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[edit] The Zone Philosophy

Contents 1 The Zone Philosophy 1.1 Supporting skills 1.1.1 Pass or dribble 1.1.2 Ball Control (Aerial) and Offensive Positioning 1.1.3 Tackling (Aerial) and Defensive Positioning 1.1.4 Passing 1.1.5 Organization and Interception 1.2 Zone breakdown 1.2.1 Offensive Penalty Box 1.2.1.1 Who is here? 1.2.1.2 Who contributes to this zone? 1.2.2 Central Offensive Midfield 1.2.2.1 Who is here? 1.2.2.2 Who contributes to this zone? 1.2.3 Flank Offensive Midfield 1.2.4 Central Normal Midfield 1.2.5 Flank Normal Midfield 1.2.6 Central Defensive Midfield 1.2.7 Flank Defensive Midfield 1.2.8 Defensive Penalty Box 1.2.8.1 Who is here? 1.2.8.2 Who contributes to this zone? 1.3 Zone Breakdown - from the manual 1.3.1 Penalty box 1.3.2 Offensive/defensive midfield in the centre 1.3.3 Offensive/defensive midfield for each flank 1.3.4 Normal midfield in the centre 1.3.5 Normal midfield for each flank 1.4 Low skill values

FreeKick takes the individual skill of each player into consideration in the match simulation. Just like in real life, the star players are very important as they can break through the defence all by themselves and score, or stop most attacks on their side of the pitch almost single-handedly. We do not, however, forget that football is a team effort. Whenever two players battle it out they will be influenced by a zone value calculated from their team mates capabilities.

We describe how much assistance (zone) the defence get in every opportunity, using the denominations you are used to. If the defensive player gets a defence lower than Decent, then the offensive player has an advantage, while if the defensive player gets an assistance level of Decent or better, it means that he gets help from his team mates to tame the attack. Players support each other according to position and side of the pitch. The players that are involved in a reception and challenge are not included in the zone as they are the one getting supported. The supporting players qualities are compared with each other and the side that is stronger will reward their active player with a bonus. The penalty box gets a direct bonus/penalty to the zone, based on half the value of the midfield zone the attack is coming from.

Details: For every percent the defensive side wins the zone and for every two percent the offensive side wins, they will get +1 in positioning. If this bonus, or part of it, is not needed then it will transfer to Tackling (Aerial) or Ball Control (Aerial). When calculating the risk for blocks and how much of the midfield zone that should affect the box, we replace the pass or dribble part of the midfield zone with the reception quality.

[edit] Supporting skills

All skills except Scoring for the outfielders contribute to the zone one way of the other. The keepers skills Reflexes, Positioning and Control does not contribute to the zone, but Organization and Interception do.

[edit] Pass or dribble

It's obvious that the quality of these actions is important in real life football and the skill and performance is an important part of every zone calculation. The importance of the dribble or pass quality is approximately a third of the zone calculation (less in the centre).

[edit] Ball Control (Aerial) and Offensive Positioning

This represents a part of football that many laymen misses. It's the team mates will to move and be a threat that enables the receiver room to be passable and a reasonable chance to control the ball. This is key values for the offensive side for all zones; when we talk about offensive support and don't mention any specific skills, we are talking about OP and BC (Aerial). In midfield the skill Passing is counted among the offensive contributing skills even when not active. The importance of Passing in this case is about half of Ball Control or Offensive Positioning.

[edit] Tackling (Aerial) and Defensive Positioning

These are the defensive counterparts of Offensive Positioning and Ball Control, filling the same function. A brilliant defender without support will not be able to perform as well as he could, and players that support each other get stronger. This is key values for the defensive side for all zones; when we talk about defensive support and don't mention any specific skills, we are talking about DP and TA (Aerial).

Tackling and Defensive Positioning is also used a bit offensively for the normal midfield zone by the full midfield positions (LM, CM, and RM) to simulate the teamwork and the need for a secure defence in order to attack. The offensive use of TA/DP is the only zone contribution that is active even for an offensive player involved in a challenge.

[edit] Passing

Passing is normally an important supporting skill when a pass is made in an opportunity. But the positions (FW, CB, FB, and WB) that do not normally make those passes in midfield support the normal midfield zone with their passing skill.

[edit] Organization and Interception

The keeper always helps the defence in the penalty box with his organization skill (especially during set pieces), and when there are high passes being made into the box, he can not only intercept them, but also add to the zone by forcing passers to take his interception skill into consideration.

[edit] Zone breakdown

The general idea is that every team has an overall efficiency in defense and an overall efficiency in offense, and that’s a relationship between the defensive (TA) and positioning skills versus the offensive (BC) and positioning skills of the opponents. This relationship is displayed in the match report in the form of defensive assistance. The concept is quite clear (in my opinion) – If Player A is too good offensively for every one of your players you cannot stop him. He may out run his marker, or win the challenge and touch the ball past his marker for a pass, shot or dribble etc…

But (like in real life) if you want to stop Player A, you can always assign more then 1 person to go to him. 2 players won’t both lunge at him to make a tackle at the same time, but 1 of them will move up and pressure the attacker and the other one will help shut down the space that Player A has to move into. Basically the defense works together. Of course, if Player A is being contained by 2 defenders, then it’s likely his manager will bring in a partner for Player A; enter Player B. So now it’s 2 defenders against Players A & B. What this does is create a problem for the defenders. They can’t both challenge Player A that much anymore because one of them has to keep in mind that Player B might get the ball. So the effective defending on Player A is reduced just because Player B is there.

This is the concept of defensive assistance. It’s all about which players “support” the player with the ball and which ones support the player making the tackle. The support/assistance can be boosted through more players, or simply higher skilled players, and through great passes and dribbles, and sometimes even the goalkeeper helps out with his OR and IN skills to tell the players where to be.

[edit] Offensive Penalty Box This is where your attackers will try to beat the defence in order to score. [edit] Who is here? Strikers and forwards are most often the active players in this zone, but sometimes also Offensive midfielders and wingers. [edit] Who contributes to this zone? Strikers and forwards contributes with their OP and BC (AE) if the pass into the zone is low (high). Offensive midfielders contributes to the zone in the same manner as a forward, but only 25% as efficient. Wingers contribute in the same way, but 20% of a forward<ref>"Tweaking assistance in the penalty box", D&I Forum Thread</ref>.

[edit] Central Offensive Midfield Players advance to this zone when they are "ordered to do so" by their long choice. [edit] Who is here? Defensive, central and offensive midfielders as well as forwards can all be active here, but only if their long choice is set to long shot, dribble, O-T-P or short pass. Hence if you are using the default lineup where all players have long choice set to pass, no actions will ever take place in this zone. [edit] Who contributes to this zone? Strikers, forwards, but sometimes also offensive midfielders and wingers.

[edit] Flank Offensive Midfield This is where ..

[edit] Central Normal Midfield This is where ..

[edit] Flank Normal Midfield This is where ..

[edit] Central Defensive Midfield This is where ..

[edit] Flank Defensive Midfield This is where ..

[edit] Defensive Penalty Box This is where your defenders will try to prevent the opponents forwards to score. [edit] Who is here? Strikers and forwards are most often the active players in this zone, but sometimes also Offensive midfielders and wingers. [edit] Who contributes to this zone? Strikers and forwards contributes with their OP and BC (AE) if the pass into the zone is low (high). Offensive midfielders contributes to the zone in the same manner as a forward, but only 25% as efficient. Wingers contribute in the same way, but 20% of a forward. <ref>"Tweaking assistance in the penalty box", D&I Forum Thread</ref>

[edit] Zone Breakdown - from the manual

The pitch is divided into different parts in order to make a comprehensive zone calculation. We have chosen to describe the skills and positions that are relevant in each zone with text instead of charts. The passing or dribble always consist of a third of the contribution of the attacking side and is therefore not included in the descriptions.

[edit] Penalty box

This is where your attackers will try to beat the defence in order to score. The attackers contribute with Offensive Positioning and Ball Control (Aerial) and the positioning is slightly more important. The defence contributes with Defensive Positioning and Tackling (Aerial) and positioning is slightly more important for them too. Offensive Midfielders, Wingers and Defensive midfielders contribute too, but with about quarter importance compared to the attackers.

The keepers Organization skill stands for 20% of the defensive values. If there is a high pass into the box, the keeper also contributes with his Interception skill.

[edit] Offensive/defensive midfield in the centre

Players advance to this zone because of the orders they are given. When doing so they always face the Defensive Midfielder if available, and the flank defenders hurry to support the vulnerable centre zone. The defence has a basic advantage in this zone, partly because the flank defenders support it, but also because the standard midfielders do not contribute offensively with their Tackling and Defensive Positioning this far offensively.

The main offensive contributors to the zone are the Offensive Midfielders and Centre Midfielders, although the Forwards offer some support too. Defensively the Defensive Midfielders and Centre Midfielders are the core contributors, but they get supported some by the centre and the flank defenders. Ball Control (Aerial) and Tackling (Aerial) is slightly more important than positioning.

[edit] Offensive/defensive midfield for each flank

As with the offensive/defensive zone in the centre, your players only arrive here because they are ordered to do so. When they do they are always facing the flank defender and as with the centre offensive zone the flank midfielder does not get his offensive bonus based on his Tackling and Defensive Positioning. The defence has basic advantage here.

The offence is represented by the flank midfielder or possibly the wingback, while the other is supporting with OP/BC. The flank midfielder supports his flank defender with his defensive skills.

[edit] Normal midfield in the centre

This zone is the largest one of them all. The full Centre Midfielders contributes with their Tackling and Defensive Positioning offensively in this zone. They are also the main contributors, while the Offensive Midfielder contributes a bit less and the Defensive Midfielder only half of the Centre Midfielders. The Forwards and Centre Backs contribute a bit with passing and the latter also a tad with Ball Control to the build up.

Defensively the Centre Midfielders and defensive midfielders are the main force, although the Offensive Midfielders and even the forwards support them too, although they tend to lack the necessary defensive skills.

[edit] Normal midfield for each flank

Similar to the centre, the flank midfielder contributes a bit with offensive with his Tackling and Defensive Positioning here. He is supported by the flank defender or wing back that, besides op/bc, also uses their passing to support the build up.

The flank defender will support his flank midfielder defensively. When playing with a wing back, the midfielder will sometimes support him when he moves forward, giving a slight bonus to the offence.

[edit] Low skill values

When calculating the zones we regard values below decent as bad. That means that the player with such low skills will contribute less to assisting his team mates as the number would indicate. When the player is the active attacker or defender he can use his full strength, it's only in zone calculations we penalize low values.

Details:Even players are better than uneven ones when it comes to the zone calculations. While a value of 40 or 60 is just that, the value 20 is (for example) only worth 10 when it comes to helping team mates.