can't keep possession, lots of clearances

[thebreadlady]

most teams press high since we're technically the underdogs according to pre-match odds due to our reputation being one of the lowest in the league but we have better players than most teams in the league due to some shrewd transfer deals recently. even as the 6th placed team we're regarded as underdogs against the 19th placed team. we tend to sit around 40% possession mark due to clearances and long balls. even when i switch the mentality to balanced and lowering the tempo to the lowest setting we can only increase our possession by 7-10% but the end result is the same - clearance/long ball. most of our possession is in our own half trying to play out of a high press, playing multiple pointless safe passes when better progressive passing options that can break the press are available. attacks are quickly squandered due to lack of patience. overall the passing choices made by my players are the wrong ones. they truly play with an underdog's mindset. 

on the rare occasion we play against smaller sides, we dominate in possession but are incapable of creating clear cut chances and end up taking lots of long shots and hopeful long passes vs sides that are already defending deep instead of waiting for the incisive pass. 

 

[nimmospurs]

I can’t keep possession either really frustrating hopefully they can fix it I’m struggling to retain possession with Barcelona 

[04texag]

Overall, this tactic looks pretty balanced and squad looks ok, but what team and league? Can you post game stats to show what you're talking about? Passing percent, possession, etc?

[RPM_01]

Depends, if you're on FM22 it is bugged so really can't use possession stats at the moment.

If it is FM21, only things I'd suggest is changing your DM to a DM-D, they tend to recycle possession more instead of trying risky passes. Change the Mez to either a CM-Su or a DLP and open up your left side a little more, maybe change the IWB to a FB-Su or change the IF to a winger to allow passing options. Currently they seem a little bunched together.

Maybe change be more expressive and just up the tempo up a little too!

[thebreadlady]

BuLi & Euro Cup II

switched DLP to DM, Mez to CM-Su and IWB to FB-Su, changed be more expressive for a few games, 2 as heavy favorites and 1 as equal. passing completion was around 85-90% due to the pointless back passes but possession was pretty equal for all 3 games.