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

[THOG]

I'm playing with an attacking mentality. I guess my fullbacks push forward to quickly and therefore the defenders play the ball wide most of the time. I change that and see if it makes a difference. It also appears to me I don't really understand the different mentalities and how they really affect my tactic. Do you know any decent guide on that by accident? I'm looking to get into the tactic area of the game this year.

Every help appreciated. Thanks!

jpcote09's thread does a good job of laying it all out.

[f0rmat]

Is it still possible to have your team play through balls for a target man to run on to? I remember that being an option a few years ago, but it seems to have gone.

[Spike]

If you are talking about the coach attributes this guide is pretty helpful: http://passion4fm.com/football-manager-2014-coaching-star-calculator/

Thanks Taktiker!

[THOG]

Is it still possible to have your team play through balls for a target man to run on to? I remember that being an option a few years ago, but it seems to have gone.

No, it was removed.

In general, through balls have been scaled back a lot in recent versions. This is consistent with real life where successful through balls have become increasingly rare with each passing season. They'll still be attempted, especially if your opponent is keeping a high line, but the thinking is that it's not really something a manager would build a tactic around in the sense that players should always be looking to supply a through ball, no matter how compact or deep the defence.

[USMNT10]

Edit: nvm.

[USMNT10]

My weakness is the ability to completely understand tactics/formations and looking at match stats and being able to figure out where the holes are, my weaknesses and what I should do to fix it.

Here are some screen shots of a match that my team disappointed in. What went wrong? What should I be looking at? Based on the screenshots, what do you think I should do or tweak?

Overview

Action Zone

Passes

Shots

Crosses (that looks like a lot. Is that normal?)

My Average Position

Opponent Average Position

Tackles

Feedback

Aerial

[methman99]

if PI and TI conflict. which take preference? i assume PI?

[THOG]

...

It's hard to tell anything from heat maps and stats alone. You should start a separate thread detailing your set-up.

if PI and TI conflict. which take preference? i assume PI?

In FM15, they cancel one another out.

[vasilli07]

My weakness is the ability to completely understand tactics/formations and looking at match stats and being able to figure out where the holes are, my weaknesses and what I should do to fix it.

Here are some screen shots of a match that my team disappointed in. What went wrong? What should I be looking at? Based on the screenshots, what do you think I should do or tweak?

Did you make any changes in the last 10-15 mins? Maybe playing abit more conservative and settle for a 1 goal win?

[THOG]

Just as a general reminder:

Please do not post in this thread if you have already created a separate thread asking the same question. There is no shortage of people offering good advice on this forum, so just be patient and you'll get an answer eventually.

Also, if you are looking for general feedback on a tactic, it is probably a better idea to create a separate thread since the SQT is not really intended for extended discussion and feedback. You can if you want to, but you'll be more likely to get more detailed feedback and a better discussion if you don't.

[methman99]

thanks HoG

[michalgottwald]

Quick question:

Any way to fix this? I tried giving Ruiz and Araujo a week off training, but to no effect it seems.

[Cleon]

When you get asked when you want to return to training for the coming season pick a later date than you did this time.

[michalgottwald]

When you get asked when you want to return to training for the coming season pick a later date than you did this time.

So no way to ease their current unhappiness in other words. Thanks.

[fernandovalente]

Possession tactics like wwfan's are set up to create sudden changes of rhythm and effective tempo will always be influenced by the availability of options and how aggressively the opposition closes down, so a lower tempo does not necessarily mean players will just tip toe about the pitch at all times. It just means they have the option of looking for a better decision.

In the case of Pep, he is also not necessarily thinking on a quantifiable FM scale, and it's also the case that his style is always evolving to fit new circumstances and personnel so a Barca tactic based around Xavi and Messi probably isn't a good fit for modeling what he's trying to achieve at Bayern.

Yeah, different players also means an ability from the manager to evolve his ideas and adapt to those same different players. In the case of FM, I try to be completely faithful to what I read in football tactical analysis. Maybe this is exactly what I do wrong, being too much faithful to football concepts and applying it to FM and forget that is a code based game with its own logic. But it would help a lot not being exclusively dependent on player roles and have distinctive options for offensive and defensive transition :-)

[Runciter]

I'm not getting any messages about my injuries.

I guess I've accidentally turned off something under "subscriptions", right?

does anyone know what?

[THOG]

In the case of FM, I try to be completely faithful to what I read in football tactical analysis. Maybe this is exactly what I do wrong, being too much faithful to football concepts and applying it to FM and forget that is a code based game with its own logic.

I'm a cranky, stubborn purist as well. In my experience, sticking to real world principles will always serve you well in terms of results and you will get more out of the game that way in terms of satisfaction, even if the representations aren't totally perfect. There will always be specific approaches that take advantage of slight unbalances in the ME from patch to patch, but using sound tactical reasoning will remain consistent while super-tactics come and go.

[Pendraz]

In FM15, they cancel one another out.

And what about, say, TI short passing, and PI short passing. Does it make a difference, or the PI is redundant because of the TI applying to all the players and not stacking with the PI?

[jeid2000]

Hello, quick question. If I want to remain narrow without the ball and wide with the ball, what's the best way of achieving this? I'm using counter just now as I think this might keep me more compact/harder to break down, but switch to wide in attack. Am I miles off? Is play narrow/exploit flanks a way of doing it?

[fernandovalente]

I'm a cranky, stubborn purist as well. In my experience, sticking to real world principles will always serve you well in terms of results and you will get more out of the game that way in terms of satisfaction, even if the representations aren't totally perfect. There will always be specific approaches that take advantage of slight unbalances in the ME from patch to patch, but using sound tactical reasoning will remain consistent while super-tactics come and go.

This might be stupid (although not a question) but I'm very dynamic looking into fm matches (we are required to be, or else... :-)), I have the results and then... I get frustrated because amy team doesn't get the possession levels I want, leave the current save I've been playing and start all over again and yes I will never have always 70% possession against all teams :-)

[Fidel_lfc]

Shots on goal.

How do i get these????????

My team play really well, untill my striker get in front of the goal.

The chances are good? Yes.

Are long Shot? No.

The strikers are good? Well, at least in stats (Sturridge and Balotelli)

My strikers simply shoot the ball over or sideways, i usually get like 20 shots, and about 10 are just these, very good chances in front of the goal that my strikers simply do the job of the defender.

Thanks for any help

[hitman19ko]

Is there anyway to improve your managers 'level of discipline'? It's 2023 in my game and my discipline hasn't gone up since I started.

[THOG]

And what about, say, TI short passing, and PI short passing. Does it make a difference, or the PI is redundant because of the TI applying to all the players and not stacking with the PI?

In FM15, it's my understanding that PIs & TIs stack.

Hello, quick question. If I want to remain narrow without the ball and wide with the ball, what's the best way of achieving this? I'm using counter just now as I think this might keep me more compact/harder to break down, but switch to wide in attack. Am I miles off? Is play narrow/exploit flanks a way of doing it?

Width only affects you in possession, though creating a lot of width in attack will make it more difficult to quickly consolidate after losing possession.

Out of possession, the team narrows automatically with two players in opposite wide positions maintaining somewhere around 44 yards between them.

[THOG]

Shots on goal.

How do i get these????????

My team play really well, untill my striker get in front of the goal.

The chances are good? Yes.

Are long Shot? No.

The strikers are good? Well, at least in stats (Sturridge and Balotelli)

My strikers simply shoot the ball over or sideways, i usually get like 20 shots, and about 10 are just these, very good chances in front of the goal that my strikers simply do the job of the defender.

Thanks for any help

If you're struggling to get your strikers to shoot on target, they're probably under a lot of pressure when they receive the ball. You need more width and mobility to stretch and disrupt the opposition defence so they have space to line up a shot. You should make sure one striker is on a support duty to stagger the shape of your forward line with at least one of the two instructed to move into channels, you should try to have one attacking role in midfield to make runs from deep, and you should make sure you either have wingers or overlapping fullbacks pulling defenders to the flanks in the final third. With the quality that Liverpool have, you might also benefit from telling your team to "Roam from Position."

[Fidel_lfc]

If you're struggling to get your strikers to shoot on target, they're probably under a lot of pressure when they receive the ball. You need more width and mobility to stretch and disrupt the opposition defence so they have space to line up a shot. You should make sure one striker is on a support duty to stagger the shape of your forward line with at least one of the two instructed to move into channels, you should try to have one attacking role in midfield to make runs from deep, and you should make sure you either have wingers or overlapping fullbacks pulling defenders to the flanks in the final third. With the quality that Liverpool have, you might also benefit from telling your team to "Roam from Position."

I Play with a sole striker, until the "launch" patch was everything fine, both strikers (rotating) were playing very well, they received passes from Coutinho, Sterling and Markovic and simply shot the ball, scoring or at least causing trouble, but now, even withou defenders pressing them, they simply shot wide or very over the bar.

I will try to employ some of these to see if i have any luck, thanks.

Edit: I give up.

My last game:

28 shots

2 on target (two headers)

1 Long Shot.

9 CCC

5 or 6 times, my striker or winger get in front of the GK unmarked and shot so badly that the ball went in side of the pitch.

Amazing how it was working in the beta and now my players simply forgot how to kick a ball.

[Sussex Hammer]

Wasn't sure where to put these but :

1...In game if you tinker with your tactic but want to then go back to your starting tactic seems to be a bit difficult as it doesn't seem to show up on the tactics screen. Say you are using Diamond V1 and make some changes. You can't just go back to Diamond V1 on the drop down and if you go to manage tactics it isn't in the first slot so you have to go to import. So it seems to get back to your starting tactic you have to change to another then go to import and go from there. Out of the match screen you can just choose Diamond 1 from the dropdown menu as it appears at the top, in match it doesn't.

2...Anyone note the DOF taking his time to get going?

Spread the Staff Responsibilities around and in FM14 my Chairman got in a DOF pretty sharpish and then the DOF filled vacancies like Scouts pretty quickly. He is three weeks into a new job and I still have vacancies so was wondering if people noted the same or maybe the poor fella is still looking!!

[USMNT10]

Quick question. With 3 strikers, 2 of them being F9's, what is best role for the 3rd striker to complement the 2 F9's? Poacher? Complete Forward?

The F9's are going to bring the DC's forward as well as take long range shots, so it would be beneficial to have one of the strikers to be hugging the line and either going in for a rebound of one of the missed F9's long shots, or slip behind the D to receive a pass from one of the F9's, correct?

[Dr. Hook]

Quick question. With 3 strikers, 2 of them being F9's, what is best role for the 3rd striker to complement the 2 F9's? Poacher? Complete Forward?

The F9's are going to bring the DC's forward as well as take long range shots, so it would be beneficial to have one of the strikers to be hugging the line and either going in for a rebound of one of the missed F9's long shots, or slip behind the D to receive a pass from one of the F9's, correct?

Your thinking is sound. If you have a player with the attributes the CF would be the choice. AF would be my second choice. The poacher could do, but I find the role a bit limited and seldom use it.

[MikaV84]

Hi guys.

In the last couple of FM's i've been able to take a team up a couple of leagues in a relatively short amount of time - e.g. a few years per promotion. This year it's a LOT harder, and im loving it. As years past, i start at the lowest level in england and work my way up. In my last save, i played 10 years with a newly promoted team, achieving mid table finishes but rarely making any progress in VC south.

Now, i love the challenge, but just couldnt get going. So i thought i'd start a new game with stalyrbridge - the only pro team in the division - so i'd have a little more time to shape my squad. In my first game, the problem was that i was struggling all the time just to maintain my level of play. My thinking was, i'd start with stalyrbridge, just plug a very basic tactic in and go through a couple of seasons of mediocrity while i build a playerbase that i can work with - suited to a tactic i have in mind.

Tried twice, with a vanilla 442 and a vanilla 433 DM wide. Got fired by christmas in both tries, after horribly underperforming.

Now, im not asking for cheats or exploits - but is there something that i dont get? Is the stalyrbridge situation inherently hard, or is it a part of FM 15 where plug-and-play basic tactics dont cut it anymore.

For those of you who dont play LLM - Stalyrbridge is the only pro team in the division, and therefore usually in a much better condition than the opponents. They have a media predicion of 6th place finish, and the board excepts a mid-table finish.

I'd really appreciate if you could point me to something i may be overlooking. I just want to get through the first campaign without getting fire. Is the situation too hard? Should i just man up and focus more? Choose a different team? Thanks guys.

[Kallbom]

My tactic is 4-2-3-1....How can i set my AMCL and AMCR to manual mark oppositions full backs???

[Mogget]

Playing FM14.3.1. New player, absolutely loving it. Wish I had started playing earlier.

I've worked the Cheltenham Robins up to the Premiere League and have been in the FA Cup Final twice (lost twice), and won the Euro Cup. Fun stuff. I've spent 3 years in the Premiere League building up the squad to fit my tactic, as I'm not smart enough yet to design a tactic to bring out the best in an existing squad.

My tactic is 4-1DM-2-2-1 (specifically, Screwby's 4-3-3 Deepfried Chicken).

This year I signed a leading MC Advanced Playmaker who has the potential to be a star (Xuxa). My problem is that so far this season in 11 appearances he's taken 24 shot attempts with zero goals. Most seem to be from long range at the edge of the box. The player (Xuxa) has some personality issues (Fairly Determined, but Volatile and Confrontational) and likes to argue with officials. But I don't think the poor shot/goal ratio is his fault, I think he's blasting away because of lack of options. He does have Creativity 17, Decisions 13, Flair 16, Long Shots 14, and Finishing 12 so I feel like he should be seeing more than a useless long shot. I can't give him PI to shoot less often because this is already enabled via the Advanced Playmaker role.

So my question is, what are my other options to get more out of him? He's got two Inside Forwards (one who is a Star) on attack and a Complete Forward (Leading, with star potential) in front of him. Or should I just accept a very high number of wasted shots? I'm doing reasonably well--4th in the league--and the player's average rating is 7.33, which is fifth highest for my team. But I want more out of him.

[RTHerringbone]

My tactic is 4-2-3-1....How can i set my AMCL and AMCR to manual mark oppositions full backs???

You can only submit it once the team sheets are in. Then, go into Player Instructions and the Specific Man Mark box appears for each player. Use that to choose who is marking, and who they are marking.

[RTHerringbone]

Playing FM14.3.1. New player, absolutely loving it. Wish I had started playing earlier.......So my question is, what are my other options to get more out of him?

Does he have any PPMs which affect his shooting decisions, or is he shooting from range because he has no passing options?

[Mogget]

No PPMs other than Argues with Officials. I believe he's shooting from range because he has no passing options, but I'm not sure how to address that. Maybe switch the Complete Forward to a Target Man (which is his recommended role) or an Advanced Forward? Or maybe switch one of the two Inside Forwards to a Winger? Or remove the Play Narrower TI?

...and thanks!

[USMNT10]

Are there any roles and pairings that you think that make this formation better not considering anything else but the formation and player roles?

----------CF(a)---F9(s)---F9(s)----------

-------------------------------------------

--------------CM(a)---CM(a)-------------

------------------DM(d)------------------

-----FB(s)---CD(d)--CD(d)---FB(s)-----

------------------GK(d)------------------

[fernandovalente]

How to assign a scout to report on the next opponent ????:confused:

[Sussex Hammer]

Please, please, please can someone inform me about this in match issue with tactics. I find that you cannot change tactics in match without dragging a tactic back from the archive. Your starting tactic is not available in the tactics dropdown menu so if you change in game and want to change back you have to pull it from the archive to do so. In 14 you could just click between your loaded tactics or just use the dropdown.

EG, Say you are using Diamond V1 and make some changes. You can't just go back to Diamond V1 on the drop down and if you go to manage tactics it isn't in the first slot so you have to go to import. So it seems to get back to your starting tactic you have to change to another then go to import and go from there. Out of the match screen you can just choose Diamond 1 from the dropdown menu as it appears at the top, in match it doesn't.

[fernandovalente]

and how to subscribe a competition ??? :confused:

[Barkers]

whats the best instruction to use for short goalkeeper distribution?

ive got it set to "pass it shorter" and "roll it out" yet he ends up with shocking passing statistics, like 20% completion last game.

[Spike]

I missed FM14 but prior to that had created a hugely successful tactic on FM13, which leads me to my question.

Has anyone tried to recreate a tactic from FM13/FM14 on FM15 and how successful was it?

[xinsomniacboix]

whats the best instruction to use for short goalkeeper distribution?

ive got it set to "pass it shorter" and "roll it out" yet he ends up with shocking passing statistics, like 20% completion last game.

Distribute to playmaker works really well if you have a playmaker in the DMC strata such as DLP, Regista, or Roaming Playmaker. You will get the Half Back behavior on GK distribution without playing a Half Back

[cez]

guys is it just me or the lone ST keeps swaping positions with the AMC all the time.......

oh and keepers still tend to to be shocking after a save and of course the ball still bounces to the opposition for an easy goal...

[llama3]

Are there any roles and pairings that you think that make this formation better not considering anything else but the formation and player roles?

----------CF(a)---F9(s)---F9(s)----------

-------------------------------------------

--------------CM(a)---CM(a)-------------

------------------DM(d)------------------

-----FB(s)---CD(d)--CD(d)---FB(s)-----

------------------GK(d)------------------

You lack width to a significant degree. The FB's becoming Wing Back's may help this issue. Your pair of central midfielders both bombing forward will not help build up play. I would also consider changing a F9 to a different role.

How to assign a scout to report on the next opponent ????:confused:

Go to scouting, when setting assignments you can ask for reports on a team, and choose next opponent or specific team.

Please, please, please can someone inform me about this in match issue with tactics. I find that you cannot change tactics in match without dragging a tactic back from the archive. Your starting tactic is not available in the tactics dropdown menu so if you change in game and want to change back you have to pull it from the archive to do so. In 14 you could just click between your loaded tactics or just use the dropdown.

EG, Say you are using Diamond V1 and make some changes. You can't just go back to Diamond V1 on the drop down and if you go to manage tactics it isn't in the first slot so you have to go to import. So it seems to get back to your starting tactic you have to change to another then go to import and go from there. Out of the match screen you can just choose Diamond 1 from the dropdown menu as it appears at the top, in match it doesn't.

It is changed in much the same way as it always has been? I am not sure what the problem is? On any previous version if you made changes to your save tactics without saving then you couldn't go back to it.

and how to subscribe a competition ??? :confused:

Go onto a competition, select the drop down menu on the left of the competition screen, and subscribe to competition is at the bottom.

whats the best instruction to use for short goalkeeper distribution?

ive got it set to "pass it shorter" and "roll it out" yet he ends up with shocking passing statistics, like 20% completion last game.

Distribute to playmaker works really well if you have a playmaker in the DMC strata such as DLP, Regista, or Roaming Playmaker. You will get the Half Back behavior on GK distribution without playing a Half Back

I would choose specific distribution to centre backs or full backs, and roll it out.

I missed FM14 but prior to that had created a hugely successful tactic on FM13, which leads me to my question.

Has anyone tried to recreate a tactic from FM13/FM14 on FM15 and how successful was it?

What in particular are your problems? Can you create your own thread and we can give specific help to you.

guys is it just me or the lone ST keeps swaping positions with the AMC all the time.......

oh and keepers still tend to to be shocking after a save and of course the ball still bounces to the opposition for an easy goal...

Depends on your striker and AMC roles and duties, and of course if you have them set to swap positions. Your fludity will affect this too.

What kind of issue are you facing regarding easy taps ins? Does it occur on specific phases of play? If you have specific problems then feel free to start your own thread and we can help you.

[cez]

Depends on your striker and AMC roles and duties, and of course if you have them set to swap positions. Your fludity will affect this too.

What kind of issue are you facing regarding easy taps ins? Does it occur on specific phases of play? If you have specific problems then feel free to start your own thread and we can help you.

my lone str is a complete forward attack and my amc is attacking mid attack as well. I've never changed anything for them to swap positions, I actually dont think i've even seen this option anywhere. I've tried getting rid of it by changing my very fluid to highly structured and adding the be more disciplined and stick to postions.....this thing stops happening when I move the AMC next to the STR....

//E Ok, ive checked all the settings and did find it had swap positions selected.... cheers

regarding keepers havent noticed any patterns and phases really, latest fix was meant to get rid of it at some point but really I havent noticed any differences, roughly 50% of my goals comes from tap ins, 48% from crosses, 1% penalties, 1% the rest...

[Fritz13]

Hi

Few quick questions that I'd appreciate a bit of advice on please

I have had some success playing a 4-3-3 with 2 Inside Forwards and a Trequartista in previous years

If I set one my central midfielders to a Enganche .. will him and the Treq. both be bumping into each other? ... or should this work?

Also if I wanted to change the IFs to Raumdeuters then am I asking for trouble in terms of them both only being able to be set to "attack" rather than "cover"

Lastly I'm a bit of a soft touch with these newer roles

Am I asking for trouble if I use a Regista in front of my defence, an Enganche, playing behind my Trequartista with 2 Raumdeuters out wide.

Am I just being too fashionable/clever in too many positions

[llama3]

Hi

Few quick questions that I'd appreciate a bit of advice on please

I have had some success playing a 4-3-3 with 2 Inside Forwards and a Trequartista in previous years

If I set one my central midfielders to a Enganche .. will him and the Treq. both be bumping into each other? ... or should this work?

Also if I wanted to change the IFs to Raumdeuters then am I asking for trouble in terms of them both only being able to be set to "attack" rather than "cover"

Lastly I'm a bit of a soft touch with these newer roles

Am I asking for trouble if I use a Regista in front of my defence, an Enganche, playing behind my Trequartista with 2 Raumdeuters out wide.

Am I just being too fashionable/clever in too many positions

An Enganche is only available in AMC slot. Feel free to try it, but it doesn't sound productive to me.

Not sure what you mean by "cover" for Raumdeuters. They contribute less to build up play than an IF, but more end product.

Yes you are asking for a lot of trouble with 3 playmakers and 2 raumdeuters and no defensive help!

[Fritz13]

An Enganche is only available in AMC slot. Feel free to try it, but it doesn't sound productive to me.

Not sure what you mean by "cover" for Raumdeuters. They contribute less to build up play than an IF, but more end product.

Yes you are asking for a lot of trouble with 3 playmakers and 2 raumdeuters and no defensive help!

Sorry I meant the duties for the role - from memory the Raumdeuter is attack-only is it not.

I've haven't specifically played with a "defensive" CM in my formation this year - The Regista playing behind a Roaming Playmaker and an Advanced Playmaker .... seems to work well in so much that I will score much more than I concede as I have the duties set to "cover" rather than the alternatives.

Just wanted to experiment so I guess I'm just being lazy ... I will try some of this stuff out and see what works.

Great read your Pairs & Combinations article LLama btw

[llama3]

It's part of the fun though - seeing what you can make work. If you can make it work fair play and I'd love to read about it!

[Rascanuvols]

Since the full game was released, my strikers have just stopped working.

They score no golas, they get 0 chances, it's like they aren't playing at all. The few goals I score come from the second line and never involve them.

I tried everything I think. Different tactics, roles, duties, instructions. I tried the same match DOZENS of times to see how the different modifications affect their behaviour. THEY. DON'T. PLAY. I'm going crazy, I don't know what to do.

They are Negredo, Rodrigo and Alcacer. They were doing fine in the beta. Even when they didn't score, you could see them participating in goals and goal chances.

Can somebody help? I've been playing this game 14 years and never felt so frustrated.

[llama3]

Since the full game was released, my strikers have just stopped working.

They score no golas, they get 0 chances, it's like they aren't playing at all. The few goals I score come from the second line and never involve them.

I tried everything I think. Different tactics, roles, duties, instructions. I tried the same match DOZENS of times to see how the different modifications affect their behaviour. THEY. DON'T. PLAY. I'm going crazy, I don't know what to do.

They are Negredo, Rodrigo and Alcacer. They were doing fine in the beta. Even when they didn't score, you could see them participating in goals and goal chances.

Can somebody help? I've been playing this game 14 years and never felt so frustrated.

Hi Rascanuvols - if you open your own thread here, detailing your team, instructions and problems - we can help recommend changes or show you what might not be working.