A Guide to Mentality.

[SFraser]

It seems that of all the tactical sliders and tactical options available in FM2009 that mentality is the one that is causing the most headaches, problems and discussion. Whereas options like Long Shots and Run With Ball have a fairly predictable result, the effects of mentality are less obvious outside of their extremes, and within the extremes they produce behaviour that is rarely desireable. Mentality is difficult to translate into readilly understood basic footballing terminology, and while five phrases exist to give a rough guide to the general effects of the slider, the results are often contradictory to assumptions or do not fit the general perspectives of the roles being defined.

If we start at the basics with a definition of mentality from common reference sources then it is my opinion that we begin to get a grasp of the true effect of mentality ingame.

Mentality:

- a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations.

This is a great definition that perfectly suits the purposes of this discussion, and relates well to the context of Football Manager. The mentality slider is a way of influencing and determining the way a player interprets and responds to situations. Every other tactical slider or tactical option is a direct instruction. Mentality is a general, subtle and complete modification of the players interpretation and response of the footballing situation he is faced with.

Every single player in Football Manager is constructed out of a multitude of attributes and features, and these determine the characteristics of the player both on and off the pitch. In effect the attributes and features of a player are his personality, intelligence, technical ability and work ethic. Every player will already have his own individual way of approaching football and playing football and persuing his career and indeed behaving in general before any manager and any tactical instructions are applied. This inbuilt variation of players can be seen in the effort put into training schedules, in his reaction to discipline, in his off-field behaviour, in getting along with others, or his tendency to stir up controversy and transfer talk.

On the football pitch these variations in behaviour occur hundreds or thousands of times per match. Every time the player is faced with a decision, he will react to it in his own particular way. On the football pitch however these variations in player personality are generally directed towards the game of football in question, and the manager has vastly more power of influence over the decisions made by the player. Of all the tools at the managers disposal to direct and to influence decision making, mentality is the greatest of them all.

The mentality slider gives the manager direct control of the general mindset of the player in question. It is important to understand that it is the behaviour of a player mentality influences and not his ultimate goals on the field. The manager may wish to win the game of football by a comfortable margin, but giving his attacking players high mentalities will result in rushed, aggressive football with players constantly choosing to take up positions on the shoulders of the defence.

The rough guides to mentality on the tactical screen -defensive-general-attacking- are good guides towards the effect of mentality, but they do not explain exactly how this is acheived or what mentality affects to produce these results. My understanding of mentality may be incorrect, but I will now detail how I see mentality operating.

Mentality

The mentality slider is a way of influencing individual personalities away from their normal/general personal mindset towards a more cautious and conservative style of football or towards a more aggressive and attacking style of football. Mentality does not set goals for the player, it influences decision making and behaviour.

Player Positions in a formation and the players preferred role already bring with them a basic set of rules, concerns, ambitions and playstyles. A player himself brings to that role his own unique way of playing football and making the role-relevant choices. The mentality slider allows the manager to influence the mindset of the player within that role, and within his own personal playstyle.

Mentality Level General

Mentality level general on the mentality slider allows the player to operate within the desired role according to his own personal view of how it should be carried out and with his own personal preferences and abilities. This level of mentality allows the natural behaviour of players to occur depending upon their ability to make decisions and see the game of football unfolding. Mentality Level General combined to maximum Creative Freedom and neutral options for all other tactical choices will see the players full personality and capability emerge in that role. Michael Carrick epitomises this role in my current FM09 game. Neutral mentality, maximum creative freedom and neutral options everywhere else tells Carrick to do what he thinks is best from Central Midfield.

Mentality Level Attacking

Mentality level attacking increases the general footballing aggression of a player, encouraging him to play higher up the pitch, make more attacking moves, look for attacking passes, try to score goals and play faster, more aggressive forward looking football. It will provoke a player with a high workrate to track back more and try to win the ball, or to close down more aggressively. It will make prima-donnas neglect defensive duties and stay forward looking for loose balls, counter attacks, and chances on goal.

Mentality Level Defensive

Mentality Level Defensive will decrease the aggressive mentality of a player, encouraging conservative, careful football based around fewer risks and careful choices. Some players are likely to calm down and play better attacking football, while others will sit back and defend.

The irony of mentality is that the further forward you go through a formation and the closer you get to an opponents goal, the lower you want mentality to be.

[googoo56]

Great thread.

Would be good to see how well you're doing in the game.

How Carrick and the rest of your team are performing, what kind of instructions do you give to other players, what is your general approach to a game, and so on and on...

[JackDavies]

Ive got to admit, Im not quite sure i agree with all that you have written here. And must point out to other readers, this isn't fact its simply Sfrasers opinion

[star11]

SFraser,

I know JackDavies may not agree with you, and dare I say, I don't agree with everything you have written. But, I still like your ideas and the time you have taken to share your views. You seem to be bursting with ideas and opinions. I have also read your other posts.

I have a suggestion, could you please put all your ideas in one post? As I think that your initial tactical discussion plus your take on mentality would be good hand in hand. It may not be the holy grail, but it should help everyone.

Cheers

[GersFan]

I may be interpreting 'mentality' wrongly in terms of what it means in FM, but I don't agree with it from my own understanding of it, and I'll try to explain myself.

From your defence to your strikers, you can't have too big a 'gap' in the mentality it seems, or you will be told from your assistant that there is 'too big a gap between your defence and midfield, for example, that leave you vulnerable.

I don't agree that in real life this is the case at all, if mentality is taken to include the decision making process that players make on the ball. If I was managing Man United, I might tell Vidic to play with a highly defensive mentality when he receives the ball, either hoof it up the park or play the easy ball to the closest man. I might tell Ferdinand to play a normal mentality, to try and pick a good forward pass when the opportunity arises. And I might tell Evra to play with an attacking mentality, to get the ball and look to play more aggressive attacking forward passes regularly.

But in FM this would really destroy your tactics it seems, because you need your defence to be fairly close together in terms of mentality, and I don't think this is the way it should be at all.

Does mentality take into account a players positioning on the pitch ? If so, then I can see the need for the gaps in mentality to be kept fairly close together. But if mentality includes decision making when in possession, then I just don't think it's realistic at all to force the player to keep the gaps in mentality so close together.

[Wayne\'o]

good read here mate.

As much as i agree with your perception of mentality, at the end of day to have success playing FM09 you will find regurdless of how people see mentality to be good at it, all the great tactics will be similer in mentality because of the match engine..

if you apply your knowledge of the game to your home game id like to see how well you are doing..

[SFraser]

I think that the general principle of close mentalities stems from the importance of keeping shape and playing cohesive football, and also from the fact that players preferring certain roles tend to already be relatively well adapted for those roles. Your MC already players like a MC and your FC already plays like an FC, so putting them both in the team with similar neutral instructions will see them play as an MC and FC. You don't need to alter mentalities to have you MC play as an MC or your FC play as an FC, but they might not be playing those roles how you like.

Close mentalities make players stick to their formation roles very closely, albeit with their own personal touch to that role. Sticking Gary Neville at DR with neutral mentality is the same as saying "Neville you are at right back today" period. Sticking Gary Neville at DR with an attacking mentality is like saying "Neville you are at right back today, mix it up a bit, get in their faces, take a few risks". How Neville responds to an attacking mentality depends upon his particular characteristics, just like the difference between the football played by Giggs and Ronaldo with neutral mentalities in ML and MR position.

[googoo56]

So SFraser I like your main idea here, but tell us more.

How do you exactly set up your team, your individuals, and how much success have you had with it?

[micro-ice]

interesting ideas mate.

in fact i have set up my barcelona team's mentality and instructions like you have advised and it seems to be working quite well. needless to say, pretty much any tactic can work for my team. however i am still suprised that i can archieve 60% possession when using such a wide mentality scale.

[el jefe]

Epic bump!

Haven't been active on these boards, so I've been reading a few old threads.

SFraser:

"The irony of mentality is that the further forward you go through a formation and the closer you get to an opponents goal, the lower you want mentality to be."

This very sentence has completely changed my way of thinking when setting up tactics. I've often been frustrated about goalkeepers, defenders and DM's giving away possession by clearing the ball into touch or hoofing it in stupid situations, or just standing there with no clue about what to do with the ball; plus attacking players being too eager in the final third.

I've usually set up my players with higher mentality the higher up the pitch you go, because I thought it made sense. Seems logical, yes? After reading this I simply turned it upside down: GK, defenders and DM with attacking mentality, CM's slightly lower and attacking players similar to CM's or lower. Works like a charm: keeping possession, very little aimless hoofing, circulating the ball like I want them to, patiently waiting for good chances instead of taking silly shots. Love it.

[jim morrow]

El Jefe, time has passed since February 2009.....I can advice you to read TTF'09 and TTF'10, you will find some important informations about mentality and decision linked to your strategy and tactic you want for your team.

[el jefe]

Thanks Jim, will try to get my head around TTF'10 after my exams. TTF'09 was very useful, but I thought '10 perhaps wouldn't be that helpful since I'm not using tactics creator, player roles or shouts. Did it at the beginnig, but have had more success after adjusting the sliders like in previous versions of FM.

[jim morrow]

For myself, I used tactic creator and after, I select all individual instructions, as each player is different than another one, you need to adjust sliders individually, i'm okay with you.

I'm not sure that TTF"10 exist as a concrete document but if you've already read TTF'09, you know how put mentality silders according to strategy, position of the player and duties.