Herry

IFB and positional play are the main reasons that this FM is better than all the rest. Other than these, the other features are more or less the same for my playstyle. If you don't use those features I guess it makes no difference for you.

lmao. This is very cool. Love to see some alternative angles to beat the game.

I also have encountered this a few times with opposition just holding possession and do nothing. Really annoying and I don't have reliable way to stop it. I do however, never trigger press on a GK. Man mark all CM/DM. If you watch highlight you would see the triangle of death (GK and 2 CB) basically pass the ball around. Having my striker stands off their keeper at least means he is not dragged away. IMO this is caused by that pressing in FM is not as coordinated as IRL. Some other potential solutions I theory crafted are Play 2 strikers up top Trap outside

Hi Michael. Thanks for looking into this. I am a bit surprised that it is potentially a bug but not something by design. Unfortunately I cannot find the save anymore, but I believe it can be recreated by starting a new save in the original mode with the first window transfer disabled. Go on holiday until Jan 1st and you should see most clubs in top 5 leagues with £0. In my save only Newcastle and PSG had millions to spend. Other teams had £0 or close to £0 budgets.

Agreed. Also seeing this in my save. Many goals from throw-ins. They are very annoying as we have little control on this phase of the game, so I cannot do much to recreate (when my team scores it) or stop (when the opponent does it) them.

That's an interesting idea and I will give it a go. My suspicion is always that the PIs are fine, but the high mentality makes him go crazy even in the build up phase. I do want my attacking winger to take on players as he is more a Sterling than a Bernardo Silva. Just don't do it at the half way line so often.

One issue I have seen in FM24 is that wingers get overly aggressive if they get the ball in build up. Using this picture as reference, if blue team's left winger (#21) gets the ball now, I would really want him to pass back or inside to recycle as first options. He is too far from the opp goal and at this phase the main goal is to get the whole team up the pitch. However in FM24 this player as W(A) or IW(S) will very often decide to take on two(!) opponents to dribble inside. The play will break down and we concede a counter attack to the opp. For now, I am managing by setting overall mentality to Balanced, but I expect that discourage my other players to try risky passes in the final thirds. Would be great to have an option to shift mentalities in different phases of the game.

Great thread. Thanks a lot! I found the play out from the back settings super interesting. Loads of things you talked about are relatable. I am super happy that I was not just paranoid or bad at the game lol. I definitely saw the pass-around-then-hoof in older FMs insanely annoying - don't see it this FM though when I have top players for PL. Also there were older FMs when players refuse to pass back, so when all forward options are blocked they would hoof. Then there were older FMs when opp CBs would make 100+ passes in a game to rack up 60% possession when your CMs don't join the press. All these are less common now (or simply gone for good). It is nice to apply real-life examples in FM. That being said, can you talk about your understanding of OI settings? I try to prioritise them over aggressive team instructions (much higher D line; Much more urgent etc.) to achieve high press but cannot decide say close down vs tight marking.