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

[Dave9ffc]

Can't add set piece takers, on any screen. Click drag and drop both player name or number but nothing happens when I drop them in? Any ideas?

[Piethief100]

Can't add set piece takers, on any screen. Click drag and drop both player name or number but nothing happens when I drop them in? Any ideas?

An annoying little bug that a few people have experienced. The solution is where you drag and drop to in the screen. There's a small little vertical column on the left on the drag and drop box. Aim your dropping of players into this and you should be able to add set piece takers.

SI know about the issue though, and hopefully it'll be fixed soon.

Edit - Just found an excellent post by Artificial about this. He put a picture in showing how to workaround the problem by dropping your player in a specific area of the box:

[Dave9ffc]

Thanks so much, you've saved my bacon

[skelet_jnr]

hey,

I currently have two tactics, one which i have been using for my first team and has been relatively succesful, another in which is untested.

I want my Reserve's/Under 18's to start using this tactic, so i get a slight understanding on how the second tactic is working. I have Ticked ths box in the team policy for both teams to be using current first team tactics, but they use the 1st tactic, when i want them to use the 2nd tactic. Is there any way of achieving this, without setting the second tactic as my first tactic?

Thanks again.

[furiousuk]

hey,

I currently have two tactics, one which i have been using for my first team and has been relatively succesful, another in which is untested.

I want my Reserve's/Under 18's to start using this tactic, so i get a slight understanding on how the second tactic is working. I have Ticked ths box in the team policy for both teams to be using current first team tactics, but they use the 1st tactic, when i want them to use the 2nd tactic. Is there any way of achieving this, without setting the second tactic as my first tactic?

Thanks again.

I think that if you set your 2nd tactic in the 1st Team Tactics (i.e. as if you're going to use the 2nd tactic in your next match) before the Reserves/U18 play a game then they'll assume that is your main tactic and use it. You can then switch back to your 1st tactic (or anything else) before your next match.

[ms998]

Is there a link anywhere to what all the shouts do - eg does play narrower apply to both defence and attack.

[dz47]

I have a question regarding players retraining positions. In my fm11 save I am planning on developing Jack Wilshere to eventually take over as my main MC (from Fabregas....to try to keep things somewhat realistic) in about 2-3 years time. In the meantime I plan on using him as a rotation player in both the MC and AMR positions so that he gets maximum game time (without being first choice in either), though he is likely to get more minutes at AMR (he is currently accomplished in both positions). So my question is essentially, would it be worth training him to natural at AMR (as this is where he will play most for next couple of seasons), not retraining him at all until he becomes first choice in the MC position (so that 100% of his training effort goes into CA gain), or starting to retrain him to MC now (even though he might not spend much time there yet). I hope that makes sense!

[pigfacemonkeyman]

Is there a link anywhere to what all the shouts do - eg does play narrower apply to both defence and attack.

Post #9; http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/277240-A-question-about-shouts?p=7161368#post7161368

[furiousuk]

I have a question regarding players retraining positions. In my fm11 save I am planning on developing Jack Wilshere to eventually take over as my main MC (from Fabregas....to try to keep things somewhat realistic) in about 2-3 years time. In the meantime I plan on using him as a rotation player in both the MC and AMR positions so that he gets maximum game time (without being first choice in either), though he is likely to get more minutes at AMR (he is currently accomplished in both positions). So my question is essentially, would it be worth training him to natural at AMR (as this is where he will play most for next couple of seasons), not retraining him at all until he becomes first choice in the MC position (so that 100% of his training effort goes into CA gain), or starting to retrain him to MC now (even though he might not spend much time there yet). I hope that makes sense!

I wouldn't bother retraining him at all as you want him to quickly get to his potential. In a few seasons I would imagine he'd pretty much maxed his potential but you could retrain him at MC, it shouldn't affect his stats too much. You might see a slight redistribution but the effect should be minimal given that he is already well established at CM. I've found that to keep a player at Natural in a position that he is not strictly Natural requires almost constant retraining, almost as soon as you play them out-of-position without keeping the positional training they'll lose Natural so wait until you're playing him at MC and then retrain him - you can stop training when he becomes Natural to try and stop him loosing any attributes but you'll have to keep playing him at MC (sometimes just one game in a different position is all it takes to lose Natural).

[Fabio MVP]

Anyone willing to explain me what the new touchline shouts do?

[dz47]

I wouldn't bother retraining him at all as you want him to quickly get to his potential. In a few seasons I would imagine he'd pretty much maxed his potential but you could retrain him at MC, it shouldn't affect his stats too much. You might see a slight redistribution but the effect should be minimal given that he is already well established at CM. I've found that to keep a player at Natural in a position that he is not strictly Natural requires almost constant retraining, almost as soon as you play them out-of-position without keeping the positional training they'll lose Natural so wait until you're playing him at MC and then retrain him - you can stop training when he becomes Natural to try and stop him loosing any attributes but you'll have to keep playing him at MC (sometimes just one game in a different position is all it takes to lose Natural).

Thanks for the detailed reply mate. I will follow your advice as it makes a lot of sense

[pigfacemonkeyman]

Anyone willing to explain me what the new touchline shouts do?

Here you go

From wwfan

There are four new shouts:

1: Play Ball out of Defence

2: Run at Defence

3: Play through Defence

4: Hit Early Crosses

Roughly (it's been a while):

1: Minimises passing length in the back two strata

2: Increases dribbling a notch in the top two strata and/or most advanced wide player

3: Decreases dribbling a notch in the top two strata and/or most advanced wide player

4: Increases crossing and reduces cross from a notch for wide players

[Fabio MVP]

Cheers dude.

[Fabio MVP]

I have one tactic and my team has maximum familiarity with it. So, if I choose 2 more tactics for my players to get familiar with will it effect my first tactic that I'm using, e.g. will players get less familiar with it and will they lose on their training workload because they are getting familiar with two more tactics? Hope i made that clear.

[free2bejc]

Newbie here, but messing around with the editor and I appear to have duplicated Mourinho, how can I tell which saved editor file has the duplicates. I have attempted merging all the files and then searching mourinho in the search bar and only the actual Real Madrid CF manager appears? But when I use this file 4 duplicates appear?

Any way of doing it aside from re-creating the files without duplicating mourinho.

[Cleon]

Newbie here, but messing around with the editor and I appear to have duplicated Mourinho, how can I tell which saved editor file has the duplicates. I have attempted merging all the files and then searching mourinho in the search bar and only the actual Real Madrid CF manager appears? But when I use this file 4 duplicates appear?

Any way of doing it aside from re-creating the files without duplicating mourinho.

Try the editors forum mate, this is for tactics

[free2bejc]

ah sorry, just searched for a thread about questions thought this might be suitable, I'll give it another search, cheers anyway

[ibro46]

i have read somewhere that deep lying playmaker requering require direct passing! is this true? if it is that mean that team instruction passing must be direct or deep lying playmaker instruction passing increase to be direct?

[furiousuk]

i have read somewhere that deep lying playmaker requering require direct passing! is this true? if it is that mean that team instruction passing must be direct or deep lying playmaker instruction passing increase to be direct?

Wouldn't necessarily need a longer passing length but the idea is that the DLP should be free to make long, raking passes to more advanced players. By shortening the length too much you make them less likely to do so, in many situations this might be desirable. I think the traditional view of a DLP is that they should have a free passing repertoire, hence long passing.

Long passing won't mean that your players will constantly hit long passes, just that your instructions mean they are free to do so when they choose. If there is a better short option they'll still take it (based on their decision making ability).

[jlawlor91]

Is the "4-2-4" formation too attacking, leaving too much room in midfield? (2 CM and 2Wingers) It's just I see it as 4-2-2-2 or 4-4-2 attacking, but the game sees it as 4-2-4.

4-2-4 to me sounds too attacking but my wide players aren't great playing RM or LM.

(Why doesn't the game class it as 4-4-2 att or 4-2-2-2 either, there seems to be inconsistency with formation names?)

[captdrain]

My Match Preparation sliders seem to keep resetting to "Average" and focus area to "Attacking Set Pieces". It resets whenever I pass a turn, or even when I change from fullscreen to windowed mode.

Is there a way to lock this in? Some "confirm" button that I have missed?

Thanks in advance!

[Coentrao]

I suppose you checked with in the team policy if the assistant manager is in charge of the match preparation?

It could be a bug though, specially if it resets when you switch from full screen to windowed.

[furiousuk]

My Match Preparation sliders seem to keep resetting to "Average" and focus area to "Attacking Set Pieces". It resets whenever I pass a turn, or even when I change from fullscreen to windowed mode.

Is there a way to lock this in? Some "confirm" button that I have missed?

Thanks in advance!

Have you tried a search for this? I definitely recall someone asking the exact same thing a few days ago (it may have been a week ago, it's been a busy week!). Unfortunately I can't remember the outcome of the thread.

Checking that the AssMan isn't taking match prep sounds like a good bet.

[furiousuk]

Is the "4-2-4" formation too attacking, leaving too much room in midfield? (2 CM and 2Wingers) It's just I see it as 4-2-2-2 or 4-4-2 attacking, but the game sees it as 4-2-4.

4-2-4 to me sounds too attacking but my wide players aren't great playing RM or LM.

(Why doesn't the game class it as 4-4-2 att or 4-2-2-2 either, there seems to be inconsistency with formation names?)

I'd class it as a 424 as well although that would depend how you'd set up your wide players - I'd imagine they are attacking players as they can't play well in midfield and it doesn't make sense that you'd stick defensive-minded players in the more advanced strata so it IS a 424, but I guess that's a fairly subjective call.

My 41221 (DM,CM,CM,AMR,AML,FC) is classed as either a 433 or a 451 by the game. My wide players are attackers so it's a 433 for me but the game doesn't take into account the playing instructions, only the formation.

I don't think it has any relevance in game.

[Coentrao]

What settings should my GK have to stop goal kicks completely? Because of the goal kick bug this can be seriously game breaking on the lower leagues.

I've set to defender collect and even though my full back drops deep to collect he'll still punt it up the field a lot of times, surely it's something to do with mentality or the passing setting but i don't really know what to change since i never tweak anything manually.

[Timee]

I think I'm getting too many goals against because of simple passes that go right through my defense. This is what the goal analysis page says:

What do you think? Maybe I should change my marking system (currently man marking) or put less pressure on the opponent (currently default)?

[mojojojo101]

I think I'm getting too many goals against because of simple passes that go right through my defense. This is what the goal analysis page says:

What do you think? Maybe I should change my marking system (currently man marking) or put less pressure on the opponent (currently default)?

You are conceeding a lot of goals from the middle of the park.What formation are you using? How does that compare to the opposition's formation? For example when a man marking 4-4-2 comes up against a 4-3-3/4-5-1/4-2-3-1 type formation there is likely to be an opposition time with lots of time and space on the ball.

Changing to zonal marking may help, as may lowerin ght eclosing down on your central midfielders so they don't push up too far leaving gaps btween them and the defense.

[Timee]

You are conceeding a lot of goals from the middle of the park.What formation are you using? How does that compare to the opposition's formation? For example when a man marking 4-4-2 comes up against a 4-3-3/4-5-1/4-2-3-1 type formation there is likely to be an opposition time with lots of time and space on the ball.

Changing to zonal marking may help, as may lowerin ght eclosing down on your central midfielders so they don't push up too far leaving gaps btween them and the defense.

I'm playing LLM in the Serie C2/A, so I'm just using a flat 4-4-2. Almost every opponent does the same. That's also why I used man marking, I figured it was the easiest for my players. Do you think reducing pressing would be the best option in this case?

[jlawlor91]

I'd class it as a 424 as well although that would depend how you'd set up your wide players - I'd imagine they are attacking players as they can't play well in midfield and it doesn't make sense that you'd stick defensive-minded players in the more advanced strata so it IS a 424, but I guess that's a fairly subjective call.

My 41221 (DM,CM,CM,AMR,AML,FC) is classed as either a 433 or a 451 by the game. My wide players are attackers so it's a 433 for me but the game doesn't take into account the playing instructions, only the formation.

I don't think it has any relevance in game.

I see what you mean, but when I move both the wingers into Attacking centre mids, the formation says 4-4-2 :S Surely this should be the same for the wingers, as a 4-2-4 would have 4 strikers. As you can tell this really bugs me

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Moving into channels ...

I have a right winger, run from deep often but don't want him as a winger hugging touchline, shall I put move into channels? I want the runs he makes to be inside the CB/FB area? Or am I getting this wrong?

[ibro46]

Moving into channels ...

I have a right winger' date=' run from deep often but don't want him as a winger hugging touchline, shall I put move into channels? I want the runs he makes to be inside the CB/FB area? Or am I getting this wrong?[/quote']

you want him to cut inside?

[ibro46]

when we play 4-5-1 formation (gk-goalkeeper defend, dr-full back automatic, dl-full back attack, dc-central defender defend, dmc-defensive midfielder defend, mcr-advanced playmaker attack, mcl-central midfielfder support, amr-winger attack, aml-inside forward attack, st-????)

how set up a lone striker what duty and role give him???

[captdrain]

Thanks for the replies. Indeed I had set the assman to take care of match prep. Turning it off worked wonders!

[furiousuk]

when we play 4-5-1 formation (gk-goalkeeper defend, dr-full back automatic, dl-full back attack, dc-central defender defend, dmc-defensive midfielder defend, mcr-advanced playmaker attack, mcl-central midfielfder support, amr-winger attack, aml-inside forward attack, st-????)

how set up a lone striker what duty and role give him???

Totally depends on the player in question (and those around him) but, at a push, I'd probably go Deep-Lying Forward-Support or, more likely, Complete Forward-Support or Attack.

[Svenc]

Now that my copy of FM has arrived, I'm going to bump this over here. Basically, this is all about something written in Tactical Theorems a while back, and it's about man marking and how it is implemented into FM. Basically nothing like it's being described in any official documentation.

In Football Manager, however, man marking tends to be a more aggressive zonal marking system

I always found the differences between man and zonal marking to be rather subtle on FM, unless you pick a specific player to man mark from the drop down list - which does indeed mimic man marking at its most traditional. However, with simply picking "man mark" rather than "zonal" things don't always look that clear to me. If somebody is able to elaborate and maybe even visualize this, that'd be awesome as I'm going to experiment with defensive setups in my first save.

[CheBonaparte]

am half asleep after long hard day but wondering about player happiness of FM12.

are the reactions of players linear ie always the same for certain types?

or are they random?

also i find its far too easy in recent fm games to find morale of individuals and squads as a whole -drop significantly for no apparent reason.

i guess i should also ask well, has anybody ever listed all the outcomes :- like positive results versus negative results ? for morale and all the factors involved?

morale management can be tedious and sometimes id love to put it off or simplify it (for quick matches) because its not always so clear why a player is p***** etc

[ibro46]

Totally depends on the player in question (and those around him) but, at a push, I'd probably go Deep-Lying Forward-Support or, more likely, Complete Forward-Support or Attack.

im playing with juventus so in amr position i have krasic and pepe (winger attack) in the aml vucinic and elia (inside forward attack), for attack i have players: matri, quagliarela, del piero, iaquinta so i dont no

[jamiet666]

Right potentially stupid quest:

I am playing as Arsenal rotating between a 4-2-3-1 and 4-1-2-2-1 as well as changing strategy depending on who i play. I have played manchester untied a few times and never been able to dominate the match let alone win convincingly, with a good squad. I decided to make a separate save with arsenal and continue to play the same game at Old Trafford until i came up with a way to beat them maybe 70% of the time however i can not find a way to dominate against them no matter what i do. Does any one have a suggestion as to how i can control the game? I have tried a high d-line with fast defenders to try to stop them playing into my box without success, as well as a low d-line with an anchor man and nike defence pushing on the counter still to no avail. I have also tried a myriad of different formations and strategies.

[furiousuk]

im playing with juventus so in amr position i have krasic and pepe (winger attack) in the aml vucinic and elia (inside forward attack), for attack i have players: matri, quagliarela, del piero, iaquinta so i dont no

I don't know the players but with your setup potentially any setting for the FC would work (you might find a poacher gets a bit isolated though). I tend towards the more creative roles though (Complete Forward-Support or Deep-lying forward-support). There is nothing wrong with choosing a different role for each player, but you'll have to accept that you'll play in a slightly different way (as you'd expect). Have a look at the highlighted attributes for each role & duty, it's a good place to start.

Also, have a think how you'd like your FC to play (irrespective of player selection). I use your formation but my MC's are both creators (support duty), my wingers are both strikers (inside forward - attack) so I decided I wanted my FC as a creator/finisher hybrid who plays high to help 'elongate' the playing area, hence I chose Complete Forward-Attack and got the right player/s to play the position. I'm not saying you should play my way of course, just my thought process behind selecting a role in conjunction with the rest of my tactical setup.

Right potentially stupid quest:

I am playing as Arsenal rotating between a 4-2-3-1 and 4-1-2-2-1 as well as changing strategy depending on who i play. I have played manchester untied a few times and never been able to dominate the match let alone win convincingly, with a good squad. I decided to make a separate save with arsenal and continue to play the same game at Old Trafford until i came up with a way to beat them maybe 70% of the time however i can not find a way to dominate against them no matter what i do. Does any one have a suggestion as to how i can control the game? I have tried a high d-line with fast defenders to try to stop them playing into my box without success, as well as a low d-line with an anchor man and nike defence pushing on the counter still to no avail. I have also tried a myriad of different formations and strategies.

Would you expect a top of the table clash between 2 similarly matched teams to be 1 sided? It's happened in the Prem recently on a few occasions but this is surely a rarity, by definition 2 evenly matched teams should produce an even game. The scoreline might not necessarily reflect this in the end but the play should be fairly even.

In a tight, close game you need to make sure you're watertight at the back to make them really work for any chances they get whilst being similarly pragmatic in attack. In my save I'm probably a slightly better team than Man Utd now (it's progressed a number of years and they've had pretty shocking leadership since SAF retired) but I'll still go narrow and play on the counter against them at Old Trafford. You haven't mentioned what formation and style they play?

[jamiet666]

Thank for the reply furious, well no i don't expect to dominate that was the wrong chose of words, but i cant even seem to get an even game, they simply have all the possession and chances playing a simple 4-4-2 headed by Rooney and Berb. The narrow 4-3-2-1 on the counter seems to come closest at dealing with them with a back line of Verm-Mert-Koscielny-DJ all defensive.

[Shooze]

Really stupid question...I am rotating between two tactics, one away and one home. Everytime I switch between them, all the players are changing their position and are not on the right one on the squad graph at the right of the screen (hope it is clear). I tired to save each tactic with the right plqyer but it keeps mixing them everytime i click on the other strategy...any thoughts?

[jamiet666]

Really stupid question...I am rotating between two tactics, one away and one home. Everytime I switch between them, all the players are changing their position and are not on the right one on the squad graph at the right of the screen (hope it is clear). I tired to save each tactic with the right plqyer but it keeps mixing them everytime i click on the other strategy...any thoughts?

mine is doing exactly the same its just a bug, have to grin and bare it move them back manually =[

[Bubblegumbo]

Can someone explain "Run at Defence" and "Play through Defense" as well as possible? The 2 new shouts on the pitch.

[pigfacemonkeyman]

Can someone explain "Run at Defence" and "Play through Defense" as well as possible? The 2 new shouts on the pitch.

From wwfan

There are four new shouts:

1: Play Ball out of Defence

2: Run at Defence

3: Play through Defence

4: Hit Early Crosses

Roughly (it's been a while):

1: Minimises passing length in the back two strata

2: Increases dribbling a notch in the top two strata and/or most advanced wide player

3: Decreases dribbling a notch in the top two strata and/or most advanced wide player

4: Increases crossing and reduces cross from a notch for wide players

[vurogj]

I've only just spotted that sometimes, when I discipline them for a "poor performance", my players Determination will instantly rise by 1 point.

I've heard, but not yet seen, that disciplinary measures for violent behaviour can reduce Aggression.

So, stupid question is - what is the full range of attributes that can be affected in this manner, how is it done, and how common is it?

[michaelthestrange]

Is there actually any good reason to teach the "instruction modifier" PPM's like "gets forward whenever possible" or "moves into channels"? All I see these doing is messing with the tactical instructions you are giving to a player.

PPM's like "likes to try to beat offside trap" or "places shots" are perfectly useful as these moves cannot be instructed. But if you want someone to "get forward whenever possible", you can simply give him run from deep often. If you want them to "try killer balls often", instruct them to try through balls often. No need to teach a PPM.

I can see that these PPM's are great to portray players' real life behaviour, but why would someone teach them on purpose? Do they have any positive effect like making the player better at fulfilling these moves? Does e.g. "runs with ball often" give a slight boost to the dribbling attribute during the match?

[furiousuk]

Thank for the reply furious, well no i don't expect to dominate that was the wrong chose of words, but i cant even seem to get an even game, they simply have all the possession and chances playing a simple 4-4-2 headed by Rooney and Berb. The narrow 4-3-2-1 on the counter seems to come closest at dealing with them with a back line of Verm-Mert-Koscielny-DJ all defensive.

The 442 can be really difficult to judge as it is so versatile, very generally a 451/433/41221 has a number of advantages over the 442. The CB/CB/DM has an extra man over the 2 FCs (plus the DM picks up a deep-lying forward if they use one), the DM/MC/MC has an extra man over the 2 MC's whilst the AMR/AML/FC has an extra man over the 2 CBs. This is all a strength through the middle so any shouts that help play through the middle (retain possession or play narrow, play through middle) will generally be effective. As you're narrowing the playing area Pass Into Space (increase through-balls) might be useful but make sure you aren't wasting possession.

Defensively you'll be susceptible to your FB's being over loaded. Neither Rooney or Berbatov are particularly effective in the air so you might like to show MR & ML on to their outside foot and let them cross, so long as you're confident your guys can beat them in the air. Your other option is to encourage MR/ML to run infield by showing them on to their inside foot, you have lots of bodies in that area so should back yourself to defend well there, particularly with defensive FBs. Also, as you have 3 players between the lines (DM,AMR,AML) you can probably afford to play deeper, this is tactically more effective for you than it is for a 442.

Really stupid question...I am rotating between two tactics, one away and one home. Everytime I switch between them, all the players are changing their position and are not on the right one on the squad graph at the right of the screen (hope it is clear). I tired to save each tactic with the right plqyer but it keeps mixing them everytime i click on the other strategy...any thoughts?

If you use the default 442 the numbers (from back right - across) are, I think:

11 10

7 9 8 6

3 5 4 2

(You can check this during friendlies or international management).

Move the numbers where you like and then set up your tactic. Start again, and repeat for your second tactic. This way you'll be able to swap between the 2 tactics and they should all line up in a logical order. You can change the order by working out which order the numbers are put in and then starting again (some screens still occasionally surprise me though). It's about moving the numbers rather than the players. It's very annoying.

[GarethJames]

Really stupid question. How do I set a specific player as the playmaker? I can see the Use Playmaker option in Team Instructions but it isn't giving me the option of choosing a specific player, and there doesn't seem to be anything in Player Instructions to allow me to set a particular player.

Thanks.

[Coentrao]

There should be a checkbox right next to the "use playmaker" option that you need to tick before you can choose the player.

[Ragingsheep]

Ok, how do I get my players from messing up 1v1 chances. I will literally create dozens in a single game and I'll be lucky to see 1 or 2 goals from them.