Control: Short
Attack: Short
Balanced: Mixed-Direct (dependent on passing attribute)
Counter: Direct
Defend: Direct-Long

Focus Passing

Focus passing is also important in creating/reducing space. Spreading the play enables attacking options but increases the probability of stray passes being intercepted. Keeping the ball in the middle reduces attacking potency but reduces the risk of losing the ball in a dangerous area. Control requires you to open space so using the flanks is paramount. Defend requires you to keep it tight, so down the middle is required. For the other tactic types it will depend upon the quality of player as to which you should choose. For example, keeping it through the middle with Counter would be useful if you had two big, strong forwards, but less useful if you have speedy FCs who can exploit the gaps behind attacking-minded full backs, in which case mixed, or even down the flanks, may well be the best option. A rough guide follows, but be prepared to alter it depending on player types:

Control: Passing Focus Down Both Flanks
Attack: Passing Focus Down Both Flanks/Mixed
Balanced: Passing Focus Mixed
Counter: Passing Focus Mixed/Down the Middle
Defend: Passing Focus Down the Middle

Tempo

Tempo is culturally specific and largely dictated by weather conditions. Playing fast-tempo football in extremely hot climates will do little outside of tiring your players. Likewise, a heavy pitch will drain players of energy. Always have this in mind when selecting your tempo.

A quicker tempo tends to be the requirement for lowly-skilled players playing a counter attacking brand of football. That is not to say lower level players can’t play a more possession based game; rather that to do so requires great observation of the engine and very sophisticated tactical design. Lower level players tend to panic when being pressured, so a slow tempo, short passing game can come seriously unstuck if your tactical design doesn’t offer easy passing options at all times. Players dawdling on the ball is indicative of this issue and a sign you need to change tempo and/or length of passing.

For more highly skilled players it should be used subjectively, brought into play as and when your team needs it. You may wish to start fast and slow it down once you score, or play possession football for twenty minutes before upping the pace of the game for a quarter of an hour. You may wish to play an AC Milan brand of counter attacking football, slow-slow-fast, which would require a slow tempo, technically gifted players and a lot of flair and creativity up front. Clever use of the tempo slider can change things in your favour at the flick of a wrist.

Tempo is basically subjective at all levels and for different cultural brands of football. Man Utd will play fast tempo football on a cold January day at Old Trafford against Liverpool, but slow tempo away to Barca in a Champions League semi-final. Be prepared to do the same. Look at the conditions, the type of match, the quality of the opposition and decide on how best to play.

Time Wasting

Another variable slider, the amount of time wasting you choose will indicate to your players at which stage in the match they should start playing for a draw or protecting a lead. In general, keep it low in a match you think you should win and have it higher in away games. It should be almost negligible in a Control tactic, so your players are always looking to play football. It is more important for the Balanced, Counter and Defend tactics. Ideally, you should be looking to change it incrementally after you score and as you wish to protect a lead during the latter stages of a match.

Creative Freedom

The most pertinent piece of information for creative freedom is to keep it low for most players until you have a world class side. At any level below world class it is an absolute requirement for players to keep it simple. Once you have a great team and an excellent reputation, creative freedom becomes vital. You will need to get the best out of your flair players in order to break down the ‘parked bus’ tactics the AI will employ against you. At the very highest levels, three-four players (usually wingers, AMC, FCd) will have high creative freedom instructions for Control and Attack based tactics.

Free Roles

As with creative freedom, pretty useless, even dangerous, at lower levels. However, once you have the requisite team and reputation you could employ the following free role settings (again, usually wingers, AMC, FCd as first choices):

Control: Three-Four Free Roles
Attack: Two-Three Free Roles
Balanced: One-Two Free Roles
Counter: Zero-One Free Roles
Defend: No Free Roles

Hold-Up Ball

Hold-Up Ball is a little talked about, yet vital, setting. Most people simply set their DMC and FCd to hold up the ball and leave it at that. To a certain extent this works, but it also contributes to many people’s downfall at the highest level.

From Attack through to Defend, the DMC/MCd and FCd holding up the ball is often enough. Using the full-backs to hold up the ball is also extremely effective. However, when you begin to come up against the ‘parked bus’ AI it becomes necessary to overload their defence. To do that you need to hold the ball up front long enough to have the FBs overlap and the MCs get into position to support the attack. Thus, a Control based tactic requires both wingers and forwards to hold up the ball. Likewise, the DMC/MCd’s job is more aggressive, so he needn’t hold it up any longer. This won’t create many one-on-ones, but it will help quality build up play. At the higher levels the Attack framework could also benefit from having both wingers and one FC hold up the ball.

Through Balls

Another slightly misunderstood setting, the Through Balls instruction tells players to hit the ball into space in front of a team mate, rather than to feet. It is not just about breaking through the d-line but about constucting attacks in which players are always running onto balls. This is obviously risky for defensive tactics but essential for aggressive ones. In general the midfield, wingers and deep lying forward should be the main Through Ball providers, but other players can also benefit form having through balls as an instruction. A rough guide is as follows:

Control: All outfield players Often
Attack: Five Often, Five Mixed
Balanced: All outfield players Mixed
Counter: Five Rarely, Five Mixed
Defend: All outfield players Rarely

These are just rough guidelines and you may well decide your defenders lose possession too often with Through Balls on Often, especially if they have poor passing or technique. Look at the match stats and see if they are giving the ball away and change the settings for those who are.