Thought Id roll these questions into one thread for the tacticians amongst you to see if you can help me with?
[*]What type of striker can I train to chip the keeper when one-on-one?
Supposedly ones with fairly high creativity and flair.
[*]With strikers with good ANT, AGI and ACC, is it better to train them to 'beat offside trap' or to 'play with back to defender'?
No right answer as it depends on other things too and where the striker is operating and how your team functions, but would say the general answer would be 'beat offside trap'.
[*]Is it always best to set your FB/WB mentalities to 'Automatic'?
Always? No. Depends on how willing you are to tinker and how reliant you are on letting the game try to figure out what's best for your team.
[*]When playing 2 or 3 CBs, does it matter on which side i place them, in terms of either their main strengths (aerial/speed) or the foot they play best with?
Yes in terms of their preferred foot, yes in terms of who they may be directly facing on the opposing side, no in terms of tactical decision making or positioning. There's other effects too - say your left sided centre back is being dragged out wide to cover a lot, if he's got the skills to operate as a left back, he'll operate better in terms of decision making and positional play than if he hasn't got them when in that part of the pitch.
[*]When playing with width is it better to play through the middle, and when playing narrow is it better to exploit the flanks?
Question sounds confused. The touchline commands are to modify your base tactics. So if you're set up to play narrow and then tell your team to play wider, then you'll actually be playing wider than how you initially set up your team...
[*]I always set wide players to either hug touchline or cut inside - what is the benefit/purpose of having you wide players 'move into channels'?
Exploits the space between fullback and centreback. Gives more direct route to goal for a shot or pulls centrebacks out of position for ball to create goal.
[*]How many of you take the following into account when determining style of play?: weather conditions (rain is supposed to be bad for short passing), opposition scout reports and away pitch dimensions, backroom advice meeting observations.
Staff observations are useful but need to be judged on merits due to quality of staff affecting accuracy of them.
Define style of play? Would I take Arsenal to Bognor Regis on a wet night in November with a pitch like a quagmire and ask them to play a passing game on the deck creating neat triangles with one touch football? No. But then I wouldn't be asking them to be punting up to a target man and hoping for flick ons either
Likewise, high pressing/high tempo game in hot weather/climates is frequently suicidal if not used sparingly.