Counter defensive tactic

[Spartan117]

I have gotten results with the following tactic against defensive teams.

defensive/flanks/short/off/low/normal/m2m/on

Pulled off a 2-2 and 5-2 against a World Top 100 today with it. Opponent started defense/long pass/counters on/low press.

Changed to defense/flanks/mixed/off/high/normal/m2m/off in 2nd leg. First leg I changed to high press defense + counters and let in the equalizer on the opponents counter-attack.

I understand those tactics look very strange but they have delivered in the past for me against some very good teams.

How do you know that your opponent started with those orders???
According to my knowledge you can't guess some opponent's order's like counter attack or low/high pressing, passing style can be guessed from the live animation and the match statistics but it isn't always accurate.

I'm curious to know how you arrived at the conclusion your opponent used those tactics.

[pcmacdaniel]

How do you know that your opponent started with those orders???
According to my knowledge you can't guess some opponent's order's like counter attack or low/high pressing, passing style can be guessed from the live animation and the match statistics but it isn't always accurate.

I'm curious to know how you arrived at the conclusion your opponent used those tactics.

Pressing can be spotted by the position of the opponents players on the pitch when I start with possession. Mentality by the position of opponents players on the pitch when they start with possession.

Counters can't be seen from animation I believe you are correct there. Match ratings however can provide some hints. If I have maximum preparation (win bonus, morale and condition) and my first ratings are all 6.6 and 6.7 it means my orders (possibly formation as well) are wrong, and i must change the system immediately. So by tracking the ratings we can figure out some things. Later ratings can be erratic, similar to passing stats being sometimes inaccurate as you said, first ratings are accurate though.