The Transition

[Rashidi]

*copied and pasted from my blog and it probably looks bad*

TRANSITIONS IN FOOTBALL

Football games are all about managing space and what you do with the ball. Too often people get fixated by the players and why they underperform, citing either poor tactics or dodgy refereeing. When you set up any kind of system you want to picture what your side looks like with and without the ball. The reason why I play the game so easily, is because in my head, I am always thinking about movement. If you can start doing the same thing then I guarantee you that this game will get a lot easier. To get really good at the game you need to be able to spot these transitions. Perhaps I am used to playing this game on comprehensive or even full for years. In fact when I was match engine testing I would always play the game on comprehensive at least. If I was looking for bugs it would be on full. I am not suggesting that you do the same, but before anyone goes on to say they don’t see transitions, I want you to consider whether you’ve seen enough of the highlights to come to that conclusion. In football a transition is a sequence of events that occurs when a team moves between phases of play. There are many types of transitions in the game, and SI have not identified all of them in the in-game guides, and I doubt they ever will. I do think that we need to establish the common ones to look out for.

Transitions from set pieces

These are the easiest to spot and the easiest to come to grips with. When setting up any set piece you want to create the opportunity for you to transition quickly. It’s not always easy getting it done perfectly well, in fact it all depends on where the second ball lands. You can to some extent influence whether you win the second ball or not and whether it moves out fast.

Phase: Attacking Corner

Football Manager 2016 Setup for corner transitions

There are 2 kinds of corner transitions for example. You could be attacking a corner, and setting yourself up to control possession, in case you don’t score. I call this the “Insurance Corner”. In case we fail to score the players are all positioned in places to get the ball back. If they manage to hoof the ball out then the two fullbacks won’t have to wait long for support. It’s fairly easy and straightforward to set this up. Just pick the right players with concentration, anticipation to the edge of the box.

Phase: Defending Corners

Setting up for the quick counter In this transition you want the ball to move quickly from defense to attack. The transition depends on getting pacey players with good first touch to be the ones staying forward. You also want your best passes/shooters to be at the edge of the area or attacking the box from deep. By setting them up there, you will ensure if the ball lands at their feet, they can quickly move the ball out to the forwards. I almost always have two forwards or a forward and a pacey winger in an ideal setup. Somehow or another I never have time to set it up. The same applies to free kicks. These are all transitions we can plan for. And these are the easiest to set up.

Setting up free-flow transitions in the game is a different proposition altogether.

There are so many things to consider:

• The formation you are using. Is it top heavy or bottom?
  
• The mentality you are using. Is it defensive or attacking?
  
• The roles you have chosen for your system. Do you have the right attack players in the right spots?
  
• Attributes of the players. Are they the quick transition type?
  

Now some people have suggested to me that speed of transitions is an important facet. I disagree. You can’t change speed, you can only influence it. You do this via mentality, roles and attributes. When I play Attacking mentality, my transitions are often quick for one system and almost non existent for others. Speed of transitions is a result, its not something you can plan for, its something you influence via your tactical system, roles and player instructions. In real life, you frequently see some teams being slow off the break, and others seem to be set up exclusively to play off quick transitions. These are all a result of the players they have and the kind of system they use. FM16 is no different. When I look at transitions, it isn’t just to see how nice we look. I want to see if enough players go up in support or enough players go down to defend, What I am looking for is control of space. Regardless of whether you are using an attacking mentality or a defensive mentality, the positions your players take up during transitions indicates how well your system is set up. Each attacking system plays different. All of them have one thing in common, I call them transition pivots. These are the players who anchor your team and recycle play. They can be Deep Lying Playmakers or simple Midfielders on Support. Every system will have them, and its important to have enough players in support and not too far away from them to be effective. When we look at transitions in open play, there are basically 3 tactical systems we need to identify. Top Heavy, Neutral and Bottom Heavy.

The 4231 is a top heavy system, where you already have players in advance positions. During a turnover transition from midfield, the side can easily hit early crosses to take advantage of a retreating opponent who has not yet regained his shape. So depending on how I set up my 4231, my biggest clue is how early my AML/AMR are getting set to move, and looking to see if my 2 MCs can provide an effective pivot in case we need to recycle possession. Transitions in a 4231 can be all about speed. Roles are important in this system because you want adequate support to arrive to support the front group. Since there are already attacking players, this system affords managers different kinds of options for transitions, and these are influenced by which players in the attacking group are assigned attacking roles and which in defense are set up in attack too. Shape too plays an important role. Finally their physical ability to play off the break needs to be considered along with their match fitness and conditioning.

For a neutral system like a 442, it depends entirely on your roles. These set up the flavour of your system. A 442 can play like a 4312, 433, or a 424 And this is done entirely from role selection. This then affects your transitions. If I were to use a basic 442, which has the typical winger combination in a “flip-flop” I am expecting us not to be able to do quick turnover transitions. There is a likelihood my players aren’t in those attacking positions to hit early crosses. In neutral systems that are not top heavy, you need to consider your roles carefully. Shouts can play a part too, the work ball into box is a good shout for a neutral position if you elect to play narrow. This allows you to move the ball around looking to carve out an opening from a midfield transition.

When playing this system the transition between defense and midfield is often slow. Sometimes, I tend to give my playmakers Player Instructions to encourage them to go direct. For this to work however I need to make sure the wingers and at least one striker is on an attack role with forward runs, and has the off the ball attributes necessary for it to pull off.

An example of a bottom heavy system would be the iconic 532. Its a notoriously defensive system, with a deceptive counter. To set this up right, attributes take centerstage. Having the right players making those early forward runs is vital for the 532 to prevent being overrun defensively. A 532 can also be attacking and play like a 343, in both systems the transition pivots are vital. One needs to be able to see these support players come up and support the transition pivots and you need to see your wingbacks preparing to make those runs down the flanks. If you don’t spot any positive movement near the halfway line when in possession of the ball, then something is not right with your role and duty selection.

Factors that affect transition speeds

Transitions take many forms, you could have slow ones that are common in neutral systems or you could have fast ones in bottom/top heavy systems. If you are using a bottom heavy system like a 532 then you need to consider the roles of some players very carefully. Since there are so few in attack, you need to make sure you have solid wingbacks to carry the ball and a combination up front that can hold up and carve up chances.

The roles you choose affect your transitions. An attack duty for example tells a player to move forward and make an early run without the ball. In some roles they may go wide, or cut inside. Its important to know what kind of movement that role offers you. Never forget their closing down settings. The reason why BBM and BWM are problematic in some systems are their closing down instructions. The BWM’s area o influence is so large that when he does drop deep to defend, he isn’t in a good position as a transition pivot. Certain roles in the game lend naturally to being transition pivots, these are typically the players who have been given “hold up ball”. Transition pivots need to have very good first touch, composure, passing, positioning acceleration, stamina.

Transitions can’t be pigeon-holed into a one size fits all solution. Every system can produce unique requirements, furthermore the type of players you have determine the kind of transitions that may work for you. If your players have poor composure then, the 4141, work ball into box, high tempo kind of game may sometimes produce turnovers in dangerous areas of the pitch. You could be in big trouble f you are camping in the opponents half and your central playmaker makes a bad pass to the flanks that gets cut off.

The first thing you need to do is identify your system. Lets use a few examples. This is a 4141 system. Making this into a quick transition system, takes a fair bit of work. If you are playing against a defensive side, chances are theywill camp in their half. And even though you may be able to win the ball, getting it forward to creative players is the big challenge for attacking sides. There are really only two players who can transition the ball effectively, the winger on the right and the MC(A) in the middle. However for these kind of neutral systems to have great transitions, players need to be physically good, your ball passes in midfield have to be super good. Since Torino aren’t a top quality side, I tend to go narrow. This ensures that when I get the quick transition, the distances the ball has to travel aren’t that far.

4141 DEFENSE TO MIDFIELD TRANSITION

Football Manager 2016 Defensive Transition

Marlon Clears the Ball and Belloti moves inBelotti is challenging for the ball and the players are moving in to support for a counter

In these screenshots Marlon clears the danger, the ball flight indicates that the ball is heading into a zone where there is no player, but I am looking for players to get on the end of that so that we can hold possession and begin our transition to attack. Belotti our forward is making a move to support Marlon.

In the second screenshot you can see that Belotti has dropped back to challenge and two others are moving into to support to provide a chance for us to do a midfield transition.

Once he controls the ball and starts moving I look for support and attacking elements which indicate we have moved into the midfield transition phase. Whether we are able to go into attack depends on how well we handle this phase. Whether enough players get up to support the lone strikers. For me, when I see this I know this phase of play is bad, because Belotti isn’t the best hold up man. My 4141 isn’t transitioning well against a defensive team.

When playing Fluid shapes the biggest concern we have about transitions is coherence. If our team loses it formation shape, we leave ourselves open. When we lose the ball, I am looking only at one thing - the DEFENSIVE TRANSITION - Here you want to see if your players move quickly towards their defensive positions. In order for you to have a high transition from attack to defense you need to make sure:

• Reasonable teamwork - Around 12-14 usually sees them do this
  
• Reasonable workrate Around 12 14
  

This is the screenshot of our DNA thats off the team from this sequence of play . Whenever you go from defensive to attack, how well or quickly you transition depends firstly on roles. Do you have enough attacking roles making the putsch. In this one we really only have the right winger moving up and the other striker is also moving to support. In terms of attackingtransitions, the 4141, isn’t doing that well against a defensive team. Each time we break it takes too long for players to move into attacking shapes. By the time we get to the midfield - attack transition, our 4141 allows the opposition to get back into shape to defend We can either drop to a lower mentality setting and draw them out or I can change systems. We change to a 4231 because it will allow us to have quicker transitions while the opposing team is rushing back, like here There are three kinds of transitions when you have the ball. Defense to Midfield transition, Midfield to attack or defense to attack .

I don't know if I have time to do another detailed post on the rest of the aspects of transitions. Most likely I will cover these on my youtube videos. Its a fair bit of work to do both.

if you need more information. The next few episodes will feature us using attacking systems like the 4231.

[themadsheep2001]

Love this. Transitions are both among the most important and most poorly dealt with parts of the game

[noikeee]

Love this. Transitions are both among the most important and most poorly dealt with parts of the game

I think they're often overlooked because we don't have instructions about them... it's all about what happens with the ball and what happens without it; and we can't give any specific instructions as to what players should immediately do when they win the ball or lose it.

You could have the option to set different tempos between the attacking transition, and organized attacks, for example (enabling us to sort our own counter-attacking style, instead of being overriden by an automatic "counter" instruction). Or different pressing settings for when we lose the ball, and when our defense is organized (allowing us to set-up something more similar to gegenpressing). It would also be great to, for example, tell a player whether you want them to "get further forward" as soon as you gain the ball, or make late runs into the box.

But I understand SI are reluctant to add further tactical options when it's already a very daunting user interface for the newbie player.

[mc40]

Interesting topic and like your video style. I have been holding off on a new save as I got frustrated with FM16 but even though I only superficially understand what you wrote I think this the very area I will need address if I am able to crack the current M.E. and get a tactic to work.

I have been trying to play a 4-3-1-2 narrow formation so I guess

Top/Bottom/Normal ---> Normal => I need to focus on roles during transition

Attributes (Work Rate + TW + Vision etc) ---> mixed/poorish for league => Flexible/structured shape

Does that sound like the thought process you are advocating?

[Rashidi]

Interesting topic and like your video style. I have been holding off on a new save as I got frustrated with FM16 but even though I only superficially understand what you wrote I think this the very area I will need address if I am able to crack the current M.E. and get a tactic to work.

I have been trying to play a 4-3-1-2 narrow formation so I guess

Top/Bottom/Normal ---> Normal => I need to focus on roles during transition

Attributes (Work Rate + TW + Vision etc) ---> mixed/poorish for league => Flexible/structured shape

Does that sound like the thought process you are advocating?

Glad you liked the video.

The game has enough for us to decide who will go further forward, forward, Support, hold and always stay back. Look at roles and identify who does these runs first. That will influence movement. What I am advocating isn't the creation of a benchmark or rule of thumb. What I am suggesting is that people understand the influence of shape on their systems. How shape, mentality, duties and roles affect transition is my only goal. Its basically knowing its influence, then looking at your team, seeing whats available, how they can play and then using the right kind of shape.

What I like about this is its real life applications. If you look at Leicester would you call it fluid, structured or flexible? When you see how they play they are very disciplined in defensive transitions.

I don't recommend setting rules to shapes. I just need people to think about transitions whenever they think of a tactic. You can do it several ways. Knowing that a structured shape requires you to have players skilful enough to go 1 on 1, or strong enough to hold the ball up gives you an idea already what you need for your team. If I play fluid I know the creative freedom feature influences the potential of the system.

If I wanted to play compact, organised and hard to break down, I can do it structured or fluid. The danger of fluid is when in attack if you lose on the transition, your team is going to be out of shape. Do you have the players who can organise themselves quickly?

Whenever you decide on shape, think of roles duty and mentality. The one thing that SI got right this year is make Shape an influencing feature to tactical design and not be the pivotal feature that determines success. That comes from getting the mix right from the players at your disposal.

[fman1]

Had to post to say watched and really enjoyed your video. Thought I would listen for 2 minutes then get bored, but 20 minutes flew past and I have scribbled down a few ideas I want to try, so it would be rude not to say thanks for helping.

[Rashidi]

Had to post to say watched and really enjoyed your video. Thought I would listen for 2 minutes then get bored, but 20 minutes flew past and I have scribbled down a few ideas I want to try, so it would be rude not to say thanks for helping.

Thank you very much, its most greatly appreciated

[themadsheep2001]

I think they're often overlooked because we don't have instructions about them... it's all about what happens with the ball and what happens without it; and we can't give any specific instructions as to what players should immediately do when they win the ball or lose it.

You could have the option to set different tempos between the attacking transition, and organized attacks, for example (enabling us to sort our own counter-attacking style, instead of being overriden by an automatic "counter" instruction). Or different pressing settings for when we lose the ball, and when our defense is organized (allowing us to set-up something more similar to gegenpressing). It would also be great to, for example, tell a player whether you want them to "get further forward" as soon as you gain the ball, or make late runs into the box.

But I understand SI are reluctant to add further tactical options when it's already a very daunting user interface for the newbie player.

It's an area that needs development, but it's something a few of us have raised and offered our own ideas on it.

The thing is, adding it would actually simplify the game in many ways because it would remove the disconnect between attack and defence, or at the very least make it less "hidden"

[mc40]

Glad you liked the video.

The game has enough for us to decide who will go further forward, forward, Support, hold and always stay back. Look at roles and identify who does these runs first. That will influence movement. What I am advocating isn't the creation of a benchmark or rule of thumb. What I am suggesting is that people understand the influence of shape on their systems. How shape, mentality, duties and roles affect transition is my only goal. Its basically knowing its influence, then looking at your team, seeing whats available, how they can play and then using the right kind of shape.

What I like about this is its real life applications. If you look at Leicester would you call it fluid, structured or flexible? When you see how they play they are very disciplined in defensive transitions.

I don't recommend setting rules to shapes. I just need people to think about transitions whenever they think of a tactic. You can do it several ways. Knowing that a structured shape requires you to have players skilful enough to go 1 on 1, or strong enough to hold the ball up gives you an idea already what you need for your team. If I play fluid I know the creative freedom feature influences the potential of the system.

If I wanted to play compact, organised and hard to break down, I can do it structured or fluid. The danger of fluid is when in attack if you lose on the transition, your team is going to be out of shape. Do you have the players who can organise themselves quickly?

Whenever you decide on shape, think of roles duty and mentality. The one thing that SI got right this year is make Shape an influencing feature to tactical design and not be the pivotal feature that determines success. That comes from getting the mix right from the players at your disposal.

Thanks for clarification though it will take time to sink in I do get what you are saying. I will pay a lot more attention to the positioning and movement of my players immediately following a transition and see if I can influence that behaviour with the tools provided.

[axehan1]

Glad you liked the video.

The game has enough for us to decide who will go further forward, forward, Support, hold and always stay back. Look at roles and identify who does these runs first. That will influence movement. What I am advocating isn't the creation of a benchmark or rule of thumb. What I am suggesting is that people understand the influence of shape on their systems. How shape, mentality, duties and roles affect transition is my only goal. Its basically knowing its influence, then looking at your team, seeing whats available, how they can play and then using the right kind of shape.

What I like about this is its real life applications. If you look at Leicester would you call it fluid, structured or flexible? When you see how they play they are very disciplined in defensive transitions.

I don't recommend setting rules to shapes. I just need people to think about transitions whenever they think of a tactic. You can do it several ways. Knowing that a structured shape requires you to have players skilful enough to go 1 on 1, or strong enough to hold the ball up gives you an idea already what you need for your team. If I play fluid I know the creative freedom feature influences the potential of the system.

If I wanted to play compact, organised and hard to break down, I can do it structured or fluid. The danger of fluid is when in attack if you lose on the transition, your team is going to be out of shape. Do you have the players who can organise themselves quickly?

Whenever you decide on shape, think of roles duty and mentality. The one thing that SI got right this year is make Shape an influencing feature to tactical design and not be the pivotal feature that determines success. That comes from getting the mix right from the players at your disposal.

Stupid question but what attributes are needed for those players who can "organise themselves quickly".

[RTHerringbone]

I'm a fan of managing the play after an initial attacking corner is repelled. It's almost a neutral phase with how I set up as I don't commit any defenders forward to ensure I have the right formational shape to minimise any defensive organisation required. It also means that if I win the second ball, it is likely to be at the feet of a technically competent outfield player, rather than a lumbering centre back.

In general, if you set up attacking set pieces and even throws like this, you can completely control the amount of defensive reorganisation you need.

[sweep17]

Thanks for putting this together its a great post. Its got me thinking about this part if the game...

If I'm correct a top heavy shape like 4231 will result in transitions higher up the pitch where as in a 532 the transitions will likely be deeper. Does this mean that the transition pivots in a 532 would need to be higher the pitch to start with so for instance a Treq in the attacking strata? And vice versa for a 4231 were the pivot would be in CM/DM strata?

[Dr. Hook]

Stupid question but what attributes are needed for those players who can "organise themselves quickly".

For me it is players who have pace/acceleration, positioning, decisions, and a decent work rate. Rashidi may have his own ideas, but you need players that understand where to be quickly, be able to get there, and actually hustle to do it.

[Rashidi]

I'm a fan of managing the play after an initial attacking corner is repelled. It's almost a neutral phase with how I set up as I don't commit any defenders forward to ensure I have the right formational shape to minimise any defensive organisation required. It also means that if I win the second ball, it is likely to be at the feet of a technically competent outfield player, rather than a lumbering centre back.

In general, if you set up attacking set pieces and even throws like this, you can completely control the amount of defensive reorganisation you need.

I totally agree, these setpieces can be the difference when trying to take 3 points from teams much better than you.

Thanks for putting this together its a great post. Its got me thinking about this part if the game...

If I'm correct a top heavy shape like 4231 will result in transitions higher up the pitch where as in a 532 the transitions will likely be deeper. Does this mean that the transition pivots in a 532 would need to be higher the pitch to start with so for instance a Treq in the attacking strata? And vice versa for a 4231 were the pivot would be in CM/DM strata?

My transition pivots are the 2 MCs in the 4231, both are vital to my system. In a 532, they would most likely be the 2 outside MCs in the 3 man midfield. That though is based on my style of play, and it could be different for others if they are trying to achieve a unique style of play.

For me it is players who have pace/acceleration, positioning, decisions, and a decent work rate. Rashidi may have his own ideas, but you need players that understand where to be quickly, be able to get there, and actually hustle to do it.

I would default to those, but I would also add teamwork. Its the attribute that says " I am willing to stop thinking of myself and think of the team first" attribute. Teamwork, Workrate and Determination are my prime attributes. Determination is important for sides when they go a goal down or 2. The rest quoted by RT are also in my list.

[DJ Sir Matthew]

When you set up any kind of system you want to picture what your side looks like with and without the ball.

Isn't that the most important transition? To find out where your players are when you lose the ball (defense play) or when you win the ball (offense play)?

[Rashidi]

Isn't that the most important transition? To find out where your players are when you lose the ball (defense play) or when you win the ball (offense play)?

Its the point where they lose the ball or gain the ball that you want to be looking at. There are a lot of important transitions in the game. There is the normal in possession transition where you have the ball, work the ball from defense, then the ball moves to midfield and transitions into a series of attacking movements. At some point when the ball moves from defense to midfield there is a zone where your support players start moving into attack positions. That is the transition I am looking at. That is the "in possession attacking transition". You also have the lose possession phase as well.

If one can learn to spot how their team shape affects these transitions, it will go a long way in deciding:

a. Whether you need a change in duty.

b. A small shout change like defensive line

c. A more significant change like shape

d. A change in mentality

e. Or a complete change in tactics

There have been matches where I use the same system, and all I do is change to a structured shape > because I have gone down early to a man and gone a goal down. In one game I lost a 2-1 lead, changed my shape and mentality and came back to win 4-2. In my Torino videos I do a lot of these in the Dark Arts video as well as other changes in other matches.

There is even one match in the champions league where i change systems midway because my transitions are too poor.

[James9]

Its the point where they lose the ball or gain the ball that you want to be looking at. There are a lot of important transitions in the game. There is the normal in possession transition where you have the ball, work the ball from defense, then the ball moves to midfield and transitions into a series of attacking movements. At some point when the ball moves from defense to midfield there is a zone where your support players start moving into attack positions. That is the transition I am looking at. That is the "in possession attacking transition". You also have the lose possession phase as well.

If one can learn to spot how their team shape affects these transitions, it will go a long way in deciding:

a. Whether you need a change in duty.

b. A small shout change like defensive line

c. A more significant change like shape

d. A change in mentality

e. Or a complete change in tactics

There have been matches where I use the same system, and all I do is change to a structured shape > because I have gone down early to a man and gone a goal down. In one game I lost a 2-1 lead, changed my shape and mentality and came back to win 4-2. In my Torino videos I do a lot of these in the Dark Arts video as well as other changes in other matches.

There is even one match in the champions league where i change systems midway because my transitions are too poor.

Rashidi I have been following your Torino diaries series on You Tube. I must saybit is a very good series. I just have a question as to why you use a Central Midfielder Support in your Attacking 4231 set up. From what I read when playing a top heavy system and had players high up the pitch so having the two CM holding is ideal. From what I can remember the CM Support is not a natural holding player. Do you use any PI to get him to hold position and form a screen with your DLP Defend.

[Rashidi]

Rashidi I have been following your Torino diaries series on You Tube. I must saybit is a very good series. I just have a question as to why you use a Central Midfielder Support in your Attacking 4231 set up. From what I read when playing a top heavy system and had players high up the pitch so having the two CM holding is ideal. From what I can remember the CM Support is not a natural holding player. Do you use any PI to get him to hold position and form a screen with your DLP Defend.

Granted its a big risk, I have found that in quite a few games, the 2 man partnership struggles against some other teams. He does hold position very well with the other MC and between the two of them they play as excellent pivots. Against most sides I am fine but against champion's league quality opponents I've had to ditch the 4231

[James9]

Granted its a big risk, I have found that in quite a few games, the 2 man partnership struggles against some other teams. He does hold position very well with the other MC and between the two of them they play as excellent pivots. Against most sides I am fine but against champion's league quality opponents I've had to ditch the 4231

Thanks for the reply. I see that you use 4411 against Barcelona and other strong opponents is this your go to formation when up against the champion league quality opponents. I did not see you use much of the 4-1-4-1 set up.

[Rashidi]

Thanks for the reply. I see that you use 4411 against Barcelona and other strong opponents is this your go to formation when up against the champion league quality opponents. I did not see you use much of the 4-1-4-1 set up.

Yeah my two man midfield isn't nearly as good against champions league opponents, so I differ to a 4411 or a 4141/ prefer the 4411 as it has more attacking options, the 4141, is really set up to deny space, tire them out before i release my bench