Tactical Assistance - 4-3-3 / 4-1-4-1

[Christopher S]

Hi guys!

Long time lurker, first time poster. Been playing FM since FM07, but never really struggled tactically (at least not without being able to "solve" it promptly).

This years edition, however, is giving me a headache. I can't seem to figure out the ins and outs of the ME properly, conceding percievably "stupid" and unnecessary goals, along with underperforming offensively.

I am managing Norwich, and everything hasn't been THAT bad - I probably wouldn't be writing this if it had. First season in the Championship, I finished in first place after somewhat refining a 4-1-4-1 shape into taking advantage of Murphy and Redmond on the wings, feeding Cameron Jerome into a goalscoring machine. Won first place, and promoted to the Premiership. I thought "dont fix what isn't broken" and went along with the same tactic, plus a few new signings. Everything went ALOT better than expected, and I finished in 4th place - qualifying for CL, and only lost 2 matches againts the Top Five teams (Arsenal, United, City, Chelsea and Pool). I was mega psyched for the season two in the Premiership, bolstered my team and... everything went to ****. Nothing's working anymore. Conceding **** goals, can't seem to be the better team against anyone (conceding 12-20 shots no matter who I face (conceded 39 shots against Real Madrid in CL)), and can't seem to string together a decent string of play or games either.

Tactic (with roles):

GK (defend)

WBs (right)

CDd

CDd

WBs (left)

DPLd / DMd - depending on player

Wa (right)

APa

BBMs

Wa (right)

DFs

I've chosen this shape due to it's strong defensive shape, and potential for attacking in every part of the field. My wingers are my teams strongest point (Redmond and Josh Murhpy are both English internationals at this point). Below is my squad (reserves in brackets):

GK

John Ruddy (Sondre Rossbach)

Fullbacks

Right: Sime Vrsaljko (Jonathan Tah)

Left: Martin Olsson (Harry Toffolo)

Centre Backs

Jeffrey Bruma (Ryan Bennett)

Jonathan Tah (Walter Kannemann)

Defensive midfielder

Matias Kranevitter (Alexander Tettey)

Wingers

Right: Nathan Redmond (David Healer, regen wonderkid)

Left: Josh Murphy (Martin Olsson)

Central midfielders

APa: Johnny Howson (Fredrik Oldrup Jensen)

BBMs: Dani Garcia (David Healey)

Striker

Cameron Jerome (Arkadiusz Milik)

Last season I mostly played with Counter/Fluid, switched to Control/Attacking when facing teams I was expected to beat.

Team instructions:

- Retain posession

- Play out of defence

- Run at defence

- Exploit the Flanks

- Look for Overlap

- Play Wider

- Get stuck in

- Higher tempo

- Be More Expressive

At this point, I'm assuming the fault is with the team instructions, but I don't really know where to start. Basically, I'm not picky on how we play. However, I firmly believe a team can't attack with confidence and fluidity if there is no defensive stability and safety. Ideally, we'd be able to win the ball back before the opponent can establish a structured attack, recycle through the back line and turn it around distinctively while the opponent is unbalanced. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not looking to rely on counter attacking per se, as it proves to be both highly unreliable and less profitable in Football Manager than it is in real life. To summerize what I'm after:

- Excellent structure, both offensively and defensively, making transitions effortless.

- Winning back the ball before the oponent "settles" in offense

- Defensive stability, making it so we don't have to stress to score several goals per game to win. 1-0 is loads better than 3-2.

- Possession is not key, just means to an end - rest with ball, opponent has less time on the ball. 55-60% is ideal.

Some of the player roles might be out of place as well. All suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks a lot in advance!

[RTHerringbone]

Basically, you have over achieved, your reputation is up, and now the shortcomings of the tactic plus the relative lack of quality in your squad is biting you on the arse.

I can't tell from the title if you are using a 4-1-4-1 or a 4-1-2-3 Wide DM, but will assume it's a 4-1-4-1. When you attack, your whole MC line is involved, and the wing backs will also advance. It leaves a lot of space behind, and means your DCs and DM are under a lot of pressure.

Why have you chosen the TIs you have? You say "I'm assuming the fault is with the team instructions, but I don't really know where to start. Basically, I'm not picky on how we play."

If you aren't picky about how you play, why have you selected eight TIs? Lots of them are technically demanding ones, and even with the signings you have made, you are not a technically proficient side.

[Christopher S]

Basically, you have over achieved, your reputation is up, and now the shortcomings of the tactic plus the relative lack of quality in your squad is biting you on the arse.

i was actually thinking this myself. Well spotted.

I can't tell from the title if you are using a 4-1-4-1 or a 4-1-2-3 Wide DM, but will assume it's a 4-1-4-1. When you attack, your whole MC line is involved, and the wing backs will also advance. It leaves a lot of space behind, and means your DCs and DM are under a lot of pressure.

4-1-4-1 indeed. 4-3-3 was aimed at what I want it to transfor into in the attacking phase. I see what you get at. I think I might have started in the wrong end, focusing on the hows and whats in my attack, and disregarding the defensive part.

Why have you chosen the TIs you have? You say "I'm assuming the fault is with the team instructions, but I don't really know where to start. Basically, I'm not picky on how we play."

If you aren't picky about how you play, why have you selected eight TIs? Lots of them are technically demanding ones, and even with the signings you have made, you are not a technically proficient side.

Ah, yes. I have to explain. I started with three or four TI's in the championship, and then added the other ones as I went according to what I saw and/or thought needed changing. In retrospect, I can see how that might lead to unbalance. I can see I worded it badly, as I did indeed lay out the basics of what I am aiming out aswell.

I changed my WBs' to FBa now, and it immediately looks to give a better shape. I'm suffering offensively thought, it seems - especially in terms of possession. You might be right when pointing out technical shortcomings amongst the players - is it too much to ask for to maintain the majority of the possession, at least against the bottom half of the table?

[RTHerringbone]

You need to understand why you want to control the possession. I just don't think your Role / Duty selection suits a possession game - you have a lot of Attack Duty players who are bombing about and not leaving much by way of passing options for the DLP or DCs. Watch a passage of play when your keeper has the ball and it set to distribute the ball - watch the Wingers and the MCs.

[Christopher S]

Fair point. I do feel like, however, that a possession game requires the fullbacks to to involved offensively. I could try with FBs, but I suspect they'd rather stay back 9/10 times?

Also, not having an attacking role withing the central trio - wouldn't leave the striker isolated?

[RTHerringbone]

Fair point. I do feel like, however, that a possession game requires the fullbacks to to involved offensively. I could try with FBs, but I suspect they'd rather stay back 9/10 times?

Also, not having an attacking role withing the central trio - wouldn't leave the striker isolated?

Possession works best, in my opinion, when your wide defenders move responsibly up the flanks. If you have two CWBs on Attack, as an example, they often get so far up field, so early, that they aren't much use in the initial build up.

The striker won't be isolated as he comes quite deep anyway, plus the BBM will get high up there anyway. Another way to get central support is to look at the set up of your wide men, and see if there's anything that can be done.

[Christopher S]

Allright - I managed to claw my way to a 6th place finish, due to a series of insanely lucky results, tactical tinkering and a few good matches on a whim.

I've made some enhancements to my squad, sorting out the weeds in my flower bed, so to speak, and bringing in new talent with better technical abilities.

I honestly feel, at this point, that my squad should be able to be the leading team on the field in most matches. HOWEVER, the ME seems to think otherwise, given my reputation still isn't very good, making me the underdogs against bottom half teams, even on Carrow Road.

Current Squad, first XI:

GK: John Ruddy

DR: Sime Vrsaljko

DC: Jonathan Tah

DC: Jeffrey Bruma

DL: Ibrahima Mbaye

DM: Matias Kranevitter

MCr: Johnny Howson

MCl: Curro

AMR: Josh Murphy

AML: Nathan Redmond

ST: Arkadiusz Milik

First team reserves:

Sondre Rossbach (GK)

Saidy Janko (DR)

Walter Kannemann (DC)

Ryan Bennett (DC)

Harry Toffolo (DL)

Dani Garcia (DM)

Guido Pizarro (MC)

David Healy (MC - regen)

Fredrik Oldrup Jensen (MC)

Patrick Roberts (AMR/AML)

Gabriel Jesus (ST)

Formation with roles:

Any thoughts on the general position/role set-up here? I feel like we have plenty of players behind the ball in defense, and we keep a good and controled shape when going forward. However, for some reason, my players seem to have either lost their sense of eyesight, or they are just without imagination. None of the front three, or the central midfielders, seem to be willing or able to try the killer pass between the opposing teams fullback and CD, no matter how good the runs are. Any tips here? Is it a tempo thing? I currently have tempo set to SLOW to encourage thoughtful and composed passing around the park - trying to defend with the ball instead of chasing. I'll post TI's and such further down, I might be missing something obvious.

Mentality: Counter - Team Shape: Fluid

What I have aimed for, is to control matches throught annoying amounts of possession. The longer the ball is in our possession, the less time we have to spend defending. Run At Defence might be counterproductive, as I could just ask the specific players to to the same. I'm on the fence about Pass Into Space as well, as I think this could lead to unecessary loss of possession - however, it could also lead to us creating more chances.

The PI's are set-up more or less the same for everyone, just to ensure we keep the ball. "Fewer risky passes" for the back 5, "short passing" for everyone except the CMs and the front three, "Close Down Less" for the DM and DC's. That's about it.

So - what's the problem?

Well, it's split. In the matches we dominate field play and possession, my team seems incapable of playng killer passes and creating actual chances. We usually end up with 20-30 shots in these games - 5-8 of which are long shots (that's fine by me) -, but rarely above 1 or 2 CCC's. That's way too low.

Is it maybe a good idea to up the tempo and maybe width as soon as I see the opponent is incapable of coping/willing to let me lead the match, to perhaps stretch the field and create space? Or would that perhaps just lead to us playing the ball away, and getting counter attacked to death?

The other problem is ME-related. I can't seem to get my players to actually defend, no matter what I do. It seems that "tackler harder" or "ease off tackles" means exactly the same; just running along, winning olympic gold medals in ball watching. I'd prefer my team to obliterate the opposition, Stoke-style, to win the ball back, but this seems impossible. Pressing aswell seems like it simply won't work. Players either press on way too early, leaving HUGE gaps, or way too late, getting left in the dust by a semi-proficient player. Also, it seems defenders are far too keen on backing and backing from up the field towards our own 16-yard box, instead of simply challenging the player on the ball - any ideas to stop this? These 40-50-60 yards runs are annoying the crap out of me. Break his leg, make a free kick, I don't care - just stop backing down for 40 yards.

To summarize:

- I need tips towards creating more open chances

- I need tips on how to stop the amounts of silly 50-yard runs across the field

- Anything in general I haven't spotted myself, to improve the stability of our performance

Thanks a lot guys!

-

[johnnyyakuza78]

It seems pretty obvious that almost everyone is on support in your team. Who is making runs into the box and attacking the area? There is no penetration at all in that tactic. Add in too many TI's which overload the team with short unambitious passing.

You've already stated many times that you have got everyone on less risky, playing counter which is a cautious tactic. Its not surprising you can't make chances.

You've got them on counter which explains them not being incredibly interested in intensive pressing. Plus your player roles, like IF are basically attackers.

[Christopher S]

You are right - and I am aware of it. Problem is, pressing is abysmal whatever the mentality. My players press equally bad on counter as they do attacking (recurring theme on different saves).

Anywho, I have experimented with using the standard mentality, which have yielded some promise. I'm thinking of going over to control, but I fear the result of going so far up the pitch will result in less possession/more bad passes because the opposing team is more interested in pressing there. Also, it seems - due to opposing forwards/wingers being able to dribble 3-4 men without any problems -, anything more attacking than standard is suicide when it comes to counter attacks.

Any specific changes you'd recommend trying?

[johnnyyakuza78]

If you want to press.. then surely you'll be forced to push high up the pitch anyway? isn't that the point?

[johnnyyakuza78]

You probably will be killed by the counter attack by some teams, but thats because you are trying to play like Barca without having their players. Its not a coincidence that very few teams can actually play the way you are suggesting.

[Christopher S]

Not really trying to play like Barcelona, rather just trying to defend by keeping the ball instead of chasing it headlessy, as the latter seems to just... not work at all.

The reason I've ended up with this style is no other style seems to work. Keeping a compact shape and trying to counter attack kinda works, until you meet a random player with 16+ in dribbling, flair, pace and acceleration - and then you lose. The defensive capabilities of both last years and this years edition seems to be... off. Wingers positively dance past your defenders, yet your own wingers can't do ***** in the other end. I am at a loss for finding out how to do this, and the only reasonable solution I've found is to try and keep the ball as much as possible. And even then, it only takes the opposition - be it West Brom, Leeds or Man City - to-three passes and a 30-40 yard run to score a goal.

[johnnyyakuza78]

I dunno, I used to say stuff like that all the time, but then I realised what I was doing was pretty stupid and didn't understand the game at all. I still don't mostly, but have a much better idea than I used to. Now those things don't happen very often.

Maybe you are trying to play a certain way with players who aren't good enough to do it, or maybe its the fact that your team isn't set up correctly. I'd ditch almost all of your TIs till you can really see whats happening with your side, with the roles you've used.

Any style can work as far as I'm concerned, as long as you've got the players to make it work and you set up your team in a way that makes sense. Your team is playing EXACTLY how you'd expect from the way you've set them up.

[RTHerringbone]

So, as a recap:

Season one = promotion

Season two = 4th in PL

Season three = 6th in PL

All of this, in spite of still having a man for man inferior squad to a high proportion of the league, and you perceive yourself to be subject to some sort of AI bias where they can dribble at will past you and create ultra efficient goals?

[Christopher S]

I am fully aware of the result not being worth complaining of. The 4th place was somewhat deserved, but I was still lucky a lot of the time. The 6th place was lying, given it was only 7 points away from 9th place - and I was insanely lucky most matches, being outplayed but somehow saving draws and lucky wins here and there. I'd rather end up in 10th place while playing how I want my team to play, both in the attacking and defensive phase, than to luck out like I did.

It's the play itself I concerned about. I've gotten good - maybe great - results, but I have no idea why and/or how. No matter how I set up my team, tactically or in terms of formation, I concede the exact same kinds of goals. I'm pretty sure the AI isn't as biased as I make it out to be, but I'm just sick and tired of not really making sense of the ins and outs of this game. I'm not trying to excuse anything or blame the mechanics of the game per se, I'm just desperately sick of having nothing work. Up until this years edition I've always felt the players at least responding to what I tell them to the extent I expect it to.

This year... I need help.

[johnnyyakuza78]

Ok, but how is it you want to, or expect to play though. Where do you expect to win the ball back, is it high up the pitch, is it a low block? Where are all these goals coming from that you speak of. You said you tried playing counter with a low block, yet you used 2 attacking wingbacks and your TIs totally went against that concept.

It seems you need to understand the concept of what you are doing, you have got very good results so far though.

[Christopher S]

I can try and summerize some main focal points of what I'd like to do.

Front three

Attacking: Constant movement, with the central attacker being slightly more stationary to make sure we have a "safe" place to play the ball going forward. Passes in between fullback and central defender to wingers as a main threat, with crosses from fullbacks and/or wingers into the box as plan B.

Defending: Pressing the bejeezuz out the oppositions defenders, giving them as little time as possible on the ball. Wingers track back if AI fullbacks tend to bomb.

Central three

Attacking: The front two should be resposible for distributing the ball across the pitch in transition, with at least one of them supporting the striker against a compact defense. Should constantly be on the lookout for runs in behind AI defense for the wingers/inside forwards. Man in DM should pivot towards the flank with the ball, to give a passing option (to perhaps switch flanks with one pass), and to stop counters.

Defense: Disrupt AI playmaker, throw haymaker tackles to stop build up and movement. The more we can stop the AI, the better. Man in DM position works should read the play, and come to the rescue whenever the MC's sell themselves short, and intercept through balls.

Back four

Attacking: Fullbacks follow the ball forward, and should be able to overlap if we are facing an established defense on AI half, for a cross into the box. In theory, the should follow the "height" of the central midfielders, maybe slightly "lower" against better teams. Central defenders stays behind, and give off the ball with short passes.

Defense: High defensive line to win back the ball as quickly as possible. Fullbacks track wingers. Central defenders should focus mainly on winning headers and intercepting through balls, and try to stay in position as much as possible to avoid disrupting our own offside line.

-------------------------

I think this is the best description I can give. Any thoughts on how to implement it?

[RTHerringbone]

Are you now committing to a 4-3-3 (4-1-2-3 DM Wide in game)?

The earlier images weren't far off what I was doing in the Barcelona thread, and the prevalence of Support Duties isn't really an issue in that Counter Mentality, as the Duties effectively get bumped up when a Counter is triggered. However, given your bold sections above, I'd say:

Front three

CF (S) definitely a good idea to be a deeper, "safe" pass - and a False Nine may even be better for you. Watch how they move and link play. You want constant movement, but given the need to have a more "stationary" central sriker, i'd suggest you just want the outer players instructed to Roam From Position, possibly get them to Swap Positions too. The most dynamic combination would see you using different Roles and Duties on either flank. To max their pressing, you'd need to be using a high Mentality with a pushed up line, Close Down pumped up as a TI AND a PI. That will maximise the forward pressing, but will impact things further down the pitch (creating gaps etc. which can be tempered with PIs further down field to Close Down Much Less). Prevent Short GK Distribution will see the forward players attempt to block passing lanes at AI goal kicks, so is a good idea. Remember that pressing in FM does not look like the feverish but-gusting seen at Barca, Dortmund etc. in recent years.

Central three

Standard Holder / Passer / Runner combination by the sounds of it. Whack in an Anchor, an AP (S) and a CM (A) or B2B. Get the runner (B2B or CM (A)) to play on the same side as the AML/R who is less likely to be cutting in or attacking the box regularly to ensure the runner has space. The Anchor will give to scope when defending to get the MCs to Press hard.

Back Four

Sounds like Support Duties out wide. Using a standard WB allows you to control their crossing with a PI, whereas that isn't the case with a CWB. The DCs will be affected to an extent by a TI to Close Down Much More, and by an aggressive mentality, so you will have to set their PIs to Close Down Much Less. Add Play Out Of Defence as a TI and look at passing PIs to rein things in. Using a Playmaker Role at DM arguably will also make them look to make a simple short pass to him rather than look to do anything more expansive. To get full backs to track wingers and wingers to track full backs, you can explicitly set specific man marking duties to enable that - it is especially relevant if using Attack Duty AML/R players, but be mindful that dragging them all the way back like that can hinder the effectiveness of attacking transitions.

[Christopher S]

Yup, my entire squad has been tailored for it over three seasons, so anything else would be stupid at least at this point.

I'm gonna try your suggestions here, along with bumping my mentality to standard, or even maybe control (at home at least), to get the players further up the pitch. I've also told the Inside Forwards to "stay wide", in hope they'll start their runs diagonally from the outside, and perhaps creating a bit more space in the middle.

[Christopher S]

Allright guys. I've made some changes and tossed some ideas around after your input (thanks alot, seriously).

Not really sure I understand the ins and outs yet, but atleast I *think* I have a better understanding than before.

I've set up the following formation, with standard mentality and fluid strategy, to encourage defending all over the park.

I've got the following TI's checked by default:

- Retain possession

- Shorter passing

- Push higher up

- Prevent Short GK Dist.

- Close Down Much More

Depending on who I play and wether I play at home or away, I tend to check higher tempo and/or play wider, to try and stretch the opponent.

The left back might be set to support as well. I opted out of WBs, in favor of FBs, simply to cover a bit more space defensively. It seems like the wingers track back a little better as well, given that FBs are inherently more defensive/positionend deeper in the pitch. I might be wrong, but it looks that way at least.

As you can see, results have been satisfactory, and the players are finally responding as expected to my tweaks and preperations.

A few things, some help might be needed:

- The Anchorman (Kranevitter, what a beast) is performing way above expectation, completely dismantling every opponent.

- The APs in AML (Josh Murphy) is exploiting space and creating tons of chances. Having this role there have fired up my striker as well.

- The DLP is constantly under par rating-wise (<7). I opted for a DLPs over APs or BBM to have a more holding midfielder, and gave him Roaming to have him wander the pitch to always be avaliable. He averages over 70 passes per match, but most of them are basic recycling. He's not too involved in tackling and interceptions (the CMa far outnumbers him here), but I feel he's not really offering the team anything crucial. Any ideas?

- Same goes for the IFa in AMR. At this point, I haven't given him any PI's. Why? I don't really know what he should do. If I tell him to constantly cut inside, I might have to bomb the FBr forward to cover the room he leaves behind, exposing our flanks to counter attacks. I'd really like input on how to utilize this position in my formation, since he at this point isn't really contributing with either assists or goals.

[ddrrbb]

In my game (and I assume yours), Kranevitter and Howson both have "play short simple passes" PPM. That may limit the effectiveness of his potential playmaking and explain his basic recycling passes. Kranevitter successfully unlearned his short pass bias since he fit perfectly into a DM/DLP role.

[Christopher S]

Kranevitter playing short passes as an Anchor Man isn't a problem really, han he is averaging on 7.30 this far. Superb, to say the least, for a defensive midfielder.

The player in MCr (DLPs at this point) is another case. I'll try Guido Pizarro for a few matches, and see what he does in terms of offensive contributions.

[Christopher S]

Working on unlearning "short simple passes" for Kranevitter, and also learning Howson "Try killer passes" for increased penetration.

Still playing like the last update, and it's going great. Recurring in game changes are "Pass into space" and "higher tempo". Always start out matches in standard mentality, and change to either attacking or counter depending on how and what.

Pretty satisfied now

I've got a lot of exciting players in the squad, and the lowest average age in the league.

Liverpool has been near unbeatable alle season, with Balotelli and Sturridge scoring at will - felt good beating them at home. They always play with a nasty 3-4-1-2 formation, but actually changed when they played me to the dreaded 3-3-2-1-1 thingy - finally garnering som respect in the league.

Again - thanks ALOT for helping me out guys.

[RTHerringbone]

Looks good

Really working well defensively there and the majority of dropped points are in more than acceptable games - barring that one against Mlada Boleslav, where I guess you took the opportunity to rotate the squad a bit?

[Christopher S]

Thanks a lot. Yes, defensively we are performing very well - even with a below par left back in Mbaye. The Anchor Man in DM-position is really proving worthy, sweeping up a good half of every teams attempted counter attacks, and simply destroying attacking midfielders. He's got the highest pass completion ratio in the Premier League as well, with an astounding 90%. Great foundation.

Yeah, I rotated a bit there, played 8/11 from the bench/reserves. Also, Mlada Boleslav turned out to be sort of a Bogey-team for me. They really surprised me ta home aswell, however, my quality proved itself and I won 5-0 there.

Gonna run an online game with a buddy soon, so it'll be exciting to see if I can recreate the success with my (hopefully) newfound understanding of the game.

[Christopher S]

Been thinking about setting both my defenders with Cover duty, since they have an anchor in front of them, and we play a high defensive line. What do you think? Essentially, I'm looking to have both defenders on their toes ready to chase over the top balls and killer balls.

[Christopher S]

So, new challenge tactics wise.

At home, I've mostly dominated every game we ever played, and finished the EPL with 19 games - 13W - 5D - 1L, 41-10, and ~60% possession on average. That one loss was the first match of the season (1-2 loss against Arsenal), before I settled on my updated tactic, so I basically went 18 games at home without losing.

Away, however, wasn't the same. I did 19 games - 11W - 3D - 5L. Now, that's fairly respectable. However, I did 31-20 in goals, and and far more narrow games than I'd like. The losses were against Newcastle (0-1), Pool (1-4), Spurs (0-3), Manchester United (1-2) and Hull (0-2). I also had 4 or 5 wins where it easily could've gone the other way, and I won thanks to Josh Murphys genius or margins. With a bit of bad luck, and a few individual flourishes fewer, my 36 away points could've easily been 20-25. Thankfully, that didn't happen.

Now, I've come to realise the most likely reason for us being less proficient and defensively worse away, is because of our basic shape. the 4-1-2-2W-1 is brilliant at home, always leaving us with a free man, and pegging back their fullbacks. However, given this is essentially is our defensive shape, it's probably causing a few problems away from home: I figure our AMR/L are on point right after we lose the ball, but as soon as the opposition goes over to transition and/or controlled attacking, they are probably too high up the pitch. Therefore, I'm thinking of re-shaping my tactic into a 4-1-4-1, to be used in away games where I expect quality from the other team.

NOW! I think our defense and anchor set-up is pretty much on point. and I expect our defense fits being set up higher, given our central defenders great pace (14/17 and 14/16). The question is how to utilize the wingers properly, given them starting further down the pitch?

Some key points:

- Josh Murhpy (M/AM L (AMR)) is my pride and glory, and star of my team. Finished this season with 7.71 avg (second highest in the EPL), averaging over 7 succesful dribbles per match, and 11 goals and 11 assists from his role as a Wide Playmaker (support) in the AML position. Will setting him as a Wide Playmaker (Attack) in a ML position somewhat result in similar attacking behaviour, yet better defensive positioning?

- Pulling the wingers back basically means one or more things:

a) We need to build a tad bit slower, since the players takes a bit more time to advance

b) The striker is more relied upon to keep the ball to wait for support

c) We should be able to keep possession and transition more ease due to our wingers being set up further down the pitch.

- What about team instructions? I expect it shouldn't be a problem to keep our strategy/play style even though our wingers are pulled back. However, I don't rule out the fact that some instructions needs be added? Or is this something that should/could be sorted out with PI's?

- Striker role. At this point in time, I haven't really managed to find the most effective striker role for the lone striker, alternating between CS(s) and F9 for the most part. I've been drifting towards a DLS(s) for a few games, to see what that contributes with. The striker should be able/allowed to both link up play and provide runs into space given the opposition is more likely to leave space against us when we're away.

Any thoughts?