New ME: RIP Possession tactics, and other tactics maybe

churros

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With each new ME update the tactic that I've adjusted to suit the flawed ME becomes obsolete, outdated.

I was just getting used to my 65-70% possession tactic in the previous ME 13.2.<something>, sometimes even going on to the mid 70%s.

What's worse is that even though FM12's ME was far from fantastic either, it was a lot more CONSISTENT, and that's what counts the most when calibrating your tactics. On FM12 I managed to peak an average of 70-75% possession, reaching a spectacular, Barca'esque 85-90% against significantly weaker teams.

And no I did not have to sacrifice wins for that, nor was it because my team was made up of exceptionally better players than the rest of the league. It was after hours and hours of countless trials and errors with different combination of PLAYER SPECIFIC instructions, just to give you an idea of how much in detail I went into finding the best possible tactic for various types of play.

On the note of varying play, no, I did not stick to a narrow-minded approach in FM12 only working to find more and more possession. I took a lot of time and effort as well to create more direct, fast-paced and offensive tactics, and learnt to balance offensiveness, possession and managing risky play to different ideals. It was effective in FM12 maybe because not only was the ME more stable imo, but possibly also due to them not patching the game up by the time I got my hands on it in August last year.

Back to FM13, I have a squad that's a LOT stronger than my squad in FM12. They're basically the best in their position in the league at least, if not, in the world. You know it, 18-20 on key attributes.

18-20 on:
Marking, tackling, position on defenders,
Decisions (most important attribute ever), Creativity, Passing, OTB on midfielders
OTB, Anticipation, passing, dribbling on attackers

Yet, no matter what I try with the latest ME I can't get a consistent 70%. 65% is my best average at home. Away, of course, idk what SI were smoking to make players completely **** away, 60% at best.

After all that adjustment and trials and errors with tactics, clearly tactical instruction isn't the issue any more as I've watched several home and away matches in FULL. I don't know what it is specifically that SI have done to the AI in an attempt to simulate whatever it is, but they've become a whole lot more irrational, erratic, and worst of all, stupid. Like schoolboy stupid. Like a fullback in away matches with "Run with Ball" set to rarely, thinks it's perfectly ok to dribble the ball like *** and lose it half the time he gets the ball. Or how my most intelligent CMs based on attribute decide on the most outrageous passes that's completely the opposite of both team and player specific tactical instruction. ps. Creativity has been tweaked from low-mid-high to no distinct difference.

Now if you've read to this point congratulations and thanks, but you've probably figured this is just a lament over how the state of the FM engine from FM12 to the few patches of FM13 has deteriorated in many more ways than it has, if at all, improved.

But hey, it's a lament about tactics and (hopefully) it's somewhat relevant to stay in this section, and I'm wondering if any of you possession-aficionados actually manage to get past the 70% mark consistently with the latest ME.

I've read pretty much every tactics thread on the forum with over 5000 views and one thing I notice is people rarely get over 65% possession anyway. Whatever the cause, the FM13 players' AIs don't seem to grasp the concept of retaining possession, and moving the ball around defensively and patiently and work out opportunities more slowly. Whatever tactics I set they just want to rush the ball forward. No simple sideways passes, back passes, or just finding a non-offensive space to exploit, whether its the player on or off-the-ball.

I still do win most of my matches, and averaging a 3 goal margin, since I do, after all have a generally "world-class" squad, but heck do I miss just poking the ball around and frustrating the **** out of the opponent, and then scoring an amazingly well-worked team goal when the opportunities finally do arise.
 
You are correct, this just looks like a rant. If you want this thread to stay open, whyt not re-write the opening post so its a constructive one, If not, this thread will just turn into a massive rant thread and will get closed within a day.

Cheers
 
I agree with everything you've said, but it's time to move on an adjust with the ME unfortunately.
 
You are correct, this just looks like a rant. If you want this thread to stay open, whyt not re-write the opening post so its a constructive one, If not, this thread will just turn into a massive rant thread and will get closed within a day.

Cheers
It's not just that but I'm also asking for discussion if anyone's successfully replicated a Barca style of play.

I've stated how I've struggled and succeeded over the various MEs of FM with all my work put into the tactics so that's somewhat constructive isn't it.

Anyway I don't see it as a bad thing if we're here to just share our frustrations over how we have to bear the consequences that each new iteration of the ME brings hope you agree.
 
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It's not just that but I'm also asking for discussion if anyone's successfully replicated a Barca style of play.

I've stated how I've struggled and succeeded over the various MEs of FM with all my work put into the tactics so that's somewhat constructive isn't it.

Anyway I don't see it as a bad thing if we're here to just share our frustrations over how we have to bear the consequences that each new iteration of the ME brings hope you agree.


Yes, but as it looks like a rant, the thread will become a new rant thread. Believe me, I have seen this so many times and it never fails. People will just go off topic and bring uå the issues they have with the game, most of the time spreading totally false information as they dont jhave a clue about how the game works. So, just re-write the OP and get to the point straight away without the ranting.


2:) Yes, thats what the frusteration thread is for, and the one called 13.2.3 Update
 
It's not just that but I'm also asking for discussion if anyone's successfully replicated a Barca style of play.

Has any team in real life lately been able to replicate Barca's style of play?
 
And no I did not have to sacrifice wins for that, nor was it because my team was made up of exceptionally better players than the rest of the league. It was after hours and hours of countless trials and errors with different combination of PLAYER SPECIFIC instructions, just to give you an idea of how much in detail I went into finding the best possible tactic for various types of play.

This is basiclly where your problem is. When tweaking all the sliders in a trial & error manor and look for a sweet spot, you are not playing with a team or playing against an opposition, but instead, you are trying to beat the Match Engine. And when exploits and flaws are ironed out, you look for a new sweet spot and this is where things go wrong since the game is not supposed to work that way. Naturally, everyone can play the game in whatever way they want, but if doing it in a way that is not meant to be, its hard to learn something from it etc or see some logic in it as there should no be any logic to it when playing the game illogical.
 
This is basiclly where your problem is. When tweaking all the sliders in a trial & error manor and look for a sweet spot, you are not playing with a team or playing against an opposition, but instead, you are trying to beat the Match Engine. And when exploits and flaws are ironed out, you look for a new sweet spot and this is where things go wrong since the game is not supposed to work that way. Naturally, everyone can play the game in whatever way they want, but if doing it in a way that is not meant to be, its hard to learn something from it etc or see some logic in it as there should no be any logic to it when playing the game illogical.

I've been averaging 63% possession over an entire season. Possession is dead my **** :$.

But it should be relatively hard to play possession football effectively. Crafting the kind of attacks that move around and manipulate opposition players is difficult.
 
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Has any team in real life lately been able to replicate Barca's style of play?

Not particularly. Although its vital to note that while Barcelona's style = possession football, possession football =/= Barcelona's style.
 
There's no team in the world that actually play exactly like barca, as they are the only team that probably have 2 of the best midfielders of a generation. Also unless you get similar players to xavi, iniesta etc you are not going to get the same sort of football. I too have had frustrations with ME but I get on with it, though at the moment I'm still getting trouble with crosses for some reason, thought they sorted that out.
 
So true..the consistency of this year's game is just horrible..and you just can't win with any possession based tactic..can't get success.
As a fan of possession football it is really frustrating.
 
So true..the consistency of this year's game is just horrible..and you just can't win with any possession based tactic..can't get success.
As a fan of possession football it is really frustrating.

Well this isnt true. I've been playing with consistent possession football.
 
Well this isnt true. I've been playing with consistent possession football.

A guy testing my possession tactic "Total Voetbal" just completed a clean sweep of trophys in 2015 with Liverpool, so you can win with possession football.
 
To be fair, I noticed a drop in possession after this update.

I'm still winning, just missing out on the extra 5-10% possession I was getting 13.2.2
 
i get about 60 to 65 percent with Newcastle against decent teams too,(so with no xavi or iniesta) but I lose almost every game after dominating 9 times out of 10 guess what ? Crosses!!! or players running with the ball and losing the ball when all options are available in front of them.

i completely agree with you mate I can completely understand your frustration..

For those who just say people complain because they don't know how to play the game.. i think that's very unfair i would say 90% people who play this game NOW and TODAY have a good knowledge of football or have played the FM for years..

There are many issues that don't make sense.. (this is just my opinion) examples are players running with ball and slowing down or stopping when they are the last defender waiting for the ball to be nicked off them, taking long shots when their instruction is set not to do these things...

Can the experts of FM13 at least agree that this happens because even though the 3D game play is more and more advanced today, it still unable to translate a problem accurately?

it really takes the fun and feel of playing an enjoyable game away... i dont want to read through thousands of posts any more..... almost feel like i am studying to play this game!!!!

PS: if these issues don't happen to you its because you got your tactic working in FM13 environment and well done to you...it doesn't mean the game is perfect and anyone who complains about something in the game gets shot down..

i dont think players taking long shots or running with the ball should be normal when my tactic is about passing and their PPM doesnt encourage either .... that's when i forget its a game and start screaming there is a pass on , free player to the left front and a GK behind to use.... i can now see it happening before it happens !!
 
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i get about 60 to 65 percent with Newcastle against decent teams too,(so with no xavi or iniesta) but I lose almost every game after dominating 9 times out of 10 guess what ? Crosses!!! or players running with the ball and losing the ball when all options are available in front of them.

i completely agree with you mate I can completely understand your frustration..

For those who just say people complain because they don't know how to play the game.. i think that's very unfair i would say 90% people who play this game NOW and TODAY have a good knowledge of football or have played the FM for years..

There are many issues that don't make sense.. (this is just my opinion) examples are players running with ball and slowing down or stopping when they are the last defender waiting for the ball to be nicked off them, taking long shots when their instruction is set not to do these things...

Can the experts of FM13 at least agree that this happens because even though the 3D game play is more and more advanced today, it still unable to translate a problem accurately?

it really takes the fun and feel of playing an enjoyable game away... i dont want to read through thousands of posts any more..... almost feel like i am studying to play this game!!!!

PS: if these issues don't happen to you its because you got your tactic working in FM13 environment and well done to you...it doesn't mean the game is perfect and anyone who complains about something in the game gets shot down..

i dont think players taking long shots or running with the ball should be normal when my tactic is about passing and their PPM doesnt encourage either .... that's when i forget its a game and start screaming there is a pass on , free player to the left front and a GK behind to use.... i can now see it happening before it happens !!

IMO, to get good possession like Barca you need the PPMs and excellent anticipation, team work and decisions. Don't expect players like Mata or Aguero to play that kind of football if you don't train the correct PPMs
 
IMO, to get good possession like Barca you need the PPMs and excellent anticipation, team work and decisions. Don't expect players like Mata or Aguero to play that kind of football if you don't train the correct PPMs

sorry you misunderstood my problem isn't possession i consider 60 to 65 percent as good amount of possession when i have players like Cabaye and Isco plusi get more against weaker teams..

I dominate game after game, in football world you miss sitters and then u get punished.. you put it down to bad luck and you get on with your next game ... but when it happens game after game after game .................... and not only on one save .....
 
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