Opposition Instructions discussion

retired_inko1713 · 11-25-2006, 12:06 AM

Great post, thank you

retired_mistress · 11-25-2006, 01:42 PM

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Cleon, I was wondering, if it would be possible for on of the 'tactical experts' to make a thread to explain various stuff about the scout reports?I think it would be quite useful for us to set up our tactics accordingly!

these are just a personal opinion of mine (disclaimer: might not even be correct!). usually if my scout tells me the team likes to play down the middle, i would set the tight marking on always for their central midfielders. if down the flank, i'll change the closing down of my right & left back to a notch or two under often on their individual settings (depending the quality of their wingers too).

about the opposition's tempo, i usually do not adjust mine according to theirs (might be a misunderstanding that i have). my idea is that my team should play how i want them to play. what i mean is if i want them to play a quick tempo football, it shouldn't matter whether the opposition will be playing slow or quick tempo. however, my decision on whether i should set my team on quick/slow depends on the situation (home or away) and the overal match-up of the team.

retired_mistress · 11-25-2006, 01:45 PM

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Your sooo evil, good post, I was clueless on these instructions. I'll give them a whirl in the new season.

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exactly what i was looking for, i will try your settings in next match, i especially like the idea of hard tackling on injured/low condition players mwhahahahaha

i'm not a saint, i just want to win matches. not sure if it works all the time but it was a personal thought that i had (steve coppell in disguise?)

sometimes one player in the opposite team really seems to be out there just to injure my players too. i once had 3 players injured, 2 had to leave the game, solely by the great performance of the opposition's DR.

retired_mistress · 11-25-2006, 01:49 PM

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So far I've only messed around with hard tackling cowardly attackers as MV always mentions this tactic in his hints and tips guides over the years.

i've never set any hard tackling on attackers just to reduce the possibility of conceding a penalty. by the way, how are you doing with that instruction? i might try that out when i confirmed my promotion berth which should be coming pretty soon.

retired_mistress · 11-25-2006, 01:49 PM

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With fast players in general I set the players to show them onto the weaker foot. I finished 4th with Spurs and it seemed to work ok for me.

will try that out and report back with the result. thanks!

retired_ccase315 · 11-26-2006, 06:16 AM

With opposition switching to 4-2-4, I would only close down the FL and FR. In FM06, I use man-marking but due to the buggy man-marking system in FM07, I switch to closing down instead.

retired_driven_1 · 11-26-2006, 10:30 AM

These tips are great. Barcelona couldn't do nothing against me and i injured two of their strikers(Saviola and Bojan).

retired_sammybreeze · 11-27-2006, 06:39 AM

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Originally posted by Mr Personality:
I am starting a thread on opposition instructions as I have not seen a comprehensive thread on that. IMO, this can be one of the decisive things in determining the outcome of the match besides your own tactic.

Usually after I give the pre-game teamtalk, I would check on the opposition instruction screen to see if I position my central defenders correctly. If my opponent is using the big-small combination, I shall adjust which of my two DCs to be on which side.

In my situation, both my DCs (I'm using a four man defence) are not the fastest players on the pitch (pace: 9 and 11) but they have decent (ie. is or more than 14) marking & tackling stats. Here is a few scenarios that I have run into in my games:

• DC marking a big targetman in a 2 man attack: always close down in hope that he would win most of the battles and contain the targetman from attacking my goal. If his preferred foot is right or left ONLY, then I'd show him onto the left or right respectively. Else, I will just leave it to my defenders on how to mark him.

• DC marking a pacey forward in a 2 man attack: never close down and always tight marking. This is what I'm not quite sure of. I'm afraid if I try to close down on him all the time, any mistackle would mean that my DC is going to be left behind by the sheer pace of the FC. With tight marking, I want the DC to nullify the effect of that fast forward without commiting himself too much. The higher the pace of the FC, the lower my closing down on my DC's individual setting is. Any other suggestions?

• DC marking a big targetman in a 1 striker formation: One DC (with the lower pace) will be set to always close down, the other has no specific instructions to pick up what's left.

• DC marking a pacey forward in a 1 striker formation: same as above as I have the numerical advantage and the extra man to cover should the closing down DC fail to clear or contain the man

• On AMC: Always close him down to prevent him from linking to his strikers.

• Opposition ML/R and AM L/R: Since I want to deprive opposition team of the supply from the wings, these players are given the instruction to always be closed down and shown onto the weaker foot (plus hard tackling depending on the match-up against my players). If the wingers are exceptional, I would tick tight marking on my DL's and/or DR's individual settings.

• Any injured field players and players below 85% (excluding strikers): Have always put the hard tackling on these players to either make their condition worse or take them to the hospital early

Using the instructions above, I am quite pleased with how my defence is performing. 32 games, 19 goals conceded and 19 clean sheets. The after match observation (brought forward by Cleon) has also been quite encouraging. My DCs are winning 80% and above of their headers and the low number of tackles they make (usually ranges from 2 to 5 each) was probably down to the dominance of the defence (as suggested by Cleon). The goals I'm conceding are mostly based on set plays (or the lack of marking on that) and not on counterattack or open field play. BTW I seldom use both tight marking & closing down on always unless my DCs have way better stats than the opposing strikers.

Most, if not all, of the teams that I have met are using either the 2 man or lone man attack. Have not met against a team with a 3 striker formation so I'm not sure how it would turn out. In the closing stages of any game which the opponents have gone 4-2-4 on me, I usually set 'always close down' on all 4 forwards. This is done only after I put 2 DMs in front of my 4-man defence. So far the result has been alright as I have not conceded an 89 or 90th min goal since one game in the beginning of the season. Have not tried anything on the opponent defence or goalies either, thus not sure how anything works on that side of the field.

Any opinion and suggestion is welcomed. Share what has worked wonders for your team and may be we can strive towards the perfect formula.

FB Post Mr Personality. I vote you get promoted to premium member or something. I knew there was a reason why my defenders were not using "common sense" or "playing to instructions." It's because I hadn't properly instructed them on what to do since I didn't know how to use the "Opponents Instructions." The easy-to-use guide you have provided here makes sense and is very logical once one watches its effect on matches.

:thup:

retired_kellyk · 11-27-2006, 07:23 AM

I agree this is a good read and a lot of what he says can be used in reference to ingame tweaking

James1226 · 11-27-2006, 01:00 PM

I have an issue with Opposition Instructions. I don't know if it's true or if it is just an idea, so I would like to hear if other people have had the same experience?

When I use OI (and I use them more or less as describeded by lanredo), it seems to harm my strikers ability to score goals. Using OI most goal, not just oppositions seems to come from set pieces. Has anyone else had that problem?

In general I don't have a problem getting goals from my strikers, but excessive use of OI seems to harm attacking play (pretty obviously - using OI you concentrate on stopping the opposition, instead of focussing on your own strengths).

Does anyone share this experience? Now I use OI mainly against strong oppositions, players that are really good and my scout warn me about, or if the opposition use a youngster.

Opposition Instructions discussion

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

Opposition Instructions discussion