A story of a fish out of water (me trying a low tempo tactic when im usually Tempo to the MAX)

[Thirkwood]

Just a story of my day

I think I am about to get sacked for the first time this year, started a new save (unemployed) and ended up with Santa Eulalia in the Spanish Segunda Federacion (III) the team was not great but I was determined to try a low tempo system as im normally a scholar of the Klopp school of heavy metal football (a preference from real life not the meta choice) and despite loosing the 1st 3 games I was quite happy the team where playing well but just finding themselves unlucky or straight up out matched but we where getting into a rhythm and we hit a nice Yellow patch finally getting 2 points on the bored with 2 draws in games were we should of won but low moral and cohesion was clearly at play.

The date was 18/2/24 and we where at home against top of the table Andratx and the system clicked, with in 15mins we where 3-0 up and finished the game 5-2 our first win and in style, we then had a draw against 4th place Lleida Esportiu and rounded February out with 6 points and only 2 points off getting out of the relegation zone.

March has been the counter to this, 3 losses and not even much positive to see, my keepers (all 3) cant seem to save a shot all of them seeming to have hands made of liquid and suddenly my players have stopped marking players in the box the results all losses by 2+ goals, 3-1, 2-0 and finally a 4-1 and my job is Insecure with 6 games left and I don't think the team have another good run in them, Injuries have decided to hit hard and no ability to replace my weak keepers has cost us points but I noticed March has been miserable since about 7 first team players said "hay were going to explore our options at the end of our contract" since them NON of these players have managed over a 6.6, its really left me in the lurch.

Our luck and lack of keeper ability has really been shown in the XG table where we are predicted 13th instead of 17th with 4 less goals than expected and a whopping +9 conceded!

Despite this I wont be stopping the style of play I made this save for that reason but i am open to advise of feedback from any successful low tempo users, the tactic actually seems quite solid in game i just dont think i have the players

[Cloud9]

1 hour ago, Thirkwood said:

Despite this I wont be stopping the style of play I made this save for that reason but i am open to advise of feedback from any successful low tempo users, the tactic actually seems quite solid in game i just dont think i have the players.

If you want to run a double IWB I'd consider using a 4-2-3-1 so you're less exposed on turnovers. IWB(S) + IWB(A) is going to ship a lot of goals in a 4-3-3. 

Edited May 4 by Cloud9

[Thirkwood]

9 hours ago, Cloud9 said:

If you want to run a double IWB I'd consider using a 4-2-3-1 so you're less exposed on turnovers. IWB(S) + IWB(A) is going to ship a lot of goals in a 4-3-3. 

Cheers I'll take that and give It a punt, I went back and most of our conceded where back post headers or worldies from 25-40 yards where my keeper has been extremely butter fingered so an extra body in that role may stop those distance shots at least!

[Delicate Dave]

It's a wonder you don't get the bill for wearing out the centre of the pitch :-) 

In FM23 I had a lot of success with slow-paced football but in FM24 it seems a non-starter. I would like to hear from anyone who had success esp at the international level.

You are playing high up the pitch so I would take "pass into space" off. You don't have any width so you are also not using that space. These two things should mean that when the ball is passed into space your players will have compete to get it and when they have it will be crowded. You'll lose the ball more often and they'll break on you more. The slow temp is not helping with this either as you give the other team time to organize. "pass into space" really is for trying to break on the other team when you have the pace either wide or upfront with a striker who plays on the shoulder.

[crusadertsar]

Generally slow tempo football is very suitable to world-class teams that have elite players who have great mental technical and mental attributes to pass the ball around and keep it away from opposition. Teams like Bayern or Man City. If your team is not like that in FM24 then playing slow tempo possession style is always going to put you at a disadvantage.

[bosque]

27 minutes ago, crusadertsar said:

Generally slow tempo football is very suitable to world-class teams that have elite players who have great mental technical and mental attributes to pass the ball around and keep it away from opposition. Teams like Bayern or Man City. If your team is not like that in FM24 then playing slow tempo possession style is always going to put you at a disadvantage.

When will the disadvantage happen? I mean, what are the signs of a slow tempo working badly?

[crusadertsar]

37 minutes ago, bosque said:

When will the disadvantage happen? I mean, what are the signs of a slow tempo working badly?

You just won't be able to keep the ball very well against better teams. Your chances will be from further away and of low quality. They will press you hard and take the ball away and will control the game. In those cases you need to play crisp fast moving game to give less chance for the opposition to press you and force errors.

Even with my Real Sociedad which is a pretty good team in 2029, I am forced to up the tempo when playing against superior technical teams like Barca or Real Madrid.

Edited May 4 by crusadertsar

[bosque]

2 hours ago, crusadertsar said:

You just won't be able to keep the ball very well against better teams. Your chances will be from further away and of low quality. They will press you hard and take the ball away and will control the game. In those cases you need to play crisp fast moving game to give less chance for the opposition to press you and force errors.

Even with my Real Sociedad which is a pretty good team in 2029, I am forced to up the tempo when playing against superior technical teams like Barca or Real Madrid.

Thanks! I noticed you can really see tempo in action when your team is not being pressed. Players take a few more moments before choosing what to do. But I wasn't sure when the tempo is not working.

[Cloud9]

24 minutes ago, bosque said:

Thanks! I noticed you can really see tempo in action when your team is not being pressed. Players take a few more moments before choosing what to do. But I wasn't sure when the tempo is not working.

If you're trying to play on a lower tempo successfully, you can always leave the slider in the middle! I've enjoyed that balanced approach where you can step things up a bit when it suits you.