[Ajax - When Real Life Meets Football Manager - FM14]

i know it’s not very Ajax thing of me to do, but usually i sack most of my youth who has PA of less than 105-110ish (using FMScout) and sign any high PA youths available on freebies or cheap compensation. usually my youth team is rather trimmed at about 15ish players to allow more game time and presumably better coaching.

do you find those low PA youths to be a waste of space and effort in the squad?

[Quickfire Questions and Answers Thread (Tactic and Training Questions Only)]

This should be pretty straightforward to most, but apparently not to me.

If I know how the AI is attacking (either coming down either flank or through the middle), what can I do to counter that?

For opponents attacking down my flank, should I man mark with my FB? Close down more often (in hope of winning the ball ASAP) or less often (standing their ground, nice zonal shape)? Or should I make my FB bombard forward since the opposite wingers won't perform much defending duty?

For those coming through the middle, I am playing 4-1-2-2-1 so what can I do to my DM and 2 MCs?

[Quickfire Questions and Answers Thread (Tactic and Training Questions Only)]

1. Does low creative freedom mean that the players will follow exactly what you tell them to do and take less risk in overall play? On the other hand, does high creative freedom mean that the players will put aside your instructions and do whatever they wish to do at that given time? For example (let's talk about both extremes), if you give a player 0 CF and set his passing to 1 and long shots to rarely, would he almost definitely pass short to a nearby teammate (given that one is available) throughout the game and seldom have a pop at the goal from distance? Or, if you set him on max CF (20) and set his passing to 1 and long shots to rarely, does it mean that he doesn't necessarily follow those instructions and could still punt the ball or have a crack from distance whenever he pleases?

In a way I am trying to make my team (Newcastle in 1st season) to play a possession based game, simply passing short to a nearby teammate then move, simple pass and move, short pass and move continuously the way Swansea or Barca do to protect the back four and make the opposition chase the ball around. I don't want anybody to try anything fancy or tricky even for the likes of Ben Arfa and Wellington Nem. Am I better off with setting the whole team to a low creative freedom setting of perhaps 0 to 5 clicks so that they would follow exactly what I instruct them to do?

I have read around the forum where people generally complains that their players doesn't follow what is instructed to them (punting the ball instead of passing) even when their CF is set to the minimum value

2. How does roaming and creative freedom relate to each other? From my naive understanding, roaming means you give the player (suppose an AML) the freedom to move around the pitch to another position (let's assume to AMC or AMR or even to MC position). Given my goal of playing a pass and move football, would I be better off giving roaming instructions (players making more movements around and thus, options for others to pass to) with low creative freedom or less roaming (players sticking to their assigned positions) but higher creative freedom?

The formation is 4-2-3-1 with 1 DM (pivot triangle discussed in other threads) in classic mode of sliders.

[Quickfire Questions and Answers Thread (Tactic and Training Questions Only)]

What I'm not sure on is how quickly a DC will move to mark a guy without the ball. Closing down tends to refer to closing someone down when they have the ball, but obviously marking means marking someone without the ball. In theory tight marking will mean when they pick up a mark they'll get nice and tight and make things difficult for them at the risk of getting beaten in behind or by skill, closing down should refer more to how quickly they'll close the guy down when he receives the ball, if they are tight already they'll just be more urgent to engage and stifle that opponent (again, at the risk of being 'over-enthusiastic' and getting beaten).

so I assume if I want to do a Terry/Ferdinand combo, it would be zonal, tight & high closing down for the Terry role (ball winning defender) and zonal & no tight marking & low closing down on the Ferdinand role (cover up role)? what do you think?

big thanks for the reply too. cheers

[Quickfire Questions and Answers Thread (Tactic and Training Questions Only)]

1. If a youth with a determination of 15 is tutored by an older player with a determination stat of 12, does the youth's stat tend to decrease or will he just improve on other stats (such as bravery, composure etc) that the older tutor is better at (and his PPMs)?

2. This may sound silly but what is the difference between a DC's setting

(a) on zonal marking & no tight marking & closing down set to often (let's say the extreme, all the way to the right) ?

(b) on zonal marking & tight marking & closing down rarely (all the way to the left) ?

© on zonal marking & tight marking & closing down set all the way to the right ?