onamission

Can any of you tactic wizards please give me a helpful push in the right direction?

Sorry to start a new thread when there ar many good existing ones on the subjects that I will raise but I feel that the questions I have might be better if they are answered on there own.

1.I am having a lot of problems keeping possession. I was under the impression that if I lower the tempo and make passing short, they will try to retain the ball is this true??

2.I have wingers who have good pace, crossing and dribbling. Basically I want them to beat the full back and then just cross it into the box, as my strikers are quality in the air. Should I set them to a low creative freedom with cross from the by-line often and run with ball/forward runs often. Or should I just put cross ball often so they get it in the box early?

3.In Steve Howard I have a brilliant Target man yet he doesn’t score very often, despite me changing my formation so they don’t crack it. He is class in the air. Should I aim my crosses to Target man (as he is set) or mixed so he has the chance to attack them?

4.My final question and my most important is. For any neutrals who are reading this and have downloaded Wolverine, Blunt Blade, Underdog etc. Which one would you say provides the most scoring chances as I feel that if I create enough chances I will walk the league. At the moment I am only creating between 4-10 shots a game, most of which are off target.

Any help is much appreciated. Again I am sorry to start a new thread but I feel these questions, if answered will really help me.

retired_elpata

1) Yes, but too short or not having the players to handle this type of game and you might loose possession rather easily.

2) Have them cross the ball from byline is best I find for allowing wingers to whip the ball into the centre. If your strikers are quality in the air, you could set them up as targetmen if they are that type of player. Then you can specify to pass to him.

3) I touched on this above already.

4) Its not as easy as that, because they where all created for specific teams. In order for it to be successful for you, you have to change things to suit your team.

I think you might wanna check out the unofficial tactics bible thread up top. It coveres everything you wanna know and much more.

onamission

Thanks for the reply mate.

Ive had a butchers at loads of threads on here and they have all helped me a lot.

retired_josephine

I don't recall much of my first Derby season, but here goes. Cleon answered most better than I could anyhow.

1 - I never won the possession battle in my first year. Normally about 42/58, but I did win more games than I lost. Since then I have changed to Direct passing and moved my D-line Up and I'm better than half possession in the Premiership. The D-Line is the important thing IMO since now the other team can't simply knock the ball around. I also man mark which forces them to lose possession more often.
2 - I had Barnes and my other wingers run with ball and make long forward runs and then cross often. With Howard as the target man flicking to Lupoli I was deadly in the Championship. Howard doesn't do as well against Premiership teams the next season though.
3 - Howard did score bundles for me, but I don't know why. He's a killer at this level.
4 - I made my own tactic playing to the strengths of the squad using all of the threads here. I did need to make alterations for home/away and for bad stretches, but I haven't used a downloaded tactic yet.

onamission

Just a little mini update.

I downlaoded the new patch and decided to start a new game as Derby from scratch.

I read all the main threads and looked at all the key points.

They have helped me know end. I have played all my preseason games and my first two league games and looked really solid with good possesion and chances.

I downlaoded Underdog and then used all the pointers I found to tweak this and it has been really good.

Steve Howard is looking the beast he should be, tearing teams apart Pre-Season and Lupoli is a deadly as ever.

Who ever wrote about creative freedom and the stats to look for have been a god send.

Ryan Smith is a quality winger, yet on my other games he couldnt socre or assist, yet he has already scored 3 goals and set up about 4 in pre season and was man of the match twice in my first two league games.

The tweaks I have made seem to be doing the business.

If it carries on like this I will upload everything.

Thanks to all for the tips and pointers, they have been great for me.