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as a complement to their main style. All styles should complement their basic methods with hard work and elements of pressing. I'm not saying you're suggesting man city style is gegenpressing because it's 100% clearly not that at all There should be more of a distinction between gegenpressing and pressing/hard work. For sure elements of it are more organised these days but there's always been pressing/hard work/closing down by teams...including possession teams who press/press high to win the ball back...but that doesn't mean it's their predominant style. Teams press high/mid/low as well sometimes with working hard/closing down. It's always been a feature of football and it always will be. Didn't Ian Rush press from the front in those Liverpool teams/saachi's Milan...heck even Jack Charlton's Ireland lol . With klopp over the years his predominant style has been gegenpressing...you can see how in interviews how often he emphasises how good liverpool's counter press is...as that's what he wants...his comment "No playmaker in the world can be as good as a good counter-pressing situation" sums his view up but of course guardiola's body of work has proved otherwise and that klopp is incorrect in that assertion. as @whatsupdochas pointed out gegenpressing is absolutely not the most successful tactic these days. Sure, teams utilise pressing but it's usually complementing their overall style. One of the reasons why gegenpressing works so well in FM is pass decision making still isn't simulated as well as it could be and therefore elements of intelligent pass choice and creativity to unpick passing traps just aren't there. That's also one of the main reasons why Guardiola tactics within FM just don't do what they do in the real world. Teams just cannot pass & move and operate in tight spaces in FM as well as their skilled counterparts in the real world can. It's the area that requires most work in the match engine as only at that point where pass decision making is simulated as well as it can be then defensive elements can actually be simulated as well as they need to be to counter this. Until then we will continue to see the difficulty in balancing the engine as efforts to implement pressing/very solid defensive methods will just shut down good play too easily as it wasn't simulated well enough in the first place

Give examples of the teams using this most dominant tactic please Do u mean the tactic most used or the tactic that is dominating over others because we know with 100% certainty not the most dominant one success wise as evidenced by man city last year

that's just a brilliant goal by neymar. That game was like peak Serie A...quality play...tight spaces and good defending overall yet a moment of brilliant is required to break down a defence...what a goal

yep...very little is the answer

Boom...hi Jack, Even though lots will have wanted an update on launch I really feel that's the type of communication which people have been asking for so thanks for being transparent and giving us an insight into what's been going on behind the scenes...that's helpful. It makes sense what you say re getting things right before releasing an update Well done

very cool. I'm liking the look of that already. I'll keep a check on how you get on throughout FM23...great approach to FM there

Actually funnily I want to manage lower league teams but the purpose is to be an actual manager...u know...to be able to influence what they do on the pitch...coaching them to move better positionally around the pitch to receive the ball to break a press/pressure from opposition and have my players move into pockets of small space inside to work the ball up the pitch slowly to get into good positions higher up the pitch to create higher value chances and create openings. At least I want them to try it...if they try and fail all that is on my management and coaching...which is how it should be. I can try and address it with more time on the training pitch to work it out. I can try and address it by getting better technical players with good mental attributes I can try and address it with adjusting my tactics then if all that fails but tactically that's all on me as the football manager. I shouldn't have to be subjected to old school views that non league football = hoofball/messy play. I watch plenty of non league football and many teams try more and more to play it out from the back and pass it around patiently and have done well this way. Even say Salford in league 2 changed manager this year and passing completion rate has gone up from 68% the previous 2 seasons to 80%+ this season. So coaching on the training ground and philosophy has changed a lot in terms of how they play and how well they control matches. This is what a manager can do at any level. The main issues with players a lower level would show up as they play teams from much higher levels but playing at same levels good play can and should unfold given the right philosophy and good coaching. So currently in FM there are issues with balance too much favouring chaos/battling midfields and the quality possession game isn't being well simulated. After all this game is football manager and a manager needs to be able to have his way of playing manifest itself on the pitch. Its success will depend mostly on the quality of the players at his disposal but quality possession football over the years has usually shown itself to be consistently the most successful...sure there will always be defensive teams/high work rate teams/pressing teams that will do well and win but the common theme throughout is good possession teams playing cohesively and creatively consistently do well. Of course they will have to marry that with good work rate and effort (especially in modern football which FM is trying to replicate and its clearly not a finger click) but that's the basic of football...pass and move is key to consistently doing well. Klopp/liverpool woes this year and before show its pep views of football that will win the war...just as it did over jose mourinhos view of football...and just as it will in 100 years time as well. FYI...I don't necessarily mean extreme tiki taka possession football either there re pep. FM has to get this right first and foremost and then blend in the chaos factor on top...but key piece is good possession football. From that base everything can be built into it. Fingers crossed we get that on release this year. FYI @phnompenhandyur post re you managing loch ness and your research and prep was awesome dude

excellent post

yip...shorter haircuts these days alright huh

Agree with you re underlying issues affecting things there Not sure on 2d/3d...thought everything had changed to 3d but not sure on that one at all

Actually this is spot on...there's a general issue where players struggle to operate in tight spaces/lack of space/in traffic/when confronted by players close by. Of course in real world football its tricky but not as tricky as in FM and the simulation isn't properly capturing players ability to operate in tighter spaces and in close proximity of players for dribbling/passing/receiving the ball and even for players to select a pass to a player with player/s on him. Players are very reluctant to dribble into traffic or as you say once closer to people as then it's a turn & pass outside/lay off or generally not try and take on players especially inside and need too much space identified to run into or they won't bother. Its similar as I alluded to in tight areas for players to pass into and its especially noticeable sometimes in central areas where this year we see that DMs usage can provide serious blockage to that area so play won't even be attempted there so players will choose to go long or wide too deep and too early in FM to avoid traffic and larger spaces are identified as a higher value/easier pass therefore pass decision making will select this rather than operate TIs/PIs to play through the middle at least as a style...yes it is and should be harder but if players will avoid this the way they do in FM then this a core issue to the engine not allowing it to at least be attempted as a style. It often then gives a sense of a user's team playing on the pitch be disconnected to its tactical inputs. If my team attempts it and keeps failing I should address that tactically or with personnel...ie signing more creative/technical players who can operate in the tight spaces and move around and find small pockets of space and thread short passes along the ground to create chances and openings directly or in passages of play. At times it seems idenfication of space in FMs 3D modelling doesn't reflect real world abilities to operate in said tight spaces and too much space is what FM needs to identify as a trigger to pass/move/dribble into. FM may need to re tune this decision making to identify smaller spaces and close proximity of others as being ok/good decision making and not a deterrent to passing/moving/dribbling where currently it can deter all of that too much. Adding in the welcome introduction this year of the chaos factor/battling in midfield and pressing factors this means ability for players to operate in tighter spaces should be at a very high level but the dearth of space in the middle has meant play gets directed too wide or too long too quickly and that possession game that requires rich movement and quality pass decision making isn't currently operating as well as it should. I've seen it in previous versions of FM where higher pressing and congestion on central areas knocks out the ability to play through there too much. A 're calibration' of how 3D space is calculated may be required to allow better play to unfold ie reduce larger identification of space required to operate in...not really sure but this would obviously help to identify how players identify and make good decisions then whether to pass/move/dribble. Obv not entirely sure but SI will know more. I've seen SI enable better central play/dribbling before in tricky circumstances so all going well they will be able to do this again for FM23...ideally on release as well. It won't be easy but I'm sure providing as many examples of all of this will help them

Could you post some pkms of games with a ton of central play and a lot of central through balls along the ground if you have them...tks dude

hmmm...googled it so sorted...tks anyway

Just loaded up the pre game editor and the name search for players isn't returning any players to visually see there. It's been fine up to that. Any help would be appreciated