Rainmaker v2 and Silk & Steel v2.......... A Combined Arms approach to FM

[Mr U Rosler]

Don't get me wrong, climbing up through the leagues with a small club is usually what I've been doing on most saves for years. At the moment I just felt like changing it up a bit and going after the crown jewels with the big boys for once. I can already smell myself leaving Bayern and move to a smaller club in another country in the future, but first I want to try dominate European football like Bayern do in real life at the moment. Already checking vacancies on my save...

You've certainly earnt the right to manage a top club, I know you've worked thru the league's.

If I ever get a powerful enough PC I'd like to run all European leagues, start unemployed with view of earning the chance to manage one of the elite clubs for a few seasons at somepoint.

Just another 19 season's to go at tonbridge first....

[Eleanor_Rigby]

My only criticism is I won both the Tim cup and Serie A (pipped Juve by a single point) with Roma in the 1st season and now the expectations of both the fans and the board are gonna kill me 2nd season. Fantastic tactics and your hard work is very much appreciated from this particular lazy git who loathes building tactics. The best thing about them is i didn't need to change a thing.

[Ragnafox]

I'm on my second season with Spurs and just managed to bring in Benteke for 15m as Villa got relegated. I'm pairing him with Lamela who I retrained last season to play the False 9 position.

Eight games in to the season and I have lost 4 drawn 4 with a big fat ZERO goals from either of them. Both have average ratings of less than 6.2.

Both S&S and Rainmaker are almost fluid.

I'm dominating possession and haven't created less than 3 CCC per game and 20 + shots but no goals from any of my attacking players. The three goals I have scored have been by my Centre backs in post corner scrambles.

The overall stats show that the framework of both tactics is very good but I feel the match engine turning strikers into total Emile Heskey style donkeys needs fixing and quick.

[burnum]

I've won the Bundesliga again with Bayern. I managed to get 77 pts (23W, 8D, 3L), finishing 9 pts clear of 2nd placed Dortmund. I only conceded 26 goals all season. That's the good part... The bad part is I only scored 67 goals all season with 21 of them comin from set pieces (15 from corners plus 6 free kicks). That means I only scored 46 goals from open play all season with a monster squad full of world class players.

Honestly, we need to work on scoring...

P.S.: CL Final & DFB Cup Final are still coming up, so I've got a chance to repeat the historic triple from the 2012/13 Bayern team.

[Scotty Walds]

3rd straight promotion with Boston United, now into the Championship... switched to Silk n Steel v2 towards the end of the season, in the middle of a bad run of results. Used Rainmaker v2 to scrape a few late goals. Amazingly, in my 3 promotion-winning squads, I've not had anyone score 20 league goals in a season!

I'm pretty sure we'll be predicted 24th again this season! We have Chelsea as a parent club, so hoping for a couple of decent players from them.

[MTM1977]

Just had a really crazy match. Skrill Premier Stockport-Exeter, raining really hard, pitch soaking wet. Keepers and defenders playing really poorly on both ends, match result 5-5

Played with Rainmaker v2 the whole match. We got a free kick on the last minute of extra time, but unfortunately the Exeter keeper managed to save that one.

[burnum]

I've won the Bundesliga again with Bayern. I managed to get 77 pts (23W, 8D, 3L), finishing 9 pts clear of 2nd placed Dortmund. I only conceded 26 goals all season. That's the good part... The bad part is I only scored 67 goals all season with 21 of them comin from set pieces (15 from corners plus 6 free kicks). That means I only scored 46 goals from open play all season with a monster squad full of world class players.

Honestly, we need to work on scoring...

P.S.: CL Final & DFB Cup Final are still coming up, so I've got a chance to repeat the historic triple from the 2012/13 Bayern team.

After winning the Bundesliga I've also won the DFB Cup Final against Gladbach. However, I've lost the Champions League Final against Man Utd 0-2 despite dominating all game. Utd went ahead early after a goal from a corner and I was trailing all game, creating chances left and right (6 CCC, 9 half chances). We couldn't score and Utd hit us on a late counter when I was in desperation mode late in the game. Lost 0-2, should've won 4-1...

In my 2nd season with Bayern I've won everything domestically and made it to the CL Final. If a good/interesting job becomes available in the offseason I might jump at it. Having my eyes at the West Ham job (stuck in Championship, failed to get promoted, manager status is 'insecure'). If nothing interesting comes up I'll stay at FC Bayern for the final year of my contract.

[jimbob1000]

I'm on my second season with Spurs and just managed to bring in Benteke for 15m as Villa got relegated. I'm pairing him with Lamela who I retrained last season to play the False 9 position.

Eight games in to the season and I have lost 4 drawn 4 with a big fat ZERO goals from either of them. Both have average ratings of less than 6.2.

Both S&S and Rainmaker are almost fluid.

I'm dominating possession and haven't created less than 3 CCC per game and 20 + shots but no goals from any of my attacking players. The three goals I have scored have been by my Centre backs in post corner scrambles.

The overall stats show that the framework of both tactics is very good but I feel the match engine turning strikers into total Emile Heskey style donkeys needs fixing and quick.

What was your training on?

[Mr U Rosler]

I've won the Bundesliga again with Bayern. I managed to get 77 pts (23W, 8D, 3L), finishing 9 pts clear of 2nd placed Dortmund. I only conceded 26 goals all season. That's the good part... The bad part is I only scored 67 goals all season with 21 of them comin from set pieces (15 from corners plus 6 free kicks). That means I only scored 46 goals from open play all season with a monster squad full of world class players.

Honestly, we need to work on scoring...

P.S.: CL Final & DFB Cup Final are still coming up, so I've got a chance to repeat the historic triple from the 2012/13 Bayern team.

As this issue is affecting a fairly small percentage of users with the very top teams and the final patch is upon us i'm going to leave it and see whats happening post patch.

If its still a problem 'post patch' i'll get on it.

The way the ME is at the moment the better chances are created on the counter, the better your team is the less counter attacking you get to do. I think this, combined with 'Emile Heskey' type striker finishing is the crux of the problem.

[burnum]

As this issue is affecting a fairly small percentage of users with the very top teams and the final patch is upon us i'm going to leave it and see whats happening post patch.

If its still a problem 'post patch' i'll get on it.

The way the ME is at the moment the better chances are created on the counter, the better your team is the less counter attacking you get to do. I think this, combined with 'Emile Heskey' type striker finishing is the crux of the problem.

Spot on. The current ME magically turns a world class striker into Emile Heskey. I think it has to do with the angle of the shot. If they're straight up in the middle in front of the goal they can't score to save their lives. If the striker has a bit of an angle the chances of scoring are much higher (contradictory to real life).

My previous posts were in no way meant as critic of your tactics, I was just getting frustrated with losing games I should've won. It's the ME that's flawed, not your tactics.

[heddy]

awesome. got promoted as Coventry although had 10 points deducted. Made a few loans but other than that original squad

[jamesh2k]

considering my first 7 prem fixtures, i'm happy with the results so far

[Mr U Rosler]

considering my first 7 prem fixtures, i'm happy with the results so far

thats a pretty tough introduction to the big league

[MTM1977]

8 matches to go in Skrill Premier and we are really pushing for promotion. Have been trailing Cambridge the whole season, just waiting for them to slip.

Will also play in FA Trophy final against Morecambe. One Skrill match left before that one.

Season has been quite difficult, because we have suffered a lot of injuries. Luckily i have some depth in squad, so we have managed to survive even the worst times.

This is the current table:

[Gareth Winter]

As promised here are a few screenshots from my journey through the league!

Pretty clear to see where i took over in this one:

Here is an overview of the league placings:

Also a couple of Johnstone Paint Trophies which were won alongside League 2 and League 1. Two Doubles in a row:

The league 1 title went right down to the final three games of the season. We were level on points with 3 to play and played each other. I won that match giving me a 3 point advantage, I then lost the next game and they won meaning we were once again level going into the final game. The league table updated constantly throughout as I took the lead and they went two goals up putting me behind etc. But eventually i came away with the league on GD:

I couldn't be bothered to go back through and get loads of player profiles. So i just got my top scorer for the past few seasons. Including top scorer in the Premier League:

As you can see he's nothing really special for the Premier League.

I have never tweaked the tactic at all apart from switching between the two and occasionally sticking it on Overload when behind with Rainmaker.

All i can say is that these tactics have been amazing right out of the box with no effort. As I said earlier i don't follow the player guides, i just go with the star guide from my scouts.

Top tactic Mr U Rosler

[Jambo98]

After struggling badly to make this work with Liverpool, it continues to be amazing in Italy.

Mentioned before that i took over Parma in March with 13 games remaining. No ability to make transfers, so went with what they had. Won 9, drew 4 of the 13 to take me to promotion.

After promotion, i was give £23m so did a fair bit of necessary strengthening. What it meant though, is that starting the new season 7 of my first 11 were new signings, with several more on the bench. So gelling should have given me a problem............... 10 games into Serie A = top of the league, 7 wins and 3 draws. Includes a win away to Roma, and a draw with AC Milan.

So throw in a cup game win, and so far with this set at my new club i am 24 without defeat.

If i had any issue, it would be the lack of goals from my strikers. In the CF role i have the very talented Alberto Cerri. He has 5 in 11 this season which could do with a bit of a boost, but got to consider he is only 19. I have really struggled with the F9 role though, rotating a few options there (Saponara, Aarron Hunt and an argie youngster).

Be interested to see if it gets even better as my player being to gel fully.

[burnum]

It is done. West Ham fired their coach after the season and I couldn't resist. Resigned at Bayern after 2 years and got the Hammers job. Now taking over a club with great potential (Olympic Stadium, great youth academy) which is in the Championship, looking to get promoted to Premiership in 1st season.

[Mr U Rosler]

It is done. West Ham fired their coach after the season and I couldn't resist. Resigned at Bayern after 2 years and got the Hammers job. Now taking over a club with great potential (Olympic Stadium, great youth academy) which is in the Championship, looking to get promoted to Premiership in 1st season.

Nice move

[Pipoli]

Spot on. The current ME magically turns a world class striker into Emile Heskey. I think it has to do with the angle of the shot. If they're straight up in the middle in front of the goal they can't score to save their lives. If the striker has a bit of an angle the chances of scoring are much higher (contradictory to real life).

Thinking about that, I'd like to suggest something.

I remember one of the first versions of Fulcrum, where the CM guy used to be an Advanced Playmaker/attack. This guy was huge back then and most feedbacks reported him being the team's top goalscorer. Showing up in the area constantly to conclude, arriving as a surprise element for some unexpected headers, doing one-twos with the strikers, etc.

At some point in time, Rosler identified it was not working anymore and "pulled him back". I don't remember exactly the circumstances of this switch...maybe Rosler can rescue this memory.

However, back to topic, maybe bringing back the AP/A role for the CM would make him 'occupy more' the central lane, forcing the strikers a little bit to the sides, so they can finish with more angle more regularly. Currently, I agree with you, as the F9 also comes deep very frequently, the CF is usually facing the GK straight ahead.

I'd love to test instead of only suggesting, but I really get to play only 2-3 matches per day. Takes a couple weeks to close a season.

PS: I have played around 7 matches with v2 (Rimini, Serie A [italy], media prediction 20th). A couple draws, and a couple bizarre scores like 5-5 and 5-4 and, in general, I am conceding much more than I was. I will not conclude my judgement until the end of the season but, if it doesn't work well, my 'villain' will already be 'retain possession', I know that!!

PS2: I just realized my Forum join date is Dec/2002!! Man, I'm old!!

[Ragnafox]

Ok I just had a match where I had three CCC fall to Benteke. First one he decided that running in on the keeper wasn't a good idea and blazed it over from the edge of the box when here wasn't a defender within 10 yards of him. The second he just hoofed it right at the keeper. He did however save the best for last, he was once again through on goal and took the ball into the box. This time surely I'm thinking to myself but when he pulled the trigger the ball went out for a throw in.

That is the straw that has broken the camels back and I am officially done with this and going back to FM12 until the next patch.

[Gareth Winter]

Another thing i forgot to mention in my previous post. I didnt spend any money on transfers until i got to the Championship. Everything was free transfers.

[Jambo98]

10 consecutive wins, 5 consecutive clean sheets........i cant get over the differences in what im watching in the highlights between the rubbish at Liverpool (very similar to Ragnafox - CCC after CCC missed by supposed world class strikers) and what i am now seeing with a Parma side which would surely be classed as barely above average!

[Finknottle]

Mr Rosler, Question, do I need to alter the tactics to take account of adverse weather? I have got to the 37th match of season one, again with LFC. I have reached the FA Cup Final but I think I'll still get the 'chop' because we'll probably finish in 5th position. The club require me to qualify for the Champions League.

Although it does me no good whatsoever, I like the fact that I will not win every game. Indeed I have lost a few that I should have won even though I have stuck rigidly to your advice about which tactic to use.

[Mr U Rosler]

Don't really alter my choices based on weather. Not noticed any pattern in results.

Quite tempted to do a season with Liverpool to establish exactly how crap they are.

Out of all the EPL teams they seem to give the most problems.

[Finknottle]

Don't really alter my choices based on weather. Not noticed any pattern in results.

Quite tempted to do a season with Liverpool to establish exactly how crap they are.

Out of all the EPL teams they seem to give the most problems.

Just use real life. If you were manager of any of the top three, how many of LFC's team would you want? For myself, I might take a chance on Sakho, Lucas, Henderson, Coutinho and Reina, back from loan at the seasons end. Suarez may well go even if we get to the top four. Sturridge has an attitude problem, which he needs to sort out. The rest of the first team are a bit 'iffy' and the reserves etc are just not good enough.

I may well get some 'stick' from my real life observations but just look at the W.B.A. match this weekend gone. Oh! yes, if I get the chop I'll start over with LFC.

[Mr U Rosler]

Gonna do a season as Liverpool.

The problems with the squad are soon evident.

First choice 11 and how I will use them looks pretty good.

I will watch Sturridge closely to see how he performs as he is left footed although his right foot is 'reasonable'. Might swap the cf/f9 roles around to accomodate his left foot but interested to see how he goes in the right slot initially.

The quality in the back up players drop off dramatically. Their is no back up DM. i'm having to retrain Kolo Toure. There are not enough 'proper' midfielders, i'm having to retrain Aspas and Sterling to CM even though they are not suited at all. That leaves me with Moses training as Striker to be back up CF and Alberto as my back up f9 (he's rated as Championship quality!).

1st team pretty good, any injuries or fixture congestion will cause massive problems.

I can see why people struggle with them.

I'll keep you posted on my progress

[Eleanor_Rigby]

The problem with Sturridge is his long shot PPM. Completely ruins him.

[veers]

Love Rainmaker, but struggling a bit with Forest Green in the Skill Premier. Seems like my strikers and midfielders love taking 25-30 yard shots instead of playing the ball into the box. I'd like them to go wide and cross in, but they just keep shooting long and missing. Would it be a good idea to put in player instructions for everyone to shoot less often?

[Finknottle]

Gonna do a season as Liverpool.

The problems with the squad are soon evident.

First choice 11 and how I will use them looks pretty good.

I will watch Sturridge closely to see how he performs as he is left footed although his right foot is 'reasonable'. Might swap the cf/f9 roles around to accomodate his left foot but interested to see how he goes in the right slot initially.

The quality in the back up players drop off dramatically. Their is no back up DM. i'm having to retrain Kolo Toure. There are not enough 'proper' midfielders, i'm having to retrain Aspas and Sterling to CM even though they are not suited at all. That leaves me with Moses training as Striker to be back up CF and Alberto as my back up f9 (he's rated as Championship quality!).

1st team pretty good, any injuries or fixture congestion will cause massive problems.

I can see why people struggle with them.

I'll keep you posted on my progress

Finished up 5th, won FA Cup. Not sacked! Yippee!

Sturridge got 19 league goals but should have had a lot more. His long shots PPM is a pain. I sold Coutinho because he couldn't fit in to the system.Never thought about retraining.

Managed to bring in some decent recruits for second season. Intrigued to find out how your season goes. I did well with the injuries, not getting many. Aspas did well up front. Skrtel blew hot and cold and Agger was injured a fair bit. Lucas was immense as was Gerard and Henderson. Suarez was just Suarez. Best of British Mr Rosler.

[Benspit]

Just wanted to give some feedback on my experiences so far. I've posted a couple of times in the other threads.

1. Playing as Derby, led team to FA Cup and promotion in season 2 (1st full season in charge) & 7th place in BPL using rainmaker and S &S in season 3.

2. Am using the V2 tactics for season 4. Am presently 1 game into the season but have played 3 games overall with the tactic fluid.

3. I've noticed that my F9 just fires away at goal from anywhere inside the attacking half. Neither options have a ppm nor are particularly any good at long shots. So I'm having a lot of long shots and less shots on target as a result.

4. My CF is getting plenty of CCC and HCs but, as with some others, tends to miss the majority (generally when running straight on)

5. CM (A) seems to be working well. Arrives late, chips in with goals and assists.

6. My most effective players so far have been my FBs. They are frequently in position to receive passes and make excellent runs and crosses down the wings. If my average is 3 goals/game, 2 if them will be assisted by the FBs.

7. I will be using the tactics "straight up" through the season, changing only when I'm winning/losing as the case may be.

[drhay53]

Love Rainmaker, but struggling a bit with Forest Green in the Skill Premier. Seems like my strikers and midfielders love taking 25-30 yard shots instead of playing the ball into the box. I'd like them to go wide and cross in, but they just keep shooting long and missing. Would it be a good idea to put in player instructions for everyone to shoot less often?

This drive me absolutely mad. I see it all the time too.

[drhay53]

Has there ever been a version of this tactic where the CM-Attack was an actual attacking midfielder? Or, basically asking U Rosler, have you tested this or thought about it?

[veers]

This drive me absolutely mad. I see it all the time too.

Finished in 6th with Forest Green, respectable but not too exciting. The next season I reconfigured my whole squad according to the key stats for each position. Had to work mostly with free transfers as the club is broke. Now I am getting smashed every game, 4 losses in the first 5 games, some by 4 goal margins. I think increasing the pitch to maximum size has made my players more likely to go for pointless long shots, and I'm only getting one or two decent chances in a game. The AI seems to have fast strikers who are outpacing my slow DC's and getting one on one with my keeper and scoring.

I'm thinking this tactic may need some real tweaking for lower league teams with weaker players.

[drhay53]

Finished in 6th with Forest Green, respectable but not too exciting. The next season I reconfigured my whole squad according to the key stats for each position. Had to work mostly with free transfers as the club is broke. Now I am getting smashed every game, 4 losses in the first 5 games, some by 4 goal margins. I think increasing the pitch to maximum size has made my players more likely to go for pointless long shots, and I'm only getting one or two decent chances in a game. The AI seems to have fast strikers who are outpacing my slow DC's and getting one on one with my keeper and scoring.

I'm thinking this tactic may need some real tweaking for lower league teams with weaker players.

I have gone 2 straight promotions to league 2 with bath, and 29 games into my first league 2 season I am 13 points clear in first place.

The year in skrill premier was hardest. The new signings took me a really long time to gel. I ended up playing with silk & steel almost exclusively.

[Mr U Rosler]

Love Rainmaker, but struggling a bit with Forest Green in the Skill Premier. Seems like my strikers and midfielders love taking 25-30 yard shots instead of playing the ball into the box. I'd like them to go wide and cross in, but they just keep shooting long and missing. Would it be a good idea to put in player instructions for everyone to shoot less often?

The cure is worse than the disease. Putting shoot less often on everyone ruins everything.

[Mr U Rosler]

Has there ever been a version of this tactic where the CM-Attack was an actual attacking midfielder? Or, basically asking U Rosler, have you tested this or thought about it?

Yes, well tested.

The BBM sit too narrow, dont engage the opposing full backs and quite a bit of width is lost from the team. AMC very, very inconsistant.

[Mr U Rosler]

Finished in 6th with Forest Green, respectable but not too exciting. The next season I reconfigured my whole squad according to the key stats for each position. Had to work mostly with free transfers as the club is broke. Now I am getting smashed every game, 4 losses in the first 5 games, some by 4 goal margins. I think increasing the pitch to maximum size has made my players more likely to go for pointless long shots, and I'm only getting one or two decent chances in a game. The AI seems to have fast strikers who are outpacing my slow DC's and getting one on one with my keeper and scoring.

I'm thinking this tactic may need some real tweaking for lower league teams with weaker players.

Thats the opposite of everybody else's experience. Maybe S&S is a better tactic until your squad gels.

[Mr U Rosler]

The problem with Sturridge is his long shot PPM. Completely ruins him.

He's agreed to 'unlearn' ppm. we'll see if it sticks and how long it takes.

[Ribar]

Finishing up the season in Swiss league with Sion a mid- lvl team and it's going decently but not great.

Against bigger teams Silk works really good especially on away games but against weaker opposition I almost always struggle with Rainmaker.

Shots are there, CCCs not so much and it's annoying as hell when u concede from a "scrum" that happens after almost every corner/ free kick in my 6 yard box...

All in all I really hope the next patch gives some stability cuz this is ruining the will to play for so many people.

[the_gaffa]

Love these tactics... cheers Mr Rosler! I started in the lowest pro German league with RB Leipzig and within a couple of seasons I was mixing it with the big boys in Bundesliga!

I finished a respectable tenth in my first top flight season using an older version of S&S. I was at about the same position midway through my second season when I decided to switch to the tactics in this thread. All I can say is WOW! I went on to win the German cup, complete a thirty match unbeaten run (including victories over Bayern and Dortmund) and then finish second in the league (on goal difference.. d'oh!). This is remarkable considering I have a very small, average squad (I think my biggest transfer was a round £6mill).

Also, here's a few things that I noted when using these formations...

- I found that the forward roles are pretty interchangeable. Due to me not having players with the right stats, I'd often change the roles for the strikers. Changing the complete forward to and advance forward seem to up my goals too.

- My false 9 seems to get (and score) a large amount of headed goal opportunities!

- The anchorman always seems to get poor ratings for me for some reason? Not sure if this is a match engine thing but I might try experimenting with a few different roles their too and see if I can improve things at all.

- I you're struggling to break teams down and there's less than thirty minutes to go, I always switch to Rainmaker (regardless of home or away) and then overload in the last fifteen minutes if that still hasn't worked. This has got me a lot of valuable late wins on a good number of occasions!

- Get a great corner taker (18+) and make sure your left central defender has a decent jump and header rating. Sounds like common sense, but my centreback fourteen goals in the league from corners alone this season!

Anyway, top tactic. If only there was one like this which utilised wingers too! :-P

[gredawarha1979]

Just to add my ten pence worth.

Just finished 3rd season with Everton. Finished 5th (disapointed with this as until the final game I was fourth) in the league and lost the final of the Champions League. Switched to Rainmaker V2 (home) and S7SV2 (away) about halfway through the season. I was using Mr Rosler previous version before this.

Having had time to think about it I am happy with how the team performed despite the disapointed end.

My unscientific observations are that S&SV2 is awesome against bigger teams. I beat Barcelona, Shakhtar and Arsenal on the way to the Champions League final. I regularly beat big prem teams as well. Where I fell down was against the smaller premier teams. For instantce I beat Chelsea in the penultimate league game only to then lose to Swanseas at home last day of the season.

I play MItrovic in the CF role and unlike many people on this thread I have found him to bang the goals in. I may have secured the win against Swansea and Man utd at the end of the season had he played (he broke a leg against Chelsea, heart braking!). I have also found Apostolos Vellios to be a surprisingly good back up.

I play Ross Barckley as F9 and he has been okay but not mind blowing, I am persisting with him as he is young and home grown but there were thoughts of sellling him.

I play Mcarthy in the CM and he gets a fair few assists but not many goals.

I agreed with someone else who commented that the full backs are important. Baines has been very, very good for me. High average rating, LOTS of assists and a few goals. Coleman on the right has also done well but not to the extent of Baines.

[MTM1977]

Skrill Premier season is finished.

We had quite a strong end of season:

Final table looks like this:

I had a straightforward way with tactics. Rainmaker v2 at home, no matter the opposition. Silk and Steel v2 away, no matter the opposition.

Then changes during the match, depending on how it was going.

I will also add a third tactic for upcoming season, Rainmaker v2 with "Overload" mentality, will be used in desperate situations. I actually have it on training already, but didn't use yet. The idea to that came from this thread as couple of people have mentioned having success employing overload at later stages of match when losing.

I will let some contracts run out, because those guys will have no place in Skybet L2 team, hardly had any use in Skrill Premier this season. Will need to get some strong players to fill their places and maybe we will do fine.

One promising guy for me is a regen midfielder, who has current ability "decent for Skybet League 2" and potential to be decent in Premiership. Only 17 years old, so could be good. Already had a solid season in Skrill Premier. Guy has determination 16, work rate 13 and stamina 15, so he is useful for entire 90 minutes.

[theboot]

I am finding it virtually impossible to win away from home. Liverpool afew seasons in so I have massively improved the squad. Teamtalks are fine I am having of `green` affects. Bony and Suarez are scoring for fun at home and yet away (using both tactics,combining etc etc ) No luck at all.

EDIT . Going to play with MTM1977`s idea of occasionally `overloading` them.

[MTM1977]

EDIT . Going to play with MTM1977`s idea of occasionally `overloading` them.

Not my idea originally, couple of people already mentioned it earlier on the thread and that's where i got the idea

[GJHowell]

I swear, this game is doing my head in. Scunthorpe were 17th in league 2 when I took over. I got up to 5th, within 2 points of the automatic places - hadn't been overly happy with the performances, but as I said in an earlier post, I was getting the results so couldn't argue too much - it was all going well, my F9 was beginning to hit the net fairly regularly, although I still cannot get any consistent scoring out of whoever I play in the CF position.

I was facing a run of 3 games against teams in and around me, including the top 2 - after thrashing Fleetwood 4-0 in the first, I thought things were beginning to look up. The next two games just summed up what is so bl**dy frustrating about the current ME - so, against 1st and 2nd place, I had the most possession, I had significantly more shots than both teams - I lose 1 game 1-0, I lose the next 2-1 with the last kick of the match. Yet, my strikers were through on goal on numerous occasions, and everytime the keeper saves it - so annoying. Opposition get through the defence once, and they score, that accounted for the 1-0 loss, and one of the goals in the 2-1 defeat, the other came from a corner.

Anyway, next up was 20th place Accrington, at home - they've only won two of their previous twelve games. I have a comfortable 2-0 lead at half-time - normally I would tell them not to get complacent, or I'm not happy, but we're coming off the back of two unlucky results, so I tell them they're doing well, keep it up - you know what's coming next - yep, finished up 2-2. Not only that, but at the post-match team talk, my assistant is advising me that I should tell them what a great result it was given that we were such massive underdogs......He's gone at the end of the season for that one!!

Anyway, I know that's not really relevant to the tactic - I'm struggling with it a bit to be honest, as I say I'm generally getting results, but it's so inconsistent - I cannot get the strikers scoring regularly (F9 has gone off the boil again)and player ratings aren't that great. I've dropped out of the play-off places on the back of the last 3 results - the board are expecting promotion. Still about 14 games to go, but my aim is to try and mount a play-off challenge - I don't fancy my chances of winning promotion though, and need to do some serious work in the summer, if I keep my job.

[drhay53]

Yes, well tested.

The BBM sit too narrow, dont engage the opposing full backs and quite a bit of width is lost from the team. AMC very, very inconsistant.

That's kind of what I figured would happen. I have just been watching the average positions after the game and sometimes the midfield seems way too close together. Sometimes the passing triangles are too small and we lose possession just because everyone is too close together.

[paul7875]

hope you do better than me with liverpool i got sacked in december could not get a result away at all

[Overparduffer]

- The anchorman always seems to get poor ratings for me for some reason? Not sure if this is a match engine thing but I might try experimenting with a few different roles their too and see if I can improve things at all.

I've found the opposite with S&S V2. My anchorman is often my highest ranked player. He frequently wins the ball back and then starts the attack. I'm playing with Wolves and picked up Franco Zuculini on a free. The other guys that always play big are my FBs. Even though they both rate as 2.5 star players, their average game ratings are over 7.5. One is currently 3rd highest in the league. Even my backup FBs who are 2 star players do well.

[mark2513uk]

Mr Rosler, when looking for players to fit the roles, do you look for 15+ in the key attribute for all divisions and just alter the range to look for in the other 3 attribute areas (i.e at least 11,12 or 13 in the prem, whereas possibly 7,8 or 9 for Skrill Prem)

[MTM1977]

Mr Rosler, when looking for players to fit the roles, do you look for 15+ in the key attribute for all divisions and just alter the range to look for in the other 3 attribute areas (i.e at least 11,12 or 13 in the prem, whereas possibly 7,8 or 9 for Skrill Prem)

I am not Mr U Rosler, but i'll reply anyway

Attributes need to be scaled based on league you play. You won't easily find players with 15+ attributes to play in Skrill. And if you do, they are probably too old to be useful for long.

I have tried to find around 10 attributes in Skrill, that kind of players are available and good additions to the team.