Hi everybody. I decided to make this thread to give you all some tips that can improve your game quite a bit as it improved mine a lot.

Ok we'll start from the back.

Keeper:

Basically you want your keeper to be tall and fast, But what about ingame? The Radar is pretty much your only way of knowing where your keeper is whilst your attacking. If your opponent gets the ball and boots it up field you should be able to know if you should call out your keeper or not. I've seen many a person not doing this and I've taken advantage of this with a nice lobbed ball. So to put simply; If you lose possession near the opposition goal, Don't go mad to retain possession. Check the Radar to see how far out your keeper is and time the call out. I know its common sense but it is something that clicks into your head when its to late and can end up costing you the match.

Defence:

You should always play at least 4 in defence to stand a chance against some of the mad attackers you can meet online. The best attack is a good defence IMO and play is easier to build from the back. An Extremely Important thing about all outfielders is Roles. I cannot say this enough. If your playing against a team like Barca where they have very speedy wingers you will more than likely let in a goal if you don't have Roles set up. Putting someone as RB and LB means that on attack they will run up, Unless your playing with a custom team you will be outpaced by a fast Winger. So my advice is to put all of your backs as CB so they will stay back. This will reduce the amount of Crosses and make it much harder for the opponent to get through.

Midfield:

Same as Defence, Roles are very important here. Its important to have at least 1 DMF in your lineup to be there to guard against Counter Attacks up the center. Combined with 4 CB's your defence can be strong against almost anything, The rest is up to you. As for CMF's and AMF's thats mainly up to you and what style you play. You should also have 2 SMF's on the field. It is one of the most important things to have people on the wing as they can provide some width on the Counter attack or just general gameplay. You can also set there Roles to WF so they will have more of an attacking mentality. The thing about WF's is there great on the Counter Attack but you need to get the ball to there position as they don't wonder around out of there area very often. WF's can be a very strong tool against people that use LB's and RB's. Personally I prefer SMF's as they can help build up from the back.

Forwards:

As for the Forwards you will want at least 2 Forwards. I find that having only 1 person up front against someone that can Manually Man Mark usually cancels out that person leaving you with just Midfield and Defence players outfield. having 1 Forward with good Passing and Dribbling is a must for me. Along with one that has good Shooting and the Scoring Ability. Through Balls are what you should aim to be playing to your Forwards as it can really be effective once you get the hang of it. I like to use an SS and a CF up front and use Dummies quite a bit. When people see you only have 1 CF with an SS they tend to believe your going to shoot with the CF and try create gaps with the SS.


Set Pieces

Free Kicks (Attacking/Defending):

Attacking(Indirect): When you get an Indirect Free Kick your best bet is to pass it, Instead of just looking around with the analogue stick you should use the Radar to find free players. Remember that players set to run up on Attacks will run up while you have possession so it could be a better idea to pass a short ball and then boot it up to him.

Attacking(Direct): Ok now what I do in this situation is to get the side of goal opposite the Keeper in line with the center of your Tv. Then instead of holding (X) you can simply just hold (B) to lob it over the wall. So even if you have no players with good Free Kick Ability you can get these easily with a player that has decent Long Pass Accuracy. It takes practice and it might not look as nice but it does the job

Defending(Indirect):More often than not you opponent will lob it to one of his players so what I suggest doing is with the guy your given control of is stand in front of the guy closest to the Kicker. This will cancel him out and pretty much force your opponent into giving a long ball.

Defending(Direct): Theres not very much you can do if the Free Kick Taker is good. The best Defence against this is trying not to foul beforehand. But as we all know accidents happen. Try to Manually Man Mark in the box so in case of a deflection you'll be there. Here is some things you can do:

All of these can be done by holding the RT button.

All Players Jump: Press the (X) Button
Players Hold Position: Press the (A) Button
Players Charge Forward And Jump: Press The (B) Button
Players Charge Forward: Press the (B) And (A) button Together

Most importantly: As you know in-game (Y) calls your keeper out, But when faced against a Free Kick the (Y) Button then moves your Keeper behind the Wall. So while the guy is about to kick if you hold (Y) your Keeper should already be half way there.



Things You Can Do:

Manual Man Marking:

This is basically when you send out a player to apply pressure (By holding X) while you cover the opposition player with your selected player. It can be a very handy thing to do once you get the hang of it. I mainly use it when my opponent goes on the Counter using a Winger. Seeing as they usually have 1 or 2 guys in the center i send me Corner Back (With CB Role) to apply pressure while I keep in front of the man in the box. I also check the Radar a lot while doing this as you can apply the Offside Trap quite easily once you master this little technique.

I'll update this after a while. Have a good time reading this and practicing, I have much more techniques to add to this so stay tuned folks

Updated: 06/01/2008 (Still More To Come)

This message was edited by o_snuffles_o on Jan 06 2008.

Nice one mate!
Maybe you could give your recommended players in each of your positions?

quote rh

Nice one mate!
Maybe you could give your recommended players in each of your positions?

Nice one mate, I like this. I read through a good bit of it. I like how you think about the goalkeeper, I've never actually tried looking at the radar when the opposition kick the ball into your half. And it would have been a better idea for me to play about 5 defenders against Barcelona, and I will most certainly next time I play them. Thanks.

Helped me out alot on my master league with wet spam, and doing the formation etc, thanks again.

I'm glad to see I'm helping you guys

Also EricF is right you need at least 5 Defenders against Barcelona due to there strong attack.

I'll update my first post more at a later date with some other helpful tips and such.

Thanks for the tips, especially the defensive ones. I have that problem of being out paced by the wingers, I don't usually set my full backs to stay back, I will do now.

Great guide, i printed it lol, i like the tip on playing your sb's as cb's so you have 4 the sb's wonder about to much in my ml causing huge gaps on the wings, i predict that this guide will be the key to halt my troubles at the back.

quote o_snuffles_o

Forwards:

As for the Forwards you will want at least 2 Forwards. I find that having only 1 person up front against someone that can Manually Man Mark usually cancels out that person leaving you with just Midfield and Defence players outfield. having 1 Forward with good Passing and Dribbling is a must for me. Along with one that has good Shooting and the Scoring Ability. Through Balls are what you should aim to be playing to your Forwards as it can really be effective once you get the hang of it. I like to use an SS and a CF up front and use Dummies quite a bit. When people see you only have 1 CF with an SS they tend to believe your going to shoot with the CF and try create gaps with the SS.

quote o_snuffles_o

quote rh

Nice one mate!
Maybe you could give your recommended players in each of your positions?

Well I am basing this off of the Default teams in the game but I could give some Recommended Players if you wanted

I'll make a new Thread about it

quote rh

quote o_snuffles_o

quote rh

Nice one mate!
Maybe you could give your recommended players in each of your positions?

Well I am basing this off of the Default teams in the game but I could give some Recommended Players if you wanted

I'll make a new Thread about it

Did you make this thread at all in the end?
I havn't seen it on here.
It would be quite helpful to me and I'm sure to most!
Thanks

No problem mate! Take your time with it. There is no rush.

Your ideas have helped me a lot. I've started taking care of possession more and now I've won 10 consecutive matches. Thanks!

Doesn't that mean that you have unlocked a new achievement?
I'm sure once you win 10 consecutive game you get an achievement.

Yeah. It's called something like "winning streak".

It also won me the title this winning streak.