Andros

i don't have fmtouch on my computer - but wont that still have problems 1 and 2 for him?

who are the players? are they real players?

I really wish I followed this advice more.

a lot of experienced people have learnt from many years in the game - they have a very good understanding of what each role does, how each team instruction and player instruction will affect things - so they are able to change things knowing what the results will be. I am not one of those people So, as you can imagine - the more complicated you make things - the more likely it is that something will go wrong. Therefore, the advice for new players is often keep it simple - just choose one of the presets and see how it plays. then make a small change and watch the games and see what differences that change makes (leave that change on for a few matches and see the results - not just for 1 match). I think i remember a few years ago someone suggested creating a save that is just for trying ideas. they would replay the same game over and over again to see how changes would impact the game. Think of this like music - before you can play around with mixing genres and chords you first need to know what those genres and chords mean/represent.

would it help the press to push more players into the AM strata? then they would be naturally closer to the defenders. Also like Yisz says - try OIs - like try marking specific players to get them closer to where you want them to be. this can have some obvious problems as your shape will change, but maybe worth a shot to see if it achieves what you want.

@phnompenhandyif i remember correctly you like to start in the lower leagues? I am not sure you will have much PA to play with here - if you go down to the 10 tier of the pyramid then getting a PA of 20 is a challenge! i would guess the players would be coming and going a lot at these lower levels so I wouldn't be worrying about this type of thing. If you are playing at a much higher level - then I would consider the position of the player. Also I think one of the mods mentioned a long time ago that there is a maximum a player can reach on their weaker foot. like if the weaker foot is 1/20 the highest it can get to is like 11? don't quote me on those numbers but I believe it is something like that.

in a thread not too long ago - there was a debate about youth and being able to recruit (or pinch) youth. the eds and some others here (imo) were facing an uphill battle trying to get people to prove that there was a problem and wanted to get people to provide a save game and details so that SI could look at it and make a decision. People (again IMO) were using anecdotical evidence to make there points about how real madrid were able to get young players but they couldn't on their saves (perhaps illegally but hey hoy uefa..). i dont think many (or any) people uploaded a save. I feel the same is happening here: but this time it is the defenders of the game that are not providing evidence. So i will try (for the last time) to ask for specific example of the points people are making that the survey is flawed. I am in no way a staunch supporter of doctor benjy or the survey - but i have seen multiple examples of people saying there are problems with the survey without specific examples of these problems and how it can be improved. maybe you are correct - but the arguments are vague and (again IMO) not really addressing the points. Or in other words - can you provide a save game of the issue that can help us solve the problem . Lets attack the argument and not the motivation behind it.

i feel like people are more against the concept of the survey rather than analyzing it. Whilst I see many of those criticizing the survey have a great deal of experience with the game (based on the number of posts and positions they hold on these forums), I would argue that something like this can at least provide some level of debate. if we firstly look at the survey and debate some specific examples of how it can be done better to achieve desired results, then wait for the responses and debate possible meanings, then that could be a bit more productive. Dismissing this at this point might only result in pushing away some people - including some youtube content creators.

@deltablue I just had a look at the survey: could you be specific on what you identify as flaws so that future surveys can be improved? Perhaps so more collaboration on this might help both parties?

going back to your original tactic - I agree with saware on the striker - maybe a DLF Att is better. I also worry about the left as the WB and the Wing might be in the same space. Maybe change the WB Sup to a FB sup.

for the drop-down menus - it is not just the extra clicks - it is also the miss clicks where you click on the wrong one and have to do it again. I know i could be better with my clicks but it is a bit aggravating and just encourages me to put as much as i can on one view. i just think having tabs like at the bottom on an excel spreadsheet would (at least for me) really encourage better use of views. anyway, we all play differently.

having multiple views would be better if there was an easier to access tab rather than having to go to a few menus. one click to switch over views would be great (unless I am missing some easier way to do it!!)

yep - 10% off

steam winter sale should start soon - not sure if this will be discounted

I would have thought that 4) hit early crosses was about location rather than how often. So maybe the same as 'cross from deep'. The rest look similar to me, just for the 1 player instead of the whole team. BUT i am not one of those who is an expert on how things work in the match engine, just applying my own logic

for Argentina, i felt that whilst di maria was on, it was like the ball came through the middle but when it got to the attacking third it was find him at every opportunity. they knew they had a chance there. i do not know how that transfers to Fm, as focus play doesn't work like that as I understand it.

for France, I wondered if at the beginning it looked something like this: But there were so many subs as that was not working, that I have no idea how it was towards the end!!

Just for a bit of fun: how would you describe the tactics of Argentina and France in the world cup final? Player roles? Team instructions

I dont have it in front of me, but isnt there a way to choose a player type? like advanced forward? i think then the attributes are spread for that type of position.

Wait, i don't mean a CM Attack in a 4231, I mean in a 433. i would guess a CM Attack in a 4231 would have similar problems to a BBM. I would think more about something like: Here the striker in a support role might work better with the CM Attack. If you want to keep the AF then an AM will help bridge that gap, but the 2 in CM need to be more defensive to not leave a gap with the CB (like in your pass maps). EG:

The first thing I notice is the gap between the Cms and the Cbs. Even in the passing map when things are working well there is a gap there, I would consider plugging that gap up a bit. A DLP often has a person next to them that has defensive responsibility, so the BBM might disappear up field (see your 2nd passing map) leaving the gap. So I would reassess the BBM role. When the striker got isolated, did you ever try a CM Attack? Or change the striker to a support role?

sorry, i have looked at the screen shots for like 5 minutes now and I can't see the issue. what do you mean op? The team names seem to match up in the 3 images, the cup names are the same, i even looked up a few teams on google and they were right. What is OOT? Do you mean 'Attacking patient" in the training schedule??

Perhaps I am overcomplicating things, but wouldn't roles and duties really affect your decisions? For example: If the opposition are running a 4-3-3 - Without thinking of roles then you might look to control the front 3 with the 2 CBs and the FBs to have +1. But if the roles are something like this: Then maybe you might make some other decisions, like make the DM responsible for the F9, have the 2CBs responsible for the IFA and create the +1 in another way (maybe another CB). obviously this would be further impacted by what the opposition midfield and FBs are doing. My concern is if you just focus on formation then you may have a similar situation to what happened to Leeds vs Man Utd where a few Man Utd players pulling Leeds players out of position meant the Man Utd team could run riot. Maybe getting a skin that shows the opposition roles and duties (whilst maybe cheating) can help you refine this. But like I said, maybe I am overcomplicating what you are trying to do here.

I did have a play around with this for a while using FM19. I tried playing the same game over and over again making small changes. The things I noticed: Getting overloads on my chosen side was not a problem, the issue was getting it to the desired goal scorer. Full backs would cross a lot and the crosses would get blocked and not hit anyone. The IF （desired goal scorer） would come too deep to get the ball and then tried to dribble passed too many people and lose the ball. There was no space for the IF goal scorer. The only time I got the ball to the goal scorer as desired, was when the ST put a through ball to him, it was rare to see. I probably chose the wrong team for this (Liverpool with the squad for 2022) but perhaps I need to look at really slowing the pace down, getting the goal scorer to remain as high as possible, and role and players that will look to tiki taka on the overloading side before unleashing to the goal scorer. I haven't gotten it working yet, too tired for tonight so will try again later. Ideas at the moment: Get the IF to man mark the CB closest to him to stay high Change the IF to a Poacher or Advanced Forward but on the side I don't know what to do with the CM closest to the IF, might need to be more aggressive to provide an out and through balls Reduce crossing on FB Have the ST as an AMC and closest to the overloading side DLP in the DM strata to get out balls I might play with the editor to see the impact of PPMs Play around with stay wider, play narrower, also runs wide with ball PS whilst the FB crossing got blocked a lot, the overloading side would really struggle without a FB that pushes forward hugging the line IMO.

I am no expert here, and reading how frukox think, things through makes my head spin! But i wonder if being less aggressive with roles on he left may help in getting more goals out of Saka? Having so many attacking roles on the left might encourage them to head for goal, maybe changing the IWA to IWS and the MEZA to MEZS might have them a bit deeper, playing with the ball until the space arrives on the right (I do think the IWB role restricts a bit here, as having a WBA i think would be useful). Also there needs to be an out ball, somebody (or people) need to be looking for Saka. I guess those could be the right cm, maybe the AML and ST. Ideas: make the AML a playmaker to encourage the play on the left and then for the player to look for a killer ball? Or make the right CM a DLP so that people are looking for the out ball and that player can then move the ball quickly to Saka? Another thought: have shoot less often for people scoring too much? Maybe PPMs could be useful here. Having lots of people on the left with 'plays one twos' and the right people with 'likes to switch ball to other flank' can help. Anyway, reading this thread with interest. Edit: I think Rashidi did exactly this idea in a thread a long time ago with Liverpool. I only remember him having Mane as a Treq (or target man...) on the left. Edit 2: I know it breaks your rules and there are possibly too many support roles in midfield, but just an idea: