Understanding Transitions on Football Manager

[Rashidi]

WHAT ARE TRANSITIONS?

A transition is an event in a game of football, the term itself was only recently used in football over the last 15 years.  The word itself means "changeover".  In basketball, it's sometimes called a turnover. It's an event in a game where something significant happens, i.e, someone loses possession of the ball or you could suddenly go from defending into launching a blistering attack. It's important to understand them and learn how to identify them in a game. If you can't identify a transitional event then chances are you will not even know something is wrong in the game.

PHASES IN PLAY

Football typically has various phases in play and I like to break these up in conjunction with the way duties work in the game. Duties in football manager have 3 settings, Support, Defend and Attack. Each duty kicks in at various points in a transition. In order for us to line these up with the phases in a game, let's break the phases down so they work closely with duties.

Defence to Midfield Transition

This transition involves working the ball from your goalkeeper/defenders to your midfield players. Its typically a short transition that involves simple passes from the back to midfield. Shouts like Play out of Defence affect this transition and player instructions like the Goalkeepers passing instructions and the passing instructions of the defenders can also affect this transition. If you were to play short simple passes and tell the backline not to play risky passes, this could see the players play the ball from the back. Bear in mind though, that mentality here plays a significant role in how these passes are set up. Higher mentalities could see more direct passes from the back and lower mentalities could either see simple short passes or hoofed clearances if the defenders are under pressure.

 

Midfield Transition - Midfield Consolidation and Midfield Penetration

I like to break this phase into two parts : Consolidation and Penetration. During the consolidation phase the ball has moved from the defenders to one of the central midfielders. Now the team can go through a phases where supporting duties on the flanks start to move up to support the passing moves. Players in attacking midfield could drop deeper if they have the player trait : "Likes to drop deeper".  This phase is typified by movement as players with good off the ball make themselves available for the pass. I have seen plenty of pkms from users over the years to suggest that this is the main area where people have issues with. 

If a team cannot consolidate possession in midfield at this point, its usually down to several factors:

a. Aggressive press by opposition played with a high defensive line
b. Poor attributes of the user's team showing a lack of "off the ball" attributes in key support duties
c. Wrong duty selection leaving few players available for the right kind of pass.

For a midfield consolidation phase to work well, we need to have players with good off the ball to make themselves available for the pass, players with decent first touch to take control of the ball. Playmakers need decent balance, composure to keep hold of the ball under pressure. And they also need to have decent decision making and passing to make the right kind of passes. This phase is so important that it's significance cannot be understated. There are factors like Shape that influence this phase. A structured shape could see players positioned slightly further apart, demanding that the ball carrier and the receivers be good at holding up the ball, making the pass and doing the run. 

The manager needs to focus on this phase squarely, any failure of his players to find the pass/make the pass should be studied and possible tweaks to roles and duties should be made.

The Midfield Penetration phase is the point in the game where your team has consolidated its control of midfield and is now getting its support duties into attacking moves. Here you will frequently see full backs on support making attacking runs or any support duty suddenly making darting runs. Forwards will also begin testing defensive lines at this point, and its a good indication of whether they are attacking the channels between defenders and fullbacks and between defenders.

The Attacking transition is usually the shortest phase typically lasting less than 12 seconds. This is the point where an attacking pass is made either to unlock the defence or a diagonal ball is played out to the flanks where a fullback is readying to cross the ball in. A good attacking transition involves the exploitation of space and is an indication of a successful midfield penetration phase. If your attacking transitions are failing, its a good bet that the problem lies in failing to drag the team around well during the penetration phase.

There are other transitions in the game like the:

Defence to Attack transition - e.g. Counter attack from defending  a corner to attacking the AI

Attack to defence transition - Going from attack to suddenly defending against the AI.

BREAKING THE AI'S TRANSITIONS

The goal of the user has to be creating a seamless transition through all the phases resulting in a chance at goal. Once you have achieved this, then you can begin to look at adjusting roles and duties to tweak it further to give yourself better goal scoring chances. The reverse needs to be done to the opposition, your goal has to be shutting the AI's transitions down and preventing from having a seamless one. Common strategies to use to have this done:

a. Opposition instructions - Closing down and hard tackling the backline to force them to play hurried passes. This requires you to use a suitable formation.
b. Overloading - By choosing the right combination of support duties and attacking duties you can overload a specific side of the pitch and use talented players to unlock the other flank with good diagonals
c. Man Marking - Targeting a specific player in the opposition to reduce their influence
 

Generally speaking, you need to understand how to identify transitions before you can even begin to understand why your tactic isn't working. I believe that if you can master this aspect of the game, then the rest actually becomes very easy. I have also attached a video where I can explain this in a short 5 minute guide.

 

[Cleon]

Great read mate. Just watching the video now 👌

[Bunkerossian]

the hardest part, as I expected, is to determine whether the player himself, or a tactical setting, is causing transition problems.

[Atarin]

@Rashidi on fire as usual.

[Rashidi]

2 hours ago, Bunkerossian said:

the hardest part, as I expected, is to determine whether the player himself, or a tactical setting, is causing transition problems.

The first part is actually identifying the transition, and this I find most people sometimes get wrong.  The majority of people focus on the actual moment they lost possession ,what they fail to look at is the period of time before that and identifying which event caused that to happen. This is where 90% of people get things wrong. 

Once you can isolate the event, its a good bet, it will be clear to you that its either the tactical instruction or the attributes in action. By then its a simple task of checking player attributes to see if he was performing the role well. Or checking the tactical setup to see if you had enough players in support. Or it could be the fact that you took too long to build up...there are so many variables. The key is nailing the event that best helps us understand.

 

Great read mate. Just watching the video now 👌

Thanks @Cleon

[Cleon]

Quote

The first part is actually identifying the transition, and this I find most people sometimes get wrong.  The majority of people focus on the actual moment they lost possession ,what they fail to look at is the period of time before that and identifying which event caused that to happen. This is where 90% of people get things wrong. 

Slightly off topic I guess but this applies to goals people concede too. They focus on the goal rather than the build up to it, which has all the answers to the how and why it was scored.

The video was really good. You're what I listen to when travelling in the car. Your voice is so calming and relaxing in what is a chaotic world with the little kids running around 

[Atarin]

I'm not crawling, honest,  but this video and article is the most simple, powerful and useful advice that I've read on here (or anywhere else) since @Ö-zil to the Arsenal! explained Shape. Its one thing knowing it abstractly but seeing, in simple form, someone put these ideas into practice is fantastic. This seriously needs to get pinned because it could solve so many peoples problems with reading a game and analysing their system.

[Bunkerossian]

57 minutes ago, Rashidi said:

The first part is actually identifying the transition, and this I find most people sometimes get wrong.  The majority of people focus on the actual moment they lost possession ,what they fail to look at is the period of time before that and identifying which event caused that to happen. This is where 90% of people get things wrong. 

Once you can isolate the event, its a good bet, it will be clear to you that its either the tactical instruction or the attributes in action. By then its a simple task of checking player attributes to see if he was performing the role well. Or checking the tactical setup to see if you had enough players in support. Or it could be the fact that you took too long to build up...there are so many variables. The key is nailing the event that best helps us understand.

 

Thanks @Cleon

I had a moment like this happen, where I felt there will be a goal in my net, but to me, the lead-up to the goal never seemed important- I was baffled at the inability of the defenders to control the penalty box, despite attributes that I deemed were sufficient. I generally am unable to see what each player is doing during highlights- my brain can't track all of them.

[Armistice]

If you could create more video examples of failed and successful transitions in the future, it would help a lot. Good stuff as usual.

[yonko]

Excellent stuff @Rashidi

Transitions have always been part of the game (FM and IRL) but in the last 15 or so years have become the key moments of the any match. How quickly and smoothly one team goes from defense to attack and vice versa compared to their counterpart. This is where games are won and lost. It's important to consider if your team has the right players with the right attributes to play a good transition game. I'm thinking attributes like acceleration, stamina, workrate, teamwork, determination,  anticipation and decision (of course) play a huge role in any good execution of transition phase.

It's always nice to read and view threads like these.

[Cleon]

15 minutes ago, yonko said:

Excellent stuff @Rashidi

Transitions have always been part of the game (FM and IRL) but in the last 15 or so years have become the key moments of the any match. How quickly and smoothly one team goes from defense to attack and vice versa compared to their counterpart. This is where games are won and lost. It's important to consider if your team has the right players with the right attributes to play a good transition game. I'm thinking attributes like acceleration, stamina, workrate, teamwork, determination,  anticipation and decision (of course) play a huge role in any good execution of transition phase.

It's always nice to read and view threads like these.

Before transitions picked up steam with the media/analysts and it become more common to talk about it, I think you was the first one I saw asking/discussing about them on these forums quite some years ago. 

[looping]

In the last highlight (goal Blackburn Rovers) how do you know the defending team is too high and they don't have time to react? I mean, all I see is two players going for the same header. A terrible decisión by the CB. If had stayed in his position nothing would had happened.

Two (or three, even four) players going to the same header is something I see in my matches very often. It may be because my defense is too high? How can you deduce that, if I'm right?

I mean, what is the logic behind? Honestly asking, there must be a logic if you all see it.

1. No risk situation.

2.Two players go for the same header

3. They miss the header and the ball goes to the free opponent because one player left without any apparent reason his position.

4. The problem is the defending team too high.

How do you know that? How can you get to that conclusión? If you have said team was too Deep, or too wide or too whatever I wouldn't understand it neither. I don't see the casuality between two players going to the same header and any tactical instruction. Perhaps player attributes (high aggression, poor decisions...), but tactical? I'm literally openmouthed.

[yonko]

3 hours ago, Cleon said:

Before transitions picked up steam with the media/analysts and it become more common to talk about it, I think you was the first one I saw asking/discussing about them on these forums quite some years ago. 

It's possible. I've always been interested in the transitional phase of the game. I picked that up from father who was professional player and coach. I also played and continue to coach at youth level. 

To me that phase is about catching the opposition unprepared when they are not organized. On the flip side, it's about organizing your own team before the opponent can exploit your space and weakness. The success comes from tactical set up & organization + execution & ability. Sometimes, one can compensate slightly for the other, but for the most part you need equal amount of both.

For example, if your team doesn't quite have the speed to transition quickly, then the tactical organization needs to account for that by ensuring that players have more adequate support to secure the ball and move it around with less risk. More compact shapes and formations can help with that, as well as lower mentality (i.e risk factor).

[Rashidi]

10 hours ago, yonko said:

For example, if your team doesn't quite have the speed to transition quickly, then the tactical organization needs to account for that by ensuring that players have more adequate support to secure the ball and move it around with less risk. More compact shapes and formations can help with that, as well as lower mentality (i.e risk factor).

This last statement is very significant, and in fact it's so understated it's almost criminal.

[yonko]

10 hours ago, Rashidi said:

This last statement is very significant, and in fact it's so understated it's almost criminal.

I know. Do you have plans to post more on the subject? 

[Rashidi]

I plan to, but I am currently doing something like 5 different shows a week, so I will need to do something which ties into formations/passing triangles and then address transitions. What you mentioned is relevant because most people who have been playing the game for a long time, are probably on auto-pilot. They see something and then react. Even when we watch football games in real life, we are probably registering moments of slow transitions and appending to that a change in mentality.  And translating this in FM terms is what I really want to do, not some x+y = z piece of ..... that serves more to confuse then illustrate. 

I just. played a save for someone else as part of a show, I took his save, and he couldn't for the life of it prevent Bayern or Barcelona from hammering him. I took a look at his tactic and explained to him the value of defensive organisation. All he needed to do was find some way of getting his boys to stay disciplined without going all over the place and then have enough in the tank for them to strike whenever a chance presented itself. Needless to say, one match was all about counter attacking and another match was all about control.

Both can be achieved in the game, what you mentioned is key. Knowing what your players can do in terms of movement on and off the ball is vital. Knowing which attributes is also important. For defensive transitions positioning is the paramount attribute whilst in the attacking phase off the ball is. Both attributes influence how well space is controlled and used during each phase. Acceleration then becomes important in identifying whether they can get into that space quickly coupled with decision making which influences whether they went into the correct space. 

So when attributes are missing like acceleration we need to know how that influences us. His missing attribute was acceleration, but he had one or two players who had blistering acceleration on the flanks, yet he chose to make the attacking fullback one who had lower acceleration. What I did was to tweak his system slightly by choosing players with good positioning for the key support areas we needed to control during the defensive phase, and then checked out which players had the right attributes for the attacking phase. We then tweaked the system accordingly. I didn't change the tactic very much, just a few roles to use the players more effectively and then we played on counter flexible, adjusting the mentality only when necessary. I also removed a whole bunch of TIs and PIs which weren't needed..for e.g. Pass it Shorter or Close down much more. Let the roles and the attributes do the work. 

The key is knowing from the attributes alone whether your team can handle fast transitions. Say for example...if he played on Fluid with an attacking mentality and he had a few attacking duties on the flanks, we would need to change the duties because there is a high risk you'd get caught out. So,  we played on a lower shape setting to reduce the impact of having too many players on a transition. It is possible to win these kind of games?  Yes, but the first thing people need to do is spot a transition breaking down. That is the first thing you need to do, then the second step is look at your own team and shape settings. Are you asking too much of your team? Then look at your duties, are these duties too attacking? do they not have the right attributes to do fast transitions?  Without knowing how to look at a transition there's no point even trying to figure out what is wrong. Its like wanting to drive like an F1 driver without looking at the track and whats happening to the cars in front of you.

[FMWolf]

@looping I think the high line plays a part in that situation as it makes the central-defender closer to the opposition making him engage into the challenge. Had the defensive line been deeper, the CD wouldn't go for that ball as it would be to far away for him to consider it. This is only my two-cents, and obviously @Rashidi could explain it better

[bosque]

Great post! Since yesterday I started to watch transitions during game and trying to spot them. Is not easy but I think once I start to train my brain I will know what are the problems. And then I will come here and ask for solutions 

[bosque]

Sorry for the doble post. I have two questions.

On 25/9/2017 at 07:55, Rashidi said:

a. Opposition instructions - Closing down and hard tackling the backline to force them to play hurried passes. This requires you to use a suitable formation.

What will be a suitable formation? A top heavy one?

 

On 25/9/2017 at 07:55, Rashidi said:

b. Overloading - By choosing the right combination of support duties and attacking duties you can overload a specific side of the pitch and use talented players to unlock the other flank with good diagonals

I can't understand this. Can you give me an example?

[Rashidi]

38 minutes ago, bosque said:

Sorry for the doble post. I have two questions.

What will be a suitable formation? A top heavy one?

 

I can't understand this. Can you give me an example?

Yes to the first question and for the second one, lets take one example:

41221. 

You could use an IWB to help crowd the middle and hold on to possession, in front of him in midfield stick in an attacking duty in central midfield, on the flanks you could have an AP(A) or Support, either one will give you different options. The existence of so many players with good ball control attributes should help you keep the ball and drag the AI there, now use an attacking duty with a player who has good otb and acceleration and unlock the right flank. Its pep guardiola's fav way of unlocking sides.

[bosque]

Nice, so It should look something like this?

[Colorado]

Yes, that should work.

This is one of the best tactical threads I've read on here and one which is very much replicated in real football.

I'd love to see more clips to help practice indentifying various breakdowns in transition play.

@Rashidi, this really is a great threat and video. Much appreciated.

[Rashidi]

On 16/10/2017 at 21:05, bosque said:

Nice, so It should look something like this?

yes I assume the left wingback is doing the IWB role, so he will push into midfield and with the new roles in FM18 its fairly easy to set it up, allowing the ML to be a an attacking role that punches through the middle, so you can do things like go wide on the left or put two players there with the trait one two passing. This creates an overload and unleashes the right flank. Its something the AI isn't doing too much of yet.

[Rashidi]

19 hours ago, Colorado said:

Yes, that should work.

This is one of the best tactical threads I've read on here and one which is very much replicated in real football.

I'd love to see more clips to help practice indentifying various breakdowns in transition play.

@Rashidi, this really is a great threat and video. Much appreciated.

If you think it helps I will pin it cos its still relevant for FM18