How does this game work? <--------

[Dan10]

Alright... well I just finished a cup match and lost 2-1, but losing isn't a problem, it was the way in which I lost. For example, the opposition had a slightly weaker team which consisted of 14.3 stars (on average) against my 14.7 (on average). A close match you would expect? That's exactly what I would've imagined until I noticed that all of his players were out of position! His goalkeeper made an appearance in defence, his midfielder was playing in goal and his defender upfront! There was only 5 players playing in their correct position, and with me spectating and playing at home (+13% possession bonus) I thought a win was on the cards. I went 1-0 down to which I responded by copying his tactics and ended up having 69% possession and losing 2-1.

So the real question is; does it matter what position your players play (do you get given a deduction in stats) and what are the best chances of winning?

[jklm_37]

As far as i know you can play a player out of position and he will play just not as effectively, his form and moral may drop, as he would if he were correctly positioned...it's kind of a known issue with the game...

On another note...you can't just expect to beat a team just because of a minor difference in quality...it happens regularly in T11 as it does in real life...i lose occasionally to a lower quality team and see it as merely a part of the game...

Better luck in the future ...

[jklm_37]

You should find this interesting...

http://forum.topeleven.com/top-eleve...dc-keeper.html

[July Fourth]

A team playing basically all players OOP would probably end up having 20% possession since all the OOP penalties will just add up.

[Dan10]

You should find this interesting...

http://forum.topeleven.com/top-eleve...dc-keeper.html

In future I think I'll play my highest rated striker in goal and my best defender upfront, it seems a flawless strategy! I'll be defending from the front and scoring from the back

[SimplySimon]

Tiny difference in quality, you mention possession stats but not chances created, and of course you can't copy his tactics because you can't see them (but you can copy formation)

To answer your questions, there seems to be a possession penalty for OOP players (not sure of the %age), but possession advantage doesn't guarantee results. I guess nothing guarantees results. But you can improve your chances by (in order of impact, from my experience) bringing in better players, changing tactics and formations to suit your players, changing T&F to counter opponent, keeping morale high and keeping fitness high. Fairly obviously, if you try to do all of those things you'll maximise your results

[Dan10]

Are 'OOP' penalties only relevant towards possession? It just seems unrealistic that a team that has half its team playing in the opposite position somehow manages to not only win, but has more shots when having less than half of the possession that I had. It's similar to having Scholes in goal, Owen in defence and Terry upfront. I assume that this is a less common occurrence the better your team gets, as the gap between the attributes of defenders, midfielders and strikers are more defined

[Dan10]

From what I can remember their team created a few more chances then me, but I find it hard to believe that someone like Joe Hart became a world class centreback or John Terry a critical striker, guess it's just the nature of the game...

[SimplySimon]

The game engine is fairly simple, so yes there are a few little quirks like this i.e. penalty for OOP is shown as ball possession rather than, for example, territory. It may impact other things that we don't get to see of course

It's a bit frustrating when you lose those games. I have tended to go hard attacking and all pitch pressing to maximise my advantage. But if he's playing hard defence and forced counters, you might get caught out

Also, I do think most players can play in a few positions, even if not quite as well as their preferred one e.g Terry would make a decent centre forward, he scores a fair few as it is. Scholes would be a crap keeper though :-)

[SimplySimon]

And you'll encounter a lot of these teams as you move up through the game, because when people abandon teams it takes a while for the bots to take over and sort out the players and formations