Spagbol

Before people start wading in with new tactics, I thought it best to have a thread where we can take a general look at the new version and the immediate changes.

First of all I've found strikers have immensely improved, they round keepers and more worryingly as far as tactics go I've found if you give a player time on the edge of the box, he can and will pick a spot and depending on ST vs GK quality can often score.

I've found that defenders are behaving rather strangely, but I haven't been able to put a finger on what's making them at times stand off and at times nail in the player with the ball.

Placing the ball on the head of a player with good jumping and heading from corners or free kicks pretty much equals +1 to the score. This is something that will need a serious look over and more so all the previous tactics which required minimal tinkering will now likely need you to look at the opposing team pre-match and pick out men to man mark, as well as watching the match itself and adjusting who's marking who.

Crossing from deep seems to have been refined as well, which makes it even more lethal then before the patch.

I've also found goals come far too easily. This means in 8.0.2 it's perfectly acceptable to win 6-0 one match, then four days later lose 5-3.


What other things have people noticed thus far?

I'm getting the feeling that for a tactic to succeed in the new version, it will need to be built from the defense forward. Unfortunately I'm yet to find a way to sort this element out, so I've reverted to Keegan 'score more goals then the other team' tactics for now.

afeckingname

AMC's are absolutely beautiful now aswell. riquelme is a god for my liverpool team. wingers are far less inclined to run with the ball i have also noticed. i still find playing one up front a hassle however the constant moving out to the wings by the lone striker does my head in i constantly find myself having to play narrow to negate it somewhat.

Elmoisonfire

Sounds to me like it isn't downloading the new patch... I think I prefer to stick with 8.0.1 if it's going to interfere that much with tactics. I was hoping for an improvement in goalkeeper stupidity but no way to that.

One thing I notice, is that I have a tactic that the AI can't defeat, so instead it stops me scoring (16 or 17 shots on goal) and lets the opposition score at will (every shot on target equals a goal, if they don't get one, then they have a couple (not one!) of own goals in their favour).

It's desperation of the programming i guess.

Cleon

How can you even comment on something you've not tried?! You're a fool to yourself if you dcide against using the patch.

Joor

I really like the patch. So far after playing around 10 games with Milan, there has not been those 5 or 6 goals each match people are talking about in the general forum - yes we do score 3.. maybe 4 goals vs very weak teams(but I expect that when I have 4-5 offensive world class players).
When we played vs Inter and Roma, it was 2-1 and 1-1. This must be since both defence are top quality ?.
Anyway, another thing I noticed, is that player mentality has more influence on hes positioning on the pitch in 8.0.2 . Its very obvious when you set one MC on 15 mentality and the other on 5..
In 8.0.1 there was not much of a difference.
Also strikers with high mentality wont defend even with full closing down, I never see them run backwards - its only when the GK has the ball or the two DC they will closedown.
Players with very high jumping, strenght and heading(18 in all) will dominate on corners. Pick you best in the air and set him on challenge Gk or near post flick on = goals are flying in

Andyh60

I'm struggling with the patch using previous tactics that were ok on previous 2. The fiora2 one for example which could do no wrong on original hasnt done me any good on this. the 4-4-2 project mentioned recently is average at best so it'll be interesting to see what people think works best.

Joor

About strikers not tracking back /closing down enough could be due to low workrate, mine has a low value(10 and 13)
patch notes:
-Put a harsher workrate test on tracking back to challenge player..

11v11

more attacking, man marking is solid and probably indivual mentality works better than the last patch. I am playing global mentality but withthe new patch is reconsidering. away match is satanic though which prompt me to attack a little away and it has its effects.

Spagbol

I'm also finding that if playing a more balanced formation and becoming more attacking while playing away I tend to leak goals and quickly.

But also that 4-5-1 counter attack is proving the way to go away from home.

The issue is the defensive line playing too far forward or sharing team mentality when you switch to attacking, as about 50% of the goals I've conceded are from long balls over the top.