Fixing the issues of a tactic

[kbogusz]

Hello,

I've been a lurker to the forum lately, although I had an account earlier that I have lost access to. I'm somehow back to FM after long years of break (last time I played full season it was FM15). I fell in love with the Data Hub and detailed stats in the newer versions. And I feel that comparing to the older versions of the game, now I have to be more adaptable with my tactic. Which is obviously great as it provides a bigger and more interesting challenge.

Without further ado, I have some 'issues' with my tactic and a lot of dillema how or even if should I fix it. I've read some of the threads and articles and have some ideas, but any help would be appreciated.

I'm playing with a team in Polish II Liga (3rd tier). I wanted to try to implement a high-pressing 4-3-3 (boring I know) at this level. Took the inspiration from Rock's End FM The Byline post and Johnny Ace 4-3-3 thread and created this:

Halfway through the season and we're a big surprise sitting 1st despite media predicting us to fight relegation and finish 14th. But as stupid as it is I am not happy with the way we are playing. Most of times we are winning 1-0 or 2-1 (we have scored 3 goals in one match just once!) and it's painful to watch. I mean none of our players have an average rating of at least 7.00! As we have a winter break right now, I dived deep in the Data Hub and statistics and to my surprise, we are at the top of many charts (must be the overall low level of this league lol). However, I've found a few problems and not sure how to deal with them.

• Some a little bit worrying shooting data. Not much, but still. -0.30 Goals Overperformance being 14th/18 teams in the league and just 11% Conversion Rate (12th). However I must say, we missed 3 out of 6 penalties we've had... Still, comparing to the amount of shots we take and chances we create (both 4th) it is frustrating. Question is can some tweaks fix it or I shouldn't be much bothered and blame the individual abilities of my players?
• Passing, Stat-wise we rarely lose the ball (3rd in Possestion Lost). However, I'm so frustrated by my CB's hoofing the ball forward to the head of a striker like he's a TM. Often they have an option to pass the ball easily to WB's or Midfielders and they'd still choose to play a long and high ball forward. We are one of the best teams when it comes to Passing Accuracy but we are making a little below average number of passes compared to the rest of the league.
• Poor heading. As a team we overall win less headers than average. It wouldn't bother me that much but my Striker attempts 27.22 (!) headers per game and winning just 27% (!!!) of them.
• Crosses. We attempt nearly 30 crosses per game and although we have succesfully completed the most in the league, the accuracy is still about 13%. Mix it with the heading issues and the conclusion is obvious.
• Tackling. 75% Tackles Won Ratio being 11th in the league. Not sure if it is worrying and what should I do with it.

I feel that the biggest issue is although we don't loose the ball often, we do it unnecessarily, while as a team we are capable of passing the ball quite well (looking at the Passing Accuracy graph). The two obvious instructions to implement seem to be Work Ball into Box and Play Out Of Defence. This way I'd hope to limit the amount of high passes from the defence and crosses. Maybe I should lower the tempo and set passes to 'Shorter' too? Or 'Be More Disciplined'? Would 'Holding Shape" after winning possesion be useful too? As I have quite good player at DLP I think I'll try to distribute the ball to him. Maybe that way I'll limit long balls from the CBs?

I have a feeling that a change or few of roles and/or duties would be needed too to make the TI work, but I have no idea what could work. BTW my biggest disappointment right now are the wingers with average rating of 6.63 (IF) and 6.72 (IW). They have the attributes to be the key men and they often seem to be invisible (apart from missing a good chance from time to time haha).

Let me know If you have any suggestions to what I could do to make this team play better.

 

Hope someone else will be able to learn something from this thread too.

 

[Draakon]

Alright.

1. I'll start with passing and the fact that your CB's are hoofing the ball forward. "Play out of defence" instruction helps against that. Also, if one of your CB-s is a decent passer with good technique you might want to make him BPDd. Keep in mind that if you're weaker team (by quality of players) this instruction might get you in trouble against better squads who use high pressing!

2. Secondly - poor heading. Statistics alone don't mean much. Who are losing headers? If it's your attacking players, but because of the fact that you're just hoofing long ball forwards, the stats should improve if you stop doing that (see point 1.). If your striker is not very tall, instruct your players to 'low crosses' or 'whipped crosses' and see if that changes things.

3. Crossing - similarly, crossing accuracy could be low because your target man is unable to win headers. Change crossing instructions and it should improve.

4. 75% tackling is actually decent in my eyes, especially when your defenders face more skilled attacking players.

 

I'd start with those instructions. Perhaps if the opponents are similar you'd like to go for 'play out of defence' instruction and keep the possession more, but revert back to hoofing the ball when you try to hold onto lead against bigger teams (however ugly, but that's what's gotten you so far, hasn't it?), so you can switch between instructions depending on situation and score board.

[kbogusz]

What's interesting is that one of my CBs has the best passing stat in the whole team - 13, which is quite exceptional at this level (similar to Vanarama National). However, he has Composure of 6, which rather discourages me from using him as BPD.

Generally our front three have Headers Won Ratio of ~30%. Midfielders 57-70%, WBs ~40%. For CBs it's 80% for one of them (the 'exceptional passer' one) and just 63% (!) for the second. Choosing Low crosses is obvious, forgot to write about it. I am also a little bit worried about quite low percentage for the second CB. I think i should think about selection in that position, but our 3rd CB has just 69% despite having 14 Jumping Reach and 12 Heading, so I'm not sure what's going on here.

Few things about crossing. Sometimes I also feel that we are isolated in the attack (hence poor ratings for wingers) and because of not having other options we make hopeless crosses into the box. It is especially done by Right WB as he is most common crosser in our team by a mile - 8 crosses per game. I think that this 'isolation' of front three is a major reason for most of the issues but im not sure how to deal with it.

[Argonaut]

Sounds like you might want Play Out of Defense and Short Passing on if you want avoid the hoofball you're seeing. There will usually be lots of short passing options in that formation.

Also sounds like your striker might be getting isolated. You could change your IF to an IF-A, and one of your midfielders to CM-A. That would get more support in the box, and perhaps you wouldn't be ending a lot of moves by fruitlessly crossing into your lone striker.

Just making those simple changes would lead you to being a lot more dynamic in attack, IMO.

[Draakon]

14 hours ago, kbogusz said:

What's interesting is that one of my CBs has the best passing stat in the whole team - 13, which is quite exceptional at this level (similar to Vanarama National). However, he has Composure of 6, which rather discourages me from using him as BPD.

Generally our front three have Headers Won Ratio of ~30%. Midfielders 57-70%, WBs ~40%. For CBs it's 80% for one of them (the 'exceptional passer' one) and just 63% (!) for the second. Choosing Low crosses is obvious, forgot to write about it. I am also a little bit worried about quite low percentage for the second CB. I think i should think about selection in that position, but our 3rd CB has just 69% despite having 14 Jumping Reach and 12 Heading, so I'm not sure what's going on here.

Few things about crossing. Sometimes I also feel that we are isolated in the attack (hence poor ratings for wingers) and because of not having other options we make hopeless crosses into the box. It is especially done by Right WB as he is most common crosser in our team by a mile - 8 crosses per game. I think that this 'isolation' of front three is a major reason for most of the issues but im not sure how to deal with it.

Don't be overly worried about heading statistics. For center-backs, it seems to be a question of whether you prefer a tall towering CB who is clumsy with ball at his feet or a shorter BPDd. If you are looking to dominate midfield, clubs are preferring CBs who can play the ball out of defence, have a good technique and passing. On the other hand there's always roughly 1/3 of teams who field a target man with 16-18 jumping, so your CB with 14-15 could struggle against those anyway. 

[Johnny Ace]

17 hours ago, kbogusz said:

I'm playing with a team in Polish II Liga (3rd tier)

 

17 hours ago, kbogusz said:

media predicting us to fight relegation and finish 14th

 

I'm none too sure about the standard of football (and players) in the Polish 3rd tier, but managing a team expected to be in a relegation battle, without sounding harsh, I wouldn't expect high levels of quality of football

As you gain promotions and sign better quality players and coaches you'll improve the overall standard of the squad, the standard of football you play will also improve  

I played in a very similar lineup to you (does look familiar ) in my Youth Academy only save in Bulgaria, I managed them for 15 years and as we got promoted and upgraded, better players were coming through etc eventually we ended up a top 3 team in Bulgaria regularly competing in the Champions League.  Comparing how we played that 1st season to the 15th season was night and day in terms of quality  

As @Argonautsays, adding shorter passing and play out of defense sound like they're worth trying out, if your ass man is in charge of training, he'll have the team training those drills 

As it is, you're doing brilliantly!  Just keep going and improving