retired_astinson

On the off chance I am not the only one mulling over this issue, what is it really that needs to change when you are away? The general consensus is certainly play more narrow, counter attack, yada yada, but two things are bugging me: A) I dont really understand why that is and B) there have to be some situations (depending on personell, moral, quality of opponent, something) that makes that stratgey less than perfect.

A) Seriously, what is the engine doing to your players when they go on the road aside from messing with their heads? Are home players just faster? Do they jump higher? Why *exactly* does my tactic work differently on the road than it does at home? And what is the extent to that effect? For instance if I have strength on the wings and weakness in the middle, why aren't I awlays better off playing wide? Like, I can see from experience that I am NOT always better off, but why? What is the engine doing to nullify that advanatage? And is there any way I can counter act that effect?

B)Playing narrow cannot be the only response to playing on the road. I mean, if I find myself down by a goal late or two early, I don't stay narrow. I go wide. Sometimes I come all the way back, sometimes I get blown out. Yes, this probably has a lot to do with my players, but it seems to me that in the games where I get down and come back with a wider attack ... I should have been able to know that I wider attack was going to work before I gave up the goals. In an unsicentific manner, I've found that if I can get back into the game going wide, I can re-start the game, go wide from the jump, and never be behind (again, not *tested* just my observation). So, from that observation, it seems like there has got to be a way to figure out before hand if wide is going to work.

C). I guess this all leads to the general question of do I need to really think about away tactics in a fundamentally different manner than home OR can I just use the same thing on the road as I do at home. Cause if its fundamentally different than there its gotta be about more than width and line play. And if its not different than I should really be able just to play the same tactic both ways.

Shouldn't I?

retired_slayerbing

The premise with the game is that when you are at home sides will play defensively against you therefore you play wider to pull them apart and make holes and therefore chances.

Away games for you mean that the AI sides more often than not fancy their chances at winning and therefore are going to come at you. If you are playing wide you are leaving big holes for them to exploit. Also if you are narrow your players are closer together and work more effectively as a defensive unit because when someone tackles a player someone else is their to get the loose ball OR cover for the tackler.

There are games however where you are playing away where the AI is a weaker team and won't come out like a stronger team would - in these games playing wider will be ok because you arethe team that is attacking. The tough part is judging which teams are going to come at you.

Shawnotron

in reality, you win more games at home than away, think of those 5 hour trips from L'pool to Portsmouth to get beat 2-0 c*unts

zyx345

i posted this in wwfan's TT+T thread yesterday about width:

retired_elpata

Yeah thats false, its not as easy as just saying play narrow. Its more complexed and more factors to consider liek you mentioned.

The AI plays different away from home than it does at home. Just like RL football, teams adapt when they play away to suit the game of the team they are playing. This is the case for most teams unless you are the strongest in the league like a Chelsea, Arsenal etc as they have the quality to dicate the game. FM is just the same, teams adapt.

If your at home then the opposition might be quite defensive which is the case most of the time depending on how good your team is. They also play narrower I find, meaning if you play wide, you will get a lot of joy down the wings due to the space they allow you to use.

If you are finding wide works away from home, then why do you go narrow sometimes? If I was you, id always start playing your own game and then change in game if you need to adapt and not before. Only change if somethings not working, and not because you read on here that narrow is better away, thats utter crap in most cases.

The scout reports are a good indication of if someone is playing narrow or not, if it says a defensive formation then it will be normal - narrow.If its an attacking formation then its likely to be wide.

The shape of the formation itself is a good indication, take Liverpool on my games they never ever use wingers. They always like up 4231 with 4 defenders, 2 central MC's, 3 central AMC's and 1 striker. Now they play narrow because they don't have the width down the wings, something you could guess from the shape of the formation as well.

Failing all the above if you are still unsure, start the game and watch the first minute, then you can tell by how far apart the players are when in possession if they are wide or narrow.

For last 2 seasons I've been able to play the same home and away. With just the odd modification now and again to suit the opposition. If I play a Chelsea, I change my mentality to a less attackin one, due to them having players to hurt me if I commit too many forward.

thefitnessvoice

Great observation. I have been struggling away from home, despite playing a more defensive system and I think part of the reason was the classic, Narrow defensive formation.

After reading your post, I now play wide at home and away and it does seem to work.

I think that if you are playing counter-attacking football you need closing down, a high tempo and ultimately some width.

I appreciate the theory of clogging up the midfield by playing narrow but for me, playing wide does lead to more productive counter attacking.

retired_janellewood86

The biggest problem I've found away from home is that the opposition are more spurred on by the crowd and seem to be better at coming back from behind.

I play away exactly the same way I play at home now until I see that it a) isn't working or b) I score.

It's only when the opposition seems to be having a hatful of chances or I've taken the lead that I move to my stock defensive formation in order to ride out the storm.

Doesn't always work, but it at least seems logical and has worked the past few road games I've had.

I've found crazy gra's discussion on width very useful. And I think it helps my team that they now play the same tactic home and away, only changing in response to the AI. Keeps a level of consistency that perhaps I was lacking.

:thup:

retired_jbarr

Good topic Elie,

I too agree. I do play narrower but only by one notch. I try and keep the game really tight until after half time and then have a push at them when the crowd has gone to sleep.

-K

zyx345

cheers mille :thup:

it occured to me that how i have width was just common sense and applied it with those assumptions. then when i tried different settings, it didn't seem to be as effective. i've not tested it much, but the results i achieved were quite infavour of how i thought width would act.