Set up depending on Opposition?

[Weasek]

I want to take me game to another level ,I have a grasp on my own teams tactics &role up to a point which i am happy.but I use the same roles &tactics nearly every game,I am doing fine with my exter team top of league 1 at the minute.i can see a man who should be tackled harder etc as thats easy based on attributes ,I wondered if anyone has written or done a video explaining how they set up depending on the opposition (the little tweaks here &there).like seeing where the opposition like to build up play &then shut that down to stop them.where to attack yourself where they are weak or space etc.i think it would make the game more interesting for me at the same time.

[Atarin]

Without wishing to be discouraging there really isn't a silver bullet "approach" you can take its more about just thinking things through logically. First of all know your team. What are you good at?  What does playing to your strengths look like? What is your plan B in terms of shape or approach. If you're up against a side that plays narrow and you play wide think about whether they're better at their game than you are at yours. By that I mean will attempting to capitalise on their vulnerable flanks pay dividends or are you better off just cutting your losses and trying as best you can to lock down your centre and negate their game? As basic principles go this is my method. You're always just comparing and contrasting. I know what I want to do, I get an idea about what they want to do and I try to decide whether I'm going to exploit, negate or a hybrid of the two.

Some simple ideas...

Narrow play can expose the flanks.
Wide play can expose the middle.
A high line can expose space in behind.
A Low line can be passive and invite pressure and long shots.

All these are as true for the AI as they are for you. You can go into much more detail but this is a good a place as any to start.

[Rashidi]

I've done videos like that before where I specifically adapt to everything the AI is throwing at me, such as exploiting specific weaknesses. It can be quite demanding but if you are up to the challenge begin simple. In my next upload where I trim down a livestream i just did on Twitch, I had a game against San Lorenzo in Argentina. Basically the final match of the stream, where certain things happened, we were doing ok, but I needed to adapt to several things, the first of which was the inability of my side to apply pressure down their wings. Then I had to figure out why we conceded one goal specifically and finally when they switched to a 424, I had to make another change to score a goal. That video should be up on YT in the next couple of days.

Not sure what system you are using but you could for example look for several things:

 What formation are u using and what formation is the AI using. 

Basically you need to understand your own formations strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes I play some crazy systems where I have an extraordinarily attacking flank, I know too that while this will pose significant problems for the AI it could be a problem for me against other formations. 
Lets say the AI is playing a double DM system and isn't coming out, what can I do to adapt to this and go to work? Then I would change a set of team instructions in my tactic  to take the game to them and work them by playing wider, thereby creating more problems for their defenders. Its more than just changing width.

What if the AI is playing a 532? Sometimes when they are playing that formation, my rule of thumb is simple like it is for all narrow systems. I don't let their fullbacks out.
What if the AI is playing a very aggressive 4123 with wide wingers who are faster than mine? I could end up specifically marking their FB positions so they always have to pass inside as they can't use their fullbacks to build up play

When we are talking about space, then I am looking at the roles they are using and the duties they could be on. If I see one specific flank being more attacking than another I could simply tweak my roles and duties just to apply pressure down that flank. How do I do this? Let's take a simple example

Lets say I am playing a 4123 which is basically 2WBs DM and say my three up front are IFx2 and one CF(S). Now lets assume I am going for a central attacking pattern which utilizes an aggressive overlap with 2 IF's attacking the centre . I have width through my fullbacks and my IFs are attacking as 2nd and 3rd strikers. Its aggressive but what if the AI has better wingers and is playing say a 4231. Their fullbacks are faster and their wingers are more deadly than mine? I could here opt to do something entirely different. I could now change one IF to an IW(S) tell my FB to go on attack duty. On the other flank I could change the IF to a Winger(A) and then change the striker to an AF.  What i have now done is get one winger to attack the space created by the opposite fullback whenever he goes attacking. If the AI consistently does this I use hit early cross and pass into space. Now it needs to defend that flank.

It's a really simplified explanation but it's what we can do in games with a few tweaks. Here I changed my gameplan. What if i didn't want to change my gameplan, and wanted to keep it simple? Then i use position marking, change one IF to a Winger and then tell the IF(A) since he is on an attacking duty to position mark the fullback on his flank. I apply pressure with one winger and on the other flank i kill off one passing option by using position marking.

 

 

[Weasek]

Thank you so much both of you for taking the time out to help .its exactly what I am looking for i think there's so much to this game to learn which is fantastic. I am quite limited as I have 2 slowish centre backs so I don't like to push the l.o.e up to far .but I will experiment a little with the advice&watch that video.just set up my team now to try to shut down Northampton Town where i think they will try to play out.i love watching tactical battles in real life so this should be fun.

[Rashidi]

3 minutes ago, Weasek said:

Thank you so much both of you for taking the time out to help .its exactly what I am looking for i think there's so much to this game to learn which is fantastic. I am quite limited as I have 2 slowish centre backs so I don't like to push the l.o.e up to far .but I will experiment a little with the advice&watch that video.just set up my team now to try to shut down Northampton Town where i think they will try to play out.i love watching tactical battles in real life so this should be fun.

Lower leagues - remember attributes are relative. And take things a easy first.

[Weasek]

8 minutes ago, Rashidi said:

Lower leagues - remember attributes are relative. And take things a easy first.

Cheers,quite funny I am 3-0 up after 23 mins !!sure it  won't last.