ksjamaray

This thing realy confuses me in FM 2007. I am Real Madrid and have quite a few talented players in my squad, so I've really been trying to play a nice short passing game. But at the same time I have very quick players like Ronaldo, Marcelo etc. on the wings. When I play short passing at a rather slowish tempo my AML's and AMR's really don't get into the game. And in a way it makes sense. But is it possible to do both. Play a short passing game but with wingers?

Lately I've chaged my formation to a 4-3-1-2 to see whether short passing works better. With 3 MC's and an AMC. The formation has very little width. I set my LB's and RB's to make forward runs to get some width when I attack. It's worked pretty well. But I still prefer playing with wingers. The football looks nicer. What would you recommend?

Thx

retired_dawnnb

I play slow tempo/ short passing game with wingers and they do thrive. I have given them more creativity (not full creativty) than the rest of the team and they run the show.

retired_jfarleymeade1

I'm a big believer in high creative freedom. Only my keeper and DCs are on low. FBs a little above middle and DM anywhere from highest "little" to lowest "high" (depending on the style of the player - I prefer an attacking DMC).
Midfielders are either high normal or low "high". Wingers and Fast Strikers are between 15-18. If I have a Target Man ST I usually set him at mid-normal or lower to keep him central.

When playing a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 I generally have my wingers on darrows into the box and often use free roles.
Setting passing to "down both flanks" will also get more out of your wingers. However I play more directly than your style. I haven't focused on the possession style, but I suspect that "mixed" focus passing would be best for possession.

A little trick I use for width: when playing with an inherently narrow formation (4-1-3-2 with 3 MCs) I play fairl wide (14-18 or 20 if a man up). In a wider formation I tend to be somewhen narrower (less wide).
4-1-3-2 with MC on farrow and MCR/L on darrows, with passing focus on "both flanks" gets very good wide play. The outside midfielders start more centrally, but have plenty of space to run into on the flank and when they get the ball they have space to run with the ball. Using a DMC also allows the FBs to be attacking and stay solid. In defense the MCR/L tuck into the middle, making the midfield very solid even if the players aren't strong in defending attributes. Finally, in this formation it is important that the MCR/L and FBs have moderate to fairly high closing down to fill the gap on the flanks. Lowest high is good for midfielders and FBs around 12-14.
Again I should add that I don't play a possession style (mixed counter attacking football) but the formation should be strong for possession too.