Toi

No complaints regarding the tactics this time, I’m currently playing a 4-5-1 system and getting some good results. My team Southampton have move up into 14th place after being 19 in the PL.
25 games have been played, and I’m still confident that I can finish in a mid-table spot like I promised the board. But there are a few things that are annoying me quite a lot:
1) My players need too many chances to score goals.
2) During some games as soon as AI starts scoring they can’t stop, from 1-0 to 3-0 in a very short period, no matter what I do especially against the top-teams. As soon as the score the first it starts leaking like crazy.
3) AI scores too many goals from corners and free kicks, I may be playing very well against a team and as soon as the get an opportunity from a corner or a free kick, it’s a goal.
4) AI changes it’s formation like crazy, constantly switching players from a position to another, really ridiculous!

Does someone have the same opinion? And if yes, do you have some tips I could use?

AnfieldRoad10

with regards to the scoring thing, liverpool missed a lot of chances that they should have scored at the weekend, thats the way football goes at times.
Also, in real life, real managers participating in 90 minutes worth of football tweak and tinker ith their tactics and formations all of the time, aiming to always be one step ahead of the opponent.

Toi

That I understand, and I have no problem with that. As you can see, I manage Southampton so I'm not managing a big club. I'm not just playing for results, I enjoy playing with smaller clubs. But at the rate it is going it is ridiculous. After the AI scores, sometimes it looks like a walk over.

Steven Wright

I agree. With a tactic that had just beaten Everton 3-0 i played Arsenal

26 minutes into the game

Arsenal 5 v 0 Liverpool

Shots 5 v 5
On Target 5 v 1
Possession 39 v$$ 61

Gandelf The White

Definitely agree with you mate. The game does tend to score goals in ridiculously quick succesion unless you change something straight away. I understand that this happens in real life but it happens a little too often in the game imo. Its not really as much of a problem for me now as i've pretty much cracked it but it used to really **** me off, and does still tend to happen every once and a while.

My real problem however is with the formation changing! This isn't the first time i've complained about it either. Of course i don't have a problem with the game changing its formation whenever it feels to. What annoys me is the fact that its effects are instantaneous. I always focus on the formations screen during games and pause as soon as the opposition changes so that i can adjust my own. The problem though is that even then it happens so fast that you can sometimes miss it, yet as soon as the change is made they almost always get an attack on goal and usually end up scoring. There's been countless times wen i've been playing a massive club, had my tactics spot-on throughout the whole game, only to be outdone in the final seconds becuase the game swapped some players around and dey'd scored before i even had a chance to counter. I just think you should be given more of a warning when the oppositions tactics change. indeed, by the time the in-game commentary informs you its usually far too late.

I just find it extremely unrealistic that swapping one or two players can have such an immediate effect (im talking a matter of 2 seconds, if that). I understand that SI need to find some way of making the game more difficult but at least give us a warning

afeckingname

agreed and it is so bleeding tedious to have to constantly rearrange centre backs to mark the tall striker because the AI changes them every two minutes.

Toi

Does anyone know, whether SI plan to do something about this problem?
Over the last couple of days, I have had some success playing a solid 4-1-4-1 system.
The advantage is that I don’t concede a lot but I also do not score a lot.
Another thing that I have noticed is that most people are playing a system with 1 striker. This because of the fact that no one wants to concede goals and the only way to achieve this seems to be playing with 4 defenders and 5 midfielders.

What is annoying me the most as I have already said, is the fact that I can be playing against i.e. Newcastle and give them a good run for their money. And then all of a sudden they score three goals in a short period of time. This is so frustrating!

Even when I anticipate the AI switching to a 4-2-4 system, I get into trouble.
The most frustrating goals are the balls which get played in, and the goalkeeper seems to push it straight into the path of an AI attacker. This always results in a goal. As the AI seldom seems to miss!
Once AI gets the ball into the box in the last 20-10 minutes of the game, it either goes in straight away or they get a corner and still manage to score.

Leaving you with doubts over a tactic that seemed to work so well!

rashidi1

One thing people should try and do more often in games is spend some time studying the AI manager before a game. You need to look for out for things like his tactical knowledge and his motivational skills, these are things that can swing a match.

Another area of concern and i do not see a lot of people practicing this is using actionzones in conjunction with match stats. In a lot of games, i depend on that. Whenever I take the lead, I look to actionzones to let me know if there is a potential problem and compare these to my player ratings. If I find that in some part of the field we should be getting more possession i look at the player stats..to see if he's doing well in attacking and defending plays. If for instance I discover that my midfield is not doing too well, I first make adjustments to any tactic by reducing the amount of overlapping runs, this can be done quite easily if you adopt slider mentality changes and then adjusting width to normal.

I have had matches where I go down to the AI, I make a quick adjustment and come back to win 4-1, there have also been matches where I screwed up. In one classic game we were supposed to lose, we took a 2-1 lead into halftime.My players all had superb morale and 7s and 8s. I should have said I was pleased instead I encouraged them, the AI came back with 2 quick goals after the break, and despite me going down to 10 men, i made adjustments to my tactic in terms of slider changes, held on and forced an equaliser.

The thing is, the game requires you to know what to do. Many people complain that its difficult, I on the other hand think its very easy. The challenge for any player who wants to become good at this game is to understand defensivelines and closing down, as well as effects of mentality. There are presently two threads in the forum one should check up. One is Faeron's thread on defensive lines and the other is mine on Basic Tactic building, where i deal with such slider changes.

I do agree on one aspect, too many goals are now being scored from corners at least 10% higher than the average. However, I can give as good as I get. So use this to swing things in your favour. Adopt a good corner strategy both from an attacking stance and from a defensive stance.

Toi

Rashidi,

I do agree that lot's of people are not really getting into the game. On the other hand I tend to play the game as rational as possible.
I keep a good look at the formations and at my player stats. When viewing the pitch I look at the player position rather than only following the ball. But it has to be said that sometimes it is ridiculous. Yesterday I was playing Manchester City with my Southampton side. I was beating them 1-0. My team scored an own goal from a corner and from that moment on the game turned completely. The managed to score a late goal after they had brought the ball into the box. It just seemed to stay there and no Southampton player was able to get it away. Only for one of their players to put it into the net. It seemed to me like no matter what I had done, that ball was destined to be a goal!
These things are driving me crazy, in case of doubt decisions always tend to go in favour of the AI: goals in offside position, penalty kicks, fouls and cards, scoring from corners. I never have the edge!

rashidi1

There are games for me as well, when I find that things are not going my way, I tend to make changes very quickly and sometimes i even sub a sub.

There are ways to play this game, and for me the only thing that's driving me crazy is the fact that no one wants to join my club not even on loan, cos I'm playing as Gloucester City and I'm headin for my second consecutive promotion