). More Control over the Phases of Play and being able to specify, for example, pass into space, but only in the final third, or be more disciplined, in the approach and build up play (which could work really well with the aforementioned points), much shorter passes in the approach, but more direct in the final third, etc. could add so much tactical variety to the game. This is a bit harder to explain, but I think eventually, having roles be replaced simply by positions (e.g., Winger, Striker, Full Back, etc.) (specialist roles that are harder to replicate simply with instructions such as False 9, Carrilero, etc. should remain) by having many more player instructions available would not only allow for much more variety within formations, but would be more true to life I feel. For instance, having the winger position have the instructions that would allow for me to turn that player into an IW, and differentiate that from an IF). Ultimately, if that is not possible, then just adding more player instructions would be very helpful. Ultimately, the main theme is more team and player instructions, particularly for while in possession

Hey, So I have a few feature ideas regarding a few areas of the game: Tactics: Adding more team and player instructions both in and out of possession. For example, being able to instruct my players to look to keep play on the ground, instead of constantly playing lofted passes. This wouldn’t mean that they always pass on the ground, but look to do this more often (similar to low crosses). Return of the “retain possession” instruction More Control over Build Up - a few things, perhaps being able to instruct your defenders to build up slowly in a bid to draw more opposing forwards into pressing before playing through the press or quickly to try and catch opposing players unawares, in the same way you can tell your goalkeepers to. Turning some player traits into player instructions as well (e.g., Hug the touchline in addition to stay wider, Get into opposition area in addition to get further forward, etc. as player instructions). More Control over the Phases of Play and being able to specify, for example, pass into space, but only in the final third, or be more disciplined, in the approach and build up play (which could work really well with the aforementioned points), much shorter passes in the approach, but more direct in the final third, etc. could add so much tactical variety to the game. This is a bit harder to explain, but I think eventually, having roles be replaced simply by positions (e.g., Winger, Striker, Full Back, etc.) (specialist roles that are harder to replicate simply with instructions such as False 9, Carrilero, etc. should remain) by having many more player instructions available would not only allow for much more variety within formations, but would be more true to life I feel. For instance, having the winger position have the instructions that would allow for me to turn that player into an IW, and differentiate that from an IF). Ultimately, if that is not possible, then just adding more player instructions would be very helpful. Ultimately, the main theme is more team and player instructions, particularly for while in possession Graphics: Much more variety in the colour and type of players boots in the 3D match engine. The last instalment of the game with pretty good variety was probably fm21, but even then, the variety of boot colours has drastically reduced over the years. This addition hopefully wouldn’t take too much and would work wonders for immersion (e.g., green/pure white/yellow/ multi-coloured boots, with the ankle bit, looks like a sock, I think its called the collar) Change to the 3d player models. More differences between players of different heights, make the models more human (hard to explain this, but like, have them fill out their frames more, they’re wider and their limbs are larger/longer… the animations are nowhere near as good as we have now, but the models are arguably better) Sock height in 3d models More hair variety in 3d models (e.g., ponytails, dreadlocks, etc.) Make pitches appear larger or make players smaller in reference to pitches Interestingly, I think FM 17 had really great 3D player models, overall the graphics have really improved since then, but the 3d player models haven’t imo. I’ll include a screenshot and try and point out a few things FM 17: FM 23: You can see the reduction in the amount of colour, in FM 23, there seem to be at most 4 different boot colours, whereas in earlier instalments, you’d have 2 sometimes even three variants of even individual colours The models in FM 17 seem to just have more to them, more significant limbs that seem to almost have more meat on them (or less, that’s another thing, having more variety in body types would be great as well). They have wristbands, you’ve got a bald guy there as well. You can easily see just how different the guy who’s taken the throw in, looks to the striker (player furthest to the right in white) with slimmer legs and a slimmer frame, as well as interesting and distinct boot colours I think that the match engine and animations have genuinely improved leaps and bounds since then, what I’m trying to get across is that there seems to be a lot of expression that was sacrificed, and I think having that reintroduced would greatly improve the graphics and immersion with the 3D matches. Animations: Improvements to 1 on 1 dribbling (ball rolls, roulettes, fake shots) (adding the trait “tries tricks” only to see the player never attempt a single trick should change) Differences in running styles and gait between players, possibly dependent on weight and agility More visible differences in dribbling between players (players with better dribbling, visibly taking more touches on the ball) Increasing the tendency of wide players with inverted roles (including IF) to dribble laterally from wide positions, instead of just dribbling down the line More tricks and variety with passing (e.g., more back heels, reverse passes, disguised passes across the body)

Tactics: Attacking Depth - being able position your front line of attackers further away from (or closer to) the opponents box in the final third. This would allow for more ways to break teams down or customise your style of play (e.g. having that instruction could mean wide forwards getting more space on runs in behind with a deeper front line, or midfielders having more space perhaps for long shots with a higher front line) More Control over Build Up - a few things, perhaps being able to instruct your defenders to build up slowly in a bid to draw more opposing forwards into pressing before playing through the press or quickly to try and catch opposing players unawares, in the same way you can tell your goalkeepers to. More Control over the Phases of Play - this is a bit more abstract I guess, but I think there is so much potential here. Being able to specify, for example, pass into space, but in the final third, or be more disciplined in the approach and build up play (which could work really well with the aforementioned points), much shorter passes in the approach, but more direct in the final third, etc. could add so much tactical variety to the game. Positional Combination Instructions (adding the phases of play to Player Instructions) - in addition to the last point, I think it would be great to be able to specify positional rotations or the lack thereof. I know these occur naturally in the game sometimes, but it might be interesting to have more control over this. Being able to tell your forwards or midfielders to rotate with each other (and perform the instructions of the position they’re in, in that moment) in a bid to cause confusion and pull defenders out of place, or tell them to stay in their positions perhaps due to tactical mismatches (e.g. 6”4 winger against a 5”6 wingback). I feel the roam from position PI or the be more expressive TI don’t really allow for enough control over what could be an interesting tactical idea. The depth that could arise from this could be great. These are just a few thoughts, but the main idea is, a lot more tactical depth would be really fun and create many more unique tactics, even within the same formations