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HullFM 2009 Player Preferred Moves (PPMs)
Dear readers, I hope you will like this post. I spent very much time trying to explain my understanding of Player Preferred Moves in Football Manager 2009. It’s pretty long but should be useful for you. All preferred moves were grouped into 3 groups by effect they produce: Positive, Negative and “Pros and Cons” effect. Enjoy! 
Positive effect 
Comes deep to get ball
+ Player leaves his position going to a deeper line, as a result getting the ball and having more opportunities for further progress of attack.
Curls Ball 
+ Player produces curled passes and shots that are harder for goalkeepers to cope with. He makes that during any type of shots: standard, long and set pieces.
Cuts inside
+ Additional ability of wingers and attacking flank defenders that allows to go to the box from the flank unexpectedly.
Dictates tempo
+ Players having this ability can rule the game. Especially good for playmakers (for instance, Fabregas). Such player should have more Creative Freedom.
Gets crowd going
+ Increases morale of team-mates because of higher fans support. More effective for home matches.
Gets into opposition area
+ Player like to perform in the opposition’s box. It makes him more dangerous in the most cases.
Knocks ball past opponent
+ Great feature for player with high pace and dribbling. Very effective against slow defenders.
Likes to lob keeper 
+ Effective and efficient skill to score one-on-one moments.
Likes to round keeper
+ Another effective and efficient skill to score one-on-one moments .
Likes to switch ball to other flank
+ Quite useful skill in case of wide attacking tactics. Gives more options for player to continue attack.
Likes to try to beat offside trap
+ Obviously great move for quick attacking player that allows him to cope with defensive line.
Looks for pass rather to attempt to score
+ Pretty useful when you don’t want, for instance, your midfielder strike long shots.
Marks opponents tightly
+ I’m convinced that tight marking is good feature for any defender and DMC.
Moves into channels
+ Very good skill for forwards making them to move to empty space for getting the ball there (like Fernando Torres).
Placed shots
+ Player having this skill has higher accuracy of shots. Cool to have for any forward!
Plays one-twos
+ Adds effect of “knife cutting through defence” if you have this on your MC/AMC who joins attacks sometimes. The most efficient scheme if your players have high First Touch, Passing and Team Work attributes.
Plays short simple passes
+ DMC players like Gattuso need this skill often. It allows to deliver ball to more creative midfielders (Kaka, Pirlo, Seedorf) without risk.
Runs with ball down left , Runs with ball down right
+ Absolutely positive move that is needed by wingers.
Runs with ball through center
+ Going and dribbling through center is harder than running down flank. Therefore I think this move being even more great. Perfect AMC must have this one.
Shoots with power
+ Makes very good effect when forward has this one. He can break through any goalkeeper!
Stays back all time
+ Ensures that defensive players (they possess this skill, normally) never join attacks. Especially good for defensive tactics.
Tries killer balls often
+ One of the coolest PPMs that allows any midfielder with it creating a lot of chances for forwards by means of through balls.
Tries long range passes
+ Long range passes will catch up opponent’s defence often if your player possess this PPM.
Tries tricks
+ Obvious plus!
Tries to play out of trouble
+ I would like to have all defenders and DMC with this PPM. It would add more reliability to my defence.
Uses outside of foot
+ Sudden passes and shots. Very efficient skill for attacking player!
Winds up opponents
+ Player makes provoking actions on a pitch irritating opponents. They will receive more cards 
Negative effect 
Argues with officials
- Results in more yellow cards.
Likes ball played into feet
- Somewhat limits opportunities of team work because this player doesn’t like to use head.
“Pros and cons” effect
Arrives late in opposition area
+ Unexpected advantage during attack because of additional (defensive) player coming to the box. It’s hard to mark such player.
- Empty space in defence appears if DC or DMC with such ability goes to attack.
Attempts overheads kicks 
+ Player can do overhead kick when he is back to goal.
- If player is too flamboyant he overuses this ability.
Avoids using weaker foot, Moves ball to left/right foot before dribble attempt
+ Less mistakes when he uses his stronger foot.
- Looses moments for pass, shot or dribbling attempt when ball at his weaker foot. Don’t play such guys on the wrong side.
Dives into tackles
+ More effective tackling and closing down.
- Mistake of DC during such diving can cost much for a team. Likehood of receiving cards becomes higher. Hard Tackling setting is not recommended for such player.
Does not dive into tackles
+ Less amount of cards.
- Doesn’t make sliding tackles when it’s need (when opponent’s forward runs quickly past DC, for example)
Dwells on ball, Stops play
+ Good for DMC who is told to Hold The Ball. Players sees more options for passing.
- Slows the game down. Effective closing down of such player can result in a ball loss. “Dwells on ball” is considered to be more negative than “Stops play”.
Gets forward whenever possible
+ Additional player ignores forward runs instructions and joins to attack being unmarked (usually).
- Bad for defensive tactic. When defensive players shouldn’t go to attack in any case.
Hits free kicks with power
+ Performs power shots from free kicks. Like Juninho
- Bad if you like to deliver a ball from free kick to the best header .
Hugs line
+ Attacking winger midfielders and defenders will perform more effectively. Good if you use wide style in your tactics.
- May provoke some problems making gaps in formation if you use narrow defensive tactics.
Likes to beat man repeatedly
+ Player’s actions look beautiful! He makes unexpected tricks that could stun all defence and goalie of opponent.
- Sometimes looses ball due to dribbling overuse. If the weather is bad then ball losses makes more often.
Plays no through balls
+ Good move for defensive players if you use defensive tactics.
- Decreases number of efficient counter attacks if you play them.
Plays with back to goal
+ Pretty nice feature for target man strikers like Drogba.
- It will spoil performance of target man if other players are set to make passes of “Run into ball” type.
Shoots from distance
+ Good if he has high values of Long Shots, Finishing attributes.
- Otherwise, bad
Tries first time shots
+ In combination with good Long Shots, First Touch and Finishing – fantastic one.
- Otherwise, bad
Tries long range free-kicks
+ Player with this skill may strike the ball from long range free kick unexpectedly for goalkeeper.
- No sense without high values of Long Shots and Free Kicks.
You can tell your players to learn all of this prefered moves?? In my game, the players can only learn a few of them..
pd: very good blog, one of my favourites! Greetings from Spain.
dani,
yes, only several of these PPMs are available for learning. Other PPMs are possessed by players from the very start of any game.
thanks :) really useful
Interesting reading. Just leaving a comment to say I'm starting my blog up again. I remember you commenting on it before and thought you'd like to be notified. Or maybe not. :D
hey, Mark from Singapore here, great post, really useful. But i think you left one PPM out, what do you think of "gets forward whenever possible"?
How can we told our player learn the prefered moves?? I seems confused..
Thank you.
des,
go to player profile and choose "Player Interaction" among the commands
Mark from Singapore,
you missed "gets forward whenever possible" in my post. It's in "Pros and cons" effect group
oh yes, my bad. thanks for the great post, and good luck with hull!
Mark
I find it, but i try to some players to learn some prefered moves that it looks suitable with their position, but they are all rejected it. Can anyone help me?
Thank you
Dear Des,
You can tell them to learn those based on your judgement of their position, but remember that they don't always have the right attributes to do what you wanted. (I.e: generally you can't ask someone with low Long Shot attribute to learn "Shot from the distance").
And of course, don't forget that if the manager have their own reason to judge what's good for their players, so do they :)
Des,
try again. In ideal variant you can just try to learn all PPMs one by one for a player.
He will like to learn few of them. And this is normal thing.
hi vitaliy...love the website..has helped me through some difficult times as a manager ;) keep up the hard work.
player tutoring also lets more experienced players teach PPMs to young players. A good example is anelka who has a wonderful set of PPM's but isnt a great striker.
Another thing is that some moves like hits free kicks with power and shoots with power have their own disadvantages like the accuracy of those players going down slightly. Generally hits free kicks with power isnt as good because they will hit it with power from places that finesse would have been better.
Shooting with power works well for attacking mids with good long shot or wingers who cut in but on fast strikers places shots is preferable because they get more one on one shots with the keeper then any1 else.
Tries to play way out of trouble is dangerous for a CB because sometimes they get dispossessed in your own half.
Comes in late is a great stat for a lampard type player(even a winger) with good shooting ability because it makes him have a lot of clear shots on target but its shit for a striker because he should already be there. DM's are allowed that attribute as long as they are fast and have stamina(essien)
fm 2009 serial
6W44P3YWFRBGVVG3HH6P6QPJ8
goodluck
Thank you very much for the serial number..
Guys help me out finding the players with lots of PPM's.
They are great for tutoring!
Best one i found so far is Jorginho
Nedved, Del Piero, Totti and Roberto Carlos are also great
It would also be nice to find those players who have moves that can't be taught through player interaction, and only through tutoring (like curls ball)
i.e. Litmanen
Greetings from Brazil
Cool! Thanks!
I cant find players who have the "cuts inside" PPM...Dictates Tempo(fabregas had it in fm 2008) and uses outside of foot ( luka modric and quaresma in fm 2008 )neighter... Were they removed or is it just me...
Moves into channels
+ Very good skill for forwards making them to move to empty space for getting the ball there (like Fernando Torres).
It's should be move into "wide" empty area.
This blog is very useful.Very good job man!!!!!!!!
Thanks, it's just because I love Football Manager 2009! :)
hey all,
why i cant find some ppm in fm 2009 like:
cut inside, dictate tempo,Gets crowd going, Winds up opponent,
Likes to play his way out of trouble,
Marks opponent tightly,Tries long range passes,Stays back. etc...
help me.
thanks
greeting from Indonesia.
ehhmmmmm
how i can apply that method in my fm 2009 ?????
please help me !!!!!!!!!!!
Some of these ppm are absent in 2009.
Half of these moves arent there? like the post before states... is this because of the latest patch???
Any help would be grateful,
Cheers,
Adam
Hi, Vitaliy...
I love your site very much. It's very useful for me since I began to play Football Manager 2009 in the last 2008. (I'm a newbie, anyway...)
Keep your good works, man!!
gREEtings from INDONESIA...
CURLS BALL ppm is great for corner takers!
My two corner takers both have the "curls ball" ppm. I put the right footer on corners from the left and the left footer on corners from the right. I aim my crosses for the 6 yard box and have my 2 tallest/best headers challenging keeper. The amount of goals I get from corners is unbelievable! And it feels great because they are set up exactly as you wanted them!
A very good post, but lately I have been asking some players to do a new preferred move & got rejected. Maybe it isn't the right move [like low long shot ability (12 isn't low, right?) to do "shoot from distance", eventhough in some games, they managed those kinds of goals), or maybe they are too old. Can age be the constraint? Too old (30 plus) to learn a new move?
Greetings from Indonesia...again...
Hey guys I need help...
How do I view my player preferred moves? Where are they located?
I can't find them anywhere....
TNX for your very good blog
its one of the best I have seen about FM.
Good Luck
Which ones can a player be told to learn, and which ones should i, if possible, teach which positions?
you left "hugs lines", but it really good post, it really help me, and how to learn PPM ?, if i select tutoring, there are 3 option, 1. role model, 2 approach to the game, and 3 i forgot this one, what should i choose to learn PPM ?, thanks, greeting from indonesia.