How to instruct players to chase ball and clear towards own player?

[Perb]

Hi guys

I have a major problem I can't seem to fix. My players never chase the ball. Especially after a set piece, either corner or free kick. The ball is always cleared and handed over to opponent. I have players nearby or close but they never go for possesion.

Also my players never clear the ball to own teammates. Only to opponents. Same goes for my goalkeeper, when I let him kick he plays it wide where there is no teammate, only opponents.

It works perfectly for the opponent, so the ME seems to work, but for some reason not my team.

[Experienced Defender]

Without seeing your tactic (screenshot), it's virtually impossible for us to offer any advice/explanation. So please post the screenshot of the tactic. 

[Perb]

12 hours ago, Experienced Defender said:

Without seeing your tactic (screenshot), it's virtually impossible for us to offer any advice/explanation. So please post the screenshot of the tactic. 

Sure, though I don't know why the lineup is significant

 

This is the most recent example after a corner:

Ball is cleared out in the open pitch. My number 14 doesn't even move at all, and number 10 picks it up. Again the problem does not exist in the other end of the pitch so I don't know what command I need to give. This is example is based on standard defend settings in set pieces.

When I have a corner and the ball is cleared, and the opponents pick it up for a counter, I've tried to keep 3 players back at all times, and aditional 2 lurking out the fields, with the result they stand on eachother, again not chasing the ball.

Edited November 29, 2020 by Perb

[Experienced Defender]

43 minutes ago, Perb said:

Ball is cleared out in the open pitch. My number 14 doesn't even move at all, and number 10 picks it up. Again the problem does not exist in the other end of the pitch so I don't know what command I need to give. This is example is based on standard defend settings in set pieces.

What do you mean by "standard defend setting"? Default routine or something else? 

Btw, I don't know your number 14's attributes, especially mentals, which can affect this strange behavior. 

45 minutes ago, Perb said:

 

46 minutes ago, Perb said:

Sure, though I don't know why the lineup is significant

The line-up (tactic) may not be significant for set-piece situations, but is certainly very significant for what happens in the open play. Because how otherwise could a potential cause of any problem be identified?

And I immediately noticed a number of issues in your tactic for that matter. For example, the way your midfield is set up is a clear recipe for a defensive disaster, and even more so in tandem with your defensive team instructions. Likewise, short passing is completely inconsistent with your setup of roles and duties. 

When a tactic is poorly balanced and/or have some inconsistencies, things that (on the surface) may seem "strange" tend to happen all the time. That way the game is actually warning you that something is wrong with your tactic. Which is exactly the case here. 

 

15 hours ago, Perb said:

Also my players never clear the ball to own teammates. Only to opponents

Are you here also referring to (defensive) set-piece situations or open play? 

 

15 hours ago, Perb said:

Same goes for my goalkeeper, when I let him kick he plays it wide where there is no teammate, only opponents

Keep in mind that you play your keeper as a SK on attack duty, which encourages him to play a lot of adventurous "Hollywood" passes, so you need to make sure he has the right attributes - both technical and mental - for the role. 

But even if he has those attributes, the question still remains of whether you really need to play him on the attack duty. Because any tactical decision needs to make sense within the context of a tactic as a whole. 

 

[sporadicsmiles]

I think he is referring to set pieces, and how the players react to the ball being cleared. It is also my impression that the defensive player in these situations is better placed to attack the ball than an attacking player left in the same area of the pitch. 

You can leave someone lurking outside the area, but they do seem to either react slower or be in a worse position to collect the ball. Not always, but it is something I have definitely picked up on. The problems is there is no way to really get a player to mark the edge of the area when attacking to sweep up this type of ball. What I mean by that is that I can ask people to stay back, but they all stay back close to the half way line, you cannot easily get someone to line up in midfield. It would be nice, for example, to be able to have 2 players defending deep, and a third player in the DM/CM area of the pitch to deal with such clearances and help break up counters. Perhaps this is simply not done in football, or can already be achieved and I just do not know how. 

16 hours ago, Perb said:

Also my players never clear the ball to own teammates. Only to opponents. Same goes for my goalkeeper, when I let him kick he plays it wide where there is no teammate, only opponents.

Clearances are generally not aimed, and I do not really see clearances going directly to opposition players (or my own). Typically they go into space, into touch, or where ever they can. The more people you have committed forward to an attack, the more likely a clearance goes into space and an opposition player will be first to it. And the opposite is also obviously true. 

Now with the keeper kicking the ball long, if it is always going to AI players just change the distribution of your keeper to target the area of the field you want to target. I have noticed on FM goalkeepers like to kick the ball long to the flanks where there is nobody to get it. In those cases just get him to aim somewhere else. My own pet peeve with long goalkeeper kicks are the ones that land directly at the feet of a striker right in front of your defence, hitting him in stride and defenders do not come forward and make a challenge. Doubly because I never employ this myself!

[Perb]

48 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

What do you mean by "standard defend setting"? Default routine or something else? 

Btw, I don't know your number 14's attributes, especially mentals, which can affect this strange behavior.

Yes, by standard I mean default routine on the defensive corners.

Of course that makes sense the tactic will impact the moment game goes from set piece to open play. Though these are just danish players, they are still professionals. Some certain amount of football intelligence must be expected, and in these particular examples related to set pieces, If I have to control simple behaviour in players I might just play FIFA (That will never happen).

 

48 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

Are you here also referring to (defensive) set-piece situations or open play?

Yes I am. Like Sporadicsmiles says, I am not expecting to make aimed perfect cleareances. To my understanding they are and should be random like in real life. However I do not see that problem with my opponent. There are several times during a match where they manage to clear the ball and have a player ready to intercept. If this is caused due to unbalanced main tactic from my part I do not know, but there seems to be inconsistency in how plays are presented between my team and opponent.

34 minutes ago, sporadicsmiles said:

Clearances are generally not aimed, and I do not really see clearances going directly to opposition players (or my own). Typically they go into space, into touch, or where ever they can. The more people you have committed forward to an attack, the more likely a clearance goes into space and an opposition player will be first to it. And the opposite is also obviously true. 

Now with the keeper kicking the ball long, if it is always going to AI players just change the distribution of your keeper to target the area of the field you want to target. I have noticed on FM goalkeepers like to kick the ball long to the flanks where there is nobody to get it. In those cases just get him to aim somewhere else. My own pet peeve with long goalkeeper kicks are the ones that land directly at the feet of a striker right in front of your defence, hitting him in stride and defenders do not come forward and make a challenge. Doubly because I never employ this myself!

I also experience opponent goalkeepers manage to volley long kicks up to their striker time and time again. Defenders do not press and let opponent continue his run.

48 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

And I immediately noticed a number of issues in your tactic for that matter. For example, the way your midfield is set up is a clear recipe for a defensive disaster, and even more so in tandem with your defensive team instructions. Likewise, short passing is completely inconsistent with your setup of roles and duties. 

When a tactic is poorly balanced and/or have some inconsistencies, things that (on the surface) may seem "strange" tend to happen all the time. That way the game is actually warning you that something is wrong with your tactic. Which is exactly the case here.

I usually have a really good first half season, and after the winterbreak I have to change my tactics because the first one is just completely broken down.
I have tried simple roles keeping a plain CM defend and support, and tried other tactics aswell. No luck though. The mentioned line-up is the only way, so far, I have managed to create some movement and gain some hightlights during the match going through the last half of the season.

Originally I wanted to play a narrow 4-3-3 because I have some very capable strikers, worked the first half of the season. My midfield eventually broke down and was completely left out. And by left out I mean they had no influence in the match. Completely skinned. So I had to start over.

Edited November 29, 2020 by Perb

[Experienced Defender]

27 minutes ago, Perb said:

Yes, by standard I mean default routine on the defensive corners.

Of course that makes sense the tactic will impact the moment game goes from set piece to open play. Though these are just danish players, they are still professionals. Some certain amount of football intelligence must be expected, and in these particular examples related to set pieces, If I have to control simple behaviour in players I might just play FIFA (That will never happen)

Honestly, FM is a very serious game and hence not for everyone IMHO, so I am not going to argue against playing easier and simpler games for people who dislike FM for its complexity and the level of tactical and football knowledge that this game requires. 

FM does require paying a lot of attention to detail, which can be frustrating for some people. A lot of patience, determination and willingness to learn - including through trial and error - is needed.