Defensive Problems - Need some pointers and help

[johangod]

Alright, so after trying to tweak my tactic a bit and work my way out of my defensive mess I've come to a dead end ...

So I'm managing my local Icelandic team Thor, newly promoted relegation candidates - in my second season.

First season I battled through and managed to stay up, and now in the second season I have a bit of a problem, the thing is my team going forward is excellent and my 2 forwards are way ahead of most and score and assist each other like crazy and if they don't chip in I have good wingers and a creative playmaker who help out, but at the back my team is just utterly crap.

I play a 4-4-2, rigid philosophy and counter strategy, I have direct passing and float crosses and stick to position - I've also been playing around with more cautious tackles as I was the worst disciplined team last season and always seem to foul a lot and get cards.

But the deal is it's not just one types of goal I'm conceding, the games usually play out in a way that the other teams as a lot of long shots and I allow them to, as they really rarely score from them, but it's those 3 or 4 chances they get outside of long shots that always find a way to goal.

From defensive corners I'm completely useless, they usually score from a completely free header.

I also concede just your every day goals and it's usually from defensive mistakes, at least my defenders have horrid average ratings in the games I concede many(which are most)

And if I do manage to keep them from getting scoring chances I concede penalties, and a WHOLE lot of them ...

Now I do realize that I'm managing quite the poor team, but I just feel that these things could get fixed or at least reduce these amounts of concede goals, cause I will score, my team upfront are so good that If I only ever conceded less I would be in the top fight, instead looking at another relegation battle..

I will include a few screenshots of my defenders, my games and somethings that might be useful.

Goalkeeper;

Right Fullback;

Left Fullback;

[johangod]

Central defenders;

Mind you I usually start Vrenko and Almirion and Cesarini was for the future, but he did play quite good in the League Cup so I started rotating a bit, especially when the just took turns having an awful game.

Also going to post 2 games I played, first against defending league champions KR in the League Cup Group, managed to get to 3-1 before throwing it away 4-3, without being dominated

[johangod]

And also the first league game of the new season, newly promoted Selfoss took all the chances they could get and of course I gave away 2 penalties

My recent games are listed below, the game vs Fram we were just ase good, against Breiðablik they dominated the shots, 24 to 4 of mine, but mind you 18 where long shots, and their winner came from a concede penalty in the 90th minute.

And to end this all I'm going to post my tactic, the roles are pretty standard, my fullbacks are just that, on auto - central defenders set to central defenders/defend and my MCr is Ball Winning Defend

That about sums it up, any pointers on what I could do better, I'm pretty sure I won't find any much better defenders, as when I tried searching for defenders with good concentration, composure and decision it was pretty weak and all players in there 34+

also I haven't tweaked the instructions for any of my defenders, just have them as the TC puts them with theses roles/duties.

Best Regards and hopes of some good answers !

[ZdlR]

A very quick very response before I go to work. I think you are defending too much. You are sitting too deep and too narrow, encouraging the opposition to attack (which they are doing effectively). A counter attacking tactic is intended to stifle the opposition before they pose any real threat, but you are letting them get too close to your goal. I would certainly look for better players, but in he interim I would try to attack, especially at home. If you can keep the ball from the opposition, that will also help your cause.

[johangod]

that could be the reason, I'm going to try and push my line up a bit and play a little less narrow - played 2 games, one of them I controlled but conceded 2 from corners in a game my forwards actually where shambles, then won a 3rd division club in the FA Cup so still got to try it out more in the league

Edit: Played 3 more games in the league, bottoms Vikingur beat me in a game I dominated and again got the news item "Vikingur profit from wasteful Thor" - then I played second place FH at home and lost 3-1, again playing better then them.

In the 3rd I tried dropping the line once again and narrow it and start playing counter again, and I drew top placed KR who had won all 6 games.

I think my next move is have my D-line at the least amount of deep, so one notch to the right would have them normal and keep having it narrow and change the Strategy to standard so my players have a higher mentality, but still keep it tight, we'll see how that goes.

[lam]

Agreed with Zdlr, you are way to deep.

The problem with playing this deep is that when your players, who look physicaly capable, get into positions where the mental skills are called upon (very poor) they panic and make last ditched tackles. This would explain your high number of cards and your high number of penalties.

As your DC's have pretty decent physical stats (at least for the league) then I would suggest that you simple run with the default defence line and just see how you get on.

Now, this may have an effect on your ability to score goals beacuse by playing that deep, when you do manage to get the ball, your opposition is probably very high up the pitch. Now if you were to play higher yourself, there wouldnt be so much space.

All in all, your deep defensive line and your players lack of mental skills are, I would suggest, your key problem.

ps.... Your keep looks like it 'might' be oaky at rushin out too. his RO skills is good, his pace is good, though he does lack acceleration. Though it might be wise to try to set him to rush out if you are playing higher up the pitch.

pps. There is nothing wrong with the game defaults. When playing narrow, one of the key things to gain from this is a tighter defence. Now, seeing as yours is rubbish, you are not gaining anything thus you may as well try this on default too.

LAM

[johangod]

Thanks for those replies, I'm going to set the line on standard now and try and work my way from there.

Might try and give my team the benefit of the doubt and try and let them control matches as seeing I have been doing that for the last couple of games in relation to possesion and shots, so might as well have them high up in the pitch