Sliders For Tactics on Football Manager Mobile

Sliders For Tactics In Football Manager Mobile

Having played Football Manager for years one of the things I used to love about the PC Version of the past that I think would be great for Football Manager Mobile is positional sliders.

I understand that player roles dictate roughly where a player should be on the pitch in relation to the formation you are using but sometimes this is too generic 

Having arrows that you can use and being able to drag to roughly which part of the pitch you want a player to be in during attack would bring slightly more tactical control in the game but not make it too in depth.

This would help with transitions as sometimes what starts as a 4-4-2 can change into a 4-4-1-1 during a match or the formation you defend in is not always the formation you attack in for take this 5-4-1 starting formation

Now this is our starting formation and how we set up to defend during the match however this could easily change into a 4-3-3 via the use of some attacking sliders such as these 

(* Please don't judge the badly drawn arrows *)

By using these attacking sliders you could then create transitions, these arrows would change the 5-4-1 into a 4 -3-3 in attack as shown below 

You might say there is no need for this as I could play Alderwierld as a BPD or Libero to have him move into that position and have both Milner and Sissoko as IFs to create the transitions I am describing BUT what if you want to play a system that it would not be so simple by using the player roles such as Sheffield United under Chris Wilders overlapping centre backs? 

For Stephens and Baldock I could simply choose Inverted Wing Back Role but they don't push up as far as you'd want in this tactic and there would be no option to have the Centre Backs overlap in this way without tactical sliders 

I appreciate this is maybe a minor detail for those who would think you don't need much tactical depth in the game but for me I believe the handheld version should be about tactics and transfers and a bit of tactical depth never hurt anyone especially as this is Football Manager and not FIFA 

Another way sliders would help is if I want my Centre backs to push out wide effectively making them cover the flanks 

In this formation I am using wing backs that will push up which would lead the set up to look like this during the attack 

As you can see this would leave us very weak at the back in the wing areas so a way we could fix this by using sliders would be to have sliders on the CBs to make them drift wide to cover the overlapping full backs and a arrow on the DM to slot in between the back 2 to create a 3 at the back when in defence such as this 

Which would lead the formation to look like this during attack as I would want 

As you can see here tho the way the current tactics interface is this would cause a problem as it would leave you with only one centre half so the arrows would need to be able to drag EXACTLY where on the pitch you'd want the player to be as this is how in my head id want the formation to look after the sliders were implemented 

At least some form of sliders would be appreciated or definitely some more tactical options to select with maybe a button you can select for CBs to be able to cover the wings when your Wing backs Push forward and I guess the Narrow Balanced and Wide comes into play but I do believe sliders would be able to give you more detail tactically

Yes this is where someone goes well go get FM Touch but some people do not have the devices capable for that and I do think with some tweaks we could see some form of sliders in FMM

Let me know what yous think 

 

[Rob]

Excellent article.

[AdamNufc]

1 minute ago, Rob said:

Excellent article.

Thank You Means a Lot 😀

[Rob]

Just now, AdamNufc said:

Thank You Means a Lot 😀

I’ll do a proper reply later. This is a great discussion point. 

[AdamNufc]

9 minutes ago, Rob said:

I’ll do a proper reply later. This is a great discussion point. 

Yeah that's fine! I will be back on here after watching the Spurs game

[Woody]

Excellent article and you give a valid argument for it. Having been an avid cm01/02 player and still play it now from time to time, i would be up for this.

Little things like this can change things in a huge way if implemented properly. 👍

[AdamNufc]

12 minutes ago, Woody said:

Excellent article and you give a valid argument for it. Having been an avid cm01/02 player and still play it now from time to time, i would be up for this.

Little things like this can change things in a huge way if implemented properly. 👍

Cheers Mate I never played CM 01/02 but would love a retro database on a modern day FMM , wish someone would create one , with players like Asprilla Albert Shearer Ginola at Toon or likes of Viera Pires Henry Bergkamp etc at Arsenal would be amazing to play 

And yeah I agree with that I also think FMM is too easy with tactics at times , like opposition teams very rarely react to your tactics , I could go a whole season with the same tactic make no changes what so ever and win majority of games , it would be nice to see AI teams more reactive so like throughout the season they learn how you set up tactically and they set up differently to counter your tactics 

[Woody]

Its a brilliant idea. Ive never believed in a killer tactic but there will always be a certain way of playing that the AI cant cope with.

There are too many 'same' tactics and things like this will give alot more individuality to the game.

[AdamNufc]

3 minutes ago, Woody said:

Its a brilliant idea. Ive never believed in a killer tactic but there will always be a certain way of playing that the AI cant cope with.

There are too many 'same' tactics and things like this will give alot more individuality to the game.

Yes I totally agree! The way tactics on FMM is at the minute I agree many tactics are the same or very very similar when in real life football two teams could play 4-4-2 but in two totally different styles of play , a cracking book about tactics I'd recommend to anyone would be Inverting The Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson , if someone hasn't read it they really should! 

[FuddledFox]

Cracking article.

As someone who played PC back in the day of sliders I think it would be good to see them back but I am absolutely certain it will never happen as I have seen SI team members state that player roles is what they want to continue with. What we could do with in Mobile is a few more roles though and the one I would like to see (if it works properly) in the Half Back role where you have a man in DM who drops back into the CB line when the team is in possession as that could open up some interesting tactics.

[AdamNufc]

1 minute ago, Foxy said:

Cracking article.

As someone who played PC back in the day of sliders I think it would be good to see them back but I am absolutely certain it will never happen as I have seen SI team members state that player roles is what they want to continue with. What we could do with in Mobile is a few more roles though and the one I would like to see (if it works properly) in the Half Back role where you have a man in DM who drops back into the CB line when the team is in possession as that could open up some interesting tactics.

@Foxy You've hit the nail on the head mate , that's what I'd want too the half back role which would allow for what I was describing with a DM dropping back as part of a back three , it would be brilliant! Yeah I know they are going towards player roles and player shouts on the PC so I think the days of sliders are in the past but for me it would be a great addition for FMM as we already have very limited tactical options to play about with , I know it's only the mobile version but for me tactics is the most important and fun part of the game 

Having played Football Manager Touch back in 2014 and read about it recently I do feel the tactical layout on there is so much better and love the square zones set out on it's tactical interface 

The only thing with increasing tactics and tactical options on FMM is phone screen size and also performance and capabilities , some phones wouldn't be able to fit all of the data onto one screen which is a shame

Sometimes I wish I could get back into playing on the PC but the games nowadays compared to the days of around 2008 etc , completing a season just takes far too much time!

[Ashez]

Excellent article mate, talk about arriving in the community with style

FMH (FMM before the name change) on the PSP had arrows and various other tactical features the mobile version is lacking. Unfortunately like @Foxy said SI have said repeatedly that player roles is the casual friendly approach. I've personally always suggested they allow us to "open up" pre set roles and have a tinker with how they operate. Another thing I've always said is FMT puts a natural ceiling on what FMM can be as they'll want them different. 

Fans have cried out for tactical improvements for years, arrows and set piece options especially but SI like the dating sim aspects more. The last serious set piece discussion we had SI staff didn't think we were smart enough to handle set piece instructions 😂. 

2021's key feature will be the water break and a mini game of deciding the right drink for each player before we get tactical improvements if history is to go by. 

Anyway one again fantastic article mate, it's absolutely fantastic to see fresh blood and new ideas in the discussion and article side of the community. Keep it up!

[AdamNufc]

2 minutes ago, Ashez said:

Excellent article mate, talk about arriving in the community with style

FMH (FMM before the name change) on the PSP had arrows and various other tactical features the mobile version is lacking. Unfortunately like @Foxy said SI have said repeatedly that player roles is the casual friendly approach. I've personally always suggested they allow us to "open up" pre set roles and have a tinker with how they operate. Another thing I've always said is FMT puts a natural ceiling on what FMM can be as they'll want them different. 

Fans have cried out for tactical improvements for years, arrows and set piece options especially but SI like the dating sim aspects more. The last serious set piece discussion we had SI staff didn't think we were smart enough to handle set piece instructions 😂. 

2021's key feature will be the water break and a mini game of deciding the right drink for each player before we get tactical improvements if history is to go by. 

Anyway one again fantastic article mate, it's absolutely fantastic to see fresh blood and new ideas in the discussion and article side of the community. Keep it up!

Thanks mate much appreciated! FMH on the PSP was where I first started playing the series and the PSP version is so much better than the mobile version , was recently tempted to get a PSP and all the old FMHs , they are so much more fun to play and I read @BatiGoal article on set pieces and totally agree the mobile version lacks so much and it's went down hill in my opinion but SI know people will still buy the game , set pieces are vital to a team just look at Tony Pulis and even today's game with Spurs scoring from a corner , even throw in instructions could be a game changer , remember Rory Delap! 

If someone wants a causal approach to a football game then they should go play FIFA or PES , I've always thought to play Football Manager you need to have some brains be a bit of tactical knowledge so a lot of us would be able to grasp some detailed changes! I understand the mobile version must have less features but surely it doesn't need to be dumbed down so much 

Even the change they did with VAR is awful as you know for a fact if a goal is ruled offside and var checks it , it's definitely not getting overturned 

FM Touch definitely brings a cap on the game it really does and I can actually see myself going back to the likes of FMH08 and FMH10 in the future where I'd find that a lot more fun! 

[FuddledFox]

13 minutes ago, Ashez said:

Unfortunately like @Foxy said SI have said repeatedly that player roles is the casual friendly approach.

That argument is complete rubbish though as imagine buying the PC game as a normal or casual football fan and being confronted with this list of midfield roles and needing to know what they do.

• Segundo Volente 
• Regista
• Enganche 
• Mezzala 
• Carrilero 

It’s all geared to football hipsters but it doesn’t make for a casual approach or an accessible game. The old way of sliders and Wib Wob made for a more accessible game but I think the problem was that it made the game far to exploitable which is why they started to lock things up in roles more.

Obviously we have much simpler roles on FMM which whilst it limits us to an extent and it would be good to have the shackles taken off with player instructions and a few more roles (that work) but my hope is that they never go too far with FMM with these obscure roles.

[AdamNufc]

@Foxy I love my tactics and I love reading about tactics online and watching tactical youtube videos but I have never in my life heard of the ones you listed!!! 

Yes we all understand words like False Nine , Tika Taka , Inverted Wing Back , Trequartista etc but some of those are getting out of hand and will be say a player role we know such as DM with a tiny tweak to it and it then becomes a role with a name we've never heard of , I agree I want more tactical variety in FMM but nothing as complex as that which I wouldn't even want in the full PC experience!

[FuddledFox]

They are all essentially slight variations of the basic roles that FMM has so for example a Carrillo is a BBM that doesn’t quite go from box to box.

You can find the descriptions here. https://www.guidetofm.com/tactics/roles-duties/3/#segundo-volante
 

The thing is if there was sliders, Wib Wob etc then SI wouldn’t have new features to market each year but with player roles they can come out and say we have added two new roles to the game which gets people excited and builds hype whether or not the roles are just a slight tweak on ones that already exist.

[Ashez]

24 minutes ago, Foxy said:

That argument is complete rubbish though as imagine buying the PC game as a normal or casual football fan and being confronted with this list of midfield roles and needing to know what they do.

 

25 minutes ago, Foxy said:

Obviously we have much simpler roles on FMM

That's why we have much simpler ones, obviously I agree with you exploit point though. 

[AdamNufc]

@Foxy Yeah I searched them up they are essentially slightest of variations a lot are quite similar and would be over kill having them in game 

Definitely think sliders would be more mobile friendly than all these new tactical roles they are bringing out 

[AdamNufc]

5 minutes ago, Ashez said:

 

That's why we have much simpler ones, obviously I agree with you exploit point though. 

The simpler roles I have no issue with , I would not want all these advanced roles in the game just do think sliders would be so much more simpler for the game for making the tactics work exactly how you want them 

Also with AI opponents never really reacting to your tactics and tactical changes it makes the game too easy in my opinion , once you make a good tactic and sign the players to fit it you could just blast through the seasons practically winning everything 95 percent of the time 

[broodje kip]

Nice article mage although I also prefer to have more roles like Carrilero the one @Foxy mentioned before or Mezzala and Regista. That would make it more fun considering FMM 19/20 got no new role other than sweeper amd libero were made as CB

[smoggy90]

Great article mate and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I don’t want the depth of the PC game but I agree on sliders and there must surely be some enhancements they can make to tactics with regards to other roles and perhaps the implementation of sliders. On a slightly different topic but still relevant to tactics the whole set piece module needs revamping and it is something discussed a lot on here. 
Again, great read. 

[AdamNufc]

1 minute ago, smoggy90 said:

Great article mate and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I don’t want the depth of the PC game but I agree on sliders and there must surely be some enhancements they can make to tactics with regards to other roles and perhaps the implementation of sliders. On a slightly different topic but still relevant to tactics the whole set piece module needs revamping and it is something discussed a lot on here. 
Again, great read. 

Thanks @smoggy90 We don't need too much depth no as that would bog the game down and make it more time consuming when you want with FMM to be able to do tactics and transfers and fly through a season in several hours! 

I agree Set Pieces are desperately needed a look into and change by SI , I remember the PSP version you could select to aim at near post , far post and Target Man etc , another idea could be to be able to select how many defenders to stay back at corners , like you see in football when watching games you often have the two full backs standing at the half way line when you have a corner to half cover just in case of a counter attack 

Hopefully SI can implement stuff like this but I doubt they will 

[AdamNufc]

8 hours ago, broodje kip said:

Nice article mage although I also prefer to have more roles like Carrilero the one @Foxy mentioned before or Mezzala and Regista. That would make it more fun considering FMM 19/20 got no new role other than sweeper amd libero were made as CB

Thank You but I really don't agree with this , it would bog the game down with too many tactical roles that are very much similar to the ones we already have , my sliders idea would allow you to create these slight variations of player roles without needing all the excess names that hardly anyone has heard of 

[broodje kip]

1 hour ago, AdamNufc said:

Thank You but I really don't agree with this , it would bog the game down with too many tactical roles that are very much similar to the ones we already have , my sliders idea would allow you to create these slight variations of player roles without needing all the excess names that hardly anyone has heard of 

Oh that’s nice perhaps I just miss understood the usage of sliders

[Ian]

Nice article Adam, In an ideal world this may be something I’d be up for but as others have mentioned it’d be surprising if SI went down that route.

Maybe a few player instructions would be something we may get or more team instructions but then again adding any of these things onto the current game would make it ridiculously easy.

As has been mentioned the a.i are useless and especially when it comes to squad building. I had a good example from last years game where I played again a Portuguese team in the CL after about ten seasons and they lined up with a 4-3-2-1 but with all forwards in every position and sub bench consisting of another two forward and five keepers. I wish I could find it but there has been many including this below also from last year where they’ve no CB’s and a not very great bench.

I suppose it could happen with an injury crises but these things are too common for me so that’s an area I’d like them to focus on first and foremost. All the player unhappiness stuff seems all over the place too and that seems to be where they’re going with the game, well that and media stuff so not sure any of us will get our wishes. 

[AdamNufc]

2 minutes ago, Ian said:

Nice article Adam, In an ideal world this may be something I’d be up for but as others have mentioned it’d be surprising if SI went down that route.

Maybe a few player instructions would be something we may get or more team instructions but then again adding any of these things onto the current game would make it ridiculously easy.

As has been mentioned the a.i are useless and especially when it comes to squad building. I had a good example from last years game where I played again a Portuguese team in the CL after about ten seasons and they lined up with a 4-3-2-1 but with all forwards in every position and sub bench consisting of another two forward and five keepers. I wish I could find it but there has been many including this below also from last year where they’ve no CB’s and a not very great bench.

I suppose it could happen with an injury crises but these things are too common for me so that’s an area I’d like them to focus on first and foremost. All the player unhappiness stuff seems all over the place too and that seems to be where they’re going with the game, well that and media stuff so not sure any of us will get our wishes. 

Thank You 

Definitely do not want more media in the game leave that for the PC Version , I would love to see a simplified form of half time team talks maybe 

I've noticed stuff like this too , you will be facing teams ( more common against teams aren't manageable on the game like those from Romania or Belarus when you play them in European competitions ) they will play a lot of players out of position 

Yes the morale system I believe needs tweaking , I've noticed people before complaining about players fitness levels constantly draining and needing to rotate often but as a manager rotation and keeping players fit is a huge part of the game 

I do believe the Handheld version back in the day on PSP is far superior to the mobile version of today 

[samhardy]

Great article. Unfortunately I can’t see it (or any improvement/revamp for that matter) happening though as it just makes too much sense for SI. Tactics are arguably the most important part of the game yet they’re a walk in the park and have been for years. It only takes about a week of playing the game regularly for it to become clearly obvious what works and what doesn’t.

During the game it’s even easier as Ian showed in his example, check the AI tactics every 15 minutes or so of the game and there’s a glaring error that’s so simple to exploit like multiple players playing out of position or them playing a random 17 year old left back instead of the fully fit world class one they have on the bench or are playing on the right wing for no apparent reason.

Also it’s got to the point where I wouldn’t trust them to even successfully implement the smallest of tactical changes, look what a mess they’ve made of training in recent years.

[AdamNufc]

1 minute ago, samhardy said:

Great article. Unfortunately I can’t see it (or any improvement/revamp for that matter) happening though as it just makes too much sense for SI. Tactics are arguably the most important part of the game yet they’re a walk in the park and have been for years. It only takes about a week of playing the game regularly for it to become clearly obvious what works and what doesn’t.

During the game it’s even easier as Ian showed in his example, check the AI tactics every 15 minutes or so of the game and there’s a glaring error that’s so simple to exploit like multiple players playing out of position or them playing a random 17 year old left back instead of the fully fit world class one they have on the bench or are playing on the right wing for no apparent reason.

Also it’s got to the point where I wouldn’t trust them to even successfully implement the smallest of tactical changes, look what a mess they’ve made of training in recent years.

Thanks @samhardy obviously the money maker for SI is the full pc version so that's where all the focus goes and we are left to the smallest of changes , tactics in the game I agree have been easy for years and the game is too easy , I could fly through the divisions with pretty much any tactic which is a shame as you do want the game to be a challenge , I don't understand why the AI can't be a bit more clever with tactics , they are in the full version so they must be able to do it for FMM , I can't comment on training in the game as I never really use that feature only use the basics of it such as light medium or heavy work load etc 

[AdamNufc]

7 minutes ago, samhardy said:

Unfortunately I can’t see it (or any improvement/revamp for that matter) happening though

This is the main reason I'm debating going back to playing on the PSP , it was so much better those days and the mobile game is going downhill 

[samhardy]

4 minutes ago, AdamNufc said:

This is the main reason I'm debating going back to playing on the PSP , it was so much better those days and the mobile game is going downhill 

FMH 2008 on the PSP was an absolutely banging game tbf. Then 2009 came with the new pitch highlights and it froze every few games or so if you had the highlights on 😂