Opposition Instructions Theories

A thoughtful use of Opposition Instructions can turn a good tactic into a great one by targeting opponent strengths and weaknesses prior to every match. They can also be used to counter potential formation weaknesses in your own tactic.

Relation to Width/Pitch Size

As discussed earlier, a narrow width setting is the most suitable option for a wide pitch, as it ensures protection in central areas defensively whilst encouraging attacking players to fluidly move into space in the final third. However, this strategy leaves the wings open for exploitation. In order to minimise the opportunities for opposing wide players, use the ‘Close Down Always’ OI to target the most advanced wide players in your opponent’s formation.

Relation to Player Strata/Channels

On a smaller to medium sized pitch when playing against a formation that roughly mirrors your own (i.e. 4-4-2 versus a 4-4-2 or 4-2-4) Player Strata/Channel Opposition Instructions are irrelevant. However, if the two formations don’t match, then OI becomes an important tool to combat players operating in different channels and/or strata from those in your team.

The AMC Position

Players in the AMC position are usually very technically skilled, which means that the Closing Down OI is a very risky option. Firstly, there is the likelihood that a DC will leave the defensive line to perform the Closing Down instruction, thus opening a dangerous gap. Secondly, the technical skill of the AMC means there is a high possibility of his evading the closing down player and creating an opportunity. If you are not using a DMC, consider the ‘Tight Mark Always’ OI when playing against an AMC. A further option is to specific mark the AMC with your DMC or MCd.

The DMC Position

Players in the DMC position often act as fulcrums for play and thus see a lot of the ball. Failing to limit their influence may lead to poor possession and a frustrated team. Use the ‘Close Down Always’ OI to reduce the time the DMC has on the ball and force him into making more hurried passes than he would like. The ‘Show onto Weaker Foot’ OI can also force him to misplace passes and aid in attempts to quickly regain possession. A further option is to specific mark the DMC with your FCd, AMC or MCa.

The Lone Striker

How to handle a lone striker depends on how aggressively the opposition are playing. If he is being used in a defensive formation, use the ‘Close Down Always’ and ‘Hard Tackle’ OIs to try and limit his involvement in the match to picking up balls deep on the pitch. However, these will be poor OIs if the opposition is using an aggressive tactic and attacking through the midfield. In this case, the ‘Tight Mark Always’, ‘Easy Tackle Always’ and ‘Show onto Weaker Foot’ will be better OIs, as they will focus on stopping him getting easy shots off or winning free kicks in dangerous positions. A further option is to specific mark the lone striker with your one of your DCs.
Relation to Specific Players

The ‘Show onto Foot’ OI

This OI is an excellent tool for combating threats from out wide. The key thing to think about is the type of attacker/s you are playing against.

• Tall & Slow Attackers: OI wingers to go inside
• Short & Quick Attackers: OI wingers to go outside
• Tall & Quick Attackers: OI wingers onto wrong foot

The reasons for this are threefold. If the opposition attackers are slow, then the defenders should easily mop up a through ball. In contrast, if the player is tall and good in the air, then the defence will struggle to cope with good crosses. If the attackers are both good with the ball in the air and on the ground, then the best option is to make the winger struggle to get a good ball in by forcing him onto his weaker foot. Be aware, if the winger is technically good and has a major pace advantage over the defending full back, showing him onto his weaker foot inside may lead to the winger having a clear run on goal. The ‘Show onto Weaker Foot’ OI can also be very useful when trying to pressurise the back line and/or goalkeeper into making defensive errors.
The ‘Tight/Loose Marking’ OI

The ‘Tight Marking’ OI is best employed to target highly skilled opposing players in order to mark them out of the game. For such players, it is a better option than the ‘Close Down Always’ OI, as it immediately reduces space rather than waiting until the player gets the ball before doing so. If one only employs the ‘Closing Down Always’ OI, by the time a defender reaches a technical player he will have already had the opportunity to do something dangerous. However, the two OIs can be used very effectively in tandem.

The ‘Loose Marking’ OI is best employed as a method of channelling opponent’s play through a player you don’t consider to be much of a danger. By maintaining your marking pattern on other players, plus possibly adding a few ‘Tight Mark Always’ OIs, you can force the opposition into feeding balls to a specific player by assigning the ‘Loose Marking Always’ OI to him. The best players to target are those that are technically poor, meaning their passes and shots will be of little danger, very slow players who you can hurry into bad decisions by closing down or players lacking in strength, bravery and determination whom you can bully off the ball via the ‘Hard Tackling’ OI.
The ‘Closing Down’ OI

As mentioned previously, this is a vital OI for teams trying to protect their flanks on a wide pitch. It is also vital in terms of putting heavy pressure on entrenched, backs to the wall defences. In terms of targeting other players, use the ‘Close Down Always’ OI to target slow players of limited technical skill. The ‘Close Down Rarely’ OI should be employed against quick players who can use their pace to outflank heavy closing down instructions but don’t have the technical skills to pose much threat in the final third. Closing Down Rarely forces these players to use technical rather than physical strengths to get past their man, which will generally be beyond them.
The ‘Heavy/Easy Tackling’ OI

The ‘Heavy Tackling’ OI is best employed on players who combine low physical presence with poor technique and lack of bravery. They will be intimidated by the heavy challenges and, lacking the technical skills to play their way out of trouble, will easily give up possession. Although the ‘Heavy Tackling OI’ can be employed to target key opposition players in order to kick them out of the game, it is likely to give away many free kicks and attract cards when used against technically gifted players. The ‘Easy Tackling’ OI is often the best bet against players with great physical presence but limited technical ability, as it draws attacking fouls, or against players of great technical ability but limited physical, as it forces them to go past their man rather than allowing him to get past his man or draw a dangerous free kick via a piece of great technical play leading to a missed or badly-timed tackle.

Conclusion

TT&F is not intended to be the last word in tactics, rather the first. What we have tried to do is open the box of the tactical jigsaw puzzle and show you the size and shape of all the pieces. What we don’t know is how the picture will look when you put all the pieces together. You might decide you like some of our descriptions and stick closely to our ideas. However, you might prefer to use this document as a rough guide that can help towards you stamping your personal authority on a tactical set, making it work in exactly the manner in which you envision your team playing.

We hope that people reading this document will be inspired to extend its frameworks and theories and contribute to a more sophisticated and intuitive method of visualising future virtual tactics. It would be great to see threads developing on the Ancelotti/Milan strategy, the concepts of Samba or Total football and the direct-ball Crazy Gang tactics of the 80s. Likewise, it would be interesting to hear about competing or improved theories that can offer different playing strategies. We’d love to have contributions and feedback, both positive and negative, in order to improve the guide for future iterations of FM. We certainly intend on opening some research threads on specific tactical styles and different tactical assumptions and hope as many of you as possible can contribute.

Our main hope is that the guide has succeeded in opening up the world of virtual tactics to our readers and encouraged them to drift away from the fruitless search for a super-tactic and towards a playing strategy that we believe brings considerably more enjoyment and immersion to the FM experience. We’ve been playing FM in roughly this manner for three years, moving from our original crude interpretations of the game to the level of sophistication we have reached here. We believe that with this guide we have finally been able to translate our ideas into layman’s and football language and hope that in doing so we can bring the enjoyment levels and success we have when playing to a far wider audience.

Good luck and play well

Richard (wwfan) and Gareth (Millie)