Do red cards make a difference?

[Lillywhite Dean]

I've played a few games where the opposition has been reduced to 10 men. This would normally give me hope of a win but in each of those games, I lost and lost in a manner that suggested having an extra man bared little to no difference on how the game played out.

I struggle to tinker with my tactics that would see me take advantage of having an extra man i.e. stretching the play to create gaps. I guess this is down to the games limitations on the depth of tactics on offer.

How does everyone else take advantage of red card situations?

[SephDarkheart]

how is your team set up? i play a short passing based game with a mid that has high creativity as the playmaker and more often then not i punish 10 man teams

[veerus]

I've had plenty of games where a red card didn't seem to give much of an advantage to either side and the game flow felt largely unchanged. It feels weird but SI could cite plenty of real life examples where a red card didn't have an impact on the outcome (last week's Man United v Bournemouth being the most recent example that springs to mind). 

Other than that, I do what makes sense. If I'm up a man, I tweak to attack more. If I'm down a man, I'll take out an attacker to plug the gap (unless the attacker went off then no change)

[Marc Vaughan]

The biggest problem playing against sides with 10 men is that they tend to hunker down and unless you have creative players it can be hard to find space to get clear cut chances in those circumstances .... 

When I'm playing with less able teams (I generally start as Eastbourne Boro because they're 'local' to Brighton) the method I tend to use in such circumstances is NOT to go attacking, but instead to setup my team to be patient and draw out the opposition, counter attacking when the opportunity arises .... if I push onto them and attack then while it'll often allow me to snatch a victory it sometimes leads to embaressing defeats where they break away and score with their only shot, counter attacking tends to avoid that fate more consitently for me and once we're a goal up the opposition tends to look to equalize and leave more space at the back, leading to more goals ...

(obviously each manager has their own ideas of what works for them - this suits my sides, partially because at that level I go for pace more than guile in my attacking players)

[Lillywhite Dean]

11 hours ago, Marc Vaughan said:

The biggest problem playing against sides with 10 men is that they tend to hunker down and unless you have creative players it can be hard to find space to get clear cut chances in those circumstances .... 

When I'm playing with less able teams (I generally start as Eastbourne Boro because they're 'local' to Brighton) the method I tend to use in such circumstances is NOT to go attacking, but instead to setup my team to be patient and draw out the opposition, counter attacking when the opportunity arises .... if I push onto them and attack then while it'll often allow me to snatch a victory it sometimes leads to embaressing defeats where they break away and score with their only shot, counter attacking tends to avoid that fate more consitently for me and once we're a goal up the opposition tends to look to equalize and leave more space at the back, leading to more goals ...

(obviously each manager has their own ideas of what works for them - this suits my sides, partially because at that level I go for pace more than guile in my attacking players)

I suppose my concern Marc, is does FMM have the range of tactical options on offer to exploit teams with a player sent off? For example, if this situation occurred in FMT2017, I would change my tactics to a 'control' way of playing. I would have my team passing the ball around, tiring the opposition out, and waiting for the gaps to appear in defence for that incisive pass (much like how you've described in your post). But trying to apply that sort of tactic in FMM 2017 is not so obvious. In all of those situations where I have lost to ten men, I have been playing a balanced counter style of football. So I wasn't going gung-ho in attack, well not until the 80 minute mark where I needed to go for broke (because by then the opposition had already scored). I'm sure you can tinker with the tactics on offer to improve your chances of winning (because playing against 10 men offers no guarantees of winning or avoiding defeat) but having looked at the match stats - possession, shots on goal etc, it really felt to me that there wasn't a numerical advantage.

Next time I will look to bring on more creative players to see if that makes a difference.

[fmfan74]

Look at the spot that is empty on the pitch.  Move one of your players in that area and also switch play to the area open.  Also get your players to roam.  Breaks them open more.

[Lillywhite Dean]

I think there is a problem with the game failing to recognise the numerical advantage a team has when the opposition has a player sent off. I play with a Commited style of tackling and so have had a fair few red cards. I would say in nearly all cases (maybe all cases), I have gone on to win the match comfortably. In my most recent match, I won the game 4-1 having been reduced to 10 men from the 52nd minute. I play a 4-2-4 formation and when I have a player sent off, I play a 4-2-3 formation (one central AF with the two IF/Winger either side of him). The only changes I sometimes make to my tactics is to select Men Behind Ball but often I don't need to do this.

I have never felt being reduced to ten men is a disadvantage.

[Vane]

Although I suffer the occasional loss to 10 men, I usually win against 10 without having to do anything fancy. I tend to play 442 and 41221 formations.

[Marc Vaughan]

Having ten men is obviously a disadvantage, however if you're a hard working team who normally counter attack its probably less so as bunkering down and hitting hard on the break can be somewhat helped when your ten men disadvantage is encouraging the opposition to stream forward ...

(that being said its the first time I've heard any manager who plays the game say they don't find it harder when a man is sent off ... I know I do )

[Lillywhite Dean]

On 2017-5-7 at 23:03, Marc Vaughan said:

Having ten men is obviously a disadvantage, however if you're a hard working team who normally counter attack its probably less so as bunkering down and hitting hard on the break can be somewhat helped when your ten men disadvantage is encouraging the opposition to stream forward ...

(that being said its the first time I've heard any manager who plays the game say they don't find it harder when a man is sent off ... I know I do )

I can safely that I have yet to lose a match when reduced to 10 men in my current save. In fact I recently won a league cup fixture against Birmingham City who are a league above me in the Championship. With the scores level at 1-1, one of my players is red carded in the 84' minute. And then in the 92' minute I receive a second red card but score immediately after which sends me through. The only changes I made to my tactics was to rearrange my formation to play a 4-4. 

I don't know. Maybe my current tactics are suited to situations when my team is reduced to 10 or 9 men but I would have expected the opposition to have taken advantage and won in some of those situations. It is still highly unlikely that teams reduced to 10 men will go on to win a game. 

[RSeven]

On ‎2017‎年‎5‎月‎8‎日 at 06:03, Marc Vaughan said:

Having ten men is obviously a disadvantage, however if you're a hard working team who normally counter attack its probably less so as bunkering down and hitting hard on the break can be somewhat helped when your ten men disadvantage is encouraging the opposition to stream forward ...

(that being said its the first time I've heard any manager who plays the game say they don't find it harder when a man is sent off ... I know I do )

My experience is 10 men is not a disadvantage for a human managed team. The normal way for me is change my 4-3-2-1 to 4-2-2-1.

From the highlight, I will find my player movement is more efficient, because they have more space.