Problems and solutions with different scenarios in game

[Chema]

I thought this might be a good idea for a thread. As the new football manager comes with a much more situational approach, we as managers are forced to react much more on the byline. And i read a lot of answers here that all say pretty much the same: "well it depends, you cant really say this as a fact, you always need to look at who you are facing... and so on"

So why don't we collect different scenarios and approaches to overcome these issues?

As too me, i am by far no football manager expert (i lack a lot of in-depth knowledge of match engine and so on) but i do know a fair share on football tactics. So when ever i write stuff here it is written from the perspective of a real life football analyst.

So as to the point, i would like to start on discussing scenarios i keep facing in my saves:

1. opposition is parking the bus

2. opposition is pressing high up the pitch

3. ...

*i would be willing to add/updating to the list if we get good input here on other important scenarios and maybe we use the second post as the "how to react" post

[Chema]

1. Parking the bus

I really like the example of bayern münchen vs juventus turin. lets look at a couple of stat of that match:

These are the average positions split in three time episodes in second half 45-60, 60-75, 75-90min - top to bottom

so take a look at the changes in position that came along with the substitution coman for alonso the team shape switches from a pretty narrow 4-3-3 to a wider 4-2-3-1 and an even wider 4-2-4 with müller and lewandowski pretty much parking in the opposition box and ribery and coman staying far out to stretch up play

the first instructions for my fm team would probably be play wide but i tend to rather go for a wider roll for an individual instead of telling the whole squad to spread out - the average positions from bayern dont really show a big change in the other position do they?

now lets look at some stats of the match

so i highlighted the stats i thought are interesting - everybody knows that bayern had a lot more possession, so its not worth speaking about that -

lets look at the solo runs - for everyone who saw the game, yes we are talking about ribery here. first off the value of 40 solo runs into key areas is the highest value bayern had this season also the value if 11 runs into the penalty area is a season high (15 runs into the area is bayerns top this season)

why do we look at this?

well i guess this did not happen accidentally did it? there is also a reason why we had not a single dribbling into the area in the first half but 7 in second. so what was the idea behind this?

if you face a very rigid team, with a very narrow shape and the team also sits really deep, how do you unlock the shape and create space? yup, your right you need force the defenders out of position! so if your lucky, you got one or two quality dribblers in your team so you can tell them to run at the defense from wide positions. with these runs you force the opponent to react, they will have to make a decision - close down the dribbler and leave the shape or keep the shape and give the dribbler freedom - so with a bit of quality in dribblings, a bit of luck and a fair share of attampts you will eventually unlock the opponent and create those chances your waiting on. in our game, especially ribery did have a lot of unsuccessful attempts but he did also create one or two chances that could have been those two needed goals as well - so thats that for dribblings.

one little add on - this can also be seen in build up when facing a very structured opponent. one of the central defenders dribbles forward putting pressure on the opponent - close down the defender and leave shape or hold the shape and let the defender push forward. this does come with a bit of risk, because if your defender loses the ball your very much exposed and run into some mean counter attacks.

no lets take a look at the one thing that changed the game for bayern - crosses into the box. as i said above the last 15 minutes bayern played with two up front, lewandoski and müller. both played pretty rigid they had the strict oder to always be inside the box when crossing opportunities arise. in second half bayern got 7 delivery’s into the box (i believe that deliverys are successful crosses - there is no definition on this) because that would underline the impression i had watching the game. especially costa, drifting out to the right flank and then whipping in crosses out of a rather deep position - left footed so the crosses have the aim second post, had a great role in this. juventus played too narrow to close down costa on the wing, so they always had to deal with these crosses in the box. with the opposite winger, in most cases ribery, müller and lewandowski in the box there was a constant danger with this.

the 1:2 shows the role of costa - many suggested that he would not do good in the center of the pitch but at the end of the day he was a constant thread with exactly those crosses. here you see the goal, the positional play of bayern with coman holding a wide position and forcing alex sandro out of position, müller and lewandowski spear leading the attack.

https://youtu.be/tXU4UcPf3ac?t=1m42s

the second goal shows the importance of „gegenpressing“ with vidal winning the ball. müller said after the match „often a ball won with counter pressing leads to a much more dangerous situation then a normal positional play“. and then again play wide and cross in the ball with lewandoski and müller in the box ready to score. take a look at ribery here, he comes from a wide position and drags away müllers defender with his run - replicating this in fm would be godlike (any idea?)

https://youtu.be/tXU4UcPf3ac?t=2m1s

so implementing in fm for me should look like this:

wide am’s should be wingers to stay wide and stretch play

lewandowski and müller should be striker maybe we look at a 4-2-4 set up or a 4-4-2 with attacking wingers or a 4-2-3-1 with an attacking player in the amc position whom we will see in the box a lot.

i would love to know how we get that costa role. he drifts out of the center to throw in crosses with his left foot, directed at goal - any idea?

we should let our dribblers run at defense and unsettle them as good as possible and i guess we should keep a slow pace to minimize risking possession - or lose possession to provoke counter pressing could that be possible? i would love it to be!)

concluding this:

crosses should be an option

run at the defense to unsettle them

keep possession, stretch play

overload areas (costa on the right wing) - not sure how to do in fm

this is just one option on breaking down a deep defense - and as i said i am far from mastering fm so this is just a kick off for discussions.

[Chema]

2. Beating a high pressing Team

again there will be no right or wrong here and the way i approach beating a high pressing team is pretty risky. many teams react with a bit of a conservative approach working around the pressing players by whooping the ball upfront. a direct style will help, it gets the ball away from danger zone and will avoid losing the ball in dangerous areas. so there is nothing wrong with this approach. but in order to pull this of, you will need to have the right players higher up the pitch - attributes like strength and aerial abilities will be very important in this sort of playing style.

i normally pick teams, that lack those type of players upfront - we mostly have technically strong and agile players. so if we send long balls upfront, we will most likely lose them to stronger defenders and give away possession. this would mean, the high pressing tactic my opponent picked is working, its forcing me to give away possession and it will eventually force my squad deeper in our half and sooner or later we will encounter problems.

so my approach is a possession based one. i want to beat the pressing by exploding the space it gives us in behind the first line. as an example we look at this situation:

there is a high pressing going on but the formation is stretched out vertical. so there is a lot of space in between the lines. no lets say the goalkeeper pumps the ball up front the chance of losing possession. why? well the long ball will probably reach 5-10 meters behind the midline - here we will have an areal battle with the defender in a better position (the pitch in front of him, normally moving forward - in easier to judge where the ball will come down). if the defenders win the header, they will send it forward and now look at this:

the header will most likely find one of the four midfielders, they have a better position, closer and the numerically. so we end up losing the ball in the center of the pitch with the opposition (if they are smart) taking advantage of a 4vs2 in the center. we could easily run into trouble here. so way dont we use the space this high pressing gives us? this picture actually shows a bad pressing by real but it helps underlining the idea of playing around the pressing.

the first and most important thing is our positional play. we need to get our players in positions that make it hard to cover. this will eventually lead to a free man at the back - most common is a free dm whom dropped in between the two defenders. why does this lead to problems? well check out the graphic again.

when you press, you dont want the opponent to play the ball in behind you right? so you close down the passing options. due to the high LB the RM has to stay in line with his midfielders - he is out of pressing order because otherwise he would give up a dangerous spot. same goes with the RB - even though he is a bit deep in this picture he still ties down the LM. this also happens against a 4-3-3 when both winger attempt to close down the FB’s - some teams try to avoid this by sending the OM or CM Players to close down FB’s in this case but then you face a different problem with giving away space in the center. so we see, a strict positional play where the tactical orders are clear puts a lot of pressure on the team without possession.

now lets see how we solve a situation like this - two ideas of play:

as you can see, the DM operates as a HB, dropping deep in between the two defenders. this means, he clears space for the CM’s and forces the strikers to make a decision - close him down and give up space for the CD’s or leave him open and give him space and time to play vertical. what ever they do, if they don’t do it with 100 % believe they will cause a problem for the rest of the squad. so let’s just the option 1 works. the HB gets the ball, has little pressure and finds the RCM in the vacant center. this one pass would take out two defenders (the two strikers) a quality midfielder here could use the space to immediately turn and send the next pass up front between the next two lines of defense finding a striker in the middle. he could also play an easy possession pass back to the HB who then might find the Strikers upfront. As you see, by Roaming from the designated positions in the center of the pitch and by holding positions very strictly in wide areas, you cause problems to team, that want to press high up.

so what does this mean for my fm set up? my common sense would say:

3 strikers up front - holding position (occupying the back four)

the FB's push higher up and stay wide

we need a DM to drop deep between the CD's so we should use a HB - does he have risky passes on? if not maybe put it on??

we should tell our CM's to roam - they need to find vacant space and use that!

we should play out of defense, should play a short passing game

i am not sure if a deeper defense line makes sense? or if playing out of defense makes sure that we build up from deep

one of the strikers should drop deep to be available between the lines if the opportunity arises to get him into play (DLF, F9, CF(s)??)

ok, yet again - just a couple of thought of real life vs fm16