[Why is my tactic not working?]

So I started a new save in order to get a fresh start. But there is definitely something I don't understand. I scheduled early in the pre-season 3 matches against very bad teams, for my players to familiarize with the tactic and gain confidence. I won 8-0, 6-0 then 4-0. Great.

Then came a slightly better team (I insist on slightly). Here is the result:

I mean come on, this is absurd now. I have the possession, way better xGs, 24 (!!) shots. No goals. And my opponent manage somehow to get one on a ridiculous play. I'm not expecting to win all my games, but this *really* feels like a scripted thing and it's annoying. Here is my tactic right now, thanks to all the good points made above:

[Why is my tactic not working?]

Ok so I did try to experiment with a 5212 yesterday. I used Rony Lopes as an AP(S) behind my forwards with my BWM in CM next to my B2B and a higher defensive line. It worked quite well and I had my two first wins of the season 2-0 in Ligue 1 and a great 3-1 in Europa League. I did see a lot of improvement in the way we played, more movement, better passes. We conceded a lot of occasions though, especially towards the end of the games, so I definitely feel like I should address that somehow.

Here is the tactic I used:

Thanks @Jervaj and @CaptCanuck for your answers, a lot of things to think about there! I really like the idea of the 523 in theory, but I was afraid to be a bit weak in the midfield. I tried to think about it and came up with this:

I really like this on paper. I think that the libero could balance the fact that there are only two midfielders. I swapped by BBM for a CAR who I think could offer more passing solutions to both CWBs and the IF/IW? On the left flank I would hope for the CWB to move up along the line while the IF would go more towards the center.

I thought it would be more interesting to have one IF on one side and an IW on the other side to allow for more variety but I may be mistaken there, maybe it's best to have two IF? I kept a false 9 behind, because I think he will create spaces in which the IF/IW could move. I think I will try something in that style tonight.

[Why is my tactic not working?]

4 hours ago, Experienced Defender said:

I don't remember that I mentioned an AP as part of 5212. 

I only assumed. What would you recommend then?

[Why is my tactic not working?]

17 hours ago, Experienced Defender said:

But you don't even use short passing as a team instruction, for that matter. 

I tried the short passing TI at some point but it didn't seem to have any effect, though I guess this is a formation/roles issue.

17 hours ago, Experienced Defender said:

Anyway, if you want to play such style of football, the first thing you should do is change the formation into one that is not (so much) bottom-heavy. When it comes to formations with 3/5 at the back, the one that makes the most sense for suchstyle of play is the 5212. 

I guess I went with a bottom-heavy formation because I wanted to build actions from the defenders (hence the libero) and in my mind the wing-backs are very offensive as well but that's probably not a good way of looking at it. 

I am not against a 5212 but I kind of like my false 9 and in my mind he was supposed to drop down into the midfield, wouldn't that be redundant with an AP?

I tried what @Jaye suggested, moved my BWM up and swapped my AP to a Mezzala on support. It definitely felt like some sort of improvement to be fair, though I still ended up losing what should have been a fairly easy game 0-1 with the other team being one man down following a red card... I don't know, I'm just starting with this game but that's kind of annoying because even if I do get that this tactic clearly isn't perfect, I feel like I should *at least* score once in a while...

[Why is my tactic not working?]

Quote

what type of football you want to play with this tactic?

My goal is to play a one-touch/short passing type of football. I would like to build actions starting from the back, until finding the right deep pass, in the right space, to either one of my forwards or one of my wingbacks. Basically.

Thanks a lot to your comments, I definitely need to rethink a lot of stuff.

[Why is my tactic not working?]

Whoops, sorry about that. I'm not home right now so I recreated my tactic online. Hope this helps!

[Why is my tactic not working?]

Hi everyone,

So for starters: I'm a total noob at this game. First time playing and I have one issue: my team just doesn't score. Like, at all. To the point where it's started to look quite ridiculous to be honest, because we do have some occasions, even against better teams. 

I play a 532 with a positive mentality. I'm rather satisfied with the defensive side, since even if we're usually dominated in terms of xG we don't take that much goals. In my first 5 matches in the season I had 4 loses (0-1 each time, except one 0-2 against Lyon who scored a second goal at the end because went all in to try to get a draw) and one draw, 1-1 with a last minute goal on our side from a weird long ball from the defense.

I tried not to use too many TIs. What I want to achieve is a defensively solid, fast-paced tactic, with actions starting from behind through short passes, one-touch actions and a lot of movement in order for my forwards/wingbacks to find spaces and receive deep passes. That's the idea.

So the question is: why do I score so little? Because I feel like even we lost, we should at least score more...

Thanks in advance for the help.