retired_katwils76

I have always made my own tactics in the past and have tried to do the same with FM2007 but it takes me half a season to work out a tactic that works and then the tactic becomes usless after a month or 2 due to re-ranking.

I look at the screen and the match stats and feel like I'm understanding then I go on a run of 5 defeats.

With one tactic, a 4-1-2-2-1 I had created I dominated the game but lost 1-0, I had more possession and shots and everything and really looked like scoring but I lost out, fair enough I thought it happenes sometimes, so I try it again, same result. I kept the formation for 6 games and every game finished 1-0 to my opponents and i dominated 5 of the games.

with previous games I first looked to find a good shape then build from there, but with 07 I try and put a shape together but nothing works for long enough to be able to build on.

442, 433, 4132 I just don't know which to go for I a currently on the 4132 and am having more success than before but I am never confident of winning a game, even against bottom of the league team I amdreading the result.

retired_Pthibert

Maybe going a little off topic but this just happened to me.....

Watford[Me] v Chelsea

Chelsea ofcourse went on their romp but couldnt get the ball past Foster.19th min quick counter results in a goal for me[1-0 19min].I thought maybe lets go a bit defensive now but then i say lets observe for 5 min[ingame ofcourse].Amazingly another counter leads to another goal[2-0 22min].I say to myself maybe i am doin' good.........

Chelsea up the tempo and there comes an instant reply by Schvchenko[2-1 26min].kinda expected considering my level of defence. What happened next is the ****ing part of the tale....

Corner kick Chelsea.Makelele takes[Corners att. 8/9] and straight to the head of Essien and scores[2-2 33min].Next highlight,Joe Cole[talented but a midget] scores with his head to put Chelsea in the lead[2-3 41 min].Keep in context all 4 of my defenders hv heading attributes so how he gets it is beyond me

My prob is not that Chelsea fought back but its the amount of time they needed to recover from being 2-0 down.At 2-0 down,even the greatest teams are more likely to be a bit down and out and almost hoping for a goal to take to HT.Now i bet if i am 2-0 down with e.g Chelsea[against a good side] my team wont and I MEAN WONT end up turning the deficit around in the same half.They always need team talk

retired_richwood

in 1 game i played againest chelsea. my team got 10 shots on target and they only got 1 which they scored... how can that be realistic? omg

retired_lisag545

Just lost 12 games in a row against southend. Tried everything .Im sunderland with a great team and morale: Salas, Eddie Johnson, Gavillan, Paulo Cesar da Silva, Cavanaugh, Nengomashe.. Against the top class players with half the stats of mine... Well, enough.
Its time to say: U won SI, I cant have success and consistency after 15 years playing this game. This makes no sense to me. Im not going to repeat all the things already said in this thread. Not bothering anymore. We cant win, u win! Is it this way?

retired_mgavlick

Try again doing the following:

Attacking mentality: 17-18
TM (Eddie J) with mentality 14, no FWRs, HUB
No TTB for DCs or GKs, mixed for everybody else
Width, passing, tempo mixed (10) with defenders mixed +2, attackers mixed -3
No counter attack
Check target man to head or mixed
FWRs often on FBs, wingers, MCa
Mixed FWRS FC who isn't TM
High closing down 17 for all players except TM (3) and DCs (5)
Mixed tackling except FCs and Wingers easy
D-line 17
HUB MCd + FBs
Crossing to far post wingers and FBs on opposite pitch side to TM, mixed on same side (i.e. TM = FCL, ML crosses mixed, MR crosses Far Post)
Tight marking for DCs, no body else
Man marking back four
Long farrowed Wingers
Short farrowed FBS (optional)
High CF wingers, MCa
RWB mixed unless >17 then often

If that doesn't help then SI have won

retired_smileyb26

Try again doing the following:

Attacking mentality: 17-18
TM (Eddie J) with mentality 14, no FWRs, HUB
No TTB for DCs or GKs, mixed for everybody else
Width, passing, tempo mixed (10) with defenders mixed +2, attackers mixed -3
No counter attack
Check target man to head or mixed
FWRs often on FBs, wingers, MCa
Mixed FWRS FC who isn't TM
High closing down 17 for all players except TM (3) and DCs (5)
Mixed tackling except FCs and Wingers easy
D-line 17
HUB MCd + FBs
Crossing to far post wingers and FBs on opposite pitch side to TM, mixed on same side (i.e. TM = FCL, ML crosses mixed, MR crosses Far Post)
Tight marking for DCs, no body else
Man marking back four
Long farrowed Wingers
Short farrowed FBS (optional)
High CF wingers, MCa
RWB mixed unless >17 then often

If that doesn't help then SI have won </BLOCKQUOTE>

wwfan:

Thanks for giving s7v7n great and specific advice. Yet, the feeling I got was that you are helping s7v7n to fish but not teaching him to fish.

Perhaps you can give some explanations on why you have suggested these changes to s7v7n's tactics, if you are not so tight for time. For example, why have you suggested s7v7n's team to go gung-ho (attacking mentality: 17-18) when his team has been losing consistently to Southend?

As much as I can figure it out, your explanation will be a bonus. In any case, giving a suggestion on how a tactical newb should counter a particular AI tactic plus some rough explanations (long essays are optional) are probably things could guide clueless FM players on their way to getting a grasp on the AI.

retired_smileyb26

This happens quite often to me as well.

I suspect the AI (simulating the abilities of Jose Mourinho, if I assume that he was Chelski's manager) tweaked his tactics somewhat after you went 2-0 up.

Now, based on this, I have some questions:

(a) Assuming that we are watching the game in full mode, what would be things that could be observed to suggest that the AI has changed its tactics?

(b) Even if we get a sense of a switch in tactics, how should the human manager (tactical demi-gods not included) tweak his tactics in response to that? Do we go ultra-defensive (thus inviting the AI to come at us)? How should we shut up shop and tell the team to park the bus in front of the goal at least up to half-time?

Question (a) is my biggest problem with the game actually. Watching the game in full mode typically takes at least 30 minutes. Most of the time, all I see are blobs moving all around the screen and it is very difficult (to the untrained eye) to get a sense of what the AI is playing beyond the formation preview. Without even the most basic info about what the AI tactics are, it will be challenging to think about how to plot a counter.

retired_smileyb26

Dyl Hero:

From my observations, this version of FM is no longer about shape (if it were, then why is there a proliferation of different AI tactical formations?). It has become a chess game (as suggested by someone in these threads) where you counter an AI move. It's about picking out how and what the AI plays and coming up with something to counter that.

retired_smileyb26

If you can figure out that part of the grand FM2007 puzzle, why not exploit it?

retired_mgavlick

Try again doing the following:

Attacking mentality: 17-18
TM (Eddie J) with mentality 14, no FWRs, HUB
No TTB for DCs or GKs, mixed for everybody else
Width, passing, tempo mixed (10) with defenders mixed +2, attackers mixed -3
No counter attack
Check target man to head or mixed
FWRs often on FBs, wingers, MCa
Mixed FWRS FC who isn't TM
High closing down 17 for all players except TM (3) and DCs (5)
Mixed tackling except FCs and Wingers easy
D-line 17
HUB MCd + FBs
Crossing to far post wingers and FBs on opposite pitch side to TM, mixed on same side (i.e. TM = FCL, ML crosses mixed, MR crosses Far Post)
Tight marking for DCs, no body else
Man marking back four
Long farrowed Wingers
Short farrowed FBS (optional)
High CF wingers, MCa
RWB mixed unless &gt;17 then often

If that doesn't help then SI have won </BLOCKQUOTE>

wwfan:

Thanks for giving s7v7n great and specific advice. Yet, the feeling I got was that you are helping s7v7n to fish but not teaching him to fish.

Perhaps you can give some explanations on why you have suggested these changes to s7v7n's tactics, if you are not so tight for time. For example, why have you suggested s7v7n's team to go gung-ho (attacking mentality: 17-18) when his team has been losing consistently to Southend?

As much as I can figure it out, your explanation will be a bonus. In any case, giving a suggestion on how a tactical newb should counter a particular AI tactic plus some rough explanations (long essays are optional) are probably things could guide clueless FM players on their way to getting a grasp on the AI. </BLOCKQUOTE>

He is the superior team and should therefore look to be aggressive and play in his opponent's half. A high mentality, high d-line and high closing down will force Southend to play quicker balls than their players are capable of. The lower mentality TM with low closing down will be the fulcrum of the side, winning balls, holding them up, laying them off to players all around him which helps keep possession. The lower mentality works two ways:

1) makes him play deeper and thus breaks open the opposition defence as they can' keep a flat line
2) stops him from playing attacking balls all the time which will lose the team possession

The low closing down also means he should always be in space for a quick ball once possession is regained.

Getting the FBs forward is key as they become auxiliary midfielders and stretch the AI out which creates more attacking space. Assuming that Southend will be playing defensively then the FBs should concentrate more on attacking than defending.

Getting the wingers and FC to close down with easy tackling does the follwoing:

1) stops the opposition's FBs and DCs from being able to play uncontested balls over the defence
2) doesn't commit the winger or FC to a tackle but rather keeps them in a blocking position until the tackle is easily winnable.

My advice was based on him being the home side and may not work as well away as Southend will be less defensive. If that is the case he should reduce FWRs for his full-backs to mixed + less CD as they need to focus 50-50 between attacking and defending. He should also check counter-attack as it reduces risk meaning your team will only atrtack when it is 'on' rather than always looking for opportunities to go forward.

Hope that helps a little.

Out of interest, have you read TT&F IV, and if so, in relating to your other comments, where do you feel it is lacking in teaching people how to fish?