How to work ball into box without 'Work ball into box'?

[Canalma]

Currently managing Benfica, I'm having a near perfect season so far with a 26-2-0 W/D/L overall and over 3 goals a game and a watertight defence on a flat 442. It's really great, but there's a gripe that I have with the way my team plays out that could eventually cost us a result in less fortunate times. I don't remember scoring a single goal outside the box apart from free kicks. Not for the lack of trying though, as my players like to take their chances more often than I would like them to, mostly in cases where they could progress with the ball just a tad more, pass into a team mate to progress play further or just shotting wildly into a sea of legs or a sea of plastic seats. 

The natural answer to this would be enabling 'Work ball into box', but I know that limits crosses and I'm not giving those up, I could also reduce my tempo or set a few players to shoot less often but things have played so wonderfully thus far and I'm not sure how negatively that could affect how things are going. Is this just something that I'll have to accept in order to keep things going well in terms of results or could it be something that can be tweaked? How can I work the ball further into the opposition box while still keeping wing play and crossing?

Screenshot of tactic below.

 

Edited May 14, 2023 by Canalma

[hehehemann]

I don't use work the ball into the box option and I regularly have 70+% of possession. 

I mostly use a balanced or cautious approach with shorter passing and the standard tempo those mentalities offer. 

You could try removing the pass into space option and drop your mentality a notch to balanced. Your player roles look good, similar to what i use.

Positive mentality for my team seems to lose us possession a bit over balanced or cautious. I go positive when I'm really looking for a goal, my primary aim is retaining possession and working the ball around waiting for an opening. 

[Canalma]

7 hours ago, hehehemann said:

I don't use work the ball into the box option and I regularly have 70+% of possession. 

I mostly use a balanced or cautious approach with shorter passing and the standard tempo those mentalities offer. 

You could try removing the pass into space option and drop your mentality a notch to balanced. Your player roles look good, similar to what i use.

Positive mentality for my team seems to lose us possession a bit over balanced or cautious. I go positive when I'm really looking for a goal, my primary aim is retaining possession and working the ball around waiting for an opening. 

Possession is not the issue here, I regularly get most of the possession from building play from the back and pass into space works incredibly well in my tactic, I have a good set of fast forwards and right sided wingers to make it work, being regularly fed by the BPD, DLP, BBM and the IW where I have my main playmaker taking more risks. I might tinker with the balanced mentality though, and observe if the shooting urgency goes down a bit. Thanks.

[Johnny Ace]

On 15/05/2023 at 00:35, Canalma said:

Currently managing Benfica, I'm having a near perfect season so far with a 26-2-0 W/D/L overall and over 3 goals a game and a watertight defence on a flat 442.

What's the issue here? 

To cut down on the wild shots, as you've noted the Tempo, lower it down for periods on the game. Also the team mentality bumps up the individual player, a higher mentality player is more likely to shoot, so again, prob to Balanced for periods of the game 

For the crossing, you could try and go Narrower to try and bring play infield and use less roles that cross, the WInger and Wingback 

[Canalma]

13 hours ago, Johnny Ace said:

What's the issue here? 

No tactic is perfect, and I won't assume mine to be, as I credit good man management and good training as equal parts of my current success as my tactic, I just want to try to limit some annoying behaviours. I will tinker with mentality and tempo for a while, but if it comes at a cost of the recurring good performances I have had so far, I will leave things as they were and just roll with it. If it ain't broke... 

Edited May 16, 2023 by Canalma

[Johnny Ace]

1 hour ago, Canalma said:

 I if ain't broke... 

Exactly 

Could always get a nice 2/3 goal lead, then start tinkering 

[fc.cadoni]

You can add Shoot Less Often - Player Instructions. Have in mind, the higher personal mentality (roles has it's own mentalities), the more risky things will take (eg. shot more)

[Cloud9]

On 16/05/2023 at 10:42, Canalma said:

No tactic is perfect, and I won't assume mine to be, as I credit good man management and good training as equal parts of my current success as my tactic, I just want to try to limit some annoying behaviours. I will tinker with mentality and tempo for a while, but if it comes at a cost of the recurring good performances I have had so far, I will leave things as they were and just roll with it. If it ain't broke... 

Poacher might be a better fit for a style where you want to work the ball into the box. He will sit in the box, as compared to the AF who will look to run off the shoulder for a more direct approach. 

I do think having a more capable facilitating forward (as mentioned in the other thread) will help you in working the ball into the box in a more patient/effective manner.

DLP(s) would also move up more to create patient link up play than DLP(d) (and he'll still have hold position). Double BPD might be appropriate for such an approach as well. 

Edited May 17, 2023 by Cloud9

[Robson 07]

The answer is for your playmaker role to be ahead of the midfield like an advanced playmaker, Treq or Enganche would be.  Instead of taking an attacking action such as shooting or crossing, the players have another instruction to consider which is find the playmaker. 

A defensive playmaker is a pseudo alternative to play out of defence.  An advanced playmaker is similar for work ball into box. 

[nick1408]

1 hour ago, Robson 07 said:

The answer is for your playmaker role to be ahead of the midfield like an advanced playmaker, Treq or Enganche would be.  Instead of taking an attacking action such as shooting or crossing, the players have another instruction to consider which is find the playmaker. 

A defensive playmaker is a pseudo alternative to play out of defence.  An advanced playmaker is similar for work ball into box. 

This is a really interesting idea and I might give it a go with my own tactic where I've had the same issue.

 

@Canalma; what are the rest of your PI's? Is there something that may force the players to take speculative shots? 'Shoot More Often' is the obvious one but ones like 'Get Forward' or 'Cut Inside' may be isolating a player into thinking shooting is his only option. Also, is there a particular player/position that shoots from distance more than others?