Midfielder Tactical Help Needed

[inuyasharool]

Let me start off by stating I am playing a 4-5-1 fornation

I have Ronaldinho and Baneha as my mc's with individual instructions.

For some reason they are ALWAYS marked they can barely touch the ball against any team , strong or weak.

another problem is that when the do have the ball they are just not moving until the opposition steals the ball.

So my question is how to tweak them so they will have more space and will pass instead of walking?

here are the instructions for the mc's.

Just one more major problem my striker only gets ball with the back to the goal ? any soloution?

sorry for the english :S

Hope you can reply soon as this is freaking me out,

[furiousuk]

A lone striker will normally have his back to goal, particularly if he's set to hold up ball which he probably is. You could try longer passing for other players and isn't there a run onto ball option somewhere? I'm a little rusty!

As for your MC's, unusual that they find no space at all. The tight marking and hard tackling might have something to do with, even with a neutral mentality they are operating very close to the opposition so that might explain the lack of space. Also, how wide are you playing? A narrow 4-5-1 will of course cramp up the space in the middle of the park meaning your MC's will have no space. Also, isn't tight marking and zonal slightly counter-intuitive?

Also, both of them set to relatively low passing and through balls? I'd click off a through balls on one of them and stagger their other settings eg one has longer passing than the other, one is more creative than the other etc. Low passing and through balls might mean they are looking for through balls but won't because there is no-one close to them for a through ball (they won't often be operating on the edge of the penalty box), this will cause them to perform the dreaded spinny move where they spin around doing bog all until someone nicks the ball from them. Best to avoid the spinny.

[footballmanager84]

Which formation(s) are you coming up against where you have this problem?

[inuyasharool]

A lone striker will normally have his back to goal, particularly if he's set to hold up ball which he probably is. You could try longer passing for other players and isn't there a run onto ball option somewhere? I'm a little rusty!

As for your MC's, unusual that they find no space at all. The tight marking and hard tackling might have something to do with, even with a neutral mentality they are operating very close to the opposition so that might explain the lack of space. Also, how wide are you playing? A narrow 4-5-1 will of course cramp up the space in the middle of the park meaning your MC's will have no space. Also, isn't tight marking and zonal slightly counter-intuitive?

Also, both of them set to relatively low passing and through balls? I'd click off a through balls on one of them and stagger their other settings eg one has longer passing than the other, one is more creative than the other etc. Low passing and through balls might mean they are looking for through balls but won't because there is no-one close to them for a through ball (they won't often be operating on the edge of the penalty box), this will cause them to perform the dreaded spinny move where they spin around doing bog all until someone nicks the ball from them. Best to avoid the spinny.

Brilliant! Thank you so much, ticked off the tight marking option and they do get more space right now.

the main problem is to get them working effectively they just dont send through balls so my striker keeps getting hard balls to manage.

tried setting their passing to 14 and problem is still there and you would expect ronaldinho to hit a through ball here and there but he just passes it short.

It happens against most formations.

[furiousuk]

Has your striker got high creative freedom and/or free role?

If not, he'll probably hog the middle of the park which sounds like a good idea for a large targetman but probably not if you have a creative midfield! Letting him roam will allow him to get some - so long as he has the relevant stats to do it.

Setting your wingers to attack more aggressively and push further up the pitch (also with a fair amount of creative freedom) will cause the opposing FB's to widen which will force the opposing CB's to follow suit and widen also and then, hopefully, you've created enough space for your ST to get into and for Ronny to find him (14 passing sounds plenty long enough for this, particularly with 12 mentality which also sounds good).

Just a quick thought, whats the mentality of your ST?

[inuyasharool]

Well when his mentality was 15 always got the ball with the back to the goal, then i changed it to 13 but now hes always offside.

Problem is right now is that the MC's are still always marked i dont know what to with them right now... tried zonal and no tight marking just made a little effect but they are still all of the time marked which make them unable to help the game , they are having like 16-24 passes a game .

I mean i would understand that happaning againg barcelona of top teams but every game its 15-25 passes each.

Ill realy would like some advide on how to get them more involved and get past the 6.5 rating per game.

Also i think you should know that they are losing less balls because of the zonal marking but they are still far from being effective.

In case you were wodering the tempo is set to 8 and the width is set to 12.

hoping for a response

[Nevrin]

You may get your MC with different mentality. For example, one of your Mc who is staying deeper, who hold the ball, waiting for support. When the time the opposition moves to close him down, the other MC will move away from his marker and provide the former a passing option. And I am sure your fullbacks and wingers will support him as well if their setting is right.

[furiousuk]

Hmm, not sure why he is now offside, despite a lower mentality...

Can you post a screenie of your tactic? Is it a flat 4-5-1?

What roles (duty) have you set for all your players? (Attack,defend,support)

I always try to think that if I want to tweak how 1 player will play I generally need to tweak AT LEAST 3 other players too in order to get the best out of 1 change. More often than that you have to tweak the entire team. For example, if I wanted to a ball winning DM into a deep-lying playmaker then I'm going to have to tweak the mentality and CF of the other midfielders and the wingers and probably the FB's and striker/s too - this is because the change in role will vastly change the emphasis of the whole tactic. You need to strike a balance between creative players and water-carriers, too many of either will not produce good results.

If Ronny and Banega are marked then there must be space elsewhere - if you can exploit that space more effectively then the defence will need to cover that and hence leave more space for your MC's.

If you can save your tactic and post it that might help someone to answer also

[Koppol]

Well when his mentality was 15 always got the ball with the back to the goal, then i changed it to 13 but now hes always offside.

Problem is right now is that the MC's are still always marked i dont know what to with them right now... tried zonal and no tight marking just made a little effect but they are still all of the time marked which make them unable to help the game , they are having like 16-24 passes a game .

I mean i would understand that happaning againg barcelona of top teams but every game its 15-25 passes each.

Ill realy would like some advide on how to get them more involved and get past the 6.5 rating per game.

Also i think you should know that they are losing less balls because of the zonal marking but they are still far from being effective.

In case you were wodering the tempo is set to 8 and the width is set to 12.

hoping for a response

Ok to try and free up some space for your CM's try the following:

* Firstly set both of them to roam from position. This allows them to move more freely within the midfield and hopefully pick the ball up in space more often.

* Secondly, you need to sort out your mentality. Have Banega drop deeper to get on the ball, so a mentality closer to that of the CB's (possibly 10), this will allow him to drop into the space and pick the ball up off them more easily. Then hopefully he can distribute it further forward to an advanced player. Set Ronanldinho with a mentality 2 notches ahead of Banega. Therefore, he's still in the midfield, is still close to Banega, but is not alongside him. This will help the ability of the two of them to play short passes to each other without being caught stationary.

* Thirdly, passing length. If you want > no's of passes per game go for a shorter passing game. I usually go for notch 7 (first on mixed). I'd personally recommend this for the deeper Banega. For Ronaldinho I'd give him a flat 10 passing. That way he can distribute the ball as he sees fit. use his creative freedom to dictate how often he's likely to look for the ST's runs.

Your ST's mentality should be reduced if he's playing a lone role. Preferrably to that of Ronaldinho, that way they are close to one another and able to play one twos to keep possession and open space. I presume you are playing wide players? Set them with an advanced mentality (15) runs from deep often and allow them to be the ones getting in behind the opposition defence.

Basically, your midfielders need options to play well. Having players in the middle of the park available for short passes (CM's, ST) but also players out wide (FB's Wingers) for more direct passes will allow this. Increase your width to give the CM's some room to breathe as well. Particularly Ronaldinho, give him space to use his Creativity and Flair.

Another tip: use the FB's as shuttle passe, ever present on the wing and always in space: Runs from Deep Often, Hug Touchline, Short-ish passing.