I really don't know what to do next

[Atarin]

26 minutes ago, Bunkerossian said:

Well, here's me after watching the highlights of my last match. I still can't find any glaring issues with my team. If I was just giving my opinion, I'd say Chievo just have bloody good ball-winners. I've tried to play with them before, so I know the kind of ruthless butchers they got on the roster. They were able to neutralize my passers, and let their passers flourish. When they put me under pressure, I went from Standard to Counter, which allowed crosses from the right side of their team, and some long shots. But I believe you people- there must be a flaw with my roles- I'm just blind.

I have no tactical insight into the flaws of my team, at all. I took one screen shot, so if someone cares to decipher...

This produced a sitter for Chievo, which my GK saved.

 

You need to slow everything down. Watch the highlight dispassionately. Find the point at which you lost the ball and then hit the rewind button four or five clicks. This snapshot should give you a rough idea of what sort of options the man on the ball had. If you see an obvious pass he could have made then, if you haven't given him any PIs that would interfere with his decision making, then you must have a player with lower vision/decisions than the oppositions anticipation/positioning. Just extent this line of thinking forward. The point is that if you can see simple options for the player in possession then your problem may be the player, if on the other hand you can only sympathise with your midfielder because he didn't have a lot on then your problem is that his team mates weren't making themselves available. The reason for this is either that your choice of Roles has isolated the man on the ball or the players who should be making themselves available lack the Off the ball/teamwork.etc to do the job.

This is the nuts and bolts of it. There is an objective point at which your player loses the ball. By isolating that incident you can work your backwards and discover the reason. If the opposition are just better then that is still a discovery. You either need to improve your side, downgrade your expectations or come up with a way of circumventing that particularly strength that the opposition has. But it all starts with identifying the problem and that all stems from isolating the incident. Who? What? Where? and How?

[Bunkerossian]

13 minutes ago, Atarin said:

You need to slow everything down. Watch the highlight dispassionately. Find the point at which you lost the ball and then hit the rewind button four or five clicks. This snapshot should give you a rough idea of what sort of options the man on the ball had. If you see an obvious pass he could have made then, if you haven't given him any PIs that would interfere with his decision making, then you must have a player with lower vision/decisions than the oppositions anticipation/positioning. Just extent this line of thinking forward. The point is that if you can see simple options for the player in possession then your problem may be the player, if on the other hand you can only sympathise with your midfielder because he didn't have a lot on then your problem is that his team mates weren't making themselves available. The reason for this is either that your choice of Roles has isolated the man on the ball or the players who should be making themselves available lack the Off the ball/teamwork.etc to do the job.

This is the nuts and bolts of it. There is an objective point at which your player loses the ball. By isolating that incident you can work your backwards and discover the reason. If the opposition are just better then that is still a discovery. You either need to improve your side, downgrade your expectations or come up with a way of circumventing that particularly strength that the opposition has. But it all starts with identifying the problem and that all stems from isolating the incident. Who? What? Where? and How?

Can't. The highlight starts with them in possession.

[looping]

15 minutes ago, Bunkerossian said:

Can't. The highlight starts with them in possession.

Could you post a video of the highlight?

[HUNT3R]

15 minutes ago, Bunkerossian said:

Can't. The highlight starts with them in possession.

No? You can. Rewind. You can watch the entire match if you want to.

[Bunkerossian]

Just now, HUNT3R said:

No? You can. Rewind. You can watch the entire match if you want to.

I put the thing on Full match, but rewinding highlights just stops at the initial point.

[HUNT3R]

Just now, Bunkerossian said:

I put the thing on Full match, but rewinding highlights just stops at the initial point.

Then rewind it more. You can drag the cursor/indicator/whatever to anywhere you want to.

[Atarin]

14 minutes ago, Bunkerossian said:

Can't. The highlight starts with them in possession.

So in this instance your problem is an inability to break up their attack. The exact same principle applies.

Look at your defensive shape. Where and when would you have liked your players to engage and win the ball back? If someone was where you wanted them and went in when you think they should but failed to win the ball then we could be dealing with an attribute mismatch. If your players weren't engaging the player on the ball then the problem is either that they've been instructed not to, there are too many threats to deal with (in which case your problem is defensive shape/Duties) or your defensive players don't have the right player profile to do the job (determination, aggression, bravery, team work, work rate.etc)

[Bunkerossian]

1 minute ago, Atarin said:

So in this instance your problem is an inability to break up their attack. The exact same principle applies.

Look at your defensive shape. Where and when would you have liked your players to engage and win the ball back? If someone was where you wanted them and went in when you think they should but failed to win the ball then we could be dealing with an attribute mismatch. If your players weren't engaging the player on the ball then the problem is either that they've been instructed not to, there are too many threats to deal with (in which case your problem is defensive shape/Duties) or your defensive players don't have the right player profile to do the job (determination, aggression, bravery, team work, work rate.etc)

I have not given any instructions to any player that deal with tackling.

[looping]

6 minutes ago, Bunkerossian said:

I have not given any instructions to any player that deal with tackling.

You chose a mentality which has defaults for defensive line and closing down. Both affect your players tackling.

[Atarin]

12 minutes ago, Bunkerossian said:

I have not given any instructions to any player that deal with tackling.

Fine, then look at Mentality. Mentality sets a default defensive line. This will indicate where your defenders stops backing off and starts aggressively closing down the player on the ball.

If the problem is that the opposition attacks managed to get behind you then lower your defensive line. If they were in front of you until the critical pass then you need to look at the numbers you had back. Did they overload an areas, did you see any of your players outnumbered? If so was there anyone hanging around not doing anything? Were there enough players to close down the player on the ball and stop the pass and offer positional cover?

Also its worth checking the aggression, bravery, team work and determination of the defensive group of players. Low aggression will mean that a player doesn't "fancy it" when a strong challenge is required and won't deal with danger when it occurs. Low bravery means a player may see the danger, may engage but not in a convincing way. Low team work means a player won't be an effective part of a unit, they won't respond to a team mates' need for cover or support. Low determination means a player won't respond when the going gets tough and the team needs to dig in.

[Bunkerossian]

The move which lead to the screenshot was started by a successful tackle. My player, IMO had an option of a slightly sideways, forward pass he didn't take. He was hesitant to do anything, slowly moving forward, until the tackle took it off of him.

My defensively oriented midfielders have good mental stats, but fairly low Strength. One- the DLP, has bad Work Rate. Their Tackling is never above 14 though.

[Armistice]

6 hours ago, Rashidi said:

@Armistice I am using your formation, and then I make changes based on the kind of players I have to achieve a style of football that incorporates some counter attacking elements. This is the first part of a two parter. I am doing this show out of order lol, but I reckon you need the help more than me worrying about a schedule. I hope it helps. In this video I actually spend more time analysing my squad to see what they can do, what are their weaknesses before adapting the 5 man defence to hit on the break. My next match is against Spurs which should be a bigger test.

 

I hope it helps.

Thank you Rashidi, quality video as always. Will try to implement some of your principles into my counter-attacking tactic.

 

Now I wanna show you what I'm working on.

 

 

This is for games when my opponent is not very enthusiast to go forward, but instead decides to take a more cautious approach. I think it will happen, because I started the season well. Was unlucky to lose against Cardiff really, missed a couple of good chances when they were 1-0 up, but of course I am not looking for excuses or anything.

 

 

So I'm three points off the top with a team that was predicted to finish bottom at the start of the season. Or somewhere around that 21st-24th range. I also managed to sign some players on loan which gives me a little bit more tactical flexibility & better quality depth. I don't want to settle for anything less than a play-off spot really.

 

I want to adapt a different approach with this version, move the ball around and wait for an opportunity to pass the ball in the space. What I wanted initially is to keep my star players, Kavanagh and Walker on attack duties in their respective roles, but if I am to use this tactic right now, I am gonna have to sacrifice one of them or the tactic will look too weak on one side. However, if I really want to use these players in attacking duties, I should look to get something like this.

 

 

This looks balanced imo, but I lose those late runs into the box of B2B.

[Bunkerossian]

Well, after looking at highlights of my own games, I still can't spot anything regarding support, movement or any other important aspect of the game. I get no useful input from the highlights.

[Bitner]

16 hours ago, Armistice said:

This looks balanced imo, but I lose those late runs into the box of B2B.

BWM-S with gets further forward do those runs, just saying.

Cheers,
Bitner 

[Gee_Simpson]

3 hours ago, Bunkerossian said:

Well, after looking at highlights of my own games, I still can't spot anything regarding support, movement or any other important aspect of the game. I get no useful input from the highlights.

By saying "highlights" I'm assuming you don't watch the full game at any time?

[Bunkerossian]

Just now, Gee_Simpson said:

By saying "highlights" I'm assuming you don't watch the full game at any time?

I watch onn Comprehensive normally, but now I'm watching with the use of the timeline, to get more highlights than on Comprehensive. I'm not picking up any patterns.

[samuelawachie]

I'm going to be direct, forgive me. Most of your problems along with Looping, stem from the fact you're watching the game in 3D. There's a reason pple are sticking to 2D, even when they know what their tactics are doing. It's easier to spot patterns, to notice tactical stuff, to see what your defense is doing whilst you're attacking. There's a reason why you're not spotting these things. My advice? Ditch the 3D and watch your games in 2D. Also try AS MUCH AS YOU CAN to watch the full game. This will help especially you. 

[Bunkerossian]

3 hours ago, samuelawachie said:

I'm going to be direct, forgive me. Most of your problems along with Looping, stem from the fact you're watching the game in 3D. There's a reason pple are sticking to 2D, even when they know what their tactics are doing. It's easier to spot patterns, to notice tactical stuff, to see what your defense is doing whilst you're attacking. There's a reason why you're not spotting these things. My advice? Ditch the 3D and watch your games in 2D. Also try AS MUCH AS YOU CAN to watch the full game. This will help especially you. 

I've watched games in 2D before. It's just that I forget to set the viewing mode to 2D when I try new saves.

[Stonebiter]

i have my own issues with the game like you can see in my thread, but i see here a narrow formation which you give the instruction play wider so you stretch it when you attack and it also means your team will be playing more over the flanks where you have only 2  players.  At the same time you give the instruction shorter passing which narrows your formation when you attack.  So do you want to play throurgh the middle or over the flanks. Your formation plays naturally more through the middle because you have all your players there.  If you wann play over the flanks your should play a wider formation with wingers. I would cut the instruction play wider. Harrison must be a really good CD  as he has to do a lot work If your right WB is on an attack duty.  That is what i can tell you.

 

[Atarin]

@Rashidi's latest video/thread makes it perfectly clear how to spot a flaw in your tactic. Watch the transitions. When a transition breaks down you can almost always clearly see why. If the ball is given away either the player on the ball lacked support (in the form of a simple circulation pass), movement ahead of him (in the form of players losing their marker and finding space and being available for a pass) or the player on the ball lacked the technical skills or mental skills to find a team mate. If you can rule out the third reason then you are left with a problem with your tactic.

All goals (barring set pieces) are scored as a result of a transition. Even a route one goal starts with a goalkeeper or defender and has to transition to a striker who will then either score a goal (1 transition - defence to attack) or when the striker receives the ball, holds it up and then has to find another player who scores (2 transitions - Defence to Attacking consolidation to attack).

If you start to see the ebb and flow of  the game as a series of transitions then you can begin to see where you're going wrong. What is it that stops your transitions? Misplaces passes? Getting tackled? As already mentioned the first is either lack of passing options (in which case give more support and get players up front moving more) and the second could be as a result of too slow and patient build up allowing the opposition to get set defensively and then break up your transition with numbers.

In regards the opposition, it works exactly the same way. They play through a series of transitions. Watch for them moving between them. Why are you failing to stop them transitioning? Do you lack balance? (i.e - players evenly spread across the pitch to deal with wide attacks and central attacks, deep attacks and high attacks). Are they bypassing your midfield? (could be a problem with leaving their deep playmaker the time and space to pick passes),. Are they exploiting space behind (as before could be a free playmaker but also your defensive line). Are they exploiting the flanks? (as always, who's giving the wide players the ball on a consistent basis & also do you have sufficient cover out there? Failing that do your players covering those areas have the mentals and physicals to deal with the threat? Watch for your wide midfielder being lazy by seeing if they're free whilst your fullback is dealing with an overload).

Its just the simple things. Everyone has to move the ball from one phase to another. This is a transition. Everyone has to be able to consolidate in that new phase. Repeat. You're looking to succesfully transition up and down. You're looking to stop them doing the same.

[Bunkerossian]

2 minutes ago, Atarin said:

@Rashidi's latest video/thread makes it perfectly clear how to spot a flaw in your tactic. Watch the transitions. When a transition breaks down you can almost always clearly see why. If the ball is given away either the player on the ball lacked support (in the form of a simple circulation pass), movement ahead of him (in the form of players losing their marker and finding space and being available for a pass) or the player on the ball lacked the technical skills or mental skills to find a team mate. If you can rule out the third reason then you are left with a problem with your tactic.

All goals (barring set pieces) are scored as a result of a transition. Even a route one goal starts with a goalkeeper or defender and has to transition to a striker who will then either score a goal (1 transition - defence to attack) or when the striker receives the ball, holds it up and then has to find another player who scores (2 transitions - Defence to Attacking consolidation to attack).

If you start to see the ebb and flow of  the game as a series of transitions then you can begin to see where you're going wrong. What is it that stops your transitions? Misplaces passes? Getting tackled? As already mentioned the first is either lack of passing options (in which case give more support and get players up front moving more) and the second could be as a result of too slow and patient build up allowing the opposition to get set defensively and then break up your transition with numbers.

In regards the opposition, it works exactly the same way. They play through a series of transitions. Watch for them moving between them. Why are you failing to stop them transitioning? Do you lack balance? (i.e - players evenly spread across the pitch to deal with wide attacks and central attacks, deep attacks and high attacks). Are they bypassing your midfield? (could be a problem with leaving their deep playmaker the time and space to pick passes),. Are they exploiting space behind (as before could be a free playmaker but also your defensive line). Are they exploiting the flanks? (as always, who's giving the wide players the ball on a consistent basis & also do you have sufficient cover out there? Failing that do your players covering those areas have the mentals and physicals to deal with the threat? Watch for your wide midfielder being lazy by seeing if they're free whilst your fullback is dealing with an overload).

Its just the simple things. Everyone has to move the ball from one phase to another. This is a transition. Everyone has to be able to consolidate in that new phase. Repeat. You're looking to succesfully transition up and down. You're looking to stop them doing the same.

Spotting problems is harder than it looks, at least for me. And identifying the cause is even harder. Most commonly, I see tackles as the cause of a turnover. It could be that the oposition players are just energetic, and good at tackling. Maybe my players are not positioned well enough to offer support. But I can't really tell, how a sufficient level of support looks on the pitch.

[looping]

4 hours ago, samuelawachie said:

I'm going to be direct, forgive me. Most of your problems along with Looping, stem from the fact you're watching the game in 3D. There's a reason pple are sticking to 2D, even when they know what their tactics are doing. It's easier to spot patterns, to notice tactical stuff, to see what your defense is doing whilst you're attacking. There's a reason why you're not spotting these things. My advice? Ditch the 3D and watch your games in 2D. Also try AS MUCH AS YOU CAN to watch the full game. This will help especially you. 

I've never watched a match on 3D. Check any of my threads that you claim to have read.

Don't be harsh with  @Bunkerossian he is trying to understand things. While all the advice given is excellent, it is far away his understanding.

When you are teached something (at school for instance)  you are teached step by step, even using lies for kids, giving examples, solving your problems with the teacher. What here is done (and it is ok, it's just a fórum) is "hey, here are the books. Learn and if you have any specific question, ask".

The problema are not the answers; the problema are the questions raised. If you don't understand what you are trying to learn, if you don't find the logic behind what you are doing, you can't rise the right questions, so the whole method fails.

This is an example:

21 minutes ago, Atarin said:

@Rashidi's latest video/thread makes it perfectly clear how to spot a flaw in your tactic.

Sure the video is excellent but if you don't understand why he is saying the defense is too high, or whatever caused the issue, you will never see it in your own matches.

Do not be harsh, that's all I'm saying.

 

As for your problems   @Bunkerossian, just to say what I'm doing now and it seems I'm grasping it, I'd suggest to use a default formation in the TC, change all auto duties to support and don't use any instruction. Then, play matches on full and start using only 1 instruction. For instance, spend 3,4,5 matches moving defensive line up and down. See how it affects your team. Are your cb stepping up early or late? Are your cm running towards your goal or facing the opponent? Are you suffering from through balls? Don't touch anything else until you understand how 1 instruction (defensive line) affects your team.

 

[Bunkerossian]

3 minutes ago, looping said:

I've never watched a match on 3D. Check any of my threads that you claim to have read.

Don't be harsh with  @Bunkerossian he is trying to understand things. While all the advice given is excellent, it is far away his understanding.

When you are teached something (at school for instance)  you are teached step by step, even using lies for kids, giving examples, solving your problems with the teacher. What here is done (and it is ok, it's just a fórum) is "hey, here are the books. Learn and if you have any specific question, ask".

The problema are not the answers; the problema are the questions raised. If you don't understand what you are trying to learn, if you don't find the logic behind what you are doing, you can't rise the right questions, so the whole method fails.

This is an example:

Sure the video is excellent but if you don't understand why he is saying the defense is too high, or whatever caused the issue, you will never see it in your own matches.

Do not be harsh, that's all I'm saying.

 

As for your problems   @Bunkerossian, just to say what I'm doing now and it seems I'm grasping it, I'd suggest to use a default formation in the TC, change all auto duties to support and don't use any instruction. Then, play matches on full and start using only 1 instruction. For instance, spend 3,4,5 matches moving defensive line up and down. See how it affects your team. Are your cb stepping up early or late? Are your cm running towards your goal or facing the opponent? Are you suffering from through balls? Don't touch anything else until you understand how 1 instruction (defensive line) affects your team.

 

Looking at the attributes of my defenders, neither dropping, nor raising the D-line would be good-I have players that are both slow, and not great in the air. I've tried dropping it in one game by going on Counter. The results were a lot of conceded crosses on my left flank, and several long shots.

The only thing I've been able to see by rewatching the first 25 minutes of highlights on 2D on the match I lost, was that my players kept their formation. It wasn't distorted in any way. I conceded lots of throw-ins.

[looping]

18 minutes ago, Bunkerossian said:

Looking at the attributes of my defenders, neither dropping, nor raising the D-line would be good-I have players that are both slow, and not great in the air. I've tried dropping it in one game by going on Counter. The results were a lot of conceded crosses on my left flank, and several long shots.

The only thing I've been able to see by rewatching the first 25 minutes of highlights on 2D on the match I lost, was that my players kept their formation. It wasn't distorted in any way. I conceded lots of throw-ins.

Everything is contextual.

If you have slow defenders, rising you def line will cause you problems if it is too high. And your defensive line will be too high or Deep depending on how the opposition is playing. Depending on how the opposition plays, standard mentality+push higher up can be too Deep, even if your cb are slow. That's what you have to see in the matches.

Conceding from throw-ins also happens to me. I also score a lot from throw ins. Don't know why it happens, but don't pay attention to this now. Just move your defensive line up and down and see:

- Are your cb stepping up? Too early or to late? In time?

- Are your cm running towards your goal or facing the opponent?

- Are you suffering from through balls?

- Do the opponents have too much time to send through balls?

- Is there space down the flanks?

If you see anything I said, move your def line, up or down, it really doesn't matter. See if the problema persists, if it is increased or what happened. Then change it again up or down until you see the problema fixed. Spend as many matches as needed.

 

[Bunkerossian]

1 minute ago, looping said:

Everything is contextual.

If you have slow defenders, rising you def line will cause you problems if it is too high. And your defensive line will be too high or Deep depending on how the opposition is playing. Depending on how the opposition plays, standard mentality+push higher up can be too Deep, even if your cb are slow. That's what you have to see in the matches.

Conceding from throw-ins also happens to me. I also score a lot from throw ins. Don't know why it happens, but don't pay attention to this now. Just move your defensive line up and down and see:

- Are your cb stepping up? Too early or to late? In time?

- Are your cm running towards your goal or facing the opponent?

- Are you suffering from through balls?

- Do the opponents have too much time to send through balls?

- Is there space down the flanks?

If you see anything I said, move your def line, up or down, it really doesn't matter. See if the problema persists, if it is increased or what happened. Then change it again up or down until you see the problema fixed.

 

When I said conceding throw-ins, I meant that the opposition get a lot of them.

I was unable to spot the presence or absence of anything on the list. Except the last thing. I played a 4-3-3 Narrow that match, and of course, the opposition had a numerical advantage on the flanks.

[looping]

9 minutes ago, Bunkerossian said:

When I said conceding throw-ins, I meant that the opposition get a lot of them.

I was unable to spot the presence or absence of anything on the list. Except the last thing. I played a 4-3-3 Narrow that match, and of course, the opposition had a numerical advantage on the flanks.

Good then you have one issue to tackle.

Move your defensive line up and down. See if they have more or less space on the flanks. Do it aggressively (standard def line to much deeper), so you can see the greater effect, even if it is wrong.

Don't touch anything else. Space on the flanks most likely can be fixed with the defensive line.

[Bunkerossian]

49 minutes ago, looping said:

Good then you have one issue to tackle.

Move your defensive line up and down. See if they have more or less space on the flanks. Do it aggressively (standard def line to much deeper), so you can see the greater effect, even if it is wrong.

Don't touch anything else. Space on the flanks most likely can be fixed with the defensive line.

The thing is, if the opposition is too weak (non-league teams), the effects might not be visible really. My next opponent in a friendly is probably Serie c at best. After that, competitive games start. I guess I'll have to play that competitive cup games several times, which counts as cheating.

[looping]

19 minutes ago, Bunkerossian said:

The thing is, if the opposition is too weak (non-league teams), the effects might not be visible really. My next opponent in a friendly is probably Serie c at best. After that, competitive games start. I guess I'll have to play that competitive cup games several times, which counts as cheating.

Against weak teams your problem will be creating space which is not what we are trying to achieve at this moment. Play this matches until the real season starts. Which team are you managing?

[Bunkerossian]

Just now, looping said:

Against weak teams your problem will be creating space which is not what we are trying to achieve at this moment. Play this matches until the real season starts. Which team are you managing?

Sampdoria. I have one last friendly against a team I think are real nobodies. Cesena is my Cup opponent, the game after. and they are actually solid.

[looping]

28 minutes ago, Bunkerossian said:

Sampdoria. I have one last friendly against a team I think are real nobodies. Cesena is my Cup opponent, the game after. and they are actually solid.

Start Serie A and do what I said.

[Armistice]

 

If only we could stop conceding set-piece goals and actually score some...

 

Taken from League Stats: Goals scored from corners - 0, Goals scored from DFK - 0, Goals scored from IFK - 1, Conceded from Corners - 2, Conceded from DFK - 1, Conceded form IFK - 2. So basically out of 11 total goals conceded, 5 were conceded from set-pieces. That's about 1/2, quite sure it's not normal and we sitting among bottom teams in these departments. Also, taking in account what Team Comparison says, we have the shortest team in the league on par with Doncaster.

[Svenc]

The last post pretty much sums FM. Despite an inherently argued struggle to follow what is going on in basic terms, the results are encouraging to say the least. That probably involved some advice, but immediately applying it lead to over performance across all boards.  I've had to check for Hartlepool, and according to any kind of number, they were an all around below average side in League Two last season. Not only in terms of league table results, which are always going to fluctuate, but several more. They conceded some of the most shots in the season, they created pitifully few (only one team was worse). Actually, they were relegated. Even considering a few possible transfers, we can establish, and this has always been the way.

You do not need spend ages to watch matches.
You are not even required to spot issues much.
As long as your tactics are some fundamentally sound and don't have holes everywhere, players are used in the right spots, aren't mismanaged, you don't panic, you'll do pretty fine more oftenly than not.
As soon as you go beyond that, you may over perform across the board, in a way that the current level of AI management are uncapable of

Yup, that's FM in a nutshell. I don't like that personally, at least not at the top -- the top managers should be a bit more sophisticated than this. Still, if this is a simulation, it's never all about tactics either way to decisively outsmart oppositions in ways that they can't respond to (doesn't happen). Now if you wanted to go into specific areas a bit more, you'd need to understand and follow them in real football at first a bit. Doing so is also, evidently, completely optional most of the time. However, if you don't watch or read much about football, then that's a bit of a daunting task. Coupled with a couple of mental or perception issues, this will never be the most ideal game. Similar to football, some stuff is always up to personal interpretation. Without ambiguity, there'd be no football management. With a depression for instance, you'll probably always see glasses half empty even when they may be half full. Similar may apply to other things clouding perception, influencing decisions,  everything. I haven't watched hugely much football in the last three years for a couple reasons. What I do like following though is analysis. Which includes stats and data. A lot of it you're able to apply in-game too, though it takes a lot of additional numbers crunching you would need to do on your own, not ideal.

Keep it simple, Harry.

[Armistice]

Well tides turned around the corner if you play too much.  The form in the league has been hit and miss and we dropped down the table. We nicked some lucky wins when it was the case of winning and we lost more points than expected/needed. 

 

 

There are a lot of games left to play but the top spot look less likely to be recovered at this point. Some of my players are out of form honestly, but I think it's more down to tactics rather than my players. Or both.

 

 

I used this most of the games. In short terms, I want to build patiently in games I am not clearly favorite, but slightly and I expect to control possession. Build from the back through short passes, then when we transition to the attacking third, try to find an unlocking pass from our playmaker who happens to be quite a good player for this level (maybe his decisions attribute is a bit low for my liking).  We don't have many attacking patterns tbf, the DLF expecting to drop deep and the marauding CM to exploit the space. The Left WB expected to bomb forward, the Roaming Playmaker moving around trying to find space but basically that's it. So I am trying right now to find ways to improve this tactic. Maybe we don't have the players to control games.

 

 

This is my 'improved' Counter-attacking tactic, it happened that we played against Sheff Utd in the FA Cup. I employed this and for the first time I let the Ass Manager do the player selection. 

 

 

 

We just happened to have a lot of long shots but some of them were free-kicks, they never hit the target. 

 

Okay, not really worried about this game tbh, I mean it's concerning, but I am not extremely interested in FA Cup right now. I know I will need to further adjust the tactic and watch why those long shots were taken, but I put this on hold.

 

What's more concerning is the poor form in the league. Since we drew against a poor Morecambe side (11-4 SOT), we beat Newport but more because of luck rather than good football (16-4 SOT), drew with play-off aspiring Mansfield (11-3 SOT), lost against Cambridge Utd (18-8 SOT), lost against Plymouth (11-4 SOT), won at Barnet (12-4 SOT), and lost against Blackpool (14-7 SOT). You can notice a pattern which is pretty obvious. Our Shots on Target ratio is truly awful. But for this level, we rank 8th. 

 

So it looks like I have again a job trying to spot why our strikers take long shots like that. And once for all, improve those annoying free-kicks, especially DFK because they never hit the target. *sigh*

One role I consider changing is the RPM, initially I wanted him to be a pivot for the Play Out of Defence, but I have a pivot in CM (D), just that he doesn't look for space or get close to the CB ball carrier to offer a passing option. My wingbacks are often stacked together with the CBs on their side when I instruct the GK to play short. I'm gonna have to change the RPM, also because I feel that the WB is pretty isolated there, the striker infront of him is on attack duty and the midfield screen is roaming a lot so he might not have a passing option at all but only long ahead, or horizontal pass.

 

What do you people think?

 

Edit: Just uploaded a stack of PKMs if people wanna see the games. 

Download

[herne79]

33 minutes ago, Armistice said:

What's more concerning is the poor form in the league. Since we drew against a poor Morecambe side

What poor from?

Since you drew against Morecambe, your record is: Won 5  Draw 1  Lost 3.

Further, your predicted end of season finish for Hartlepool is 24th.  Last.  Yet after 20 matches you are 5th in the division with a W11 D4 L5 record.

Is it really "poor form" or your own over optimism?  To be fair, it's easy to get sucked into this - we do well and so we (quite naturally) start to forget about who it is we are managing.

Could you improve your shots on target ratio that you also mention?  Possibly, but again you need to be realistic in your expectations - you're doing phenomenally well at present given your start of season prediction so don't get too carried away.  Remember, you started this thread as a kind of cry for help as you were having no joy playing the game, yet here you are now just a few days later with what I'd consider to be an excellent first half of the season.

Don't put so much pressure on yourself and give yourself some credit.

[Armistice]

34 minutes ago, herne79 said:

What poor from?

Since you drew against Morecambe, your record is: Won 5  Draw 1  Lost 3.

Further, your predicted end of season finish for Hartlepool is 24th.  Last.  Yet after 20 matches you are 5th in the division with a W11 D4 L5 record.

Is it really "poor form" or your own over optimism?  To be fair, it's easy to get sucked into this - we do well and so we (quite naturally) start to forget about who it is we are managing.

Could you improve your shots on target ratio that you also mention?  Possibly, but again you need to be realistic in your expectations - you're doing phenomenally well at present given your start of season prediction so don't get too carried away.  Remember, you started this thread as a kind of cry for help as you were having no joy playing the game, yet here you are now just a few days later with what I'd consider to be an excellent first half of the season.

Don't put so much pressure on yourself and give yourself some credit.

An excellent point herne, but let's not forget I've also strenghtened in the transfer window with capable players so I believe this overachievement must have something to do with that too. Also the dofference of value between top and bottom in League Two is not as big as in Premier League for example, so I think it's easier to do well. When drop of form like this happens I become a little shaky, frustrated and look to change things around, I always think it's my tactics. Considering that in my last save with Hartlepool I finished 3rd and 3 points off the top, I want to do at least the same and win auto promotion.

[pheelf]

I'd echo what @herne79 said but I'll add my two pence worth as to why I think you're observing the large number of long shots you have since you asked.

Your 'improved' tactic doesn't strike me as being very balanced at all. The strike partnership is too selfish and there doesn't appear to be any creative player anywhere near them so I can see why given no better option they regularly opt to shoot from distance. If you're going to play with single minded players such as Poachers and Defensive Forwards you better make sure that you have adequate players near them to provide the creative passes they need to thrive on or they are just going to end up contributing nothing. Simply put, you need players around that are going to do what they aren't doing. 

Secondly, given you are playing with 3 central defenders then why do you need to have a player dedicated to defending with a defend duty in your central midfield? Also why is he playing in the middle of your central three? Surely it would make more sense to play him (if you are going to play a defend duty at all) on the side of your attacking wing back so that he provides cover. I'd say a support duty player with the 'Hold Position' PI would be more than sufficient anyway in that you wouldn't lose much defensively.

I'm also somewhat confused about your choice of mentality. The 5-3-2 doesn't seem to me a very counter attacking shape. I'd say it is a shape which is more suited to a more aggressive mentality in that its strength is controlling the centre of the park and patiently probing the final 3rd. It needs to be patient in order to get your wide players up and into the fray otherwise they will hardly contribute to the attacking at all which is critical for the system as they are the only players providing width and stretching the oppositions back line.

I think you need to think differently about the way you're playing. It doesn't require ages watching matches as @Svenc stated but in my opinion challenging your thoughts about how you are setting up the tactic and what is the overall vision are required. You need to pick a suitable style for a tactic and stick to it. I also think you need to invert your thought process. Instead of viewing the strikers as the most important attackers and the defenders as the most important defenders instead flip it around.

Your most important defenders are your strikers and your most important attackers are your defenders. By thinking in this way it forces you to think about the whole team when it comes to both defending and attacking. Even though it may seem counter intuitive it is actually correct. The majority of your attacks will start from your goalkeeper / defenders, if the first link in the chain is broken in that they have difficulty getting the ball forward to progress the attack it doesn't matter whether you have Messi & Ronaldo up front they won't get the ball consistently in areas where they can hurt the opposition.

Similarly, if your attackers are powder puff when it comes to defending (closing down space, blocking off passes) and you are relying solely on your defenders to defend again you will struggle. I mention this as I feel the way you have set up the tactic offers no clear vision of a holistic approach to either phase of the game. Playing a Control mentality like in your first tactic makes sense but then why 'Play Out of Defence'. How does playing that TI help your attack? I would have thought it had the exact opposite effect in that it encourages your wingbacks to dwell on the ball. The question is why you want them to do that? In my view I want them to get the ball into the central midfielders as quickly as possible and then bomb up the park (especially the attack duty one) to create the width considering I don't have any width otherwise.

Also what is the reason for playing even wider? Do you want the spaces in between your central players to be large as you pretty much can't get your wingbacks any wider anyways. Control mentality gives more width, wingbacks have a PI of Play Wider and on top of that you've added a TI of More Width. How does it help your attack? Whenever you are considering adding / removing any instruction you need to ask yourself that question when you do that I think you will become a much better player. 

[Bunkerossian]

4 hours ago, Svenc said:

The last post pretty much sums FM. Despite an inherently argued struggle to follow what is going on in basic terms, the results are encouraging to say the least. That probably involved some advice, but immediately applying it lead to over performance across all boards.  I've had to check for Hartlepool, and according to any kind of number, they were an all around below average side in League Two last season. Not only in terms of league table results, which are always going to fluctuate, but several more. They conceded some of the most shots in the season, they created pitifully few (only one team was worse). Actually, they were relegated. Even considering a few possible transfers, we can establish, and this has always been the way.

You do not need spend ages to watch matches.
You are not even required to spot issues much.
As long as your tactics are some fundamentally sound and don't have holes everywhere, players are used in the right spots, aren't mismanaged, you don't panic, you'll do pretty fine more oftenly than not.
As soon as you go beyond that, you may over perform across the board, in a way that the current level of AI management are uncapable of

Yup, that's FM in a nutshell. I don't like that personally, at least not at the top -- the top managers should be a bit more sophisticated than this. Still, if this is a simulation, it's never all about tactics either way to decisively outsmart oppositions in ways that they can't respond to (doesn't happen). Now if you wanted to go into specific areas a bit more, you'd need to understand and follow them in real football at first a bit. Doing so is also, evidently, completely optional most of the time. However, if you don't watch or read much about football, then that's a bit of a daunting task. Coupled with a couple of mental or perception issues, this will never be the most ideal game. Similar to football, some stuff is always up to personal interpretation. Without ambiguity, there'd be no football management. With a depression for instance, you'll probably always see glasses half empty even when they may be half full. Similar may apply to other things clouding perception, influencing decisions,  everything. I haven't watched hugely much football in the last three years for a couple reasons. What I do like following though is analysis. Which includes stats and data. A lot of it you're able to apply in-game too, though it takes a lot of additional numbers crunching you would need to do on your own, not ideal.

Keep it simple, Harry.

In my case, it's a pre-natal brain stroke affecting the right side of the brain, and in particular the motor control and optic nerve areas, compounded with depression which stems from an inability to cope with certain aspects of my disability, and an inability to find a job. I'm often wondering if that fateful hemorrhage also affected my cognitive abilities, to the point that I cannot analyze some events that happen, such as games in FM. I'll mention further that I suck at maths, and can only use digital watches.

[IscoDisco]

1 hour ago, herne79 said:

What poor from?

Since you drew against Morecambe, your record is: Won 5  Draw 1  Lost 3.

Further, your predicted end of season finish for Hartlepool is 24th.  Last.  Yet after 20 matches you are 5th in the division with a W11 D4 L5 record.

Is it really "poor form" or your own over optimism?  To be fair, it's easy to get sucked into this - we do well and so we (quite naturally) start to forget about who it is we are managing.

Could you improve your shots on target ratio that you also mention?  Possibly, but again you need to be realistic in your expectations - you're doing phenomenally well at present given your start of season prediction so don't get too carried away.  Remember, you started this thread as a kind of cry for help as you were having no joy playing the game, yet here you are now just a few days later with what I'd consider to be an excellent first half of the season.

Don't put so much pressure on yourself and give yourself some credit.

Probably my problem as well. Predicted 14th, I began the League amazing and now second in the league with 5 points behind number one because of some draws and losses - before on a 9 not losing streak - and now it's probably even. I thought it was poor form, but now that I'm reading this I have to say that I need to be realistic and be happy with every place over preforming the predicted placement at the end of the season. 

[herne79]

2 minutes ago, IscoDisco said:

Probably my problem as well. Predicted 14th, I began the League amazing and now second in the league with 5 points behind number one because of some draws and losses - before on a 9 not losing streak - and now it's probably even. I thought it was poor form, but now that I'm reading this I have to say that I need to be realistic and be happy with every place over preforming the predicted placement at the end of the season. 

Exactly .

Have ambition to do better than predicted, but be realistic in that ambition.  Of course if you exceed that ambition then that's a bonus.

[Armistice]

1 hour ago, pheelf said:

I'd echo what @herne79 said but I'll add my two pence worth as to why I think you're observing the large number of long shots you have since you asked.

Your 'improved' tactic doesn't strike me as being very balanced at all. The strike partnership is too selfish and there doesn't appear to be any creative player anywhere near them so I can see why given no better option they regularly opt to shoot from distance. If you're going to play with single minded players such as Poachers and Defensive Forwards you better make sure that you have adequate players near them to provide the creative passes they need to thrive on or they are just going to end up contributing nothing. Simply put, you need players around that are going to do what they aren't doing. 

Secondly, given you are playing with 3 central defenders then why do you need to have a player dedicated to defending with a defend duty in your central midfield? Also why is he playing in the middle of your central three? Surely it would make more sense to play him (if you are going to play a defend duty at all) on the side of your attacking wing back so that he provides cover. I'd say a support duty player with the 'Hold Position' PI would be more than sufficient anyway in that you wouldn't lose much defensively.

I'm also somewhat confused about your choice of mentality. The 5-3-2 doesn't seem to me a very counter attacking shape. I'd say it is a shape which is more suited to a more aggressive mentality in that its strength is controlling the centre of the park and patiently probing the final 3rd. It needs to be patient in order to get your wide players up and into the fray otherwise they will hardly contribute to the attacking at all which is critical for the system as they are the only players providing width and stretching the oppositions back line.

I think you need to think differently about the way you're playing. It doesn't require ages watching matches as @Svenc stated but in my opinion challenging your thoughts about how you are setting up the tactic and what is the overall vision are required. You need to pick a suitable style for a tactic and stick to it. I also think you need to invert your thought process. Instead of viewing the strikers as the most important attackers and the defenders as the most important defenders instead flip it around.

Your most important defenders are your strikers and your most important attackers are your defenders. By thinking in this way it forces you to think about the whole team when it comes to both defending and attacking. Even though it may seem counter intuitive it is actually correct. The majority of your attacks will start from your goalkeeper / defenders, if the first link in the chain is broken in that they have difficulty getting the ball forward to progress the attack it doesn't matter whether you have Messi & Ronaldo up front they won't get the ball consistently in areas where they can hurt the opposition.

Similarly, if your attackers are powder puff when it comes to defending (closing down space, blocking off passes) and you are relying solely on your defenders to defend again you will struggle. I mention this as I feel the way you have set up the tactic offers no clear vision of a holistic approach to either phase of the game. Playing a Control mentality like in your first tactic makes sense but then why 'Play Out of Defence'. How does playing that TI help your attack? I would have thought it had the exact opposite effect in that it encourages your wingbacks to dwell on the ball. The question is why you want them to do that? In my view I want them to get the ball into the central midfielders as quickly as possible and then bomb up the park (especially the attack duty one) to create the width considering I don't have any width otherwise.

Also what is the reason for playing even wider? Do you want the spaces in between your central players to be large as you pretty much can't get your wingbacks any wider anyways. Control mentality gives more width, wingbacks have a PI of Play Wider and on top of that you've added a TI of More Width. How does it help your attack? Whenever you are considering adding / removing any instruction you need to ask yourself that question when you do that I think you will become a much better player. 

Yeah okay, I agree it might not be extremely balanced and the AI punished me for this, but I noticed that too and mentioned it in the previous post. However, I think it is more capable of racking points than the tactic I started with.

 

What I want to achieve is simple, there are many possibilities but I am limited to a few. First because of players and this leads to a second reason, formation. Brighter or should I say more experienced heads will probably get more creative with roles & duties combination, but because I still am driven by results atm and still learning the attacking patterns, I do not have much creativity. Okay, I've got three defenders and I opted for another defend duty because I want depth too. I noticed having all support duties or should I say like in your example, two support and one attack duty, your midfield gets a bit flat. I noticed that a defend duty helps with triangles. Triangles help possession and more passing options especially when recycling possession. 

 

Now regarding my football style. I try to keep it as simple as possible. I want to build attacks with short passes, from the back, including the goalkeeper. As we move up the field, I need movement from my players and to remain patient, while keeping the passing options open. This way we keep possession of the ball. How do I want to open defences? It's probably a hard task at least for me because I always hated this point but matter of fact, I am not good at counter-attacks either so I need to master a style first before trying something else. Since overperforming means the AI will adapt a more defensive approach, I will settle with this attack approach, to open defences up.

 

I need full width, so I used Play Wider TI, to encourage wing play and try to attract the opponent's players on the wings to free space for my central midfielder & AF. I am looking to play risky passes, but only one player is instructed to do that, and that's Walker. If Walker, my Roaming PM in this case, is not in form, we struggle. Then again, I am looking to create more movement, somehow, it's just not working honestly. I know the principles of attacking play, I read Cleon's Art of Attacking a while ago, but I never managed to create good movement to help players open spaces for others.

 

I play Lower Tempo because I want players to consider their options. I play Play out of Defence because of what I said before, but Control comes with short passing for my CBs, so I'll probably remove that TI.

 

Other than that I am not sure my TIs are unbalancing that much my tactic. I feel roles & duties are uninspired.

[pheelf]

1 hour ago, Armistice said:

Yeah okay, I agree it might not be extremely balanced and the AI punished me for this, but I noticed that too and mentioned it in the previous post. However, I think it is more capable of racking points than the tactic I started with.

When I state that I think its unbalanced I don't necessarily mean that it wont work but rather that it's likely to only work in specific circumstances. For the Counter tactic you posted it will work well when you come up against a side which commits men forward and gives your strikers plenty of space hence why you beat Sheffield United so convincingly. However, when you came up against Plymouth Argyle which is a far worse side you lost. When you come up against sides which respect you and don't leave you space to attack that tactic wont help you. Considering that you are over performing and you'll likely come up against many teams which set-up like that I can't see how that tactic is going to be more efficient at racking up points in the long run.

1 hour ago, Armistice said:

What I want to achieve is simple, there are many possibilities but I am limited to a few. First because of players and this leads to a second reason, formation. Brighter or should I say more experienced heads will probably get more creative with roles & duties combination, but because I still am driven by results atm and still learning the attacking patterns, I do not have much creativity. Okay, I've got three defenders and I opted for another defend duty because I want depth too. I noticed having all support duties or should I say like in your example, two support and one attack duty, your midfield gets a bit flat. I noticed that a defend duty helps with triangles. Triangles help possession and more passing options especially when recycling possession. 

I don't believe that the type of player available places any major restriction on the type of roles you can adopt. I have played tactics with Complete Forwards, Inside Forwards & Deep Lying Playmakers in the N. Irish 3rd division and that worked out just fine. You would still get those triangles with 2 support and attack duty players and I'd argue that having a SDA midfield creates less triangles than a SAS. The reason being that the D & A have a large vertical gap between them and the S & A have a large horizontal gap between them. Ball retention requires players to be in closer proximity to each other than that setup encourages.

1 hour ago, Armistice said:

Now regarding my football style. I try to keep it as simple as possible. I want to build attacks with short passes, from the back, including the goalkeeper. As we move up the field, I need movement from my players and to remain patient, while keeping the passing options open. This way we keep possession of the ball. How do I want to open defences? It's probably a hard task at least for me because I always hated this point but matter of fact, I am not good at counter-attacks either so I need to master a style first before trying something else. Since overperforming means the AI will adapt a more defensive approach, I will settle with this attack approach, to open defences up.

If that is the way you want to play then why play a mentality that encourages less movement and is focused on keeping shape and waiting for the opposition to over commit?

How does playing a Poacher and Defensive Forward align with that approach?

I think as @Cleon has stated many times previously you need to focus on your own approach rather than that of the AI. 

1 hour ago, Armistice said:

I need full width, so I used Play Wider TI, to encourage wing play and try to attract the opponent's players on the wings to free space for my central midfielder & AF. I am looking to play risky passes, but only one player is instructed to do that, and that's Walker. If Walker, my Roaming PM in this case, is not in form, we struggle. Then again, I am looking to create more movement, somehow, it's just not working honestly. I know the principles of attacking play, I read Cleon's Art of Attacking a while ago, but I never managed to create good movement to help players open spaces for others.

You already have natural width so why would you need even more? Incidentally, having the Play Wider TI does little to encourage more play down the wings, all it does is spread your players horizontally when attacking. In order to get more play down the wings you need to use the 'Exploit the Flanks' TIs. 

You get more movement by using the correct roles which encourage roaming. You get more movement by playing a suitable mentality with appropriate TIs and PIs.

1 hour ago, Armistice said:

I play Lower Tempo because I want players to consider their options. I play Play out of Defence because of what I said before, but Control comes with short passing for my CBs, so I'll probably remove that TI.

Other than that I am not sure my TIs are unbalancing that much my tactic. I feel roles & duties are uninspired.

All of your players? Are you sure that your players have that sort of ability to pull it off? To my mind a low tempo passing game requires players which are technically gifted when on the ball, have good off the ball and strong mental skills. Are Hartlepool United stacked with those sort of players?

How does slowing down the tempo actually help your attacking? How does playing out of defence help your attacking? You need to be able to answer those questions in order to understand the tactic you are creating otherwise you're just shooting in the dark and hoping for the best.

[Armistice]

Hmm I think you are mixing some things up, mate. Yeah I used Counter tactic against Sheff Utd, but not against the clubs in the league. I use the Control one for that. I don't have a DF & Poacher in that. I have DLF & AF. I know it doesn't change much, but I thought I'd mention to clear it up.

 

I agree with your passing triangles regarding roles and it gave me food for thoughts, but you mentioned SAS, that means I have to put my attacking mid in the middle and the two support on his side. Not that I don't like this setup, but will the attacking mid be able to exploit the space left by DLF if he's not on his side? I probably need a PI to encourage a certain movement from the striker.

I removed Play Out of Defence and Lower Tempo and added Shorter Passing TI (now it should make more sense using Play Wider TI). Forgot to say that in the Control tactic I added Shorter Passing PI to certain players I needed to pass short. But I also removed those PIs.

[pheelf]

6 minutes ago, Armistice said:

Hmm I think you are mixing some things up, mate. Yeah I used Counter tactic against Sheff Utd, but not against the clubs in the league. I use the Control one for that. I don't have a DF & Poacher in that. I have DLF & AF. I know it doesn't change much, but I thought I'd mention to clear it up.

Ah..I see..my mistake. Even in that tactic however I still don't understand why you've selected those particular TIs and how they help your attacking play. 

[Armistice]

5 minutes ago, pheelf said:

Ah..I see..my mistake. Even in that tactic however I still don't understand why you've selected those particular TIs and how they help your attacking play. 

Well considering my last post (removed Lower Tempo & Play out of Def & added Shorter Passing), it looks like this (didn't change roles yet).

 

 

I want short passing and triangles, possession but I still want width to stretch the defence. Can't pass the ball into the net, not at least at this level and with these players. Since Shorter Passing reduces Tempo & Width, I wanted to give Width a push too.

[pheelf]

5 minutes ago, Armistice said:

Well considering my last post (removed Lower Tempo & Play out of Def & added Shorter Passing), it looks like this (didn't change roles yet).

 

I want short passing and triangles, possession but I still want width to stretch the defence. Can't pass the ball into the net, not at least at this level and with these players.

The point I was making with regards to the 'Play Wider' TI was that you already have great width and that adding that instruction will give you width for your wing backs similar to if you were playing the Overload mentality (Control + Stay Wider PI + Play Wider TI - Shorter Passing TI). If that's what you want then fair enough but I'd be concerned that they may get isolated and not see much of the ball given that you have a playmaker in the centre which will automatically bias the direction of the ball through the middle. I'd also posit that you need them to be slightly narrower in order to make use of their on the ball PI of running wide with the ball. If they are practically on the touchline before receiving the ball then there is no space out wide for them to run into when they get the ball.

Is the player you want to go into the DLF (S) role good at the creative side of the game? If not then you might have issues with the shorter passing as your main creative outlet is so deep. This is just my opinion but I think DLPs are suited to more counter attacking styles where as APs suit more possession oriented systems which is what I think you want to create. Having a DLP seeing a lot of the ball is all well and good but if his passing range is restricted (which Shorter Passing will do) then he isn't really doing any damage to the opposition.

I'll be interested to see how it works out for you and think you have a good chance for promotion, minor tweaks here and there could make all the difference and get you up automatically. Good luck with it.

[Bunkerossian]

On 01. 10. 2017. at 12:01, looping said:

Good then you have one issue to tackle.

Move your defensive line up and down. See if they have more or less space on the flanks. Do it aggressively (standard def line to much deeper), so you can see the greater effect, even if it is wrong.

Don't touch anything else. Space on the flanks most likely can be fixed with the defensive line.

Well, I've played the Cesena game, and somehow won. I tried to spot issues in my 4-3-3. The opposition played a 3-3-2-2 with a DM. Initially, they were causing a lot of issues with crosses, and as I saw a goal coming, I pushed the D-Line up. It had one net positive effect: instead of my defense trying to deal with crosses, the duty fell on my GK, who is exceptional at coming out to get crosses. However, their left back still had success in getting crosses in. For reasons unknown, the amount of crosses he directed dropped off in the 2. half.

Offensively- my three strikers were overcrowded by the opposition. More worryingly, the wide defenders were extremely hesitant to cross, and preferred to cut inside, and pass to my midfielders. Acting on a suggestion of my Ass. Manager, I activated Pump Ball into box, Hit Early Crosses and Float Crosses. Things did not change for the better, so I removed those 3 things, and tried experimenting with maxing out passing length- Go Route One. Only marginal improvements happened.

I suppose my half-time team-talk might've had some effect on my strikers, because the two invisible ones, actually did something good. One initiated the move, while the other scored after a pass from the B2B midfielder. Defensively, my most intlligent defender was quite busy, as he had to cut out long balls over the top/to the flank in at least 3-4 occasions. Some change in Cesena's tactics also caused Muriel to suddenly come into the play. His speed was never seen in the first half, but in the second half, he had 3-4 runs down the right channel, almost one after the other.

The thing is, I still have no idea why things happened the way they did. @herne79 and @Cleon might say that analyzing stuff on your own is the only way, but I really don't know what to make of this.

[looping]

@Bunkerossian

You have to be patient. The game is in my opinión horribly difficult, now I'm starting to understand things and I'm more sure than ever. Be patient because this is really challenging.

Send me the pkm.

 

[Bunkerossian]

Just now, looping said:

@Bunkerossian

You have to be patient. The game is in my opinión horribly difficult, now I'm starting to understand things and I'm more sure than ever. Be patient because this is really challenging.

Send me the pkm.

 

Which PKM exactly? The folder that has them is full of them.

[looping]

3 minutes ago, Bunkerossian said:

Well, I've played the Cesena game

 

 

[Bunkerossian]

1 minute ago, looping said:

 

 

There are 9 PKM-s from that game- this is what I meant when I asked which one.