So I've done player instructions, why not do team instructions? I'll start with attacking styles and move on to defensive styles.

Attacking: Based on a 4-4-2

Mentality
Attacking. Three to Four clicks right of center. This will encourage your players to get forward regularly. Particularly effective when playing against a weaker side. Be careful though, having your mentality too high means you may get caught on the counter attack more often.

Closing Down
Again, three to four clicks right of center. Your midfield will hunt down the ball in the middle of the park, hopefully you have a good DM who can claim the ball and offload it to one of your more creative players. Be sure not to have your midfield closing down too far though, they may get caught out of position a lot if you do this.

Passing Style
Direct. Your players will generally look to receive the ball and shift it quickly to your front line. Effective when your opposition is also playing with an attacking mentality as it makes it easier for you to hit them on the break.

Tempo
Quick. You should place the tempo bar mid-way between center and the far right end of the line. With direct passing and a quick tempo your team will be very successful on the counter-attack.

Tackling
This one is down to personal preferance really. I usually leave it normal, or set it to hard. Setting your tackling to hard will occasionally make your side pick up more bookings, but it does have its advantages. If you have a player with a high aggression and tackling attribute, he will win 90% of the tackles he attempts when your tackling setting is set to hard.

Marking
I always use man-marking no matter what style I'm playing, or attempting to play. However, if you have success using other methods than they should still be effective playing with this style also.

Focus Passing
If you have good pacey wingers, then you should set your passing to 'down both flanks.' This means your players should look to feed the ball to your wide men to start a counter attack, which in my experience, is very successful.

Counter Attack
Always ensure this is ticked when attempting to play on the counter. (Obviously).

If you decide to use these instructions, you should find that your players will immediately start to move the ball forwards with burst's of pace and killer through ball's. You must have the right players to play this style with though. You should look for plenty of high attributes in pace, stamina, passing and technique.

Useful players for this style of play: Pacey wingers, creative AM's and destructive DM's.

Defensive / Posession Football

Mentality
I usually leave this in the middle when attempting to play posession football. Occasionally I move it up a notch or two if I'm lacking the killer instinct. This will ensure your team do not bomb forwards at every oppertunity, leaving your defense exposed. Your team should move forward as one, as a unit.

Closing Down
Again, I leave this in the middle. Your players will look to draw the opposition onto you before attempting to win the ball and knock it around.

Passing Style
Short. Two or three clicks left of center. Any more and you will find your players hold onto the ball for too long. If you attempt a to play using a slow tempo, but direct passing, you will find the ball is moved to your front line swiftly, but your midfield won't be as quick getting forwards which leaves your front men isolated a lot of the time.

Tempo
Slow - normal. You can't afford to have your tempo set too slow, as your players will get caught in posession and you will create minimal chances. Your team will look to get the ball down and play with it, patiently waiting for a good chance to attack. It is essential to have players with good movement, composure, concentration and passing in these situation. High concetration will lead to more passes being completed and limited chances for the opposition.

Tackling
Again, your own personal preference is good enough here. Try experimenting to find the best style that suits you and your team.

Marking
Like I stated above, I never use zonal-marking, but if you wish to, give it a try. I have little experience with it so you may benefit from this.

Focus Passing
Mixed. You should keep your opposition guessing in this department. As you're playing with a slow tempo, your opposition will predict where your players are going to pass to. It is the same with the quick tempo game, but by playing with a quick tempo ensures that the ball will be constantly shifted from different areas of the pitch with pace.

Counter-Attack
You should leave this box un-ticked when playing possesion football. If you tick it, you may find your strikers get isolated and boxed in. Leaving them no choice but to try and run at goal from 50 yards, or have a long shot from way outside the box.

Useful players for this style of play: Creative midfielders, strong strikers to hold up play and a sturdy defense.

I will briefly touch on how I go about defending a lead, or chasing that vital goal in the final few minutes of those important matches.

Chasing Goal's
Playing with a mentality two clicks short of the right end of the bar usually works for me. Your whole team will flood forwards to support your front men, trying to grab that vital goal.

Extremly direct passing is imperitive here. Your players will look for the long ball to one of your strikers, or a quick direct pass to another team member if the long ball isn't an option.

Leave the counter attack box un-ticked as your team will look to counter-attack if your mentality is set so high anyway. Plus, you should constantly be on the attack in these situations anyway.

I would also reccoment setting your tackling to 'hard.' This means your defense will be more likely to win the ball in those vital few minutes of the game. Of course this does also mean you have more chance of getting bookings.

Defending a Lead
In these situations, I usually change formations to a 4-5-1. With 4 in defense, 1 DM, 2 MC's, right and left sided wingers, and one striker. Ensure your striker is strong and tick his 'hold up ball' box. Set your team to 'use target man' and target man supply 'to feet.' Your target man should then look to receive the ball and wait for one of your midfielders to bomb forward and provide support before offloading the ball and moving into the box. Usually, I find that the opposition rarely break through my midfield and my DM. Two flat bank's of four is extremly hard to break down in football, and the anchorman in midfield does a very important job in these situations. Tick the 'counter-attack' box and watch as your team parks the proverbial bus in-front of your goal.

I usually bring the mentality bar back to the middle in these situations. Ensuring my team doesn't stray out of position and keep a close formation. I normally switch the passing style to direct, which will look to exploit the number of opposition players that are out of position.

Here's a link to my first 4 Premiership games with Tottenham using this system. In the game against Arsenal, I scored two goals in the last 10 minutes using the system above for 'chasing goal's.' I play the possesion football version at home, and the more direct counter-attacking style away from home. http://files.filefront.com/Spurs+resultsdo...;/fileinfo.html