retired_rebebeccag

Thought maybe a wee thread for people to post their observations on changes they have seen since the patch would be useful. Cleon, feel free to close and tell me to stop cluttering!

- Barrows on full-backs. Seem to have lost their effectiveness. Pre-patch these prevented full-backs from pressing too high up the pitch, but allowed a decent level of closing down to be selected so when they did close down it was fairly intense.
Now the effect is that they drop behind the DC's and play central strikers onside.

- Strikers. Much, much better ball retention. You can now actually give your lone striker the ball without the certainty that he'll lose it by dribbling aimlessly, or punting it up the park to their keeper. A bit more Creative Freedom is probably OK now, cause he'll make better decisions.

- Defensive Line. It seems to me that in FM06 we all settled on a higher DL. In pre-patch FM07 the line had dropped to 6-8. Now I think it needs to be raised a bit again. Maybe 10 is where I seem to be settling on. That way when you put your DC's on defensive mentalities (as I think most of us do) they don't drop off too far and a) invite pressure and b) stretch your team too much from back to front, so short passing doesn't really fit.
I play my whole team on 6-12 for mentalities (Defence = 6, DMC = 8, MC's = 10, AML/R & SC = 12).

Anyone care to agree, disagree or add their own?

retired_Jackieboy

I wouldn't disagree with any of the above.

I'm getting caught offside more often now so I may have to drop the mentalities of my forwards.

I notice that I'm dominating & creating as many chances as pre patch but scoring fewer.
Getting post match comments like I thrashed the opposition after a 1-0.

retired_monica90

Was defensive line changed in the patch (haven't got the fix list to hand)?

retired_rebebeccag

I can't see anything in the changelist relating to D-Line specifically, but I'm going on the basis that other aspects much have an interaction with it.

bluenwhiteflm13

pre-patch my defence was fairly solid, post-patch my defenders stop running with the opposition, constantly get caught out of position and generally give away stupid goals.

However, i have also noticed that the opposition are giving away similar goals ie. my strikers are able to skin 3 or 4 men and put it in the back of the net no probs.

retired_thedizzyangel

I don't know if disagreeing is the right thing to say but that (above) was never the intention of Barrowed fullbacks, the original intention was to couple the Barrows with an attacking mentality to force them to get back into a defensive position, not to prevent them from pressing too high.

Ironically the main reason I used them pre-patch on FM07 was to make sure they were level or deeper than the DC's when up against the opposition playing wingers at AMR/L with a forward arrow/forward runs.

retired_rebebeccag

I don't know if disagreeing is the right thing to say but that (above) was never the intention of Barrowed fullbacks, the original intention was to couple the Barrows with an attacking mentality to force them to get back into a defensive position, not to prevent them from pressing too high.

Ironically the main reason I used them pre-patch on FM07 was to make sure they were level or deeper than the DC's when up against the opposition playing wingers at AMR/L with a forward arrow/forward runs. </BLOCKQUOTE>
Buxton, fair enough.

That may have been your intention, but it was never mine as I never use high mentality full-backs (never over 7-8), but I do have them closing aggressively. After I used barrows and reported back some joy I was actually interested that Cleon said you'd told him to try them, but he didn't say why you did so, and I couldn't find a post with your reasoning.

Anyway, my rationale is now out the window it seems to me.

retired_elpata

I don't know if disagreeing is the right thing to say but that (above) was never the intention of Barrowed fullbacks, the original intention was to couple the Barrows with an attacking mentality to force them to get back into a defensive position, not to prevent them from pressing too high.

Ironically the main reason I used them pre-patch on FM07 was to make sure they were level or deeper than the DC's when up against the opposition playing wingers at AMR/L with a forward arrow/forward runs. </BLOCKQUOTE>

I still use them now and have done for many weeks on patch. I like my fullback dropping level or slightly deeper than the DC's against good wingers. I found it was more solid this way.

retired_monica90

I can't see anything in the changelist relating to D-Line specifically, but I'm going on the basis that other aspects much have an interaction with it. </BLOCKQUOTE>

Could be the mentality tweaks I guess.

retired_elpata

I can't see anything in the changelist relating to D-Line specifically, but I'm going on the basis that other aspects much have an interaction with it. </BLOCKQUOTE>

Could be the mentality tweaks I guess. </BLOCKQUOTE>

*Nods* it is