Having Trouble Taking the Next Step

[duff33]

Hi all,

I'm having trouble taking 'the next step' with my Roma save. 

There are three things that are bothering me;

1) We're quite wasteful in front of goal - we create chances, I try and include Chance Conversion training as often as I can, but still my team is described as aggressive-wasteful every year (now into fourth season)

2) Form always seems to drop from late February onwards

3) We seem to draw a lot of games against smaller opposition, but also struggle against the small number of teams 'above us'.

It's stopping us becoming a regular top-four team/winning trophies at the end of the day, but I cannot for the life of me see where I am going wrong. 

I've attached what are my two main tactics, I have a 4-2-3-1 as well, but that basically involves me moving my DM into CAM (AP role, normally set to Support).

I think my squad is good, I have partnerships that work, and decent depth if there are injuries and such and such, but just cannot move forward in the save it seems.

Thanks in advance.

[Jaye]

5 minutes ago, duff33 said:

1) We're quite wasteful in front of goal - we create chances, I try and include Chance Conversion training as often as I can, but still my team is described as aggressive-wasteful every year (now into fourth season)

2) Form always seems to drop from late February onwards

3) We seem to draw a lot of games against smaller opposition, but also struggle against the small number of teams 'above us'.

It's likely all three of these issues are linked. If you're profligate in front of goal, you'll drop points, especially as the season goes on.

I know Esposito and Isak are very good strikers, so it's probably not a personnel problem. My guess it's a chance quality problem. You're taking a lot of shots without creating high-quality chances in the centre of the opponent's penalty area. 

To confirm this, pull up the xG shot map from a game you struggled to score in, and check how many shots you have that were 0.2 or higher. These are the shots you want to be focusing on. If there aren't many, we know it's a chance quality problem. If there are a lot, we can look at each shot and see why it didn't result in a goal.

Also, you can check your players' individual xG scores by going into squad view > xG. A higher xG than actual goals scored shows your players aren't finishing very well. 

Once you have this information, tweaking your tactics becomes easier. 

 

[duff33]

8 minutes ago, Jaye said:

To confirm this, pull up the xG shot map from a game you struggled to score in, and check how many shots you have that were 0.2 or higher. These are the shots you want to be focusing on. If there aren't many, we know it's a chance quality problem. If there are a lot, we can look at each shot and see why it didn't result in a goal.

Also, you can check your players' individual xG scores by going into squad view > xG. A higher xG than actual goals scored shows your players aren't finishing very well. 

Isak is a little lower than his xG, Esposito a little higher; a quick glance at a couple of recent games suggests it's an issue creating high quality scoring chances, looking at the shot maps.

[Experienced Defender]

A short tip for a start: possession-oriented TIs (short passing, low tempo, PoD and WBiB) do not quite go hand in hand with having all forward players on attack duties. Because possession football requires greater involvement from those up front in the build-up of your attacks and transitions in general. Hopefully, this observation will give you some food for thought. 

[duff33]

17 hours ago, Experienced Defender said:

A short tip for a start: possession-oriented TIs (short passing, low tempo, PoD and WBiB) do not quite go hand in hand with having all forward players on attack duties. Because possession football requires greater involvement from those up front in the build-up of your attacks and transitions in general. Hopefully, this observation will give you some food for thought. 

Thanks - I'd posted the same question to an FM group I am a member of on FaceBook, and got similar feedback there too.

I've switched my AML to be an IF on support now, then LB is set to be an attacking WB (for overlaps), and then I have a W (Att) and FB (Su) down the right hand side now.

Also made the AP set to attacking, and toying with having the LCM as a Box-to-Box instead of Mezzala, so they aren't hitting the same areas as the IF as much.

 

For my 5-2-1-2, I think I'll revert to a slightly older model of the tactic, where I have RWB set to attack (maybe as a Complete WB, which is what he was before) and the CAM as a AP on support again.

 

I'm experimenting with a higher tempo too, as I have played slow tempo for a while now, so may be too predictable in that regard?

Edited December 25, 2020 by duff33
Additional comment

[wicksy360]

58 minutes ago, duff33 said:

Thanks - I'd posted the same question to an FM group I am a member of on FaceBook, and got similar feedback there too.

I've switched my AML to be an IF on support now, then LB is set to be an attacking WB (for overlaps), and then I have a W (Att) and FB (Su) down the right hand side now.

Also made the AP set to attacking, and toying with having the LCM as a Box-to-Box instead of Mezzala, so they aren't hitting the same areas as the IF as much.

 

For my 5-2-1-2, I think I'll revert to a slightly older model of the tactic, where I have RWB set to attack (maybe as a Complete WB, which is what he was before) and the CAM as a AP on support again.

 

I'm experimenting with a higher tempo too, as I have played slow tempo for a while now, so may be too predictable in that regard?

If changing the IF to support, I would probably swap the midfielder roles over too, so the mezzala is supporting the winger.
 

Personally I’ve struggled with a supporting mezzala this year, and prefer them on attack for the half space penetration. But obviously that wouldn’t work as well here with the roles/instructions combo