Free Kicks/Throw-ins in FM11

[Lazaru5]

Is it just me that's having issues with them?

I tend to not specify free-kick/penalty/corner/throw-in takers in my tactics trusting my captain/players to sort it out amongst themselves. This has worked great for me for years but in FM11 it seems that every free-kick that should be taken by a left footer is taken by a right footed player and wasted and vice-versa.

It's so ****** annoying, especially when it's obvious to a blind man that the angles dictate one foot or the other. I'm loathe to start specifying FK takers but I dunno what else to do.

Even then, free-kicks from within our own half, or just inside the opposition half aren't currently part of the tactics engine and neither is defending throw-ins.

Again, I don't know if it's just me but when the opposition have an attacking throw-in, 75% of the time they have a man stood all alone in an offside position and none of my players have the nous to pick him up... I've also benefited from similar, but I'd say that, for me, the reverse is true. i.e. 25% of the time I have a man stood offside all alone at a throw in.

I thought it was my tactics leaving the player all alone but it's not all of the time and the adjustments I've made to tactics to try and solve it cause other problems but don't fix the throw-in issue

I'm at a loss as to what to do....

 

[Tharros]

Why don't you just specify FK/throw takers? It takes about 5 seconds and you probably won't touch it again all season... :S

 

[Lazaru5]

doesn't work... different situations call for different takers. If you specify that X player takes FK's from the left then he will take ALL of them, I don't want that...

 

[Aannddyy]

Your only other option is to specify a kick taker, it's as simple as that.

Change your tactics to man marking? This should clear it up, if not then report it on SI cus it sounds like a bug, although I've had this sort of thing and it doesn't seem to be that bad.

 

[Lazaru5]

Your only other option is to specify a kick taker, it's as simple as that.

Change your tactics to man marking? This should clear it up, if not then report it on SI cus it sounds like a bug, although I've had this sort of thing and it doesn't seem to be that bad.

Specifying a DFK taker doesn't change the takers of FK's from the FB/out wide positions nor does it account for the players motivation (having a poor game, playing nervously, playing without confidence, etc etc).

Also, by not specifying a DFK taker means various players 'could' take the FK resulting in different types/angles/attempts etc... e.g. If player X always puts the ball into the opposite corner of the net - easy for the GK to position himself (not sure if this is a good analogy but I think you get my meaning).

In past incarnations of the game I have specified DFK takers, but since '09 I've left it at default and noticed a big increase in the amount of goals scored from DFK's, IFK's and corners. It was the same in FM10 but this time the whole FK setup appears wrong, i.e. the choice of taker is poor.

Now, that could theoretically be because of the captain's decision making if it was just one team that I was having problems with, but I am running 2 different saves (Sampdoria and Hereford) and the problem exists in both of them, i.e. I am having the same issues in both saves. That then suggests that the problem lies within the ME/TE of the game itself and not in the tactics I employ.

Having said that, the throw-in problem appears to be steadily improving as time goes by and I guess that this is down to the Match Preparation focus on defending set-pieces (but we still concede too many from corners :/ ). As for the FK issue, the simple answer appears to be to put left-footers on the right and right footers on the left which obviously imbalances the team but by doing so I have started scoring from IFK's.

I'm not sure why it's changed, but I'm pretty sure that it has. If it's a match-prep issue then surely it should have improved over time too without any need for me to switch L/R footers but it didn't?


N.B. I do have my tactics set-up in such a way that the better FK takers are always available to actually take the kicks, so it's not an issue of the better FK takers having contradictory individual instructions for set-pieces (first thing I checked )

---------- Post added at 06:35 AM ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 06:33 PM ----------

I can't believe that I'm the only person that is having problems with the free-kicks...

seriously, if you're not having a problem watch an AI v AI game in full mode and take note of the FK's, not just at the edge of the box but all over the pitch. The quality is abysmal, my sunday league team are better than the 'professionals' in this version of FM (11.1.1 patch).

 

[Jake]

Specify your free kick takers then!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nani is scoring them for fun on my save. Sure he takes one from a strange position occasionally, but its usually a better delivery than a centre back would manage.

 

[Cozzy165]

go man-to-man on the guy receiving the ball, although doing that every game in a season will become very drooling i'd imagine :/

 

[Vanjagl]

ha ? what r u trying to say ?

 

[Lazaru5]

Specify your free kick takers then!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nani is scoring them for fun on my save. Sure he takes one from a strange position occasionally, but its usually a better delivery than a centre back would manage.

I'm not talking about the DFK's around the box although we've only just scored one and it's 1st January in my save, I'm talking about the free kicks taken from other areas of the pitch, they're awful both for my team and the AI teams.

A free-kick just over the halfway line, for example, will either end up in the keepers hands or just drift harmlessly out of play, and you can't specify the takers of those kicks! (but the AI is choosing the wrong takers and so possession is just being wasted needlessly over and over again, it's beyond a joke).

I change the match prep focus fairly often to ensure they focus on all areas and whilst I notice improvements in all other areas the free-kicks remain *****. I've never seen it this bad in ANY version of this game and am amazed that nobody else has the same problems...