Player Instructions

In addition to your overall team instructions, you can designate instructions to any individual to tailor their playing style specifically. To select a player’s instructions, click on their table row from the left panel and their instructions will appear in the right panel. Some of the options are identical to those listed in Team Instructions but enabling them for an individual and setting them differently to the team will override the team instruction and tell the player to play differently. Leaving the option un-checked and ‘greyed out’ will assume you wish the player to follow the team instructions.

Mentality

When set for a player, it applies in the same manner as it does for the team as detailed in Team Instructions.

Creative Freedom

When set for a player, it applies in the same manner as it does for the team as detailed in Team Instructions.The player will act on his own authority at times and attempt to play with flair and trickery.

Passing Style

When set for a player, it applies in the same manner as it does for the team as detailed in Team Instructions.

Closing Down

When set for a player, it applies in the same manner as it does for the team as detailed in Team Instructions. Instead of setting an entire team to close down often, it might be advisable to allow your fittest player(s) to do a bulk of the work.

Tackling

When set for a player, it applies in the same manner as it does for the team as detailed in Team Instructions.

The following sliders are different to the above and a majority of the Team Instruction sliders as they only have 3 notches to them – Rarely, Mixed, and Often.

Forward Runs

This slider controls how often your players make forward runs without the ball. ‘Often’ will see the player push into attacking positions and attempt to get by their marker – for wide players and full-backs this will increase the likelihood of overlapping runs. ‘Rarely’ will order the players to stand their ground and attempt to play their way through or around an opponent rather than going past them.

Run With Ball

This increases the chances of a player deciding to advance forward with the ball rather than giving it to someone else, if set to ‘Often’. ‘Rarely’ will restrict their dribbling and instead pass the ball onto a team-mate.

Long Shots

This controls the speculative shooting from distances further than 20 yards out from goal. It makes sense to limit these to players who have a high Long Shots rating else you’ll be wasting chances and turning the ball over to your opponents a lot.

Through Balls

This controls how often the player will attempt a through ball. Through balls are defined in the match engine as a pass that can ‘unleash’ a player behind an opponent, so not necessarily a pass through the last line of defence to a striker. When considering the use of through balls, take into account the passing ability of the player and the likely recipient of the pass, and what they’ll be able to do when they receive it. For example, a right-back playing a through ball to a right winger would likely do so along the touchline – will the winger then be able to make full use of the situation?

Cross Ball

This controls the volume of crosses put into the area by the player. Consider the player’s position before setting this – if he plays centrally but has ‘Often’ set for crosses, is he going to be crossing in at angles or moving wide and out of position to cross?

The next few options are drop-down lists from which you may select one option.

Cross From: This defines where players should be looking to cross from. They can cross from deeper positions or they can make their way to the byline then send a cross back at a different angle. Alternatively, choosing ‘Mixed’ will allow the player to make his own mind up.

Cross Aim: When crossing, you can instruct your players to attempt to put the ball into a certain part of the penalty area. The ball can be played to the Near or Far Posts or the Centre, or if you have a target man set, the ball can be directed towards him. This is only the intention; the technical ability of the player determines whether the ball will be put in the right places regularly.

Swap Position: If your team uses wingers, you can use this function to tell one winger to swap positions with the other (and vice-versa) during a match, to freshen things up on that side of the pitch, keep defenders on their toes, and bring a different attacking approach if something isn’t working. Any player can be swapped with any other if your plans are ambitious and your players are versatile but take caution when doing it and consider how it may disrupt your formation if swapping a centre-back with a midfielder.

The remaining options deal with check boxes and dropdowns.

Options

The remaining personal instructions allow you to set individual marking plans for players which may differ from the team. For example, for each upcoming match you can specify an opponent to be man-marked by a player from the ‘Marking’ option – select Man, then when the opposition line-up is available, wait for it to pop out and select the player.

‘Free Role’ allows the player almost complete freedom to move around the pitch and attempt to pull all of the strings to get the team working. Essentially this is a role that should only be given to a player of high caliber with the creative expression and attributes to make a difference.

‘Hold Up Ball’ is an option which will tell the player to put his foot on the ball and take a look around to see what’s on before moving it on and making the appropriate decision. It works best in a slower tempo game as the player will have more time on the ball to find his team-mates, who should be in closer proximity. A high tempo closing-down game from the opposition can force a player holding the ball up to make a quicker decision and not necessarily always choose the right one. It can also be used in tandem with a target man, who will physically hold the ball up and try and bring others into the game from his position.

Set Pieces: Each player can be employed in a different situation for set pieces, both attacking and defensive. Take some time to plan out how you want your set pieces to go, position your players, and then set them accordingly from the dropdown menus on the player instructions panel.

Part of content was taken from FM/FML Manuals © Sports Interactive Ltd 2008