[Processing in FM 2021 very slow?]

On 03/01/2021 at 15:20, hOvEdSkUd said:

Mrgol, 

We are experiencing the same problem. Have you found any solution?

@hOvEdSkUdUnfortunately no It seems to be a fairly obscure problem that only affects a limited number of people, since most people in this thread seem to be fine. This only happens when the game is processing international fixtures, which is not that often, so it's very annoying when it happens but not game breaking.

[Progressive Passing Side - Narrower Width?]

There are several threads on the front page with people that are trying to play in a similar way to you, and are also having some trouble scoring. One example would be 

. The fact I'm pointing this out means I'm also one of those people

When watching matches of my team, I also noticed that many misplaced passes were seemingly caused by the players being too far apart. As an alternative to going narrow, you could also opt to change from Positive to Balanced and keeping standard width. This means your players will try less over-ambitious passes to teammates in difficult positions. However, since you indicate you're having some issues breaking through packed defenses, lowering the mentality might not necessarily improve things. Still, one thing you could try, and you can just watch to see if you like the style of football it produces.

[Processing in FM 2021 very slow?]

True, but I played a network game with the same person in FM 2020 and didn't have these issues. I didn't know the network connection influences processing speed though, I always thought the processing took place on the host.

[Processing in FM 2021 very slow?]

I recently started a new save in FM 2021 and am starting to notice that processing is much slower than in previous FMs, including FM 2020. I'm doing a network game, with matchdays set to Saturdays and Wednesdays. Whenever the in-game date hits one of those days, the processing time can run something like 2-3 minutes.

I'm using a MacBook Air 2020. Granted, not exactly the most powerful computer out there, but certainly above the minimum system requirements. FM itself rates the performance as 5 stars when creating a new game, since I only have one league active.

Somewhat to my surprise I was not able to find any post on this topic. Is there some unique combination of settings causing this, or are there other people experiencing the same issue?

[Risk versus tempo in possession football tactic]

Based on the advice I tried a couple of things:

• After trying both positive + low tempo and balanced + high tempo I... eventually went back to the positive + default tempo I was already using  But I did change a number of player and team instructions that improved the style of play.
• First of all, using the higher defensive line indeed increased both the possession numbers as well as my team's passing. And my defense did not get noticeably worse!
• I kept work-ball-into-box as without it my wide players become crossing machines. For the same reason I kept the slightly narrow. Without it, my wide players have more space. This is obviously good, but they do get a bit isolated from the rest and therefore more likely to resort to crossing.
• As recommended, I changed the mezzala to a CMa. This helps with creating chances down the middle. It seems that FM's interpretation is fairly extreme and mainly aimed at 4-3-1-2. In reality the term is also used for players like Hamsik and Pogba when he played for Juve, but in FM terms they are closer to CMa's that occasionally move into channels. 
• Changing my striker from DLF to CFs made him more involved in play. This is somewhat counter-intuitive since the DLF is supposed to be more focused on linking play, but the CF is more mobile which helps a lot.

After settling on these changes I managed to beat Real Madrid 2-1 away, but more importantly it created more passing moves that fit my desired style of play.

[Risk versus tempo in possession football tactic]

On 28/02/2020 at 09:02, bdixon said:

You style is identical to the one I'm trying to achieve. 

What I have noticed is playing against teams who use a lower mentality then it is almost impossible to win the possession game. They appear to happily play the ball around defence whilst my high pressing front four chasing the ball like a bunch of headless chickens, there are occasions where one of the forward do win the ball and get through on goal, but very rarely does it result in a goal. 

Yes, that's exactly what I noticed when I watched the match in full. I will try Experienced Defender's advice and move up the line of engagement, though I didn't do that at first due to fears over compactness. However, that was before the match engine patch when balls over the top were massively overpowered, so maybe things will be better now.

What I also find interesting is that crusadertsar uses positive mentality + low tempo, and britrock uses balanced + high tempo. I'm sure there are more multiple ways leading to Rome, but that pretty much confirms my doubt  I guess the best way is to just try both and see which one looks better to me.

Note: I post very infrequently, but I'v actually been a forum member for a long time, and I really appreciate that whenever I'm stuck there's always a bunch of people ready to have a look and offer useful suggestions. Thanks everyone!

[Risk versus tempo in possession football tactic]

What am I trying to achieve?

I want my team to play possession football, playing through the opposition with quick combinations. I'm not aiming at the ultra-dominant style used by Ajax for the past two seasons, I'm looking at a slightly more considered approach like Sarri's Napoli or even Japan at the last world cup. As the screenshot shows I'm playing as Juventus, but I'm not aiming to reproduce the very cautious style they've been playing for the last two years.

In terms of player roles:

• I would like the AML to function as the primary goalscorer. For this reason he has the "play narrow" PI, so that he's basically a second striker playing slightly wide.
• I want the striker to link to the midfield, but also score occasional goals (though more like 10-15 per season rather than 20-25). In previous FMs playing a lone striker with an attack duty made him very isolated, hence the DLF on support.
• The right winger is a runner acts as the main assister, either with a semi-cross on the striker or the AML, a through ball to the striker, or a cutback to one of the central midfielders. I was very happy with the introduction of the inverted winger role in the AM strata, as the conventional winger is basically a cross machine and the IF is more of a striker.
• The mezzala is also a runner and is supposed to provide some movement down the middle. I expect him to get assists rather than goals.

What is going well?

• The AML is playing very well and scoring a lot of goals.
• The DLP acts as the regista and recycles possession well.
• Good overlaps from the WBR.
• The mezzala and right winger are not getting in each other's way, which is something I was initially worried of.

What is not going well?

• I'm having some trouble in getting my team to play the way I want, especially down the center. My DLF is barely involved in play, my midfielders have problems to reach him. 
• My winger tends to dribble at every opportunity, but doesn't really have an end product. 
• My midfielders tend to pass the ball around without any forward progression.
• I'm not creating many chances because of the above (observed by watching some matches in full)
• I usually have around 47% - 52% possession, which isn't bad but can hardly be considered possession football.

So why the title of this post?

When looking at the presets for both possession football and vertically tika taka I find it very surprising that they use balanced mentality plus lower tempo. I find that combination very cautious, and I would not associated with the style of football I described in the beginning. I find that my team plays a lot better with a positive mentality. That's not just because Juve are better than the rest of the league, I previously played as Sassuolo and has the same. Setting the tempo to lower slightly improves the decision making, but it doesn't solve the movement problem down the middle.

In theory, the reverse of what I'm doing (i.e. setting mentality to balanced and tempo too high) should be more what I want, namely the team playing "safe" quick passes and using movement to unlock the opposition defense, but I'm not seeting it.

[FM17 Help me make Conte's Chelsea 3-4-3]

On 11/13/2016 at 04:02, acmilano112000 said:

What has bothered me forever about FM is that when you play 3 players in the center of any band (3 CBs, 3 CMs, 3 AMCs, etc) the wider two play in these terrific half-space positions. But when you remove the center player, then it automatically narrows the other two. Like you can't have them in those slots without a central guy pushing them apart. Which is stupid because if the game engine can handle them there then I should be able to instruct it if I want. 

Exactly! The most frustrating part is that it appears to be a restriction by the tactic screen, not the match engine.