The most innovating feature of cm4 is definitely the 2D match display. This means that you are no longer forced to read a text description to observe teh match, but you can see your players moving on a 2D pitch! You can choose whether you want to see the full match, or just watch highlights, important or extended. You can also view a replay of a highlight or of the whole game!

Almost any experienced manager i know plays the game in very fast mode, not because it is better, just that we are usually bored to sit back and read the description line by line. However in the beginning you will need to use some slower speed, at least until you start getting acquainted with the game interface. After a few games, you will start understanding what goes on even at very fast, not really reading the text, just catching a glimpse of it.

Then you need to decide what type of stats you will be viewing during the game. I usually leave the screen to player stats, so that i can get continuously an overview of how my players are performing in the pitch. I check the goals, assists, average rating and condition of all the players, and the tacklings won for DMC and DCs. Then i switch now and again to the match stats screen where i look at number of shots both on and off target, as well as percentage of passes completed, and then to the action zones, to see where the ball is most of the time. Of course i always keep an ey on description of the match, as displayed at the bottom of the screen.

Substitutions

All these give you valuable information about the changes you should make in order to win the match. If you see that a player's performance drops a lot (5 or less for more than a few seconds), it is time to send him off the pitch, especially if he is an important player for your defense. I never keep a Gk with 5 in the match, because it is quite likely he will be too much influenced psychologically and he will perform even worse in the rest of the match. (of course keep in mind that if you are having, say, a 90% ball possession it is likely that your DCs will perform low, because the other team is not attacking at all. This doesn't mean you should change them!)

I always want my DMC to do a lot of tackling. He is the player that stpps the opposite attacks in the midfield, and he is crucial to all the formations i deploy. If he has lost many tactics, i might replace him.

As regards attackers, things are a little different. A striker that scores an early goal or has a 9 or 10 mark should be kept in the pitch,even if his condition drops, because his confidense is up and he is likely to perform superbly for the rest of the match. An important thing to consider is that a striker's performance might variate a lot during the game. He might have a 5 or 6 and then score a goal and go right upt to 9. So don't be too keen of replacing strikers too quickly, especially if you don't have an equally good replacement to throw in the game.

Changing the formation

Now you should use the match stats info. In case the percentage of passes completed is too low, (e.g. below 50-60%) you should immediately change the passing style and check back to see if this works. If your team doesn't make enough shots, it might be that the ball doesn't reach your strikers, that your strikers are not performing well, or that you have not set your players to do long shots. In the first case, you might consider making slight changes to the team's formation, or turn it from normal to attacking. You might consider replacing your strikers or setting more players with long shots on.

If you are playing a really important match, you might consider spending a little time fine-tuning the other aspects of team formation and give your players special instructions. This is a long issue fully covered in the tactics section of CM Frenzy

If the opponent is pressing too much, slight changes in the formation might help. The first thing to do is change the passing style and mentality. Do not change the mentality to defensive, except if you are in the last 2 or 3 minutes of the game. It will simply not work. Then you should probably take a quick look at the formation of the opponent. Though i almost never change my team;s formation, making slight adjustments might help. For example, if the opponent uses 4-5-1 and you are playing 4-3-3, you will be bound to lose the battles in the midfield, besause it's fie players on three! Since you don't need 4 defenders to stop the 1 opponent striker, you might consider forwarding the wing backs a little!

Last minute changes: When you are ahead in score

And so the match is on its 80th minute and you are ahead by, say, 2 goals. You might want to make a few changes since the opponents are pressing too much, and you want to avoid a last-minute disaster. The first thing i do in such case is use fresh players, because many of you players should be tired by now. Keep up a fast fresh striker ahead, so that he can run in counte attacks, and probably change some of your defensive squad. Remember to make changes among players who have a 6 or 7 mark. Do not substitute your man of the match player, even if he is at 80% condition!

You might change a little the formation you are using, but keep in ming you should NEVER use defensive mentality with men behind ball, except if you are in the 91st minute and are playing with 9. This has proved a catastrophe many many times. A good thought is to change to normal mentality (if you are using attacking) and play with counter attack, or drag your striker to an AMC position with a forward arrow and play with direct or long ball. Both those tactics have worked a lot, especially when the opponent is pressing too much and you are feeling desperate!

Last minute changes: When you are behind in score

Now it is time to press to change the match result. First thing to do is make your squad more attacking. Put in an extra striker, or place forward arrows to your midfielders, so that theyhelp in the attack. However be careful. A commmon error here is that we tend to throw in the game 3 strikers and have all midfielders march forward. Then you might have a strong attack, but noone left in the midfield to carry the ball forward!

Using fresh attackers might help, but i am not too keen on putting in new strikers in the very last minute. Most of the times they won't perform well, since they will have no time to get into the rythme of the game!

And of course you can make any other changes in the formation that might cross your mind, many of those have been mentioned above. If the match is very important, you might want to set more players to make forward runs and so on, but this can be time consuming and boring!

Then there comes a time you are really desperate. 5 minutes left and you are 2 goals behind. At this time you are very unlikely to win the match, so if you still wish to try, you can do whatever crazy thing crosses your mind. A good start is to change the with ball positions of your players and have even your Gk move forward in attack. A friend has been having significant success using a crazy formation where he used cross arrows for his midfielders.

I never managed to understand why this thing worked, but it often did. The clue is: Do whatever your imagination (or maybe your stupidity) tells you to do. Noone will blame you in this case anyway!

Final instructions

Come on man, eveyone has lost a game, and more than once of his own faults! So relax, make a coffee and go on to the rest of the season, keeping in mind that, after all, you are lucky enough not to have angry fans accusing you after you turn off your pc!