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

[Armistice]

40 minutes ago, Cleon said:

There's lots really, it really depends what you want from them. There are a lot of book reviews about football up on my site;

https://teaandbusquets.com/blog/football-books

Oh sorry if I forgot to mention, I am looking for books that explain the formations' weaknesses & strengths, why managers used them and how managers used those formations to exploit a weakness. Something like that.

 

For example I want to develop a 4-3-3 that will be the end product of most of my saves so I want to know what are the strengths, the weaknesses of the system, how managers played the system to create space, to exploit the space created etc.

Edited September 20, 2018 by Armistice

[Cal585]

6 hours ago, Pompey_Dan said:

Try as I might I cannot get the rotation I am looking for (nb: this is different to having the MC run wide with the ball); has anyone else succeeded in getting the MC to play from inside to out effectively?  If so, can you offer some advice - applied as opposed to theoretical ideally. 

 

 

Tricky one. Maybe getting the AML and MCL to swap positions may help? At least off the ball?

[Armistice]

#1 - How can I make a player put all his focus on unlearning a PPM? I think there's a chance he won't be successful in doing that.

#2 - Is there any point to train a tall player with some potential on becoming faster? I mean is he realistically going to become faster? What about old players?

[Experienced Defender]

7 hours ago, Pompey_Dan said:

Try as I might I cannot get the rotation I am looking for (nb: this is different to having the MC run wide with the ball); has anyone else succeeded in getting the MC to play from inside to out effectively?  If so, can you offer some advice - applied as opposed to theoretical ideally.

Well, I haven't tried to specifically achieve the MEZ-AML movement you're looking for, but if it doesn't work how I supposed it should, then you may try two more tweaks besides those I've already suggested. First is to use Roam From Positions in TIs, and second is to set your LB on a Defend duty (eg. WB on defend), so that he doesn't get forward too often, which should (hopefully) leave space left by the AML/IFs on the left wing for MEZ to occupy. And do not try both at once, but one at a time. If the RFP TI doesn't do the job, then set the LB to defend duty (or FB on support with the "Hold Position" PI). Again, I haven't tried this, so I'm just guessing how it should be set.

[Sam Smith2]

Another quick question if I may..

 

I think I understand that a player with an Attacking role is very likely to carry out the duties that the role indicates,like Get Further Foward,Dribble More etc etc,but what makes a player with a Support role Get further foward,Dribble More etc ,If those actions have been ticked/chosen.

 

Is it his Decisions rating ?

[Gianni Brera]

I have a question about the FM18 manual's description of the ''flexible'' team shape. ''A generally balanced approach aiming to encourage players to begin contributing to play in more than one area of the pitch. Players will involve themselves more broadly whilst making the team less compact overall.''

 

My in-game experience is that the tactical systems I had using flexible shape were defensively the most vulnerable. This can have many reasons of course, but is it true that the flexible shape tends to be ''less compact overall''? And if so, less compact compared to what? Fluid? Structured?

 

My understanding of shape is that it simply brings the tactical departments and individual mentalities either closer or further away from eachother, and that leads me to think of ''flexible'' as the standard/default/middle setting. But how would that translate into a ''less compact'' team?

[Experienced Defender]

28 minutes ago, Gianni Brera said:

I have a question about the FM18 manual's description of the ''flexible'' team shape. ''A generally balanced approach aiming to encourage players to begin contributing to play in more than one area of the pitch. Players will involve themselves more broadly whilst making the team less compact overall.''

 

My in-game experience is that the tactical systems I had using flexible shape were defensively the most vulnerable. This can have many reasons of course, but is it true that the flexible shape tends to be ''less compact overall''? And if so, less compact compared to what? Fluid? Structured?

 

My understanding of shape is that it simply brings the tactical departments and individual mentalities either closer or further away from eachother, and that leads me to think of ''flexible'' as the standard/default/middle setting. But how would that translate into a ''less compact'' team?

Less compact than fluid. With Flexible shape, your distribution of roles and duties becomes more important, as it will determine how compact the team will be. Of course, it does not mean that other elements of the tactic are less important, as well as your players' characteristics.

My personal way of thinking is - the more structured the shape is, the more support and the less attack duties are needed. And vice versa for more fluid shapes.

Edited September 22, 2018 by Experienced Defender

[Novem9]

Clarify me please where is 'side zone'?

For example I tried to read & translated guide

Teams that don’t have regular creators in the side will fail to score goals or only score goals that are mistakes or good bits of individual displays. 

 

Edited September 23, 2018 by Novem9

[herne79]

2 hours ago, Novem9 said:

Clarify me please where is 'side zone'?

For example I tried to read & translated guide

Teams that don’t have regular creators in the side will fail to score goals or only score goals that are mistakes or good bits of individual displays. 

 

If you are referring to the highlighted text, in this case "side" just means "team".  So - "Teams that don't have regular creators in the team will fail to score goals..."

[Armistice]

Regarding pass into space, is there any effect other than increase Risky Passes? I’m not sure what the source was but I read that it also tells players to attack the pockets of space more?

 

And a more detailed question I was wondering if Pass into Space increases the Risky Passes to the max for all the players on the pitch or is it like a staggered effect, I mean if you select Pass into Space + Counter mentality, the players’ risky passes will be similar to Standard Mentality or so. Can’t remember where I read about this, I think it was Lines & Diamonds, but not sure if it’s still available in game.

[Experienced Defender]

6 hours ago, Armistice said:

Regarding pass into space, is there any effect other than increase Risky Passes? I’m not sure what the source was but I read that it also tells players to attack the pockets of space more?

 

And a more detailed question I was wondering if Pass into Space increases the Risky Passes to the max for all the players on the pitch or is it like a staggered effect, I mean if you select Pass into Space + Counter mentality, the players’ risky passes will be similar to Standard Mentality or so. Can’t remember where I read about this, I think it was Lines & Diamonds, but not sure if it’s still available in game.

I can only tell you about Pass Into Space from my own experience. Whenever I use the PIS TI, my players do not pass into space all the time but just selectively, ie. when they see a good opportunity for such a pass. Of course, sometimes we lose possession following a pass into space due to either bad timing of the pass or good anticipation of an OP player who intercepts the pass. I know this is not a complete answer to your question(s), but I guess it might help you a bit.

[FrazT]

Ultimate stupid question for you:

How do you give a team talk to a sub that you are about to bring on?  Looked everywhere and cant see it

[Snorks]

Mis-post. See below.

Edited September 25, 2018 by Snorks

[Snorks]

1 hour ago, FrazT said:

Ultimate stupid question for you:

How do you give a team talk to a sub that you are about to bring on?  Looked everywhere and cant see it

You need to make the change through the Tactic screen, not the 'Quick Sub' option.

Swap the players, and bottom-right there is an option to Confirm, or Give team Talk.

Be aware though, the game doesn't pause while in this screen - I have been caught out a couple of times, trying to work out the best substitution only to find the game has finished before I make up my mind!

[FrazT]

Thanks for that

[Joey Numbaz]

3 hours ago, Snorks said:

Be aware though, the game doesn't pause while in this screen

Just hit the space bar 

[zlatanera]

If I have a training camp, and I put both tutor and tutee in the squad, will that have a positive effect i.e. help progress the tutoring? 

Will leaving one of them out have a negative effect? 

[Snorks]

13 hours ago, Joey Numbaz said:

Just hit the space bar 

Yeah, it's just remembering which actions pause, and which actions don;t. 

The OIs screen pauses the match, the Tactics screen doesn't.

I will, on a fairly regular basis, open one or the other and hit Space Bar, only to miss a goal while telling my guys to kick the hell out of their midfielder.

[Joey Numbaz]

Ah, I should probably learn faster ways to do things. I just go to the tactics screen and pause it for everything except for the in game shouts. Really, the AI should by default pause whenever you try to do anything. There is much less chance of something going wrong by pausing and forcing you to manually keep it going in the background than vice-versa.

Also, why can't I see star ratings on the same view as the players when registering them for a competition?

I love the game and I get that development is hard work where a lot of little things can slip through the cracks, but I really don't get a lot of the UI choices they make with this game.

[Snorks]

1 hour ago, Joey Numbaz said:

Ah, I should probably learn faster ways to do things. I just go to the tactics screen and pause it for everything except for the in game shouts. Really, the AI should by default pause whenever you try to do anything. There is much less chance of something going wrong by pausing and forcing you to manually keep it going in the background than vice-versa.

Also, why can't I see star ratings on the same view as the players when registering them for a competition?

I love the game and I get that development is hard work where a lot of little things can slip through the cracks, but I really don't get a lot of the UI choices they make with this game.

You're right there Joey. I don;t mind either way whether the game pauses or not, it's the different actions that get me. Not a big issue to be fair, just an annoyance.

 

I think you can customize the screen to show the Reports (CA/PA) by adding the column - but can't be certain for that particular screen.

[FrazT]

6 hours ago, Snorks said:

Yeah, it's just remembering which actions pause, and which actions don;t. 

The OIs screen pauses the match, the Tactics screen doesn't.

I will, on a fairly regular basis, open one or the other and hit Space Bar, only to miss a goal while telling my guys to kick the hell out of their midfielder.

I tried your suggestion but started by hitting the pause button as I do for any in-game changes I make.  That worked fine for subs and any other tactical changes.

[FrazT]

Another one for you guys:

My AM observations during a game will often mention that "Player x is being skinned far too often" or something like that.  What exactly does this mean and what am I supposed to do about it?

[Joey Numbaz]

3 minutes ago, FrazT said:

"Player x is being skinned far too often"

I always assumed that meant he's getting beat by a dribbler. Curious if that's correct myself.

[Snorks]

I love it when AM says "Player X is getting skinned" or 'Player B is making a lot of mistakes" yet his match rating is at 7.2 and he has the winger in his pocket.

[HUNT3R]

He's getting beaten, yes. What the AM is basing it on, I'm not sure, but it's possible tackles attempted vs successful tackles.

[FrazT]

1 hour ago, HUNT3R said:

He's getting beaten, yes. What the AM is basing it on, I'm not sure, but it's possible tackles attempted vs successful tackles.

I assumed along those lines, but what changes is he expecting me to make?  Change tackling, close down more/less, change position duties?

[HUNT3R]

9 minutes ago, FrazT said:

I assumed along those lines, but what changes is he expecting me to make?  Change tackling, close down more/less, change position duties?

If it is the case that he's losing out on tackles, you'd need to find how he's being skinned. I see there being (broadly speaking) 2 ways to beat your man - 1. dribbling past him or 2. a sudden burst of acceleration.

For 1, he may be rushing into tackles because of your instructions (tackle harder or get stuck in) or his Tackling is just a poor match against Dribbling, so I'd have him ease off tackles/stay on feet to rather attempt a tackle if he's more sure of winning it. If you're defending with a high line though, make sure he has the pace to keep up at least. A case could also be made that tighter marking will see your player already on the winger when he gets the ball, so there's not much of a chance to even start dribbling.

For 2, it's a bit more difficult. If you're defending deep you shouldn't have too much of a problem with pace, but a possibility is to ask the player to be more aggressive in the tackle (assuming he's a decent tackler) so he can attempt a tackle before the pace becomes an issue.

Those are the general things that I do myself, but it depends on what I see and what my tactical setup is. I try and avoid having these issues at all though, just by ensuring that the players I pick have a match-up advantage, if possible, or at least not a big disadvantage. You can have a great tactic, but one match-up problem like this, could cost you the match.

[FrazT]

Ok- thanks

[Gianni Brera]

Maybe one of the most stupid questions to ask, but would it make sense to combine a deeper or much deeper defensive line with more or much more closing down?

Are these contradictory shouts? Or does the former simply tell the defensive block to position itself deep whilst the latter telling them to close down aggressively within that deep zone?

I am looking for ways to keep my backline glued to the zone in front of goal whilst having an aggressive ''forecheck'' (using a combination of player roles and more closing down TI). Probably also in combination with a structured team shape for more positional discipline.

 

Ps. The intention here is to simply frustrate my opponent as much as possible. The deep backline should leave no space, but in order to constantly disrupt their attacks, give them little time and space within our area, close them down.

Edited September 29, 2018 by Gianni Brera

[Zemahh]

7 minutes ago, Gianni Brera said:

Are these contradictory shouts?

No. If they would be contradictory, they would cancel each other out. It's perfectly fine to use a low defensive line and a lot of closing down, if that is what you're after.

You already explained it yourself, it makes sense if you're trying to frustrate your opposition. However, it all comes down to players' attributes, make sure your players have decent Acceleration, Aggression, Bravery and Tackling, so they can close down fast enough and aren't afraid to tackle. Otherwise you could end up getting pulled out of positions very easily.

[Experienced Defender]

@Zemahh is absolutely right. I just want to add that the "CD (much) more" TI increases closing down for your entire team, not only defenders. When you set CD and d-line in whichever way (ie. combination), you can always go into your players' instructions and see how much each player will close down. Then, if you think that some of players CD is too high, you can reduce it for those particular players selectively. Vice versa, you can increase it, either. D-line actually determines the position on the pitch from which your defenders will start pressing, whereas closing down defines how much and how aggressively they will press. Of course, the higher the pressing is set, the more your players will tend to come out of their respective positions when closing down, which will in turn disrupt the overall defensive shape of your team.

[Cal585]

I booted up FMT17 to have a look at Kante's stats as a good holding mid. Was very surprised by his aggression of 10 (boosted in 18 I believe) and to a lesser extent his marking of 12, both of which I have prioritised for a DM/BWM/CMD in the past. Aggression particularly I would have thought key.

Am I unfairly dismissing low aggression players or is Kante an exception with his high compensating attributes?

[Experienced Defender]

1 hour ago, Cal585 said:

I booted up FMT17 to have a look at Kante's stats as a good holding mid. Was very surprised by his aggression of 10 (boosted in 18 I believe) and to a lesser extent his marking of 12, both of which I have prioritised for a DM/BWM/CMD in the past. Aggression particularly I would have thought key.

Am I unfairly dismissing low aggression players or is Kante an exception with his high compensating attributes?

Well, in real-life football Kante isn't too aggressive, but is instead very good at tackling, positioning, anticipation, bravery, workrate etc. I suppose his ratings for these attributes should be pretty high in FM as well?

[Cal585]

26 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

Well, in real-life football Kante isn't too aggressive, but is instead very good at tackling, positioning, anticipation, bravery, workrate etc. I suppose his ratings for these attributes should be pretty high in FM as well?

Yeah that's what I meant by the other attributes compensating. I assume he will more look to hold and block things than dive in. So aggression can be compensated by good positional awareness and work rate?

[shaikhrahib]

Hi. Simple question. What mentality/shape do I need if I want my defensive line to be compact, but my wingers to be wide.

 

Less space between my CB and FB (the channels) but my wingers to be hugging the touchline?

[Experienced Defender]

34 minutes ago, shaikhrahib said:

Hi. Simple question. What mentality/shape do I need if I want my defensive line to be compact, but my wingers to be wide.

 

Less space between my CB and FB (the channels) but my wingers to be hugging the touchline?

It has nothing to do with mentality and shape. Your wingers will naturally tend to hug the touchline when playing in the winger role (unless you tell them to Roam From Position). As for CB and FB, do you want less space between them only when defending or at all times? Giving the fullbacks a defend duty or playing them in the Defensive Fullback role can help achieve this when defending. When attacking, you can either set Width to narrower or instruct the fullbacks to sit narrower when the team has the ball (or both).

[shaikhrahib]

22 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

It has nothing to do with mentality and shape. Your wingers will naturally tend to hug the touchline when playing in the winger role (unless you tell them to Roam From Position). As for CB and FB, do you want less space between them only when defending or at all times? Giving the fullbacks a defend duty or playing them in the Defensive Fullback role can help achieve this when defending. When attacking, you can either set Width to narrower or instruct the fullbacks to sit narrower when the team has the ball (or both).

Thanks for the reply. I understand what you're saying. I usually play with a defend or contain on very fluid, and see that my wingers on support duty in the AM strata stay close to the middle of the pitch, because these mentalities have very little width by default, maybe it's just my players and their terrible mental stats that's doing this. I want to defend compactly but in attack want my wingers to run wide and stretch the opposition defence.

[Experienced Defender]

20 minutes ago, shaikhrahib said:

I usually play with a defend or contain on very fluid, and see that my wingers on support duty in the AM strata stay close to the middle of the pitch, because these mentalities have very little width by default, maybe it's just my players and their terrible mental stats that's doing this. I want to defend compactly but in attack want my wingers to run wide and stretch the opposition defence.

Well, if you play on such a low mentality as defensive or contain, then I fear the only way to get your wingers to run as wide as possible is to maximize Width in Team Instructions. And tell the fullbacks to sit narrower via their player instructions. Of course, your wingers' PPMs play a huge role. If they have a PPM "Cuts inside from wing(s)", then no instruction is going to help because PPMs tend to override both TIs and PIs.

[shaikhrahib]

2 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

Well, if you play on such a low mentality as defensive or contain, then I fear the only way to get your wingers to run as wide as possible is to maximize Width in Team Instructions. And tell the fullbacks to sit narrower via their player instructions. Of course, your wingers' PPMs play a huge role. If they have a PPM "Cuts inside from wing(s)", then no instruction is going to help because PPMs tend to override both TIs and PIs.

 

I usually play LLM and most players don't have any PPMs,

I will definitely try playing wider with asking FBs to tuck inside, let's see how that goes. Thanks for your insight.

[Experienced Defender]

21 minutes ago, shaikhrahib said:

I will definitely try playing wider with asking FBs to tuck inside, let's see how that goes. Thanks for your insight.

There are two more things when it comes to wingers and how they will play. First, it's important that a winger's stronger foot matches the flank where he's playing. And second, if opposition players (tipically fullbacks) show your wingers onto the foot opposite to their side of the pitch, then your wingers might be forced to run inside even if they don't want to. I sometimes have a similar problem with Townsend. I usually play him as IF on support in AMR position, but instead of cutting inside, I sometimes see him going wide simply because the opposition are showing him onto his right foot. 

[shaikhrahib]

20 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

There are two more things when it comes to wingers and how they will play. First, it's important that a winger's stronger foot matches the flank where he's playing. And second, if opposition players (tipically fullbacks) show your wingers onto the foot opposite to their side of the pitch, then your wingers might be forced to run inside even if they don't want to. I sometimes have a similar problem with Townsend. I usually play him as IF on support in AMR position, but instead of cutting inside, I sometimes see him going wide simply because the opposition are showing him onto his right foot. 

 

That's an interesting point which brings me to another question. How do I set up my wingers in a completely different system, like Leicester City did in their title winning season? They set up Mahrez and Albrighton on the wings with their wrong foots, what this did was, allow the wingers to get to the byline, take the ball on their stronger foot, and turn and put in a banana cross, which was more difficult to deal with (James Milner's usually crosses like this). I hope you understand what I'm saying, Is this possible in the match engine, if so, how? 

[zlatanera]

@shaikhrahib depending on the role / duty, you might be able to select "cross from byline". For example I know WInger-Attack has it set as mandatory whereas you can't put it on an Inside Forward. I imagine the Wide Midfielder role would allow you to customise as you see fit.

[Experienced Defender]

15 hours ago, shaikhrahib said:

That's an interesting point which brings me to another question. How do I set up my wingers in a completely different system, like Leicester City did in their title winning season? They set up Mahrez and Albrighton on the wings with their wrong foots, what this did was, allow the wingers to get to the byline, take the ball on their stronger foot, and turn and put in a banana cross, which was more difficult to deal with (James Milner's usually crosses like this). I hope you understand what I'm saying, Is this possible in the match engine, if so, how? 

 

14 hours ago, zlatanera said:

depending on the role / duty, you might be able to select "cross from byline". For example I know WInger-Attack has it set as mandatory whereas you can't put it on an Inside Forward. I imagine the Wide Midfielder role would allow you to customise as you see fit.

Winger on support can also bi told (via PIs) to cross from byline. So what you need to do is use wingers with the opposite strong feet and tell them to cross from byline, I guess. Of course, whether and how often is that going to succeed also depends on opposition defenders (fullbacks). But given that defenders usually look to show wingers onto their weaker foot, especially if those are good at crossing, it should make it easier for your wingers to get to the byline. The quality of crosses is another story though.

[shaikhrahib]

29 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

Winger on support can also bi told (via PIs) to cross from byline. So what you need to do is use wingers with the opposite strong feet and tell them to cross from byline, I guess. Of course, whether and how often is that going to succeed also depends on opposition defenders (fullbacks). But given that defenders usually look to show wingers onto their weaker foot, especially if those are good at crossing, it should make it easier for your wingers to get to the byline. The quality of crosses is another story though.

That makes a lot of sense, I think the avoids using weaker foot would also be an important PPM here. I'm going to try this style of play and share my experience here.

[zlatanera]

Not a question really, but its a shame that you can't have "avoids weaker foot" and "curls ball" combining to give you Quaresma-style crosses and shots...

[Sam Smith2]

On 30/09/2018 at 13:47, Experienced Defender said:

@Zemahh is absolutely right. I just want to add that the "CD (much) more" TI increases closing down for your entire team, not only defenders. When you set CD and d-line in whichever way (ie. combination), you can always go into your players' instructions and see how much each player will close down. Then, if you think that some of players CD is too high, you can reduce it for those particular players selectively. Vice versa, you can increase it, either. D-line actually determines the position on the pitch from which your defenders will start pressing, whereas closing down defines how much and how aggressively they will press. Of course, the higher the pressing is set, the more your players will tend to come out of their respective positions when closing down, which will in turn disrupt the overall defensive shape of your team.

I always have wondered this,If the actual length of the players own Closing Down bar (say it is 30 mm ) is that the actual Closing Down Arc that that player uses on the actual pitch ?

Hope that makes sence.

Is this how players actual passing lengths are shown too?

[Experienced Defender]

55 minutes ago, Sam Smith2 said:

I always have wondered this,If the actual length of the players own Closing Down bar (say it is 30 mm ) is that the actual Closing Down Arc that that player uses on the actual pitch ?

Hope that makes sence.

Is this how players actual passing lengths are shown too?

Basically it should work like that. So if the Close Down bar in Player Instructions is 30mm long and his closing down (green) is set to, say, 10mm, then he should close down sometimes (ie. depending on his own estimation), but will generally tend not to overdo with pressing. The same goes for passing. But when you change the Team Mentality, the length of these bars is going to change as well. So, close down less/sometimes/more in Defensive Team Mentality will be comparatively less than the same setting in a higher mentality.

[RedNomad]

I've got a question - how important is flair, and how does it influence a player's decisions? I can understand its importance for creative, attacking players (eg. advanced playmakers, trequartistas, etc), but I've found a defensive midfielder who looks amazing (15+ first touch, tackling passing, anticipation, decisions, etc), but he's only got 2 flair. I'm assuming that this will mean that he'll generally only play short, safe passes and rarely seek to unlock defenses with through balls? How will this affect his general play on the ball?

 

Cheers

Edited October 9, 2018 by RedNomad

[Experienced Defender]

9 hours ago, RedNomad said:

I've got a question - how important is flair, and how does it influence a player's decisions? I can understand its importance for creative, attacking players (eg. advanced playmakers, trequartistas, etc), but I've found a defensive midfielder who looks amazing (15+ first touch, tackling passing, anticipation, decisions, etc), but he's only got 2 flair. I'm assuming that this will mean that he'll generally only play short, safe passes and rarely seek to unlock defenses with through balls? How will this affect his general play on the ball?

 

Cheers

Flair represents a player's tendency to try (and do) something unpredictable, so it's not only about passing but also (and even more so) about dribbling, shooting, crossing... For a def mid flair is nowhere near as important as for more advanced players, even if he is a playmaker (DLP). In order for a DM to play good and useful through balls, more important than flair are his vision, technique, decisions and anticipation (in addition to passing of course). And if he also has good flair, the better (but again, flair is not necessary for this type of player).

[swansongs]

Flair represents a player's ambition on the ball. Anyone with Flair >10 has no business playing as a simple water-carrier DM. It's not a "bigger number is always better" attribute.