Hello,
I thought I would start a thread on this as I was posting a little in SFraser's thread about it (seriously worth a read - his thread, not my comments) and I started observing results that were more positive than initially, so I wanted to both share and get some feedback.
First up, some background; I am playing a 442 with Spurs and I am currently using SFraser’s thread 'Tactics: A less is more perspective' as a foundation for my setup. I set up with a 12 mentality for the core of my team with DC's and MCD on -2 and WB's on +2 and I play around with the strikers depending on the match. Most PI's are mixed (in the spirit of SFraser’s thread). In game I make small adjustments according to my assistant manager and you can read more about those changes in my own thread 'I think I am onto something', whose URL is listed in my signature.
For those that follow my, SFraser’s and Heathxxx posts, you will know I am more of a 'lets throw it out there' person rather than 'let’s test this to death'. So, it’s in this spirit, that I have started this thread, I mean, how better to test something than to get most of the forum helping????
Now, my only disclaimer is that I have only tried this in 2 games, yes..... only 2.... please refer to above paragraph.
So.... with all that blathering behind us.... onto the topic of the thread.
I believe that like many people using these forums; 'Time Wasting' was something that you used if you wanted to chase a game or to close it out, i.e. low time wasting and high time wasting respectively. The flip side of this was to see the games either progressing very quickly and very slowly which in turn resulted in both teams either having energy to spare at any given point or not. Obviously the later being with a low time wasting setting.
My initial thoughts on using 'Time Wasting' (will stop using the speech marks soon) was to conserve energy for my team when I am using a fast tempo and high closing down game, this then moved onto a case of thinking that if it was conserving energy for my team then its likely to be doing the same for my opponent.
This line of thinking then moved me onto a new thought.... I could use this to tire inferior teams out or to conserve my own energies when playing superior teams. 'Ah....but that is what tempo does', I hear many of you say! and to a point, I agree. However, through observations I have started noticing that Tempo dictates the pace at which a ball is passed around during play.
Now, this is worth a new paragraph as it’s this interpretation that makes a difference here. When I say 'during play', I do
not simply mean when a ball is on the pitch, I actually mean when the ball is in
A play (heavy emphasis on 'A'). I.e. when 'something is on', when there is something that can be played out, an opportunity to be had etc etc.......
Once 'in
A play' then this is where I believe that tempo comes into effect. The ball will then be buzzed around the pitch or not, depending on your settings. Now, some of you may disagree with me at this stage and that is fine, however, most of you, judging by your posts and by most of the downloadable tactics/comments on these forums will generally use a 'low time wasting game' and because of this you may not have observed what I have observed and I'll get on to why this is shortly.
I started playing with a relatively high time wasting setting, 14 to 16. Whilst generally playing with a high pressure but normal mentality. I setup like this in the middle of a game as the team I was playing against had decided to ‘park the bus’ so to speak.
I want to put pressure around the box without then taking pot shots being wastefull of opportunities. Therefore I made a number of changes to my tactic. I pushed up the defence line, I played very wide (19), I also decided that I didn’t want my wingers crossing into a packed box, so I turned off crossing (that’s a whole other thread!!!!) on both my wingers and wingbacks. With the high mentality that my wingbacks had, I found that I had 7, if not 8 players if the MCD pushed forward, in and around their box. However, I was taking silly pot shots or trying balls that were seriously ‘not on’. Therefore most of this pressure was lost through minor errors, but at a major cost.
At this stage, I then considered the effects of ‘Time Wasting’. Even if you have the highest possible setting for time wasting, your team will still play. Therefore something tells them to play when ‘something is on’. For the more observant of you, you may now see where I am going with this. So, with this in mind, I made a change.
I changed the time wasting from low (as I was trying a high pressure game) to high (16). What this resulted in was my players dallying on the ball a little, not a lot, but a little. However, if something was on, they did NOT dally at all. At 16 notches though, they were getting caught in possession a fair amount so I lowered this to
14 (the highest normal). The results of which were great. The
pot shots at goal disappeared (as they did when I moved from low to 16), as did the getting caught in possession. With crossing off to, what was happening was that the team were passing the ball around the outside of the box, taking short runs in and if nothing was on, passing the ball back out.
There are obviously many factors impacting on this. My normal (ish) mentality will have an effect on possession vs. attacking play. However, that aside, what I have witnessed now for two games, is that with a fairly high level of time wasting your team seems to
wait for opportunities to play the ball. Once an opportunity arises, you can
then see the tempo kick in.
An example of this could be to play a short passing game with high tempo but with high time wasting, the team will play around with it for a bit, making slow short passes back and fourth between each other and then something is on and the pace of the passing seriously picks up.
The reverse is also true, which is why some of you may not have witnessed this (I told you I would explain why). If your time wasting is low, then effectively, your team are not waiting for opportunities to happen, they will play the ball regardless. Now, this is not a bad thing, as any team can ‘make’ something happen. However, to low a setting will see your team forcing things and many of these things will not come off.
I know its only been two games, but so far I have found that the extreme settings of little and lots are great for chasing or closing a game, whereas the mixed settings, high or low are great mentalities to use. A high mixed setting will tell you players to 'wait' for an opportunity, whereas a low mixed setting will tell them to 'get on with it'.
I’ll keep posting back with my observations, but it would be great to get both some feedback, even if it’s your first thoughts and then some factual testing.
The only thing I would say is to fit it in with your style of play. It worked for me as the opposition in both games had packed the box out and I bided my time and something presented itself. If you play a highly aggressive game and the team are not too defensive, then I wouldn’t use the settings I did. Try and think of another combination.
Anyhow….. long explanation for a short statement.
Jesaustralia:
Haha!!! - Thank for that Lam or IAM - So I changed the timewaste to 14 in BBM CF=20 I put all attacking players on passing=20 as well - I took the job as Real Madrid coach I got offered earlier which gave lots of problems cause I only had 17 days to get everything sorted out before the transfer window would close - but even worse everytime I tried to buy a player the club wanted 150m pounds for them - so I had to cheat - to create a team before the first match - so I made a binch of swaps and in the end I bought Crystal palace anchorman regent superstar for 180m pounds wow!!!!! - he's worth it
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I play on teamwork currently the team gel is only good - so I can expect crazy things happening once at die for each other - yea setting timewaste to 14 made my new RMA team beat sociedad 8-0 35 chances vs theirs 0 chances - possession was in the late 60's with an allround long pass setting - finishing became more prolific than ever - I'm gonna test this some more to see what happens.
If anyone play with Frankenstein I recommend trying to set timewaste to 14 and see what happens - use comprehensive highligts as well to see if its promising. I recommend trying this with other tactics as well - 14 seems very much like a sweet spot.
Cheers guys