problem central playmaker in 4132 narrow

[YasoKuul]

How can I get more out of my central playmaker in a narrow 4132 system? Results are very good over the last 2 seasons but my central playmaker, who should be the brain and heart of my teams struggles with assists and with goals.

Initial idea was a narrow 41212 but the narrow 4132 seems to be the better formation and the playmaker was nearly the same in AMC or MC position.

Roles as follows: SKd - FBa CDd CDc FBa - HBd - CARs (shoot less) APs (roaming) CARs (shoot less) - DLFs AFs (or PFs PFa)

Positive mentality with following team instructions: play out of defence, pass into space, counter-press, counter, distribute to CB, defend wider, higher DL, higher LOE

The team plays exactly how I want, nice build up in 352 style with nice passes into space to have some variability in gameplay. Most goals are coming from the fowards but most assists are coming from the full backs.

So what could/should I change? My playmakers are not the best players of the team, so buy a better player? Train him a PPM like tries killer balls? Change the playmaker role or roles of other players? Change team instruction/s?

 

[ScoreMore (Mico)]

There is a lot to think about here. First of all, what do you expect exactly from your playmaker? Is it assists, specifically? Because he might be contributing more than you think. You said most assists come from full backs, where and how did they receive the ball in the first place? Can it be that the playmaker is making some key passes to these full backs, putting them in a position to provide that assist? In that case I would be happy with his contribution.

Another thing is why is he not doing what you expect of him? If you are expecting a lot of assists from the ap to the af, watch the games and see how possible those assists are in the first place. Is it feasible for a good ball to go directly from the ap to the af? Keep in mind that if the ap is on support duty he won´t dribble so much to get clear of a marker and more in a position to create the assist for example. Changing him from support to attack COULD be one solution (you have to see the game and find out the problem first though)
 

If you have a player with good passing, technique, vision and decisions and you want him to provide those through balls I think it would be a very good idea to train him to try killer balls.

Re counter, I wouldn´t have it there for all games in the system you are using, especially if you are usually favourites. Rather, I would only use it in particular cases when during the match I notice that the opponents are leaving some space for the counter.

I hope that I gave you some good things to think about, which might provide an answer for you

[GianniM]

Have you had a look at his passing stats? There are stats for important or decisive passes, not sure exactly how it is called in the English version. If he has lots of those, then I wouldn't worry too much about assists or goals. He may be making the last pass before the assist, which is also important. 

[Experienced Defender]

First, it's quite normal that most assists come from fullbacks or wing-backs when you play in a narrow formation.

Secondly, the main job of a playmaker is not to provide direct goal-assists but to organize the play (which of course does not mean that he cannot assist from time to time). Therefore, I would rather focus on key passes (as well as the number of the received passes) when it comes to a playmaker than the number of assists. 

[YasoKuul]

Thank you all for your input. The playmaker is involved in gameplay, has good passing stats and makes a lot of passes to other players (i.e. FB) which can play the final pass.

The tactic is supposed to be a replica of one of my favorite teams and the playmaker was much more involved there. Here are the goals / assists distribution of the real team:

Forward 1:  28 goals / 8 assists (my idea AFa)

Forward 2: 13 goals / 11 assists (my idea DLFs)

Playmaker: 10 goals / 8 assists

The full backs had only one assist each, there was another player with 11 assists but he played in CM (my idea offensive minded CARs).

Is it possible to set up a tactic in a similar way?

[ScoreMore (Mico)]

You need much more info than that to replicate a tactic. How does the team defend? How does the team attack? What happens in transitions? How do players combine? What tempo? What style of passes, pressing, etc...
 

[TheGoodRebel]

Just looking at your TIs there and noticed you’ve got “Pass Into Space“ and “Counter” selected. 

While there is nothing wrong with these instructions - think about them logically. Most of your empty space in this shape is down your flanks and your FBs are the ones who are more naturally going to be finding this space as they will be making forward runs down the flank. So the focus of the passing will be directed towards the space they will be moving into. Using counter will also look for a quick transition and your most natural method of counter in this shape will also be down the flanks.

So, as the others have said, I wouldn’t expect to see many assists in this setup from central areas. 

Edited May 12, 2020 by TheGoodRebel

[Rashidi]

Roaming for a playmaker in a 4132? I personally think the best role is that of a CM(A), or a AP(A) in that slot. Alternatively you could use a DLP or an aggressive regista. I find those are the best options for a 4132. The reason being that your flanks are going to be very aggressive pushing up. Either way you want the CM in the central position to be very aggressive as well since you can't afford for the other CMs to do the attacking.

With the CM(A) position being either an AP(A) or a CM(A) you could see more assists.

[Matt_1979]

Agree with Rashidi. I’ve had great results with that formation using an AP(A) in between two mezallas. 

[YasoKuul]

Am 12.5.2020 um 15:02 schrieb Rashidi:

Roaming for a playmaker in a 4132? I personally think the best role is that of a CM(A), or a AP(A) in that slot. Alternatively you could use a DLP or an aggressive regista. I find those are the best options for a 4132. The reason being that your flanks are going to be very aggressive pushing up. Either way you want the CM in the central position to be very aggressive as well since you can't afford for the other CMs to do the attacking.

With the CM(A) position being either an AP(A) or a CM(A) you could see more assists.

Roaming was an attempt to involve the playmaker more in the game by looking for free spaces. I will now test a AP(A), luckily I have a suitable young player with PPM tries killer passes in my squad.

[YasoKuul]

I didn't notice any major changes in the first few games with an AP(A). What I noticed, however, was that the FB(A) went forward very quickly and were therefore often looked for as an option. As a result, the playmaker was apparently often overplayed. Have now changed both FB(A) to WB(S) and in the first games I like the game structure and the ball distribution of my team much better.

[YasoKuul]

I have now completed a full season with a slightly different tactic (lower tempo, normal LOE and FBs instead of WBs) and am very satisfied with the results and statistics.

I'm playing the fourth season in Championship with Salford with media prediction 23 out of 24. We ended the season in 15th place and even worked our way up to 9th place on match day 34.

Here are the goals / assists distribution of my team:

AFa:  25 goals / 0 assists (most goals in the league and rating 7.12)

DLFs: 11 goals / 9 assists (rating 7.00)

APa: 2 goals / 10 assists (rating 7.04)