Target man support question

[OrientTillIDie]

I have a target man on support duty up front with a pressing forward on attack duty. If I want the target man to be in the box to win crosses, would “hold position” be a sensible instruction? I’ve found without it that he ends up wandering out to the wings but even with it, he’s not always in the box in time for the cross

[Experienced Defender]

An answer to your question depends on (a lot) more than the info you provided, so please post a screenshot of the whole tactic.

[OrientTillIDie]

I’ve only just added Be More Expressive for the Positive tactic

[OrientTillIDie]

And only just added Be More Disciplined for this one

 

Apologies for it being over two posts. I couldn’t upload both on one 

[OrientTillIDie]

I feel like I should add that I’m into my fourth season and this system (and slight variants of it) have got me to the playoffs, won the L2 title and then finished 10th in L1. The last seven games of last season were bumpy and things started regressing a bit. I’m struggling for goals but it wasn’t an issue before 

[Experienced Defender]

A mentality change alone is a big one, and yours goes from Positive to Cautious, which is huge even if everything else is unchanged.

The setup of roles and duties looks fairly shaky and unbalanced in both tactics.

Speaking specifically of your TM not being in the box often enough to receive crosses, that can be explained by a number of factors:

- he is on support duty, which along with the nature of the role itself causes him to drop deeper

- this is even more pronounced under the cautious team mentality, since it makes his individual mentality very low as well

- telling him to hold position actually discourages him from going forward, which is opposite to what you want

- the low line of engagement can also contribute, because it tells your forwards to drop deeper when defending

[OrientTillIDie]

Okay, thanks for the feedback. So presumably to get him into the box then I need to leave off the PI of Hold Position? I just find him out on the wing so often, even when my full back is in that position in the attacking third 

[Experienced Defender]

1 hour ago, OrientTillIDie said:

o presumably to get him into the box then I need to leave off the PI of Hold Position?

Not only that. I listed a couple more possible reasons besides that one. And there is yet another one - much shorter passing, as it encourages players to get closer together in order to make those passes possible, which in turn can also encourage your TM to drop deeper than he otherwise would.

But I think you should first look to sort out the entire tactic and only then focus specifically on the TM. Because otherwise it's probably not going to work. 

[DarJ]

17 hours ago, OrientTillIDie said:

he ends up wandering out to the wings but even with it, he’s not always in the box in time for the cross

Isn't that what a TM on support is supposed to do. Him drifting wide is actually a good thing if you have your tactic set up differently, for example if you had a CM or MEZ on attacking attacking the box from deep.

If you look at the way Milan use Zlatan this season, he's not just not in the box waiting for crosses. He comes deep to receive the ball, allowing the wide players to attack the box or he drifts wide as well.

[OrientTillIDie]

18 hours ago, Experienced Defender said:

Not only that. I listed a couple more possible reasons besides that one. And there is yet another one - much shorter passing, as it encourages players to get closer together in order to make those passes possible, which in turn can also encourage your TM to drop deeper than he otherwise would.

But I think you should first look to sort out the entire tactic and only then focus specifically on the TM. Because otherwise it's probably not going to work. 

Even though I’ve made the playoffs, won a title and finished in the top half in my first L1 season, I should still make loads of changes? If I was having no success then I’d understand you telling me to “sort out the entire tactic” but it’s literally just the Target Man I’m having an issue with. I get what you’re saying about how it’s not necessarily a system that should suit a TM but it’s literally only the start of this fourth season that it’s started to lose its effectiveness

[OrientTillIDie]

4 hours ago, DarJ said:

Isn't that what a TM on support is supposed to do. Him drifting wide is actually a good thing if you have your tactic set up differently, for example if you had a CM or MEZ on attacking attacking the box from deep.

If you look at the way Milan use Zlatan this season, he's not just not in the box waiting for crosses. He comes deep to receive the ball, allowing the wide players to attack the box or he drifts wide as well.

I guess so. The thing is, I’m playing in League 1 so I don’t really have a Zlatan type player. He’s a complete, all round forward. The big strikers I have are predominantly just that. Big lumps who can head it and kick it towards the goal.

[Experienced Defender]

4 hours ago, OrientTillIDie said:

Even though I’ve made the playoffs, won a title and finished in the top half in my first L1 season, I should still make loads of changes?

If you've achieved all that, then you definitely should not make any changes. Simply forget about the TM and enjoy your save