Read this thread yesterday whilst struggling in my 2nd season of a new save with Crystal Palace. Having finished 5th with an ageing, below average squad, I cleared out the dead wood in the summer and brought in signings which would allow us to play a much more expansive, attractive style of football. 5 months into the new season and my team was languishing in the bottom half of the table.
I had over-complicated my new tactic, and I wasn’t sure exactly where. Further tinkering just brought more inconsistency, so after reading this thread I switched to a 4-4-2 with only a higher defensive line and urgent pressing as the TIs. This was the first time in decades of playing CM and FM that I’d used such a basic tactic, and it was eye-opening. Where I had expected to be bored by the lack of complexity in my tactic, I was actually motivated to watch the game closely and make small adjustments in-game depending on the score and things I noticed in the opposition’s play that I could exploit. To my surprise, I felt I had more influence on my team’s result by starting matches with basic instructions and adjusting more during the game, rather than starting with what I thought was a well-thought out tactic and leaving it to run for 90 mins.
This thread has opened my eyes to a fundamental which I’m ashamed to say I hadn’t thought to try sooner, so just wanted to say thanks for the advice!
Why is it that the fewer Instructions, the better?
in Tactics, Training & Strategies Discussion
Posted
Read this thread yesterday whilst struggling in my 2nd season of a new save with Crystal Palace. Having finished 5th with an ageing, below average squad, I cleared out the dead wood in the summer and brought in signings which would allow us to play a much more expansive, attractive style of football. 5 months into the new season and my team was languishing in the bottom half of the table.
I had over-complicated my new tactic, and I wasn’t sure exactly where. Further tinkering just brought more inconsistency, so after reading this thread I switched to a 4-4-2 with only a higher defensive line and urgent pressing as the TIs. This was the first time in decades of playing CM and FM that I’d used such a basic tactic, and it was eye-opening. Where I had expected to be bored by the lack of complexity in my tactic, I was actually motivated to watch the game closely and make small adjustments in-game depending on the score and things I noticed in the opposition’s play that I could exploit. To my surprise, I felt I had more influence on my team’s result by starting matches with basic instructions and adjusting more during the game, rather than starting with what I thought was a well-thought out tactic and leaving it to run for 90 mins.
This thread has opened my eyes to a fundamental which I’m ashamed to say I hadn’t thought to try sooner, so just wanted to say thanks for the advice!