I'm really struggling with Lower League Management in 8.0.1.

Actually though it's old issues that I've muddled through in previous FMs that are giving me such a headache now.
Now it's time to resolve them once and for all.

Passing
In lower leagues players have much lower passing stats.
So should I be instructing them to hoof it thus conceding possession regularly because their passing is inaccurate,
or should I be telling them to keep to short simple passes?

Does a high passing stat mean a player is good at intricate short passes, or long defence-splitting passes - or is this under the crossing stat?

What effect does weather have on passing in FM?
Does a wet pitch mean the passes will hold up in the grass or skid off the surface?
I assume I should shorten passing on wet surfaces and lengthen it on muddy (sticky) surfaces (?).

But what should I do on a muddy / waterlogged pitch in strong winds?

Does having fullbacks and wingers set to "cross ball: often" conflict with short passing instructions?
How do I keep crosses low?

How do pitch conditions affect dribbling?
Presumably I should set "Run with ball: Rarely" on muddy pitches.
But what about wet (not waterlogged) pitches?

Thanks in advance.

Some great points you made there :thup:

Although I'm in no boat to comment on any, I will be keeping an eye on this forum to see the answers, because, to be honest, I would like to know most of the answers myself..

Would add a lot to my game if I knew

Dammit, wrote this once and then deleted by accident...

Passing: in FM07 i would have said hump it - FM08 is a more accurate portrayal of lower league passing - therefore i set it to just above mixed. Try and retain the ball, but not dwell too much if you get my meaning.

i.e. short passes, but only if they're safe.

High passing stat should reflect both - crosses only refer to passes from wide positions into the middle.

Weather affects FM exactly as it would in real life - passing becomes less accurate, tackles harder to time ad GKs less reliable (amongst others).
Muddy doesn't always mean sticky - therefore keep passing on the short side in such conditions.

Fullbacks - yes it does contradict (ish) - if your team play short, then set FBs and wingers to the lower side of mixed - they should in theory retain the ball, play short passes until an excellent crossing op appears.

Obviously dribbling is harder on wet ground - reduce it if possible.

I'm not LLM expert but if you think which teams are playing short, then I would go for very direct there. maybe you should also lower creative freedom as those players don't have ability for that -> make them play like you said.

also notice that you control your posession by tempo and time wasting also