How do you use the opposition scouting report?

[fivetwelvepony]

I'm curious how people adjust tactics and personnel in response to the opposition scouting report. I don't find the strengths and weaknesses to be very helpful, but maybe I'm doing something wrong. Good teams: everything is a strength, little is a weakness. Bad teams it's the reverse. Then there is the personnel recommendation that result -- like "The team isn't the best in terms of overall teamwork (Joe Hardworker's work ethic may help to exploit this) -- that I mostly ignore. I wonder if the game is telling me this for a reason, and it could actually help to choose Joe even if he isn't who I was going to select.

Then there's the formation analysis. This too is pretty misleading. The report might suggest that the opposition is vulnerable to playing against a 4-2-3-1, but that could just be because, say, a recent opponent was PSG who plays a 4-2-3-1 while many of their other opponents play a 4-4-2.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 13, 2020 by fivetwelvepony
Didn't intend image to be there

[bielsadidnothingwrong]

I look at tactical style to see if I'm playing against a defensive team or one that will try to beat us first of all. I know my first tactical objective is dominate possession, so I can be a little more risky with mentality or team instructions if I'm playing a defensive team or vice versa.

 

Second, identifying the playmakers or who the oppo tactic is designed to playthrough. I do this because I assign man markers on these players through player instructions.

 

Finally I will check formation analysis just to see how the report matches up with their other matches. This is mostly to check formation tendencies so I know how they might change their shape if winning/losing (albeit I completely infer it) so I can ensure I have +1 in defense. 

 

Opposition instructions I just wait until matchday to see the starting lineup and set up accordingly.

[Sharkn20]

Tactical decisions between my 3 preset tactics.

[mp_87]

Opposition analysis is very important to me and how I play the game and I've had a set way of doing things for several years now. The actual scout report itself I do use, but as one part of my approach to it.

Firstly, I work ahead of myself. In the lead up to the present game, I will already have a couple of tactical scouts compiling reports on the next two games ahead. I'll come back to why I do this....

 

The Scout Report I use mostly as an initial tool. Formations used, managerial style, breakdowns of goals/assists/conceded, team characteristics, etc. It gives me a rough idea of what to look for and what the opposition is about. But I then go and basically do some scouting myself - I will watch the goal highlights of like every match the opposition has played that season (this sounds extreme, but really just takes a few seconds per match) and draw conclusions from that. Going forward how do they attack and score goals, from wide play? Central and through balls? Set pieces? etc. And vice versa defensively.

From this I plan how I am going to approach the match (including the match training focus beforehand) and set my team out. That isn't ever changing strategy really - I am in most saves going with possession-heavy, Juego de Posicion type tactics, but have about 25 different (often just very subtle tweaks) shapes saved as preset tactics in order to be able to load them quickly. Some quick examples would be: If the opposition is strong centrally then I might need to play a double pivot midfield for extra insurance, or an inverted fullback to make an extra man so I can win the battle for supremacy. Maybe the opposition is vulnerable to through balls, and so I know to play an attacker on the shoulder of the defence to punish this. Or they might be vulnerable wide, either to direct dribbles (from the wideman), or they leave a flank/fullback exposed, and they can be overloaded by for instance a flying wingback on the overlap. Set pieces too, I might notice a particular area/player who is a threat for them and is a source of goals, so I know to change my set pieces to put my strongest aerial presence in that zone. All this I can get from purely just watching the goal highlights for a few seconds, you notice trends.

 

As I said, I do my scouting and start planning a couple of matches in advance. I am not saying this is necessary, and I think a lot of people reading this would be scratching their head asking why, but for me I find it helps especially in terms of squad management and match planning if you've got games coming thick and fast. If I've got three games a week for instance, Player A I might rest for Game 1, because tactically I know I need him for Game 2 and 3 later in the week. Player B I might need for Game 1, and then with my scouting reports already done I can see I need him for Game 3 and so I possibly consider resting him for Game 2. Etc.....

 

I also make heavy use of the Notes function. Every time I play a team I will make a record of the result and then their manager, formation, etc. and what their tactical style was (with and without ball), how they played against us/did they make it difficult, how/where goals were scored, and which individuals stood out. And then how I operated, how it went, which individuals shone and so on. So I can refer back to previous meetings which again at least provides another tool in order to prepare for a match.

 

I guess a lot of people will find that an extreme way of doing things, but for me I find it doesn't take that long especially once you get into the routine of it and I think it works. I feel I rarely get caught out by teams or they manage to come out and blow us away early on and expose vulnerabilities etc. It is much more my tactical decisions that pay off and feel decisive.

Edited October 15, 2020 by mp_87

[Sharkn20]

5 hours ago, mp_87 said:

Opposition analysis is very important to me and how I play the game and I've had a set way of doing things for several years now. The actual scout report itself I do use, but as one part of my approach to it.

Firstly, I work ahead of myself. In the lead up to the present game, I will already have a couple of tactical scouts compiling reports on the next two games ahead. I'll come back to why I do this....

 

The Scout Report I use mostly as an initial tool. Formations used, managerial style, breakdowns of goals/assists/conceded, team characteristics, etc. It gives me a rough idea of what to look for and what the opposition is about. But I then go and basically do some scouting myself - I will watch the goal highlights of like every match the opposition has played that season (this sounds extreme, but really just takes a few seconds per match) and draw conclusions from that. Going forward how do they attack and score goals, from wide play? Central and through balls? Set pieces? etc. And vice versa defensively.

From this I plan how I am going to approach the match (including the match training focus beforehand) and set my team out. That isn't ever changing strategy really - I am in most saves going with possession-heavy, Juego de Posicion type tactics, and have about 25 different (often just very subtle tweaks) shapes saved as preset tactics in order to be able to load them quickly. Some quick examples would be: If the opposition is strong centrally then I might need to play a double pivot midfield for extra insurance, or an inverted fullback to make an extra man so I can win the battle for supremacy. Maybe the opposition is vulnerable to through balls, and so I know to play an attacker on the shoulder of the defence to punish this. Or they might be vulnerable wide, either to direct dribbles (from the wideman), or they leave a flank/fullback exposed, and they can be overloaded by for instance a flying wingback on the overlap. Set pieces too, I might notice a particular area/player who is a threat for them and is a source of goals, so I know to change my set pieces to put my strongest aerial presence in that zone. All this I can get from purely just watching the goal highlights for a few seconds, you notice trends.

 

As I said, I do my scouting and start planning a couple of matches in advance. I am not saying this is necessary, and I think a lot of people reading this would be scratching their head asking why, but for me I find it helps especially in terms of squad management and match planning if you've got games coming thick and fast. If I've got three games a week for instance, Player A I might rest for Game 1, because tactically I know I need him for Game 2 and 3 later in the week. Player B I might need for Game 1, and then with my scouting reports already done I can see I need him for Game 3 and so I possibly consider resting him for Game 2. Etc.....

 

I also make heavy use of the Notes function. Every time I play a team I will make a record of the result and then their manager, formation, etc. and what their tactical style was (with and without ball), how they played against us/did they make it difficult, how/where goals were scored, and which individuals stood out. And then how I operated, how it went, which individuals shone and so on. So I can refer back to previous meetings which again at least provides another tool in order to prepare for a match.

 

I guess a lot of people will find that an extreme way of doing things, but for me I find it doesn't take that long especially once you get into the routine of it and I think it works. I feel I rarely get caught out by teams or they manage to come out and blow us away early on and expose vulnerabilities etc. It is much more my tactical decisions that pay off and feel decisive.

That's awesome man, well done. Lots to learn from this post.

[CaptCanuck]

@mp_87 - excellent point on watching opposition goals. I've not done that yet, but will for matches I think are going to be tricky.

I don't go to the degree you do in regard to tactic tweaks, but I do find it useful for picking between my main two tactics and then figuring out whether I need to do any player shadowing and/or try and shut off passing routes, picking between my squad, amongst other small changes that can be made.

It is also helpful for realising a team has sacked their manager and changed styles. I will revisit past matches against teams and have seen on more than one occassion a new manager has come in and changed things.

One annoying thing though, is if the team makes a change in their tactic/presumed lineup and I get caught out trying to match up... doh!

Edited October 14, 2020 by CaptCanuck

[IbrahimAliMaher]

I probably don't make that much use of the scouting report tbh. I use it more when coming up against a team I don't know so much about, or for big games where there's a tight selection call; reading 'player such and such may negate this' sometimes tips the balance. Sometimes when you're playing a big team reading the scout report can be demoralising when you see the 'strengths' column is as long as your arm, and the 'weaknesses' has about three things on it, and has stuff like 'lacks strength in depth at LB' 

I make more use of the 'pre-match analysis' tbh. I use this to tweak my defensive width, and sometimes will prefer one formation over another if it says they have a specific weakness to it.

Also if you actually bother to do the pre-match meeting then this often gives you a heads up over like opposition formation and line ups, though not 100% guaranteed!

Edited October 15, 2020 by IbrahimAliMaher

[mp_87]

On 14/10/2020 at 23:58, CaptCanuck said:

@mp_87 - excellent point on watching opposition goals. I've not done that yet, but will for matches I think are going to be tricky.

I don't go to the degree you do in regard to tactic tweaks, but I do find it useful for picking between my main two tactics and then figuring out whether I need to do any player shadowing and/or try and shut off passing routes, picking between my squad, amongst other small changes that can be made.

It is also helpful for realising a team has sacked their manager and changed styles. I will revisit past matches against teams and have seen on more than one occassion a new manager has come in and changed things.

One annoying thing though, is if the team makes a change in their tactic/presumed lineup and I get caught out trying to match up... doh!

Yes managers is another thing I often make Notes on and take into consideration. With my approach I'm sometimes watching the goals and making plans, only to then realise a team has changed managers a couple of games ago and so they might have completely changed their approach! So making notes on managers is also another tool to help prepare pre-game.

And yes, empathise on plans sometimes failing before the whistle! I adhere to the 'spare man at the back' principle - two centre backs for one central striker, three vs. two - and occasionally the opposition will have gone with eg. two strikers for the first time that season, and there is some readjustment to be done! 

Edited October 15, 2020 by mp_87

[tyro]

How do I use it?

Sometimes I look at it and make tweaks but most of the time I just stick to my plan and then watch how it goes in the first couple of minutes and tweak it during the game.

I played a game the other day and thought I will use the pre-match scouting and adjust my tactic a bit. They mentioned: their crossing is not good, they don't have good headers. So I made sure to practice corner taking, kept my target man as a striker and made sure we float crosses to him. That didn't quite work out at all and I was down 2:0 at half-time. Then I started to tweak again and got 5 good chances with 1 goal made. Not enough to at least draw but it showed me to stick to my plan and tweak in game when I see something actually happening.

 

[Nombre de usuario genérico]

If you closely at their formation from the Opponent Reports > Analyst Report, it will usually have a winger on one side and an inside forward on the other.  You'll notice the winger sits ever so slightly deeper because he's set to support, so this will most likely be their focus of attack side if they don't play inside. I don't know if it's coincidence or not, but I usually get attacked on my left side, which just happens to my weakest position defensively.  I usually will not attack to this side.  I usually pause the game 10 minutes in and view the analysis to see how they're attacking.  I also like to press a lot, so I will usually have my fullback set as a wingback to be closer to their support guy and use a fullback on the attack side.

If you can figure out how many players are more advanced compared to their peers by looking at their formation in the Analyst Report, you can tell what mentality they are using, like 3 attackers is usually a balanced mentality.  You can also just check the manager's profile, it will tell you there.  I find the manager's profile is more accurate in determining the team mentality than what is listed in the Analyst Report.  The report usually says the team tends to play more cautiously at home/away, but the manager's profile is how they actually play.  You can also determine how they'll press from the manager's profile.  I try to play at a faster tempo when the other team is pressing, although I'm not sure that helps, especially if I'm misplacing too many short passes.

I also love looking at the goal analysis, especially the assist location and assist type, so I now which side to focus the attack or whether to cross or use through balls.

During the game, if I only have a couple of shots on goal in first 15 minutes, I'll rewind the match to see how I'm playing (getting tackled, dribbling too much, errant passes, not winning second balls/loose balls, only taking long shots) to make adjustments.

Another thing I note is kickoff at the start of each half.  I especially like to note when they start with the ball and view how narrow my defense is to their offense.  I should be slightly narrower.  If it's too narrow and you change it within the first 10 minutes or so, you will quickly see your possession shoot up 8-10% points once you get the defensive width right.  However, I do press and play with a high d-line, playing differently, like parking the bus, it may be wiser to be very narrow, but I've never played this way, so playing just a tad more narrow works for me.

Edited October 17, 2020 by Nombre de usuario genérico