dazza11

That would depend on how you set up the rest of the tactic, mentality etc but both on attack could work as long as ur mentality & out of possession instructions aren’t too aggressive

I’d definitely favour overloading that side, use one as IWs, get the WBA up with him and overload their full back. Use ur right cm on defense/hold position to give some cover and allow them two to run riot on the flank.

There are a few changes I would make if it was my set up, but I don’t want to suggest too much given you are doing ok and I remember from my old Chelsea save there were a few morale issues at start you have to work through. The two things that really jump out to me are - where are your goals coming from? Who’s standing on the penalty spot to convert those crosses? On that basis I’d make ur left winger an IF. Second thing that jumps out is your out of possession and transition settings are ultra aggressive - will cause some high fatigue im sure and also could lead to your back line very exposed with aggressive WB’s and no one genuine holding midfielder - I’d add hold position onto your dlp Questions would be - Where do you feel you are struggling? Scoring/creating/conceding/possession ?

I think that’s a really solid start, there isn’t a lot out of place there. My biggest concern is the only real goal threat is your AF, if he gets marked out the game or has a stinker, goals will be hard to come by. Personal preference would be to have one of your wide players as an IF to help the AF with goals. Again, if chasing a game needing a goal, you may want to consider switching one of ur dms to something like a vol to get more bodies into the box. But give it a good run, looks a solid base to start, good luck.

I do agree with other comments that your team set up is part to cause for lots of missed chances, however clear and obvious they seem to you. I would make your AP (s) to allow more creativity in the pocket to give better link play. If you insist on the double IFA & AF then I would drop the high press and move to a mid block - this will give those players more space to break into. Right now you are closing down like mad in the final third, winning the ball, and then your guys are all set to effectively shoot on sight with those roles, hence probably why lots of chances, but fewer goals. Or if you want to play the high press id go for IWs, APs, IFA, PFA or even a TF with Broja or DCL if you still have him. I’ve never tried my fb in that area with only 2cb - to make it more stable defensible you could change ur A to a HB and maybe the vol to either hold position or change role to a dlps- you have enough players going forward with the front four and ur wb’s. Also the quality of your players isn’t ideal for high level finishing, Broja only has something like 13 finishing at start of game, Scott ( assuming it’s the kid from Bristol) is a youngster and McNeil and Danjuma irl aren’t renowned for banging in 20 goals a season which is why I would def change one of their roles to be more creative.

That 3atb with 2 dm’s is probably the toughest to breakdown. I find I have to utilise the space out wide, so high wingers pushed up forcing their wb/ outer cb’s to be pressured, focus play down wings, slow down the tempo a notch to move their players around and be more aggressive with your own full backs as they will have more space with the opponent effectively having 7 defenders. Midblock can work well to draw their back 5 out. Or even switching to say a 424 formation sometimes helps to pressure their back line

To me it looks like your possession problems are not with the ball but without it. Your possession stats will suffer because without the ball you are incredibly passive and probably struggle to win it back. You play a midblock, no counter press, no closing down instructions. So it’s incredibly easy for the opponent to maintain possession, especially in their own half. With Man utd a midblock can work well as you have so much pace up front, but I’d add counter & counter press to utilise them better. You could also make one of your DM’s a bwm to encourage winning the ball back.

The fact you have a transfer budget and a decent wage budget means you shouldn’t worry too much, you are still able to operate and have a tiny bit of flexibility. Ship out a couple of older, higher earners and maybe raise some funds with the sale of one star player. Concentrate on winning promotion and you’ll start churning through that debt over a few years. Get your scouting working in places where you’ll be able to pick up relative bargains, Portugal, South America, even some Eastern Europe countries, as in Germany I don’t think there many squad restrictions. Also whilst you are in the second division, utilise the loan market, good way of adding to the squad without draining the bank balance

Looking at your tactic I am struggling to see where your goals are coming from - your dlp/bwm won’t move much, ur AM will largely sit in the pocket, and there are better roles for a striker as the main outlet than a PF. I’d switch the dlp to a vol (s) to get another player moving forward, especially with a fb (s) you have enough def cover. id make your iws an IFA and switch your striker to an AF. That way you have two main goal threats, good support from the other wing and the AM and vol providing good link up play. Also - you are Man U. Even when playing away from home most teams will be fairly cautious of you, so I don’t think you need to drop your own mentality down to cautious. Go with balanced, you have good enough players. Away from home, on midblock, with the pace that the likes of Sancho:Rashford/Garnacho/Martial and a TI of pass into space you should be banging them in.

Here is my example of that box middle without using fullbacks, So, like most, ive been attempting the Pep recreation - the Stones role is impossible to recreate so its not a true reflection but ive had great success with this, as you can see you get the wide three at the back, the two screening infront of the defence, the box effect with the Mez and the SS. WM's stay really wide stretching the play, and it all filters into the main striker to bang the goals in. The main key thing for this to work defensively is ... I tell the NFB's to "mark specific position".. so left NFB marks the st (cr) and right NFB marks the st (cl)... This keeps them narrow, picking up players who move into that zone. Also I have the WM's taking throw ins otherwise it defaults to the fullbacks and pulls them out of position. Like all tactics it has its flaws but i like the box effect it gives me in the middle and the attacking threat is unreal. Works against all formations apart from teams that play 2 central strikers and an aggressive AM. Against those i use a back up tactic.

I’m not in front of my pc at the moment so I’ll reply further in detail later. My initial thought is… drop Jorginho into the DM strata as a HB. drop odegaard into the central cm where Jorginho was. Have him as a cmA or ApA with some PI’s so he’ll still support the front 3. if you insist on keeping AML/R then make Xhaka and partey a car, or Xhaka a car and partey a MezS this will help with protection on the flanks. Personally I would have a higher def line and I don’t really understand the underlap function with no fbs or wbs Many more things I would suggest but see how you go with that.

Without wishing to sound too critical I’d say that goal has identified all the weaknesses of your system perfectly. If I read your system correctly you’re playing 3 cb, and 3 midfielders in the normal midfield slot with no wide players until the AML/R area? So no players in the fb or DM zone? In which case teams counter attacking you will have free reign to overload you and no amount of PI will negate that. Playing 3 atb with no support in the fb areas is always going to leave you horribly exposed, and you’ve had their right winger cross for the left winger to score. Their 4 attackers overloaded your 3 def perfectly esp in a counterattacking scenario as Periera is quick and would’ve had plenty of space to run into. Also you criticise Xhaka positioning but if he is your left mcl and Pereira started that run from deep I’d fully hope and expect Xhaka to be tracking him because he would engage him before your cb would. Guardiola has this system running well irl but he’s a tactical genius the game cannot replicate fully ( look at the amount of posts trying) . The success of that system is the intelligence of Rodri and Stones in their movement. Both at times play like a HB, Akanji the rcb goes out to engage the wide player and Stones will drop in the half space to provide cover whilst Rodri maintains shape to press when ball comes inside. It also might not just be your players, what are your TI in terms of def width, pressing etc? Screen shot of your tactic would help so can see the roles of the players as well. I would drop your wingers into the ML/MR slots to give them a better chance of giving you some defensive support, again looking at Man City, likes of Grealish does a huge amount of work tracking back on the flanks. The central MC I would go with HB. He naturally drops into the back 4 and will help encourage the wide cbs to nudge wider if they know they have more cover. You can still get that 3331 shape you are hoping for in attack by TI and PI without being so def exposed. Would be able to help more with a tactic screenshot to see TI/ any PI or OI

Firstly congrats on the success, tough level to start at! Defensively your back 4 looks easy to get at. Lower def line with high press and no player in the dm strata means your CB will be quite exposed. Your front 2 plus wingers plus bbm will engage the oppo high up the pitch as per your team instructions of high press, counter press, much more often and closing the Keeper. If your lucky your dlp has held position but otherwise he’s pressing as well and your back 4, holding the lower line, are exposed. options are to raise ur def line, try the dlp d with hold position or drop him into the DM strata or ease back on some of your team instructions as they are very aggressive

I don’t know a great deal about all your players, but to me your initial set up looks like your not optimising the better players you have, particularly on that right side. Baku is a great attacking threat with great stamina, having him as a WBd feels wasted, id go either WBs or FBA. Then I’d switch your midfield two around so the A gives Baku some protection. Ahead of Baku I’d go with either an IWs or switch ur ApS over to that side so they sit narrower giving Baku more freedom. keep Nmecha as an AF - he’s perfect for that role. If you go AP on the right ahead of Baku, then you could make your left side an IF ( s or A depending on situation) so Nmecha has some support in the box. For the central role AM s would be fine. I’d be tempted to also swap your reg for a vol so you can get a bit more attacking threat. In your opening post there could be times when only your AMA is in the box so getting another midfield runner would help. IFA. AF. APs AMA Vols. A FBd. CDd. BPd. WBs Add overlap right, set ur def line to higher to utilise the pace of Lacroix and I’d hope to see a few more goals flying in without giving up too much defensively

Turning a back 4 into a back 3 in fm is not easy - it’s not actually easy in real life either when trying to keep it disciplined. Try ur RB on fbD, with sit narrower instruction. Have ur LB on either FBA or WBA, with run wider instruction. Give the left side cb a stay wider instruction. I would still use a screening midfielder in front like a DM (s or d) depending how rest of team is set up. It won’t be perfect but should give you a block of 3 holding when you attack.

Initial thought is your 2 midfielders won’t push forward to help the attack so you need to select a role to do it from that Dm position . Personally I would have your bwm as a seg vol who will fill that link nicely with the am’s. Have ur dlp hold pos and you’ll still have plenty of def cover

Does a high press work/is it necessary in a bottom heavy formation like yours? the high press will be led by your front two but it will also be pulling your car/mez and wb’s higher up the field as well leaving you potentially exposed at the back. At best your front two are burning energy closing everyone down, at worst everyone else gets pulled into the press and your back 3 is easily exposed. Personally I’d raise ur def line and drop to a mid block and condense the space. Maybe force opponent inside where you’ll have a numerical advantage. With 3 cb’s you can maybe change the Dmd to something with a support function, dlps maybe if you have a good passer in the squad. otherwise I think the post above has got it spot on with their advice.

Whilst it maybe frustrating if you are able to achieve miracles and get a team from a lesser league to win a European trophy, finances are much more than that when it comes to leagues. The English game has the most money flowing through it globally. Championship teams ( one below premier) have larger budgets than most top teams in other top leagues in Europe. Finishing bottom of the premier league nets something crazy like 120m. All due to a combination of tv deals, marketing, global fan bases etc. Which is why likes of Barcelona, Juventus etc were so desperate to create the Euro super league. In my opinion SI have this pretty spot on when matching up to real life, however frustrating it is.

My initial reaction to your goal scoring problem is you have no one in the box. A Dlf S is dropping deep to link the play, ur IWs is cutting inside but looking to provide rather than act as goal threat and ur Wa is wide and not a goal threat. options are to turn ur IWs into an IFA or if you want to keep the IWs then I would make your striker someone who will occupy the 18 yard box better, an AF/CF or P.

100% agree with this - and if he does have that much ego you should then be able to punish him, bit like Man Utd did with that young lad, Garnacho, who was dropped for poor attitude

Or it’s time to step into the editor and hit that sugar daddy box!

I mentioned this on another thread the other day. If it’s not a bug, it should be because for young kids, especially those yet to make a debut, it’s absurd to think they wouldn’t want to come on.

I like it when you are signing a defender because you clearly need one, and the very same defender you are signing asks you to strengthen in defence….. Err you muppet, that’s why I am signing you in the first place. Another small bug that’s just irritating

I had very similar in my West Ham save. About 5 seasons in and my U18 squad was pathetically thin due to some continuing poor intakes and they only had one striker. The U18 manager played my reserve gk up front and he hit 20 odd goals in the season. Despite his physical and tech stats being awful.

I don’t think it’s as much about you spotting it as your NCB having the ability to delivering it. likely he doesn’t have the technical ability to be threading 50 yard passes between two opposing CB’s. So it’s more about the (lack of) time he spends on the ball, analysing his options of getting rid of it.