retired_ahillary

Hello, i would love to open a discussion thread on the underrated opposition instructions.

Well i know this has been done before, but i was hoping there would be furthur insights as of how effective OI really is.

This would be how i normall set my OI for standard 4-2-2
MC-tight marking
FC-close down, tight mark
MR,LR-close down
*default for the rest.

As for high tackling, i haven't really been able to intentionally injure a player that has taken a knock 2 seasons now already.

In my opinion, i think the player thinks you're joking

How about share yours and tell me what you've got so far. OI has been nothing short of ritualistic in my pre-game preparation.

One more thing, i wonder if you guys got the same thing. I dont know how, but my game manges to save some of the OI instructions i make. How do you trigger this? Now i go to my screen i got tight marking on some players 'saved' already. Well, its nothing much but saves a couple of clicks. Please respond!

retired_janabnana

In my first season with New England (MLS) I made the final of the Club World Championships against Arsenal. I am quite obviously outclassed, but I had two things working to my advantage:

- Several defenders for the Arsenal were injured, and I was facing one starter (Toure, amazing as usual) a solid player (Eboue) and two others who I had never heard of before; and I've played as Arsenal. Granted, they're still much better than anyone in MLS.

- Thierry Henry came in at %75 fitness

So, in my 4-2-2-2 (Thanks, Crazy!) I assigned my defensively inclined midfielder, Shalrie Joseph, to shadow Henry, and made sure his tackling was set to Hard. He was set to tightly mark Henry and play man defense. Everyone else is playing zone, the back four set to Tight Zone.

In opposition instructions, I finally get to the topic here, I set pretty much everyone on Arsenal to Hard Tackling and Tight Marking. Assigned Closing Down to the CBs (in case they made mistakes, and they would) and the rest as you list in your normal OI. Take note I did this regardless of how aggressive my players happened to be, I was likely to lose anyway so if one of my defenders got red carded for scissor-kicking van Persie in the face, at least I had an excuse.

Tactics all set, I have iTunes play "The Final Countdown" and head to kickoff.

Anyway:

By halftime I had injured Adebayor and brought Henry down to 70% fitness. I led 1-0 on a mistake by Eboue who held on to the ball too long (and thanks to my OI setting telling my players to "Always" close down on defenders) and my opportunistic attacking midfielder, Aldo Leao Ramirez, stole the ball and shot it in past Lehmann.

In the second half, Arsenal was noticeably tired, and I made sure to sub out my tired defenders (As opposed to switching out attackers or midfielders) so they would be fresh harassing Arsenal's attack. Eventually got another goal on a penalty, and won 2-1.

Other stuff I do:
- If a player's weaker foot is "Reasonable" or worse, I select "Show onto Weaker foot," it seems to help.
- If a player is a particularly good dribbler (especially if they are creative) I don't close down on them, if I do I set tackling to hard.
- If a player I might normally not close down on has particularly bad dribbling skills, I might select close down for them (this is why I do it with defenders)

Anyway, I rambled a bit, but I think this is a good example of OI working very well for me.

retired_ahillary

Well, really thanks for the in-depth coverage

But i find it ever so rare a player comes in at 75%, Unless of course if its henry.

i mean those usual tweaks in-game to hard tackle players that have taken knocks, or are very tired at half time, i find it increasingly rare my players actually snuff them out with a hard tackle.

Maybe next season...

retired_jackie91

In my first season with New England (MLS) I made the final of the Club World Championships against Arsenal. I am quite obviously outclassed, but I had two things working to my advantage:

- Several defenders for the Arsenal were injured, and I was facing one starter (Toure, amazing as usual) a solid player (Eboue) and two others who I had never heard of before; and I've played as Arsenal. Granted, they're still much better than anyone in MLS.

- Thierry Henry came in at %75 fitness

So, in my 4-2-2-2 (Thanks, Crazy!) I assigned my defensively inclined midfielder, Shalrie Joseph, to shadow Henry, and made sure his tackling was set to Hard. He was set to tightly mark Henry and play man defense. Everyone else is playing zone, the back four set to Tight Zone.

In opposition instructions, I finally get to the topic here, I set pretty much everyone on Arsenal to Hard Tackling and Tight Marking. Assigned Closing Down to the CBs (in case they made mistakes, and they would) and the rest as you list in your normal OI. Take note I did this regardless of how aggressive my players happened to be, I was likely to lose anyway so if one of my defenders got red carded for scissor-kicking van Persie in the face, at least I had an excuse.

Tactics all set, I have iTunes play "The Final Countdown" and head to kickoff.

Anyway:

By halftime I had injured Adebayor and brought Henry down to 70% fitness. I led 1-0 on a mistake by Eboue who held on to the ball too long (and thanks to my OI setting telling my players to "Always" close down on defenders) and my opportunistic attacking midfielder, Aldo Leao Ramirez, stole the ball and shot it in past Lehmann.

In the second half, Arsenal was noticeably tired, and I made sure to sub out my tired defenders (As opposed to switching out attackers or midfielders) so they would be fresh harassing Arsenal's attack. Eventually got another goal on a penalty, and won 2-1.

Other stuff I do:
- If a player's weaker foot is "Reasonable" or worse, I select "Show onto Weaker foot," it seems to help.
- If a player is a particularly good dribbler (especially if they are creative) I don't close down on them, if I do I set tackling to hard.
- If a player I might normally not close down on has particularly bad dribbling skills, I might select close down for them (this is why I do it with defenders)

Anyway, I rambled a bit, but I think this is a good example of OI working very well for me. </BLOCKQUOTE>


Good post there.

I usually close down on the DC's and show on to weaker foot if its 'weak' or worse.

Wingers I tackle hard (if my full backs are good at tackling otherwise they get the early bath for mistiming tackles) and close down if my full backss are as fast or faster than the wingers.

Midfield playmaker I tackle hard and close mark

Strikers - it depends. I tend to back off the quickies as they will get penalties and defend deeper.

Going off topic for a sec, tdpatriots mentioned henry starting at 75% and finishing the half at 70%. I have noticed that as well. I played against Arsenal with West ham. Henry started at 65% and finished the game at 60%! If I tried that he would be at about 5% by half time!

retired_infinite_dreams

First i think this is a good topic to have a discussion about.

Here i going to give my way of doing the opposition instructions.

First i tend to follow a rule that i dont give opposition instructions for too many players in the opponents team. I only set them for a maximum of 3-4 players (often less), else i belive that the team would have too much to concentrate on to play their own game. This isnt confirmed in any way it is just the idea of how i look at it. Would be nice to hear your point of view on this.

Second thing i do is to single out the threats that the opponents can give me. To do this i use the scout report to find the key players and how they will cause trouble to my team. I also take a look at the squad of the opponents to see what players that has the highest avg rating, most assists, goals etc, and take a quick look at their stats to see what kinda threat that player will give me.

Since i follow an "own" rule to only give instructions to about 3-4 players (or as i said often less) i cant possible handle all players in the opponents team that is a threat to my team. So then i need to decide what the best way is to minimize the threat is, for example if the opponents have a great header then i need to decide on how to deal with that. For me it is two ways of doing this, either you cut off all the supply to him so the opponents have lesser chance to deliver a precise cross to his head, or you let you defenders stay onto him all the time so when that cross comes your defenders will be there to challange him for the ball and hopefully win it. Well why dont do both thing you perhaps say, well as i said i belive that putting to much instructions will make my teams own play suffer. So for me it is to calculate what the best way is to deal with this is, either cut off the supply or stay close on him to challange him when the ball goes into the area, not both since it would require opposition instructions for five players (close down full backs and wingers and also show them onto weaker foot, and tight mark the target man) to do that.

Lets say that the team have a winger that is great at crossing and the scout name him as one of the key players, then i tend to put the opposition instruction on that winger and leave the striker as he is, because if he dont get any balls delivered he wont score either. But before i decide if i should try to take the winger out of the game i have a look at my own squad to decide if i have any fullback that can deal with this player. If all my fullbacks is of much less quality then the opponents winger i start to think if it is possible for my fullback to really handle the threat from him. What i den do is to compare the opponents striker to my center backs to see if they have the quality to handle the striker instead. If i belive that my center backs are much better then the striker i put the opposion instruction on him instead of the winger (my centerback would most probably win the crossball anyway), since my fullback wont be able to handle the winger. And if my centerback is rubbish to, then the team is in trouble ;-)

So here is a list of what i try to do when deciding on the opposition instructions.

1. Analyze the scout report to get a grip on how the opponents team play. Do they play a short passing style with a playmaker, do they use a direct counter-attack style of play, do they focus play down the wings or the middle etc.

2. Single out their key player/players by the scout report and the team screen for the opponents team. Look for playmakers, strikers that is good at the head, fast strikers, technichal strikers, wingers and fullbacks that is good at crossing or very fast. Decide what players that need to be dealt with. And as i said i try to only pick out 3-4 or less then that.

3. Make a defensive gameplan. Compare the team's style of play to the key players you have choosen out. If the opponents play down the wing's but have rubbish wingers, but instead they have a very good creative midfielder. Then the best option perhaps is to neutralize that playmaker so he wont be able to deliver balls out on the flank. Try to set up a gameplan on how to best reduce the attacking threat of the opponents and disturb their own gameplan.

4. Check if your players have the ability to execute the gameplan. Say you have decided to neutralize a midfield playmaker from deliver the ball out on the flanks since the opponent plays down the flanks. Then check if you have the quality in your squad to do this, else it wont be much of use since the midfield playmaker of the opponents will just dribble by your midfilder then deliver a killer through ball out to the winger on the flank. Or if you have choosen a fullback that is slower then anything else to deal with a explosive winger, then he wont be able to perform the opposition instruction at all and the winger will have a fun game harrasing the fullback. If you notice that the players you have in your squad that is ment to deal with the opponents player is of much less quality and you think he wont be able to pull it off, then go back to step 3 and make another defensive gameplan then check if you have the players to execute the new gameplan.

5. Set the opposition instruction. After i have decided on a gameplan, and checked that my players will be able to execute it i set the opposition instruction.

This is how i normaly set up the opposition instructions, i will try and present a couple of different type of players and how i deal with them. Would be great to hear your point of view on this, if you agree or if you do it in a different way and then what results you get from it.

A midfielder playmaker - This is a very hard player to neutralize. The team will need a physical and good defensive player for this, Gattuso would be ideal. What i do is to use close down always to reduce the time he has with the ball to be creative. If the playmaker have low bravery then i put hard tackling always on him also to try and physicaly shut him out of the game. I would also consider putting "Show onto weaker foot" if the player is one footed, if he is good with both feets then this have no effect since he would just them move the ball to the other feet and then deliver a killer ball.

Wingers - On wingers i tend to use show onto weaker foot to make them be less accurate with their crosses. I also but hard tackling on them if they have low bravery. I wouldnt put hard tackling on if the palyer is a very good dribbler since the chance that i miss the tackle and he goes by is much greater, then i would instead but closing down always and hard tackling rarely to just hold him in position so he dont get by my fullback.

Fullbacks - Same as wingers, show them onto the weaker foot if they have great crossing attributes.

Tall strikers (aerial threat) - Mark them tight all the time so the defender will be there when the cross comes aimed at him.

Technichal strikers - Hard to deal with, i wouldnt close down a very technical striker, but i would mark him tight so my defender is there to kick the ball away from his feet as soon as he gets it.

Fast strikers - This is something that im not sure at all on how to handle. A fast striker is always hard to deal with, if you mark him tight with a slow defender the chance is great that he will out run the defender if a long ball is played. If you close him down the chance is great that he will go by you if he is good at dribbling also. So when i have a slow defender dealing with a fast striker i put close down never and tight marking never since the chance is big that he will run away from my defender if a long ball is played, then its better to play safe and leave some space beetween the defender and the striker so the defender gets a head start if a long ball is played. I would only tight mark him if i have a faster defender and i think he will beat the striker if the longball is played.

When dealing with a opponent that uses two forward be sure that you play the central defernder that should take care of the forward in the right positon. That is, to take care of the left striker put the defernder in the right center back position, and for the right striker the center back in the left center back positon.

This is how i normaly do my opposition instruction. Would be nice to hear how the rest of you does.