Judge the unsuccessfull tactics thread

Thought it might be nice for the ones who are not having much success to have an own thread where they can put out their tactics and maybe get some clues on what they are doing wrong

Im playing as Moss Fk in the first division of Norway. What I'm trying to do is to play a 4-4-2 very direct style of football where the ball is suppost to go quickly up (counter-attack is essential) by passing the ball 75% of the times by ground. When we are at the opponents half we shouldn't stress to much about getting the finish shot right away, but rather let the ball go around in the team till they either find a good position to play a throughball to the strikers or get a good cross in.

My fullbacks are suppost to help my wingers in the attacking play (preferabily one at a time, but not sure if that's possible to tell the players that when the right back goes up the left stays behind?). One midtfielder should always keep his thoughts on alot of defensive work while the other should be more free to support the attackers. One striker should be slighty behind the other.

When the opponents have the ball the strikers should have responsibility to press them in the middle of their half, while my wingers are gonna put pressure on their backs and also support our backs when the opponents wings have the ball. Both central midtfielders should have their work zone basically in the middle of my own half while the central defenders should usually stay right outside of my 16-meter.

The attacking players should also have the opportunity to try what they feel is the best choice in situtations (creative freedom) and the more defensiv midtfielder should also be the one who has the ball alot and makes the choice to pass it to wherever the attacks should start from.

I also want to add that this basically how the players are used to play in the real life aswell, only that they play 4-3-3 instead, so they all should be familiar with a direct sense of play and this playing philosophy.

What I have experienced in my first season and half of the second is that I still can't really see the attacking play follow what I think I have told them to do and I also feel the defenders + my two central midtfielders are way to close to my goalkeeper when the opponents are attacking me, basically ignoring the fact that I want them to play with offsidetrap. I also in the second season have one of the best squads in my division so my players should also be good enough to dominate against half of the other teams, but instead I don't see us neither dominating against the worse teams in the division or really struggling against the other good teams. I just fail to see a sense of pattern in the games and it makes it frustrating to find out what is causing the problem.

Also why do my central defenders sometimes go with a back pass to my goalie with this? Mentality?

Hopefully someone is able to understand what I'm trying to say with all this and also want to take a look at my tactics.

http://www.yousendit.com/download/Y2o5anZwQk5RWUt4dnc9PQ

And hopefully this thread can be a place where we can learn what we (the ones who struggle) are doing wrong

I'd definately take your Right Striker off of Fwd Runs: often and leave him mixed or put him at rarely, and I'd let your two wingers get free roles... Then i'd jack the wingers and the Left Striker (who still has often Fwd Runs) creativity up, while lowering the team creativity a couple of ticks. Also, the DM might be better off on Fwd Runs: rarely.

Your mentality seems OK, but personally, and especially with smaller clubs, I keep the DM in line with the two CB's, and then keep the fullbacks in line with the center mid and wingers, with the strikers 2 and 3 ticks higher, respectively. "3-5-2" formation, in a way.

The big thing with smaller clubs is to keep three in the back. Two CB's get hammered. Too many players making too many fwd runs leaves you naked in back. The DM stays in there to slow things down, and get the ball back to the opponents third.

My .02...

So basically, you look like this on the tactics screen:

----ST----ST----

-----------------

-----------------

LM--AM--DM--RM

-----------------

-----------------

LB---CB--CB---RB

-----------------

-----------------

-------GK--------

And imagining the 'mentality' and 'fwd runs' effect on the formation, it'd look like this:

LM-----ST----RM....... LM and RM has Fwd Runs: Max and Mentality @ 12, ST has Fwd Runs: Max and Mentality @ 15

-----------ST---......... ST has Fwd Runs: Mixed or Rarely and Mentality @ 14

-----AM---------......... AM has Fwd Runs: Max and Mentality @ 12

LB-------------RB........ LB and RB has Fwd Runs: Max or Mixed (home/away) and Mentality @ 12

-------DM-------......... DM has Fwd Runs: Rarely and Mentality @ 10

-----------------.......... CB's both has Fwd Runs: Rarely and Mentality @ 10

-----CB--CB-----

-----------------

-----------------

-------GK--------

The Wingers with Free Roles and jacked up (high) Creativity get way forward and will come into the box when necessary.

Hope that makes sense... I know it makes sense in my head, I just don't know if it translates...

That made alot of sense. Thanks, ill see how it will affect my play in a few matches and see if it's closer to how I want them to play

I also notice that the changes is mostly getting a shorter distance with the mentality than I originally had. Before I read the big tactics thread I always had max offensive mentality on strikers and very defensive on the CB's.