- Breath Ray
- Nov 19, 2010
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The Formation
Before we get into slider settings and player roles, it’s important to understand what your basic formation and position assignments do.
Defensively, when the other team has the ball in front of you, your team will organize itself into rows:
-Attack-
-Midfield-
-Defense-
It will do this no matter what the positions you’ve assigned are, or how the players are arranged within the formation. You could place four midfielders in a vertical line from one 18 yard box to the other and they’re still going to spread themselves out into a horizontal line of four between your defenders and strikers when out of possession. The defensive shape of all formations with the same amount of defenders (blue), midfielders (green), and attacking (red) players will always be essentially the same.
When in possession, your team’s shape will look more like it does on the formation screen; for example, it’ll look more like the 4-1-2-1-2 you created rather than the 4-4-2 shape it assumes in defense. How far forward a player will move and how quickly depends on their placement in the formation and their position. A CMF placed very deep may act very similarly to a DMF placed near the midline -- play around with it and pay attention to your players’ movement during the game to get a better sense of things. Their position and location also affects how far back they will drop when the ball gets past your defense. If you want your midfielder to really track back and cover your defenders, you can’t have him placed right behind the strikers. Likewise, if your fullback is marauding up the pitch more than you’d like, try pulling him back a touch in the formation. This idea works in combination with the “numbers in attack” and “numbers in defense” settings, which we’ll get to in a minute, as well as the players’ own individual tendencies. Finally, these can be modified by Playing Styles, which I’ll also cover later.
The Fluid Formation option just gives you a little more control over how players will act in and out of possession. For instance, you might want to make your AMF to always stay pushed up the pitch so that he can be a target to facilitate counter attacks, so you make him a SS when out of possession so that he’ll stay up with the strikers instead of dropping back into the midfield defensive line. You can do other interesting things like have inverted fullbacks who are LB/RB when out of possession, but DMF when in possession.
Game Plan
This is where your tactical options are, and it’s split up into two sets of team instructions, for when you do and don’t have the ball.
Team Instructions when in possession
Attacking Styles: Counter Attack or Possession
This affects whether teammates will run towards or away from the dribbler, basically. With Counter Attack, players will begin moving aggressively up the pitch as soon as you gain possession. With the Possession style, players will be more restrained in their forward runs and give more outlets for passing, and attackers will be more likely to drop back to receive the ball with their backs to goal. If you like to do a lot of dribbling and play with inverted wingers, you might find that you run out of space more quickly with the Possession style as players draw their defenders into your path as the try to provide support. Counter Attack also leaves you much more vulnerable to counter attacks yourself, and will tire players out faster.
Build Up: Short Pass or Long Pass
This one’s a little different than what you might think. It doesn’t actually make your attacking players move forward in anticipation of a long through ball -- that’s more what the “Counter Attack” attacking style does. What Build Up determines is when your supporting players -- midfielders and fullbacks, basically -- will start to move aggressively up the pitch. With Short Pass, they will move forward more quickly and help develop play with shorter forward passes. With Long Pass, they’ll basically stay put until the ball is deep into the opponent’s half or at the feet of one of your forwards -- at that point, they’ll move up. At its heart, this option is about defensive safety. Short Pass makes getting the ball forward easier but leaves you more vulnerable to counter attacks if you lose the ball in midfield. With Long Pass, if you lose the ball in midfield most of your players should still be behind it and in good defensive position.
Attacking Zone: Center or Wide
Determines which players are more likely to make forward runs, and which are more likely to drop back and be playmakers. This does not affect how wide or narrow your players position themselves. With Wide, your fullbacks, wide midfielders, and wingers will be more likely to maraud forward, while your central midfielders and strikers will be more restrained and try to give more supporting options. With Center, it’s the opposite. In a nutshell: if you want to score by crossing the ball from the touchline, play Wide. If you want to play early crosses or through balls behind the defense to advanced central strikers, play Center. One thing worth mentioning is that Wide doesn’t really work if you don’t have combinations of wide players to link up and overlap. If you’re playing something like a narrow 4-3-1-2 with a Wide attacking zone, the fullbacks will likely find themselves isolated and outnumbered out on the flanks with no outlet options. Likewise, a wide 4-2-2-2 with the Center attacking zone will isolate the strikers, as the holding midfielders won’t be moving up enough to support them.
Positioning: Maintain Formation or Flexible
Determines your players’ freedom in roaming from their positions when attacking. Flexible is very, very dependent on individual players’ hidden AI traits, though you can sometimes get a sense of how they’ll like to move based on their playable positions. A guy you’ve got at DMF who can also play CMF and AMF will probably come farther up when attacking in a Flexible tactic; a CF who can also play SS and RWF might be more likely to make wide runs out to the right or come deep to receive the ball.
Support Range: 1-10
Think of this more in terms of attack vs support mentality. Higher support range means players will be making more aggressive in their positioning. If you want to dominate possession %, keep support range low.
Numbers in attack: Few, Medium, or Many
Influences how many players stay behind the ball when you have possession. This is like a “multiplier” for the way you’ve set up your formation and your players’ individual tendencies. There are no hard rules for what each of the three options does, and it’ll change depending on the formation and player. A fullback with a really high attacking prowess and the Offensive Fullback playing style might still bomb forward every time when you win the ball even with the “Few” option selected. Experiment.
Team Instructions when out of possession
Defensive Styles: Frontline Pressure or All Out Defense
Mostly affects where the midfield will set up their defensive line. With Frontline Pressure, there will be more space between the defense and the midfield; with All Out Defense, they will come deeper and create a defensive block deeper in your own half, lining up closer to the defense.
Containment Area: Middle or Wide
With Middle, your wide players will come inside to cover more central threats. With Wide, your central players will come outside more to cover wide players. A quick and dirty way to think about this one is that if you’re playing a 4-man back line, use Middle so that your fullbacks will come inside and cover for your CB’s when needed. If you’re playing with 3 CB’s, use Wide so that your CB-L and CB-R can move wide to prevent the other team from having free reign down the flanks. In most cases, Middle is the “safer” option, as it doesn’t involve defenders leaving the space in front of goal open.
Pressure: Aggressive or Conservative
This is really about defensive shape, not about how hard your players will be in the tackle. With Conservative, your players will stay in their defensive lines, looking more to intercept passes while 1 player pressure the ball. With aggressive, the team will shift more towards the ball and try to pressure with multiple players. To simplify things a little, you can think of Aggressive as man marking, and Conservative as zonal marking. Conservative defends better against through balls, but gives dribblers more time on the ball.
Defensive Line: 1-10
Where your defensive line is. Having a high defensive line with All Out Defense may give the opponent time to set up through balls behind your defense; having a deep defensive line with Frontline Pressure may create a huge gap between your defense and midfield that can be exploited.
Compactness: 1-10
How spread out your defenders will be. Generally speaking, being less compact goes in hand with more of a pressing mentality and Aggressive pressure, while being more compact works better with more defensive discipline and Conservative pressure.
Numbers on defense: Few, Medium, or Many
This is really about how fast your players get back into defensive position, since the number of players with defensive duties is actually determined by their position. This setting will not make your strikers put more effort into pressing, or anything like that. The higher this is, the more players like central and wide midfielders will sprint back into defensive position when you lose the ball, at the cost of them tiring out faster. For example, playing with an AMF and “Many” on defense will result in your AMF getting tired very quickly. A decent guideline for numbers on defense/attack is Few/Many, Many/Few, or Medium/Medium. Experiment.
There’s one other tactics menu option worth mentioning, which is the Players to Join Attack option under Player Settings. This option only affects set pieces, and the players you select here will come forward on corners and free kicks in the opponent’s half to try to score with a header. It’s generally used on CB’s.
Playing Styles
These make your players act in particular ways when your team is in or out of possession. I’ll briefly explain what they all do. Playing Styles only do anything if the player is playing one of the affected positions.
<Adv. Striker> CF, SS
Strikers who play facing goal, looking to run onto through balls or early crosses. Very attack-minded players, can get caught offside a lot if you don't time your passes.
Ex. Karim Benzema, Alvaro Morata
<Dummy Runner> CF, SS, AMF
Try to get open with a lot of horizontal movement, drawing defenders out of position. Can be effective scorers or playmakers.
Ex. Luis Suarez, Carlos Tevez, Thomas Muller
<Poacher> CF
Stick to the middle of the field and sit in the penalty box, trying to get in between their marker and ball so they can score with a header or with a quick touch and shot. A great option if you play a lot of crosses from the touchline, or if you like to patiently work the ball into the box. Usually have good balance, first touch and finishing.
Ex. Robert Lewandowski, Diego Costa
<Post Player> CF
"Target man" type players. Position themselves with a defender on their back, so they can receive the ball in the air. Tend to be tall, strong players with good heading.
Ex. Olivier Giroud, Edin Dzeko, Romelu Lukaku
<Creative Playmaker> SS, LWF/RWF
Rarely try to make forward runs past the defensive line, instead dropping very deep to collect the ball and act as playmakers.
Ex. Mario Gotze, Mesut Ozil
<Prolific Winger> LWF/RWF
Will try to receive the ball somewhat wide and deep, then make inward runs towards goal. Are often inverted wingers, i.e. right-footed players who play LWF. Usually have good dribbling skills.
Ex. Neymar, Arjen Robben
<Classic No. 10> CMF/AMF
Will rarely make runs into the box, instead camping outside the box to orchestrate play and provide an outlet. Will make themselves available in the center of the pitch to help develop the attack.
Ex. Francesco Totti, Hernanes
<Hole Player> CMF, AMF, LMF/RMF
Will make late runs into the box to try and outnumber the defense and score. Make sure you have some other defensive-minded players that can cover for them.
Ex. Eden Hazard, Andres Iniesta
<Box-to-Box> CMF, AMF, LMF/RMF
Runs very hard to get into their proper defensive or attacking position when possession changes hands. Usually have high stamina.
Ex. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Yaya Toure
<The Destroyer> DMF
Dart forward as soon you lose possession in order to press. Can sometimes have an adverse effect on defensive shape, works best in a formation with numbers in defense like a 4-5-1 that can allow a midfielder to run around injuring people.
Ex. Arturo Vidal, Daniele De Rossi
<Anchor Man> DMF
Stays very deep when you are in possession, rarely venturing very far out of your own half. Sits deeper than a normal DMF when defending, shielding the center backs. Can be useful as a "metronome" type player in a formation that likes to maintain possession and switch the ball in midfield.
Ex. Nemanja Matic, Sergio Busquets
<Build Up> DMF, CB, LB/RB
Comes very deep to collect the ball from the defense and develop play. Support attacks from deep, and when played at fullback will play narrow to provide a support outlet rather than make runs down the flank. Are usually in a good position to clean up opposing clearances, and tend to be excellent passers.
Ex. Xabi Alonso, Marco Verratti, Philipp Lahm
<Extra Frontman> CB
Will sometimes make forward runs out of the defense. Can gently caress you over pretty hard if you lose possession before they get back -- they work best behind an Anchor Man that will cover for them.
Ex. David Luiz, Giorgio Chiellini
<Offensive Fullback> LB/RB
Fullback who makes a lot of forward runs down the flank.
Ex. Dani Alvez, David Alaba
<Defensive Fullback> LB/RB
Fullback who rarely makes forward runs. Not a terrible choice when you’ve got an Offensive Fullback on the other side, or next to a CB with Extra Frontman.
Ex. Henrique, Stefan Radu
<Offensive Goalkeeper> GK
A sweeper keeper that will come out of goal to intercept through balls. Usually have pretty good movement stats for a goalie. Their timing on when to come out is generally on point, but if they're unable to get a good clearance you do run the risk of giving up a long shot goal.
Ex. Manuel Neuer, Hugo Lloris
<Defensive Goalkeeper> GK
A keeper that would rather stay between the posts and try his luck with a shot. I generally prefer Offensive Goalkeeper since the AI tends to be pretty smart about when to come out. These guys tend to be really tall, but slow.
Ex. Gigi Buffon, Thibaut Courtois
What difficulty level do you play?
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Aug 19, 2015 12:55
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