retired_sexy_chili25

Ok this will change a lot depending on what team you are and what reputation you have ect ect.

You must already have a decent tactic, or really this wont help you at all, its not going to make a tactic any better, what you see is what you get, but ill try help you make the most of your tactic.

I can only give my experence on what i have noticed in my games with a top flight club.

the club in use is arsenal.

So anyone can add some information about what they do when they come up against formations, by means to get a win, please add to the disscussion

Ok you have got your instructions all set your team is ready for the pitch you have taken on board who your going to play and made all the changes you need before going into the match. Now when you get to the pitch the first thing you do is check out there formation and you noticed "oh there not going to attack me" so you ask yourself what do i do now this isnt what i expected, this is where i would like to start a topic on how to read formations and what changes need to be made to help beat certain types of formations.

There are lots of veriables but its very easy once you get used to the AI format of play.

Some variables are
Home vs attacking vs defence vs normal vs 10 men
Away vs attacking vs defence vs normal vs 10 men

Some will be the same but behing home or away can add an extra advantage of dis-advantage.

So ill try explain what happens in diffrent situations ingame.

Remember this only will hold water for a top flight club, dont try this if your underdogs please .

This applys for a home game vs a defensive formation, kickoff your attacking vs defence the reason you do this is because you have a home advantage you should start of positivly to try and get an early lead, if this dose not happend then you will need to change a few things, there are play deep (about 3 notches from your normal setting) change your mentality down to normal 10-11, play shorter passing 2-3, slow tempo 1, this will make your team pass the ball around more within defence and midfield (looking for the opertune moment)this will either make the other team come out to you for the ball leaving there defensive positions behind thus leaveing a gap for your team to attack into, or they wont come after the ball and you keep possesion, to the AI this is not part of the game plan, they want to win the game just as much as you do (remember its early in the game and to them its a long time to hold on without the ball) not having the ball to them is not good(at this stage in a match), so they will switch to an attacking tactic (they think "oh this guys stupid hes not going to try win" and close you down hoping to anticipate 1 of your sideways passes and then hit you with a goal (ah ha! ive got him now. but!), this sounds like a bad thing, but because your waiting for this to happend you switch back to your attacking tactic raise your def-line and raise your passing back to normal, now we have an open game (attack vs attack) and you can attack much better(remembering we have home advantage), chances are you will get a goal as you have stayed in the same formation your team is in control of the situation with only making minor changes while your opposition has changed tactics completly(just like lemmings ), this is what you dont do, but yet this is what a lot of people do and thats why you become unstable or prehaps you dont do anything and stick with your attacking tactic, most of the time i found this gets you nowhere fast. This works for most types of situations, if you get a goal and then score a second the ai switches to a defensive formation hoping to hit your attacking tactic on the brake, while its a nice thing to attack vs defence (the feeling of not being under pressure is faulse) in o6 this worked well you could brake down the AI with attacking strats, but on 07 its diffrent and the AI will cause a drop in rating's(playing at home and having all them chances missed ) then you get no goals and a drop in form which in the long run will lose you matches, so you must play a diffrent style to what you did before(but dont change formation too drasticly).

So the idea at home is to make them use there attacking formation without making drastic changes yourself, 9 times out of 10 you will score first because you have used the right game plan for this game.

For away matches they normaly always play attacking vs you you should use a normal mentality and while your defending quiet well you will be also looking for gaps in there attacking tactic, because its early in the game they will be attacking you 9 times out of 10 in my experence you wont become under that much pressure your players arnt trying to go fwd that much and so things are stable, the home team is at home they should be looking for a goal but this aint happening, so they changed to a silly all out attacking tactic (maybe a424, but it also come as other formations like a 442 with long wing arrows), so you want to use this madness at your advantage and play slightly more attacking mentality set time wasting to rarley (you should always start an away match with 7-10 time-wasting this get in the heads of the home side and frustrates them and will boost your player rating, if done correctly it wont be much but 7 instead of a 6 helps) and you should get a goal, once this happens your in control they will either go defensive in this case do the same as above for home drop back short passing slow tempo (fanny about) make them come to you, by now you should be getting the idea, what your doing it making the AI change tactics so much to get somthing out the game all this swapping and changing will do them no good and you can have a field day choosing the right time to slip in a goal, if you find your playing vs a decent side, you have just been re-ranked highly and so they play there most defensive formation, you are better off playing defensive vs them and hoping to hit them as they come to you but you might end up with a draw, in this case at least you kept a clean sheet your players got pritty good ratings for getting somthing away from home, and really the result isnt as bad as it seems, somtimes matches cant be won for love nor money, so a draw wouldnt be so back. Its at home where you can really dominate the play, because you have that home advantage.

I hope this helps, and i hope you can help me with some stratigys you make up in games to make the AI change styles, i feel this is an awsome way to make the most out of your tactic, and boost player ratings.

retired_janellewood86

I think you've undersold yourself!

This will work with any team, regardless of stature. OK, short, slow passing is only advisable for the best teams, but the premise is there.

I will always try to stick to my basic game plan, but changing to the opposition is vital. For a bigger team against a defending team, I will play more of a slow game, looking to get the opposition out of their box. For a weaker team, though, I will do similar, but obviously within the limits of what they are capable of. So, perhaps a wider game, a lower defensive line, more attacking full backs etc.

And again, when the opposition start coming at me it's time to counter attack and exploit that space in behind the wingers!

I think this is useful: if people read what the opposition are trying to do (and let's be fair, the AI doesn't have many tricks up its sleeve) then they can compensate accordingly.

In fact, if we could list and provide a solution for every basic mentality that the opposition have we could easily draw up a quick check list of things to do to counter the AI.

retired_sexy_chili25

it was a tactical ploy to get a discussion going.

ok ur right, but i just have no experence apart from playing as a top team, i just dont get fun out of playing as a diffrent club. once a gunner always a gunner

retired_sexy_chili25

millie, i have read your topic on SUPA KEEPAZ!!! and thought maybe you could direct your customers over this way, as a way to help with sot and goals, i think both topics are highly related.. buts its ur topic so i dont wanna hijack it

retired_janellewood86

I think they are related, yes.

Hijack away!

retired_sexy_chili25

A guy called ans gurik said this in another topic so all thanks to him

Obviously it depends on what tactic you use, but I think the following applies, no matter what:

Mourinho mainly use two tactic's: He starts with 4-1-3-2, but at some point - depending on the scoreline - he will change to a 4-1-2-3 (two winger's and one striker). Pay attention to the changes.

Now the weakness of the first - and most important - tactic is: The FB's are the 4-1-3-2 tactic's main outlet for crosses. Close them down to prevent them from making those crosses with plenty of time and space. That way you easy the burden on your DC's who are up against some great strikers.

Attacking wise it is much the same: The weakness is that Chelsea need to bring their FB's forward. If you Sarrow your strikers and focus passing down both flanks, your defensive players will try to find your attacking players, in the space the Chelsea full backs have left behind them, when they went forward to attack.

retired_sexy_chili25

This might be common knowledge to most people, but i thought i would mention it here so people get an idea of what kind of info im looking for to add too the topic

When playing against 10 men.

The natural reaction is, woo this is going to be easy!, but most of the time you end up pulling your hair out, the reason is because they switched to an all out 10 busses infront of goal.

So we need a way to combat this gay ploy, what i tend to do is, if your not already wide then select wide width 20 then put passing down the flanks, then add some time wasting but not to much i say about 10-11 max this will make your players wait untill the other team comes to get the ball off you, if you dont do this they will just stand off and pick the ball off you when you move forward, so spread the play make them chase after every ball, make them lose fitness, this will create gaps in there solid tactic and in time you should be creating chances.
Also what you can do is bring on strikers with pace or wingers with pace, this will stretch the game loads and lead to an open game.
what you dont want to do is sit back, if you sit back and think 10 men cant hurt you, your going to be upset if they nick a goal, its far better in this situation to play football in their half of the pitch , even if your not going fowards to score just playing the ball around in the final third is very good.