Opinions on Minimal TI's

[A_Sober_Paddy]

So i have been having trouble finding consistency in my current save file, so decided to go back and look at tactic*

I only had 2 TI's

Exploit Flanks

So i'm wondering if i was just lucky in my game last year?

*Won 7 consecutive league of Ireland titles

[Old Scouser Tommy]

I only use 2 or 3 maybe usually. At the moment Play out of Defence, Close Down Much More & Push Higher Up. One system I use I only have Retain Possesion. I don't like to over complicate things and for me it keeps things more natural and not forced.

 

[Cleon]

Why are you thinking that you have to use TI's for? There is no minimal amount. The reasoning behind using them should be because they give you something specific that you want from the tactic that it either doesn't give you or doesn't give you enough of currently. There has to be a reason to use a TI. You don't use them just because.

[HUNT3R]

TIs tweak what's already there. If there's not a reason to tweak, you don't have to.

[Atarin]

As @Cleon and @HUNT3R have pointed out TI's are there to help you tweak. I find Mentality and Shape + Roles and Duties cover most situations. On a similar note, I mostly use PI's to stop players doing things that they don't have the attributes for, e.g - telling a player with low finishing/long shots to shoot less often, or a player with low dribbling to dribble less often. I also give my keeper PI's for distribution depending on the situation. I keep it all very simple.

By keeping it stripped down I can easily identify where my problems are. They are either general problems (Mentality/Shape) or specific (Player/Role/Duty). If the team as a whole are not performing then we may well need a Mentality or Shape adjustment, if one or two players are struggling then we may need to look at their competence, their Role and/or their Duty.

I'll give you an example: I was playing against a far weaker side and we weren't dominating possession in the way I thought we should be. It wasn't a problem in one particular area, as a team we were getting pushed back and couldn't keep the ball. I checked my Mentality, saw that it was Standard, and decided to move up a gear to Control. This simple change completely altered the flow of the game and no further changes were required.

Another example was early in my side's tactical development. My attacking fullback wasn't getting forward as much as I was hoping for. I changed him from FB(a) to WB(a) and things improved but not as much as I wanted so I looked again and realised that my wide midfielder was staying very wide. This was restricting my fullback's opportunities to overlap. I gave my MF the PI to cut inside and Sit Narrower and suddenly my fullback was bombing forward in the way I wanted and could be reverted back to a FB(a).

Football Manager changed for me the minute I learnt to K.I.S.S.

[westy8chimp]

I differ slightly - to me everything is intertwined and needs equal consideration.

There are cases where mentality alone is good enough to suit your needs and you can apply 0 TI. There are more specific setups or behaviours where using the TI would help more.

Let's say you are playing a  team whose main threat is a lumbering TM with no pace, you are going to want a high line.

You could achieve this with an attacking mentality where the default D-Line is high... or you could use the TI. If you want an overall attacking strategy go for the former, if you want your attacks to be slower and more thoughtful but still want a high line for a specific defensive reason.. use the TI with a lower mentality.

Also some of the TI are just shortcuts if it is a setting you wish to apply to the majority of players. If you want 7 players to 'press much more' then set it as TI and on those you don't want to press, go to PI and say 'close down less'

[OrientTillIDie]

The less I use the better. Four consecutive promotions using Shorter Passing and Play Out Of Defence (sometimes Play Fairly Narrow if I felt it was necessary). Nothing frustrates me more than seeing my players lump the ball hopefully/lessly, hence the passing related ones. My formation, roles and mentality took care of the rest.

[TheInvisibleMan]

I've recently switched from using 10-14 instructions to only a couple based on what I've read from others on here, and I'm loving it so far.

Because I used so many before I felt like if I wanted to play a different way I had to remove loads of instructions that I felt defined what my team was about. Whereas now it feels a lot easier to play in a different way and use the mentality and team shape options a lot more.

Now suddenly it looks like my players are playing with much more freedom, even without using that specific TI! They're no longer restricted by what I'm telling them to do, they seem to be playing freely but at the same time paying attention to the small number of instructions I've given them.

It's totally changed my outlook on tactics within the game and I'm now using the intructions to define my brief style of play (shorter passing, high pressing, high defensive line & plenty of width) and then tweak things within the game that I feel need changing.

[westy8chimp]

21 minutes ago, TheInvisibleMan said:

10-14 instructions

and how many contradictions  

[Jean0987654321]

I've used as much as 8 recently so it's that bad. However, the TIs I use are more consistent :D

 

 

[___tomgardner]

To me, of course ti's come secondary to roles/shape in regards to how your teams play but they can still make or break a game / fundamentally effect they way your team scores a goal

[Snorks]

On 16/05/2018 at 02:25, TheInvisibleMan said:

 

Now suddenly it looks like my players are playing with much more freedom, even without using that specific TI! They're no longer restricted by what I'm telling them to do, they seem to be playing freely but at the same time paying attention to the small number of instructions I've given them.

 

Love this! This should be used in every instructional guide to the game.

The default settings that come with the mentality generally do a good job, as long as the players have the attributes to carry it out, however the TIs are a global instruction to the whole team.

EG: If you want your full backs to overlap and get forward to deliver crosses and you select 'Look for Overlap' in the TIs, then they will do, but you have told ALL your players to look for the overlap, so don't be surprised if your MC or even DC ends up heading off down the flank.

The TIs are the general instruction "Right boys, today I want you to sit a little deeper, nice and compact and keep  possession to draw them out of their half" If you want overlapping full-backs, give them and the WM individual instructions to make it happen.

 

[pheelf]

On 14/05/2018 at 00:50, A_Sober_Paddy said:

So i have been having trouble finding consistency in my current save file, so decided to go back and look at tactic*

I only had 2 TI's

Exploit Flanks

So i'm wondering if i was just lucky in my game last year?

*Won 7 consecutive league of Ireland titles

I don't think you can win 7 consecutive titles as a result of luck.

I personally feel that minimal instructions are better. If you're having to add loads of TIs to get your team playing the way you want I'd argue that you are building your tactic on the wrong foundations. Formation, mentality, shape and player duties/roles are the foundations which should enable you to get close to the style of play you want with minimal additional TIs required.

[summatsupeer]

When I start a new tactic with a new team, typically I don't have any PI/TI.  Once i've played some games and decide I need them to get the team to play how I want.  I'll continue its development the following season if it just needs a few tweaks due to squad developments or repeat the process from scratch if i'm going a new direction.

[RodentofDoom]

For me it's 2 things

 - What does the TI (or PI) actually change

 - Does adding it make it harder to work out whats going wrong

 

When "work ball into box" doesn't change what you first think it does as a prime example.

If you don't know what effect an instruction has, it's generally best not to use it.

 

So yeah .. minimal instructions can be a good thing.

[zlatanera]

I've tended to put a lot of instructions on to try and achieve extreme pressing styles of play - still do sometimes. But on the current FM my most successful tactics have been a 433: Attacking / Fluid with Play Out Of Defence and Pass Into Space with Manchester United, and Control / Fluid with Retain Possession and Play Out Of Defence with Real Sociedad (only in February though so the latter could fail, but currently vastly overachieving with a limited squad). In fairness part of the switch is due to working more with really good teams, who can be trusted more, whereas when I play in League 2 I tend to put my players in a tactical straitjacket.