How can I get this tactic defensively solid FM 2016

Greetings I play a 4-3-3 formation with a DM. Attacking fluid philosophy for manutd. The player roles are goalkeeper, wingbacks in dr/dl positions all on attack duty. A ball playing defender &I a central defender partnership all on defend duty. In midfield I have a deep lying playmaker on defend(DM), roaming playmaker & an advanced playmaker on attack duty. Two inside forwards on both wings. All on attack duty. A complete forward on support duty as the striker.

GK(d)

WB(a) CD(d) BPD(d) WB(a)

DLP(d)

RPM(s) AP(a)

IF(a) IF(a)

CF(s)

Team instructions : be more expressive, whipped crosses, shorter passing, run at defends & close down more.

Season always starts well then half way I lose a ton n concede a lot. I use attacking at home mostly, control away. I change in match as well if need be. I had the central defenders closing down less. Was working well and then started conceding so I took it out. I have my forwards tackling harder.

My striker always starts well scoring a lot then go on a long drought. I'm thinking I might need some tweak there as well or team instructions to help him more. He's a complete forward anyway.

To get your tactic "defensively solid" as you put it, start by having a think about the mentality you are using and how that may affect the duties given to all four of your wide men.

Also, watch one of your matches back over and focus solely on your DLP in the DMC position. Does he manage to stay fairly central when defending to provide a decent defensive shield, or is he getting pulled towards the wings a lot if your ultra attacking fullbacks get caught out of position?

To get your tactic "defensively solid" as you put it, start by having a think about the mentality you are using and how that may affect the duties given to all four of your wide men.

Also, watch one of your matches back over and focus solely on your DLP in the DMC position. Does he manage to stay fairly central when defending to provide a decent defensive shield, or is he getting pulled towards the wings a lot if your ultra attacking fullbacks get caught out of position?

Thanks for the reply. My DM is actually one of the players that scores a constant 7.0 or above in matches. He occasionally covers for the full backs but he's mostly central n close to the central defenders. I use attack for the inside forwards at home mostly and they do get in on the goals mostly. I sometimes change to support wen facing top teams as well but the score less and rate lower but compact so cool. I don't concede a lot of goals from crosses though. I think it's the central defenders I need to work on. They mostly score lower ratings in the team with the goalkeeper. Striker also scores low mostly but a beast on his day. He's ok there.

I think it's the central defenders I need to work on.

No, you don't. It's what is happening around them that needs work.

You are using a very aggressive and risky mentality. That leaves a huge gap behind them. Both your fullbacks are going to be high up the pitch and will struggle to get back fast enough to cover the flanks. Your DLP may not be an ideal choice for a defensive shield, although that may depend on the type of player you use here. And you use a Fluid team shape which adds a lot of creative freedom to your team (have a quick look at the FAQs sticky to understand a little more about creative freedom).

Given all of that, you basically have just 2 people defending (your central defenders), with a little help from your DLP, which is too much for them to handle.

Your central defenders may benefit from a PI to close down less and/or using the offside trap, but the bigger issues are not there.

Greetings I play a 4-3-3 formation with a DM. Attacking fluid philosophy for manutd. The player roles are goalkeeper, wingbacks in dr/dl positions all on attack duty. A ball playing defender &I a central defender partnership all on defend duty. In midfield I have a deep lying playmaker on defend(DM), roaming playmaker & an advanced playmaker on attack duty. Two inside forwards on both wings. All on attack duty. A complete forward on support duty as the striker.

GK(d)

WB(a) CD(d) BPD(d) WB(a)

DLP(d)

RPM(s) AP(a)

IF(a) IF(a)

CF(s)

Team instructions : be more expressive, whipped crosses, shorter passing, run at defends & close down more.

Season always starts well then half way I lose a ton n concede a lot. I use attacking at home mostly, control away. I change in match as well if need be. I had the central defenders closing down less. Was working well and then started conceding so I took it out. I have my forwards tackling harder.

My striker always starts well scoring a lot then go on a long drought. I'm thinking I might need some tweak there as well or team instructions to help him more. He's a complete forward anyway.

why do you feel you need 5 attacking duties (almost half of your team) in a team that is from its base so attacking (this due to mentality) ?

I think it's the central defenders I need to work on.

Have you seen Man City in real life or watched pundits take a swipe at there central defenders? They had no protection with Yaya going where he felt like leaving just 1 MC who would miss takles and be in the wrong place, well he did have lots of space to defend to! The defence had so much work to do even Kompany was getting exposed (before getting injured but didn't stop pundits saying they needed him back to save there defence).

You've setup with a super risky mentality, then given all your wide players attack duty so will play even more riskily.

You've given your whole team a good amount of creative freedom by using Fluid team shape, you've then added to that with Be More Expressive. You have three playmakers in your center who will be given more creative freedom (as a playmaker) to deviate from the plan, but your whole team is pretty much doing what they think is best.

I think you need to add some variety and consistency to your tactic through less freedom and less playmakers. I'd also consider tweaking the wide players to add some variety so you don't have 4 wide players all pushing super high, add some depth to draw defenders out and give more space to the remaining attack duty players.

No, you don't. It's what is happening around them that needs work.

You are using a very aggressive and risky mentality. That leaves a huge gap behind them. Both your fullbacks are going to be high up the pitch and will struggle to get back fast enough to cover the flanks. Your DLP may not be an ideal choice for a defensive shield, although that may depend on the type of player you use here. And you use a Fluid team shape which adds a lot of creative freedom to your team (have a quick look at the FAQs sticky to understand a little more about creative freedom).

Given all of that, you basically have just 2 people defending (your central defenders), with a little help from your DLP, which is too much for them to handle.

Your central defenders may benefit from a PI to close down less and/or using the offside trap, but the bigger issues are not there.

I have Kristoffer Ajer in the DM position. I still have Alonso & Bastian both old tho but more suited to a DLP role in DM hence me using that role. I get it that da full backs maybe ain't helping center backs but I use wingbacks due to the inside forwards ahead of them. So maybe changing to support might be better right? I can also change the inside forwards to support or prolly leave one on attack and one on support for balance. I used the close down less for CBs and watching the match I wasn't impressed. I'll still try that again with these tweaks and see if it works. Maybe I'll take out be more expressive as well since it's already an attacking fluid tactic and watch a match.

Have you seen Man City in real life or watched pundits take a swipe at there central defenders? They had no protection with Yaya going where he felt like leaving just 1 MC who would miss takles and be in the wrong place, well he did have lots of space to defend to! The defence had so much work to do even Kompany was getting exposed (before getting injured but didn't stop pundits saying they needed him back to save there defence).

You've setup with a super risky mentality, then given all your wide players attack duty so will play even more riskily.

You've given your whole team a good amount of creative freedom by using Fluid team shape, you've then added to that with Be More Expressive. You have three playmakers in your center who will be given more creative freedom (as a playmaker) to deviate from the plan, but your whole team is pretty much doing what they think is best.

I think you need to add some variety and consistency to your tactic through less freedom and less playmakers. I'd also consider tweaking the wide players to add some variety so you don't have 4 wide players all pushing super high, add some depth to draw defenders out and give more space to the remaining attack duty players.

The roles in the tactic is really due to the players at my disposal. I don't have wingers naturally. My wife men are inside forwards hence the roles. I have Lincoln so maybe wen he plays I can use the winger role on the left. Most of my DMs & CMs are DLPs & APs hence those roles. I tried using the Anchor man role to protect the defense more but I wasn't impressed with the game play. The DLP was more impressive for my players. I think I'll reduce the attacking roles a bit n see how it goes. My wingbacks are on attack cos I get a lot of assists from them with those instructions. Might consider changing to support then and watch a game.

I'm going to take out be more expressive TI & add use offside trap, stay on feet TIs. I'll change mentalities &a player roles to below and see if it's better going forward as well as shoring the back.

GK(d)

WB(s) CB(d) BPD(d) WB(s)

A(d)

RP(s) AP(a)

IF(s) IF(s)

CF(a)

I'll take out dribble more for wingbacks on support duty but maintain all other instructions as if they were on attack duty. They don't have good dribbling skills anyway. I'll see how it goes n give the feed back. I'm gonna use an Anchor man in DM now even tho my DMs are not suited to that but with consistent training and game time they should be natural there.

You don't have to play players in there "best" role, ideally you will have a team who perfectly fit your tactic but thats not always possible.

I think you've made way to many changes in one go, you wanted to improve defensively but have completely changed your tactic. The fewer changes you make in one go the easier it is to see the effect. I was thinking you would change maybe one wingback, one IF and one of the playmakers, not 6 of your 11 roles&duties plus TI's and PI's.

You don't have to play players in there "best" role, ideally you will have a team who perfectly fit your tactic but thats not always possible.

I think you've made way to many changes in one go, you wanted to improve defensively but have completely changed your tactic. The fewer changes you make in one go the easier it is to see the effect. I was thinking you would change maybe one wingback, one IF and one of the playmakers, not 6 of your 11 roles&duties plus TI's and PI's.

You are right I know. It's pre season now hence all the changes. I just want to see how it does with those changes. It might help me see what I just need to tweak but I'll take your advice as well and well test it too.. Cheers