Feedback on my 4-2-3-1

[afced7]

Hi all,

 

I've only ever really played at making my own tactics, and generally used downloaded tactics as a result of being scarred by the horrors of the sliders when I was a kid, but I'm starting to get bored of doing that now, and it seems a lot easier to put a tactic together than it was back in the day, so I've decided to have a go at putting my own tactic together:

 

For PIs I've set the DLP to play more direct passes, and the AM to roam from position and take more risks.

I want to have a lot of the ball and hopefully play some decent football, although I'm fine with a few crosses going in, defensively I want to win the ball back quickly and generally try to keep the opposition in their own half. It's very early in the season but results have been ok so far. Since I'm very much a novice when it comes to tactics, I'd appreciate any feedback regarding obvious errors I've made or any improvements I could make.

My own thoughts at the moment are that I'm not sure having two BPDs is the best idea, the DLP should perhaps be on defend, and I'm not sure I really know what I want the attacking midfielder to be doing. In my head he's always looking for the ball, but I suspect he might often just float out of games without a better defined role. For the TIs I'm wondering how compatible shorter passing and higher tempo are.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading and any feedback will be much appreciated.

[herne79]

Before you do anything else, consider what effect Mentality has.

Mentality changes many Team Instructions - it'll push your defensive line higher (as you go more aggressive) or lower (as you become more passive); it changes your closing down (harder = more aggressive, ease off = more passive); it'll also impact other TIs such as passing, tempo, tackling and flair for example.

Now consider that in relation to the additional TIs you have selected.  Do you really want such a high def line?  Or to drag your players so far out of defensive shape (through so much pressing)?  Or such a high Tempo?  Not saying it's bad to have all this, just be aware of what you are asking your players to do.

And then there's your players.  Are they capable of handling all of those instructions?  Further, Mentality also affects individual player mentality, which can be seen when you look at their Player Instruction screens.  So (for example) a Wingback (support) will be much more attack minded and forward thinking on the Attacking Mentality compared to the Cautious Mentality.  That's fine if that's what you want him to do but the trade off there is him potentially getting regularly caught out too high up the pitch - especially if that player doesn't have bags of energy and the mental desire to get back and/or a Trait that tells him to get forward whenever possible.  So again, are they capable of handling those roles, duties and change to their Mentality?

What I'm trying to (briefly) demonstrate is how things combine together.  Mentality, TIs and the players themselves are all part of the same equation and each impacts on the other.  That's the key .

[afced7]

Cheers Herne, I didn't know mentality would affect all those aspects, then I read the FAQ. I'll start with a balanced mentality and see what happens, I'm slightly concerned about having possession but not doing anything with it, but I guess I'll just have to tweak further if that happens.

[Experienced Defender]

3 hours ago, afced7 said:

I want to have a lot of the ball and hopefully play some decent football, although I'm fine with a few crosses going in

In that case, lower the mentality a bit (for a team like Arsenal Positive would be "ideal"), remove Pass into space and leave tempo on default. You already have the Play out of defence and Work ball into box TIs, which will make your attacking build-ups patient enough (in conjunction with Positive mentality and shorter passing) but still not too slow and sterile. Btw, not sure that "Dribble less" TI is a good choice for a team like Arsenal, unless you have a very clear idea as to why you want to use it.

In terms of roles and duties, your setup looks decent, but if you want to play primarily possession-based football, a few tweaks would likely be needed (including the removal of at least one BPD, if not even both).

[afced7]

Cheers ED, funny you should say that about 'dribble less', my initial thinking was I wanted them looking for passes rather than running down blind alleys, but I was looking at my team earlier, and I mean properly looking at them which I need to do more, and realised that so many of them are excellent dribblers, so I took that out, and changed one of the BPDs since I wasn't sure about that to begin with.

[Luizinho]

3 hours ago, afced7 said:

my initial thinking was I wanted them looking for passes rather than running down blind alleys

That's exactly why it's a good instruction, if you wanted to play like that. I've used it to great effect in a possession system, with good dribblers. You can always use PIs for individuals to dribble more.

[summatsupeer]

16 hours ago, afced7 said:

Cheers ED, funny you should say that about 'dribble less', my initial thinking was I wanted them looking for passes rather than running down blind alleys, but I was looking at my team earlier, and I mean properly looking at them which I need to do more, and realised that so many of them are excellent dribblers, so I took that out, and changed one of the BPDs since I wasn't sure about that to begin with.

FYI if the instruction is hard coded into the role like Winger and Inside Forward have, using TI to Dribble Less won't affect them.

Role wise, I think there's a bit too many players in the middle doing the same thing even if you've added PIs to them. Youve got two roamers and two risky passes, who's winning the ball back or shielding the defenders from counter attacks? Especially as you have two WB-Su.

[afced7]

Cheers Luizinho and summatsupeer, I've decided to take the more direct passing off the DLP since I didn't like how that was making him play, and I'm going to try two versions of the tactic, one with dribble less on and another without it and see which I prefer, I suppose somewhere down the line I'll try and change one of the wide players to a wide playmaker but right now I don't have the players for it. 

 

In terms of protection from counter attacks, I think that might just have to be one of the trade-offs, but if I keep getting done on the counter I'm planning to drop the DLP down to defend, or move him into DMC altogether.