Help with adjusting tactics to different opponents

[Footix]

The area in the game I struggle the most with is tactics (or team selection?). If I play really well in one game, big "deserved" (stats-wise) win, you can count on my team not even turning up for the next game against some mid table nobodies and end up at the wrong end of a 5-0 thumping. This is even if I play the exact same 11 with the same tactic that was so brilliant last week. 

I just don't understand how this works. Of course I can accept defeat, but not my team going from Barcelona to Barnet in a week. 

Am I supposed to chop and change tactics based on the pre-match report? 4-3-3 this week against this opponent, 3-5-2 next week against that opponent? You would need a really big squad to do that, not really an option for smaller teams. 

What do you do? And perhaps most important, what is the most important info in the pre-match report and how do you react to it? 

[Hummingbird Saltalamacchia]

I said previously on this forum that this years game is incredibly hard, just like last year's game, with that being said though I have been playing a lot of this years game over the last few weeks, I started my current and only save with La Nucia many many months ago and I finally just finished my first season in 7th place, missed out on the play-offs by a few points because my players were on the beach at Tenerife on the last game lol, I'm finding it to be okay now the more I play it. That's football though isn't it? A team can play well one game and the next not turn up, that's football. In my league most teams played the same formation as me, but even if every team had a different formation to mine I never changed mine, I just merely change to defensive or attacking, if I play a poor team I attack, if I play a better team then I go defensive or counter, play a team similar to mine then I try to control the game. I don't know how anyone can change their formation for different opponents, I just finished 7th and I had the same formation for every match. That is a thing I like about the game, dominating one team one game with all players getting 8's but then losing the following game where my players get 5's and 6's. Back to changing your formation for different opponents, I guess that would be very time consuming. I would say the most important info in the pre match report is if they play defensive or attacking, I literally only noticed this the last few weeks of playing lol, I do play in the dark so maybe I'm a bat lol, if in the report a team play defensive then attack if you have a better squad than them, if they have better players then counter or go defensive, I ain't attacking a team who have much better players than me, I don't actually pay much attention to their formation, I just look to see how good their players are. Took me time to work out that my team play better with direct passing as previously I wasn't having many shots with short passing. As you can see from my screenshot I only conceded 26 goals in the league, why do I say that? Well I never actually man marked a striker from the opposing team lol, even if he has scored lots of goals, furthermore I played a high defensive line all season, so I'm surprised I only conceded 26 goals. Try not to overthink it would be my advice, go with the flow. It took me a long time to work certain things out, once I did now I'm slowly getting better at the game, so next season relegation then lol. Good luck 👍.

[Marc Vaughan]

Speaking as a 'player' of the game (rather than a dev) - I tend to stick to the same formation in most matches unless injuries enforce it to change, I do however do minor tweaks if I think its desirable ... not to the formation, but to the mentality etc.

So if I'm playing as Brighton I'm normally setup for control/attacking because that is my preference - however I'm also realistic about the quality of my team so I'll change to 'counter attacking' if I'm playing a club who quite frankly are going to walk all over us if we try and play posession football against them

[Footix]

The "adjust mentality after quality of opposition" makes sense in theory, but that's kind of why I created this thread. Yesterday my team (4th) played at home vs the team in 8th. I kept the formation that easily got us three points playing away last week, but changed from "balanced" to "control". 

We were 0-2 down before half time, and I couldn't get a shot in until the 80th minute or so. 

I don't know what to do. Sometimes this game feels completely random, although I'm sure it isn't. It's just frustrating never really figuring things out, so to speak. 

Edited July 7, 2022 by Footix

[MrManagerMan]

I try to roughly keep to the same tactic and tweak little things here and there although I was using a 4-4-2 as Middlesbrough in the championship getting promoted through the playoffs but when in the Prem the following season, I was getting beaten heavily in my first 7 games so switched to 5 at the back with an anchor man, defensive wingers and defensive full backs rather than the wingbacks I was using in the championship using ‘contain’ while playing the big clubs and getting draws with them and either ‘counter’,  ‘balanced’ or ‘attacking’ when playing the rest. If I go 2 down I usually go attacking. Also, when I’m playing a side at the lower end of the table, I would definitely change them from defensive to just ‘Winger’ and might push start them further up the pitch. Currently 13th halfway through the season which I think is good as we only have to bravely fight relegation. I don’t think it’s random from my experiences playing over the years. Actually, maybe there’s a tiny bit of randomness programmed in (which I would want a little of in the game anyway) but usually I think it’s something you’re doing/not doing. I only skim over the opposition report at a glance and have a quick look at their lineup. I find I don’t get much joy if they’re playing with three central defenders but that’s just me not knowing what to do for the best there. in the end, I think there’s loads of deferent variables that make what happens happen come match day. 

[StephenCronin]

First thing: Keep building your squad. If you can get to the point where your players are better than your opposition, you'll win most weeks and only be complaining why sometimes you win 7-0 and other times only 3-0. 

After that, turn on extensive highlights and watch for any patterns that you can do something about. For example, I found that against some formations (3 at the back and 3 at the back with a DM in front), my single striker was getting swamped with defenders and wasn't getting any decent chances. I put a PF next to him and all of a sudden he was 1 on 2 with defenders instead of 1 on 3 or 1 on 4 and we scored a lot more.

I don't worry about changing my tactic every time we come up against a team using those formations, I just always include a midfielder who I can throw forward if necessary (I retrained some for this purpose). Sometimes we will be better enough than the opposition that we'll win anyway, but if we're not getting chances by about the 20 min mark, I'll make the change and it normally leads to lots more chances.

Also extensive highlights lets you pick up other things like your TF taking corners and sending the ball into noone (should have been to him). Seems to happen a lot this year, but once you notice it you can tweak your corner takers so there should always be one of them on the pitch,

[Footix]

19 hours ago, StephenCronin said:

Also extensive highlights lets you pick up other things like your TF taking corners and sending the ball into noone (should have been to him). Seems to happen a lot this year, but once you notice it you can tweak your corner takers so there should always be one of them on the pitch,

This is sooo annoying. If you don't specify the corner takers, it's usually a striker or a central defender who gets the job. I had Lascelles taking corners for Newcastle for weeks before I understood what was going on, lol. I've learned my lesson now... Always check the set piece instructions before a game. Sometimes it gets messed up anyway though, two subs and an injury and woop, there goes the striker to take the corner. I wish we could change this in-game. @Marc Vaughan 🙂

[passenger58]

I must be in the minority because I do adjust my tactics depending on the opponent.

Not extensively but I have 3 saved tactics I pick from and tweak accordingly.

When I'm playing against a 3-at-the-back team with WB's, or sides with a narrow midfield, I'll take advantage of the space out wide. For example, I'll start with wingbacks AND wingers, play wide and attack down flanks. The motivation for this is to create 2v1 situations down the flanks and crowd the opposition WB. I usually use 4-1-2-2-1 for this, ideally with a target forward.

If my opponent has 2 strikers, I'll usually play 3 at the back to outnumber them.

If I'm going up against a 4-3-3, I'll play 5 at the back with wing backs and generally have attacking midfielders.

These changes don't always work and it's no silver bullet. I have my fair share of frustrating results that makes no sense, but this approach generally works well.

*CAVEAT - Obviously it depends on the relative strength of both squads though, so no matter how well you prepare your starting tactic, a significantly better team will probably still be tough to play against.

Edited July 14, 2022 by passenger58
Added caveat

[Desmond Richardson]

3 hours ago, passenger58 said:

I must be in the minority because I do adjust my tactics depending on the opponent.

This is generally how I like to approach the game. I quite like building a very versatile squad to be able to be flexible and adaptable at all times. Self doubt can get in the way if you feel one system is better than another though... and you end up second guessing yourself!  

[passenger58]

5 hours ago, Desmond Richardson said:

This is generally how I like to approach the game. I quite like building a very versatile squad to be able to be flexible and adaptable at all times. Self doubt can get in the way if you feel one system is better than another though... and you end up second guessing yourself!  

Agreed. And even though as lot of managers won't bother, I find training players to be able to play as many positions as possible really helps in this regard.