retired_lilsmiles_2010

Whenever I play FM I try and implement domination football, partly because I'm Chelsea, and partly because I can't stand the opposition throwing a barrage of shots at me. Dodgy ticker you see. Can't handle the pressure.

Back in FM 05 I used to play my favoured 4-1-4-1 tatic, which while not creating a huge amount of chances usually shut my opposition out for the whole game. I'd generally have anywhere between 10-20 chances and they'd have quite literally 0. Did this get boring? Hell no. I quite happily won league after league after league, on a bad day either drawing 0-0 or picking up a 1-0 victory, and on a good day thumping my opponents 5-0. The only time in which this domination didn't occur was against teams like Man Utd and Barcelona. The big teams. But that is to be expected.

Now having grown accustomed to this domination (and sadly missing out on 06 because of computer problems) I picked up FM 07. Obviously, a great game, but I just can't seem to replicate what I once had, even using my patented 4-1-4-1 (with updated team and player instructions to suit what I assume is a new match engine). I've tried long and hard, put far more into my 'domination' tatic than I did on 05, but what I've ended up with is strange. First of all I never totally dominate like I once did. True, I occasionally dominate, having about 18 shots to their 5 or 6. But for me that's not good enough. I'd rather have half the shots and eradicate their attacks totally. Second, while nine times out of ten it ends up like that I get the occasional odd result against a team likely to struggle against relegation, in which they'll have exactly the same amount of shots as me. No, I'm not complaning about super keepers or anything like that, because those games usually end in draws anyway. I'd just like to know if there is anyway for me to turn this from an occasional occurence into a 'once in a blue moon' thingy.

So what I'm asking is if anyone else out there tries (and succeeds) in implemting a domination tatic, where most opponents can't even manage a shot on goal, and how the hell you do it. To be honest I thought I'd cracked it, not totally, but getting to the stage where I could sit back and say 'good enough' but then I go ahead and lose 3-1 at home to West Ham (as Chelsea) with us each having 15 shots on goal with roughly equal possesion. I feel like I'm close, but that I'm missing something along the way.

So... anyone in the same predicement as I?

retired_chloeb

I've been trying to implement this in FM07 as well, and while I succeeded with a 4-2-3-1 with Atletico Madrid, usually having something like 60-63% possession, it is obvious from the new match engine that you need to tweak it as your opponent changes shape and arrows to maintain possession. Once you score the first goal the opposition, unless the opposition is completely inferior, they will come at you and try to wrestle their way back in the game. I'm still trying to learn the best ways to get possession gradually back up during the game, though the match engine seems to favour counter attacking instead. The narrow 4-4-2 diamond with sarrows on the CM's and FC's is great for possession imo, esp. when the opposition starts throwing their wingers forward with long farrows, as your midfield 4 will easily outplay their 2.

retired_chloeb

Blah...so poorly written it's sad. Too tired to be writing or playing right now.