Hm, this REALLY depends on the situation you are facing.

Let's see what arrows do first though.

The UP arrow basically makes the player be more active towards the front. You can say that he will even change-up his role by doing this.
e.g. When I play the 4-5-1V I may, ever so often, put an UP arrow on my DMC if I want to be more aggressive and help out the middle. The DMC in this case will often push forward and basically acts a semi-MC.

The DOWN arrow - The situation is the same here but just in reverse.
e.g. Put a DOWN on that DMC and he will stay behind and act as a semi-DC. If I get pushed a lot I may do this in order to keep my formation and still offer a bit more in the defense department. Although changing up the formation in order to compliment a defensive play with 5 defenders + counter attacks would be better I suppose <- I'm just not a fan of this kind of play. I like to keep the ball in the middle. Sure my defenders will defend against any attack but if I can stop the attack from ever being conceived...

Another example - My opponent has a very tough AML or ML on my right flank. Sure I have my DR ready but, as I mentioned previously - once the ball passes the middle plane it's already dangerously close to my goal-line - so I would most likely put an UP arrow on my DR in order to "motivate" him to play in a more-forward fashion, thus essentially making him intercept any play from the opponent's left flanker as early as possible and apply pressure.

But this is my playstyle - I am more of a "reactive" Manager who still tends to play offensively. I have a starter plan but I am ready to deviate at any moment. (As I've also noted in my reply to this thread - "When do you sub?")


Also, some mangers preemptively put arrows on some or all the players in their squad before the match even begins - the arrows are part of their complete formation and the tactics they've chosen, which is different from what I use arrows for (A supplementary tool for reactive plays)

Different playstyles, something that Top 11 is so great for allowing!