[How to get the best out of Lukaku?]

On 02/04/2020 at 23:18, Experienced Defender said:

Okay, the setup of roles and duties makes more sense than the previous one. I would only suggest a couple of small tweaks:

- swap the strikers' sides (TM on the left and AF on the right), because that will give you better balance relative to the rest of your setup

- swap the duties of your CBs (the central CB on stopper duty, and the outer ones on defend), because it's more sensible defense-wise

When it comes to instructions, I am not sure you really need the lower tempo, especially under the fairly moderate balanced team mentality. I would rather use normal (default) tempo and shorter passing than the other way around. Wide attacking width is another instruction I think is not necessary. It can be used as an occasional tweak, rather than a regular part of your starting primary tactic.

The "throw it long" manner of distribution does not make much sense when you use the Play out of defence at the same time. 

I am particularly worried about your out-of-possession instructions, as they seem a bit too aggressive, especially given your less-than-optimal level of vertical compactness. So be careful on this particular score. 

Thank you so much!

[How to get the best out of Lukaku?]

21 hours ago, Experienced Defender said:

A partnership of a TM (or DLF) and AF can work nicely, but only if the tactic as a whole makes sense. Otherwise, no role (or a combination of roles) is going to work. 

 

You don't necessarily need a formation with wide midfielders for a 2-striker system. There are other formations such as narrow diamond and 4312 for example (or 5212). 

I think 5212 might be suitable for my squad, I've created a tactic, hoping this one will be more balanced.

This time, I changed the instruction and role for GK, because he is poor on pass and area command, but has good handling, so throw long ball to the flank, maybe good for a counter.

changed the pass shorter to standard, because I have width on middle field and a TM in front, while remaining play out of defence because I have good BPD and middle field with reasonable skills.

Could you take another look and comment on it? Thx~

 

[How to get the best out of Lukaku?]

1 hour ago, KrKAlex said:

Lukaku on the wing hurts me tbh... 

As @Experienced Defender say, please balance your team formation and duties. For this, I can only recommend you to read the guide made by @llama3. I doubt you will struggle after reading it.

yea, I know... but as I said, I tried TMs or DLFs/a him with a AF, didn't go well, and I feel I don't have a good squad to support a 2 striker formation, so I didn't put the screen shot of it.

Thank you for the link, I will try my best to learn : )

[How to get the best out of Lukaku?]

1 hour ago, Experienced Defender said:

Okay, I immediately saw what's the key problem in your tactic - and at the same time the one that is obstructing Lukaku himself. You have all 3 forwards on attack duty, and the wide ones are even in the same role. And your overall setup is pretty much disconnected - the entire defense and midfield are fairly conservative, and then - bang! - the entire attacking trio looking not just to attack early and aggressively, but also the essentially same area(s) of space.

And then come your instructions to only add to the problem, because they contradict the roles and duties. And on top of that, some of your instructions are also contradictory among themselves. 

As I repeated so many times - key to a successful tactic is balance. Which in your tactic is terribly missing. 

And btw, you play Lukaku on a flank, not as the striker, which is confusing me even more. Okay, he may play out wide, but WTM would make a lot more sense as a role for him than the IF. 

But you don't use the CF role. Your striker is PF in this tactic. 

 

That's all the more reason to seriously reconsider your setup of roles and duties (remember what I said above about the contradiction between your instructions and roles/duties). Besides, you also have an overkill in the sense of using more possession-oriented instructions than necessary (especially when coupled with the balanced team mentality). 

 

The problem is that you want to have a tactic that combines completely different things all at once. I fear it cannot work the way you envisioned.

Thank you so much, especially the balance part, just a few feedback,

1. my mistake, I wrote CF but I wanted to say Center Forward(whoever in that position), not Complete Forward. So I wanted to say that the idea was to let the Center Foward/Strike to combat/press the defence, so that both wingers can have chance to attack.

2. As I mentioned in the opening, I've tried 2 striker format that put Lukaku in either TMs or DLFs/a, teamed up with a AF, but it didn't well either. The reason I didn't put the screen shot of this tactic, is that I really don't have enough good wide middle fielders on flank, so I'm just not using it anymore.

 

I will try to adapt your advice and see how things go, thx : )

[How to get the best out of Lukaku?]

On 31/03/2020 at 02:13, Experienced Defender said:

You'll need to post a screenshot of your tactic as a whole if you want any meaningful advice. The whole context is important, because players/roles/instructions do not work in isolation - everything is interrelated.

Even players like Messi and Ronaldo will struggle and underperform if played within a poorly constructed tactic. 

So please post your tactic first 

 

Ur right, thank you for kind reminder : )

I've upload the screenshot of my tactic and attributes of Lukaku, could you pls. take a look? Thx~

 

Let me explain myself a bit, for this formation, I want CF to be the guy to press the defence so that both my wings can have the chance to attack, I've also tried to put Lukaku as WTM, hoping that he can be a guy that bully opponent's LB and receive high ball on the right side and attack there.

 

- Mentality, TBH I don't really have much thought, I don't know whether it can still affect the bar of close down or defence line as previous versions, I really don't know how to choose this now.

- I want to control the tempo of the match so I choose shorter passing, play out of defence and work ball into box, and lower tempo

- I also want to have a really quick and simple counter attack, so I use 2 BPD, and choose counter and counter-press

- out of possession choices, I want constant pressure on oponent's defence and GK, hoping they will be forced to take long ball

[How to get the best out of Lukaku?]

I'm really struggling with this dude...

I've tried different fomations...

3-5-2, act as DLF or TM and team up with a AF, I can't see him anywhere...and the rating is 6.5 or lower for both strikers.

4-1 DM-2-2 Wing-1, I've tried to put him as CF, role is TM or AF, can't see him. Also tried to put him as AMR as IF or WTM, this result a little better when the AML as IF perform well.

 

He is really a huge investment but now I am in very arkward position on how to get the best out of him, could anyone offer some tips? Many thanks in advance ; )

[Looking for help to win this match]

Thankyou Guerin and Iferreira, before I saw your comments, I tried to start Biabiany (very explosive winger but nothing more than that) in MR as Wa, and this worked. I think my middle fielders are just not good enough comparing with ManU, but the wide players can make some difference.

Anyway, thank you guys.

[Looking for help to win this match]

19 hours ago, lferreira said:

Just standard, doesn't need to be higher. If you sit too deep you invite pressure and they have very good dribblers. Your defence will be moved out of position or you won't see enough of the ball, as you're not closing down.

Basically, you're in for an infinite loop of crosses, long shots and stress.

well, I've tried a few more times, but standard or a bit higher defence line didn't help.

I also tried no AMC but 3 CM, APa, CMd, and CMs, I set APa to roam, but it didn't help with the neither the result nor possession...

Is this match really impossible to even draw... ; (

[Looking for help to win this match]

6 minutes ago, lferreira said:

Depending on traits for your fullbacks, you might be leaving a 2v2 on defense as they play two strikers.

Try a CM-De coupled with a DLP-Su. Also, exploiting the middle is not something you need to use as you will probably already do that. I'd use a standard defensive line, not a deep one. Great dribblers like Depay will cut inside and it's going to be a mess. 

You have to find a way to limit the space he has to run onto. Push your d-line a little bit higher, put the CM-De on Depay's side and maybe that will help a bit. 

Sorry that I missed a part, which I've just edited in my post above. That I've tried another attemp to put Neves to DM as DLPd and Lemar to MC as APa, trying to support my defence, but failed again.

The reason I put my defence line lower is because I was concerned about the pace of Depay and Martial. But of course I can try another one with higher line, thank you.

[Looking for help to win this match]

I don't know whether this kind of question is allowed here, I have a problem regarding this perticular match, it is FM16 and I play inter against ManU in CL and I'm looking for tips to help me win this match because although I've tried some different tactics, ManU always managed to score and the 2nd score always followed in 5 mins...

pictures is my starting 11 for this match, and ManU's start 11 and my TI

Squad introduction:

I have Ajer on bench who is a good player maker in my save, but he lacks athleticism. I also have Mandzukic who can act as TM. In this save, Lemar is my key player maker that he plays quite well no matter in wide position or AMC or MC, and Kante is the all-around key player in the middle field.

For ManU, Depay is really an explosive beast that he can break my defence with pace in the wide and win cross to goal and cut inside as well. And Martial is a top complete forward in this save.

 

My plan is to explore the space in ManU's DM position because there is no one, so a SS and Lemar in the right wing as WPa.

Next attempt was to switch position between Lemar and Embolo, role changed to APs and Wa, and WB changed to FBs.

Then the next attemp was Lemar remained as APs in AMC, both MR and ML changed to WM, with the instruction to cut inside, as I want to explore DM space of ManU.

I have also tried to put Neves to DM as DLPd and Lemar to MC as APa to support my defence.

But none of these attemps worked, they all ended with early concede and followed another goal in 5 mins, and low possession.

 

I know it seems that I am against a stronger squad, but I still cannot understand why was my plan failed so completely, especially ManU scored 2 goals in a short time every time I tried.

Can anyone provide some advice on winning this game? Thanks.