How to Play FM: A Twelve Step Guide

[Str0aK]

Are wing backs (DM strata) still ineffective? If I'm trying to play a 3-5-2 would I be better off using defensive wingers in the midfield strata?

[RTHerringbone]

Are wing backs (DM strata) still ineffective? If I'm trying to play a 3-5-2 would I be better off using defensive wingers in the midfield strata?

They aren't ineffective at all. You can easily use CWBs or WBs from the DM line with a back three.

You can even use them from the DC line with a back two and they will contribute well to the attacking and defensive sides of the game.

[Str0aK]

Does this look like a reasonable set up?:

GK(d)

DC(s)

DC©

DC(s)

WB(s)

RG(s)

CWB(a)

CM(a)

BBM(s)

T(a)

AF(a)

3-5-2. Control/Balanced

[RTHerringbone]

Looks a tiny bit too adventurous in midfield for me, but I'm a naturally cautious player.

The back three possibly compensates for the absence of a true, positionally disciplined midfielder.

Keep an eye on the shape of your midfield, as there's a risk that all three will move quite far up field, leaving you exposed if playing a side with a central AM who stays high up field.

[Str0aK]

If I have shorter passing as a team instruction what will my regista's passing length be like? Will the whole team be on shorter or will his role counteract that? If the whole team is on shorter passing (which I assume would be the case) then would giving my regista a PI of more direct passing push it back up to mixed or make it direct?

[llama3]

If I have shorter passing as a team instruction what will my regista's passing length be like? Will the whole team be on shorter or will his role counteract that? If the whole team is on shorter passing (which I assume would be the case) then would giving my regista a PI of more direct passing push it back up to mixed or make it direct?

Your Regista will have default passing length still - it will only shorten if you use "retain possession" or a PI. Playmaker passing lengths don't change by a shorter/more direct passing instruction.

[yonko]

How do you know this?

[llama3]

Shorter passing is the same as the old team instruction of the same name. When activated, it reduced all players passing ranges except a playmaker - which is default. A playmakers only reduces with retain possession.

[Scottybee]

Am I right in thinking that if I want my whole team to play from the back and move forward/close down as a unit I'm better off with a very fluid mentality?

Thinking of setting up as:

SWK (D)

FBR (A)

FBL (S)

CB (D)

CB (D)

REG (S)

BWM (D)

DLP (S)

IFL (S)

IFR (S)

Then my striker...I really have players more suited to an 'advanced' role, maybe a couple of target men - in a very fluid system, would these roles still interlink with the inside forwards, or would the forward need to be a more supporting role such as DLF or F9?

Also, would my DLP be better as an AP so as to offer another link in the final third or again will 'very fluid' override this and have everyone contribute? Also would it limit the effect of the regista, who I want to be the driving force in midfield in both attack and defence.

Lastly, as I am wanting to hunt, attack and defend in packs, trying to win then keep possession, which mentality would lend itself best to this? I had success with a balanced control 5-3-2 with Sheff Wed but still wasn't happy with there often being a lack of real incisiveness when attacking. There would be a gap between the misfield and attack with the WB's pushing right up to the box and there being no short options for the deeper cm's. it was however pretty solid defensively. I also found that the closing down wasn't aggressive enough.

[Ö-zil to the Arsenal!]

Hey Wwfan,

Quick question - is a Box-to-Box Midfielder not about as Generalist as can be, as far as player roles are concerned?

How would you classify Aaron Ramsey's real life role? B2B with Forward Runs? MC(A)?

Thank you.

[somebodyelse]

Make sure you have at least one no-nonsense midfielder role to break up play and provide a solid base for possession.

what do you mean with no-nonsense midfielder?

[llama3]

Am I right in thinking that if I want my whole team to play from the back and move forward/close down as a unit I'm better off with a very fluid mentality?

Thinking of setting up as:

SWK (D)

FBR (A)

FBL (S)

CB (D)

CB (D)

REG (S)

BWM (D)

DLP (S)

IFL (S)

IFR (S)

Then my striker...I really have players more suited to an 'advanced' role, maybe a couple of target men - in a very fluid system, would these roles still interlink with the inside forwards, or would the forward need to be a more supporting role such as DLF or F9?

Also, would my DLP be better as an AP so as to offer another link in the final third or again will 'very fluid' override this and have everyone contribute? Also would it limit the effect of the regista, who I want to be the driving force in midfield in both attack and defence.

Lastly, as I am wanting to hunt, attack and defend in packs, trying to win then keep possession, which mentality would lend itself best to this? I had success with a balanced control 5-3-2 with Sheff Wed but still wasn't happy with there often being a lack of real incisiveness when attacking. There would be a gap between the misfield and attack with the WB's pushing right up to the box and there being no short options for the deeper cm's. it was however pretty solid defensively. I also found that the closing down wasn't aggressive enough.

Your biggest fundamental issue is that you have no movement! You have a team full of static players, no roaming, runs from deep, or anything. It is utterly fundamentally flawed. I suggest opening your own thread for specific guidance.

Hey Wwfan,

Quick question - is a Box-to-Box Midfielder not about as Generalist as can be, as far as player roles are concerned?

How would you classify Aaron Ramsey's real life role? B2B with Forward Runs? MC(A)?

Thank you.

Ramsey is probably a box to box midfielder, he does everything, tackling, passing as well as scoring. A CM(A) might ignore his defensive contributions, but would certainly replicate regular runs from deep.

what do you mean with no-nonsense midfielder?

Basically a midfield in central or defensive midfield with a defend duty - so a BWM(D), CM(D), DM(D), A(D), sometimes a DLP(D). Eventually you can mix up a support duty deeper when you are more in tune with what roles work best.

[Sussex Hammer]

Couple of questions on playmakers as I have never had much luck with them.

1. I see a lot of threads with an awful lot of advice to use a playmaker of some sort, especially in the CM or DM strata. However, a playmaker is a pretty specialist role so is it not a good idea to only have top quality players playing this role? For instance if you had say Scott Parker and Mo Diame in centre midfield surely you would not use either of them as a playmaker, not that they are not good players but they don't really have the stats for someone who bosses the game by spraying passes around?

2. I assume a playmaker is probably not a good role in an attacking, high tempo strategy or even a high tempo counter strategy? The reason I ask is that other players generally look for a playmaker so those extra seconds in finding him if they so decide could break the effectiveness of an attack down could it not? I mean if my striker is making a good run and my full back could launch a quick ball the last think I want is him playing it safe and square to a playmaker?

[yonko]

Couple of questions on playmakers as I have never had much luck with them.

1. I see a lot of threads with an awful lot of advice to use a playmaker of some sort, especially in the CM or DM strata. However, a playmaker is a pretty specialist role so is it not a good idea to only have top quality players playing this role? For instance if you had say Scott Parker and Mo Diame in centre midfield surely you would not use either of them as a playmaker, not that they are not good players but they don't really have the stats for someone who bosses the game by spraying passes around?

2. I assume a playmaker is probably not a good role in an attacking, high tempo strategy or even a high tempo counter strategy? The reason I ask is that other players generally look for a playmaker so those extra seconds in finding him if they so decide could break the effectiveness of an attack down could it not? I mean if my striker is making a good run and my full back could launch a quick ball the last think I want is him playing it safe and square to a playmaker?

1. Any player who has the required attributes to be a playmaker can play that role. If you've noticed most of the playmaking roles have similar required attributes with a few differences here and there. But for the most part as long as your player has high attributes for first touch, passing, technique, composure, creativity, decisions, off the ball and teamwork then he should be able to play the role well.

2. There is a flip side to that. A playmaker may help your team in terms of distributing the ball and/or drawing attention away and opening spaces for others. It depends on the playmaking role. A DLP could be someone who is ideal to springboard your counter attacks as he sits deeper. Also, because of his deeper position he could draw opposition away from their comfortable defensive shape. A Trequartista could be someone who orchestrates the attack, opens spaces for others, uses spaces that others have created and is a goalscoring threat.

In addition, all the playmaking roles have a bigger range of horizontal movement or at least that is what I've noticed with my tactics.

[Zundar002]

After reading up on a lot of the information here for formations I'm attempting to do so myself. Here's the positions I was thinking of.

DL: CWB(A)

DR: WB(S)

DC: CD(D)

DC: CD(D)

DM: HB(D)

MC: BBM(S)

AML: IF(S)

AMR: AP(A)

AMC: SS

ST: F9

Will this work? And if so, what mentality, fluidity and such would you recommend?

[llama3]

You might find your team congested in the middle of the pitch, especially in advanced areas. The only players likely to offer a major goalscoring threat - well its the SS. As the F9 is trying to drop deep and the IF(S) & AP(A) won't make regular runs in behind the defence.

As for fluidity - that is up to you, but wwfan has given guidance in the first post - so what do you think? Mentality is something that often needs to change depending on the situation.

[Zundar002]

Thanks llama3,

From the first post I thought Rigid for fluidity. Then I read The Hand of God's post later and got even more confused.

Do you recommend different roles for this formation? I picked those from stuff I've read here and on Guide to Football Manager. This is a good formation for my squad, or I could move the AMC up and have 2 STs. I know the roles will somewhat be determined by the players, but I was trying to get a base to use that I can modify as needed.

[llama3]

It entirely depends on your team and how you want them to play. Can I suggest you open up your own thread, otherwise it tends to get a bit lost in here otherwise. That way people can give you some specific advice. Post as much detail as possible.

[Svenc]

2: The distinction I make between specialists and non-specialists is very simple. If the role describes a position on the pitch, it is non-specialist. If it describes a specific job, then it is specialist. A winger is a player occupying the wing, hence non-specialist. A poacher tries to beat the offside trap and get on the end of moves rather than contribute to them, hence a specialist.

Been thinking about this lately, in part because I've never been a huge fan of the philosophies in the game and how they're implemented, and that is in part because it is hard to explain, arguably the most complicated tactical option in the game bar none (and thanks to many overlaps safe for a few options to a big degree has rather smallish effects, in my opinion, and isn't utilized by the AI greatly). Then there's also the fact that philosophy is always up for debate in real football too, and it's not anything a manager may communicate as such, but is being judged by those who analyze their doings. It's more of a post-match thing analyzed by scholars mostly rather than a manager's instruction. FM treads it as if were the latter though. As it was in parts hugely influenced by a book rather than top flight football management experience and feedback, namely Inverting The Pyramid, a scholar's work, that is likely no coincidence.

But I'd nonetheless try to challenge some of your role distinction, and certainly the importance and logics you give it, to a degree. In real football, a player analyzed to have acted a "central midfielder" may have been far more generalist than a limited Poacher. Technically, under the hood, in terms of input, there is no distinction in FM between specialst and generalist roles, however. You make it sound as such, but the winger equally is not a "player occupying the wing". He never is, in any duty. With a support duty, for instance, I quote the in-game text, he is supposed to "try to get quickly past his man and get in an early cross for the forwards". That is a specific job just the same. Likewise, his instructions under the hood are no more different in mechanics than the Poacher. In combination, it's a job description he's adviced to take a look at likewise. The only distinction in between the two technically is their name-tag that SOUNDS more generalist for the winger (or central midfielder) rather than the Poacher. But mechanically, there is no difference. It is individual player instructions aligned to form a job description. Specifically so in both cases.

Generalist roles I would have previously seen as roles with a lot of settings set to "mixed" so that the player may decide; perhaps, and few set to "rarely", and vice versa for specialists, but those are few and far between; a Target Man with his limited individual options may certainly fit the bill for a "truly" specialist role. Rather than being given generic instructions (in FM's of old), he was by default encouraged to not play through balls nor dribble nor much of anything. Apart of him and a few others perhaps, I don't see much of the fuss with most of the supposedly "specialists" in fluid systems thus, there is none of this distinction in FM. The advice in more rigid teams to have more flair specialist roles such as attacking playmakers/Treqs is of course valid, unless you instruct the team to be "more expressive" anyway. They're supposed to be the specialist attacking fulcrum, as opposed to in a more fluid system in which every player is given more freedom of expression In low CF, rigid teams with very controlled football/players adhering more to their jobs (which as argued every role has!) you want those flair outlets that pose a bigger threat to unlock defenses and "try the unexptected". That's the entire idea behind it. However supporting (or even defending, in the case of a deep-lying playmaker) playmakers are given a good deal less headroom for flair and CF. Their level of CF is surpassed by any attack duty players in the team.

edit: Speaking of which, this is a direct quote of yours:

CF hinders specialism and allows the player to try his own thing

That is how FM is set up mechanically. What this means individually, you could argue, is that for high CF roles such as the play makers and the Treq in particular, this is actually a contradiction in terms. You want the play maker to do a very specific job (feeding the attacking players/unlocking defenses), and you class those roles to be highly specialized too. Yet the high default CF inherent to these roles not only causes him to be less controlled and predictable as well as more flairful, but allows him his own head as well rather than solely focusing on the task at hand to a degree, undermining some of his supposed "specialty". I know that you've always never claimed your advice on this to be a set of hard rules (by the way it's implemented, and by the the very nature of the whole idea itself, a very abstract one never been done in any other management game before, there just can't be a hard set of rules, likely). Just sayin'.

[THOG]

The specialist/generalist reasoning needs to be considered in terms of how players actually interact. In terms of defining what a specialist player is, I think you can basically divide them into two types:

Limited Specialists are players who have restrictive on-the-ball instructions. These are players who actually rely on having a creative player to whom they can distribute the ball.

Creative Specialists are mainly distinguished by a playmaker instruction as well as higher creative freedom and, usually, a tendency to sit/stay deeper than their generalist counterparts in the same position. The activation of the playmaker effect works in conjunction with the limited specialist roles by further encouraging the limited specialists to quickly offload the ball onto the creator, magnifying its effect in a sense. So with that in mind, you can see how the specialist roles are partially designed to work in conjunction with one another.

The other roles, whether you want to call them generalist or half-specialist, all do imply a specific job to some extent (if nothing else, duty itself divides the team between holders, creators and attackers) but they do not work together in the same way that limited specialists and creative specialists do.

I'd also add that combining high creative freedom/expressiveness with restrictive instructions does not simply translate to specialists being more generalist but can have a more undesirable effect resulting from a player being told not to do the obvious "high risk" moves but being told to give a greater priority to flair moves. An example that comes to mind was a player I spoke to who had combined "Play Out of Defence" with "Fluid." He was frustrated because his defenders and fullbacks kept playing ambitious hollywood balls and disrupting the rhythm of his attack. What had happened was that "Play out of Defence" had put the passing range on the minimum settings, none of his defenders had any instruction to play risky passes and his duty/fluidity set-up had caused them to be isolated, but rather than just play a straight long pass to the feet of a wide forward or central mid, their contradictory high level of expressiveness was encouraging them to end up acting more like registas with pitch-spanning flair passes. This was a unique case, but the generalist/specialist logic does help guard against things like this to some extent.

You are right that these ideas shouldn't be presented as strict rules, but this is why they're presented as tips on the forums and not imposed on players in any way within the game itself. Much of the purpose of the twelve step guide is to help new players avoid common mistakes, and one of the most common mistakes that new players make is to overload on specialist roles precisely because new players tend to gravitate towards the more clearly defined settings (e.g., "I'm not sure what a Central Midfielder-Defend does, but I know I want a midfielder winning balls so I'll go with the ball-winner instead").

[Svenc]

You are right that these ideas shouldn't be presented as strict rules, but this is why they're presented as tips on the forums and not imposed on players in any way within the game itself. Much of the purpose of the twelve step guide is to help new players avoid common mistakes, and one of the most common mistakes that new players make is to overload on specialist roles precisely because new players tend to gravitate towards the more clearly defined settings (e.g., "I'm not sure what a Central Midfielder-Defend does, but I know I want a midfielder winning balls so I'll go with the ball-winner instead").

That is a great point. Such players would likely be very frustrated should they find that their (specialist) players seemingly wouldn't follow orders otherwise. Still, some of the supposedly specialist roles aren't all that special. It greatly depends on duty, a CM (d) is very very very restricted and defined in his supposed play. Still, great point.

[llama3]

That is a great point. Such players would likely be very frustrated should they find that their (specialist) players seemingly wouldn't follow orders otherwise. Still, some of the supposedly specialist roles aren't all that special. It greatly depends on duty, a CM (d) is very very very restricted and defined in his supposed play. Still, great point.

Agree, excellent point by THoG. I tend to stick to the specialist roles rule very rigidly, and often support people linking philosophy fairly tightly when facing tactical dilemmas - on the basis of specialism vs universality - but this is the way I approach the game, try to be as well balanced and logical as possible. Obviously this does not suit everyone, and some are excellent at mixing up the specialist roles in a convincing way.

[playmaker10]

this game is so ****ed up...in preveous menagers you could enjoy in playing Fm,but in this version you have to be Cleon to play it properly... You can can adjust your team to oppositio,you can shut their left side and you can exploit their weaker side.You think that you are well prepared for next game when sudenly match begins and they are playing rapid Barcelona style and are killing you. You press push higher to deny them space but then they play direct ball to their attacker and bum goal... I just wanna come from work and enjoy playing this game for couple of hours but i just dont have a motivation anymore!

[mibsweden]

In my opinion you should think of FM as a simulation and not a game. I think it is hard too though, and sometimes it can be very frustrating. I like it the way it is though despite that :-)

[Guest]

this game is so ****ed up...in preveous menagers you could enjoy in playing Fm,but in this version you have to be Cleon to play it properly... You can can adjust your team to oppositio,you can shut their left side and you can exploit their weaker side.You think that you are well prepared for next game when sudenly match begins and they are playing rapid Barcelona style and are killing you. You press push higher to deny them space but then they play direct ball to their attacker and bum goal... I just wanna come from work and enjoy playing this game for couple of hours but i just dont have a motivation anymore!

I understand people can be frustrated but it is just plain misleading to suggest only people like Cleon can play the game, the game is becoming more realistic tactically and the irony of your post is that things you are talking about in game happens to football managers all the time. If you want something to veg out to after work then no football manager is possibly not the game if you have not gotten to grips with the tactics of the game.

[mutor1950]

how to anayise match...what details you need to pay attention to see what stuff not working ?

[isignedupfornorealreason]

Here's a daft question...

Does an AM/R/L/C count as the midfield strata or the attack?

I'm making a 4-3-3 (or 4-1-2-2-1) with a DM and two AM inside forwards.

If my reasoning is correct, I could get away with both IF's on Attack if I play a F9 or TQ up front. But that's assuming I count the 'am' players as the attack and the cm/dm's as midfield.

Sound about right?

Also, I still can't wrap my head around a TQ... They drop deep, exploit space... Would they be the perfect outlet for two inside forwards I wonder?

[Mikael H]

Nice guide wwfan but I have some issues that I dont understand. What does a generic role mean?

And second, if I play the setup below which philosophy would you use

Other users are of course allowed to answer and give their input

I use a rigid philosophy which i understsnd would be okey according to your guide or am I missing something?

I use this tactic with Coventry, first season and it have started out fairly well at least but my players have not fully inderstanding of the tactic

because I have tweaked it a lot before I got some good advice in another thread that I started

---------------------dlf (s)-------------------

IF (a)---------------AP (a)--------------wing (a)

--------- bwm (d)--------------DLF (d )----

WB (a)--------CB (d)---CB(d)--------WB(s)

Other inputs about my tactic are welcomed as well

Edit: Another thing that i have noted is that when I have "wrong" philosophy setup then some of my players run around like headless chickens making stupid decision like passing a boll to a player that have turned hir back to the pass or clearing the ball into a teammate and such things and now when I philosophy and some other settings that have disapeared. My former tactic looked like this

---------------------AF (a)-------------------

IF (a)---------------AP (s)--------------wing (a)

--------- IM (s)--------------DLF (S or d) unsure of what to use

WB (s)--------CB (d)---CB(d)--------WB(s)

[Adsuperjenius]

I really confused. I read many sticky thread, little bit understand, but very hard to interpret it on real game. I try to use big teams, think that I may have many tactic option avaiable because my team consist of very good player. but it failed, And Im got sacked. Then I try to play use small team in lower league ,but the player is too bad that I dont have any idea how to use them. lately, I try to use stoke city. hoping that this team would play so simple (using fast winger,tall striker) , but again,its not working

what is good team for begginer? I would try your suggestion , and try to work harder with that team. Thanks

[wwfan]

Nice guide wwfan but I have some issues that I dont understand. What does a generic role mean?

And second, if I play the setup below which philosophy would you use

Other users are of course allowed to answer and give their input

I use a rigid philosophy which i understsnd would be okey according to your guide or am I missing something?

I use this tactic with Coventry, first season and it have started out fairly well at least but my players have not fully inderstanding of the tactic

because I have tweaked it a lot before I got some good advice in another thread that I started

---------------------dlf (s)-------------------

IF (a)---------------AP (a)--------------wing (a)

--------- bwm (d)--------------DLF (d )----

WB (a)--------CB (d)---CB(d)--------WB(s)

Other inputs about my tactic are welcomed as well

Edit: Another thing that i have noted is that when I have "wrong" philosophy setup then some of my players run around like headless chickens making stupid decision like passing a boll to a player that have turned hir back to the pass or clearing the ball into a teammate and such things and now when I philosophy and some other settings that have disapeared. My former tactic looked like this

---------------------AF (a)-------------------

IF (a)---------------AP (s)--------------wing (a)

--------- IM (s)--------------DLF (S or d) unsure of what to use

WB (s)--------CB (d)---CB(d)--------WB(s)

A generic role is one that doesn't really have a specialised function. These functions can be expressive (e.g. playmaker, trequartista, regista) or limiting (e.g. poacher, target man, anchor man). Generic roles allow a player to do something of everything.

I don't think philosophy and formation have an interrelationship.

[wwfan]

I really confused. I read many sticky thread, little bit understand, but very hard to interpret it on real game. I try to use big teams, think that I may have many tactic option avaiable because my team consist of very good player. but it failed, And Im got sacked. Then I try to play use small team in lower league ,but the player is too bad that I dont have any idea how to use them. lately, I try to use stoke city. hoping that this team would play so simple (using fast winger,tall striker) , but again,its not working

what is good team for begginer? I would try your suggestion , and try to work harder with that team. Thanks

My only advice would be to go for a fallen giant or a progressive club in the lower leagues. For the 2013-14 season, that would be (UK professional leagues only):

• Wolves
  
• Sheff Utd
  
• Crewe
  
• Bristol City
  
• Notts County
  
• Portsmouth
  
• Plymouth
  
• Rangers
  

[Southern Buddie]

I don't have an absolutely set way of doing things. I do always save three strategies, but mainly so I can switch mentality without a hit. I only ever use one base tactic and adapt that to the match.

Currently, I play a 4-1-3-2 Balanced Control as my starting tactic.

• GK: GK
  
• DR: CWB/A
  
• DL: FB/S
  
• DCR: CD/C
  
• DCL: CD/X
  
• DMC: DMC/D
  
• MCR: BBM, DLP/S or BWM/S depending on the player
  
• MCC: CM/A
  
• MCL: AP/S
  
• FCR: AF
  
• FCL: TQ
  

I've built a technical, passing side with great tacklers, so employ the following shouts as standard:

• Pass Shorter
  
• Retain Possession
  
• Pass into Space
  
• Roam from Position
  
• Get Stuck In
  
• Be More Expressive
  

For tricky away games, I tend to switch to counter and turn off the last three shouts. If conditions are wild and wet, I often turn off the short passing shouts. If I'm holding onto a slim lead late in the game, I turn off pass into space. My pitch degenerates fast as well, so later in the season I'm far less likely to use the technical passing shouts at home.

Notably, despite the Get Stuck In shout being employed for over 50% of my matches, I have easily the lowest number of yellow and red cards in the league.

It's always interesting and insightful to read how some of the more experienced players are setting up in their saves. What is your current set up wwfan?

[Adsuperjenius]

My only advice would be to go for a fallen giant or a progressive club in the lower leagues. For the 2013-14 season, that would be (UK professional leagues only):

• Wolves
  
• Sheff Utd
  
• Crewe
  
• Bristol City
  
• Notts County
  
• Portsmouth
  
• Plymouth
  
• Rangers
  

would try it tomorrow.thanks for your recomendation

[Adsuperjenius]

now Im using wolves. Im on your point 5.looked at team comparison, my team were best decision making.also good at first touch and strenght.

how do I made use of this? good strength and first touch,should I play long ball? I imagine,in long ball, just 1 or 2 touch, and my team good in first touch. and strength would help my player to win areal chalenge.but I dont know how to made use decisions

[wwfan]

Good decisions really means you can trust your side to play any type of game.

[HamoudiLFC]

Does it matter if I have 2-3 specialist roles and play on Very Rigid/Rigid?

and also I've always wanted to understand this, if I play on Balanced does that mean the players on 'Defend' do their job, 'Support' do their job, and 'Attack' do their job?

[Luizinho]

Does it matter if I have 2-3 specialist roles and play on Very Rigid/Rigid?

and also I've always wanted to understand this, if I play on Balanced does that mean the players on 'Defend' do their job, 'Support' do their job, and 'Attack' do their job?

Yeah you can get away with 2-3 on Very Rigid/Rigid. Just be watchful if you find you team lacking creativity but shouldn't be a problem.

Balanced distributes mentality by Duty. Therefore Players on Defend all have the same mentality, Support all have the Mentality and Attack the same. Therefore it's split 3 ways. It's really useful for getting movement between the lines, especially form the fullbacks on Attack duties.

[Wizard boy]

Do individual player settings override team settings or opposition instructions?

[timbone]

I hate to be a kill joy but the game favors speed too much. Players with 15 pace and 6 finishing, do a better job than players with pace 10 and finishing 14. Its the rule of thumb.

Correct me if I am wrong. I am personally on my last straw, this will be my first and last football manager, played over 8 seasons with up to 4 teams and its the same.

30 shots and no goal( I tried this with a 3rd division German team, Norwich and Spartak Moscow).

Correct me if I am wrong. This game is terrible and returning it would be a no brainer. Just like PES or FIFA it seems to be popular because it is the standard

[Cleon]

I hate to be a kill joy but the game favors speed too much. Players with 15 pace and 6 finishing, do a better job than players with pace 10 and finishing 14. Its the rule of thumb.

Correct me if I am wrong. I am personally on my last straw, this will be my first and last football manager, played over 8 seasons with up to 4 teams and its the same.

30 shots and no goal( I tried this with a 3rd division German team, Norwich and Spartak Moscow).

Correct me if I am wrong. This game is terrible and returning it would be a no brainer. Just like PES or FIFA it seems to be popular because it is the standard

Okay i'll correct you, you're wrong. Pace used to be favoured but it was toned down and brought into line with the other attributes now so its not as effective. 10 pace and 14 finishing will be more favourable if you've set up that way, pace will be important if you've set up to use fast players. Neither is more preferable than the other it's all about how you've set up.

30 shots at goal is way too many shots and from that stat alone I can tell you are too aggressive with very few actual good chances being created.

[Torskus77]

Totally agree with Cleon. In FM12, pace was way to powerful, in fact it almost felt like cheating at times if you had a striker with 16+ pace and acceleration. Didn't play FM13 at all, but in FM14 pace is useful if you use it correctly, but in no way is it over powering.

There is no shame in struggling with the game, it has been challenging for me too, but if you read enough of the quality information on here (plenty in the stickies to be going on with) keep it simple, think logically, there is a lot more reward in FM14 than any previous version in my opinion.

It's easy to say your having 30 shots a game and not winning, but it would be better to ask yourself why you aren't winning, the answers are out there.

[timbone]

I disagree, I am playing in the Russian league, Zhirkov is a top "finisher". Its ridiculous, lets be honest here, you guys are die hard fans of the series. And about information, I have consumed a whole lot. Tried formations from the workshop too. I just played a game in which about 3 of my certain goals were cleared off the line. I lost 1-0 to a penalty kick from my players pushing during a corner.

Try playing CSKA Moscow with Dumbia and Ahmed Musa, its ridiculous. Yes Doumbia is a star and I dont mind him scoring against me but when you have a 2 star player walk right past a 4 star defender simply because of speed then something is wrong

[timbone]

And about my 30 shots and aggressiveness. I think I deserve an applause for creating so many chances .

I use players like Luca Toni. I am adverse to speed

[wwfan]

And about my 30 shots and aggressiveness. I think I deserve an applause for creating so many chances .

I use players like Luca Toni. I am adverse to speed

Explain your setup and we can give better advice. It's obviously better to have a great technical player who is also fast / tall, but you can set things up to take advantage of a less quick strike force.

I also don't think you should "mind" anyone scoring against you. For anyone who remembers Ronnie Radford, it's perfectly possible for a non-league player to score 30+ yarders against top flight opposition. Unlikely, but possible. You can't just assume a player can't score because he's not of a certain standard.

[THOG]

And about my 30 shots and aggressiveness. I think I deserve an applause for creating so many chances .

I use players like Luca Toni. I am adverse to speed

So you play an aggressive tactic with slow players? Hmmmm, I wonder why you're so vulnerable to pace...

[Cleon]

And about my 30 shots and aggressiveness. I think I deserve an applause for creating so many chances .

I use players like Luca Toni. I am adverse to speed

Anyone can create 30 shots though there is nothing special about it. It's the quality of the shots created which is the most important factor. Create 30 really good chances and then you'll get my praise

I'm not a die hard fan either I haven't played the game for a while now. But what I do know is how the game works and can see how people are going wrong with their set ups and how they work/don't work. I suggest you take wwfan's advice and explain your set up so we can get you winning again.

Also star rating honestly means nothing. A 2 star striker going past a 4 star defender means nothing at all and just because one has a higher rating doesn't mean he has the correct attributes for the role or that he will stop less players beating him from time to time. How realistic would that approach be? Going by that logic everyone would just look at star ratings and get 5 star players then only other 5 star players could beat them.

[Torskus77]

Pace can be quite deadly in the real world football anyway. Further to what wwfan said about Ronnie radford, I remember when I was a kid, my team Walsall played Liverpool in the Milk Cup semi final. We drew 2-2 in the first leg, which was a huge shock, as we were in division 3, and they were the best team in Europe. Anyway, we had several very talented young players, that didn't stay with us all too long afterwards. Oddly enough it was none of those that stole the show, we had a winger who wasn't the greatest player you have seen by any means, but he was bloody quick. Alan Kennedy (Liverpool's left back) said it is the toughest game he has ever played, cos our winger Mark Rees, literally just kept booting the ball past him down the line, and out pacing him, caused them all kinds of problems, they never came up with a way of stopping it. They worked it out for the second leg, played a lot deeper, and always had Hanson moving over to cover when the ball was knocked down the line, and they won the game 2-0.

Weaker teams beat stronger teams all the time, it's not always the best 11 players that win football matches, the best team on the day usually wins, the team that gets things right tactically. Of course the best team doesn't always win, we've all come out of football matches in disbelief that our side hasn't won the match. Also this view is sometimes influenced by the fact it is our team, and this is also the case in FM. If you want to get better then people are here offering to help, or you can just blame the game, and you will never really enjoy it.

[wwfan]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2004/nov/08/match.sport11

One of the most one-sided matches I've ever seen with the dominant team losing 4-1.

[timbone]

Pace can be quite deadly in the real world football anyway. Further to what wwfan said about Ronnie radford, I remember when I was a kid, my team Walsall played Liverpool in the Milk Cup semi final. We drew 2-2 in the first leg, which was a huge shock, as we were in division 3, and they were the best team in Europe. Anyway, we had several very talented young players, that didn't stay with us all too long afterwards. Oddly enough it was none of those that stole the show, we had a winger who wasn't the greatest player you have seen by any means, but he was bloody quick. Alan Kennedy (Liverpool's left back) said it is the toughest game he has ever played, cos our winger Mark Rees, literally just kept booting the ball past him down the line, and out pacing him, caused them all kinds of problems, they never came up with a way of stopping it. They worked it out for the second leg, played a lot deeper, and always had Hanson moving over to cover when the ball was knocked down the line, and they won the game 2-0.

Weaker teams beat stronger teams all the time, it's not always the best 11 players that win football matches, the best team on the day usually wins, the team that gets things right tactically. Of course the best team doesn't always win, we've all come out of football matches in disbelief that our side hasn't won the match. Also this view is sometimes influenced by the fact it is our team, and this is also the case in FM. If you want to get better then people are here offering to help, or you can just blame the game, and you will never really enjoy it.

I am not denying that, but at least you admitted that pace is a thing, just as it is in real life. I was just looking for someone who admitted that, I dont fault the game for being fast but pacy players are winning best player of the month in my league. I dont think thats a coincidence. I beat the pacy teams, but its sometimes ridiculous how good they play. I check their stats but Khirkov who played for Chelsea has finishing of 6, but never misses a shot.

Yes a lot of people whine about games but lets face the truth, I am just speaking facts. I want those who respond to be objective.

Has anyone played in the Russian league or against Russian clubs?

Instead of pointing out that I am blaming the game, I prefer to hear a solution to dealing with pacy players. dropping deeper doesnt help because pace seems to equal anticipation lol.

To be honest my right back and left back suck since you can only have 7 foreign players on your team and all the best Russian players wont come to my team haha

[Torskus77]

If you think pace is a problem in this game, it was unstoppable in FM12, I think they have toned it down to a nice level now that doesn't make pace insignificant which it isn't.