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New to FM14, need some help


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Hello everyone! I picked up FM14 a few days ago and have since discovered that the game is brutally difficult. I'm currently playing a save with Liverpool(first season) and whatever I do I can't seem to have any success, soon I've probably tried every combination possible without getting any results.

I have tried to analyze where it goes wrong by even watching long periods on "full match" but I don't really understand it and I can't find any tactical improvements to make. My players just fail at everything while the opposition play like the ai on Legendary on FIFA, i.e. absolutely perfect in every aspect. My players can't score and can't defend at all, they make mistakes constantly.

Away games are most problematic but any game I play against decent opposition I get absolutely demolished whether home or away.

I'm currently trying to play 4-2-3-1 using a high tempo short-passing tactic but I've also tried playing in many other ways without finding much success. Against better opposition I've tried moving the wingers back and dropping the MCs to DMCs but I still get absolutely demolished.

7Ah16xe.png

I've tried reading the stickies and other threads on this forum but still can't manage to create a decent tactic. I'm struggling to even identify where it fails as a lot of it seems like individual mistakes to me.

I'd appreciate all help I could get as I'm currently finding this game very frustrating.

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Watch games in 2D for awhile, pause the game when the AI are in attacking zones. Take note of where they are leaving space. All formations will leave space somewhere, some are very obvious like the flanks are ripe for picking in 3-5-2 because the outside CD has a long way to go to help out the side midfielder and likewise the outside striker can't track fullbacks all the way. In FM terms it might be a good idea to play wider and more direct passing and with a formation that has two wide men (fullback and winger). Overlapping fullbacks work real nice as they are very hard to track from deep when using 352. (This is also true of all formations that use only one wide man be it only fullbacks or only wingers)

In 442's the danger is rarely from the central two, it's from combinations between the (striker and winger) and (winger and fullback). If you use a system with AML/AMR's then your own fullback is going to suffer a great deal against these combinations due to the lack of defensive cover provided by the widemen. 442's tend to play wide so the space is through the middle against that 2 man midfield. Using a 4-1-4-1 with narrow width, you can utilise the extra man in midfield to get in behind their two central players. The flanks are extra protected by the lower sitting widemen in the ML/MR strata rather than the AML/AMR strata. Be careful when going narrow that your central defenders can head a ball as the flanks will be harder to close down. *N.B.* Not all 442's play wide, and you need to watch out for these, the tell tale signs are the width of the opposition across the field, if you see large gaps/spaces between players when the AI has the ball you know the AI is playing wide, it usually is but not restricted to very fast moving of the football as the AI is likely to be playing direct passes (to complement wide play) which comes with higher tempo's.

This is just a taster of what things to look out for, when you start playing this way the game becomes so much more enjoyable, and after some expierence you can nearly predict what the AI is going to do when you go ahead or when they go ahead or how there going to use certain formations and where the space is.

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1. I would remove "higher tempo" and "retain possession". Retain possession reduces passing length (which you are already doing by using a control strategy with shorter passing) and reduces tempo which you then increase again with the higher tempo instruction. Removing both makes your shorter passing bias less extreme.

2. It's maybe a good idea to remove hassle opponents and replace it with "push higher up". This also increases your pressing but does it a little more organized in my experience, hassle opponents can be a little extreme and drag players way out of position. Also realize that playing a high line pressing defensive game is risky. If one player manages to play out from under the pressure and can put in a good pass you are in big trouble. That said when playing with two midfielders in the CM strata you need to do something about the space in front of your defensive line. Playing a high line is a good solution, just a risky one. I would at least also prepare a deep D-line tactic for games where a high line is too risky. Changing strategy to defensive, removing those team instructions and maybe adding the "higher tempo" shout should work.

3. Why not play with a sweeper keeper if you are playing a high line?

4. It might be a good idea to play a two conservative CM's to better cover the space in front of the D-line. You are pressing pretty high up so the opponents box is probably a very cramped area, another player getting in there might not contribute a lot and another holding midfielder could make your defense a lot more solid. In more open games where you need an attacking edge a BBM might be a good option but I doubt that happens often.

5. This is personal preference mostly but I would play Coutinho as AP attack or support. With Suarez and Sturridge getting into the box I would personally not be too worried about scoring goals. If anything just give them space up front and make sure there is enough creativity behind them.

Edit: 6. Giving Suarez the instruction to move into the channels might be a good idea, it can help drag defenders wider to create space in the middle for the inside forwards. And as Jambo mentioned below stretching the defensive line using the thread of an overlapping FB might help as well although it can be a little risky at times. Changing them both to wingbacks or giving one FB an attacking duty could help.

Good luck!

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Thanks for the tips!

Doesn't seem to make much difference for me though. The team continues to play wildly inconsistent, fail to keep possession and fail to create any chances no matter what I do. I even tried to copy some of the tactics from the stickies but I still have quite a lot of trouble. I manage to win a few games but it's all luck, I barely create anything from open play despite having quite good players.

I've tried changing the BBM to a CM(D) as well as giving Johnson Attack duty but I can't see much improvement sadly. It's very frustrating, the tactics barely seem to make any difference at all.

I don't notice any improvement from anything I do and I've tried almost everything. I can't create good chances, can't keep possession and can barely defend. I even got outplayed by stoke, only had 43% possession but managed to win by getting two penalties.

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Thanks for the tips!

Doesn't seem to make much difference for me though. The team continues to play wildly inconsistent, fail to keep possession and fail to create any chances no matter what I do. I even tried to copy some of the tactics from the stickies but I still have quite a lot of trouble. I manage to win a few games but it's all luck, I barely create anything from open play despite having quite good players.

If you tried to copy the tactics from any of the stickies on here then the whole point of those threads must have passed you by. It's not about copying them as that wont work. It's about reading them and understanding how and why they work.

I've tried changing the BBM to a CM(D) as well as giving Johnson Attack duty but I can't see much improvement sadly. It's very frustrating, the tactics barely seem to make any difference at all.

When you changed the BBM to a CM D what was you expecting to see? The same when you gave Johnson an attacking duty? Just exactly what did you think those changes would do to the rest of the shape? This is the important thing here, you need to understand how it all works together.

I don't notice any improvement from anything I do and I've tried almost everything. I can't create good chances, can't keep possession and can barely defend. I even got outplayed by stoke, only had 43% possession but managed to win by getting two penalties.

Why can't you create good chances? if you want to create chances then you need;

  • Someone to finish the chance
  • someone to create the chance
  • someone making/creating/using space
  • someone to be a passing option if no chance is on
  • someone to recycle possession if needs be
  • runners, runners and runners

You need to not only think about the chance as in the grand scheme of things that means little. You need to see the bigger picture and see the whole move, who starts the chance? who creates the space? who provides support? who will be playing the person in so he can actually have a shot? can the player actually do that and so on.

Onto possession, why can't you keep possession? Have you used the analysis tab to see who is giving possession away and why?

Why can't you defend?

I see a lot of 'I can't do this and I can't do that. But you don't explain why these things are happening and only you can provide this kind of information because you are the one who has all the info available to you in your save, we don't and its pointless trying to guess.

Show examples of the issues you see and see if its the same players doing it time and time again.

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If you tried to copy the tactics from any of the stickies on here then the whole point of those threads must have passed you by. It's not about copying them as that wont work. It's about reading them and understanding how and why they work.

I know, just copying the tactics was sort of a try to see them in action for myself and they were made using the same team I'm managing so I thought I could try to adapt them a bit to how I wanted to play seeing as it wasn't really working. Before that I tried to understand how they work but I'm not sure I do that, at least not yet.

When you changed the BBM to a CM D what was you expecting to see? The same when you gave Johnson an attacking duty? Just exactly what did you think those changes would do to the rest of the shape? This is the important thing here, you need to understand how it all works together.

It was an attempt to make the midfield more solid defensively. The BBM rushed forward which meant that he was in a forward position when the opposing team counter-attacked. Because of this my CBs started to close down the player with the ball leaving a huge gap behind them for through balls. It was also an attempt to reduce the number of players in the penalty area. It was pretty crowded which made it very hard to find space. Gave Johnson attack duty to get him forward more and give an option on the flank when the inside forward cuts in and to stretch the defense. I also changed the AML to a winger.

I'm not a tactical genius so this may be all wrong.

My biggest problem seems to in attack. It doesn't quite work that well which results in my players giving the ball away.

Below is an example when playing away vs reading in the second season. In my uneducated opinion Enrique has several options to pass the ball but chooses a short pass to Coutinho which he misses resulting in a counter attack. The team is instructed to play short passes with low tempo and control mentality.

MjF1Ut7.png

I'm not really sure how I should go about creating more space and then actually use it.

My other big problem is my midfield, they seem to be sort of drifting around in nothingness and not contributing much. This is especially true when defending.

In this match I played a DLP(S) and a CM(D).

It shouldn't that easy to reach Graham in the screenshot below but the CBs failed in their marking and Veratti didn't close Akpan down (Do you really have to set this on opposing instructions?).

They managed to clear it after some scrambling in the penalty area but Reading scored on the following corner instead.

AS4YwKd.png

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@rayzorz, if you look at your last screenshot the opposition seem to be playing 4-1DM-2CM-2-1, but look at how narrow the 2 AML/R's are and there formation as a whole. Look at all the space your fullbacks have to attack. The opposition also have no AMC which means your DLP Gerrard "8" has acres of room to play in and loves to play long raking passes out to the widemen. Pjanic (your other playmaker) is marked pretty well and so is Henderson. Sturridge looks isolated. Also, look at the area of the pitch an inside forward on support (Coutinho) likes to play in, it is completed packed with other players i.e. Pjanic and Henderson, effectively turning Coutinho into a support winger on his wrong foot.

To sum up, Gerrard is in space and loves to hit the flanks with his passes and your fullbacks have room to run into. It's a little packed in the AMC zone, Coutinho cannot play his role very well. If you put a little logic together, you can see where you can hurt the AI.

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@rayzorz, if you look at your last screenshot the opposition seem to be playing 4-1DM-2CM-2-1, but look at how narrow the 2 AML/R's are and there formation as a whole. Look at all the space your fullbacks have to attack. The opposition also have no AMC which means your DLP Gerrard "8" has acres of room to play in and loves to play long raking passes out to the widemen. Pjanic (your other playmaker) is marked pretty well and so is Henderson. Sturridge looks isolated. Also, look at the area of the pitch an inside forward on support (Coutinho) likes to play in, it is completed packed with other players i.e. Pjanic and Henderson, effectively turning Coutinho into a support winger on his wrong foot.

To sum up, Gerrard is in space and loves to hit the flanks with his passes and your fullbacks have room to run into. It's a little packed in the AMC zone, Coutinho cannot play his role very well. If you put a little logic together, you can see where you can hurt the AI.

Yes, something like that is what I would have wanted but I don't really know how to instruct them to play like that. I usually play two defensive CMs or DMs of some sort (have been trying different roles etc.) with "more risky passes" and "more direct passes" but they don't spread the ball around as I would like them to. I want them to spread the ball to the flanks but they don't do it to the extent I want. In that screenshot Johnson is a Wingback(A), I'm not sure what else I should do to get him to push forward more.

Edit: Is there any way to view the tactics the ai use? The other top teams always have massive possession and create a lot of chances. Would be interesting to know what roles they use etc.

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Still having large issues getting some consistency in my tactics. The players don't respond as I want them too, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

The most recent example is a match where I was playing Wolves away in the FA Cup.

My tactics I use are as follows although I started the match on 'Control'. I was trying to play a patient possession game but the players rush forward way too much and take too many risks even on balanced.

XEKOcqw.png

An example of my problem is here when we have a throw in in our half but instead of passing it backward to Sakho or play a through ball to Coutinho he decides to play it to Sterling and fails miserably.

sXnVNBF.png

This isn't the only time the players take the wrong option, they often try the impossible ball instead of the slower short passing I want. Do I need to tell all players to play "fewer risky passes" manually for them to not just throw the ball away? Do you have any tips for getting the players to show some more patience and not just rushing straight into the defence? They seem desperate to score constantly and I don't really understand why.

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I think there a few things you should think about.

1) passing options - Why are your players sometimes short of them? I would consider 2 things (I have given this same advice to someone else playing as Liverpool, based on my own experience of playing with them)

a) Consider moving one of your wide men back to the MC strata. This makes them far more of an outlet for your defenders, and also makes them an easy pass for your CM. A true winger, especially a pacy one, is going to be more effective coming from deeper anyway. In your most recent screenshot, you have Sterling as a winger on the left, which might be tricky as he is mainly right footed. So whilst he might work as an IF type on that side, making him play like a winger will probably lead to a lot of cutting back on to his favoured foot.

b) Think about moving someone into the DM strata. If you dragged Gerrard back one in that formation, it gives more vertical passing options to players.

2) Width

So besides the issue of Sterling, Werner is also on his "opposite" side. You have Peruzzi on WB(a) which is good, and its a good role, but its half hearted. If he is going to be one of your main suppliers of width, why not go CWB and let him really get up the pitch. This will stretch the opppostion across the pitch, which in turn should give your central players more space to work in.

Tied to this is the point of 2 wide players on wrong feet. Watch and see if it brings them both infield. If so, you also have an F9 dropping into the same space. A few ways to resolve that perhaps?

3)Penetration

Where is it coming from? Suarez is F9 so always going to drop off. Coutinho is a pure number 10 in my view. he is all about technical ability and passing and vision. He isnt going to thrust beyond a back four. An IF(A) might, but Werner, assuming this is still season 1, is very raw and although a super prospect, probably not quite good enough to do that regularly for you. Even if he did, he will be the only one?

Think carefully about your striker role. F9 sole striker was all the rage because of Spain and Barca. There is a reason it hasnt been succesfully used in the EPL (Mourinho tried it the odd game i think, and it didnt work). The pace of the game is different. You need someone up there occupying defenders. Try Suarez on an attack role. For me he is the perfect CF(a).

4) Gelling

Not clear from the screenies, but there seem to be quite a large number of new names on those teamsheets. Are you still in season 1?If so, having so many new players WILL have an impact. Dont under estimate that.

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I think there a few things you should think about.

1) passing options - Why are your players sometimes short of them? I would consider 2 things (I have given this same advice to someone else playing as Liverpool, based on my own experience of playing with them)

a) Consider moving one of your wide men back to the MC strata. This makes them far more of an outlet for your defenders, and also makes them an easy pass for your CM. A true winger, especially a pacy one, is going to be more effective coming from deeper anyway. In your most recent screenshot, you have Sterling as a winger on the left, which might be tricky as he is mainly right footed. So whilst he might work as an IF type on that side, making him play like a winger will probably lead to a lot of cutting back on to his favoured foot.

b) Think about moving someone into the DM strata. If you dragged Gerrard back one in that formation, it gives more vertical passing options to players.

Sterling plays on the wrong side because I made a mess of the transfer window. I'm in the second season currently, before the season I made quite a few transfers and like Spurs a season ago I bought a lot of good players with huge potential but not with much planning thus I lack a good left footed winger. I also lack a good attacking left fullback which makes it hard to properly balance the team.

2) Width

So besides the issue of Sterling, Werner is also on his "opposite" side. You have Peruzzi on WB(a) which is good, and its a good role, but its half hearted. If he is going to be one of your main suppliers of width, why not go CWB and let him really get up the pitch. This will stretch the opppostion across the pitch, which in turn should give your central players more space to work in.

Tied to this is the point of 2 wide players on wrong feet. Watch and see if it brings them both infield. If so, you also have an F9 dropping into the same space. A few ways to resolve that perhaps?

It was sort of the point to bring a lot of players infield and then have the fullbacks provide width. I wanted the striker to drop down with Werner (normally Sturridge but he is injured) and Coutinho moving into the penalty area.

The reason I wanted them close to each other was to provide passing options for combinations etc.

3)Penetration

Where is it coming from? Suarez is F9 so always going to drop off. Coutinho is a pure number 10 in my view. he is all about technical ability and passing and vision. He isnt going to thrust beyond a back four. An IF(A) might, but Werner, assuming this is still season 1, is very raw and although a super prospect, probably not quite good enough to do that regularly for you. Even if he did, he will be the only one?

Think carefully about your striker role. F9 sole striker was all the rage because of Spain and Barca. There is a reason it hasnt been succesfully used in the EPL (Mourinho tried it the odd game i think, and it didnt work). The pace of the game is different. You need someone up there occupying defenders. Try Suarez on an attack role. For me he is the perfect CF(a).

I have tried playing with a striker with attack duty but I thought they were playing too direct. The striker tried running with the ball against 4-5 players which usually ends up with him loosing the ball. Similarly, the rest of the team also played very direct and constantly tried to reach the striker eventhough the space was very limited.

4) Gelling

Not clear from the screenies, but there seem to be quite a large number of new names on those teamsheets. Are you still in season 1?If so, having so many new players WILL have an impact. Dont under estimate that.

I'm currently halfway through season 2. According to my assistant manager the players have "developed a strong understanding". I did make a lot of changes after season 1 though.

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Ok, on the squad front, you have Timo Werner. Now I dont know how he has developed for you, but:

1) He is "either" footed on my save

2) He is "accomplished" at AML

3) he has PPM "moves into channels"

Now, assuming those are the same in yours (appreciate, could be a different update), i am looking and wondering why you wouldnt play him as an IF on the left, and Sterling as winger on the right?

In terms of a striker always running at 4 men, that probably tells you that the rest of the set up is not right, more than it tells you that his role isnt right. he is likely running because he has no other options - Lack of supporing players, slow tempo, lack of width all could contribute.

Here is a link to the post where i explained how i set up Liverpool in season 1 - it is by no means perfect, and it didnt win me the league (lost it by a point) but it did win me the CL in season one. I wouldnt suggest copying it, and lots about my tactic is open to challenge, but have a look at the combination of roles and duties and how players are designed to work together. How there are designed to be 2/3 main goal threats and 2/3 suppliers.

Sorry if thats of no interest/use, but i know i struggled for the last 6 months to get anywhere with Liverpool, until (following lots of advice on here), i took the time to really think that tactic through and set it up.

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Ok, on the squad front, you have Timo Werner. Now I dont know how he has developed for you, but:

1) He is "either" footed on my save

2) He is "accomplished" at AML

3) he has PPM "moves into channels"

Now, assuming those are the same in yours (appreciate, could be a different update), i am looking and wondering why you wouldnt play him as an IF on the left, and Sterling as winger on the right?

In terms of a striker always running at 4 men, that probably tells you that the rest of the set up is not right, more than it tells you that his role isnt right. he is likely running because he has no other options - Lack of supporing players, slow tempo, lack of width all could contribute.

Here is a link to the post where i explained how i set up Liverpool in season 1 - it is by no means perfect, and it didnt win me the league (lost it by a point) but it did win me the CL in season one. I wouldnt suggest copying it, and lots about my tactic is open to challenge, but have a look at the combination of roles and duties and how players are designed to work together. How there are designed to be 2/3 main goal threats and 2/3 suppliers.

Sorry if thats of no interest/use, but i know i struggled for the last 6 months to get anywhere with Liverpool, until (following lots of advice on here), i took the time to really think that tactic through and set it up.

The reason I'm not playing Werner on the left is Enrique. I wasn't sure he was good enough in attack for an attacking role down the left flank to provide width.

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The reason I'm not playing Werner on the left is Enrique. I wasn't sure he was good enough in attack for an attacking role down the left flank to provide width.

I think you are falling into a trap there. You dont always have to mix your fullback and wide players duty (appreciate i did in my link). You can quite easily have 2 attacking down one flank and 2 supporting down the other. Mix and match, consider what gives your team the right balance, paying some credence to your players suitablity (eg if you really dont think Enrique can go forward, then dont ask him to).

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  • 4 weeks later...

Really wish I could get my money back for this game. It's just too hard for me. I restarted my save have managed to be reasonably successful when playing at home but matches against big teams and away matches are still way too tough.

I think the biggest problem is my inability to know what's not working and come up with a working solution for it. I usually watch the matches on "Comprehensive" but I just don't know what too look for and what to do to improve the way my team is playing. Any tips for getting better at this?

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Just practicing helps you get used to looking out for things. I would say things like watching if there are attacks which repeatedly come down 1 side is a notable thing, which players are involed a lot is another simple thing to notice and go from there. With your team, look for basic things like each player having at least 2 realistic passing options at any time, and making sure a player is not isolated.

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It might not just be the tactic, it might be man management. If one player isn't performing, but the ball goes through them a lot it can affect your whole team.

5 quick tips:

1. Start inform players even if you have better players than them. Ie. Wilshere had 5 game average of 6.6, 0 assist, few key passes and no goals, I gave Ox a game in place of Wilshere (no tactic changes) and ended up with 5 game average 7.6, with assists and goals, so Wilshere had to wait for his chance.

2. Rest players from training (right click on squad view) so that you can keep in form players playing when you have short gaps between games (if 3 days till next game rest for 2).

3. Speak privately to players to raise there moral and confidence, striker/midfielder not performing? tell them you have faith in them to start banging them in.

4. Try to learn team talks (use overall then specific then positional) to try and get all players green. You want to balance moral and confidence, so the players have belief but not over confidence.

5. Watching the game you should see if players aren't putting effort in or if they are lacking belief and just putting there foot through it (clearing/shooting etc). If they keep mis-controlling but have good first touch its probably a form issue.

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It might not just be the tactic, it might be man management. If one player isn't performing, but the ball goes through them a lot it can affect your whole team.

5 quick tips:

1. Start inform players even if you have better players than them. Ie. Wilshere had 5 game average of 6.6, 0 assist, few key passes and no goals, I gave Ox a game in place of Wilshere (no tactic changes) and ended up with 5 game average 7.6, with assists and goals, so Wilshere had to wait for his chance.

2. Rest players from training (right click on squad view) so that you can keep in form players playing when you have short gaps between games (if 3 days till next game rest for 2).

3. Speak privately to players to raise there moral and confidence, striker/midfielder not performing? tell them you have faith in them to start banging them in.

4. Try to learn team talks (use overall then specific then positional) to try and get all players green. You want to balance moral and confidence, so the players have belief but not over confidence.

5. Watching the game you should see if players aren't putting effort in or if they are lacking belief and just putting there foot through it (clearing/shooting etc). If they keep mis-controlling but have good first touch its probably a form issue.

That's most likely a part of the issue but its probably tactical as well. I just dont know enough of the game and of tactics irl to be successful at this game. I dont want the game to be too easy, that would be boring but I just cant figure out how to play to win, especially away. If I lose I want to know why so I can improve that to next time, but everything seem so random to me with no clear connection to my actions.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's insane how difficult this game is. I even started playing Classic mode to eliminate some of the variables but it didn't help at all. I'm not even trying to win anymore, just trying to control the possession but even that seems impossible.

I'm currently playing as Real Madrid and I can't even control the game against the crappy teams in the friendlies. It's like the instructions and the way the team plays are completely disconnected. I have even tried playing with defensive mentality (with play out of defense TI) to have the team play more cautiously but they still just rush forward into a wall of defenders every time they win the ball.

I'm still at square one after having the game for two months and after having spent insane numbers of hours on it.

Even more annoying that people I've watched playing the game on youtube seem to dominate with extremely unbalanced tactics.

Are there any known exploits I could use to my advantage? I really want to enjoy this game as I've wasted a lot of money on it but it's just impossible unless I reload constantly, which isn't really fun. And even then I don't play the way I want.

The latest tactics are as follows:

CF(s)

W(s) CM(A) DLP(s) WM(A)

HB(D)

WB(A) CD(D) CD(D) WM(S)

GK

Fluidity: Fluid

Mentality: Defensive

TIs: Play out of defense, pass shorter

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The latest tactics are as follows:

CF(s)

W(s) CM(A) DLP(s) WM(A)

HB(D)

WB(A) CD(D) CD(D) WM(S)

GK

Fluidity: Fluid

Mentality: Defensive

TIs: Play out of defense, pass shorter

The shape is too defensive for a team like RM if you ask me. Teams will park the bus against RM and you need to have attacking mentalies on your players.

You are playing a Fluid tactic which gives your players Creative Freedom they will do things on their own.

It seems you want a Rigid fluidity to give less Creative Freedom.

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