Whats the best passing for an attacking team?

[Jay-Producer]

Just wondering whats the best settings for an attacking team when it comes to passing?

I have:

----------GK-----------------

WB-----CB----CB-----WB

---------DM---------------

--------CM-----------------

WG---------------------WG

------FC-----FC

[Cleon]

There is no 'best' as it all depends on what you want from the players. Direct is a good option to help get the ball up top a lot quicker. But if you use a playmaker in your side then direct for him is limiting what he can do. I tend to set passing based on how I want players to play, which sometimes results in every single player having a different passing style.

[Jay-Producer]

There is no 'best' as it all depends on what you want from the players. Direct is a good option to help get the ball up top a lot quicker. But if you use a playmaker in your side then direct for him is limiting what he can do. I tend to set passing based on how I want players to play, which sometimes results in every single player having a different passing style.

Hi,

What I was looking for is to find out what positions have a better passing completion percentage with particular settings? can you give me an insider to what you give your players please. My CM and wingers are my playmakers. They create all the chances. I'm not sure what passing style I shiould give each player which is why I was asking.

[Cleon]

Like I said it's not as easy as just asking what is best for certain players it doesn't work like that. You need to ask yourself what you want from the players in certain positions. Then watch a game or two and judge it on what you see. The pass completion depends on player attributes, tactics shape, width, tempo etc so its impossible to 'guess'. For anyone who you want as a playmaker though you need to leave them on normal so they can express themselves and use their own judgement.

[Cleon]

To give you a better indicator of what I mean here is a little piece just about 1 player;

Everything that happens in my team majority of the time will have started by a pass from Kily Gonzales. When I set about creating my tactic I had the idea of using a playmaker that was slightly deeper than normal and well placed to influence the game and dictate the tempo. To understand the role he plays here is the formation I use;

They are also the current settings I decided upon and what he uses. It took me a while to find the right combination for him. The formation itself is also designed to keep a high percentage of possession. So it’s more than a case of just wanting to use a playmaker you need to decide what you want him to actually do. Then build a tactic that fits the style you want to play and try and build it around the playmaker. It would be no good if I wanted to play a possession game and have my playmaker as the focal point for all moves to start from, but played wide and didn’t give him players to pass to.

Due to what I had in mind for the playmaker in my side I decided to play the above shape and play narrow with a slow tempo and short passing for the midfielders. This allows me to retain possession and be very patient in my build up. In the Brazilian leagues most teams use two defensive midfielders so been patient is something I like to do. I like to pass the ball around and make them work hard to regain possession. I then like to exploit the space I create but that’s for a different part.

One vital thing that a lot of people ignore when using a playmaker is the passing settings. Ideally you want him to try all types of passes should the opportunity arise. It’s no use setting him to short passes if you want him to do defence splitting passes. I find it’s best to give him mixed passing and allow him to decide what type of pass should be used. I find limiting their passing can make him make the wrong decision a lot over the course of a season.

The link up play between my defender, defensive midfielder and two midfielders is vital to him been able to retain possession. It means that when he does receive the ball he always has an option and a free player to pass to. If he didn’t have people playing off him or close to him then he wouldn’t be as successful as his passing range would be slightly longer. So he risks giving the ball away a lot more than he currently does. His mentality also plays a big part because he is instructed to not be too advanced. By allowing him to play deep he can make things happen. The opposition fail to pick him up a lot of the time.

He also does a lot of defensive work and makes a lot of tackles and interceptions. It’s not only passing he does. From a defensive side of things he is solid and is almost like another defensive midfielder.

In this game look how involved he is. Even after 17 minutes you realise just how involved he is and that he is pulling all the strings in midfield.

[Jay-Producer]

Thanks for that. Think i'll try my CM with mixed passing. Just curious to know what setting you have for your defenders as they're passing is excellent.

[Cleon]

At halftime he’s already passed the ball more than most players would in 90 minutes.

And at fulltime he has attempted 153 passes and completed 145. That’s a phenomenal amount of passes and the completion percentage is very high. Not every game is over 150 though. But a lot are well over the 100 pass mark. Here’s a few other screenshots from other games to give you an idea;

Arouca played the role in this game due to Kily been injured.

113 passes in this one.

[Cleon]

Thanks for that. Think i'll try my CM with mixed passing. Just curious to know what setting you have for your defenders as they're passing is excellent.

My right back is short, left back direct and 1 defender is mixed and the other short

[Jay-Producer]

That passing completion rate is amazing.

[Cleon]

Its not bad, but hes only good because he has options around him. The whole tactic was desgined around that position so he could be the passing outlet for all my side. Everything that happens in my team will have started by a pass from him.

[kajito99]

What is the reason for the specific passing you have in your defence? Is it due their passing attributes, positioning of the team or anything else?

[davehanson]

Cleon, I know you don't usually like to, but is there any chance of just being able to post that tactic? I know you will change things for each game, but I'd just like to have a look at how you have set it up. To get that sort of passing is incredible. I usually manage to get a DLP to have around 60-70 passes per game, but nothing on those sorts of levels.

[heathxxx]

What is the reason for the specific passing you have in your defence? Is it due their passing attributes, positioning of the team or anything else?

Cleon will likely answer this more accurately, but glancing at his formation and descriptions so far, I would assume that it's based on the shape and the roles he has. He'll also correct me if I'm wrong about certain things here.

My right back is short, left back direct and 1 defender is mixed and the other short

There is no wide player ahead of his right-back, so he doesn't want the right-back trying more direct passing into an area where there's nobody to receive the ball on the right flank. Shorter passing will mean he looks for infield balls to either the centre-backs, the DMC positioned players, or the MC's. If technically able, this player is possibly more of a wing-back who can get forward to provide width on the right.

The left back is likely instructed to pass direct, to feed the left winger ahead of him. Cleon will confirm if he's also instructed to get forward and overlap or not.

I suspect that Cleon is using "stopper" and "cover" roles with the centre-backs. Assuming the "stopper" is the least technically gifted of the pairing, he would likely be the man set to shorter passing (to keep it simple), with the "cover" set to mixed passing, perhaps because of his better technical attributes affording him a better range of passing.

Just thinking out loud as to what I would use, given the overview of Cleon's system. I'm sure he'll clarify where I'm wide of the mark though. Knowing Cleon's detailed understanding of player attributes, the attributes of the players will be a key factor in his settings too.

[Cleon]

What is the reason for the specific passing you have in your defence? Is it due their passing attributes, positioning of the team or anything else?

To suit the players position with the players available around them for the pass. No pooint giving someone short passing if they don't have someone to offer the short option.

Cleon, I know you don't usually like to, but is there any chance of just being able to post that tactic? I know you will change things for each game, but I'd just like to have a look at how you have set it up. To get that sort of passing is incredible. I usually manage to get a DLP to have around 60-70 passes per game, but nothing on those sorts of levels.

A version of the tactic has already been posted. It's the one from my 'Brazilian Fluid System' thread. The one in the thread doesn't have the MC as a playmaker though from what I remember. Basically its that tactic I use just tailored to suit my side.

Cleon will likely answer this more accurately, but glancing at his formation and descriptions so far, I would assume that it's based on the shape and the roles he has. He'll also correct me if I'm wrong about certain things here.

Spot on aye:thup:

There is no wide player ahead of his right-back, so he doesn't want the right-back trying more direct passing into an area where there's nobody to receive the ball on the right flank. Shorter passing will mean he looks for infield balls to either the centre-backs, the DMC positioned players, or the MC's. If technically able, this player is possibly more of a wing-back who can get forward to provide width on the right.

Spot on again. It forces him to link up with the MC's and this alone increases the passing for my MC. That's another reason why he has so many passes. If you look at the screens I posted the highest passers are my MC's and rightback. My rightback passes in field and bombs forward down the wing into loads of space. It's all about pass and move for me. This creates space to exploit.

The left back is likely instructed to pass direct, to feed the left winger ahead of him. Cleon will confirm if he's also instructed to get forward and overlap or not

Kind of yeah but hes a lot more defensive minded than the rightback. I could be more attacking with him but that would take away something from the MC's. Plus my DMC would struggle to cover 2 sides of the pitch if I get stretched wide.

I suspect that Cleon is using "stopper" and "cover" roles with the centre-backs. Assuming the "stopper" is the least technically gifted of the pairing, he would likely be the man set to shorter passing (to keep it simple), with the "cover" set to mixed passing, perhaps because of his better technical attributes affording him a better range of passing.

Aye thats exactly why. It forces the short passer to pass to the DMC who then passes to the playmaker. It's all about getting the ball to my playmaker to dictate the game. My playmaker is really deep almost like another DMC. Infact he probs drops a bit lower than the DMC at times. Everything is tailored for the playmaker. Everything I do, every settings I choose was to get the best out of him. He might not score many goals or get many assist but that's not his job. He is the start of every move my team makes. To me that's what a real playmaker does.

Just thinking out loud as to what I would use, given the overview of Cleon's system. I'm sure he'll clarify where I'm wide of the mark though. Knowing Cleon's detailed understanding of player attributes, the attributes of the players will be a key factor in his settings too.

Yes, I'm set up to get the best out of the system I use. Which imo is the best formation you can use on FM10 and it very, very close to how Brazil/Barcelona play IRL.

[heathxxx]

I've used a very similar sort of system with Man Utd, Cleon.

I set up two versions of the system. One left wing orientated like your own, the other, a mirror image to use a right winger. The only difference being, the playmaker would also be swapped to the right MC position, to feed the right winger.

It really did get the best out of the United squad I had. It allowed me to rotate players and maintain an always fresh starting eleven for games, whilst also giving me tactical options to switch between based on opponents and player performances.

Carrick was wonderful as the playmaker and it's the best I've been able to get him to perform, of any system I've messed around with.

[Cleon]

I've used a very similar sort of system with Man Utd, Cleon.

I set up two versions of the system. One left wing orientated like your own, the other, a mirror image to use a right winger. The only difference being, the playmaker would also be swapped to the right MC position, to feed the right winger.

It really did get the best out of the United squad I had. It allowed me to rotate players and maintain an always fresh starting eleven for games, whilst also giving me tactical options to switch between based on opponents and player performances.

Carrick was wonderful as the playmaker and it's the best I've been able to get him to perform, of any system I've messed around with.

What passing settings did you use? simliar to me?

[heathxxx]

Similar"ish", but would vary depending on who played in certain roles, especially when choosing players when using the left or right system. For example, settings for the RB would vary depending on if I was using Wes Brown, Gary Neville or Rafael.

[Jay-Producer]

I managed to get my passing pretty good now. Thanx.

Average is around 75% completion for my 1st team. For some reason some of my players have very poor passing completion. My strikers struggle to get 70%, my CM struggles to get 70%. My DM who has the same passing setting as my CM gets around 80%. My wingers get around 50% (im assuming its because crossing is poor in 10.3). My defenders all get between 68-78% which is not bad. Considering I tested it with Celtic its not bad. Celtic hardly have the best passers in the world.

[Larsson1888]

I managed to get my passing pretty good now. Thanx.

Average is around 75% completion for my 1st team. For some reason some of my players have very poor passing completion. My strikers struggle to get 70%, my CM struggles to get 70%. My DM who has the same passing setting as my CM gets around 80%. My wingers get around 50% (im assuming its because crossing is poor in 10.3). My defenders all get between 68-78% which is not bad. Considering I tested it with Celtic its not bad. Celtic hardly have the best passers in the world.

Maybe check your team instructions? What kind of width, tempo and defensive line are you playing with this will affect passing? Crossing is not poor in 10.3, so no point in blaming the game. What instructions have you got for the strikers? It could just be your wingers do not have enough options and strikers are not in space. I've started a game with Celtic and I am playing a 4-2-3-1 formation which has the wingers with no crossing but it suits the way I am wanting to play. It's not to hard getting them to keep possession but it's more important in getting the passes to make an impact and cause problems.

[Jay-Producer]

Maybe check your team instructions? What kind of width, tempo and defensive line are you playing with this will affect passing? Crossing is not poor in 10.3, so no point in blaming the game. What instructions have you got for the strikers? It could just be your wingers do not have enough options and strikers are not in space. I've started a game with Celtic and I am playing a 4-2-3-1 formation which has the wingers with no crossing but it suits the way I am wanting to play. It's not to hard getting them to keep possession but it's more important in getting the passes to make an impact and cause problems.

My winger when told to cross frequently only get 40% completion rate. Changed to mixed they get around 55-60%. Total cross completion has never gone passed 25%. In real life the average is around 34% based on the top 5 leagues in the world. When i watch the games the ball is barely headed by one of my players, despite having giants over 6"4 against small defenders. Very strange someone 5"6 managed to beat a player 6"4.

Anyway, I have one striker more defensive than the other to provide the space. My CM pull's the strings. I can score 89 goals and only concede 26 in a season when I went on holiday for a season to see how the tactic would work. Passing completion was poor for my wingers.

[matthewhong]

To give you a better indicator of what I mean here is a little piece just about 1 player;

Everything that happens in my team majority of the time will have started by a pass from Kily Gonzales. When I set about creating my tactic I had the idea of using a playmaker that was slightly deeper than normal and well placed to influence the game and dictate the tempo. To understand the role he plays here is the formation I use;

They are also the current settings I decided upon and what he uses. It took me a while to find the right combination for him. The formation itself is also designed to keep a high percentage of possession. So it’s more than a case of just wanting to use a playmaker you need to decide what you want him to actually do. Then build a tactic that fits the style you want to play and try and build it around the playmaker. It would be no good if I wanted to play a possession game and have my playmaker as the focal point for all moves to start from, but played wide and didn’t give him players to pass to.

Due to what I had in mind for the playmaker in my side I decided to play the above shape and play narrow with a slow tempo and short passing for the midfielders. This allows me to retain possession and be very patient in my build up. In the Brazilian leagues most teams use two defensive midfielders so been patient is something I like to do. I like to pass the ball around and make them work hard to regain possession. I then like to exploit the space I create but that’s for a different part.

One vital thing that a lot of people ignore when using a playmaker is the passing settings. Ideally you want him to try all types of passes should the opportunity arise. It’s no use setting him to short passes if you want him to do defence splitting passes. I find it’s best to give him mixed passing and allow him to decide what type of pass should be used. I find limiting their passing can make him make the wrong decision a lot over the course of a season.

The link up play between my defender, defensive midfielder and two midfielders is vital to him been able to retain possession. It means that when he does receive the ball he always has an option and a free player to pass to. If he didn’t have people playing off him or close to him then he wouldn’t be as successful as his passing range would be slightly longer. So he risks giving the ball away a lot more than he currently does. His mentality also plays a big part because he is instructed to not be too advanced. By allowing him to play deep he can make things happen. The opposition fail to pick him up a lot of the time.

He also does a lot of defensive work and makes a lot of tackles and interceptions. It’s not only passing he does. From a defensive side of things he is solid and is almost like another defensive midfielder.

In this game look how involved he is. Even after 17 minutes you realise just how involved he is and that he is pulling all the strings in midfield.

Mr.Cleon, could you please upload your santos fc tactic for me because I would like to investigate and know more about possesion-typed football with a decent playmaker. It seems that I cant create as many passes as I would like form my playmaker. Thanks a lot for your kind help. I would appreciate it very much.

[Cleon]

Read the rest of my posts I've already told where a simliar version of that tactic is.....

[TheBetterHalf]

I've used a very similar sort of system with Man Utd, Cleon.

.

..and the same system and passing logic that I currently use. I prefer giving my Fb the role of a wing back when playing behind a AMwinger. Here, is plays a more direct game and make more t-balls than crosses onto the AMWinger and MC Box2Box. On the other flank, i have a fullback on attack behind a Mwinger, both on short passing as thety are on the same side as my playmaker

[matthewhong]

Read the rest of my posts I've already told where a simliar version of that tactic is.....

I would like to try arsenal for the tactic as I feel it could get the best out of my plamaker, fabregas.

--------------------------------Chamakh-------------

----------------Van Persie---------------------------

Arshavin----------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------Diaby---------------

--------------Fabregas-------------------------------

--------------------------Song------------------------

Clichy------------------------------------------Sagna

------------Vermelean-------Koscielny------------

----------------------Almunia-------------------------

For your information, I dowloaded that aston villa version but it seems to get a mere range of 50- 70 passes form my deep lying playmaker (Fabregas) per game.

Yet I would love to try a tactic that brings the best out of my playmaker aka 100 + passes, so could you kind enough to upload a 100+ passes per game tactic as I have never seen so many passes before executed in a game.

Thanks in advance.

[dz47]

Personally if I was going to play this tactic with that Arsenal squad I would reverse the formation and play RVP as the inside forward on the right and Arshavin as the AMC

[Chrisy177]

Thanks for the detailed help, Cleon. Your advice seems to be working pretty well for my playmaker. His key stats are:

Anticipation: 17

Decisions: 15

First Touch: 16

Stamina: 18

Passing: 17

Technique: 18

At the age of 20, he's looking to be a pretty good player and I've attempted to build my team around him, like you suggested. With a technically average side around him, he averages around 50 completed passes a game, which is nowhere near your 100+ stats, yet he is still by far the best passer on the pitch every game.

Kily Gonzales is not in my game, so how do my young regen's key stats compare to his? I assume Santos' squad is pretty technically gifted; would that affect his passing completion rate if more people in his team are able to anticipate his passes better?

I'm assuming you've spent a bit of time tweaking your squad to get the best of Gonzales - it must be a fine balance to get your defence's passing styles correct. Too short and my defenders panic and hoof the ball; too long and they hoof the ball anyway.

Watching full games from the zoomed vertical angle helped get a perspective of how my team played - how many games did you watch before you reckoned you had Gonzales playing at his best?

I hope you can answer these, that would be great.

[Cleon]

Thanks for the detailed help, Cleon. Your advice seems to be working pretty well for my playmaker. His key stats are:

Anticipation: 17

Decisions: 15

First Touch: 16

Stamina: 18

Passing: 17

Technique: 18

At the age of 20, he's looking to be a pretty good player and I've attempted to build my team around him, like you suggested. With a technically average side around him, he averages around 50 completed passes a game, which is nowhere near your 100+ stats, yet he is still by far the best passer on the pitch every game.

The key to raising his passing is to have players around him who offer him the passing option. That's why i play very narrow, control strategy and don't have players mentalities that different from each other. This allows players to always pass to him.

Kily Gonzales is not in my game, so how do my young regen's key stats compare to his? I assume Santos' squad is pretty technically gifted; would that affect his passing completion rate if more people in his team are able to anticipate his passes better?

Rougly same, but what's his teamwork like? This is vital that it is high. A high aggression will also make him be involved in things more, and he'll look to be involved in everything. Santos isn't that gifted in all honesty. But what they do have is a team with high work rate, team work and okay passers.

I'm assuming you've spent a bit of time tweaking your squad to get the best of Gonzales - it must be a fine balance to get your defence's passing styles correct. Too short and my defenders panic and hoof the ball; too long and they hoof the ball anyway.

It was easy to get it right when I viewed a game because I could see who was hoffing it and giving possession away and who wasn't. Then I just altered it so all players look to retain and pass the ball around. Mentality/tempo is key here as well though.

Watching full games from the zoomed vertical angle helped get a perspective of how my team played - how many games did you watch before you reckoned you had Gonzales playing at his best?

I hope you can answer these, that would be great

2 games was enough to allow me to see the issues

[Chrisy177]

Thanks a lot for the help mate, I'll use that advice the best I can! After modding his player instructions a little, he's risen to 70, which is definitely positive. Hopefully once the team are used to playing with each other a little more, and with the same tactic, he can start reaching the triple figures.

[Pozzati]

Don't understand how you can get the playmaker to pass that much... I downloaded the tactic you posted in the Brazilian thread, Cleon... To use as a base. My alterations:

Set my team to a control strategy.

Right back set as wing-back automatic with short passing.

Left back direct passing.

Right centreback to cover and with two notches to short from the middle.

Left centreback to stopper.

Ballwinning Mid has shorter passing than the base and also tried him to move into channels in the last matches to make room for my playmaker.

Deeplying playmaker as the same settings as your Kily Gonzalez.

Attacking Midfielder to have normal wide-play.

Striker to move into channels.

Still my playmaker sometimes get the lowest amount of passing in my team. Don't have a clue what to do as I tried to get my team to be based around my playmaker and my goals come from counter attacks from defensive corners or long shots.

[Maldini35]

Inspired by Cleon's astounding playmaker statistics, I've been trying to replicate it in my game (currently Man Utd). However, I'm getting nowhere near the same stats. Every now and then Carrick will pop up with an 80 pass game but generally it floated around the 50 mark.

After watching numerous matches in full I noticed, quite often, that the midfield would bypass Carrick with the DMC and the 'Ball Winner' passing amongst themselves instead despite Carrick being in space and ticked as the Playmaker.

A bigger problem is the Right Back and Ball Winner passing back and forth very often rather than getting the ball infield. This led to those players attempting way more passes than the playmaker.

Any tips on how to recitfy these snags please?

[KrisL]

put carrick where the ball winner is

[Maldini35]

put carrick where the ball winner is

Problem with that is that it leaves the right hand side exposed due to the formation not having a right winger, the ball winner needs to cover that side

[Chrisy177]

My 20 year old playmaker who I've adapted Cleon's tactics to is performing better and better. His description is now "Wonderkid" and my coaches say he has astounding potential ability. The pre-match analysis always highlights him as the key man watch, saying he is a great passer who, if given the opportunity to, can really dominate a midfield. He outshines everyone else on the field, and in games in which we are technically better than the opposition, he tops 100 completed passes. As soon as I can get more technically able players around him, we should be a really tough team to play against.

Thanks Cleon.

[Jay-Producer]

Think this can be closed now. Everyone's question has been answered now. Excellent information.

[Luke Trevill]

Hey guys

for FM10 i seem to do alright

but for FML its a diffo story, got maltese youth, youth can be bad, but maltese is an annogram for disaster

Just treat it like its FM10 just so you dont have to put extra going 'but if it doesnt work in fml' coz at the end of the day ima test it either way and it seems to be good

it may not work but the playmaker settings for passing seemed to work for one half of a game so im going to further it and hope it works

my formation is:

-----------------GK-------------- Control Strategy

----DR-----DC----DC-----DL-- More Fluid

----------------DM-------------- Narrow

--------MC----MC----MC--------- Quick Tempo (in testing, slow suits better at the moment)

----------------------------------- Def line: normal

-------------FC---FC-----------

and my whole team was set on Direct passing, but now what ive done is DR/L on Direct, DC's on short, DM on mixed, MCC on direct, MCL/CR on varied, FC's on direct

for the MC playmaker he is a advanced playmaker with the same settings as yours: mixed passing, thru balls sometimes, run with ball no, run from deep sometimes* long shots no

*would it be better to have him set to rarely, that his arrow will then point to a DMC

and also would he be better suited as a Deep-lying playmaker rather than a Advanced playmaker, from your experience?

Thanks

Luke

[Luke Trevill]

http://j.imagehost.org/view/0697/PAssing_completion

was my first game with the alterations

Carl borg was the designated deep lying playmaker

oddly my DM, Caruana got more as a normal DM

and peter mizzi kept up too, with a ball wining mid

gunna try a few more games and let you know

[Luke Trevill]

Hey again,

ive noticed a little problem, that one where my playmaker got 80 odd passes was a one off

it seems that my DR (peter Mizzi from above) is getting quite alot of balls and nothing i do will stop him from recieving and passing soo many times

it seems that the deep lying playmaker isnt getting much of the ball either, gelling in with all the other team on passes,

what can i do to make him stand out more?

ive got him as my playmaker and targetman and still isnt shining out

Thanks

[Powermonger]

Cleon, great contributions once again. Do you have available any PKMs for download to view your passing setup in action? I'd be interested in seeing some of your games to get a feel of what your talking about.

[Maldini35]

Hey again,

ive noticed a little problem, that one where my playmaker got 80 odd passes was a one off

it seems that my DR (peter Mizzi from above) is getting quite alot of balls and nothing i do will stop him from recieving and passing soo many times

it seems that the deep lying playmaker isnt getting much of the ball either, gelling in with all the other team on passes,

what can i do to make him stand out more?

ive got him as my playmaker and targetman and still isnt shining out

Thanks

I had the same problem with the full backs, especially the right back, dominating the passes. What I did was set their 'Wide Play' to 'Cut Inside'. I found that this forced them to get the ball infield to the midfielders who would move it on to the playmaker. They still see a lot of the ball but they are getting it into more productive areas now.

For getting the playmaker on the ball more, I would advise setting his 'Run From Deep' to rarely (even at sometimes he was always too high up the pitch too quickly) and set 'Roaming' to Yes, this allows him to go searching for the ball much more freely, gets him in space more often while still keeping him deep enough to have maximum effect on the game.

I haven't been able to reach Cleon's stats but my playmaker averages between 70-80 passes per game

[Luke Trevill]

Cheers for the up's on that one man, ive set it

but the update from that is my DL gets just enough balls as my playmaker, my DR gets a little less, and also my DM gets near to playmakers too,

ive done all the very defencive, wide play, run from deep rarely on the DL/R but i have no idea why my DM gets it

if anyone has an idea that my DM wont get as many balls and maybe just stand by while a DC passes to my playmaker, coz when my DM gets another ball, my playmaker doesnt

at the mo i have him just as an Defensive midfielder, and i may try him as an anchor man to see if that nulifies the effect

Thanks for all the help dudes

[Maldini35]

Yeah my DM is set as an Anchor Man, works well. In my last game (against Liverpool), the DM had 19 passes, the Ball Winner 68 and the Playmaker 80. There will be games where the numbers get skewed with the DM seeing a lot of the ball etc but generally thats the sort of pass difference I have

[Luke Trevill]

Hey guys, just the update

im running out of ideas now

this is my latest game http://img525.imageshack.us/f/passcomp.jpg/ Drazen is the GK, not Liam

as you can see, Carl borg got the highest amount of passes with 61, but almost up his backside was the DR (liam Galea) and the DL (Gordon Formosa) who got 45 and 35

Now im thinking that is a pretty high number for the DL and DR

also i dont think the DMs amount of posession can be helped coz its deep within the middle of the park

but for the DL and DR i do need help, this is my setting for my DR (viewing) and my DL has the exact same slider options.

http://img814.imageshack.us/f/drtactics.jpg/ and these are the tactics that are used with it http://img804.imageshack.us/f/tactics.jpg/

i know im probably getting on all your nerves about keeping on asking and i do very much apologise for that, but im tryna get this spot on and from what ive read i cant get it right.

from the DR and team settings above would anyone be able to tell me if ive set a setting wrong and what could be changed for the amount of passes that the DR and DL recieves

may seem a bit silly but the more my DR and DL get the ball, then thats less balls then the playmaker in my team could have recieved, (being Borg with 61 from above)

if it helps these are my teams passing styles

Defenders: 1 Notch on Direct

DM(anchor man): 1 Notch right on mixed

MCL and MCR: one notch on short

MCC playmaker: middle on mixed

Thanks soo much for the help all you guys have already given me and i do appreciate the help

[LordTC]

Crosses are still off in 1.3

Crossing %'s are still off in 1.3 by about 10% below what they should be. Headers are also far more inaccurate than in real life, partially because people play crosses and head from distances that have no chance of scoring, and partially because the game makes a lot of shots/headers go wide because it typically creates too many shots in a game.

For getting good passes with a single player, I find the best option is to run the game through that player.

I like to play a defensive deep lying playmaker at DMC, who is decent off the ball, and short simple passing from two ball playing defenders in the center, along with fairly basic passing from largely attacking wing players at DL and DR, this tends to get the DMC a lot of passes early on in the build up. And if allowed to make forward runs, he becomes a good outlet target later on. Basically he forms a triangle with the two DC's which increases passing options, and he also forms a triangle with the two more forward MC's so he can outlet well and recieve all sorts of backpasses for rebuilding.

Ultimately though I find unless you want to make your attack less effective by forcing yourself to go through a single player rather than through all your good options, you won't reliably get 100+ passes for a player.

I also find the characterization of this player as the guy who breaks down the defense is probably inaccurate given that in the 3 games you've posted he's got a total of 2 key passes out of the 400+ completed passes, it seems far more accurate that this guy is getting the ball and doing simple things in transition and getting the ball and doing simple things in rebuilding an attack.

[Maldini35]

@Luke

Personally (just going off what is working for me at the moment) I'd lower Width down a few notches into Narrow and maybe drop Tempo down a couple aswell, switch all defenders and the anchor mans passing down to Short with Rarely for through balls on all of them also.

Have you individually set each players Creative Freedom like you have on the full back? If not it must be pretty high across the board with Control & More Fluid so perhaps consider setting team Creative Freedom to More Discipline or lower team Philsophy (or both).

With the system, the full backs are almost always available so they are going to see a lot of the ball. For me the real issue isn't how many passes they are making, its the type of passes they are attempting and who they are passing to.

Could you perhaps upload a couple of pkms of matches so I can have a look in more detail?

[Luke Trevill]

@Maldini35

first off, Kily Gonzales from above didnt get 1 key pass, his replacement, Arcuna only got 2 aswell

im not after killer passes but just domination from passes, as my team are normally underdogs i think its good to have domination, ive recently shifted my tactics around seeing to have better passes.

deep-lying playmaker - Box to box midfielder - Advanced playmaker (desired targetman )

now ive noticed he averages about 60 passes a game,

also i dont quite know how to upload watchable PKMS so i can tell you that the DL/R do stay back but they offer the wide option, the recent game ive watched all they have done is got the ball, passed it either to a player in the centre more upfront, or just back to the guy who gave the pass, i think theyre being used to draw players in and make space im not too sure

also my DM has short passing and ive just mimiked Cleons 'direct, short, mixed, short' tactic, but maybe i should have 'direct, short, short, direct' because the full backs then can have judgement on their own passing, with all of them having no to thru balls

but thanks for all the advice too, much appreciated

[Luke Trevill]

sorry, i just noticed that someone else had made the comment bout the key passes, i appologise