Passing Style and Players Listening

[Michzm]

Is the execution of your tactic, even when completely understood by the team, highly effected by the mental aspects of your players? Obviously it is to some extent and especially in the lower leagues but how major is it?

I've been playing in the Conference North for 5 seasons and it seems to be every single player ignores my instructions for passing style. My team instruction is to play short and keep possession and my entire defense is instructed to only pass short and yet they are missing 50% of their passes of which almost all of them are long passes. On top of that my keeper is also set to short pass to flanks, it goes long and down the middle everytime!

I'm not going to scream that the engine is broken and this is a game ending bug but at the same time knowing it is beta does it not seem a little over the top? I assume I'm not the only person with this issue.

 

[ChrisBones1990]

from past experience on older versions of fm its hard to play possession football in those lower leagues the players just arnt good enough. Maybe try your tactic with a better team such as barca, bayern or chelsea before you say its the engine.

 

[DJAbacus]

I'm pretty sure players in the Conference North would be highly offended to hear that they aren't good enough to play possession football. I mean there aren't playing vs Barca are they? They are playing vs players of similar ability so should be able to look to play short passes in an attempt to keep more possession of the ball surely...

 

[nannou]

you're not the only one, i've been having the exact same frustrating problem, playing as Lowestoft Town in the Conference North, short passing and retain possession are selected but my back 4 constantly hit it long which drives me nuts when there's a simple pass on and we give the ball away. I wondered if it was due to my center backs being set to limited defenders or because i normally use a counter style.

 

[Michzm]

I don't use limited defender or counter so its probably not that. As DJAbacus said, even these lower levels leagues should still be able to contain and pass short when told to, they are part time borderline professionals. I mean I personally played Sunday Leagues for years and even at the bottom of the football world we knew the difference between and when to play Short, Direct and Long passing. On top of that I'm pretty sure my Sunday League keeper would be a super star compared to Conference in-game keepers, they are down right hopeless!

Saying all this, I've never watched a real life Conference match so I don't know if this might be a reality ... kinda doubt it though!

 

[pala]

Did you try maybe to change team mentality to very strict? I found that when given freedom they do whatever the heck they want. Been very restrict will probably force them to listen exactly and as instructions says.

 

[Michzm]

I have to admit that didn't really cross my mind... I was under the impression, possibly wrongly, that Mentality referred more to the willingness to get involved in attacking/defending players and leave their set position in a Total Football kind of way. I wouldn't consider hiking the ball up from the byline to the centre circle as creative and attacking but maybe because they are such poor skill level they think that is helpful haha.

I will give that a go and see if it makes any difference.

 

[nannou]

yeah i'm playing with a rigid philosophy and less expressive in my second season and they still played long balls in simple situations straight to the opposition, i've actually noticed it more in the second season, but that could be a red herring.

 

[Michzm]

I tested this too, went very structured. Ironically I saw better results but it didn't stop the long balls at all.

 

[ChrisBones1990]

I'm pretty sure players in the Conference North would be highly offended to hear that they aren't good enough to play possession football. I mean there aren't playing vs Barca are they? They are playing vs players of similar ability so should be able to look to play short passes in an attempt to keep more possession of the ball surely...

Im sure in real life there more than capable of im just refering how the games scripted it isnt as easy with the lower leagues.

 

[FrankFizzle]

Lack of option maybe? Midfielders / Attackers not making runs & showing for the ball? I know certainly in my local league I play in if nobody shows for the ball then the defenders will get closed down quicker & are prone to clearing the ball before the get tackled. Panic!

 

[DJAbacus]

Im sure in real life there more than capable of im just refering how the games scripted it isnt as easy with the lower leagues.

So from your experience in previous years the players in the lower leagues ( My team is in Romanian Liga II)are less able than the average U11 team, meaning that they can't follow simple instructions and just hoof the ball whenever they get it. Just asking? Be nice to know, before I spend hours fine tuning a game plan that involves short passing.

 

[ewok01]

I have started saves with Man City, Bayern Munich & Barcelona and in all have noticed serious issues with long balls from defence, despite as you say all the contradicting TI's & PI's. Something I have just picked upon though, not sure if its related in anyway but, I have signed Andrea Maldera as a tactical coach, purely based on his performance from previous FM's, however I have just noticed that his passing style is LONG. This wasn't the case in previous FM's so I didn't even think to check it originally. I've only just picked up on this so can't comment on if this has any baring at all. Im gonna change tactical coach in one of my saves and test run it. Would be interested to see if anybody has any knowledge of whether this could effect how the team plays. Surely YOUR tactical instructions should overide the tactical coaches, but its only a guess.

 

[Michzm]

That's an interesting point, I for no reason at all assumed that a staff members style was only relevant if they were a assistant or manager.