Premier Manager 09 - PC
Formation:
----------
I've found as a standard formation 4-4-3 normal play direct passing
and man-to-man marking proves a good win ratio.
You will need to adapt your formation when playing against certain
teams fortunately the game lets you see what the opposition will play
before the game starts so you can do some last minute tweaking
before kick off.
Ignore your coach during the match. Why? Because he will tend to
advise you when winning to get men behind the ball to save the result
but this rarely pays off. In my experience it invites pressure and
you usually concede a goal. I know it seems risky when you're
playing 4-2-4 1 or 2 up with plenty of time to go but I've found
you're more likely to score another staying with what you have then
you are to see the game out changing to defensive play.
From experience of playing the game I have managed to work out the results
engine and compile a response to playing any cpu team tactics. From what I
can gather the results engine is based on quality of the team overall in
attack, midfield and defence. These areas are colour co-ordinated so it's
easy to tell when a team is better than another in these areas, the colours of
the game are Red= Bad, Yellow/Orange= Average, Blue= Good, Green= Excellent.
Now if your team is rated higher than your opponent in all areas by at least
one colour then you can generally play your normal standard formation against
that team (as I stated above 4-3-3 is a strong formation for the game). If
however, statistics wise your team and the cpu team are closely matched e.g.
Both you and the cpu are rated in the blue for defence, midfield and attack
then the results engine will look to the formations teams are playing and the
difference between a win and a loose will be determined by which side is
playing the stronger in relation to the other. Underneath I have compiled a
guide to which formation to play against which cpu selected formation.
Cpu Plays You Play
4-4-2 Any style
(Except a strong team playing Defensive style) 4-3-3 Normal
Strong team playing DF 4-4-2 4-2-4 Attacking
4-2-4 Defensive 3-5-2 Attacking
4-2-4 Normal 4-4-2 Diamond
4-5-1 Defensive 4-2-4 Attacking
4-5-1 Attacking 3-5-2 Attacking
5-4-1 Defensive/Attacking 4-2-4 Attacking
4-4-3 Any Style 4-5-1 Attacking
3-5-2 Any Style 4-4-2 Diamond
5-3-2 Attacking 4-2-4 Attacking
* Note always in your formations play man-to-man marking and direct passing.
Also there are alternative formations you can play to the ones listed above but
the ones listed are the strongest with the best rate of win success. From
what I can gather when the stats of the teams are relatively equal and the
result comes down to formation the game considers as follows; there is one
formation that is the best for a total victory, some formations rather cancel
each other out so the game could end in narrow win, draw or narrow defeat and
finally one formation is disastrous and will result in a huge defeat for your
team. For example the cpu plays 4-5-1 defensive the strongest formation
against this is 4-2-4 attacking and playing this should result in a win with a
definite score line (anything from 2-0 in your favour to 8-0 in your favour),
then there is others you can play against 4-5-1 defensive you could match the
formation 4-5-1 but play attacking against the cpu, this could still result in
a win for your team but a narrower victory (1-0 or 2-1 in your favour). As I
mentioned there is also a totally disastrous formation to play that will see
your team take a pounding for 4-5-1 a disaster would be to play something like
a 5-3-2 or a 4-4-2 normal (I will explain why I believe each of the formations
get beaten by others later).
It is important to check before the game what formation the cpu will play (you
can find this out by viewing the club you are going to play in your next match
in the club tab in the main game manager hub menu and selecting the club
overview). Once you know the formation adjust your formation accordingly
setting up the strongest against this. Then when you get to the match start
screen it will state what style the cpu is going to be playing (Attacking,
Defensive, Diamond, Compact, Sweeper, Normal). You may need to use the
tactics to tweak your team before the match starts or you could chance going
with what you have and seeing how the match is going for you at half time and
deciding whether you need to change things. Also while the above table lists
the most successful formations against the cpu selected formation it is not
infallible, the result generator will sometimes throw a spanner in the works
by still giving your team a hard time sometimes against tougher opposition or
evenly matched opposition to respond to this you can use one of the
alternatives I spoke of earlier as a plan B. So plan B responses to cpu
formations when the 'strong' response isn't doing well are as follows;
Cpu Plays Alternative you can Play
4-2-4 Defensive 4-2-4 Attacking
5-4-1 Defensive/Attacking 4-4-3 Normal
4-4-3 Any Style 4-4-3 Normal
3-5-2 Any Style 3-5-2 Attacking
4-2-4 Normal 4-3-3 Normal
5-3-2 Attacking 4-5-1 Attacking
4.Formation explanation (Why one formation beats another)
It may perplex as to why the result engine favours certain formations against
another in certain situations so id though id explain the logic behind the
results (At least what I think the logic is)
Cpu plays 4-2-4 defensive you respond 3-5-2 attacking;
The strength in the 4-2-4 is in its ability to divide up the pitch in two and
its flexibility to been in possession and loosing possession. In its
defensive style the formation essentially has 4 defenders with 2 midfielders
sitting in front of the back line so ultimately there is a back wall of 6
players. With 4 in the advanced positions the formation has enough fire power
to cause an opponent problems when used by a decent team it can be a real
tough formation to combat.
Cpu team who use this formation often : Arsenal
3-5-2 against it,
The 5 in midfield swamp the play and dominate possession in the game, because
the cpu team can't gain possession they can't get the ball to their 4 forward
men and thus are isolated from the game and the fact its 4 against 3 becomes
irrelevant. With the lions share of possession and playing an attacking style
of play your team advances with up to 7 players in advanced positions against
a 4 man back line and 2 midfielders who are taken out of contention when the
ball in played to the wings. This results in a constant bombardment on the
cpu teams defence and inevitable goals.
Cpu plays 4-5-1 or 5-4-1 defensive you response 4-2-4 attacking;
The strength of the 4-5-1 is its ability to gain control of the game through
its numbers in the middle and get men behind the ball to form a 9 man
defensive wall when out of possession. The 5-4-1 has similar strength but
with the focus on defence even more loosing a man in midfield and adding them
to the defence to create a tough wall to break down and get a goal.
4-2-4 against it,
Both the 4-5-1 and the 5-4-1 suffer the same problem when played defensively
against a attacking 4-2-4. The lone front man gets isolated from the game
without the wing and centre support you would get from an attacking 4-5-1. As
a result shots on target are virtually reduced to chance the team gets to
control possession and pick out the front man. But against the attacking
4-2-4 the 5-4-1 and 4-5-1 defensive is subjected to constant bombardment of
shots and balls into the box. The 4-2-4 attacking essentially leaves 2 centre
backs to watch the lone front man whil
----------
I've found as a standard formation 4-4-3 normal play direct passing
and man-to-man marking proves a good win ratio.
You will need to adapt your formation when playing against certain
teams fortunately the game lets you see what the opposition will play
before the game starts so you can do some last minute tweaking
before kick off.
Ignore your coach during the match. Why? Because he will tend to
advise you when winning to get men behind the ball to save the result
but this rarely pays off. In my experience it invites pressure and
you usually concede a goal. I know it seems risky when you're
playing 4-2-4 1 or 2 up with plenty of time to go but I've found
you're more likely to score another staying with what you have then
you are to see the game out changing to defensive play.
From experience of playing the game I have managed to work out the results
engine and compile a response to playing any cpu team tactics. From what I
can gather the results engine is based on quality of the team overall in
attack, midfield and defence. These areas are colour co-ordinated so it's
easy to tell when a team is better than another in these areas, the colours of
the game are Red= Bad, Yellow/Orange= Average, Blue= Good, Green= Excellent.
Now if your team is rated higher than your opponent in all areas by at least
one colour then you can generally play your normal standard formation against
that team (as I stated above 4-3-3 is a strong formation for the game). If
however, statistics wise your team and the cpu team are closely matched e.g.
Both you and the cpu are rated in the blue for defence, midfield and attack
then the results engine will look to the formations teams are playing and the
difference between a win and a loose will be determined by which side is
playing the stronger in relation to the other. Underneath I have compiled a
guide to which formation to play against which cpu selected formation.
Cpu Plays You Play
4-4-2 Any style
(Except a strong team playing Defensive style) 4-3-3 Normal
Strong team playing DF 4-4-2 4-2-4 Attacking
4-2-4 Defensive 3-5-2 Attacking
4-2-4 Normal 4-4-2 Diamond
4-5-1 Defensive 4-2-4 Attacking
4-5-1 Attacking 3-5-2 Attacking
5-4-1 Defensive/Attacking 4-2-4 Attacking
4-4-3 Any Style 4-5-1 Attacking
3-5-2 Any Style 4-4-2 Diamond
5-3-2 Attacking 4-2-4 Attacking
* Note always in your formations play man-to-man marking and direct passing.
Also there are alternative formations you can play to the ones listed above but
the ones listed are the strongest with the best rate of win success. From
what I can gather when the stats of the teams are relatively equal and the
result comes down to formation the game considers as follows; there is one
formation that is the best for a total victory, some formations rather cancel
each other out so the game could end in narrow win, draw or narrow defeat and
finally one formation is disastrous and will result in a huge defeat for your
team. For example the cpu plays 4-5-1 defensive the strongest formation
against this is 4-2-4 attacking and playing this should result in a win with a
definite score line (anything from 2-0 in your favour to 8-0 in your favour),
then there is others you can play against 4-5-1 defensive you could match the
formation 4-5-1 but play attacking against the cpu, this could still result in
a win for your team but a narrower victory (1-0 or 2-1 in your favour). As I
mentioned there is also a totally disastrous formation to play that will see
your team take a pounding for 4-5-1 a disaster would be to play something like
a 5-3-2 or a 4-4-2 normal (I will explain why I believe each of the formations
get beaten by others later).
It is important to check before the game what formation the cpu will play (you
can find this out by viewing the club you are going to play in your next match
in the club tab in the main game manager hub menu and selecting the club
overview). Once you know the formation adjust your formation accordingly
setting up the strongest against this. Then when you get to the match start
screen it will state what style the cpu is going to be playing (Attacking,
Defensive, Diamond, Compact, Sweeper, Normal). You may need to use the
tactics to tweak your team before the match starts or you could chance going
with what you have and seeing how the match is going for you at half time and
deciding whether you need to change things. Also while the above table lists
the most successful formations against the cpu selected formation it is not
infallible, the result generator will sometimes throw a spanner in the works
by still giving your team a hard time sometimes against tougher opposition or
evenly matched opposition to respond to this you can use one of the
alternatives I spoke of earlier as a plan B. So plan B responses to cpu
formations when the 'strong' response isn't doing well are as follows;
Cpu Plays Alternative you can Play
4-2-4 Defensive 4-2-4 Attacking
5-4-1 Defensive/Attacking 4-4-3 Normal
4-4-3 Any Style 4-4-3 Normal
3-5-2 Any Style 3-5-2 Attacking
4-2-4 Normal 4-3-3 Normal
5-3-2 Attacking 4-5-1 Attacking
4.Formation explanation (Why one formation beats another)
It may perplex as to why the result engine favours certain formations against
another in certain situations so id though id explain the logic behind the
results (At least what I think the logic is)
Cpu plays 4-2-4 defensive you respond 3-5-2 attacking;
The strength in the 4-2-4 is in its ability to divide up the pitch in two and
its flexibility to been in possession and loosing possession. In its
defensive style the formation essentially has 4 defenders with 2 midfielders
sitting in front of the back line so ultimately there is a back wall of 6
players. With 4 in the advanced positions the formation has enough fire power
to cause an opponent problems when used by a decent team it can be a real
tough formation to combat.
Cpu team who use this formation often : Arsenal
3-5-2 against it,
The 5 in midfield swamp the play and dominate possession in the game, because
the cpu team can't gain possession they can't get the ball to their 4 forward
men and thus are isolated from the game and the fact its 4 against 3 becomes
irrelevant. With the lions share of possession and playing an attacking style
of play your team advances with up to 7 players in advanced positions against
a 4 man back line and 2 midfielders who are taken out of contention when the
ball in played to the wings. This results in a constant bombardment on the
cpu teams defence and inevitable goals.
Cpu plays 4-5-1 or 5-4-1 defensive you response 4-2-4 attacking;
The strength of the 4-5-1 is its ability to gain control of the game through
its numbers in the middle and get men behind the ball to form a 9 man
defensive wall when out of possession. The 5-4-1 has similar strength but
with the focus on defence even more loosing a man in midfield and adding them
to the defence to create a tough wall to break down and get a goal.
4-2-4 against it,
Both the 4-5-1 and the 5-4-1 suffer the same problem when played defensively
against a attacking 4-2-4. The lone front man gets isolated from the game
without the wing and centre support you would get from an attacking 4-5-1. As
a result shots on target are virtually reduced to chance the team gets to
control possession and pick out the front man. But against the attacking
4-2-4 the 5-4-1 and 4-5-1 defensive is subjected to constant bombardment of
shots and balls into the box. The 4-2-4 attacking essentially leaves 2 centre
backs to watch the lone front man whil