Help with understanding how to make the right choices

[DamianJMcGrath]

I'm trying my hardest to learn FM19, and I want to talk people through my thought process so people can correct me!

 

I am managing a French National division side. It's two divisions below Ligue 1 I think, so my team is relatively weak. However, within my division, I'm expected to finish 1st, and the board expects that too.

The team report says I am strong in first touch, technique, off the ball, composure, concentration, dribbling, vision and creativity, so it sounds like I'm the Arsenal of this division! I have weak pace, acceleration and heading within the squad. So, that makes me initially think we might not be able to blitz people with fast counter attacks. We should probably take advantage of our good composure, dribbling, first touch etc to play a slow possession game?

Defensively, there isn't much attacking intent with anyone. I have no ball-playing defenders, and my wingbacks aren't particularly good at crossing. My central defenders are strong, good headers, and good tacklers, and that's it. So I think just normal settings for them. The wide defenders are fast with good stamina, and they all like playing at WB's. I'm not sure if I want 2 WB's so they might just have to live with being FB's.

Looking at the rest of my squad, I think I'm definitely Arsenal! 

I have 6 really good central midfielders who are basically copies of each other. Great passing, first touch, dribbling and vision stats. All 6 are either deep lying playmakers or advanced playmakers.

I have 2 left and 2 right wide players. One winger, and one advanced playmaker on each side. Again, no real pace or crossing skills but they have good dribbling, passing, first touch and vision skills.

Up front, it's the same story. No pace, just dribbling and passing skills.

 

I have no transfer budget, already over wages, and already have 5 loanees so can't get anymore.

Basically, I'm stuck with this squad for a while. I have some really good looking reserves but they are just the same sort of players - DLP's or AP's.

 

So, not totally sure what to do with this team.

I think I want:

• the ability to break teams down, who will probably play defensive against me.
• use my squad's skills of dribbling and technique and passing - so maybe that's a retain possession style. And I'm guessing that retain possession could help break teams down, by continually probing for ways through.
• Retain possession is obviously about keeping the ball, so pack the midfield as much as I can. This suggests 3 central midfielders.
• With a slow build up, I'm hoping the team keep the ball until they find the opening, so goals could come from anywhere - whoever finds themselves free eventually. I don't have much pace or crossing ability, so I'm thinking a DLF to link up with the midfield, and maybe some IF's to take advantage of the Off the Ball skills to run in behind and hopefully the midfield can find them with some clever passes! 

 

• I'm thinking that the back five are straight forward. For now, it can be a normal GK, two normal CB-Defend, and two FB-Supports. Might tweak one to be a FB-Attack later, but for now, they all seem basic players so they can have basic roles. 
• Since I have 6 central midfielders, we may as well use 3 of them. So, maybe a DM, and two CM's. Or, considering I seem to be the best team in the division, maybe 2 CM's and a AM.
• The front three suggest being a DLF and two IF's as mentioned. Maybe a DLF-Support for the link up, and the two IF-Attacks running in behind.

 

 

In terms of other settings, the Positive mentality seemed to fit, as I will probably be the favourite in most matches. 

The In Possession settings seemed to fit as well. Shorter Passing, Work Ball into Box and Lower Tempo to encourage the possession to be retained and use the vision, passing, first touch skills to keep probing for openings. The Run at Defence might be slightly at odds with the possession instruction, but our dribbling skills are great, and I see no reason why we can't try and beat a few players to hopefully create some space to play the passes into. The Fairly Narrow is there because our IF's are cutting inside so I know I'm purposely sacrificing width. I also thought if I got the team narrow, it would put the players closer to each other, encouraging the shorter passing.

In Transition, I didn't really understand many settings, but thought Roll it Out would encourage us to keep possession.

 

Does anyone have advice, or comments on my logic? Is it fundamentally flawed? What have I misunderstood? 

[Experienced Defender]

14 hours ago, DamianJMcGrath said:

The team report says I am strong in first touch, technique, off the ball, composure, concentration, dribbling, vision and creativity, so it sounds like I'm the Arsenal of this division! I have weak pace, acceleration and heading within the squad. So, that makes me initially think we might not be able to blitz people with fast counter attacks. We should probably take advantage of our good composure, dribbling, first touch etc to play a slow possession game?

Sounds logical, yes (although keep in mind that team reports can be a bit misleading if you rely solely on them, without analyzing all your players individually). 

 

14 hours ago, DamianJMcGrath said:

I have 6 really good central midfielders who are basically copies of each other. Great passing, first touch, dribbling and vision stats. All 6 are either deep lying playmakers or advanced playmakers

What are they like in terms of defensive reliability (tackling, positioning, work rate, bravery, teamwork, strength, speed etc.)? 

 

14 hours ago, DamianJMcGrath said:

Retain possession is obviously about keeping the ball, so pack the midfield as much as I can. This suggests 3 central midfielders

Not necessarily. You can go with a DM and 2 CMs as well. 

 

15 hours ago, DamianJMcGrath said:

With this setup, you are likely to suffer from a lack of attacking width (due to having inward-oriented wide fwds on both flanks and relatively conservative fullback roles behind them). Especially critical in that regard could be your left flank, where you have a holding CM (DLP) and hence even less attacking support for the IF.