[Pairs & Combinations FM2015 - UPDATED]

If I really have to.....

Retain Possession is too extremely patient approach that doesn't lead to many CCCs, it slows the play way too much and gives the opposition's defense time to organize themselves. Pass Into Space is useless because there is not that much space to pass to and this instruction just gives away the ball needlessly.

Run at the Defense instruction allows the players to take on the opposition's players and break down their organized defensive stance, open up some possibilities for goalscoring chances. Exploit the Flanks focuses the play down the wings, increases the width of the team and makes wide players more aggressive in attack (mentality and forward runs).

Retain Possession is not that effective against packed defenses. It numbs the attack too much. I would use Lower Tempo instead - it's just the right amount of patiences needed. Also, instead of Play Wider, I prefer to use Exploit the Flanks because it offers the same as Play Wider but adds more aggressive wide players (fullbacks, wing backs, wide midfielders and wide attacking midfielders/forwards).

As ever, it probably depends on one's players - but my teams have scored many goals, against packed defences, with a patient 'retain possession' approach, including the TI itself and even in combination with shorter passing, lower tempo. I don't think any TI is an absolute command, but a tendency or preference. So 'retain possession' in this context is just 'don't give the ball away cheaply'. With shorter passing, lower tempo and work ball into box all combined, yes that's probably quite a heavily emphasised tendency - but (with a certain system and type of player, perhaps) still can be the best way to provide goals against a tight defence that refuses to be drawn out.

[Pairs & Combinations FM2015 - UPDATED]

I'm not sure I perfectly know when and how to exploit opponents weaknesses but i try to.The most problems i've had were games like against Parma or Udinese who were dominated for about 30 minutes and then changed their formations to 5 defenders and packed midfield and tried to counter.As a result i couldn't get any chances at all although the quality of game remained the same.Should i play wider against "parked bus"? with the higher tempo to try to unsettle them? Any tips would be appreciated.

Try and envisage what an instruction means, in terms of a packed defence.

Higher tempo can take advantage of space, before a defence gets organised. However - if that defence starts organised and packed, higher tempo isn't going to be advantageous. If anything, 'hurrying' your attacking lowers your pass accuracy, in an area which is already lacking space. It's counter productive.

To get through a packed defence, you could work openings - patient, probing passing. Work Ball Into Box, Shorter Passing, Retain Possession.

Alternatively, depending on your players, you could ignore the packed defence - and shoot from distance, at any opportunity. Shoot On Sight.

Again, as llama says, you could Run At Defence - individual players taking on an opponent in a one-on-one situation to try and 'break-through' the packed defence.

Play Wider (stretch the defence and create gaps) could also be helpful.

[Quickfire Questions and Answers Thread (Tactic and Training Questions Only)]

More similar shapes are easier to train, yes. Initial familiarity with a secondary formation will depend on how close it is to your main one. Also it seems to me (and I have no proof of this, just a hunch) that the more unorthodox the shape is the longer it takes to learn. Or at least it starts with a lower familiarity rating. If you pick a 442 then pretty much any team will have some familiarity with it but choose an asymmetric 32131 for example and you'll have to start from zero.

Does taking the AssMgr's three tactical suggestions (especially if you're going to use basically the same shapes anyway) at the first Staff meeting help on familiarity, I wonder?

[Quickfire Questions and Answers Thread (Tactic and Training Questions Only)]

The first option is what happens. Trade off comes from the time it takes to learn a set of very diverse tactics. Depending on other training settings it can take a whole season to learn three very different tactics so you basically still have to suffer from lack of familiarity, especially during early stages. That's the decision you have to make - do you want your team to know your main style very well at the cost of flexibility or you'll have more flexibility at the cost of being fluid at something more specific.

Thanks - that's good news - both in terms of what I want to do, and that the 'logic' of the game seems right (it would be painful if players effectively said "I only know how to play quick tempo in a diamond, not a 433").

I hadn't thought about the additional time, but that of course makes sense as the trade off. It also will make me reconsider whether I really need a 3412, for the 30 minutes I might use it during the season...

Follow up question: is it easier/quicker to learn tactics of a similar shape, for example three tactics that each have four at the back? So would a 433/41212/4231 be slightly quicker to learn to full familiarity than 433/41212/352?

[Quickfire Questions and Answers Thread (Tactic and Training Questions Only)]

redmark, you can train all these 3 tactics to be fully fluid, but at least some instructions influence multiple "bars", so you can't just change some instructions without losing familiarity. I think formations and fluidity levels can be fully fluid if you change to them and have them trained, with other things it's more of a matter of luck - e.g. in one of my tactics I can lower the tempo and still have every bar at fluid. Only formation, mentality, fluidity, 4 top passing options, play wider/narrower, everything in defending except offside trap and 4 tempo instructions influence tactical familiarity, in my experience.

That's not quite what I meant.

Current Scenario:

Tactic 1: 433 - Standard/Very Fluid: Only 'set' TI (e.g.) is Play Out of Defence.

Let's assume my Tactics 2 & 3 are different shapes, but the same mentality, fluidity and same single set TI.

Now, if I select 'short passing', 'higher tempo' and 'hassle opponents' during a game, the familiarity with 'passing style', 'tempo' and 'closing down' components of my tactic (and the overall familiarity) all drop.

So, the question is in the following scenario:

Tactic 1: 433 - Standard/Very Fluid: Only 'set' TI (e.g.) is Play Out of Defence.

Tactic 2: 41212 - Control/Very Fluid: Lots of 'attacking' TI's set - hassle opponents, quicker tempo, direct passing, get stuck in, etc.

Tactic 3: 3412 - Counter/Very Fluid: Lots of 'patient' TI's set - stand off, lower tempo, short passing, retain possession, stay on feet, etc.

Now, let's say that during (or at the start of) a game, I want to add a couple of 'attacking' TI's to my Tactic1 433 - let's say, hassle opponents and higher tempo. Neither of these is 'trained' in my Tactic1 433, but both are trained in my Tactic2 41212.

What happens to tactical familiarity with Tactic1 433, with TI's selected which are not 'normally' associated with that tactic, but are 'worked on' with another (assume 100% familiar) tactic - Tactic2 41212?

- Fully familiar with TI's, regardless of which tactic they are learned with, or which tactic they are used with in any given game?

- Only familiar with a given TI in the tactic it is associated (learned) with?

- Some compromise familiarity, i.e. "I know this tempo, but not quite used to it in this particularly shape/setup"?

If that makes sense...

(Essentially if this 'works' - i.e. the first result (fully familiar), or even the third (somewhat familiar), then I can have a very 'bare' base tactic with my primary shape; the other two tactics give familiarity with a couple of shapes I might use occasionally, but more to the point can each be given a 'full' set of TI's to get used to and be able to use, pick and mix style, with my primary, base tactic. By the same token, if I do want to use Tactic 2 or 3, without every 'trained' TI, I have 'familiarity' with the individual TI's selected/not-selected, from one tactic or another. Or do I?...).

[Quickfire Questions and Answers Thread (Tactic and Training Questions Only)]

A stupid question about tactical familiarity arising from my 'PASS' thread...

I've been doing this as well, mostly successfully. However one thing I've only just noticed (during my 3rd-last game of the season) is that a lot of the most common instructions I want to use - but are not part of my base tactic(s) - lower tactical familiarity during a game; and, presumably, are making it less effective than it should be. For example, 'Hassle Opponents' has my 'closing down' familiarity at minimum; 'short passing' is medium familiarity, even switching to control with no changes in team instruction affects tempo and width familiarities.

I suppose this should have been obvious, but I didn't notice it .

Now... I could use my other two tactic slots to address this - a 'counter/lower tempo/short passing' style, and a 'control/quicker/hassle' style.

Would familiarity with individual instructions apply, even if I didn't switch to the alternative tactic as a whole?

Would familiarity with mentality/instructions apply, even if the alternative tactic is also a different formation?

So... Let's say my base tactic is a 433/Standard/Very Fluid, with Play Out of Defence and Pass Into Space selected (which it is; currently it also has 'Retain Possession', but I'm thinking of dropping that).

I want to be able to use the following 'sets' of instructions, more or less together -

'attack' - Control mentality, hassle opponents, quicker tempo, maybe push higher.

'patient' - might be anything from 'counter' to 'control' mentality, might hassle or stand off, lower tempo, retain possession, short passing, work ball into box.

But let's say I might also want to be able to use a 442 diamond, or a 352 of sorts.

If I use my three tactics as 1) 433-base mentality and instructions, 2) 442D attack - control mentality and instruction set, 3) 352 - patient counter mentality and intruction set...

Will I be fully familiar with any combination of those shapes, mentalities and instructions?