Pacey vs. Slow Players - Defence and Attack (Need Help)

I do believe that being fast against a slow player is an advantage, I also think that it is exploited in far too many occasions.

IRL, we can see that some older players can play really well in every area of the pitch. I can produce many examples.

Right now I am managing Blackpool in 2014. They were in Championship and were struggling in the league table and they appointed me. Anyway, I have slow defenders with good attributes and pacey defenders with crappy attributes. Slow ones are exploited really bad especially when I am on attack and lose the ball. (or the classic goal is that my gk kicks a goalkick, an opp mid heads the ball and opp striker is clean through goal because my defenders are slow and their forwards are fast. lol.) I am approaching the end of season and all 6 top goalscorers have pace of 15 or higher.

On the attack side, I have Kuranyi and Iaquinta right now. I would expect they would make a good striker couple with good wingers but no. They just cannot move with the ball because they are so slow with every move, not just with the ball.

Therefore, I am wondering if there is a way that I can use these slow guys on the pitch with high efficiency, i.e. Ryan Giggs in Man Utd.

What I have tried:

- Deep Defensive Line.

- Limited Defenders as roles.

- Strikers as target man.

- Use flanks. (I also tried through middle and mixed, lol)

I need suggestions. Right now I am 100% sure the ME is not intended to be in this way, otherwise I will just sign players with min 15 pace and acc.

Cheers.

Well how slow is slow is my question first...

But play with a slow and fast defender and make sure the slower one doesn't close down very much, just puts them out in no-mans land. I'm playing a save now with this problem of slow defenders and it kills me to watch them get put out like that. But if you faster defenders have at least average skill they should at least help, if nothing else putting pressure on a pacey striker causes more misses.

As for the strikers... play possession, walk the ball up to the box and get that nice cross or through ball into the area.

I do believe that being fast against a slow player is an advantage, I also think that it is exploited in far too many occasions.

IRL, we can see that some older players can play really well in every area of the pitch. I can produce many examples.

Right now I am managing Blackpool in 2014. They were in Championship and were struggling in the league table and they appointed me. Anyway, I have slow defenders with good attributes and pacey defenders with crappy attributes. Slow ones are exploited really bad especially when I am on attack and lose the ball. (or the classic goal is that my gk kicks a goalkick, an opp mid heads the ball and opp striker is clean through goal because my defenders are slow and their forwards are fast. lol.) I am approaching the end of season and all 6 top goalscorers have pace of 15 or higher.

On the attack side, I have Kuranyi and Iaquinta right now. I would expect they would make a good striker couple with good wingers but no. They just cannot move with the ball because they are so slow with every move, not just with the ball.

Therefore, I am wondering if there is a way that I can use these slow guys on the pitch with high efficiency, i.e. Ryan Giggs in Man Utd.

What I have tried:

- Deep Defensive Line.

- Limited Defenders as roles.

- Strikers as target man.

- Use flanks. (I also tried through middle and mixed, lol)

I need suggestions. Right now I am 100% sure the ME is not intended to be in this way, otherwise I will just sign players with min 15 pace and acc.

Cheers.

What I've found with the goalkeeper problem is that if you stick to the following you're pretty safe.

1) If you're keeper has kicking under 15 then set them to very short passing, distribution to your defenders, and then play the ball out from there.

2) If they have kicking over 15 then it gives them enough of a range to use long kicks and clear the oppositions central midfielders.

Since sticking to that rule I very, very rarely concede due to that annoying midfielder heading back over my defence problem.

Basically, you need at least somebody at the back who can run. You could do well with one DC being slow but ather decently fast (decent = 10-12 pace and acceleration). It's even better when fullback on the slow DC side is rapidly fast.

I remember my FM2010 Ajax save when I had just older and slower players to DCR position (Wielaert, Oleguer). After selling van der Wiel I bought one regen Danish right-back with 15-17 pace/acceleration ratings. And he saved me a lot of times, getting back fast enough to catch opposition strikers.

Another thing with slow defenders is that they have to be intelligent. If player has pace, he can sometimes make up his own mistakes like poor positioning and anticipation. Slow player is doomed the moment he let's his striker out of sight for a moment.

IRL I recently watched Bayern's Bundesliga game where I think Luiz Gustavo was playing in defense with van Buyten. And Luiz Gustavo who's fit and mobile on feet was constantly caught out of position, catching his striker later on and making last moment tackles/blocks, fighting for a ball whereas van Buyten who's fairly slow and expected to be beaten by pacey strikers was choosing his place on the pitch very wisely, always at the right place, rather intercepting the pass with simple one-step move than fighting for a ball and wasting energy. That's what experience and intelligent play means on the pitch.

There's a reason Giggs has been moved over to the centre of the pitch these last years.

Happens to most old players, they start playing in different roles when they lose their pace. Sigurd Rushfeldt, for example, used to be a fast striker used on the counter, now he's more of a target man and the one who finishes moves in the box.

It's just a fact that in some positions, roles and tactics a players speed is vital, and you can't have a slow one there. A team who likes to push on and get counter-attacked a lot needs a pacy back four. But in a defensively oriented team, having a fast defender isn't that big of a deal, because there's rarely any room behind the defence for a fast striker to exploit. In those cases, having a slow and old centreback is no problem at all and his experience is probably very welcome.

As with everything in football, it all depends on the situation.