Scouting your Opponent in Freekick

written by Lee1950

One of the joys of Freekick is being able to tailor your lineup and tactics to take advantage of your opponent’s weaknesses. In order to do this, you need to know how to scout your next opponent. This article will show you how to do the most basic scouting. Let’s look at your next league opponent and see what you can do to improve your scoring chances.

You need to go to your opponent’s club page. There are several ways to navigate to their club page, and here is one of them:

• Click on “Competition” > “Senior League” > “Overview”

This is a very informative page, and you should go to it often. It shows the standings, your next match, your last (most recent) match, and the high achievers in your division. Your next opponent is shown in bold face in the “Next round” section, opposite your team.

Before you leave this page, click on the drop down menu under “Club Selector” and select your opponent’s name. Now the game has highlighted all of that club's players who have scored, assisted, defended, or played as goalkeeper. For now, just note your opponent's goalkeeper(s) name. It is possible that he hasn't played any matches yet, so none of his players are listed, or that none of his keepers have met the minimum standards to be listed. That's okay - you can use this next week to scout another opponent. Now let’s go look at his club page.

• Click on their club name.

Now you are looking at their club’s information, and there is a lot of information to look at. Keep it simple for now, but there are a few things you’ll want to look at for every opponent you play:

• Who is the manager? Look right under the blue “General” bar at the top right of the page. If the manager is “FKBOT”, then the player has left the game, and the CPU is controlling the team. This is good for you (but bad for the game, as we hate to lose managers) because FKBOT is not a very clever manager.

• Click on the “”Transfers” tab to see how active the manager is. The more players that have been bought or drafted, the more active the manager is, and the more likely it is that you are going to face a tough opponent or that the opponent will be scouting your team.

• Click on the “Players” tab.

Here you will find some more tabs, allowing you to see what quality of players he has at different positions. Look at the “Goalkeepers” tab.

Remember we noted his goalkeeper earlier? Here you can see all of them. Click on the “R” (Rating) column header to sort them. Each keeper has five skills. Here is the link to the manual regarding Keeper’s skills (do you remember how to open in it a separate tab?):

http://www.freekick.org/?fk_manual=7#sub2

Freekick gives you the ability to assign your attackers a specific attack order to target each of the secondary goalkeeper skills: GP, IN, CT, OR.

Reflexes (RE)
The keeper will use his Reflexes as the primary method of stopping goal attempts. While this skill does not stop goal attempts to occur or even a stand alone skill for the goalkeeper to save a shot, it's fair to say that it's the most important skill for the keeper.

Goalkeeper Positioning (GP)
With a mix of anticipation and the ability to cut down angles the goalkeeper can make the save attempt much easier. This is especially important when facing long shots.

Interceptions (IN)
Used for defending high crosses and for rushing out to shut down free attackers, the Interception skill counts in two ways; the ability to make smart decisions in these situations and the technical skill to pull them off. Failed interceptions or judgment may result in the keeper being out of position for the shot, being rounded by a free attacker or simply a good opportunity for the attacker to score.

Control (CT)
Used for controlling the ball when saving shots or headers, but also during interceptions. The Control skill works in two ways; the ability to not release rebounds and the ability to release safe rebounds when he has to. A rebound can result in the opponent being totally free, corners, or that the goalie leaves the net wide open. A keeper with low Control can even slip a ball into the net when saving.

Organization (OR)
This skill is especially useful during set pieces like corners or free kicks. It has no relevance for saving penalties. But a keepers Organization skill is always beneficial for the defensive zone in the penalty box.

Here is the link to the attacker orders you will want to use (don't forget to tab):
http://www.freekick.org/?fk_manual=9#sub2

You’ll want to check the manual to become familiar with the orders for all the positions. Review your opponent’s keeper again, and note his weak skill.

If he is weak in GP, then you can set your Attacker orders to: “Tricky shot”
• This setting increases the effect (+50%) of the keeper being out of position. There is no drawback if the keeper is in position.
• (When it works, this increases your scoring chance.)

If he is weak in IN, then you can set your Attacker orders to: “Lob”
• The attacker tries to outsmart the keeper with a soft, high finish. The attacker needs to have higher passing skill than the keeper’s interception skill for it to be effective. If successful, the keeper will be more out of position than normally.
• (You should note that good attackers with a high PA are not common. You will likely want to look at the goalkeeper’s second worst skill rating to get any advantage.)

If he is weak in CT, then you can set your Attacker orders to: “Power shot”
• This setting means that the attacker focuses on power, causing the keeper to have more trouble (-10 Control) controlling the ball (more rebounds or even fumbles).
• (This is fun when it works – there will be lots of loose balls bouncing around in front of the net.)

If he is weak in OR, then you can set your Attacker orders to: “Unpredictable”
• This setting increases the effect (+50%) of the keeper losing his organization defense versus the pass into the box. If the keeper wins the skill duel, there is no drawback.
• Unpredictable is, maybe, the most used attacker order.

Now go back to your Lineup ( >Locker Room >Tactics >Lineup ), and change your attacker’s orders to the appropriate order to best attack the weak ability of your opponent’s keeper.

Please be advised that “Mixed” is almost never going to be the optimal setting for any player at any position. So a couple of hints:

1. Your attackers will get an opportunity when the ball comes directly to them outside of the penalty box. If your attacker has a good or better BC, then you might find “Dribble and Score” to be the most useful Midfielder order for them. If you click on an attacker and then on his “Settings” tab, you can set his default orders. I favor “Unpredictable” as my default attack order, and “Dribble and Score” as my default midfielder order for attackers.

2. I have a strong PA attacker, and he gets “Lob” and “Short Pass” as his defaults.

3. If you are playing with an AE attacker in your lineup, consider setting your RW/LW/RM/LM midfielder order to “Seek Corners”. This will generate high passes into the box. (An “AE attacker” typically has an excellent or better AE rating, and a good or better BC rating.)

4. Defenders use “Breakthrough” to counter strong OP attackers; “Ground Angles” to counter strong BC attackers.Y ou can figure out “Aerial Angles” for yourself!

5. If you think your opponent’s flank attack (do they use wingers? RW, LW?) is stronger than their center attack, set your keeper to “Flank Attacks”.

Wondering how to know if your opponent is playing OP/BC/AE attackers? Scouting!

You check his prior matches and his attacker’s ratings, and make a guess. Same for estimating the scoring threat from his center midfielders versus his wings….you check who he played the last couple matches and his player ratings, and you make a guess (don’t forget to look back at the “Achievers” list for Assists – that can be a good clue as to who is a dangerous assist man). The more scouting you do, the better your guess will be.

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles." - Sun Tzu