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

[MarchColorDrink]

I am not able to instruct some (youth) players to learn new ppms. It appears to happend when the training level is already at high or very high.

In previous iteration it was possible to micromanage the distribution on time spent for individual, position and ppm training on individual level. Is that option gone?

[Dr. Hook]

In previous iteration it was possible to micromanage the distribution on time spent for individual, position and ppm training on individual level. Is that option gone?

Yes, no more micromanaging time.

[Guest]

This is an emergency. How do you change captains midway through a season?

I desperately need to do it because I didn't realise just how many yellows I'd be picking up since I changed to a captain who has a competitive streak and occasionally bends the rules.

EDIT: Nevermind, found it.

[boblardo]

Just been promoted and while I am not being outplayed every game how can you tell its player quality rather than your tactic?

[mikcheck]

Weaker personalities (i.e. Balanced) may not develop as well as someone who is reasonably professional, it's always good to try and fix their personalities while you train them via tutoring.

As for individual focused training, it depends entirely on your view. In FM16 the player will tell you on the training screen if he feels the training has stopped being beneficial. You may as well switch it around at that point and switch it back later if you think he still needs to work on it.

Thanks for the reply. It makes sense now

[MarchColorDrink]

I am not able to instruct some (youth) players to learn new ppms. It appears to happend when the training level is already at high or very high, but sometimes even at medium. I'm finding this confusing. What limits a player to start learning ppm?

[superdave]

When facing 1 striker tactics, how should I set up my central defenders in a4 man back line? Stopper, cover, defend, or man mark with one CD, etc.

[pocketspace]

How can one change the formation from one to another, without altering its shape? I mean, take example the 4-1-4-1 which can become 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, but how is that possible without moving players up the pitch in the Tactics screen? Use the Mentality + Players Role combo?

[Los_Culés]

Does the width setting apply also without the ball or is it predomnantly "with ball" instruction/setting?

Thanks

[pedrosantos]

How can one change the formation from one to another, without altering its shape? I mean, take example the 4-1-4-1 which can become 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, but how is that possible without moving players up the pitch in the Tactics screen? Use the Mentality + Players Role combo?

Player roles and duties should do the trick

[pedrosantos]

Does the width setting apply also without the ball or is it predomnantly "with ball" instruction/setting?

Thanks

It's a with and without the ball instruction

[yau]

No it's not. In defensive phase your team always play narrow. Width setting is only 'with ball' instruction.

[pedrosantos]

No it's not. In defensive phase your team always play narrow. Width setting is only 'with ball' instruction.

Thanks, I wasn't sure although I thought it was with and without the ball. I guess that narrow also fluctuates according to the mentality set.

[AeM]

Are there any benefits of using coaches in national team? For example: if I hire goalkeeper coach that will have an impact of my goalie's rating/morale etc. ?

Regards

[pocketspace]

Where can I find a list with the Team Instructions structured on the areas of the pitch they affect? I mean, say some TIs affects only defense, some affect only attack or some affect the general team tactics.

[safcrhys]

Does shorter passing work with a high tempo? I always use short passing with lower tempo and direct passing with high tempo. Has anyone had success by using shorter passing with a quick tempo?

[herne79]

Are there any benefits of using coaches in national team? For example: if I hire goalkeeper coach that will have an impact of my goalie's rating/morale etc. ?

Regards

Always have coaches. Whilst the impact may not be great (you're not trying to develop players after all) they'll help to keep your players fit and working on tactical preparation.

Where can I find a list with the Team Instructions structured on the areas of the pitch they affect? I mean, say some TIs affects only defense, some affect only attack or some affect the general team tactics.

Some aspects of the UI already show this, such as clear ball to flanks, exploit the middle, work ball into box and so on. A few others can only affect certain areas, such as defensive line or prevent short GK distribution. All the other TIs will affect everyone on the pitch eg., pressing, tempo, passing length, dribble more/less, be more expressive/disciplined, tackling, marking and so on.

I'm not aware of any specific list.

Does shorter passing work with a high tempo? I always use short passing with lower tempo and direct passing with high tempo. Has anyone had success by using shorter passing with a quick tempo?

Absolutely it can. The Shorter Passing TI both shortens passing length and reduces tempo by default, so increasing tempo manually to compensate or even add more can work, so long as your players and tactical system can cope.

[Exius]

Has anyone had success by using shorter passing with a quick tempo?

Sure. IRL Barcelona, Bayern, Spanish and German national teams. For example, if I am not mistaken Joachim Löw managed to reduce average time with the ball to 1 second for each player through training sessions.

But you need to be aware that combination of quick tempo and short passing is accaptable only for high-skilled players. If you try to do it with low-liague teams - there will be too many mistakes and losses of possession.

[safcrhys]

Thanks guys!

[mikcheck]

Hi all,

In theory if i want my team to keep the shape, compactness and low medium defensive line but pressing heavely with my front players does it make sense to use a defensive mentality with closing down much more PI in the front?

Tks

[Parri]

Hi,

How can i fit Aritz Aduriz (Athletic Bilbao's goalscorer) in a 4-2-3-1? Can a lone striker have an attack duty? If not, its possible for a DLF on support be the main goalscorer? Cause i want him creating space for Iñaki Williams and Raul García also.

[herne79]

Hi all,

In theory if i want my team to keep the shape, compactness and low medium defensive line but pressing heavely with my front players does it make sense to use a defensive mentality with closing down much more PI in the front?

Tks

That could be one way of going about it. Just remember what else mentality does to default settings and Team Shape will have an impact on "keeping shape".

Hi,

How can i fit Aritz Aduriz (Athletic Bilbao's goalscorer) in a 4-2-3-1? Can a lone striker have an attack duty? If not, its possible for a DLF on support be the main goalscorer? Cause i want him creating space for Iñaki Williams and Raul García also.

You can absolutely have a striker with an attack duty in a 4231. You can also have a support duty striker. Think about where you want to create the space. For example, if you use an Advanced Forward he'll be trying to push the opposition defenders deeper which will create space in front of those defenders. This could help a creative player at AMC and/or help players run in off the wings dribbling with the ball with pace at defenders.

Alternatively, using (for example) a DLF(S), he'll drop deep and so open space behind the defensive line. That could help a more goal focused player at AMC or on the wings to make runs from deep or into the channels, or perhaps encourage through balls.

Those are just examples, and you can make it work pretty much how you like.

[pocketspace]

Hello, what should I look for when analysing post-match stats in a counter-attacking tactic? Also, what should I keep an eye for during in game (actually during matches) spectating?

[Los_Culés]

How can I influence crossing setting and crossing aim for strikers in FM16? My formation is deliberately set up to unleash SCL (left footed) into channels to provide crosses for SCR. But he keeps crossing to no mens land (he has crossing attribute 12 which is very decent for the level I am playing at).

Thanks

[Exius]

How can I influence crossing setting and crossing aim for strikers in FM16? My formation is deliberately set up to unleash SCL (left footed) into channels to provide crosses for SCR. But he keeps crossing to no mens land (he has crossing attribute 12 which is very decent for the level I am playing at).

Thanks

Maybe you should use him as AML (Winger role) instead of SCL? You can also set crossing aim for him - far post. Another option is to set SCR as target man and set crossing aim - target man.

You can also analyze it more deeply and try to figure out why all crosses are going to nowhere. Maybe your SCR can't manage to get to the area in time? Or he is roaming from his position and even doesn't trying to come for a cross. Can't tell nothing more without screens of your tactic.

[Exius]

I have two questions:

1) Are different player roles really coded in different ways or they are just different combinations of player individual instructions? I think they are coded in different ways, 'cause for example WB and CWB having the same instructions differ a lot on the field.

2) I'm working on a tactic for Barcelona. I've read a lot of related articles - both here and on other resources. But all of them are nowhere near IRL Barcelona statistics.

I'm currently experimenting with the following team instructions:

No matter what formations and player roles I use the team has 500-550 completed passes from 600-650 on average per 90 min. I'm struggling to make them 650+ completed from 700-750+ total. I tried different combinations of tempo, mentality shape, team instructions but it goes around the same 500-550 completed passes. I think the problem is that MSN trio has "Play with the ball often" PPM each and there is no way to force them make more passes. So, what do you think, am I reaching a maximum in current match engine or there are any ways to get more passes? I'm out of ideas...

[Sussex Hammer]

Sure I have seen this question asked before but I can't find it on the search facility. Is there anyway to stop a penalty being taken by a player on a hat trick? On the occasions this has happened my nominated taker has been on the pitch and in one match the player on two goals missed the penalty he had for a hat trick and it nearly cost me the points, so was just wondering if there is anything you can do?

[triplem89]

I would like to know what formation is considered top heavy system. Is 4123 as in 1 DM ,2 CM, 2 wide AM and 1 striker considered top heavy?

[Dr. Hook]

Sure I have seen this question asked before but I can't find it on the search facility. Is there anyway to stop a penalty being taken by a player on a hat trick? On the occasions this has happened my nominated taker has been on the pitch and in one match the player on two goals missed the penalty he had for a hat trick and it nearly cost me the points, so was just wondering if there is anything you can do?

No, you can't stop it. This was adjusted in a patch as it at first it would totally ignore match context. Now the game is supposed to take match context into account, but it will still throw this up at you at times.

[Dr. Hook]

1) Are different player roles really coded in different ways or they are just different combinations of player individual instructions? I think they are coded in different ways, 'cause for example WB and CWB having the same instructions differ a lot on the field.

2) I'm working on a tactic for Barcelona. I've read a lot of related articles - both here and on other resources. But all of them are nowhere near IRL Barcelona statistics.

1. They are to some extent in that playmakers or targetman roles will attract the ball. But in your case, the CWB and WB have different instructions- for example, set both to attack and you will see that the CWB also has a stay wider and roam from position instruction active. That will give you different behavior.

2. Do you mean "run with ball often" for your midfield? If so, yes, they will try dribbles over passing all else being equal. I have seen people get more completed passes, so it is possible. One thing you can try is removing the retain possession. It may seem counter-intuitive, but it kills through balls and shortens passing so it might limit what your players will try to do.

[Exius]

1. They are to some extent in that playmakers or targetman roles will attract the ball. But in your case, the CWB and WB have different instructions- for example, set both to attack and you will see that the CWB also has a stay wider and roam from position instruction active. That will give you different behavior.

So, they are coded in the same way, just have another combination of instructions? I was confused when I was trying to push FBs forward, closer to the midfield. WBs with attack duty place themselves closer to the deffence when reviewing average positions after the match. CWBs with attack duty having the same mentality place themselves much higher closer to the midfielders average positions.

2. Do you mean "run with ball often" for your midfield? If so, yes, they will try dribbles over passing all else being equal. I have seen people get more completed passes, so it is possible. One thing you can try is removing the retain possession. It may seem counter-intuitive, but it kills through balls and shortens passing so it might limit what your players will try to do.

No, I mean that Messi, Neimar and Suarez have "run with the ball often" PPM, so usually they try to dribble through the defence, often losing the ball. This reduces number of passes.

I'll try to remove "retain possession", thank you for the hint. The problem is that sometimes there are matches when number of completed passes differs considerably. While having 500-550 on average sometimes I have 400-450 in certain matches, having the same 65+% of possession. On the contrary rarely there are matches where I have 650-700 completed passes. IRL Barca usually have such huge number of passes when playing against weak sides, but in FM this is some kind of a riddle for me. I can play with a weak opponent dominating them all the match and have only 400 completed passes. And then I can play against Real Madrid, have the same 65-70% of possession but complete 650 passes in 90 minutes. I see no sense in it and I cannot see any reasons for such deviation. I noticed that when opposition has red card and plays with 10 players I have more completed passes, but why it happens when the opposition team has full squad - still is a mystery for me. I guess that if the team parks a "bus" in their area and even doesn't bother with closing down my players - my team complete more passes, even if I play against a strong side. But even a weak opponent can play agressively enough and close down my players in such way that they decide to dribble instead of making a pass. It's only a guess though...

[theaub5]

Been reading a bunch of stuff about training cycles and how training should be set at three month intervals (or more) to increase the chance of strong player growth.

My question is - does that apply only for individual training (ie positions or specific attribute training) or does that also apply to the general team training? Right now I try to switch it up bi-weekly between general/tactics/ball control and although I have been rather satisfied with the overall development of my team, wondering if it could be even better.

[herne79]

It applies to General Training as well.

If you really want to extract every last drop out of training, head over to Rashidi's blog at https://www.addictedtofm.com/.

[Dr. Hook]

So, they are coded in the same way, just have another combination of instructions? I was confused when I was trying to push FBs forward, closer to the midfield. WBs with attack duty place themselves closer to the deffence when reviewing average positions after the match. CWBs with attack duty having the same mentality place themselves much higher closer to the midfielders average positions.

No, I mean that Messi, Neimar and Suarez have "run with the ball often" PPM, so usually they try to dribble through the defence, often losing the ball. This reduces number of passes.

I'll try to remove "retain possession", thank you for the hint. The problem is that sometimes there are matches when number of completed passes differs considerably. While having 500-550 on average sometimes I have 400-450 in certain matches, having the same 65+% of possession. On the contrary rarely there are matches where I have 650-700 completed passes. IRL Barca usually have such huge number of passes when playing against weak sides, but in FM this is some kind of a riddle for me. I can play with a weak opponent dominating them all the match and have only 400 completed passes. And then I can play against Real Madrid, have the same 65-70% of possession but complete 650 passes in 90 minutes. I see no sense in it and I cannot see any reasons for such deviation. I noticed that when opposition has red card and plays with 10 players I have more completed passes, but why it happens when the opposition team has full squad - still is a mystery for me. I guess that if the team parks a "bus" in their area and even doesn't bother with closing down my players - my team complete more passes, even if I play against a strong side. But even a weak opponent can play agressively enough and close down my players in such way that they decide to dribble instead of making a pass. It's only a guess though...

The CWB will most times play higher because they have an attack duty which= a high mentality plus roam from position which often means they are drifting forward more, or conversely, not dropping back as deeply in transitions. The average position would be skewed if they having to get back on defense from a higher position up the pitch.

With the passes, you probably won't regularly achieve real life #'s of passes that you would see Barca get or any other high possession side. FM just doesn't seem to get there numbers wise. Again, if you have the retain shout dropped you should see some improvement there as you have top quality players who can make more risky passes. You will be opening up options for them and might see more completions. Another thing to factor in is against a weak side that isn't necessarily parking the bus, is that you will get the ball deeper more quickly which theoretically means you are getting more shots or having balls go out for throws or corners- all of which reduce your time on the ball and would probably lead to lower passing #'s. If you really want to figure it out, you'd have to watch the matches in full to see why you are dominating in possession but making fewer passes. Remember that FM calculates possession based on either/or- you have the ball or your opponent does. If you have having a lot of shots stopped, or going over the bar or wide, or direct passes that just miss and go out for a corner or throw you will still get the good possession stats, but are actually making fewer passes. You are probably in "possession" the roughly the same amount of time as FM calculates, but not in actual possession where you can do something useful with the ball. I hope that makes sense.

[mikcheck]

That could be one way of going about it. Just remember what else mentality does to default settings and Team Shape will have an impact on "keeping shape".

Thanks. Yes that's also why i use Structured

[Los_Culés]

Maybe you should use him as AML (Winger role) instead of SCL? You can also set crossing aim for him - far post. Another option is to set SCR as target man and set crossing aim - target man.

You can also analyze it more deeply and try to figure out why all crosses are going to nowhere. Maybe your SCR can't manage to get to the area in time? Or he is roaming from his position and even doesn't trying to come for a cross. Can't tell nothing more without screens of your tactic.

Thank you for the answer. Well, I can not move SCL to AML as it would totally destroy my tactic/formation. AML would surely move in different zones on the pitch than my SCL, would make different kind of OTB runs etc. I will try some other instructions for my other striker to position himself in different spaces.

But firstly I need to start a new game in FMT as I can not stand full fat FM with all the annoying team talks, player interactions etc.

[sirmikey]

Guys, does anyone else find that their centre backs are far too happy to let opposing forwards bring long balls down? I've lost count of the amount of times that a goalie boots the ball up field, my centre backs both drop off and give the forward time to bring the ball down, turn and run at them. Even with the highest defensive line, tighter marking and much more closing down it seems to happen.

How can I prevent this? How can I make sure my centre backs challenge EVERY long ball?

[Exius]

With the passes, you probably won't regularly achieve real life #'s of passes that you would see Barca get or any other high possession side. FM just doesn't seem to get there numbers wise. Again, if you have the retain shout dropped you should see some improvement there as you have top quality players who can make more risky passes. You will be opening up options for them and might see more completions. Another thing to factor in is against a weak side that isn't necessarily parking the bus, is that you will get the ball deeper more quickly which theoretically means you are getting more shots or having balls go out for throws or corners- all of which reduce your time on the ball and would probably lead to lower passing #'s. If you really want to figure it out, you'd have to watch the matches in full to see why you are dominating in possession but making fewer passes. Remember that FM calculates possession based on either/or- you have the ball or your opponent does. If you have having a lot of shots stopped, or going over the bar or wide, or direct passes that just miss and go out for a corner or throw you will still get the good possession stats, but are actually making fewer passes. You are probably in "possession" the roughly the same amount of time as FM calculates, but not in actual possession where you can do something useful with the ball. I hope that makes sense.

Thank you for the suggestion - the team really played a bit more nice with this correction - more passes into the area. But in fact it even reduced a bit number of completed passes - to 450-500. I think the problem is that increasing pass length allows the ball to be distributed to the attacking third more quickly. And than there it is either lost or shoted.

As for watching full matches - I often watch them. But it's too difficult for me to see a 100 passes difference during the match. It's around 7 passes per minute instead of 6 which is not easy to notice. Maybe I'm not reading the game too well though...

I can only tell that the main difference between how IRL Barca plays and my team - is less dribbling, more one-twos and more first touch short passes. And of course IRL players move off the ball in a much more wise way but it's a match engine issue...

To minimize dribbling attempts I have "less dribbling" team instruction which is amplified by individual instructions for players who's role allows to set it. To make more first time passes I see the only way is to maximize team tempo (since it defines how much time player has with the ball to make a decision), but even with maximal tempo I don't see many first touch passes. And the worst problem are one-twos - even though several players in the team has them as PPM I don't see them making this move. Maybe there are several attempts to play one-two during the whole match, which is obviousely not enough. And I have no idea how to increase them.

So, I have already maximized most of the main points which can allow me to get more passes. And still the result is nowhere near to be satisfying. It seems just like FM 2016 Barca is just not the best choice to play tiki-taka... Or the match engine is not very friendly to this playing style. But I saw screenshots of people succeeded to make 700+ completed passes, so there should be something I'm missing.

[Ji-Sung Park]

Can aggression be mentored?

[Gerd]

Tutoring question:

Young player has balanced personality with determination of 13

Potential tutor is fairly professional but determination of 8.

Q: Is moving personality to fairly professional worth the drop in determination?

Thanks

[HUNT3R]

Tutoring question:

Young player has balanced personality with determination of 13

Potential tutor is fairly professional but determination of 8.

Q: Is moving personality to fairly professional worth the drop in determination?

Thanks

In development terms, having a more professional player will mean a player will develop faster, so it's very good to have. Does it really matter if his Determination has dropped? If he develops well, ALL his attributes go up. Determination is an overrated attribute.

[mikcheck]

Hello guys,

Two questions:

1 - Is determined a good personality or is professional/resolute better?

2- This is FM15 related but it never happened to me. As you can see in the pictures below months ago i've started training Coric to learn a new position (ML). However as you can see it still awkward and the annoying thing for me here is that in his training tab it's like that new position is already well learned because it indicates 0% for position training. Do you have any idea what's the problem there? Thanks

[herne79]

Hello guys,

Two questions:

1 - Is determined a good personality or is professional/resolute better?

2- This is FM15 related but it never happened to me. As you can see in the pictures below months ago i've started training Coric to learn a new position (ML). However as you can see it still awkward and the annoying thing for me here is that in his training tab it's like that new position is already well learned because it indicates 0% for position training. Do you have any idea what's the problem there? Thanks

1. More Determined players will react better in matches when going a goal or two behind. More professional players (ie., players with a high "Professionalism" hidden attribute) will train better. So the choice is yours. Of course ideally you'll have players with high Determination and Professionalism.

2. There could be a number of reasons, ranging from lengthy injury; lack of professionalism; lack of playing time and so on. However, there's no need to overly concern yourself with positional familiarity. If you think a player has the right attributes for the job you want him to do then play him. Low positional familiarity has a minor impact on a player's decision making, that's all.

[mikcheck]

Thanks.

Yes i'm almost sure that it is related to his personality because he's always been playing in that position and lots of playing time and very rarely injured. Glad to know that it's not that serious.

[Exius]

So, I have already maximized most of the main points which can allow me to get more passes. And still the result is nowhere near to be satisfying. It seems just like FM 2016 Barca is just not the best choice to play tiki-taka... Or the match engine is not very friendly to this playing style. But I saw screenshots of people succeeded to make 700+ completed passes, so there should be something I'm missing.

Just in case if this might be interesting to somebody. I've figured out what I was missing.

As I thought - I had to decrease amount of time every player is spending with the ball. But I've already set all the tactical instructions which are responsible for this - both team and individual. So I used ingame editor to experiment with players' PPMs. I set "Run with the ball rarely" PPM for every player who hadn't "Run with the ball often". For every player who had "run with ball often" PPM - I just removed it. And I also set "Plays short simple passes" PPM for every player who hadn't "Tries killer balls often". And that's it. With ultra-defensive instructions and minial creative freedom my team managed to complete 750-800 passes per 90 minutes (looking very poor in the attack obviousely). Using a bit more attacking tactic and giving a bit more creative freedom I saw exactly what I was expecting - 600-650+ completed passes every game and dangerous atacking and my team looked much more similar to IRL Barcelona than before - a lot of first touch short passes, one-twos, much less losses of possession because of dribbling.

So, I'm very pleased that match engine is capable to produce close to real life statistics. But what I see can be improved - tactical editor, it should have an instruction which can amplify "less dribbling" even further, like a corresponding PPM does it. Otherwise most players from the teams who play or at least try to play tiki-taka (Barca, Bayern, PSG, Napoli, Borussia Dortmund, etc) should have corresponding PPMs to make these teams really play like IRL. But it's more a matter of research then.

[Footix]

What is the difference between assigning an attack duty to a player, vs adding "get further forward" PI to a player on support duty?

[Exius]

What is the difference between assigning an attack duty to a player, vs adding "get further forward" PI to a player on support duty?

The main difference is that with Attack duty player has higher mentality than with support. It makes him to play with a more risky approach, to go forward more often and generally he will position himself higher on the pitch (even when defending).

The other difference is that "get further forward" is not the only instruction which is enabled with and Attack duty. Depending on the position and role it can also enable "Dribble more", "Move into channels", "Roam from position", "More risky passes", "Cross more often", etc. So, the difference is much more complex than just one single PI.

[TheJanitor]

Does shape alters pressing? I noticed in the GUI, when you select Structured shapes it drops the Closing Down of the teams while on Fluid shape, it gets a boost.

[HUNT3R]

Does shape alters pressing? I noticed in the GUI, when you select Structured shapes it drops the Closing Down of the teams while on Fluid shape, it gets a boost.

Sounds like a(nother) UI bug.

[ianscousemac]

Regarding defensive line. If I choose much higher/much lower defensive line, does it affect my defenders only or does the whole team push further up or down?