retired_jtingle

I agree with CB&C completely.

I'm on my second play through the demo and have tried all my 06 tactics so far. They all pretty much suck. Have actually only ever won ONE league game so far...

Until now. I've been tinkering with sliders, using a default 4-4-2 and am starting to get somewhere. (I've just won two in a row!)

I've discovered that slider settings between 5 and 15 give a massive range of difference on all areas and a movement of even one click either way has a noticable affect on the game.

I've made a mental note NEVER to use a setting below 5 or above 15, except in extreme circumstances. Generally, I'm gonna keeo within 3 notches of centre on all sliders.

It's possible that better players will be able to play within a formation/tactic that uses more extreme settings, but I'm using Gillingham in my game, so tecnical ability is not really prevalent. However, my tactic is making good use of some of my players individual aggressive, determined, high workrate style. (Very similar to RL.)

I will also say that quick tempo (13), short passing (8), wide (12) play seems to be working very well for me though. My team seems to move the ball quite well and, coupled with my closing/creative/tackling instructions, they do a hell of a job of regaining possession, too.

Gonna test some more...

retired_abelin

Good post :thup: I'm off to check out the relationship between passing and tempo (So far I've made the correspond, but since you've had some promising results, I'll try something similar now).

retired_dssmith1965

I've noticed that a high DL is much more prone to being caught out with balls over the top in the demo version than in '06. However, I am getting the 'play offside' to work well with a slightly high DL - say 12/13.

Ofcourse, it's key that the midfield unit (and even the strikers) are effectively closing down the opposition when in possession. Again, avoiding extreme settings in closing down instruction is key to avoid negating a player's positioning attribute.

If I was to design a 'knockabout footy' tactic, the last thing I would do get my midfield / strikers closing down, and reduce timewasting to 0. Surely a defensive mentality, short passing, high creative freedom, and normal-to-high time wasting would take care of that (given the technically adept players to play that way)?

retired_dolly67601

Just a small observation, but when I set my team up in this way, all defenders mentality 6, defensive midfielder mentality 8, then the rest of the team mentality 15, after playing that way for a few games, my preferred playing mentality on my profile switches to very cautious.

I found this to be a bit odd considering half my team are on attacking mentality.

I thought I would have been on mixed mentality at least. I suppose the whole team should be on attacking for me to be seen as 'adventurous' for preferred mentality?

The thing is, Mourinho's preferred playing mentality is also adventurous, so is the AI giving him a team mentality of attacking and not having any of his players on defensive?

retired_kellyk

Interesting spot Noel, very interesting

retired_dolly67601

If you all take a look at what your preferred mentality is after playing a few games with your current tactics and instructions.

I'm going to play a few games with a team mentality of 18 and see what it says in my profile when it updates

retired_kellyk

I went back into my profile to check...it listed my formation as 3133..and my mentality as adventurous. only 4 of my players are on defensive, 1 is on normal and the rest vary between 15-20.

One thing we all should remember is that the attributes have been lowered in 07. So tactics that worked in 06 should in all likelihood not work as well as before with the same lot of players.

retired_dolly67601

I used to consider my team instructions to be fairly attacking. Yet the AI does not recognise it as this.

Maybe some of us are playing a bit too defensive after all? It seems that to be classed as an adventurous attacking team, you need less than half your XI players set to defensive

retired_kellyk

I'd agree.

retired_dssmith1965

If you take into consideration that most teams sit back against Chelsea, then in order to create chances Mourinho has to position his team higher up the pitch. That translates to giving defenders a more attacking mentality.

By having your defenders with such a low mentality, and giving your attackers a very forward thinking mentality, in effect you're stretching your team - similar to Bolton irl. The defensive unit is sound, but you're letting your attacking players get on with it and this suits a more direct style of play.

This can be counter-acted to a degree by a higher defensive line, but I genuinely believe FM2007 blows some of the held beliefs such as Rule of 2 out of the water. If I go a goal up in the game, I can happily slide the team mentality down a few notches without going into each player's individual instructions. There's still the level of configuration options, but it's quicker and easier to make desired tactical changes.

Of course, it could just be a bug in the demo and your tactic should be classed as mixed or attacking...