Tactical Question-Player instructions more direct

[Mark Corrigan]

Sorry this is probably a silly question.

 

I like to play a shorter passing style with my team (currently Cheltenham).  Some games I'd like to play through balls to my pressing forward and get him in behind. When The opposition are vulnerable to pace/through balls. Am I right in setting my playmaker(s) to play more direct in order to achieve this? I don't want them to start playing hoofball and I'd like them to still make short passes occasionally but want them to make the occasional defence splitting pass. Would this be "more direct?" Or would "take more risks" be more appropriate?

[lozzny]

Neither. Assuming that you have the players to play a shorter passing style as you say, that killer ball should come naturally as a result of the roles and duties of players, tactic draw in attack and traits. 
Playing more direct will make them more likely to hoofball, even in your playmakers, cause the Player Inst. cant change the behavior of the role.

I would suggest:
1. Post your tactics and relevant info, so that we can help you with a little more context.
2. In the meantime, try shortest pass and slow tempo (not the slowest though, since that could backfire depending of your players). Set the line of engagement and defense in standart. The pressing, shape and In Transition as you see fit, but make sure to mark Play out of defense and Distributing to Centerbacks/Playmaker. This way you wil play more in the midfield without overpressing, creating the space you want at the back. If you set the right roles, so that someone can exploit said space the you will have that passing style with killer balls. Also the killer balls individual trait could be useful in the playmakers, even of not necesary, but that can take some time

[CARRERA]

6 hours ago, Mark Corrigan said:

I don't want them to start playing hoofball and I'd like them to still make short passes occasionally but want them to make the occasional defence splitting pass. Would this be "more direct?" Or would "take more risks" be more appropriate?

Don’t worry, only deep players who are instructed to play very direct can hoof the ball from time to time. Your players in the AM strata will most likely use quick, direct passes as there naturally is no more depth left to actually hoof it.

direct passing = focus on moving the ball forward with risk.

take more risks = playing the ball into space instead of into the feet.

so both instructions can help you to exploit the others team lack of pace or space in behind generally

[Aoyao]

4 小时前, CARRERA说:

direct passing = focus on moving the ball forward with risk.

what is the target of direct?

shape or field?

[CARRERA]

4 hours ago, Aoyao said:

what is the target of direct?

shape or field?

Sorry, i don’t understand the question. 

[Mark Corrigan]

On 13/02/2022 at 20:53, lozzny said:

Neither. Assuming that you have the players to play a shorter passing style as you say, that killer ball should come naturally as a result of the roles and duties of players, tactic draw in attack and traits. 
Playing more direct will make them more likely to hoofball, even in your playmakers, cause the Player Inst. cant change the behavior of the role.

I would suggest:
1. Post your tactics and relevant info, so that we can help you with a little more context.
2. In the meantime, try shortest pass and slow tempo (not the slowest though, since that could backfire depending of your players). Set the line of engagement and defense in standart. The pressing, shape and In Transition as you see fit, but make sure to mark Play out of defense and Distributing to Centerbacks/Playmaker. This way you wil play more in the midfield without overpressing, creating the space you want at the back. If you set the right roles, so that someone can exploit said space the you will have that passing style with killer balls. Also the killer balls individual trait could be useful in the playmakers, even of not necesary, but that can take some time

I did try and attach a pic but the file was too big apparently. I play a 3-5-2. The centre backs all playing defenders. Wing backs both on support duty. DLP and BBM on support. AP on attack then Target Forward and Pressing Forward on attack. Tend to do positive penalty. Play out defence and through the middle. Work ball into box. Shorter passing. Higher defensive line and line of engagement. Narrow width with overlap left and right.

[lozzny]

Hello. Sorry if I'm late, was having family bussines. Without image is complicated but I'll do my best. 

Try first reviewing your duties, since having both forwards and the ap in attack is not gonna give you the required movements to liberate a player. You can use the pinged thread on Pairs and Combinations in this forum to create a more balanced team. Specially since you want the through ball is useful to have a nice balance between the aggresive and supportive forwards and the attackers incoming from behind, otherwise you are just pushing the oposition's cbs against their own goal and the space will be harder to find at the back.

In the meantime I would also sugest for you to try playing without work ball into box, since this artificially lowers your tempo in the final third, wich summed up to your duties will create a steady defensive oposition, tucked back. Work ball into box is used specially when you have a team that's so superior that you can just pass the ball around, but the actual ball at the space is hard to achieve, since there's less space there once the other team is positioned. You need very skilled players with the right IT's to make it work. Otherwise is just paralizing your own flow. 

Also, bear in mind that having a higher line of engament doesn't only make you press higher up the pitch. It also pushes the oponents cbs against their own goal as said above. Unless you have a good reason to press that high (be it because your cbs can easily win aerial balls/fast af to prevent counters, you have very hard working forwards who win the ball consistently or your midfield sucks) you may want to retreat a little, so that the other team's cbs have more space to get forward and preventing both, that they send deep balls on counter attack all the time and creating more space at their backs, so it's more likely the through balls can actually have a target and the oposition needs to cover more terrain to get in defensive shape.

If you find the way to reduce the picture of your tactic maybe we can tweak it a little more.

Have a nice day

 

Edited February 24, 2022 by lozzny