tlm_77

Firstly, if you have done so, please share your tactic and how you got to the stage you are at to help frustrated others.

I am a self-confessed possession freak.
I know what I am and I'm ok with that.

I've got to the point where I actually don't care if I win, lose or draw a game at the minute. That side of the game I think is easier.
I mean, it's dead easy to lose. Drawing a game isn't necessarily easy, but then who aims to draw a game?
Winning, well, I've enjoyed success in CM/FM for many years and though there's no secret, it's not impossible to win games with a basic understanding of tactics and who the better players are.

Nope, my problems all lie with possession.
I am a Newcastle fan and virtually always play as them.

However, in recent years, I've been watching Barcelona's games almost without fail (irl). I am fascinated by their possession football.
I mean, home and away, the dominate matches - though it has to be pointed out, they don't always win.
So, here's me, sat at home, spending hour upon hour in front of my PC, playing FM, and now the 2008 version (demo) trying to replicate this.

Except, I can't do it. Or, my team can't do it. Or the game AI doesn't allow it...

Take your pick.

I've gone on a 6 game winning streak where I've won matches and had 55-60% in each game - very satisfying, only for the team to then suddenly lose matches, concede possession and lost the plot completely for match after match after that run.

I play a 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 depending on whether you view AMR and AML as midfielders or forwards.
I do not play a DMC as I find this makes little or no difference, instead, I play the 3 midfielders toghether but with a barrow on the middle of the 3 mids. This is, of course, Toure. And in general, he stays back nicely, while Xavi/Deco/Iniesta bomb forward.
Ronny and Messi are AML and AMR respectively and have free roles. Henry/Eto'o are up there in their own.
Going forward, Barcelona are amazing.
In fact, even defensively, they are quite sound.
I brought in Barzagali, who is very solid.
And yes, I'm top of the league and still in cup competitions etc.

So, what's the problem then, I hear you ask?

Well, it's possession. Or lack of it.

Mentality - normal (10)
Creativity - normal (10)
Passing - short (04)
Tempo - slow (04)
Width - narrow (04)
C/Down - mixed (10)
T/Wasting - mixed (10)
D/Line - push up(14)
Tackling - normal (10)

Focus passing - down the flanks
Marking - zonal
T/man supply - mixed

I don't have any of the boxes ticked.

As you can see, it's relatively conservative, only Ronny and Messi are allowed real freedom and have creativity on 'Much' but on the first notch of much.

I've read page after page on these forums looking for tips and have tried to put them in my game.
Still, I can't seem to crack possession.
E.G. I've just played a Champ League game against Sporting...

I won 4-1 at the Camp Nou
I had 24 shots at their goal / 15 on target.
They had 6 shots / 3 on target.

Wait for it......

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...

There's something very wrong with how the game engine works out that possession and action zone figures.
Not only that, how can a team that dominated throughout the entire game, won 4-1, had over 230 shots at goal and spent 27% of their time in possession in their final third, STILL have less possession than the opposition?

Is it just me? Am I really missing something obvious?

I'm just about on my knees in desperation for some answers / tips / help on possession football in FM2008 and indeed, someone from SI to actually explain the possession / action zone link, how it works, if it's actually not working as it should and so on...

Over to you guys.

aston_martin

Yeah, there seems to be a big problem with possesion

pele10

WoW

i think its a time wasting bug

Joor

Possession % is hard to get when the opponets timewaste all 90 min. The AI can use up to 1 min on each throw ins, goalkick and freekicks etc - and the Ref wont do anything about it.
This is a bug and SI knows about it..look in bug forum and you will see

isuckatfm

On the 08 demo I think this might be related to the closing down issue. Here's what I noticed playing as Leeds who are heavy favourites for every game, which I assume Barca are also.

The opposition plays very conservatively and on a few occasions I noticed how their midfielders would just be passing the ball between themselves in their own half while my players stood and watched, refusing to close in and make a tackle.

Hence they would often have higher possession. Particularly in the midfield 'Action Zone' as your stats indicated.

Maybe the patch will change this.

swede

The only time I've managed to "win" in terms of possession percentage is when I play with tempo on the first notch of Normal and passing on the first notch of Mixed (Team Instructions). Against similar teams (I play as Villa) or worse teams I manage to get above 50% possession most of the time. I don't always win the games, but in terms of possession that's about as good as I feel I can do at the present time.

zutcorp

It could also be related to the fact that you play narrow and with a high D-line. This limits the areas in which you have to pass the ball around in.

In order to make more space to pass the ball around in i'd imagine you have to move the d-line back a bit.

Im not sure if you should go wider too - that would make the short passes harder to make, but then it would also spread out the defense and make more space.

sarabia

you can upload links of this tactic?

aston_martin

It may be down to the closing bug.

Ackter

I tend to play the possession game a lot. For my formations to work at the top level I usually need a DM with at least 16 in creativity, technique and passing (+ the usual mental attributes) with good strength a bonus.

I step my metalitites to space my players out as such:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ST x xML | | MR MC MC DM |DL x DR DC DC </pre>

then using a rather contradictory fast tempo, short passing game.
My wide players tend to be holding players, which is not something I often see people try.
Neither my fullbacks or wide midfielders are set to make forward runs. They are set to run with the ball on medium, so that they'll be cautious but take the ball forward if they have the space. It leads to rather one-sided attacks, but also really strengthens up the defence if possession is lost. If I attack down the right, my defence starts to look like a back 3 with the DL/DC/DC combo and the DM sat in front of them.

They key to this whole thing is the DM. Defensive mentality, no forward runs, no runs with ball, medium through balls. The only problem can be when the opposition decide to try and mark him out of the game, but then it's easy enough to get one of the MCs to stay a little deeper to create a sort of zig-zag attacking line:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ST MC MC DM</pre>

In this case the deeper MC is there to distract the DM's marker and cause problems, but also offer an escape route if the DM needs it. With the ball set to play through the centre it's possible to launch some devastating counter-offensives with the midfield set up like this. The two 'static' wingers help provide the space needed for the midfielders to get time on the ball.