The FM 14 Match Engine Survival Guide (painfully long)

[imi]

i'm having a horrible time with the fullbacks problem, they DO suck defending, but setting everybody to stay on feet and stuff is not solving the problem, because the problem is not the strikers, but the wingers who can just freely roam around my side and do awesome crosses or just shoot from the sides and score from there... is there anything I can do about this?

also setting those instruction only seems to make matters worse for me.. since opposition striker will just shoot from the line of the box, with a quite comfortable position and an unusual accuaracy

 

[TheSimeon]

So it can be hard without knowing any more about your formation, but I've found that one thing that can help if you're conceding often on crosses is simply to play with a deeper line. Typically I'm not scored on via a cross unless a winger gets in behind, and to prevent this, it may help dropping you defensive line deeper, playing a more rigid style, so that your fullbacks aren't caught out of position, or turning off offside trap, which can be a disaster if your defenders don't all have pretty good positioning attributes.

If you find that your opponents target man is free in the box too often, I also love the new Half Back role, which will cause your holding midfielder to play really deep, even dropping being your central defenders at times, before bursting forwards.

 

[apvmoreira]

I have to say that Cardozo is a 7 star striker in this game

 

[imi]

So it can be hard without knowing any more about your formation, but I've found that one thing that can help if you're conceding often on crosses is simply to play with a deeper line. Typically I'm not scored on via a cross unless a winger gets in behind, and to prevent this, it may help dropping you defensive line deeper, playing a more rigid style, so that your fullbacks aren't caught out of position, or turning off offside trap, which can be a disaster if your defenders don't all have pretty good positioning attributes.

If you find that your opponents target man is free in the box too often, I also love the new Half Back role, which will cause your holding midfielder to play really deep, even dropping being your central defenders at times, before bursting forwards.

trying the new role seems to have improved the opponents striker issue, still cant win, I guess the problem is that Babacar is too much for my Empoli's defenders lol...

about a deeper line, im guessing the only way to control this is via instructions? I actually use 2 tactics with a simmilar 2-2-2-2-2 formation or 2-3-1-2-2 when opponent has too many players on the offensive. With wingbacks and wingers (fullbacks at the begining, changed to wingbacks because i readed somewhere it helps with the fullback bug). One of the tactics is an attacking one and the other one a counter attack one.

The problem is, especially on the offensive one, since I cant control exactly how deep the defensive line is, ive found that when I give instructions to drop the defensive line I lose control of the match, my guess is that they just get too separated from the middle and have problems keeping possesion there..

Oh also, forgot to mention that those wingers who are normally roaming all alone are the ones I specifically set instructions to "mark tighter" but meh, it seems all part of the ME defensive bugs and i guess itll be eventually fixed

 

[apvmoreira]

Oh also, forgot to mention that those wingers who are normally roaming all alone are the ones I specifically set instructions to "mark tighter" but meh, it seems all part of the ME defensive bugs and i guess itll be eventually fixed

The same happened in 13. Someone told me that it as to do with their teamwork, but i don't know if its that simple...

 

[imi]

The same happened in 13. Someone told me that it as to do with their teamwork, but i don't know if its that simple...

it actually happens with most of my fullbacks and they are all quite familiar with tactics too.. its really annoying, because more often than not its THAT PLAYER (the "tight marked one") the one who will roam all alone and make the assistances or simply run into the box and shoot (the ball will just hit my gk and get in...) its becoming quite normal in my games.. extremly hard to have a clean sheet..


also, about wingers with balance-pace-dribbling, whats the best role to put them on? i mean which is the role to take more advantage of this?

 

[apvmoreira]

it actually happens with most of my fullbacks and they are all quite familiar with tactics too.. its really annoying, because more often than not its THAT PLAYER (the "tight marked one") the one who will roam all alone and make the assistances or simply run into the box and shoot (the ball will just hit my gk and get in...) its becoming quite normal in my games.. extremly hard to have a clean sheet..


also, about wingers with balance-pace-dribbling, whats the best role to put them on? i mean which is the role to take more advantage of this?

For me wingers work better as classic cross from line wingers than AI
I also use overlap for R/L backs with cross from line too.

Just need a Cardozo, Gomez, Almeida guy to put the ball into the net. I use drill crosses, aimed to the center of the box

 

[TheSimeon]

also, about wingers with balance-pace-dribbling, whats the best role to put them on? i mean which is the role to take more advantage of this?

So I've done a bit of work attempting to get my wingers to behave in much the same way as the wingers that terrorized my sides in the early days of the beta. The best bet has largely been to use them a "wingers" with support. Of course they should be told to "run often" I don't let them sit narrow, and set their passing the shorter and less risky. The result of this is, when it works right, is that they streak down the touchline until they are wide of the opponents box. Then, looking for a short, low risk pass and not finding one, they dribble into the box, and with the matador defending that fullbacks exhibit thus far, they tend to find themselves in really dangerous areas.

Also, Cardozo is a great call. He's old, but good lord is he a handful.

 

[Sketchkov]

I find the strikers thing is a good point, I played a poacher rotating both Torres and Eto'o, and playing Ba as a sub or starting cup games, and cause Ba isn't the greatest poacher, I changed his role and he smashed in almost as many goals as the two rotating starters! Mind you, it doesn't really bother me because I've been playing Hazard/Schurrle and Oscar/Willian as inside forwards who love knocking in 10+ goals a season each, so I can deal without a goalscoring striker.

 

[andrichbrand]

In regards with the full backs and wing back. I have found that having wide men on the wingers, will stop the opponents winger before they get to a crossing position. Worth trying.

 

[YoJimbo91]

Coming up to the end of my first season in the Prem, after 2 consecutive promotions with Wolves, I'm currently 9th. I play 3-5-2 to combat the bad fullbacks, I use good wingers and I have two target men upfront.

I had always gone for the target man & poacher set up in the past, but for some reason even the best of poachers struggle to finish easy chances in the current ME. I signed Tomas Necid at the start of the season, who's scored 27 goals in 32 league matches, and I somehow managed to get Fernando Llorente on loan in January.

I think they maybe over compensated for how ineffective target men were in fm2012 and in 2013 I thought they were maybe a little too over powered.. But now it seems they are the only source of goalscoring consistency in the current ME.

 

[wkdsoul]

This is a long and great read, I'm knda fed up at not really being into my long term saves knowing how currently flawed the engine is.. Anyone if and when wer're due a new patch?

 

[Auir]

This is a long and great read, I'm knda fed up at not really being into my long term saves knowing how currently flawed the engine is.. Anyone if and when wer're due a new patch?

Tomorrow would be a good day...the issues in the current ME are pretty serious and game breaking.

 

[imi]

So I've done a bit of work attempting to get my wingers to behave in much the same way as the wingers that terrorized my sides in the early days of the beta. The best bet has largely been to use them a "wingers" with support. Of course they should be told to "run often" I don't let them sit narrow, and set their passing the shorter and less risky. The result of this is, when it works right, is that they streak down the touchline until they are wide of the opponents box. Then, looking for a short, low risk pass and not finding one, they dribble into the box, and with the matador defending that fullbacks exhibit thus far, they tend to find themselves in really dangerous areas.

Also, Cardozo is a great call. He's old, but good lord is he a handful.

Do you use them as left/right midfielders or as wingers a little up? im trying to make a formation without fullbacks/wingbacks with 3 in the back, but idk if putting just 3 in the middle and wingers instead of left/right midfielder will leave it too exposed

 

[Mike.]

Long post, but some of it is just plain wrong:

Solution: There is no "solution" to this exactly. What happened, basically, is that it became clear early on that tackling, particularly along the flanks, is totally borked. WAY too many goals were flying in, and so they made strikers less accurate. Now, when on the edge of the box and nobody between him and the keeper, a striker will immediately pull up and shoot over the bar from 17 yards, rather than dribble forwards and finish easily. SI has actually stated that they considered fixing this, but can't, because it will result in too many goals.

Wrong, shooting accuracy is actually a separate issue entirely (and one that is being looked at). They certainly never said they wont fix it.

Remember, your defenders aren't going to tackle anyway, why not adapt your tactic to stop asking them to?

Again no, fullbacks are making twice as many tackles as they should. What's actually wrong is the non tackling part of defending; tactical fouls, jostling, holding the attack up, showing him down the wing if he is trying to come inside.

Solution: After almost getting a handle on Shoots from distance in FM13, the madding PM is back with a vengeance this year. And there is no solution, but I did make a few interesting discoveries about it.

I almost always watch my matches on "comprehensive", but when I'm testing a crazy tactic, sometimes I'll speed through it. And I noticed that my side had 9 corners in the first 7 Minutes of a match. Since this wasn't a tactic that relied heavily on wide players, I wondered what was going on. And it turns out that in this ME, the large majority of corners are generated when the keeper tips the ball wide, or over the bar.

And one thing we know about this ME is that there is still plenty of opportunity to score from corners. So one of my favorite tactics in a long time came into being. It involved quick tempo (which increases shots from distance), short passing (more possession equals more shots from outside the 18 yard box) and the "shoot on sight" instruction, which no one ever uses. Add the strategic signing of a few "shoots from distance" shameless gunners, and viola! My personal record is 51 shots on goal. But a funny thing happened, which is this tactic won kind of a lot.

My theory is that the ME gives a match rating boost to anyone who puts a shot on target. If you're shooting and failing to score, but the keeper is saving them, your players ratings start to creep up, and the ME says "this player is having a good game" his moral and confidence skyrockets, and lo and behold, he bags you a goal.

This is only a theory, but spare a moment for shooting from distance next time. It can work better than you think, and it will generate you a few extra corners to take advantage of at worst.

Actually no players can become frustrated when they are not making the breakthough, this is setting the classic, lots of shots on goal, but then get sucker punched scenario. If you are really looking for a work around looked for one that involves crossing, and taking a measured amount of good shots on target.

Solution: There really is no solution to this. Once a competent striker has the ball at his feet, you're not getting it back until he misses his shot. Does your CD have 18/18 for marking and tackling, the ME doesn't care, and neither should you.

This actually brings up a common misconception I see on these boards. The Marking attribute isn't what many of you think it is. Read: Marking ...Indicates the player's ability to stay on an opponent. A high Marking attribute will offset the opponent's Dribbling attribute (though the Dribbling attribute tends to win if they're equal or close)."

So when you see that winger wide open at the far post and you say, but "I have an 17 marking? Whose marking him?!?!" THAT'S NOT MARKING, THAT'S POSITIONING! Marking is only for when the defender's man has the ball! Read: "A player with high Positioning will be better at intercepting passes or setting up to mark attacking players before the ball gets there."

That's right, in FM positioning is marking, and marking is frankly not all that important, particularly this year.
Anyway, our solution is to get defenders with attributes that actually matter in this ME. We can't get the ball off the opponent, so we need to deny it to him. Start looking at Positioning and Anticipation above all else. Out, Kyriakos Papadopolous, in Andrea Barzagli, the god of centerbacks in this ME.

No, in FM Positioning is positioning, and marking is marking. Like real life they are two separate and vital things that go hand in hand, you cannot be a good defender without having positioning, if you cannot get you positioning right, you cannot be in the right place to mark. And marking is certainly important.

Remember, when the ME is still up in the air, teamtalks are your most important weapon. And what makes a good teamtalk? Players with high teamwork. Read: "Players with high Teamwork skills are also more likely to follow tactics without going off on their own, and are more likely to be influenced by pep talks."

Finally, this has been true for years, and while I haven't got the numbers for this year yet, it appears as true as ever: ALWAYS USE THE ATTACKING MOVEMENT MATCH PREP. Doesn't matter the context. Attacking movement always produces the best goal differential over time.

Nope a good solid base in all areas is your key here.

And the second isn't true either.

I Know you are trying to help, but this is so full of misinformation I'm going to close it. More to the point this will actually hinder people with the current issues.

Final note, if you're going to be a bit of a smart **** with your last bit, make sure you get your info bang on. There is simply no need to have pop at people.