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发表于 2005-11-15 17:10:32
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英文原文
This thread is designed to offer some tactical basics for anyone wishing to implement their own tactics in FM06. Although all my experiments have been performed using a standard 4-4-2 system, I believe that the base frameworks I use for different scenarios will translate to most formations. Before talking about the team strategies I will outline some of the theories in terms of how to set up specific player instructions. In all of these theories I have found a lot of the information in a variety of excellent threads and I hope those involved will accept my thanks alongside my apologies for not being able to reference them.
Mentality
One of the key elements in setting the mentality sliders is to remember that too extreme differences in attacking/defending instructions will result in huge gaps all over the pitch with your players failing to find easy passes. For example, if your defense is set at ultra-defensive, and your attack at ultra-attacking, with the midfield somewhere in between, a short passing game becomes difficult, for as soon as you get the ball your team will look for attacking options which limits options. If one of your defenders (mostly not so great at passing) has the ball and finds that all his advanced team mates are rushing headlong up the pitch while at the same time he is being pressured by opposition players, he will do one of two things. Firstly, if the option is available, he will hit a long ball forward to clear his lines, thus contradicting any short-passing instructions you may have set him. Secondly, if his decision making is poor, he may hit a cross field ball into his own area that is hugely dangerous in that it may be intercepted and cost a goal.
Therefore, it is imperative that when setting up tactics and formations, the manager consider the passing options available and set mentalities and passing instructions accordingly. This becomes more so if decision making and passing stats are bad, as passes will be intercepted and the short passing game will be abandoned due to lack of options. When setting up your tactic, consider how many options your weakest passing defender will have when he has the ball, and try to ensure he will have a few players near to him, so he can make an easy pass. Thus, having one midfielder on defensive mentality, and at least one more on normal will help. A second option would be to have only one midfielder on defensive but increase the wing/full backs mentalities so the central defenders have the option of a pass forwards down the wing, forward to the defensive midfielder, or the easy ball to the other central defender.
Once the ball moves to the midfield, it is likely that more options will become available, but mentality still plays a huge role, and if your forwards' mentality is too attacking, a quick ball up the pitch will leave them isolated and they will lose possession. Ideally, split the mentalities for the strikeforce, with one forward coming deeper and holding up the ball so the midfield can get into position, whereas the other can continuously look to get into position for the killer ball. Following this kind of thinking will ensure that your formation holds its shape and that on most occasions easy passing options are available.
Closing Down
Closing down is another issue that causes problems and needs to be evaluated quite carefully before deciding on how to employ it. In basic terms, the closing down instruction will tell the players to move towards the player who is carrying the ball/has it in his possession. Thus, in the 2d match engine, you will see a player with high closing down instructions moving towards the opposition player as soon as he has possession. Its strength is that it stops opposition players having much time on the ball, but its weakness is that it often leads the opposition players get goalside easily, as it draws players out of position. Logic suggests that it shouldn't be employed with tight man-marking for central defenders, as it will put the player with high closing down/tight man instructions marking in an untenable position, in that he is supposed to stay with his man but also close down a different player who has the ball and has got past the midfield line. If his decision making is poor he will invariably take the wrong option and holes will appear in the defense.
Players with low closing down instructions will invariably stay between the man in possession and the goal. They may not make a tackle, but they will try to force the player to make a difficult pass, take a long shot that isn't on, or dribble past them to create a chance. Thus, possession is won by intercepting passes, forcing an overambitious long shot which results in a goal kick, or by tackling the player as he tries to dribble past. It places the initiative firmly on the attacking team, asking them to break down the defensive unit that is massed between the ball and the goal, rather than trying to win the ball quickly.
High closing down can be employed in certain circumstances and work extremely effectively. However, it will require the right type of player for it to work. It is pointless assigning it to very slow players, as they will take too long to reach the man on the ball, giving him plenty of time to pick a pass. A slow player will also be unable to make up ground if he is skinned. It is also pointless assigning it to players who can’t tackle, as they are likely to be beaten by the man with the ball, or foul him as he goes past them. The best ways in which to employ heavy closing down are by 1) instructing your hard-man, aggressive central midfielder to man mark and close down the opposition’s playmaker, who likely to be creative but soft and cowardly, or 2) using a hardworking, fast, fit striker to close down the opposition’s defense, forcing them to hit hurried passes forward.
Likewise, make sure your two most creative players are on low closing down. By doing this you will ensure they are in more space to receive an easy pass when you gain possession, and thus more likely to set up a successful counter attack. If they are set to high closing down, they will be right next to an opponent, who will likely crunch them, so the best you will get is a free kick. Furthermore, who has ever seen creative players close down anyway?
Width
Width is important depending on the type of team you have. If you have a team that can easily dominate possession with short, low tempo passing, then you should use a wide formation. Players will tire more easily when chasing the ball than when in possession, and if they have to chase over a wide game area, will tire even more, making mistakes more likely. However, if possession is a problem, and you feel that your team is under a lot of pressure then you should narrow your width. This will put a lot of your players in the middle of the pitch, which will limit space for the opposition and ensure you have plenty of men between the ball and your goal.
Tempo
Again, important depending on team type. A team with good passers can use a slow tempo system to dominate possession and wait on their chances. If chances fail to materialize, then they can switch to a higher tempo system for short bursts to try to create some chances. High tempo would usually be best employed for teams that need to get the ball up the pitch quickly because of a lack of quality in midfield. When used with a direct passing system it will get the ball to the forwards quickly once in possession. However, it will tire the team heavily if used all match.
Passing
Here, I am treading on Cleon’s ground and suggest that all those who want to understand more about passing go here:
Cleon’s Passing Thread
Time Wasting
Possibly tweaked a little high by the match engine, but speaks for itself. Don’t time waste when chasing a game; time waste when defending a lead.
Creative Freedom
I am treading on dangerous ground here, as creative freedom seems to be a hot topic on the forum. Personally, I believe creative freedom doesn’t stop players obeying instructions but must be employed carefully. Most teams will only employ one or two players in creative roles, and I think that FM06 thinking follows that. If too many players are on high creative freedom then everyone is looking for the killer ball, which means the true creatives rarely have the chance to influence the match. Tone it down for most people, set it high for the special talents.
Defensive Line
A deep defensive line, in my opinion, is asking for trouble and should only be used with extreme caution. This will basically tell your players to retreat to the edge of the box when not in possession. It can be used with good defensive midfield cover when trying to see out a tight game, but be careful. A high defensive line, alongside at least one quick centre back is the way to approach most games. It will condense the pitch, force the opposition to hit hurried balls and keep a large percentage of play in the midfield zone. As long as one central defender is quick it can be employed with the offside trap to continually keep the opposition trapped in their own half.
Killing Off a Game
Many people seemed to have experienced a series of near miraculous comebacks by AI teams and find it frustrating and unrealistic. However, it is simple to stop. The assumption here is that the half-time team talk makes a huge difference to the second half performance. In the case of the AI manager it must be assumed that he will try to get them to score quickly in the second half to give them a chance, and change formations to try and make that happen. He will also try to give them hope in the half-time talk.
Thus, the human manager must proactively set up a system to stop this happening. The assumption is that if the AI team fails to score in the first 15 minutes of the second half they will suffer a morale drop and can be picked off again. So, the human manager must time waste, narrow the formation, set the team to a slightly more defensive mindset and counter attack. Passing type and tempo will be altered depending on the player abilities. This should kill off the game, and chances may start to appear for you gain near the end.
For the rest of this post, I will focus on some tactical frameworks that can be used by correctly employing the above theories. In these frameworks the team quality is related to the relative ability of the squad in the division it is playing in, not in the more general sense that Barcelona are quality and Maidenhead are not!
Framework One: High Quality Team Playing at Home
This requires a framework that focuses more on attacking than defending and is possession centric. Thus, the team should employ a wide formation, with wing/full backs on a reasonably attacking mentality to provide support for the midfield, with only the central defenders needing to mop up the ball at the back. Possession is important, so a slow tempo, short passing game should be employed for most of the match, but the manager should be willing to tweak to a higher tempo for short bursts to create chances if none seem forthcoming.
In general, the midfield need not close down hugely, but it may be worthwhile to man mark/close down the opposition’s most dangerous midfielder and rush their defense with the strikers when they have the ball to force hurried, aimless clearances. The midfield should also look to push forward, with one more defensive minded player covering the back line. To help the midfield get into position to help the front line, it would be worthwhile having one forward hold the ball up, which allows the midfield to get in front of him and into space.
Once the game seems won, up the time wasting level, narrow the formation and tick counter attack. If your team has excellent passers use slow passing and just let your wide midfielders and forwards break, with the rest of the team staying back. With slightly less talented passers, switch to direct, high tempo passing and play down the channels. That way you will quickly get the ball down the pitch and force them to build again.
Framework Two: High Quality Team Playing Away
This requires a framework that is defensively sound but lethal on the counter. The team should employ a slightly narrower formation than at home, with a more direct, higher tempo approach to passing. The wing/full backs must be almost as defensive as the central defenders and get forwards less often. Counter attacking must also be ticked from the start. All mentalities must be toned down from the home framework, but not hugely. One of the centre forwards can stay on a high attacking mentality to provide availability at all times when countering.
Based on the assumption that the opposition will attack, use the best, most aggressive central midfielder to close down their playmaker. The rest of the midfield/defense needs to stay behind the ball, so closing down must be low for them. As the quick break is the key to scoring, don’t hold the ball up but try to get the ball to the forwards quickly so they can work in any space there may be before the opposition can get back.
Time wasting can be high from the start as it will limit the amount of time the opposition has on the ball, and can be maxed when defending a lead. Again, depending on the player types, passing can slow down when defending a lead to try and get more possession, or speed up to get the ball up the pitch and away from danger as quickly as possible.
Framework Three: Low Quality Team
Obviously the game is harder when you have a poor team. Thus, the framework for such a team follows the framework for a high quality team playing away to an extent.
Keeping the players between the ball and the goal is the key to this framework. Hence, nearly all your players must be no more than normal mentality and on low closing down. One of the strikers can be on attacking and high closing down, but that is about it. You must play a narrow formation, with high tempo, direct passing to get the ball up the pitch and away from your goal as quickly as you can. Play down the flanks to stop the ball moving across the pitch too much, as interceptions in central midfield can be calamitous. Man-mark the opposition’s forwards and wingers with your defenders and play a high back line to ensure the ball stays away from goal and the opposition’s most dangerous players are always assigned a marker.
To try and grab a goal on the break make sure your wingers are set to zonal marking/low closing down, with forward runs high. Thus, a quick, direct ball down the flanks is likely to be picked up by a winger or a striker, and your team can exploit any space there may be. This is not sexy football, and is designed to stop the other team from playing, so don’t expect wondrous passing moves. It should stop you from being relegated though.
Framework Four: Jimmy Youn’s Fluid Football
As this is not my tactic, I hope Jimmy won’t mind me using his words.
‘I use 4-1-3-2, which in my opinion is basically the standard 4-4-2 you see in real life. Why? Because while you may see back four holding a more or less curved line (with DL/DR pushing forward a bit), you are not going to see 4 midfielders drawing a straight (or even slightly) curved line - what you will see is a holding midfielder (if a team plays one) dropping back slightly (but he will nevertheless venture forward when needed) and an attacking midfield falling just behind the strikers (but again, he will nevertheless track back - with good teamwork attribute - even further back than DMC if required).
Same with your DL/DR and DC relationship - in the match I often find that when the opposition defense hits a long ball to their AMC or striker, my DC often ventures forward to take the ball - when this happens either my DR or DL would draw in more towards middle to cover the gap left by the DC.
The same applies when my DC tracks the opposition striker/AMC's run to the side of the pitch - my DL or DR would effectively switch the place with DC in order to provide more body down the middle rather than doubling up the opposition striker/winger with DC and leaving a hole in the middle;
I think it's just basic fact of football that no player can afford to stick with one area/position during the course of 90 minutes (except the keeper) - even for a keeper, when you see RL matches they don't just stay in the box; especially if the back four are pushing forward and long ball comes over above them it's keeper's job to go forward and cut the long ball out before the striker runs on to them (and in this case, your defenders are effectively cutting the run of strikers in the middle of the pitch - and again, when the keeper goes out of box to take care of the long ball flying over back four you will see one of the defenders dropping back into the penalty box).
Another example I can give is that when you have a very attacking right/left back, when he bomb forward with the ball you will often see your back four becoming three men defense - for example, if your DR overwraps with your MR/AMR and goes to the byline to cross what you will often see at the back is your DL and 2 DCs taking up classic 3 back line (So your DL comes to become your left DC, left side DC becomes central DC, right side DC becomes right DC).
During the course of the game, you will also see that sometimes your team's pegging the opposition back really deep and both your DL and DR are just outside the penalty area or even deeper - sometimes what you'll see in this case is your DMC dropping back to take up the position between your two DCs, but staying slightly forward.
I can give countless examples like this - when your strikers goes wide to receive the ball you will see your AMC or AML/AMR running forward/to the centre to take the striker's space while the striker tries to cross the ball.
Why am I saying all this? Because personally when I see the matches in FM I'm very impressed with the fluidity of movements - of course there are areas to improve, but if anything, it's more realistic than it has ever been.
I play with 'normal' creativity for ALL my players on the field - even for my DCs & DMCs and I have ALL my players set at 'normal mentality', ALL my players set at 'mixed' passing and ALL my players set at 'mixed' pressing - everyone's doing zonal marking (even my DCs) and i don't do tight marking because my 'tactical theory' is that it's more important to efficiently cover spaces than track all the players - I mean fine, if opposition's making a run to the side of the pitch and I only have my wingback tracking him what's wrong with it? My DCs have plenty of time to get back and take good position to cut out any crosses coming over and my DL/DR push the opposition striker/wingers all the way to the corner flag without making tackle - IMHO it's better to let the opposition come deep with the ball than letting them get BEHIND you under any circumstances’.
As Jimmy readily acknowledges, this tactic require lots of players with high stamina/pace/decision making/teamwork to make it successful, but it is a valid alternative to my own variations and worth trying if you have the right type of player.
If anyone is interested in reading the posts I used to come up with this stuff, then I would like to direct you to the following.
The original thread in which I examined the validity of the match engine.
Olly Dickinson’s Tactical Discussion
My Thread on Team Talks My Thread on Team Talks
Jep’s Thread on Team Talks
Neonlight's Ajax 4-3-3 Thread
Asmodeus’s Basic 4-4-2 Thread
There are many others I have used, but I can't remember what they were called, so would like to apologise if anyone feels I am stealing their ideas without mentioniong them.
I would also like to thank those who contributed to the last thread, especially those who encouraged me and those who challenged my thinking. So thanks to paranoik0, Madger, virtex, Neil Purvis, Skuzzy, Chooney, amaroq, PaulC, Izza, Rosenberg, Asmodeus, golden_goal and Jimmy Youn in particular, but also to all those that have helped and contributed to my last thread. I hope this one will be just as useful and I will learn even more through it.
[ 本帖最后由 绝代单骄 于 2005-11-18 06:25 PM 编辑 ] |
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发表于 2005-11-15 17:10:15
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