How do I create a good central midfield partnership

[James9]

I have read many articles on how important the midfield battle is. For many years the top teams have built their success on ensuring that the centre of the park is well proctected.

The Arsenal teams had Patrick Viera and Emmanuel Petit and then Gilberto to replace Petit even Edu did a decent job alongside Viera. Now we have Alex Song and Jack Wilshere.

Man Utd - Keane and Scholes/Butt and lets not forget Paul Ince. Now there is Carrick and Fletcher

I need some tactical advice form the experts on my midfield. I have decided to have both roles as Central Midfielder and tweak the personal instructions for both players. I am trying to create the double pivot in midfield. I have read that you can create a double pivot in midfield by setting your two central midfielders with the instructions listed below. However I have a few concerns and wanted to get some advice from the tactical gurus.

I have instructed both midfielders to run from deep often which may lead to them bombing forward at the same time leaving my my center backs expose to a quick counter attack from the opposition.

I think it was either SFraser or Cleon who mentioned that mentality controls how aggressive a player is with his passing and attacking play. So what I have done is set the player who I would like to be more stationed on a lower mentality, while the player that I would like to join the attack has a more adventorous mentality. Now I am no tactical expert and I am not that good at watching the ME.

Although I have both players on Run From Deep - Often they should not bomb forward at the same time because they have different mentalities. The player with the lower mentality should be more cautious because is lower mentality will see him stay back and protect the defence and not be so aggressive going forward and although he has a high creative freedom he should be less adventorous and would probaly try more simple passes because his mentality is lower. The player with the more attacking mentality would be more incline to join the attacks and try more creative passes because of the higher mentality.

I do not know if I am on the right track and that is where the tactical gurus can help me to understand and point me in the right direction

What adjustments would you guys make to midfield settings to get them to perform better has a double pivot all recommendations will be welcome and I will aslo give you my thoughts on your suggestions and hopefully we can start a good discussion on setting up a good midfield pairing

Please see below my settings for both players

Central Midfielder - Support

Mentality - Attacking (14 - 15 notches on slider)

Creative Freedom - Much (14 - 15 notches on slider)

Passing Style - Short (4 notches on sldier)

Closing Down - whole pitch

Tackling Normal

RFD - often

RWB - often

Long Shots - Sometimes

Through balls - often

Cross ball Sometimes

Cross from deep

Cross Aim - mixed

Wide play - move into channels

Swap positin with Alex Song (MCR)

Marking - Zonal

Tight Marking - No

Roam from position - Yes

Central Midfielder - Automatic

Mentality - Nortmal (7 - 8 notches on slider)

Creative Freedom - Much (13 - 14 notches on slider)

Passing Style - Short (4 notches on sldier)

Closing Down - whole pitch

Tackling Normal

RFD - often

RWB - Sometimes

Long Shots - Sometimes

Through balls - often

Cross ball Sometimes

Cross from mixed

Cross Aim - mixed

Wide play - Normal

Swap positin with Jack Wilshere (MCl)

Marking - Zonal

Tight Marking - No

Roam from position - Yes

Hold up ball - No

[ZdlR]

Although I have both players on Run From Deep - Often they should not bomb forward at the same time because they have different mentalities.

While this might be sound theory, the only way to know if this is happening as desired is by watching games in the match engine. On first glance, however, I would say this was suicidal unless there's a DMC behind them covering the counter-attack.

[James9]

While this might be sound theory, the only way to know if this is happening as desired is by watching games in the match engine. On first glance, however, I would say this was suicidal unless there's a DMC behind them covering the counter-attack.

Thanks ZdlR would you recommend then reducing the RFD to rarely or sometimes for the midfielder on automatic duty so that he does not leave the defence exposed

[ZdlR]

I play a 4231 where the double pivot has 7 and 4 mentality with no forward runs at all. And I'm around the same level as Arsenal would be in the first season, I guess. Obviously, your mileage may vary, but I prefer not to take risks with central midfielders. My partnership is a creator/passer who can defend and an out-and-out defensive midfielder played at MC.

[James9]

I play a 4231 where the double pivot has 7 and 4 mentality with no forward runs at all. And I'm around the same level as Arsenal would be in the first season, I guess. Obviously, your mileage may vary, but I prefer not to take risks with central midfielders. My partnership is a creator/passer who can defend and an out-and-out defensive midfielder played at MC.

Thanks ZdlR can you give me some information on what other instructions you give to your midfield pair for example creative freedom, passing and marking instructions

[legod]

if your players has run from deep often

1. the player with the attacking mentality will often start running forward once your defenders get possession of the ball. how early depends on how "attacking" the slider is. as such, the only way to reach that player will be through a direct ball which is much riskier than a short pass.

2. the player with the defensive mentality will wait until the ball is played in front, eg the winger or striker holding the ball up. how late he begins his runs depends on how "defensive" the slider is. with the defensive mentality, when the defenders get the ball, the player wont make his forward run yet, and therefore, will be in a position to receive a short pass.

if you really want to finetune the mentalities, the only way is to watch a full match replay for a few games at least. then you can see whether or not your players are running up too early leaving the defenders isolated or if they are not running forward aggressively enough to help the attack

if you only play two centermids, i suggest that they have very strong physical stats. players with strong physical stats are much more versatile and can adjust much better to playing against four man or five man midfields

for instance, my jack rodwelll has 18 acceleration 16 pace, 17 strength and stamina, 14 agility 15 balance and jumping and workrate. even though i give him a very attacking mentality and RFD mixed, he is still a tremendous defensive presence because he is able to run up and down quickly and tirelessly. he can hold his own physically against defensive players and shackle attacking players, he can deal with three man midfields because he has the physical presence to not get overrun.

fellaini is pretty immense too. 20 strength, 17 stamina, 18 balance, 17 jumping. his agility is 14. but he is slow. his pace is 13, acceleration 10. because of the lack of speed, he cannot cover back in time if we lose the ball when he strays forwards. as such, i give him a normal-defensive mentality, and RFD mixed so that he only makes runs into the box when it is relatively safe, eg my winger is at the byline looking to send a cross in.

because neither of them are especially potent attacking-wise, i don't rely on them to create chances. they are mainly my ball winners, my destroyers. as such, i give them tackling mixed (their tackling is 14-15, not bad but not great either), short-mixed passing because i just want them to shift the ball to my amc and aml who are the real creators (PASTORE AND EDEN HAZARD EAT YOUR HEARTS OUT). normal-little creative freedom because they lack the technical and mental abilities to exploit it (they have low flair and relatively low creativity, dribbling and passing).

[drhay53]

RFD-often for both MC's will result in a total lack of passing options for your team as they will frequently be in the box or far ahead of the attack. Not to mention out of position for counter attacks.

I would suggest putting both of them on 'sometimes' with different mentalities and see if that does what you're looking for. If it were me I would not switch positions between Wilshere and Song if they're playing with much different mentalities. Song is not much of a finisher, and Wilshere is not much of a ball winner. The other thing I would watch for is how often Song gives the ball away with those settings. He might RWB too often and get dispossessed, or TTB too often and give the ball away cheaply when a short pass to Wilshere or another more creative player would be better. If it were me I would have Song sit deep with RFD - sometimes, TTB - sometimes, RWB - sometimes and use that as a starting point. I would also switch Wilshere to RFD - sometimes.

Personally I have been moving to the philosophy of not giving good players the 'often' instruction for anything. I usually just use sometimes and rarely. I tell them what their options are / aren't, and then let them use their decision-making to decide when to do it. By using the often instruction it is kind of like 'forcing' the player to do something when if I let him decide for himself, he would do it at the proper time and not just 'ALWAYS'.