Millie

As far as I can see, a lot of people claim one of a number of things, and all are, in general, the result of the same phenomenon. For instance:

The reason has been referred to by a number of different things, but the most understandable definition is re-ranking.

So what are the side effects of re-ranking, and how can we combat them?

Combatting is difficult and may take some explanation from others, as I'm not that good at combatting it myself (I'm quite good against "better" teams, but not so good against smaller ones). I think it's best, then, that we outline the main scenarios and then try and find the solutions.

First, I know that these are touched briefly by the TT&F Theory threads, but I don't believe there are enough categories in there. It looks at playing stronger/weaker teams, playing at home/away, but while I think this is useful but not complete enough. It needs to be explained why and how the opposition will play against the human and, therefore, how the human should play against the AI.
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As I see it, there are three aspects to consider when setting up to play a game:

1) How good are your players
2) How good are the opposition
3) What is the expected outcome of the game

One huge mistake people seem to make is that the answers to 1 and 2 will automatically make 3. Not so. For instance, if you are West Brom who have bought in a great side and have just got promoted to the Premier League. For the first half of the season you may have the skill to be a top 6 team. However, the odds for each game will say that you are a bottom 6 team. Therefore, the opposition will expect to win and will set out to win the game.

Now flip this in the second half of the season. You're fourth, you've beated Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and your players have got a mean reputation. The odds will change to reflect this. Suddenly, teams don't attack you as much and pay you more respect. Now your counter attacking, fast paced game just loses you the ball and you can't win a game.

Even during games you may have to change. Go 1-0 down to a team who expect to lose and they will park a bus infront of goal (ask any Arsenal fan). However, go 1-0 down to a team that expects to win and they may continue to attack, giving you more space in which to try and equalise. Similary, go 1-0 against a team that expects to win and expect a torrent on your goal. Against a side that expects to lose, you may break them and go on to win the game.

So the first piece of advice - check the betting odds. Counter attack against teams who expect to beat you, be patient with teams who probably will put 10 men behind the ball.

That's reason 3 taken care of, what about reasons 1 and 2? Well, this is more a matter of taste, and one I'd like to open up discussion to. If you are a stronger, more skillful team you can get away with more skillful passing tactics. Similarly, poorer quality teams may need to revert to the long ball. And again, against a skillful side who expect to lose, you still don't want to give the ball away, but against an unskillful side who expect to win you may be able to take more risks. Who knows - it's down to the individual manager and each specific match.

This is a very brief introduction, and I'd like some input from others who have managed to achieve success over a long period of time even due to the re-ranking process. However, overall it may be more important to consider who the media thinks will win rather than who you think will win.

Cleon

Another good thread :thup:

The tip about looking at who the media expect to win is a good one, I always do that and look at the odds.

Jesp

Yep odds are important as it tells you how attacking/defending you can expect your opponent to be.

Opposition often changes tactics and formation during a game and if you do not counteract you will often suffer. The CLASSIC example is your team conceding an early goal and the opposition changes to the 3-3-2-1-1 formation without you noticing. If you watch matches on key highlights and the 2nd fastest highlights setting you could easily miss this.

You will probably end up loosing 0-1 because of that

Millie

I find the opposition formation incredibly important too. Gives you a quick idea of how attacking the opposition is.

For that reason I play extended higlights, second fastest speed and make sure I'm on the formation page whenever I'm not veiwing highlights.

musint

so what do you do to counter this? Any new strats?

rashidi1

Lately I've been doing this..when the media expect me to win, i start looking at dangerous players in their side who could hit me on the break.

If its a winger with great passing, then I make sure he is set to wrong foot and if its a dangerous striker who is fast, I get my players to tight mark him, but only from the opposition instructions screen. It seems to be working,

I'm in the second half of the season with Merthyr Tydfil and we are beginning to achieve top dog status in some matches

jaycar

exactly the way i view the game :thup:

Millie

The theorums thread deals with the oppositions' 5-4-1 and variants, so I won't really go into that.

However, the obvious answer is to go more attacking, maybe change the shape of the team against teams who don't want to attack you. My formation is pretty much a 4-2-4 when I play clubs like that. But you do have to be very careful, as Rashidi says about the counter.

Beevster

I must be gay or somthing, i always struggle vs the team that are using a halfway house tactic, Are they using there attacking tactic vs me or not ?

Maybe i should pay more attention too the actual odds and not just checking up on whos fav.

But i agree if you choose the wrong tactic vs the wrong tactic, then no matter how good your wrong tactic is the ai will win in the end, form drops players moral drops then all hell brakes loose

Millie

For when the AI doesn't seem to be really overly attacking or overly defending, the best thing to do is to play your normal tactic and play it by ear.

My usual response is to try and keep the game tight and counter-attack, hoping to go 1-0 up and then kill the game off.

This "half-way house" as you put it tends only to happen to me when I'm away from home. Most of the time, if the AI doesn't think it can win away it will shut up shop and play for the draw.

If you're a manager who thinks they need to go one way or the other, I'd go attacking but be prepared to change quite early on if it isn't working.