Advice on how to set up an underdog team. (Warning: Picture heavy)

[jac4121993]

I'm managing Colchester in League 1 and needless to say they are rated as one of the worst sides in the division. Rated as one of the worst sides (if not the worst) in most attribute categories. The main exception is Pace, which they are rated as the best in the division at and I'm wondering to best take advantage of this with the players I have available to me.

I think it may be best to first show you some of the players I have available to me:

Beyond that, there isn't an awful lot - the vast majority of my squad depth comes from players under the age of 19. From what I have, I've gone for something along these lines so far:

(McNeil at LB is only there as cover for Potts and Dickson, will be gone in a month). Also, my goalkeeper is set to Distribute to the striker and play More Direct Passes (I don't particularly think my defenders are suited for playing the ball out from the back).

There are a few problems I can see from my tactic (or have seen during matches). The first problem is the lone striker. I either have a combative striker who is good at holding up the ball for other players but isn't very good at scoring (Ibehre) or I have a more natural goalscorer who is pretty average/poor at holding up the ball (though is probably better at linking up the play than Ibehre) . I could switch to a 4-4-2, but I'm worried that the lack of a DM will make my defence vulnerable - and it is already pretty vulnerable considering the quality of the players in there. The two CMs are also a bit of a worry, in the pre season games I've watched they don't seem to stay in shape when the opposition have the ball. In fact, they fairly regularly seem to let the opposition just pass through them with little resistance (and these opposition players are awful). I did originally have the BBM as a BWM, but he didn't seem to offer a offer a lot going forward (and I didn't have many players in the box at crosses, which my tactic tries to use as the main avenue of attack). I'm also a little bit worried about my usage of Watt. He has the joint highest Finishing stat in the side, so I should really be looking to him to score a few, but I'm worried the W/S will not allow me to take advantage of that fully. At the same time, I wanted my left back to have an Attack Duty as the players I have available at left back are much better going forward than my right back is and I didn't particularly want to go with two Attack Duties down one flank.

I'm not really asking for advice on how to make my side unbeatable or how to make it so they win 5-0 every game (though that would be nice!), I'm really just asking for advice on whether my tactic seems solid as it is and also whether, going from the players I have available, there are much better options available to me tactically than what I've gone for.

Erm, thanks for reading?