Has anyone actually cracked possession football?

circlewalker · 10-21-2007, 01:34 AM

Let me know how it goes long-term. There was always the occasional match where the AI would get more possession than me, annoying gits.

retired_brinker317 · 10-21-2007, 01:37 AM

I'm going to start a new game tomorrow morning, so I may well begin with the tactic in that one.

Dulka Prague :cool:

retired_Baylle66068 · 10-21-2007, 02:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by tlm_77:

Possession.......

Barcelona 46%
Sporting 56%

Unbelievable and unrealistic.
Especially when I had a pass completion of 80% too...
How about the 'action zones'?
Well, this is astonishing too.
It's split into 3 parts.
Def / Mid / Att
My understanding of it is that the pitch is split in 3 and the percentages worked out from where the ball spends it's time and in who's possession.
So, here's the stats from that game.
Def
Barca 3%
Sporting 11%
Mid
Barca 21%
Sporting 30%
Att
Barca 27%
Sporting 8%

Add the above percentages up and obviously, it makes 100.
So, from what I can see and what the game is telling me, 86% of the game was played in the middle and the Barca Att / Sporting Def area, right?
Only 14% in the Barca Def / Sporting Att area.

This clearly shows I was doing the vast majority of the attacking.
In fact, it was 48% to 38% in favour of Barca possession of that 86% - still with me?
So, what's left? That's right, that other 14%...
Of that, Barca had 3% and Sporting 11%
Add that 3% to the other 48%, that's, erm, 51% possession over the action zones for Barcelona and 49% to Sporting...
Yet, according to the possession stat, I only had 46% possession...?
Confused? Me too...
Over to you guys.

I'll focus only on the math; I'm better at it than at FM

First of all 46%+56%=102%. So those aren't the correct numbers.

Second observation, and this is only a speculation of mine. Action zones represent where the "action" is regardless if the ball is in play or not. So in the time it takes let's say to take a throw in the action is in a certain area. But that doesn't add to the possession percentages that you see in Match Statistics because the ball is not in the game and hence it's not in any team's possession. It does appear in the Action zones graph though.

Or maybe I'm completely wrong

retired_bailik13 · 10-21-2007, 03:19 AM

Yea I noticed the possession thing too. I lead the game in terms of passing, interceptions, shots both on target and off target, but my possession is still smaller. I have a screenshot with a game I played in FM 08 ... the first game of the season, I basically made this SS just for the record, and then saw the possession after i read this forum.

Astonishing... I had only 44% when actually I'm leading clearly on shots and corners...

Oh and BTW, I got really angry in this game that I eventually lost to penalties. My striker was through on goal, and he scored from a little outside the box (the goalie rushed out to meet the striker so he wasn't really in net anymore) and after that the defender behind him fouled him from a last defender position. So.......the ref stops the game and gives the defender a red card

CANCELING MY GOAL! :thdn: And then they ask me in the press if I feel it was offside at one goal that I got canceled. Well of course I agree it was offside, but I wanted to comment on the red card and the canceled goal. But nooo, no such questions. Or in another game, I scored a goal from offside and I looked at the replay over and over again and it WASN'T offside. you know what the press asked me? If I felt that I should have gotten a penalty on such and such action in the box

http://img85.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fm08001ts1.jpg

retired_bailik13 · 10-21-2007, 03:34 AM

surprise surprise...i clearly lead the game... i had 4-0 and then we got complacent. still... i don't understand the numbers for possession here

retired_bailik13 · 10-21-2007, 03:35 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DakE_FeatH:
surprise surprise...i clearly lead the game... i had 4-0 and then we got complacent. still... i don't understand the numbers for possession here

sry here's a link that should work for the pic
[img=http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/9522/fm08003bx2.th.jpg]

retired_lauriek · 10-21-2007, 04:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DakE_FeatH:
surprise surprise...i clearly lead the game... i had 4-0 and then we got complacent. still... i don't understand the numbers for possession here

I think they really, really tried to close your players down whenever you had the ball in the middle of the field, hence the possession there and high number of fouls :eek:

retired_miverson2 · 10-21-2007, 03:18 PM

I usually play possession too with Ajax, but in fm08 it seems impossible to get more than 55% possession and attack..

Almost every oponent I encounter plays possession football (home and away). And they ALWAYS pull it off! Its unbelieveble when a team like 'de Graafschap' (just promoted to the Eredividie) has 60% possession when I'm playing at home

All my oponents seem to man mark (?) all my midfielders and attackers, making it very hard to pass the ball around on the midfield and up front..
You need a high tempo to get trough with lots of creative freedom, but thats almost impossible since you need a slower tempo to get some accuracy so you can keep possession.
Almost every faulty pass gets intercepted. If a player keeps the ball for too long because he cant find any options to pass to, he either losses the ball because they apply pressure or he blindly passes the ball somewhere up the field.

When they have the ball my players do apply 'pressure' but they dont attempt to tackle. Sometimes players from my opponent dribble very slowly with 2 of my players in front of them (doing nothing) for 2 minutes! No wonder they have more possession

In other words, you cant play possession football in fm08. Your players dont take the ball from your oponent but your oponent can take the ball (very easily) from you when you try to build up an attack.
If you play short with a low tempo your players will lose the ball because they dont have any options to play too and if you play high tempo lots of passes will be intercepted.
Every oponent makes sure they minimalise the space on the midfield, making it even harder to pass the ball around.

The best tactic to counter this is doing the same thing they do, minimalise the space

Push up your def line a little, keep a narrow field, play high tempo and use a counter attack. Always keep at least 5 players behind the ball to make sure they cant reach their forwards. And if they do, the forward has to beat like 3 of your defenders.
At the moment I'm playing with 3 central defenders, 2 wingbacks and 2 defending midfielders. The wingbacks make forward runs, while the central defenders and defending midfielders stay back at all times. So far this seems to work, but its an awfull way to play football... (they usually get over 60% possession!! But I get the 3 points)

Thats why I'm gonna wait for the patch and hope they fix this.

retired_kellyk · 10-24-2007, 08:04 AM

bump

retired_primemover · 10-24-2007, 09:33 AM

I too was struggling with this playing as Man Utd of all teams. I have thus far found some success by using a slow tempo, narrow, mixed passing game and pushing my defensive line up the pitch. Also, due to the well known closing down errors most of my players (incl CB's) are now set to close down just above the half way mark and my defending has improved dramatically.
Using this approach has guaranteed me the majority of posession in all games played so far (10+) and is also still creating a number of chances and winning games for me.
A lot of the concepts i have just described are alien to me, ie ManU playing a slow narrow game just doesnt feel right but if its working im happy.
Opinions/tests invited please.

Has anyone actually cracked possession football?

It's no use having a squad full of star players without a decent way for them to play their football.

Has anyone actually cracked possession football?