I wrote about this a little on my slider thread, but I've found that a change in tactics has a positive impact on the midfield.
I know editing tactics isn't ideal, but it only takes a minute or so per team and you can save this adjustment as a different team sheet, so you can easily turn it on or off. I did an entire league in about 15-20 minutes.
Why the change?
- We know that teams can retreat too much and follow their attacking runners a lot. This pulls the entire defensive line back too easily and too often, and we end up with lots of repetitive types of gameplay patterns (around the edge of the box).
- The way the line gets dragged back creates a gap between the midfield line and the defensive line and this allows that ball to be played through so easily which is why we keep ending up with that similar gameplay pattern.
**This tactical fix doesn't mean every team plays the same or look the same, I look at it as a correction of base positioning**
There are 4 steps:
1. Go into Team Sheets and create a new team sheet. Call it 'Height'.
2. Raise the Defensive Depth tactic -
Go into Tactics, and raise your Defensive Depth. The lowest depth you want to select is 75 and the highest as 100. So Burnley for example I would select as 75 and Man City, Liverpool, Man Utd, etc 100. I use values of 75, 80, 85, 90, 95 or 100.
3. Select the 'Step-Up' Instruction for ALL defenders.
4. Make sure you select the 'Height' team sheet as active. You need to see the Star next to this one (triangle activates it).
...and repeat for each team you want to make the adjustment to! All other tactics remain exactly the way they were, it's just 'correcting' this position.
IMPORTANT: I've only tried this with my slider settings, so if it plays differently on other settings or on default I'm not sure.
You can find my slider settings here:
https://evoweb.uk/threads/anths-fifa-22-next-gen-simulation-sliders.88993/
If you try it on default or on your own slider settings and it's awful, give it a go with my settings before you write it off completely, as I think the combination of my settings with the adjustment helps.
Notes:
- This helps, but doesn't completely solve the tracking issue (you will still see it more than you want to), but the correction of base position definitely improves the overall positioning and midfield game. It provides a more varied and difficult avenue to goal.
- As the defenders step up now (and are higher), we decrease the space between the midfield and defensive line more often - instead of increasing it with those tracking runners. This leads to more interceptions and more defensive resistance.
- I haven't found the space in behind to be exploitable in my games, but I like how you have to be more aware of your positioning now. Hypermotion works well with the adjustment as teams do still organically drop and shuffle based on context, but it doesn't just constantly drop off all the time now.
- It helps with ping pong passing around the box - purely as we aren't constantly presented with gameplay patterns around this position.
- I've noticed less passing accuracy from the CPU with this set. The congestion of the midfield leads to more misplaced passes.
I've had some great and varied matches with this adjustment, significantly less end-to-end patterns and realistic shot counts.
I just played what was easily the most scrappy midfield game I’ve had on 22. Man Utd v OM. Lost 1-0 to a late goal. World class, 10 min halves, manual. I only managed 3 shots all game, CPU only 9. 51-49% possession. 77%-85% pass completion, 7 fouls. You have to earn your shots now. The CPU kept me right away from goal all game and played some very nice football.
I know the game isn't perfect, but I'm still really enjoying it!
Hopefully this helps for some people.