Struggling against top teams

[sonnevillejr]

Hi there, 

I'm currently in 2033 and I'm playing with Barcelona for the third season. 

All is going well since I just secured my third Liga and third Copa del Rey and I'm still unbeaten this season with more than 100 goals score and only 11 conceded.

However, I tend to struggle a little bit against top teams. For my first 2 seasons, I got knocked out in UCL quarter finals twice and got quite dominated during these matchs.

I made some minor tactical changes since and I ended up with the following system. (Only PI is "stay wider" for the IWsu)

I'm now in the semi finals after beating Arsenal 2-1 away, 2-0 at home. Now I just played the first match against City away and drew 0-0.

Of course it's good results but I still got dominated most of the games (especially away). It seems like I struggle to beat the press although I am a top team, because I see with the heatmaps that I mostly play in my own side and most of highlights start with a clearance because of the press.

Have you got some tips to counteract this and still keep possession ?

 

[CARRERA]

50 minutes ago, sonnevillejr said:

It seems like I struggle to beat the press although I am a top team, because I see with the heatmaps that I mostly play in my own side and most of highlights start with a clearance because of the press.

First of all, dont change too much, as your tactic is working pretty well generally.

It would start by removing Play Out of Defence. Due to Shorter Passing, your team builds up quite slowly anyway. Play out of Defence usually is most effective if your players are not under pressure and can play the ball around safely in their own half to hopefully free up some space to further progress the ball by lureing out one or more attackers of the opposition. However, if your defence is under constant pressure, PooD can lead to more clearences or dangerous turn overs of possession.

Edited August 26, 2022 by CARRERA

[sonnevillejr]

il y a 35 minutes, CARRERA a dit :

First of all, dont change too much, as your tactic is working pretty well generally.

It would start by removing Play Out of Defence. Due to Shorter Passing, your team builds up quite slowly anyway. Play out of Defence usually is most effective if your players are not under pressure and can play the ball around safely in their own half to hopefully free up some space to further progress the ball by lureing out one or more attackers of the opposition. However, if your defence is under constant pressure, PooD can lead to more clearences or dangerous turn overs of possession.

Is the combination of Shorter passing + POOD a problem ? Because normally my players should be able to play under pressure. 
Would it help if I keep shorter passing, remove POOD but ask my GK to distrute to FB/CD? 

[CARRERA]

1 hour ago, sonnevillejr said:

Is the combination of Shorter passing + POOD a problem ? Because normally my players should be able to play under pressure. 
Would it help if I keep shorter passing, remove POOD but ask my GK to distrute to FB/CD? 

It’s not a problem per se, but why would you want your team to hold onto the ball in your own half for no reason against an opposition who is constantly pressing your defenders? Eventhough your players might be  capable to play under pressure, they will break down at some point and need to go for a clearance or loose the ball.

And as I said, due to shorter passing, your build up is already quite slow. I don’t really see a reason for slowing it down even further. In case you didn’t know, PooD does lower the passing directness of all players in the defensive and DM strata. 

Asking your GK to play out from the back should be no problem as it’s very different from PooD Instruction. 

It’s a specific case if you play against teams, that try to press you high. If you play against more defensive teams, there is no problem playing with shorter passing and PooD

Edited August 26, 2022 by CARRERA

[sonnevillejr]

il y a 4 minutes, CARRERA a dit :

It’s not a problem per se, but why would you want your team to hold onto the ball in your own half for no reason against an opposition who is constantly pressing your defenders? Eventhough your players might be  capable to play under pressure, they will break down at some point and need to go for a clearance or loose the ball.

And as I said, due to shorter passing, your build up is already quite slow. I don’t really see a reason for slowing it down even further. In case you didn’t know, PooD does lower the passing directness of all players in the defensive and DM strata. 

Asking your GK to play out from the back should be no problem as it’s very different from PooD Instruction. 

I was wondering if the combination of POOD + Shorter passing was a problem because POOD lower the passing directness for the defensive and DM strata as you said + asking my entire team short passes, it would lower even more the passing directness of my defenders. 
 

Anyway, I just played 2 matches : Granada away and Manchester City and I removed POOD but added « distribute to CD and FB »

I completely dominated during those 2 matches and managed to qualify for the UCL final. And when I look at the heatmap for those matches, I don’t see a red part just in front of my box anymore and I keep the ball higher up the pitch

 

[CARRERA]

12 hours ago, sonnevillejr said:

I was wondering if the combination of POOD + Shorter passing was a problem because POOD lower the passing directness for the defensive and DM strata as you said + asking my entire team short passes, it would lower even more the passing directness of my defenders.

Yes, it adds up to an even more cautious passing style.

12 hours ago, sonnevillejr said:

Anyway, I just played 2 matches : Granada away and Manchester City and I removed POOD but added « distribute to CD and FB »

I completely dominated during those 2 matches and managed to qualify for the UCL final. And when I look at the heatmap for those matches, I don’t see a red part just in front of my box anymore and I keep the ball higher up the pitch

Good to hear it worked for you and success could carry on 

[sonnevillejr]

I still have a (small) issue though : my left wing-back always has the worst rating of my team. 

He often gets 6.6, no matter which player I use, even when I win comfortably and the other players all get more than 7.0. 

During my last match, he's had 6.3 during most of the game but I don't understand why. He managed to get an assist and his rating went up to 6.9 but still... 

Even if my tactic seems to work, the low ratings are annoying because of the player morale, development and value

[glengarry224]

2 hours ago, sonnevillejr said:

I still have a (small) issue though : my left wing-back always has the worst rating of my team. 

He often gets 6.6, no matter which player I use, even when I win comfortably and the other players all get more than 7.0. 

During my last match, he's had 6.3 during most of the game but I don't understand why. He managed to get an assist and his rating went up to 6.9 but still... 

Even if my tactic seems to work, the low ratings are annoying because of the player morale, development and value

Looks like his avg rating is very good = 7.33.

Sometimes a game-rating can be misleading.  If a player is not doing anything 'recordable' on attack (key pass, assist or goal) and your opponent is not attacking his side (= no interceptions, etc), he can only get an average rating.  Then if he makes one mistake, his rating will be low.  Ratings are very useful but only as one tool.

You could play wider and focus down the left but why mess with your tactic and great success?

[sonnevillejr]

Il y a 9 heures, glengarry224 a dit :

Looks like his avg rating is very good = 7.33.

Sometimes a game-rating can be misleading.  If a player is not doing anything 'recordable' on attack (key pass, assist or goal) and your opponent is not attacking his side (= no interceptions, etc), he can only get an average rating.  Then if he makes one mistake, his rating will be low.  Ratings are very useful but only as one tool.

You could play wider and focus down the left but why mess with your tactic and great success?

His average rating for the past season is good because he got some assists and I scored more than 110 goals and conceded only 11, so at the end of games every players got a rating boost, but during a match it was the same. 
 

Now I’ve sold Kristiansen and replaced him with a young player (but still capable) but his rating is a problem and when I substitute him during a game, he doesn’t receive the rating boost