Home form and favourite struggles

[AusBlackCat]

I have been working on a 5-1-2-2 formation based on countering.  It's been reasonably successful so far, but only when teams attack me it seems.  When I am at home or expected to win, I struggle to create any scoring chances.  I'm no tactical genius at all which is probably why I'm struggling.  I've had some good results and some frustrating results.  I've tried to keep it simple with roles and instructions.  

I've tried watching the games and identifying why I'm struggling at home, or teams who are sitting back.  I can't figure it out.  I don't know if its lack of movement, lack of options.  When teams attack me and I pick them off, the counter attacking is beautiful.  I should have beaten City 3 or 4-1.  The countering was a joy to watch.

I've tried quickening tempo, changing a few support roles to attack, adding a few TI's but nothing seems to help.

I've attached a few screen shots so you know my setup and can see my results.  The 4-2 loss against Newcastle was when I tried to change the formation to score more.  The rest of the games have been with the 5-1-2-2.  Which as you can see is quite good defensively.  Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[WhyMe]

Your formation is quite conservative already so do you really need a defend role for your DLP?  With a support role he will still have the hold position PI on so he won't get ahead of the ball but he will provide a much greater threat going forward.  Equally, I would switch your attacking wing back to be on the same side as your support striker,  They can link up very effectively if you do this by the striker dropping deep and then playing the wing back into the space he just vacated for a cross.  You might need to experiment with roaming or moving into channels instructions for said support striker to facilitate this but try it first to see if it works without it.

Other than that nothing else jumps out as obvious for the roles so the only other changes you could make would be to the team instructions to change the style of play, perhaps adding a bit of width or a more patient approach but it depends how you want your team to play.

[summatsupeer]

Looks like a balanced set of duties, the only thing that stands out is the DLF-S is the only player trying risky passes often, whilst there are a lot of runners.  Your only playmaker is a DLP on defend, so he will play quite safe.

Against a parked bus I would look for the DLP to take more risks with the ball and to be fed simple short passes by the defenders.  On counter mentality the defenders passing will be quite direct so could miss out the DLP.  To do this i'd Play Out Of Defence and maybe add PI's to the defenders to make sure they pass short to the DLP.  I'd then modify the DLP's passing range and tell him to risky passes often, maybe set him to support since he has 3 defenders covering him.  Since your on Counter he will still play on the safe side.

I'd then see how it plays over a few games before changing anything else.

[mibsweden]

Make the DLP-D a DLP-S, or move him to MC position (still with DLP-S). Make both Wing Backs Attack duty.

[vasilli07]

I faced the same problem as you when facing defensive sides using this formation. I will push my WBs(or at least 1 of them) up to the midfield strata against those 4-1-4-1 defensive teams. I will also opt for a more attacking player(like a winger) to play as 1 of my WB. Their attributes like dribbling and off the ball should help you more in opening up their defence. Loved this formation for its counter attack.

[YasoKuul]

I used a similar 5-3-2 WB tactic with counter + structured in my first two seasons but had to delevop it as most teams seem to play more defensive against me. I uses only the team instruction Look for Overlap (for more runs of both WB) at the beginning but added the TIs Play Wider + Higher Tempo for more width and penetration/mobility but both together seemed too much. So I added the TI Shorter Passing to get the players closer together and slightly reduce width and tempo. The combination of all three TI seems to be perfect (at the moment) as I'm getting good results and very nice movements, passes and goals.

My formation:

        DFs   DLFa

  BBMs DLPd CMa

WBs                  WBs

   BPDd CDd CDd          

The DFs is sometimes replaced by a CFs or a F9s depending on the players I use. The BBM, CM + DF are instructed to shoot less often and the GKd has the PIs distribute to CB, roll it out and slow pace down.

If I see too much vertical space between my players I add the TI push higher up and change the duty of the central defender from defend to cover.

Edit: I use OI to tight mark all outside players. That's very helpful against system with two outside players on each side, like 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1.

[AusBlackCat]

Wow thanks so much for the input guys, I really appreciate.  Some good stuff, really enjoyed reading your responses!  I'll have a play around with some of your suggestions and see what I can come up with.  I'm still not sure about having the DLP in the DM slot, its perhaps a little too conservative.  I'll leave him there for now and change him to support, and add risky passes.  I've also moved the DLF to the right side so he can link up with my WB/A.  I've added play out of defence too as my only TI at this stage.

Also, I think I forgot to mention I'm using Preston.  I'm really enjoying the save so far and I usually give up on tactics and download one or quit playing for a while, so I'm really trying to stick with it and make this one work!  Thanks again for your input, if you're interested I can report back with my changes and what not.

[YasoKuul]

I started with a DLPs in DM slot (tried also risky passes) but noticed that both CM are too central - especially when defending. With three man in CM the outer players support the flanks much more and the DLPd covers the center and nicely spreads the ball to the attacking players.