What do you all mean with countering the orders?

[Kto]

Sub a player who has got a yellow card, and count up how many times the sub has got a yellow card later - I've lost count, but by doing so I've prevented my side going down to 10 men

I almost always sub the yellowed player, thats sort of a rule for me, just against headache.

Thats all interesting stuff, thanks to all of you, but can one answer the main primitive question of the thread - what does order countering mean?

We can discuss what else is important, but I have read a plenty of times 'countering the orders' in sentences like 'you must not only counter the formation but also the orders' or 'after I figured out his orders I knew what to do? Some can say there is no order countering , it depends also on abc and xyz etcetc. So probably I hope for an answer from ORDER MASTERS

[Tactician]

I almost always sub the yellowed player, thats sort of a rule for me, just against headache.

Thats all interesting stuff, thanks to all of you, but can one answer the main primitive question of the thread - what does order countering mean?

We can discuss what else is important, but I have read a plenty of times 'countering the orders' in sentences like 'you must not only counter the formation but also the orders' or 'after I figured out his orders I knew what to do? Some can say there is no order countering , it depends also on abc and xyz etcetc. So probably I hope for an answer from ORDER MASTERS

You have addressed your question to talisman, but let me reply.

Suppose you had to play a match versus a team. You checked the formation, the squad and so on, and then you adjusted your formation, starting line-up and so on as according to your knowledge and beliefs. The match starts. After 5 min, I tell you that the orders for that team are: hard attacking, mixed focus, mixed passing, force-counter attacks, offside trap and man-on-man marking. Tell me what orders will you use to counter those (some people might laugh)?

(1) There is no accurate way that will allow you to find out what orders and arrows an opposing team is using. You can guess some things before the match, and guess some more things during the match. But, time itself is very limited during a match, and suppose the you find out some things based on the highlights, those things could have been changed by the time the adjustments you made are considered by the game.

(2) Even if you knew the exact orders of an opponent, there is no clear code for countering orders that say: this will counter this or that will counter that. Some people might think or say, this team is using attacking, so use defensive and force-counter attacks. But what if this team is using defensive and counter-attacks what would you use then, normal? Going by that way of think, what would you use then in case of hard attacking, mixed focus, mixed passing, force-counter attacks, offside trap and man-on-man marking? Hard defending, force-counter attacks, then what? And what would you use in the case of hard defending and force-counter attacks then? How about against a team that uses normal mentality? At this point, you will probably laugh.

For me, from my experience so far in this game, it is about strategy (concerning formation, orders and arrows). Just like a manager in real life football uses strategies, where those strategies has a chance to fail, in this game also it is the same, just that there is less logic, less sense and more randomness (or whatever else) in this game.

[talisman]

I almost always sub the yellowed player, thats sort of a rule for me, just against headache.

Thats all interesting stuff, thanks to all of you, but can one answer the main primitive question of the thread - what does order countering mean?

We can discuss what else is important, but I have read a plenty of times 'countering the orders' in sentences like 'you must not only counter the formation but also the orders' or 'after I figured out his orders I knew what to do? Some can say there is no order countering , it depends also on abc and xyz etcetc. So probably I hope for an answer from ORDER MASTERS

I take countering orders to be, for example, using defensive against and attacking opponent, or vice versa. The first will give you a leg up if you are using counters, the second will nullify them if you are of greater quality in the appropriate area.

Other people will have different interpretations...

EDIT: Read up one reply, Tactician has gone into much more detail - I may disagree in minor details, but in essence I would agree with his summary.

[Tactician]

I take countering orders to be, for example, using defensive against and attacking opponent, or vice versa. The first will give you a leg up if you are using counters, the second will nullify them if you are of greater quality in the appropriate area.

That would be by football logic, and I won't disagree with that. But does this game follow this sort of logic too? This is the problem.