Why does attacking mentality never ever work??

I have been playing this game since the release and played around with many teams. One thing i have realised is that lets say my Arsenal is 0-1 down to Bolton, changing my team mentality(or starting strategy) from normal to attacking never ever creates more chances. In fact, the game will just fade out without much more key highlights, sometimes even with the opponent having more chances against me?? In addition, subbing out tired players for bench players that are equally skilled also seems to result in a decrease in chances created by my team. This is unexplainable because in real life, when the opponent team sits back and defend while you go on a more attacking mentality with fresher players, it will only result in more chances and perhaps goals for your team?

Really need an explanation for this from any other experienced tacticians out there.

Hi

I don't have to many posts here but i am playing the game since 2001/2002 so I really do have experience,and for all this time I have learned that more attackers or more attacking approach doesn't mean you will start attacking or scoring.It only reflects what would you like to do.But sometimes your side is weaker or not comfortable with your approach so it will not work.Lets say you are Bolton.You can start with attacking approach but if you are playing against Arsenal your players will hardly touch the ball,and would probably create more chances if playing defensively and try counter attacks.Or you don't even have to be the worse team.Maybe moral of your players is low so they don't play as they would normally,or is this attacking formation new for them and need time do get used to it.Also if you are playing with high tempo midfielders are maybe passing wrong or maybe even your defenders are trying to create attacks(if all other players are too forward),and that is never good.

Maybe if you would give us more info on your team and formation,playing style,closing down...

And remember,training and tactics forum is always a great solution,you should really spend some time there.

Since attacking philosophy modifies the individuals mentality and roles based on your formation, It's largely down to how you set up your squad. I personally have succeeded using an Attacking philosophy when playing a 4132 formation as Chelsea. It suited the players very well and the attacking philosophy gave more license to the midfield to attack. I have also noticed that playing 4231's or 433's with an attacking mentality rarely succeeds since the players are already organised in a fashion that is oriented more towards attacking than defending, so to give them an attacking philosophy (ie more attacking mentality) tends to push them too far up and cause more issues.

Also, the tactic creator and the whole philosophy tends to be VERY general and false when setting up Widths and tempo's. Teams like Barcelona and Man Utd who play attacking football DONT play a quick tempo. They much prefer a slow tempo concentrate more on retention of possession, whereas the attacking philosophy in FM terms pumps up tempo, even when you have short passing selected, its too fast. Tempo is a big part of dictating how your overall team plays and is largely overlooked, but it's a REAL game changer if you use it accordingly.

I always find the attacking strategy too extreme in terms of tempo and width and if you are playing a direct style you are most likely playing too fast and just giving the ball away to an opponent that is sitting deep just defending.

On those situations Control is more suited IMO, to just probe around patiently waiting for that perfect through ball.

My greatest tactical revelation was that I was creating more chances with defensive than attacking.

Attacking seems very wasteful. You end up with lots and lots of poor quality chances but no end result. It's especially bad for fullbacks being caught out of position.

As said above, your mentality and tactics have to match. I play slow tempo with deepish defence and defensive (or even contain) mentality.

An important thing to keep in mind is that changing mentality will significantly reduce your players' effective familiarity with the formation and lead to sloppier play. This is why I rarely ever change mentality for the whole team but instead adjust mentalities for individual players as needed.

With that said, I play "Attacking" as my default mentality with my CBs manually set to keep a defensive mentality. It works very well for me.

Attacking is fine, just don't push em any further up. Based on any tactic, pushing up can be handy around final hour. Btw the subs, make a max of 2 subs before the 70th min. unless you need to ofc. then again one more. should you need to swap in all 3, do it 1.1.1

An important thing to keep in mind is that changing mentality will significantly reduce your players' effective familiarity with the formation and lead to sloppier play. This is why I rarely ever change mentality for the whole team but instead adjust mentalities for individual players as needed.

With that said, I play "Attacking" as my default mentality with my CBs manually set to keep a defensive mentality. It works very well for me.

To counter that, you could make 2 more tactics ending up with 3 mentalities, unless you use different tactics.

Shall I be the first to say it - team talks!

Something often overlooked but definitely a major factor in how well your team will perform.

I've often thought about this because in acts of desperation I in the past have gone all out attacking with the long ball in an effort to bombard the opponents area. Then I thought about it and considered that if the whole team is attacking whio is staying back to launch those long balls?

Once It seemed to work. When 3-0 down at home to Man United and I came back to draw 3-3. I saved the tactic but it never worked again!!

Works for me. Obviously doesn't work if my team is getting battered anyway.

But I pretty much start everygame with Overload now and it does me well.

I dont even think it will do anything, well it won't for me and most other people I imagine because I do everyones mentality individually. For me to do that I would have to go through every player seperately and change it. Do you have a single team mentality?

I could try pushing up my defence and it might have the same effect but to be honest I never mess around and try to attack from the start.

The tactics arent really that user friendly and I've been playing since the 90s. More trial and error for me because I'm never entirely sure what effects would happen untill I test it.

I never use attack mentality. I use overload with lots of closing down, "take more risk" and "get stuck in" shouts when I need a goal, which put more pressure on the opposing players. Attack alone results in opposing players comfortably defending for the rest of the game and counterattacking when your team makes a mistake.

It could be that your players don't suit the tactic or that it plays perfectly into the hands of Bolton but as it has been said before, team talks are much more vital to success than you may think. I personally believe that if you get your players motivated or fired up against a weaker Bolton side, tactics are nearly irrelevant as your players will perform much better anyway

Try watching full highlights. That way you can see what the problem is, instead of stabbing in the dark.

Yeah but choosing an all out attack mentality seems to make the match go in quicker and with much less highlights.

As the above poster says, use full match then you can see what is happenning & what might not be working.

Works very well for me, but let's me explain how I use it. Basically, using the shouts, I go 'attacking' or 'overload' in short bursts.

If the opposition are quite defensive, I'll play counter or standard; this entices them out. then I'll slam in 'attacking' for 15 mins and often catch them out.

If my assman informs me that the opp score most of their goals in the first 15 minutes and concede most from 15-30 mins, I'll do the same.

If I'm 2-0 up in the 70th minute and the oppo are tiring, I'll bring on a nippy forward, go direct and attacking (even overload/take more risks if they're on their knees) and frequently get one or even two late goals.

The key is if you start attacking or go attacking all match, the oppo will negate you, so what you have to do is out-smart them.

The issues I face on occasion when I play an attacking mentality is usually the lack of space I have to exploit. And thats the reason why I stopped using a high line.

If the space isn't there, you are going to have a difficult time creating viable chances.